Lament: For Christ's Glory, I Dream

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Feeling Defeated? Rest in the Conquering King

Posted on December 30, 2011 at 4:20 pm

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Troubled? Christ tells us we can turn to his speech in John 14-16 any time and receive comfort and peace from knowing the Father himself loves us and that someday he will bring us out of our present sorrow and deliver us to joy. He promises us hardship and trouble and travail in this life and that the unbelieving world will hate us if we are truly walking with Him, and has indeed often killed the saints, and many do so thinking they do God service as Jesus said.

But we are to take heart: he has overcome the world. Victory is secured for us. Keep holding the line, keep walking the walk. Stay the course. The battle rages on, but no matter what its outcome, the war is already won. Let us abide in Christ and rest in Him. Let him fight the battle. Trust and obey him. He’s the conquering king and his enemies are defeated and routed, including the sin or the fallen condition you are struggling with, and even the great enemy, death itself, has been mortally wounded and will be only a distant memory sooner than it seems as we struggle in this life.

Turn your eyes to Christ’s cross and His empty grave and be encouraged, brothers and sisters. It is finished. God has prevailed and He will prevail in your life if you do not lose heart and desert him for his already defeated foe. So put away doubting, put away your own understanding, and trust in Him today. Give to him any weight that hinders you from trusting him, be it sorrow, be it hurt, be it anger, be it the trust others have broken, and any nay-saying voice, be it real or imagined. Confess it, express it, but release it into His victorious hands.

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Filed under:
- Bible and Theology,
- Faith,
- Lament,
- Prayer and Devotions,
- Suffering
Tags:
- affliction,
- comfort,
- discouraged,
- hope,
- peace,
- strength,
- trust,
- victory

A Prayer for When You’re Under a Cloud of Darkness

Posted on September 8, 2011 at 10:35 am

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!” (Psalm 143:10)

David prays for instruction from God on how to do God’s will, and presumably what God’s will is to start with, at a time when he is being pursed by the enemy, who sounds more like depression than a human enemy in this psalm: his soul is crushed, he sits in darkness, his spirit faints, his heart fails–or he is overcome with dismay.

David remembers first what God has done in the past and cries out to God to speak comfort to him and deliver him, determining to trust God.

Before David asks God to instruct David in obedience to God’s will, he does ask God out right to give him knowledge of the way he should go–what path he should take, the choices he should make–because he’s lifting up his battered soul to God for healing, and knows through experience that depression compromises our ability to make sound judgments. In his weakness, he’s relying all the more upon God’s leading. David determines not to listen to depression’s lies that he is alone and abandoned. He puts his trust in God to be right beside him even though he can’t see God there and lead him through the darkness. He prays that God would direct him over a clear path without any obstacles or uneven places for him to trip over, and deliver him out of the grasp of the enemy of our souls.

Lord, we say amen to David’s prayer. Show us the way we should go. Lead us over level ground, that we might not stumble into sin. Lead us into your light. Strengthen our hearts within us. Open our ears to hear your word and the voice of your spirit. Enable us to recognize your voice and discern between your voice and the voices of fear and depression and the flesh. We have decided to trust you. Enable us to trust you in deed. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

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Filed under:
Tags:
- affliction,
- depression,
- God's presence,
- god's will

Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it.

Posted on August 23, 2011 at 2:02 pm

“When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:18-19)

Is your foot slipping, stumbling and falling flat into sin’s mud? Trust in the steadfast love of the Lord–not to make the mud less muddy and falling acceptable–but to catch you by the hand and hold you up from doing a face dive into the mud. His blood washes us clean, and his love can keep us clean. In the hour of temptation, take your eyes off the mud of this earth and look up to Heaven’s righteous king. He will give you the strength to safely walk around it and keep going on, hand in hand with him.

Burdened with a huge pile of debt? Medical problems? Marriage difficulties? Work politics ? Family drama? Afraid of natural disasters? What the government might do? What your neighbor might think? If you’re drowning in a sea of fears and worries today, again cry out to Jesus. Let him take your hand and lift you up. It may not happen right away. We often have to confess it all to the Lord, name what we’re afraid of (gasp!) and then loose it from our hearts, releasing that concern to him. Only when we’ve gotten it out of us do we often have room to listen to his voice in our hearts, receive his words of comfort and peace, to alleviate our grief, to soothe our distress, lift the heavy burden from our hearts, and give us joy and satisfy our need. Gratitude is our best response in that hour.

Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for consoling us and giving us peace and joy. Thank you for holding our hands. We pray in the hour of temptation, we would be reminded in our hearts to look up to you, and we ask you to strengthen us in our hearts to have the spiritual discipline to obey and meditate on your love, to hide in it from sin, rather than using your steadfast love as an excuse to roll in the mud like pigs. Forgive us for the times we’ve done that, wash us clean, and polish us until you see your son’s face reflected in us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Continue reading Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it. »

Filed under:
Tags:
- comfort,
- grace,
- stress

Don’t Let the Past Hinder Your Holy Race

Posted on July 28, 2011 at 6:45 pm

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

In this verse, we have Paul pressing on, running the spiritual long distance race to the finish line, seeking a prize–being called upward by God via King Jesus. Upward where? Heaven, communion with God, but in context, more than that–perfection. He puts his past failures and past successes behind him and strains forward to the next step of spiritual growth, bit by bit more like Jesus with every step of the way. In verse fifteen, he tells us this is a fit attitude for the mature.

For many of us, the past, both the good and the bad, is a dead weight in this race. We’re too busy wallowing in our failures, or glorying in our successes, to dust ourselves off, pick ourselves back up, and get back (or keep on) running. What painful memories are holding us back today from growing? We need to examine what mental baggage we’ve got packed away and deal with it, hand it over to God, rather than stuffing it down out of sight. If it’s not hindering you, by all means, leave the past buried, but it if it is a dead weight, confront those old memories and cry it out before God, giving it over to him until it’s no longer burdening us.

So often we get tired and quit. It’s stressful and time-consuming. We need discernment whether we’re picking at old wounds and snatching dead weight back out of God’s hands, or uncovering a weight that’s been bogging us down without us consciously aware of it.

Lord, show us what, if anything, from our past is an emotional burden hindering us from moving forward in our walk with you and keeping us from growing and becoming more like you. Give us the strength, patience, and willingness to face the painful memories so we can hand them over to you and properly put it behind us. Free us from all bondage. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

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Filed under:
- Abuse,
- Bible and Theology,
- Lament,
- Prayer and Devotions,
- Sin and Holiness,
- Suffering
Tags:
- past,
- spiritual growth

What is your cross?

Posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:11 pm

“ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

In a classic putting of the cart before the horse, the rabbi’s words are delivered to us as the verse of the day the day after his disciple Peter expounded on it. In context, this speech is recorded right after Peter confesses Jesus is not simply another John the Baptist, Elijah, or some other prophet, but the Christ, and Jesus has told him what being the Christ means–suffering even to the point of crucifixion and death, but also being raised to life again on the third day. Now he reminds them to be this rabbi’s disciple, we must be like him in everything and follow all of his footsteps. More to the point, we must be willing to suffer as he suffered. We must be willing to deny ourselves, but deny ourselves what? Suffer what? Whatever he asks of us, whatever he brings us to.

This does not mean we must suffer in silence. Even Jesus wept before God in Gethsemane and wrestled with the natural human instincts to save ourselves and avoid pain and suffering and death. Even Jesus, in his darkest hour on the cross, cried out, “God, God, why have you forsaken me?” He in these moments gives us a model we can follow when we’re struggling to deny ourselves, when we’re feeling abandoned or plain old sorry for ourselves.

But he also reminds us of the prize: we too shall rise again. Sunday is coming. New life will spring forth out of the death we experience, literal and symbolic.

Lord, thank you for your example. Thank you for your presence with us. I pray we would always seek you and know you are with us. Open our eyes today and our understanding of what crosses you have called us to bear today and in this life. Grant us the grace to sincerely say, as you did, “Lord if there be any way, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done.” In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

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Filed under:
Tags:
- affliction,
- desires,
- God's presence,
- restoration,
- surrender

Trust, Anxiety, and Fear: take root in God.

Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:04 pm

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream,and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Let’s skip the guilt trip today. We all have room for improvement when it comes to trusting the Lord and probably most of us will continue to have times when we struggle there. So what is your heat, what is your drought? That is, what leaves you anxious and fearful? What dries up your world and heats up your air? Lost job? Health issues? Political battles? Wars and natural disasters halfway around the world?

How do we remain spiritually fruitful, continue to flourish in the Spirit, in times of trial and uncertainty? We lift up to God our fears, we lift up our anxiety, we recognize when we are merely afraid rather than speaking our fears as reality (as I am prone to). We confess them to God, and release those emotions to him, and then we determine to remember what he has done for us in the past, to remember what he has promised us in his word, remember what he has done for others in our circumstances and in the scriptures, and we determine to take our eyes off the drought and the heat and trust in the living water (per the stream imagery) of God-with-us, nourishing and feeding us with his own flesh and blood.

Lord, as the old hymn says, we pray, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you, how you’ve proved yourself over and over. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace to trust you more. (Note to my readers: changes to wording are deliberate.) Today, Lord, we are choosing and making the conscious decision to trust you and take you at your word no matter what our circumstances tell us, and we release to you any fear and doubt preventing us from meaning those words (name them here.) We thank you for your healing, we thank you for your cleansing. We thank you for being with us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Continue reading Trust, Anxiety, and Fear: take root in God. »

Filed under:
Tags:
- affliction,
- trials,
- trust

The Lord your Shepherd Restores your soul

Posted on March 17, 2011 at 10:37 pm

“ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3)

These words of comfort reach across ages. The promise is true today. Humble yourself under the Lord’s rod and His staff and trust and hear no other voice. You know his voice, for you are his, chosen out of the world, beautiful and precious in his eyes. If you are tired, wrung out, stressed out, discouraged, and/or afraid, allow him to lay you down in green pastures and beside still waters in His Spirit today. Take time out of your busy schedule to throw yourself into the Shepherd’s arms, awaiting his promise of restoration. Whatever time it takes to work through it will be time well invested.

However, before he can restore us, we must first both stop listening and believing the lies of fear and doubt and hate and any other wicked voice that may be oppressing us today. Let him reveal your heart to you today and pour it out before him. Let us not forget, it is for His name’s sake that He leads us. He loves us unconditionally, no matter our failures or mistakes, especially in regard to earthly things.

Lord, forgive us for the lies we have believed. Let us no longer give the enemy a foothold. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts. Help us to identify fears as for what they are and eradicate any negative, self-defeating ways of thinking today. We ask you to restore our souls today, Father, and we thank you, that even if our human fathers actually were evil enough to give us snakes and stones when we asked for fish and bread, you are not that way. You give good gifts to us, your children, when we ask you. We confess it today and we ask you inscribe the truth of your loving-kindness on our hearts today. We are asking you today, in faith, Father, grant us our need and our rest according to your will, as we present before you now:

In Jesus’ name we pray, Lord, amen.

Continue reading The Lord your Shepherd Restores your soul »

Filed under:
Tags:
- discouraged,
- quietness,
- restoration,
- spiritual warfare,
- unconditional love

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For Christ's Glory, I Dream Devotions, advice, and book reviews from science fiction and fantasy author Andrea Graham

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Feeling Defeated? Rest in the Conquering King

A Prayer for When You’re Under a Cloud of Darkness

Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it.

Don’t Let the Past Hinder Your Holy Race

What is your cross?

Trust, Anxiety, and Fear: take root in God.

The Lord your Shepherd Restores your soul

For Christ's Glory, I Dream Devotions, advice, and book reviews from science fiction and fantasy author Andrea Graham

Get Me Delivered to Your Inbox!

Verse of the Day

Categories

Archives

Devotion Topics

Andrea's Work:

More:

Other Book Review Sites

Recommended Reading

Where to Find Help

Meta

Feeling Defeated? Rest in the Conquering King

A Prayer for When You’re Under a Cloud of Darkness

Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it.

Don’t Let the Past Hinder Your Holy Race

What is your cross?

Trust, Anxiety, and Fear: take root in God.

The Lord your Shepherd Restores your soul