Tag: personal comments

Being Still in a Restless Age–by Jonathan Coe

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:18

As I write this my heart goes out to everyone who is struggling to find serenity in an age filled with restlessness. Been there done that. You feel the pressure on all sides. There’s too much month and not enough money. Your marriage is showing signs of fraying around the edges. You have a sullen teenager who doesn’t relate to the biblical Christianity that you have embraced. You have plenty to do but not enough time to do it. Debt seems to be piling up and the house may soon be underwater. Your job feels unsatisfying and your boss plays a big role in that. New health problems have emerged that you didn’t have in the days of your youth. In short, life hasn’t turned out like you thought it would and inner stillness and peace seem elusive.

In speaking from my heart, I just want to begin by saying that God loves you much, much more than you know. You may want inner stillness but he wants to give you that peace infinitely more than you want it.

Imagine yourself as his anxious child. He will not forbid the children to come to him. You can crawl up onto his lap and tell him all your problems. Do you see his loving eyes as you’re talking to him? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you Christ’s loving eyes, because if you can see those eyes, it will help you with fear and anxiety, because perfect love casts out all fear according to John the apostle (I John 4:18).

If you can’t do this, then think about someone you know who really loves you without any strings attached. Doesn’t God love you at least twice as much as this person? Of course he does and infinitely beyond that. This is the God whose lap you’re sitting on.

Please know that in all your prayers, there’s no guarantee that God will change your circumstances. The struggling business you run may not survive. The unhealthy marriage may not get better and the child with leukemia may not get healed despite your prayers and fasting. God may not change your circumstances, but he will give you the grace to triumph during your time of affliction. He will you give you a supernatural peace that transcends understanding. You will know it didn’t come from you, but, instead, its origin is divine. Guard your heart against offense because many Christians become offended at God when he doesn’t change their circumstances.

If your prayer life is almost non–existent, I don’t write this to condemn you. However, if you want inner stillness and serenity, some kind of quiet time with God is a must. Prayer is the context by which we give God our anxiety and he gives us his peace.

This is where we cast all our cares on him because he cares for us. It’s a salutary exchange that we can’t live without. The Holy Spirit is a gentle teacher and will lead you into a robust prayer life. Start small and don’t despise small beginnings. 5–10 minutes is okay to begin with for awhile and then add to it as God’s grace increases in your life. If you try to pray for an hour right off the bat, you’re liable to burn out. God is patient with you so be patient with yourself.

ybic,

Jonathan

Letters from Fawn CreekIf you liked this post by Jonathan, you may also like his book, Letters from Fawn Creek, that is now out on Amazon and also can be purchased at this link:

https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781628542035

Self-Deception & Brokenbelievers

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“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

Psalm 145:18

“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.”

Psalm 51:6, NASB

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Self-deception is sort of an occupational hazard for believing Christians. We have this strong tendency to walking and seeing out of delusion. A certain amount of confusion comes over religious people who have lost the sense of truth; we lose the sense of words and definitions of the Faith. We may say all the right things (and at the right time,) but no longer understand what is real, and what is true.

We can see this in our worship. We come to God and say the things we think he wants to hear. We declare praises, but they revert to a superficial veneer that covers up our lives. We can be fairly sincere in this, but we’re not speaking what is real. We can sing “praise the Lord,” without a true sense of what we are truly saying or doing.

We can see this in our prayer times. We come into the room and encounter God. (At least we hope so). But we say things like, “I give you my heart,” when we haven’t really. We so want to please God, so we tell him the things we think he would like to hear. We can polish our words to the point they are no longer real.

I know this may seem harshly dismissive of many peoples discipleship, and I’m sorry if it seems this way. But I’m really describing myself. I want the ‘real me’ to encounter the real God. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). That freedom comes as a result of knowing what is real.

Perhaps we should become alert:

  • of words that have lost their meaning,
  • of the tendency toward self-deception,
  • of the unreal world of the enemy,
  • of God’s love of the truth.

Oh Father, please may it be the real me that speaks to the real you. Keep me from deceiving myself with empty and vain words that have a long time ago lost their meaning. May I truly possess what I glibly profess. Keep me true, dear Lord. Amen.

aabryscript

Open Doors

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Jesus comes for each man, woman and child.  Every person is precious. Our sin may separate us from others. Jesus Christ seeks every heart. Sin has been dealt with on the cross, completely and surely. We are loved down to the deepest fiber of our being.

Sometimes cultures create categories of sin. But handling sin without the protective gloves of the Holy Spirit will only contaminate us, no matter what the sin. Taking precautions we should help each other find freedom, not condemnation.

The sin maybe adultery, drunkenness, stealing, hatred, or murder. It could be cheating on our income taxes. It could even be homosexuality. But only God’s love can be trusted to forgive and restore us. A repentant heart is all it takes. Why not ask Him to show you how to repent? Jesus told the woman who had committed adultery:

 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (John 8:11, NLT).

 

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, I declare to you that all sin is forgiven. Return to Him like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). “We’ll keep the porch light on.”  We look forward to the party of the redeemed heart.

aabryplain

Radiators

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“And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 13:52, NIV

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,”

Ephesians 5:18, NLT

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Most old houses used to be heated with radiators. They were cast iron monstrosities that radiated steam to warm the house. You could come inside from the cold and lay your mittens on them to dry. They are now more or less, obsolete. But for the longest time were ubiquitously common; I guess new technology has replaced them.

But in a way, Christians are radiators of the Holy Spirit. Just as the heated steam from the boiler room flowed into them, so we too receive from the Lord specific ministry for others. We provide “heat” to the people around us. We simply share what He has given us. The radiator’s source of comfort comes from another source. All it is, after all it it is us  becoming a receptacle for the steam.

It is the Spirit that gives us warmth. We are basically hollow until He fills us. In ourselves, we are nothing. It is Jesus inside that makes the difference. Without His presence we just take up space and gather dust. We’re just in the way unless we are used. But a radiator is a good thing to have.

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Holy Spirit, full me up.

Perhaps we need a reminder of who we really are. We must make ourselves wholly available. Being filled with the Spirit is never a one time experience, but rather, a way of life. Someone once asked a preacher why he kept preaching on the filling of the Holy Spirit. His reply was classic, “Because I leak.”

Dear one, seek to be filled with Him today. Set aside your own agenda and allow Him to enter in. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. Let us pray with  St. Augustine,

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.”

aabryscript