This last year has been a spiritual battle for my family. There have been so many trials, lots of health issues, illnesses, doctor's appointments, and quite the journey. We still have little answers and more questions than when we started for both my daughter and myself. My family has been praying over many things - for healing, comfort, strength, wisdom, and also for guidance in what we need to do to get the treatment and answers we need.
I used to be an avid prayer journaler, and would love to still be, but a wrist injury made it difficult to hand write and my deep, personal prayer journaling turned into being in constant, deep conversation with God on a different level than before. I love to pray. I love to pray with others, for others, on my own, anywhere any time. If I didn't have prayer, I don't know where I would be in my life. God has been teaching me and growing me in this season of health issues in ways I didn't know I needed.
Lately, I had been realizing that I really wanted to start prayer journaling again, and have been praying throughout each day for God to help me make sure I am close to Him. I have been praying for God to help me make sure I am ready to hear Him when He speaks to me. I have been praying for God to make sure my heart, ears, and eyes are open to receive Him and obey. I was feeling like maybe, because I had felt so close to God while I had been deep in prayer journaling that maybe my prayer life was dwindling and I was deceiving myself.
God answered many of these prayers and more in one event. I didn't realize it at the time and was completely overwhelmed when it occurred to me. I ended up taking my child to urgent care. The whole experience from start to finish was God orchestrated. God kept showing up, and I realized later that day once I had gotten through the ordeal with my child settled in bed and medicated that I was hearing God all over the place. My habit of talking to God as I go through my day has taught me to listen for Him and recognize His voice on a level I had not realized or experienced before.
My point is not to say how holy and close with God I am, but to say that because I continue to check my heart, check where I am in comparison to where God wants me to be, to seek Him in everything, to talk to Him without ceasing I have been learning and growing my ability to discern Him in the midst of chaos. I certainly don't get it right every time. I certainly miss the mark, say the wrong things, make the wrong choice, and fall into sin more often than I would like to admit. But through this, God comforted me in a way I didn't know I needed.
I think of Peter when he told Jesus "if it is you, call me out onto the water" and Jesus did just that. Peter walked on the water for a little while, but before long he noticed the waters crashing around him and he began to sink. While Peter's eyes were on Jesus, though, Peter walked on water. He was so focused on Jesus that he was able to do the impossible. As soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus, despair hit him and he began to doubt and panic. This is a perfect picture of what it is like to grow in faith.
I feel like lately my prayer has been a similar one - Lord, if it is you tell me to step out onto the water in faith. And of course, He does. He called me into stressful circumstances, He assigns important things to do for His kingdom, He calls me to care for my family through difficult seasons, He gives unexplainable illnesses and countless specialists, He allows turmoil to take place across my life, and He calls me to serve in difficult ministry seasons and circumstances as well. These are all instances where He calls me out onto the water. I can walk in faith with my eyes on Him, or I can look around me and panic. Sometimes my eyes stray and I start to sense my feet sinking. Every time, I have a choice. Do I look back onto Him, or continue to look at the waves of life crashing around me and sink further?
God loves to show us where we actually are in our faith - not because He doesn’t know, but because He always knows and we don’t. I had been asking Him to show me if I really am close to Him, or if I have drifted away without realizing it. He proceeded to call me out onto the water in several ways all at once. I could have easily turned my gaze to the waves, but I realized later that I am learning and growing to keep my focus on the voice of my Good Shepherd and not be deceived by the trials around me. He is with me through every storm. He is with me on the water. His hand is right there to grab when my eyes lose focus and my heart begins to doubt and worry. I am not a graduate, but I am so humbled to be able to see the work His Spirit has done in me and recognize how far I have come from who I was before Him to who I am now, yet also recognizing I have a long way to grow still.
When life is crashing around you, are you getting out of the boat? Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus? When you inevitably, like me, look away from Him, do you cry out and reach for Him again? What waves are you focused on right now that are keeping your focus from Jesus?
Let Him continue the work He is doing in you. We're all far from the perfection that awaits us in Heaven, but the growth He is working in us will help us to navigate this stormy world, glorify Him through even the darkest trials and valleys, and draw us closer to Him than we could ever dream to be. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. Get so close that when the waves do crash, you hear His still small voice and don't hesitate to recognize the voice of your Shepherd calling you closer to Him. It is a process of developing that personal, intimate relationship with your Savior, and it is worth the investment.
Sometimes we come across a passage that breathes much needed encouragement into our weary souls. We all have those verses we meditate on, could post on our fridge, print on a t-shirt, or set as our phone background - those personal favorites we cling to. When you think about your go-to verses, can you go beyond that one verse? When you quote it to someone in need of encouragement, can you tell them why this verse is so important within the context of its entire passage?
Isaiah 58:11 is one of my verses, but as you read it and are likely, like me, very encouraged by it, I am inclined to go beyond this singular verse and recognize that the true encouragement is held in the surrounding verses.
At this point in the Prophet Isaiah's life, he has been relaying God's warnings to the Israelite's for a long time. Chapter 58 begins with God commanding Isaiah to go tell His people that He sees what they are really doing and knows the selfish motivation in their hearts. God tells Isaiah to call out the people's sin and tell them yet again that there are consequences for wickedness.
The people have been putting on a show of obedience and piety, but God knows that their motivations are self-centered and self-seeking. They disregard what God commands, yet go on doing things that they expect to influence God to give them what they want. They disobey God all while trying to manipulate God into granting their selfish wishes, like He is a genie in a bottle.
We can easily look at the Israelites and say "shame on them!" In truth, however, we are all too often caught doing the same thing. Do you read the Word daily in order to have a personal relationship with God? Do you pray for God's will to be done, and are content with His will over your own? Do you show off the good things you are doing in His name or expect some thanks or recognition for your service to the Lord? Do you point out what others are doing wrong, yet make excuses for the ways you disobey God? Do you show up at church or attend a Bible study because you feel obligated or to make friends, but not to grow in the Word and with God? Are you refusing to go beyond the spoon-feeding stages of your faith? Are you refusing to be used by God for His purposes? Is there an area of your life that is off-limits to God? Are you willing to do uncomfortable things to serve God?
Isaiah 58:11 is a promise from God that He will guide His people, satisfy our souls, and make us prosperous and blessed. But here's the catch - God is telling the Israelites, and future generations of believers, that blessings come to the obedient. When you are living in authentic relationship with the Lord, walking with Him, loving Him with your life, living in obedience to Him because of your love for Him, and doing the uncomfortable things He calls you to do, He promises to bless you, provide for the work He calls you to do, and make you prosper in the ways He desires.
This is not a promise of provisions and prosperity in exchange for good works. This is not a promise of granted wishes for piety. This is not a promise of a trouble-free life. This promise is God telling us that when we put Him first, He blesses us, provides for us to do the work He assigns for us, and that by living in faithful obedience to Him and prioritizing His will, we will prosper in ways that will allow us to pour out His blessings beyond ourselves.
We must be selfless in order to be truly used for God's purposes. Before we can expect blessings from God, we must repent and turn to Him and His ways, and away from our own self-seeking ambitions and self-absorbed behavior. We must allow Him control and sovereignty over every area of our lives, and love and serve Him the ways He teaches and commands us to do.
Only when we are in proper alignment with God can we expect to receive what He promises to the righteous. It will not always, and honestly rarely will, show up in the ways we might expect or prefer, but God knows all things and will always provide and bless in the ways He knows is best for His purposes and glory, not our own selfish preferences or short-sighted wishes. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, and He knows how to work all things together for the good of all who love Him.
So, what is God calling on you to do? Where is He convicting you to repent and surrender to Him? Where does He need your focus to change? What hardness in your heart is He working to chip away and soften?
Where He calls you to go, He will not only provide for you but He will go with you. He is all you need, so He will never abandon you - even in the times you cannot sense Him, He is there with you and desires you to earnestly seek Him, draw near, and do His will all while laying your own will at the foot of the cross.
When I am obedient to God and my focus is on Him; when I am repentant and selfless, the Lord will perpetually guide and stretch me, turning my eyes toward Him, and my desires will be satisfied in excess. The very seat of my emotions, character, will and desires will be equipped for spiritual warfare, transforming me from a parched land of self-centeredness into a prosperous and fertile source of His light, life and nourishment to those around me so that I will not disappoint Him, hurt others, or lead them astray in selfishness.
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Have you ever felt like you don't belong? Ever feel like this life doesn't make sense and you just can't seem to fit in? That actually is a good thing. For believers of Jesus, we are not supposed to fit in. We are not supposed to belong in the world. We are merely travelers passing through on our way home to Heaven. If you are a believer and you are focused on fitting in, you are focused on the wrong thing, and a very dangerous thing it is.
Peter gets a lot of flack. He was the disciple who told Jesus he would die for Him, but then denied Jesus when things got scary. He responded in such painfully relatable ways to Jesus' teaching and instructions, and situations the disciples were put in, but not the things we like to relate to. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, Peter became a leader in the new church. He grew and matured in faith and confidence, and he ended up suffering immensely for it. He knew what it meant to not want to stand out, and then later learned he must stand out for the sake of Jesus no matter the cost. Eventually, it cost him his life.
In this life, followers of Jesus will suffer. We are in the thick of a war over our very souls, and everything we do is being judged by the world around us. The world wants to condemn us, and we are warned that when…not if…when we are persecuted, when people speak evil against us, when we are slandered and mocked, when evil is targeted at us, we are to keep on going the good work Jesus teaches us to do. When we suffer, we should keep on being faithful, keep pouring out those fruits of the Spirit, and keep looking up to the One our help comes from for such a task.
Scripture is filled with encouragement and commands about how we are to live as followers of Jesus - to love, to forgive, to be gentle, kind, and patient. These instructions are not just for when it is easy. These are commands for us to stand on and hold fast to when it is difficult; for the times we really want to react in frustration rather than respond in love.
Christ knew all along how hard it would be for us to respond His way rather than react in the way that feels natural to us. This is why He left us His Helper, the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to sanctify us, convict us, and transform us. It is our job to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to be used by God, for God, to bring Him glory through the way we live, speak, work, and respond to all that the world throws at us.
So the next time someone says something unkind about you, accuses you of something, picks you last, pushes you out, or knocks you down - look up and seek His strength to do the difficult thing and respond in the way that will bring God glory. Seek His help standing out to be set apart for Him, unashamed, unafraid, ready to defend your faith and take the hit knowing you have Heaven's armies fighting this fight alongside you, and a whole court of heavenly hosts cheering you on and praising God all the more for the work of His Spirit working in you.
How do you need to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit better? How is He calling you to be set apart today? Where do you need to let go of the world and cling to the Lord? What areas of your life are you neglecting to give God the glory? Where are you more focused on earthly things and God's glory?
Surrender it today. Give way to God's Spirit. Give Him access to all of it, and let Him lead you through this life in which you are merely passing through. Don't make this place your final goal and destination. Set your eyes, heart and mind on the hope we have ahead for us in Heaven.
Scripture has a tendency to be pretty repetitive. Sometimes, we catch ourselves thinking "haven't I read this already? Can't I just skip this part? They've talked about it like 15 times already!" It can be easy to skim or skip parts of scripture that on first glance seem redundant or unimportant.
Psalms 105 and 106 are a couple of great examples of passages where this can happen. In Psalm 105, we get a log of Israel's history, and then in Psalm 106 we get a continuation where we read more of the history and again about how sinful the Israelites were. There are whole books dedicated to this history. Why do we need to read it again and again?
Much like the Israelites, we need the reminders of our need for grace. Like those who wandered the wilderness and were constantly provided for by God, we run the risk of being provided for yet discontent with the provisions we are given. And also like the people of ancient times, we need to be reminded constantly of our need for God and His goodness and plans, and the repentance of our own sin and wickedness.
These chapters and songs remind us again and again of the need for Jesus and what He did for you and for me. These tedious repetitions are there what feels like a million times throughout this massive text that is the Bible because we need the million reminders. This is an example of the grace of God who knows our needs further, deeper, wider than we know them ourselves and constantly gives us reminders of our need to help us draw closer to the source of our help and hope.
God constantly reminds us how much we need Him, and how much He provides for us out of His love for us. So as we for the 5,768th time read about the Lord's faithful love having no end, we can be encouraged yet again that when we sin, His faithfulness still hasn't run out. Reading again for the 7,457th time how those who treasure and guard God's law and justice are blessed and happy, we remember that it is because He gives us our peace and provision.
I've read the Psalms through several times, but I never stop growing in my appreciation for these reminders. Why? Not because I am more righteous than you, or so much stronger in my faith than you - but because I am just as needy of the grace and mercy of God and the salvation of Jesus Christ as you. The Psalms are a beautiful reminder of what the depths of my soul really lack and actually need every day - the goodness, faithfulness, and mercy of God that perpetually exists and has no end because my need for it also has no end. I thank God He knows me better than I know myself and provides for me based on His understanding, not mine.
I cannot even count how many times I have heard it quoted about those who are not vocally inclined but throw their hearts into worshiping the Lord in song. Looking deeper within the words of this much-quoted passage, however, we learn so much more about this command than to simply sing even if our voice cracks.
You've likely seen some movie or another that portrays a medieval battle where the soldiers run into battle screaming something along the lines of "FOR THE KING!" You can imagine it in your mind's eye, the running, weapons raised and ready, eyes set on the enemy, determined to attack and have victory. The cry goes up as they hit the ground running, and the cry encourages and emboldens those behind them to take up the shout and run behind them toward the battle ahead, banding together for their master.
It is contagious, and it is exhilarating. This cry is piercing, and if taken up by enough of the army, if it has the effect the commanders and generals are aiming for to enflame the hearts of their soldiers for the battle ahead, if it is loud enough and piercing enough, it also insights fear into the enemy.
This war-cry is a shout of victory. It is a call for soldiers to stand and fight together as one under the banner of their master. It is a declaration of who you are standing for and fighting with. It is a shout of confidence in the side you chose.
To "make a joyful noise" is to "shout to the Lord". This shout, this joyful noise is a war-cry. We are commanded to worship the Lord as if taking up the war-cry of the Lord's army, ready for the spiritual battles we face every day. When we worship, we are declaring war on the enemy. When we sing God's praises, we are shouting triumphantly in the face of the enemy, running in for the kill swords raised, together, as one, united in Him, confident in the victory He has already won.
Worship is our war-cry. Lift up a war-cry for the Lord, our King who is coming to judge the earth righteously and fairly. Shout for Him who is faithful and calls on us to be ready at all times for battle. Make a joyful noise for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who goes before us, behind us, and beside us into every battle we fight under His banner. He never leaves or forsakes us, is with us wherever we go, and provides us with His own armor to run to the battle and cry out for His glory and praise.
Integrity. In English, to have integrity is to adhere to moral and ethical principles; to have sound moral character; to be honest. When exploring the depth of this word in the Bible, we find that to have integrity also means to be entirely in accord with truth and fact; to be complete, whole, sound and healthful; to be innocent and unimpaired.
Integrity at its full capacity is what the Lord requires of His children. Jesus is the Truth, and we are called to be entirely in accord, in agreement, and in harmony with Him. On our own, this is impossible. We are inflicted by the presence of sin which demands "our" way, desires and preferences over those of a Holy God. This is why we need Jesus.
When Jesus is our Savior, His Spirit lives inside us. When His Spirit lives within us, we are given the ability to know the thoughts, desires, and will of the Lord. Not only this, which is more than we could ever dream or deserve, but He gives us access to His power so that with His help we can grow in integrity in this fallen world. By His power, and only by His power, we are able to walk with Him out of love, and abide in His ways that are higher than our own.
He calls on us to be set apart, to be uncommon and unconformed to this fallen world. This world is filled with the effects and evidence of sin and wickedness, prizes "your truth" and "my truth" as separate and acceptable, and rewards getting ahead in whatever way works quickest and with the most benefit to "me". We are not meant to succeed by the standards of this wicked world, but to seek the kind of success that leads us to one day hear "well done my good and faithfulservant."
As followers of Jesus we are commanded to follow His example of integrity by tapping into His power to do so. On our own we will fail, but by walking closely with the Lord, hand in hand, eyes and ears on Him, with a heart ready to obey His will, a mind ready to glorify Him in selflessness, He will succeed in us and be glorified through the integrity we bear in this world of temptations and tempers.
I used to hear the word "justified" and think I didn't really need to understand what it meant. I felt like it was one of those big fancy words that only theologians with years of Biblical study behind them understood. I was content for a while with the milk stage of understanding, but over time God has worked on my heart and taught me how important it is for all of God's children to understand what it means to be justified by grace. The deeper concepts, truths, and theological topics found in scripture are not only for scholars but are for all of God's people to know and understand.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
We have studied what the grace of God is and why we need it, and to understand grace deeper we should also strive to understand justification. Justification is hard for us to grasp on our own, but with God's help, we can soak in the glory that is God's wisdom given graciously to us.
Grace is a free and beautiful gift from God for all mankind. Through God's grace, we are offered salvation through Jesus Christ. By this salvation, we are made right with God. By our faith in Jesus, believing in His great works for the redemption of mankind, God "passes over" our sins, demonstrating His righteousness by forgiving us our sins.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the[a] glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat[b] by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
The original Greek word for justified in Romans 3:24 is dikaioō(G1344). This word is found all over the New Testament and means to declare or regard as righteous or guiltless, to be acquitted of charges, freed, and absolved. Justified means to be judged acceptable by God.
Why do we need to be justified?
Sinners cannot be in the presence of God, but through justification, our sins are forgiven and we are deemed acceptable to God and able to enter into a relationship with Him through faith. This redemption is a display of God's grace and mercy. Once justified, God sends us His Holy Spirit, who will then work in us, transforming us by His grace for His glory, sanctifying us for the works God has prepared in advance for us to do.
26 But the [a]Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may[a] have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way:[b] He gave[c] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Through our justification, we can enter a relationship with God and receive His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then works to sanctify us, transforming us to become more like God and less like our old selves. Justification adopts us into the family of God, making us co-heirs with Christ, and gives us the promise of eternal life with God. All of this is only by the grace of God, not by our own doing.
17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Being justified by grace we are forgiven of our sins, made right with God, enter into a relationship with Him, and receive the Holy Spirit who begins the work of sanctification, making us new creations for, by, and through the glory of God.
Have you accepted the grace of God?
If you have not accepted the grace of God and chosen to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to pray to God now and invite Him in, accept Jesus as the sacrifice for your sins, and repent of your sins. Submit it all to God, lay it at His feet, seek the forgiveness of God, welcome Him into your life, and believe that Jesus died and rose again to save you from your sins.
If you would like to learn more about salvation, you can find a couple of studies that may help here:
I am a wife, mom, writer, crafter, and above all, a Child of God. I love to study the Bible, fellowship with other Christians, and serve God. I am thrilled to invite you to join me in seeking to satisfy our thirsty souls with the Living Water of Christ, which is what Water On Thirsty Land is here to do.
