Strong on Your Behalf

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him." - 2 Chronicles 16:9


Have you ever felt like God is a distant God? You may think,"Other people talk about how God has showed Himself mighty in their lives, but He never seems to do the same for me." Many people ask this question in their hearts but fail to ask themselves why it seems to be the case. You see, God wants to show Himself to be mighty on your behalf even more than you do. Second Chronicles 16:9 says,"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect (loyal) towards him."

If God desperately wants to do great things in our lives, then why doesn't He? Well, one very possible answers to that question is that we may not have a totally surrendered to God. If we are holding on to the controls of our life, God cannot have His way and as a result, we will live a sad life of mediocrity in which we will not see God as our defence, strength, and sustainer. The verse in 2 Chronicles validates this when it talks about how God looks to shew Himself strong on the behalf of those who are loyal to Him. Surrender is absolutely necessary for us to see the mighty hand of God the way we should.

God uses trials to shows us that He is with us and that He is our Strength. It is the unwillingness of many of God's children to go through the trials and valleys that keeps them from seeing the Lord's mighty hand in their lives. You see, in order for us to be able to say,"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me"(Psalm 23:4), we have to first be willing to go through the valley. The Bible is filled with examples of people who went through difficult circumstances. However, they remained faithful to God and trusted in Him. As a result, the Lord showed Himself strong on their behalf. Afterwards their hearts were filled with joy and peace because of their confidence in the Wonderful One who proved himself to be for them. These people in God's Word had to first go through a trial in order to be able to experience the joy of having the Lord prove Himself mighty to them. The same is true with us. God is not going to let the trials that He, in His good and sovereign will, allows into our lives to destroy us. God is good in everything He does and He just wants to use trials for a far greater purpose in our lives (Romans 8:28).
With all this in mind, I encourage you to make sure you have surrendered your life to the Lord. Tell Him that You are willing for Him to lead you where He would have so that your heart may be filled with a joyful song about your strong Redeemer. Believe me, you will not regret it.

Something To Think About...

Where would you be at this point in life if it were not for Christ?

A Holiday Tradition Re-done for the Better

I don't know about yours, but my family has tons of holiday traditions. Some have faded as we have become a little older, but most have remained the same. One of the traditions that we do every Christmas is that my family and I go out to the Olive Garden on Christmas Eve. That tradition had to be somewhat changed this year due to complications with my ninety-two year old grandmother who is currently living with us. She is on Hospice of the Comforter, and we do not know how much time she has left on this earth. Because of her inability to go out anywhere and her having to have someone with her at all times, we all knew that we would have to change our Christmas Eve tradition in some way. One night my family and I were talking about the situation and my sister-in-law Rachel suggested the idea that since my Grandma could not go to Olive Garden we would bring Olive Garden to her. We planned to carry-out from Olive Garden and take in to the house where we had the dining room table all made up and some Christmas music playing in the background. Rachel and my mom volunteered to be the "waitresses" of the event and they served the meal in just the order they do at Olive Garden: salad or soup and bread sticks, main course, and the optional dessert.
In a big way, having our annual tradition at home was better than having it at the restaurant. It felt good knowing that we were giving up what was special to us in order that we could make this Christmas more special to Grandma. We all knew and still know that this Christmas will probably be her last on earth, and we wanted to make it a great one for her.
The Lord really gave my family the opportunity to exercise the attitude that Christ had at Christmas: the attitude of servant hood. There were many times we had to sacrifice what seemed to be best or most fun for us and in turn, do what was best for my grandma. That is exactly what Jesus did for us. He gave up the worship of angels and the glories of heaven to come to earth and die for our sins and rise again so we could live with Him in heaven forever. Christ set the example that we need to follow: the example of servant hood.

The New Year: Looking Back and Looking Forward

  It is unbelievable how 2010 has flown by! It seems like the older you get the faster the years go by. So as we finish up 2010 and move on to 2011, there are two things I think we need to consider. First of all, has this past year been a time of spiritual growth in our lives? Have we grown in our relationship with Christ? If we have not, it is a good indication that there are some problems in our spiritual lives that need to be dealt with. If this is the case, the first step to getting back on track is to examine ourselves to see if there is some sin in our life that could be hindering our relationship with God. In Psalm 66:18, the Bible says,"If I regard (withhold or cherish) iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." We need to repent of any sin that we have been withholding from God and start seeking to draw close to Him by reading His Word and praying.
Secondly, we all need to dedicate this new year to the Lord. I think an ideal model prayer of dedication would be as follows:
"Lord, thank you for this past year that you have given to me. Thnak you for your faithfulness to me even in the small things. I now want to dedicate this new year to you. I want to follow you and your will in it so please work in my heart and give me the grace to do so. I am also giving my struggles that I face to you. Please give me victory over them through your power. I pray that this new year would be a year where I would grow in my relationship with you. So please keep my heart close to you so I may do this by your grace. In Jesus name, Amen."
If this prayer is prayed out of sincerity, the Lord will answer it for 1 John 5:14 says,"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing acoording to His will, He hears us." May the Lord bless you in this new year as you seek to draw closer to God in it.

The True Christmas Spirit

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."- Philippians 2:5

During Christmas time we hear allot about the ''Christmas spirit.'' What truly is the "Christmas spirit'' though? The answer lies in Philippians chapter 2, verses 4-11. It says:
"Look not every man on his own things, but also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
This passage of God's Word tells us how Jesus was equal with God but was willing to give up His rights and privileges that He had being God's Son. He humbled and submitted Himself to God the Father and received a human body. Our Sovereign Lord became a servant. Ah, I think we have hit the true Christmas spirit. What is Christmas all about? It is about how Jesus did not just think of Himself, but submitted Himself to the Father's will and thought of us and our need to be saved.
So, do we have the true Christmas spirit? Are we seeking to be a servant and trying to think of others during this time? If Jesus, God's Son, did it, then why cannot we do the same? I pray that God will help me and you have this attitude that was in Christ Jesus.

Merry Christmas!