The Great Physician knows how to cure me...

Slept well but woke up in a bad mood. I don’t like marble floors, opulent surroundings, rich food, heat and humidity, and a vacation filled with things to do. I just want to sit in the shade and read a book, or go for a long walk on the beach and enjoy a breeze and the shore birds. All about me and my I wants. Selfish and annoyed with all the selfish people around me. Go away. A deserted island would be ideal.

Today’s reading was no help. It was written for those who have no clue about the meaning of faith. I know what it means, so I went to my library and found this:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10–11)

This command from Jesus immediately restored my sense of why I am here. It is not to self-indulge but to serve Him by serving others, and glorify Him – even if others ignore me, or disregard anything I do or say on His behalf.

Another devotional speaks too, one that describes the difference between hypocrites and sincere souls. It says:

Sincere have learned to have a holy lack of confidence in themselves, also in their own self-examination. Therefore they ask the Lord to try them, as the psalmist did: “Search me, O God, and know my heart!… And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24) And God hears their prayer and points now to one, now to another thing in their lives which is contrary to the will of God. The result is sorrow, distress, and shame. And the soul’s hunger and thirst for grace is kept alive, yes, experiences a normal growth. Faith fights the good fight and keeps healthy and sound. The cross becomes a place of refuge.

How true. Just a few lines turned me from my desires for this vacation to yielding to Christ.

PRAY: Jesus, You are well aware of the rest I need and how best to give it to me. And it does not come from being contrary to You. That only makes me more tired and frustrated. Thank You for a speedy diagnosis and an even speedier change in my thinking and in my desires of what I’m to do while here in this place.

Truth in bad dreams?

 

My nighttime dreams are vivid and often humorous. Yet sometimes they are dark and confusing, even seeming like attempts to divert me from trusting the Lord. Last night, my dreams were filled with selfish actions, several odd funerals, and the confusion of being lost in a building and not able to find what I was looking for. I woke up feeling numb and distracted.

Christians who are filled with God’s Spirit feel love, joy and peace, so instead of dwelling on the dream and trying to rewrite it to make sense, I began saying and singing the truth about Jesus and what He has done for me. After that, I read this, the first line in my devotional book: “Our liberty must come from an understanding of the mind and thoughts of God toward us.”

The author continued to focus on who I am in Jesus and what He has called me to be. I am not in bondage to the dictates of my old life, nor the ‘rules’ of being a servant, nor the power of dreams. I am a child of God and being transformed into the image of Christ. The Bible tells me that as I live and walk in the Spirit, “against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:23). This means putting away all rules driven by self-effort and trusting the Lord to make of me what He wants of me. I’m to confess known sin and humbly recognize that just as I could not save myself, I also cannot be sanctified and set myself apart to serve Him alone, not even in my dreams.

However, as I follow Jesus and see amazing answers to prayer and am excited about His work in me and in others, the conflict begins. I’m not to trust the world’s ideas, nor the lies of Satan, but I’m also not to trust myself. Those dreams hit me with, “If you had a real faith, you would not have dreams like that.”

However, Jesus is my Savior from every sin, and every weakness, even from an imperfect faith, and I can do nothing else but trust it all to Him. For example, I’m learning more about prayer for others. A major lesson is to leave out my personal ideas of what is needed and start telling God what to do. As one writer says, my approach to God is possible because of what Jesus did, not about what I think:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19–22)

Walking in faith means praying in faith, but if my faith is in my I-wants or my I-thinks, then I my faith is in myself and not in the wisdom or the power of God — the kind of praying that the Lord answers, the kind of praying that comes from experiencing my own weakness and from having awful dreams that show me how useless and foolish I am at the core of my being.

PRAY: This is Your Word for me today, Lord. I must trust You like a lost and confused child in utter ignorance, weakness, foolishness, and blindness with nothing that I can do but throw myself on You to meet the needs You place before me. You are the Savior of the lost, and I am lost without you. Keep me trusting you moment by moment! As the devotional writer says, if I look at my feelings, or at my experiences, and at what seem to be the practical results of my trusting, I could despair. But when I look only at You and Your faithfulness to lead me — in darkness or in light because Your blood was shed to redeem me and it is sufficient to cleanse and sanctify even me. Help me remember that effective intercession means substituting my ideas with Your desires for our godliness. It is so easy to pray in sympathy for human discomfort than praying for Your will to be done — in my own life and in the lives of others. Thank You for revealing truth even in bad dreams.

The Power of Thinking Truth . . .

 

READ Philippians 1–4

Sometimes I meet Christians who are old but not very mature. Often I think of myself that way. Will I ever grow up? However, instead of giving myself a “grow up” lecture, wouldn’t it be wiser to talk to myself the way Paul communicated with the Philippians . . . ?

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

He did not focus on the negatives like I tend to do. Instead he kept pointing these believers to the power of God, what He has done, and what He will do:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (1:9–11)

He related his own experience of being in jail and how God used that to “advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ” and others became “much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (1:12–14) He wanted them to not be ashamed but courageous and to realize that dying and being with Christ is the best thing that could happen even though he remained to help them in their spiritual growth. (1:20–24)

I should preach to myself truth, and stand firm without being afraid of what opposing people can do because their opposition “is a clear sign to them of their destruction” and that I am saved. (1:27–28)

I need to take care of my spiritual life, but not in “selfish ambition or conceit.” Just as Jesus considered others more important than Himself, I need to humble myself and serve them, even if it means death. Consider Jesus, not be concerned about me, me, me. (2:3–8)

I’m also to remember that even as I “work out my own salvation with fear and trembling, it is God who works in me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” So I must quit grumbling and shine as a “light in this world” that has become so “crooked and twisted.” (2:12–15)

This means being “found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” remembering I’m not there yet but not bemoaning that. Instead, be positive and press on — for my prize is the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” and my “citizenship is in heaven” where someday He will transform my body and my life to be like Him. It is those thoughts that keep me moving forward, not admonitions to ‘grow up’ or be anxious about it — or anything else for that matter.

Paul advises “not to be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let my requests be made known to God and His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” (4:6–7)

How I think is vital to how I live, which is why this passage says, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:6–8)

Knowing the sovereignty of God is important too. This teaches me to be content, no matter what. As my mother used to say about the negatives in life, “I must need it, or I would not be getting it” and as Paul affirms, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” because “my God will supply every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:11-13; 19)

When Self-talk mirrors the world, the flesh, and the devil’s lies, I’m focused on me and am miserable. When self-talk reflects the truth of God’s power and love, that love and His peace and joy give me power over any junk that tries to rob me of faith in Christ and the abundant life that He gives me.