John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be distressed.[a] You believe in God;[b] believe also in me. 2 There are many dwelling places[c] in my Father’s house.[d] Otherwise, I would have told you, because[e] I am going away to make ready[f] a place for you.[g]3 And if I go and make ready[h] a place for you, I will come again and take you[i] to be with me,[j] so that where I am you may be too. 4 And you know the way where I am going.
I am going to dwell in John 14 for a few days. This chapter is so rich with hope and direction that I cannot resist it. Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the future they have with Him. Many mansions, here more accurately translated dwelling places, reminds me of Noah’s Ark where each set of animals had their own space. Bigger animals, bigger space, smaller animals, smaller space, each according to their needs. Here Jesus says He is preparing a perfect place for you and me. Whether that is a private space, or a family dwelling is not the issue, it will be exactly what we need.
Next, I notice that Jesus tells them, they know how to get to this place He is preparing. He has spent three years showing them the way to the Father. All they need to do is follow His teaching and obey His commands. Believe in faith, obey in faith, and wait in faith, knowing He is faithful to all His promises.
My question today is, am I believing, obeying and waiting with the assurance that there is a perfect dwelling place awaiting me with the Father, Son and Holy spirit. A place where all my questions will be answered, all my needs, physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional will be met and I will never have to worry about being evicted! 😊
Father, I want to see You in all Your glory and dwell with You forever. I do know the way. Help me to surrender to that way and believe in all You have done and have prepared for me. Help me when the enemy tries to tell me that I am not worthy, and this promise is too good to be true. Help me to stand firm in my faith and obedience and to stay on the path that You have made plain in Your Word! I love You!
When his master saw that the Lord was with him(E) and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Genesis 39:2,3
Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph in everything he did. Hum? How did Potiphar know it was the Lord? Joseph had displayed such integrity and character that he stood out. I believe that he also spoke of his Lord and gave Him credit for who he was. They knew where he came from and had heard of the God of Israel. Now, Joseph puts that God on display in front of these Egyptians.
This chapter reads like a soap opera – the good guy gets caught in a horrible situation, gets accused of a crime of which he is not guilty, gets sent to jail, while the real criminal, Potiphar’s wife, gloats in her success. But, even in prison His God is with him, and he is successful. Nothing can stop God’s Plan! He will use us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves when we give Him the credit and praise by living a life that reflects HIS character and love.
Living that kind of life is not always easy. Sometimes it comes naturally, and we aren’t even aware that we are doing it. Other times, it is by sheer will, determination, and pure grit without emotion, but knowing it is the right(eous) thing to do. Lord, help me in those times to hold firm, even when I don’t feel like it, even when everything in me wants to lash out, defend myself, or protect my rights. God give me such confidence in You, that I can trust You to shine through and bring all things under Your control for Your glory and even my benefit and Your purpose!! You are always faithful to Your plan!
“Send away the ark of the God of Israel; let it be returned to its own place, so that it will not kill us and our people.” I Samuel 5:10
Every city that possessed the ark was cursed with disease.The Philistines expected to just add the God of Israel to their list of Gods. He would be just another god to them. But the God of Israel was not just another god. He was the GOD of all creation! When they saw what was happening to each city, you would have thought they would have realized His power and that He was not like any of their gods. They saw His power yet refused to surrender to it. Disaster followed wherever the true God was not worshipped.
Application
First, do I have any gods, things more or as important as God, that I am secretly or openly allowing to control my life, to influence my decisions? Do my words say one thing, while my actions and choices reveal another?
Second, I look at our country. Are we in danger of disaster because we are worshipping political power, greed, pride, and sinful behaviors? Does the phrase, “In God we trust,” have any meaning at all? Is God’s name used only in vain, or is there any respect for the God of our forefathers?
I am reminded that we always have a choice to bow in submission to the Ark of God’s presence and power or the gods of this world. Although His judgments may seem slow, they are always sure! We will reap what we sow, personally and collectively. The God of Israel is the ONE true and Living God of all ages and He will have NO other gods before Him.!!
Prayer
Lord, Jesus, help me to examine my heart for any gods that I have placed along with You in my life. Reveal anything that I cling to for security. Holy Spirit, fill me with faith to believe what You say and live out my faith daily in the small things as well as the great. God, help our leaders to re-evaluate their policies and laws in accordance with Your Word and commands. Help us to return to the God of our fathers.
I don’t usually post on Tuesday, but I felt led to share an article I wrote for Charis Woman Magazine last November. I have several friends who are going through some trying times right now and I know it seems like it will never end. Enduring these times can really challenge your faith. I have found Christ to be true to His promise, “I can do (endure) all thing through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13 I pray this encourages you as you endure.
Hebrew 10:36 “For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised.“
To understand what it means to endure, we must begin at the beginning. When God created the world, he said it was good. Adam and Eve had a perfect life in the garden of Eden. Their existence was governed by joy and fellowship with God. They were to enjoy living and working in the garden. But the loving God wanted them to love him and walk with him willingly, so He gave them free will and the ability to choose to love and obey Him. The word endurance did not exist in that garden They were simply to enjoy and walk in fellowship with their loving creator, which they did until they were presented with a choice. They chose to disobey the only restriction that God gave for their own good and protection. Without this restriction, to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there would have been no choice. Thus, the idea of endurance was born the minute they decided to disobey God’s command. They would now have to endure pain and suffering such as they could never have imagined, as they were cast out of their perfect world. Welcome to the world that we now know and must endure because of their choice.
To begin my journey of endurance, let’s check the definitions of the word “endure” :
1.To suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently.
2.to remain in existence; last throughout time (eternity).
First, we will look at the “tails” side of the endurance coin-to suffer patiently. I have had to endure my share of suffering in my seventy-seven years of life. To begin with, I could and would have been aborted had my mother’s boyfriend, who was not my biological father, not offered to marry her, sign the birth certificate, and raise me as his own. This fact was revealed to me at my father’s death when I was twenty-eight years old. Suddenly my insecurities, fear of rejection, need to please, and desire to be perfect, that I had battled all my life made sense! It explained why my father and I were never close and why my mother lived with such guilt all her life. It explained why as a college freshman, when I decided, as a believer, that I would totally commit and surrender to Christ and whatever he had for my future, I thought of Job and cried out to God that,” tho He slay me,” I would still love and serve Him anyway! I knew how much I loved God, but I only understood a love of obligation and guilt and figured I was not worthy of unconditional love, so I would just endure whatever God was willing to give me.
I graduated college with a teaching degree, something I had never even dreamed of, went back home to Ohio, and began my career. I prayed to always obey and serve God and worked tirelessly in my home church, where I met the preacher boy God had waiting for me. We were off to Tennessee for more education, training, and ministry.
We endured a childless marriage for seven years and then adopted our Amy at six weeks of age. Eighteen months later, to our surprise and lots of hard labor, we welcomed our daughter, Jennifer. Those years of teaching, raising two daughters, and being highly involved in ministry with its ups and downs, ins and outs, were blessed and easy to endure.
I made great progress in my understanding of God’s love for me through the years, until October 10, 1989. That day our older daughter, Amy, was hit by a car in front of our parsonage and killed! The enemy came in full force telling me that I wasn’t a good enough mother, that I had done something to displease God. The idea of being rejected by God hovered over me. As I lay prostrate before Jesus, crying out my questions and telling Him I had done my best, He gently held me in His arms and allowed His tears to mingle with mine. He assured me that He was grieving with me and had also surrendered a child to death. He said the accident was not a part of the perfect world He had planned, but because we live in a sinful world, bad things could and would happen. He assured me He was holding Amy and I would see her again! I endured several years of grief, and counseling and held on to the truth of God’s undying love for me, standing against the lies of the enemy.
Ten years later during our younger daughter’s senior year in high school, she developed an unhealthy relationship with a boyfriend. She was a believer and had been blessed with a good mind and many gifts to use in God’s kingdom, but the enemy was at work to distract and derail her. This time I was called to endure a year of sleepless nights crying out to the Lord for her protection and for her to see truth and answer God’s call on her life. That’s when, thankfully, she chose to attend Grace College, break off the relationship and allow God to bring a wonderful man of God into her life. Endurance in prayer paid off richly as she is blessed with a godly husband, three beautiful children who love the Lord, and all are serving Him as they plant a church for His glory.
Fast forward to 11-11-11, a date that would be easy for me to remember in years to come. I had retired from teaching and was working at the information desk at the local hospital. I noticed my left side becoming numb as my shift continued. At the end of my shift, instead of going to the ER, I decided to go to a Walk-in Clinic where I waited three hours to be seen and sent back to the hospital for an CT scan of my brain. They found nothing abnormal. Two weeks later as the numbness grew worse, I had an MRI, and they found a blood clot that had caused a stroke on my left side. The result would be the slow death of the nerve endings on the entire left side of my body. I didn’t lose my speech or ability to walk or move my left side. It was like someone had divided my body in half and put a tight blood pressure cuff on the left side while having a completely normal right side. This was not a time of doubting God’s love, that issue was settled. This was a time of natural anxiety and wondering what God’s plan was in all of this. As a type A personality and a fixer, this was not something I was looking forward to. My life was about to change with something I would have to endure and would only get worse until eath parted us. Now there’s a happy thought!
Talk about endurance, this one continues to be a huge trial of trust and belief in a loving God who promised not to give me more than I could handle. The complicating fact was and is that no one can see any physical effects of this stroke and they expect the same energy level and workload I have always carried. I have had the embarrassment of having to tell folks that I cannot keep up with them and do what I have always enjoyed doing. This act of endurance is going to last the rest of my life, not just for a season, and pride threatens to rear its ugly head. I don’t like slow; I tend to be impatient. If you know me, you can stop laughing! I don’t like the idea having sit down half-way through the mall because of pain. I don’t like not being able to hold babies for fear of dropping them.
There are many things that are now challenging that others will never suspect or notice. That’s where pride enters in, as I don’t want to admit my limits or pain. But as this season of endurance continues, I choose to keep on singing and giving thanks for the goodness of God and His love for me! In the last twelve years, I have learned so much about God’s love, His faithfulness, His sovereignty, His compassion, and strength in my weakness. I am determined to say with Paul, 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV) In other words, I have endured!!
No, I did not forget the other side of the coin. The flip side of the definition to endure, is to remain in existence; last throughout time (eternity). Scripture repeats forty-four times that “His love endures forever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14 declares that, “ whatever God does will endure forever.”
I am excited as I sit here telling my story of endurance to know that God’s love for me endures forever! I certainly have not arrived, I am still learning and enduring. Each time the Lord tests me or corrects me, I know He loves me. With each correction I learn more about His purpose for my life and how to live out that purpose in His love. I want to close this story of endurance with my version of my life scripture, Psalm 139. These words keep me going when I am tempted to believe the lies of the enemy, rejection and unworthiness. Of course, I am unworthy and so are you. Our worthiness in found in blood and love of Jesus Christ and HE LOVES ME and HE LOVES YOU!
Psalm 139 (Joyce version)
O Lord, you search me and know me. You know when I sit or stand. You know it all. You know where I go and when I lie down. You are acquainted with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, You know it already! You go before me and behind me and keep your hand on me. You are absolutely beyond my comprehension. Where can I go from Your Spirit or hide from Your presence? If I go to heaven, You are there. If I go to the grave, You are there. If I rise with the dawn in the East, or settle in the sea in the West, there Your hand holds me. Surely the darkness will hide me, but darkness and light are the same to You. I know you formed all my innermost parts. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made! My frame was not hidden from you when I was formed (in the back seat of a car.) Your eyes saw my unformed body, (and saved me from abortion). All the days of my life were written in Your book before one of them came to be. Your thoughts toward me are precious and vast in number. If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the sands of the seas. So, Jesus, search my heart and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any unrighteous way in me. And please forgive me and lead me into everlasting love and life with You!
May God bless you as you continue to endure for His sake and the gospel. May He strengthen you and give you peace and joy for the journey even in the most difficult times. May you feel Him crying with you, hurting with you, and laughing with you. May you feel His everlasting, enduring love enveloping you completely as you move forward in confidence and faith in Him. Shalom!
If you’d like to read the other uplifting articles and stories from the Endurance issue of Charis Woman magazine, you can order here: http://www.chariswomen.com/shop
Genesis 15:5-6 “Look up at the sky and count the stars(L)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”(M)6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
This is God’s astonishing promise to Abram and Abram actually believed it. That’s the astonishing part to me……he believed, and it was credited to him as (holiness).
I tried to put myself in Abram’s place and here’s what I came up with. “Joyce, I promise you my unconditional love and a place prepared in heaven for you. I will never leave or forsake you. You will be used in a mighty way for me,” says God. I reply, “But God, that’s too good to be true. You don’t know my thoughts and how unloving I have been at times. I’m sure you didn’t love me when I ……. I have failed You so many times. I’m really not worthy!” How different my life could have been if I had just said, “Ok, then, so be it! I will believe and accept all You say about me.” How about you? Have you ever felt unworthy of God’s amazing love? Are you living like the beautiful favorite daughter you are in Him?
I’m so thrilled to say I believe more today than ever before that God’s love is unconditional and that I can trust Him to do what He says He will do. But there are still times when I think, how can this be, because I am not talented enough, smart enough, spiritual enough, rich enough, disciplined enough, strong enough. Oh, shame on me, because I know better. If I were all those things I wouldn’t need Him, I would do it all on my own! Thank You, God, I am not enough, but YOU are MORE than enough! You continually call me into “more” for Your glory.
Thank You Jesus for taking my “not enough” and adding Your “more than enough” to transform my life. Thank You for taking me just as I am and making me what You designed me to be. Thank You for understanding my excuses but not accepting them, and for calling me out of them to Your glorious truth and light!
Genesis 13:14The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.(AG)15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever.
Abram and Lot were both so prosperous that the land became too small for them, and they needed to part ways to make it work. Abram is the one who comes up with the solution and gives Lot, his nephew, the choice to look at the land and choose his destiny. Lot chose the best land, the plains of Jordan, for himself. Abram was left in Canaan to make the best with what he had. It seemed Lot got the better deal and Abram’s humble pie backfired on him, until God stepped in and told Abram to look around him and behold how God was going to bless him. I noted that Abram didn’t complain or become angry that Lot had taken what appeared to be the best. He had given the choice with a pure heart and did not look back. He seemed quite confident and comfortable with what God had given him. He simply moved on and continued to breed his flocks and carry on in the manner that had brought him great wealth to begin with. Not only did Abram get 100-fold what he gave up, but his inheritance is continuing today. Lot got only pain and heartache for his selfishness. I can’t help but wonder if Lot had chosen differently and Abram had been given the plains of Jordan, if history would have been different for Sodom and Gomorrah?
I think about how I feel when I give the choice to my neighbor (anyone in my path), and they take the best and leave me with what’s left. Somehow, I often seem to be lacking the kind of faith and contentment Abram had. I sometimes resent giving that choice at all, or I give it expecting the other person to give it back but when they don’t I resent it. Hum…? Not good. Conviction noted, forgiveness needed, but most of all more faith, confidence, and contentment, trusting God to take care of my needs Lots to still learn!
God, You have declared Your unconditional love for me and promised to meet all my needs according to Your riches in Christ Jesus! I know that, in my head, and You have been pouring it into my heart, but there is still an empty spot that needs to be filled to overflowing. Please, Father, continue pouring until there is such an overflow that I do not even hesitate to offer and give generously in obedience to You, with joy and contentment!! Help me to leave my choices in Your hands.
Genesis 9:14. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked(AD) and told his two brothers outside.
Today, two truths jumped off the page as I read this chapter. First, is the rainbow. How can we not get excited when we see a rainbow! I realized the rainbow was not just so that we would remember the covenant, but for God who said He would remember each time He saw it.
Second, the verse and situation that really caught my attention was Noah’s nakedness when he was drunk, and Ham’s response. When Ham saw his father’s nakedness (sin) he shouted it to the world, so to speak. Come, look, he said to himself and then to his brothers, look at our father’s sin. How disgusting! Immediately, we see Ham’s heart was far from pure. Probably with a measure of self-righteous pride, he announced his father’s sin. Shem and Japheth, on the other hand, responded with compassion and offered grace to their father by covering him. Maybe they were thinking Noah would realize his sinful behavior and seek forgiveness. Noah recognized their behavior as righteous while Ham’s was reprehensible and thus, he cursed Ham and blessed Shem and Japheth.
Wow! How do I treat the sins of others? Do I purposely expose them to make myself look good? Do I shout it out to shame them? Or,do I offer the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ to cover their sinful nakedness. Do I cover them in prayer and offer compassion, since I am a sinner saved by the grace of that covering? Will I be blessed for my compassion or cursed for my critical, self-righteous spirit.
Lord, Jesus, thank You for covering my sins with Your blood, so I can walk in faith and the righteousness of God. Thank You for having compassion on my soul and covering me with Your feathers and hiding me under Your wings of protection and love. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Help me to extend that compassion and love to others!!
Noah had done everything the Lord commanded and now his family and all the animals were safe in the ark. “Then the Lord shut him in.” God didn’t shut Noah out, He shut him in to keep him safe. Shut in on an ark with his family and hundreds of animals…Hum? Sound like Paradise? Just imagine feeding all those animals, and when you feed animals, nature takes over and…well you know what I mean. Add a year with your grown children who think they know more than you do. Somehow, I imagine those were the most challenging 365 days of Noah’s life.
Have you ever been “shut in” by God? You have done what He asked of you, and you feel pretty good about your obedience and then,” Wham!”, He shuts you in. Since You have been obedient, surely your “shut-in” (waiting) time will be spent on the beaches of Hawaii relaxing after all your hard work. Not! At least not for Noah and often not for us either. Seems there are lessons that can only be learned during those uncomfortable “shut-in” days. But be reminded, you are not being “shut out,” but “shut in” with God. Only when the waiting is over, do we see the destruction He kept us from and the awesome future He was preparing for us.
Lord, I have been shut-in by You and I remember the pain and confusion. I knew I had been obedient, but You stopped me in my tracks and seemingly put me in an ark of testing. Then, when the time was right and the way was safe, You released me to an even greater and more fulfilling work than I could have imagined. Thank You for the ark of safety and testing. The beauty of the ark is that it kept my focus on You. Thank You for knowing just the right time to release me for service. The rain only lasted 40 days, but the rainbow is a forever reminder of God’s grace. Every time I see a rainbow may I remember my personal ark and rejoice in Your awesome promise and protection.
Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Cain and Abel both had a choice in their offering to God. Abel brought fat from the firstborn of his flock, “his best”. Cain brought “some” fruit from his labors. When God asks Cain this question, He is giving him a chance to repent to make it right. God warns Cain that the way he is proceeding will lead to sin because the enemy desires to trick him just like he did his mother and father. Cain, like Eve doesn’t take God at His word.
Once again God is confirming the gift of choice. Even after we have sinned, He offers the opportunity to choose life. Here we find man again doing his own thing and expecting God to bless it. When God confronts Cain, He does so as an act of loving compassion and offers him the opportunity for a do-over. If Cain truly desired to have fellowship with God, he would have repented on the spot and asked how to please God with his sacrifice? Instead, he walks away intent on taking matters into his own hands. Thus, he suffers for his wrong choice.
Every choice we make brings blessing or a curse. My experience has taught me that God is compassionate and forgiving, but I always suffer physically, mentally, or emotionally for my wrong choices. The blessing is, when I repent of those choices, He often turns my wrong choices into lessons that lead to a blessing. Even when I bear the scars of those wrong choices, He uses them for His glory. The scars are actually a sign of repentance and healing.
Thank You, Father, for offering life and blessing, forgiveness and restoration. Thank You for not giving up on me but offering hope and a second chance. I gladly proclaim, “You are good, and Your mercy endures forever.” I will sing of the goodness and mercy of my God!!
One of my favorite oldies. Listen and give thanks for your scars.
Genesis 3:4-5NIV“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The walking, talking serpent tempted Eve with something good, knowledge. She already knew about her world, and she knew God who walked and talked with her daily. She could have asked him any question at any time and gotten an answer, but she did not know about tomorrow; she only knew today with God. The idea of knowing what God knew was not only tempting, but dangerous. With temptation comes choice. We understand that man at creation had the gift of choice breathed into him along with the gift of life. So, when Eve was tempted, she had the choice to trust that God was good and would tell her what she needed to know or accept the serpent’s temptation causing her to doubt.
Since Eve, men and women have doubted God. In fact, I believe every act of disobedience stems from doubt. Will He do what He promised, if I do what He asks? Will He provide for my needs if I give Him my tithe? Will He be there when the world comes crashing in on me? Will He still love me if I fail Him in some way? The question is how have I doubted God in the past, and am I doubting today? When I choose faith over feelings, doubt is defeated. “Choose” means I MOVE in the direction of my faith, rather than chewing and stewing on my doubt.
Father, give me courage to choose faith when doubt is hovering over me. Help me to act on the fact of Your Word, not my fickle feelings, and to wait for You to move the mountain or provide a path around, over or through it. May memories of over 70 years of your faithfulness to me take precedence over every and any temptation to doubt Your sovereignty and grace in my life.
Journey with Joyce 