When you feel like a failure...

This song is a great reminder of these truths...

 

I started reading the book of John this morning. I was searching for who Jesus is in the descriptions of Him as God incarnate and I started a list:

• He has always been with God.
• He made all things come into being.
• He is full of life.
• He shines through darkness.
• The world didn't know Him.
• The world didn't receive Him.
• He gave the right to become children of God to those who did receive Him.
• He became flesh and lived among us.
• He was full of GRACE and TRUTH.
• He takes away our sin.
• There was no deceit in Him.
• He zealously defended God's house.
• He knows what is in our hearts.
• He came to save, not to judge (John 3:17).
• He was full of the Spirit.
• He can give eternal life.
• He is powerful.
• He only did what the Father did.
• He gives life.
• He does everything in accordance with the Father's will.
• He knows all things. 

The first thing that stuck out to me as I read was that God knows everything about us (John 2:25). He knows the good and He knows the bad. He knows it, first, because He is God and God knows everything, and He knows it because He lived as one of us! He was God, but He was also man. He experienced things just as we do.

Even though He knows the evil that lives inside of us, ". . . God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." God sent His Son, Jesus, not to judge and condemn us, but to save us (John 3:16-17).

 

This got me thinking... God sent Jesus to save us so that we might have eternal life and if we believe in Him, we have it. It's as simple as that... and yet we strive and strive to do things the right way because God will look on us with favor. In John 5:29-30 it says, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life." These verses are saying that we are caught up in the wrong things! In my life, I don't pray very often because I don't want to pray until I know I'm doing it right. I also don't like to have devotions because I feel like I have to get my schedule under control before I can have proper devotions. This verse challenged me that there is no "right" way. We are fallen creatures and are lost without Jesus. When He came to die on the cross, He took care of all of my "rightness complex." Jesus knew everything about me, came to save me, and wiped my slate clean! I can come to Him in prayer even if it may not be the best. I can do devotions today because He only wants me to come to Him.

 

One of the last verses I read had a profound impact on me: "So Jesus said to them, 'My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.'" (John 7:6). This is almost like a warning, but more of an encouragement. Jesus knew there was still time for people to come to Him. It applied then and it applied now. While we are living on this earth, we STILL have time to come to Him. Whether that means we come to Him for the first time and seek a relationship with Him, or whether we come to Him after time and time again of feeling like a failure. Our time to come to Jesus is always opportune.

Will you heed this encouragement? Take the time today to come to Jesus... it'll be the best choice you ever make!

an everlasting covenant

Today I've been struggling with a lot of fear. I've been drifting away from God every day. I feel lost. I want to get back to where I used to be in my relationship with God. I feel so spiritually dead. Tonight, I was talking to a friend about God's commitment to His children. I asked them if God would ever push His children away, or not call them back to Him after they went away. Honestly, I'm questioning God's faithfulness. A couple of weeks ago, I checked out a stack of books from the library. One of the books is titled "50 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die" by: John Piper. I looked at reason #14: To bring us to faith and keep us faithful. Piper talks about the terms of God's covenant made with the blood of His Son, Jesus. He quotes a verse from Jeremiah where God says, "... this is the covenant that I will make... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts....for I will forgive their iniequity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Piper says that the covenant is sure and certain because it is bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. God secures our faithfulness. In Jeremiah 32:40, God says, "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." God givesme a new heart and a new security with Christ. He won't let me turn from Him. He'll keep me as His child. His covenant is guaranteed... it is bought with the precious, priceless blood of His Son, Jesus. Here's a final thought I found in Isaiah 59:21. "As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the Lord: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the Lord, "from now and forever."

I just think it's so amazing how God saved me, made me His child, and promises to keep me forever. I'm listening to this song right now... and it speaks my praise to God. It's called "Here in Your Presence":

"Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonder
Kings and their kingdoms are standing amazed.
Here in Your presence we are undone.
Here in Your presence heaven and earth become one.
Here in Your presence all things are new.
Here in Your presence everything bows before You.

Wonderful, glorious, matchless in every way.
Wonderful, glorious, matchless in every way.
Wonderful, glorious, matchless in every way."

Daily Lessons: 1 Corinthians 1 & 2

As I read through 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 these past few days, a few things stuck out.

1. God is wiser and stronger than any man.
2. No man can boast because God is strongest and wisest.
3. We are God's children only because He chose us.
4. To know NOTHING but Christ crucified. He is the only reason we do anything. We have no ground for boasting because Jesus Christ is the reason that we are here.

These are wonderful reminders that I think I usually forget about. God is strongest, wisest, and greatest. He is in control and I am only here because of Him!