Survival?

 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"  

Matthew 6:25-26

Some years ago I wrote down a prayer based on what Jesus was saying in the above verses. I think it really fits for this coming year, for every year. It is my prayer for myself and for you.

"Father, deliver us from our survival mentality, living from hand to mouth. Awaken in us a desire to live by Your will, as Your child, in Your love." 

Too many of us live in survival mode. We just hope to make it through a day, a week, a year, with as little difficulty and pain as possible. We're hoping to get through, to survive. We don't really openly say this, but our "spiritual body language" betrays us. It comes out in our attitudes, our thoughts, and our words. We sing about victory in Jesus, but we too often don't really expect that, and we rarely live in it. We talk about being "more than conquerors," but most weeks we feel like the world and life have run over us.

We speak and preach about being "children of the King," but live more like orphans. We worry about never having enough, and always fear that our resources are on the verge of drying up. We live hand to mouth in our own strength, instead of heart to heart in His. We think that this is just the way of things in this fallen world. His promises of abundance are true and we believe them, but we see it is a future promise, realized in eternity. We struggle to believe that eternal life begins now, as do the riches He promises, and those riches are far more about our spirit, emotions, and minds than they are about dollars and cents. We can live richly even when our bank accounts might be showing more zeros than anything else.

For you, for me, for all of us, may He awaken in us a desire to live richly in Him.To realize who we are in Jesus Christ. To have as our experience each day, living in His will, as His children, in His love. To know this, to live this brings the faith that overcomes the world. We really do live as "more than conquerors," and not as hand to mouth survivors. This is the life we were created for in Christ. May we live it out fully in this coming year. 

Blessings,
Pastor O

New Song

 1Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

2Sing to the LORD, bless His name;

proclaim His salvation day after day.

3Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

Psalm 96:1-3

How does one sing such a song in the midst of this fallen world? A world filled with sorrow, pain, and suffering? As I look around the landscape of my life and the life of our church fellowship, I see wreckage and suffering everywhere. Loved ones lost to death. Families being torn apart. Marriages ending. Children rebelling, walking away from their families and from God. How can anyone sing any "song" other than one of hopelessness in the midst of all that? For me, for us, I think the answer is found in Scripture, as all answers are; Mr Redeemer Lives! He has not left us at the mercy of all this. He is with us. Fully, completely WITH US!

The enemy of our souls, through an unbelieving world will ask, If He is real, why does He allow this? This is a fair question if we seek to absolve ourselves from all responsibility for the existence of evil, which we do. Sin, and all the spiritual, emotional, and physical wreckage that flows from it, first entered humanity through the sin and disobedience of Adam and Eve. The human race has been tainted by it ever since and is unable to break its power. God, in His love, made a way out by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the antidote and pathway to freedom and life for all who would believe and follow Him. This does not mean that all who believe would be free from all pain and suffering. We are not. We still live in this fallen world, but our lives and eternal hope are not bound up in this it, but in Him. We are born again unto a Living Hope in Jesus Christ. Nothing in this fallen world can touch or diminish that. We are not victims in the midst of this world, but overcomers. Eternal life is at work in us right now, and in the midst of all suffering, the joy of the Lord is our strength. We have a hope that the deepest and darkest sin cannot extinguish. That is why, in the midst of the darkness, we can sing the new song. He is the Light and the Life that overcomes sin and the world system it operates through.

I rejoice today in the new song He gives me. This day and every day. It isn't dependent upon how I feel or what is happening. It's rooted in Him. It allows me, even in the deepest darkness I have or can experience, to declare His glory and His salvation. To bless His name, and sing of His glory before all the earth. I don't discount the reality of suffering. It's real. He is more real. This world and its suffering are passing. He is eternal. He is forever. My destiny isn't found here. It's found in Him. My Living Hope. Because of that I can sing the new song. Oftentimes with tears in my eyes, but the song grows greater and deeper, along with my hope.

We're in a new year. Only He knows what lies ahead for us. In whatever comes, He invites us to sing His new song. By His grace, I intend to. Will you, by His grace, sing it as well?

Blessings,
Pastor O