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December 21 - December 29, 2020
“My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness!” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. (2 Cor. 12:9 NLT)
And when He comes, He will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! (Isa. 35:5–6 NLT)
How Can I Bring Him Glory? Love means doing all we can, at whatever cost to ourselves, to help people be enthralled with the glory of God. When they are, they are satisfied and God is glorified. Therefore loving people and glorifying God are one. —John Piper
When we glorify the name of our God, He gives us the opportunity of adding weight or significance—including adulation, respect, and honor—to His reputation. He allows us the unspeakable privilege of showcasing the brightness and splendor of His great name in our dark world.
1. Breathe in His presence.
Because we live, move, and have our being in Him, as it says in Acts 17:28, it’s all too easy to take His life-sustaining grace for granted. Every day we breathe in His love, breathe in His grace, breathe in His help. And what do we exhale? A dull forgetfulness of His constant love toward us. The presence of God almost seems monotonous in a way; we become dead to the reality that apart from Him, we can’t do a thing (John 15:5).
We can’t afford to be complacent about God’s glory. The fact is that putting your Christian life on autopilot is the same thing as “walking in the flesh.” When we become unaware, when we take something so precious for granted, our prayers become tedious, witnessing becomes dry, jobs become lackluster, and relationships sag under the weight of selfishness.
2. Don’t despise the discipline of the Lord.
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
First, don’t do the extreme of making light of your hardship, thinking that it’s just a small matter that you can handle by yourself and that you don’t need any help, especially God’s.
3. Stay supercharged.
“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder” (Rom. 12:11–12 MSG).
In other words, don’t let your fuel burn down. Don’t let your light be shaded or covered over. Don’t allow your batteries to be drained.
Don’t allow the enemy of your soul to convince you that your tasks today are ho-hum and ordinary, nothing special, nothing extraordinary. Keep your batteries charged and you can’t help but have a powerful influence on others. Fully charged, like Stephen, you will be anything but average.
4. Keep a humble heart.
The simple fact is that I can’t be about glorifying myself—adding weight and luster to my own name and reputation—and the Lord at the same time. In Isaiah 42:8 He tells us, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another.”
5. Maintain a childlike wonder about life.
Cynicism will neutralize that sense of wonder in a trice; a crabby, ungrateful spirit will deny it admittance to our heart. But if we truly set ourselves to glorify our God like David, or like little Benjamin, the sheer joy of living will grow again like a shy, fragile wildflower—even in the most hostile of terrains.
6. Serve wholeheartedly.
Whoever you are, whatever your circumstances today, God commands joyfulness in your kingdom service. And that directive applies whether you’re a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, a parent picking up or dropping off kids at school, a student going to class, a resident in a nursing home, or someone getting ready to lead a Bible study.
A day of ministry in Christ’s kingdom is far better than a thousand days lived in pursuit of self-destructive pleasures. And for me (please hear me, my friend, and weigh the import of these words), a day in this wheelchair serving Him, a day representing Him though in the grip of this unrelenting pain, is better than a thousand self-fulfilled days lived pain free and on my feet. It’s a lesson people like Pam and me are learning every day.
7. Pour out your all.
What Mary did with that perfume speaks to me. There is something about “pouring it all out” in service, dedication, and love to Christ that makes your life truly fragrant. And not only your life—you become a fragrant offering, reminding the Father of all that Jesus sacrificed when He walked on earth. There’s something sweet and precious about cracking open your heart and giving your affection to the Savior in the midst of a difficult or painful situation that takes a simple testimony like yours and pushes it over the top. Because there’s nothing like a song of praise rising out of brokenness
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8. Don’t hold back on life.
He is the one who will make the most of the little I’ve got. He is the one who took note of the widow’s mite, dropped into the treasury, and affirmed that her little was worth more in heaven’s sight than the offering of those who had given much, but had much more held in reserve.
People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped. —Author Unknown
Will we allow the truth of God’s promises to change the way we see life, with all its challenges and obstacles? To ease our fears and calm our anxieties? To give us hope and confidence when there doesn’t seem to be any earthly reason for either?
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”1
God won’t always change our circumstances, but if we ask Him, He will often step in to change our perspective! He will help us catch a glimpse of life through the eyes of faith, as He sees it. And that glimpse is worth everything.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
As a matter of fact, God isn’t asking you to be thankful. He’s asking you to give thanks. There’s a big difference. One response involves emotions, the other your choices, your decisions about a situation, your intent, your “step of faith.”
It takes faith—sometimes great faith in a terrible circumstance—to choose to forgive, to choose the loving (and not angry) response.
When suffering hits us broadside, it’s bound to shake our faith a little—just as if we were driving across a high bridge in a compact car and got hit by a great gust of wind. You have to make sure you have both hands on the wheel! But trials are also meant to waken us to the truth of Daniel 11:32 (ESV), where it says, “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”
Joni, I have learned that for every one sentence you say to others about your cancer, say ten sentences about your God, your hope, and what He is teaching you, and the small blessings of each day. For every hour you spend researching or discussing your cancer, spend ten hours researching and discussing and serving your Lord. Relate all that you are learning about cancer back to Him and His purposes, and you won’t become obsessed [with fears and doubts].
Remember today, if you start talking about your health issues—or any problems, for that matter—be sure to talk also about the grace of our wonderful Lord to sustain and save!
What an amazing response! It does not say the Philippians were distressed that he was ill, but that Epaphroditus was distressed because they heard he was ill. That is the kind of heart God is aiming to create [when we suffer]: a deeply affectionate, caring heart for people. Don’t waste your [suffering] by retreating into yourself.
One of us remembered the words of Jesus to His disciples: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” And, “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (John 4:35; Matt. 9:38 ESV).
It was at that very moment that Hannah experienced a divine change in perspective. Instead of seeing the overwhelming nature of her own problems, she had “lifted her eyes” beyond herself to see someone else’s need.
A Christian who is full of joy, who is peaceful about his circumstances, is the Christian who has hope. He has the God of hope front and center in his heart.
That’s the way we are in our human nature. We fix our eyes on the trial that looms immediately before us, allowing ourselves to become gripped with fear. We say to ourselves, This is impossible! I’ll never get through this. I’ll never find a way through. I’ll never recover. I’d better brace for an impact, because it’s going to be a hard, hard hit. AHHHHHH….
realize that the key is to take your eyes off the wall and start concentrating on the future and its opportunities (steer for the open space!), rather than on the present dilemmas that freeze us into impotence.
no matter if your emotions are up or down, follow the Lord’s lead today. May the mind of Christ your Savior live in you from day to day, and ask God to simply put a song in your heart as you pick up your cross daily and follow Him.
When Christ calls me Home I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. —Adoniram Judson
There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. (John 14:2–3 MSG)
Yes, there’s work to do here on earth, but I don’t need to think I’m longing too much for heaven, because the Bible says “even so.” In other words, even though there’s lots of work, many to win, and much to accomplish, even in light of all those things, we are to long with all of our hearts and say “come, Lord Jesus.”
Yes, we humans—so enraptured with the present, the here and now, so caught up with the things we can touch and feel and see—are far too easily pleased.
Every single diamond, however, begins as black carbon that eventually turns into a precious, stunning gem. Sown in dishonor, it’s something akin to black coal. Raised in honor, carbon can become a highly valuable gemstone. It’s an illustration that always makes me think of 1 Corinthians 15:42–44: So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
I think it’s interesting that a diamond is, in its very essence, the same thing as carbon. The only difference is in how time and pressure create an entirely new substance. (Although, as I said, it is one and the same as the black lump of dirty stuff from which it came.) In the same way, my friend, my heavenly body will be a new and improved version of this old one in which I now reside. The only difference is how time and pressure (a lot of pressure) will change this earthly garment into something so bright, so precious, so perfect, so multifaceted, that it will shine like a star in the night
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Those who sow tears shall reap joy. Yes, they go out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, and return singing, carrying their sheaves. Psalm 126:5–6 TLB
No one wants a personal war, and everyone who has one would like to be rid of it. But in Christ, however, the hardships themselves are not wasted. As tools in the hands of a loving, all-wise, sovereign God, these very struggles that cause us such frustration, sadness, anxiety, and tears, will bring back benefits to our lives a thousandfold.
