The Fullness of Time

I want to share a simple thought as we transition into the new year.

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 4:4, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

My simple thought concerning this reality is that I believe God is very precise in His timing. It's apparent that He must have certain things in place before He sends His appointed solution. This is most dramatically seen in the incarnation of the Son, but I believe it's a truth that can be applied in many different situations related to God's work in the earth and in human need.

The reason I find this very encouraging is that many of our prayers are not answered quickly and there is always strong temptation to be discouraged (lose courage and give up); in other words, the passing of time without visible answers tests our courage in prayer.

Most, if not all, of us are praying and trusting the Lord for breakthrough in one or more situations in our lives. I want to encourage you to not only continue to pray, but to pray with boldness and courage, because in the "fullness of time" when the Holy Spirit has everything set in place, He will send salvation if we pray and don't lose heart. (Luke 18:1 says, "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.")

God is after so much more than what I am asking for; in other words, He delays the breakthrough because He understands that there are people He has to change and have in place, and there are circumstances that need to be in certain order, etc., before "the fullness of time" has come.

May the Spirit of God Who never tires nor grows discouraged breathe afresh on you in this new year and fill you with courage to continue to pray with faith in the One Who sent His Salvation to the earth in the "fullness of time" - not a moment too soon nor a moment too late. He is watching over your situation with great care and counts on your partnership in prayer as He meticulously sets into place all the necessary ingredients in order for the precise moment of the manifestation of His salvation.

God bless you as you step into the next season of your journey in Him in 2009!

Today...continued...

Last week I focused on Jesus teaching His own to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread..." This week I want to add just a bit more to this.

The prayer implies a couple of things to me: one, that the Father provides for today; and two, the very wording of this prayer makes it clear that we are to pray daily, expressing our utter dependence on Him to fully live each day.

I mentioned in last week's posting that I wanted to begin to ask the Father each day for my "daily bread", and His Spirit has been faithful to remind me everyday so far to do this. I believe it will cultivate in me a way of thinking and living that is aligned with His kingdom ways and thoughts.

The Lord wants His children to be fully alive in the present, and the worries and concerns about tomorrow rob us of enjoying the only moment that we are given to live, which is this present moment. Jesus, in addressing the issue of the Father's care and provision for our temporal needs, says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." I understand Him to be saying that living today is all that I can manage and still remain fully alive in Him and in tune with His Spirit and His purposes for this day.

I believe these truths are applicable to our need for "daily bread" in all areas of our lives. I have daily need for nourishment in my spirit and in my emotional life, as well as my physical life. In fact, I need it for my inner life even more than for my physical body, which can survive without food for awhile. Jesus called Himself the Bread of life. Without asking each day for my daily Bread and feeding on Him, I can't live in fullness. Jesus says in John 6 that "...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

I have so far to grow in this, but I'm grateful for His infinite patience with me and His abundant grace by which I can grow. I pray that the year 2009 will find us trusting Him more and walking in the childlike virtue of living this day in fullness because He is our daily Bread.

Today

Early this morning as I was worshiping the Lord, the word "today" was being underscored in my heart and mind.

The Holy Spirit was reminding me that today is the only day I need provision for and that there is sufficient for today.

In days of increasing uncertainty in the financial arena, it's a comfort know and to live in the reality that God's provision is for one day at a time - today. We have grown accustomed to finding peace and security in the fact that we have "saved for a rainy day", and now the Lord is lovingly allowing all false securities to begin to unravel. I believe He's going to bring His Bride to a place of utter dependence on Him by the time He returns.

"Give us this day our daily bread..." In teaching us to pray, the Lord Jesus says to ask the Father to give us today our daily bread. I admit that I don't do this very much, and it's probably because I have enough in my refrigerator for many days (figuratively speaking), and I don't even think of asking Him to give me my daily bread today.

But I want to learn this kind of daily dependence on Him; and so I encourage you (and myself) to begin to ask Him regularly for His provision and to be content with having today's bread even if I don't know where tomorrow's bread is coming from. I believe the simple practice of asking daily for my food with thanksgiving will create in me a mindset that looks constantly to Him as my Provider rather than at other sources.

Father, thank You that You are the Source of all Life and that You faithfully provide for Your own. Send Your Spirit to remind us to look always and only to You as the One Who provides our daily bread and to ask You to give us the bread we need today, leaving tomorrow in Your capable and loving hands. Thank You, dear Father!

Ever-Present God

Many times in Scripture the Holy Spirit, through the writers of the Word, says not to fear; and the reason given for not fearing is that "the Lord is with you."

Fear is one of the most, if not the most, paralyzing emotion that we humans experience. It stops us in our tracks and keeps us from moving ahead into the fullness of knowing God and His ways.

So the promise that the Lord is with us is massive for our freedom from fear! And this promise is good for every situation where we encounter fear. If fear strikes my heart because of lack of finances, the realization that the Provider (Jehovah-jireh) has seen and known ahead of time what my need would be and that He is present with me always, brings peace and confidence to move forward in obedience even if I don't yet see the provision with my natural eyes. If fear strikes my heart because of a difficult family situation, pausing to recognize by faith that the Victorious One (Jehovah-Nissi) is with me in that moment, gives me the inner courage to walk with Him through the particular situation with anticipation of His intervention.

There is nothing that He cannot do!...and He is with me everywhere and always!

I often have my students pause and silently acknowledge in the moment that God in Christ is with them right then, no matter what's going on in their hearts and minds. Practicing His presence with us is an important spiritual discipline, because without a growing assurance and awareness that He is with us right now, right here, we cower in fear when faced with intimidating people or situations.

I'd like to urge you, if you don't already practice this, to begin to pause regularly throughout your day and simply thank Him for being with you in that very moment. It's the realization of His nearness that will gradually build confidence in you so that when fear strikes, your first thought is that you are not alone but He is with you. This brings to mind the scene in the Prince Caspian movie in which Lucy is approaching some intimidating enemies who are backing away from her in fear, not because she is strong, but because Aslan is walking right behind her, and they are terrified of him.

The emotion of fear doesn't necessarily go away, because we are always growing in trusting the Lord at new levels, but when we become more aware of His presence with us always, we are empowered to push through the emotions of fear and act in faith.

Jesus is called Emmanuel because God is with us and drew very near in His Son. May the grace to practice His presence rest on you mightily as this year transitions into a new year and may you find your heart strengthened to obey Him as you grow in awareness of His nearness. Only He is sufficient for what is coming to us in these urgent days before His return!

"...he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:5,6

As Simple as Asking

In my journey with God, I'm discovering that so much hinges on simply asking things of Him.

For example, I find that many believers don't press through in spiritual disciplines (such as regular prayer and fasting and the Word, etc.) because they have such fear of falling into legalism or spiritual pride.

I discovered long ago that one of the best ways to healthily press forward in pursuit of God (without falling into the very common trap of spiritual pride and legalism) is to simply ask the Holy Spirit to save me from those traps as I press into Him.

The reason this is so effective is that there are no human safeguards that I can come up with that can alert me to the inevitable subtle slide into pride and legalism; only the Holy Spirit knows me well enough to detect the first movements towards this sin as I pursue Him with all my heart.

And so I ask Him, "Holy Spirit, will you get my attention when You see me beginning to go down the slippery slope of pride and independence in my pursuit of God? Thank You that You delight to do this for me!" He has done this for me many times in my journey with Him, and it frees me to go after Him wholeheartedly and confidently without being held back by the fear of legalism. Then when He does alert me, I quickly repent and recalibrate my heart attitude without having to scrap the pursuit of Him. (Our tendency is that when we see legalism in our practice, we think that the way to deal with that is to forsake all spiritual disciplines.)

Another reason this is effective is that He will detect this tendency much sooner than I would, and so He can alert me before it reaches a point of being a major issue to deal with. He sees the very first sprouts of sin before they are discernible to me.

This idea of asking applies, of course, to many more areas than just the one I give as an example here. The longer I live and walk with the Lord, the more revelation I have about my identity as His daughter, and I am learning to be a daughter to Him and ask Him for all that I need, depending on His desire to care for me in all areas of my life.

I've discovered that a lot of times, rather than verbalizing a clear request to God, I sort of have this unspoken "wishing" going on inside of me. I believe He likes me to get specific and ask for what I need with specific words, whether it's a temporal need or spiritual or emotional or a need in another person I'm interceding for. This takes concentration and discipline, but it is well worth the reward of getting closer to my Father in the process of finding words to communicate with Him about a specific need.

Asking shows that the person has confidence that the one being asked is both willing and able to provide for the need, and Jesus made the way through the cross for us to approach the Father with confidence.

The Lord bless you this week, and I ask that He will breathe on you His breath of life in a fresh way. May we all learn to ask as confident children of God and as a result, find that He watches over all the aspects of our life with joy!