In Step With the Spirit

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” — Galatians 5:25

When you learn to dance, you can’t help but focus on the footwork. You watch your feet, determined to make them move where told and avoid having them step where they shouldn’t (hopefully missing your partner’s feet). But you soon learn to stop focusing so much on the footwork and pay attention to your dance partner, learning to communicate with a deft touch where to go at the instant you need to go there. Soon, you find yourself in tune with your partner, and your feet simply follow their lead.

Paul exhorts us in Galatians 5:13-26 to avoid the acts of the flesh and let our lives reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He instructs us that we can indeed do this if we keep in step with the Spirit. This can be like learning to dance. At first, we focus on our footwork, watching to avoid stepping into discord, rage, selfish ambition, envy and the like. We try to remember to love that person, be joyful, be kind and be self-controlled. Our actions can seem mechanical, missing any rhythm. Fortunately, our partner is the Holy Spirit, and He keeps communicating and leading. At some point, we find ourselves beginning to pay attention to the touch of the Spirit, sensing where He is leading without looking at our feet. We find that our actions become a reflection of Him, and we become more in tune with following His lead.

Let’s focus on the touch of the Spirit — the companion Jesus gave us for life’s dance — and fall in step with Him.

Our God hears,
Mark Petersen

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The Ocean of God's Mercy

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope; the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:21-23 (ESV)

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the LORD has forgiven you, so you must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” — Colossians 3:12-14 (ESV)

Gazing from the water’s edge, the vastness of the ocean seems as immeasurable as God’s unfathomable mercy. Grateful for God’s ocean of mercy, provided by the Father’s redemptive love for us through His Son’s death and resurrection, we are free to extend the mercy we have received to others in need.

Mercy is who God is, so it is eternal and infinite. The Lord’s display of mercy was foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Behind the veil in the Holy of Holies, the mercy seat was approached annually on the Day of Atonement by the high priest, who sprinkled blood on it to receive forgiveness for the sins of the community. God’s presence, the shekinah glory, rested between the two cherubim above the mercy seat of the ark.

God remains merciful, even though He knows what we’re like. Although none of us deserve His mercy, all of us, no matter who we are, receive His mercy. If we don’t realize the magnitude of our sin, the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross won’t seem that large. But when we understand the true condition of our hearts, His sacrifice will inspire deep love for Him and for others. A visible proof that we are sons and daughters of the King is when we begin to take on God’s nature of showing mercy to others with cheerfulness (Romans 12:8).

God promises to show Himself merciful to the merciful (2 Samuel 22:26). He gladly prepares and empowers us for whatever He expects of us. He gives us the strength we need when we trust Him and do whatever He says. Mercy surrounds whoever trusts in Him (Psalm 32:10). “Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

How can we keep our wells filled up for responding in mercy and compassion with cheerfulness when we’re deeply hurt by someone we know? Christ has opened the way so that the glory of God will illuminate our lives in every circumstance. Ask God to give you a greater hunger to live in His presence. Be eager to explore His attributes in your First 20. If we can better understand what our Lord Jesus is like, then we’ll become captivated, allowing Him to transform us into His nature. Prayer opens the way to allow the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and minds. When we ask for His help, He provides all that we need from His powerful resources. We have confidence that He will show us mercy when we come to His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

The prophet Jeremiah had been going through prolonged trials, and all his hopes were dashed. Then he remembered that God’s mercies never come to an end. Our strength lies in the Lord, not in ourselves. Trust Him as you cast yourself on His mercy. The One who holds the universe will not let go of you. Call on Him and He will answer you. God can never cease to be merciful, for this is His divine character. Steeped in His mercy, we can turn aside rather than retaliate when we’ve been hurt. Jesus, the ultimate example while on the cross, prayed on behalf of those who killed Him, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Let’s freely jump into His unending ocean of mercy! Let’s pray, “Kyrie eleison” – Lord have mercy on us, — for the Lord can’t wait to answer us! After all, our gracious Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8)!

Our God Hears,
Barb Wibling

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Real Love

“I have loved you … with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” – Jeremiah 31:3

“This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” – 1 John 4:10

“... since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love one another” – 1 John 4:11

God deeply desires for us to know how much He loves us. When we read His Word, we see unfathomable expressions of God's love for us – an everlasting unfailing love that draws us near to Him. The parables Jesus shares in Luke 15 demonstrate that, no matter our condition, His love and care for us remains.

How many times have we become distracted with worries, cares and responsibilities? Like the lost sheep, we have wandered far away from Him. No matter how far we have strayed, He searches, finds us, and brings us back to Him with great love and joy. 

Can you remember a time that you were in a dark place, feeling lost and abandoned, because of rejection, hurts, pain and grief? When my mother passed away, I thought I would never feel happy again, only deep sadness. Since we are as precious and valuable as a silver coin, He shines His light into that dark place. He removes all obstacles, cleans our wounds, and brings us back into His loving hands. He spoke words of light, life and love into my heart, which restored my joy! 

Sadly, we often choose the path of self-reliance and independence. We take our God-given gifts and talents and attempt to accomplish things without Him. We ignore His plans for us and seek to live our own way. Inevitably, we find ourselves facing insurmountable difficulties, sinking into quagmires of our own making. 

But we can run back to our loving Father and confess our sins to Him just like the prodigal son. He will receive us with joy, love, favor and blessings. For those of us who are like the older brother and have stayed close to the Father, He assures us there is no need for jealousy and anger, but that everything He has is ours. 

God reveals “how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world, that we may have eternal life through Him” (1 John 4:9). Because of His great love for each of us, “we surely ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). This love is perfected through faithfully reading His Word, praying His Word and obeying His Word. Only then can we grasp how much God loves us and place our trust in His love (1 John 4:16). 

“As we live in God, our love grows more perfect ... we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:16-17). The people of this world are searching for answers and relief from their pain. They need to see God. “But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4:11). So, let’s throw aside, in humility and obedience, our self-serving ambitions and differences – differences in our race, culture, socioeconomic status and gender. Let’s showcase to the lost in this world real love, by loving each other because He loved us first (1 John 4:19).

Our God Hears!
Nonna Neal

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Believing the Promise in the Dark

It’s Good Friday. Today, we remember Jesus going to the cross as His disciples struggled to believe the words He spoke about a coming salvation. In that moment, it was a dark day for the followers of Jesus. Admittedly, sometimes as I read God’s promises in Scripture, it is difficult for me to really claim them as true for me. Recently, I have been struggling with migraines that have made pain and being confined to my bed an all too familiar experience. Spending most of my career as one who helped others with their pain and health, this has been not only a physically debilitating time in my life, but also an emotional and spiritual one that has brought me to my knees.

I have found myself looking to circumstances or the way I feel as evidence of whether God’s promises are true and if He really loves me. This has led me to an empty, dark place that leads me striving to prove myself to others, to God and even to myself.

Galatians 3:22 teaches, “But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.” God's promises are true for us — not because of anything we do or don't do, but simply because He lovingly places them on us. We can't earn them through our accomplishments or a checklist. We can’t validate them through our feelings or circumstances. We can only come to experience them through a relationship with Christ. Whether it be through fire or flood, God’s promises are true. 

Perhaps like me, you are finding yourself in a difficult season and wondering if God’s promises are true … for you. Our God sees, our God hears, and His promises are yours. Cling to them. Claim them. He sent His one and only son to declare His promise over you. As it states in Psalm 119, “Your promise preserves my life.” This promise has a name, and His name is Jesus.

On Good Friday, we are reminded that Christ bore our sins on His shoulders as He hung on the cross, so that we could be healed of our brokenness and restored to our Father in Heaven. Now, we have access to the full inheritance of God’s promises as children of God.

As you pray today, ask God to show you specifically where you might need to claim His promises and align with Christ. Ask Him to help you believe His promises are true, and to give you an expectant heart to see them take root and grow. Jesus welcomes you with open arms and longs to show you His promises are true.

Our God hears,
Jennifer Cardinal

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Freed to Love

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, so you are to love one another. – John 13:34

Paul writes beautifully in Galatians 3 regarding our freedom in Christ. He states clearly that, in Jesus, we are set free from the law as a path to justification. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given faith in God that is counted as righteousness. We have been set free from the law of sin and death. But what have we been set free for? I believe God has freed us to live from love.

In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus goes on to explain that the law and the message of the prophets (the entire Old Covenant) are fulfilled in these two commands. 

But He has taken us a step further in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, so you are to love one another.” We are no longer called to love from our own strength. Jesus has become our Savior. He is our righteousness. We are called to love supernaturally from our identification with Him. The best way to grow in our identification with Jesus, and thereby grow in love, is by spending time with Him and allowing Him to love us just as we are.

So, I’ll say again, the thing I like most about the First 20 is that it started with no agenda other than to spend time with Jesus and get to know Him. He is our Savior, He is our friend, and He is our freedom. Take time each day to taste His goodness and be transformed.

Our God hears,
Joe Halpin

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Pursuing an Encounter: Part Two

Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. — Exodus 33:11a

A study of the great revivalists of history will reveal one unmistakable fact. Each woman or man who would be used mightily by the Lord to draw many to Jesus had a profound personal encounter with God first that would forever change the trajectory of their lives. This is certainly true of Charles Finney. 

Last week, we left Finney returning from the woods where he had just given his life to Jesus, miraculously leaving all his guilt and despair behind. What happened next to the young attorney was extraordinary, and would indelibly mark his life with the personal presence of God. Charles Finney had a face-to-face encounter with Jesus. 

Having no appetite, he returned from the woods to the empty law office at dinnertime. Charles decided to take down his viola, beginning to play and sing some hymns and sacred songs. As soon as he did, tears came to his eyes. It was as if his heart had turned to liquid within him. Every word filled him with emotion to the point that he finally put up his instrument and stopped singing.

FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

As night set, Charles said goodnight to his colleague, Judge Wright, who had been involved in moving books and furniture from one office to another all that evening. Charles described what happened at that moment:

“I had accompanied him to the door; and as I closed the door and turned around, my heart seemed to be liquid within me. All my feelings seemed to rise and flow out; and the utterance of my heart was, ‘I want to pour my whole soul out to God.’ The rising of my soul was so great that I rushed into the room back of the front office, to pray. 

There was no fire, and no light, in the room; never the less it appeared to me as if it were perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. On the contrary it seemed to me that I saw him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet…I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears; and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched him, that I recollect. 

I must have continued in this state for a good while; but my mind was too much absorbed with the interview to recollect anything that I said. But I know, as soon as my mind became calm enough to break off from the interview, I returned to the front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. 

FILLED WITH WAVES OF LIQUID LOVE

But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings. 

No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, “I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.” I said, “Lord, I cannot bear any more”; yet I had no fear of death.” *

From that moment on, Charles became an evangelist. He never practiced law again. His life was utterly transformed by this encounter with Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon him. Now he was committed to preaching the Gospel of Jesus. Finney went on to become the effective revival evangelist of the Second Great Awakening and the president of Oberlin College (1851–1865), which was actively engaged in the abolition movement to end slavery. 

May the story of Charles Finney encourage you to pursue your own encounter with Jesus. The world is longing for you to meet Jesus personally and live your life out of the overflow of His presence. This week, in your First 20, may you meet Him face-to-face.

Our God Hears,
AJ

*Quotes taken from “God’s Generals: The Revivalists,” by Roberts Liardon.

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Pursuing an Encounter: Part One

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. — Jeremiah 29:12-13 (NIV)

New England revivalist Charles Finney (1792-1875) was credited with leading more than half a million people to Jesus. His methods and doctrine laid the foundation for revival services as we know them today. Finney’s preaching catalyzed the Second Great Awakening in America and transformed New England from impotent Calvinism to effective evangelism wherever he went.

One powerful aspect of his conversion story is the way Finney relentlessly pursued an encounter with Jesus. On Wednesday morning, October 10, 1821, 29-year-old Charles Finney was desperate to find God. Overcome with a fear of going to hell, the young attorney took a detour while on the way to work, heading out into the woods instead of to the law office that morning. 

Charles had walked these woods many times before, but this journey would be unlike any he’d made before. Hiking out a quarter mile into the forest, he found a place where some trees had fallen together and formed a partially covered enclosure. Charles climbed in among the fallen trees, knelt to pray and decided, “I will give my heart to God, or I never will come down from here.”* 

Mumbling in despair and afraid that someone might be watching, Charles felt foolish, self-conscious and discouraged, but he determined not to leave that place unchanged. As he wrestled to find words to pray, another noise caught his attention, and he looked to see if someone had followed him. Suddenly, he saw his pride. More afraid that someone should see him than he was that he wasn’t saved, Charles said to himself, 

““What! ... such a degraded sinner as I am, on my knees confessing my sins to the great and holy God; and ashamed to have any human being, and sinner like myself, find me on my knees endeavoring to make my peace with my offended God!”* 

Suddenly, a Scripture passage came to his mind:

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:12-13

Charles seized on the message of these verses with all his inner strength, crying out: 

“Lord, I take thee at thy word. Now thou knowest that I do search for thee with all my heart, and that I have come here to pray to thee; and thou hast promised to hear me.”* 

At this very moment, Charles was able to open his heart, and as he did, God filled it with promises from His Word. Charles accepted each personally, as if it had been made to him alone, and he clung to them like a drowning man would cling to a branch or tree limb offered from the shore. 

Charles returned after his time in the woods with no idea how long he’d been there. As he walked back toward his office, he thought, “If I am ever converted, I will preach the Gospel.”* It was then and there that he realized … the despair for his soul was completely gone — he had no conviction of sin in his heart. Charles could not get over the peace that now filled his heart as he returned to town to discover that it was dinnertime. He had been in the woods all day. 

May this story ignite a fresh passion in you to pursue your own encounter with Jesus. Charles made a vow not to leave those woods before he gave his heart to God. What do you need to give to God today? Are you carrying the burden of loved ones and friends who don’t yet know Jesus? Give their names over to Jesus again today. Are you feeling distracted or overcome by difficult circumstances that are keeping you from Jesus? Make a bold declaration that you will not relent until you encounter your God today. The enemy will try anything to keep our attention elsewhere, but we have resolved to seek Him with all our heart. And He has promised to answer us and light a fire in our hearts that burns with His love. 

Look forward to Part 2 of Finney’s great encounter with Jesus next week. 

Our God Hears,
AJ

*Quotes taken from “God’s Generals: The Revivalists,” by Roberts Liardon.

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The God of Grace

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” — Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

“From the fullness of His grace, we have received one blessing after another.” — John 1:16 (NIV)

“But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me, in order that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone … but I went away into Arabia.” — Galatians 1:15-17b (ESV)

On the front page of a church bulletin, the senior pastor penned these words of God’s grace: “Where the LESS than perfect are MORE than welcome.” God’s exceedingly rich attribute of grace is unfathomable, flowing out from His infinite heart. God in His goodness yearns to bless us, even though we don’t deserve it. Jesus is the channel through which God’s grace flows. Grace is released into our lives when we humbly admit that we aren't as good, capable and faithful as we like to think we are. When we surrender control of our lives by faith to God’s Gospel of grace, we begin to experience the freedom that Jesus paid for us by His death on the cross. When we believe Jesus is enough, our hearts are open to receive all the grace He offers. The freer we are in acknowledging the messes of our lives, the greater His grace abounds as we come in prayer to His throne. The emptier we are, the more He keeps filling our lives from His fullness — providing grace upon grace, and blessing upon blessing.

The golden thread of God’s grace is woven throughout history, where it can be tangibly traced in Scripture. The amazing grace God showed Noah (Genesis 6:8) and Moses (Exodus 33:17) is still exhibited today. Of all the biblical testimonies to God’s grace, Paul’s is a standout. God illuminated his heart with the truth of who He is, and Saul went from persecutor of Jesus to Paul the preacher of Jesus. Apostle Paul was called by God at an appointed time in history to advance His Word throughout the world. To make significant Kingdom impact, Paul realized that spending time alone with His Savior was essential. Therefore, after his encounter with the Living God, we read that Paul went to Arabia for three years, where Jesus prepared him to become one of the greatest examples of God’s grace.

We, too, need to set apart time alone with Jesus to get to know His heart and to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. As we spend our First 20 with Him, seeking Jesus in the Scriptures, we can pray through the promises of God, which all have their “Yes” in Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:20) Spending unhurried time listening to His voice, we can journal our reflections. Then we’re able to look back on the blessings of His glorious grace. Good habits aren’t created overnight, but all good things come to us as gifts through God’s grace.

God has a plan for each of us. As we continue to spend intentional time daily with Him in prayer and worship, He will make our purpose clear, and we’ll grow in His grace. The more deeply we get to know God through intimate fellowship, the more His grace is multiplied to us. By choosing to let God make us vessels into which He keeps pouring His grace, our lives will be transformed to become more like Him. Responding to His bountiful grace with overflowing gratitude, we’ll be blessed with His true joy and the peace of His presence.

Our God hears!
Barb Wibling

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