When our bodies are weak...

"The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
Matthew 26:41

It has been my experience time and time again that when I desperately need to seek after God and spend time in His Word and spend time with Him in prayer I find myself physically tested and tempted to go the other direction and turn my brain off. 

Jesus said these words when his disciples fell asleep while Jesus was praying. They were supposed to keep watch and stay awake. They were supposed to keep an attentive ear and eye to Jesus. What happened? They got tired. They fell asleep. I am the same way too many times... how about you?

Father, help us in our times of tiredness and weakness! Father, change the desires of our hearts so that we want you and your wisdom and your relationship more than any other thing in this world - and may that be ever more evident when we are tempted to sleep or "veg" or "turn our brains off" instead of seeking you!

Trusting in Promises, not Providences

This blog post really captured an incredible truth for us to live by especially in light of 2 Peter 1:3-4 which says:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Trust Promises, Not Providences

December 18, 2007 | By: Jon Bloom

This morning my assistant, Bryan DeWire, found out his father, who 24 hours ago seemed in fine health, didn’t make it through emergency heart surgery. This afternoon, my wife called me in tears to update me on a very difficult day trying to raise and teach 5 young children. Very different, yet real and painful experiences of God’s providential reign in lives of Christians I love.

Also this morning I read this sentence in a pamphlet titled, “Honey Out of the Rock,” by Puritan Thomas Wilcox,

“Judge not Christ’s love by providences, but by promises.”

Experiences are very powerful. They often feel more powerful than promises. So it's tempting to interpret prosperity and ease as God’s blessing and tribulation as God’s displeasure. And sometimes they are. But often they are not.

Actually, what we see all the way through the Bible is the Lord training his disciples to trust his promises more than providences. Think of Abraham and Sarah waiting for Isaac, or Jacob losing Rachel, or Joseph in slavery and prison, or Job’s suffering, or David running from Saul. Think of Lazarus and the heartbreak of his death and the constant tribulations of Paul. And of course Jesus set the ultimate example by looking to the joy set before him as he endured the cross (Heb 12:2).

Strange, isn’t it? In the Bible pain is often the path to unspeakable joy and prosperity is often an obstacle to it. What’s going on?

Simply, God wants us to treasure what we can’t see more than what we can.

“For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18).

And we find out that it’s pain more than prosperity that makes us look for what our eyes can’t see, and long for a satisfaction that doesn’t exist in this world.

So Thomas Wilcox’s advice is worth heeding. For those of us who are experiencing a bitter providence, Wilcox goes on to say,

Bless God for shaking off false foundations, for any way whereby He keeps the soul awakened and looking after Christ; better sickness and temptations, than security and superficiality.

Thank God for busy weeks and slow weeks alike!

This past week was not only jam-packed, it was draining! Every morning, I had to get up a couple hours earlier than I'm used to; this was all to be able to study and prepare for all the teaching I had to do. I look back over the week and I see God's faithfulness... But I also see his faithfulness in the upcoming week although the two weeks are completely different with regard to my responsibilities. It is truly amazing how God gives us breaks and gives us times of relief and recooperation... of course God originally intended this system since the beginning of creation by modeling it for us! 

Point: God is in control... even over our schedules, whether they are hectic or calm.