Sent from heaven...

John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (WEB)

In this Scripture, Jesus is telling His disciples that He has to leave them. Can you imagine how they must have felt? After all, they had left everything to follow Jesus and now He was telling them that He had to go away. In the natural mindset, this was probably the worst news that the disciples could have heard. What would they do without their friend and Master? Where would they go, etc.?

I think that this Scripture gives us a clear picture of how God's ways are higher than our ways. From our earthly perspective, things can be appearing like they are 'going off of the rails' so to speak in our lives. Because we often do not see with a heavenly perspective, we have difficulty believing that 'all things will work together for our good' as Paul declared in Romans 8:28.

For Jesus' disciples, the short term loss of their Rabbi would have been devastating. But from Jesus' perspective, it was absolutely necessary for the Spirit of God to be poured out on all flesh. From the disciples' vantage point, they must have felt like they were being abandoned. However, from heaven's view, Jesus was making the way in which He, His Father and the Holy Spirit could live in our hearts forever.

My prayer today is that we would all be able to see a little more clearly from heaven's eternal vantage point, rather than from our own temporal perspective. Because of what our elder brother did on the cross, we now have God Himself indwelling the hearts of every believer around the world. What seemed devastating at the time, was the greatest victory this universe has ever seen. May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear from a Kingdom vantage point.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; 18 while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (WEB)

Wait for Yahweh...

Psalm 37:34-36
34 Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. 36 But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found. (WEB)

In today's Bible passage, there is a wonderful promise... Wait for the Lord and keep His way and He will exalt you to inherit the land. But how long are we supposed to wait? I think the short answer is... As long as it takes. I don't know about you, but I have had times where I have felt like I was waiting for an eternity for things to come to pass. Now I know that this is a bit of an exaggeration, but my point is that waiting is not always easy.

The very act of waiting and the pressure it creates can almost make time slow down. For example, have you ever been at a red light waiting for it to turn green and it seems like it is taking forever to change? Each second of waiting can feel like a minute! Or have you ever listened to a speaker who likes to pause in between thoughts when they preach? If we are not comfortable with the silence that is created, these few second pauses can feel like they are lasting a long time!

My point is that while waiting for a red light can be difficult, how much more difficult is it for us to live our lives in a continual posture of waiting on the Lord? Yet it is in the very process of waiting that our faith is refined. My prayer for all of us today is that we would be able to find the peace that passes our understanding in the midst of our times of waiting.

No matter how long we have to wait, may we all be encouraged to know that our Father always keeps His promises! Those that wait on the Lord WILL inherit the land! Since God knows the end from the beginning, He knows how our life story is going to end... WE ALL WIN!

No matter how reassuring it is to know that we will eventually win, we still have to live with the tension of getting from today to the ultimate fulfillment of all His promises... and that is where the waiting comes in. May our Father give us the grace that we need and the peace to calm even the most anxious heart so that we can learn to embrace a lifestyle of waiting on Him.

Isaiah 40:30-31
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; 31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint. (WEB)

He who has begun a good work in you...

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (WEB)

You are not the author and finisher of your faith... Jesus is (Hebrews 12:2). What God began when He chose you to be part of His family before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5) will be completed when we all see Jesus face to face on that glorious day.

And every day between then and now, we have the precious Holy Spirit living in us, helping us, strengthening us and equipping us to live out of the abundance that our Father has given us in His Son (John 10:10). Even when we have times of doubt, God understands and will remain faithful to us because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

My prayer today is that we would all be able to rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ that is already present in our lives right now even though there are times when we struggle to believe it ourselves.  When our Father looks at us, He sees His beloved Son. Since He knows the end from the beginning, He sees us as we are in Christ and not as we see ourselves apart from Christ.

May we all have the strength today to keep running the unique race that is marked out for us. All the while, fixing our eyes on Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith. Our Father began this good work in us and it is His faithfulness that will complete it on that glorious day of Jesus Christ. May faith rise up in our hearts today say 'yes and Amen!' to this wonderful promise.

Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (WEB)