(via yes-and-amen)

Things have been hard lately …

 … which is why I’ve been neglecting posting. [If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all …]. 

But, as He promises, He never leaves us nor forsakes us, and sometimes He even shows us why all that was necessary. 

He is good!

What do you live for?: this stream never runs dry →

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

whose trust IS the Lord;

He is like a tree planted by the water

who sends out its roots by the stream

and does not fear when heat comes

for its leaves remain green

and is not anxious in the year of drought

for it does not cease to bear fruit.

…

I’m beginning to understand why there are so many trees in the Bible. A tree is a perfect metaphor for so much of the Christian life - I wouldn’t be surprised if God made trees the way He did just so He could use them to teach and encourage us. 

Psalm 1, the opening psalm to the whole book, begins this way: 

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” (v 1-3, NIV).

Do I delight in the law of the LORD? 

I love that the psalm says, “yields its fruit in season”. 

And I love the last line, “Whatever he does prospers.” This doesn’t mean that everything I do will work out, nor that “everything I do will go my way” (this stream never runs dry), but it does mean that I will do nothing in vain. If I delight myself in the LORD and His Word, then He will use all that I do.

And then I will be that tree planted by springs of water. 

I love Google but …

Do something for me:

Google Image “beauty”. 

Forgive me for causing your eyes to be bombarded with redundant images. Why are white women with heavy makeup and intensive airbrushing the primarily procured image of beauty? 

God loves variety. When he created the earth and seas, everything in them, and the culmination of creation - us - he looked and said that all he had created was good. 

Celebrate with Him.  

Answer …

If Christianity – if Christ – is so good and so true [I am the way, the truth, and the life], then why is it so hard?

Surely Elohim — El Shaddai — God Almighty — The LORD [who brought you out of Egypt] — God [of your forefathers] — YHWH

could make things easier for His children? could make His voice clear, His plan obvious, and His power manifest?

Life’s not easy because You’re not easy, though.

Well then how do You expect us to come to You?

Because You’re the ANSWER. 

And if the questions are cripplingly difficult – poverty, greed, war, abuse, hate, death, anger, destruction, injustice, selfishness – how can we expect easy answers? 

Good Friday …

It’s kind of odd that we call it Good Friday.

when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. instead, he entrusted himself to Him who judges justly. he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree

We call it good because of its purpose.

so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Hosanna!

Lily of the Valley …

lily: n. a pretty, white, fragrant flower.

We are lilies, white and pure, growing in deep waters of deep valleys. Our living water is nutrient-rich because of the mountain springs that carry life from the peaks, flooding and filling our rivers and roots.

valley: n. the depths between two mountains, dark yet fertile.

No, we are lilies of the valley; small, white, delicate. We grow contagiously, outrageously, convincingly, stubbornly, and we spread like wildfire. We are so called because we find strength in the valleys, because we are tough and unstoppable.

And we are beautiful.

Argument …

Something I’ve been thinking about lately, concerning a post I read recently, Why Did God Kill So (Seemingly) Flippantly in the Old Testament?  

I always think of God in the OT as very scary, like the fear of the Lord is easier to develop if I spend more time with Him in the OT. And I know He’s the same in the NT, but it definitely doesn’t seem like it, sometimes. 

And, alright, so Jesus came to save the world not condemn it, according to John 3:17, and so God’s wrath is waiting, I suppose, ‘til Judgment Day when it will be released on the earth in full measure (Revelation 16; the seven bowls of God’s wrath).

But there’s still something about that argument that doesn’t quite convince me. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and part of His very nature is perfect justice.

…

Romans 3:23-26 says this:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV).

Basically; humanity is fallen and broken, but God takes the punishment we deserve and places it on Christ so that those who accept His sacrifice can be perfectly free of God’s wrath. 

Gospel, right there. 

But this phrase caught my attention: “in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins”. While I may look at God in the Old Testament as scary, he was being tolerant. He passed over sins then, but now that Christ has completed his work, God can show his full righteousness. 

The reason Jesus died was because of God’s justice, taking the full weight of our punishment upon himself. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree … by his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). So God’s wrath is by no means satiated or justified yet; we simply don’t see that in the New Testament because it’s sitting all on Jesus right now. And then at the end, when it’s too late to accept or reject Him, those who scorn His sacrifice will receive what Jesus offered to take for them. 

Spare us, O God. Have mercy. 

Luke 11:9

What would life be like if I believe Him when He tells me He performs miracles in this physical world for His glory? 

Zion …

for Zion’s sake, I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet

I want to see the Church (re)gain glory on the earth. I want to see her reflect the unfathomable beauty and love of her Bridegroom, with righteousness and salvation that are blindingly obvious and freely given to a dark and empty world.

till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch

I want to see communities all over the globe step up and redefine the Name of Jesus for his glory. It has been tarnished by the world, and so we fight over the past and uselessly quarrel over words (2 Timothy 2: 23). But I want these pockets of light and life scattered as salt throughout the world to re-offer the inextricably woven justice and mercy that Jesus died to give us.

I have posted watchmen on your wall, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night

I want to see His followers rise up and flourish wherever they are, speaking and acting only in integrity. I want to see them allowing their dead-to-self lives to display the perfect holiness of a God who created matter and light and chose to love them. I want to see them seek only Him and settle for nothing less than the fullness of God in every part of their lives.

I want to see men embrace their fiercely competitive warrior spirit and do battle in the very real and very ignored spiritual realm instead of in the fatally attractive and placebo-like realm of video games and movies. I want to see them dressed and prepared for war, strong and determined to radically defend and live out the gospel in its fullness.

I want to see women believe their Father when He says He created them to be beautiful and pure. I want to see them robed in white, powerfully and fearlessly walking into hopelessly dark places and bringing light and banishing darkness through the gift of righteousness they carry from their Father.

Jesus, we, your Church, will take back Your Name. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. For You are so worthy.

you who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth

Waking Dream …

I was driving this week and I had a - I’ll call it a ‘waking dream’ - of a good friend when I get back from my time abroad. I think of it like that because it’s between a dream and a vision: I don’t know that it’s from God, but it certainly wasn’t all from me, either. 

She was glowing - absolutely glowing - and she looked very healthy and deeply joyful. She gave me a hug, smiling, so content, and I just knew - absolutely KNEW - what she was going to say next.

“Guess what, Nalanda? I found Christ.”

And I cried. 

Answers …

I was talking with a friend yesterday about religion and she asked me a difficult question. I looked out the window and asked God to give me an answer to that question, and then started talking. I didn’t even know what I was saying, but as I said each sentence, I agreed with it. 

Thank You, Holy Spirit. Matthew 10:19-20. 

Romans 12:1

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

And then Paul goes on to describe what offering ourselves to God in worship looks like: honour one another above yourself, live at peace with everyone, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, never lose your zeal but always serve the Lord wholeheartedly; love God and love others, essentially.

And I feel like you can read every verse in Romans 12 like “in view of God’s mercy, ________.” It truly is our ultimate motivation.

In view of God’s mercy, honour one another above yourself. In view of God’s mercy, live at peace with everyone. In view of God’s mercy, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. In view of God’s mercy, never lose your zeal but always serve the Lord wholeheartedly.

In view of God’s mercy, love God and love others.

Testimony …

When I was younger, I would always keep things like devotional books, bulletins, posters, memory verses and song lyrics. I did this so that one day, when I had strayed far away from my faith and traversed the wide and easy path, I would innocently come across a single slip of paper, handwritten, perhaps, and fall on my knees in tears, brought back to Jesus from my rebellious and distant life by a fragment of my innocent childhood. 

I legitimately assumed that I would stray from my faith and then - of course - be brought back into the fold. Well, that hasn’t happened yet, and I certainly don’t plan on it. But there does exist in the church today an idea that says you have a ‘better’ testimony if you haven’t followed Jesus your whole life.

“I can’t share my testimony – there’s nothing for me to say! I grew up in the church, found Jesus over a period of 5 years and I’ll be seeking and finding Him the rest of my life. That’s it.”

I used to believe that. But now I don’t.

Romans 9-11 is all about how Israel was the chosen nation, God’s people, the ones with the history and foundation. Paul says of them, “theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!” (9: 4,5).

And I feel like those of us who have been blessed with that sort of heritage, that sort of foundation, are just like Israel in this sense. Paul tells Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God in him because he is convinced that the very same faith that lived in Timothy’s grandmother and mother now lives in him also (2 Timothy 1: 5,6). Christianity that has been passed down through generations without straying is beautiful.

“Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11: 33).

His mercy …

Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time in prayer for a good friend, asking God continually that He would reveal His incredible love to her. 

Romans 8: 37-39

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I’ve been asking and claiming and declaring and begging God to show her His love. I was reminded a few days ago that God has placed an incredibly high price tag on everyone’s life, and immediately thought of her, praying God would show her the worth He has offered her through His Son.   

And God said to me, “Nalanda, don’t forget that I put just as high a price tag on your life.” 

Thank You.