Look Up!

January 9, 2023Leave a comment

Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can.

Genesis 15:5

Guest Blogger Candace Gray

Do you ever feel weighed down by the daily grind of life? Have you suffered some disappointment in the last year that caused you to lose hope? Perhaps you’re in a long season of waiting and not seeing any change. Going through a hard season can make you lose vision and shrink your view of what’s possible. As you start this year, stir up your hope by remembering there are tremendous possibilities with God.

Abraham found himself in a discouraging place. He wanted much more than what he saw in his life at the time. He wanted a child and he had none; he wanted a home and he’d been uprooted from his home and told to go to an unknown place. Furthermore, God had promised to bless him with not just one child, but with numerous descendants and God had promised not just a home but a nation that would have its own land. Yet there was a big gap between what Abraham was experiencing and what God had promised. So, God told Abraham to “look up at the stars and count them if you can.” It was an encouragement to look beyond what he could see around him and understand that God has as many ways as there are stars to fulfill His promises. The same is true for you and me. Looking up represents seeing the vast power of God and His ability to bring about amazing things in your life. As you approach the new year, fix your gaze on Him. He is I AM (Exodus 3:14), meaning He is able to do more than you can ask or imagine.

Don’t stop believing in God’s good plans for you. Life is better when you focus on the wide sky of possibilities rather than the narrow view created by your disappointments. When you play small, there is no energy, no vision and no confidence to make bold moves. When you think and look toward the sky, there are infinite possibilities and a great and powerful God working for your good. Even through adversity and delays, He’s growing you and preparing you to be blessed and to be a blessing. Turn your gaze from your disappointments to the sky and remember I AM.

Questions for Reflection:

What disappointments did you encounter last year? Did they cause you to lose hope?
Where is your focus now – on you and your circumstances or on God?

My guest blogger this month is Candace Gray. She is a seasoned leader with a track record of living a life of purpose and helping others to do the same. Candace is a Senior Director for Buckner Children and Family Services and a longtime member of Concord Church in Dallas.

If you’d like to follow her full 21-day devotional series, go to www.candacegray.com

Photo by Klemen Vrankar on Unsplash

Beautiful Gift of Grace

December 11, 2022Leave a comment

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor,

so that you through His poverty might become rich.

II Corinthians 8:9

Grace. What a beautiful word – divine favor, underserved gift. Those who believe in Christ are the recipients of God’s redemptive mercy and grace. What greater joy can there be than to know we have received such a gift? We could not pay our own debt, but Christ became poor, leaving His heavenly place so that we might be made rich in grace.

We could not save ourselves, yet God in His loving-kindness made a way for us to be forgiven. It is not what we have done, but what Christ did for us on the cross. Spurgeon said, “Thou hast need of nothing beyond what there is in Him. In Him thou art at this moment just, in Him entirely clean, in Him an object of divine approval and eternal love.”[i]

At this time of year, we rejoice in His divine grace toward us. Let us linger at the manger and ponder this unspeakable gift, this kindness God has shown us in sending His Son Jesus. In the hustle of the season, let us step aside and hear His voice calling our name to come abide, rest and be thankful for His rich mercy toward us.

[i] Charles H. Spurgeon, Complete in Christ and Love’s Logic, (Whitefish, MT:Kessinger Publishing, 2006) p. 27.

He Sees Us

October 4, 2022Leave a comment

“You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13

When you feel as though no one knows the depth of pain, remember that there is One who sees. You are not alone, for God sees you and knows your needs. In the Old Testament we read how God’s angel met Hagar in the desert when she fled from the cruelty of Sarah. God meets us where we are and gently cares for our needs as well. We can rest assured that our God sees our pain and challenges, and He understands.

We are not invisible to God. Just as Hagar was comforted by God, so we can find our comfort in knowing that God sees all. It’s easy to think that when bad things happen, God doesn’t see our situation or care about our problems. Be patient. Wait on Him. Have faith in the God who sees and has a plan that is bigger and more eternal than we can imagine.

He Carries Us

September 4, 2022September 4, 2022Leave a comment

In the last few months of his life, Hudson Taylor told a friend, “I am so weak I cannot write. I cannot read my Bible. I cannot even pray. All I can do is lie still in the arms of God as a little child, trusting Him.”[i] There are times when we feel as though we cannot take another step forward. All we can do is be still and like a child rest in God’s precious arms. It is in our most difficult hours that God carries us. His arms are able and strong and can hold us close when we feel like we can’t go on.

In Isaiah we read about God’s comfort for His people, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.”[ii]My friend, keep your eyes on Him. In times of difficulty, do not despair. Picture yourself being carried by your loving Father as He holds you close to His heart.

Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Psalm 28:9

[i] Streams in the Desert, L. B. Cowman, edit. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997) p. 188.

[ii] Isaiah 40:11

Prayer Must Not be Our Chance Work

June 3, 2022Leave a comment

Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. Spurgeon

In his book entitled Prayer, Timothy Keller describes a conversation he had with his wife during a particularly challenging time in their lives. His wife Kathy urged him to pray with her every night and she used the following illustration to convince Him:

Imagine you were diagnosed with such a lethal condition that the doctor told you that you would die within hours unless you took a particular medicine – a pill every night before going to sleep. Imagine that you were told that you could never miss or you would die. Would you forget? Would you not get around to it for some nights? No – it would be so crucial that you wouldn’t forget, you would never miss. Well, if we don’t pray together to God, we’re not going to make it because of all we are facing. I’m certainly not. We have to pray, we can’t let it just slip our minds.*

Kathy recognized her desperate need to go to the Father for everything in her life. Last week I read through the book of Daniel and was inspired by his courage and faith, but more than that, I was moved by his commitment to prayer. Think about it, Daniel prayed even when the public policy was against him, and he could be thrown in the lion’s den.

If Daniel took life-risking measures to pray three times a day, then why am I not willing to get up a little earlier and spend time with the Father. Great work happens on our knees. God gives us insight on our knees. We grow more in love with Him, on our knees. We find comfort and peace on our knees. May we be determined not to make prayer a chance thing in our lives, but an essential part of each day.

Here’s one of Daniel’s prayers of praise after God:

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
    You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
    you have made known to us the dream of the king.