Almighty God is our Refuge

God is described as our refuge, our stronghold, a rock higher than we, a tower of strength, a shelter, our shield, our dwelling place, our strength.

Our responsibility is to run to Him

I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.  (Psalm 61:2–4)

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my savior, You save me from violence.  (2 Samuel 22:3) 

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

But how?

We, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) 

It is a fact that God is a refuge and that we can come to Him—with confidence.

Decide to run to Him.

Once we run to Him, take time to remember who He is, what He has done in the world, and His blessings in your world (See Milestones). Remember that God loves you, that He is in control, that He is your hope, and that He is faithful. 

Take a deep breath, or several (!), and rest in Him. 

One of my mental images is being safe and dry under a deep porch, looking out on wild weather. I’ve taken shelter under His wings.

I think this takes practice. 

If we, as believers, don’t run to Him when we are in trouble, we are still eternally secure. But we’ll suffer more in the moment.

Let’s run to Him. Let’s press on.

~~~

Almighty God, our refuge, our shelter, we praise You. Thank You for giving us practice in running to You. Thank You for being our loving sovereign. 

Yeah but…

Yeah, but he… Yeah, but she….

We have all been in arguments or problematic situations. When we later review our own thoughts, words, and behaviors we can see how we contributed to the issue. Perhaps it was relatively minor, but it wasn’t zero. And, maybe, rather than what we did, it was what we didn’t do. Perhaps we had an opportunity to bring peace to the situation, but didn’t.

Whatever we did, however little we did, we still need to identify and confess. 

Sometimes this doesn’t feel fair. “But he, but she was the problem. He, she was 90% at fault.” (And, sometimes, when we think it through, we contributed a lot more than we first thought.)

The Lord deals with us. We are responsible for our own thoughts, words, and deeds. Whatever the Lord does with the other person or persons is not our business. 

Use the uncomfortable situation to learn, to identify how better to walk according to the Spirit. Do not focus on what the other person or persons should do differently (although you should pray for him or her, you probably need to forgive, and the Lord may ask you to have a conversation with him/her/them). Focus on what the Lord wants you to do.

So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”  (John 21:21–22) 

Press on!

Prerequisites to Christian Service

When I was in college I would sometimes see a course I wanted to take, but discover I had to complete other classes before I could take the one I wanted. My desired course had prerequisites. Sometimes I didn’t want to fulfill the requirements and missed out on the course I wanted.

That is generally true in life. We can’t become a school teacher without a certificate. We can’t be in the finals of a race without qualifying heats.  

In Christian service, the fundamental requirement is saving faith in Christ Jesus. 

David and Isaiah had to confess their sins and be forgiven before being put in service.

David confession and forgiveness

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin … Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me….  (Psalm 51:2, 10)

David service (teaching and praise)

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You…Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. (Psalm 51:13.15)

Isaiah confession and forgiveness

Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lordof hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”   (Isaiah 6:5-7)

Isaiah service (prophesy)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people… (Isaiah 6:8–9) 

Our service

As Christians, we are all in service to God. 

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.  (1 Timothy 1:12) 

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.  (Hebrews 12:28) 

Requirements

You may, or may not, need to confess something in order to be put in service. Examining ourselves is always good practice, however. (See The Examined Life)

You may, or may not, need to be faithful in a particular job prior to being put into service where you want.

Pray and listen for God’s next steps for you.

~~~

Thank You—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—for the opportunity to serve You, for the gifts You gave me to enable my service, and for Your presence as I walk in Your way.

Milestones

When you must sail on—day after day after day—it is helpful to remember significant times of the Lord’s blessings. (See Today We Sailed On)

The Bible is full of calls to remember. And the Bible notes times someone built an altar or placed a stone after a special time with or message from God.

Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua all built altars after the LORD appeared to them, affirmed His covenant, or gave them victories over their enemies. Stones were placed after momentous events. Samuel set up a stone after a victory and named it Ebenezer: “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)

After crossing the Jordan, Joshua set up stones and said: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’” (Joshua 4:21–22)

To help us keep going, it is valuable to place milestones in our memories to mark significant events:  Special times the Lord has been evident; Special times of fellowship; Special answered prayers.

These reminders help us remember God’s faithfulness to us, and give us specific blessings to tell others.

Please take some time right now to remember what the Lord has done for you. And make a milestone.

Praise the God of Peace

When I asked my grandmother what she wanted for Christmas or her birthday (same day!), she would always say: “Peace and quiet and a few kind words.” As a child that drove me nuts.

Really, though, nearly all of us would say we wanted peace.

Peace only comes from the God of peace. Peace is an attribute of God; He is always peaceful, never troubled.  

Peace with God

To have peace, first we must have peace with God, which comes through saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) 

Peace of God

Once we have peace with God, we can have the peace of God.

Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!   (2 Thessalonians 3:16) 

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.  (John 14:27) 

Our Responsibility to Have His peace

The God of Peace gives us responsibility to have His peace.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.   (Colossians 3:15–16) 

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3) 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6–7) 

Our Responsibility to be Peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  (Matthew 5:9) 

We are to be messengers of the God of peace.

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God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—I praise You. You are peace, eternal peace. I praise You that You have made it possible to have peace with You. I praise You that You have shown us how to have Your peace in our lives, in calm or troubled times. I praise You that one day You will take Your own to be with You in perfect peace for eternity. Please help us be peacemakers, glorifying You.

Today We Sailed On

Day after day after day, Christopher Columbus’ ship’s log notes: “Today we sailed on.”

Day after day after day, they sailed through an open ocean, no land in sight. 

Life is often like that, requiring us to sail day after day after day, without knowing how far there is to go.

We know our goal: to be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4), conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).

The word gives us instructions about how to sail, summed up in the exhortation to please God.

God’s promises comfort us. We believe God’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Matthew 28:20); that the Holy Spirit dwells in us (Ephesians 1:13). And so very many more promises.

In sailing on day after day after day, we have the responsibility consistently to endure. We are to stay the course, to stay on the course, to sail courageously, to sail patiently.

It seems overwhelming, but remember, Jesus is praying for us (See Jesus is Praying for You). The Holy Spirit is praying for us (See The Holy Spirit is Praying for You).

We must keep our eyes on Jesus and sail on.

Several years ago, I suddenly could not see well. We were 1200 miles from my regular doctors, so I saw an unfamiliar optometrist and then a retinal specialist. I had two macular holes and needed retinal surgery. 

I sent the records to my doctors in Colorado, and we began watching the weather to be able to get home.

There were many, many answers to prayer during this time. The biggest was that the Lord brought me to trust Him for my eye problem, to trust His sovereignty over my sight, and to trust His love. I came to realize that if I lost my sight, He would be with me and He would have blessings for me. I, of course, prayed He’d heal my eyes, but it was awesome to know either way He would have a purpose for me.

One of the answers to prayer was whether to have cataract surgery before retinal surgery or afterwards. The Texas advice was to have retinal surgery first because cataract surgery would further open the hole. The Colorado advice was that I would have better outcomes if I had cataract surgery first. It seemed like a very big decision and I prayed about it for the weeks it took to get home. 

At my first Colorado visit with an ophthalmologist, she discovered I had drainage problems in both eyes, which had to be correctly prior to retinal surgery. 

Guess what the procedure was to correct the drainage problem.

Cataract surgery!

I had to laugh. What a crystal-clear answer to prayer!

Thank You, Lord!

And thank You for my restored sight!

What an awesome God we serve.

~~~

If you want some history and more detail on my journey through my eye problem, see

Practical Exam

Your Will be Done

Humble Faith

Start what Must be finished

Interruption or Opportunity?

 Making it Worse to Make it Better

 The Shepherd and Eye Surgery #6

One God

There is one God. One. The One and only God.

Both the Old and the New Testaments teach that there is One God.

Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. (Isaiah 43:10) 

I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.  (Isaiah 44:6) 

I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. (Isaiah 45:5) 

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.  (1 Timothy 1:17) 

Jesus: “The foremost [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel!The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:29–30) 

In a world with multiple traditions with multiple gods, we rest on the fact that our God is One and that He is the only.

One God! Such clarity. We know Who to worship; there is no confusion about Who is in charge. 

The Trinity

Our one God is revealed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is taught in both Old and New Testaments, although with more clarity in the New. 

Jesus, the Son of God, eternal God, taught there is One God. No conflict there! Jesus taught us to pray to God the Father. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. 

Both Jesus, our great High Priest, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us intercede for us with the Father. 

We pray to the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our Response

There is One God. We are not alone. We are watched over, cared for, guaranteed eternal life There is no one else to believe in. There is salvation in no one else. There is no one else to give ourselves to. There is no one else to rely on. 

This truth makes it easier (we don’t have to be confused about which god to appeal to). This truth is also overwhelming. There is only one God who is in charge of everything, who created us, who saves, who judges, who condemns. There is only one God to whom we are accountable (and who knows everything and has all power).

We better get it straight. 

We are called to love the One God, our Lord, with everything we are. We are called to love Him—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength. (See HOW to Love God with All Your Mind.) We are to love with all our capacity. 

God, help us worship You in spirit and in truth.