desires (3)
God is constantly gracious. He never stops thinking about you, he is constantly with us all the time, everywhere. I love the Zephaniah 3:17 passage;
"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
I want to encourage you to examine your life for "evidence of grace". Because God's grace is always flooding our hearts then we should be able to see evidence of it in our lives. While God's grace through Jesus is infinite let me highlight three areas you can look for in your own life.
New Desires: As we grow in our relationship with Christ, he gives us new desires that well up inside of us. These desires were not a part of us before we became a Christian, but now they are undeniable. Do you have the desire to know God more intimately through reading His Word? The fact that you value God's Word and love to read, study and hear it is evidence of grace. Do you desire to commune with God deeper through prayer? You have seen God give you peace in excruciating circumstances, answer your prayers, and move you to take risks because you prayed. Prayer is evidence of God's grace. You also have a new desire to worship. Worship happens all day, every day and hopefully as you walk through your day you have a new desire to praise God for who he is and what he's doing. Maybe your music library has changed over the last few years to have more worship music to keep your mind focused on Christ. Maybe it's a lot easier to get up on Sunday mornings and head to church, looking forward to worshiping Him with your heart, soul, strength and mind. Again, a desire to worship is evidence of grace.
New Perspective: As you have experienced the deep forgiveness of God through the work of Jesus on the cross you want to pass it on to others. I really feel that God has changed my perspective on life and specifically relationships. We all have wonderful relationships and difficult ones. God has given us so much grace that we are filled to the brim and overflowing. The overflow should pour into those around us...family, friends, co-workers, even the waiter serving us lunch. God's grace gives us a new perspective on how we treat others, how we react to others, and how we love others unconditionally. A new perspective is evidence of grace.
Old Temptations: As we constantly grown in grace then we will also constantly be hounded by Satan. We all know that "he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour". Grace gives us a tremendous weapon to fight temptation, however we constantly have to be on our guard to fight and defend ourselves. God also roams around,
"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
Fight temptation by believing that the promises of God are far better than the promises of the world.
Bathe in God's grace today, let it wash over your heart, your mind and your soul, and then shower someone else with it as well.
All for Jesus,
Brian Fletcher
I am always being dragged away and enticed by the world and Satan, that dog who won’t go away but hounds me constantly. I feel like I am constantly fighting with hardly any relief. The best relief that I have found always comes from the Scriptures. God’s Word is the best anti-venom for counter-acting the poison of sin. The writer of Hebrews says this about temptation: “For because He [Jesus] himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18.
I don’t always think of “suffering” through temptation. I usually think of temptation as annoying and bothersome, like being outside when the mosquitoes are really bad. But this verse says that Jesus “suffered” through temptation. He had to endure it and it was not pleasant. But we don’t like pain, we crave pleasure, we avoid pain at all costs. So we give in to temptation because it is more pleasurable (at least in the short run) than suffering and enduring through and not giving into temptation. But we must see the reality of life in a fallen world, where the battle rages for our souls.
The reality that temptation will always be present (until Jesus comes back) and so we will always be in a constant state of suffering, of enduring and fighting off temptation. Suffering in this life is inescapable, but thanks be to God who has given us a Savior who not only can empathize with our suffering but gives us the grace and strength to endure it and fight it off. I John 2:15-17 shows us the Truth:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
Ask the Lord to give you strength and grace to suffer and not give into sin just because it seems more pleasurable – for ultimately sin kills and destroys us – only holiness and purity bring life and this is what Jesus has clothed us with. Pray that God will satisfy you with Jesus and His overwhelming love rather than the passing things of this world. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” John Piper
All for Jesus,
Fletch
