Daughters of promise

I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit. Psalm 119:96

Children grow up in the same home, with the same parents, in the same spiritual environment, and some choose to believe, yet others don’t.  Is a child’s departure from the faith the parent’s fault?  Not always. Not any more than it was Abraham’s fault when some of his offspring descended into wickedness.  It is a mystery why righteous kings in the Old Testament had wicked offspring. Just as puzzling is why wicked kings were often followed by a righteous heir.

While not perfect, we are to keep God’s covenant, train our children in the Word, and teach, by example, what it means to live by faith. Some of our children will choose God’s path, but to our great disappointment, we may watch another reject everything. 

Unfortunately, it is a human tendency to carry the weight of our children’s and grandchildren’s choices.  We lament that we weren’t perfect parents, but God didn’t demand perfection. That dream died in the garden.  That’s why a Savior and Redeemer was written into the story. One day, we will be perfected but for now, we are imperfect parents. We are loved and forgiven by Jesus. We are providing an environment that offers the greatest possibility of spiritual success for each child but what that child does after that rests entirely on their shoulders. 

The road to destruction is wide and most travel on it, even our children.  The way of the cross is narrow, only a few find it, and we rejoice when it’s our children. It’s a beautiful thing when families worship together but how painful when the clash of spiritual kingdoms is felt at our own dinner tables. Only God’s grace and compassion can keep us tenderhearted, forgiving, doing whatever is necessary to fight on our knees for their souls.

Grace and comfort, Lord, for all the parents who need this message.  Amen

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

Have you ever feared a meeting with a certain person? Tensions between you were high and over the years, you could think of little else when your soul was quiet. The strained relationship weighed heavily upon you. To test the waters, you asked someone who was in good standing with them to speak of you. After their visit, you knew whether it was wise or unwise to restore the relationship.

A mediator is oftentimes needed. When judgments have been made, fairly or unfairly, softening the heart of the estranged is difficult. When God was misunderstood, He sent Jesus to show us His heart, personality, and character. Jesus softened our hearts and paid a great price to restore the breach in our relationship.

Jesus is still a mediator, not only between His Father and us but between us and anyone else with whom we suffer a distance. When a foundation of prayer is laid, He goes ahead of us to work on a hardened heart. Nothing is too hard for our Mediator. He can give them a dream, speak to them in the night, cause them to remember a story about us that they had forgotten, or make sure they cross paths with someone who can speak about us in a way that makes them softer.

Not only are the hearts of kings in God’s hands, but so is the heart of our nemesis.

You, Lord, are the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Amen

You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night. Psalm 17:3

God never gives divine insight for mere intrigue. He discloses His thoughts to someone so they can figure out why they were given such information. Are they to pray? Are they to speak an encouraging word? Are they to expose? Seeing is proactive.

The gift of divine sight, and the spiritual understanding that accompanies it, is built on the culmination of life experiences. God shapes a servant through years of practice runs. The gift is sharpened most through suffering. If you are a prophet who can prayerfully discern the mind and heart of God about a person or situation, you will agree that your gift has been personally expensive. But consider this too ~ the gift of divine eyesight is usually paired with another strong gift. 

• God often reveals a dream for His child to conceive a wise solution.
• God reveals danger so that His child can pray.
• God reveals the root of a problem so that truth can be discovered, embraced, and sin uprooted.
• God reveals the broken heart of another so that compassion and encouragement can arise.
• God reveals where people perish for lack of knowledge so that a teacher may arise.

What has God been showing you about a person or a situation? Perhaps that revelation has been painful, has arrested you in place, and you are confused. Assess your giftings and ask God to show you how you are to use the revelation as a catalyst for His glory and the advancement of the kingdom. God, in your story, has prepared you for such a time as this.

I have been tormented by what I see. Give me Your action plan. Amen

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with love and compassion. Psalm 103:2-4

God has always been an identity changer. One cannot be near someone like God without coming away different. The identity-changing nature of God has never been more evident than when He personally changed the names of people. But while God may not give new earthly names to every person, identities still change radically once we are adopted into His family. We are no longer aliens but residents of heaven. No longer enemies but friends. No longer cursed but blessed. No longer lost but saved. No longer rejected but chosen. No longer unclean but righteous.  Hey, the list is much longer than this and every single facet of transformation is stunning!

Have we really embraced our new identities? It’s hard to digest that we are no longer who we were, especially if people around us treat us as if nothing has changed. Satan is also bent on reinforcing, through hurtful circumstances, that we are the same old sinners. But God says differently. And because He’s the only consistent Truth-teller, I am encouraged to confess these truths on a daily basis. On a good day, it’s not hard. Oh, but on a bad day, it must be a moment-by-moment self-reminder.

What do I do if the truth feels fragile? I spend more time with the Name-Changer. If I get in proximity to my Father for any amount of time, the effect is always the same. I will come away differently. Taller. Assured. Resolute in my real identity.

Let me bask in the spiritual assurances of ownership that come from running home to You. Amen

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Our Father wants us to know that we are in a war and we are not home yet.  In the meantime, rest.

Resting is to catch my breath in God’s arms while the storm rages.  Resting is to settle my soul in His embrace while violence swirls. Resting is to collect my thoughts for my next steps in a posture of repose. Resting is to believe that even in the worst of things, He will have the last word.  Resting is to cling to the Victor when it appears Satan is winning, to compose a song of faith even in chaos.  Resting is to trust God when Satan would tell me I’ve been betrayed, to stay faithful when circumstances suggest He’s not been faithful. 

I rest in the character of God and not in the expectation that I will be delivered from pain. God sees what I cannot and His plan is redemptive though the present plotline appears senseless.  My life is hidden in Christ and, like Him, I am destined for glory.

You are my firm foundation in confusion, my rock of refuge in sinking sand.  Amen

Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.  Psalm 142:4-5

If we do something wrong and disappoint those close to us, we can try to right the wrong by doing something to make it up to them.  The offense will be erased as we create a better memory within the relationship.  But what of the times when we are the disappointment?  How can we ever know peace within our own heart?

Perhaps this already touches the place of your deepest wound. You could tell me your story in many ways. 

“I am the wrong gender because my parents wanted a boy.”

“My parents didn’t want children.  My arrival was a disappointment.”

“I’m a scientist but my parents wanted an artist.”

“I’m emotional, my parents are rational, and they don’t understand me.”

“I’m an obstacle because my birth stood in the way of a parent’s career.”

You might reason that if the people you love, and look up to, reject you, you must be worthless.  This is emotionally crippling until Jesus offers a way of escape. The cure is to be the object of His desire.  He says, “I want you.  I love you.  Be mine.”   He, alone, heals the wound of disappointment.

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”  C.S. Lewis

Whatever Your hand fashions, You call ‘good’.  I am Your creation.  If You didn’t want me, You wouldn’t have made me.  And You gave Your life for mine because You wanted me with you that much.  Amen

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! Psalm 78:40

For the past week, I’ve been wondering how much I care about the passions of God’s heart.  He wants to advance the kingdom.  Do I feel the same passion?  He also grieved about some things.  Do I discern and take part in what He might be feeling?  Does His pain move me? 

God sent Jesus to birth many children into the kingdom. We are the adopted offspring and are being re-parented to maturity.  But the result is catastrophic if we don’t submit to His parenting.  We languish where we were meant to thrive, and God’s dreams for us are thwarted.  Then God grieves.

• Last Sunday, someone needed to come to the altar to repent of his sin.  The chains holding him captive could have been broken but the pastor didn’t listen to the Spirit about making an altar call.
• Last Sunday, a woman who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer attended church.  God prompted someone to pray for her healing, but that person was too nervous to approach her and dismissed the nudging.
• Last Sunday, a couple was hanging onto their marriage by a thread.  They decided to file for divorce on Monday morning.  God had a saving word for them, but the sermon that should have been preached was never birthed.

While I should be heartbroken for the people who missed opportunities for healing, (through no fault of their own,) I should be even more saddened for the Father who dreamt of blessing His children but saw sinful humanity fail to cooperate. 

I’m asking God to help me understand, more deeply, His heart and His passion.  Perhaps it’s possible for me, and you, to comfort the heart of a grieving Father.

It’s not about what I want.  It’s all about what You want, about me embarking on Your dreams.  I’m here.  Amen