Month: April 2025

Blessed Already

“Let God’s promises shine on your problems. When you know Jesus, you are truly blessed.” – Corrie ten Boom

Somebody sneezes and the person next to him says, “Bless you.” What does he mean? I’m not sure, but it seems to mean something like, “I wish you well.” That’s probably just a tiny bit of what Jesus had in mind when he gave a long list (Matthew 5) of the kinds of people on whom God would show his favor, aka bless.

These are the people Jesus says are blessed: those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who want to be good, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for being righteous. Do you identify with any of those categories? If so, look for God’s blessing all around you. And remember that, while some of the blessings he promises will not be fully seen until eternity, there are some that we can experience in this present moment and they include such things as mercy, comfort, and satisfaction of our deepest spiritual desires.

I take away two very encouraging things from this list:

First, the promise that, no matter what you are going through now, it will be better when God’s Kingdom has fully come.

Second, we can experience God’s blessing and favor right now in the middle of the poverty, hunger, mourning, or persecution.

In short, Jesus promises that, if we are committed to God, at some point all our needs will be met and our desires fulfilled. If we think about that for a while, we will be blessed already!

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” – Numbers 6:24-26

Without Words

” . . . we find that the soul’s silence brings us to God and God to us. Silence takes us beyond the limits of consciousness and into the heart and mind and will of God.” – J. Brent Bill, Quaker Pastor/Author

I have a prayer list in my head – things and people I pray for and about every day. Occasionally I wonder if God gets tired of hearing the same requests over and over again. But, he says we should ask. And Jesus even encouraged persistence in prayer. So I don’t think it’s wrong to repeat our prayers.

Even so, there may be times when we should pray without words, sitting silently in God’s presence in an attitude of worship and waiting while we think about him or focus on a verse of Scripture. After a while, we may find a thought enter our head about someone or something we have been praying about – often it will be an insight about what the real need is and how we can better understand that person or situation. Then, when we pray with words, we can pray the prayer God wants us to pray – one that reflects his will.

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Paul tells us we should pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Does he mean we should be talking all day long? No. Sometimes prayer can be a quiet connection with God.

Or, to paraphrase Francis of Assissi: Pray without ceasing. When necessary use words.

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 (The Message)

Less of Me

“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.” – David Platt

We sing a song in our church with these lyrics: “If more of You means less of me, take everything. Yes, all of You is all I need. Take everything.” Wow. That’s a lot to pray. Take everything. Why would we pray that kind of prayer? Maybe because we’ve figured out that our way of doing things really doesn’t work!

We present an aura of confidence, good will, and purity when inside we are none of those things. It’s easy to fall into a life of covering, posturing, and pretending. And it’s exhausting!

Instead of an ego-centered life, God wants us to admit our weakness, so he can be our strength.

He wants us to give up our earthly desires, and let him provide what will really satisfy.

He challenges us to stop trying to be better, stronger, wiser, and, instead, to focus completely on him.

He invites us to relinquish pride, appearances, being right, honor, self-satisfaction, superiority, authority, perfection. He doesn’t want those things to be important anymore.

Why all this giving up? Because God knows that when we always have to be in control, we’re not able to accept the greater gifts he offers us.

When John the Baptist was preaching, he had many followers. When Jesus came on the scene, John pointed to him as the one he had been talking about all along, and he says, “He must increase and I must decrease.” He deliberately steered people’s attention away from himself and onto Jesus.

I think that’s what this is all about. Less of me. More of him.

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:3

That’s what love does.

“Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God. For by it we love him.” – St. Augustine

What do you do when you’re confronted with someone in need? Do you automatically stop what you are doing and reach out to help? Sometimes it’s just that easy. We don’t ignore the elderly woman struggling with packages or hesitate to open the door for someone in a wheelchair, or offer a ride to the one who needs to get to a job interview.

But there are other needs that confront us that really cost us something. What do we do then? If our focus is on what it will cost us in money, time, or pain, we become hesitant to commit, we hold back on helping. Is that how Jesus would be thinking? Our focus is so easily turned from the person in need to what their need may demand of us. His never was.

The only way never to be in such a situation is not to have a family, not to have friends. If we live in isolation, no one will ever need our help. But what kind of life is that? Relationships cost us something. We are called to live in community – to love our neighbors, to support our brothers and sister in Christ, and to give generously.“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” (Amy Carmichael).

We don’t need to solve everyone’s problems, but we do need to love them as Jesus would if he were in our place. That’s what love does.

“…give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” – Luke 6:38

The Front Row

“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.” – J.I. Packer

The high priced seats at any concert are those that are closest to the front. Why? True fans want to be up close so they can see and hear everything. And they’ll pay a lot to be able to do that!

When it comes to worshiping God, he has already paid for the high-priced ticket. He invites us to come closer and to experience the awe of his presence.

A. W. Tozer uses the tabernacle in the Old Testament as a picture of doing that*:

The tabernacle courtyard was for everyone. It was wide open space for all who chose to come. It’s where we begin in our relationship with God.

If we want to grow closer, we move to the Holy Place. There the focus was on Torah. In other words, this is the space where we learn about God, and for most of us, that is through the church. If we want to get closer to God, we need to be willing to learn.

The inner room was the Holy of Holies. The encounter there was one-on-one with God. Since Jesus came to make us clean, this inner place is open to us. We can go in alone to meet with God through prayer, meditation on his word, and worship.

I don’t know about you, but I want to spend more time in the Holy of Holies soaking in his presence and bowing in adoration. Why hang around the courtyard when the door is open for us to come inside and be all alone with God?

“. . . in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” – Psalm 16:11b

*From Pursuit of Christian Maturity, A. W. Tozer