Rainy Day Meditations

We are the Lord’s army. If it’s honorable to lay down your life for the sake of your own country, how much more honorable is it to lay down your life for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven? We don’t belong to this world, but our citizenship is in heavenly places. We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. If we believe what the bible says is true, we will believe this truth with all our hearts. Jesus did not promise us prosperity, wealth, complete health, protection from any and all harm, including suffering, or even that everyone will like us, but in fact, he promised us trial, tribulation, persecution, suffering, and that the world will hate us, as the world hated him first. It’s time to align the truth of the gospel with our own lives. The church is in need of a great adjustment. We don’t live for what the world offers today, for these things are passing away, but instead we live for the sake of eternity. Our life is but a breath to God. How are our lives making eternal impact? How are our lives going to uniquely mark eternity? I pray for that revelation for all of us! Where do our treasures lie? Are we storing them up here on earth, or in heavenly places? For wherever our treasures lie, there our heart will be also. As this is true, I know what else is also true. The fullness of our joy is made complete only in Jesus. It’s time to draw that line in the sand. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way but through him alone. If we come to believe and trust in Jesus alone, the call on our lives will be made clear. If we answer the call on our lives, how truly great will our lives be!? Jesus is the only one who makes our lives whole. As an overflow of his love, he created us, and created the very desires and longings in our hearts, and only through him, through his sovereignty in our lives, and through our willingness and obedience to his will, will we be made whole. He alone gives us the desires of our hearts; he alone fulfills us, for he alone knows us as we were being knit together in our mother’s womb. He alone knows what he was thinking when he made us. Who else holds the answer? Who else knows us better than we know ourselves? Who else has the vision for the fulfillment of who we were created to be? His ways are higher than our ways, so it requires our trust in him alone for the fulfillment of who we were created to be. We discover our identity is only realized through him. Good luck figuring it out on our own. That is an exhausting process. In Jesus, we get to rest and trust in his great love for us, and his sovereignty in our lives for the realization of our identities, so our full battle lies in resting in his love, learning to trust him and grow in our faith in him, who alone is responsible for our outcome, as long as we choose to put all our faith, hope, and trust in him. Fear of the Lord is stepping outside that place of rest; stepping outside the center of his heart. Lord, never let me walk away from your covering!! Jesus alone brings the fulfillment of the desires placed in our hearts. He alone conceives and brings life to those desires, as we rest in him. As we put all our faith and trust in him. Our impatience and striving produce Ishmaels, but he alone conceives Isaacs in our lives, bringing to fulfillment the great promises over our lives. Again, Jesus alone is the fullness of our joy! Our joy is only made complete in him and him alone!! He alone is the fulfillment of more than we could ever dream or imagine!!