Desiring God's Will

Psalm 40:8
I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

It is good to desire to do the will of God - really, it should be a defining point for Christians. If we do not desire to do His will, then what really sets us apart from anyone else? So, what happens when we do not have that desire within us?

Have you ever been there? I know I have. There are times when we may want to desire to do His will, but the desire itself is not there. The world is romancing us in so many ways, and we want to be a part of the fun it has to offer. We may even know there are consequences. We know that tomorrow we will look back on wonder why we did what we did, wishing we could change it. Yet, in the heat of the moment we dive in, head-first, and find that we are drowning in the filth of this world. Or perhaps, even more dangerously, we see nothing wrong with how we live, and behave, or with that which we treasure most.

God knows this tendency is within us, and so He has thrown us a life-vest - something that can help us float on top of the junk that threatens to drown us. His Word. When we allow His Word to permeate our being, to fill our minds and affect our hearts, we will discover that we finally desire to do His will above all else. So many times we try to contrive the desire out of that which is within us, but that is impossible. To desire to do something that is contrary to our nature, we must have outside influences - we must have Christ, and we must have His Word.

My mother always said to me, and rightly so, "Junk in, junk out." When we fill our minds with all that the world has to offer, we will act and think just like everyone else - we will be no different; we will not have the mark of a disciple of Christ. Of course, the opposite is also true. If we want to be radical, yet relevant, we must be in the Word. We must let God influence our thoughts, our actions, our wants, our lives.

What are we filling our lives with? What are we allowing to influence us? Let’s think about it - think of the books we read, the magazines we flip through, the movies we watch, the TV shows we record, the games we play, the web-sites we surf, the people we go to for advice, the places we frequent - everything that can affect us in any way. And how are they affecting us, covertly shifting the attitudes and desires of our hearts? Is a change in order? Something to consider. Now, does this mean we must completely remove ourselves from the world? Absolutely not. We cannot affect the world if we are not living in it. But the world won’t desire what we have unless we stand out, and can show them how what we have - Christ - is relevant to them, right now, today. If we allow Him to affect our lives in every way, we can then affect those around us.

Is Christ relevant to you today? Is your relationship with Him making a difference in the way you live today?

Praising God

Job 1:21
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on the coal mine tragedy in West Virginia and all that has taken place there. I happened to go to a news web-page during the short time in which the world thought that 12 of the 13 had survived. I cried as I read reports that they were praising God and thanking Him for 12 miracles. I whispered thanks to God that they were giving credit where credit was due. I myself praised Him for "coming through" for the families.

The next morning, when I went to the same news page, I discovered the horrible truth - the opposite was true, 12 were dead and 1 was clinging to life. I could hardly think - I didn’t know what to say. I immediately thought (as I often do) of all the people who were praising God for the miracle they thought He had given them, and asked God what they must be thinking or feeling. In response I heard Him ask me, "Will you praise me all the same?" I didn’t know what to say, although I knew that He was right. We must praise Him in the good and the bad. We must praise Him for who He is, not necessarily for what He does. Could I be just as pleased and elated with the 1 miracle He did give us, as opposed to the 12 we thought He had given?

I cannot imagine a more difficult lesson to learn. I am forced to ask myself if I would praise Him after a death - the death of a loved one? A job? A dream? A relationship? Could I praise Him even then? How about you? You see, praising God is a choice, and we can choose to praise Him in difficult times when we trust Him, and know Him. When the truth and reality of God has fully come upon us, we can’t help but praise Him at all times, knowing that He is in complete control. Yes, complete control - even when we discover that only one miner is alive. His plan is perfect, and He knows better than we do all that is involved.

Will you praise Him? Reflecting upon all this life has to offer - the good and the bad - we can choose to praise Him, simply because He is God and He is worthy of our praise.

People-Pleasin'

Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.


I am, in my nature, a people-pleaser. I like everyone to be happy, life to be fair, and everyone to like me. As a result, I find that I am constantly having to fight against my instinct to say what will please the other person, rather than what is good and right. However, some of what Christ has to say is difficult to swallow, to say the least, and so I really don’t like being the one who has to deliver such a message. I hardly doubt that I am alone in this, especially among the women out there.

This verse goes against my very nature, even though I can see and even admit whole-heartedly that it is true. In my ministry, God has not given me the luxury of smooth-talking and flattery. I must speak the truth in love. It is what God has asked me to do. At first I stuck to the easy passages, the ones everyone could agree one, the ones that made me feel warm and fuzzy. They did not push my boundaries too far, question my actions too heavily, or invade my fluffy, pseudo-Christian space too much. Oh, but God has so much more in mind.

So we shall go deeper with Him, into the mysteries and difficulties of our Christian faith. And when we are there, we will be faced with the same question: Will we face these uncomfortable truths? Will we face where we have gone wrong and then change? Will we see in ourselves that which is not fitting of a disciple of Christ? Or will we stay comfy and cozy learning and re-learning only that which makes us comfortable? God looks at each and every one of us and asks, “Are you now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or are you trying to please men? If you are still trying to please men, you are no servant if Mine.” Ouch. We have received a call to action!

God pushes me each and every day farther out of my comfort zone, and further into His glorious, and rich reality. He desires to do the same with you. If we desire to live a radical life - the life of a disciple of Christ - that means that we will probably be uncomfortable a lot, possibly even in complete agony at times. In my situation, it just so happens that this means sharing with you the difficult truths. The ones that make us squirm, and think, and question, and maybe even doubt. Many times we will be faced with two options - believe it in faith, or don’t. God is so far above and beyond us, that so many times when we ask “why?” we get a very parental “Because” in response. He is God, we are not, will we trust Him? Faith in action.

I suppose I write this thought out of my deep-rooted desire not to offend any of you - it’s that people-pleaser in me. On the other hand, I think that it’s only fair that I should warn you that we’re going to start venturing deeper into the depths, further into the treasures of darkness. What we will find there, I cannot even begin imagine - but I do know that the most brilliant gems are found in the deepest mines surrounded by the greatest darkness. We need not fear - we have the Eternal Light as our guide, and we are sure to see Him as ever-more glorious, as the darkness thickens and threatens to consume us!

The Master Carpenter and His Tools

Ecclesiastes 3:14
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

I find great comfort in knowing that God is in control, and great excitement when He lets me be a part of what He is doing. I often marvel at what He is doing in me and through me, wondering at how He could trust me when He knows me so well - faults and all. I’m sure He gets very tired of my asking Him "What if I mess up?" It probably comes up in conversation at least once a day. Then He reminds me - it has nothing to do with me . . . "Oh yeah!" You’d think I’d get it by now.

I am memorizing this verse as a way to remember that I am not the one making things happen - that is God’s job. I am just the tool. Just like a hammer is absolutely, completely useless without the carpenter, so I am absolutely, completely useless with my Carpenter. The nail that is driven in by the hammer knows only the hammer, as the hammer is the tool the carpenter is using to do the job. Yet, the carpenter is the one in complete control - deciding where to put the nail, how deep to drive it, and so forth. And when the masterpiece is complete, the carpenter is the one who gets all the credit, not the tools.

As the tools of the Master Carpenter, we can do only what He would have us do, and it is so good to remember that we can’t mess it up when we’re in His hands. Those around us may see only our work - that which we say, and do, but when all is said and done, there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind Who gets the credit. Praise His mighty name!
"Why?" we may ask. "Why does He bother using us? Why does He bother at all?" "...so that men will revere Him." He simply wants to be known. He wants His "tools" to love Him, just as He loves them (ask any man, and he’ll tell you that his tools are very precious to him!). And He wants the "nails" to stop, look around them, see the finished product and look up in awe and wonder, thanking Him that they were able to be a part of such a miraculous and beautiful thing.

I believe God would ask us today, "What will you do?" Will we resist the callous hands of this rough Man, insisting that we should be a power drill, when we have been designed to drive in nails? Or will we be the hammer, yielding ourselves to the Master Carpenter’s strong, capable hands? Will we let Him use us in whatever way He needs to? We are the only "tool" of our kind - unique, and beautiful! And when He is through, we will be able to look at the work completed and know that we were a part of it - eternal, beautiful, infallible. A masterpiece, done so that we might look to the One who made it, and know Him, love Him, and see His great beauty.

Our First Love

Revelation 2:2-5
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.


It is so easy to get caught up in the "doing" and the "being" and the "thinking" and the "learning" of Christianity, isn’t it? Even in this devotional we spend a lot of time talking about obedience, prayer, time spent in the Word and so on. And all of those things are very important, vitally important. However, this verse reminds us that if we lose our "first love" we have lost everything.

In 1 Corinthians 13 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20corinthians%2013;&version=31) we are told that without love we are and have nothing. In the same way, we can be doing all the right things - testing false prophets, persevering through hardships in the name of Jesus, not tolerating wickedness and sin, yet if we have fallen away from our first Love, our Jesus, our greatest desire, then all of those other things are for nought.

The thing that I find amazing, is that when we seek after Christ, when we are passionately, head-over-heels in love with Him, then everything else falls into place. Just as we would want to please a lover, so we will do all that we can to please Jesus. Obedience will be second nature, because He smiles upon us when we obey. We will naturally hate what He hates, and love what He loves - just as we find that we like or dislike certain music or sporting teams when we discover our new love-interest feels one way or the other. Love is very powerful, and God knows it.

We know it too. Our society places so much emphasis on falling in love (as they define it). And when we turn from Jesus, our first love, we feel it don’t we? We know something is missing, and we go in search for it. We know that we have fallen from a great height - it resonates in our bones, in our soul, and it hurts. So Christ tells us to "repent and do the things we did at first." In other words, we need to turn tail away from whatever it is we are using to try and fill the void, even if it could be seen as something good, and go back to where the passion began. Perhaps it was a book that sparked the fire, or you were in a certain place, or with someone special. Certainly there is something to which we can turn to remind us of our first love, even perhaps Christ Himself - oh how He would love for us to come running into His arms for no other reason than just to be held! To be reminded of His great love for us, and to reciprocate that love.

When we do - when we go back and re-discover that passionate love that we once knew and kindled, we will discover that the light that has been dampened, or perhaps nearly distinguished within us, will blaze ever higher, ever hotter, ever brighter and everyone around us will wonder at the light in our eyes and the bounce in our step.

Happy New Year!

Job 34:4
Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.


It is my deepest, God-given desire to help each of you reach for God, grow passionate for Him, and desire Him above all else. It is my greatest joy to "walk" beside each of you on this journey, as we learn what is right and good, and as we teach each other what is pleasing to God, regardless of what others may think of us. Oh that we would each live radical, yet relevant lives! Our world wouldn’t know what hit them! Radical, so that those around us can see, beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are different, not playing by the rules the world seems to have laid out for us. Yet relevant, so that they can also see how this radical life can apply to them, helping them even in everyday life, causing them to deeply desire this Jesus who is our everything. I pray that this daily devotional helps each of us to move ever closer to that lifestyle.

As you can see, the new year has brought me around again! Life seems to be calming down a bit (although, I hesitate to say that, as I’m sure it will change in an instant). Our son, Nolan, got tubes put in his ears, and so his health seems to have improved. Now he is just trying to cut teeth, which can be just as harrowing, although I’m sure we’ll get through this just like anything else. We are now in the process of re-teaching him to sleep through the night, as he got in the habit of awaking every 2 hours (argh!) when he was having all the trouble with his ears. I, on the other-hand am learning a good lesson in how to live well on little sleep. I think it’s a lesson I have needed to learn for quite a while - I hope it sticks, as I really don’t desire to have to learn this one over and over again.

Now, you may be wondering why I am e-mailing you from this address, when I told you recently that my church would be using my devotionals. Well, it seems that we are going to wait to get that started until we have the necessary equipment to send out the e-mails automatically, and that won’t be until about mid-year. So, I thought that this would provide the perfect opportunity to begin writing again, and walking again with you around the pages of Scripture. I’m very excited to get back at it!

I am also praying about and preparing to begin teaching and writing homework for (YIKES!) a new Bible study starting this fall. I may be trying out some of the material on you all, and would appreciate any and all feedback! Also, if you would pray with me regarding the team that God would have me get together. I really desire to get a group of ladies together that really aren’t all that involved in ministry at Central - fresh energy! God is going to have to bring me the people, though, so I need to be patient and on the look-out. I am excited about where God is going to take this, and how He is going to use this study to reach out to the women in our area! I have long seen myself as a "stepping stool" for those around me to use to get ever closer to our Jesus, and that is how I desire to be used in this, as well. I count it my greatest privilege (and most exciting adventure) to serve in this way!

So, as you can see I’m busy, but happy (albeit tired). I’m so thrilled to be back here with you. I know that I have said time and again how much I miss you all, but it bears repeating. I feel like I’ve come home, and I’m so happy to be back.

Talk to you soon!

All my love,
Andrea

PS - May the Lord make 2006 a year to remember in Christendom!