Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

We all do it.  When things are going well, going as planned, going as we like, we tend to not lean on God so much.  We don't think we need Him as much as we do in the harder seasons. Big mistake. We need to thank God for everything and everyone that drives us to our knees in utter dependence on Him. For those are the times when God does His greatest and deepest work in us.  How so?  Because that is when we are full aware of our need for Him. Wish there weren't so many trials?  That's what a heaven is for!  All will truly be well there. But for now! Our greatest strength comes from our deepest dependence on God.  Not in ourselves.  Not in our circumstances.  Not in relationships, finances, prosperity - none of these, as nice as they may be, could ever give us the anchor for our souls that we need. When we look to anything or anyone else other than Almighty God for our strength and might, we will come up short.  Oh it may look or feel good...

I'm in a good place these days. But this wasn't always the case. Life was hard, very hard, for a very long time; almost unbearable.  So much so that I started to doubt that God loved me.  As i type these words, I'm not very proud to admit this.  But it's true. During this long spell of trial after trial, I wrote this song, "The Love of God."  Go figure. I still believed that God was love, that He loved the world.  I just wasn't "feeling the love" from Him personally. Been there?  If you have been a Christian for any length of time, I'm guessing you've been there.   Stuff happens.  We live in a fallen world.  And trying to take comfort in God's Sovereignty can only magnify our soreness.  Why?  Because if God is Sovereign (and He is), then why does He allow horrible stuff to happen to us?   It's easy to believe that God loves me when I feel that things are going well.  But I have also believed and felt God's love w...

Is it hard for you to trust God?  To believe that He has your best interest at heart?  To be able to bear what you thought you never could because He allows certain trials to go on and on?  None of us knows the future, no not one.  But God does.  He knows the beginning from the end.   A friend once told me that all of the chapter titles in the book of our lives have the same title:  Trusting God. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I believe what she said. The trick is to make sure that we are trusting Him and not only in what He can do for us. Yes, He is our Provider, Deliverer, Protector, and so much more.  But when we trust Him for the provision, the deliverance, the protection by looking to those things rather than Himself, we will get tripped up.  Why?  Because the provision rarely comes as we’d anticipated.  The deliverance rarely happens as quickly as we’d like.  And all kinds of stuff still happens to us that we f...

I know this sounds nuts.  How can suffering bring us joy?  I mean, we suffer when we suffer, right? Not as Christians. God even redeems our suffering, so great is His reach. The Bible tells us over and over, in various Scriptures, to rejoice in our suffering and trials.  Why?  Because it brings about character and hope in us, lasting spiritual fruit and maturity. And character and hope bring us the good stuff - the joy that does not disappoint. Some of the most precious times I have felt the Lord's Presence the most were in times of suffering.  Remember, He is near to the brokenhearted, to bind up their wounds. He is near to us in our weaknesses. He comforts us in our sorrows. It's not like we need to seek out pain and suffering!  The Lord knows the perfect dosage of suffering to mete out to each of us to bring us into His joy more deeply, awareness of His Presence, so that we grow into His likeness.  Too little, and we get "flabby" and lazy in our gro...

I can't tell you all the reasons why God allows so many trials in my life.  But I believe that He wants to redeem each one of them and use them for His purposes. Enter, you...my readers. When I write about my woes and how God is transforming me through them, or when I write about His victory over a certain situation or obstacle, or even when I write about longstanding unanswered prayers, or how I struggle with doubt, they are all for your benefit!  How? We all need to know that we're not the "only ones" with the problems that we have, whether internal or external.  We need someone to relate to what we are going through so we don't feel alone, or strange, in our suffering. What is your testimony?  It could be that you haven't reached it yet.   Joseph in the Old Testament had a 15-year long trial when he was wrongfully imprisoned.  There, he met with more tests and trials than most of us will ever endure.   In the midst of his imprisonment, Jos...

When you've been through many trials and tribulations, years of suffering with little let-up, you start to doubt God's goodness toward you. Oh you may still believe that He is good toward others, but you have a hard time experiencing His goodness toward you because of difficult circumstances. That is where I was in my faith for longer than I like to admit.  Oh my faith in the Lord was still strong.  But I struggled with the difficult things He allowed to enter, and continue, in my life. After all, I listened to Him and obeyed Him where most would not.  Why the long, hard season?   I believed in His goodness even when I obeyed and things still turned out awful, or worse than they were.  But I had stopped clinging to His promises for me .  God does not always fix all of our problems, though He does come alongside to comfort us in the midst of our problems. What if those harsh realities never go away this side of heaven?  Can we still believe not onl...

Whoa.  Wait a minute, you might be thinking.  How could this mess I am going through be a blessing ? Let us review, dear friends!   Here's a short list of how trials formed the saints of Scripture: - Daniel experienced firsthand God's supernatural power in protecting him from the voracious lions - Jesus was in  the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (and He is with us in our "fiery furnace!") - God protected David from Saul's murderous plans again and again, bringing him into his destiny as King - Job was doubly blessed - more than he had been - after he lost everyone and everything in life - Paul's letters to the churches are the most-quoted Scripture of all time; he wrote them from a prison cell - Jonah needed to learn that God's grace is for all - even for those he couldn't stand; he finally learned obedience - Joseph was left for dead by his jealous siblings; he ended up ruling over them eventually - Jesus endured severe hunger and ...

When we are in the thick of it - being tempted to give up, walk in the flesh, doubt God - this is when we are called to practice patience. The meaning of patience in this case is long suffering.  God knows that we suffer when tempted.  Remember, He was tempted by the devil in the desert and it was no fun!  But Jesus resisted the devil by knowing Who He was and by knowing and speaking Scripture.  Jesus was not passive in this and neither should we be. Verse 4 in the King James translation reads, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire , wanting nothing."  The purpose of the trial is to produce patience in us which makes us whole.  When we are whole, we are healed, "wanting nothing." Why does it have to work this way?  I have no idea.  And trying to deny it or fight against it only causes great turmoil and stress. Isn't that the way?  We are tempted.  We feel rotten.  We are uncomfortable and not at ...

What situation in your life is not as it should be?  We all have something  we wish were different.  This is not even out of discontent or complaining.  Some things are just not as they should  be. Life is not perfect.  We all know that much! But what is that thing in your life that is not as it is "supposed" to be - at least in your estimation?   If a loved one refuses to seek God and is living a life of rebellion and sin against Him, we know that this is not as it should be.  "Lord, I've done everything I can to help him/her.  He/she is not changing, Lord, no matter how hard I pray or even fast.  When are You going to fix this for me?" Maybe you live with physical pain and you just can't take it one more day. Maybe you are discontent with yourself and wish you could respond to your trials with more grace instead of frustration, doubt, or fear. Maybe, just maybe, you  are not as you are "supposed" to be yet. Do You think the Lord d...