Able

Scriptures: Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 1:6

Able

Life is hard sometimes. Trials come. Circumstances seem unbearable.

Your routine checkup at the doctor revealed cancer. It’s been three years and counting with only negative pregnancy tests. You don’t know what to do with the divorce papers in your hands. Your daughter is overwhelmed with anxiety, and she’s only eight years old.

Maybe life seems impossible right now. Perhaps it looks like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. But the truth is, there’s not only light at the end, there’s also light in your tunnel.

As the verse says, “In the middle of my trial/I will lift my voice to sing/In this moment I surrender/And I believe you can do anything.” God’s not on the other side of your trial. He’s with you in the middle of it.

It’s easy to believe the lie that when life is hardest, or when we’re the most broken, God is the farthest away. But those are the moments when God is closest. Those are the moments when we most need to surrender and believe that God can do anything.

As the song reminds us, “You can move the highest mountain/You can calm the raging sea/You can see beyond my failures/You can do anything for me.”

Life might feel like a mountain that can’t be moved or a raging sea that’s over your head, but God is able. He is with you. He will come through.  

Even though our circumstances are always changing, God is always constant. He is always the same. That’s why we can lift our voice in the middle of our trial and believe that He can do anything.

Scriptures: Psalms 30:6-12, Hebrews 10:23, Hebrews 10:36

See Me Through

How would your perspective change if you knew the outcome of the season of life you’re in right now?

“See Me Through” was written in a time where I really wished I could see the end of what my wife and I were going through.

We were eight weeks pregnant with our first daughter, and at the ultrasound appointment, we found out she had two cysts on her umbilical cord. 

By our next appointment, God had healed our baby girl! But the days leading up to that reminded me that even though we sometimes walk through very uncertain circumstances, we get to lean on a very certain God.

Psalm 30 is a psalm David writes thanking God for saving him from near death. In Psalm 30:11, David writes, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.” In other words, David is saying, “I’ve faced moments that were so tough that the only thing I could do was wail in my distress.”

Has that ever been you? Maybe it’s you right now as you read this. You know, one of those moments when it seems like life has stacked every negative and harmful thing against you.

In the second half of Psalm 30:11, David explains that God turned his wailing into dancing. God took a sackcloth, a symbol of grief and sorrow, and traded it for joy. What David thought was going to destroy him actually strengthened him.

We all wish we could see the end from the beginning. We have no idea what’s waiting for us in this life. There will be ups, and most certainly there will be downs. 

But we do know the outcome! God is consistently waiting to turn our darkness into dancing; to set our feet on a rock that can’t be moved. 

Take hold of this promise today: If God brought you to this moment, He’ll see you through.

Scriptures: Revelation 5:13, Revelation 21:3-4, Philippians 2:9-11

Worthy

Have you ever stopped for a second to think about what heaven will really be like?

The world has painted a pretty horrible picture of heaven. Cartoons portray marshmallow clouds,  little fairies playing harps, people floating around smiling. There’s so much questioning and confusion in our world, it’s easy for people to believe anything.

As Christians, we don’t know what to expect out of heaven, but the Bible does give us some clear indications of what our lives will look like. 

But in anticipating the joys of heaven — perhaps reuniting with loved ones or experiencing renewed bodies — we must focus on what the Bible shows is most important and true.

The lyrics of the song “Worthy” paint an incredible picture of what heaven will be like when God’s chosen people, together in unity, proclaim Jesus as King! With one voice, every creature in heaven and on Earth will proclaim that Jesus is Lord!

As the chorus says, “Blessing, Honor, Glory, Power, Be unto our God forever!” 

The Bible says, “God inhabits the praises of his people” (Psalm 22:3). This is a promise that praising, blessing, and ministering to God guarantees His presence with you! 

At some point today, get a glimpse of what it will feel like to have no agenda other than praising and blessing the name of Jesus.

Heaven is not going to be awesome because of what we do or what we experience there. Heaven is going to be awesome because Jesus is there!

Scriptures: Acts 4:12, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Exodus 15:18

Now and Forever

So many times in life we get overwhelmed with, well, life.  

It’s easy to become focused on whatever obstacle you are trying to face that your focus shifts away from Jesus altogether.

Running a successful business, striving to be the best parent, keeping up with your great neighbors — all of these are areas we’re prone to compare ourselves to others. We keep a constant scoreboard of “wins” and “failures.” It can be so exhausting there often isn’t anything left for us to do but surrender.

As Christians, we’ve all experienced situations where we tried to do things on our own and ended up exhausted, broken, defeated, and weary. It’s in those seasons where God draws near to the brokenhearted, carries our burdens, and proves himself a helpful, loving father.

The lyrics of this song are a simple declaration of the victory, power, and authority that Jesus has over our current and future circumstances — whether we taste the bitter fruit of our personal sin or the endless struggle of life in a world still under the curse of sin.

Our response is surrender — the act of laying down our hearts’ griefs and lifting up our hands in worship of His power and authority.

You cannot earn God’s love, grace, or mercy! No matter what you’re facing today, and no matter what you’re going to face in the future, Jesus loves you, He is with you, and He is for you!  

Scriptures: Ephesians 3:20, Psalms 96:1-4, 1 Corinthians 10:4-5

King of Kings

We talk to ourselves more than we talk to anyone else. And our thoughts have a lot of power to restrain or release the work of God in our life.

“King of Kings” is a song about how God is able and willing to give us immeasurably more blessing according to His power that is at work in us (Ephesians 3:20). Claiming this promise starts by simply acknowledging God and His power in our thoughts.

Satan knows the power of our thoughts, so the place he attacks early and most often is our mind: what we think about ourselves, our past, our failures, our strengths, our victories; even what we think of God. 

“King of Kings” was written to put our focus on God and what He has for us every day. That’s really powerful and something we can take for granted in worship. The more we turn our thoughts to how good God has been to us and how much more He wants to do in the future, the harder it is for the enemy to influence our thoughts.

A line in the first verse of the song says, “Mercy wakes with the sunrise.” What would happen if we made an effort to wake up every morning and have the thought, “God, thank you for another day of life”? 

That commitment would literally change the course of every day. By our acknowledging God’s sovereignty over us first, it’s a little harder for the enemy to give us thoughts like, “You’re not good enough.” We are good enough because the God of the universe woke us up on purpose, with purpose. See the difference? 

It sounds so simple, but that’s because following Jesus is supposed to be simple! The act of shifting our thoughts to be thankful can be the difference between immeasurably more and measurably less blessing. 

Today, we can begin to worship in wonder the one who is able to do more than we have dreamed!

Scriptures: John 1:1-5, John 1:10-14, Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:31-39

God of Heaven

Everyone wants to be valued. 

We often live our lives focused on trying to earn our place in the world. God is well aware of the desire in our hearts to be known and remembered because He put it there (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Our value is not in what we can do, but in what God has done for us. God gave us identity in the life of a person — Jesus.

God sent His son Jesus from heaven to be one of us. Jesus laid down His majesty to become a man. Jesus chose to become the least in all of creation, even to the point of death. Jesus became the least of us so that He could make the most of us.

As the song’s bridge says, “You traded honor for a crown of blame/A robe of light/For naked shame/To give the orphan Your family name.”

When we place our faith in Jesus, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. We become God’s children! This truth allows us to remain in awe of what God has done and worship Him for who He is. 

The second verse says, “You were wounded for my healing, my redemption.” In our weakness, Jesus is our strength. In our brokenness, Jesus is our healing. In our defeat, Jesus is our victory!

The victory Jesus has given us takes the focus off of us and places all the attention on Him. 

Take a few moments to read these passages of Scripture and then listen to “God of Heaven” and thank God from your heart for who He is and what He’s done for you!

Scriptures: Matthew 14, Matthew 16:18, Romans 8:38

Every Line

In this life, storms are inevitable. 

Suffering can cause us to feel isolated, exhausted, and gripped by unimaginable fear. But you’re not alone and your pain is not for nothing. Romans 8:38 promises, “God works all things for good for those who are called according to his purpose.” 

We know this promise is true because God said, and because others have lived it. In Matthew 14:28-33, Jesus calls the apostle Peter — whose birth name was Simon — out into the heart of one of the biggest storms Peter has ever seen. As the waves grow larger, Peter is filled with doubt and takes his eyes off Jesus. As Peter sinks into the dark waves, he cries out to Jesus to save him, and Jesus does so without delay.

Jesus does not want you to sink. Jesus wants you to call out to Him. Our power rests in Jesus and our dependence on Him and His word.

Jesus goes on to tell Simon Peter in Matthew 16:16 that his confession of Jesus as the Christ, the son of God, will be the rock on which Jesus builds His church.

God had this part of Peter’s story in mind from the beginning. That’s why the first thing Jesus does after He calls Simon as an apostle is to change his name to Peter, which comes from the same Greek word as “rock.”

Only God can take anyone — even the doubtful, desperate, sinking Peter — and use them to build the church. 

Take heart! Everything you’re experiencing is intended to bring you good and to give God glory in the end. Let God write His story with your life.

Scripture: Psalms 27

Our Great God

It’s one thing to believe there’s a God. It’s a completely different thing to believe God is for you. 

When we look at the circumstances around us, we have the option to embrace fear or faith. What we think about God drives our worship of Him, and our awareness of God’s presence in our past and present gives us hope for our future. 

The hope of the Gospel is that we don’t have to fear the future when we put our faith in Jesus. 

David is a great example of someone who chooses faith over fear through so many challenges in his life. Before David took the throne, he spent many years on the run in desert wastes and caves fleeing King Saul, who was determined to kill him.

What allowed David to believe God was with him, regardless of his circumstances? David chose to live a life of worship over a life of worry. He resolved to believe that God not only was there, He was on his side. 

The same is true for us today. God is on your side. David writes in Psalm 139:5 that God goes before us, His presence follows us, and His hand covers us. 

There is never a circumstance we face that God hasn’t already gone ahead of us and prepared us to overcome. There is never a pain we endure without His presence. There is nothing in our lives hidden from Him, and that brings us courage. 

This is why we can worship God through every season. When we learn to see God’s presence in our lives, we can believe God is present in all our circumstances. 

Read what David wrote in Psalm 27, and believe this truth over your life: “Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living.”

Scriptures: Philippians 2:1-11, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Psalms 96, 1 Peter 5:6

For Your Glory and for Me

We all want to be great, don’t we? We want to be recognized. We want to be honored. We want to be praised. We all want glory.

For most of us, our lives are spent trying to achieve or earn glory. 

If only I made this much money… 
If only I looked more like her… 
If only I drove that car… 
If only I had his job…

In the world, glory looks like working your way up. But in the Kingdom of God, glory looks like working your way down. Humility is always the way to honor. In the Kingdom, the way up is down. Our glory comes in giving all glory to God.

No one displayed this better than Jesus Christ. He was willing to humble Himself, become a servant, and obey, even to death on the cross.  

The depth to which Jesus lowered Himself is directly proportionate to the height to which God raised Him. The man who hung on the cross is the one who now wears the crown. The man who lay in the tomb is the one now seated on the throne. The man who was despised and rejected is now the one with the name above every name.

Perhaps you feel God has lowered you, or maybe you’re realizing that you’ve been trying to work your way up. Trust that God is going to raise you up at the perfect time to give God glory.

May we give up the need to strive for our glory and rest in the one who died for His glory. For who God is and for what He’s done, may we lift our voice in joyful song!

Scriptures: Jeremiah 17:7-8, Psalms 56:3-4

‘Tis so Sweet

Trust, by definition, is believing someone or something is reliable, good, honest, or effective. 

Have you ever put your trust in something that ended up being none of those things? Have you ever been treated poorly, lied to, or let down by something or someone you’ve given your whole self to? 

Being deceived hurts, but there’s good news. 

Your heavenly Father is not only completely trustworthy by definition, He is also the model for the definition. God has never failed anyone, and He never will. He sees everything, including you. 

Trust God because He loves you more than you’ve ever dreamed of being loved, and He’s proved it by sending His Son to take the punishment we deserved. God is worthy of your trust.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says those who trust in the Lord are blessed. They are like a tree that “does not cease to bear fruit,” despite intense heat or drought.

When we trust God, we get much more than temporary satisfaction or relational relief. We get salvation in Jesus! We get unfailing love, perfect peace, and endless grace at all times. We get Jesus, who has gone to the grave and back for you! Trust Him.

Who or what has your trust today? Does it compare to Jesus?