God’s Promises Aren’t Dependent Upon Our Perfection

I spent the day yesterday preparing a message called, “The Sifted Life”, As I wrote the intro, I shared that some of my friends jokingly call me a “Recovered Perfectionist”, but in all honesty, I prefer “A Woman Redeemed by The Perfect One”. 🤗

I love to organize, but am far from perfect & that’s good because it reminds me that God’s promises aren’t dependent upon my perfection!

This morning, I read about Moses’s last day on earth. He lives his life on the heights, face to face with Father God, & here in his last moments, he climbs high on Mt. Nebo for one last glance over the land promised to God’s people.

The scene feels sad because Moses, in his fallible imperfection, wasn’t allowed to enter the Promised Land due to sin. I wonder if he wishes that he’d been more perfect so that his mission didn’t feel like it fell short…but God uses it as a visual of what’s to come!

Moses, the Law Maker, delivers the people from slavery to the border of the promised land, but Joshua (a prototype of Jesus) leads them through the very same river where Jesus would be baptized, to the land flowing with milk & honey!

Y’all! Did you make the connection?! The Law made NOTHING perfect & that was the point! It delivered the people from slavery to sin, but didn’t lead them to eternal rest & peace!

Moses leads with the Law but his leadership falls short at the banks of the Jordan ON purpose & FOR the purpose of allowing Joshua (visual of Jesus to come) to do for us what the law couldn’t do!

Moses wasn’t perfect & yet he was known for his face to face relationship with the Father. There’s no perfection needed, no clean up required for us to face the Father because Jesus did the “cleaning up” for us!

God gives Joshua what He gave Moses-His promise & Presence! That same promise is for us AND the fulfillment of His promises are not dependent upon our perfection!! 😅

Father, thank You for the reminder that You will not fail us nor abandon us. We want to be known as face-to-face followers of the Father! Your promises have no dependence on our performance as they always prove true. We praise You that our success is not dependent on perfection, but on Your Promise & Presence alone!

#OneYearBible

April 10th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12

JOSHUA 1:1-2:24

LUKE 13:22-14:6

PSALM 79:1-13

PROVERBS 12:26

Silencing Satan | Making Enemy Accusations Fall Flat

Have you ever been accused of something that’s just not true? Or maybe you’ve accused someone of something you later learn isn’t true? Regardless of which side of accusation you’ve resided, both can feel awful.

We need be careful not to come into agreement with accusation AND be wary of letting Satan, the great accuser, tempt us to become his secondary accuser.

So how do we make enemy accusations fall flat?

Jesus was king at that! In fact, I just read of an instance where he shames his enemies…

A woman crippled by an evil spirit for 18 years comes to the temple on the Sabbath. When Jesus sees her, He calls her close, touches her & instantly she stands straight!

The temple leaders, however, are instantly indignant

They pompously tell the crowd that there are 6 days a week for working, so don’t come on the Sabbath to be healed. 🙄

Ridiculous right? I’m pretty sure that’s what Jesus thought because He begins His reply with, “You hypocrites!”

“Hypocrite” means actor, pretender, one who judges under pretense.

Jesus shamed the pretenders with Truth, reminding THEM of work THEY do on the Sabbath!

Luke 13 begins with the Jews judging Jews who’d died in tragedy, accusing them of victimhood due to sin.

Then the passage turns to the religious leaders accusing Jesus of violating the Sabbath.

In both circumstances, Jesus’s reply silences enemy accusations. Whether we are tempted by The Accuser to judge others or we are on the receiving end of false accusation, we too can silence Satan.

Last night I prayed with my dad on the phone & as I did, I felt the enemy whispering doubt…”What if he doesn’t heal, what if praying is one big farce, what if…” by the 3rd what if, I stopped mid-sentence & praised God-for who He is, what He’s capable of doing & that He’s the only Truth I need heed.

Recalling Truth is key to calling OUT the great pretender! Satan is an actor who likes to “play god”, wooing us to follow his whims by accusing with great untruth.

Whether tempted to accuse others or becoming a target of accusation, we make accusations fall flat with Truth about the circumstance & about The One who is our foundation of Truth!👈🏽That’s how we silence Satan!👊🏽

#OneYearBible

April 9th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 33:1-29

LUKE 13:1-21

PSALM 78:65-72

PROVERBS 12:25

Jesus IS Peace, but it’s not His Purpose.

When I was little, a massive tornado spun its way through our yard, littering it with uprooted trees that’d been tossed like lawn darts.  I remember the moment leading up to the storm. The wind that’d been blowing through the greenish sky, suddenly stopped & then my mom brought us to the basement while sounds like a freight-train roared overhead.

Whenever the wind begins to swirl, those memories surface. I recognize it because I’ve been through it. Jesus warns people in Luke 12, that even though they can read the wind & weather, they don’t know how to interpret the present times.

Last night, as I scrolled through headlines, feelings of peace faded. Full term aborted babies found, the WHPS announcing puberty blockers for kids is “best practice”, elementary teachers leaving schools because they can’t teach gender choice & masturbation…that’s just a few that had me scratching my head in wonder. How can so many be stuck in political opposition rather than addressing the moral rot in our nation?

Y’all, Jesus IS Peace. It’s one of His names. His purpose, however, was not peace, but division.

When we put a stake in the ground of Truth, not your truth my truth nonsense, but in the unchanging Truth of God’s Word, even families divide.

I don’t want to be divided, but I DO want to be ready for the return of my Messiah.

He tells us that to whom much is given, even more will be required. I am aware of the grace I’ve received. I’M not to divide, Jesus came to sift & separate. I’m called to reconcile.

Not only do I want to be ready, I want all who stand in opposition to my belief to be ready too! I pray they’d witness God’s operating grace in my life as a visual that they can receive the same!

Oh, that our lives would become a trophy of grace amidst the evil that abounds!

The times are telling. All that’s swirling about is an indicator of what’s to come. Are we ready?

Oh Father, help us interpret the times! They are only perilous when our eternal future isn’t secure. Jesus, you came to divide, but you also came for reconciliation! Divide us from sin that so easily entangles & may Your operating grace in our lives serve as a visual that others can receive the same!

#OneYearBible

April 8th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 32:28-52

LUKE 12:35-59

PSALM 78:56-64

PROVERBS 12:2