For someone who might need it

 These are some thoughts I’ve had and feel like sharing.

The story of every believer is the story of Israel coming out of Egypt. We’ve all been in slavery to sin and sin worked us over until we felt like there was no escape except in death. (Exodus 2:23) But then we heard that there’s freedom (Jesus) at hand and our freedom came just like God promised. We believed and left Egypt behind and now we’re walking through the desert towards our promised land. But the wilderness is scary, and we feel like any day now we’re either going to be attacked by our former master (Exodus 14:5-10) or die of thirst or hunger and it will all have been for nothing.

 Freedom sounded good in Egypt but now, come to think of it, Egypt wasn’t so bad (Exodus 16:3) and whatever The Saviour provides seems insignificant compared to how good it was in Egypt (Numbers 11:5-6) because the wilderness makes you forget that you’re on the way to a promised land. You forget that you were not just plucked out of Egypt and left to find your way into the promised land by your own. No. Even the children of Israel were not sent out to cross the desert by themselves. God sent The Angel of The Lord to go with them to guide them on the way (Exodus 23:20-23). God gave His Holy Spirit to all those that have believed in His precious Son to guide them on the way for we travel on a road we’ve never been before (Joshua 3:4b).

This is not a fairy-tale we believe in. For the sake of having Jesus Christ as my Lord, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14) The fact that we have days when we get distracted by the world, doesn’t mean we’re under its control. I get that there are days when we feel this or that, but that doesn’t change the fact that I left Egypt behind, and I am never going back there! (Deuteronomy 17:16)

If you’ve placed your faith in Jesus, then trust that the One who set you free will safely take you to your destination. Ask His Holy Spirit to guide your steps. If there are things you struggle with, don’t hide them, take them to The Lord and sincerely ask Him to help you overcome and He that is faithful will help you. Ask and believe that what you have asked for you have already received. (Mark 11:23) If you lack anything ask and don’t grumble against Your Saviour like the Israelites did in the desert. If there is sin in you, then have the same heart as Phinehas and boldly pick up a spear and run it through whatever makes you sin (Numbers 25:5-8), don’t spare it regardless of how much it pains you to do so. Jesus said, “And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” (Matthew 18:9)

Some people fond of their ‘innocent tiny sins’ might think I’m talking nonsense. “But who can live that way?!” What is impossible with men is possible with God. (Mark 10:27) I didn’t say it’s possible to do it with your human discipline and good intentions, but I know for a fact that it is possible through His Spirit. If you don’t believe me, test it. Ask God, sincerely “Lord, I honestly don’t want this sin in my life anymore. I hate it, I hate how it makes me feel. I have tried to control it, but I end up running to it every chance I got. I know I can’t do it by myself, but I believe Lord that all things are possible with You! I believe You can do it in me!”

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. “ (Colossians 3:5)

Am I saying it is easy? NO WAY! Is worth it? ABSOLUTELY!

We have entered in a contract (covenant) with a holy God. We have decided one day, “enough is enough! How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” (Luke 15:17-19) And as soon as our Father saw us received us back with open arms. Now that we are of His household, we can’t keep acting like we did when we were feeding the pigs!

I know of many believers that get easily confused every other week. It’s either with something they really feel God should give them but they don’t get and they’re unhappy, or some so and so said or did such and such and oh, the audacity! Or everybody else has this blessing yet I am forgotten, or some documentary they’ve watched completely threw their whole faith, or some deep eschatological question regarding the mark of the beast or the 4 horses of revelation. Aargh!

Enough! We will reign with Christ one day. Does that even sink into our minds? We, who right now can’t settle a simple thing concerning earthly things, will one day govern with Christ. But beloved, don’t be fooled, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:10-12)

If you have tested God, truly tested Him and found Him lacking, then why continue this game? If this Way leads you nowhere and you yearningly look at the world and wish you could live like one of them, then by all means, go be happy! Why pretend to want God? I know some would like to have both God and the world. I’m afraid they’re not compatible with one another. So choose! Settle it in your mind once and for all. God deserves better than some moments of highs from you whenever you feel like putting aside some scraps for Him only to return to your old ways as soon as you’re bored with this whole thing. He wants all or nothing because He gave everything to have you.

“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  (Joshua 24:15)

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:6-13)

I believe with all my heart that whatever God says in His word is true. I have bet my life on it. I have no plan B in case this doesn’t pan out. I’m all in. I have been saved only through His eternal mercy, I stand through His grace and through the power of His Spirit and I know His grace will take me home. But as convinced as I am, don’t believe me. Taste for yourself and see the goodness of God. Honestly and earnestly seek Him and He will let you find Him. Humbly ask for His Holy Spirit and He will give it to all those that ask it (Luke 11:9-13) because only through His Spirit can you cross this desert. It cannot be done by human determination, if you don’t believe me, try it and see how fast it gets you exhausted and disillusioned or convinced that you’re a failure.

“He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

May God bless and illuminate the heart of anyone who reads this!

Cristina Pop

 

 

 

With joy

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke o
f iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.” – Deuteronomy 28:47-48

I’ve had that passage on my mind today. It bothers me because I’ve always had an issue with those verses. Nowhere in the whole Torah is it commanded to have joy, so why would Israel be punished for not serving God with joyfulness and gladness of heart. It’s almost like God expects to be served with joy and not just obedience. It bothers me because I am the reluctantly obedient type. I might not like it, I might even resent it, but alas like a martyr accepting their fate, I submit. Why wouldn’t that be enough? I mean, I obey, right?!

If God would ONLY want obedience, He would have made us all robots. So, what does God want? I suppose He wants what anybody wants from the object of their love: to be acknowledged and appreciated. His very first commandment was, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:5). I guess love is closely linked to joy, unless it’s unrequited love, but that’s not the case here. The object of your love and affection brings you joy. If in serving God there is just reluctant obedience, then that’s not love.

I don’t know of any other god, except the God of the Scripture that demands to be loved. All other religions expect obedience, worship, fear, awe, but love? Not so much. I guess that is the difference between false gods and a living, true God. He wants to be loved not just obeyed. Why? Because then the service to Him will be a joy and not a burden.

Please note that by joy I don’t mean some ecstatic feeling, nor manic laughter. I mean what Paul says in Romans 12:12, “rejoicing in hope.” It’s serving God with the attitude that a farmer has while sowing in his field. It’s work with a hope for reward at harvest time and that prospect causes joy. Someone might ask, why hope for a reward? Can’t you just love God for His sake? Uhm, because even God was working His vineyard hoping for a good harvest.

 “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” (Isaiah 5:1-6)

 If He loves me and cares for me and invests in me, wouldn’t He be entitled to gratitude, to joy, to appreciation?  Wouldn’t He be entitled to obedience with joyfulness and gladness of heart?

I am writing this for myself. I am one of those people on whom God must extend more grace because I’m often just obeying with no joy. I don’t always see it as a privilege to serve my King. If I am quiet instead of defending myself, I expect monuments to be erected in my honour because it feels like such an injustice. If I do something nice and nobody sees it, I accept it but with a little bit of bitterness because apparently, I’m not as dead as I’d like to think and I still need validation. If I go an extra mile with one that asks me, I need God to record it immediately. If I’m kind when I would be entitled to retaliate, If I’m seeking peace instead of escalating a situation into an argument, I need it noted! Foolish, wretched flesh of mine!

Lord, You know all things and You know me, I’m not trying to hide behind the trees in the garden. (Gen. 3:8-10) I am ashamed, and I want to run for cover, but here I stand. Thank You for making a way for me to be able to stand before You, hidden in Your Beloved Son, Jesus. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3)

For His sake, forgive me.

 Cristina Pop

 

Psalm 69

Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

 

More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal must I now restore?

O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

 

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.

 

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

 

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. 

At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.

Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

 

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.

Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!

 

You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.

Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

 

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.

Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.

May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.

For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

 

But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

 

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

 

Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.

For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it. Amen