Stand

“11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then…” (Ephesians 6:11-14a).

Taking our stand is

Setting ourselves to win

Against the devil’s schemes

The battle we face are not against flesh and blood

The battle we are in 

Is spiritual 

In spiritual battles

We put on the full armor of God

Our armor is spiritual

Our stance is firm

Firmly rooted in 

Christ

In what He has accomplished for us on the cross

Being able to stand our ground is

Taking a position

Putting our stake in the ground

To declare 

Who we are

To Whom we belong

With Whom we stand

Against whom we stand

To stand after having done everything is

Remaining standing 

To fully claim what was accomplished

And keep guard our position

To stay vigilant and alert

To stand and to watch

To protect

To own

Our victory

Stand firm then

With the accoutrements 

Necessary for this spiritual battle

The belt of truth buckled

The breastplate of righteousness in place

Feet fitted with readiness to share the Gospel

The shield of faith with which we extinguish fiery darts

The helmet of salvation to protect our minds and thoughts

The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God enabling us to take offensive stances

And after everything

Stand

"Stand" by Newsboys

Exchange of Only Son for Many Sons

(John 3:16)

For God so loved the world

That He gave His

ONE and ONLY Son

In order to gain 

Many heirs

Many daughters and sons

The sacrifice of His

ONLY SON

In order to gain

All of US

Imagine you only have one child

But because of your love for 

Orphans in need of a family

You willingly

SACRIFICE

As in

To give your 

One and only son

To die

A cruel death

In 

Order

To 

Gain

Many

In 

Order 

To 

Adopt

Many

As 

Your children

Your heirs

We know God loves us

Afterall He created us

And formed us inside our mother’s womb

He sees each of us as His

Masterpiece

His Beloved

In whom He is well pleased

Even before one day came into being

In our lives here on earth

But to gain us as 

His

Adopted 

Daughters and sons

God had to

Sacrifice 

His Only Son

Jesus

In order to 

Gain us

What price

What huge sacrifice

At such 

TREMENDOUS

Price

God was willing

His Only Son Jesus was willing

The Holy Spirit was willing

To make this 

Sacrifice

In 

Order 

To 

Gain 

YOU

And me

"O The Blood" (Kari Jobe)

Availability Not Ability

When we make ourselves available

God shows up and He performs the miracle

The 5,000 and the 4,000 needed food

For they had followed Jesus and listened to His teaching

They were hungry

They were in remote places with no food

No access to buy any food

Jesus asked how much food was around

Five loaves and two fish for the 5,000

Seven loaves and a few small fish for the 4,000

The disciples passed out the bread and the fish to the crowd

They participated in distributing the food to the hungry

The disciples did not perform the miracle of multiplying the food

They made themselves available to be

Conduits 

of God’s miracle

Jesus was the One Who performed the miracle

Elijah went to the widow and asked her to 

First bake him bread 

From the handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug 

Enough to make one loaf as her and her son’s last meal

Then they will wait for death from starvation

When the widow used the flour and the olive oil to bake the bread

God enabled the flour and the oil to not run out

So the widow

Her son

and Elijah

Were able to have bread to eat 

Every day

God shows up when we participate

In His miracle

God is the Miracle Maker

We get to be the conduits of 

His miracle

His work

When Jesus broke the bread and the fish

If the disciples decided not to pass out the bread and the fish

The people would not have gotten fed

The widow could have not followed Elijah’s directions

She and her son would indeed have their last meal

And died of starvation after

But because they were 

Available

Willing

Obedient

The disciples got to reap 

The widow got to benefit from 

Being

Witnesses

Participants

Beneficiaries

Of

God’s miracles

The Holy Spirit is perpetually at work

His Living River is constantly flowing

When we choose to jump into 

The Living River of the Holy Spirit

Its currents carry us

We get to

Experience God’s work in the world

God’s miracles of 

Healing

Saving

Rescuing

Setting people free

Providing

Comforting

And loving His people

We become privileged

Witnesses

Participants

Beneficiaries

of God’s work

His miraculous work

Through us

Although He does not need us

For God will accomplish His work regardless

But out of His love

God invites us to be participants

of His work

So we can be blessed

For taking part in

His miracles

Jump in

Get in on the action

So we can be active participants of

God’s work of miracles and 

Be blessed

Today

Filling Our Minds with Truth

When a container is filled to the brim

There is no room left for anything else

Our mind is always looking for something to fill it with

Fill it with truth and we live with Shalom

Fill it with anything else we live with struggles

When we FILL our mind with God’s truth

There will be no room left for

Doubts

Fears

Anxieties

Worries

Lies

Obsessions

Compulsions

Addictions

God’s truth says:

 

God calls us His Beloved daughters and sons

We are precious to Him and He is well pleased with us

He calls us His friends

We are God’s unique Image Bearers

He knows our every thought even before one crosses our minds

He knew our every day before one came into existence

He saw our unformed bodies before the foundation of the world was set

He knit us together in our mothers’ wombs

He attends to us and knows the number of hairs on our heads

He bottles our tears for us

God has us in the palms of His hands

He promises to be with us and never forsake us

The Resurrected Christ has gone before us to prepare a room for us in heaven

The Victorious Christ is always interceding for us at the right hand of God

We are more than conquerors through Christ Who strengthens us

Greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world

When we draw near to God He will draw near to us

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

Trouble

Hardships

Persecution

Famine

Nakedness

Danger

Sword

Neither death nor life

Neither angels nor demons

Neither present nor future nor any powers

Neither height nor depth

Nor anything else in creation

Will be able to separate us from the love of God

Christ is

True

Noble

Right

Pure

Lovely

Admirable

Excellent

Praiseworthy

When we think on these truths

Fill our minds with these truths

There will be no room left for lies and struggles

Because our minds are FULL of

Truth

God’s truth

Reality

God’s reality

The battle of our lives starts with 

The battle of our minds

Fill our minds with God’s reality and truth

Our reality will come into alignment with God’s reality 

Our lives transformed

Our Worth

Psalm 139

Who are we?

How do we view ourselves?

How do we know our worth?

What makes up our self-worth?

These are questions we might ponder

If we are to be judged by our performances

Our values and worth can go up and down from day to day

But

How does God view us?

After all, He is our Maker

He saw our unformed body even before one day came into being

He hems us in behind and before

He lays His hands upon us

God knows our

Every thought

Every word

Every move

He is familiar with all our ways

For He knows us thoroughly

All the days ordained for us were written in His book

Even before one day came into being

This God

Our Creator

The Lover or our soul

Who knows us completely

Finds us worthy 

Of His love

Of His loving care

Of His creation

He calls us His Masterpiece

Our worth comes from Him imbuing us with worth

It is about the Creator and His worth

It is about the Creator and Him giving us worth

It is the Father Who wants a relationship with us

He then went about to form us in our mother’s womb

He hands us over into our mother’s arms

He raises us through our earthly parents

He is present in every moment of our lives

Constantly

Watching

Caring

Attending

Through the good and bad times

Through our times of joys and sorrows

God the Creator

God the Maker

God the Father

God the Lover of our soul

God and His Presence

His companionship even when we are unaware

HE LOVES US

We are unique reflections of Himself 

It is because of His love for us that 

We

Are

Counted

As

WORTHY

Worthy of His Son’s death on the cross

In order to redeem us

So that

We might find our worth 

In God

Through Christ

Experienced through the Holy Spirit

Do we see it?

Do we sense it?

Do we feel it?

Do we believe it?

It is God 

And all about God

That we get to have worth

We are worthy

Because 

God 

Gives us 

Our Worth

The Unseen and Unheard Man Born Blind

John 9 & Matthew 25

The man who was born blind and cannot see

Others treated him as one who would stay blind

His neighbors and others who have seen him around

Expected that he would never gain sight

Evidently they also were unable to hear his voice

After Jesus gave him sight

Those who knew him talked amongst themselves

In his presence

As if he was not there

They debated whether he was who he was

They thought he only looked like the blind man they saw around town

He had to say to them

I am the man

But they did not believe him

He not only did not have sight

He also did not have a voice

Even after he gained sight

Even after the Pharisees questioned him about his sight

They did not believe what he said

They went to this man’s parents and asked them about his sight

After his parents shirked the question 

The Pharisees asked the man who had been blind

Again

How did he gain his sight

He replied

I have told you already and you did not listen

Do we see

Do we have sight

Do we hear

Are we able to hear

Could we 

See and

Hear

The disenfranchised

The poor 

The down-trodden

The beggars

Those suffering from scarcity of

Resources

Finances

Health

Sobriety

Soundness of mind

Family

Friendships

Community

Human contact

The lowest of the low in our society

Do we see them 

Do we hear their voices

Those who do not have social capital 

Do we realize that 

They are God’s creation

God’s Masterpiece

God’s Workmanship

Just as we are

God’s Beloved

Might that be why Jesus said

At the End of Time

The Son of Man will separate

The sheep from the goat

Those who

Attended to people in need

Those who 

Fed the hungry

Gave drink to the thirsty

Invited in strangers

Clothed the naked

Visited the sick

Visited those in prison

Those who

See

Hear

Attend to in action

The blind

The voiceless

The weak

The needy

In our neighborhood

Who live among us

Now

Now while it’s still day

While we have breath

While we have resources

Financially

Timewise

Physically

Share with those in need

In practical ways

Now

Even

Right now

We Are Now Perfect Like the Father is Perfect

Oh the sweet and perfect love of God

For God so loved the world

That He gave His only Son

To die for us

That we might become 

One with Christ

One with God

One with the Holy Spirit

One with our Triune God

When we become cognizant of our sins

And we confess our sins for what they are and

Repent and

Turn away from

Our sins and

Turn toward God

He is quick to forgive us our sins

For His compassion fails not

His mercies are new every morning

For His love has already paid the price for our sins

The sin-less Son

Died for us sin-filled man

Therefore there is now no condemnation 

For those who have accepted what was completed on the cross

The Divine Exchange

The Sinless for the sinful

The veil that separated the

Holy from the Holy of Holies in the temple

Was torn in two

Top down

God 

Top down

Came from heaven to earth

God

Top down

Made the perfect sacrifice

God 

Top down

Died for us on the cross

And completed His work of salvation for us

We are now united as one

With God the Father

With God the Savior

With God the Holy Spirit

God

The Holy God

Is now

One with us

For we have become

Holy

Clean

Sinless

Perfect

Just as He is

Like Father God

Like His Son

We have been made one with this

Perfect

Holy

God

We too become

Like Father

Like child

Perfect Father

Perfect child

We are perfect

As He is perfect

What is keeping us from running into

The Holy of Holies

Where there is 

Perfect forgiveness

Perfect acceptance

Perfect love

Where we are being made into 

Perfect reflection

of the Perfect Father God

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen

When it is God Who justifies

Who then can possibly condemn us

When Christ Jesus Who died for our sins

Is now interceding on our behalf

At the right hand of God

No one

No one can bring any charge

No one can condemn us

Not a one

For the Only One

Who can save us

Has done so for us

On the cursed cross

And tore the veil

So we can

Enter in

Boldly

Confidently

Run 

Into the Throne Room of God

Blameless

Perfect

As the Father is 

Perfect

Run To the Throne of Grace

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Christ our Great High Priest

He was tempted in every way 

Just as we are

But He did not sin

He can therefore empathize with us

He gets it

He understands our temptations to sin

He feels it with us because

He felt the tug toward sin

To give into them

But because He was God

He did not sin

While Jesus 

The Son of God 

was on earth

He was also fully human

Fully God and perfect

Fully man and tempted

Tempted in every way

Just as we are

Yet because He was God

He did not sin

Jesus did not give into the temptations to sin

But because He was fully human

He can empathize with our temptations

To sin

To cuss

To rebel

To lash out

To be selfish

To be prideful

To be spiteful

To be impatient

To be unforgiving

To exact revenge 

To anger and rage

To write the script

To assign bad motives

To malign and slander

To wish ill on our enemies

To give into our sinful nature

To give into our human nature

To give into our base nature

To act out sexually

To be lustful

To be greedy

To be envious

Christ our Great High Priest

Who went into the Holy of Holies

And became our Perfect Sacrifice

To atone for our sins

The temptations we gave into

That He felt but did not indulge in

How precious His blood

His atoning blood

That washes away

All of our sins

Jesus saw us while He was on the cross

He saw us on the other side of the cross

He knew He was truly

The Only Way

To purchase our redemption

He gladly went on that cursed cross

Entered into the Holy of Holies as a high priest would

And sacrificed Himself once and for all

For our sins

The Perfect God

Died for us sinful humans

Perfect Atonement

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen

No one

For Christ died for us

He is now seated at the right hand of God

Interceding for us

The Risen Christ

The Perfect Atonement

Is now

Seated on the 

Throne of Grace

The door to the Throne Room is wide open

God the Father

Jesus the Resurrected Atonement

The Ever-Present Holy Spirit

The Triune God

Is seated on this 

Throne of Grace

The blood of Christ is beckoning us

To come

Come boldly

Come confidently 

Into this Throne Room

To receive

Grace

Mercy

Full acceptance

Full assurance of love and forgiveness

Run up to this Throne of Grace

Climb into the lap of God

Allow Him to pull us up into His bosom

To embrace us

To cradle us in His arms

To shower His love

To coo over us

To whisper His love

As He sings over us with rejoicing

Go

Now

 Into the Throne Room of Grace

To receive 

Mercy

Grace 

NOW

"The Throne Room" by Charity Gayle

God’s Thoughts Toward Us

I asked: “Lord, what are Your thoughts toward me right now?”

And He replied:

You are My Beloved

You are My chosen child

You are cherished by Me

I am well pleased with you

You are pleasing to Me

I am delighted in you

You are delightful to Me

In response I experienced:

His rejoicing over me

Embraced in His bosom

Gentle embrace

Warm hug

Fierce embrace

Firm hug

Tight squeezes

Cradling me in His bosom

Rocking me in His bosom

Swinging me in His arms

Twirling me with His arms

Dancing with me

Leading and coaxing me to follow

Waltzing

Free-style dancing

Throwing me up into the air and catching me

Laughing with joy over me

His eyes light up

Laughing eyes

Eyes glistening with delight and favor

Eyes crinkling with 

Smile

Laughter

Delight

Over His

Enjoyment 

of me

Whispers of love

Whispers of sweet-nothings

Cooing over me

Delighting in me and in my company

Pure delight

In me

His beloved

His creation

His reflection

Yes 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made

And I know it full well

Because God made me

Out of His own heart and love

As His reflection

To cherish

To enjoy

To shower His love

And to take JOY 

In

Me