God Relented

“God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn't do it” (Jonah 3:10).

God knows the ending from the beginning

God knows who would obey Him and who would rebel

God knows who would repent and who would harden their heart

God continues to call out to us

He wants us to turn to Him

Even when He knew how we would respond

Our Loving Father continues to call us

To go back to Him

To return to His embrace

To accept and receive His grace and mercy

Our Loving Father has His arms outstretched toward us

Awaiting our return

Ready to enfold us in His

Safe

Fierce

Gentle

Intimate

Soothing 

Forgiving

Comforting

Passionate

Grace-filled

Merciful

Embrace

Throughout history Israel has rebelled

Throughout history God has called out to the Israelites

To repentance

God sent prophets

Some they stoned

Some they killed

God sent His beloved and only Son

We still rebelled

Rejected

Nailed

Jesus on the cross

Yet God’s love is unrelenting

His faithfulness unfailing

His forgiveness unwavering

His commitment undaunting

His mercies new every morning

His invitation for us to return incessant

The Father disciplines whom He loves

The goal of discipline is for us to return

Into an intimate relationship

Into an obedient relationship

Back into a loving relationship

Back into a protected relationship

Back into a flourishing relationship

While there is hardship 

Outside of an intimate

Submitted

Loving

Relationship with God

 

God calls us back

So that He might 

Relent

From continuing to 

Allow 

Us to

Experience the consequences of our rebellion

Being outside of His umbrella of protection

Repent

Return

Relent

From our ways now

So we might experience 

God’s relent

And receive His abundance of

Blessing

Joy

Intimacy

In His arms

In His embrace

"One Thing Remains" - Song to worship with: by Jesus Culture

Be it Unto Me According to Your Word

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” – Luke 1:38

Mary was a young teen engaged to Joseph

Mary was a virgin saving herself for Joseph

Mary was around 15 or 16 when she gave birth to Jesus

Before she was married

The angel of the Lord came and broke the news to Mary

She will bear a child

The long-awaited Messiah

The Holy Spirit will

Come upon Mary

Overshadow her

And she will give birth to 

The Son of God

This impregnation is not done by

Man

Human means

Nor by human desires or schemes

It is and

It must be

Accomplished

Only 

By

God the Father

Through the Holy Spirit

The arrival of the Son of God

The Triune God at work together

Mary is the vessel

Through which God’s plan will be carried out

Mary has to be willing

Mary has to be trusting

Mary has to have the fortitude

To endure the questioning of her

Chastity

Integrity

Character

To submit herself to others’

Distain

Scrutiny

Mockery

Suspicion

The fact that this teen was chosen by God to bear the Christ Child

Indicated that Mary was of a

Holy

Pure

Godly

Upright

Character

Known by others to be such as well

Her reputation will now be in question

The privileges and honor of being a godly teen

Is now in question

Imagine you being a teenager

With an impeccable reputation

A spiritual prodigy of sorts

Known and admired by others

At this high and lofty place

God asks of you 

To step down from the pedestal

And abase yourself into the muck and mire

Willingness to be debased

To be ridiculed

To be defamed

To be wronged

Maybe your rivals 

Mock

Snicker 

Rejoice

At your downfall

Yet

Because of whom Mary was at the core

Because her faith was real

Because her spirituality was bona fide

Mary was willing

Like her Son was willing

To step down from heaven

Leaving behind His lofty station

Forgoing all His rights and honor

Willingly took on the form of a man

Became weak and humble for our sakes

And died for our sins on the cross

To take on this station

To become the means

Through which 

God’s salvation plan

Come to fruition

Through the Fruit of her womb

Be it unto me

According to Your word

Total trust

Total sacrifice

Total surrender

Total debasement

For the sake of God

That

His Kingdom can come

His will be done

On earth

In Mary’s life

Through Mary’s willingness

As 

It 

Is 

In 

Heaven

That the Name of God be

Lifted up

Glorified

Magnified

Through this lowly and humble teen

Through Mary’s willingness 

God the Creator

Holy Spirit the Accomplisher

Jesus the Messiah is born into the world

Praise be to God

When we are willing to be

Trusting

Humbled

Debased

Submitted 

Surrendered

To God’s plan 

Us lowly human become

Vessels

Witnesses

Ambassadors

The Bible others read

Conduits through whom God is known

Us

God’s plan becomes accomplished

Through our

Willingness

Obedience

Surrender

Fortitude

May we be like Mary

Be it unto me

According to Your word

May Your will be done

In and through me

Today

"Your Will be Done" - Song by CityAlight

God’s Plan in Exile

“…I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24: 5b-7).

When the Israelites sinned repeatedly and rebelled against God

God punished them by sending them into captivity

God is not a mean or punishing God

God does not banish us forever

God does not abandon us

God always has a plan

His plan for us is 

Restoration

Reconciliation 

Intimacy with Him

When we don’t learn from

God’s unmerited favor

God’s continued blessing

God cooing us to Himself in sweet fellowship

When we drift from God in the good times

We live with entitlement to God’s blessings

We expect and demand God’s bounty

Forgetting what God has done for us

Taking for granted God’s favor

We become proud and independent from God

God’s heart is grieved

God yearns for our love and relationship

God wants us to be dependent on Him

God wants our constant fellowship

God craves intimacy with us

He desires for us to be part of the circle with the Triune God

God the Father

Jesus the Savior

Holy Spirit the Comforter

God calls for us to join Him in this intimate circle 

Where we become one with our Triune God

And He with us

The intimacy of fellowship between the wings of the cherubim

In the Holy of Holies

Where

All is quiet

Hushed presence of God

Peace-filled

Shalom

Sacred

Holy

Where God is

 Where God wants us to join Him

When we break fellowship with God

Turn our backs on Him

Take Him for granted

Go about our lives without consulting Him

Only seeing what we want to see in the Scriptures

Making God into a genie or our servant

Turning deaf ears to His voice

Hardening our hearts

Ignoring Him

God’s heart is grieved

If blessings don’t bring us close to Him

God gives us over to our sinful desires

God sends difficulties and trials

So we can learn that

Without God we are nothing

Without Him we are destitute

God’s plan amid our self-induced sufferings though

Is to call us back to Him

In our darkest night

God has a plan for us

God’s perpetual plan

God’s unchanging desire is

For us to draw close to Him

For us to depend on Him

For us to turn to Him

With all our heart

While not all our difficulties are self-induced

Sometimes there are trials and testings

God making us holy through difficulties

God molding and forming and refining us

God showing Himself glorious through us

The end desire still is

For us to draw close to God

To be intimate with Him

To rely on Him

and Him only

God’s plan for us is

Always

To bless us

To draw us close to Him

To have us love Him with 

All of our heart

All of our soul

All of our mind

All of our strength

"God is Love" - Song by Kathy Nichole

Think about Such Things

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

When we are anxious

When we are worried

When we are fearful

When we perseverate

When we fret

When our minds are preoccupied

When we get distracted

Actively engage our mind on Christ

On whatever is

True

Noble

Right

Pure

Lovely

Admirable

Excellent

Praiseworthy

Characteristics and traits of Jesus

When Peter kept his gaze on Jesus while walking on the water

He was perfectly fine

Amid the storm

Walking on water

When our eyes are on Jesus

The Author and Perfector 

The Creator

The Sustainer

Of our life

Of our calling

Our perspectives change

Our mindsets change

Our priorities change

Our focus change

We get to do the divine exchange

We exhale our 

Anxieties

Worries

Fears

Perseverations

Preoccupations

Things we have no control over

We breathe in instead

God’s sovereignty

God’s protection

God’s provision

God’s love

God’s comfort

God’s presence

We give our life’s control 

Over to

God’s control

Because God is

True

Noble

Right

Pure

Lovely

Admirable

Excellent

Praiseworthy

God is trustworthy

He is loving

He is tender

He delights in caretaking of us

God loves to shower us with His

Love

Tender mercies

Unmerited favor

God dances and sings over us

He attends to us

He loves us with a tender loving heart

He embraces us and carries us

In the crook of His arm

Holding us close to His bosom

Cradling us even as He is

Fighting for us

Protecting us as a mother hen for her chicks

This is our God

Our Father

Who is in heaven

Who reigns over the earth

Who is sovereign over our lives

Who sees every detail of our lives

Who attends to all our needs

The God Who cares

The God Who loves

The God Who attends to us

The Trustworthy God

Who adores us

Anxieties be gone

Worries eliminated

Fears vanish

When we keep 

Our gaze

Our focus

Our mind

Steadfastly

On Who God is

in and through Christ

Enjoy song by " God Really Loves Us" by Crowder

New Wineskin

“Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved” – Matthew 9:17

When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord

The Holy Spirit resides in us and indwells us

We are a new creation

The old has gone

The new has come

We have been made new

God has done this

Through the shedding of the blood of Christ on the cross

Jesus paid the punishment for our sins in full

When God sees us

He sees only 

The blood of Jesus

Covering our sins

We are now holy 

Like our Heavenly Father is holy

We are now righteous

Like Christ Jesus 

While we live and trod on this side of heaven

Before we are united with Christ on the other side

There are decisions and actions

We would do well to abide

When we want to live

Abundantly

Joyously

Fully

While in our corporal body

The key is to

Get rid of our old wineskin

And take on the new wineskin

We are to take off our old self

Our self-centeredness

Our proclivities to sin

Our fleshly desires

Our selfishness

And to take on Christ

Our body is now the Temple of the Holy Spirit

Where the Holy Spirit dwells

We are now Stewards of Christ’s temple

In our body

It is not just to say no to sin

Muster our self-discipline to do the right thing

Changing our coping mechanisms

Procuring a new perspective

Adopting a new paradigm

No amount of self-help can accomplish this

Rather

It is taking on the 

New wineskin

Be totally rid of the old

Taking on the brand new

Wineskin

Only Christ can accomplish this

For us

In us

Each time we see our old self crop up

We acknowledge its existence

We confess it as sin

We repent from it

We renounce it

We reject it

We replace it with its opposite

Loving God with abandon in place of self-conscious love

Christ-centeredness in place of self-centeredness

Seeking God’s will in place of our own desires

Total trust in God in place of fear and timidity

Caring for others in place of self-gain

Kingdom focus in place of self-focus

It is Christ

Only Christ

Total dependence on Christ

His mercy and grace

His truth and love

His life in us

Will turn

What’s fleshly into 

What’s Godly

Water into wine

Into our new wineskin

Surrender and Take On

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus calls us to 

SURRENDER

Our

Weariness

Anxieties

Burdens

Worries

Control

Fears

All things that weigh us down

To go to Him

And to find

Rest

Peace

Shalom

Jesus invites us to

TAKE ON 

His yoke

When we are hitched with Christ

Being yoked with Him

He carries the weight of the load

We get to tag along

Walking where He walks

Going where He goes

We get to learn from 

His gentleness

His humility

His Shalom

His peace

We will find rest for our souls

For Christ is the one carrying the weight

We get to know Him

Who He is

What He does

How He works

How He rests 

At this close up 

Neck to neck view

Being yoked with Him

We see Jesus at work

We see Jesus’ stance toward work

We see Jesus’ view toward rest

We experience the lightness of the burden

Jesus carries the burden

We just get to tag along

Because we are yoked with Him

Take off our burdens

Take on Jesus’ yoke

Surrender our burdens to Jesus

Take on His yoke

We will find 

Rest

Peace

Shalom

For our souls

Rest for Your Soul - Austin French

The Work of God is For Us to Believe

“Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’29 Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” – John 6:28-29

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast” – Ephesians 2:8-9

We can get all wrapped up in our desire

To love God

To serve God

To love others

To be Christ’s witnesses

These are all well and good

Nevertheless

Jesus says that if we really want to

Do the work of God

It is to BELIEVE

To believe in the One God sent

To BELIEVE that

Jesus is the Son of God

Jesus is the One sent by God

Jesus is God

Sometimes 

In our desire to do God’s work

We become all wrapped up in ourselves

Sometimes

It becomes all about us

What we have done

What we can do

Us

Us proving we are

Good enough

Godly enough

Worthy enough

Grateful enough

When our salvation is by grace through faith

It is a gift from God

One that we need to have

the faith to receive

God’s grace is for the taking

We need to choose to take the gift

The interplay between

God’s gift for us and

Us accepting His gift through faith

Us choosing to believe that

Jesus has died for us on the cross

Jesus has paid the full price for our sins

Jesus has risen for us from the grave

Jesus was sent by God

To accomplish His salvation plan for us

This belief

This believing

Is good enough for salvation

Is good enough 

Work

We could possibly do for God

We choose to believe

God gives us the faith to believe

And that faith is God’s gift of grace to us

"This I Believe - the Creed" - Hillsong Worship