Besides the usual ministry, God is really teaching me about
Him. I'm realizing I don't really know what it looks like to rely fully on Him
and as I've been praying about it He has been giving me opportunities to
practice it. Don't you hate that? Not only has He begun to teach me about that
but He gave me a huge wake-up call. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. The rest of
today isn't even guaranteed. Honestly, we don't deserve it. It's a blessing from God and an opportunity to
bring Him glory. It's not for any other reason than His glory. Am I making the
most of every opportunity? Are you? I think it's a question we all need to be
asking ourselves daily, sometimes even moment by moment. We're not here for our
glory, needs, desires, any of that. We simply exist to bring glory to God. How
are we doing that? If something happened today would you look back, even just
on the day, and see God's glory and His kingdom here on this earth or would you
look back and see another "normal" day gone by.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come that they may have life and have it to the full." – John 10:10

I don't know if you realize it but it's something God has
made clear to me, this is happening ALL around us. The thief is stealing,
killing, and destroying. And instead of
having life to the full, we have allowed Satan to continue doing these things
as we consider it "normal" life. Satan
has stolen joy, killed our passion, and is destroying lives, families,
communities, and nations! When do we really begin to take this verse to heart
and run with it? When do we begin living out Isaiah 61?

"The Spirit of the
Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good
news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners...
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in
Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead
of ashes, the oil of gladness instead
of mourning, and a garment of praise instead
of a spirit of despair."

Verses 1-3

God calls us to live life to
the full and gives us an applicable way to do that, it's Isaiah 61:1-3. He has
warned us of the things that Satan will try to do but promises life in Him.
That "full" life is going to look differently for everyone but I fully believe
that those few verses should be a huge part of it. However, living life to the
full doesn't exempt us from harm, by any means. It's actually quite the opposite: "If you suffer for doing good and
you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because
Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his
steps" 1 Peter 2:20-21. We are going to suffer; it doesn't say if you suffer.
It says if you suffer and endure. The suffering will come, the test is the endurance.
I'm beginning to believe that if we can't trace any sort of suffering
(physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, etc.) to our lives than there
is a problem. Suffering is an attack from Satan because He knows the power that
lies within us that at the mere mention of Christ's name demons shudder.  Satan attacks us when he knows we are
progressing the Kingdom.

 I'm continuing to seek out what this "full"
life looks like and God is slowly revealing to me different aspects of it. I'm
being shown repeatedly that full doesn't equal easy. But I've found hope in Deuteronomy
31:6 which says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified
because of them, for the Lord your God does with you; he will never leave you
nor forsake you." There will always be "them" in our lives. There will always
be something that we can choose to live in fear about but God promises that He
is with us and will not leave our side. He gives us a reason to live outside of
that fear, and that reason is Him. I hope that this week you will cling to
these verses the way God is teaching me to. Find hope in His promises, which is where the "rejoicing in suffering"
Paul talks about in Romans comes to exist. It's not necessarily in rejoicing
that you are suffering but rejoicing that in Christ there is hope and victory
through the suffering.

    
              "But thanks be to God! He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

                                                                   -1 Corinithians 15:57