Jan 7, 2013
Mountain Guide Ministries features…The Daily Brew! Today’s Brew: “The Wisdom In Being Teachable” Enjoy a cup of coffee while getting your daily inspiration! We will focus on Jesus and a daily reliance on The Holy Spirit to lead us into a day filled with Hope, Peace and Joy! These videos are here to help you set the tone for the day by setting our eyes on Jesus and letting Holy Spirit transform our lives so we become free to live for Him and His Kingdom!
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18
Say you went to an average Major League Baseball game. Then say you went to the final game of the World Series where you saw a bench-clearing brawl, an inside-the-park home run, and a game-winning hit when there were two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the count was three balls and two strikes. The difference between those two baseball games would justify you saying this: “There are baseball games and then there are baseball games!”
Keep that distinction in mind when you read this: “There is praise and then there is praise!” That’s not to say that some praise is average and run-of-the-mill. All praise of God is good. But it is to say this: There’s a difference between praising God in the good times and praising Him in the bad times. For instance, note the word “yet” in Habakkuk 3:18. That suggests a contrast to what has come before. Habakkuk is saying that even though Israel’s crops and livestock fail (verse 17), “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Praise in the good times—Psalm 95:1; 98:4, 6; 100:1—is a good thing. But praise in the difficult times renews our focus on God.
Let earth and heaven combine, angels and men agree, to praise in songs divine the incarnate Deity.
Charles Wesley
Matthew 6:25-30
Anxiety is a thief. The combination of fear and uncertainty robs many believers of the peace that the heavenly Father intends for them to have (John 14:27). But anxiety does not fit who we are in Jesus Christ. By putting our faith in Him, we have placed our life in the hands of a sovereign God who wants the very best for His children. What do we have to fear when we trust in Him?
Believing in the Lord doesn’t mean that we will never experience uncertainty. What it should mean is that we choose to let go of anxiety and instead trust Him to provide for our needs in His time and His way. When we don’t, fear and doubt can become entrenched in our thinking and develop into a stronghold. Then Satan will dig in and use every resource he can to build our apprehension. That is what sinful anxiety looks like—a sense of fear that overwhelms faith.
Faith can be besieged and toppled when its foundation is weakened by unbelief. I’m not implying that an anxious believer isn’t truly a Christian. However, in saying, “I know God is capable of dealing with the problems in my life, but I’m not sure that He will,” uncertain saints may look for ways to fix the issue themselves instead of waiting patiently for the Lord to act on their behalf.
The Lord sees the beginning and the end of every situation that we face. He knows the root of our anxiety, the best way to calm our heart, and how to turn our weeping into joy. He will do all of this without leaving our side, because He loves us deeply and desires to bless us richly.
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8)
During the three verses prior to the text for today, Paul had listed some of the rather spectacular credits he had obtained “in the flesh” (Philippians 3:4). His family lineage and achievements were both professionally stellar and legally blameless. He had every right to be proud of himself.
Yet, in strong language, Paul values these personal achievements as the excrement of animals when he compares the gain of being given “the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). A vivid contrast indeed!
Jesus taught that if anyone would become His disciple, then he must “deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Further, such a disciple must “lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s” (Mark 8:35). Owning the whole world was worthless if it meant that the price would cause one to “lose his own soul” (Mark 8:36). Hard bargains indeed!
Paul sought, as each of us should also, “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” (today’s verse). Invoking all of the triune Godhead, Paul begged for comprehension of the “love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” so that he can be “filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19). Such knowledge brings “full assurance of understanding” (Colossians 2:2). That is a good return indeed!
“Wherefore beloved,” Peter said, “be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14). HMM III
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. —Hebrews 11:1
If our faith is to have a firm foundation we must be convinced beyond any possible doubt that God is altogether worthy of our trust….
As long as we question the wisdom of any of God’s ways our faith is still tentative and uncertain.
While we are able to understand, we are not quite believing. Faith enters when there is no supporting evidence to corroborate God’s word of promise and we must put our confidence blindly in the character of the One who made the promise….
Remember that faith is not a noble quality found only in superior men. It is not a virtue attainable by a limited few. It is not the ability to persuade ourselves that black is white or that something we desire will come to pass if we only wish hard enough. Faith is simply the bringing of our minds into accord with the truth. It is adjusting our expectations to the promises of God in complete assurance that the God of the whole earth cannot lie….
A promise is only as good as the one who made it, but it is as good, and from this knowledge springs our assurance. By cultivating the knowledge of God we at the same time cultivate our faith.
Lord, as I come to know You more fully, I have every reason to place implicit trust in You and Your promises. Thank You for the firm foundation of my faith. Amen.
Lord, make me to know the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. (Psalm 39:4)
We can all learn something from David’s prayer—for none of us have all of the answers! David had come through the trying experiences of life and was now unsure about the things he once thought he knew. In the autumn of his life, I think David was a more relaxed man and more dependent on the divine answers.
I found a lesson in this for myself and I pass it on.
Some time ago I preached for a week in Rochester, New York. At the conclusion and before the benediction, the chairman of the congregation told the audience: “We have enough time for questions. Mr. Tozer will answer any question you have.”
This was news to me, so I got up and said: “Mr. Chairman, you are 25 years too late! Twentyfive years ago I could have answered questions on almost any subject, but now I beg to be excused!”
In our Christian life and experience, it is a blessed thing to find out that we do not have to know everything after all!
It is well with the righteous—well upon divine authority; the mouth of God speaks the comforting assurance. Blessed be God for a faith which enables us to believe God when the creatures contradict him. It is, says the word, at all times well with thee, thou righteous one; then, beloved, if thou canst not see it, let God’s word stand thee in stead of sight; yea, believe it on divine authority more confidently than if thine eyes and thy feeling told it to thee. Whom God blesses is blest indeed, and what his lip declares is truth most sure and steadfast.
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