Pastor Cere preached on these verses this past Sunday. He reminded us that Jesus faced what we face daily. He knows what it is like to be in our shoes. He faced everything we are facing, and more...!
WE CAN get through our troubles...! But not alone under our own power. It is only through Christ's intervention that we can overcome.
Verse 16 is such a powerful verse. Let's break it's meaning down a little. What are we called to do? Draw near. How do we do that...? What does that look like...?
Drawing near means moving closer to. In my life Drawing near to HIM looks like:
- Lots of prayer
- Quiet time, reflection, and journaling
- Reading the Living Word of God
Now, here's the part often overlooked which I think is the real key to seeing the results that we are looking for... We've defined WHAT drawing near looks like but HOW are we supposed to draw near...?
With Confidence. We must Believe. We must have faith that Christ is real. We must not have hope that He is real, we must truly believe. We have to have an expectancy.
Verse 15 tells us that Christ was one of us. We must believe that. I think that has been my problem all along. I've always had 'hope' but I'm not sure I've had 'true belief'. The reason I say that is because I think about God fairly regularly, I pray alot, and I frequently spend time in the Word,. Yet I'm afraid I still have more hope, than faith. It all sounds good to me, and intellectually I know what I should do, but I still operate in the flesh all too often...
Do You know what is convincing me right now...? My little boy Elijah. He is totally dependant on his mommy and me. He has faith in his mommy and me. He knows (rightly) that his needs will be met. He knows that we love him with every fiber of our being and will do everything in our power to care for him.
Well, the love of Christ has got to be much greater than Mine and Monica's love for our children. God loved us so much that he sent his son down to earth to be born, live, suffer, and die for us...!
Praise God I Believe that...!
It makes perfectly good sense that God's love relationship with us, His children, mirrors our love relationship to our own children. But it is all on a much grander scale since after all, HE IS GOD...!
Praise YOU Lord, I'm not hoping in YOU any more. I am believing in YOU. And here are verses from one of my favorite choruses that pretty much sums up my feelings right now...
I love You Lord. You rescued me. You are all that I want.
You're all I need.
Thank You Lord for opening the eyes of my heart. I no longer hope, Now I Believe! --sc
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