#wtsdevo

Through Every Generation (#wtsdevo faithfulness)

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” -2 Timothy 2:13

I am deeply grateful that my God's faithfulness doesn't hinge on my faith. He would still be just if He measured our relationship based on what I offered Him. After all, we operate that way down here among the mortals.

One of our greatest flaws as human beings—what most separates us from a holy God is our failure to be perfect. We lie, we cheat, we cut corners and we disappoint. And because we're humans rubbing elbows with other humans on a daily basis, it can be easy to attach our standards to Him as well. Even accidentally.

He is holy and perfect. Anything short of that is a direct contradiction to His nature. He cannot fail. He can't be unloving. Even in His judgement He loves us. Also, while He deserves our best effort and perfect faith, we fall majorly short. Our God is still faithful.

All of our human characteristics are mere shadows compared to His. He is the essence and definition of faithfulness. He can never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). The faithfulness of the Lord endures forever (Psalm 117:2).

____________________________________________

Devotional Series: Faithfulness (#wtsdevo faithfulness)

Motivated for Good (#wtsdevo goodness)

“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” - Titus 2:7-‬8‬

I used to have a lead foot. I treated the speed limit as merely a suggestion. Life behind the wheel was full of impatience and anxiety—all brought on by myself. I'd look for patrol cars or to see if traffic ahead of me was slowing down. If not, I put the pedal to the metal.

So I’ve had my share of speeding tickets. And to think it all could have been avoided if I just obeyed the law. I drove not to get caught. My motivation wasn't to abide by the God-to-man-appointed law. I had a bigger issue than just speeding. It was an integrity problem.

Although now I feel delivered from my racecar driver complex, that integrity struggle has leaked it's way into other facets of my life. Not long after engaging in the fight for integrity comes good ol’ legalism. And if I'm not careful my motivation can become not getting caught rather than pleasing the Father—bringing Him glory in my conduct at all times.

Am I moved to obey Him simply because of who He is? My only hope is that He grants me Psalm 19 verse 14:

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”

____________________________________________

Devotional Series: Goodness (#wtsdevo goodness)

Faithful Living (#wtsdevo faithfulness)

I love listening to the inspiring and life changing messages that I hear every Sunday. They make impact when it comes to how I live daily and transforms the way I think and approach situations. As Christians, we are keen to hear all that is being shared when our Pastors and teachers share them but all too often it is hard to actually apply them into our own lives faithfully. That’s because of the human condition of being too comfortable and our pride.

However there’s more to living life than sticking to what our flesh tells us to and Christ demonstrated that to us through His life. Unlike most of those that were around Him, it was clear, reading the Bible, that Christ experienced a true sense of freedom. He lived a life of peace and He was in a position to be there for others and comfort them when the need came. His life became like so because He was shaped by His faithfulness - to His Father, to His cause and mission and His purpose.

There came several times when He was tempted and when He felt like He couldn’t go any further but by His faithfulness, He understood that there was something bigger and amazing on the other side and this is the same attitude that we too must adopt as we choose to follow Christ.

Is it easy to say with our mouths that we will change but true transformation comes about when we choose to be faithful. Often times, things (and life) may come our way to disrupt our calling and all it takes to deflect these moments is faithfulness.

It can make all the difference to life beyond measure.

____________________________________________

Devotional Series: Faithfulness (#wtsdevo faithfulness)

Bless the Lord (#wtsdevo goodness)

“I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. … Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” - Psalm 34:1-5, 8

Seventeen years ago this past Tuesday (October 31), Jesus Christ changed my life forever. My mom shared with me the truths that Jesus had died to save me so I could be forgiven. My small self knew that there was a standard of perfection (the holiness of God) that I could never live up to. Even as a child, I knew I was not perfect. The news that Jesus had lived up to that standard for me was amazing! I knew that I needed Him to make the way for me to be forgiven by God. I asked Him to save me, and He did. Heaven was filled with joy in that moment (Luke 15:7).

This is why I reflect on the goodness of God this week. He didn’t have to do that for me – but He did. And He did it for you too. Jesus covers all our shame and restores our relationship with our loving Creator, a relationship that we couldn’t fix by ourselves. Because of Jesus, our God sees us as His children whom He loves. Because of Him, I call out with the Psalmist, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!” This is true in my life: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears”! How incredible is the goodness of our God. He is not far away; He is right there ready to come and get His children. Fifteen years ago this week, He came and got me. My eternity was sealed by the God of the universe (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Over the past fifteen years of this relationship, I can say again with the Psalmist that I have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord. He never changes, never fails, is never unfaithful. Any good in me is from Him. Jesus has truly changed not just my external life but my inner being. The ultimate purpose and fulfillment of my life is nothing if not found in Him whom I was created by and for. “In Your presence there is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11)

I share this part of my story, the beginning, in the hope that it will encourage someone who reads it, that it will bring glory to my God, and that it will spark in someone a desire for the same kind of life change. All that is necessary is faith that Jesus really did live the perfect life that we could not live, die the death that we could not die, and rise again to eternal life so that we could spend forever with Him, our lives on this earth dedicated to His glory and praise. Our God is so good that He made the way for us to come back to Him when we couldn’t even see that we needed it.

__________________________________________

Devotional Series: Goodness (#wtsdevo goodness)

His Steadfast Love (#wtsdevo goodness)

“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” - Psalm 100:5

There was a time in my life not too long ago where I questioned God’s goodness in my heart. For a few months, the circumstances of my life had been going in a direction that I thought was going to change my life for good. I thought I had reached a point where the next steps for me were clear, where I knew what was going to happen. I was so excited about the future that seemed to be in front of me. But in just a few days, all that changed completely. Almost every aspect of what I had planned fell apart. I no longer knew what I would be doing in the next few months, and I no longer knew who would be with me on that journey. It was one of the loneliest times of my life as I wrestled with trusting the Lord and remaining close to Him while I waited to see what He would actually bring about. Graciously He provided everything I needed and more, and now I am so thankful for the way He redirected my life. His plan was infinitely better than mine.  

But what I struggled with as all this was happening was that I questioned whether God was really being “good” in all this. I felt like He had given me certain gifts of people in my life as well as a job opportunity. I felt like I had been unjustly robbed of those things when they were taken away. I wondered whether I had done something wrong, or whether I had just misheard God’s voice. It took many months, but after seeking the Lord and coming to Him in honesty and brokenness, He said to me clearly that He had never changed that whole time (Malachi 3:6). He had remained good. He had remained faithful and loving to me. What was missing was my perspective. His goodness never changes because He never changes! I simply could not see it from my partial and flawed perspective. Even when the Lord spoke that truth to me, I had to believe it by faith. I could not explain everything that happened. Today, I still may not be able to explain every detail, but what I definitely can explain is that since then, I have seen the goodness of the Lord (Psalm 27:13). Even in taking things away, He was actually merciful and loving and good because He knew what was best for me. He knew what His plan was all along, and just because I didn’t, didn’t mean that He wasn’t good. Friends, we can have confidence that our Lord never changes. No matter what happens, He is faithful and He is good. He is our rock solid foundation that we can trust. This means that when our circumstances seem awful or even irredeemable, the fact that He is good means that He is actually working in them to bring about His plan for our good as His children.  Let’s praise Him for His goodness today, rest in that foundation, and ask Him to help us trust Him by faith that He is good even when we can’t see it.

__________________________________________

Devotional Series: Goodness (#wtsdevo goodness)

Be Kind to One Another (#wtsdevo kindness)

Ephesians 4:32-5:1 – “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”  

Kindness has been a theme in my life recently. I’ve been learning to show kindness in new and creative ways. I’ve experienced kindness shown to me in ways that I never thought would happen or that I needed to experience. I’ve been learning that two major components of kindness are mercy and selflessness.

Kindness isn’t deserved. We didn’t deserved God’s great kindness of saving us and giving us everything we need for life and godliness, but He gave it to us anyway. That’s why Ephesians says that we should imitate God as it says we should be kind and tenderhearted to one another. None of us is deserving of kindness. So instead of holding it back, we should imitate God and lavish it freely on every single person we meet.

Let’s be kind even when it’s inconvenient to do so. Let’s be kind even if the person receiving it hurts us in return. Let’s be kind even when the other person doesn’t deserve it. And when they are easy to be kind to, let’s not take the kindness we have received for granted.  Let’s show each other the value that each person has by being kind to each person no matter what because God was kind to us no matter what.

__________________________________________

Devotional Series: Kindness (#wtsdevo kindness)

A Good God (#wtsdevo goodness)

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” -Romans 7:18

Hopefully we can all own this verse. It's only been a few years since I've been able to look at it honestly. Because we live among the measures of good, better and best by our standards. But God, in His perfect goodness is the only truly good One. Paul understood that.

If there is anything about me that isn't utterly despicable, it's only by the grace of God and His goodness through me. Not from me or by me. We are simply the vessels that display His goodness. Pride can convince us otherwise but only God is good.

He is a good, good Father.

____________________________________________

Devotional Series: Goodness (#wtsdevo goodness)

His Goodness Prevails (#wtsdevo goodness)

Psalm 91 happens to be one of my most favorite Psalms in the Bible because on a bad day, it reminds me that God’s goodness stands out and breaks away all negativity and replaces it with the comfort and grace of God and everything good that you can possibly imagine.

I think that with so much happening these days around in our world, it is easy to lose it and fall into the trap where you end up feeling like everything is going downhill. And in circumstances such as this it is important to journey on ahead with positivity and so much hope. The way that one can do this is by being reminded of God’s goodness and the best source of this is through His own words in the Bible.

The Bible is filled with reminders about His goodness but simply taking Psalm 91 alone and unpacking it, tells us that no matter the season, situation or circumstance, God’s goodness prevails. It comes through even in the times when you might never expect it but it surely does come.

God is our Father and He loves us more than we can ever imagine. He is always for us and is always with us even in the stormy times of life - carrying us through and allowing us to grow in our wisdom and strength. All we need to do it believe and cling onto Him.

He never fails. His goodness is here to stay.

____________________________________________

Devotional Series: Goodness (#wtsdevo goodness)