Heart-Pounding Joy and Claiming Promises

The thing about reading books like Reordered Love, Reordered Lives, The Meaning of Marriage, Calvin's Institutes, and especially the Bible, is that it is very difficult to read them without being moved to some sort of action.

I'll tell you, it's not always comfortable, either. 

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to get so uncomfortable...but I am saying it's hard to realize that I need to do so many things differently. Please hear what I mean with my "need to do." This is not to say that I must do anything in order to earn something. I know full well, and believe with all that is within me, that there is no earning with God. His love is not ever, nor ever was, nor ever will be based on merit. Not mine, anyway. Rather, he loves me because he loves me. And I can be his daughter because of what Jesus has done, not what I have done (or not done). This is true for each of his children.

So when I say "need to do," what I am getting at is that making certain changes, which seem so very hard to make, will in the end bring greater joy, deeper joy, truer joy, than not making those changes. 

The words of David Naugle, Tim Keller and his wife Kathy, John Calvin, and those who were led by the Lord to write the books we have in Scripture, have all been nudging. Nudging, and prodding, and provoking. But do you know what is amazing? They have not just been pointing an accusatory finger regarding how much I need to change, but have been gently, graciously reminding me, as well, of the promises that the One who never changes has made. 

God's many promises include rest for the weary, justice for the oppressed, love for the forgotten, forgiveness for the repentant, and joy for those who look to him for strength. These are all wonderful and life-giving; these promises make it possible to keep going each day. They all look forward, in hope, to the future when all things will be made new. But the one promise that is really sticking out to me these last few days is the promise of the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit, who comes and dwells in the hearts of each believer, a great mystery, binding us to our Savior, our brother, our Lord...how can this be?! And yet, the promise is given. He will come and comfort, yes. He will come and help, yes. But first he will come and be the Spirit of truth. Jesus told his disciples on his last night with them that the Spirit,"will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." 

He leaves them with his peace. He tells them not to be afraid. He prays for them, and for us!

How can I read these words and remain unchanged? The changes may seem hard, but in light of what Jesus faced, there is nothing that can be too hard. The Spirit of truth, the Spirit of power, the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Spirit that is living in me! 

(I find myself wanting to clap my hands and throw them up in the air! I need a personal praise band.)

We had a guest preacher on Sunday and toward the end of his sermon he said that there was nothing that anyone, ever, had been through or experienced that Jesus himself had not already experienced. Including death. Yet he was victorious over death! Not even death could conquer him! What comfort is there for us! And even more, the life that he has is ours; and because he suffered (and not just on the cross, but throughout his entire life) on our behalf, became like us in our weakness, we gain not only life one day forever, but now! He humbled himself and is now exalted. He takes the humble and lifts them up. His Spirit makes all of this possible, and what seems unimaginable becomes not only imaginable but our reality!

Claim this! Claim this, Christina! Claim this, child of the Father above!