The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
His mercies are new every morning.
Great is His faithfulness.
How true is this? And what’s more, why does it feel so much more ‘true’ whenever we find ourselves realizing the mistakes we’ve made? How is it that we realize His love, His mercy, and His faithfulness when we see perspectives and considerations beyond the limits our mind places on our being?
It’s as if to say that the Lord remains faithful, and He seemingly allows us to see more of HIs faithfulness whenever we face the consequences of our blunders and our stumbling. And we seem to see more of His love and His mercy when we face what was once unknown.
Just as He rests while everyone else in the boat is panicking, so we may also have peace when the waves of the world slam down on us; So we may also have peace when the storms of our mind attempt to wreak havoc.
And just as His feet are firm on the water, to either walk to us, or to stand and call for us, and to pick us up when we doubt, so we may also have power and resolve, not only to stand, but to walk graciously upon the uncharted waters.
We have His peace when this life is chaotic – For His love never ends, and His mercies are always new.
We have His power when this life is uncertain – For His faithfulness is great, and ever present even when we are faithless.
And now that I think about faith, don’t we just love to dive into when Christ’s words to Peter as he began to sink: ‘O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?’
We like to say things like, ‘increase your faith’, or ‘don’t doubt’, or knowing that we can never not doubt, we try to play it down a bit, ‘try not to doubt’; And all that’s just fine and dandy, but shouldn’t we also consider the other side of the coin – That Christ is the Author of our faith, who never doubts?
That right there just gives us a bigger picture as to what it means when we say, ‘Great is His faithfulness’! He is fully aware yet unshaken by the wind and the waves, standing firmly on the waters. He is so firm and peaceful in His stance that He has no doubt as He calls Peter out when he asked Him to, and He is so sure and powerful in His footing that He is able not only to sustain His weight but to pull Peter up as well.
We CAN trust in Him. God is trustworthy.
God is trustworthy, much so that we can come as we are to Him in prayer, knowing the following, as we have been taught by Christ Himself when He shared what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’:
That He is first and foremost our Father, and it only follows that we acknowledge His superiority, as He resides in the infinite and eternal heavens, which entails His mere name being ever glorious. God resides in the glorious eternities and His name is hallowed and revered – yet, we are able to call Him Father because of Christ.
It is through God’s only begotten Son, through His birth, death, resurrection and ascension that, indeed, God’s kingdom mas been made manifest, and His will has been done here on earth as it has been done in heaven.
Truly, we can prayerfully run boldly to the throne of grace, in gratitude – thankful that Christ has revealed Himself to be our daily Bread, the Bread of Life (John 6:51) – rather, the Living Bread whom we have consumed and by whom we live forever. We pray knowing that Christ has been given to us as Bread, and also as Blood – blood that has guaranteed the complete forgiveness of our sins, so we are fully forgiven that we are able to forgive others.
We can pray, knowing also that because Christ is our Bread that satisfies us so we are not so easily led to temptation.
We can pray, remembering in the partaking of the wine that Christ’s blood freed us from evil – that is, sin, death, and fear.
We can praise and sing a new song to the Lord, being aware of all these things, singing that to Christ is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever.
I felt that I needed to throw that in there, especially in these days, when there’s just so much in terms of uncertainty, and just so much in terms of chaos.
In my life in particular, I’m again, reaping the consequences of the poor decisions I’ve made in the past, as well as the habitual mistakes I make even up to recently. And if I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I’m confident in as far as realizing the chaos that ensues, but I have absolutely no will to take the first step in getting all of it together. It’s as if the chaos has swallowed my will, and I’m finding myself… well, if it be applicable, ‘shallowly content’ – that is, seeking immediate comforts; and in the process I hold off on so much that I know has to be done.
And even in the ‘comfort’ that I claim to be in, it seems as if the world finds its way to remind me of its cruel nature, not necessarily lashing out towards by physical being, but where I am weakest – in my mind. Yes, this mind that has been already compromised by the realization and the resultant condemnation of my mistakes, both in the long and short term.
And so I share all this, not merely to encourage those who happen to stumble upon it, but really, as in always, for myself – I need to remind myself of God’s faithfulness and God’s trustworthiness. I need to remember, I need my entire being to recall that because of all that Christ has done, the Creator of the Universe is always for me and never against me (faithful), and I will never be apart from Him and am therefore confident that He knows all there is to know about me at any given moment (trustworthy).
I need to remind myself of God’s steadfast love, of God’s mercies that, being renewed, would renew me as well; I need to remind myself, constantly, again, of God’s faithfulness that never comes to an end.
Shouldn’t the Holy Spirit be the One who does the reminding, and the conviction?
Perhaps it’s because the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness – but is it, therefore, to say that our righteousness has its ties with our proclaiming God’s faithfulness, trustworthiness, love, mercy and grace? Or, am I to say now, that God is all these things, whether I am aware of them, or it is, as I say, that I need reminding?
I’m leaning towards the latter. If the Holy Spirit speaks to me during these times, it’s to say that the righteousness which comes from Christ is also sustained by Christ and is therefore absolutely present even if I don’t feel it. Through Christ I AM righteous, leading towards true, everlasting life that has me enjoying God and all that He is, at any given moment.
I suppose I needed to get all of this out of my chest before I went for the actual message I’m looking to record for the congregation to watch this coming Sunday. And it’s not like I have everything already out of my chest – it doesn’t feel that way, anyway.
See, that’s why I’m going away for a short time. But today I’m realizing it’s more than just me getting away from the chaos and the uncertainty, more than me just allowing my entire being to soak in what really matters, what would remain when all of this fallen reality falls and fails and fades away.
God’s will be done, indeed. It’s what I preached last Sunday, when I was led to share about prayer – that in His prayer for all of us, we would find the motivation, if not the syntax for our own prayers – ‘not my will, but Your will be done.’
So whether we pray for ourselves or for others, we would do well to (1) always give thanks to God for His presence and guidance through all forms of chaos, and all means of uncertainty, and to (2) recognize that the Lord knows so much more than any of us do in any given moment about every possible scenario – as a result, we are at peace, knowing that His will is always going to be better than what we have to say or think.
But, you may ask, what is God’s will? Well, we don’t have to look too far to have an idea of what that looks like –
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
His mercies are new every morning.
Great is His faithfulness.
That’s one way to see it – we’ve been brought to God’s everlasting love, and not an inch away from it, all because of what Christ has done. We are excited to have been showered by mercies today, and surely we would be filled with new mercies when we start a new day – all because of what Christ has done. Finally, we are confident, saying all that comes out of our mouths, whether it makes sense to us or not – because no matter how faithless we may sound at any given moment, well, it is Christ who is Faithful and True.
No matter what is happening to us, we are reminded in prayer that we are never too far from His love. No matter what drains us, we are reminded in prayer that we would be refreshed by His mercies that are endless, and His mercies that are new every morning. We are reminded, when all hope is lost, and when our own efforts to faith leave us absolutely frustrated – that Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He is willing and able, faithful to finish the work He began in us, whether we are aware of His moves or not.
It doesn’t matter if we’re the ones who are praying, or if we’re being prayed for, or if we’re praying for others.
It doesn’t matter whether we adhere to the religious requirements we heap upon ourselves, or if we are at a total loss resulting in a total loss of decorum.
I’m realizing today that when we pray, we remind ourselves of God’s will that has been done, and God’s will be done – in the smallest and in the most complicated of matters. And His will is not without His love, His mercy, and His faithfulness; It’s as if to say that we cannot talk about God’s will without talking about His love, mercy, and faithfulness; just as we cannot talk about His love, mercy, and faithfulness without talking about His will. And, above it all, we could not talk about God’s will and His love without talking about Christ.
Yes, it all brings us back to Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s everlasting love for us. Christ, who is God’s will for us.
And if I’m honest, this is all supposed to make me feel better, but I guess I’m pushing myself to type even more, not to seek that emotional relief, but just to drain my mind and the rest of my body of anything and everything that’s in it, just so I’d be reminded, by way of being refilled, of all that the Holy Spirit would have me recall – because quite frankly, I’m at a loss as to what I should be focusing on today, and for the rest of this week, and for the rest of this year… and for the rest of this time that my physical being remains in this reality.
I scoffed at our Chairman last Sunday, who tried to tell me about my not mentioning the Holy Spirit – and I suppose I’m reminded, here and now, of that correction – and more importantly, of what is mentioned in Romans 8, where the Spirit prays for me.
For the past days I’ve been telling myself that I should be praying, but even that’s coming out as a chore… but it seems I’m still covered, in spite of my inactivity; I’m reminded of Christ, who guaranteed the Holy Spirit poured out upon me, with me as I am with Him, praying on my behalf. I’m realizing how I’m prayed for even when I’m not praying.
So let me add to what I mentioned earlier:
It doesn’t matter if we’re the ones who are praying, or if we’re being prayed for – whether it be by the Holy Spirit Himself or His prayer to us through others, OR if we’re praying for others.
God has never pushed us away from His will, nor have we ever been apart from it. And, again, it’s ALL because of Jesus that I have the boldness to make these claims.
Gosh, I’m not sure I made any sense here… but as the upcoming featured image for this mental free-for-all would probably show, I’m just thankful for the light that shines in the chaos and uncertainty; And I’m thankful, for this is no ordinary Light, but the Holy Spirit alive in me.
Until the next post, God bless you.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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