I know I should continue working on Daniel 7-8 right now, and I should also be throwing my weight into what I think about John 7-8… but right now, I’m sweating, just getting out of a 30 minute shadow boxing workout, and I just want to flow. I just want to let out whatever is coming into my brain, what with everything that’s going on, everything that’s happening around me and everything that I’m doing from the inside out.
What IS in my brain right now, anyway? Well, let’s just begin with the default programming, the default message – that is:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
His mercies, which are as high as the heavens are from the earth – they are new with every morning.
Which means that we get mercies as high as the heavens are from the earth, fresh with each and every morning we are blessed to exist in this world.
That automatic refill of mercies, regardless of how we ‘spend’ mercy – that ought to leave anyone saying that this God that we have is faithful…
…and, indeed, great is His faithfulness.
He IS faithful. In the face of all that I have going on in my life, in all that’s happening, I have confidence in proclaiming that my God, this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – He IS and will always BE faithful to me. Even when I am weak and vulnerable, when I am faithless, devoid of any motivation, inspiration – My God is so faithful.
In fact, He is THAT faithful that we don’t really stop in saying God is faithful… but in the sheer magnitude of His faithfulness, and His overwhelming mercies fresh with every morning, we’re able to go beyond seeing our God, but also calling Him our Father.
What a preposterous, presumptive thing for us to say – the Creator of all things seen and unseen, the Maker of the heavens and the earth who made time and space, and is Himself eternal and infinite – We presume to call this matchless, peerless, infinitely superior God our Father? Yes! Through Christ and His finished work, we’re able to come as we are to Him, running to Him at our time of need! By the power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t stop at crying out to our God, but we call out to Him, calling Him our Father – what a great privilege, what an awesome opportunity!
Indeed, we call out to Him – Yes, I call out to Him in the face of all I have before me. I cry out to Him, with all my responsibilities, anxieties, obligations and concerns in mind…
I cast all my burdens upon Him, and He will give me rest.
I lift all my anxiety to Him in thanksgiving, for He is the God of peace beyond all understanding.
My thoughts – all my thoughts, from the lowly to the complicated, from the flippant to the intentional, no matter where they take root in the spectrum of good and evil – All my thoughts are made in His loving presence, and I cast all my cares upon Him, thankful that this Father who is for me and not against me is always thinking about me.
I am thankful – oh, I am thankful! For this Father of ours loves us so much, that we’re able to commit all our works to Him, we’re able to lift all of our plans to Him, and He will establish our thoughts and direct our steps.
We trust Him, and we shall never be put to haste.
We trust Him, and we shall never be put to shame.
For all this, and so much more, and all that’s beyond my knowledge – I give thanks to our God! I’m thankful that I could just keep on typing, proclaiming His goodness, and I am ministered to, encouraged, restored – Thank You, Father, for Your faithful ministering to all of us in the body of Christ!
I am aware of being blessed – I am well provided for, and things are set so I have a lot of time in my hands… however, I feel – no, I know that I’m not making the best use of my time. The temptation to fall into comfort and to stay there prevails more often than I would like, and it’s come to a point that, yes, I am aware of the struggle, but part of me still insists and persists in willingly falling into comfort, reasoning out with myself that I can procrastinate and get everything I need done in a shorter amount of time.
It’s led to me miscalculating how long things take, and it’s left me late to more arrangements and meetings. I’d blame my environment, I’d blame all other factors, but I know deep inside that there’s nobody else to blame but myself. The cycle of condemnation continues, especially with the thoughts which remind me that I’m older and supposedly wiser, and I shouldn’t be so easily dragged into these desires and these childish passions.
Things that I thought were non-issues continue and persist. Procrastination and extremely short sighted actions for immediate gratification – they’re as best as I could describe them, and they’re bombarding my being, effectively keeping me from being the full being that the Lord wants all of us in the body to be.
However, with all this in mind – again – I just have to give thanks, because in spite of all this negative and detrimental stuff going on, I can still continue to give thanks to God, for even in these times that I stumble and struggle, I have a God who loves me with an everlasting love, and I have a Father who is for me, and not against me.
In spite of all that’s going on, none of it could ever separate me from the love of God, because of the finished work of Christ. Oh, indeed, even during these times of introspection, in these times of self-audit where I KNOW there’s dirt and filth to be found, I thank God, and I thank God so much! For, indeed, even in the dumps and in the bottom, I am reminded of God’s steadfast love, His faithfulness, and His mercies.
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.1 Corinthians 9:25-27
I thank God for times of intention and induced tension. I thank God for these times when I could subject my body to discipline, and to force my mind into submission by way of forcing everything out. Here in these verses from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians I am reminded of his words – I’ve only recalled where he mentioned he disciplines his body, but I’m reminded now that I pull it up, that he does this that he would not be disqualified ‘after preaching to others‘.
I’m reminded of how, as ministers to the body of Christ, it is our responsibility to discipline our bodies and our brains, with the purpose of being ‘qualified‘ – that is, to me, without giving any cause for those who observe us to question the goodness and the glory of the Lord. And I could see it that way, or I could also present the perspective that whenever we do discipline ourselves, it is with the intention of restoring ourselves to consistency. Bounding back. Damage control. Calibration.
It’s funny that I look at verse 26, keeping in mind that a good chunk of my working out throughout the week consists of shadow boxing, or, well, ‘one beating the air‘. However, I choose to do some rationalization here. Consider how in these workouts, there’s always someone talking and guiding us through it – and in one particular portion where we take a short breather between workouts, Nate Bower – the fellow who happens to be the good guy making all these heavy bag and shadow boxing workouts – says that every movement we have, whether it be a punch or a slip or even a step, ought to have intention, without wasting any movement or energy.
So, sure, I’m beating the air, but I do not do so aimlessly. Every move is done with thought and intention, in the name of discipline. And I suppose that’s another thing of note – that every word I make here, every punch I throw, it’s all in the name of discipline, with the intention of being and staying consistent, of bounding back and calibrating. Getting back into the game.
Psalm 8
How Majestic Is Your Name
TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO THE GITTITH. A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I’m not entirely sure why you’ve made it this far, but I thank you. All in all, with this Psalm in mind, I just have to say that our great and glorious God is who He says He is, and His power is infinite, superior over all that exists in this reality as Creator shall always be superior to creation. We read of His name and His majesty enveloping the earth and proclaimed across the heavens…
…Yet no matter how infinite our God is, He is also our everlasting Father, who is mindful over us, who takes care of us – Yes, see, He even crowns us (as small as we are!) with His glory and honor.
How ridiculous! How profound! How far-fetched! How insane, how nonsensical – but, praise His name, it’s TRUE!
Oh, Father, glorify Your name in this moment! Restore me to the joy of my salvation – You have purged me with hyssop, You have washed me so I am white as snow; You have purged the lies from my dwelling, and You have overflowed me with Your Truth and Revelations.
Continue to work in and through me, Father – You know what else needs to be done. Through it all, again, glorify Your name.
Praying for even more value, and for the Lord to be glorified more and more as we continue to write.
Praying for blessings to be upon you and your family, with the primary purpose of reminding the people of the world of God’s goodness and glory, that they would seek and find the Lord.
Praying for His glory and grace to continue to be projected greatly in and through all of us in the body of Christ.
Praying that this weekend continues to be good. Praying for contentment, for peace that goes beyond all understanding.
The Lord bless us and keep us.
The Lord make His face shine upon us, and the Lord be gracious to us.
The Lord lift His countenance upon us in full approval, and give us peace.
In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Stay strong, stay vigilant, stay faithful, good reader.
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JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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