"You will fear disaster no more"

¹⁴ Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! 
Shout in triumph, O Israel! 
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, 
O daughter of Jerusalem! 
¹⁵ The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, 
He has cleared away your enemies. 
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
You will fear disaster no more. 
In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: 
Do not be afraid, O Zion; 
Do not let your hands fall limp. 
 “The LORD your God is in your midst, 
A victorious warrior. 
He will exult over you with joy, 
He will be quiet in His love, 
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. 
Zephaniah 3:14-17


This is the sweet promise the Lord gave to me recently. I was able to walk into a situation free of fear because the Lord my God was with me. And when disaster did come, there was not fear. I was hoping this promise meant that there would be no disaster. Yet, in this life there will be. (Oh the glorious day when Christ returns there will be disasters no more!) There will be disasters yet I do not need to fear them because the Lord my God is my midst. He is with me. He is mighty to save. He rejoices over me with shouts of joy. The disasters I fear the most are the ones that I cause. The times I do not make a wise decision. The times when my emotions get in the way. Personal interactions with others that do not go well. Why do I fear personal disasters? Because I fear failure. I fear letting others down. I am basing my opinion and approval of myself based on my performance. 


When I truly know and value the precious truth that God is with me. He delights over me. He is mighty to save. I no longer fear disasters because nothing I say or do changes these glorious truths. Whether I perform well or poorly, I can still be confident in the truth that my Abba Father loves and delights in me. Recently when I fell down, I saw my Abba Father save me and make a way for me. When I was emotionally drained, I took great comfort in the fact that my Abba Father was quieting me with His love. During my best and worst moments my Abba Father was rejoicing over me with shouts of joy. 


Oh Lord God, may you take this truth deeper and deeper into my heart. May my identity be so firmly planted in You, may Your abundant love be ever before me, that I will no longer fear disaster for YOU my God, my Abba Father, is with me.

Merry Christmas!

Where is the snow? It is really almost Christmas?  While I have missed the snow and some of the busyness of Christmas, I realized that this year I have had a greater appreciation of the true celebration of Christmas.   As I think about this past year, a theme I see clearly is grace. I have heard about grace my entire life yet I did not realize until recently how little I have actually understood of grace. It's the difference between knowing it in your head and experiencing it in your heart. A year ago I read the book "Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning. I realized that I often feel like I can accept God's love when I'm living a good christian life and feel like I have things together. Yet, when I am face to face with my sin and my brokenness... at those very moments to realize God loves me and delights in me simply because I am His child... wow, talk about grace.

 "Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. God's love for  you and His choice of you constitutes your worth. Accept that, and let it become the most important thing in your life." I have seen how my natural inclination when I see my sin and brokenness is to want to hide in condemnation. I can relate to the prodigal son. It feels comfortable to dwell in the muddy grime of shame and condemnation for that is what I deserve. Instead, to go to my Abba Father and receive lavish grace, love, and compassion... to be honored as His child... how much greater faith that takes on my behalf. It takes courage to walk in my identity as His beloved child. It is a conscious choice to believe His glorious truth. That because of Christ Jesus, I am now seen as holy, blameless, pure, and righteousness. Every sin is washed away and I now belong to God. My Abba Father takes great delights in me, rejoices over me with singing, and declares that I belong to Him. Nothing can ever separate me from His love.

My Bible study recently has been in the book of Hebrews. God continues to show me His grace. I have gained a fresh appreciation of the new covenant. To imagine living in the Old Testament and to have to continually offer up sacrifices for ones sin. To constantly have ones guilt before them. To not be able to enter into the holy of holies. Oh the glorious truth of the gospel. The reason why we celebrate Christmas. That Jesus Christ would come to this earth and to die for us- the perfect sacrifice- to rise from the death and to now sit at the right hand of God. We now have a perfect sacrifice. Simply through believing in Christ Jesus as our Savior, all our sins are washed away. We can approach the throne of grace with confidence to receive help in our times of need. Our high priest declares on our behalf that we are holy, righteous, forgiven. Simply because we believe in Christ, every sin has been washed away. We are declared righteous. There is no need for us to earn righteousness for it has already been given to us at salvation. There is no  need to earn grace or forgiveness but to simply learn to accept the gifts that God has given us. 

This year I have seen my brokenness and because of it I have realized anew my need of a Savior. Grace has never been so amazing. This Christmas season I have had a newer and deeper appreciation of the gift of Christ Jesus. That is how much our God loved us. Through Christ Jesus we can receive and walk in grace and freedom from all condemnation. 

This radical thing called grace is something I am simply beginning to understand and embrace. I am grateful for the many ways God has allowed me to experience His grace. He has surrounded me with a community of friends and a church family that continue to speak this truth to me and to show me this beautiful gift. I look forward to a new year.To walk more firmly in my identity as His beloved daughter, lavished in grace. 

I pray that this Christmas each of you will take time to rest in His love and grace. May you be filled with joy as you celebrate this Christmas that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is Immanuel- God with us!

Merry Christmas!!

"I am my beloved and His desire is for me." Song of Solomon 7:10

 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy." Zephaniah 3:17

"In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us." Ephesians 1:5-8

throne of grace

A couple things I have been thinking about from my bible study tonight. I was excited about how God has been tying together what I have been hearing at church and at bsf. We were looking at Hebrews 4  and 5. A very familiar verse I have been thinking about is "approaching the throne of grace with confidence to receive mercy and grace in our time of need". Throne of grace. When I think of God's throne I am reminded of His power, majesty, and authority. GOD ALMIGHTY. So often my struggles or temptations seem too big yet what a difference of perspective and how different my approach to God would be if I realized I am approaching His THRONE.

Throne of GRACE. Yet there is also grace there. no condemnation. There is compassion. The grace aspect reminds me of how we are a friend of God. God is almighty and sits on His throne with power and authority yet b/c of Christ we can approach Him with confidence. There is grace, mercy, and help in our time of need.

Later in Hebrews 6 it talks about how God made His promise to Abraham... "and so after waiting patientlyAbraham received what was promised." Yet we know that Abraham was not patient- he went ahead of God and had Ishmael. Yet God is generous in His forgiveness and in His characterization. He completely forgave Abraham and sees him/ describes him as patient. This is what we have been talking about- how God sees Abram as Abraham. How He changed his identity and how Abraham is declared a man of faith despite all of his mistakes. What encouragement for us!!

I have been very encouraged by the reminders of our identity in Christ. It is always so powerful to hear the truth of how we are in Him. I love God's timing. We talked about how God changed Abram's identity toAbraham the Sunday before Thanksgiving. As I was driving home to NY I was thinking about how God has completely changed my identity and defined me in Him these past ten years. If God would have shown up 10 years ago and declared some truths of who I would be today, I would have laughed in unbelief like Sarah. I can still laugh at times, not out of unbelief but just in amazement of how only God can completely change our lives around. He receives all the glory! It was great to remember God's faithfulness and give Him praise. 

My last thought. Last week when we talked about GOD ALMIGHTY and spending time with God- looking to Him and seeing how He wanted to show Himself to us. Driving home from church I was listening to the song "I've seen I AM" (lyrics and song link below) I absolutely love this song because as we look into the eyes of I AM, we know we are. We know we are loved. We know deep down in our hearts, not simply in our heads. My favorite part of the song is when he breaks out in complete worship and in awe and sings "I am loved, I am loved, I am loved by the great I AM". When we sit at Jesus' feet and when we look to Him we are overwhelmed with His love. All we can do is worship....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPj5rDyNpR0

"I've seen I AM" by Jonathan David Hessler

I looked into the eyes of a lion
Felt the courage in His gaze
I heard Him roar my name with passion
As I buried my tears in His mane

I looked into the eyes of a lamb
I saw love face to face
I felt grace destroy my sins
As mercy flowed from those veins

I've seen I AM, now I know that I am loved
I've seen I AM, now I know who I am

I looked into the eyes of a King
I saw the beauty of holiness
I heard the voice of many waters
As worship poured from my lips

I've seen I AM, now I know that I am loved
I've seen I AM, now I know who I am
It's in the eyes of I AM!
I know who I am, I know who I am
in those eyes, in those eyes of love!

I saw you Jesus
And I saw Your eyes, I felt Your smile
Maybe it was just a dream
but I believe it was more than reality

You walked right through my walls
All I could do is worship
All I could do is weep
I saw my King!

All I could do, God, is take off my shoes
And bow, and kneel
I fall down like a dead man
but I'm more alive than I've ever been
Oh God, I fall at Your feet like a dead man

I know, I know I'm loved, I am loved!
I'm loved, I am loved! I'm loved!
I'm loved, I am loved! I'm loved by the I AM!
I'm loved, I am loved! I'm loved by the I AM!

This is a song, but in my bones, oh Lord,
I want to hear a generation find out how You really are
I want to see a generation fall into Your heart
No more lies, no more fears
Walk in through their walls, come in near

I've seen I AM, now I know that I am loved
I've seen I AM, now I know who I am