Saved by Jesus. Husband. Father. Pastor at True Life. Author of When Faith Feels Dry. Helping people rediscover joy in God.
Denver, Co
Joined July 2009
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Everything God reveals about who he is in his Word isn’t only to be studied, acknowledged, nor even believed, but most fully delighted in. With God, the revelation is the invitation. He shows us who he is and invites us to come and enjoy him.
Picture a father flexing for his kids. They can see his strength, believe it, and understand it, but he intends more than this. He kneels down and says, “Come get on my back.” He invites them not just to acknowledge but to enjoy his strength.
God doesn’t reveal himself so we may merely nod our heads in agreement. When God reveals, page after page, the vast excellencies of his work and character, he is inviting us to come and enjoy.
When he says he’s a refuge, we’re invited to come to him in our distress.
When he says he hears our prayers, we’re invited to pour out our hearts.
When he says he forgives, we’re invited to confess our sin and receive mercy.
When he reveals himself as sovereign ruler, we’re invited to rest and trust.
When he declares his infinite wisdom, we’re invited to be led with confidence.
When he shows his unmatched power, we’re invited to ask him to intervene.
Spurgeon put it like this,
All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. . . . The whole of Christ, in his adorable character as the Son of God, is by himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, his knowledge our instruction, his power our protection, his justice our surety, his love our comfort, his mercy our solace, and his immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures. “All, all, all are yours,” saith he, “be ye satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.”
These and a thousand other revelations are given that we would come and experience life connected to all that he is. This is his heart. He wants our deep, lasting, truest joy, so he gives us the best he could ever give—himself, life lived with him.
We can finish a reading plan and miss the joy of being satisfied with the love we’re reading about.
Read the Bible slowly and prayerfully. Ask God to show you more of who he is and more of his love for you.
“Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:14, CSB)
Do you turn your pain into prayer?
It’s easy to live with difficulty and never pour our hearts out to God.
Bring it to him. Ask for his compassion. Ask him to be near. We need him.
“Lord—how long? Turn and have compassion on your servants.” (Psalm 90:13, CSB)
Caleb Davis retweeted
“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
-Psalm 90:10
God, here’s my work. But I need you to do something with it.
Psalm 90 brings together two things we need to keep together: the work of our hands and our need for God to establish it.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands—establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17, CSB)
Here’s what I’m trying to do in my church, in my community, with my children, my neighbors, my friends. Would you build it? Would you do something with it?
It’s like bringing the fish and loaves to Jesus. This is all I have. I’m bringing it to you. Will you do something much greater with it than I could do?
“But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him. “Bring them here to me,” he said. Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces. (Matthew 14:17-20, CSB)
This prayer leads us into good work. We bring our plans, goals, and action to God. We want to see him work through our lives, even for generations after us.
But we need him. None of it lasts without him.
When we remember that life is short, we can spend our energy trying to squeeze in everything we want before it ends. Psalm 90 teaches us to bring our short lives to our great God.
Teach us to number our days. Have compassion on us. Satisfy us with your faithful love. Give us joy. Establish the work of our hands.
“Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Lord—how long? Turn and have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your faithful love so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.” (Psalm 90:12-15, CSB)
Where do you want to see God work through your life? What good work are you doing that you need his help with?
Your life and actions matter. Bring him everything you have. Ask him to do more with it than you could ever do on your own.
Love takes action.
God wants what we know about him to reach into one another’s lives, all the way to our fingertips.
That kind of serving creates a true community.
“Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18, CSB)
Christians don’t vote because:
1. It’s an annoying chore (be honest, this is the real #1)
2. We don’t think it actually changes anything
3. We over-spiritualize it: “I don’t do politics, Jesus is all that matters”
4. We just forget
None of these are good reasons.
Vote.
An estimated ~8M Christians just in Texas are projected not to vote during midterms.
That election will be decided by a projected ~300k votes.
Pastors, consider encouraging your people to vote real quick in announcements next couple weeks.
A) They want you to
B) They are the "salt of the earth", a preservative slowing societal decay.
You don’t have to pretend that the things that grieve you are the way things should be.
It’s okay to be deeply moved and troubled by the sin, brokenness, hurt, sickness, and death in the world. This is what Jesus does at Lazarus’s tomb.
“When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.” (John 11:33, CSB)
Caleb Davis retweeted
If you are unappreciated by those around you, do not therefore be distressed, for you are honorable in the sight of God.
— Spurgeon
Even if other people don’t remember, God does.
God sees the work and love you show by serving his people.
You don’t have to be recognized or thanked for your serving to matter to him.
“For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them.” (Hebrews 6:10, CSB)
Want a joy that no one can take from you?
“Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.” (John 16:22, CSB)
If you’re serving God’s people and growing weary, you need to know this: God sees, and he does not forget.
Hebrews 6:10 connects our love for God with the ways we serve his people. It speaks of continuing to serve. That ongoing part can be hard.
“For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them.” (Hebrews 6:10, CSB)
It’s one thing to have an emotional burst of concern. It’s another to keep showing up.
You may not be recognized or thanked. You may never get a standing ovation.
But the work and love you show are seen by God. You’re serving people he loves, for his name.
We need to look again at the countless ways Jesus has served us.
He gave his life for us. He was willing for his body to be broken and his blood to be shed so that we would have life. He served us in action, at great cost to himself.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, CSB)
He also continues to care for us. He gives us daily bread. The Holy Spirit helps us. God is working for our good in ways we cannot begin to fathom.
None of us deserved his salvation or adoption into his family. He has served us graciously.
Knowing that begins to free our hearts. We don’t have to cling so tightly to our rights, our stuff, or what another person might give us in return. We have received so much from him.
“Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.” (1 John 3:18, CSB)
Think of one person in your life. What would it look like to serve that person consistently, sacrificially, intentionally, and graciously?
Look at how Jesus has served you. Then reflect what you’ve received.
Jesus forgives your sins to reconcile you to God and bring you near.
Forgiveness brings us into fellowship with him. That’s why the Bible speaks of reconciliation and adoption. We get God.
“But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13, CSB)
There’s so much we can’t get, but we can always give.
There’s so much we can’t obtain, but we can always pursue God.
Pursuing his kingdom and being rich toward him is always available to us.
“That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21, CSB)
Preach!
🚨 Pastor @philipamitchell weighs in on Hell and speaks on what happens after death to those who are separated from Christ and, ultimately, separated from God. “Everyone has to make the decision for themselves.”
📺 Watch the full conversation on @Netflix or listen for FREE on the @iHeartRadio app!
