“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2-3

“Tell me how it ends,” I beg when my sister recommends a movie. I crave a satisfying conclusion even for fictional characters. In real life, I long for a happy ending, too.

Do you ever wonder why Jesus chose the unhappy losses and limits of being truly human? He experienced what it was like to be hungry, tired, and dirty. He felt his own brothers’ dismissal. He was hated by many, some of whom conspired to have him arrested on false charges. Because of people’s hatred and fear, Jesus endured public humiliation along with verbal and emotional abuse, physical beatings and torture, and ultimately the shame and agony of being nailed to a cross. He took not only the physical cruelty, but also the crushing spiritual weight of our sins in His own body as he hung dying on the cross.

Voluntarily, he chose no intervention strategy, no delay tactic, no vanishing act. He chose to do only what the Father wanted. Why?

The writer of the Hebrews passage explains — it was “for the joy set before Him.” Here’s the thing. Jesus knew what to expect. It would all end with everlasting joy when He returned to the indescribable beauty of His heavenly home to be with God the Father forever.

How does it end for the believer? A joy that we can’t imagine awaits. God will be right there ? everlasting, dependable, and true. Life will be free of pain and tears. A rested immortal body. Restored relationships. Now that’s a happy ending!

Lord Jesus, I long for the perfect ending, but I’m so often distracted from the joy you have for me. Then I lose heart. May I humbly ask You to help me turn my attention to the joy ahead which you have prepared and planned for me. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

Joy in the Midst

Living Life God’s Way and Enjoying it Too

Joy in Hard Times

The post But How Does it End? can be found at Thoughts about God.

“For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in his holy name.”  Psalm 33:21

Have you ever tried to define trust? Or tried to trust when it seems like you can’t?

My natural tendencies are often the opposite of trust. In my prayers I try to persuade God to do something I desperately want, or to give me something I think I can’t do without. I have a specific result in mind, thinking it will make my life better.

Yet the times I have most anxiously tried to goad God are the very times when I needed to trust Him the most. When the result I want does not happen, I have at times wandered in a land of mistrust, remaining anxious and engulfed in discontent.

What if we changed our expectation of what we think “should” happen? What if we began to define trust in God as letting go of the outcome and releasing our grip?

At first our waiting may feel more frightening. However, for myself, I’ve noticed a freedom in not holding on so tightly. Peace and gladness in God Himself enter my heart and mind after the release. I can be glad because of who God is. In Psalm 33:20 the writer states God’s characteristics: “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”

Dear Lord, please help me to let go of my demands for a preconceived outcome. Help me to let go of my efforts to control. I turn my attention to Who You are. I want to trust You. I can’t do that without Your help, but I believe You will help me because You long for me to rest in Your wisdom and protection. Amen.

By Sue Braid
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Letting Go, Even When it Hurts

The Pain of Letting Go

Letting God Lead Us

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The post How to Get a Grip can be found at Thoughts about God.

“As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?” ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and the wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.”
Genesis 22:7-8

They weren’t whiners in those days — those patriarchs. They were learning to listen to God and act on what He said. Imagine being Isaac’s father, Abraham, hearing God’s inconceivable command to sacrifice his miracle child. His adored, only child. Imagine, too, making the excruciating choice to obey, deliberately preparing for the trip, courageously starting the three-day journey.

Now imagine Isaac’s point of view. Isaac observed the absence of an offering and asked, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham’s answer showed more faith and hope — for the presence of provision — than he either knew or felt. With well-grounded confidence in his loving father, Isaac accepted the explanation.

Later, lying there tied up by his father, seeing the knife, what did Isaac feel? Incredulity, terror?

We know only that at the very last minute, he was rescued. The angel of the Lord called a halt and pointed out the replacement sacrifice — a ram which foreshadowed the perfect substitute as the sacrifice for us, Jesus, the Lamb of God.

What happened to Isaac after the consternation and shock? We never hear of a debriefing with a counselor or of him acting out in anger. Genesis 24:63 suggests he became a contemplative man. He also became a comforted man — “Isaac …married Rebekah. So she became his wife and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Genesis 24:67b).

As for me, how do I respond to the inexplicable events God allows? Do I trust my truly loving heavenly Father as much as Isaac trusted Abraham?

Father of love, in your divine purposes you allow things in my life that I don’t understand. I’m tempted to doubt your long range plans. I can’t see the big picture. But I can read your Word and recall the incredible rescues you orchestrated. I can thank you for setting a precedent that you are more than able to deliver me and I can trust whatever you do with my life. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Choose Trust

•  Blessed Obedience

• How to Trust God

The post Isaac’s Shocking Trust can be found at Thoughts about God.

“For I have given them the words you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” John 17:6

Once, during a time of acute anxiety, I chose to confide in my doctor.

After listening to me, he wrote out a prescription and handed it to me. The only words on the paper were “Isaiah 41:10.”

He explained that the night before his final medical exams, panic had throttled him. He called friends for prayer. They gave him Isaiah 41:10,

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

His panic receded as he let the message of this passage soak in. The next day he passed his exams.

When fear assaults, many feelings can flood in and obsess us. What spiritual machete can we use to hack through the tangle of terror to create a clearing for the reality that God is with us to strengthen and help us?

Is it admitting our need to other believers and asking for their prayers?  Possibly. What about a command to ourselves to “Just stop it and have faith?” That could be effective. You can practice taking charge of your thoughts.

Would a cry to God for help work?  Of course.  Romans 8:26 says,

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness.”

He is the helper who comes alongside us to settle the panic.

The prescription my doctor gave me still is valid. I have discovered it helps to remember what God, Himself, declares in Isaiah 41:10 — that I should “Fear not, for I am with you.” It helps me to have, what I call, a stake-out on spiritual authority. I am following Jesus’ example when, in Matthew 4:10, he resisted evil in the wilderness by quoting Scripture. As it did with my doctor, soaking in a Bible verse that the Spirit recalls to me can calm the anxiety.

Stay with the Word of God. Never be embarrassed by how often you have to dismiss your feelings of doubt or dismay. Your job is to return to thinking of the truths God has given you.

Gracious God, help us to be willing to release our instinctive ways of reacting to crises. By Your Holy Spirit, remind us that you are right beside us. May we humbly accept your strength and your help in times of fear. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• Peace or Panic? – by Katherine Kehler

• Panic or Faith – by Carol Bellemore

• When Fear Takes Over – by Karen Woodard

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The post When Panic Attacks can be found at Thoughts about God.

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)

What do you think God thinks about you?

Psalm 139 depicts God’s intimate, articulate, and unflinching knowledge of the detailed expanse we call our lives.

Nothing random or contemptuous dominates God’s attentiveness to me. This psalm shows that, even before God purposefully made me, He knew all about who I am (verse 16).

Because God discerns my individual thoughts, His thoughts about me are personal and are particular to me (verses 1, 2). He also knows the precise words I use to express myself (verse 4).

God’s thoughts about me are perpetual. In this moment God knows, for example, whether I sit down to surf the Internet or stand up to get a snack. He keeps pace with all my pursuits and pauses (verse 3).

God pervasively surrounds me. Fencing me in, He simultaneously goes ahead while guarding my back. Although I don’t physically feel it, His protective hand is on me (verse 5).

Even when I feel distant or full of darkness, He is always present and perceptive. All darkness is “see-through” to Him. What happens to me is permitted only after His security check (verses 7-12).

God’s thoughts about me are persistently plentiful. As countless as sand on a shore (verse 18). Can you even imagine?

He doesn’t just think of me in this way. We are all precious to Him. Let us intentionally choose to welcome the wonder of His focus as we bask in the concentration of His care.

Oh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank you for your unbelievable awareness of me – just one little person among the 7.6 billion people on this planet. Thank you for the sheer genius of your capacity to create and know each one of us. Thank you that I receive your constant care, and that I can agree to bask in your intimacy with me. Rather than hoarding my own evaluations of myself, thank you that I can allow your thoughts to be precious to me, to fill me with gratitude and rest even during demanding days. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission
https://thelife.com/devotionals

Further Reading

•  Understanding the Holy Spirit

•  Questions and Answers

•  Salvation Explained

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The post What God Thinks about You can be found at Thoughts about God.

“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Psalm 130:4

In anger, someone who chose to abandon Christianity – someone I love — said to me, “Who needs all that guilt?!” And I agreed. For years I felt so miserably guilty, I kept trying harder to be acceptable to God. To be weighed down by the memories of my sins was more than I could bear.

Scripture says that even God gets tired of our sins. “Rather you have burdened me with your sins, You have wearied me with your iniquities.” But He goes on to say, “…I am the one who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

Really? For His own sake?

Only God can do this because of who He is. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity?… You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy” (Micah 7:18).

How can I set your heart ablaze with the wonderful relief of this truth? If God wanted us to suffer continuously with guilt, Jesus would not have foiled the devil’s plan by taking our sins on Himself on the cross. He frees us from condemnation. “Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity” (Psalm 103:2,3a). God loves you and me so individually, so entirely and kindly, that even though we have sinned, He extends inexhaustible, plentiful, and perpetual mercy and love to us who are in Christ (Ephesians 2:4,5). We can depend on His love, for it moved Him to forgive us.

Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for your immense mercy for me, one who still sins. I thank you for the extravagant love and freedom from guilt that you provided. Yet, without your help, I am not able to grasp that nothing can come between me and your love. So help me to surrender to your tender love again and again today. Grant me the grace to trust your unswerving support in our life together. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Forgiveness – Yourself and  Others

•  Struggles, Despair

•  Salvation Explained

The post Misery and Mercy can be found at Thoughts about God.

What is my purpose (“for such a time as this”) in the place God has positioned me?

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

My father knew danger in a way that I never have. When the threat of loss of freedom came in 1939, he signed up for the army. He saw it as his purpose in life to sacrifice his own life, if necessary, for the freedom of others.

Today when I see ominous, fearsome events taking place, freedom to live and believe in Jesus carries new significance. The story of Queen Esther speaks hope amidst the desperate circumstances we find ourselves in at this point of history.

After she learns of the genocide deceptively planned for her people, her uncle implores her to boldly go to the king and beg him to save their lives.

Esther knew the penalty of going before the king uninvited — death. Yet she still made a bold commitment to act. Though un-summoned by the king, she summoned all the Jews in the city to join her in prayer and fasting. “When this is done, I will go to the king,” she said, “even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).

If I die, I die.

Her purposefulness compels me to ask myself, “Is there anything so important to me that I would die for it? And the corollary question also comes to heart: “What am I living for?” By risking her life, the boldness of this one woman prevented a massacre. Esther’s prayer, fasting, and courage are still honored every year in Israel by a joyful national holiday.

What is my purpose (“for such a time as this”) in the place God has positioned me? What is yours?

Lord Jesus, thank You for making a bold commitment to me by becoming like a slave to change my history, now and eternally. Thank You for Your willingness to die, then rise again, for me. Now, at this present moment, help me to act intentionally. Help me to participate in bringing life and freedom to others in Your name. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• A Study on God’s Plan for Me?

• Redefining Success| by Dr. Ed Becker Co-founder of Econotech Ltd

•  Salvation Explained

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The post To Boldly Go can be found at Thoughts about God.

Has your obedience taken you to surprising places lately?

Will you stay and follow the clues to find the next step?

“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15

On Sunday our grandson wrote clues for the latest scavenger hunt he was inventing. “Go to where the teeth eat meat,” said the first clue. Instead of finding the next clue at the kitchen table, we found it under Snapper, his hand-crafted four-foot long blue alligator.

In much the same way, I don’t know where I’ll be led next until I follow and obey God’s call to share His good news with others. Will there be scary people? Unusual places? My heart may be pounding as I listen and respond to the nudges God sends.

Sometimes I’d rather just stay put and be silent. Yet obedience is not just about trying to live to show Christ’s love. Lots of people may be loving and kind. But that’s not always enough. Obedience is also talking about who God is and what He has done for me.

The outcome may not always feel like success. All that my obedience may bring is the knowledge that I have obeyed to the best of my ability. At times the immediate experience may even feel like failure. But success in witnessing is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God.

Has your obedience taken you to surprising places lately? Do you question whether this is the place God wants you to be? If so, will you stay and follow the clues to find the next step?

Oh Jesus, grant me the willingness to follow You to the places You are sending me in my own experiences at home with my family and in my neighborhood. Grant me the humility to obey You. For I have nothing to lose in the end. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• Making a Difference

• Whatever you do…

•  Salvation Explained

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The post Clues to Follow can be found at Thoughts about God.

“Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” James 1:19b

I was at boarding school for most of each year, so I grew up without family dinners. I had a table of peers to eat with at the end of the day. But there was no one who really listened and took an interest in how my day had gone.

Is it any wonder that I was bursting to express myself and be heard? I thought if I could only explain myself, I would be understood and validated. Yet no matter how hard I tried, many of my efforts backfired. They caused me pain and alienated me from others. I often felt trapped in anger and hurt. I had things I wanted to say!

Last year a friend said to me, “I realized I didn’t have to say what I wanted to say.” Slowly, I let that seep in. She was releasing her right to say what she wanted to because that sacrifice made a significant contribution towards peace in their home.

As I re-read Proverbs, I saw that the writer claims beautiful rewards from this sacrifice of not speaking. “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life…. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lip is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver …. The lips of the righteous feed many.” (Proverbs 10:11a; 19-21, ESV)

Does your heart yearn for freedom from the tyranny of having your say? Do you long to bring health and life to others? There are times when we need to speak up, but there are also moments when we would do well to hold our peace. Would you like to join me in the sacrifice of not always having to say the words we want to say?

Gracious, compassionate, and merciful Heavenly Father, would you grant me the grace to let go of “my right” to speak and to only speak in ways that honor and bless others as made in your image. Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• Why is What I say So Important?

• Who is My Behaviour Affecting?

•  Salvation Explained

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The post Choosing Not to Have Your Say can be found at Thoughts about God.

“But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.” Psalm 69:29-30

 When was the last time you felt flooded by your situation?

Overwhelmed about anything today? David, the writer of Psalm 69, was in that sort of place.

He starts with a 911 call:

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God” (Psalm 69:1-3).

He feels hated, unjustly accused, attacked with lies. He is exhausted by what seems like unending mental and emotional distress.

With the situation as desperate as it is, it comes as a surprise to us to hear David then say,

“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”

I think part of worshipping the Lord, bowing down, and kneeling before Him is developing a long-range understanding of our circumstances. That is difficult. Our immediate, pressing, urgent conditions can rush in on us like an overwhelming wave.

Unfortunately, the force of that water can also slam us in the direction of uncertainty, negativity, and unbelief. However, we see that the Psalm writers’ practice was to wait through difficult seasons. If we can find our way toward God in worship when the water has come right up to our chin, then we are beginning to do what David practiced. We are finding a way to trust and wait on the Lord.

Pray the words of Psalm 69:3 today:

 “But as for me, my prayer is to Thee, O Lord, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Thy loving kindness, answer me with Thy saving truth.” Amen.

By Sue Braid
Used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Who Will You Fight For?
• How to Be Confident You Will Go to Heaven When You Die

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

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