done for verses done in

"God doesn't want you to think only about the tangible things He's done for you - He wants you to remember what He's done in you - because that transforms what He can do through you."

Another desk calendar nugget. It hits on not falling into the trap of loving God's gifts and not God Himself and it brings to the forefront what born again means. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Philippians 2:12-13 "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

What enables us to live a righteous holy life? What gives us the power to "turn the other cheek" and not lash out from vain conceit or impatient fury? What human example do we have of humility and meekness? Who can save of us from our scarlet sin? It's Jesus. Always. A powerful life isn't about car brands and Prada purses. A powerful life is Jesus' love working through every single thing we do - "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31. There is nothing that doesn't have to do with God when God is the reason for everything. You can't compartmentalize what part of your life is God honoring and what part isn't. It doesn't work. It's not consistent and it isn't complete. 

Ephesians 4:17-24 "Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,  to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

What has Jesus done in you and does it come out?

the WAY in the WILDERNESS

“Remember not the former things,

    nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

    and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:18-19

Feeling very much in the wilderness these last couple days at work. Back from the long Thanksgiving weekend and there has been nothing but conflict and tension swirling around me. I am trying not to let the external forces of other peoples drama disrupt my peace but it's a struggle I often lose. It's amazing how two days at work can feel like five. My little desk calendar had the offering of the above verse from Isaiah today and it was much needed.

There are times the word "wilderness" elicits exciting connotations - untamed, untouched by man, natural splendor, etc.. But the word "wilderness" can also imply a lonely, desolate place, full of predators.

A dear friend texted me a message quoting Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." I mention that because I think we are all in wildernesses of some kind. We are all certainly sojourners, elect exiles while we live here on earth awaiting our being with Jesus in Paradise. It's crucial to have friendship founded on the mutual love of God and rooted in the joy of Jesus - who He is, what He's done, and the eternity of worship before us. The wilderness is real, but God has made the Way in the Wilderness through His only Son Jesus Christ. We elect exiles need to remind one another of this often so I say again, the wilderness is real, but God has made the Way in the Wilderness through His only Son Jesus Christ.

"Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?" Ecclesiastes 4:11