lean on Him... leads to... wait on Him...

The days and weeks in His Word...
seeking to lean on Him...
have led to a new insight...
a new revelation...

An idea... understanding... I had in my head...
but my eyes were in the wrong place...

You see... I've been waiting on specific changes in the lives of loved ones for a long time... we're talking years...

Waiting on them to change...

This waiting... even though I knew God had to be behind it all... in it all... caused me at times to be impatient... frustrated... with those I long to change...

And I know... knew... only God makes things grow...
only He transforms... the old... into new creations...
but I've kept my eyes on the ones I long to see change...
looking for signs... waiting... hoping... on them...

But what I realized... in this leaning my mind... imagination... toward trusting Him... was that in all the promises... change... I desire... I'm really waiting on Him...!

He's the One who works in hearts...
opens eyes... brings light...

He's the One... I'm waiting on...

And to wait on Him...
is a totally different perspective...

To wait on Him...
is to trust the One who is able...
the One who knows...
the One with perfect timing...
the One who loves my loved ones more than me...

To wait on Him...
keeps my eyes on Him...
and off those whose seemingly unchanged lives...
cause frustration...

When we become frustrated with the ones for whom we pray...
it changes our attitude toward them...
and we become a stumbling block to the change we want to see...

But when we wait on God...
and become frustrated with Him...
He can take it...
and He takes it and changes our hearts...
opens our eyes... lovingly...
to His love for us...

Trusting and waiting...
inextricably intertwined...

Grateful for the shift of perspective...
this heart change...
so guess what comes next...?

I'm feeling a series...
another seeking...
of what it means to...
wait on Him...

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.

Psalm 123:1-2 ESV

The Journey Readings: Week 73... and an eternal perspective...

The Psalms teach us to live... from an eternal perspective...

His city is eternal... this is the place we look forward to living...

On the holy hills stands the city [of Jerusalem and the temple]

God founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion [through which

the crowds of pilgrims enter from all nations] more than

all the dwellings of Jacob (Israel). Glorious things are

spoken of you, O city of God. Selah [pause,

and calmly realize what that means]!

Psalm 87:1-3 Amp

I can't help but think of this as God's ultimate dwelling... the one yet to be revealed...

...pause... calmly realize what that means...

For [Abraham] was looking forward to the city

that has foundations, whose design and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:10 ESV

And His Word says of the faithful who've gone before...

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised,

but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having

acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear 

that they are seeking a homeland.

Hebrews 11:13-14 ESV

An eternal perspective reminds us we are currently strangers... exiles... on earth...  pilgrims... moving forward... not getting comfortable where we are...

We are not yet home...

Looking forward... fills us with never-ending praise...

I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever;

with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness

from generation to generation.

Psalm 89:1 Amp

Knowing the eternal nature of God and His Kingdom... inspire us to sing now... revealing Him to generation after generation... knowing we will never cease singing His praise...

The psalms remind us... He not only endures from this point on...
but He has no beginning...
He is the source of all things... yet has no source of His own...

Lord, You have been our dwelling place and our refuge

in all generations [says Moses]. Before the mountains

were brought forth or ever You had formed and given birth

to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to

everlasting You are God.

Psalm 90:1-2 Amp

Remembering Him as our Endless Creator... and realizing how fragile we are... causes us to seek Him for guidance on how to live out our lives... which He already sees from beginning to end...

So teach us to number our days,

that we may get us a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 Amp

We should never forget the eternal nature of God... never-ending... without beginning... tireless... here we find encouragement for the pilgrimage...

To see suffering... pain... hardship... from an eternal perspective... reminds us we are traveling through... to an incorruptible Kingdom... where we truly belong...

An eternal perspective... encourages us to seek His wisdom as we go through life... and blesses us with the hope needed to persevere...

The Lord reigns, He is clothed in majesty;

the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power;

the world also established, that it cannot be moved.

Your throne is established from of old;

You are from everlasting.

Psalm 93:1-2 Amp

What can the Psalms teach you...?
Join The Journey and find out...

This week's readings...
Monday...             Psalm 98-101
Tuesday...             Psalm 102-103
Wednesday...        Psalm 104
Thursday...           Psalm 105
Friday...                Psalm 106

the only thing you can take with you...

Listening to a message in the car... I heard it...

...the revelation of Christ, the only thing you can exit the earth with.

---Michael Wells, Recognizing God

The only thing we can take with us when we leave this earth...?
Revelation of Christ... 

This is why we are born... to get to know Him...
He placed us when and where we are... with the purpose... of finding Him...

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live

on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods

and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should

seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Acts 17:26-27 ESV

Knowing Him is the treasure...

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither

moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ..."

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

This passage has new meaning for me... 

I suppose I always assumed the heavenly treasures had to do with our good deeds... but now I see... He is the treasure... 

He is our great reward...

...the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

"Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield,

your very great reward."

Genesis 15:1

There is no greater reward than knowing Him...

No greater treasure...

"... And this is eternal life, that they know you

the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ..."

John 17:3 ESV

Eternal life is knowing Him...

Eternal life begins with... and is... revelation of Jesus Christ...!

This is a perspective changer for me...

What about you...?

Does this truth make you reconsider how you should spend your time...?

Nothing else we do... or gain... goes with us when we leave this earth...

Nothing...

The only thing we are taking with us...

is revelation... of... Him...

You will seek Me and find Me

when you search for Me

with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 HCSB

Where is your treasure...?

His promises... eternal...

In the midst of teaching sixth graders a Bible lesson... on God's promises to Abram/Abraham... a new facet emerged...

God promised Abraham land... a nation... made up of his own people... his offspring...

But at the time... Abraham had no children... not one...

The Lord appeared to Abram and said,

"To your offspring I will give this land."

So he built an alter there to the Lord,

who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:7 NIV

In response to God's word... Abraham worshiped... he praised God... believing... trusting him for what He said He would do...

At the end of Abraham's life... he had one child of promise... Isaac... and the only land he owned in that nation promised to be his... was a burial plot...

Yet Abraham... considered God faithful...

And I asked the class a question... solely based on the truth that was dawning... What does this tell us about God's promises...? 

God's promises are eternal...

Eternal promises... for people who were created for eternity...

God is faithful to all His promises... even though we may not see them come to pass... while we walk this earth in our current form...

Jesus's words... from my morning with Him... mesh with this idea...

"... For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world

and loses or forfeits himself?..."

Luke 9:25 ESV

"... And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ..."

Matthew 10:28 ESV

Eternal... our perspective is to be... eternal...

A perspective I need to work on...

Doubts... take root and grow... when we focus only on the temporal... expecting His promises to come to pass today... in this lifetime...

But that's not what He's about...

He's always been about the eternal...

Jesus's life... short and tragic... from a temporal perspective...

But from the viewpoint of eternity... magnificent... miraculous... majestic...

We sell God short... when we refuse to see things His way... 

We miss what He's doing... we forfeit hope... peace... and joy... through unbelief...

After all... how can He not give us all things... when He has already given us His Son...

An eternal gift... for people... created... for... eternity...

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2Corinthians 4:18

Where do you need a change of perspective...?