A Restored Soul, Yes! Thank You

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, je leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”
Psalm 23:1-3a

I had been chatting with one of my awesome volunteers and she was telling me about a book she was reading at the time. I don’t remember the title of the book or the author but one of the characters in the early pages was a little boy who was terminally ill and working to memorize Psalm 23. This little boy was trying to understand what “restore my soul” meant. Someone explained it to him, if my memory serves, this way – “that even if the outside can’t be fixed, the Lord can fix the inside.” What a powerful statement!

We need out inside fixed more than anything don’t we. This life can be brutal on our hearts, our minds and our souls. The pace of life, that the world says we should live at is so fast, that we miss the amazing creation we live in, we miss divine appointments and we even miss His voice trying to speak to us. With the pace of life being so fast, when our bodies or our circumstances turn on us it doesn’t take long for hope to start failing or for anger to replace kindness.

If life is less than perfect – and it usually is, the holidays seems to magnify all the bad bits and hide the good bits. That when we need our Shepherd to find us, pull us out of the muck and mire we find ourselves in and lead us back to the place that He has made safe for us. Here in His pasture we find rest, and nourishment. He’ll soothe our emotions and bring healing to our souls so that we will be strengthened for all that we must face on this planet.

See Jesus came to transform us from the inside out - to restore our minds, our hearts and our souls, for those are thing things we need to love Him the way ought. When we love him the way we should we can love others, we can choose to be kind, we can slow down so we have time for those divine appointments and we can hear his voice in the quiet.

Will a restored inside make life in this world any easier – no, He never said it would. It will help us to deal with whatever the world throws at us. It will remind us that the Shepherd is nearby to lead us to rest, to put soothing balm on any wounds and to make us stronger than we can imagine being.

I don’t know what you are facing today. Maybe you are travelling pretty well right now – your soul may still need some restoration though. Maybe life is a raging storm and you are feeling battered and bruised – the Shepherd is out looking for you and when He call for you don’t run from Him, stand still and let Him come and get you. Some rest and restoration will help to keep going until the storm is over.

A restored soul? Yes, please and thank you!

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for being the Shepherd of our lives. Thank you for coming to look for us when we stray or when we’ve been wounded by life. Thank you for restoring our hearts, minds and souls. Once we have rested and received Your healing touch, help us to share Your goodness and faithfulness with those around us who are in need to your inside out transforming work that restores souls and brings rest. In the name of Jesus, who is our Shepherd and restores our souls – Amen.

Thankful for the Son

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Hebrews 1:3

After what seemed like a month’s worth of cold, gray and damp days the sun was finally shining over Kansas. There is nothing like a little sun to help lift people’s spirits and make us thankful for the light and warmth that it brings. Whenever the sun breaks through the gloom of a cold gray day it reminds me of Jesus and that magnifies the effects of the sun shiny day.

I really like how this week’s passage describes Jesus. The Son (that is Jesus) as the radiance of God’s glory. Radiant like the sun only magnified oh I don’t know maybe a million times or a billion times. Back in the Old Testament book of Exodus we can catch a glimpse of just how radiant God is. After talking with God on the mountain, Moses’ face reflected God’s radiant glory. Sort of like a supernatural, but painless Son burn. The first time the people saw Moses with his radiant face they were afraid because they knew that he had talked to God and lived. That first time Moses shared the words of God with the people and then covered his face. Going on from there when the people saw Moses’ radiant face, they knew the he had been talking with God and that no doubt he had a message for them. So imagine how bright God’s glory really is. Just the thought of that makes me thankful, what about you?

During Jesus’ time on this planet I think we catch some glimpse of His radiance – when he is baptized, on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, after His resurrection and perhaps at His ascension. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the radiance of God and an exact representation of God’s all sustaining power.

Was there radiance in his sun kissed face? Was there radiance in his calloused hands? Was there radiance in his dusty feet? What about in his tears or in his sweat in the garden? Was there radiance in His nail scarred hands and feed? Was there radiance in His healing touch or in His words? I think the answer of course is yes. His humanness may have acted like Moses’ veil, but I believe it was there just under the surface beaming out from His heart and just controlled enough so that He could walk and talk with us.

On this particular sunny day, that has chased the gray away I am thankful for the sun and I am so much more thankful for the Son – how about you?

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for the sun and thank you for Your Son who shows us your radiant glory and your all sustaining power. Remind us when the sun breaks through the clouds that Jesus came to set us free and purify us from our sin and for that we thank you. As we draw nearer to You help our lives to reflect a bit of His radiance to those around us. In the name of Jesus, who shines with His Father’s glory. – Amen.

Child of God - Be Thankful

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
1 John 3:1

There’s a song we’ve been singing in church from Bethel Music, sung by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser called No Longer Slaves. It is really a song of freedom and thankfulness. The chorus says simply “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.” I think sometimes we fail to fully comprehend the depth of what it means to be a child of God. So why child of God should we be thankful?

This week verse starts us off – we should be thankful because of the great love our Father God has lavished on us. Seriously the Creator of the universe loves us more than we can even fathom with our mere human minds and hearts. He lavishes us with love through the beautiful world we live in. Consider the lilies of the field, the birds of the air and all of the amazing creatures we share this planet with – there for His pleasure and ours, there to show us glimpses of God’s character.

We should be thankful that He was willing to take on the form of us, to be born into the world the way we are so that He could understand what we face and why we fall and at times choose slavery to things that keep us from really knowing Him. We should be thankful because His death for our sins and his resurrection breaks every chains for those who decide to believe and follow after Him.

We should be thankful because His lavish love drives out fear, moves mountains, splits seas and holds us tightly when we have no choice but to face the storms of life. We should be thankful because He has rescued us from sin and death and calls us into His kingdom, granting us dual citizenship to wherever we live on this planet and the His Kingdom, until the time we see him face to face and enter fully into the King of God. We should be thankful that He calls us son and daughter, and that we have not only the responsibility of being part of His royal family but also all the privileges.

We should be thankful, because He will never leave us, even when we try to leave Him. We should be thankful because when He looks at us He sees us for who we really are and still lavishes His love on us. We should be thankful because when He looks at us He sees the reflection of Jesus and sees who we are becoming and He is pleased.

So who are you? You are a child of God – be thankful.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for the love You so lavishly pour out on us. Love that allows us to become Your child, members of Your family and citizens of Your Kingdom. Love that drives out fear, moves obstacles out of our way and holds us tightly in the midst of life’s many storms. May that lavish love pour out of our lives and into the lives of those around us, that they too can call you Father and be a child of God. In the name of Jesus, who made the way for us to be called sons and daughters. – Amen.