God’s love for us is quite literally unfathomable. And sometimes it can even seem unbelievable. When we take a long look at humanity, or even better, a long, honest look at ourselves, it seems comical that God could and does love humans. But He does. Of course we believe God loves us, on paper. But what about on our pillows? What anxieties keep us awake at night that come from a lack of believing, on a gut-level, that God loves us?
Of all the elements He could’ve used, why did God choose fire? It’s a polarizing thing, it can destroy as suddenly as it can bring life. It can scald as easily as it can bring soothing comfort. Much like the Savior who warned us that His coming would be divisive in the world, fire can be terrifying or a great source of peace. His fire refines and sanctifies, it tests and reveals the quality of anything placed in it. Fire only burns that which isn’t holy. Put something holy in the fire, and it will come out as gold.
It’s no accident that Jesus introduced the commandment ‘to love each other as He loved us’ in the same moment He felt the sting of betrayal and denial from two of His dearest friends. If He could get on the floor and wash their feet knowing how deeply they’d wound Him, we can certainly set aside our offenses and forgive each other—for the sake of our own health, for the growth of the church, for the needs of the lost, and for the glory of God.
When watching catastrophic circumstances roll in like a storm, or getting news of impending doom, what is your first response? If the plan He gives involves humbling yourself, are you willing to let that be the solution? Would you be lowered on behalf of another, to be a conduit of His great mercy? Will we trust God’s promises to exalt the humble and lift up the lowly? There is someone whose story gives us a remarkable example of the unwavering confidence we can have in Him, and the powerful things He will do with our lives from that place.
As we barrel towards the Day of the Lord, as crises mount and the pregnancy of this age approaches the escalating birth pangs and labor into the next age, we must “be sober, redeeming the time” because the present days are “evil.” These mundane days are full of micro injustices, full of macro injustices, and all of them have an appointed end—when Jesus rides His horse.
No one wants to get whooped so badly they can only escape by running through the public square bruised and bloodied in their birthday suit. But for all the popular fervor over “signs and wonders” putting the power of God on public display, only God can know the men and women with “hearts fully loyal to Him, on whose behalf He can show Himself strong.” May we be such a people.
"We want revival—and it’s coming, but it’s coming with persecution. Everyone wants Antioch, but we forget that it was the persecution in and destruction of Jerusalem that birthed Antioch." Pastor X from 'Sheep Among Wolves II' encourages and calibrates us for the decade ahead in PILGRIM VOL. IV from Frontier Alliance International (FAI).
Written by Dalton Thomas in the months leading up to the birth of FAI in Dec. 2011, UNTO DEATH explores the implications of the resurrection, the imperatives of costly discipleship, and invites those who love and confess Jesus to invest their limited life in this age for an abundant life in the next—driven by the apostolic "blessed hope" befitting those who worship a crucified King & slain Lamb.
"Costly," the third and final single in Stephanie Quick's 'the costly ep,' dropped this week. In this article, she explores perhaps the deepest depths of Scripture, what the apostles knew as "the law of Christ," and discusses the formative convictions that birthed "Galilee," "Costly," and "Redwood." The EP is now available on all platforms.
“We knew something had happened. And when we left that cottage at three o’clock in the morning we learned what it was. Everywhere men and women were seeking God. As I walked along the country road, I found three men on their faces, crying to God for mercy. There was a light in every home; no one seemed to be thinking of sleep.”
God fulfilled every promise He made to Abraham and Sarah, and to Hagar and Ishmael. Both of these parties experienced extreme examples of things not going according to their plan, and they had to learn to trust. But the very names of their children are prophetic evidence of who God would be to them forever—His word never comes back void.
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