I’m slowly reading my way through Waiting on God by Charles Stanley. Today, I believe God spoke to me through one of the things Dr. Stanley said. He basically said that waiting on God means focusing not on the object you’re waiting for but on the Giver. Keep your eyes on Jesus and not on the lack of spouse, job, house, money, etc.

Whenever I look to whatever it is I’m waiting for, I can become hyperfocused on what I lack and anxious almost non-stop. But when I remember to look up and fixed my eyes on Jesus, that peace that I’ve been praying for comes back. That’s when I recall all God’s promises to me to supply all my needs and never to forsake me.

It takes intentionality to take my eyes off of those stormy waves and put them back on Jesus. Otherwise, I become like ol’ Peter and sink like a stone. Those waters can get overwhelming in a hurry if I let them, but if I keep focused on Jesus, I know He can speak peace to the wind and the waves. As the old song goes, even if He doesn’t calm the storm, He can calm His child in the midst of the storm.

So tonight’s a bit of adjusting my perspective and my focus. I’m thankful that God sees me even when I’ve forgotten to look for Him. Lord, keep my eyes fixed on You instead of everything else, and I know that everything else will be okay because You are with me. Amen.

“Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight.
Thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tow’r;
Raise thou me Heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r” (Versifier: Eleanor H. Hull; Translator: Mary E. Byrne (1927)

Recently, a friend introduced me to a daily devo from the Worship Initiative. Basically, it’s a time of worship with a short devotional that typically lasts 15-20 minutes. It has been a breath of fresh air these past few days.

This week, they’ve done all hymns. As much as I really like some of the newer worship songs, I find that the old hymns typically have such sound theology (and usually better rhyme schemes). The new songs don’t have the staying power of those old hymns. While new songs might last for a year or two or even up to a decade, some of the ancient hymns have been around for centuries.

But there’s something about singing the truth of God’s Word that doesn’t happen in reading a regular book or singing a regular song. When you sing God’s words and mean them, real worship happens. I don’t mean a warm fuzzy feeling. I mean you are in that moment declaring the true worth of God. That is magnified exponentially when we are gathered together, which is why being a part of a local worshipping community of believers is vital.

But I can’t leave without putting in a shameless plug for The Worship Initiative. If you want to check out the Daily Devo, go here:

https://sing.theworshipinitiative.com/auth/login?redirectTo=https%3A%2F%2Fsing.theworshipinitiative.com%2F

You won’t be disappointed. I promise. Just remember to bring that beautiful singing voice (even if you croak like a frog) every weekday morning.

“I may not not where I am going next, but I trust the One who’s leading me.”

That’s me. I don’t know where this current journey is leading me, but I trust the One who is leading.

It’s like Corrie ten Boom once said about when the train goes through a tunnel and everything gets dark. You don’t throw away your ticket and jump off the train. You stay on and trust that the conductor has enough sense and knows the way out of the tunnel.

Life has times where it feels like we’re completely in the dark, not knowing what’s coming. But God knows. God sees the future because He’s already there. Again, it makes my brain hurt but God is outside of time. Therefore, He can be with me in the present and also waiting for me in the future.

Therefore, I can trust Him. I can trust His plans for me. I can trust that He’s still working all things together for my good. I can trust that He knows the plans He has for me.

So maybe I’m not trusting the journey as much as I’m trusting my Guide.

Again, my brain is toast, so I borrowed something I found on Facebook. It spoke to me and I hope it will speak to you as well. May God’s blessings all be yours wherever you live, work, and play:

May you sit down in the presence of the Most High,
no longer visiting, no longer striving,
but settling into the place prepared for you.

May you discover that God Himself
is your refuge and your resting place—
not a fortress you must reach,
but a shelter already surrounding you.

May you live beneath His protective nearness,
held in the shade of the All-Sufficient One,
where fear loses its voice
and your soul remembers it is safe.

May threats that trouble others
lose their power over you.
May chaos pass nearby without overtaking you.
May you remain untouched, not because you are strong,
but because you are kept.

May unseen help attend your path,
lifting you gently when the way is hard,
so that even what might wound you
does not have the final word.

May love anchor you so deeply in God
that rescue comes naturally,
answers come personally,
and His presence meets you
even in the midst of trouble.

And may your life be filled with quiet satisfaction—
long enough to savor goodness,
deep enough to know salvation is not distant,
but dwelling with you,
here and now.

Amen” (Kirk Dearman).

I don’t know, but I think this will speak to someone reading this tonight. Maybe it’s something you needed to hear right at this moment. I do believe that no trial is ever wasted on those who hold fast to hope in Christ. God always redeems every situation that seems hopeless at the time to work it for our good and His glory. This too shall pass and soon you will see . . .

“God, change anything about me that isn’t about You.”

That’s a dangerous prayer. I know there’s a lot in me that probably doesn’t reflect the heart of God. I think I speak for just about everyone in the room when I say that all of us who are followers of Jesus don’t exactly mirror Jesus very well most of the time. There’s a lot in us that needs changing.

I think we do a lot of things for selfish reasons — we even do good with ulterior motives. But the beautiful part is that God still chooses to use us. Sometimes I wonder not why bad things happen to good people but why God allows good things to happen to any of us. After all, we’re the ones who rebelled against God and chose our own way over His.

But God still blesses us. God still loves us. God still promises to finish what He started in us. God sent His only Son for us while we were still sinners and died for us while we were still sinners. He didn’t wait until we got better. He didn’t even wait until we really wanted to get better. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God made us alive in Christ.

So maybe that’s not a bad prayer to pray. It’s scary but it’s the best thing God could ever do for us. God, change anything about us that isn’t about You. Make us like You at any cost, so that we can lead others to know You and find out what the eternal and abundant life looks like. Amen.

It was 70 years ago today that five missionaries went into the jungles of Ecuador to bring the gospel to an unreached group of indigenous people. Those five ended up sacrificing their very lives for that gospel. Months later, two of the wives, including Jim Elliot’s wife Elisabeth, went back to that very tribe that had murdered their husbands and led many of them to saving faith in Christ.

Jim is famous for saying, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Those are the words he and his friends lived by when they risked their lives to go to places where the name of Jesus had never been heard before. But in heaven’s eyes, the sacrifice was worth it. God honored the lives of those men and their wives, and their legacy still lives on.

Every time someone goes to a part of the world where the gospel has not gone before, we honor their legacy. Every time a missionary couple or family goes to a country where missionaries are not allowed, their legacy lives on. Whenever people are willing to risk everything to share the gospel where Christianity is illegal and converting means instant death, the legacy of the Elliots, the Flemings, The Saints, the McCullys, and Youderians is passed on to a new generation.

The goal is that everyone must know. Heaven will be filled with people from every tongue, tribe, and nation because people like Jim and Nate and the rest weren’t content to stay in this country and be comfortable but traded convenience for obedience and were able to hear the words of Jesus, “Well, done, good and faithful servants.”