shadow

glory

Living for His Present Glory

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“Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But NOW be strong…” 
Haggai 2:3-4A (NIV)

When my family and I get together we love to reminisce over wonderful memories from the past. We had a Dalmatian dog that my brother and I would run races against, my sister and I laugh at the games we used to play in the car on road trips, and my grandpa used to own a forty-foot sailboat on Lake Michigan that would occupy our summer weekends. Oh, the good ol’ days. That’s how the returned exiles felt coming back to the land of Israel after their Babylonian captivity. After they completed building a new temple for the Lord the older generation wailed in anguish for the glory of Solomon’s temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. They longed for the splendor and ease of the past.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in how the Lord has worked through us in the past; we live off our testimony that occurred years earlier. Or we get stuck dreaming of the future: what we can do for God when the kids finally go off to school, when we finally retire or when the all-consuming time commitment we are currently involved in ends. But that’s not God’s will for us! He gives us testimonies in our past to encourage us in the here and now trials of life. He gives us dreams for the future to give us intentionality with how we use our spare time presently. But if all we do is live in the past or future, nothing will get accomplished NOW. The point of the book of Haggai is to inspire Israel to be faithful to God in their current condition despite unmet expectations. God wants us to live for His glory NOW! He wants us to go and make disciples today, He wants us to be His light to our co-workers now, He wants us to cherish every hug and cuddle from our children today! As the saying goes: Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Today only happens once. Don’t let it pass you by. Let’s live for His glory today and do so in the power of His Holy Spirit.

God bless,

Noree Wegmeyer

 

 

 

Photo Credit: https://www.freeimages.com/photo/sunrise-1362773

When I am weak, then I am strong

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“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

One of the ways that I know the Bible is God’s Word is through the patterns of God’s character woven throughout the Old and New Testaments. These patterns reveal that God’s plan is perfect and better than any human plan. One of these patterns is God’s continuous use of the weak in his design so that his glory shines through instead of the person’s pride.

In Judges chapter 7, Gideon led an army to fight Midian and the Lord told him that the Israelites would boast of their own strength when they won, so the men were narrowed down to only 300. This way, when the Midianites were defeated, it would be seen that the victory could only have been achieved by the power of God.

When Samuel was choosing one of Jesse’s sons to be anointed king, Samuel assumed that the eldest son would be chosen, but the Lord said “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV). After Samuel saw the other sons, Jesse told him that his youngest son David was in the fields tending the sheep. This is who the Lord told Samuel to anoint as king. Later, as we all know, the young David used a sling and stone to kill Goliath when the Israelite army was too afraid to approach the giant (I Samuel chapter 17). The smallest person was used to defeat the strongest enemy so that everyone present would witness the glory of God.

In the New Testament, when God chose to send his son to earth to redeem us, he did not send a golden warrior king, but a baby born to a virgin in a stable. Even though Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophesies and followed the pattern that God had been weaving through the Old Testament of using the weak, some still did not believe he was the Messiah. Paul had been one of these persecutors of the followers of Jesus before he was literally blinded on the way to Damascus and shown the true light. After his conversion he suffered the rest of his life in service to Christ. Paul had previously been a prideful Pharisee who was revered, but after being shackled, beaten, and shipwrecked, he boasted not of his old life and accomplishments, but in his present weakness because he knew the glory of God was showing through. This is why he said “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV).

Often we feel that we are not capable of carrying out what God has called us to do, but  the Bible reveals a pattern of God using the weak. Who are we to argue with the perfect plan of truth that was recounted onto paper then and still lives today?

Your sister in Christ,

Erin Tabor

 

 

 

Photo Credit: My own photo

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“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3:12 NIV

When I was younger, one of my best friends had connections to the music group Hansen (one of the heart throb boy bands of the 90’s).

One summer when I was visiting my friend for a week, her aunt surprised us with tickets to one of Hansen’s concerts. We were ecstatic! With squeals of girlish excitement we went to the concert, bought T-shirts and sang along to the music. About half-way through the concert my friend looked over at me and exclaimed, “Noree, I am such a fool! If had let them (Hansen) know we were coming beforehand, we could have gotten back stage passes.” (Believe it or not, this was before most people owned cell phones to let them know we were at the concert.) Needless to say, that put a bit of a damper on the rest of the concert: thinking of what might have been… but my friend and I still enjoyed it.

How many of us know in our heads we have full access to the throne of God, but forget to live it out? We have access to the King of kings and Lord of lords! The Israelites lived with a veil over their hearts, but through the blood of Jesus we who believe have had that veil torn away and now live reflecting the glory of God with His Spirit living inside us (2 Corinthians 3:13-18).

In Hebrews 10:19-22 Paul encourages believers to draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. We need to live each day taking full advantage of our access to the King of kings! His power knows no equal; His might no limit. And we have His incomparably great power living in us to live each day victoriously and for the glory of our God (Ephesians 1:18-20).

Noree Wegmeyer

 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Free Images: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/vip-1549961