It is hard to believe that we stand on the threshold of a brand new year! I love the fresh start of a new year and am excited about what the Lord will do in 2014. I also am blessed as I reflect upon God’s blessings and lessons in the journey of 2013. How many tender mercies He has daily shown (Lamentations 3:23), and things He has taught me about Himself. This past year has been one of the most enriched times in my walk with the Lord.

Not because it has been the easiest. Quite the contrary.

But I’ve experienced great joy and blessing in 2013, because I have experienced Him. I look back and see God’s great faithfulness to me each day. Through the fire, God has shown to me His overwhelming goodness, His strength, and His precious Word. And it is there, in the pain of my own weakness, that I have come to know the Lord Jesus as never before. And oh, how faithful the Lord is. Christ leads us every step of the way and He is what really matters in my life. As I have learned to “be still and know that He is” (Psalm 46:10), I have experienced Him in all of His glorious attributes…

He is…

He is. He always will be. He is God, and as an eternal Being, He is eternally my Father and gentle Shepherd! There is nothing in earth or in the heavens that can prevail against my Father or end His existence. The joy that this never-changing truth brings to me, as His child, is truly too deep to describe. This Lord is my own God, Creator, Savior,  strength, song, Guide, conqueror, protector…and He can never change or die (Malachi 3:6)! I can trust Him no matter what storms may arise or opposition assails, for He is with me and will never forsake me. “For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Oh, what glorious truth. In the journey of life, we need to often quiet our minds of our troubles, set aside our fears, rest in our trial, and just know that God is.

“Some of the most rapturous moments
we will know will be those we spend in reverent admiration of the Godhead.
In those holy moments the very thought of
change in Him will be too painful to endure.”
-A.W. Tozer

He is good

How unspeakably good our God is. He is good apart from anything He does, creates, blesses us with—despite who we are, how we change, how we sin, whether we obey, whether we understand—He is good no matter what. Our Almighty Father can never do anything that is not good. We may face a shattering loss, death, sickness, or grief, but it can never change Who God is. Yes, we often do not understand how God can work “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), but it is His promise to us, and we know that He WILL indeed do work everything for His ultimate good and glory. We must cling to this truth no matter what trials come and tempt us to stop trusting Him! God is the only One worthy of our trust, and we must cling to Him like Job—“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen,
O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared
for him that waiteth for him.”
(Isaiah 64:4)

He is gracious and gentle

It is overwhelming for me to think of God’s gentleness to His people. He is not a distant father orchestrating the details in our lives without love, care, mercy, and gentleness. Rather, He is a very close, tender, gracious Father Who is right here, intimately involved in our hearts, feelings, desires, prayers, and though He does do things in our lives that can be very difficult, He always does so with great tenderness. He has His arms wrapped around us, hiding us in His secret Place—under His wing (Psalm 91). And in the shadow of His mighty wings, there is nothing that can harm us. There, we can experience His tender love and promises to us in His Word, in the midst of great hardship. We can cling to Him and find Him all-sufficient and caring about our troubles. There we can know that even in the difficulties of life, He cares and loves us with His everlasting love. There we can trust in His goodness, though in the darkness of the night we cannot “see” it. We can know that when the sun breaks through the clouds, we will stand in utter awe of our Lord’s marvelous love and glory. Ponder the tenderness this passage portrays of our dear Shepherd:

 “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young.”
(Isaiah 40:11)

He is sufficient

…after all, He is Jehovah Jireh, and that name tells us…

that you can trust God always;
that no promise of His ever fails;
that He does all things well;
that out of all seeming loss and destruction of human hopes,
He brings blessing.
…because the Lord will provide!
-J.R. Miller

Our Jehovah Jireh is our only source of strength, yet so often we will not acknowledge or recognize our complete dependency and need for Him. Therefore, He uses trials in our lives to show us our own weakness, doubt, fear, and struggles—and when we see that we cannot overcome them without HIM, we fall at His feet, begging for His strength. He always hears our cries, and has promised, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them” (Isaiah 41:17). God understands completely our weakness, and He alone is sufficient to meet that need and give us strength to press on. How good it is to experience His power, in its fullness!

“For thou hast been a strength to the poor,
a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm,
a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones
is as a storm against the wall.”
(Isaiah 25:4)

It is through death, the darkest mountain, that we lay hold on eternal life,
the greatest triumph.
In the same way, it is through conflict that we discover God’s true peace.
It is through weariness that we experience God’s limitless strength.
It is through despair that we realize God’s bright hope.
It is through rejection that we feel God’s faithful acceptance.
It is through need that we find God’s perfect fulfillment.
It is through a mountain of difficulty that we reach the greatest heights.
Without the steep climb, we would not know the summit.
Without the pain, we would not recognize the healing.
Without the need, we would not enjoy its fulfillment.
-Unknown

He is always Victor

Sometimes we need a little reminder of how great our God is. When we feel engulfed by a trial, we need to step back and take a fresh look at GOD. At His power and sovereignty. Here are some notes I wrote in my journal one day, when I stopped to contemplate the Lord.

Just Who is my God—and what can He do? Today my faith in the One I long to meet needed a reminder, so I read through a list I made last year about God’s attributes displayed in the Old Testament. Imagine all of the greatest things in the world — and then multiply that 1000x — and that is MY God!! He is beyond all of my wildest imaginations. Truly I have nothing to ever doubt or fear, because His promises stand true and firm.

Ponder some of the incredible things He has done in the past. Joseph — sold by his own brothers into slavery. I can’t fathom his grief and loneliness through years of slavery and imprisonment. Yet, he chose to be faithful through those long days, and eventually the utter impossible happened — he was exalted as ruler of the entire land of Egypt, and later reunited with his own father and brothers. And Gideon — he had “too many men” in his army. God wanted the glory to fight his battle for him — and He did! Think of how many times God spared David’s life. And Daniel, a man who feared and trusted God even if it meant he would be dashed to pieces by lions. Countless times in God’s Word I see how He turned lives up-side down, using difficulties to bring joy and blessing. Esther. Rahab. Hannah. Elizabeth. Mary. God’s people have faced the most impossible, grievous, difficult trials and situations that can be imagined — and God delivered them from them ALL.

There is an entire cloud — countless gathering — of saints who have gone before and can testify to His faithfulness.

And this is my God. HE is my Guide even unto death (Psalm 48:14).

“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” (Isaiah 40:25-26)

He is my Guide

The Lord is truly more glorious than I can imagine. I find such joy in knowing that I will walk through all of this earthly life with Him at my side—Him as my Guide. I know He will never fail me, and He will go with and before me throughout the journey of life, drawing me ever closer to Himself along the way.

But best of all—I know that I will be spending not only this earthly life with the Lord, but also a coming eternity—in His presence! Throughout the unending annals of eternity, I will catch brighter glimpses of His holiness, and that joy will be all the more precious because of these earthly trials (2 Corinthians 4:18).

“And it shall be said in that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him,
and he will save us: this is the LORD;
we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
(Isaiah 25:9) 

We do not know when the Day will be, when our Lord calls us Home. Sister, do you know my God as your Savior and Guide? If you have not trusted Him with your eternal soul for salvation, please do not let a day of this new year go by without yielding to His merciful call for repentance (Romans 3:23-25). Call unto Him, and be saved. Embark on the greatest journey of your entire life!

At His mercy,

P.S. What did the Lord teaching you about Himself this past year? Was there a particular passage of Scripture that blessed you? We would love to hear from you and what the Lord has taught you – please share in a comment!

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Christ’s Victory Cry
by Sarah L. Bryant

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; 
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, 
despising the shame, and is set down
at the right hand of the throne of God.”
{Hebrews 12:2} 

Dear Sisters,

Welcome to August! Time is flying by and the year is more than half way gone. It is my prayer that you are growing in the grace of our Lord Jesus as you live under His hand. This month, I wanted to share some thoughts I wrote in my journal a while back, about Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. It is encouraging to meditate on Jesus’ life and death and resurrection, because it is so victorious!  His earthly life contained no blemish or fault or unconquerable foe. He was completely victorious – and He secured my salvation through His powerful victory. Bless the Lord, o my soul! (Psalm 103)

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
{1 Peter 1:18-19} 

The Son of God came to earth to live and die for the salvation of His people. His blood alone can pay the penalty of our sin against God, and the shedding of His blood was a terrible, painful and dramatic death. We can learn so much as we gaze upon Calvary’s cross and view His victory in the midst of such crushing stress. As Christ hung on the tree and became sin on behalf of His people (Hebrews 9:28, Galatians 3:13), the silence was pierced with His strong and loud cry, “My God, my God, why has Thou forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34) We can see that even in this cry of pain, it was not a cry of distrust or hatred or distraught defeat toward God–He still trusted in His Father. Note His words–My God. He still trusted in His God until the end, even though the Father had turned away His face. He did not turn to something else in this great climax of agony; He did not curse the Lord Who had given Him the cup to drink (Psalm 102:10). Christ still loved and unwaveringly trusted His Father even though He was for this time deserted, as He bore His people’s sin. He still turned to the Lord God and none other in this time of greatest distress and abandonment. Just as Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him,” (13:15) so Christ did. Will we trust our Father even if He “slays” us?

“When Jesus had cried with a loud voice,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit:
and having said thus, he gave up the ghost”
{Luke 23:46}

Note the submissive dignity of Jesus even in His excruciating death! He did not whine or gripe about the mission God had given Him to do throughout the hours leading up to His crucifixion. In the Garden He submissively prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). He was powerful and victorious, uncomplaining and submissive, to the very end. Christ Jesus the Savior voluntarily offered His life for our sins; He was not a martyr. He decided when He would die (Luke 23:46). He died in dignity; His enemies did not have the satisfaction of seeing Him suffer for days of progressive weakness, unconsciousness, and weakness. For in dignified manner at the end, His was a loud cry – the cry of a man dying in strength, not weakness; the cry of power and trusting in God; the cry of a man tasting victory — “It is finished!”

A sermon by David Carmichael really blessed me as I pondered the powerful life of my Savior. Here is what he says about Christ’s victory cry — “It is finished.”

[After Christ drank the vinegar], He was ready for His last moments on earth. Raising Himself up, He gave breath to another piercing cry… It was His sixth cry: “It is finished.” In the Greek test, there is but one word–tetelestai. It was not a word spoken in defeat or weakness, as though He were bearing testimony to the fact that He had been beaten by the forces that had assailed Him and nailed Him to the cross, mocked Him, and watched Him die. No, His point was not that He had finished by His enemies–not remotely! The truth is that His cry knew much spiritual vigor and vitality as He gave loud and clear testimony to the fact that His mission was finished. Even more than that, it was successfully finished. And despite all the signs to the contrary, He was far from being in the depths of the experience of defeat. Rather His was the cry of an exultant man standing on the elevated heights of the dramatic reality of victory won over the powers of darkness, whose determination it had been to break Him and turn Him against God.

He did not say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” He was declaring that He had accomplished, without failure, all that the Father had given Him to do and all He had come to do. Nothing left undone, nothing at all. Finished! He had come from glory, commissioned by God to do a great work–the work of salvation. It was a work that only He could accomplish, and it knew His complete commitment, even from the earliest years…

Tetelestai, in its fullest sense, means “It is finished, it stands finished, and it always will be finished.” You cannot add to the finished work of Jesus… The work of salvation belonged to Jesus and He finished it. Hence His cry of victory: “Telelestai!”

We cannot add to the 100% perfect life and death of Christ which was offered as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He is the only perfect and approved sacrifice by God for man’s sins. Though He felt that soul-destroying desertion at Calvary that no one has ever before felt, it was the moment He came to conquer. And He did.

“The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy.”
{Psalm 145:8} 

Are you covered by Christ’s all-sufficient blood? Has He secured your eternal salvation? He is your only hope of salvation. Repent and run to Him and His finished work on the cross (Romans 10:13). For the penalty has been fully paid – it is finished.

If you have been redeemed by His victorious sacrifice, may your life fully echo praise to Him throughout eternity —

Lifted up was He to die
“It is finished” was His cry–
Now in Heaven exalted High,
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Rejoicing in His Victory,
Sarah Lee Bryant
{Editor of The King’s Blooming Rose Magazine}