Everyone who knows me, also knows I LOVE Dabo Swinney and Clemson football! One of the many things I love about Dabo is how he motivates his team with speeches and quotes that get to the heart of the issue in the lives of his players. Quotes like, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude” or even funny ones like, “I’ve always told people growing up as a boy in Alabama…that it was the smartest state in America: Four A’s and a B” (LOL)! I also love that after each football season, no matter how good or bad it was, there is a complete evaluation of the past, then a turn toward the present and future. He calls this the windshield mentality, telling his men to get their eyes out of the rearview mirror because it’s always what is in front of you. Dabo: “You had better prepare the same for each week, whether it’s Alabama or Furman. If you don’t, you will never be a team that wins consistently, year in and year out.”
There is a lot of truth in that last speech, except the seasons of life can be and often are, way longer and harder than a 5-month football season. As Christ followers, our consistent “wins” have nothing to do with a game, but our faithful connection with God. No matter if the season is a difficult one or if you are in the best spiritual season of your life, “Making Room for God” ought to be our top priority.
The great news is that God is both willing and able to meet with His children. James, Jesus’s half-brother, puts it this way: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” As we kick off week one of our “21 Days of Fasting and Feasting”, we will be looking back at our story to ponder how God has been both faithful to us in all our lives and to ask God to show you things about your story that might be hindering your ability to trust Him. This looking back to remember who God is and His faithfulness to us, can be a great encouragement to kickstart our time together as a body. Below are four truths about God that have sustained me and propelled me forward in my own journey during different seasons. I so hope God will use them to make you thirsty for Him in a new and fresh way.
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I am needy! Psalms 86:1- “Incline your ear to me O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy”. My natural bent and yours as a fellow human, is to be self-sufficient and self-reliant, especially when life hit’s hard and fast. Relying on my own wisdom failed me miserably in this past season and honestly it always has and always will. God reminded me of the pleasure it brings Him for his children to “cry out” for Him by faith, and in that, He comes to help. I found that He comes with mercy and grace to meet His sons and daughters in their time of need. Jesus, in the greatest sermon ever given, starts with exactly this truth: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Jesus calls us “blessed” in our need and in our sadness promises to comfort us.
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He did not spare His own Son! One of the great verses in the Bible is Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?”. Which means, as John Piper says: “If God has done the hardest thing for us (sacrifice his most precious son), then the thousand acts of help that we need in life and death are easy for him to do.” The easy things are simply everything you and I need. So, we can trust Him in the season we are in and in every season of our lives.
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We are SAFE in Jesus! John 10: 27-29 says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” When fear and confusion arise in our hearts, what matters most also needs to rise to the top of what we sink our spiritual teeth into. The fact that Jesus holds us fast in all of life is the rich foundation that we need to begin a new season with Jesus. The hymn, “He Will Hold Me Fast” reminds us of this promise in John 10- “When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life’s fearful path, for my love is often cold, He MUST hold me fast.” The older I get, the more precious is God’s promise to keep me in spite of me. Jesus invites us to swallow this and let it go to the bottom of our souls.
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In Jesus, there is life! In John 10:10, Jesus speaks of the purpose of Him leaving heaven and coming to earth- “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” This is such a great reminder to me that only in Jesus can I find life, real satisfaction in life. It also tells me that if He is indeed the place where life is found, then seeking Him is the place I need to find myself on a regular basis. The prophet Jeremiah makes a great promise that should make us really thirsty- “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Let’s go for it together!