Christ for the Long Haul

Day 16  Baby Step 7

There will be days you just can’t get out of bed. It hurts too much. There is too much to do. The odds feel insurmountable. It is easier to just turn over and go back to sleep. Those are the days to ask yourself. Is it can’t or won’t. 

If it is can’t, give yourself permission to rest in the arms of Jesus. 

If it is won’t, staying in bed won’t help. Get up. Get a grip. When we are in for the long haul, sometimes, just getting your feet over the side of the bed and walking to the kitchen is a statement for the power of Christ in you. No matter how much it hurts. No matter what you have to do. No matter the odds.

So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul. (Hebrew 3:12-14 MSG)

Whether you stay in bed or make it as far as the kitchen, dig deep. Find one blessing to concentrate on. Look for something as small as the fact that you can get from the bed to the coffee pot. Or concentrate on the greatest blessing of all. Turn your mind from whine to shine.

What can I give back to God
    for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
    I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
    and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
    God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
    your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
    and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
    and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
    in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah! (Psalm 116:12-19 MSG)





Begin the day's dance slowly. Stretch. Lengthen your muscles and your nerves. Move as much as you can, no matter how far you can. Focus on God's faithfulness. Find a way to resond.

Praise God, everybody!
    Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
    Hallelujah! (Psalm 117 MSG)



Listen for your marching orders, no matter how dire the circumstances. Know that the God who made you will give you what you need to accomplish the smallest or largest task you face. 

“I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

“But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”

Noah did everything God commanded him to do. (Genesis 6:17-22 MSG)

Know that at the end of they day, no matter if it is spent in quiet contemplation on your bed of pain and misery, or dancing through the hours like a mad dervish, there is a promised rest for we serve a God whose work is ongoing, but is at rest.


And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the end of the journey we’ll surely rest with God. So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some sort of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:8-11 MSG)

For we were made, for the work of praise. For looking beyond ourselves to Jesus, to others. To find joy in all our circumstances. To reach beyond ourselves to praise God and God all and only. For the bread of life, For the cup of salvation.

Hallelujah!
Praise God from heaven,
    praise him from the mountaintops;
Praise him, all you his angels,
    praise him, all you his warriors,
Praise him, sun and moon,
    praise him, you morning stars;
Praise him, high heaven,
    praise him, heavenly rain clouds;
Praise, oh let them praise the name of God—
    he spoke the word, and there they were!

He set them in place
    from all time to eternity;
He gave his orders,
    and that’s it! (Psalm 146:1-6 MSG)



No matter the road we travel today, internal or out into the world. We are one in the work we do. God weaves us together to permeate and permutate the world and those in it through prayer, praise, witness, work, service, song.

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness. (Ephesians 1:4-6 MSG)

Watch your step, but trust the boundaries. The road is set before us. We know where we are headed. We may pass through a refining fire this day as we lay in a bed of pain. We may walk in paths that push us to our very limit. But we are road-tested. There is a place of quiet rest. Just depend on Christ alone. He knows. He has gone before us.

Bless our God, O peoples!

    Give him a thunderous welcome!
Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
    Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
    passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,

    pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
    took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
    to this well-watered place. (Psalm 66:8-12 MSG)

Once you have traveled with and through the pain, find a way to reach out to others who are bound and fragmented who have yet to hear the good word. Reach out  and offer to walk step by step from their dark, stormy place to the light you found wrestling through the night. Tell your story to all who will listen.

Then he said, “Son of man, get all these words that I’m giving you inside you. Listen to them obediently. Make them your own. And now go. Go to the exiles, your people, and speak. Tell them, ‘This is the Message of God, the Master.’ Speak your piece, whether they listen or not.” (Ezekiel 3:10-11 MSG)

Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.

 “You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.

 “And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”

No sooner were these words out of Peter’s mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on “outsider” non-Jews, but there it was—they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God. (Acts 10:34-46 MSG)

Let God speak through you. Trust the Holy Spirit to share the joy you found in God's love that never quits.

Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us— (Hebrews 6:4 MSG)

Thank God because he’s good,
    because his love never quits.
Tell the world, Israel,
    “His love never quits.”
And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world,
    “His love never quits.”
And you who fear God, join in,
    “His love never quits.” (Psalm 118:1-4 MSG)

Amen.

Peterson, Eugene H. The Message (MSG). Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.