Porter makes it clear that when we know the Lord and have asked forgiveness, we are made righteous and not condemned. Our past is forgiven and we are not going to being judged as sinners before the great white throne, but we do face a time when we will be judged to receive eternal rewards. Paul says in II Cor. 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment set of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” That is a time when our true motives will be revealed, for all that is not of Him will be burned away by fire. If it is of Him, we will receive rewards. (I Cor. 3:14-15).

Let us take care how we speak and guard our lips. May we not judge others and speak against what we may not understand, for perhaps it is new move of God and He is blessing it. God is the judge and we are not. How hurtful it is for a Christian to be attacked by a fellow Christian who speaks disparagingly of his ministry bringing discouragement. We need to ask the Lord for clean lips and a pure heart, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).

Our joy is in relationship with God. The closer we come to Him, the more we experience deep down joy. This joy is different than happiness, for happiness depends on our outward circumstances being comfortable and pleasureful. But joy goes deeper and can be experienced even in the hardest of circumstances. It’s more about our hearts being filled with love, gratitude and purpose because of knowing the Lord.

Think of the people in your life that have joy. Are they the richest and is everything in their lives going super well? Probably not. We have a friend whose cancer has come back and she is having chemo at St. Mary’s in Duluth at this time. Now many of you have prayed for her in the past, as she had a long road of hospitalizations, cancer treatments and nearly died. Yet even now, she is at peace and expresses how God is loving her in her cancer. She said God’s ways may not be our ways, but we can embrace what He brings into our lives, for His love covers whatever we go through. Yes, joy still persists in hardship and all that we experience, for we are loved beyond all else.

It will be different for each of us when the Lord is stripping away those things that can distract us, for He calls us to intimacy with Him which is the foundation of all we do. When we compromise, it shows a lack of trust in Him and we go after things that may not be in His will or His timing.

We are studying the Sermon on the Mount in our Wednesday evening Bible Study. Jesus taught His disciples, and as a result they left everything to follow Him. The crowds, however, listened to Him often out of curiosity. Athough some were astounded at His teaching, others did not obey or follow. They did not recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd and sadly went their own way. We also can go to church, enjoy the music and good preaching, yet not really seek His presence and let Him transform us. Jesus said in John 10:27-28, “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.” We miss so much when we go our own way rather than God’s way. and live at a distance from Him. No matter what He calls us to give up, it is worth it all.

Like Peter, we can be busy doing work for the Lord and yet feel empty if we ignore what is going on below the surface… like our anger, living without boundaries, not facing our fears and anxious thoughts, etc. He may have preached about the full life of joy but it wasn’t a reality for himself, and when his marriage bottomed out, it was a wakeup call. Circumstances have a way of helping us deal with our issues and bringing us to the place where we are willing to surrender and change.

Who we are is made up of components that are physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual. To be emotionally underdeveloped is not as easy to spot as someone who has a physical handicap or someone socially inept. Peter went for many years anemic emotionally, and he missed God’s many ways of coming to help him grow, change and mature. Perhaps we are all deficient in areas of our lives and the Lord is trying to get our attention to help us in the areas we need to grow. Let us allow the Holy Spirit into all the areas we are underdeveloped so He can be formed in us.

  Afterwards I may get to Aldi’s and go to my exercise class.

We probably have all had a time that we wished Jesus would come soon, preferably  today! Maybe we were in a hard situation and wanted the Lord to come quickly and rescue us from the painfulness of it; but instead, He lets His rain fall on us as He strengthens and encourages our hearts. It’s wonderful to be in the Word and hear good preaching, but growth also takes place in those times of struggle, as we are so aware of our need for the Lord. We don’t want be known as quitters when the going gets rough, but rather resolute to be strong in the Lord’s strength. We know the best is yet to come!

I want to share another response I got from an author friend when I asked you all a question in my former devotions. She said her writing has been on hold for a bit because her husband had a heart attack and dealing with hospital stays and doctor visits. Her words, “He had seven stents put in. In the helicopter, he realized that he might be on his way to Glory, and he said he felt like a kid in the back of the station wagon on his way to Disney World! He was excited and ready to depart…but then he remembered me. The Lord felt it was more needful for him to stay. He’s doing great and feels good and so we praise the Lord for that and for the continued time to serve him here.” In her P.S. my friend said, “No dark time for me. If the Lord took my husband, I would praise Him. He decided to let me keep him longer, I praise Him!!”

I love the anticipation of her husband realizing he could be with the Lord any minute that day in the ambulance. We never know when the time will come for each of us, but let us be ready so we can say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

“I have experienced both dry times and distant cold times with the Lord. During Covid I lost the room I was renting from a family because I was a retail worker and they were concerned that I might put them at higher risk of contracting the virus. Many believers I knew and loved also shared concerns about my presence because of their elderly loved ones. A non-believing coworker opened up a spot in her home for me to stay 3 months. I felt so lonely and I couldn’t visit my mother who was suffering with dementia. In that dark time, I would walk a lot. My coworker lived in Duluth, so I would walk down to the water and sit on the cold rocks in the darkness of early morning. One particular time that I did this, I was journaling and crying. I was cold and lonely on that day in March. As the tears slowed, I remembered seeing the sky begin to lighten.

The sun began to rise over the vast waters of Lake Superior and as the rays of light shone brighter, their warmth touched my tearstained cheeks and the heat permeated into my face. It was as if the Lord was slowly permeated into me and I felt a renewed hope that I wasn’t alone. I might be without human companions, but never am I without my Jesus!

God was using this time in my life. In the loneliness I found myself drawn to the One who is omnipresent, and “ever present in our time of need.” I was seeking Him, and He (true to His word) let Himself be found by me. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matt. 7:7 So remember that…“Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” Psalms 30:4-5 NASB

When we keep seeking Him above all other things, He will fill us with His Joy! In the dark, there is a Light! I would encourage all who are enduring the night to keep firm in the faith, and to keep reaching out to God even if He seems silent.

A quote I appreciate from that time in my life reads, “If dependance on God is the Goal, then weakness is an asset.” -unknown  And as Elizabeth Elliot wrote, “This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering, gentleness, meekness – in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us.”

Keep crying out and reading out to God, but remember that His knows the path to walk and it’s a hard road at times filled with dry patches, dark nights, and perhaps silence, but never are you alone. Like a good friend, the Lord is waiting to hear all that you have on your heart, and in the moments of silence He is giving you the opportunity to be raw, honest, and vulnerable. Then the light will break through the darkness. It will burst into a radiant glow and it will brighten your countenance, and His loving warmth will permeate into your soul!”

Challenge for today: Meditate on one of the verses shared and put one to memory

Personally, I have never read such hateful remarks as have been posted on Facebook. It was especially true during Covid-19 when many dared not put their opinion online as they feared the hateful reaction. People were offended and took sides. Families and congregations were split, and some lost their jobs, etc.

I grew up in a day when we could freely express our opinions and listen to others respectfully, not hate that which was different from us. We learned from one another, and at times discovered we weren’t actually so far apart, for there were issues we agreed upon.

But when we know the Lord, we are to be people of love. I John 4:16 says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” Hate has no place other than to hate evil. There will always be people that will offend or hurt us, but we don’t have to get into the blame game, which the enemy loves. Instead we are to forgive everything and forgive all. We can always call on the Lord to give us His love, to renounce hatred and to forgive. Others will know from our openness and love that we belong to Jesus.