It's easy to say we know God is good. It can be much more difficult to 'know' in the midst of turmoil, chaos, and even pain, that these things aren't happening to you - they are actually for you. It is a difficult truth to accept that adversity is, objectively speaking, both good and necessary for something to reach its full potential. Think of a tree that has survived a hundred years in a forest... what stories of trials, storms, and struggle can he tell? But also - what stories of beauty, grace, and glory? And even more so, what a glory it is to even behold a tree of such prominence...

Or a diamond? Or gold in a forge? Clay in the kiln?

This is what He knows to be true about you. That the 'acorn', His incorruptible seed mixed with your exact personality, gifts and desires, is growing into such a tremendous 'Oak of Righteousness'. So with patience and grace for ourselves and with Him, we can rest in knowing that this all is part of our story of glory. He's not waiting every time you make a mistake to 'punish' you - He is delighted as His child learns to take their first steps. Or tries to clean their room. Or attempts to ride a bike. And if you can learn to lean in, to "let the Spirit have its way with you," you will have considerably less pain, anger, and resentment of this 'meantime' of adversity.

Verses:

Proverbs 30:5

Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13, Mark 4)

Psalm 1, Isaiah 61 – Oaks of Righteousness

Gen. 16:1-13 The Story of Hagar and God as Adonai El Roi

Heb. 4:9-11

We live in such a consumer-centric society that we sometimes don't notice how it's crept into our relationship with God. Particularly, the advertising culture that exists around the premise that you're not complete until you buy this product - and while it's of course true that we cannot be complete without the Father, we discuss our tendency to disqualify ourselves with a mindset that doesn't believe what we've received from Him already.

Where are you vulnerable? Life will show you. Not as an 'attack', although it usually feels like one. The Lord, our Father, wants you to become the best version of yourself; yet His idea of true greatness is to be "Conformed to the image of His Son," (Rom. 8:29), and in order to get there, we do face adversity. So when we face it, it's not an attack, but an invitation to shift our Source - knowing that you are being "Continually renewed into the likeness of the One who created you" (Col. 3:10) and so "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18)

We talk about what exactly it means to be under the New Covenant that Jesus ushered in (found in Jeremiah 31:31). This covenant not only includes all the blessings from the preceding promises to Abraham, Moses, David, and others, but allows for perhaps the greatest blessing of all - intimacy with the Father.

A follow up from the previous episode, we discuss how God's TRULY unconditional love is the gift we've been given. And since He has sworn, by Himself, and through the sealed covenant of His Son, the only thing that can prevent it from being true... is you not believing it. When you condemn yourself, not believing He would do that for you, all the work He's done to bring you to reconciliation does not disappear - and yet, you reject the gift, and are unable to stand in its fullness. Choose instead to accept His Love, and watch what it does in your heart and life!

Because of Jesus, you now have the choice of which tree you will eat from: the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or the Tree of Life. Many of us would of course choose the Tree of Life - and yet we keep ourselves attached to (and oppressed by) the system of good and evil. The system of "Do good, get good; do bad, get bad" is of the earth - it's what we fell to after the first sin. And now, we try to use that same system to get back in the Kingdom? Nonsense! Leave this behind and know that you have been reconciled, "So as to present you as holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him"!

"That I have set before you Life and Death, blessings and curses. Choose Life..." (Deut. 30:19)

Jesus refers to Himself several times as 'the Bread of Life' - so what does that really mean? We talk about the Nature of God, Jesus' role in "The Plan", and examples from John, Job, and Ezekiel that affirm (and reaffirm) God's Word and intention.

We discuss the 'new Being' that we've been made through the blood of Christ; we often about what Jesus did for us, but don't usually give the same amount of thought to what He did to us.

You have been made a new creation. "It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me" and "for you have died, and your new life is hidden with Christ in God" - these are not merely words that sound good, but actual declarations of how Good God is!

We continue our discussion on the 'endless spiral' of unforgiveness, of self and of others, which is the true prevention of standing in the glory that God has already given you. The Gospel, or the Good News of Salvation, is for all of mankind - and to withhold it from others is actually to withhold it from yourself. Surrender to this "precious and very great Promise"! (2 Peter 1:3-4)

"So that all who believe in Him may have eternal life..." (John 3:15)

We discuss the 'endless spiral' of unforgiveness, of self and of others, which is the true prevention of standing in the glory that God has already given you. The Gospel, or the Good News of Salvation, is for all of mankind - and to withhold it from others is actually to withhold it from yourself. Surrender to this "precious and very great Promise"! (2 Peter 1:3-4)

"So that all who believe in Him may have eternal life..." (John 3:15)