Discipline and Lyrics for Life

I was reading this morning from Matthew 26 when Jesus was betrayed and put on trial.  He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that the "My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away^[g] unless I drink it, your will be done.”

It is striking to me that Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, wanted to avoid it, prayed that He would be able to avoid it, but in the end prayed above all other things that God's will would be done.  He was scared like we are, faced trials like we do, but ultimately laid his very life down so that God's will would be accomplished.  

While we may not be called to physically die today, our job each and every day is to lay down our very lives and follow Him.  Each day we must die to self.  If you don't have a relationship with Him that is like that, perhaps you are clinging to something that you can't keep.  On your last day it won't matter how much money you made, where you lived, what leadership positions you had, or how much power you had.  The only thing that will matter is if you truly know Him.  And to know Him is to work for Him.

James 2:
¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.^[f] Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
²¹ Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. ²³ And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”^[g] He was even called the friend of God.^{[h] 24} So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

Perhaps the Lord is putting you through something difficult to teach you something.  Think about this:  what have you ever learned that didn't come with a price?  You could have asked your parents to simply lecture you about living the "right way" but that would have had no impact in the long run.  Sometimes they had to spank to get your attention, and it stuck with you.  Or how about driving?  You had to get behind the wheel and practice next to a neurotic teacher who had a "chicken break" just in case you screwed up.  You ran into curbs, failed to parallel park correctly, and cut people off in traffic.  You might have been scared, but through it you learned to drive.  God cares about us so much that he trains us along the way.

Hebrews 12:

⁷ As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? ⁸ If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. ⁹ Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?^[g]

^{This is what partially makes us nervous about our situation right now.  We have no place to live in Everett yet because we haven't sold this house.  But we are praying daily about it that it would sell quickly and that the Lord would work it out.  We have absolutely no control over things right now and have to rely on Him.  It may not be comfortable for us right now, but He has a bigger picture that only He sees right now.  May the Lord be glorified in how He does this!}

 

If you haven't figured it out yet, music has a dramatic impact on my life.  In earlier posts I described how God has used particular songs to speak directly to me.  I believe He can and will speak through his Word, prayer, songs you listen to, people you speak with...pretty much anything you are doing.  We just fail to recognize that He is speaking.

Here's what I was listening to this morning.  It definitely speaks to what is on my heart at this moment.  Please see the focus of this song.  It illuminates a great God who works through us to accomplish His purpose.

Train Song by Josh Garrels

Shame on you, shame on me
Lord he took all our shame and pain, and set men free
And I’ve got that fire on the mountain
Fire in my soul
It’s been a long time coming, long time
And ready to go
I’m stepping out the door
Doing what feels right
Following my Lord, through the darkest night
And when the path gets narrow
I’ll follow him
And when the world comes down, around
I’ll follow him
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or in the valley low
He’s my God, and he never let me go
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or fight in valley low
Every mans going to see, and everyone will know
That peace runs deep in him
I said peace runs deep in him
Peace runs deep in him.