GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 (NIV)

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It’s late at night and several hours since I last asked, “Are we there yet?” My father lifts me from the backseat and the movement nudges me from sleep, just enough to leave impressions: a warm summer night, a bright, white porch light pushing hard against the moonlight, the voice of crickets and the shadows of moths.

I slip into slumber because I’m safe at home, resting in my father’s arms, and he will soon put me into my bed where I can soundly sleep until morning.

This is one of the most powerful memories from my childhood, and it personifies our Sabbath rest with God. We can rest in the Father’s arms, confident and worry-free because the Father carries us.

Paul says we’re to “make every effort to enter that rest.” In other words, our work and energy should be toward learning to trust the Father, so we can rest in his safety and security (Matthew 6:33).

This is the rest of “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV). It is the rest of faith at the end of our question: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29 NIV).

You rest in your faith because your faith is in a God who is faithful, just as my sense of safety in my father’s arms was because I knew it was safe in my father’s arms.

In this rest, you no longer work for God; rather, you let God work through you.

Rest now in God’s power and grace, knowing he is who he says he is and he will do what he says he will do.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

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Miss Penelope, of Yorkie, was home alone.

Her mom and dad would be home by Christmas, but for now I was the stand-in parent, asked to keep an eye on her.

And perhaps it was a dream, but one evening, as I approached Penelope’s house, I heard the sound of music.

When I went in there must have been 75 or 80 little Yorkies, all in holiday dress, dancing to “Le Freak.” I must confess it was a wondering sight to behold.

But just then someone saw me and yelled, “Parent!” and every one of them scattered from the great room, leaving Miss Penelope standing alone. She just stood there and then she stuck her tongue out at me!

Is it possible we party until God shows up? And when he walks in, we yell, “Parent,” scrambling to where we think we can’t be seen? (But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” [Genesis 3:9 NIV]).

Is it possible we party-hardy until God shows up, and then we try to get by on our cuteness, wearing a veil to hide that the radiance of our intimacy with God is fading? (2 Corinthians 3:13).

Is it possible we forget, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13 NIV).

But let’s not forget that God loves a good party (John 2:1-11). Invite him to all your parties and he’ll be the life! (John 4:16). “Count on it – that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God” (Luke 15:10 MSG).

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

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As we become one with God, he draws us into his eternal perspective, where we see life is more than just the here and now. Within his dance of grace and love, we move from simply saying the things of God are true to living with a radiant certainty that they are true.

Jesus looked beyond the cross and could see the glory on the other side. He received heavenly insight from the Father that enabled him to see the joy on the other side of the hardship he was called to endure, and so he went to the cross with a radiant certainty that God was on the other side.

Because you have the Spirit of God within, you’re able to develop ears to hear God’s still small voice giving you heavenly insight, just like Jesus, because you are growing into a Jesus-one.

The enemy wants to keep our focus on the things below, but Jesus, the Author writing the story of our faith, keeps pointing to the things above, where we will meet a joy-filled future, forever and ever. Amen!

He knows we must endure hardship for a season, but he also know every tear touches God. His message is that we can be radiantly certain of God’s commitment to our best, and so when things go wrong – in our jobs, in our relationships, in our bank accounts, in our health – we begin to view these hardships as opportunities to “fix our eyes on Jesus.”

Rick Warren says, “Persistence is defined by perspective,” and with eyes kept on Jesus, we can endure until our joyful arrival into the throne room of grace.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature . . .” Genesis 1:26 (MSG)

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God the Father, Son, and Spirit are the original small group.

That’s how Steve Pettit, jokes when he explains the Trinity’s never-beginning, never-ending community where there is intimacy, harmony, fellowship, and friendship.

In this Trinitarian community, we can see the blueprint for genuine, authentic community: all have equal value, each looks out for the other, one is ever ready to sacrifice for the sake of someone else, and everyone is absolutely safe. It’s a community of fearlessness, a fully free and uninhibited expression of godly love.

We are made in the image of this perfect love (Genesis 2:26), created as a race of beings to love and to be loved. We are designed to be at home in God’s perfect love and to be co-creators of a loving community on earth, where human lives are personally and purposefully shaped.

God’s love in us makes genuine community possible: “Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11 NIV). Through Christ, God enters into a very personal union with each of us; not conceptually, not theoretically, not metaphorically, but actually!

He makes the first move to bridge the huge gap between the holy and the sinful, between his perfect love and our inability-to-perfectly love. Through Jesus, God established forever the truth that genuine love is always personal, from a Person through a Person to a person.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.