Assurance in God...

Good morning all-

It's a glorious morning in Kansas.  Last night I watched as the sun set into a beautiful pale pink and this morning the sun is rising with a blazing yellow.  Isn't it good to be assured that every evening we will watch the sun set and every morning it will rise again.  We count on it and we can tell everyone that we are assured that the sun will rise and set daily.  If we are so confident in those two facts, why are we not assured in Jesus Christ?

Assurance is knowing that you can count on something.  You believe in it 100%.  Most of the times I think we hold onto assurance in our own ability but that's false.  We are assured as long as we do a great job at work, we will never lose it.  And then there's our kids, we feel assured that our parenting will make them pillars of society but even that statement and thought process is false.  We can't hold any assurance in our ability or the world.  As a matter of fact, the only thing that holds assurance is Jesus Christ and yet we flounder, doubt, worry and basically lack assurance.  Why?

I think it goes back to the Israelites.  I hate thinking I am like them but I've found myself being like them in the past and probably will be in the future unless I am 100% dedicated to my Lord and Savior Jesus!  They took their eyes off the prize and once they did that the world enveloped them and they became a stiff-necked people.  Think about that for a moment.   I woke up this morning with a stiff-neck.  For one it hurts, it's hard to turn my head and it's just a pain all around.  When Moses describes his people like that you have to wonder how stubborn, obstinate and sadly unfaithful they were to God.  Well, we know that they were and Moses was afraid for his people. Thank goodness God is a graceful God who is slow to anger.  If it were not so, that entire people group of that time, along with all of us would be wiped from the earth.  But God is patient and we can be assured of that.  How do we know?  Because we still live on the earth and we're still making the same dumb mistakes and yet, God has sat back for thousands of years waiting for all of us stiff-necked people to turn to Him.

The signs of being stiff-necked are simple, we believe we are in control, we lack faith and we plan our futures.  Really?  Do we have any idea what our futures hold?  No. God does though and He reveals it to us little by little as we seek Him.  God is the direction, not us.  Oh, how I had to learn that lesson and it was painful but totally worth it.  I never wanted to be an Israelite.  As a matter of fact, as I read, I often thought how stupid they were.  So imagine my surprise as God took me into the desert to test my assurance of Him and in those moments it was revealed, I was an Israelite.  I might not have made a gold cow but my direction was owned by me and that control only brought worry, fear and frustration.  Once I came to a place where I wanted water, needed water more than I needed anything, Christ met me and allowed me to drink from His eternal well.  And oh how I did.  I repented, tossed security out like you toss a dog bone and waited, wondering what the next day would bring.

Through that great trial, I began to see a God I never knew.  I became assured that He went before me and that I was His child.  That doesn't mean everything will be perfect, it just means that God has my back and I need Him to.  I need Him every morning and every evening and now that I count on Him daily, I can be assured He is with me and that I have found favor in His sight.  With my surrender and repentance, I found peace, direction and love.  It wasn't easy, it never is.  Just look at the Israelites if you want to see a journey of frustration and confusion.  I repented and the confusion became a clear, concise direction that only God had control of.  I don't care how hard I work as an employee or a wife and mother, I will fail if it isn't for the assurance that Jesus Christ is Lord.  I still may fail in the world's eyes but I'm not looking for the world to give me a pat on the back.  I need Jesus to be with me and to go before me.  That's the only assurance in life that matters. So if you can't get past yourself, I suggest you pray about it, reach out to me so I can pray with you or talk to your best friend and repent.  It's time we let Jesus bring in the catch and rely on the assurance that He came for us so that we might have eternal life.  Everything else doesn't come close to comparing.  I could win hundreds of awards but if Christ uses me to save one person, I have completed the race.  Think about that today as you go to church.

Colossians 2:2 NKJV:

that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

I'm praying for you my sisters and thanking God that we have the assurance that He is with us.  All we need is Him.