Promise Lutheran Young Adults

A lot of times when this verse is seen, it is seen as something God says to calm us, but in reality it is a command he gives us. He is commanding us to stop, to stop acting like we are God, to stop thinking we can fix everything on our own, because at the end of the day, he is God and we are not. God is the one with the power and we need to remember that. We need to remember he is the one in control. Once we accept that we can live freely through him, knowing that the Most High is the one in control, the one with the power, and the one who has our back.

At times it feels like the pain we feel will never end, that we can never be healed, it feels as though our wounds will forever be open and raw and painful. Yet, with God, none of this is true, he can heal every wound in our lives. Physical wounds of scrapes, scratches, broken bones, or any other medical problems we may have. Mental wounds or being hurt by someone we love, witnessing something traumatic, or any mental health condition we may have such as depression and anxiety. God can heal all, he can take away our fears and sadness and pain, we just have to lay our burdens at his feet and learn to let go. We have to trust that God has a plan for us to give us hope and a future. So trust in him, believe in him, give all your problems up to him.

The definition of meditate, as it pertains to the Bible, is to have deep contemplation, to "turn over and around" a thought in the mind in order to create a greater understanding. The very first thing that Philippians tells us to meditate on is that which is true. In Psalms 119:160, we are told that the entirety of God's word is truth, and that every one of his righteous judgments endure forever. In John 17:17, as Jesus prays for his disciples, he asks God to sanctify them in his truth and states that God's word is truth. I know that at times it becomes hard to spend daily time with God in his word, a lot of the time, the things of the world get in the way. But if we were to take just a moment everyday, and spend it with God in his word, we would find more peace in our day to day lives. When we begin to focus on God, we also begin to focus on the good in the world around us that God has given us, rather than the cruelty of the world. Psalms 1:1-3 tells us, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path or sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." We are told that when we meditate in God's word, our faith becomes stronger. Use the start of the new year to your advantage to make a change, a change to spend even just a moment with God.

Every part of who you are comes from your heart. Fill your heart with that of the world, and it will only end in pain, but if you fill your heart with God's love and promise, you will become full of joy and peace. God doesn't want us to live in pain and anguish, he wants us to live in the joy and hope that comes from his love and grace. When your heart feels troubled, run to God and give it all to him, kay your burden at his feet. Show the world around you the love and grace God has for us all.

I know that at times I struggle with being kind to those who wrong me and hurt me. Sometimes, it seems like there is no point in being nice to people who are cruel to you. Yet, God calls us to be kind and loving to everyone. He tells us that no matter what the person does, we should not return their insults with another insult, but rather be kind to them. When someone is cruel to you, show them the love that God showed us. No matter how much we mess up, God will forever love us, and he calls us to love people the way he has shown us to. So the next time someone is unkind to you, return it with kindness, remember that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Even though we were messing everything up and we're cruel to him, Christ died for us. He was betrayed by his closest friends, beaten, and sentenced to death, yet he still chose to die for us all and to save us from our sins. Show the love God and Christ have shown all of us.

The New Year is the time in which everyone begins creating plans, creating their New Year's resolutions. Yet, I know I tend to forget a big part, that God has a beautiful plan for each and every one of us. When we begin to focus on what God's plan is for us in our lives, we will be able to fulfill so many amazing things. I pray that this year holds hope and prosperity for everyone, I pray that God shows you his path in your life. And I pray that we begin to follow God and what he says. That we begin to remember he has a plan for us, one that is not full of pain, but rather one that is full of joy and beauty and hope.

For these past 2 weeks we've focused on the threads of promise and hope that runs through scripture in general and through the Christmas story in particular. These examples highlight God's care for his children and show us how his glory is at work for our good. We've mostly studied passages of the bible that seem to have some closure or semblance of a "happy ending". Sure, none of the people who we've discussed were perfect, but we've seen God use them mightily to further his kingdom.
But what about the bible passages where God's province is less obvious or even maybe seems lacking? How does the bible counsel us to persevere when met with evil, suffering, and sickness? How do we keep our hearts encouraged in the Lord when the ravages of the fall shade every relationship, joy, hope, thought, and intent of our hearts? In a nutshell, how do we keep steady faith with what Proverbs 13:12 would call a "hope deferred".
In the advent season, our default is to focus on the joy of Christ's coming, however, the Bible is full of polarities - good and evil, light and darkness, hope and despair - and that is true even within the Christmas story. This means the good news of Jesus' birth also has much to teach us about navigating our broken world and answering some of those "but how" questions.
It'd be foolish to suggest easy answers to the problem of evil in this world. And God doesn't necessarily explain the "why" of every hurt or injustice to us. But God does help us learn how to look beyond them.
Because "nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). He is able to produce hope from suffering. Romans 5 reminds us that God never turns a blind eye to the suffering of his children or to the evil in the world. But he somehow uses it to produce endurance, character, and hope in the deep places of their hearts.
This doesn't minimize the hurt of painful experiences or our call to be agents for reconciliation on this earth, but it does help us wrestle with the apparent chasm between God's declarations of love for us and the difficulties we find ourselves experiencing here on earth.

God is always working in us, even when we're not sure how.

This week starts with a scene from a movie I'm sure many of us know, the Wizard of Oz. And the scene that particularly sticks out is when we see the giant floating "wizard" head and how terrified Dorothy is until Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal an elderly man controlling it all. I'm sure that for many of us it's easy to put God into role, the role of a puppet master. Yet, this isn't how the Bible describes God at all. Throughout the Old Testament, we often see God work through relationships with individual people, and then in the New Testament Jesus coming to earth and pulling the curtain back even further. The truth is there are aspects of God's character that we can't comprehend, its very difficult to understand God because there is nothing like him in all of creation, so we need him to reveal himself and help us understand him, and thankfully he does just that! God, in his grace, has chosen to reveal himself to us, and make a way for us to have a relationship with his through his son Jesus' life and death on the cross. Much of what we know about God comes from what he revealed about himself through Jesus. In his time on earth, Jesus shows us God's character - who he is and how he acts. In the story of Jesus coming to earth and the details of his time here, we are also given a model for hope, resilience, and trust amidst seasons of searching and waiting. In Luke 1:26-38 we see the Angel Gabriel come to Mary and tell her that the Lord favors her and that she will conceive and give birth to the son of God. Mary wasn't anything special in her home town, she was just a woman who believed the stories she was told as a child about her God. She was faithful when told she would be carrying the son of God and said "See, I am the Lord's servant, may it happen to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38). No matter what may have happened, the people thinking she may have been unfaithful to her husband, as well as the discomforts and dangers of pregnancy, Mary was faithful to God and said yes to carry Jesus. In reading Luke 1:46-55 (Mary's Hymn) we see that preparation creates expectation and that expectation fulfilled inspires celebration. God had patiently prepared his people for the arrival of his son. Mary was ready to welcome the Messiah, and the fulfillment of her hopes inspired her to celebrate. Her song refects the culmination of all her hopes. Preperation, expectation, celebration - that's the movement of the Christmas season. So believe in what God says and respond with faith.

Please join us for our first ever young adults Christmas party on December 17th!!

Last week we went over the first 3 pieces of the armor of God which were, the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Shoes of Peace. The last 3 pieces are the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. The first piece we are going to go over is the Shield of Faith, what a comfort it is to know that we are protected with God's shield of faith. Scripture informs us that faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). Remember that spiritual battles are fought against unseen forces of evil in heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). We must exercise faith in Christ's power and might, and trust that he will surround us with his favor and protection. The next piece of the armor is the Helmet of Salvation, praise God for the gift of salvation we have through Christ. The last thing the enemy wants is for us to have salvation. His aim is to steal, kill, and destroy God's people, but satan was already defeated when Jesus on the cross declared "It is finished" (John 19:30). The atonment for our sins has been paid for on the cross, and now we have freedom, forgiveness, and salvation through Christ. Salvation is the ultimate blow of defeat to the enemy, and now we can confidently say, "Death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-56). The last piece of the armor is the Sword of the Spirit, have you noticed that the armor of God begins and ends with truth? The first piece of the Armor of God is the Belt of Truth, the last piece of the armor in Ephesians 6:17 is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. As warriors of the Word, we can us the Sword of the Spirit to fight our battles with God's truth and power. We can't apply God's truth in our in our lives without using the Sword of the Spirit. Each time you spend time studying the Bible to gain wisdom from God's word, you are wielding your sword and preparing for battle.

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. - 1 Corinthians 16:13

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to recieve salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

For the past couple of weeks we have been looking at what needs to be done before putting on the armor of God. The three things being to be strong in the Lord (knowing it is through his power and not our own), put on the full armor of God (you have to put the armor on and know how to properly use it), and to know that our battles are spiritual (the battles we must fight with this armor are not against people, but are against the forces of evil). Now that we've learned what we must do before we can use the armor of God, we can now begin learning the 6 pieces, of which we will go through 3 of them tonight. The pieces being the Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, and Shoes of Peace. The very first piece of the armor that we are to put on is the Belt of Truth. The foundation of our faith in Christ is built upon the truth of God's word. If we are not walking in the truth, then we can't identify the lies of Satan. When we know the truth of who God is, we will be able to stand firm against the enemy. The next piece is the Breastplate of Righteousness. Did you know that our righteousness is like filthy rags? (Isaiah 64:6). Even on our best days, our righteousness does not measure up to God's holiness. Through faith in Jesus, we now have access to his righteousness. Now, instead of filthy rags, we can now clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Christ. The last piece is the Shoes of Peace. No solider would ever think to go into battle without the proper footwear. Just as physical shoes give out feet protection from rocky terrain, the peace of God gives us spiritual protection in the midst of our spititual battles. May the peace of God guard your heart and mind today in Christ Jesus!

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. - Psalm 25:5

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. - Romans 6:18

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:7