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Strong and Mighty Worrier

Published July 2, 2019

Strong and Mighty Worrier

“How’s the battle,” I asked my wife as she was sewing a hem under time pressure.

“Why’s it a battle?” she looked up, quizzically.

“Hmm, guess I always think of things as a battle,” I replied. ” But aren’t I supposed to be a warrior?”

“Yes, but most of the time you go around all hunched, worrying.”

“A Strong and Mighty Worrier, eh,” I joked.

Are you like me? Do you have trouble understanding and applying Paul’s admonition to the Philippians:

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

“But you see, Lord,” I might counter, “I’m responsible for many things. I’ve got to love my wife, raise my kids, provide for my family.” If I don’t worry about these things, who is going to? Well certainly not God! When will I learn that He’s got this? That I’m called to work hard, yes, but in the end, I’m also called to let go, cast my cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7), and rest.

“Peace I leave with you,” Jesus told his disciples, just before he surrendered His life to the cross. “my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Wow, with all these promises and exhortations from Scripture, what’s my problem? Seems like a no brainer, doesn’t it?

Control, that’s my problem. When it comes down to it, I want to be in charge, and if I’m in charge – frankly – I’ve got a lot to worry about!

Surrender is the key. Surrender to His love, surrender to His grace, surrender to His plan. If He is in charge (and ultimately He is, whether we accept it or not!), then I don’t have to be. As I trust and rest in Him and His good plan for me and for my family, His peace will come. As I speak with my good and loving Father daily, lifting my concerns to Him – His peace will naturally begin to rule my mind and heart.

Now that sounds like a better place!

Lord, please help me trust and rest in you … so I can be the Strong and Mighty Warrior that I long to be … loving and fighting for my King, my wife, my kids, and my neighbor, near and far. Amen.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission

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Greater Love

Published May 28, 2019

Greater Love

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:12-14

I’ve never had someone risk his life to pull me out of a fire or step in front of a bullet for me. As I think back, though, there have been plenty of people who gave their lives for me in various ways. My mother sacrificed much to raise her children after a painful divorce. Friends all along my life path have spoken hard words that I didn’t want to hear… because I needed to hear them. In recent years, my dear wife, faithful pastor, and several friends have died to self in order to step into my rebellion and speak truth to me because they loved me enough to get in my face.

Yes, if a friend gave his or her physical life for me that would be amazing. But for the Son of God, the Sinless One, to pay my penalty — death, so that I could walk free and experience relationship with God — now that is astounding, unthinkable, truly amazing. Nothing in human language is adequate to express gratitude for such love.

The refrain from the Charles Wesley hymn, “And Can It Be” comes close: “Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!”

Do you ever feel like you are not worth saving? Perhaps you have made so many mistakes in your life that it seems there is no way back. God wants you to know that it is never too late to return to Him. Receive His amazing love today!

Lord Jesus, I don’t know why you loved me enough to give your life and sacrifice your relationship with your Father to save me and reconcile me to God. I am so grateful that through your obedience you were not only restored to your Father, but you also rescued me. With the hymn writer, I proclaim your amazing love today! Amen.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission

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A Right Spirit

Published May 16, 2019

A Right Spirit

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” Psalm 51:10-11

When you think of biblical characters whose hearts were right and who followed hard after God, who tops your list? For me, it’s David. Every time I read one of his psalms, I can feel the “heart” behind it. All the psalms are amazing, but David’s spirit always comes through to me. His close relationship with God is evident in his words.

In 1 Samuel 11, however, something in David’s spirit went incredibly wrong. He somehow drifted so far from the God he loves that he was willing to commit adultery, treachery, and murder. How did he get here? We’re not told, but we are given a hint. Power almost always corrupts, especially when paired with peace and prosperity. David had all of these in abundance, but he wanted “just a little bit more.” His spirit had gone wrong, and the Holy Spirit was absent.

Galatians 5:16 tells us,

“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” That was what David forgot to do.

How do we walk by the Spirit? It is clear in Psalm 51 that this involves a broken spirit and a humble heart, willing to be made right. That is how we stay right before God and walk in his power and victory.

Have you wandered far? Or are you being enticed by sin today but have not yet wandered? It doesn’t matter where you are, you can have a clean heart and a right spirit before God. Choose to walk by his Holy Spirit today.

Lord, you know how many times I have wandered and how often I am tempted to wander. Please, keep my heart soft, my spirit right, and fill me with your Holy Spirit today. Enable me to walk in your joy and power and to honor you, today and every day! Amen.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission

What is a Spirit Filled Life?

To be filled means to be controlled by the Spirit. This is a work of God in us that we receive by Faith.
Factors that contribute to the readiness of our heart for His filling:
- We must desire to live a life that will please the Lord.
- We must be willing to surrender our life totally and irrevocably to our Lord Jesus on an ongoing basis.
- We must confess our known sins to experience the cleansing and forgiveness that God promised in 1John 1:9
It is not a once-and-for-all experience since there are many things that can stop the free flow of the Spirit. We must be intentional to be controlled and empowered with the Spirit as a way of life.
God commands us to be filled by the Spirit in Eph 5:18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” So therefore we can be confident that He will empower us as we surrender.
The purpose of the filling of the Spirit is that we might live a joyful life of significance and be a fruitful witness for Christ.

A Deeper Explanation of the Spirit FIlled LIfe

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Light Keeper

Published May 11, 2019

Light Keeper

I love lighthouses. I’ve threatened to drag my family on trips to see every lighthouse in New England, for example, or on the Great Lakes (there are dozens!). They like them too, and would probably follow me gladly, only beginning to complain after the 100th or so!

Why are lighthouses such a draw? I’ve been contemplating them lately and understanding what a strong spiritual picture they give us of our life in Christ. One needs only to understand the purpose of these vital sentinels to begin to see the parallels.

What is the number one job of a light keeper? To make sure the beacon never, never goes out! You see, in the days before reliable radio communication, those shafts of blazing light, piercing the darkness, often meant the difference between making it to safe haven or facing a watery grave on unseen rocky shoals. To mariners, the light shouted, “Stay back; there’s danger here!” And it spoke comforting words: “Here is the way to safety!”

Jesus told his disciples,

“let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

In this same passage, he warned believers not to put their light under a basket. That would be absurd and go against what the light was made for.

We are light keepers, and our bodies (these transitory dwellings) are lighthouses! That’s the truth that has been animating me now for weeks. It makes sense. What’s my most vital job, besides simply loving God with my whole heart? It’s loving my neighbor by shining Light and speaking Truth into his or her life. It’s keeping the light lit in my heart (staying powerfully connected to my Father through his Word and prayer). It’s shining that light as brilliantly as I can – making sure the lenses of this lighthouse (the body that has been loaned to me) are kept pure, clean, polished, never blocking the light. Jesus also told us,

“The eye is the lamp of the body.” (Matthew 6:22) and that we are to watch what enters these lenses. What goes in is what will come out. Evil will cloud our lenses and dim the light.

I’ll spend the rest of my life contemplating this powerful picture, but each day it helps me to understand that I am a light keeper, my body is a lighthouse of which I’m the steward, my eyes are the lenses through which the light shines to those lost in the darkness and storms of life. They need to see the light! They need to see the danger coming their way! They need to see the way to safety. They need to see the way home.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission

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Break the Cycle

Published November 4, 2018

Break the Cycle

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

I always thought I was free. Not only was I descended from independent pioneer forebears, but I had also come to understand (I thought) the concept of grace. It was comforting to think that, even though there was compromise in my life, God would always forgive me because He is gracious and kind. I might displease Him, but in the end, grace would trump disobedience and I would waltz into heaven.

I had learned how costly grace had been to the Savior, even though it was free for me. I had heard of “cheap grace” — treating God like a kindly grandfather and taking His love and mercy for granted — but that certainly was not my attitude, or so I reasoned. I would not have expressed it quite that way, but my behavior certainly showed it.

But did I really understand the freedom grace brings? Clearly not.

In John 8:34, Jesus told the Jews,

“Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

They too thought they were free. They had “never been enslaved to anyone” (v. 33).

Jesus made it obvious that their sin had captured them. And mine had snared me as well. I was trapped in a slavish cycle of sin, false repentance, and sin again. Only after decades of futility did I finally come to the end of myself and plead with God to truly set me free. And, gloriously, He did!

He always answers prayers like that. Are you truly free from the cycle of sin?

Heavenly Father, thank you for never giving up on me! Thank you for setting this enslaved sinner free when I finally surrendered and called on you. Thank you that I now walk in freedom that will never end. Amen.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission

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Buried in Grace

Published September 20, 2018

Buried in Grace

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
2 Corinthians 10:4

I could no longer live the lie I had pursued for over 40 years. At age 14, I supposedly gave my heart to Jesus, but the ensuing decades proved otherwise. I enjoyed the “perks” of being a “good Christian” on the outside, but I also loved the darkness that had steadily grown on the inside. My heart was hard and divided. As I pursued sin, yet believed in “abounding grace” (Romans 6:1), I began to see the end of the road I was on. What lay ahead was misery, brokenness, and irreparable relationships. At the very end lay not only death but eternal death.

Was God gracious in all of this? Of course! Immeasurably so. As I ran toward darkness and disaster, He — the Hound of Heaven — ran right beside me, keeping pace, waiting for me to surrender.

So, one Sunday afternoon in mid-April, I was buried under the waters of baptism. When I came up out of the water, what Christ had done for me and who I was in Him became crystal clear, in living color! Sin had lost its grip, death had lost the war. Jesus became my Victor and my Master. Grace became so very, very true!

Do you consider grace a free ticket to heaven, despite the way you live, like I once thought? Tear that ticket up! It’s not worth the pain, and the end is disaster, believe me! Surrender to true grace and accept real forgiveness today.

Lord Jesus, I don’t know why you pursued me in your grace. I would have let me go long, long ago. All I deserved was death and darkness. You raised me to life and light. Thank you, forever! Amen.

Thought— Write down the dark things that still tempt you. Hold the list up to the light and see it shining through your handwriting. Then present the list to Jesus in prayer and rip it up.

By Rand Kreycik
Used by Permission