Tag: worship

What a Disappointment

Published on by tinavila20Leave a comment

Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor!

I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed…

Anyone had that line thrown at them growing up? It stings, doesn’t it? We can easily feel like we’ve fallen out of someone’s good graces when we’ve disappointed them.

Or maybe you just can’t look at someone the same way after being so painfully let down. The relationship has changed and you can’t seem to come back from that disappointment.

Our loved ones disappoint us, we disappoint them. We are fickle and relationships change.

Thankfully, God is not like us.

Although sin stirs His anger, His love for us CAN. NEVER. CHANGE.

Here’s why:

1. God is omniscient

(All-knowing)

Meaning, He knows all that has happened, is happening, and will happen. God knows it all. Which means He created us knowing we would fall short of His standards.

…for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.

– Romans 3:23

And yet God chooses to heal and forgive you!

He delights over you with gladness! He will calm all your fears and rejoice over you with song.

– Zephaniah 3:17

Despite knowing your worst, God chooses to bless you and include you in His good plans to bless others!

In love [God] chose us before He laid the foundation of the universe! Because of His great love, He ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in His eyes with an unstained innocence.

– Ephesians 1:4

God sees us from a divine perspective

This is significant, so don’t miss this!

When we surrender our lives to Jesus, His glory is magnified in our lives, and He forgives our wickedness and remembers our sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12)

Friends, He doesn’t even remember our sins! How can God be omniscient AND also forget our sin?

Because He chooses to see Jesus’ atoning work on the cross to redeem us instead!

An omniscient God can be trusted to know that Jesus’ sacrifice truly is the best plan of salvation imaginable. We couldn’t come up with something better if we had a thousand lifetimes to try.

Thinking that we could add or take away from God’s love for us, implies that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t enough to save us. But it was! And because of it, we are enough in God’s sight too.

We are enough for Him, solely because Jesus is enough for us.

Isaiah 53:10 says that it actually pleased God to crush Jesus and cause Him grief through death. It was through Jesus that God’s purpose was to be accomplished: the salvation of our souls. So all of God’s wrath reserved for sin was fully absorbed in Jesus on the cross.

But what does this mean in our daily lives?

Do we carry on sinning so that God’s kindness and grace will increase? (Romans 6:1) That’s a hard NO!

Sin dies with us when we surrender our lives to Jesus. Though we still fight against sin, God’s omniscience means He knows what we are and He loves us the same – on our best days, and our worst.

What’s more, our FEELINGS do not disappoint Him because He created us to feel each one in response to something we experience.

Maybe you’re confused, frustrated, hurt, disillusioned, or even jaded by what God is doing or NOT doing.

I’m convinced He is more disappointed when we hide our true feelings from Him, rather than just being honest with Him and ourselves about our struggle to trust and surrender.

Doubting Thomas? More like, Confident-Faith Thomas!

Consider how Thomas in John 20 wanted physical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. When Jesus finally appeared to Thomas and the disciples, He greeted them all, but He addressed Thomas directly. Jesus invited Thomas to reach out and touch His wounds. He encourages him to stop doubting and believe.

Have you ever noticed that there is no record of Thomas actually touching Jesus? Yet Jesus’ invitation was there. He offered the tangible opportunity to dispel Thomas’ doubts because Jesus knew Thomas, and He knows us.

He knows we are prone to doubt. He knows it is sometimes hard for us to trust. He isn’t disappointed with how we might feel.

But perhaps the assurance of faith that Thomas so desperately wanted is exactly what Jesus honoured by allowing him to explore for himself.

Perhaps Jesus wants to see that in all of us. Echoing author Angie Smith: like Thomas, we don’t question God because we want to prove He doesn’t exist, we question because we want to rest in unshakable faith!

So we can freely wrestle through those doubts, trust issues, and ugly emotions with God without fear of disappointing Him or losing His love.

2. God is unstoppable

At the end of Job’s tragic but redemptive life, Job tells God:

I know that You can do anything. No one can keep You from doing what You plan to do.

– Job 42:2

Other translations say that God’s plans could never be: thwarted or withheld, frustrated, restrained, ruined or hindered.

WOW! Whatever God wants to do, whatever He wants to accomplish on this earth, in your life, in your family, in your character, in your destiny… it. will. happen. It cannot be stopped. God cannot be stopped. Because God’s plans always come to fruition.

There is nothing we could do to ruin what God has put into motion before the foundations of the earth. The hard truth? We’re just not that powerful – and that’s a good thing!

A line from the song I’ll be sharing at the end says:

I’ll never be more loved than I am right now. Wasn’t holding You up, so there’s nothing I can do to let You down.

Coming to terms with how small we are in the presence of a Holy God should humble us. But realizing how loved we are, how good His plans are, what He gave up to save us, should draw us all the closer to Him too!

Because only He can heal brokenness, pain, rejection, and sin. Only He can do it. His plans cannot be stopped. And neither can His love for us.

3. God is immutable

(Does not change)

God has never changed and can never change in any smallest measure. To change, He would need to go from better or worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either. For being perfect, He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less than perfect, He would be less than God.

A. W. Tozer

Here’s the connection:

If God does not change, His thoughts towards us don’t change either. We are loved fully and completely in every moment.

The psalmist says in Psalm 139:17

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

Let’s conclude with some of God’s unchanging thoughts towards you:

  • You are chosen (1 Peter 2:9)
  • You are treasured (Deuteronomy 14:2)
  • You are protected (Psalm 121:3)
  • You are His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
  • You are free (John 8:31)
  • You are forever loved (Jeremiah 31:3)

What’s in the Ears

This line of the song bears repeating:

Wasn’t holding you up, so there’s nothing I can do to let you down.

Friend, you can put down that burden. You can let go of that pressure. You can stop trying to avoid disappointing God through perfect performance. He can take it. You’re not fooling Him because He already knows. He wants you to admit your weakness so you could finally accept His sufficient grace. For His power is made perfect in your weakness. And we can boast in our weaknesses and struggles, because that is where God’s power dwells. In the parts of our lives that feel like a disappointment, that’s where His power can manifest most.

If this resonates with you, let me know in the comments, send me a message, or even share with a friend!

Podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Anchor!

The Art of Waiting Well

Published on by tinavila202 Comments

*Podcast version on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Anchor!

This is could easily be the extended version of my last blog post, Count the Fruit. There was just too much to say about the fruit of the Spirit that I couldn’t help but keep writing this week. So if you haven’t checked that out, please do!

A little behind the scenes of my writing will tell you that I read Bible passages in almost every English-language translation, and try hitting the original Greek text too, in order to get the most out of what the authors are saying.

Well, this was no different. And I was particularly struck by the Amplified Bible translation of the fruit of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

– Galatians 5:22-23

Did you catch what it said about patience? Oh my WORD! That’ll preach.

Patience isn’t just about the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting.

I mean, am I the only one who feels personally attacked with words like that? (I feel like Michael Scott from The Office when he declares that he is the victim of a hate crime!)

The point is that if we are truly surrendered to God, walking with Jesus, and filled with the Spirit, then the result of His presence within us will. be. this. fruit!

It’s literally the cause-and-effect theory in action.

Why does it matter how we wait?

  • If I’m not hurting anyone, why does it matter how I wait?
  • If it doesn’t make the wait any shorter, why does it matter how I wait?
  • If I’m not gaining anything from it, why does it matter how I wait?
  • What difference does it make??

I’m reminded of that line by John Wooden that says:

The true test of a person’s character is what they do when no one is watching.

So maybe it doesn’t change anything in your circumstances to wait well. But something happens inside us when we do.

  1. Perhaps you wait in ANGER
    Your default is irritability and frustration. You have a short fuse and should not be crossed if you don’t receive the answer you’re waiting for in a timely manner.
  2. Perhaps you wait in ANXIETY
    Your default is to be overwhelmed and filled with stressful, anxious thoughts. You can’t get your mind to settle, and you can’t function as what if‘s overtake you.
  3. Perhaps you wait in LISTLESSNESS
    Your default is apathy and disinterest. You lose any kind of ability to function because waiting on that one thing becomes all that matters. And life loses all meaning without that piece of the puzzle in place.

What do all these characteristics have in common?

They are symptoms of distrust in God.

Focusing on our circumstances makes the process of waiting unbearable.

It puts all the responsibility on our circumstances to fulfill us – our needs, wants, expectations, goals, and more. It’s not meant to be this way. We will ALWAYS be disappointed with this approach.

But those who wait for the Lord? Ohhhhh….. they will renew their STRENGTH! They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.

– Isaiah 40:31

How is this even possible?

How can strength be RENEWED… not just sustained, propped up, extended… but renewed. Only God, y’all. Only God.

Because if His Spirit is filling us, even though we may begin weary and worn out… renewal comes as we focus on Him over our circumstances.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

– 2 Corinthians 4:18

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for Him, He thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and He is now seated at the right side of God’s throne.

– Hebrews 12:2

So how do we wait well?

Worship while you wait

Because He is worthy ALWAYS. Even when we’re not getting what we want.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.

– Psalm 42:5

Bring it to God

Because He alone can sustain and fill us with hope in the waiting.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

– Romans 15:13

These can only happen when we expose TWO LIES, and disarm their power over our thinking patterns.

Culture feeds us the following lies that are masquerading as RESPONSIBILITY and MATURITY.

1. The Responsibility of Being in Control

  • Culture tells us that we’re somehow being responsible when we get busy trying to control every potential outcome of our circumstances. It is the illusion of control, and believing the lie that we can decide when and how things will turn out. Of course, we can control some things. So distinguishing the difference between things we can control, and things we cannot control, is critical.

Listen, those of you who are boasting, “Today or tomorrow we’ll go to another city, spend some time there, go into business and make heaps of profit!” But you don’t have a clue what tomorrow may bring. For your fleeting life is but a warm breath of air that is visible in the cold only for a moment and then vanishes!

– James 4:13-15

2. The Maturity in Worrying

  • Culture also tells us our worry is a sign of maturity. Because if we dwell on our problems and consider all possible outcomes, then we are morally good for worrying about them. We believe that immature people simply don’t understand what’s at stake, or don’t consider all the factors. When in fact, we’re really just believing the lie that we care more because we worry more.

Does worry add anything to your life? Can it add one more year, or even one day? So if worrying adds nothing, but actually subtracts from your life, why would you worry about God’s care of you?

– Luke 12:25-26

It goes on to talk about how if He cares so much about birds and plants, wouldn’t He care for YOU all the more?

Bottom Line

Waiting well matters. Not just for my witness, but for my mental health and the state of my soul! It’s worth reflecting on how we wait, and ask God to help us trust Him with all the unknowns so that the result of His presence within us could be the fruit of His Spirit. And that is the true art of waiting well.

What’s in the Ears

I cannot even deal with how good this song is. Hit it at the 7:00 mark if you feel like a good cry over words to build you up in your season of waiting. You’re welcome.

Have you mastered the art of waiting well? I can assure you, I have not! But I’d love to know if any of this has been helpful to you! You can let me know in the comments or send me a message. And feel free to share this too if it resonates!

*Podcast version on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Anchor!