Stevemidkiff's Blog

God chooses our circumstances

He appoints our sicknesses

He designates our sorrows & heartbreaks

He raises up all who oppose us

Everything is according to His purposes

…to conform & shape our lives to Christ’s life

And all Gods ways in our lives are lustered with His love

DON’T LET IMPOSSIBILITIES FOOL YOU

Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14

God wins His greatest victories through apparent defeats.

Our enemy may triumph for a season & God allows it.

But then He comes in & upsets our enemy & overthrows their apparent victory!

God says He, “frustrates the ways of the wicked” Ps 146:9

Consequently, He gives us a much greater victory than we would

have known by allowing the enemy what appears to be a triumph.

The story of the three who were thrown into the fiery furnace is a familiar one.

There was an apparent victory for the enemy. It looked as if the servants of the

living God were going to suffer a terrible defeat.

We’ve all been in situations where it appears we’re defeated & the enemy rejoices.

We can only imagine what a complete defeat this appeared to be for Daniel’s friends.

They were thrown into the terrible flames while their enemies watched to see them burn.

Yet the enemy was greatly astonished to see them walking around in the fire, enjoying themselves.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar told them to come out of the fire.

The enemy crowded around them.

They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies,

They saw that the fire had not even singed the hair of their heads;

They saw that their robes were not scorched &

They saw that there was no smell of fire on them . . .

no other god can save in this way Dan 3:27, 29

This apparent defeat resulted in a miraculous victory.

Suppose they had lost their faith & courage & had complained, saying,

Why didn’t God keep us out of the furnace!

But no, they were confident God was working in the tragic defeat.

If we are in a great trial. We need to refuse to see it as a defeat.

Trust God! By faith claim the victory through Him who is able to make us

“more than conquerors” Rom 8:37

Expect a glorious victory will soon be clear.

Pray through in all the difficult places God takes us into.

Tests, trials & humiliating defeats are an opportunity from God

for us to exercise our faith in Him to trust that He will bring about blessed result.

He is protecting us,

He is with us

He is greatly glorifying His name through us.

from A Life of Praise

Defeat may serve as well as victory

To shake the soul & let His glory out.

When the great oak is straining in the wind,

The limbs drink in new beauty & the trunk

Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.

Only the soul that knows the mighty grief

Can know the mighty rapture.

Sorrows come To stretch out spaces in our heart for joy.

STREAMS

There are multiple hindrance that are stacked & brimming with negatives

against God in this world—

There’s our sin.

There’s our weaknesses

There’s are flaws & failures

There’s the world’s brokenness,

There’s every evil power—

But none of this can stop the incredible force of God’s love from advancing

in our lives & to others lives everywhere in this world.

God will be honored all over the world.

He guarantees that there are people that worship Him all over the world,

He will always be honored & He will always have faithful ones bringing

their best to Him.

God is great

God’s name “will be great among the nations”—

And it’s not because he removes all the hindrances

we can see hindrances everywhere & from those

we didn’t expect would attack us,

There’s not a single obstacle strong enough though to impede Gods purposes

There’s not a single hindrance that can interfere with Gods design

Others are always watching us

They watch when we’re having hard times,

They watch when we’re beaten up by life experiences

They keep track of our imperfections & shortcomings

Paul was jailed, he was beat up by mobs; he worked hard, he worked late,

But in all the hindrances the apostles went through

God showed His power in the hindrances & the frustrations

We know we’re doing something right when we’re blamed & slandered,

We can be distrusted;

We can be ignored

But this is not a hindrance to Gods power.

We actually, through these odd rejections,

are being recognized by God;

Just because we stumble or blunder does not mean our motives & intent

can’t be brought to God in prayer to work greatly through our brokenness

These weird tests, if we turn to our Father, can be indicators

that we’re terrifically alive in Christ as our all,

We can feel our sorrow, yet be filled with Jesus deep joy;

We don’t get wiped out by roadblocks,

We don’t stay in the dumps in the face of human barricades & caustic ridicule.

We can feel broken in our lives. But the reality is this can open us up to

live an exchanged life into Gods powerful life giving miracles

through our dependent prayer.

David’s final prayer was

Let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen & Amen Psalm 72:19

Then David wrote

The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

This is all we want. This is our greatest end. Gods glory. Not our will but His will.

IT IS YOUR GENTLENESS THAT HAS MADE US GREAT Psa. 18:35

This phrase can be rendered

“Your goodness has made us great.”

David gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but the goodness of God.

Your providence, is another reading & providence is nothing more than goodness in action.

Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower, or goodness is the seed of which

providence is the harvest.

Some render it, Your help, which is but another word for providence;

providence being a firm ally of ours, aiding us in the service of our Lord.

Or again,

“Your humility has made us great.”

“Your condescension”, perhaps, serves as a comprehensive reading,

combining the ideas mentioned, including that of humility.

It is God’s making himself little which is the cause of our being made great.

We are so little, that if God would manifest His greatness without condescension,

we would be trampled under His feet;

Our God, who must stoop to view the skies,

Our God who bows to see what angels do,

Our awesome God who turns His eye lower & looks

to the lowly & contrite & makes them great.

There are other readings, as for instance, the Septuagint, reads,

“Your discipline” Your fatherly correction, “has made us great;”

the Chaldee paraphrase reads,

“Your Word has increased us

Still the idea is the same.

David ascribes all his own greatness to the condescending goodness of his Father in heaven.

Now, while we cast our crowns at Jesus’ feet, we cry,

Your gentleness has made us great

How marvellous is our experience of God’s gentleness!

How gentle are His corrections!

How gentle His forbearance!

How gentle His teachings!

How gentle His drawings!

Let gratitude be awakened;

let humility be deepened;

let love be alive as we fall asleep each-night.

Charles Spurgeon

WE ARE HIS:

What do we hear in times Times of Weariness.

What thought is ringing in our ears

Life is tough. Attempting to live for Jesus in this world is tough. Seeking to serve Jesus

is ridiculously tough! At times the weight of it can overwhelm us.

We need to hear God’s reaffirming Word. We need to hear Him saying

“YOU ARE MY CHILD.”

Romans 8 is a balm to our weary soul. Romans 8 is the Mount Everest of the Bible.

WE’VE BEEN LIBERATED TO LIVE FOR JESUS. Romans 8:1-13

We are not condemned. We’ve been set free from the power of sin through the Spirit

We’ve been set free from the penalty of sin through Jesus.

This allows us to live the life God wants us to live.

We live the way God wants not by the flesh but only through the Spirit.

The flesh leads to death. The flesh is unable to submit to God & it can’t please God.

To walk according to the flesh is to have our life determined by the values of this world.

To walk according to the Spirit is to live under the control of the Spirit.

The Spirit is the mark that we belong to Christ & have the power of the Risen Christ in us.

So we don’t have to live by the flesh but we can, by the Spirit, put to death the flesh.

THE SPIRIT DWELLS IN US. Romans 8:14-17

God doesn’t leave us on our own, rather He sent His Spirit to dwell in us.

The Spirit leads us as God’s son. We’ve received the Spirit of adoption.

We don’t have the spirit of slavery leading to fear of condemnation & judgment.

Since we are adopted we have a New Father,

We experience full family rights (co-heirs)

We have the Spirits legal protections (no separation).

And we get to have a relationship with our Father.

When we doubt, the Spirit testifies that we are God’s child.

The Spirit bears witness that we are part of God’s New Family.

This testimony is confirmed in the deepest depths of our soul—

We have this subjective experience that confirms an objective reality.

This happens as the Word and Spirit work together in our life.

THE PRESENT IS POINTING TO THE FUTURE. Romans 8:18-27

We experience first hand the present sufferings of this age.

We see the raw humanity of those we seek to serve in their slander & ridicule

But the present sufferings don’t compare to the future glory.

The depression, anxiety & fear we experience in this life doesn’t compare to our future glory.

Paul reminds us that all of creation groans for the revelation of the Sons of God.

Creation is waiting for that one moment at the end of history when we will be revealed.

Creation is longing to be liberated from the curse of the Fall.

Creation groans for the future unveiling.

But we also know that the present sufferings don’t compare because right now

we are groaning for the resurrection of the body.

Our hope is the final resurrection from the dead.

This is the hope in which we’re saved! This is a living hope.

And though we don’t see it now, one day the very thing

God’s word promises will be seen with our eyes.

GOD IS WORKING ALL THINGS OUT FOR OUR GOOD. Romans 8:28-30

We have trials in our life now? Life is difficult. We l have to go to many funerals.

We love broken people. The ups & downs of life hurt.

It seems at time that everything in our life is chaos.

But God is working all things together for good.

We trust & rest in the fact that nothing is outside the control of God’s providence.

Nothing takes God by surprise; nothing is beyond his sovereign activity.

We can know that all things work together for good.

God has loved us & has chosen us before time to look like Jesus.

We can believe that God is in the process of working all things together

because God has summoned us into a relationship with Him.

We Believe that God is sovereignly orchestrating our life

God has declared us in right standing through the death of Jesus.

We rest knowing that God is working it all out

God has already chosen to glorify us in the future.

From beginning to end, God is working in our life.

NO ONE CAN ACCUSE OR CONDEMN US. Romans 8:31-39

In the course of our life some will seek to accuse us of things we didn’t do.

Many will condemn us because of something we said.

But in the eyes of God no one is able to prevail against us because of God’s love.

Since God has worked on our behalf, no one can be against us.

Because of God’s love, in providing Christ for us & justifying us,

no one can prevail against us either by what they say or do against us.

No one can accuse us & no one can condemn us. Satan can’t condemn us.

Our sin can’t condemn us. Our past can’t condemn us. We ourself can’t condemn us!

Nothing is able to separate us from God’s love.

No amount of external opposition can separate us from God’s love.

We have always & will continue to experience opposition in this life.

But we have a new identity in Christ.

We are triumphant over these things!

Absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love—

not even death

not the problems of life.

No spiritual power in hell can distance us from God’s love.

Despite the trials, circumstances & sufferings in this life,

nothing is able to separate us from God’s love.

His love is stronger than those things that attempt to separate us from Him.

God’s love for His Son is never-ending & because we are in Christ,

we can never experience a moment in which God will never stop loving us.

His love for us is not predicated on our performance but on Christ’s work on our behalf.

THE SPIRIT LEADS US.

The present doesn’t compare to the future.

God is working all things out for God.

We are not condemned.

WE ARE HIS!!!

Adapted from Michael Cooper

“Abraham believed God.”

Not, “Abraham believed the text.”

Not, “Abraham believed a set of precepts.”

Not, “Abraham believed a list of propositions.”

But “Abraham believed God.”

I tend to be dangerously “nominal” in my faith,

God, I want a faith like Abraham, your friend,

whose faith rested on your personality and character.

I want a sense of you drawing me into the reality of your presence.

A. W. Tozer

Help us to be yours, not our own;

Help to trust you, not ourselves or our own strength;

Help us to think Your thoughts after You, not our own thoughts;

Help us to accomplish Your will, not our own will.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

When others feel it’s their calling to publish their perceptions of our flaws & faults

They are partially correct.

I say partially because we are much worse then they could have ever imagined.

The unique thing is they are worse as well & are distorting their discrepancy’s in their blaming blasts

It’s always weird to confess others sins instead of humbling ourselves over our own sins

The only thing that honors our Lord Jesus

is to acknowledge our own abasement & be awed in His perfections

Prayer is the child’s request,

Our is not empty sounds wafting into nowhere

but our prayer is to our Father

Prayer is the outstretched arms of the child for the Father’s help.

Prayer is the child’s cry calling to our Father’s ear & our Father’s heart,

Prayer is made to our Father’s ability,

Every one of our prayers our Father hears,

Every one of our prayers our Father feels,

Every one of our prayers brings relief from our Father.

“Prayer is a solemn service to God

Prayer is adoration, prayer is worship, prayer is our approach to God for some request

Prayer is the presenting of some desire, prayer is the expression of some need to Him

Prayer is recognition that only God supplies all our needs,

Prayer is recognition that it’s only God who satisfies all our desires

Prayer is recognition that as a Father, He finds His greatest pleasure in relieving

the wants & granting the desires of His children”

E M Bounds

LORD, unless You build our house, we labor in vain.

Unless you keep us safe, locks, cameras & alarms are worthless.

It is useless to worry,

It is useless to stress

It is useless to obsess

for you grant sleep to those You love.

Thank You for the goodly & godly heritage You have given us,

Thank You for our sons & daughters & grandchildren who make us so proud,

Thank You for our daughter-in-laws & son-in-laws who bless us & give such joy.

They are like arrows in the hands of a warrior,

they are a testimony to Your kindness

they are evidence to the truth of Your precepts & principles.

I am a blessed man,

blessed by my home,

blessed in where I live,

blessed with a family to love & be loved by.

I will not be put to shame, no matter what my Enemy may say or do,

for You have been my teacher & guide, my leader & defender.

Psalm 127 paraphrased