Tag Archives: purpose

My Focus Should Be His House

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - My Focus Should Be His House

A

safe
loving
strong
healthy
joy filled
thriving

house (people under and bound by the Husband’s name)

is the focus of a wife.

I am the bride of Christ.

I should be focused on His house.

Why wouldn’t I be?

No. Let me be real.

Why am I not?

Because I’m too busy building my own.

Because I’m in the streets, an adulterous whore, chasing what my flesh (a mind conformed to the pursuits and the ways of operating of this world) believes is a better suitor: riches, popularity, power, and pleasure apart from my Husband for my satisfaction and fulfillment.

But having been out there before, I can tell you definitively, there is nothing good in the streets.

Not one good thing.

So, how did I get here?

By being entangled with unnecessary things and having the fruitfulness of the Word choked out in my life because of the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4:18-19).

By worry of what I will eat, what I will drink or what I will wear and not instead seeking first (foremost) the Kingdom of God (my Husband’s house) so that every other pursuit serves the first one (what it means to “seek first”, Matthew 6:25-34).

By having my mind conformed to this world, seeing myself and measuring myself according to the world’s standards, thereby becoming self-conscious and being seduced into pursuits that profit nothing —not one good thing (Romans 6:21, 12:2).

I repent.

Focus on my Husband’s house is a constant work because the poisonous vines of the world are constantly trying to creep into my life to pull me away and overtake me.

Focus requires husbandry.

Focus requires constant pruning, a taking away of the dead, useless and invasive things that are harmful.

So then, focus requires a constant presenting myself to my Husband.

Focus requires what the Husband provides: sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit by the heart He gives and protection against its hardening by the washing in the water of the Word, and accountability through the fellowship of the beloved.

I am the bride of Christ.

I should be focused on His house.

When I have lost focus, I regain it by turning to Him.

Remembering His goodness, I return to Him.

But, if He so readily receives me again, does it even matter that I lose focus, that I am seduced away into sin (outside of the circle of love, outside the government of His house -the Kingdom of God [sin state])?

Yes.

Sin does not only offend God, it hurts me too. Sin hardens my heart, leaving scar tissue that decreases my sensitivity to His touch, His voice and His presence.

Yes, when we confess, He will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). But the cleansing, Him lifting that scar tissue in the washing of the water by His Word, is a process that takes time to return to the intimacy and fellowship I once enjoyed.

There is no thing better than intimacy with God. It’s too precious to lose, even for a moment.

There is no place better than the House of God.

Now, I remember by the Spirit God has sent forth in the hearts of all who love Him,

“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
— Psalm 84:10

In Your house, serving Your house, with You, is where I want to be.

Help me.

Cleanse my heart, O God.

Renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

I miss You.

Maintaining Focus On The Mission: A Task Evaluation Workflow

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Maintaining Focus On The Mission: A Task Evaluation Workflow

My plate has been overflowing as of late and I find myself tremendously stressed and my internal dialogue dominated by, “I have to do “.

But after a moment of prayer and bringing the thought captive to Christ, it occurred to me that the phrase “I have to do…” sounds like a great way to identify an idol.

Why do I feel like “I have to do” these things?

In many ways fear is the reason. I’m afraid that if I don’t do these things I’ll lose some security: income, a client, a job, approval, or that I won’t be loved. This fear enslaves me and drives me to do things that are neither profitable or healthy.

Also, there are times in my life when I felt “stuck” and it is usually due to me not sticking to a course of action that progresses my mission. Instead, I allow myself to be distracted and allow my time and resources to be diverted to someone else’s mission.

So, I’m starting to push back and examine the assertion that I have to do anything besides what God has commissioned me to do.

Jesus was constantly approached with the desires and priorities of others, but Jesus was singular in His focus,

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
— John 6:38

As my example, I want to be like Jesus and be successful in my mission. To do that I must first be focused on His will and secondly be centered in the security that God provides:

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
— 2 Corinthians 9:8

I believe that when I work on behalf of God, and unburden myself from debt and unnecessary things, that God will provide everything I need.

Operating from this confidence, I hope to be more intentional about what I do and more courageous about rejecting activities that do not further my mission.

There are dozens of new potential tasks that I am confronted with everyday. So, I’ve developed the following decision tree to help evaluate which of the following responses are most appropriate: Delete, Delegate, Delay, Date (schedule), Do.

And as far as advancing the mission goes, there’s a sixth “D” or category of activity: Discipline. There are some activities that I should be doing routinely (such as prayer, Bible study, communication with my wife or going to the gym) that perhaps more than anything else, contributes to progress.
#thriveday

Past Choices, Present Consequences, and What They Teach Me About Proper Priorities

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Past Choices, Present Consequences, and What They Teach Me About Proper Priorities

As I stare down our children graduating and leaving our home, I look back over the past 18 – 20 years and it puts things in perspective.

A lot of urgent things happened in that time.

There were pressing issues at work that demanded my attention: emergencies, new projects, pending deadlines, bills due.

They felt big and important at the time.

But, they weren’t.

As I look at outcomes 20 years removed from their causes, it is clarifying about what is truly important. Very seldom was it the things that I thought were important.

I got a lot of it wrong.

And as I ponder these outcomes, good and bad, the things that did not seem urgent 20 years ago, were the most important: playing with my kids, kissing my wife good night, and spending Friday nights with other believers in marriage ministry.

Sowing into people are the labors that make for a harvest.

The work that seemed all important tends to only produce beautiful dead things, things with no nutritional value, with no ability to make for a healthy soul.

Wise are the words in Ecclesiastes 12:1,

“Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
‘I have no pleasure in them'”

Because,

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
— Proverbs 16:25

I see in retrospect the importance of trusting and obeying God, not only when we cannot see our way but especially when we think we can, and to follow Him despite the path that seems good to us.

The decisions we make now, will be the ones we eat from in the latter days.

Looking back, I do not ever regret a single time that I followed Him and I wish I had followed Him more.

He truly does lead to green places (Psalm 23:1-6).

He truly is Lord of every harvest that I’m enjoying right now.

Success

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Success Is Contribution Not Conceit

If I can be honest, I struggle mightily with this.

I struggle with the constant pressure of the world’s repeated assertion that success means being out in front, on display, exalted above others, and if you’re not, you’re a failure.

The constant temptation is to seek that, to make it my ambition and orient my life around what puts me out in front; hustle, grind, concentrate on achieving the thing or making the money to buy the things that makes me better than others, thereby proving that I am a success.

But, in God’s creation, success is the health of the whole that we’re connected to, where we’re one member of many, contributing to the whole as the whole contributes to the members. It’s literally what we’re built for: connection, community, and contributing toward its betterment which is one and the same as self-care. We know this. We can feel it. It’s what we find most fulfilling.

Yet, I find myself desiring the allure of being the dead flower in the vase. It is singled out and put beautifully on display.

And my flesh foolishly yearns, “Ooh, pick me! Pick me!” I want to be exalted. I want to be praised. I want to be sought after. Not realizing that it neither grows others nor is being grown and was dead the moment it was separated.

Do not be deceived. Satan’s specialty is creating beautiful dead things.

Those of The Way know to be cut off is a death sentence. Oneness is our pursuit.

“Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
— Mark 12:29

And, whatever comes our way as an individual, including honor, we use for the benefit and uplift of the whole (One).

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

[…] But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:12, 24-26

So, each day I wake or every time I fell pressure to conform to the world’s measure of success, I will set out with intention to resist the world’s way and to seek contribution as a definition of success instead of conceit, success being evidenced by fruit in others.

#success #ContributionOverConceit #thriveday

Walking As He Walked: 7 Practical Things The Spirit Leads Us To Do In Following Christ

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Walking As He Walked: 7 Practical Things The Spirit Leads Us To Do In Following Christ

I believe Jesus, now what?

We walk as He walked¹.

Jesus’ goal is my goal²:

the glory of God,

to make Him known -the beginning and end of everything good.

When we present ourselves and allow Him, God achieves this through His Holy Spirit in us³ by leading us to

go⁴,

proclaim the good news⁵, declaring forgiveness of sins, peace with God and freedom from oppression,

seek and restore⁶, issue the call, speaking with His voice and the heart of the Good Shepherd, going to the ends of the world, losing not one soul⁷,

make God real⁸ through His love,

destroy the works of the devil⁹ —tearing down the lies that block His love

that people may know and believe the love of the Father¹⁰,

share in that love¹¹, enjoying the eternal life He gives abundantly —loving God and others as we are so greatly loved,

and be One¹²,

to the ultimate end of glory —weight; weight that draws everything into His redemptive orbit¹³,

these things He did for our glory,

because our glory is His,

achieving ever increasing glory to God¹⁴ —the beginning and end of everything good¹⁵.

References:
¹ 1 John 2:6
² John 20:21, 2 Timothy 1:8-9
³ John 16:13, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1
⁴ Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 10:7, John 6:38, Matthew 28:18-20
⁵ Luke 2:14, Luke 4:18, Ephesians 1:7
⁶ Luke 19:10, Matthew 9:13, Psalm 42:7, John 10:27
⁷ John 10:11, Matthew 18:11-12, John 6:39
⁸ John 14:9, John 1:14
⁹ 1 John 3:8, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
¹⁰ John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:16
¹¹ 1 John 4:11, 1 John 3:14, John 10:10, John 17:3, John 17:26
¹² John 17:23, Ephesians 4:3-6
¹³ John 12:28, John 12:32, Colossians 1:19-20
¹⁴ Matthew 5:16, Romans 8:18-21, 2 Corinthians 4:15
¹⁵ James 1:17, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Revelation 21:3-7, Revelation 21:23, Revelation 22:5, Isaiah 11:1-9

Motivation

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Motivation

This is about motivation.

Lately, there have been some days where it has been harder to get up than others.

It reminds me of a time when I was completely without motivation, when I had little desire to do anything and it felt like I had to lift the weight of the world just to get out of bed each day.

Then a switch flipped for me.

The turning point was anger.

One day I lost a lunch break just trying to decide what to eat. I wasted an entire hour brooding over what I had a taste for. There was this unhealthy obsession about what meal would please me the most. I would later realize that what I was really doing was looking for how food could provide enough good to makeup for how bad I was feeling elsewhere in my life, the sadness about my failures, about not measuring up, about not getting ahead, about my marriage…

In the beginning food was a salve. It could make me feel better for a little while. But it’s effect was diminishing to a point where the grief was too great for any amount of titillating tastes, perfect textures, soothing chewing or sheer volume of food to overcome.

On that lunch break I came to terms with the reality that food could not fill the hole in my heart.

Food could not make my life good.

And the Sisyphean task of getting up each morning was my subconscious realization that I was trapped in a cycle of futility. I was being compelled to spend great amounts of time and effort to do things that did not profit me.

I was enslaved.

That infuriated me.

This was my motivation.

I hated the idea of something having that kind of power over me.

The next day, I started eating the same kind of Subway sandwich every day to take thinking about what I was going to eat out of the equation.

The next month, I started and completed the P90X program that my wife bought me, twice.

Six months after that, I started going to the gym and have maintained that routine since then – for 15 years now at the time this was written.

But, it wasn’t a straight line. There were periods of relapse because there was flaws in my motivation. And, I have since realized that it’s easy to trade one tyrant for another.

There was a period that I became religious about what I ate and going to the gym. I still struggle with that to some extent, but I have embraced this truth:

Going to the gym and eating healthy cannot fill the hole in my heart.

Going to the gym and eating healthy cannot make my life good.

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
—1 Corinthians 6:12

There’s a near infinite number of things you can insert in that sentence, “X cannot fill the hole in my heart. X cannot make my life good.” Sex, food, alcohol, money, success, friends, children, church…

But, I have found the One who can fill the hole in my heart. I have found the One who can make my life good.

My experience is that whatever is truly good, is always so -it’s good all the time and for everyone everywhere it is experienced (it’s good even for those who are not the primary participants but are affected by it’s secondhand downstream effects).

Good is alive, life giving, growing, unable to be contained, overflowing the deep expanses of my heart.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
—James 1:16-17

I have also found that anger is not a sufficient or sustainable source of motivation. Whatever is burning at the heart of that fire, whatever is fueling that anger will be eventually spent.

This is true for a lot of sources of motivation. I once got a full scholarship because I was motivated (pride, stubbornness) by someone telling me I couldn’t. It was sufficient motivation to get me to school but was not enough to get me through school or through the challenges life presented me at the time.

But, “love never fails…”
—1 Corinthians 13:8

My encounter with the love of God expressed in the person of Jesus Christ changed everything. It is changing everything.

I was utterly enslaved, hurting others and being hurt, ignorant of my bondage and without strength to do anything about it.

But since I met Jesus and the Holy Spirit has revealed Him as Lord, I am being set free.

Bit by bit, He’s marching through every corner of my heart, winning territory and tearing down strongholds, the lies, that block the life-giving love of God from shining on and through me.

It’s so good.

My appreciation of His love for me and consequently my love for Him, and you grows every day.

Now my motivation is to make Jesus King.

I am angry about the devastation that I see sin causes and I want people set free from the tyranny of the evil one and the lies of this world.

But above all, I am loved by God, I love Him and I want others to share this wonderful love that I’ve found. Or said more accurately, this wonderful Love that found me.

I want a world where Jesus reigns and He does what He’s doing for me as King.

He alone is worthy to rule.

I am His soldier to this end.

As a soldier, sometimes, when you’re in the trenches and you’ve been there for so long, your motivation can wane, you can forget the mission and lose sight of what you’re there for. I’m peeling potatoes, but I’m not actually peeling potatoes. Whatever job I’m doing is in support of the war effort -a war that ends with Jesus crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, where there is no rule that rivals His and He returns all things to God that He may be all in all.

This is why I get up every morning. This is what I use everything at my disposal to achieve: my money, my home, my job, my relationships, my marriage, my life.

This is my motivation: to make Jesus King because I love Him. He is excellent and He rules well.

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

For ‘He has put all things under His feet.’

But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.

Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
—1 Corinthians 15:24-28

Amen.

How My Children And Minecraft Taught Me The Only Thing That Matters

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How My Children And Minecraft Taught Me The Only Thing That Matters

My children have taught me so much.

One of the greatest lessons of my life that I’m still learning came from playing with them a computer game called Minecraft.

Minecraft is like a digital version of the toy building blocks I grew up with as a kid called Legos. But, rather than building an object as you would with Legos, in Minecraft an entire world is generated on the computer that you can build and exist within.

It was a place you could both explore and shape to your vision with resources made available from within the game: wood, stone, metals, gems, crops, animals, etc.. You were only limited by your ambition, your imagination and your computer’s computational power.

We built grand houses and whole villages. We went on adventures spanning great distances across different biomes (green forests, snowy mountains, sandy beaches). We even built machines that automated processes such as harvesting animals into food. We explored and mined vast, dangerous caves to stock our chests with materials and priceless treasure to expand our builds or to use in our next adventure.

Among the heights of items sought after were enchanted diamond tools, weapons and armor. These items were coveted because if you had them, you could practically get anything else. I never achieved this feat, but my much more skilled boys did. It took exorbitant amounts of time, exploration, and great risk to collect all the items required.

We spent hours, sometimes days or weeks building or learning to build our Minecraft world. We even had our own private hosted server (before Microsoft Realms was available) called Blockhaven.

Today, we don’t know where any of that stuff is. The server has been shutdown. The great houses, territories, troves of diamonds, lapis lazuli, ender pearls, the wonderful inventions we worked so hard and invested real time (even real tears were shed) to achieve are all gone. Even many of the memories have faded away. But, the things that remain are the relationships we built and the closeness we developed. They are forever.

Therein is the lesson.

What we learn, what we do, what we achieve, what we build only matters to the extent of what it builds in and establishes with others.

What we build in and establish with others makes everything matter, whether we’re a potato peeler or a Nobel prize winning nuclear physicist. Without it, nothing matters whether we’re a potato peeler or a Nobel prize winning nuclear physicist.

One day, this server that we exist in will be shutdown.

Consider 2 Peter 3:11‭-‬12,

“Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?”

And, Hebrews 12:27,

“Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

But, for those in Christ, we focus on what cannot be shaken —the eternal.

“While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.””
—2 Corinthians 4:18

What is eternal? What cannot be shaken? What can survive the fervent, purifying fire of the coming day of God?

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—John 17:3

What is eternal, what cannot be shaken, what can survive the fervent, purifying fire of the day of God? Life —to be of the same kind of fire as the coming fire of the day of God, us being set ablaze by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
—John 1:4

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”
—1 John 4:17

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
—Hebrews 12:28‭-‬29

The time you get to work does not matter,
That report does not matter,
That money does not matter,
That elite, grand achievement does not matter,
That world changing discovery or breakthrough does not matter in or of itself.
It only matters to the extent of how its done or how its used to build in and establishes with others something eternal.

This is why it is written in Colossians 3:23,
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”

Today, I implore us to believe Jesus so we can truly see what matters: what we build in and establish with others; the only thing that is eternal —relationships and closeness developed in Christ.

What Do You Do?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - What Do You Do?

My job title doesn’t sound too shabby. Actually, I’m honored to do what I do professionally.

But, I’ve always found the question, “What do you do?” off-putting.

I hate it actually, and I’ve never really understood why, until now.

Ask a flower, or any living thing what it does and the answer is simple and profound, “It passes on life.”

When people ask this question, it’s largely a product of the plastic, manufactured system of this world.

And, when people ask, “What do you do?”, it’s though they’re sitting back waiting to calculate how much respect to give you as though your value is being assessed on the Dow Jones.

The question is essentially asking “What thing do you produce that might be of value to me according to this world’s value system?”

But, we’re not machines on a production line, we’re persons —we’re living things.

And, as with all living things, we’re part of a delicate ecosystem. Something that seems small and insignificant, such as the seemingly benign phytoplankton or the understated honey bee, would spell utter disaster for the entire world if they were loss.

God speaks of us as members of a body, a living thing, having placed each one of us purposefully, as He pleases:

“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”
—1 Corinthians 12:18

And,

But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
—1 Corinthians 12:20-22

So, we are not machines to produce dumb things to be sold and traded, but we are persons, living things created for a purpose: to pass on life.

And, what is life?

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—John 17:3

So, the measure of my success is not in the things I produce.

Jesus said,

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
—Luke 12:15

But rather, the measure of my success is in the fruit I produce, life being passed along to others.

And to be clear, Christ is the vine. I am just a branch and can do nothing without Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
—John 15:4

So, when I’m asked “What do you do?”, I will respond with the answer to the better question, “How are you passing on life?”

And, my answer will be a description of however Jesus is producing beautiful life in me in that season, and how I’m sharing it.

I’m doing it now.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
—John 15:7‭-‬8

What Am I Doing?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - What Am I Doing?

Lord, I’m overwhelmed and feel so turned around. What am I doing?

**Excuse me as I encourage myself in the Lord.

Where am I going?

The Kingdom of God, where Christ reigns, who makes God all-in-all, so that all of God’s children can dwell in safety together.

What am I doing?

Glorifying God, destroying the works of the devil, shining the light of Christ by administering the Gospel in word and deed, giving life by His Spirit, ushering all that the Lord our God will call into the glorious Sanctuary of the Kingdom of God through Christ, and teaching others to do likewise.

How am I doing it?

Obeying the heavenly vision by God’s grace —the strength He provides (heart, knowledge, power, people, resources), laying aside this world; allowing Christ to be manifest through me by dying: the emptying of myself (power, possessions, pursuits of pleasure and popularity, and my person), taking up my cross (our weapon —the ultimate implement of our struggle against sin; taking what God purposed, what Satan mean for evil, but what God is using for good to save people alive) and following Jesus to the Kingdom of God, fighting toward His beloved —my fellow disciples, walking as He walked, starting where He placed me (my garden: my marriage, my family, my work, my community) unto the uttermost parts of the world.

In summation: I am making war against every challenge to Lord Jesus’ rule, taking and securing territory for the Kingdom of God according to Christ’s example, starting with my heart and in my home.

People are the fields where this war is waged.

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
—Luke 17:20-21

So, focus on eternal, life-giving connections with people to the glory of God. That’s how I take territory for the Kingdom.

My work, my marriage, my parenting, my resources —everything, are Christ’s and are merely means to facilitate advancing God’s Kingdom.

Now that the Holy Spirit has helped me get my bearings again, I can sit with these thoughts and emotions, bring them into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and evaluate what lie(s) I may have embraced that gave rise to the anxiety such as “I’m holding my own world together.”

Lies block love.

But, perfect love casts out all fear. (1 John 4:18)

I don’t have all the answers, I still have problems, but I have peace that the Good Shepherd will guide me through them all.

#perfectourlove

Placed In The Dark

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Placed In The Dark

Sometimes, God will put me in the dark to show others in the dark The Way.

“Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” —2 Corinthians 1:6

Those with a heart ready for heaven, who love God and are called according to His purposes, glory in their suffering, rejoicing to be counted worthy to suffer for His name.

“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” —1 Peter 4:16

And for those, like me, who are not there yet, God uses all things, including that same suffering to get you there. Instruction in the Light and lessons in the dark facilitated by the Holy Spirit is how I’ve gotten this far.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…” —Romans 8:28-29

“Though He [Christ] was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” ——Hebrews 5:8-9

“Why Lord?” is an excellent question, if I’m listening for His answer.

I have not already attained but I press.

#GloriousSuffering