Be still and know that God is God.

Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

God reigns. He is King over all of the universe and over all of our lives. He is in control of everything that happens. Therefore we don't need to worry. We don't need to freak out about life, about what happens next, about money or friends or family or anything else.

All we need to do is trust God. To be still and know that whatever happens, whatever goes on, God is the same as he always has been. He does not change and he is faithful to all his promises. That he is with us (his people, christians), he loves us, and he works everything for our good (Romans 8:28).

He will be exalted. He will work everything for his glory. That should be a comfort to us, because God is glorified in showing his love, mercy and grace to us if we have turned to him.

We don't need to worry about life. We don't need to get caught up in the countless tsunamis and hurricanes of woe that assail us. We don't need to freak out when the waters reach our necks. We need to be still and know that God is who he is. That he always saves his people - be it from or through death.

Be still. Trust Go
d. He is worthy of all praise. He is trustworthy. He is faithful.

Why we couldn't do it, and why that's a good thing (Part 2).

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Yesterday we looked at two reasons why it is better that we are saved entirely by grace than by our own effort. Firstly, we are counted as righteous with Jesus' righteousness. He takes our sin and we are forgiven based on his work. Secondly, if we were saved by what we did, we would constantly be worried about stuffing up, because one slip up would mean eternity in hell with no hope for forgiveness. Today we'll look at two more reasons: It displays God's character and it means anyone can be saved.

• God displays his character through Jesus

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God is just. We sin and therefore we deserve hell. That's the spot we're in without Jesus. Yet God is not simply just, holy and perfect, but also merciful, gracious, loving and compassionate. 

Therefore he sent his only son into the world. Jesus, who is God, became a man. He willingly came and he died for us (Christians), taking our sin and God's wrath and just penalty for that. In Jesus God displays his justice - sin is dealt with. In Jesus God also shows his love and mercy - providing a way for us to be saved "while we were still powerless" (Romans 5:6-8) and at great personal cost.

We couldn't save ourselves, but God made a way for us to be saved. Therefore he has shown for his character and his glory, bringing us to eternal salvation in him if we put our faith in him.

• Salvation isn't just for the Elite.

If we could have managed to be perfect and save ourselves. then that would mean that only the best people could be saved (that certainly wouldn't be me and probably wouldn't be you). Only the people who were completely self-controlled, completely humble, completely gentle, completely pure could be saved. Even as Christians, free from slavery to sin, we still stuff up. If we had been freed all along, we would still have sinned.

That would be bad for us - we would deserve and would get eternal destruction in hell. Jesus didn't come to save those who were well, he came to save the sick (Matthew 9:11-13) - he didn't come to save the 'good' people (since no one is good. and those who think they are are self-righteous and proud), he came to save the 'sinners' - us. Those who cannot help themselves. That's good news. In fact, thats what the gospel is all about - God saving us for his glory even though we do not deserve it one bit.

Conclusion

We don't deserve the salvation that we have. We couldn't achieve it ourselves and nothing we could ever have done could have made us right in God's sight.

We don't deserve it, and that's why we can count on it. 

It was given freely to those who didn't deserve it, and therefore nothing that we do can make it be taken off us. If we truly love God we will serve and obey him, but we don't have to fear losing our salvation because it is entirely by grace.

Therefore, since we are saved by grace, we are free to obey God out of love, not duty. If we had to obey to get to heaven, and we lived in constant fear of stuffing it up then we wouldn't obey out of love. This way we can obey God out of love.

We couldn't do it, and that's a good thing because of Grace.

Why we couldn't do it, and why that's a good thing (Part 1).

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Grace: God's Riches at Christ's Expense.
God's undeserved favour on his people which we have through Jesus because he died for us and took the wrath we deserved for our sin. Romans 11:6 says that if we are saved by grace, "then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." The fact is that we cannot help ourselves - we sin and we cannot undo that (Romans 3:23). We can only be saved by Grace. We couldn't do it, and that's a good thing.

You see, if we were saved by anything we could do then we would have our own righteousness. That's it. We would be good people, end of story. Sure, we'd be good enough to get to heaven on our own merit, but what we have in Jesus is far, far better.

• We have Christ's Righteousness.

2 Corinthains 5:21 says

For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God

Jesus took our sins and we take his righteousness. We are holy in God's sight, not based on what we've done. When God looks at us, he knows that we are still sinful, but he sees Jesus and Jesus' righteousness instead of our sin. Jesus took our sin, we took his righteousness. We died to sin with him, and we rose to new life with him (Romans 6)

Isn't it far better to have Jesus' righteousness, God's holiness instead of our own works? We have God's grace and mercy - his righteousness becomes accounted to us through faith. That's truly awesome.

• We wouldn't be free of worry

If we had to count on ourselves and our own works, then we would have to constantly worry and be careful. Since one sin is enough for us to be justly and eternally condemned to hell, we would have to watch every word, thought and deed. We would have to constantly worry and fret over everything - making sure we didn't stuff it up. One stuff up could mean eternity in hell without any hope for forgiveness.

We would truly be slaves to good works. 

Through Christ we know that there is complete forgiveness. We need to hate sin and we need to fight it, but we know that we will stuff up, and we know that he has paid the price. Every true Christian is (and will be) forgiven for their sins. It isn't an excuse to sin more, but it is a reason to praise God for what he has done. It is far better that we are forgiven then that we are slaves to doing good.

God Deserves all Glory

This is only part one of the series, but here's a concluding point. We cannot make it ourselves, and that means God deserves all the glory. We sin, we stuff it up and we cannot save ourselves. God reigns and he has shown forth his goodness in offering us salvation.

We don't deserve any of the praise. God deserves it all. So praise him for all he has done!

Are you trusting in your own effort or in Christ? Only Jesus can save.

When stress gets to you.

This week is shaping up to be an extremely busy and stressful one. I have my trial HSC exams next week and up to this point I've been busy doing assessments and haven't really had much chance to study. I've done my best with my time, but the question remains: what if it isn't enough? What if I don't get time to study everything I need to? What if the essay questions are terrible? What if my music performances fall apart on Wednesday? What if? How can I know?

Stress is a powerful force, it can be helpful (it's certainly a good motivator), but it can also be very harmful.

So what should my response be to stress according to the bible?

1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Humility

I have to say, it's nice to go well in exams. It's nice to see that you've done a good job at something. And it's also nice to get puffed up about those things - but that isn't good. It is sinful.

What I need to realise is that all I can do is my best. The rest is up to God. Nothing I do can make me go better, what I'm called to do is just to trust God.

That's pretty humbling. It's not about me, and it's not about my effort, it's about God, and its all for his glory. God is mighty, and he will achieve his perfect plan, so we don't need to stress about all this stuff. Just trust God.

Cast all your anxiety on him.

This is tied to being humble. We trust God, and therefore we trust him with our anxieties. We trust him with our stress. We pray for his help, we spend time honouring him and learning about him (even though that time could go into studying) and then we use our time wisely to honour him as well.

God loves us, and he cares for us. He calls us to cast our anxiety on him - You and I don't need to carry it on our own. God knows what we face and what we are struggling with and he wants us to trust him enough to cast it on him.

Don't get weighed down with the things of the world. Trust God, be humble and cast all your anxiety on him - he cares for you.

What are you anxious about? 

God is strong enough to deal with it and he is good. Cast t all on him.

God Bless!
Nat.

P.s. Prayers would be greatly appreciated over the next few weeks!

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:2-3

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

Have you ever been in a position where your "heart grows faint"? Where life just seems too hard and every step seems like it takes double the effort? Maybe you were extremely stressed about something? Maybe you were facing family problems or relationship breakdowns? Maybe someone who you were close to had just died. Most of us go through those times.

We can learn from David. When his heart grows faint, when he can't seem to see past the mountains of trouble surrounding him he calls to God. And he knows that God hears him. He knows because in the past God had been his refuge and his strong tower. He knew that wherever he was in the world, he could call to God and God would hear him.

The thing about anxiety and depression is that so often it comes from focussing on ourselves and our situation. Maybe you feel life's too hard, maybe you're realising that you can't make it on your own and that we all fall short. Maybe you're stressed, worried and frustrated about friends who are struggling. Maybe it's something else. 

Instead of focussing on himself here, David looks to God. He says: "lead me to the rock that is higher than I." He knows that he falls short. He sins, he is imperfect, he fails. I fail, you fail. We all stuff if up. That's evident in our own lives and it's shown to be true throughout the bible. That's why when we focus on ourselves we fall into depression, because there is nothing good in us, nothing in us that truly deserves saving. Yet God is merciful. He is a refuge and strong power for his people.

Our prayer should be for God to lead us to the rock that is higher than ourselves. To lead us to Jesus. He was perfect and through his death we can be perfect and forgiven for our sins entirely. If you're not a Christian then you need that savation. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).

If you are a Christian then focus on Jesus. Life may not get better right away - it may not even get better at all. But through Jesus we don't have to make it to God on our own. He saves us entirely and nothing we can do can ever undo that. If you are truly a Christian then your salvation is based 100% on what Jesus did and 0% on yourself. Don't focus on the troubles of this life, focus on God, focus on Jesus and focus on heaven where we will be with him eternally. 

I read this Psalm the other night when I was feeling pretty down. Not depressed, just stressed over school and a whole range of other issues. Even so the reminder hit me square in the face - it's not about me, it's not about what I do. It's about God, it's about Jesus. I will fail - I have failed in so many ways. But Jesus is perfect and God by his grace has led me to that rock. He is my strength and my refuge, he protects us against sin and satan and our enemies. Trust in him.

Lord please lead us to Jesus and help us to realise all you have done for us more fully and know him better.