Who Do You Trust?

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I was reading one of the Psalms, Psalm 146 today, and these words just leapt off the page at me. Listen to what it says in verses 3-9:

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

We have two contrasting visions in this Psalm.

First we are told this – do not put your trust in princes. Don’t put your ultimate trust in humans, no matter who they are. No matter if they are princes. Or preachers. Or teachers. Or leaders. Or whoever. No matter how great they may be. Now matter how perfect they may seem. No matter how much you admire them.

Remember what it says in verse 4. Their breath will fail. The body will return to the earth. The mortality rate is 100%. All of us will reach that end. Me, you, all of us. All of us are imperfect. All of us will get it wrong. All of us will fail at some point.

Even the best of us.

But the Lord, He sets the prisoner free. He opens the eyes of the blind. He lifts up the orphans. He upholds the window. He made heaven and earth. He set the sea in place.

He is God. Mortals will fail. God will not.

Today, remember that. God will not fail you. Who do you trust today? Where is your trust? In mortals? In humans? Even in the best, even the princes, they will draw their last breath one day.

But God is eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, great and strong, mighty to save. He is worthy of all our praise, our worship, all our very lives.

Today, who do we trust?

May we place our hope and faith in all areas of our lives in our God. In Him, we can truly trust.

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Different Plans

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

You ever felt like there was something that you really wanted to do, maybe even something you needed to do, and you weren’t able to do it? Maybe things came up and kept you from doing it. It could have been a million different reasons, a million different things.

But for whatever reason, it doesn’t happen. We’ve all be there. We really have been. It can be frustrating when God has different plans. Listen to what happened to David today in 2 Samuel 7:4-6,12-13:

4 But that same night came to Nathan:5Go and tell my servant David:Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. . . . 12When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever

David wants to build God a Temple. You know what? That’s a good idea. That’s a good thing. David says it’s not right for him to have a beautiful house, while God’s Ark of the Covenant stays in a tent. That’s just not right, and he wants to do something about it. So he wants to build a Temple.

All sounds good. But God says no. That’s not his place, that’s not his calling. One will come after him that will build that Temple for God. But that person will not be David.

God had different plans. God had better plans; even better than David’s dreams.

Here’s the thing. God’s plans for your life are better than your dreams for your like. No matter what it is that you think is best or we think that we want to do, trust me, what God wants is better.

We just have to trust, especially when it doesn’t make sense.

God’s plans for your life are better than your dreams for your life. Trust in His plans, even when they are different plans.

God knows what He is doing. May we have faith to hold on, even when aren’t sure of what He is doing. May we trust, even with those different plans.

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The Lord Remembers

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

The Lord remembers things. Gulp.

That’s a scary phrase, isn’t it? It’s scary to think about the Lord remembering things. We think about the mistakes we’ve made, all the stuff we’ve done wrong, all the times we failed. And He remembers? Man oh man. It’s a heavy thing to think about the Lord remembering.

But, remember what the Bible says. The Lord doesn’t remember our sins, it says in Psalm 103:12 – “as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.” He doesn’t remember our sins, He forgives them, and then He forgets them. He doesn’t hold on to or remember these things.

So then, what is it? What is it that He remembers? Listen to what it says in Psalm 105: 7-10:

7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He is mindful of his covenant forever,
of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

What does the Lord remember? He remembers His promises. He remembers what it is that He said that He will do. He remembers His covenant with us.

He remembers His promises that He has made to us. He will never leave or forsake us. He will forgive us. He will give us abundant life. Nothing will be able to separate us from His love. All things work for our good and His glory.

For those us that believe, we will know eternal life.

He loves us.

God doesn’t remember our sins. But the Lord does remember. He remembers His promises. And He will never break His promises to us.

You can count on that.

He is faithful. He is true. And He remembers.

And I, for one, am so thankful for that. The Lord remembers His promises to us. May we always be thankful for that Good News!

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Give it a Try

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

We like to eat sweets in our house. We love snow cones, ice cream, all kinds of goodies and sweets. But the thing with a lot of the sweets that we like it eat is this. There are so many options. I mean, how can you choose among so many flavors? What are you to do?

So, we’ve learned this. We get sample. We’ll get a sample of this, a sample of that, we’ll try a bunch of them until we figure out exactly what it is that we want. We give them all a taste and see what it is that is just right for that day.

I thought about that when I read today’s Psalm. Listen to what it says in Psalm 34: 4-8:

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.

This is coming from someone who has tasted the Lord’s goodness. David says, the Lord delivered me from my fears. He answered him. His soul cried out and God was there.

He needed God, and God responded. He cried out, and God was there. He called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord showed His face.

And so what does David do? He says this. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Give it a try. Try it for yourself. See what happens.

Put your complete and total faith in God. Turn to Him, give it all to Him, truly turn it over to Him, and see what happens.

You won’t be disappointed. Happy are those that have done it.

So, today, maybe that’s what God is trying to say to us. Put our whole faith in Him. Look what David says, He delivered David from his fears.

Have you given your fears to Him? Not just your worries, but your fears? Taste and see. Give it a try.

Have you truly turned in that moment of doubt, worry, and stress? Taste and see. Give it a try. See what happens.

Turn to Him. Give it to. Really and truly and totally and completely. Taste and see. Give it a try.

He is God. You won’t be disappointed.

Today, may we give it a try. May we taste and see. And may we find God’s goodness.

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Thirsty

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

I’ve been trying something recently. I read somewhere that one of the reasons that we get tired in the afternoon hours of the day is because we are dehydrated. So, what I’ve been doing is drinking more water, especially in that afternoon time. See, what I used to do was just drink more coffee, that’s kind of my answer to everything – more coffee. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

So I’ve been drinking more water, and you know what? I think it’s working. I was thirsty, but I didn’t really even realize it. Drinking that water has helped me feel better and have more energy. And I didn’t even know that I needed it.

Listen to what it says today in Psalm 84: 1-4:

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise.Selah

I love that verse – my soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord. Our souls are thirsty for God. Our souls long for that communion with God, that worship of God. That’s what we are made for; that’s what we are created for. To know God. To love God. To worship God. To be in relationship with God.

That’s our purpose. That’s what we are made for.

But here’s the thing. We get so busy, we don’t realize that we are thirsty for Him. We know something is wrong, we know that we don’t quite feel right, we know that something is off, but we aren’t sure what it is.

What is it is that our souls are thirsty for God. And we have tried so many other things, and nothing satisfies. No work, not pleasure, not status, nothing. We remain thirsty.

Our souls long for God.

But here’s the thing. God desires you, as well. He wants you to be in relationship with Him. He is love, and being love, He desires for you to walk with Him. So, today, if your soul is thirsty, and really, all our souls are thirsty, know that there is living water that will satisfy. Our souls have been crying out, but we may not have realized it.

Today, drench your soul in His grace, His presence, His worship. You are loved, you are valued, you are pursued. Today, we need God. And God desires us.

Today, may we find our strength and our life in Him.

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Keep on Moving

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

One of the things that I know most about faith is that we are going somewhere. We are on the move. We have a direction and a purpose.

Now that somewhere, in time, is heaven. Yes. One day, for those of us that believe, we will cross over into eternity and we will forever be with the Lord. That’s something to hope in, believe in, and rejoice in.

But that’s not just what I’m talking about it. Listen to what we read today in Hebrews 6: 1-3:

Therefore let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And we will do this, if God permits.

We are going on to perfection. Woah. That’s scary. We don’t like the sound of that. Perfection? None of us are nowhere near that!

And you know what? That’s exactly true. None of us are anywhere near perfection. But just because we aren’t anywhere near it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be moving towards us. We aren’t perfect. That’s right. But you know what? We are working to be faithful. And that’s always the first step, the first key.

And second, we have to understand that. What does it mean to be perfect? Well, let me ask you this, what is the point of our faith? What are we after? What are we doing? We are seeking to, by His grace, to be more like God.

And what is God? Holy and Love. That’s His character. So, how does Jesus tell us to be like Him? Well, He says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all that we are, and love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s what true obedience looks like.

That’s what true holiness looks like.

That’s what perfection looks like. John Wesley didn’t talk about perfect in action. He talked about perfect in love.

That’s what we are chasing. That’s what we are after. Perfect, in love.

Today, let’s keep moving. Let’s keep being faithful. Let’s keep working. Let’s keep growing. Let’s keep trying to be perfect in love. And let’s see what God does with it!

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Who is God?

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

First, some housekeeping. I send these reflections out each day as an email. I’m changing the way that I send them out. If you’d like to join my new email list, click here. There were some technical problems last week that I think I should have worked out, all should be good now. Now, on to today’s reflection.

Today’s reading is just one of my favorites in the entire Bible. I know I say that a lot. But really. This one is. This is one of those passages that just unlocks everything for us. Just listen to what it says in Colossians 1: 15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Boom. There you go. That’s it. Really. That’s it. This is one of those passages that is so key.

Why?

It tells us who God is. Wait, what? Yep. This passage tells us who God is. It says this. Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. If you want to know God, look to Jesus.

Now, we believe in a God that is Three in One. Trinity. Triune. By the way, here’s a link to a great book I’m reading that does as good a job of unpacking the Trinity as anything I’ve ever read.

But, there is something special about Jesus. In Jesus, we see God’s heart. We see the love of God. The mercy of God. The acceptance of God. We really see in a special why who God is. Jesus shows us who God is.

But also, we see this. We don’t believe in just sort of a “spiritual” God. Our culture talks a lot about God, but who is this God? It is the God as shown to us in Jesus.

A God that forgives, but calls us to be holy. A good that seeks the broken, and calls us all to follow Him. A God that died for our sins, shows us the depth of His love, and rose from the dead.

A God of the cross. Of the empty grave. Of resurrection. Of the destruction of sin, death, and the grave.

Jesus shows us God’s heart. But He also shows us exactly who God is.

That’s why I love this passage. And that’s why it matters.

It answers the question of who is God?

Jesus. The answer is Jesus.

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Solving Mysteries

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

In life, there are a lot of mysteries. There are always things that we don’t know, that we don’t understand, that are unsure of. There are always mysteries.

What will happen in the future? What will happen to our kids, our grandkids? What will happen today? What decision should we make? What door should we go through?

Where do we find our answer? In Daniel, the king quite often had dreams, had things he needed/wanted to know an answer too. And he looked to the stars and the magicians of his day for answers. When they couldn’t answer he turned to Daniel. Listen to what Daniel says today in Daniel 2: 26-28:

The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

The answers for the uncertain in our lives don’t come from this world, but they come through God. Now, God will often speak through other people, like He did through Daniel in this text, but Daniel is sure to say – the answer to these mysteries, they don’t come from any human, but they come only through God. How do we know the answers? How do we solve the mysteries?

God will speak to us and reveal these things to us when we seek Him in His Word. Reading Holy Scripture consistently is one of the ways that God will reveal the plans He has for us. So many answers will be revealed when we take time to listen through His Word.

God will speak to us through prayer. As we seek His face through our time with Him, God will show His face to us and allow to know only know which way to go, but better yet, to know Him.

God will speak to us through worship. As we gather together with other believers, through worship and the Word, God speaks to our souls and opens our eyes.

God will speak to us through His people. God will often place someone in our path that will have the word that we need to hear. The question is, will we be watching and listening for that word?

And know this, He will reveal the answers that you need, when you need to know them. So, if you don’t have the answer you seek yet, don’t give up. It will come. It will. Because God is faithful and true. And all knowledge comes from Him.

52 Weeks (Week 9)

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

This week as we continue memorizing the last verses of Romans 8, we take a look at Romans 8: 31-32. As we have mentioned, these last verses of chapter 8 in Romans are so encouraging, some hopeful, just so good. Listen to what we see here in 31-32:

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

We see here this reminder. If God is for us, then who can be against us? If God is on our side, pulling for us, calling us, leading us, pushing up, then what in the world do we have to fear?

Nothing.

If God is for us, then who can be against us?

No one.

This is how much God loves us. He loves us so much that He didn’t even spare His son so that we can know life and know life eternal. So how much more will He be with us and for us in all things? All things.

Today, no matter who you face, no matter what trials come your way. No matter what is happening, hear this.

No really. Listen. Listen to this. Know this to be true. Because it is. It is really and truly true.

God is for you. God is on your side. He is. He really is. No matter what happens today, God is for you. No matter what happens today, God is on your side.

Trust that today.

God is for you. Don’t lose hope!

52 Weeks (Week 4)

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Andy Stoddard

Here at Asbury, we are in the midst of our 52 Weeks, 52 Verses. In 2015 we are going to be learning a different verse of the Bible each week, and over the course of the year, together we will come to a deeper and fuller understand of God’s word.

As we take time to memorize it, God’s Word becomes a deeper part of our heart and we are able to call upon it in times of need. It just becomes part of faith; part of us.

This week we are learning the next portion of Psalm 121. This week we learn Psalm 121:3-4:

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

In the Bible times, the night was a scary time. It was a time of fear, a time when bad things happen, when robbers were out when dangerous animals were on the prowl. There were many Christian prayers that we have from these times which have the sole purpose of thanking God for surviving the night.

So with the night being so scary, how comforting is it to hear the words of this Psalm. The Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. He is awake. He is aware.

He is protecting you.

He is with you.

So, sleep easy. Because God is with you. Don’t be afraid. The Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. He is present and He is watching.

Have no fear.

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Tag Archives: God

Who Do You Trust?

Different Plans

The Lord Remembers

Give it a Try

Thirsty

Keep on Moving

Who is God?

Solving Mysteries

52 Weeks (Week 9)

52 Weeks (Week 4)