When the Foundations are Shaken: Retreat, Recalibrate, and Ramp It Up! Part 2a
As a reminder of where we began with Part 1: When the circumstances of life are particularly shaken, fractured, and apparently falling completely apart, it’s time to Retreat… Recalibrate… and Ramp It Up…
When God allows for your foundations to shake, shift, even fall away at times, it is for the purposes of promoting, furthering, instigating growth, maturity, conformity, holiness, and effectiveness… “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20, Rom 8:28)!
Part 2a consists of the first part of a two section REMINDER of God’s awesome and most merciful Plan of Redemption: If you already know it, please refresh your memory again and “Retreat… Recalibrate… and Ramp It Up…”. If you do not know it, please realize it’s God’s offer for your salvation and eternal foundation that will never leave or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)!
The next two segments are taken from my book, “The Weeping, the Window, the Way”.
Appendix B: “God’s Redemptive Plan Have Peace: There’s a Person, a Promise, and Perfect Plan in Place”
“One of my favorite passages of the Bible is a simple, yet supremely important promise, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33, KJV). No, the God of the Bible is not a God of chaos or disarray; He is the God of order. His plan for our salvation creates peace within our heart, our spirit, and our life. Do you want God’s person, peace, purpose, and plan in your heart?
A variety of issues at work in our culture, our churches, and our own hearts today can give the impression that the people of God are as uncertain and confused as the world around us about the Bible, the God who inspired it, and His redemptive plan. Sometimes, this uncertainty and confusion can tempt the church to entertain substitute theologies or to flail in antagonism at those who espouse the True Truth of the Bible.
Uncertainty and confusion, along with their first cousins, worry and anxiety, are hardeners, killers of the human heart. God created us in His image, to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Our hearts were not made for confusion. Please, beloved, don’t blame God for the confusion and uncertainty His people sometimes express. And don’t let it stir up doubts in your heart concerning His plan for your salvation. God has made nothing truly important to be a mystery to us. He does not intend to confuse you.
The fact is, God loves the world and has devised a very specific plan for it—the Plan of Redemption. How illogical would it be for the One Who so carefully created you, the One Who made you the culmination, the pinnacle of His creation, to leave you twisting in the wind, confused and despairing, over issues of eternal life and death!
No, God has displayed the truth about His awesome person, plan, story, and glory in what He has done to rescue us, His beloved image-bearers, from the misery, pain, shame, and fear that befell us when we fell into sin. Human beings have long tried to resolve this problem by creating religions and schemes by which we reached out to God, presenting to Him supposed “good works” by which to merit His favor. These efforts never provided more than momentary, hollow relief. And they resulted in only hearts more hardened still. Pursuing peace with God by any means other than the means of redemption He Himself has provided always results in hardening. Only God’s plan of redemption creates the Shalom Peace our hearts most deeply desire. Only that plan demonstrates for you and for the world God’s deep delight in you!
The Good News is that the God of the Bible has done everything necessary to secure for us peace with Him and within us. He offers it freely to us as a gift—a free gift of God’s grace, a gift that cost God the life of His one only Son, Jesus Christ. God expects us to receive that gift with realistic self-awareness, brokenness, relief, joy, and a deep gratitude that bears the fruit of righteousness and devotion. Please don’t cheapen that gift by proposing to add your own merit to it. Rather, just receive it! Receive it as the free gift God intended it to be.
To help you unpack that gift with deeper appreciation and hope, I have included here an explanation of various key facets. A few pages cannot begin to exhaust the beauty of the plan. Nor can it hope to delve deeply into all the details. But it does explain that plan in broad and biblical strokes. While my words are fallible, the plan itself cannot fail! It is built on the character and promises of God.
Read on to discover the unsurpassed joy of knowing more deeply the infinite, yet intimate God who is at work in you and for you, the God who wants you to receive the spectacular benefits of his redeeming work.” (John Dozier, The Weeping, the Window, the Way, Appendix B)
Please join us here at The Training Table next week, December 5th, for Part 2b: “The Eight Planks of God’s Plan of Redemption”.
In love and truth,
JohnDoz
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