Tag Archives: God

Becoming Less

“So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing—and everyone is going to Him.” (John 3:26)

“…He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

And the question is, are we willing to learn this most fundamental truth?

Can I handle decrease, even if everyone around me is increasing?

Can I step back instead of stepping up? Can I fade, or does that thought threaten something in me, some kind of need for affirmation? Can my sense of worth handle becoming less significant so that Jesus becomes the all in all He is meant to be?

Can I resist becoming offended when people go to Jesus instead of coming to me?

In my marriage. As a parent. In friendship. In my work. In ministry. As the Church.

Am I willing to become unseen, even after fighting my whole life to be seen? Oh my. That one hits me right in the social media plexus.

This topic could be fluffed up with a lot of words, but let’s not do that today. Today, let’s concentrate on one question –

What would it look like to decrease?

Because Jesus must increase.

It can be painful, or painless, depending on how much we are prepared to become less so that He becomes more.

Living His Truth: Crucified

When a woman sat in front of me last year wrestling with her life, she said that someone kept telling her that she needed to live her own truth. Man, that just got my hackles up and they still haven’t gone down. Angry, is what it made me, because that “live your own truth” thing is a lie from hell sent to mess God’s people UP. So I’m going to address it the only way I know. A screen and my keyboard and the Word of God opened up in front of me. This series will be called Living His Truth.

And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. – Luke 9:23

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. – Galatians 5:24

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. – Galatians 2:20

In all honesty, if I live my truth, I’m going to avoid any hint of denying myself or being crucified. My truth tells me to avoid pain, to avoid discomfort, to avoid not getting my own way. My truth is to live in whatever way feels good to me, whatever agrees with my flesh, my feelings, my emotions, my whatever. Because the heart wants what it wants. The problem is that our hearts are wicked and deceitful above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9)

Living my own truth is why I needed to be saved.

Let’s visit the garden, just for a moment.

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. {Genesis 3:4-6}

See what he did there? He convinced her that God’s truth wasn’t her truth. And he’s still doing it today because why fix what works?

I don’t get to live however I want to live, if I call Jesus Lord. Following Christ means I follow Him to the cross and I crucify whatever my own will calls truth, and I choose to live according to His truth.

Let’s recap.

My truth will lead me to live my way, not His. Therefore, I can conclude that my truth is not actually true, because if I am walking in the truth, I will walk in the ways of God, who is Truth.

If my truth is not actually true, then I do not have my own truth, I have my own lie.

Moral of the story? If someone is telling you to live your own truth, they are telling you to live a lie. Don’t do that. Deny “your own truth”, pick up your cross every day, and follow Jesus.

We are His people and part of that privilege is that we choose to be crucified with Him so that we no longer live, but He lives in us.

And Jesus will never live our truth.

Declaration & Praise: Day 12

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before Him.” – Ephesians 1:3-4

“We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” – Ephesians 2:3-5

Today I declare that He is the One who blesses me. He is the One who chose me. He is the One who makes me holy and blameless.

I will not look to myself or to others for what can only come from God.

I was dead and now I live. I was under wrath, now I am under grace – because there is a great love that exists in God for me.

In the same way, my brothers and sisters in Christ were dead, and now they live. They were under wrath, but are now under grace. There is a great love that exists in God for them.

Today, I will remember that I am not alone in the grace in which I stand. I am not alone in being chosen, holy, blameless, and loved by God.

I will choose to see myself and others in the Body of Christ from the perspective of truth.

Declaration & Praise: Day 10

“I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.” – Psalm 62:1-2

They say “no rest for the weary”, but I declare truth today. There is a place of true rest, where striving stops and fear has to wait outside. In God, my body, mind and soul come to a place of rest. In His presence I can stop running.

Today, my feet are on the rock of my salvation, and will not be moved. As the earth shakes, my rock holds steady and I remain unshaken. Jesus is the firm place for me to stand, the strong, steady place for heart to rest. I am surrounded by His love and His grace and in Him I am safe from all that desires to consume me.

Today I will stand with my feet on my Rock. Today I will take refuge in my Stronghold. Today I will not be shaken.

Whatever I will walk through today, I will rest in God.

Declaration & Praise: Day 9

“When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.” – Joshua 6:5
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.” – Exodus 14:21-22

Nothing will stop my God. No wall, no sea will hinder Him from getting me to the place He has for me.

I declare today that the full power of God cannot be imagined by man. His power breaks down barriers, pushes back anything in His way, lays out giants, opens prison doors, holds the sun still, raises dry bones into an army, open graves and calls the dead to life.

Power, real power, belongs to God alone, and nothing can stand against it. No giant of sickness or loss can rage greater than the power and love of my Healer, my Deliverer, My Savior.

His plans for me cannot be thwarted. No enemy can change my destiny in Him or take me from Him. Nothing will ever stop His goodness toward me, nothing will take His love from me or take me out of His hand.

There is no power that will ever be able to stand against the power of the God who is for me and not against me, the God who formed me, set eternity in my heart, and rescued me from the dominion of darkness by the power of His cross. The heavens and earth and my life all come to be by His power.

Here in the power of God I stand. My God is for me. Who can be against me?

Declaration & Praise: Day 8

“ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” – 2Corinthians 12:9

Today, there is access to the throne of God for His people.

I have access to grace.

I have access to mercy.

I have access to the Spirit of God who dwells in me.

Today, I will not believe that I have nowhere to turn. I will not choose to seek what I need from any other source, for I have been given access to the throne of God by the blood of His Son. I will not tiptoe in, wondering if He will grant me what I need. I will run there with confidence and receive what He offers. Grace. Mercy. Help.

I am not strong. Any inner fortitude, any stubborn refusal to quit within me is utter weakness. I have no boot straps to pull myself up with and I have no wits about me with which to make it through this life. I will boast of, not attempt to hide, these truths, for my weakness invites the power of God. My weakness shows off the sufficiency of His grace.

So today I will not pretend to be strong, but will live and move and have my being in the grace of God.

Declaration & Praise: Day 7

“Then Moses said, “Now show me Your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence.” – Exodus 33:18-19
“You are good, and what You do is good;
    teach me Your decrees.” – Psalm 119:68

Today, I declare Your goodness. When I can’t see it. When I can’t feel it. When my life doesn’t reflect it. You are good.

When voices whisper that You have looked away, I will say that You are good. When my mind wonders where You’ve gone, I will say that You are good. When panic rises higher than faith, I will say that You are good.

When peace flows like a river once more, I will say that You are good. And when life is hard and the pain is unrelenting, I will say that You are good.

Because You have said that You are always good, and I believe You.

Today, I will choose to remind my soul that You are good, that everything You do is good, and Your glory is Your goodness.

Today, I refuse to let circumstances define who You are. I will not base Your goodness on my definition of “good”, but I will choose to take You at Your word. I will declare Your glory over my life, on mountains and in valleys. In joy and in pain, in weakness and strength. When I feel it and when I don’t.

You are good.