Receiving, In Faithful Expectation

Romans 8 says the earth groans in eager expectation for the sons of god to be revealed and we've seen a little bit of that earth groaning in Haiti over the last week or so. When you see an image from Haiti and how those sweet people have just been devastated, I want you to get a very clear picture in your understanding of what the enemy is after in your life. That wherever you see death and despair and depression, brokenness, pain, weeping and rejection, that is the way of the world. That's the way things go. And yet right into the middle of that devastation comes the Word of God. And the Word of God is life and health and peace and abundance and goodness and acceptance and loving-kindness.

When you and I look over the circumstances of our own lives, there's ... if your life is like mine ... they are some messes there. Some of those messes are our own doing and some of them are because of the sinful choices of other people. We tend to be very critical of our own situations and say, "Well, if someone else did it to me that's one thing, but if I did it to myself then I'm pretty much stuck here." But Jesus comes to redeem all of it. He redeems whatever we give to him.

And so I want to remind you today that Jesus Paid It All, it's not just a song. It's so much more than that. It's reality. That where there is pain, brokenness, loneliness, rejection, sickness, and bondage, Jesus steps into that mess and says, "I can make all things new. I can redeem that."

So, I would ask you today, where is the brokenness and pain in your life? What needs to be brought into the redemptive arena for the touch of Jesus in your life? You have but to bring that to him.

I love that Psalm 23 says that he sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Where the enemy wants to fight, Jesus says, "Sit down and let's eat. Not only will we not fight but in the midst of that there will be peace."

So, where is there a lack of peace and joy today? Let's bring that to him to today.

"Jesus, we thank you today. That you have all power and all authority and all sovereignty to make peace in the midst of chaos. So Lord, we bring you the wreckage and the chaos that is in our lives. We thank you that it's not beyond your grasp. We yield authority to you, Jesus. Touch us and make us whole in Jesus' name. Amen."

I invite you right now to let joy rise up in your heart because your future really is brighter than you know. You bring it into the authority of Jesus and he has the ability to touch that thing and make it new again. Whatever it is. So let joyful anticipation rise up in your heart, by faith, that Jesus is not finished speaking over your life yet.

"Jesus we thank you today for your blood represented by this cup. We confess today that there are things in our own lives, messes we made and messes we didn't, that we need your redemptive touch to come to right now. We receive your touch with joy and faithful anticipation. In Jesus' Name. Amen."


I watched church online today and these are words spoken by Pastor Marcus before heading into Pastor Robert's message. Since I was watching online, I was able to go back and press play and pause until I had these words down. They just touched my heart so much when I heard them that I wanted to get them down here so that I could speak them over my life [and you over yours] because I believe God speaks over my life through others many a time.

In faithful anticipation and expectation, I receive.