Choosing His Road to Love and Life

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Prov. 14: 12

I hate the feeling of anger rising up inside me. Hate it, hate it, don't know what to do with it most of the time. How about you?

Tonight that opportunity presented itself to me, and in my own estimation it seemed "right" to me to be angry with someone who hurt my feelings. In a moment of haste, I put on my tennis shoes and since it was a nice evening, hoped to work off my angry feelings while I took a brisk walk.

Somewhat like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, my blessed Lord somehow spoke to my spirit, reasoning with a poor fool like me as I walked along...

(Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD...) Isaiah 1:18

I really didn't want to feel anger the whole time I walked and so I tried to think of the Lord and His goodness, how He bore my sins on the cross and also the sins of the one who hurt me. Then I realized if I did that I couldn't stay mad at the same time. Still the temptation of retaliate was there and I didn't know quite what to do with it. For a minute or two I actually believed that giving in to the anger would be more satisfying than obeying God.

In my heart I cried, "Lord, You said I was dead to sin, but it sure doesn't feel like it,"  In the smallest way, however, I took a tiny step of faith and believed what God said He'd done to that old person that wanted to retaliate and get even. Some wonderful truths from Romans came to mind.

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Rom. 6:1-2

From this teaching I remembered that: "There is NO advantage to sin." I can sin but there is no advantage to it. Ever.  Screaming, getting the last word in, "venting": all they really do is lead to carnal death. If I'm a believer, it will only bring a huge harvest of corruption. It will never bring peace or satisfaction.

"We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. " Rom. 6:6

In my flesh, when I've been hurt I want the offending party to know they've hurt  me and not just bear it silently. I think I might explode inside if I don't let them know how they've hurt me.  How "right" that seems! Someone hurts you, you hurt them back. All this talk about being dead to sin seems ridiculous in the heat of the moment...

But then another verse came in,  Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"  I concluded that God's love for me is greater than all the hurts ever done to me. 

Suddenly, it was OK. God loves me, and will never stop loving me. This might not seem like such a big revelation, but it freed me tonight from sin's tyranny.

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ... II Cor. 2:14a

Always being led to Triumph

"For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the fields are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell
you; For the world is Mine, and
all its fullness...
Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver
you, and you shall glorify Me."

Psalm 50: 10-12, 15



Many years ago, a good friend  who faced a hard trial of faith shared with me a life-changing verse. For all who dare to believe it, it is tucked away in II Corinthians, chapter 2. If only we would believe it, life would be so much more pleasant, each moment an opportunity for happiness.

It simply says:

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

To my doubting mind, I surely want to jump in there with some kind of reservation. "Always, Lord? But what about that time when....?"

This morning I read this verse again. In my Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (3rd edition, Jay P. Green, Sr., editor) the transliterated verse reads like this:

"But to God thanks the (One) always leading in triumph us in Christ, and the odor of the knowledge of Him revealing through us in every place."
(page 554)

I looked up the word always in Zodhiates' Complete Word Study Dictionary. It is the word pantote (#3842 in Strong's). The definition is: "Always, at all times, ever." This same word is also used in Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, Luke 15:31, Luke 18:1 and John 6:34.

No room for an exception there.

Then I looked up the word triumph. It is #2358 in Strong's and is the word thriambeuo and in this verse it means "to cause to triumph."

If we look with sight eyes, we ask God how ever in this world this verse could be true. There have been disappointments in my life, big ones, yet II Corinthians 2:14 says what it says. Moreover, it was written by the Apostle Paul, who went through a few things like being stoned to death, beaten with rods, shipwrecked and afflicted with a disease that God would not take away. Just little things like that.

I was talking to a friend the other day who expressed a disappointment in one way her life had turned out. I was stumped afterwards. How can we be disappointed with the way things turn out if we believe that He is always leading us to triumph?

Even in dark, difficult places, this verse is in the Word of God. It is Divinely inspired and written for our comfort and encouragement. If I accept this verse, I feel a heavy yoke of disappointment with my own life being traded for faith in an unchanging benevolent God who works all things (not some things) for my ultimate good.

I love how Kenneth Wuest translates Romans 8:28 in his expanded translation of the New Testament.

And we know with an absolute knowledge that for those who are loving God, all things are working together resulting in good, for those who are divinely summoned ones according to His purpose.  (page 366)

And in the Amplified Bible Romans 8:28 is translated this way:

We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labor), all things work together and are (fitting into a plan) for good to those who love God and are called according to (His) design and purpose.

"For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:19-21

I am comforted in believing these promises, no matter what the enemy may whisper in my ear. It is time for me to put up my shield of faith! I implore you to do the same.

Resting in the Savior's Sanctuary

"A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." Jeremiah 17:12

Did you ever wonder why things are the way they are in your life? I know I have wondered it for mine. I think back to when I was just ready to graduate from high school and my "whole life" ahead of me. Such dreams, such hopes. And here I am today, over thirty years later with most of my life behind me now. There are some things I wish I had never gone through, but yet they happened any way.

If it were not for the truth contained in the above verse, I often could feel sad by the way some things have turned out, by the way things seem to appear in my life. But God is sovereign, and He has a purpose beyond mine. In that I can rejoice. Before I ever was conceived, God had my whole life known before Him. He knew all the things that would happen, and yet He allowed them for a reason.

Another verse of great comfort is II Corinthians 2:14: "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." Now how does God do that? How could He possibly lead me in triumph in everything? Only one way, if I keep trusting Him that He knows everything that is going on in my life and is working it for my absolute good.

Life is tough, but God is always there. He knows all things that will happen to us in the future, and desires to work them for our ultimate good. When I know that God is sovereign over every little detail of my life, then my anxious heart can find rest in Him. He knows me, He knows all about me. What peace I can gain from that thought. He is not just sitting up there on a throne, waiting for me to make a mistake so He can beat me over the head somehow. No, I read about Jesus doing the very opposite for me:

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, Kenneth Wuest translates verse 25 this way: "He is able also to be saving completely and forever those who come to God through Him, being always alive for the purpose of continually making intercession for them."

That doesn't sound like a God ready to "get me" but a God of compassion, a God who knows everything about me and yet He loves me somehow. David wrote in Psalm 139:1-6:

1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 ​​You know my sitting down and my rising up;
​​You understand my thought afar off.
3 ​​You comprehend my path and my lying down,
​​And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 ​​For there is not a word on my tongue,
​​But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 ​​You have hedged me behind and before,
​​And laid Your hand upon me.
6 ​​Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
​​It is high, I cannot attain it.

If this is really true, then I do not need to be afraid of hiding anything from God. Indeed I cannot hide anything from Him. He knew all of my life and every thought I would think, before I even existed. All He wants me to do is trust Him, that He is working things for the good, that He will take care of every detail of my life. He is ever concerned, ever involved, ever caring in my life.

In His Word, God proves He is ever concerned in every trial:


Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
​​A very present help in trouble.
2 ​​Therefore we will not fear,
​​Even though the earth be removed,
​​And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 ​​Though its waters roar and be troubled,
​​Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

7 ​​The LORD of hosts is with us;
​​The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

In His Word, God proves He is ever involved with all the details of our life:

Psa 71:5-6
For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
You are my trust from my youth.

By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.

Finally, in His Word, God proves He is ever caring of all our needs and burdens:

I Peter 5
​6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.​

In fact, He cares for me because I am in His Son, and He loves me with the very same love that He has for His Son, for Jesus prayed for us in John 17, asking His Father:

"O holy Father, maintain a watchful care over them in Your name, which You have given Me, in order that they may be one even as we." (John 17:11, Wuest translation)

"And I made known to them Your name, and will make it known, in order that the love with which You loved Me might be in them and I might be in them." (John 17:25, Wuest transl.)

Again, in the epistle of I John chapter 3, verses 1 and 2 are translated by Kenneth Wuest like this:

"Behold, what exotic (foreign to the human heart) love the Father has permanently bestowed upon us, to the end that we may be named children (born-ones, bairns) of God. And we are. On this account, the world does not have an experiential knowledge of us, because it does not have an experiential knowledge of Him. Divinely loved ones, now born ones of God we are. And not yet has it been made visible what we shall be. We know absolutely that whenever it is made visible, like ones to Him shall we be, because we shall see Him as He is."

These are just a few verses that prove that God knows all about us and our situations and is sovereign over every detail. He has done everything He possibly could to give us a sense of security and love, in spite of whatever is going on around us. Because of this, we can thank Him for all things, and when we do, it lifts us above our problems to His glorious throne, the blessed place of our sanctuary, both now and forever.

Beyond My Own Understanding

Psalm 76:10
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; With the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself."

In vain the other day I "vented" before God but could not stay in that state of mind too long. I hated the feeling of tension welling up inside me and so instead I ended up crying out before Him.. Today, when my heart again was overwhelmed I went to my secret place to cast my burden on Him.

It is there I can go and pour out my heart before God, the living God, the God who hears. People can offer sympathy and prayers but they cannot solve your problems, only God can. He solved our biggest one 2,000 years ago by dying on the cross for each and every human sin. Scripture says He will be praised, so how on earth could my "venting" ever accomplish anything worthwhile? Yet He heard me in my hour of need, and He did not cast me away. Well, I guess if He was there for my biggest problem ever (sin and death), He will be there also for my problems in this transient life.

Lately I have been thinking on what constitutes a blessing by God. People say all the time that they are "blessed" when they have a good job, a nice house, a nest egg for a rainy day, etc. What if you are being persecuted, though, like the believers in North Korea who just received a death sentence? According to the American way of thinking, we might not consider them blessed. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:11- 12:

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

What if it seems like one trial seems to come upon the heels of another? James 1:2-3 told us to:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."

Somehow that seems to be the last thing I want to do in a trial. I either want to grumble about it, or press the panic button, but certainly not count it all joy. Why it goes it against every single natural thought I have!

These Scriptures prove to me that God does not see trials and adversities the way a man does. I love that about God, that He does not think like us! If He did, we'd all be in trouble!

Isa 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

But Scripture tells me I need to takemy every thought captive in I Corinthians 10:4-5:

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ"

These two verses tell me some important truths.

1. We are in a warfare.
2. Our weapons are not carnal. Human help will not help, only God and His Word can help us.
3. These weapons from God want to bring down every thing inside me that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, of what He says is Truth in His Word.
4. It is a battle for every single thought.

Only God can make us victorious in this battle. We cannot fight this on our own. Sometimes, for me, during trials, a thought will come in that will make me start fearing, but I realize that thought needs to go because it is exalting itself against the knowledge of God, of Him promising in His Word that somehow I will be left hanging out to dry, that God will not provide for me. Today, after I prayed, I was tempted to think that I was still the same old "me," and not victorious, but then I started humming some songs of praise to God as I walked along outside and I felt my burden starting to lift.

And then the Spirit brought to mind two beautiful Scriptural promises, something to meditate on in the midst of trial:

II Cor 2 :14 "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

and....

Isa 42:3

"A bruised reed He will not break,And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth."

Oh, may He recall more and more of His precious promises to us as we walk through the hills and valleys of life!