Then God Said

 Then God Said        

I have been studying the Old Testament and how God spoke from the beginning of time. Seeing how many times you see, “God said to them”reminding them of who they were. The recipients of this book were the Israelites before they entered the promised land and after the years of their captivity. All they knew was what they had been told but that wasn’t their story. God was rewriting their story.  

How has He rewrote yours? He is always in the process of making us become more like Jesus. If we allow that.

I think one of the most powerful things God gives us is our testimony. How we can explain what Jesus has done is a story that can only be done through our life. I love hearing when other people are vulnerable to share their darkness to light and yesterday I had that opportunity when I heard a story about Tyler. 

Tyler used to live a life in a gang.  He shared how he was led to that life. Growing up with a father who misused the word of God in a way that He wanted nothing to do with God led to a life held in captivity. Until that one day when God finally got a hold of him and transformed his understanding about who He was. He was going to end his life and asked God, “God if you are real am I supposed to do this?” God kept putting a name into his mind. It was that guy that would guide him to surrender his life to Christ. That surrender led to his greatest discovery ever. A Father who was madly in love with him. But even more he shared that it was those people that continued to disciple him and still do today. I learned that Genesis was written to people that thought they had been forgotten. God never once takes His eyes off us. Just like the Israelites and Tyler we are always on His mind. God rewrote his story. That is what He does. 

 

“Then God said, “Let there be light,” and it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”Genesis 1:3-4

The Israelites were enslaved in darkness and captivity and God was telling them that wasn’t their identity. From the start God said the Light would never overcome the darkness. Chaos will occur but we are called to be the Light of Christ in the dark world.

“He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure that he proposed in Christ as a plan for the right time- to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. Ephesians 1:9

The promise God has for us has always been restoration. Since sin entered the world God has been in the business of redeeming and restoring lives that think they have to live in captivity of what is occurring within their lives. He desires to restore us but that is a choice. There is no place that you can’t go that is too far for Him to take you back. It is in the surrendering that He can begin to restore. 

Our circumstances don’t define our future. Even if what we have known in the ways we have lived our darkness and captivity of our minds and hearts that can’t stop the love God has for us. His Light can break though and restore anything. God has always been mindful of us. Jesus has always been the plan and still is!

Tyler gets it. Only three years into his journey and he knows he can’t take a step without God. He knows that if he is ever going to make it he has to keep God his number one priority. And he has men who continue to walk along with him helping him to remember and point him back to Jesus. But hearing him talk he was so far beyond so many people I know that have been Christians for many years. People can see Jesus working in him and are now drawn to know more about it. Not because he is flashy or has a big presence but because of the Presence of the Living God working in him to accomplish more than he could ever ask or imagine. Even hearing him speak I could hear the joy as he is continuing to work within him and the desert he says that God has him in as he is continuing to trust that God is with Him.  The Israelites wandered for many years never once were they off God’s radar. 

God is radically transforming Tyler. He is doing life together with people that are following after Jesus. His heart breaks because he desires to shift the atmosphere of discipleship. Helping others to know Jesus and what that means for their lives. 

Father,

Thank you for stories of your redemption. Thank you that our past doesn’t define our future. What you say is the final say. Thank you for those that walk alongside us and encourage us and remind us of our purpose in you Jesus Christ It is all for your glory so that others can know you.

Amen