Category Archives: anchor verse

Wisdom in View

Welcome 2022. Truly.

Last week, I listened to a podcast by John Cooper (lead singer of the group Skillet) on Facebook. He brought up this verse from Proverbs in the podcast, and it has stuck with me ever since. I think it will be my verse focus this year (Remember when we all started blogging and adopted words/verses for the year? Perhaps it’s a worthy habit to return to … a way to re-engage our hearts and, most importantly, our minds on better things.)

Wisdom. Where can she be found? Who’s looking for her? Who’s settling for less? Who thinks they have more? Who thinks they have best? To what lengths might we travel to hold her treasure?

To the ends of the earth?

The ends of the earth. How does one get there? Getting to the ends of the earth has never been easier for us. The internet is happy to oblige in this regard. We troll and scroll, like and share, emoji and meme, and just generally trip our way through endless #searchingforwisdom websites and links. The cacophony of voices competing for our attention is incalculable. This endless pursuit of wisdom via the cyber-sphere is a thought that resonated with Cooper. It resonates with me as well. You?

For the past two years, I’ve spent a lot of time wandering around on-line, searching the “ends of the earth” for wisdom. Some of that searching has yielded valuable truth. A lot of it has yielded a treasure trove of nothingness – a vain attempt at grasping for truth only to realize, in the end, its vaporous deceit.

Satan is pleased. He’s the master of such treachery. And if he can pull us away from truth by dangling endless resources in front of our fingertips to “help” us in our search for wisdom, then his devilish schemes have occupied a space in our minds that should be reserved for the true fount of wisdom – Jesus Christ. As Jarrin Jackson often says, “In through the ears and through the eyes for the domination of the key terrain of the mind, for the prize of the soul.”

Our minds are the gatekeepers of our souls. We should do better about guarding that gate. Keeping it solid. Stopping the turnstile from revolving. There are no open borders in wisdom’s territory. Instead, wisdom builds a fortress around her land and secures it with watchtowers of the Word and the sentinel of the Spirit of the living, one and only true God.

It should be an easy choice for believers … our default. So often it is not.

So here I am, nine days into a new year, vacillating between two women – a foolish one and a wise one. For the health of my soul, it is a wrestling that must be decided.

Wisdom. It has never been more vital to our survival than now.

Go get her in 2022, friends. Gather her. Grow her. Guard her. Give her.

Keep her in view by keeping your fingertips on the gilded pages of God’s Word. She will never lead you to a dead end. Instead, wisdom will lead you to the place where you were always meant to live. As always…

Peace for the journey,

For those of you who follow Jadon’s story, we had the wonderful privilege of hearing him preach the Word this morning – “The Good Law and the Glorious Gospel”.

Peace continued . . .

Sometimes we cannot see the way that God is taking us. Really, most days it’s that way, is it not? Just steppin’ on in faith because it’s the best we can do. As a people deeply connected to the heart of God, we try to honor that connection through our obedience and our allegiance to those not-yet-taken steps by actually taking them . . . one at a time.

We scratch our heads, as well as our hearts, and wonder what God is up to – believing that he is, in fact, up to something. Isn’t that most of the battle—settling our confidence regarding the God who can be known and trusted? That he thinks holy thoughts about us and offers holy ground for the clay feet that carry our frames forward?

This is faith on the edge. Alive, active, keeping pace with the day and keeping prayerful during the night.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so settled in my life of faith. Even four years ago when those death words were spoken over me and my faith sprouted all kinds of fresh wings, even then my faith was less. God grew me in th

 

at season, shaped my heart in a way that might not have been shaped otherwise. I accept this shaping. Most days, I glory in this shaping because I can measure the progression of my heart. Without those suffering days, I’m certain that my God-confidence would be lesser in this place where I am standing today.

I would still be waiting for faith to take hold at a deeper level. I’d still be wading in the shallows instead of splashing around in the deep. Life is better here in the deep. To be certain, it’s more mysterious, perhaps even a little more dangerous. But it’s a better pool of trust when the only shoreline within reach is the hemline of a water-walking Jesus.

I’m not saying that my faith is as strong as Peter’s was on that night when he took those sweet steps of trust across the sea. I am, however, simply willing to position my heart in a similar place of possibility. I’ve been keeping my eyes and my mind fixed on Jesus, and the communion has been sweet and certain.

 

Kept in peace. This has been a year for such a sacred keeping. I couldn’t have imagined on the front side of 2014 all of the many challenges that would confront my peace-keeping mission. With three months remaining, I imagine that a few more disruptions will work their way onto my calendar.

But I will cling to Peace.
And I will dip my hand over the side of the boat and wait for the waters to stir.
And when I feel the holy vibrations from the approach of the water-Walker, I will be brave.
And I will step out.
And I will step forward.
And just maybe (if only for a moment) I will walk on the waters with the King and know what it is to be fully alive and fully at peace.

The waters are stirring, friends. The Master approaches. Keep watch and keep ready. These next steps just might be your best ones. As always . . .

Peace for the journey,

Anchor Verse 2014 ~ Kept

 

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” –Isaiah 26:3, ESV

Kept.

This is who I want to be in 2014. This is how I want to live.

Kept … in perfect peace—the Father’s pledge to me preceded by my obedience to him. That obedience? To trust God first and, then, out of that unwavering confidence, to lay, lean, rest, and support my mind upon him … to stay with God.

With that trusting and in that staying comes a God-guarded, perfect peace—completeness, tranquility, safety, and contentment that cannot be secured in any other way. Like a night watchman keeping vigilance over his vineyard, the Father promises to safeguard my peace so that the harvest remains intact, healthy and thriving to fullness.

I don’t imagine I’ve ever experienced this perfect peace long-term. There have been moments, even days, perhaps a season or two of holding this kind of sustained, perfect peace, but I want more than seasonal glimpses. What I’m after is an enduring fellowship with this God-protected contentment.

And so, when I dreamed about these words from Isaiah 26:3 a few nights ago (to be fair, I didn’t know they were found in Isaiah 26:3 at the time), I awakened in the morning holding a fresh purpose for my 2014. This year, I want to know my Father as Keeper. I want to be kept in his perfect peace. Accordingly, I must tend to my trusting and to my staying.

A pledge preceded by an obedience. A pledge and an obedience tucked securely within the set of bookends who can and who does author such reality:

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

You. God. Father. Keeper.

He is where I begin my 2014. He is where I’ll finish. And in between my now and my then, a long season of trusting and staying … an enduring season of fellowship with God-protected contentment.

Kept. This is who I want to be in 2014. This is how I want to live … anchored and held by the rich truth and work of Isaiah 26:3. And so I offer my “welcome” to this New Year, and I offer my welcome to you as well. For as much and as little as we are able, the fellowship we share here is a stone of remembrance for me on this journey of grace. May God keep you strong and in the faith this 2014, and may you be guarded by his perfect peace every step of the way.

Stay with God,

Anchor Verse 2013 ~ Reconciliation

 

I read his words in the early morning hours of 2013, beginning words about new things, new hopes, new desires (especially as it pertains to those who busy themselves with resolution list-making):

“They believe that a good intention already means a new beginning; they believe that on their own they can make a new start whenever they want. But that is an evil illusion; only God can make a new beginning with people whenever God pleases, but not people with God. Therefore, people cannot make a new beginning at all; they can only pray for one.” (Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger, pg. 80)

And so, I bow my head and heart and pray for one . . . a new beginning, knowing that anything I might conjure up impulsively will ultimately fail if God is not in it. I ask for a new heart, a new approach to living with the older history that resides inside my aging flesh. And I pray for eyes to see this new beginning as it arrives, to lay hold of it, and to fully live it, even when it’s uncomfortable . . . especially then. To receive a new beginning from God only to reject it in the end is to squander the blessing—ultimately, to make a mockery of the gift so earnestly sought after, so divinely given.

Don’t ask for a new beginning from God if you don’t want one, because to receive one and to waste it is irreverence at the highest level.

Accordingly, I tread humbly, yet willingly toward the Father on this first day of 2013 as I ask for my “new.” I cannot perceive it, not yet. I can only believe that it awaits me, knowing that as I ask for this bread, my Father will not respond with a stone. He will answer me with his “much more”—good gifts from his God-heart (see Mt. 7:7-11).

Along these lines, and for the past several years, I’ve made it my practice to choose an anchor verse that would serve as a foundational guideline for my comings and goings throughout the year—a “go to” word from the Word when other words fail . . . when my heart and soul lose focus. Last year’s anchor was rooted in Phil. 3:12-14 and the phrase “movement wins.” I cannot begin to chronicle for you the many ways these verses and that phrase have pushed me, fortified me, and encouraged me in 2012. Movement wins stands as forever strength for me going forward. I pray the same power to be present in and through the anchor verses that I’ve selected for the New Year. For the past few months, I’ve known that these would be God’s watchwords for my 2013.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:17-20)

The ministry and message of reconciliation—the Greek word katallage meaning “exchange, adjustment of a difference, restoration of the favor of God to sinners that repent and put their trust in the atoning death of Christ.”

God has placed me, placed all Christians, in the middle of a sacred exchange between himself and his created, between his holiness and man’s sinfulness. He has commissioned us to stand as a bridge linking the dying, fear-filled soul to the living, faithful God. What trust! What responsibility! What privilege!

Accordingly, I tread humbly toward the Father on this first day of 2013. To be a reconciler in the kingdom of God—to no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of view—is to ratchet up faith’s commitment. With the responsibility comes accountability, of this I am certain. And so, I cannot ask for this “new” with only good intentions to fuel my well-doing. God must be the energy behind this undertaking. He is the author and finisher of my faith; it all begins and ends with him. So must my bridge-building. Bridges built by good intentions will ultimately collapse. Bridges built by God’s intentions will stand forever, eternally upheld by the heart and hands of his love.

This is where I am this morning, kneeling on a bridge, and praying for strength enough to be one of God’s. He, alone, knows where these verses and this prayer will take me in the next twelve months.

What about you? What is the prayer of your heart on this first day of 2013? What leading from God is leading you to ask for your new beginning? What strength do you find in his Word? What anchor will be your “go to” word in coming days? I pray one finds you—a verse or an entire chapter of holy writ that will work its way into your soul and serve as a strong foundation for your faith in coming days. Think on it; pray on it, and as it arrives, inscribe it upon your heart.

Don’t waste your new beginning; live it like you mean it. I’ll meet you on the road, and I’ll link arms with you in prayer for the steps ahead.

God will see to it all.

Anchor Verse for 2012

In honor of the New Year, I’ve selected the following Bible verse(s) to serve as my anchor verse for the next fifty-two weeks:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

Over the last few years, I’ve made this my practice. Not out of obligation. Not because others are doing it. Not because I think I’m super-spiritual. Rather, I’ve chosen an anchor verse because I need a touch stone of remembrance for the daily practicing of my faith… especially on those days when the earth beneath my feet begins to tremble. On those occasions, I need a “go to” word from the Word.

I’ve also found it helpful to have a tangible reminder of my “go to” word engraved upon a bracelet. It keeps me attached to higher thoughts and keeps me chained to the Gospel and to the Gospel-Giver. And so, my gift to myself this Christmas, designed by Lisa Leonard. A scripture and a simple phrase that God impressed upon my heart in early October.

Movement wins. You can read my previous thoughts about this phrase by clicking on this link. Soberly, I take this one on, and I’ll wear it in the upcoming year. I want the reminder, friends. I need the reminder to keep moving, keep pressing forward in order to “take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

Progression is a key to spiritual development. Without movement, our hearts remain as is. Without movement, our hearts weaken. Without movement, our hearts stay stuck, and over time, move backward to a lesser place of understanding. Without movement, we’ve missed the point of our purpose on this earth—to know God and then, out of that knowing, to lead others to know the same.

Movement is God’s desire for all of us. On the front side of a new year, we cannot foresee the moments that will fill our calendars in 2012. We can, however, make a commitment to move our faith forward as each one of them arrives.

I want to keep pace with Jesus this year. To go where he goes. To do what he says. To love as he loves. To give as he gives.

Going, doing, loving, and giving. Movement. With Jesus at the lead, movement wins.

 

Keep moving, friends. Your best days are ahead of you. I look forward to moving alongside you in 2012. As always…

Peace for the journey,

PS: How is God challenging you to move your faith forward in this season? What “word” is he speaking to your heart?

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