Newsletter Devotional 10/07/2021

“Everything we say and do, everything we commit ourselves to, and every situation, location, and relationship we experience is experienced between the already and the not yet. You will never understand the things you face every day until you understand that you live in the middle. Everything in your life is shaped by what the middle is like.

Knowing that you are living between the already and the not yet tells you where you are located in God’s story of redemption. Stay with me; this is intensely practical. Already God has given us his Word as our guide. Already he has sent his Son to live, die, and rise again for our salvation. Already he has given us his Spirit to live within us. But the world has not yet been restored. Sin has not yet been completely eradicated. We have not yet been formed in the perfect likeness of Jesus. Suffering, sadness, and death are not yet no more. It is hard to live in the middle, but that is exactly where we live. We live in a world that is still sadly and terribly broken.

We live with flawed people. When you start unpacking what life is really like between the already and the not yet, you gain perspectives that are enormously helpful for understanding the things you need to face if you want a life and a church that is wholesome and healthy in the eyes of God.”

Paul David Tripp wrote the above excerpt in an article about marriage, which I believe aptly applies to us as the Bride of Christ, and during the season of transition SFNAZ finds itself in. As we go through this season, please keep the thoughts of Dr. Tripp fresh in your mind. And then add to it an attitude of anticipation.

People who build anticipation see with different eyes.

Eph 1:17-19, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

People who build anticipation hear with different ears.

Mark 4:9, “Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

People who build anticipation think with a different mind.

Rom 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

People who build anticipation have decided to….

• Always see, hear, and think spiritually.
• Always seek agenda harmony with others above their own opinion.
• Prepare for God’s anointing on the church by asking God to fill their spirit anew with His Spirit.

~Pastor John