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Resisting Resistance: 3 Ways to Reach Our Goals

by | Jan 12, 2021 | Gospel Coaching, Weekly Gospel Meditation

Resisting Resistance: 3 Ways to Reach Our Goals

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Ephesians 2:1-2

Have you made plans, good plans, plans to enjoy and glorify God in specific ways? If so, expect resistance. Author Steven Pressfield nails the heart of resistance:

“Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give and that no one else has but us.” (Steven Pressfield, The War of Art, 15).

Pressfield’s resistance sounds uncannily like the devil, who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Whenever we make plans to multiply God’s glory, the devil will seek to destroy our mission. The “father of lies” (verse) especially enjoys shutting us down with shame, telling us, “You’re not…smart enough, strong enough, old enough, young enough, good enough….”

As Ephesians 2:3 points out, the world also puts up resistance to our plans. Your roommates oppose your exploration of Christianity, because it makes them feel guilty; your bestie mocks your attempts to quit drinking because you are her bar buddy; your husband sabotages your diet because he loves your famous buttermilk biscuits.

Finally, our own sin nature creates resistance—like Adam and Eve before us, we enjoy “gratifying the cravings of our flesh” (Ephesians 2:3). As we seek to finish writing our book, start our exercise program, or begin a Bible reading program, our sin weakens us, and we cave to our cravings (Ephesians 2:10).

If we are to accomplish the good works God has created us in Christ to do, we must resist resistance. But how? Faith, hope, and love are our best weapons.

1. “Through faith,” remember the gift of redemption (Ephesians 2:8): You are alive. Not dead in sin. Alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). Remember that by God’s grace, he has saved you, for a mission and a purpose. Whenever resistance roars, remember God’s gift of redemption, and ask him to rescue you again. 

2. Hope “in the coming ages” (Ephesians 2:7): To make plans is to hope, and to hope is to risk disappointment. When resistance nags you about your sins or failures, envision what you will be “in the coming ages”—you will be like Christ, because you will “see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2).

3. In love, do the works God has prepared for you to do (Ephesians 2:10): When resistance seeks to stall you, reassert your identity in Christ: “I am God’s handiwork, his poem, his good creation.” Reject resistance, assured that God has prepared good works uniquely for you, and continue on your path.

If you seek to bring light into this dark world, you will meet resistance. But take heart, you can resist resistance with the abundant resources you have in Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Lord,

We are weak. Make us strong. Protect us from resistance without and resistance within. Deepen our knowledge of your love for us that we might love you and love our neighbors by fulfilling your plans for us.

In Jesus’ empowering name. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Ephesians 2:1-10.

Listen to “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”

For Reflection

What resistance have you experienced as you’ve made plans for the future? Name that resistance and list several ways you can resist it.

Best-Laid Plans: What Proverbs Says about Goals and Plans

by | Jan 5, 2021 | Weekly Gospel Meditation

Best-Laid Plans: What Proverbs Says about Goals and Plans

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3, NIV

“The best laid schemes of mice and men ‘gang aft a-gley.” So goes the line from Robert Burns’ poem from which we get out phrase “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” In Burns’ poem, he writes about a poor mouse who has worked diligently to build a nest, only to have it “destroyed by Burns as he plowed his field.”[i] Like the poor mouse, we too can have our best-laid plans plowed over and wonder if there was any point in making them in the first place. Unlike the poor mouse, we have reason to hope that God is at work in the making of plans, even when they go awry.

The book of Proverbs offers wise counsel about making plans. Let’s consider four aspects:

  1. Take time as we make plans: “The plans of the diligent lead to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5). The wise will set aside time to count the cost before launching impulsively into a project.
  2. Seek counsel as we make plans: “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). God has designed us to be in community—with him and with others. Our planning process should always begin with prayer. Including others in the process makes it more likely that we will set smart goals and keep moving toward them.
  3. Make plans for good and not for evil: “Do not those who plot evil go astray?n But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness” (Proverbs 14:22). As we take time to plan and seek counsel about our plans, we want to consider our ultimate goal: How does this plan fulfill my calling to enjoy and glorify God?
  4. Commit and submit to the Lord as we make plans: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3). Proverbs 16:3 is not, as too many health and wealth purveyors have suggested, saying that if we simply write, “I commit this plan to you, the Lord will make it succeed.” It is telling us that we must, as Tremper Longman III explains, “submit our entire life’s action to God, so that even if our human plans are subverted, we can recognize an even deeper plan at work in our lives.”[ii]

Friends, as this new year begins, let’s not rush to share rash goals on social media. Rather, let’s take time in prayer and reflection to seek the Lord’s plans for us. And let us rest in knowing that even if they “gang aft a-gley,” the Lord is working “everything according to the purpose of his will,” (Ephesians 1:11), which is “good, pleasing, and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Prayer:

Lord, help us to resist making foolish plans. Guide us by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to make plans to “be fruitful and multiply” your glory on this earth. Give us wise counselors and friends to guide us. And help us to trust in you when things do not go as we thought they would.

In Jesus’ wise name. Amen.

Further Encouragement:

Read Proverbs 16:3, 21:5, 15:22, 16:3; Philippians 3:14 and Ephesians 1:11.

Listen to “Trust in You” by Lauren Daigle at https://youtu.be/qv-SXz_exKE.

For Reflection:

How do you go about making plans for “whatever you do?” Are there any changes you would like to make in your planning process?

(Affiliate link in footnote).

 

[i] Kim Baldwin, Farmer’s Bureau, “The Best-Laid Plans”.

[ii] Tremper Longman III, Proverbs, p. 328).

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Planning to Learn, Live, and Love in Your Story 2021

by | Dec 29, 2020 | Gospel Coaching, Seasons & Holidays, Weekly Gospel Meditation

Planning to Learn, Live, and Love in Your Story 2021

How do you plan to live your God-given story this year?

Happy Early New Year!

It’s two days before New Year’s Eve, the day/night when many people make resolutions they will break before sundown on New Year’s Day. I’m not much of a resolution-maker since I’m such a promise-breaker, but I do love to spend some time looking back over the previous year and looking forward to what God might do in the new year. If you’d like to join me in any part of this, here’s the blog version. If you’d like the prettier version with lines for writing answers, then be sure to subscribe to Living Story, and you’ll get a ten page printable PDF in your (e)-mailbox as well as a new free gospel-centered resource every month!

The “Where Have I Been, Where Am I Going” Planning Exercise

Background: This enlightening exercise helps us survey what God has done in the past and draws us to look for what he will do in the future. When we are persuaded that God is presently working his kingdom plan, we are motivated to set goals and keep running the race toward them with endurance.

Suggestions: Either schedule out four thirty-minute periods over the next week or one two-three hour planning session (put it on your calendar or it won’t happen). Or, gather for a planning session with some friends or your small group or your spouse; work together and separately on it.

Part 1

  1. Ask, “Where have I been?”
  2. Ask God to remind you of the significant events, changes, accomplishments, and losses of the past year.
  3. Write down your top three in a short sentence or phrase. (Remember, things actually change in our brain when we write).
  4. Look at major areas of your life (relationships, spiritual and emotional health, work, finances, play) and write two-three sentences about changes you saw, for better or for worse, in 2020. (In the Story Planner Exercise, I provide a fancy grid for this, but you can make your own).

Part 2

  1. Ask, “Where are you going?”
  2. Pray, “Lord, show me where to go.”
  3. Write down the top three events/stories/challenges/goals you would like to see accomplished in 2021.
  4. Look at major areas of your life (relationships, spiritual and emotional health, work, finances, play) and write two-three sentences about changes you want to see in 2021.

Part 3: Write Your Story

  1. Pray about which story to write.
  2. Now, write for ten minutes. Choose one of the top three and write an imaginative story as if the goal were accomplished. Date it: December 31, 2021.

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Here is my example:
Prayer: Lord, show me which goals matter to you the most.
Ex. I want to hear from at least ten people that my devotional, From Recovery to Restoration, helped them find peace and hope as they went through a crisis.
So I will write a “fictional” but also a faithful and hopeful account of how that happened.

To help you write the story, you can answer the following questions:

  1. What concrete actions did you take?
  2. What challenges did you meet?
  3. What actions did you take to overcome the challenges?
  4. Who prayed for you, encouraged you, kept you going?
  5. What did you see God do in the process?

Part 4: Make Your Plan
(In the Story Plan Exercise, there’s also a nifty chart for this, but you can make your own).

  1. Review the “imaginary actions” you took to accomplish your goal.
  2. Make your plan of action. Write down three things:
  • What four-five steps do I need to take?
  • Next to each step, write the date for it to be completed.
  • Put a reminder on your calendar to make a note about the outcome—if you completed the step and what happened if you did.

Now you know what to do. If you try it, I’d love to know how it works for you, what you learn through doing it, how I could improve it (there’s always room for improvement!)

A Prayer about Making Goals and Plans for 2021

Lord God,

We are so glad that you are the ruler over our lives. You planned and created the world, and yet, you have taken the time to make plans for the good works we will do to advance your kingdom and to bring you glory. Thank you for the opportunities you give us. Thank you for the grace you show us. Help us to live the story of faith, hope, and love you have written for us. Amen.

How Long? When to Expect the Long-Expected Jesus

by | Dec 22, 2020 | Christmas, Devotional, Weekly Gospel Meditation

How Long? When to Expect the Long-Expected Jesus

When Can We Expect the Long-Expected Jesus?

The last few days, a lyric sticks in my head…a long-ago line from a John Denver and the Muppet’s Christmas cassette tape I used to pop in on my way home from the Young Life Christmas tree lot:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…

(that’s from the days when they fattened a goose to kill for Christmas dinner, children)…

Christmas is coming, but what about Christ?

Yes, we can feel it, Christmas is bearing down on us….But do you ever, as I do, stop and ask, “But what about Christ?” “I know Christmas is coming, but when is Christ coming?”

Do you ever get weary of waiting, short on patience for peace on earth to be a forever thing? Do you ever feel faint of the fall, heavy of heart over hard stories at Christmas-time? If so, then I invite you to join me in singing the old hymn of expectation, “Come thou long-expected Jesus”:

Consider this stanza and how it addresses our hopes, fears, needs and longings in these sometimes-dazed days the week before Christmas:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Charles Wesley

Why not call the long-expected Jesus into the hard parts of your Christmas?

  • Christmas details causing chaos? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Family togetherness raising tension? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Economic forecast raining on your planned parade? Come, thou long-expected Jesus.
  • Stay-at-home orders ruining your Christmas gathering plans and raising your anxiety level? From our fears and sins release us.
  • Pre-Christmas preparations exposing your sin nature? From our fears and sins release us.
  • Attempts to make everyone happy stealing your joy? Let us find our rest in thee.

Without Christ, the Christmas season threatens to draw out the worst of our fears, sins and restlessness. Call to him, for the merry message of Christmas is that he comes to you. Christ the King stands ready to release us from our sins and fears; he invites us to rest in the hope and joy of the manger-child.

A Prayer about the Coming of Our Long-Expected Jesus

Come, we pray, Lord Jesus, come. Make our hearts ready to be your home. You alone are our dearest desire, our sweetest joy, our every expectation. In your very-near name we pray, Amen.

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

Do you need help finding rest in Christmas?

Four-part devotional series designed to help you…Slow down. Let go…of the frenzy, worry, rush…
Hear the story of the wonders God has done—in the lives of people who also struggle with fear, anxiety and loss of hope.

FOUR WEEKLY GUIDES|FIVE DAILY ACTIVITIES 

Day 1: Devotional

Day 2: Reflection Questions

Day 3: Story Starters

Day 4: Prayer

Day 5: Music

Learning to Surrender in Faith

by | Dec 15, 2020 | Weekly Gospel Meditation

Learning to Surrender in Faith

If I’m honest, I have to admit, Christmas can make me “clutchy,” clutching for control over the chaos—getting all the decorations out and up, all the gifts bought and wrapped, and all the people happy with the holiday plans. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is not what Christmas is supposed to be about. That’s why I love to consider Mary, and the surrender she made in that very first Christmas. Today I share an excerpt from From Recovery to Restoration: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in Crisis, that draws us to surrender with Mary. 

Surrender

Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Luke 1:38, ESV

Many of us in crisis know the sense of being called to die to hopes and dreams we long cherished. Mary, the mother of Jesus, encourages us in this hard place. There is perhaps no agony like the agony a mother feels when her child suffers. Whether the child suffers through their own failings and sin or through the harm inflicted by another, a mother flinches at every punishing blow. Mary was no exception.

Her story begins with a profound expression of faith and hope in the Lord. She is a young girl, possibly fourteen to sixteen years old, when the angel Gabriel appears to her, disrupting her simple life. After encouraging her not to be afraid because she has found favor with the Lord, Gabriel reveals that she will give birth to the Messiah (Luke 1:30-33).

Indeed, Mary has every reason to be afraid. It is no easy task to become the mother of the Messiah. The unplanned pregnancy, like many today, would have aroused fear. Would her betrothed, Joseph, abandon her? Would she be left helpless and alone? And yet, Mary surrenders, declaring herself a servant of the Lord and proclaiming, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

In the years to come, though, Mary will wrestle with her son’s calling. She feels deep distress when Jesus, twelve at the time, disappears for three days, and is eventually found sitting with the teachers in the temple (Luke 2:48). Many years later, she attempts, along with Jesus’ brothers, to call him away from ministering to the crowds. On that day, she hears Jesus’ heart-shearing message, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” (Matthew 12:48). Yes, Mary suffered.

Whatever you have felt in your season of crisis—confusion, doubt, distress—Mary felt it too. Despite her earliest words of surrender, she eventually realized that mothering the Messiah meant standing by helplessly as he went about saving the world according to his plan, not hers. If she were to continue to follow Jesus, Mary had to decide—would she yield control of her life (and his) to her Savior, God’s Son, the Messiah? Would she follow Jesus to the foot of the cross? In crisis, we face the same decision.

Mary does decide to follow Jesus to the foot of the cross. We find her standing beneath him as his body, bloodied and beaten, hangs, dying. As unbearable as this moment must have been for Mary, she is there. In her presence there and in her presence with the disciples in the coming days and years, we see her surrender to Jesus, her settled acceptance of his way of salvation.

Crisis and recovery compel us to consider: will we trust Jesus even when his way feels like death? Mary’s surrender draws us to hope that there is life beyond the cross. There is resurrection. There is restoration. May we dare to believe that in our moment of misery, there can be everlasting joy.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Help us to surrender to your loving way even when it feels like death. Give us glimpses of your joy even in our sorrows.

In your resurrected name. Amen.

Further Encouragement

Read Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:41-52; John 19:25-27.

Listen to “Be Born in Me” by Francesca Battistelli.

For Reflection

What would it look like for you to surrender to Jesus in this season?

From Recovery to Restoration cover

Get Hope for Troubling Times

Advance Review for From Recovery to Restoration

"When the storms of life crash into our lives, the devastation left behind is often overwhelming. Recovery and healing is slow and arduous. Elizabeth Turnage's devotional is for all those laboring toward recovery. From Recovery to Restoration is a hope-filled, gospel-laced, and Christ-exalting book which invites us into God's story of redemption and helps us see how he is at work to redeem and restore all things, even the aftermath of our personal losses, heartaches, and trials."

Christina Fox

Writer, Counselor, Speaker

author of A Heart Set Free: A Journey to Hope Through the Psalms of Lament.

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Do you need help finding rest in Christmas?

Four-part devotional series designed to help you…Slow down. Let go…of the frenzy, worry, rush…
Hear the story of the wonders God has done—in the lives of people who also struggle with fear, anxiety and loss of hope.

FOUR WEEKLY GUIDES|FIVE DAILY ACTIVITIES 

Day 1: Devotional

Day 2: Reflection Questions

Day 3: Story Starters

Day 4: Prayer

Day 5: Music