O Blessed Sinner

IBS Application for Jeremiah 31:2-3 “Thus says the Lord: ‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.’” I know that this is perhaps a little different from my typical choice of passage, but it is nonetheless the passage that has spoken the most to me recently. I will do my best to communicate why. I am a bit fuzzy on the details of which specific instance of people being in the wilderness God is referring to in the first verse here, but for the purposes of what I got out of it, it makes little difference. The point is that God is saying to Israel that being in the wilderness was grace to them. I believe that a similar point can be made in regards to our lives; the spiritual deserts in our lives are not always bad for us. God can do amazing things through dry seasons and times that we spend in...

IBS Application for 1 Timothy 2:1 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people...” This verse came to me a couple of days ago, and it came twice. Once in listening to a Focht study, and again in reading “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” by Jim Cymbala. And seeing as how a good portion of the first part of that book is about prayer, I think that God wants me to start praying more. This verse is the start of an exhortation given to Timothy to give to the other members of the  church in Ephesus. It starts with an exhortation to pray more, and to offer more types of prayer up to God. Paul says that we should offer up supplications, which are prayers made to God requesting something of Him, prayers as direct conversation with Him, intercessory prayers, and prayers of thanksgiving to Him. I find that of these types of prayer, I pray many  prayers of supplication and intercession, but I do not focus so much...

IBS Application for Psalms 91:14-16 "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." It is a refreshing and life-giving thing to know that God is on our side like this. Honestly, I’ve been struggling lately with knowing whether or not God speaks to me through Scripture like this. But today, He showed me that He does, and this particular passage took on an entirely new meaning for me. To hear that the Father cares like this for me, after being delivered from a struggle such as the one I’ve been facing this week is just further confirmation of His work in my life. He has shown me through my studies before that He desires to show me more of His grace and His love, so that I can know Him better than I do now, and this is one such way. I’ve been wonde...

IBS Application for John 4:36-38 “Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” I find that God has been doing a lot to try to reveal more and more of His grace to me lately. And in this case, this passage came to me at a time when I needed to start understanding that grace cannot be earned. To know that I get to reap the benefits without taking part in any of the required labor needed to have salvation and receive God’s blessings is both humbling and frustrating. It’s frustrating because I don’t like feeling like I haven’t earned it. But that’s just the thing. I haven’t earned it, nor could I ever earn it. In that way, it’s a humbling truth. But beyond this, it ought to be a source of joy for me to know t...

IBS Application for Psalms 77 “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and He will hear me. In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, "Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart." Then my spirit made a diligent search: "Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has His steadfast love forever ceased? Are His promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah Then I said, "I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty de...

IBS Application for Colossians 1:13-15 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” I have been seeking to deepen my relationship with Jesus this past week, because that is what He is leading me to really focus on, above all the other things I’ve been given stewardship over in this time. In seeking Him, I’ve been lead to study Colossians for the time being. And in studying the first chapter, this section struck me as a great indicator of God’s character, and as a reason as to why Christ’s incarnation is such a miraculous truth. I think that this section, and verse 15 in particular, sticks out to me particularly because of what God has been showing me in the stories of the Old Testament. I cannot help but look at the history of Israel in particular and wonder why they did not seem to understand t...

IBS Application for Hebrews 11:1-4 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” Having a foundation for the things that we hope for in Christ and knowing that by faith alone we have evidence of the things in the heavenly places that we cannot see is unbelievably encouraging to me. In this life it is so easy to get lost in doubt and fear, particularly about God’s promises. The things that He promises to us seem so far off from us at times that it becomes a temptation to want to expedite the process of obtaining these promises. Essentially...