FRESH Official Podcast

In a world where everyone's trying to be someone, it's not surprising that tucked away deep in our psyche somewhere lies a nagging sense of inadequacy, as we reason that, given our frailties and foibles, we'll never really amount to much.

Honestly, it used to bother me that Christianityworks, the ministry that produces these daily messages, didn't have an impressive office compared to the flashy television and radio studios I've visited around the world. Ours was just a walled section of a foyer, given rent-free by a local church.

We seemed like a nothing ministry compared to the others.

Do you see how easy it is to fall into that trap? And yet, God is in the habit of using the fragile and the fallible in the most amazing ways for His glory. And He does things that way for a reason. Writes the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 4:7-8 We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don't know what to do, but we don't give up.

Paul's ministry of a few ragtag men, schlepping around the known world, appeared so unimpressive compared to Jerusalem with its glorious temple. He suffered, he struggled.

But God uses broken, ordinary people to carry His most precious gift, so that no one will ever mistake where the power comes from. He fills waiting, praying hearts with His Spirit and power.We're the empty vessels—He's the treasure within.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It's easy to imagine that the joy, the fulfilment, the contentment we all long for lie in recognition, comfort and success. And yet, you can imagine all you like, but you'll never find them there.

Twentieth-century American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst built a massive media empire and lived in opulence on his vast estate, Hearst Castle. He influenced presidents, shaped public opinion, and lived like royalty.

But Hearst's deep sense of entitlement to admiration and control eroded his joy. Obsessed with legacy and public image, he manipulated headlines, crushed competitors, and clung to a long, scandalous affair. In later years, isolated and anxious, his empire crumbled during the Great Depression.

So despite outward success, his joy was hollowed out by pride and possessiveness, which, let's be honest, is always how these things end. Jesus, in His famed Sermon on the Mount, said this:

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (ESV)

To be poor in spirit is to come before God with humility, not entitlement. Lord, I'm spiritually bankrupt. I can't save myself. I need your mercy.

Such a person is blessed, according to Jesus, because that blessedness begins where our self-entitlement ends. Or as someone once said, joy dies in the spirit of entitlement but thrives in an attitude of surrender.

Friend, the longer we aspire to the things of this world, the more deeply we're gripped by our sense of self-entitlement, the more joy will elude us because surrender is the gateway to joy.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

I often think that it's easier to go off the rails in the good times than in the bad. There are no atheists in foxholes. When the bullets are flying, when you're in danger, of course you cry out to God. But when the going's good … hey, eat, drink, be merry.

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul, from his prison cell, writes this to his friends in Phillipi:

Philippians 1:5-6 I thank God for the help you gave me while I told people the Good News. You helped from the first day you believed until now. I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.

In other words, the Philippians, through both good times and bad, had remained faithful to God's work, supporting Paul. They'd demonstrated clearly through their actions that they'd stayed on track.

Which leads Paul to bless them in the certainty that the good work that God had begun in them would continue to completion on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.

Listen, the work of goodness in our hearts is the work of God Himself. We don't perform in order to be saved, but when we are saved, we participate in His work, knowing that He'll continue to work His good in us to the end.

It's an exquisite partnership that invites our participation, not performance. Stay faithful, keep doing good, because the good work God began in you will continue until he completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.

That's His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Life is a puzzle that, all too often, seems impossible to solve. You had plans. They were good plans. I mean, very good plans. Then … boom! Things inexplicably took a dark turn. We've all been there.

When you're faced with a dark, unsolvable set of circumstances so complex that you can't reason your way through, what do you do? Well, obviously, you ask God what in the blazes He's up to. Why would He let this happen … to you of all people?

It's 597 BC, a time of national crisis. Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonians. Judah's about to fall. Yet God … get this … instructs the prophet Jeremiah to do something astonishing; to buy a field in Anathoth. Really, God? It'd leave you shaking your head, wouldn't it? But this is how Jeremiah responds:

Jeremiah 32:17 Lord GOD, with your great power you made the earth and the sky. There is nothing too hard for you to do.

It's easy to think of yourself as a person of faith until that faith is tested; until God seems to be doing something dark and inexplicable, like allowing the Promised Land to be overrun and His chosen people, Israel, to be taken into captivity.

When God does something like that, allows something like that, presides over something like that, there are two options: either He's malevolent and untrustworthy, or there's something else going on behind the scenes that you and I can't see or comprehend.

So the next time you find yourself in that place, you can either panic or pray ...

Lord GOD, with your great power you made the earth and the sky. There is nothing too hard for you to do.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Have you ever tried to do something, but your heart wasn't really in it? It's dry, it's empty. You chip away at it out of habit. The sense of ritual is what takes over, and the thing itself becomes meaningless. You keep going because … well, that's what you do.

And some of those songs … man, they're awe-inspiring. Over half a million have been published over the last decade alone. But none of that - none of it - impresses God one iota if your heart's not in it.

Can I tell you, for a lot of people who call themselves Christians, that pretty much sums up their relationship with God. They might go through the motions, they might even drag themselves along to church now and then and stand there with everyone else singing all these great new worship songs, but deep down … their heart's not in it.

Isaiah 29:13-14 The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honour Me with lip-service —yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote — therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden. (HCSB)

The executive summary? God's not impressed with us singing songs. He doesn't want our music, He wants our hearts. And that, some days, ain't easy.

As Charles Spurgeon put it, "There are some whose hearts are not right toward God who nevertheless are very zealous about the externals of divine worship. It's much easier to build a temple for God than it is to be a temple for God."

Worshipping God is so much more than singing songs.

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.