This month’s book review is another modern classic church leadership book. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger first came out in 2006. The book was based on research exploring the process that healthy churches used to disciple Christians. Through their research they discovered that the healthiest, growing churches tended to be simple in structure and process instead of complex. One of their explanations of this was:

“The significance is that, in general, simple churches are growing and vibrant. Churches with a simple process for reaching and maturing people are expanding the Kingdom. Church leaders who have designed a simple biblical process to make disciples are effectively advancing the movement of the gospel. Simple churches are making a big impact. Conversely, complex churches are struggling and anemic. Churches without a process or with a complicated process for making disciples are floundering. As a whole, cluttered and complex churches are not alive. Our research shows these churches are not growing. Unfortunately, the over programmed and busy churches are the norm. The simple church is the exception, yet our research shows that it should not be. The simple church revolution has begun.”

Reading this description of their research definitely makes you sit back and ask the question, “Is my church simple or complex?” If you, like many church leaders, feel like the descriptions of complex, struggling, anemic, lacking process, complicated, cluttered, overly programmed, or busy might be at least somewhat accurate descriptions of your church, then this book might be very helpful for you to read.

The authors remind the reader that simple is in. They state that “Ironically people are hungry for simple because the world has become much more complex.” Isn’t that true! It seems like our world becomes much more complex every day. People are busy and juggling so many different things. Numerous people and things clamor for our attention each and every day. Is your church one more thing clamoring for attention and keeping people busy? Or is your church providing simple, clear, direct paths for people to grow in their walks with Christ in a way that is refreshingly different from the stressful world around them?

In this book, a simple church is defined as “a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.” The authors lay out four key aspects needed for a simple church. Simple churches need clarity. They need to be clear about the process that they will use to disciple people. They also need movement or a path they will follow to move people through the process. Simple churches also need alignment so that all areas of the church are moving in the same direction. The final necessity that the authors mention is that a simple church needs is focus. Staying focused on the process means letting things go that don’t help the process move forward.

After the authors establish the importance of simple churches, the remainder of the book is focused on each of the four necessary aspects. Examples are given comparing both simple and complex churches and the results. There are numerous practical tips and suggestions to help churches and church leaders think through moving in the direction of a simple church and how to initiate that process of change in the church. They acknowledge that while this can be a long and challenging journey their research suggests that it is well worth it for the health of the church and for Kingdom growth.

If the idea of a simpler church or a healthier church appeals to you, then I would highly recommend checking this book out.

We’ve been doing a Thursday series this month on our Identity in Christ. Identity and understanding ourselves is important, but sometimes there is a fine line between being self-aware and self-obsessed.

Being self-aware is both helpful and necessary. In fact, the Bible even encourages us to examine ourselves. Understanding who we are and where we need to seek God’s help and guidance is important. There are several ways that we can work toward becoming more self-aware.

I believe the first is seeking input from God. As we read His Word we can see who He has created us to be and who He says we are in Him. Understanding our identity in Him is crucial. From there we can do as the psalmist did in Psalm 139:23-24 when he said:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.”

Asking God to search us and then show us areas of our lives that are not as they should be is also important. He desires for us to grow in Christ-likeness and the Holy Spirit will guide us in that if we listen and obey.

Another way that we can grow in self-awareness is by listening to and seeking input from those closest to us. Sometimes, if we pay careful attention those we love or work closely with will give us glimpses of areas where we need to become more self-aware. But sometimes being willing to ask difficult questions that we might not really want to hear the answers to, yet listening and hearing what those closest to us see in us both good and bad are important and ultimately helpful to us if we use it to grow.

Personality assessments can also be helpful in getting to know more about ourselves and how we are wired. When we know our strengths in various areas, we also realize that every strength carries potential issues. If we know what those areas are, we can be more aware and watch out for them. There are many useful personality assessments, but one particular assessment that I have found to be helpful is the Working Genius assessment. If you would like more information about it, please fee free to reach out to me.

These are just a few of many different ways to become more self-aware and that can be helpful to ourselves and to others because it can help us grow and have healthier relationships. But we can also take the pursuit of self-awareness too far, and become self-obsessed.

If we are seeking to become self-aware so we can grow in Christ-likeness and strengthen our relationships with God and others then that is a good thing. Sometimes that is not our motivation though. Sometimes we seek to become more self-aware so we can guard ourselves, protect ourselves, become more likable, earn respect, and possibly even manipulate or get things from others.

In many ways self-aware versus self-obsessed is not an either or type of situation, but is really a spectrum. The healthy middle of the spectrum is self-awareness motivated by growing in Christ-likeness. On one unhealthy end of the spectrum we see the motivations of guarding or protecting ourselves which aren’t altogether bad things necessarily but can become unhealthy. On this far end of the spectrum we see full self-obsession where a person’s focus is completely on themselves and what they need and what they can get. They are completely selfish. On the opposite end of the spectrum we see those who completely lack self-awareness. They have no sense of identity, and might rely on others to tell them who they are and please them instead of seeking to understand who God has created them to be and please Him. They may do and say things without any clue of how their behavior effects others because of their lack of awareness. Each of us is somewhere on this spectrum.

This brings us back to the idea of examining ourselves. Using discernment to be honest with ourselves about where we are on that spectrum is important. Are we self-obsessed? Do we lack self-awareness? Or are seeking self-awareness to grow in Christ-likeness? Take some time to discern where you are today.

As much as we long to be understood like we talked about in the last article, sometimes the idea of being fully known and fully understood can scare us. When the whispers and lies of the evil one start creeping in, the doubts, fears, and insecurities frequently come along with it: “If they know me, really know and start to understand me, will they like me? Will they still love me if they really know and understand me?”

While people are far from perfect and sometimes we may encounter people who don’t love us, we don’t have to look far in the Bible to see that we are loved. Extravagantly, overwhelmingly, loved. Depending on what translation of the Bible you are reading, you’ll find the word “love” anywhere from 300 to over 600 times and many of these are speaking of God’s love for us.

For many of us, from a young age we heard, sang, and probably even believed these words:

“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones, to Him belong; they are weak, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.”

Words we sang with confidence as young children, we began doubting and having insecurities cloud the joy, trust, and boldness that we had in them and in the love Jesus has for us. It reminds me of John 10:10 where Jesus says:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

It honestly makes me kind of mad when I think about it. How many of us had this sweet confidence and trust that Jesus loved us and we knew it was true because the Bible told us it was true. Then over the years the world around us and the schemes of the evil one made us question that at times. It didn’t happen overnight. We might have recognized it if it happened suddenly, but it was this slow erosion of our confidence in God’s love for us. The evil one slowly began stealing our confidence in God’s love, maybe even killing our joy and boldness, and possibly even destroying our belief in the process. How dare he take something so precious from us!

It’s not too late though. We can reclaim it. When Jesus defeated sin and death, he set the captives free and allows us to return to the freedom and joy that was stolen from us.

We can start by remembering the trust we had in God’s Word. We accepted God’s love for us because the Bible told us so. We trusted that the Bible was God’s Word and that it was true. There are many verses that remind us of the truth of God’s Word. John 8:31-32 is one example:

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

And when the doubts still want to creep in, John 14:6 gives us this important reminder:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Jesus is truth. His word gives us the truth. We can trust what He tells us. We can confidently proclaim the truth of God’s love for us because “the Bible tells us so” and we know God’s Word is true.

So when those insecurities or shame or doubt are being whispered, or shouted, in our heads, we can remember the truth. Sometimes those doubts and insecurities try to tell us that we aren’t good enough for God to love us, or that we’ve done something He can’t forgive, or maybe we just question if it’s really true because it sounds too good to be true. It is true though. It’s too good to be true, but because God is True it is true, and we don’t have to be perfect or even better or more for it to be true. God loves us!

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

Did you catch all that? We were helpless. There is nothing we need to or can do to earn His love. He died for the ungodly. We don’t need to clean up our act and be more godly for Him to give us this gift of love because He already did. God demonstrates His love. Check that word out. He didn’t say that He demonstrated His love like He did it once and it was over. Jesus died for us once and paid the price for our sin, but God uses that action to demonstrate His love for us each and every day, each and every moment. He loves us so much that He continually demonstrates His love for us. Christ died for us, and God began demonstrating His love to us while we were still sinners. He already loved us when we were messed up, messing up, and just a big mess.

He loves us. Full stop. There is no if or but or when involved. He loves us and we can root our identity in the fact that we are loved by God because we know that God, and His Word, are true.

Discernment is important and valuable whether that is in work or just generally in life. Some people may find that certain aspects of discernment come more naturally for them. Some may be able to more easily apply it in different situations, but all of us need discernment and need to use it in our lives.

One great source of discernment that we have been given is the Bible. It is filled with words that guide and direct us if we will listen and apply them. The book of Proverbs has a great passage about the connection between God’s Word and discernment. Let’s take a look:

“My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,
Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord
And discover the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
Guarding the paths of justice
And He preserves the way of His godly ones.
Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course.” (Proverbs 2:1-9)

Listening to, seeking to understand, and fully embracing God’s commands allows us to discern “the fear of the Lord” and grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. God will be our shield and guard our way. This also helps us grow in our discernment.

So how do we do this? Scripture itself gives us a way to seek this kind of discernment. Over 20 times in the Bible we are called to meditate on God’s Word. Some Christians have a tendency to almost read right over that word because we associate meditation as a new age thing or something from some eastern religion. Meditation can’t be a Christian thing can it?

I would say the answer to that question is yes and maybe no. It’s definitely yes because we see numerous references in the Bible to the importance of meditating on God’s Word. In fact in Joshua 1:8 the Israelites were commanded to meditate:

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

So clearly, yes, meditation is something Christians should do, but I also said that there was maybe a no. If your only understanding of meditation comes from eastern religions and philosophies, then you might think it means trying to empty yourself of all thoughts possibly by focusing on an object, sound or feel, or possibly even focusing on different aspects of yourself. If this is your idea of meditation, then I would say no this is not what the Bible is calling Christians to do.

Instead, we are called to meditate on God’s Word. That means we are to be spending time focusing on His Word. This might be done by reading a verse and spending time really thinking about it, meditating on it to understand what God is saying, what He is telling us about Himself, and what He is saying to us.

It might also involve Scripture memory. Committing verses to memory, even though it might seem challenging, gives us the opportunity to meditate on His Words without having our Bibles or phones with us. We can meditate on His Word while standing in line, sitting in a waiting room, or driving through the car wash if we have verses memorized. Scripture memory also has the added benefit of having verses pop into our minds at moments when we most need them. While the Holy Spirit can bring any verse to mind to guide and direct us, verses we have memorized become a lot more accessible.

So, my challenge to you and me today is to find some time to meditate on God’s Word. That might mean extra time with our Bible, posting a verse in some places where we’ll frequently see it and be drawn back to it, or working to commit a verse to memory. However you choose to meditate on His Word, I pray that you will commit to it and as a result find yourself growing in discernment and wonder!

Not only are we known. We are understood.

In our last devotional, we talked about how well God knows us and we took a look at some verses from Psalm 139. Let’s take another look at Psalm 139:1-2 today:

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.”

God’s knowledge of us is not just knowing who we are, but also truly understanding us. Understanding our thoughts as this verse says, and understanding our struggles and day to day lives.

Just as we long to be known, we also long to be understood. No one wants to feel misunderstood. Sometimes we blow it and don’t act or say things in quite the right way, and that can lead to being misunderstood. Sometimes people who have been hurt by others have their own struggles and presume that we have bad intent like other people have had in their lives have. Other times we may never know the reason that someone misunderstands our words, actions, or even who we are as a person. No matter what the reason is, being misunderstood doesn’t feel good.

In fact, we long for people to understand us, and for close friends, family, and loved ones to really get us. I think this is why gifts can be so meaningful sometimes. No matter the size or monetary value, the best gifts are those that show that someone gets us. They understand.

We can know that even when it feels like those closest to us just don’t get us, Jesus truly understands us. He was God’s great gift to us, showing us that He understands. He understood better than even we did that what we needed most was to be forgiven and have a restored relationship with Him. We see that in John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in the Bible:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant and was trying to decide what to do, an angel spoke to him in a dream saying:

“‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’”
(Matthew 1:21-23)

Immanuel, God with us. He hear this phrase at Christmas, but do we really understand what it means? God sent Jesus to the world to be “God with us”. He was fully God, but also fully man. He lived in this world just as we do, except He did it perfectly and gave Himself up as a sacrifice for us. Because He came to live with us, He experienced the same things we do. He was hurt. He was betrayed. He got angry. He rejoiced. He grieved. He loved. He got frustrated and indignant. He had compassion. He enjoyed life and suffered in life just as we do. Hebrews 4:14-16 puts it this way:

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus can “sympathize” with our weaknesses. He knows what it’s like. He doesn’t just know us. He truly understands us. What we are feeling, He felt. He knows what it’s like and we can draw near to Him in confidence that with Him we are truly and deeply understood.

In last Monday’s article, I mentioned that discernment and wonder are my two Working Geniuses and how I can look back to times even as a small child when I was using these geniuses. I also mentioned that I’ve learned and grown and know how to regulate myself more. The fact is though, that sometimes, or maybe a lot of times, I don’t always do that perfectly.

I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in that though. I suspect I’m probably in pretty good company. When we enjoy doing something or are naturally wired or even spiritually gifted in an area, there can be a tendency to go a bit overboard at times. It’s like someone who really likes to explore the reasons behind things and ask the why question doing that as everyone else is trying to put the finishing touches on an event or project. In the early days of planning, those “why” questions can be extremely helpful and vital, but the day of or even the week before a launch those questions generally aren’t as helpful or well received.

I’m definitely guilty of ironically lacking either discernment or at least regulating my wonder and discernment at times. There are times, probably many times, where discernment of an idea, plan, systems or structures is not just helpful, but critical. But, there are also appropriate and inappropriate times and places for it. When we fail to use discernment in exercising our gifts, talents, and abilities, it can definitely compromise the wonder and joy of those around us.

For example, when you are enjoying a shopping trip with a friend, standing in the checkout line theorizing on why the store is not really doing things in the best way and how they can improve things for the customer if they would just make a few changes, doesn’t really make the experience better for your friend. That’s particularly true if your friend just happens to be enjoying a day off from working in that same store. Not that I know this to be the case from experience or anything.

Also, spending a lot of time visiting a relative in the hospital is probably not the best time to critique the hospital’s visitor entry and volunteer systems. Although I might have to chalk that one up to personal stress relief and maybe even entertainment, or lightening the mood, for other family members. The eye rolls I got when sharing my thoughts might suggest differently though, so maybe it was just personal stress relief.

While these are a couple of relatively funny examples, hopefully they do serve as good reminders for me and for you that to really experience wonder and enjoyment from our gifts and talents, we need to be discerning in how we use them. We should be using gifts and talents to serve, help, and hopefully bring joy and wonder to others. When we don’t regulate ourselves and our gifts, we aren’t really able to do this.

We all have our moments and will experience times when we take things a little too far or use our gifts and talents in ways that aren’t particularly the most helpful. When those moments happen, we need to do our best to recognize them, acknowledge them, and even correct them if needed. These moments shouldn’t become habits though. If we are regularly using our gifts and talents in ways that aren’t helpful, then we may have deluded ourselves into thinking we are serving and loving or helping others when really we are just serving ourselves. While using our gifts and abilities generally does bring us joy and maybe even wonder, if we are using them just so we can feel good then we are being selfish. Hopefully, none of us want to make a habit of being selfish.

Let’s use the gifts and talents that we have, but make sure we are also using discernment along the way.

In the last article, we talked about the importance of knowing the truth that we are not alone. That is definitely an important starting place, and something we need to remember. There is more to it though. Part of not feeling alone means feeling like we are known.

The connection between these two is part of what makes it possible to be in a room full of people you know and still feel alone. When we feel like people don’t truly know us, that loneliness can creep in, and along with it those whispered lies that people don’t like us enough to really get to know us, that if they really knew us they wouldn’t want us around, or any number of other things that the evil one can use to distract us from our true identity in Christ.

When we realize those lies or feelings are creeping in, there is truth that we can remember:

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.”
Psalm 139:1-4

These are amazing verses. Take time and slowly read through them again, thinking about what is being said.

God has searched you. God KNOWS you. He knows you when you’re sitting or standing. He knows your thoughts. He knows where you’ve been, where you are at, and where you’re heading. He is “intimately acquainted” with all your ways. That phrase blows me away. God not just knows me and my ways, but He is knows them intimately. He is very familiar, and has very close, personal knowledge of me.  So close that He knows what I’m going to say before I even say it.

Have you ever had a really good friend or loved one who knows you so well and knows your stories and the way you think so well that they can pretty much finish your sentences. This is really nice when you’re so tired you can’t even complete your thought, but it’s okay because you don’t need to because they already know what you’re going to say. This is God. All the time. He knows you that well, and loves hearing from you even when He already knows what you are going to say.

If those verses aren’t enough and you still have doubts about just how well God knows you, take a look at Luke 12:6-7 with words directly from Jesus:

“Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head all all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Granted, numbering the hairs on some of our heads is more impressive than others, but no matter how many hairs are on our heads, the point is that God knows and and values us. While understanding how well God knows us is so important to deepening the roots of our identity in Him, it is incomplete without understanding that we can trust this to be true because of who God is.

We can have confidence that God knows us, because God knows everything. He is all-knowing, or to use a big, churchy word: God is omniscient. We see this stated clearly in 1 John 3:19-20 among other places:

“We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

God knows all things. His knowledge of us is greater and more trustworthy than our own hearts. His knowledge of all things and of you and me is greater than our feelings and doubts. We can root ourselves in Christ and trust that we are intimately known by Him.

In a previous article about the Working Genius model, I talked about how the name for this website, Discerning Wonder, describes me too. While it wasn’t the main reason that I named the website, Discerning Wonder, part of it was because when I took the Working Genius assessment I realized that my geniuses are discernment and wonder.

If you go back and read the first article about Working Genius, you see that I wasn’t too shocked by these results when I took the assessment. It was worded a little differently than I’d seen before, but discerning, brainstorming, wanting to make ideas, processes, and systems better, along with simply wondering why things are the way they are and what can be done about them have always been a part of my life. In fact, one of my earliest memories is standing in our kitchen as a preschooler having a conversation with my mom about something that did not make sense to me, and yes, even as a three year old I literally said, “but that doesn’t make sense.” I thought maybe that part was just in my head, but when I asked my mom a few years ago she confirmed that I did indeed say that out loud.

While that’s a funny memory, and hopefully now I’ve learned that not every thought needs to be said out loud, it still shows that who I am at my core hasn’t changed a lot. That’s not to say I haven’t grown and learned new skills and applications and how to regulate myself more. It’s also not to say that I haven’t surrendered myself to God and submitted to Him allowing His Spirit to work in me and produce fruit. What it is saying is that I’m still the person that God created me to be. God creates each of us with unique wiring, personalities, and passions. He does that because those combined with the skills, experiences, and gifts He gives us help to accomplish the purpose He has for us.

Understanding all this about how He has created and shaped us gives us moments of wonder at just how intricately God’s creation in us and around us is and how blessed we are that He loves us and cares for us that much.  It also helps us to better discern how to use all God has given us to be able to give Him, and others, our best. While I believe that ultimately our focus needs to be on God and not as much on ourselves, taking the time to understand how God has created and shaped us can be helpful.

We all have blind spots in our lives. Things we do, think, or say that we don’t recognize in ourselves, but sometimes are obvious to others. We frequently say things like “they’re too close to the situation” to explain this phenomenon. Sometimes we don’t recognize things about ourselves and others. Jesus described it like this:

“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)

Now, if we’re being honest here, we’re all the hypocrite at times. We all have logs of various sizes that we don’t even notice in our own eyes, and while offering to take the speck out of someone else’s eye can be rude and judgmental, sometimes it can also be loving and kind. Ultimately, like Scripture so often points, it comes down to our heart:

“but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

God examines our hearts and we are called to as well. Sometimes that means trying to identify the logs in our eyes or the areas where we have blindspots. Getting to know more about who we are and how we interact with God and others can be helpful as we grow as a person and in relationship with God. Sometimes we can do this on our own by seeking God, applying teachings we hear and read, and using tools like assessments to illuminate things we might not be seeing. Often though, we need others who can see the logs in our lives more clearly. People who do as Proverbs 27:17 says,

“Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.”

This might come in the form of friends, small group members, accountability partners, mentors, coaches, counselors, or more. All of us can use help as we seek to grow. We all could use some discernment today to better understanding ourselves and overcome blindspots in our lives. Prayerfully consider how you can partner with God to best examine yourself and others you might need to reach out to for help.

Loneliness has become an epidemic in our society. The more technology and resources that we develop to stay connected with others, the worse the feelings of loneliness seem to become. Despite having access to friends and family at our fingertips, in many ways we seem to be feeling more alone and isolated than ever before.

This isn’t just a wide-spread issue. It’s often a very personal one. Have you ever been in a crowd of people and felt alone? Or maybe you are literally alone at times and feel abandoned or neglected by others. Maybe you have lost someone close to you, or feel like you’ve never found “your person”.  Whatever this looks like in your life, we all struggle with feeling alone at times. But sometimes, feelings lie.

Sometimes our feelings of loneliness might be a healthy prompting from our emotions to reach out or to look for others who feel alone, but all too often those feelings and the thoughts that follow get twisted in unhealthy ways. When Paul was encouraging the Ephesians to take up the armor of God he said that they needed to:

“…stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places…in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 11b-12,16)

I am convinced that these “flaming arrows” come from the one known as the Deceiver during times we are feeling weak and struggling. The feelings of loneliness hit us and instead of allowing those feelings to guide us to connection, we get tangled up in the twisted lies that are whispered to us. The lies that tell us it’s our fault that we are alone. The lies that tell us that something is wrong with us or we’re not good enough and that is why we are alone. Whatever the particular deception that has tangled us up., we get untangled by destroying the lie with God’s truth.

So when we feel like we are alone, what is the truth?

“You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”
(Isaiah 41:9-10)

There are numerous verses in the Bible that remind us that God is with us and won’t leave us, but this is one of my favorites. In these two powerful verses we are reminded of so much. He chooses us. He doesn’t reject us. He is with us. He is our God. He strengthens us. He helps us. He upholds us.

Even when we know this truth, the Deceiver will still at times try to shake us and make us doubt. “Is that what God really meant?” “Will God really do that?”

To answer those we go back to Scripture again. Back in Exodus, when God was first teaching the Israelites about who He is, it says:

“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,’” (Exodus 34:6 ESV)

While God explains His character to the Israelites in this verse, we see these aspects of His character demonstrated and spoken about all throughout Scripture. He is steadfast, or unmoving, unchanging, in His love for you and me. He is also faithful. He does what He says He will do. That means we can trust Him. When He says He is with us, He is and He will be. All of the promises in Isaiah 41:9-10 we can count on because God is faithful and abounding in steadfast love.

So when feelings of loneliness start invading our hearts and heads, we can know that we are not alone because God is faithful!