Why I Stay in EXPECTATION of Him...

During the years of our relationship, from dating in high school and the ensuing 43 years of marriage and ministry… which seemed to be closely related and intertwined… my wife and I had many opportunities to minister to or counsel countless individuals who were experiencing difficult times in their lives.  And in the majority of those cases, my wife would make the sincere comment that, “they need to know how much God loves them.” 

In each of those situations I would always nod my head and agree with her… although to be perfectly honest… I really didn’t understand the importance and scope of her statement until years later when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

During the last eight years of her life, I did a lot of things to keep myself strong and focused spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.  I got up early every morning to study the Word and thereby build myself up in order to face the new day with a joyful and positive attitude and to help keep me focused if any emergency situations should arise.

I made sure that we ate right, took daily walks and diligently strived to keep a healthy and faith-filled environment around our home… but what really gave me the strength and ability to trust the Lord and all that His Word was providing for us in the face of many contrary situations, less than helpful advice, negative medical reports and the increasing changes I saw to my wife’s beautiful visage, was the personal knowledge of how intimately Jesus knew and loved Piper and I.

I finally got that revelation… that Piper seemed to know from way before we started dating… while preparing a sermon for my preaching class in Bible College back in 2008.  I know that I have written about this before, so I won’t go into a lot of detail.  But will suffice to say, that while researching my topic for the sermon one day, I opened up a new Bible translation that I had just discovered, to one of the two prayers of Paul’s in the book of Ephesians.  In this portion of his letter, he penned that,

 “You will KNOW Christ's love, which goes far beyond any knowledge. I am praying this so that you may be completely filled with God.” (Ephesians 3:19 - God’s Word ©)

When I looked up the word “know” in the original Greek, I discovered to my amazement that it defines an intimate relationship as in the very act of intimacy between a husband and wife… and as the light went on inside of me, I heard that small still voice of the Lord speaking to me saying, “Jim, I know and love you and Piper in the same depth of intimacy in which you… and you alone… physically and emotionally know her.”

The graphic picture of that revelation opened up to me an entirely new and deeply personal relationship with Jesus and His Word.  And just like I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would do anything for my wife… I knew that He would do the same for us throughout the rest of our lives together.  So, when the nights got long and dark for me during that difficult period in my life, I could and did rest in the comforting knowledge of how intimately He knew me and would always be true to the promises in His Word concerning us.

Following that understanding concerning the intimacy in which Jesus knew and loved me and Piper eventually brought me to the secure place where I simply trusted and EXPECTED Him to act… according to His Word… in all the circumstances of my life. 

According to I Corinthians 13:7 in Ben Campbell Johnson’s relational paraphrase of the New Testament entitled “The Heart of Paul”

“(God’s) Love is the most enduring quality of human existence.  It keeps on keeping on; it trusts in God in every situation and EXPECTS God to act in all circumstances.  (For) Nothing can destroy God’s love.”  

In the five years that she has been gone now, I continue to stand on the heartfelt truth of the intimacy in which Jesus knows and loves me.  The EXPECTATION that it releases into my heart has given me the daily strength to carry on and move forward in this new season of my life.  It empowers me to believe that His BEST is still before me today and tomorrow and gives me the joy of living and sharing His Good News everywhere I go!

… And you know what?  He wants to do the same for YOU!  Isn’t that special?

I hope that you are having a great weekend.  We’ve got some rain coming tomorrow with a good chance of more snow on Monday morning… but the temperatures during the week are going to be fairly warm… so the white stuff won’t last long – YEAH!

Be blessed… and as you are… share some of God’s BEST with those around you!