R.E.G.R.E.T. can be beaten! Don't let it beat you!

I personally find regret one of the greatest enemies of my soul. Regret attacks without mercy at our weakest moments. All it takes is the slightest sense of failure and regret jumps in and kicks us when we're down, sometimes pile-driving us into an utter sense of hopelessness that we'll ever be able to change. It's one thing to feel an initial sense of regret that leads us quickly to repentance, but I can allow regrets over the smallest of infractions to linger for days or even weeks, robbing me of peace and joy. So you can imagine how life's larger blunders affect me. And what makes it worse is that I can sometimes want to go there. Yes, there's something twistedly appealing about beating myself up with that soul-bruising rod of regret to punish myself for some self-declared inexcusable fault.

But it's all pride and vanity, and we must not allow such regrets to rob us of our joy in the present or our hope for the future because of our pointless self-reproach regarding the past. Regret can be beaten! Even the most persistent regrets can be slain! So if you too want to grow stronger in your battle against vain regrets, try using the following acronym to turn the very thought of the word "regret" into something positive!

Every time regret attempts to sabotage your confidence in God, this acronym defines how you can respond. When we rehearse this acronym, God will consistently rescue our souls from the seductive snare of regret.

R.E.G.R.E.T.
Re-live the Gospel
Encourage yourself in the Lord
Get low
Remember Romans 8:28
Ears to the Lord
Take action

Re-live the Gospel: Begin by decisively reminding yourself of the glorious good news of Jesus Christ! Timothy Keller urges us to do this every time we find ourselves feeling the need to prove our worth through our performance. It's like we want to put ourselves on trial to prove ourselves whenever we fail, when in actual fact, for those who know Jesus, the trial is over and the verdict is in! Jesus demonstrated our value by dying for us! And so every time regret causes us to question our worth, "re-live the gospel on the spot and ask ourselves what we are doing in the courtroom. We should not be there. The court is adjourned." When regret haunts us, we must remind ourselves of the many wonderful truths of the gospel of Jesus!

Encourage myself in the Lord: Then, remind yourself of who God is and of His ever-reliable promises. In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men returned to Ziklag where they'd been living, and found that the Amalekites had raided Ziklag and taken away their wives and children! Verse 4 says, "Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep" and verse 6 says that "David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him" in their grief. David was their leader, and I'm sure he must've had regrets about how his leadership had led to this tragic outcome. But verse 6 goes on to say, "But David strengthened [or encouraged] himself in the LORD his God." To do this, David must have turned his thoughts to the truths he knew about the God who had faithfully led him this far. He likely encouraged his soul with thoughts of God's promises and thoughts of God's unchanging character. Focusing on who God is and on all His promises is a sure way to lift our perspective and encourage our soul in regrettable circumstances.

Get low: Then, own up and bow low before God. God's word is clear: If we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up (James 4:10). We all fail at times. We all commit regrettable blunders. And the faster we own up to them, acknowledging our sins and our limitations, the sooner God will release His grace to us. Getting low reinforces the fact that the only thing we truly have to boast about in this life is that Jesus died for us and makes us both willing and able to follow him each and every day. We can't even boast about the times we get things right because we only do so by the grace of God. And when we get things wrong, and regret assaults our soul, the best thing to do is to "agree with your adversary quickly," admitting that we are truly regrettable pieces of work without Jesus, but that Jesus has made us brand new creations, fully accepted by God despite our blunders and regrets!

Remember Romans 8:28: Then, remind yourself of this central truth: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." The beauty of this verse is that "all things" means all things – even our regrettable blunders and mistakes. We therefore need to remember that God, in His wonderful wisdom, is able to take every poor choice made by those who truly want to walk in a loving relationship with Him, and weave them into the tapestry of His sovereign design for our lives, causing those poor choices to work together with His perfect contributions to our lives for our good and His glory! God is the great Artist who redeems every smudge we make with the skillful brilliance of His brush. 

Ears to the Lord: Then... listen. For every regret in our hearts, we must take time to listen to what the Lord wants to say to us. Just because God can cause all things to work together for good, and just because He loves us despite our blunders, doesn't mean God has nothing to teach us through it all. We must turn our ears heavenward as we look to God's Word (the Bible) and wait on the Lord in listening prayer so that we can learn the lessons of every one of our regrettable failings, trusting God to teach us so that we can have gretaer hope of steering clear of those failings in the future.

Take action: Finally, resolve to obey what God speaks to you as you humbly wait on Him. This is not a works-based response to the anguish of our regrets, but rather, an obedience-based approach to life as a follower of Jesus. We're not meant to wallow in the futility of regret, but nor are we meant to minimize the importance of repenting of the specific incidents that led to our regrets. Taking action means choosing to turn so that we avoid stepping again into the same muddy mess that stained us with those persistent regrets in the first place.

So the next time you're feeling overwhelmed with regret, let that R.E.G.R.E.T. remind you of these six redemptive responses. As we put them into practice, we'll find freedom from the regrets that linger longer than God intended.

© 2017 by Ken Peters

No Other Option

What do you do when a big-time need gets worse and worse as you pray for years and years? Is there ever a time to stop asking God about it? Is it possible that God wants the fact that He hasn't answered "Yes" to such prayers to be understood as a "No" and that we should should stop asking Him further about it?

My short answer to that is: there sometimes are such times, but each person needs the Holy Spirit to make that very clear to them.

My longer answer is: the only verses in the Bible that I can think of in which someone is told to stop praying is God telling Jeremiah not to pray for a people whom God had already decided to judge for their sins (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14). In those cases, God knew that His fatherly discipline was what was clearly needed in the situation and there was no point praying for an alternative approach. God made that very clear to Jeremiah (see short answer above).

But it's a big Bible, and I can't see that happening anywhere else in Scripture. What I see more of is God's call to keep on praying and to not give up!

I see Samuel saying, "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you" (1 Samuel 12:23).

I see David saying, "As for me, I will call upon God... Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:16-17).

I see Jesus saying, "Keep on asking for something to be given and it shall be given to you" (Matthew 7:7, Kenneth Wuest's "Expanded Translation").

I see Paul saying, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And I see Paul giving us a wonderful glimpse in Colossians of his convictions regarding persistent prayer.

The overwhelming message of the Bible is that we must not give up asking, even if an answer is slow in coming. In fact, Jesus went out of His way to make sure that we knew what to do when answers didn't come quickly. Luke tells us that "He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1) and then proceeded to tell them a story about a widow who had to persist in prayer because an answer was slow in coming. Jesus was basically warning us, as if to say, "This happens sometimes, so don't give up when it does."

So until I get a clear word from God telling me otherwise, I've got to persist! No matter how I feel about the delays or the circumstances, I've got no other option except to pray and keep on praying when answers don't come. Giving up is not an option.

"And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him?" (Luke 18:7). That's something we can count on.

© 2014 by Ken Peters

I am truly blessed!

King David said it with such straightforward certainty:  "For You, O Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever" (2 Samuel 7:29).  David had just heard through the prophet Nathan of the Lord's plans to bless his family line.  And with no clue regarding the global and eternal implications of that messianic prophetic word, David responded with a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact confidence in God's perpetual blessing on his family.  He took the gift of God's extravagant blessing at face value with a "You said it, I believe it" kind of certainty.

Well, if David could be so unwaveringly sure of such significant blessings after a single prophetic word from Nathan the prophet, then, by God's grace, I ought to be able to walk in a state of continual and absolute certainty of God's promised blessings for my family based on the great work Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross and on all that we know about God from His Word (not to mention all the prophetic words we've received as well)!

Think of it.  I could say, For you, O Lord, have spoken!  Your Word tells me that all of God's promises find their Yes in You, Lord Jesus! (2 Corinthians 1:20).  And that God has rescued me from sin's hold on me, forgiving me for all my wrongs, because every one of them was nailed to the cross on which You died! (Colossians 1:13-14; 2:13-14). And Your Word tells me that because the grave couldn't hold You, You caused me to come alive with You -- to be born again as a new creation! (1 Corinthians 15:22-23; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  And You've promised that God's Spirit will dwell in me as the Spirit of adoption, making me God's son (Romans 8:15) -- "chosen of God, holy and beloved"! (Colossians 3:12).  And that same God has blessed me in You with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).  In fact, Your divine power has provided me with everything I need for life and godliness! (2 Peter 1:3).  Your Word even tells me that God has raised me up with You and seated me with You in heavenly places!  All this so that in the ages to come, God can show me the infinite riches of His grace and kindness that He has expressed through You, Lord Jesus! (Ephesians 2:6-7).  In other words, I should be able to say with David, "with your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever!"

God has spoken.  It's the truth.  And I believe it.

I realize that the mistake we sometimes make is to make these blessings our focus in place of seeking the loving God who has given them to us.  But to be clear, I believe that "if we don't want God above all things [including "redemption, forgiveness, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven"], we have not been converted by the Gospel." (John Piper, "God is the Gospel").  But when we, like King David, are people who seek after God's own heart above all else (1 Samuel 13:14), all these promises simply become the myriad of blessings that we're meant to walk in as children of God!  And that's meant to encourage us.  That's why they're called blessings!  Such promises ought to impact how we well we can face the challenges that come our way, as we remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross and realize what living a life of confidence in Him accomplishes in our hearts.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

The one thing to ask for (church bulletin cover)

If you could ask just one thing of God, what would it be? Health? Wealth? For a problem to be solved? Solomon asked for wisdom (2 Samuel 3:5, 9). Bartimaeus asked for his sight (Luke 18:41). David, the man described as a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), asked for something entirely different. David wrote, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple" (Psalm 27:4).

Which leads me to wonder, what's the value of believing in God and of even committing my whole life to Him if I don't actually adore Him? In other words, is it enough for my mind and my will to be responsive to God, but for my heart to be engaged elsewhere? I don't think so. To suggest otherwise would mean that God preferred mere recruits more than a meaningful relationship with us. The one thing David asked of God was a reflection of what God also desires from us: a deep and personal relationship.

But for David, this was not something to merely ask for and then patiently wait for God to provide. We see in Psalm 28:4 that this was something David wanted enough to seek after it! David wanted intimacy with God. He wanted to dwell in God's house every day of his life. And in doing so, he wanted to behold God's beauty. As I appreciate the passion of this verse, I see a man who seemed so completely mesmerized by God that all he could want was to be close to Him. His delight was solely in God -- his gaze was fixed adoringly on Him -- he was captivated by Him.

I want to share this same longing that David had. I don't want to want anything else as much as I want God. Too often, I whet my appetite with lesser things like big-budget movies or low-budget computer solitaire and then find I have little appetite for God. It's as though I can graze on junk food and then not find a magnificent feast appealing. David saved his appetite for God so that when God said, "Seek My face," David's heart said, "Your face, O Lord, I shall seek" (Psalm 27:8).

What's my answer when the Holy Spirit says, "Seek after God. Read God's Word. Spend time in prayer with your God."? Do I say, "I'm kinda busy right now" or "I don't really feel like it" or "I'm not hungry"? Or do I rush to the table, eager to be with God, in love with Him as my Father and thrilled to be with Him as much as I can? May He be the "one thing" I truly feel that way about! And may I seek Him as eagerly as I ask for His nearness!

© 2009 by Ken Peters

When God lets the Pressure Mount

Pressure in life is to be expected. Especially amidst the hectic lives we lead in a fast-paced society. But sometimes, pressures can become overwhelming, and while I was in Sudan last month, God helped me in how I view such situations. From our very first day in Sudan, we were faced with the pressures of unexpected expenses and big uncertainties about our tomorrows. We were flying into a town packed with displaced people due to flooding in the surrounding areas, where hotel rates were set at NGO-levels of $150-per-person-per-night, and where we had no one to pick us up at the airport and no affordable accommodations arranged. For our first eight hours in that town, I had no idea where we would actually spend the night as we shuffled from one shady spot to another in search of something affordable. But God spoke to me on the very flight that took us to that town, and He assured me that whatever happened on this trip… it was Him. Yes, that’s what I felt He actually said: “Whatever happens on this trip is of My making.” That gave me a whole lot of peace amidst a whole lot of uncertainty for much of our time there.

Not long after leaving Sudan, I wondered why I didn’t always seem to live with that same sense of peace amidst pressures in Winnipeg. And I remembered something God had shown me from King Saul’s life just a few months ago. I’m thinking of the story in 1 Samuel 13 in which Samuel tells Saul that the kingdom will be taken from him due to Saul’s disobedience. I realize that King Saul got things all wrong in that story, but I find it so easy to relate to Saul’s earth-bound insecurities. I feel for him, in a way.

It had not been a very long time since Saul had been yanked from a life of peaceful obscurity, chosen to be king of a fledgling nation. Now he’s facing enemies of great numbers, and his people are without swords or spears and have inferior numbers, and all the people expect him to do something kingly to deliver them all. Talk about pressure. It says in 1 Samuel 13:2 that Saul had 3,000 men and in 13:4 it says that “the people were then summoned.” Whether that speaks of the 3,000 or to others in addition to them is almost irrelevant, for 13:6-7 describes them as so fearful that they were hiding in caves or high-tailing it across the Jordan.

Meanwhile, the Philistines have gathered for battle with 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horseman and soldiers as numerous as the sands on the seashore (13:5)! And now Saul is expected to wait! When Samuel had anointed Saul as king, he had instructed Saul to wait seven days at Gilgal for Samuel to come offer burnt offerings to God (10:8). But every day that he waits, more soldiers desert. Every long day, Saul’s numbers were reduced while he waited for Samuel (13:8). So what does Saul do? He’s the king, so he takes charge – he makes an executive decision. He literally takes the bull by the horns and presents the burnt offerings himself. Saul was down to 600 men at that point. I’m sure he felt understandably desperate. I think I would have too.

But Saul’s disobedience to God’s servant Samuel reflected Saul’s lack of trust in God. His eyes were on earthly pressures rather than on the God who is Lord of our circumstances. Even though that’s probably because God seemed as far away as the troops who had scattered, things were not as they appeared. God was there watching as Saul was tested – as Saul failed to trust God as the pressures mounted. Interestingly, in Judges 7, Gideon was down to 300 against “innumerable hordes” and he won a victory. But Saul lost the battle and the kingdom because he allowed the persistence of life’s pressures to rob him of perspective. In the end, he tried to rush God rather than waiting for God's way in God's timing.

In Sudan, I had to trust God amidst many pressures that left me wanting to get aggressive and make something happen! And God then worked things out way beyond my expectations. I hope I can remember that here in Winnipeg. That way, I can live amidst life’s pressures with peace rather than panic, trusting that the sovereign God will work out His will in my life in ways that only He can do!

© 2008 by Ken Peters