"They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law." (Psalms 119:150)
As to the point made earlier, speaking of oversleeping, the Lord might the one who causes it to happen, just to keep me determined and alert. Don't think for a minute that God does not allow certain things to happen in order to make us stronger and more determined, because there is nothing that goes on in this world that He does not know about or allow. This is one of the points of those that refuse to accept Him or believe that He exist, that He allows bad things to happen to good people. We have got to get past the temporary and into the eternal before we can really appreciate why He says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) This is a pretty complex issue, because our lives really do not belong to us, they belong to the Lord; and what is His, He uses as He feels fit, to do far more than we could ever imagine we could do on our own. I feel we will be getting into this a bit more tomorrow, so for the sake of time, today I wish to focus on the reason for the today's title. The word, "apprehension," might throw some people off, thinking that it only means to be worried about something that might happen, or even that we might be, to be apprehended by something or someone; but it also speaks of our own understanding, to get a grip on what is happening, or come to the conclusion of what is being put out by grasping what it might mean. A really good example of what that might look like, would be if you stood looking at a painting from a famous artist and comprehended what the artist was trying to say in the piece of art. It should not surprise any of us that are follower's of Christ, if they hated Jesus, who never did anything wrong, hating us is really very easy for them to do; they don't even need to think twice about it. As a matter of fact, I hardly doubt they can think of anything else...
"Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage other to do them, too." (Romans 1:28-32) NLT
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Saturday, March 30, 2019
"Consecration"
"Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment." (Psalms 119:149)
"The act of making or declaring something sacred." That is the definition of the word to describe this thought today. Basically, it is more or less the way that we accept the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father and the passage we have to enter into fellowship with Him. Not that it is an act we should take lightly, because the access we have was purchased with a powerful and costly price. The way that we have access was provided by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross; it is only be the blood of Jesus that we can have access, and the access we have is unfiltered! In case you don't know what that might mean, it means that we can speak directly to our Heavenly Father! We can cry out "Abba, Father," and He will listen! To try and make this as easy to understand as possible, it is best to relate it to experience on a much lower level. Say that your earthly father was mad at you for something that you did, like maybe in a fit of rage you shouted over and over how much you hated him. You feel terribly sad for what you said, and deep down inside you know that your father truly does love you; so you humbly approach him to try and offer up an apology. This is the way the word "quicken" comes into play, because it represents life and restoration; just as you would experience if your earthly father would graciously forgive you and treat you as if it had never happened at all...
"Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." (Psalms 5:2-3) KJV
"The act of making or declaring something sacred." That is the definition of the word to describe this thought today. Basically, it is more or less the way that we accept the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father and the passage we have to enter into fellowship with Him. Not that it is an act we should take lightly, because the access we have was purchased with a powerful and costly price. The way that we have access was provided by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross; it is only be the blood of Jesus that we can have access, and the access we have is unfiltered! In case you don't know what that might mean, it means that we can speak directly to our Heavenly Father! We can cry out "Abba, Father," and He will listen! To try and make this as easy to understand as possible, it is best to relate it to experience on a much lower level. Say that your earthly father was mad at you for something that you did, like maybe in a fit of rage you shouted over and over how much you hated him. You feel terribly sad for what you said, and deep down inside you know that your father truly does love you; so you humbly approach him to try and offer up an apology. This is the way the word "quicken" comes into play, because it represents life and restoration; just as you would experience if your earthly father would graciously forgive you and treat you as if it had never happened at all...
"Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." (Psalms 5:2-3) KJV
Friday, March 29, 2019
"Dedication"
"Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word." (Psalms 119:148)
Just so you know, dedication is the reason that things actually get done, despite all obstructions and failures in trying to get it right; no matter what it is that you are trying to do, if you are not dedicated to doing it, it will not get done. Here is the thing that makes so much sense, whether you are a morning person or night, you must prevent the things that cause you to stop or let go of your dedication. In David's case, his was sleep, as in, no matter what time he might go to bed, his time with the Lord was not going to be disturbed or disrupted! If you don't think this is a thing, then think again; because if there is one thing that has disturbed or disrupted my time with the Lord, it is just that, sleeping in! It happens now and again; whether it is the Lord's doing, my own, or the enemy, it just sometimes happens. But when it does, and it is usually out of the blue, I try to determine what went wrong and prevent it from happening again. To be perfectly honest, there is no distractions at 4am except for those that I allow; like my need to sleep when I feel really tired. The number of nights that have been limited to three or four hours of sleep are more and more frequent, but my sleep never feels robbed. For me, sleep is overrated and gets in the way of getting things done. Back in the eighties, I heard a segment on the radio, that someone said, "Sleeping eight hours a night means that you are asleep a third of your life." From that time on, I decided to not let that happen and choose to only sleep one fourth of my life; so I have lived the last thirty something years limiting myself to no more than six hours of sleep a night. I don't think it has taken a toll on my health or harmed me in any way. But what it has done, is it has given me a few more hours a day to get things done. Besides that, there are very few people that like to get up and move around at 4am, so it allows me the time to be alone with God. If you are having a problem making time to have routine devotions, I highly recommend that you make 4am your devotion time. Try it and see, you won't know how good it feels until you give it a try. This word, "prevent," is the same word as prevented used in the previous verse; it continues the narrative of being on guard or going before, as in, preparation for dedication. A really good alarm clock is one way of making that happen. Another way to spark a little energy into that, is not to call it an alarm clock, but to call it an opportunity clock instead! As one of my favorite motivational speakers said, "If you hear it, it means that your still alive, and you have another opportunity to get things done!" Now that is preparation for dedication...
"Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mothers womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don't know if profit will come from one activity or another -or maybe both. Light is sweet; how pleasant is a new day dawning. When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there are many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 11:5-8) NLT
Just so you know, dedication is the reason that things actually get done, despite all obstructions and failures in trying to get it right; no matter what it is that you are trying to do, if you are not dedicated to doing it, it will not get done. Here is the thing that makes so much sense, whether you are a morning person or night, you must prevent the things that cause you to stop or let go of your dedication. In David's case, his was sleep, as in, no matter what time he might go to bed, his time with the Lord was not going to be disturbed or disrupted! If you don't think this is a thing, then think again; because if there is one thing that has disturbed or disrupted my time with the Lord, it is just that, sleeping in! It happens now and again; whether it is the Lord's doing, my own, or the enemy, it just sometimes happens. But when it does, and it is usually out of the blue, I try to determine what went wrong and prevent it from happening again. To be perfectly honest, there is no distractions at 4am except for those that I allow; like my need to sleep when I feel really tired. The number of nights that have been limited to three or four hours of sleep are more and more frequent, but my sleep never feels robbed. For me, sleep is overrated and gets in the way of getting things done. Back in the eighties, I heard a segment on the radio, that someone said, "Sleeping eight hours a night means that you are asleep a third of your life." From that time on, I decided to not let that happen and choose to only sleep one fourth of my life; so I have lived the last thirty something years limiting myself to no more than six hours of sleep a night. I don't think it has taken a toll on my health or harmed me in any way. But what it has done, is it has given me a few more hours a day to get things done. Besides that, there are very few people that like to get up and move around at 4am, so it allows me the time to be alone with God. If you are having a problem making time to have routine devotions, I highly recommend that you make 4am your devotion time. Try it and see, you won't know how good it feels until you give it a try. This word, "prevent," is the same word as prevented used in the previous verse; it continues the narrative of being on guard or going before, as in, preparation for dedication. A really good alarm clock is one way of making that happen. Another way to spark a little energy into that, is not to call it an alarm clock, but to call it an opportunity clock instead! As one of my favorite motivational speakers said, "If you hear it, it means that your still alive, and you have another opportunity to get things done!" Now that is preparation for dedication...
"Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mothers womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don't know if profit will come from one activity or another -or maybe both. Light is sweet; how pleasant is a new day dawning. When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there are many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 11:5-8) NLT
Thursday, March 28, 2019
"Preparation"
"I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word." (Psalms 119:147)
Well, this is a verses that I am seriously familiar with, as it has been a constant routine every morning for nine years, two months, and twenty eight days. Thankfully, it has not all been all that routine. There is hardly a morning that I do not experience something special in the way that God speaks into my heart; and yes, there are a lot of tears that get spilt between the hours of 4 and 7am. To truly get the just of what David speaking about, it is all about preparation for hearing from God. The main idea about the word, "prevented," is that of meeting or coming in front of, confronting or going before; as much as I can explain it, it is the dawning of a new day, that needs to begin communing with God. If you are like me, the morning is the time when fellowship is special with the Lord. Since the early eighties, 4am has been a special time between the Lord and me; between the hours of 4 and 6am, is usually devoted to prayer and communication with the Lord. Some mornings, I simply sit and listen between praying; just remaining still and waiting on God to speak to me. That is what I think is the most important part about prayer, listening to what God has to say! The "word" David is speaking of is just that, spoken word, as in God speaking to him; an utterance from his God, straight into his heart. To be prepared to hear from the Lord, you must be prepared to hear from the Lord! I am not talking about when God speaks on His own, because He does that all the time; I am talking about when we come before the Lord and want to hear on the behalf of ourselves. There is simply no other way to explain it, we must prepare our hearts to listen in order to hear. To put it into a better illustrated form, we must establish our heart and mind to respect God's holiness and might. This is pretty much what Jesus was showing His disciples when they asked Him to teach then to pray. You start your prayer by establishing who you are in relationship to your Heavenly Father, and what a privilege it is to be able to come before Him, knowing that He welcomes and loves to hear your voice. Once you have that kind of communication going, you are doing exactly what this verse is speaking of, preparation...
"Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:16-20) NLT
Well, this is a verses that I am seriously familiar with, as it has been a constant routine every morning for nine years, two months, and twenty eight days. Thankfully, it has not all been all that routine. There is hardly a morning that I do not experience something special in the way that God speaks into my heart; and yes, there are a lot of tears that get spilt between the hours of 4 and 7am. To truly get the just of what David speaking about, it is all about preparation for hearing from God. The main idea about the word, "prevented," is that of meeting or coming in front of, confronting or going before; as much as I can explain it, it is the dawning of a new day, that needs to begin communing with God. If you are like me, the morning is the time when fellowship is special with the Lord. Since the early eighties, 4am has been a special time between the Lord and me; between the hours of 4 and 6am, is usually devoted to prayer and communication with the Lord. Some mornings, I simply sit and listen between praying; just remaining still and waiting on God to speak to me. That is what I think is the most important part about prayer, listening to what God has to say! The "word" David is speaking of is just that, spoken word, as in God speaking to him; an utterance from his God, straight into his heart. To be prepared to hear from the Lord, you must be prepared to hear from the Lord! I am not talking about when God speaks on His own, because He does that all the time; I am talking about when we come before the Lord and want to hear on the behalf of ourselves. There is simply no other way to explain it, we must prepare our hearts to listen in order to hear. To put it into a better illustrated form, we must establish our heart and mind to respect God's holiness and might. This is pretty much what Jesus was showing His disciples when they asked Him to teach then to pray. You start your prayer by establishing who you are in relationship to your Heavenly Father, and what a privilege it is to be able to come before Him, knowing that He welcomes and loves to hear your voice. Once you have that kind of communication going, you are doing exactly what this verse is speaking of, preparation...
"Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:16-20) NLT
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
"Confirmation"
"I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies." (Psalms 119:146)
Oh, I forget to mention the "statutes," for those of us that need to be reminded; they are actions and laws of God that are prescribed, meaning that they are meant for a specific purpose. Oddly enough, I am pretty sure that might simply imply that we might not actually know the full extent of God's purpose or work that He is doing in our lives, because each and everyone of us have different ways in which God works in our lives. We can always try to compare a particular circumstance and outcome to someone else, but God surely does work in mysterious ways; meaning that there are some ways that He works things out that are not able to be figured out, totally. Crazy as it is to think about, but something that might happen to you, either good, bad or totally frightening, might be the action to change someone else several hundred years from now; go figure! You might look at this verses and think David is making some kind of a deal with God; but truth be know, that simply never works! At the same time that God made Abraham feel love in his heart for his descendants, He also had Abraham arrange dismembered animals on the ground for them to sign a contract or covenant. The funny thing is, God made the deal without Abraham having to sign it himself: Abraham did not pass through the pieces, but God alone passed through in the form is a smoking furnace and a burning lamp. (Genesis 15:17) Much the same way that Jesus made a New Covenant the night He share a special meal with His disciples. He declared the contract, and sealed it; His disciples only needed to partake in it by sharing in it! This is what I believe David is saying here; not that he promises to keep God's testimonies, but that he gets to share in them by God saving him. Which is exactly how it is for you and I! We are saved daily, over and over again, we continue living in a world filled with sin and wickedness, and we simply must keep washing our feet; because, quite frankly, we step in it all the time. Statutes are prescribed laws and actions, "testimonies" are a precept of God, always plural, and always divine...
"But -"When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He graciously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone." (Titus 3:4-8) NLT
Oh, I forget to mention the "statutes," for those of us that need to be reminded; they are actions and laws of God that are prescribed, meaning that they are meant for a specific purpose. Oddly enough, I am pretty sure that might simply imply that we might not actually know the full extent of God's purpose or work that He is doing in our lives, because each and everyone of us have different ways in which God works in our lives. We can always try to compare a particular circumstance and outcome to someone else, but God surely does work in mysterious ways; meaning that there are some ways that He works things out that are not able to be figured out, totally. Crazy as it is to think about, but something that might happen to you, either good, bad or totally frightening, might be the action to change someone else several hundred years from now; go figure! You might look at this verses and think David is making some kind of a deal with God; but truth be know, that simply never works! At the same time that God made Abraham feel love in his heart for his descendants, He also had Abraham arrange dismembered animals on the ground for them to sign a contract or covenant. The funny thing is, God made the deal without Abraham having to sign it himself: Abraham did not pass through the pieces, but God alone passed through in the form is a smoking furnace and a burning lamp. (Genesis 15:17) Much the same way that Jesus made a New Covenant the night He share a special meal with His disciples. He declared the contract, and sealed it; His disciples only needed to partake in it by sharing in it! This is what I believe David is saying here; not that he promises to keep God's testimonies, but that he gets to share in them by God saving him. Which is exactly how it is for you and I! We are saved daily, over and over again, we continue living in a world filled with sin and wickedness, and we simply must keep washing our feet; because, quite frankly, we step in it all the time. Statutes are prescribed laws and actions, "testimonies" are a precept of God, always plural, and always divine...
"But -"When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He graciously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone." (Titus 3:4-8) NLT
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
"KOPH"
"I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes." (Psalms 119:45)
Taking the long way home, might not be such a bad idea, if you need time to get alone with the Lord. At least that is what I feel God speaking into my heart this morning, that we need to find time to get alone with Him, to get real with Him, and to actually stop moving our mouths and start speaking from our hearts! These last few days, or weeks, have been such a blur; if not for this time in the morning to get a little Word in me, I feel like I might go crazy. I have lived in the house I live in now longer than any other place my entire life. It has been ten and a half years that we have been here, and this weekend is the big move to the new house. "Cope" is what I feel this section of Scripture is speaking; cope with a big giant "H" after it, is in a HUGH sigh of relief. Pastor Bryan was speaking about the word "breathed" in Genesis 2:7, as it is pronounced in the Jewish language, that there is a popping sound made at the end of the word. I had asked him after his message if Jesus might have made that kind of sound as He breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples. That is what I am talking about here, the "H" at the end of cope, is like a very deep and badly needed exhale, as in, we just stop and say, "Thank You Lord!" This is what I feel is David's heart; not just that he prays to the LORD with his whole heart, but that he expects that the LORD is listening, and he expects that the LORD is going to do something with his prayer. In other words, he is not just wasting his breath; all that he cries out to God about, is stuff that God wants to hear from him, and He cares what David is feeling and saying. I hope you can understand what I am taking about, because it is seriously all about feeling satisfied that God not only heard you, but that your problem or complaint was dealt with; end of story! There have been so many times that I have experienced this, I can't even begin to count them. This is not about naming and claiming anything; it is about knowing that your God has heard you and will be taking care of your situation! Just that alone is enough!!! Seriously! You have everything dealt with by simply giving it all to God! What a magnanimous sigh of relief...
""For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."" (Jeremiah 29:11) NLT
Taking the long way home, might not be such a bad idea, if you need time to get alone with the Lord. At least that is what I feel God speaking into my heart this morning, that we need to find time to get alone with Him, to get real with Him, and to actually stop moving our mouths and start speaking from our hearts! These last few days, or weeks, have been such a blur; if not for this time in the morning to get a little Word in me, I feel like I might go crazy. I have lived in the house I live in now longer than any other place my entire life. It has been ten and a half years that we have been here, and this weekend is the big move to the new house. "Cope" is what I feel this section of Scripture is speaking; cope with a big giant "H" after it, is in a HUGH sigh of relief. Pastor Bryan was speaking about the word "breathed" in Genesis 2:7, as it is pronounced in the Jewish language, that there is a popping sound made at the end of the word. I had asked him after his message if Jesus might have made that kind of sound as He breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples. That is what I am talking about here, the "H" at the end of cope, is like a very deep and badly needed exhale, as in, we just stop and say, "Thank You Lord!" This is what I feel is David's heart; not just that he prays to the LORD with his whole heart, but that he expects that the LORD is listening, and he expects that the LORD is going to do something with his prayer. In other words, he is not just wasting his breath; all that he cries out to God about, is stuff that God wants to hear from him, and He cares what David is feeling and saying. I hope you can understand what I am taking about, because it is seriously all about feeling satisfied that God not only heard you, but that your problem or complaint was dealt with; end of story! There have been so many times that I have experienced this, I can't even begin to count them. This is not about naming and claiming anything; it is about knowing that your God has heard you and will be taking care of your situation! Just that alone is enough!!! Seriously! You have everything dealt with by simply giving it all to God! What a magnanimous sigh of relief...
""For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."" (Jeremiah 29:11) NLT
Monday, March 25, 2019
"Real Life"
"The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live." (Psalms 119:144)
What is real life? I could not help but think of a song this morning as I asked this question, I think it was called, "Time in a Bottle." For those of us that understand the Testimony of Christ Jesus, the Bottle is endless and eternal! What that speaks of, is that we have been given eternal life in Christ; a life that is never-ending, from here on out, forevermore! So let me ask you this: What are you afraid of now? This is precisely what David is talking about, living unafraid! They say that the majority of illnesses are cause by worry and fear; that this modern world we live in has increased the level of worry and fear by the amount of things we have become dependent upon. There once was a time when the only worries people had was concerning their crops and weather, as in the rain or drought. People now are more concerned about their popularity on whatever social media site they are on, then they are about the weather; except for the Global Warming crowd, they think the earth is going to end in twelve years or so; imagine the illness factor in that crowd. I couldn't help but think of Paul, as he was collecting sticks for the fire and was bitten by a snake; he just shook it off and went on as if nothing had happened. When we have the right attitude about this life, the life of living here on this earth, we understand that it is the Lord who keeps us here or takes us home, not anything else! How many hours and days have people wasted on trying to save time in a bottle, when it is something that is outside of our control and cannot be contained. Real living only starts when you understand that it is God's choice whether you should stay or go; and no matter what, eternal life means that you live forever! Matthew Henry sums up what David is saying, like this: "Give me this renewed understanding, and then I shall live, shall live for ever, shall be eternally happy, and shall be comforted, for the present, in the prospect of it." This is what eternal life feels like; it is real life for the living...
"After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life -to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."" (John 17:1-3) NLT
What is real life? I could not help but think of a song this morning as I asked this question, I think it was called, "Time in a Bottle." For those of us that understand the Testimony of Christ Jesus, the Bottle is endless and eternal! What that speaks of, is that we have been given eternal life in Christ; a life that is never-ending, from here on out, forevermore! So let me ask you this: What are you afraid of now? This is precisely what David is talking about, living unafraid! They say that the majority of illnesses are cause by worry and fear; that this modern world we live in has increased the level of worry and fear by the amount of things we have become dependent upon. There once was a time when the only worries people had was concerning their crops and weather, as in the rain or drought. People now are more concerned about their popularity on whatever social media site they are on, then they are about the weather; except for the Global Warming crowd, they think the earth is going to end in twelve years or so; imagine the illness factor in that crowd. I couldn't help but think of Paul, as he was collecting sticks for the fire and was bitten by a snake; he just shook it off and went on as if nothing had happened. When we have the right attitude about this life, the life of living here on this earth, we understand that it is the Lord who keeps us here or takes us home, not anything else! How many hours and days have people wasted on trying to save time in a bottle, when it is something that is outside of our control and cannot be contained. Real living only starts when you understand that it is God's choice whether you should stay or go; and no matter what, eternal life means that you live forever! Matthew Henry sums up what David is saying, like this: "Give me this renewed understanding, and then I shall live, shall live for ever, shall be eternally happy, and shall be comforted, for the present, in the prospect of it." This is what eternal life feels like; it is real life for the living...
"After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life -to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."" (John 17:1-3) NLT
Sunday, March 24, 2019
"Tangible Peace"
"Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights." (Psalms 119:143)
If there seems to be something familiar here, it is because of the small and despised feelings David was speaking of in verse 141; with one very important variation, that now in has become physical. Yes, our battle is not with flesh and blood, as some think of people being the enemy; but the body we inhabit, this tent we live and move within, is seriously vulnerable to feelings of discomfort, heartache, worries, and even the threat of dying a physical death. As I shared previously, several years ago I was doing a teaching on Genesis chapter 15, and the Lord showed me something very important about how He made Abraham's heart break for the children that were to be his seed; by showing Abraham how that they would be a stranger in a land not theirs, and that they would be held captive for four hundred years. This, I believe was the moment that Abraham believed God was going to truly do what He promised; not that he did not believe Him before, but now his belief was given life and became tangible. His heart now was broken for those that were to be his offspring, and now he was not only convinced that is was going to happen, but he experienced the reality of what it felt like to be their ancestor and father. Here is the way I see this playing out, much like that old saying, "Plan for the worst, but hope for the best." If you can't experience a piece of discomfort and pain, you really don't know what real peace feels like. That might not click in right away, but the main point of what it means is that of knowing what real peace is; that real peace needs to be compared to something else, or else how do you know that you have real peace? It's like that saying, "I was sad that I had no shoes, until I saw a man that had no feet." I hope that we have moved on from that, because the word we really need to be talking about is, "delights," as in real pleasure. Something that is actually very tangible...
"Jesus saith unto them, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."" (John 4:34)
If there seems to be something familiar here, it is because of the small and despised feelings David was speaking of in verse 141; with one very important variation, that now in has become physical. Yes, our battle is not with flesh and blood, as some think of people being the enemy; but the body we inhabit, this tent we live and move within, is seriously vulnerable to feelings of discomfort, heartache, worries, and even the threat of dying a physical death. As I shared previously, several years ago I was doing a teaching on Genesis chapter 15, and the Lord showed me something very important about how He made Abraham's heart break for the children that were to be his seed; by showing Abraham how that they would be a stranger in a land not theirs, and that they would be held captive for four hundred years. This, I believe was the moment that Abraham believed God was going to truly do what He promised; not that he did not believe Him before, but now his belief was given life and became tangible. His heart now was broken for those that were to be his offspring, and now he was not only convinced that is was going to happen, but he experienced the reality of what it felt like to be their ancestor and father. Here is the way I see this playing out, much like that old saying, "Plan for the worst, but hope for the best." If you can't experience a piece of discomfort and pain, you really don't know what real peace feels like. That might not click in right away, but the main point of what it means is that of knowing what real peace is; that real peace needs to be compared to something else, or else how do you know that you have real peace? It's like that saying, "I was sad that I had no shoes, until I saw a man that had no feet." I hope that we have moved on from that, because the word we really need to be talking about is, "delights," as in real pleasure. Something that is actually very tangible...
"Jesus saith unto them, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."" (John 4:34)
Saturday, March 23, 2019
"Looking Up"
"Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." (Psalms 119:142)
Matthew Henry starts this off by saying, "Observe," a very similar way of saying, 'Pay Attention,' as in, there is something to see here! There are a lot of things in this world that quite frankly, don't make sense, but everything about God is wonderful and spectacular! Even the things we do not know, as much of a mystery that they are, they are still wonderful and spectacular to behold, even the smallest little glimpse! With this kind of understanding in mind, we must realize that we are creatures; as Matthew Henry puts it, "We are creatures, and therefore subjects, and must be ruled by our Creator; and whatever he commands we are bound to obey as a law." It is a fascinating thing to think about, how big and powerful our God really is. "The heavens declare His Majesty!" That is a fact that cannot be overlooked! Every since I was a little boy, as back far as I can remember, the night ski has always made me feel so small and insignificant. Gazing up into the stars, it is hard to imagine there not being life out there somewhere else, and that someone or something else is gazing back. Truth be told, it is a fact! There is life out there in outer space, and we need to know that He is gazing back! Without the knowledge of His eyes watching our every move, we can tend to flirt around with our silliness and stupidity. How we can let ourselves get so involved with ourselves, never ceases to amaze me. I have got to wonder if God is laughing or not, as He shakes His head, saying, "Rich, you are such a knucklehead!" Seriously, this verse is making a very strong argument for what we really need to be concerned with: Our eternal security! Or, in the case of those that do not care, their eternal damnation. Basically what this means is that God will be judging based upon His righteousness, not ours. I am really terribly sorry to wreck anyone's plans on pleading, Not Guilty; but it just so happens that every single one of us are, guilty in the first degree! John puts it very directly, saying, "If we say that we have not sinned, we call him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10) That is the truth that is revealed in the law! If you don't think that it is, then think about what Jesus says about it, and place your life on trial, and let yourself be the judge...
""You have heard the commandment that says, 'You must not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye -even your good eye -causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand -even your stronger hand -causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."" (Matthew 5:27-30) NLT
Matthew Henry starts this off by saying, "Observe," a very similar way of saying, 'Pay Attention,' as in, there is something to see here! There are a lot of things in this world that quite frankly, don't make sense, but everything about God is wonderful and spectacular! Even the things we do not know, as much of a mystery that they are, they are still wonderful and spectacular to behold, even the smallest little glimpse! With this kind of understanding in mind, we must realize that we are creatures; as Matthew Henry puts it, "We are creatures, and therefore subjects, and must be ruled by our Creator; and whatever he commands we are bound to obey as a law." It is a fascinating thing to think about, how big and powerful our God really is. "The heavens declare His Majesty!" That is a fact that cannot be overlooked! Every since I was a little boy, as back far as I can remember, the night ski has always made me feel so small and insignificant. Gazing up into the stars, it is hard to imagine there not being life out there somewhere else, and that someone or something else is gazing back. Truth be told, it is a fact! There is life out there in outer space, and we need to know that He is gazing back! Without the knowledge of His eyes watching our every move, we can tend to flirt around with our silliness and stupidity. How we can let ourselves get so involved with ourselves, never ceases to amaze me. I have got to wonder if God is laughing or not, as He shakes His head, saying, "Rich, you are such a knucklehead!" Seriously, this verse is making a very strong argument for what we really need to be concerned with: Our eternal security! Or, in the case of those that do not care, their eternal damnation. Basically what this means is that God will be judging based upon His righteousness, not ours. I am really terribly sorry to wreck anyone's plans on pleading, Not Guilty; but it just so happens that every single one of us are, guilty in the first degree! John puts it very directly, saying, "If we say that we have not sinned, we call him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10) That is the truth that is revealed in the law! If you don't think that it is, then think about what Jesus says about it, and place your life on trial, and let yourself be the judge...
""You have heard the commandment that says, 'You must not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye -even your good eye -causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand -even your stronger hand -causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."" (Matthew 5:27-30) NLT
Friday, March 22, 2019
"Built-Up"
"I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts." (Psalms 119:141)
If there is anything that is causing us to feel small and overwhelmed, there is someone I know that can help to ease the sense of insecurity. It really does not matter what we are up against, God is so much bigger than anything that could ever come against us or cause us to feel outnumbered. I think this is something we need to accept as our reality; it was surely something that Jesus made sure to mention, saying, "In the world ye will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b) Take a good look at what Jesus has said, because He was not suggesting that we be of good cheer, He was making it a requirement, as in, this is what He expected us to do! There is nothing that God has against us being blessed and successful, as long as it does not cause us to take our focus off of Him and place it upon our success. Having been in the world of sales and service for over 38 years, I can tell you from experience that it is really really hard to keep ourselves from not looking at our success, as in, 'Look what I did.' The biggest problem with doing that, is that we find ourselves feeling very vulnerable when things become tuff, as if we have been on our own, having not included the Lord in our business dealings. Believe me when I say this, that is not a very pleasant place to be. Not only do you worry about the challenges of financial difficulty, but you are feeling a little concerned that you might be getting spanked; if you know what I mean. Please take my advise, for what it is worth: Don't pretend it does not matter, because it does! Do not forget God's precepts! In case you might have forgot, His precepts are always plural and collective. What that might look like in the case of a downward slide, is the tilt of the slide is dependent upon the angle of your life, as in, is it vertical or horizontal. If your life is not living vertical, then you need to correct it, promptly! What exactly is vertical living? Those are the precepts of God: His commandments and everything that is associated with doing or not doing what He commands. You want to know what happens to me when I feel a little horizontal? I sing a little song inside my head: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God." I pray and pray too, but the song reminds me where my heart and head need to be; and is not to be focused upon the things of this world...
""So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."" (Matthew 6:31-33) NLT
If there is anything that is causing us to feel small and overwhelmed, there is someone I know that can help to ease the sense of insecurity. It really does not matter what we are up against, God is so much bigger than anything that could ever come against us or cause us to feel outnumbered. I think this is something we need to accept as our reality; it was surely something that Jesus made sure to mention, saying, "In the world ye will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33b) Take a good look at what Jesus has said, because He was not suggesting that we be of good cheer, He was making it a requirement, as in, this is what He expected us to do! There is nothing that God has against us being blessed and successful, as long as it does not cause us to take our focus off of Him and place it upon our success. Having been in the world of sales and service for over 38 years, I can tell you from experience that it is really really hard to keep ourselves from not looking at our success, as in, 'Look what I did.' The biggest problem with doing that, is that we find ourselves feeling very vulnerable when things become tuff, as if we have been on our own, having not included the Lord in our business dealings. Believe me when I say this, that is not a very pleasant place to be. Not only do you worry about the challenges of financial difficulty, but you are feeling a little concerned that you might be getting spanked; if you know what I mean. Please take my advise, for what it is worth: Don't pretend it does not matter, because it does! Do not forget God's precepts! In case you might have forgot, His precepts are always plural and collective. What that might look like in the case of a downward slide, is the tilt of the slide is dependent upon the angle of your life, as in, is it vertical or horizontal. If your life is not living vertical, then you need to correct it, promptly! What exactly is vertical living? Those are the precepts of God: His commandments and everything that is associated with doing or not doing what He commands. You want to know what happens to me when I feel a little horizontal? I sing a little song inside my head: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God." I pray and pray too, but the song reminds me where my heart and head need to be; and is not to be focused upon the things of this world...
""So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."" (Matthew 6:31-33) NLT
Thursday, March 21, 2019
"Pumped Up"
"Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it." (Psalms 119:140)
Move over and let God speak! That is the message in the light of what is being said, because His word is very pure, His word speaks for itself. The perfect image of this is when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Jesus did not need to give a long explanation of what was wrong with the devil's insulting requests; He only needed to quote the Scriptures that insulted his requests. There is no greater defense than God's Holy Word! If there is any truth to that slogan, "The Buck Stops Here," it is surely the Word of God! It does not get any purer than that. Yet, how often do we think that it is not enough on its own? Simply put, we sometimes forget the impact and sharpness of how God's word makes the difference. We are so use to hearing it and reading it, we forget how powerful it really is. Besides the fact that Jesus died for our sins and it was God's love for us that broke our hearts, there is another love we sometimes leave unnoticed, the Book of Love, the Holy Bible! Not that we can not study His word and feel all of the ways He changes us, from the inside out; that is to be expected, you have no choice with that happening, because the more you read His word, the more you are going to be either convicted or at least informed. No, this is something entirely different; this is us falling in love with His word, because His word is His love letter to us, to you and me, personally. When we make it personal, then it is His heart directly to our heart; there is no need for anyone to tell us what is being said, because we hear His voice. This is the power given to those that have been silenced, because there is nothing greater than the Word of God to speak against the powers of darkness and the enemies of God, absolutely nothing! This is what is meant by us being ready to give and answer, because the answer is from God! We don't even need to think about it, the Holy Spirit will automatically think for us, we only need to say the words, "For it is written," and get out of the way. Don't take my word for it, make it your plan of action and see for yourself. Just make sure that you have prayed first and foremost, and that you do not doubt God is in control. We can sometimes have a tendency to trust more in preparation than in inspiration. Not that it is a bad idea to be prepared, because it does say, "Be prepared to give an answer," it is just the question of, Who is going to have the last word...
"Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6) NLT
Move over and let God speak! That is the message in the light of what is being said, because His word is very pure, His word speaks for itself. The perfect image of this is when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Jesus did not need to give a long explanation of what was wrong with the devil's insulting requests; He only needed to quote the Scriptures that insulted his requests. There is no greater defense than God's Holy Word! If there is any truth to that slogan, "The Buck Stops Here," it is surely the Word of God! It does not get any purer than that. Yet, how often do we think that it is not enough on its own? Simply put, we sometimes forget the impact and sharpness of how God's word makes the difference. We are so use to hearing it and reading it, we forget how powerful it really is. Besides the fact that Jesus died for our sins and it was God's love for us that broke our hearts, there is another love we sometimes leave unnoticed, the Book of Love, the Holy Bible! Not that we can not study His word and feel all of the ways He changes us, from the inside out; that is to be expected, you have no choice with that happening, because the more you read His word, the more you are going to be either convicted or at least informed. No, this is something entirely different; this is us falling in love with His word, because His word is His love letter to us, to you and me, personally. When we make it personal, then it is His heart directly to our heart; there is no need for anyone to tell us what is being said, because we hear His voice. This is the power given to those that have been silenced, because there is nothing greater than the Word of God to speak against the powers of darkness and the enemies of God, absolutely nothing! This is what is meant by us being ready to give and answer, because the answer is from God! We don't even need to think about it, the Holy Spirit will automatically think for us, we only need to say the words, "For it is written," and get out of the way. Don't take my word for it, make it your plan of action and see for yourself. Just make sure that you have prayed first and foremost, and that you do not doubt God is in control. We can sometimes have a tendency to trust more in preparation than in inspiration. Not that it is a bad idea to be prepared, because it does say, "Be prepared to give an answer," it is just the question of, Who is going to have the last word...
"Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6) NLT
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
"Hushed Up"
"My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies hath forgotten thy words." (Psalms 119:139)
Okay, so maybe this is not what you expected; but for whatever it is worth, this is an underlying cause of disruption and neglect in all that is good and right, not only in society, but also in the church. What many refer to as the Silent Majority, are not seeming all that relevant anymore. Do you think the fact that they remain silent might have something to do with that? Sure, David had some enemies, but this is not about those that might try to hurt or destroy him, this is about taking sides, as in, who is it that you serve! Whoever is not for God and His perfect plan of salvation, is also not going to be for you, especially when you start taking a stand for what you believe in. What happens when that takes place in our lives? First and foremost, no matter how much of a majority you might represent, you will all of the sudden feel all alone and outnumbered. Secondly, you will do one of two things; you will either shut up and remain silent, or you will peddle-back away from what you believe and you will find some way to agree with those that appose you and your faith. The way I see it, David is making a statement about how much it hurts to express what you are passionate about, when there are so many around you that do not agree or are opposed to your belief. The majority of people will just not speak out; just for the sake of not causing arguments or disruption in relationships, they remain silent. The primary meaning of the word, "consumed," is that of making silent, or to leave off speaking. In other words, the zeal is cut off or destroyed; making all that is built up inside of you be silent, because there is no way to possibly talk any sense into anyone who does not agree with the Word of God! On a little different subject, the movie coming out on the 29th, called, "Unplanned," is an interesting thing to look at, as in an attempt to be made silent. The movie was given an 'R' rating in what many believe was an attempt to not only prevent younger teens from going to see it, but also the keep away many Christians due to the 'R' rating. With all of the new talk about late-term abortions and even killing live babies, this movie exposes the barbaric killing of a baby during the first trimester, which is up to 12 weeks. I remember back when I was a young Christian, this came up at that time by the release of a movie called, "Silent Scream." The talking heads on the radio and TV were trying to say that the fetus really is not aware of anything being wrong, and that the movement away from the abortion instrument was just a reflex reaction. But what really did it for me, was when they tried to explain away the horrific look on the face of the fetus while its limbs were being torn off; as they tried to say that the fetus really cannot experience pain. Strange as that is, there are also those that think Jesus could not experience the pain of His beatings or crucifixion either; as if He could ignore the pain because He was God in the flesh. Maybe that is why one of the shortest verses in the Bible is just that, enough said...
"JESUS WEPT." (John 11:35) KJV
Okay, so maybe this is not what you expected; but for whatever it is worth, this is an underlying cause of disruption and neglect in all that is good and right, not only in society, but also in the church. What many refer to as the Silent Majority, are not seeming all that relevant anymore. Do you think the fact that they remain silent might have something to do with that? Sure, David had some enemies, but this is not about those that might try to hurt or destroy him, this is about taking sides, as in, who is it that you serve! Whoever is not for God and His perfect plan of salvation, is also not going to be for you, especially when you start taking a stand for what you believe in. What happens when that takes place in our lives? First and foremost, no matter how much of a majority you might represent, you will all of the sudden feel all alone and outnumbered. Secondly, you will do one of two things; you will either shut up and remain silent, or you will peddle-back away from what you believe and you will find some way to agree with those that appose you and your faith. The way I see it, David is making a statement about how much it hurts to express what you are passionate about, when there are so many around you that do not agree or are opposed to your belief. The majority of people will just not speak out; just for the sake of not causing arguments or disruption in relationships, they remain silent. The primary meaning of the word, "consumed," is that of making silent, or to leave off speaking. In other words, the zeal is cut off or destroyed; making all that is built up inside of you be silent, because there is no way to possibly talk any sense into anyone who does not agree with the Word of God! On a little different subject, the movie coming out on the 29th, called, "Unplanned," is an interesting thing to look at, as in an attempt to be made silent. The movie was given an 'R' rating in what many believe was an attempt to not only prevent younger teens from going to see it, but also the keep away many Christians due to the 'R' rating. With all of the new talk about late-term abortions and even killing live babies, this movie exposes the barbaric killing of a baby during the first trimester, which is up to 12 weeks. I remember back when I was a young Christian, this came up at that time by the release of a movie called, "Silent Scream." The talking heads on the radio and TV were trying to say that the fetus really is not aware of anything being wrong, and that the movement away from the abortion instrument was just a reflex reaction. But what really did it for me, was when they tried to explain away the horrific look on the face of the fetus while its limbs were being torn off; as they tried to say that the fetus really cannot experience pain. Strange as that is, there are also those that think Jesus could not experience the pain of His beatings or crucifixion either; as if He could ignore the pain because He was God in the flesh. Maybe that is why one of the shortest verses in the Bible is just that, enough said...
"JESUS WEPT." (John 11:35) KJV
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
"Renewable Resource"
"Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful." (Psalms 119:138)
One thing that we never need to worry about running out of is God's faithfulness to His promises; promises that come through knowing and loving Him with all our heart. Is that even possible in this day and age? If there is one thing I have learned through all these years, it is how God never tells us to do anything that is impossible to do; because nothing is impossible with God! Let that sink in for a minute, because it is something that is hard for us to hold onto. There is this thing many would like to refer to as a revolving door; you learn a little lesson, spend all of what you have learned, and then come back to the lesson to be taught again. It really never stops, because there is always the need of our flesh needing to be put to death; until, finally this flesh is no longer an issue. I know I have shared on this before, but when God tells us to move a rock that is too big for us to move, He expects that we are going to ask Him for His help. We can assume that we are capable, and He will allow us to try; but in the long run, moving that giant rock is not going to happen until we ask for His help! Here is the thing that trips up many well intended saints: It is impossible for us to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, with out God's help! As it is impossible for us to keep the Ten Commandments, which He has given us to show us just how impossible it is to be righteous and holy. This is where God's 'testimonies' come in, because they are always plural and never run out! To make this something a little more easily understood, God's gives us His commands as an incentive to test our own abilities to adhere to them; which, we no doubt learn, they are impossible to keep. But, as He provides a way out, He makes the way out to be our dependency upon Him for mercy and judgment. This was demonstrated through every sacrifice; and it was demonstrated on the cross, once and for all. Jesus made this point to Nicodemus, saying, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." In other words, full dependency is given to God's instruction and manor of forgiveness! There is no other way, but God's way; and His way never runs out...
"The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true, each one is fair." (Psalms 19:7-9) NLT
One thing that we never need to worry about running out of is God's faithfulness to His promises; promises that come through knowing and loving Him with all our heart. Is that even possible in this day and age? If there is one thing I have learned through all these years, it is how God never tells us to do anything that is impossible to do; because nothing is impossible with God! Let that sink in for a minute, because it is something that is hard for us to hold onto. There is this thing many would like to refer to as a revolving door; you learn a little lesson, spend all of what you have learned, and then come back to the lesson to be taught again. It really never stops, because there is always the need of our flesh needing to be put to death; until, finally this flesh is no longer an issue. I know I have shared on this before, but when God tells us to move a rock that is too big for us to move, He expects that we are going to ask Him for His help. We can assume that we are capable, and He will allow us to try; but in the long run, moving that giant rock is not going to happen until we ask for His help! Here is the thing that trips up many well intended saints: It is impossible for us to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, with out God's help! As it is impossible for us to keep the Ten Commandments, which He has given us to show us just how impossible it is to be righteous and holy. This is where God's 'testimonies' come in, because they are always plural and never run out! To make this something a little more easily understood, God's gives us His commands as an incentive to test our own abilities to adhere to them; which, we no doubt learn, they are impossible to keep. But, as He provides a way out, He makes the way out to be our dependency upon Him for mercy and judgment. This was demonstrated through every sacrifice; and it was demonstrated on the cross, once and for all. Jesus made this point to Nicodemus, saying, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." In other words, full dependency is given to God's instruction and manor of forgiveness! There is no other way, but God's way; and His way never runs out...
"The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true, each one is fair." (Psalms 19:7-9) NLT
Monday, March 18, 2019
"TSADDE"
"Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments." (Psalms 119:137)
So some might think, God's judgments are all about taking away our liberties and pleasures; this section of Scripture exposes the lie behind that line of thinking, because God's judgments are righteous and based upon love; a love that is beyond our comprehension. I think it is amazing how God's word takes us from the discovery of what we are, and brings us straight to the heart of God. It is really no great mystery that His love is real; anyone that seriously explores the Gospel Message will no doubt discover how real and unconditional His love really is. The main issue is not that people cannot see God's love for them is real; the real main issue is that people love their sins and do not want to feel judged or condemned. Take the Rainbow, a symbol of God's promise to not judge the world by flooding it, ever again. The gay pride movement has adopted that symbol to extort God's sign of promise, in an effort to say, "Don't judge us!" If they only realized what judgment had taken place upon the cross, they would come to understand how much He cares what sin does to people. This is no laughing matter, sin results in death! What does God hate more, the sin or the death that it causes? If you really want to know the answer to that question, you should examine God's words and reasoning in Genesis 3:22-24, because more than anything, He loves and cares for us! There is a woman on Fox and Friends who is usually on during the weekend, and more than once I have heard her say, "My job as a mother, is not to make sure my kids get a good education, but that they get into heaven." If only more parents were focused upon that for their children's future! Unfortunately, the public school system today is trying extremely hard to destroy every last once of belief in God from our children's minds. Even those kids that are raised in a Christian home, if they are not getting a solid daily instruction from their parents regarding God and His testimonies, they are getting schooled in the things of the world, first and foremost. The kids don't stand a chance, and the world is trying very hard to make that a reality. I am really not even sure that Christian Schools are safe anymore, because they have gradually accepted the curriculum of the world, just to make themselves seem relevant to society. Schools are not focused upon the task of teaching math, english, and history anymore, it's all about social justice and global warming. If they only knew...
"Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God's wrath to completion. I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statute and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them. And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed."" (Revelation 15:1-4) NLT
So some might think, God's judgments are all about taking away our liberties and pleasures; this section of Scripture exposes the lie behind that line of thinking, because God's judgments are righteous and based upon love; a love that is beyond our comprehension. I think it is amazing how God's word takes us from the discovery of what we are, and brings us straight to the heart of God. It is really no great mystery that His love is real; anyone that seriously explores the Gospel Message will no doubt discover how real and unconditional His love really is. The main issue is not that people cannot see God's love for them is real; the real main issue is that people love their sins and do not want to feel judged or condemned. Take the Rainbow, a symbol of God's promise to not judge the world by flooding it, ever again. The gay pride movement has adopted that symbol to extort God's sign of promise, in an effort to say, "Don't judge us!" If they only realized what judgment had taken place upon the cross, they would come to understand how much He cares what sin does to people. This is no laughing matter, sin results in death! What does God hate more, the sin or the death that it causes? If you really want to know the answer to that question, you should examine God's words and reasoning in Genesis 3:22-24, because more than anything, He loves and cares for us! There is a woman on Fox and Friends who is usually on during the weekend, and more than once I have heard her say, "My job as a mother, is not to make sure my kids get a good education, but that they get into heaven." If only more parents were focused upon that for their children's future! Unfortunately, the public school system today is trying extremely hard to destroy every last once of belief in God from our children's minds. Even those kids that are raised in a Christian home, if they are not getting a solid daily instruction from their parents regarding God and His testimonies, they are getting schooled in the things of the world, first and foremost. The kids don't stand a chance, and the world is trying very hard to make that a reality. I am really not even sure that Christian Schools are safe anymore, because they have gradually accepted the curriculum of the world, just to make themselves seem relevant to society. Schools are not focused upon the task of teaching math, english, and history anymore, it's all about social justice and global warming. If they only knew...
"Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God's wrath to completion. I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statute and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them. And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed."" (Revelation 15:1-4) NLT
Sunday, March 17, 2019
"Washed Up, Not Out"
"Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." (Psalms 119:136)
If you ever thought that you were not worthy of God's love, you are not alone! It is extremely sad to see people that leave the faith because they are convicted of the very thing that Jesus came and died for! Is it hard to be righteous and holy before a Holy God? No, it is impossible! If it was a matter of difficulty, the Jews would have had the greatest chances to get it right; but did they? Here is the thing that brings us to our knees and keeps us humble before the God that loves us; because without God's precious Son, the sacrifice He gave to save us, there would absolutely be no hope for any of us, at all! There are a couple of ways to view this verse; either from that of self-righteousness or that of being convicted. For the sake of time and whatever reason, I will only focus upon the view of being convicted, as in, David is realizing that he has a problem with lust. It might not be news to anyone that knows some of David's blunders, because he had a couple that caused God to take off His belt. Unfortunately, they both involved the lust of the eyes; one was the flesh, the other was power. I don't care how strong that you might think you are, given the right set of circumstances and frame of mine, you are never as strong as you think you are. This is why we must stay humble and remain totally dependent upon God's power, not our own. If we are going to finish this race, let alone stand any chance of winning, we are only going to do it by abiding in Christ Jesus. What that requires is for us to admit that we are broken, miserably broken; and it is Jesus that holds all of this brokenness together! Maybe that might not be a perfect picture of an able runner; but feast your eyes upon the Champion! Look at what He endured upon the cross, and see what real brokenness looks like. Talk about being beautifully broken! Then again, if we know what we are, running becomes very easy...
"With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed -cut off from Christ! -if that would save them." (Romans 9:1-3) NLT
If you ever thought that you were not worthy of God's love, you are not alone! It is extremely sad to see people that leave the faith because they are convicted of the very thing that Jesus came and died for! Is it hard to be righteous and holy before a Holy God? No, it is impossible! If it was a matter of difficulty, the Jews would have had the greatest chances to get it right; but did they? Here is the thing that brings us to our knees and keeps us humble before the God that loves us; because without God's precious Son, the sacrifice He gave to save us, there would absolutely be no hope for any of us, at all! There are a couple of ways to view this verse; either from that of self-righteousness or that of being convicted. For the sake of time and whatever reason, I will only focus upon the view of being convicted, as in, David is realizing that he has a problem with lust. It might not be news to anyone that knows some of David's blunders, because he had a couple that caused God to take off His belt. Unfortunately, they both involved the lust of the eyes; one was the flesh, the other was power. I don't care how strong that you might think you are, given the right set of circumstances and frame of mine, you are never as strong as you think you are. This is why we must stay humble and remain totally dependent upon God's power, not our own. If we are going to finish this race, let alone stand any chance of winning, we are only going to do it by abiding in Christ Jesus. What that requires is for us to admit that we are broken, miserably broken; and it is Jesus that holds all of this brokenness together! Maybe that might not be a perfect picture of an able runner; but feast your eyes upon the Champion! Look at what He endured upon the cross, and see what real brokenness looks like. Talk about being beautifully broken! Then again, if we know what we are, running becomes very easy...
"With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed -cut off from Christ! -if that would save them." (Romans 9:1-3) NLT
Saturday, March 16, 2019
"Made To Shine"
"Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me they statutes." (Psalms 119:135)
As many of you might know, there are some things within my life that might otherwise cause me to be justified in feeling sad or depressed; there are very few people that I know who wakeup each day to the same situation that I find myself living. Not that I am complaining, because this is not something I consider to be a burden, but it is more a privilege and an honor to love and care for my wife. There are some that run the race who are less fortunate than others, and then there are those that run with restrictions that cause them to feel fortunate to run at all. Hopefully, I pray, I will be not only be an example of one that is less fortunate who runs, but that I will count it all joy that I am fortunate to run at all! This is that part of the race where there is an evaluation of not only who and what we are, but why it is that we run to win, even if winning is something way outside of our abilities. Besides, this is not a race against one another; if one of us might fall or stumble, those of us nearby must stop running to assist them to get back in the race. It might not make sense to everyone who is reading this, but it is a requirement of each and every one of us, that we love one another as ourselves. What exactly does it mean to have God's face to shine upon us? Do you think it means that He is blessing us and looking down upon us? or do you think that it means that you are shinning with the face of God that others might feel the love you know so well? If there is one thing I count any and every circumstance to do in me, it is that people will see God's love shining through me, and will not see me walking in my flesh. This is made possible by my faith and trust in God; not only for the end result, but for every single circumstance or trial along the way, that He is smiling down upon me, because He loves me: Oh how He loves me! Matthew Henry puts it to mean this: "Let me be accepted of thee, and let me know that I am so. Comfort me with the light of thy countenance in every cloudy and dark day. If the world frown upon me, yet do thou smile." This is how the less fortunate runner, runs, and feels fortunate to run! Win or lose, it just feels good to run the race...
"Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Corinthians 3:2-6) KJV
As many of you might know, there are some things within my life that might otherwise cause me to be justified in feeling sad or depressed; there are very few people that I know who wakeup each day to the same situation that I find myself living. Not that I am complaining, because this is not something I consider to be a burden, but it is more a privilege and an honor to love and care for my wife. There are some that run the race who are less fortunate than others, and then there are those that run with restrictions that cause them to feel fortunate to run at all. Hopefully, I pray, I will be not only be an example of one that is less fortunate who runs, but that I will count it all joy that I am fortunate to run at all! This is that part of the race where there is an evaluation of not only who and what we are, but why it is that we run to win, even if winning is something way outside of our abilities. Besides, this is not a race against one another; if one of us might fall or stumble, those of us nearby must stop running to assist them to get back in the race. It might not make sense to everyone who is reading this, but it is a requirement of each and every one of us, that we love one another as ourselves. What exactly does it mean to have God's face to shine upon us? Do you think it means that He is blessing us and looking down upon us? or do you think that it means that you are shinning with the face of God that others might feel the love you know so well? If there is one thing I count any and every circumstance to do in me, it is that people will see God's love shining through me, and will not see me walking in my flesh. This is made possible by my faith and trust in God; not only for the end result, but for every single circumstance or trial along the way, that He is smiling down upon me, because He loves me: Oh how He loves me! Matthew Henry puts it to mean this: "Let me be accepted of thee, and let me know that I am so. Comfort me with the light of thy countenance in every cloudy and dark day. If the world frown upon me, yet do thou smile." This is how the less fortunate runner, runs, and feels fortunate to run! Win or lose, it just feels good to run the race...
"Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Corinthians 3:2-6) KJV
Friday, March 15, 2019
"Made Anew"
"Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts." (Psalms 119:134)
Every so often, there are those that come along breaking records and setting new goals for themselves and others. This is something that continues to show the complexity of God's creation; just when you think it can't getting any faster, someone will make a liar out of the naysayers. Just so you know, this is something that is also a problem in the lives of believers, in the wonder-working power of the cross of Christ. There was another thing that Saul's armor represented, it was the law; it was what was customary or expected, the thing that you do, or were expected to do. Who goes out to face a giant in battle without getting armored up? This is the point David is making about, "the oppression of man," as man is referring to man's existence, starting with Adam. To those that might not know this, we are born in sin; we sin because we are sinners, an inherited issue handed down and traced back to the very first Adam. The word, "oppression," is a word that speaks of extortion or something deceitfully gotten; something taken away by force or fraud. To put it in a way that even a simple minded person can understand: You are what you are because you are a descendant of Adam! It is really not your fault, this is what you are born into; which is the primary reason for the need to be born again! When Jesus mentioned this concept to Nicodemus, he said, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" The very simple illustration I am familiar with is shown at the back of just about every 'Chick Tract': the simple fact that we were born separated by God, and the Spirit of God was not living in us; because when Adam sinned, he became spiritually dead and the Spirit of God that had resided within him had been lost because of his sin. But Jesus' death upon that cross defeated sin and death, and for all that accept His free gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit is restored within us, and because He rose from the dead, we will rise also, to live forever with Him. There comes with that simple illustration, and the naysayers, which are the ones that will say it cannot be done. They are the ones that will use the law, as if, there must be something else that needs to be put on us, just like that armor Saul tried to get David to wear. Going all the way back to the sacrifice of Cain and Able, Cain's sacrifice was not just lacking blood, it lacked faith in the cleansing work of God. Looking at the word "precepts," it speaks of something that is a mandate, specifically (of God; plural only, collectively, for the Law). There is simply no other way to put this: but you cannot have both accounted to salvation, justification and works...
"Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself be Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who know no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 6:17-21) KJV
Every so often, there are those that come along breaking records and setting new goals for themselves and others. This is something that continues to show the complexity of God's creation; just when you think it can't getting any faster, someone will make a liar out of the naysayers. Just so you know, this is something that is also a problem in the lives of believers, in the wonder-working power of the cross of Christ. There was another thing that Saul's armor represented, it was the law; it was what was customary or expected, the thing that you do, or were expected to do. Who goes out to face a giant in battle without getting armored up? This is the point David is making about, "the oppression of man," as man is referring to man's existence, starting with Adam. To those that might not know this, we are born in sin; we sin because we are sinners, an inherited issue handed down and traced back to the very first Adam. The word, "oppression," is a word that speaks of extortion or something deceitfully gotten; something taken away by force or fraud. To put it in a way that even a simple minded person can understand: You are what you are because you are a descendant of Adam! It is really not your fault, this is what you are born into; which is the primary reason for the need to be born again! When Jesus mentioned this concept to Nicodemus, he said, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" The very simple illustration I am familiar with is shown at the back of just about every 'Chick Tract': the simple fact that we were born separated by God, and the Spirit of God was not living in us; because when Adam sinned, he became spiritually dead and the Spirit of God that had resided within him had been lost because of his sin. But Jesus' death upon that cross defeated sin and death, and for all that accept His free gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit is restored within us, and because He rose from the dead, we will rise also, to live forever with Him. There comes with that simple illustration, and the naysayers, which are the ones that will say it cannot be done. They are the ones that will use the law, as if, there must be something else that needs to be put on us, just like that armor Saul tried to get David to wear. Going all the way back to the sacrifice of Cain and Able, Cain's sacrifice was not just lacking blood, it lacked faith in the cleansing work of God. Looking at the word "precepts," it speaks of something that is a mandate, specifically (of God; plural only, collectively, for the Law). There is simply no other way to put this: but you cannot have both accounted to salvation, justification and works...
"Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself be Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who know no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 6:17-21) KJV
Thursday, March 14, 2019
"Made To Order"
"Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." (Psalms 119:133)
Life is full of so many choices, it gets hard sometimes to figure out where we are at and where we left off. Here we have a very simple plan to try and keep that path we are on in focus, by simply staying in God's word and not letting our life run off in any strange direction. In the area of running or being in a race, this is quite often the case for us doing the things we need to do to stay in shape, and not doing the things that cause us to become out of shape. You would think that as long as you keep running you would be better and better at running; but it is really not that simple. There are certain things that we put into our bodies that we give us stamina, and there are things that we put into our bodies that will cause us to cramp up and feel weak. So too is the need for a strong diet of God's word in the life of the believer! If we are not feeding on God's word for direction and guidance, then where are we getting order from for our lives? This is not a joke, because there are so many different sources around us, every single day, that are trying to take us out of the race; whether that be the strange ways of the world, the need for competition in the workforce, family issues, or the enemy of our souls. If we are not feeding ourselves properly, then we are not going to be strong enough to run to win! This was Paul's point about running to win, that it takes determination and a plan. Jesus gave an illustration concerning this, as He spoke about those that go to war considering the strength of the enemy first, or those that build a house considering first if they have the resources or the materials. It is a matter of planning what it takes to win and what might be in the way of winning...
"And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; no not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace." (Romans 6:8-14) NLT
Life is full of so many choices, it gets hard sometimes to figure out where we are at and where we left off. Here we have a very simple plan to try and keep that path we are on in focus, by simply staying in God's word and not letting our life run off in any strange direction. In the area of running or being in a race, this is quite often the case for us doing the things we need to do to stay in shape, and not doing the things that cause us to become out of shape. You would think that as long as you keep running you would be better and better at running; but it is really not that simple. There are certain things that we put into our bodies that we give us stamina, and there are things that we put into our bodies that will cause us to cramp up and feel weak. So too is the need for a strong diet of God's word in the life of the believer! If we are not feeding on God's word for direction and guidance, then where are we getting order from for our lives? This is not a joke, because there are so many different sources around us, every single day, that are trying to take us out of the race; whether that be the strange ways of the world, the need for competition in the workforce, family issues, or the enemy of our souls. If we are not feeding ourselves properly, then we are not going to be strong enough to run to win! This was Paul's point about running to win, that it takes determination and a plan. Jesus gave an illustration concerning this, as He spoke about those that go to war considering the strength of the enemy first, or those that build a house considering first if they have the resources or the materials. It is a matter of planning what it takes to win and what might be in the way of winning...
"And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; no not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace." (Romans 6:8-14) NLT
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
"Gasp for Inspiration"
"Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name." (Psalms 119:132)
As with any race, especially those that require endurance for long periods of time, there are times when we hit a wall of resistance; whether mental or physical, it is our mind and body telling us that we cannot go any further. On my long bike rides, it is usually around the 60 to 70 mile mark of the ride, when I try telling myself, we have gone far enough! Here is the thing that we must never forget about anything to do with running this race of salvation: We are in it, to be in it! I don't care where you are in your walk with the Lord, you have got to keep remembering what brought you here in the first place, your need to be saved from the eternal fires of hell! Not that what we do or don't do really matters, but it is a question of finishing the race, as in, does the race even matter anymore. Here I believe David is gasping for air, not asking for God to give him any favors, but that He might just treat him like somebody that needs mercy, and that he too, loves to be loved by God. If you have ever been there, you know what I am talking about. You need to find some other reason besides yourself to keep on going, because yourself is feeling spent! So, what might this be that keeps us going? If you are looking in the mirror, make sure your face in the mirror is out of focus and you see the multitude behind you, because those are the ones that really matter! These are the reasons that we do what we do; why the race is a race that is bigger than you and me, because how we run matters in them and in the way they even consider getting into the race for themselves. Paul description of not running aimlessly was not just about being focused, it was about purpose! As a fighter, he is not speaking about just not throwing his arms around, he is talking about the punches he throws be counted and actually making contact. In other words, it is not just about you and me anymore! From the moment we were saved, we were saved for a reason bigger than ourselves; a whole lot bigger and a worth far more than any temporary pain we might be experiencing in our own race...
"When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should, Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:22-27) NLT
As with any race, especially those that require endurance for long periods of time, there are times when we hit a wall of resistance; whether mental or physical, it is our mind and body telling us that we cannot go any further. On my long bike rides, it is usually around the 60 to 70 mile mark of the ride, when I try telling myself, we have gone far enough! Here is the thing that we must never forget about anything to do with running this race of salvation: We are in it, to be in it! I don't care where you are in your walk with the Lord, you have got to keep remembering what brought you here in the first place, your need to be saved from the eternal fires of hell! Not that what we do or don't do really matters, but it is a question of finishing the race, as in, does the race even matter anymore. Here I believe David is gasping for air, not asking for God to give him any favors, but that He might just treat him like somebody that needs mercy, and that he too, loves to be loved by God. If you have ever been there, you know what I am talking about. You need to find some other reason besides yourself to keep on going, because yourself is feeling spent! So, what might this be that keeps us going? If you are looking in the mirror, make sure your face in the mirror is out of focus and you see the multitude behind you, because those are the ones that really matter! These are the reasons that we do what we do; why the race is a race that is bigger than you and me, because how we run matters in them and in the way they even consider getting into the race for themselves. Paul description of not running aimlessly was not just about being focused, it was about purpose! As a fighter, he is not speaking about just not throwing his arms around, he is talking about the punches he throws be counted and actually making contact. In other words, it is not just about you and me anymore! From the moment we were saved, we were saved for a reason bigger than ourselves; a whole lot bigger and a worth far more than any temporary pain we might be experiencing in our own race...
"When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should, Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:22-27) NLT
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
"Day Undone"
"I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments." (Psalms 119:131)
Here is the thing I hope to get from this, is a clear perspective of my never-ending need for God's mercy and my never-ending respect for His grace! We really must come to terms with who we are and what we are capable of doing. If we are going to live holy lives, then it is going to be Jesus living in us; we are not going to do it on our own, we absolutely can't! If it could be done, Jesus would not had to come and die on the cross. Adam and Eve only had one simple thing to try not to do, and they failed! Imagine if you can this verses was speaking of the point after the run, where the runner simply evaluates the run that was just completed. I don't know about you, but when it comes to controlling every single word that comes out of my mouth, there are times I wish I could take back many of those words that I have spoken. There is absolutely nothing we can do about the race we just completed; that race is no longer taking place, it is over. You know that old saying, "Live to run another day," it is all about second chances. We might not have gotten it right today, but tomorrow is a brand new day! I try not to forget to pray for forgiveness every night, even if I think my day went okay; because my days are never as good as they could be, if I were Jesus! Jesus is who we are to follow and strive to live like. When we come to the end of every day, it is time to evaluate where we stand and how we lived out Jesus in our life that day. Was it a race that I ran well? Was I kind and caring to everyone that I met? Did I do anything that required Jesus to leave the room? I try not to focus too hard on every single mistake, but asking for forgiveness sure makes it easier to get to sleep. Which brings me to the most important thing: that He loves to forgive me!!! All those stupid things I do, He already knows about, I do not need to tell Him, but I do need to remind myself how much I need His forgiveness! This is the realization of our failures; the whole point of "I longed for," is that of having missed the mark. To desire something which we cannot do! We cannot redo the day, the race, or even our life; but God can! 1 John 1:9 is the Christian bar of soap! We get cleansed from all unrighteousness by simply asking God to forgive us, as we live to run another day...
"For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say, "People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever." And the word is the Good News that was preached to you. So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness." (1 Peter 1:23-2:3) NLT
Here is the thing I hope to get from this, is a clear perspective of my never-ending need for God's mercy and my never-ending respect for His grace! We really must come to terms with who we are and what we are capable of doing. If we are going to live holy lives, then it is going to be Jesus living in us; we are not going to do it on our own, we absolutely can't! If it could be done, Jesus would not had to come and die on the cross. Adam and Eve only had one simple thing to try not to do, and they failed! Imagine if you can this verses was speaking of the point after the run, where the runner simply evaluates the run that was just completed. I don't know about you, but when it comes to controlling every single word that comes out of my mouth, there are times I wish I could take back many of those words that I have spoken. There is absolutely nothing we can do about the race we just completed; that race is no longer taking place, it is over. You know that old saying, "Live to run another day," it is all about second chances. We might not have gotten it right today, but tomorrow is a brand new day! I try not to forget to pray for forgiveness every night, even if I think my day went okay; because my days are never as good as they could be, if I were Jesus! Jesus is who we are to follow and strive to live like. When we come to the end of every day, it is time to evaluate where we stand and how we lived out Jesus in our life that day. Was it a race that I ran well? Was I kind and caring to everyone that I met? Did I do anything that required Jesus to leave the room? I try not to focus too hard on every single mistake, but asking for forgiveness sure makes it easier to get to sleep. Which brings me to the most important thing: that He loves to forgive me!!! All those stupid things I do, He already knows about, I do not need to tell Him, but I do need to remind myself how much I need His forgiveness! This is the realization of our failures; the whole point of "I longed for," is that of having missed the mark. To desire something which we cannot do! We cannot redo the day, the race, or even our life; but God can! 1 John 1:9 is the Christian bar of soap! We get cleansed from all unrighteousness by simply asking God to forgive us, as we live to run another day...
"For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say, "People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever." And the word is the Good News that was preached to you. So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness." (1 Peter 1:23-2:3) NLT
Monday, March 11, 2019
"Day One"
"The entrance of thy words giveth light: it giveth understanding unto the simple." (Psalms 119:130)
First and foremost, there is to be anticipation and excitement to be spoken to; based upon the previous verse, this is the heart we come with, ready to hear God's wonderful words, expecting to be changed by them, and anticipating that He will challenge our sincerity. In other words, we are an open book, so what are you here for? You might not understand that yet, but a good couch always starts out with the basic drill of sorting out the ones who are there to be made better and the ones who might think they already have what it takes. To the second point given in the previous verse: How many of God's commandments are we able to keep? Just so you know, incase you don't, if we break just one command, then we have broken them all! I want to help you get handle on this, if you are interested in running the race. Testimonies and commandments are not quite the same; both are laws, but both do not condemn. Commandments are the laws of restriction, as in, don't do this or that, or else you get hurt, and you will die; while testimonies are the laws of prescription, as in, do this and that, because it will make you better, and you will have life. In respect of anyone that might need to be encouraged, half of the race is won by just showing up! Sometimes we don't even know why we came; was it to better ourselves or was it to draw closer to God? The second reason is far better than the first, because drawing closer to God will make us better, in the long run. Now, just for the record, every new day is a New Day! Each and every runner or cyclist that is striving to win, shows up every day with the anticipation of a new challenge. Even if the previous day set a record, this new day is going to as hard or harder; it has got to be that way, because if not, then they won't be prepared to give it all that they got! Basically, the point I am trying to make is that of coming prepared to learn, as in remaining "simple." No matter how much you think you know, you really don't no much at all! We are that way, so let's accept it, and let's get some understanding; which pretty much means that we get taught! Believe it or not, but that is the same thing runners and cyclist do, is to teach their bodies and their minds endurance and discipline. Our minds can play tricks on us, so we must be prepared to combat every single thought that wants to tell us to give up. But like I said before, each and every day starts out as Day One, a new day to be taught and challenged...
"Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city: "Come in with me," she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says, "Come, eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed. Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment."" (Proverbs 9:1-6) NLT
First and foremost, there is to be anticipation and excitement to be spoken to; based upon the previous verse, this is the heart we come with, ready to hear God's wonderful words, expecting to be changed by them, and anticipating that He will challenge our sincerity. In other words, we are an open book, so what are you here for? You might not understand that yet, but a good couch always starts out with the basic drill of sorting out the ones who are there to be made better and the ones who might think they already have what it takes. To the second point given in the previous verse: How many of God's commandments are we able to keep? Just so you know, incase you don't, if we break just one command, then we have broken them all! I want to help you get handle on this, if you are interested in running the race. Testimonies and commandments are not quite the same; both are laws, but both do not condemn. Commandments are the laws of restriction, as in, don't do this or that, or else you get hurt, and you will die; while testimonies are the laws of prescription, as in, do this and that, because it will make you better, and you will have life. In respect of anyone that might need to be encouraged, half of the race is won by just showing up! Sometimes we don't even know why we came; was it to better ourselves or was it to draw closer to God? The second reason is far better than the first, because drawing closer to God will make us better, in the long run. Now, just for the record, every new day is a New Day! Each and every runner or cyclist that is striving to win, shows up every day with the anticipation of a new challenge. Even if the previous day set a record, this new day is going to as hard or harder; it has got to be that way, because if not, then they won't be prepared to give it all that they got! Basically, the point I am trying to make is that of coming prepared to learn, as in remaining "simple." No matter how much you think you know, you really don't no much at all! We are that way, so let's accept it, and let's get some understanding; which pretty much means that we get taught! Believe it or not, but that is the same thing runners and cyclist do, is to teach their bodies and their minds endurance and discipline. Our minds can play tricks on us, so we must be prepared to combat every single thought that wants to tell us to give up. But like I said before, each and every day starts out as Day One, a new day to be taught and challenged...
"Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city: "Come in with me," she urges the simple. To those who lack good judgment, she says, "Come, eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed. Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment."" (Proverbs 9:1-6) NLT
Sunday, March 10, 2019
"PE"
"Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them." (Psalms 119:129)
How many of you remember a thing called P.E. as a kid? For some of us, it was the period we always hated and tried to get out of; for others, it was the period looked forward to, day after day. Well, this is going to be something very similar to that! As a matter of fact, this portion of Scripture comes with a warning: 'May cause increased faith in the substance of things hoped for; excitability in unexpected expectations; abundant joy, which might result in leaps and bounds; awareness to sin, which could result in sleeplessness and anxiety; and the ability to run like a champion, dying daily to self. If any or all of these conditions do not materialize, call upon the LORD, and try again!' Matthew Henry puts it like this: "See here how David was affected towards the word of God." I can recall my first day of P.E. in Navy Bootcamp. We were being instructed by a Seal, and he started off with trying to make us do something that was impossible: touching our heads to our knees without bending our legs! I thought, what the heck have I gotten myself into? It reminded me of the drills we had to perform on flights back in the 60's and 70's; you know, the ones where they made us all place our heads between our knees. You know what that actually meant, right? 'This plane is going down, so kiss your ____ goodby!' Sorry for the discomfort, but there is something you need to know. When we first started Basic Training, there was no way my head was touching my knees without bending my legs; but within two weeks, I was amazed that it I could do it, easily at that! I like to ride bikes; and when I say ride, I mean ride long and hard rides. Training is something required, especially the training to the seat and the discomfort of sitting on a seat which is only 6" wide, at the widest area. If you are a cyclist, then you know what I am talking about. It is really hard to finish a 100 mile ride if you saddle hurts within the first 25 miles. Believe it or not, but that is relevant to the message! What I hope to get from this is exactly what Matthew Henry is sharing; that I would be affected towards the word of God! This is the point of us needing the correction and inspiration, so much so, that it is something we crave. It makes us hurt and feel good at the same time, because we know that gain is not possible without some pain. It has got to hurt in order to work...
"O LORD, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will fear you." (Isaiah 25:1-3) NLT
How many of you remember a thing called P.E. as a kid? For some of us, it was the period we always hated and tried to get out of; for others, it was the period looked forward to, day after day. Well, this is going to be something very similar to that! As a matter of fact, this portion of Scripture comes with a warning: 'May cause increased faith in the substance of things hoped for; excitability in unexpected expectations; abundant joy, which might result in leaps and bounds; awareness to sin, which could result in sleeplessness and anxiety; and the ability to run like a champion, dying daily to self. If any or all of these conditions do not materialize, call upon the LORD, and try again!' Matthew Henry puts it like this: "See here how David was affected towards the word of God." I can recall my first day of P.E. in Navy Bootcamp. We were being instructed by a Seal, and he started off with trying to make us do something that was impossible: touching our heads to our knees without bending our legs! I thought, what the heck have I gotten myself into? It reminded me of the drills we had to perform on flights back in the 60's and 70's; you know, the ones where they made us all place our heads between our knees. You know what that actually meant, right? 'This plane is going down, so kiss your ____ goodby!' Sorry for the discomfort, but there is something you need to know. When we first started Basic Training, there was no way my head was touching my knees without bending my legs; but within two weeks, I was amazed that it I could do it, easily at that! I like to ride bikes; and when I say ride, I mean ride long and hard rides. Training is something required, especially the training to the seat and the discomfort of sitting on a seat which is only 6" wide, at the widest area. If you are a cyclist, then you know what I am talking about. It is really hard to finish a 100 mile ride if you saddle hurts within the first 25 miles. Believe it or not, but that is relevant to the message! What I hope to get from this is exactly what Matthew Henry is sharing; that I would be affected towards the word of God! This is the point of us needing the correction and inspiration, so much so, that it is something we crave. It makes us hurt and feel good at the same time, because we know that gain is not possible without some pain. It has got to hurt in order to work...
"O LORD, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will fear you." (Isaiah 25:1-3) NLT
Saturday, March 9, 2019
"Scale of Wisdom"
"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." (Psalms 119:128)
If there is any other way to explain how important it is to understand how God's judgment is concerning you and me, this verse might help us to see difference between who we are and what we should be. To paint this picture in the way I have been shown to see it, we could just examine David's heart at the time he took on Goliath. As a shepherd boy, David learned several things about being ready to defend that which he was entrusted to watch over; he shared these experiences with King Saul, as he made his case about being able to take on the giant Philistine. More importantly, was David's heart when he first heard the Philistine giant spouting out blasphemy against his God. This was no little thing to be ignored; this was David's heart taking notice of something that not only should not be allowed, but it was something that surely should not be feared. A couple points to that condition which needs to be expanded on: the first, that David felt offended by what was being said; having a relationship with God, he felt the need to stand up for the honor and respect that God deserves to be given. Secondly, by having some experience in God's amazing protection, he was embolden to not only speak out against what was being said, but to be encouraged to take on the challenge being put forth by someone that had absolutely no power against his God! Night and day, that is the difference in attitude displayed in David's heart in comparison to those who cowered back from the threats from enemy of God's people. 1 Samuel 17:26 describes David's answer in the matter of taking on the Philistine giant, saying, "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" For David, it was totally unquestionable to consider what was the right or wrong thing to do. The right thing was to take God's side in the matter, and the wrong was to do nothing! The false way, if you will, was to even consider this giant as someone that God could not overcome; it was something that never entered David's heart. When Saul tried to dress David in his armor, David realized that he needed to be unprotected, because his real protection was the LORD! Talk about making a point, his determination was to come as he was, because the stuff Saul tried to put upon him had not been tested; in other words, it was not him and God didn't need him to use it for winning the battle. His faith was in God, and in God alone, as he said, "And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands." (1Samuel 17:47) The big difference being painted here is the difference between God's side and the side that is not! We really don't need to use a Ben Franklin Scale to figure out which is which; if it glorifies God, then we know it is right...
"At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and just. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes." (Romans 7:9-13) NLT
If there is any other way to explain how important it is to understand how God's judgment is concerning you and me, this verse might help us to see difference between who we are and what we should be. To paint this picture in the way I have been shown to see it, we could just examine David's heart at the time he took on Goliath. As a shepherd boy, David learned several things about being ready to defend that which he was entrusted to watch over; he shared these experiences with King Saul, as he made his case about being able to take on the giant Philistine. More importantly, was David's heart when he first heard the Philistine giant spouting out blasphemy against his God. This was no little thing to be ignored; this was David's heart taking notice of something that not only should not be allowed, but it was something that surely should not be feared. A couple points to that condition which needs to be expanded on: the first, that David felt offended by what was being said; having a relationship with God, he felt the need to stand up for the honor and respect that God deserves to be given. Secondly, by having some experience in God's amazing protection, he was embolden to not only speak out against what was being said, but to be encouraged to take on the challenge being put forth by someone that had absolutely no power against his God! Night and day, that is the difference in attitude displayed in David's heart in comparison to those who cowered back from the threats from enemy of God's people. 1 Samuel 17:26 describes David's answer in the matter of taking on the Philistine giant, saying, "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" For David, it was totally unquestionable to consider what was the right or wrong thing to do. The right thing was to take God's side in the matter, and the wrong was to do nothing! The false way, if you will, was to even consider this giant as someone that God could not overcome; it was something that never entered David's heart. When Saul tried to dress David in his armor, David realized that he needed to be unprotected, because his real protection was the LORD! Talk about making a point, his determination was to come as he was, because the stuff Saul tried to put upon him had not been tested; in other words, it was not him and God didn't need him to use it for winning the battle. His faith was in God, and in God alone, as he said, "And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands." (1Samuel 17:47) The big difference being painted here is the difference between God's side and the side that is not! We really don't need to use a Ben Franklin Scale to figure out which is which; if it glorifies God, then we know it is right...
"At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and just. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes." (Romans 7:9-13) NLT
Friday, March 8, 2019
"Code of Wisdom"
"Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold." (Psalms 119:127)
It appears that I might have hit on something that is very hard for some people to swallow, if there is any chance of that! Forgiveness is not only about receiving, it must be what we are all about; it is what love represents and how we can seriously express love to one another; besides giving out gifts and money to each other, which are seldom inspirational. To the point which David is making here, that comes pretty close, because money buys nothing in the way of love, love being the fulfillment of each and every one of God's commandments. Seriously, giving and receiving money is nice; it might make someone feel warm and fuzzy, but it does nothing good to change our hearts; if anything, it will make our hearts harder; if you can understand how that might work. The whole point of getting to understand God's judgments, it to understand His love; if we can see how much He loves us, despite all of our imperfections and our stubborn hearts, then we can truly know how the scale is tipped in our favor. That was the whole point of the angels who declared, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." This was something that was unheard of, that God would not only do what He did to save us, but that the He would do it so exclusively. To make that into something a little easier to understand: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There is no difference in who you are, it is all dependent upon who you believe in! All the money in the world cannot save you, it can only make it harder to realize your need for a Savior. If you follow this blog, then you might know how I feel about who Mark, the Gospel writer, who he was and how it is that I have come to that conclusion. The other Gospels that give the account of Jesus' encounter with the Rich Young Ruler, they miss one important fact that the Gospel of Mark shares: "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, "One thing thou lackest."" There is no way we can determine the love God has for us, without our heart being opened to His love! You can read about it over and over, but until we open up our hearts and let Him in, it is only words written on the page and never makes a real change in our lives. If there was just some way to explain it, it could be bottled up and sold; but there is not! There is only one way to honestly experience God's love, and that is to give our lives to Him and accept His wonderful gift of salvation! Something that is more important and precious than all the gold, even all the fine gold, there ever was; was being the result of gold...
"Though I am the least deserving of all God's people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:8-11) NLT
It appears that I might have hit on something that is very hard for some people to swallow, if there is any chance of that! Forgiveness is not only about receiving, it must be what we are all about; it is what love represents and how we can seriously express love to one another; besides giving out gifts and money to each other, which are seldom inspirational. To the point which David is making here, that comes pretty close, because money buys nothing in the way of love, love being the fulfillment of each and every one of God's commandments. Seriously, giving and receiving money is nice; it might make someone feel warm and fuzzy, but it does nothing good to change our hearts; if anything, it will make our hearts harder; if you can understand how that might work. The whole point of getting to understand God's judgments, it to understand His love; if we can see how much He loves us, despite all of our imperfections and our stubborn hearts, then we can truly know how the scale is tipped in our favor. That was the whole point of the angels who declared, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." This was something that was unheard of, that God would not only do what He did to save us, but that the He would do it so exclusively. To make that into something a little easier to understand: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There is no difference in who you are, it is all dependent upon who you believe in! All the money in the world cannot save you, it can only make it harder to realize your need for a Savior. If you follow this blog, then you might know how I feel about who Mark, the Gospel writer, who he was and how it is that I have come to that conclusion. The other Gospels that give the account of Jesus' encounter with the Rich Young Ruler, they miss one important fact that the Gospel of Mark shares: "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, "One thing thou lackest."" There is no way we can determine the love God has for us, without our heart being opened to His love! You can read about it over and over, but until we open up our hearts and let Him in, it is only words written on the page and never makes a real change in our lives. If there was just some way to explain it, it could be bottled up and sold; but there is not! There is only one way to honestly experience God's love, and that is to give our lives to Him and accept His wonderful gift of salvation! Something that is more important and precious than all the gold, even all the fine gold, there ever was; was being the result of gold...
"Though I am the least deserving of all God's people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:8-11) NLT
Thursday, March 7, 2019
"Milking It!"
"It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law." (Psalms 119:126)
Just for the record, if we pray about forgiving someone, what is it we are praying for? Is it that He might soften our heart so that we are able to forgive? If so, then prepare to have your heart broken! Not that God can't simply touch you in the heart and say, "You now have a soft heart," because that is not how He usually works. If you are asking God to change you in any way, whether it is for peace or faith or love or patience, or even the ability to forgive others, then you are going to experience whatever it takes to make you more like Jesus Christ. Okay, so you doubt my theory on the way God works? Well, if this were a class on sculpting; the artist sees the finished work in the stone or object being sculpted, and then clips and breaks away everything not part of that finished work, until whatever he is working on matches the image within his mind. If you were that rock or piece of wood, and if you had the kind of feeling that you have right now, would those pieces and parts taken away from you cause a little pain? In other words, prepare to hurt a little if you are asking God to change your heart! You might not realize this, but He already has changed your heart; it is your fault for the hardness and the calluses that have occurred on your heart. Moving on to other things, more or less, I wanted to draw our attention to the word "work." There are so many different ways to look at this, but the way I feel today, it makes the best sense to examine how random this thought is compared to the previous verse. I want to try an experiment in the law of gravity; you know, what goes up, must come down. Imagine for a second that we need to have more understanding in knowing God's testimonies; as testimonies are the things that are actions accompanied be reactions. Say, for the sake of time that we needed God to speed up the process, especially when it came to giving us the ability to forgive. Where might we go to see a way of realizing how urgent our need really is? Don't you just love how patient God is with us! If you might recall the parable of the "Ungrateful Servant", found in Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus shows us how important it is for us to forgive one another. It is beyond being an obligation, it goes more towards appreciation. Think about what law I said this was representing, the law of God's judgment, and then ask yourself: What side of God's judgment do I want to be on, that of forgiveness or that of condemnation? We are not to feel like we are obligated; we are to be living it, because we are in it, to be in it...
"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does that mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law." (Romans 3:27-31) NLT
Just for the record, if we pray about forgiving someone, what is it we are praying for? Is it that He might soften our heart so that we are able to forgive? If so, then prepare to have your heart broken! Not that God can't simply touch you in the heart and say, "You now have a soft heart," because that is not how He usually works. If you are asking God to change you in any way, whether it is for peace or faith or love or patience, or even the ability to forgive others, then you are going to experience whatever it takes to make you more like Jesus Christ. Okay, so you doubt my theory on the way God works? Well, if this were a class on sculpting; the artist sees the finished work in the stone or object being sculpted, and then clips and breaks away everything not part of that finished work, until whatever he is working on matches the image within his mind. If you were that rock or piece of wood, and if you had the kind of feeling that you have right now, would those pieces and parts taken away from you cause a little pain? In other words, prepare to hurt a little if you are asking God to change your heart! You might not realize this, but He already has changed your heart; it is your fault for the hardness and the calluses that have occurred on your heart. Moving on to other things, more or less, I wanted to draw our attention to the word "work." There are so many different ways to look at this, but the way I feel today, it makes the best sense to examine how random this thought is compared to the previous verse. I want to try an experiment in the law of gravity; you know, what goes up, must come down. Imagine for a second that we need to have more understanding in knowing God's testimonies; as testimonies are the things that are actions accompanied be reactions. Say, for the sake of time that we needed God to speed up the process, especially when it came to giving us the ability to forgive. Where might we go to see a way of realizing how urgent our need really is? Don't you just love how patient God is with us! If you might recall the parable of the "Ungrateful Servant", found in Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus shows us how important it is for us to forgive one another. It is beyond being an obligation, it goes more towards appreciation. Think about what law I said this was representing, the law of God's judgment, and then ask yourself: What side of God's judgment do I want to be on, that of forgiveness or that of condemnation? We are not to feel like we are obligated; we are to be living it, because we are in it, to be in it...
"Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does that mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law." (Romans 3:27-31) NLT
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
"Two Shakes"
"I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies." (Psalms 119:125)
Speaking of the proper perspective, this verse ties action into reaction, as in, what we do, we do because we know it is the right thing to do. Maybe it might seem a little bit of a stretch, but I tend to hear a certain instruction given out by various people more and more when it comes to so many different choices we are faced with: "Just pray about it." Yes, there are many choices we must make in life that require prayer and direction from the Lord. But, when it comes to the choices of acting on behalf of our Master, as His servant, we must be familiar with His heart in matters of ministry and life giving results. There is no other way to say this, then to simple say, A servant must do what the Master instructs him or her to do, because that is what servants do! The point about the title, "Two Shakes," is that of spontaneity. In other words, there are many things that we think we need to pray about that require spontaneous action. This is where I believe David is coming from, that his understanding of God's testimonies would be such, that he has no hindrance when it comes to knowing what God wants when it comes to making and carrying out all of the tasks of being His servant. As I have mentioned before, "testimonies," are always plural; which speaks to several things associated with either the commands or laws of the Master. It is like my mother always said, Don't play with fire or you will get burnt. That burning sensation might be from the fire, or it might be from the belt; but the point is that of understanding the point of the law, law meaning rules that if broken result in some sort consequences. In this regard, it's really not something that requires prayer, it requires obedience; and more importantly, it requires not even needing to think twice about doing it! Sometimes that second look will bit you! Two Shakes represents a measure of time, as in, the choice is made quickly and decisively, because there are things we must do that do not allow us time to think about. Take forgiveness for example: when it comes to us forgiving others, there is really nothing we need to think about in making that choice, because we already know where God stands on the issue. Yet, how many times, when we are faced with that opportunity, do we ponder our rights in the choice of forgiving someone else? "Hey brother, you need to forgive that person!" And you say, "Okay, I will pray about doing that." Really! What do you need to pray about, the degree of forgiveness or the result that you are going for? How about asking God for forgiveness of something you have done, do you ponder asking His forgiveness, or is it spontaneous! I pray for your sake it is the latter, because there are some things associated with Two Shakes that take you by surprise and you may not have time to even think about it. Just sayin...
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end up in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23) NLT
Speaking of the proper perspective, this verse ties action into reaction, as in, what we do, we do because we know it is the right thing to do. Maybe it might seem a little bit of a stretch, but I tend to hear a certain instruction given out by various people more and more when it comes to so many different choices we are faced with: "Just pray about it." Yes, there are many choices we must make in life that require prayer and direction from the Lord. But, when it comes to the choices of acting on behalf of our Master, as His servant, we must be familiar with His heart in matters of ministry and life giving results. There is no other way to say this, then to simple say, A servant must do what the Master instructs him or her to do, because that is what servants do! The point about the title, "Two Shakes," is that of spontaneity. In other words, there are many things that we think we need to pray about that require spontaneous action. This is where I believe David is coming from, that his understanding of God's testimonies would be such, that he has no hindrance when it comes to knowing what God wants when it comes to making and carrying out all of the tasks of being His servant. As I have mentioned before, "testimonies," are always plural; which speaks to several things associated with either the commands or laws of the Master. It is like my mother always said, Don't play with fire or you will get burnt. That burning sensation might be from the fire, or it might be from the belt; but the point is that of understanding the point of the law, law meaning rules that if broken result in some sort consequences. In this regard, it's really not something that requires prayer, it requires obedience; and more importantly, it requires not even needing to think twice about doing it! Sometimes that second look will bit you! Two Shakes represents a measure of time, as in, the choice is made quickly and decisively, because there are things we must do that do not allow us time to think about. Take forgiveness for example: when it comes to us forgiving others, there is really nothing we need to think about in making that choice, because we already know where God stands on the issue. Yet, how many times, when we are faced with that opportunity, do we ponder our rights in the choice of forgiving someone else? "Hey brother, you need to forgive that person!" And you say, "Okay, I will pray about doing that." Really! What do you need to pray about, the degree of forgiveness or the result that you are going for? How about asking God for forgiveness of something you have done, do you ponder asking His forgiveness, or is it spontaneous! I pray for your sake it is the latter, because there are some things associated with Two Shakes that take you by surprise and you may not have time to even think about it. Just sayin...
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end up in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23) NLT
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
"Side to Side"
"Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes." (Psalms 119:124)
Obviously there are more obstructions in our view than we understand, it is sometimes hard to keep our eyes on Christ when we have so many things to deal with within our daily lives. The way Matthew Henry puts this, the Lord really owes us nothing, so this request from David is more him asking God, "Let me have it according to thy mercy!" In the realm of thick or thin, it is the same as saying, "Whatever it takes Lord, I am your servant, so have your way in me!" I will take this opportunity to express something that has become all together real in my life: we cannot serve two masters, we cannot take hold of the plow and continually keep looking back, and we cannot sincerely serve God while trying to fight Him on our issues! Something has got to give; and whether it is right or wrong with us, the one who is going to give will not be God! You know that silly saying, "I gave at the office?" Well, believe it or not, that saying stands with God and His gift of salvation! Basically what that means, is we cannot expect that God owes us anything, no matter how hard you might have it, He is not indebted to you. We cannot ever act as if we are owed anything; yet, it seems that might be the case in many situations. Pastor Bryan was sharing something Sunday about when Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, and he was relating his flight to being a "worn-out workman." Amazingly, the main focus of what I felt was being said, really was not actually mentioned, because Elijah's biggest mistake was forgetting how big his God was! Many of the bullet points mentioned all pointed to one obvious distraction, God was not in anything that he was doing! It just so happens that is the whole point of the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. It is just how we are wired, whether it is ministry or profession, we want to see big things happen and we unintentionally forget to pay attention to the voice of the Lord. There are many very large ministries today that focus upon that aspect of doing ministry, to stimulate the people with signs and wonders; it just so happened, that Elijah had been involved in something just like that. It never ceases to amaze me how deflated I feel the day after a mighty work God does in or through my life. It is never the same the second time, and we can never regain the thrill we experienced by going back to real life. The whole point of keeping our focus upon the Word of God, is that of consistency and unwavering direction. Let all those others be focused upon the razzel-dazzel and making people feel astounded, I think we need to stay focused upon the Word, every last bit of it, especially the parts that make us uncomfortable! Just as Elijah, who after the fire, heard a very small voice, and he wrapped his face in his mantel, and went out to the entering of the cave; we too, must not be distracted by all the noise and the excitement, all the things that make us feel good; but must get uncomfortable before God, and let Him actually charge us into what He wants us to be. The funny thing about what happen with Elijah and his going from dealing with all those prophets to running from Ahab and Jezebel, is nothing changed but his perspective...
"Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."" (Luke 18:9-14) NLT
Obviously there are more obstructions in our view than we understand, it is sometimes hard to keep our eyes on Christ when we have so many things to deal with within our daily lives. The way Matthew Henry puts this, the Lord really owes us nothing, so this request from David is more him asking God, "Let me have it according to thy mercy!" In the realm of thick or thin, it is the same as saying, "Whatever it takes Lord, I am your servant, so have your way in me!" I will take this opportunity to express something that has become all together real in my life: we cannot serve two masters, we cannot take hold of the plow and continually keep looking back, and we cannot sincerely serve God while trying to fight Him on our issues! Something has got to give; and whether it is right or wrong with us, the one who is going to give will not be God! You know that silly saying, "I gave at the office?" Well, believe it or not, that saying stands with God and His gift of salvation! Basically what that means, is we cannot expect that God owes us anything, no matter how hard you might have it, He is not indebted to you. We cannot ever act as if we are owed anything; yet, it seems that might be the case in many situations. Pastor Bryan was sharing something Sunday about when Elijah fled to Mount Horeb, and he was relating his flight to being a "worn-out workman." Amazingly, the main focus of what I felt was being said, really was not actually mentioned, because Elijah's biggest mistake was forgetting how big his God was! Many of the bullet points mentioned all pointed to one obvious distraction, God was not in anything that he was doing! It just so happens that is the whole point of the wind, the earthquake, and the fire. It is just how we are wired, whether it is ministry or profession, we want to see big things happen and we unintentionally forget to pay attention to the voice of the Lord. There are many very large ministries today that focus upon that aspect of doing ministry, to stimulate the people with signs and wonders; it just so happened, that Elijah had been involved in something just like that. It never ceases to amaze me how deflated I feel the day after a mighty work God does in or through my life. It is never the same the second time, and we can never regain the thrill we experienced by going back to real life. The whole point of keeping our focus upon the Word of God, is that of consistency and unwavering direction. Let all those others be focused upon the razzel-dazzel and making people feel astounded, I think we need to stay focused upon the Word, every last bit of it, especially the parts that make us uncomfortable! Just as Elijah, who after the fire, heard a very small voice, and he wrapped his face in his mantel, and went out to the entering of the cave; we too, must not be distracted by all the noise and the excitement, all the things that make us feel good; but must get uncomfortable before God, and let Him actually charge us into what He wants us to be. The funny thing about what happen with Elijah and his going from dealing with all those prophets to running from Ahab and Jezebel, is nothing changed but his perspective...
"Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."" (Luke 18:9-14) NLT
Monday, March 4, 2019
"The Far Side"
"Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness." (Psalms 119:123)
Talk about being spent, this verse is dealing with the reality of not only waiting on God to do whatever it is that we might expect of Him, but what it actually means to put all of our trust in the word of God. There are some, maybe most, that will look at this getting a negative expectation, as if David is beginning to feel like giving up on seeing God's fulfillment to his salvation. Do not let that kind of negativity slither into your mind; because this is about hope and expectation; this is about doing something that the Lord Jesus Christ tried over and over to get His disciples to understand; which they did finally get, but not without the Holy Spirit being breathed into their lives. This is about taking our eyes off the way things appear, and forgetting about ourselves, and putting all of our focus upon God's Word and His righteousness! I think the writer of Hebrews said it best; whom, just in case you were curious, I believe it was written by three men, Paul, Luke, and Mark. I believe that all three contributed to the writing, as they conversed together and shared about the awesome work and plan of God, for not only the salvation of the Jews, but the entirety of humanity. These were three very distinct individuals: Paul, the one that was known as Saul; Mark, the one who gave up everything to follow Jesus; and Luke, the Gentile Gospel Writer. Enough with my theory, because the point that matters is what was said! Chapter 11 starts off in verse one by saying, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And making a powerful proclamation in verse 13, by saying, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." This is the point I believe David is trying to make! We all have this same set of circumstances when it comes to grabbing hold of what God has promised us; it is always out of reach! Just when you think you have arrived, you find it is not there yet; but it is still afar off and waiting to be fulfilled. It is not only real, but its reality is much more real than everything we see that is around us. As a matter of fact, our eyes deceive us, because the things appear to be one thing, yet they are entirely different. A really good example of that, is what I thought was gong on the morning all the trees were breaking from the snow. I literally thought that there was gunfire and some sort of battle taking place down below from my property. And to make matters worse, along with what I thought was gunshot, I kept seeing flashlights pointing into the early morning sky. Man, was I ever off on that first impression! There is really only One thing that is best to focus on...
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin." (Hebrews 12:1-4) NLT
Talk about being spent, this verse is dealing with the reality of not only waiting on God to do whatever it is that we might expect of Him, but what it actually means to put all of our trust in the word of God. There are some, maybe most, that will look at this getting a negative expectation, as if David is beginning to feel like giving up on seeing God's fulfillment to his salvation. Do not let that kind of negativity slither into your mind; because this is about hope and expectation; this is about doing something that the Lord Jesus Christ tried over and over to get His disciples to understand; which they did finally get, but not without the Holy Spirit being breathed into their lives. This is about taking our eyes off the way things appear, and forgetting about ourselves, and putting all of our focus upon God's Word and His righteousness! I think the writer of Hebrews said it best; whom, just in case you were curious, I believe it was written by three men, Paul, Luke, and Mark. I believe that all three contributed to the writing, as they conversed together and shared about the awesome work and plan of God, for not only the salvation of the Jews, but the entirety of humanity. These were three very distinct individuals: Paul, the one that was known as Saul; Mark, the one who gave up everything to follow Jesus; and Luke, the Gentile Gospel Writer. Enough with my theory, because the point that matters is what was said! Chapter 11 starts off in verse one by saying, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And making a powerful proclamation in verse 13, by saying, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." This is the point I believe David is trying to make! We all have this same set of circumstances when it comes to grabbing hold of what God has promised us; it is always out of reach! Just when you think you have arrived, you find it is not there yet; but it is still afar off and waiting to be fulfilled. It is not only real, but its reality is much more real than everything we see that is around us. As a matter of fact, our eyes deceive us, because the things appear to be one thing, yet they are entirely different. A really good example of that, is what I thought was gong on the morning all the trees were breaking from the snow. I literally thought that there was gunfire and some sort of battle taking place down below from my property. And to make matters worse, along with what I thought was gunshot, I kept seeing flashlights pointing into the early morning sky. Man, was I ever off on that first impression! There is really only One thing that is best to focus on...
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin." (Hebrews 12:1-4) NLT
Sunday, March 3, 2019
"The Flip Side"
"Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me." (Psalms 119:123)
Something else my mom always tried to say, that there was two sides to every coin. I am still trying to figure out what that meant and can't quite remember the context that she said it in; but in the way that I see it here, it simply means that there are always two ways that we look at every situation, either that God is i control, or that He is not! Let's just pretend for a moment that it really didn't matter whether the proud could oppress us; let's say, for the sake of argument, that it was going to happen anyways, so you just had to deal with it. What would you do about it? What could you do about it? Well, for starters, you could simply treat it like something that is really not all that important; I mean, what can they do that would change anything about where you are going to be when it's all over; absolutely nothing! But God, who is the Master Artist of all of creation, He uses all of our experiences, all of which are no surprise to Him, for His master plan; whether good or bad, they all work for the good! So, in the light of there being two sides to every coin, there is really only one coin! Both sides, whether we choose to believe it or not, are His workmanship; the big difference between how it affects our lives is how we spend the coin. In other words, do we allow it to be used for the world or for heaven? Maybe that does not quite hit the spot it was intended to hit; so let me try it again. You are going to have trials, it is just how it goes; that is something that cannot be avoided, at least not by anything we can plan. The big difference between what happens during our trials depends on the way we receive them and how we react. If we take our situation and make it His opportunity to use us, then we are making ourselves available to be used for the Kingdom of God; if we make our situation the oppressive work of the world, then we being spent on the world; either way the coin is still God's, but how we experience it being spent is entirely different. How do you want your life spent? Take a look at that word, "surety," and remember who it is that makes the promises, and more importantly, is able and willing to keep them. Another part of His testimonies always being plural, is that with every commandment of God, there comes with it a promise...
"For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. And insomuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this was an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." (Hebrews 7:18-22) KJV
Something else my mom always tried to say, that there was two sides to every coin. I am still trying to figure out what that meant and can't quite remember the context that she said it in; but in the way that I see it here, it simply means that there are always two ways that we look at every situation, either that God is i control, or that He is not! Let's just pretend for a moment that it really didn't matter whether the proud could oppress us; let's say, for the sake of argument, that it was going to happen anyways, so you just had to deal with it. What would you do about it? What could you do about it? Well, for starters, you could simply treat it like something that is really not all that important; I mean, what can they do that would change anything about where you are going to be when it's all over; absolutely nothing! But God, who is the Master Artist of all of creation, He uses all of our experiences, all of which are no surprise to Him, for His master plan; whether good or bad, they all work for the good! So, in the light of there being two sides to every coin, there is really only one coin! Both sides, whether we choose to believe it or not, are His workmanship; the big difference between how it affects our lives is how we spend the coin. In other words, do we allow it to be used for the world or for heaven? Maybe that does not quite hit the spot it was intended to hit; so let me try it again. You are going to have trials, it is just how it goes; that is something that cannot be avoided, at least not by anything we can plan. The big difference between what happens during our trials depends on the way we receive them and how we react. If we take our situation and make it His opportunity to use us, then we are making ourselves available to be used for the Kingdom of God; if we make our situation the oppressive work of the world, then we being spent on the world; either way the coin is still God's, but how we experience it being spent is entirely different. How do you want your life spent? Take a look at that word, "surety," and remember who it is that makes the promises, and more importantly, is able and willing to keep them. Another part of His testimonies always being plural, is that with every commandment of God, there comes with it a promise...
"For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. And insomuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this was an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." (Hebrews 7:18-22) KJV
Saturday, March 2, 2019
"AYIN"
"I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors." (Psalms 119:121)
Moving from the law of God's crystal clear knowledge of our hearts, to the law of God's judgment, it is clear to see how faith and trust in God are the center between justice and oppression. Actually, when I say center, center does not mean that the scale is balanced, because God's justice outweighs all else; it's just that we must have the faith to believe it is so, and the courage to wait on the LORD! The very familiar and well quoted verse, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint," takes on a whole new meaning when we measure the two factors, God's protection verses the attack of an enemy, any enemy! Don't tell me that you don't have enemies; because, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you most certainly do! I'm just sayin! With the statement David is making here, one might get the notion that he is questioning God's protection, saying, "leave me not to mine oppressors." Basically, there is really no difference between what is being said here and what Jesus said in the sample prayer He taught His disciples; the prayer that many refer to as, The Lord's Prayer. I am not one that adheres to the 'Name It and Claim It' way of praying; but in the area of God's judgment, I am 110% in! There are some simple facts to prayer that we must always remember, first and foremost, that prayer is for our benefit, not God's! When we pray, we are not teaching God or giving God instruction; we are simply acknowledging that He is in control and reinforcing that fact within our own hearts. Actually, the Lord's prayer is found in John 17, where Jesus prayers for what is about to happen as He goes to the cross, and everything that will happen thereafter. Reading His prayer, you will understand that Jesus was not pleading with the Father, He was agreeing with the Father and acknowledging that the Father agreed with Him. This is very similar to what James, who happened to be know for being on his knees quite often, said about prayer being confident and in agreement with God, saying, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The point that James is making requires that the petitioner be on the same page as God, which means he is seeking God's will, not his own! To put it in a way that makes better sense: If we have faith and trust that God will do all that He says, then this is nothing more than us saying, Thank You in advance, for something that God has already promised...
"For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, whee they are being held until the day of judgment. And God did not spare the ancient world except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment." (2 Peter 2:4-9) NLT
Moving from the law of God's crystal clear knowledge of our hearts, to the law of God's judgment, it is clear to see how faith and trust in God are the center between justice and oppression. Actually, when I say center, center does not mean that the scale is balanced, because God's justice outweighs all else; it's just that we must have the faith to believe it is so, and the courage to wait on the LORD! The very familiar and well quoted verse, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint," takes on a whole new meaning when we measure the two factors, God's protection verses the attack of an enemy, any enemy! Don't tell me that you don't have enemies; because, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you most certainly do! I'm just sayin! With the statement David is making here, one might get the notion that he is questioning God's protection, saying, "leave me not to mine oppressors." Basically, there is really no difference between what is being said here and what Jesus said in the sample prayer He taught His disciples; the prayer that many refer to as, The Lord's Prayer. I am not one that adheres to the 'Name It and Claim It' way of praying; but in the area of God's judgment, I am 110% in! There are some simple facts to prayer that we must always remember, first and foremost, that prayer is for our benefit, not God's! When we pray, we are not teaching God or giving God instruction; we are simply acknowledging that He is in control and reinforcing that fact within our own hearts. Actually, the Lord's prayer is found in John 17, where Jesus prayers for what is about to happen as He goes to the cross, and everything that will happen thereafter. Reading His prayer, you will understand that Jesus was not pleading with the Father, He was agreeing with the Father and acknowledging that the Father agreed with Him. This is very similar to what James, who happened to be know for being on his knees quite often, said about prayer being confident and in agreement with God, saying, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The point that James is making requires that the petitioner be on the same page as God, which means he is seeking God's will, not his own! To put it in a way that makes better sense: If we have faith and trust that God will do all that He says, then this is nothing more than us saying, Thank You in advance, for something that God has already promised...
"For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, whee they are being held until the day of judgment. And God did not spare the ancient world except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment." (2 Peter 2:4-9) NLT
Friday, March 1, 2019
"The Refiner's Fire"
"My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments." (Psalms 119:120)
This is not speaking of something scary, as in the fear of something monstrous; this is a beautiful fear that ends up making us surrender our lives over to a God that not only loves us, but that has every good and wonderful thing planned for our eternity with Him. There are two very different perspectives being presented here; based upon the last verse, the therefore is also pointing to the hereafter! When it comes to our heart, the intensions and desires within it, and the motivation that drives us to do the things that we do, these things are all those things which Paul speaks about in Romans 7:14-25. In contrast to the lost, those that do not have the Holy Spirit living within them, there is nothing they can do about who they are or how they deal with sin; sin is holding them bound to sin, which consequently holds them captive to death. In Paul's closing argument regarding the sin that lives in him, he cries out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" If there is one thing that I remember from the day of my salvation, it was the transformation I experience from death to life. The flesh was not the issue, it was something else within me that was liberated and set free from my own flesh, the flesh being that which is still held captive to death! This flesh is dying, each and every day it draws closer and closer to the ground from which it came; but my spirit is drawing closer and closer to my Creator! The change we have within us is not of ourselves, it is of God! It is God's Spirit living in us that makes the difference, not the works that we do, but the Spirit working in us! Therefore, our flesh needs to tremble with fear; more than that, Paul uses more than trembling as the result we have to consider, we need to crucify the flesh and consider it dead in Christ. Fortunately, the word "trembleth," has within its definition some nails; so just in case, we can visualize the cross that we are nailed to, thereby making His judgment count for something. As to the conversation I had with that older brother about our need to be baptized in order to be saved: the need is not for a physical dunking, but a spiritual death; where we count the old man to crucified with Christ and the new man to be risen up in glory. This is where our new man is kept, exalted and living in eternity. As Paul explains it, in Ephesians 1:3, "who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." What part of, Heaven is our home, don't you understand? The death that we have been freed from is not our physical death...
"You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Able. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from Heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire." (Hebrews 12:24-29) NLT
This is not speaking of something scary, as in the fear of something monstrous; this is a beautiful fear that ends up making us surrender our lives over to a God that not only loves us, but that has every good and wonderful thing planned for our eternity with Him. There are two very different perspectives being presented here; based upon the last verse, the therefore is also pointing to the hereafter! When it comes to our heart, the intensions and desires within it, and the motivation that drives us to do the things that we do, these things are all those things which Paul speaks about in Romans 7:14-25. In contrast to the lost, those that do not have the Holy Spirit living within them, there is nothing they can do about who they are or how they deal with sin; sin is holding them bound to sin, which consequently holds them captive to death. In Paul's closing argument regarding the sin that lives in him, he cries out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" If there is one thing that I remember from the day of my salvation, it was the transformation I experience from death to life. The flesh was not the issue, it was something else within me that was liberated and set free from my own flesh, the flesh being that which is still held captive to death! This flesh is dying, each and every day it draws closer and closer to the ground from which it came; but my spirit is drawing closer and closer to my Creator! The change we have within us is not of ourselves, it is of God! It is God's Spirit living in us that makes the difference, not the works that we do, but the Spirit working in us! Therefore, our flesh needs to tremble with fear; more than that, Paul uses more than trembling as the result we have to consider, we need to crucify the flesh and consider it dead in Christ. Fortunately, the word "trembleth," has within its definition some nails; so just in case, we can visualize the cross that we are nailed to, thereby making His judgment count for something. As to the conversation I had with that older brother about our need to be baptized in order to be saved: the need is not for a physical dunking, but a spiritual death; where we count the old man to crucified with Christ and the new man to be risen up in glory. This is where our new man is kept, exalted and living in eternity. As Paul explains it, in Ephesians 1:3, "who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." What part of, Heaven is our home, don't you understand? The death that we have been freed from is not our physical death...
"You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Able. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from Heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire." (Hebrews 12:24-29) NLT
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