How Do You Think About God?

I think that A. W. Tozer said that the single most important thing is how we think about God. I just was reminded about this as I opened my bible to Matt 16:13-16 which says:


13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”


14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”


15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”


16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, [a] the Son of the living God.”


Lord, its so important that we remember that You are God, our Lord and our Savior. You are not just a good teacher, some wise man, someone who is only our friend. Rather, You are the only true God! You are creator of all things and so far beyond our comprehension, so unknowable in Your greatness, that we can scarcely comprehend even a small slice of Your character. Lord help me to think correctly about You. 


In the verses following this scripture, its clear that the ability to do this is also a gift, so I ask for that ability - revelation of who You truly are, and what You are about in my life and the lives of those around me.

Be the Ball

I know that is an interesting title, and one that will hopefully be a bit clearer shortly. In prayer this morning I was reminded of a dream I had back in October.  I wrote about in my blog at that time, but am including it here again.


I woke from an interesting dream which has Spiritual connotations. In my dream I was in a class with several people and our teacher had assigned us several simple tasks. The first task is the one that really stands out. He had several bowling pins set-up and spread-out over a large area. He gave us a tennis ball and asked us to try and get a strike (knock all the pins down with one throw or roll. All of us tried to throw or roll the tennis ball to knock down the pins but were clearly unsuccessful. Once we all failed, the teacher stepped forward and said, "Let me demonstrate how to do this task." He then proceeded to place the ball between his knees, holding it in place, and walked to each pin and knocked it over, simply completing the task. We were all dumb-struck at the simplicity of the solution. None of us had thought outside the normal rules of the game of bowling.


At that time I woke up and immediately thought of the verse from Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD."  The Lord was clearly speaking about learning to think outside the box, looking at things through His eyes.


This morning as I was praying I felt like the Lord gave me additional insight. In this imagery, my effort is like the tennis ball, relatively ineffective in light of the task before it, but if I am wielded by Him, I can become very effective.   If I maintain connection with Him and let Him direct me, I will see impossible things accomplished. The teacher is clearly the Holy Spirit, and I just need to let myself be used by Him.


Lord help me to allow myself to be used by You, help me to be the ball.

Has Your Love Grown Cold?

This morning as I was praying I was thinking about how easy it is for our Love to grow cold for the Lord.


In Matt 24:12 Jesus warns us, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,..."


I was thinking about this statement and how we can understand it in our own lives, and how to combat the growing wickedness. The Greek word that is used can also be translated lawlessness, referring to God's law. So it could be roughly translated - due to more and more people walking away from the things of God (His ways and laws) their love for God will grow cold.


In many ways that result should be expected. The fact that their love grows cold really is the affect of the walking away from the things of God. Its really the same situation in every relationship. If you are away from someone for an extended period of time, and stop thinking about them, your love for them will grow colder. I think real passion requires presence.


Maintaining a relationship takes a good deal of intentionality. Husbands and wives who slowly slide into mutual existence, just going through their days and weeks and months without intentionally interacting and connecting for the sake of their relationship, will slowly see their passion for one another wane.


We must learn to be intentional in our relationship with God, even more so as the lawless of our present culture and society increases. In the old testament, God had the Israelites build monuments or altars at the sites of His interaction with them, so that when walking past them they would be reminded of what He did. He told them to write His commands on the tablets of their hearts and to bind them on their fingers (Prov 7:3). The psalms of David are constantly reminding them of what God did, calling to remembrance His miracles, and interactions with them.


I think we need to do the same types of things to keep our love from growing cold. We must intentionally remind ourselves of what God has done, focusing on the many things He has spoken, how He has touched us, and doing this regularly. Its like having a picture album of God moments, so that if we ever doubt whether He loves us, we can go page through the album and be reminded of all the blessings He has poured into our lives. The importance of this will increase as our surroundings become more God-less.


I think the best way to maintain love for God is through daily interaction, or prayer, and daily reading His scripture. This will keep us anchored to Him. I journal during my prayer as often as I can, so that I can go back and look at the historical record of my interactions with God. This has served as a reminder of God's love on many occasions.


Lord, help us to maintain a constant level of communication with You that helps us maintain our passion for You. Remind us of Your love and faithfulness.

Abounding Love and Insight

This morning I was meditating on Phil. 1:9-11:

9 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."


What a rich sentence and rich prayer. I want to break it down and look at this more fully.


Love abounding more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...


- love coupled with wisdom and knowledge
- love that has a maturity and seasoning
- love that knows Christ well, understands His ways and heart
- love that understands those around you, having empathy and understanding


Which leads to the ability to discern what is best...


- with this increased love, comes increased responsibility
- what to embrace, what to bless, what to release
- the ability to see true value and worth
- seeing the true worth in a person, their true heart
- I think of Jesus and Levi or Zaccheus


And helps me be pure and blameless...


- love becomes the filter for my actions
- love for Christ and love for others rather than self
- love checks my motivations
- love helps me set my priorities
- coupled with wisdom, knowledge and discernment, I am able to rightly order my life and actions


And filled with the fruit of Jesus' righteousness which He gives me...


- of right standing with God and right doing (Amplified Bible)
- the fruit of right standing is access and authority - right place at the right time
- not the result of my actions, but a gift
- my right actions are possible because of the gift, not the other way around
- fruit of this is seeing God work through me
- forgiveness of sins
- right relationship with the Father


Lord, what an awesome prayer. I ask Lord that You would bring this prayer to fullness in my life. I want to abound in love and knowledge and insight of You. I want to rightly see myself and others, understanding Your ways, and setting the priorities of my life correctly. I want to experience the fruit of Your righteousness more fully in my daily walk - being Your true representative.

God is Before and Beside Us

This morning I was reading Psalm 16, which is one of my favorite psalms.  Specifically, I was concentrating on verse 8.


8 "I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."


I was meditating on the imagery of God at my right hand. At first, I thought it a bit wrong, as that would indicate that i was in the seat of authority, with the Lord at my right hand. However, as I did some research, reading a few commentaries, I saw how this is actually an accurate representation of how we live our lives. In the domain of our lives, we have free will and do control our choices, and in this domain we sit on the chair of authority. God will never usurp our free will, but will willing guide us, direct us, give us council, and protect us, but He will not override our free will.


Its interesting that in this verse God is both before him, and at His right hand. In other words, its like God is blazing the trail for us to walk in, then helping us walk in that path, guiding us and directing us. Lord help me to keep my gaze focused on You, and my ear constantly open to Your guidance and direction.

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I see in my mind the image of when a child is first learning to walk, one of the parents in front of the child with arms open wide, encouraging the child to walk towards them. The other parent gentling supporting their child, helping them to balance and take a few steps, always right by the child's side in case they stumble or waver. Its not to control the child but to help the child grow, and gain freedom.


Or to put in Paul's words from his letter to the Philippians:


Phil 3:12-14


¹² "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."


Amen, help me Lord.

Jesus Will Meet Our Need

This morning I was reading in Matt 9:18-25:


18 "While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.


20 Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”


22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.


23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24 he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up."


As I was praying this morning, the Lord reminded me of these two stories interwoven together. They are both stories of how Jesus met the needs of the people. The clear sense I had was that we need to know that Jesus cares enough for us to touch us regardless of how. In both cases, the people came to Jesus. The father came to Jesus asking for Him to touch his daughter, the women came for herself, but they both knew that in coming to Jesus, they might find an answer to their prayer.


I was encouraged as I read this that no matter the severity of the situation, or how long the situation has gone on, Jesus can, and will move, if only we will come to Him.


Lord, I take heart that You are willing to meet my needs. You would come to my house if I asked. You would not reject me, or scoff at my request. You would bless what little faith I had and move in my life. Others might laugh at my faith in You, but You will care for me and have mercy on me. Thank You Lord!

Walking in God's Light

This morning I was reading from Psalm 53:2 which states:


"God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."


Its so important for us to understand our need for the Lord. We not only need to recognize this, but in this we should be driven to seek Him in our need. God is looking for those that are seeking Him and His ways. Our constant reflection should be a review of our pursuit of God and His understanding concerning our situation. So often, I am plugging along never bothering to gain God's understanding, nor ever even inquiring. In the next verse the Lord states the reality that we all operate in this way, and condemns this behavior as sin.


I am reminded of Isaiah 50:11 which says:


"But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment."


Lord, help us to look to You for understanding, the light of understanding, rather than lighting our own lights. We would rather walk in Your light any day, than ours .

When Darkness Covers The Earth, God's Light Will Shine

This morning I started reading out Isaah 60, and ended up reading about the last days, as described by Jesus in Matthew 24.  Rather than focusing on the last days, I was thinking about the Church's response to those times.

Rather than these End times being a dark message, as Christians we must understand that this will be the hour that the Church will shine forth. At the beginning of Isaiah 60, the time is described well (Isaiah 60:1-4).


1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm."


Darkness is symbolic of evil, so in this verse the Lord is speaking of dark and evil times for the earth, and even darker and more evil times for the people. I liken it to the growing anti-Christian movement, and clear move away from the things of God in our media and culture (clearly not exclusively) and how people are moving farther and farther from the light of Christ. The cloud of deception is becoming thicker, and with that the power of evil grows.


I believe we, as the Church, will shine forth brightly for several reasons. We will have the light of Christ in our lives and will live differently. God will bring His Glory to bear on the Church - in other words He will inhabit His people in ways that are evident to all. I would expect this would include signs and wonders, miracles, healings, etc. Those who have eyes to see will be drawn to the Church and it will be a glorious time, and God will be mightily present, and Glorified.


Yes Lord, we look for the day that the Church will once more be filled with Your Glory, and stand as a bright shining light to the whole world. We recognize that this means the world will be a darker place, and that the deception covering the people will be greater. We pray for the Grace to be those shinging lights, in a fallen world. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, likened this to the time Israel was in Eygpt and though the plagues were striking Eygpt, in Goshen the Israelites were unaffected. Unlike those times, people will be able to come and become part of the Church, and come into the light. So not only will they be drawn to the light, they will be able to enter in! They will literally become sons and daughters - which is the language of inclusion.


Amen Lord!

Trusting God In All My Ways

This morning I am using a new electronic journal, so the formatting and look my be different, but I don't have to re-type everything. Hopefully it won't be a distraction.


When I sat down to read this morning I turned to Proverbs and was reading in Chapter 3.


Prov 3:5-10


" Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. [a]7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."


As I was reading this I felt that the focus on trusting the Lord, letting Him lead, not trusting in ourselves, not trusting our perspective, waiting on Him and then honoring Him was so critical. It says to acknowledge Him in all our ways - which is definitely a challenge, as some of my ways I am not even aware of consciously. Lord, help me to be aware of any of my ways where I am not acknowledging You.


I am reminded of Jer. 17:5-8


"5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”


- and Jer. 6:16
"This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."


Clearly the Lord is speaking of His desire to lead us, guide us and help us. If we can get ourselves past self-reliance we can move into the things He has planned for us, which includes His provision. I think one of my main issues is my impatience, never wanting to wait, but needing to have things figured out, when I want them figured out.


Lord please help me to wait on You and trust Your timing and plan. I can almost see dad teaching me to fish, trying to get me to wait while the fish nibbled on the bait "wait for it, wait for it! Ok, now!" There is definitely a correlation between our waiting and His provision, as He is trying to get us to move past ourselves. I know that waiting causes me to stop, consider what I am doing and control myself.


Lord help me to learn to wait and trust!

Fulfilling Your Destiny

This morning while praying I was reading briefly through Isaiah 55, which is one of my favorite chapters.  I was meditating on Is 55:11 which reads, 


"...so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  


As I thought about this the Lord reminded me that He had called me by name, spoken a word about me - 


Is 43:1b “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." 


and even written my life out!


Psalm 139:16 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."


In other words, God has a plan for my life.  He spoke this plan into being, and He will see that I fulfill it. I don't have to listen to any thoughts that say I have missed my opportunity, or messed up so bad that God will not use me, or any of the other hundreds of lies that might get thrown my way!


Psalm 138:8 says, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me..."


If God says it, who can thwart Him?  The truth is that our destiny is found in the Lord.  He has a plan.  He is not worried - He is God!  He has spoken about our destiny and knows what it is.  If we are looking to understand our destiny then the best place to go is to Him.  He is the one who sees all and understands all!  All I need to do is ask, and wait for the answer.  He is faithful and loving.  He desires our best.  He wants us to be fulfilled.


Thank You Lord for Your truth!  Psalm 37 sums it up well:

 ³ "Trust in the LORD and do good;
   dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 ⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
   trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
   the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

 ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;"

Amen!  Help me Lord to walk in these truths.

Confessing Quickly

This morning I was reading through the minor prophet Micah and Mic 7:9-10a caught my attention. It reads, " Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. ¹⁰ Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame..."

I thought about how perfectly this expresses our reality as Christians, as follows:

1. If we sin, we cause separation in our relationship with Christ.  We bear the consequences of our sin.
2. Until He pleads our case and establishes our right (righteousness).  In other words until we come under His redemption and atonement - for when we confess our sins, His righteousness is applied to us. (1 John 1:9)   We become clothed in Him - so in essence He pleads His own case for rightness on our behalf (See Gal 3:19-29 for some more discussion on this). He becomes our atonement - and His righteousness is given to all who receive it in faith (Romans 3:19-31).
3. Once we are forgiven, He brings us into the Light of His love and we see Him and what He has done on our behalf (2 Cor 4:6).
4. Shame is cast away from the redeemed, for we have been forgiven and our sins are washed away.  (Romans 10:11)

So, the quicker we confess our sins, the quicker we are cleansed and our unrighteousness is washed away, replaced by His righteousness, and the separation we have caused is removed.  Let us hasten to confess our sins, for He is faithful and merciful.   It says in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."


Thank You Lord for all that You have accomplished on my behalf.  Taking my place and covering me with Your own righteousness; casting my shame away from me and revealing to me the light of Your love.

Remaining in Him

This morning I was reading through John 15.  I spent some time meditating on verse 5, which reads, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  The message is so simple and clear.  Its in and through relationship with Christ alone that we are able to bear fruit that lasts.


Reading the verse again, I was aware of the fact that there are two requirements:  1) If a man remains in me; 2) and I (remain) in him.   


The first one, I think, relates to our focus, thoughts and actions.  Are we connected to Him?  Are we thinking the way He thinks?  Is our heart in line with His?  Are we working to be living examples of His Word to those around us?  Are we conscious of being His witness and representative?  As Paul writes in Col 3:2, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."  We need to remain in this place of connectedness and thoughtfulness throughout the day.


The second requirement, I think, has more to do with our sin.  Isaiah 59:2 states, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."  We know that God does not abandon us, but our relationship is clearly affected by our sin.  Our sinful nature leads in ways that are contrary to God (Gal 5:17), the more we sin, the more we are affected.  


If you are like me, you struggle with both of these from time to time, or even often.  I am probably more inclined to fail the first requirement, as I quickly lose my focus on Christ as I start my work day.  Clearly the more I am disconnected, the easier it is for me to fail the second requirement, as I become out of sight and out of mind from Christ.  Apart from Him, I clearly can do no good thing.


Lord, You desire me to be connected to You and bear much fruit.  I know that You will help me to achieve your purpose and plan for me.  Help me to maintain my focus and thoughts of You throughout the day!

Small Things and Plumb-lines

This morning I was reading out of the book of Zechariah.  I opened to Chapter 4 which has an often quoted verse, Zech 4:6 "... ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty."  I love this verse, as it directs me to pursue relationship with the Holy Spirit.  

This morning I was drawn more to verse 10, which reads, "Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel."  Historically, He was rebuilding the temple, and it was a bit pathetic when compared to the original temple.  Many  commentators, talk about how this work was despised by those who knew what the original temple looked like, but that even though it was unimpressive, they were glad, for the temple was being rebuilt.

My reflection has more to do with the building of the Lord's temple within me. (1 Cor 6:19)  I was thinking about my own grandiose plans for my life, and my seemingly inability to enact even small changes in my daily walk.  I was thinking of the many New Year's resolutions to exercise more, eat right, study God's word more, etc.  Sometimes, my eyes are so focused on the big things, that I don't rightly value the small things like daily personal discipline, speaking words of encouragement to those around me, being a witness to my family and friends, etc. 

I recognize that I need to welcome God's plumb-line (direction, correction and encouragement within His Word) which He uses to show me where my life is out of line with His plan and purpose for me.  I imagine that the small things are the individual bricks or blocks which He is using to fulfill His purpose for me. I don't have a proper perspective about what He is building, and with my eyes focused on my own self, I don't easily see when I am starting to get out of line.

Lord, help me to see how You want to use the small things in my life.  I want to be a proper resting place for Your presence!  Help me to welcome Your correction and encouragement, that I might align myself with You.

Be on Guard! Be Alert!

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I know the title is a bit aggressive, but it is Jesus speaking in Mark 13:33.  I was reading through Mark 13 last evening before going to sleep and this phrase just stayed with me.  This morning I decided to do a bit more research into this phrase and where else it was used in the New Testament.  (Link here to StudyLight and multiple verses)  There were several places that 'be on guard' was used by Jesus including Matt 16:6 (yeast or teaching of the Pharisees); Mark 13:9, 23, 33 (Trouble during the End-Times) ; Luke 12:15 (Greed).   Paul also used the this phrase in Acts 20:31 (False teaching); 1 Cor 16:13 (Attacks against faith).

I thought it was a good message on which to focus.  Jesus was cautioning His followers to be alert and on guard.  In other words to be prepared for difficulty and attacks as they followed Him.  We would be wise to heed His warnings.  Being prepared and alert will allow us to follow Him unswervingly.  

I was thinking about guard duty and how there are many internal distractions and difficulties one must overcome to be able to be alert and prepared.

1. Complacency - maintaining a level of concern, especially during periods of relative peace
2. Inattentiveness and Sleepiness - it is easy to lose focus and even become sleepy during long periods of waiting
3. Focus on wrong things - distracted by things that don't matter, or less importance
4. Loss of preparedness - being lax in exercise,  lack of equipment
5. Misunderstanding the seriousness of the situation - not giving the proper weight to potential difficulty or attacks

I think that all of these apply to our spiritual lives as well as our physical lives.  It is so easy to lose focus, lose zeal, focus on things that aren't so important, get distracted and lose our edge.  We must work to stay alert and be prepared.  Jesus considered it so important that multiple times He cautioned His followers.  Especially as we enter difficult times, this warning must be taken to heart.  All of the issues Jesus mentioned - religion (teaching of Pharisees), difficulties, greed, and false teachers must be guarded against, for they will all cause us to lose focus and direction.  Our walk must continue to be focused on loving God, loving each other as Christ loved us, and obedience!

Lord help us to stay alert, and be on guard!  We want to hold unswervingly to Your path.  We want to maintain focus and zeal!

No Room

A couple of evenings ago I was reading in John 8 and verse 37 just grabbed my attention.  It reads: "... Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word."  I was struck by this seemingly strange phrase that Jesus spoke.  It is a radical reaction by the Jews, and Jesus explanation of the reason was thought provoking to say the least.  I re-read the previous few chapters, to see what 'word' Jesus was referring to in His statement.  

Jesus has been speaking about coming down from Heaven, of His relationship with the Father, and His knowledge of Him.  To the Jews who were waiting for a king/messiah who was more in line with King David, the thought that Jesus could actually be the Son of God was untenable.  They weren't waiting for God to visit them, they were waiting for a mighty man.  If Jesus were the Son of God, then His words would have the same authority as the Word of God they held so sacred in their scriptures.  The things He was saying should be embraced with equal weight as the Ten Commandments.  This revelation would upset their highly polished religious life, or even their normal every day life.  They were fine with a new leader who would rescue them from the Roman's, but God in their midst was more than they could handle, or wrap their minds around.  So, they decided the easiest thing to do would be to kill Him, rejecting Him and His words.

I was thinking of how crazy that response was when they were face to face with their savior.  As I was thinking this, I felt the Lord shed a little light on my own response to His Words to me.  I realized that I have not always treated His words to me as if they were spoken from God, but rather have thought of them as more like suggestions.  I realized I was deciding, based on the impact His words might have in my life, whether I would respond to them accordingly.  In other words, I wasn't making room for His Word. Ouch! 

Lord, I pray that you will help me to rightly respond to Your Word, and make room for Your Word in my life! 

As we remember Jesus birth, and how there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7) lets set our hearts on making room for Jesus.

New Wine Needs New Wine Skins

Last night before going to sleep, I was reading Matt 9:17 where Jesus says, " Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."  This morning, I was further researching this and went to Luke 5:39, where one additional statement is added, " And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

I was thinking about these verse as they could be applied to a new move of God in our lives (new wine).  God is constantly at work encouraging us to grow and change, but often we prefer things to stay the same.  We like the way our lives are, preferring the known.  I was thinking about how short sighted that perspective really is - an unwillingness to try something new, because we like the 'taste' of what we already have.  In the wine industry they must constantly produce new wine, for without new wine, they would never have mature wine, they would ultimately run out of the old.  Also, each new years vintage potentially could be the best ever, but one doesn't know for a few years. 

Going back to Jesus' statement, the new wine requires new wineskins because it expands.  Having an inflexible attitude would be the equivalent of old wineskins.  When God wants us to change, He causes things in our lives to stretch us, and we can either go with it and allow ourselves to stretch, or resist.   The results of resisting are that the new wine is lost, and the old wineskin can't hold wine anymore.  In other words it becomes empty and dry, with no refreshing ability.  I know people whose lives are dry and empty, and I think in some ways it might be due to their inability to change, as God desired.  Finally having new wineskins is also about a longer term perspective.  New wine never tastes as good as the old wine initially, but it must be allowed to mature, and in time becomes better tasting.  We need to have flexible attitudes with long-term perspectives to truly have new wineskins.

Lord, I pray that I might have a new wineskin attitude.  Help me to embrace the new wine (change) you pour into my life and help me to trust that this change will bring about maturity and betterment to me.  

Love & Faithfulness

This morning I was reading from Proverbs 3:3-4 and spent some time just thinking about the verses.  They read, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

I imagined that love and faithfulness were like a sign hanging around my neck, the first things that a person would experience when encountering me.  Like the following image:

My prayer is that when a person meets me, they will experience both love, and ultimately faithfulness.  I recognize that so often my heart is not full of love, and instead often full of judgement or a critical spirit.

Lord help me to walk in accordance with Your Word.  Help me to be an example of love and faithfulness in this increasingly unloving and faithless society.

Presents or Presence?

I found myself reading through Jeremiah 50:7 this morning.  It reads, "Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers."  The phrase  'the Lord, their true pasture' really grabbed my attention so I started thinking about what that really meant.  A pasture is a place of rest and provision, or food.    I was reminded of two verses, the first is John 6:35, "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."  The second verse is Matt 11:28,  where Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

I was thinking of how Israel was constantly forgetting that it was God who was responsible for the blessings and miracles they had seen.  In Lev. 26:1-13  God warns them to remember His blessings and be obedient, and He will continue to bless them and walk among them.  In other words, obedience will bring presents and His presence.  Jesus said a very similar thing in John 14:23, "Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."  What an amazing statement - God will actually take up residence with us.  Our obedience to Him is what enables this living situation.  Israel's sin was that they constantly wandered away from God with their hearts.  They enjoyed the gifts, but never fell in love with, or really understood the one who gave the gifts.

I was reminded as I was thinking through all this, of being a child and waiting for my grandparents to come for Christmas.  I was always excited to see them, but in truth, I was probably more excited to see what gift they brought for me. I was more interested in their presents, than in their presence.  Now that they are gone, I wish I would have spent more time with them, getting to know them, for they were the real treasure!  In the same way - God is the treasure!  He is so good and loving that He always brings good things, but we should not become distracted by the presents and miss His presence!

I was wondering how often I have gone to church, and been satisfied with the presents (good worship, or good preaching) and never really focused on His presence!  God help me to have the right perspective this year.

God Loves the Unlovable

I woke up this morning, having dreamed about  a friend from college who was one of the most socially awkward people I have ever met.  In my dream, we were at a camp for youth that I used to run, and he was sitting at a table with me and several of our friends.   He got up to get a drink, and before he returned one of the people sitting at the table with us, suggested we pull a prank on him. I  refused to allow them to pull the prank, because I knew that the reason he was at that camp was due to the fact that he was accepted by us.  His whole life had been one of rejection or being made fun of, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen.  Again, this was a dream and never happened in real life.


I woke directly from that dream, and immediately thought of the leper that Jesus touched in Matt 8:1-4.  Jesus was showing us the ways of the Father (See yesterday's post on God's Ways) through His actions.  He reached out and touched the Leper.  Touching the Leper was supposed to make Jesus unclean, but in the Kingdom of God, when He touches you, you become clean, He doesn't become unclean.   In other words, God is more powerful than any unclean thing!  


Jesus continues to demonstrate this love and acceptance of other outcasts and undesirables, meeting the women at the well, the women caught in adultery, the 10 lepers, the blind beggar, the tax-collectors and other sinners, to name a few.  These were all people that the religious community of the day would have rejected or avoided, and Jesus specifically told the story of the Good Samaritan to show this (See Luke 10:25-37) and to call us to act differently.  


In showing us the Father's heart, Jesus demonstrates the reality that should exist in our lives and in our churches, namely the loving of the outcast and unlovable.  So whether we are the outcast, unlovable or rejected or ashamed, or whether we know someone who fits those categories, God's message is the same - "I love you and accept you". 


Lord help us to clearly demonstrate this to those around us!  Help us to overcome any fear we have of being associated with, or being affected by someone that society rejects.   Help us to live out Your message to us in 1 John 4:4, "...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."  Amen.

Discovering God's Ways

This morning while praying my two cats were nearby, as usual.  They are very different, and I found myself thinking how I have come to know their ways (in other words - how they will act in a given situation), through my daily interaction and observations. Immediately after having that thought, I was reminded of a recent message I had heard speaking about Israel hadn't come to know God's ways, in spite of their wandering 40 years in the desert, seeing His works, signs and wonders.

I looked up ways in my Bible concordance, and was encouraged by Ex 33:13 where Moses prays the following, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you."  This was followed by Deut 10:12 which reads, "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul..."

I was thinking about how we can know God's ways so that we might walk in all of them, as we are encouraged to do in the verse listed above.  I was reminded of Jesus word's to Philip, when Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father (John 14:9-14), "Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

In other words, if we look at Jesus, if we study the Gospels, we will see God's ways!  We need to focus on the person behind the works and miracles and come to understand His ways. We will see revealed to us, how God acts in given situations and circumstances, and we will come to know His ways.

Lord, help us to know Your ways, more and more!  That we might walk in Your ways all our days!  That we might rightly represent who You are to the world around us!

The Kingdom Established Through Love

Recently I was reading Psalm 93:1, "The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure."  I was thinking about how God, could have established His Kingdom on earth, through His awesome power and majesty!  He is all powerful, full of majesty, and His words and His voice are awe-inspiring (See Psalm 29)

However, when He came to earth, He chose to come in human form, not as an all powerful man, but rather in humility.  He emptied himself of His divinity and took on our form, and even more humbly, became a servant (Phil 2:6-11).  He lowered Himself to our level and became for us an example of how we should live.  He gave us a new Commandment - that we should Love one another (John 13:34).  In fact, Jesus said that the way people would know that we are His disciples is through our love for one another (John 13:35).  In other words, the outstanding characteristic of His followers, and thus His kingdom, will be Love.  

Jesus talks about the end-times when the Love of many will grow cold in Matt 24:10-14, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

So, let us embrace this main characteristic of God's Kingdom here on earth.  Let us Love one another, and stand firm in that Love!  That we might stand out in a society and culture that is becoming one of hate.

Amen - help us Lord!

Watching, Waiting with Our Light On

Last night, I was reading from Luke 12:35-38 prior to going to sleep.  This verse is normally assumed to be pointing to Jesus' second coming, but as I was reading it, I felt the Lord give me some new insight.  The verses read, 


"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. ³⁸ It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak."


I felt like the Lord said, this is for your life now too! In light of our call to be His witnesses, letting our light shine before men (Matt 5:16), I think this verse can also apply to how we walk out our lives daily.  The Lord wants to come and minister Life through us, and will bring to us opportunities throughout our days.  If we are not prepared and ready, with our light already shining, we may very well miss those opportunities.  When He does come, all we need to do is provide the "open door".  We do this through relationship and our consistent loving witness to those around us!  He will come in and actually serve (do the work that needs to be accomplished), and we will be blessed!


Awesome!


For some continued mind-blowing revelation, I realized as I was reading this, that in some way this is a fore-shadowing of what Jesus did at the Last Supper.  He took on the role of the servant, washing the feet of the apostles, and then fed them, giving them the bread (His body) and the cup (His blood). The bread and cup represented the New Covenant, and His sacrifice which opened the way for us to be in relationship with God.  Literally tearing in two the veil (sin) that separated us from God.  Through this sacrifice Jesus made the way for us to share in "Eternal Life" and have the Holy Spirit actually indwell us!  


I could just keep writing....  Lord, help us to more fully understand this awesome reality!

The Greatest Equation

The other morning I was reading 2 Corinthians 5:21, which reads, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  As I read this, I was overcome with the reality of what it says!  I decided to write it out in an equation format because it was so incredible:


Jesus Has No Sin --> He becomes Sin for us


We are full of sin --> We become the righteousness of God 


All this is made possible because Jesus became the perfect sacrifice. In Isaiah 53:10-12  God explains this incredible truth through the prophet Isaiah.  It reads,  


¹⁰ "Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, 
   and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, 
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, 
   and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 
¹¹ After he has suffered, 
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied; 
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, 
   and he will bear their iniquities. 
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong, 
because he poured out his life unto death, 
   and was numbered with the transgressors. 
For he bore the sin of many, 
   and made intercession for the transgressors."

Not only did He make intercession for us, but He invited us into His life - literally allowing us to become the righteousness of God!  I am sure this is one of the mysteries that we will never fully comprehend!  That we, through Jesus becoming sin for us, become, in God's eyes, righteous like He is righteous!  Incredible!

Jesus you are beyond comprehension in your awesome love for us!