Healed and Whole

On August 1, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Chronicles 7: 14

If My people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

When you read the verses which precede this one you understand that God is saying, “In your time of need, if you will call out to Me and seek Me then I will hear and restore you.” This verse comes from the point of need, the time of trouble, so the first point I would make is how much more does this apply when we don’t have our backs to the wall because of our sin, recklessness or error.

The major point, though, is that God is standing at the ready when we finally get around to calling on Him. One can see the situation unfold like this, we have run around doing our own thing, ignoring God and have not sought His counsel. The result is inevitable – trouble. All the while God was sitting on His phone watching and waiting for us to call. He says, “Look, if you will just inquire of Me, I will fix everything. I will lead you in the way you should go and I will repair the damage your ignorance created.” That is amazing to me. This is the exact opposite of the world which says, “You made the bed, now sleep in it,” which of course means, you made the mess so deal with it. God is ever ready to rescue us, even from the calamity of our own making. He actually wants to heal and restore you.

Let’s talk about “your land” for a moment. The verse refers to God healing His people’s land. The Bible is a historical record and a living document at the same time. Therefore, this verse represents not only God’s promise to Israel, which would have been the application at the time it was spoken, but it also applies to you and me through the living Word, Jesus our Messiah. You see, if it was just a dead letter, it would only show us His response to Israel. However, we know that Jesus is the Word (John 1: 1). He has breathed new life into the Old Testament for everyone who calls him Lord. That has got to make you want to shout! All those Old Testament promises, like the one from today’s verse are yours in Christ Jesus. Yea!

You are His people who are called by His name. That is the first element of this verse. What are the others? Humility, prayer, seeking and repentance. If we will humbly seek Him and pray, turning away from our ways, He will respond with all His grace and love to heal your world. Your land may be your home, your work, business, health, finances, family or any other area. It can also apply to the country you live in or are from.  They are all under God’s grace when you invite Him in through humility, seeking His face and His advice. Find that quiet space in your life and seek the Lord and His counsel. Be whole. Be blessed!

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Magic & Seeds

On July 31, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 14: 19 – 20

He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.

God has done some pretty incredible things. I am thinking about creation for one. From nothing He made everything, or did He? Hebrews 11: 3 tells us that God made the universe and all that is seen from that which is unseen, or invisible. Well, that makes sense. Even our own bodies are made of molecules too small to be seen. We are not, however, made from nothing. God isn’t a magician making rabbits or flowers appear out of thin air. He is a sower. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Once sown, that seed becomes the largest plant in the garden.

Why am I telling you this? When you understand how God approaches things, it will help you understand the Bible and help you to tackle things in your own realm. You will be able to operate the same way God does and you won’t even need magic to do it.

In the story from today’s verse, Jesus fed about 20,000 people from two fish and five loaves of bread. How does one do that? It is called multiplication, but God multiplies in exponential numbers. He works by taking what you have and expanding it. He isn’t making something from nothing. He takes the little we have and makes a surplus, over and above all we can think or ask. After everyone was satisfied, the disciples went around and picked up the leftovers ending up with twelve baskets full.

So, imagine creation. Yahweh didn’t pull humans, zebra, giraffes, or crickets out of a magic hat. He created by sowing seed. It’s what He does. We didn’t just “pop” into existence. He had a plan and He instituted it and la voila, here we are. Think about that. He has a plan for you too. Jeremiah 29: 11 tells us that He has good plans for us, plans to give us hope and a good future. Yahoo! How will He do that? He is planting seeds all of the time.

Now, do you want to know a secret? He made you in His image and He expects you to move in the earth in the same manner as He. That is to say, He wants to teach you to plan and plant seeds too. What do you want? Plant a seed. Think about this and get excited. If you plant one tomato seed and it germinates and grows into a plant, how many seeds will that one plant generate? One source says the average tomato has between 150 and 300 seeds, though sometimes even more. Okay, so don’t eat all of the tomatoes. Even if you only plant the seeds from one tomato from your first plant that is 150 seeds minimum. If only half of them germinate and produce a plant, then you’ve got 75 fruit yielding plants in addition to the one you began with. Okay, what if you plant just one tomato from each of these plants. Now you have 150 X 76 which equals 11,400 seeds. Are you kidding me here? You are going to have a lot of tomatoes!

So what if it isn’t tomatoes that you need? Well, of course that was an example so let’s get real, but first I have to ask you a question. Do you believe Jesus and everything he said? Jesus taught this same principle. Matthew 13: 8 reads, “And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” These are red letter words. Jesus starts with a hundredfold return, then adds, sixty and thirty percent returns. So, let’s just rely on a thirty percent return. Are your current investments returning 30%? If so, call me.

What if you take one dollar and sow it into the good soil of God’s Kingdom? The worst you can do is a thirty-dollar return. Take out your one dollar seed and you’ve made twenty-nine dollars. Now what do you do? Don’t go out and buy a thirty-dollar shirt. That is what most of us do. We consume our seed. Instead, sow more seed. What if you sowed all thirty dollars? That would then yield 30 X 30, right? Now you have nine hundred dollars. What if you sowed all nine hundred dollars? Now you have twenty-seven thousand dollars. Just imagine if you got the sixty or hundredfold return.

So here in my point. God is not a magician, He is a multiplier. He takes what He has and makes universes and humans and trees and animals with it. He takes what you give Him and He expands it. When you understand that this is the way God operates it will change your life. For one, you are going to understand Him and the Bible unlike ever before. Second, it will set you free. Sow into Him. Let Him be your investment counselor. I only showed you this truth through the examples of money and tomatoes, but it works for everything. Again I ask, what do you need? What do you want? Put on your overalls and start farming. For goodness sake, get out there and start sowing some seeds.

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Gentle Speech

On July 30, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 15: 1, 4

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.

This is such an important lesson to learn and I know many of you have. For the rest of us, it is an easy way to fail. I have learned that the same message can be conveyed abruptly or gently, harshly or mildly. It often takes more words to say something gently, but the message is received more easily when it is offered in tender words.

I am the kind of person who likes to just say what I am thinking and move on with life. I don’t like taking the time to craft a sentence with fifteen words when I can say it with five. However, I am learning that gentility of speech is a major leadership skill. The time it takes to make the message more palatable is worth the effort in the way your hearers receive it.

Tone of voice is important too, as you know, and we all need to learn to take the time and effort to speak with one another in gentle tones and with soothing words. Many household arguments could be avoided by answering in a gentle way. It is guaranteed that if you answer your spouse with a harsh word that you are going to stir up the hornet’s nest.

You can make your same point and have it received more readily when you use soothing language, gentle speech. People are able to hear your message rather than conflict with the means of conveyance. When we are short with people, they have already stopped listening from the start. It seems like a waste of time and energy to use flowery speech when two or three words can get the job done but when you consider that the communication involves two people you can also see that not alienating one of them will make our communication more effective.

There is no value in stirring up anger. The value we have for our listeners really demands that we consider the wrapping our message is cloaked in. None of us wishes to crush the spirit of the listener and even though it may feel like a waste of your time, the spirit of the other person weighs more heavily in the calculation. I wish everyone would let me communicate in my communication style but is it obvious from this proverb that there are effective and ineffective ways of speaking to people. If we want to be a blessing, then we have to learn to use gentle language rather than harsh and abrupt. Just consider it a part of your own personal growth and a way to bless God. In the end, you may find that you are the one most blessed by your gentle turn of a phrase.

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Redirect

On July 27, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 5: 36

Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.

We are given many opportunities to be afraid. For some people those opportunities present themselves daily. But Jesus has an answer for that fear. The answer is his love (1 John 4: 18). There is no fear in love and his perfect love casts out fear. So, we are to abide in his love so that we may overcome fear rather than be overcome by it.

There are times you fear for your children and fear for your health. Sometimes situations look desperate and fear arises. But once you have lived this life long enough, you begin to realize that fear attracts negative things to itself while positive attitudes reject fear. As you gain a little experience you find that no matter how hopeless a situation appears, there is always a way out of it. There is always a glorious answer.

This is not to minimize the problems people face. There are huge challenges out there; otherwise there would really be no need for this teaching. Jesus knew that each and every one of us was going to face frightening circumstances. That is why he taught us to redirect our focus onto him. When we think about his miracle working power and the things he has pulled off for us in the past, we are able to face new challenges with much more faith. So, when you feel fear creeping into your heart, quickly redirect your mind to thinking about the miracles of Jesus. Think about things he has worked out in your life in the past and move your emotions over to faith in him rather than belief in that which you fear.

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The New Kingdom

On July 26, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 14: 17

The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has already established his kingdom here in the earth. He called it the Kingdom of God and it is mentioned no less than 51 times in the gospels. It is said that Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God (Luke 8: 1) but what are the characteristics of this kingdom? We get different segments of that answer in the New Testament, especially in the gospels but also in the letters. In today’s verse Paul writes about the values of the kingdom.

I have read many English versions of this verse and in so doing arrive at a much clearer understanding than in reading only this, the New American Standard Version. For example, the New Century Version reads, “In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The picture begins to reveal itself. Paul is defining what has value in the Kingdom of God. The Passion Translation reads, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of rules about food and drink, but is in the realm of the Holy Spirit, filled with righteousness, peace, and joy.” The Kingdom is not all about rules. In the Kingdom what is most important is that we follow God, follow His ways. The Kingdom is not about works of the flesh or self-stylized righteousness. In Jesus’ Kingdom, legalism falls at the feet of love and devotion to God and our fellow human beings; even in devotion and kindness to all of God’s creation including the animals and the earth itself. Further, the Kingdom of God is living in the realm of the Holy Spirit. That is what the kingdom is and in that place there is ever-abiding joy, peace and righteousness.

There is a difficult lesson in this. This verse flies in the face of the law. Sometimes we separate God made law from the man-made laws which has so imprisoned us. The problem here is that there were laws about food which were given by God. Food and drink choices were a major separation between Jews and all the other nations. Now Paul writes that the rules about food are not important in the Kingdom of God. Other laws fall as well because Paul is revealing that living in Christ is the key, not legal adherence to rules of law. Living right with God is righteousness, being in your right place with Him and that trumps law. This teaching would have been a major challenge for the first century church who stood upon the law. It challenges us as well but let us look at another translation.

The God Word Translation brings the image of the Kingdom of God into even greater clarity, “God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives.” Do you see that the Kingdom of God is not a work-based realm? The right to live in it is not earned either. Our right standing in God, or living right with God, was purchased by Jesus. When we live in Him and the Spirit rather than in the work of our hands and minds, then we are in the kingdom and to live in the Kingdom means you automatically have God’s approval. You do not have to earn it. You do not have to measure yourself by a book of rules, and you do not need to worry. God is for you. He approves of you just as you are. Isn’t that a refreshing concept? You have favor with God.

Jesus established His kingdom in the Holy Spirit. He came preaching this kingdom which depends upon living in the Spirit and the Spirit living within you. Jesus’ message confounded and infuriated the preachers of his day because membership wasn’t earned and, equally important, because he consistently spoke about us in him and him in us, and his being one with the father, all of which was crazy talk to them. The same is true today, really. Revelation still tends to blow the top off our heads but that is Jesus’ way. As soon as you get a handle on one thing, he stretches you over to the next mountain top. But, truly, it is a fun way to live and we see from this verse that when we take the giant leap of faith to live in and by the Spirit of God, there is complete peace, shalom. Paul also lets us know that if we are not in joy, then we are not deep enough in the Spirit. Joy is in the Spirit of God. Remember that Jesus said he left his peace here for us to live in (John 14: 27). Then he gave us his Spirit. Therefore, it is an easy conclusion to reach that joy and peace are ours in him.

In Him, then is the Kingdom of God. And in the Kingdom there is complete approval, joy and peace. Is that good news? If you have ever felt left out or unaccepted it is time for your joy to come to full measure because in Jesus’ kingdom, the Kingdom of God, you are accepted. It is no longer about the rules but rather about seeking the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and leaning into him daily.

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Excellence

On July 25, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Colossians 3: 23

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

There is a lot of talk about how the world is falling apart and falling into sin. I sometimes wonder what any specific person has in mind. Well, here is mine. This is part of what I don’t like about the new world we live in, the low value placed on excellence.

Our world is descending into a, “Oh, that’s good enough” mentality. What happened to excellence? What happened to doing everything to the best of your ability. You hear people say of their employment, “They don’t pay me well enough to do that.” There is a “just get by” attitude. This attitude is not limited to employees though. Companies, large and small, evidence a lack luster approach.

As much as it seems an ever increasing problem, it is not a new one. Paul addressed it two thousand years ago. Christians shouldn’t do things half-way well. Paul said that in everything we do, especially our work, do it as if we work for Jesus because, of course, we do. Everything in our lives is of, by and for him. Therefore, anywhere we dispense a half-hearted effort, we minimize his greatness within us.

This is not to say you can’t have a day off. Not at all. The point is do what you do with excellence. Do not be a sluggard or turn in sloppy work in any aspect of life. Show up, show up on time, show up on time fully prepared. Imagine your shirt says, “I work for Jesus.” Also, encourage others to show excellence in everything they do and expect top performance and customer service from the companies you do business with. Expect excellence in church, at work, and in everything. Give your best and expect it from others. Give people a reason to say that Christians are people of excellence.

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Good Ideas

On July 24, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Chronicles 20: 35 – 36

And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. He acted wickedly in so doing. So he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.

This is what comes of our good ideas, disaster. This verse speaks about “after this.” What just happened? Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah have just returned from three days of carrying the spoils of war home from the conflict with the Ammonites, Meunites and Moabites. God showed Himself strong on their behalf and they profited greatly. Now Jehoshaphat has a good idea. “Let’s ally ourselves with Israel.”

At this point in time, God’s kingdom was divided. Israel was not following the ways of the Lord. Up ‘til now, Jehoshaphat has sought the Lord and Judah has enjoyed the blessings thereof. Now he has his own idea and rather than seek the Lord, he just executes his plan. You see, Israel had something he wanted. They had good shipwrights and Jehoshaphat wanted ships that could sail to Tarshish, or at least ships able to make long voyages. I think lust had a grip on Jehoshaphat and he wanted ships capable of traveling to lands of gold, silver and exotic animals. Did he not just learn that his blessing was in the Lord? All the gold, silver and wealth of any kind was in walking with the Lord. They had just taken three days to carry of the spoils from a war they didn’t even have to fight in and yet somehow Jehoshaphat has shifted to thinking he needed to build big ships in order to chase the world’s wealth, literally.

Well, as with all our “great ideas” this one backfired horribly. Verse 37 reads, “Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying, ‘Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.’ So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.’” Don’t get bogged down here thinking that God cursed the ships or Jehoshaphat. The truth is that Jehoshaphat walked out of the blessing and into the curse. The breakup of the ships was the natural consequence of walking in the world rather than walking by the spirit. This is one of those “selling your soul to the devil’ moments.

Israel was immersed in idol worship. They had left their first love and were serving other gods. Jehoshaphat was not only willing but desirous of an alliance with Israel because she had something he wanted. This is exactly why you hear so much about adultery in the Bible. Israel had already abandoned her first love and now Judah was willing to get into bed with Israel despite their heathen practices because of the desire for material goods. Mind you, it is not the desire for ships or gold that was the selling out of Judah. The prostitution was in selling out to the world to get it. God had shown Jehoshaphat that He would more than supply their needs. He even gave them the worlds goods. How is it that Jehoshaphat didn’t understand that? The sad conclusion is that his alliance with Israel, which was mired in the deep weeds, led the entire nation of Judah astray too.

Jehoram succeeded his father Jehoshaphat as king and the seeds of Jehoshaphat’s wickedness bore fruit in Jehoram’s generation. Chapter 21, verse 11 makes this clear, “Jehoram made illegal places of worship in the hills of Judah. This caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to chase after foreign gods as if they were prostitutes. So he led Judah astray.”

Not only did Jehoshaphat not get what he wanted because the ships foundered and broke apart, but his greed and resulting alliance with the lost tribes of Israel caused the nation of Judah to founder as well. They went from being the source of one of the greatest stories of victory to a lost and broken people. It’s sad.

So, how are your bright ideas looking to you right about now? I know I regret my own when I don’t take them to the Lord. They fail miserably and bring me grief. What, then, is the answer? I’ll bet you know. Take it all to the Lord in prayer. Although, that is a little misleading. Really what we are called to do is to listen to the voice of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Sure, take it to God in prayer but then hush up and listen. Let Him guide you through His Spirit. That is the way. That is what Jehoshaphat did when he was so successful. He sought the Lord. Later, he led the entire nation of Judah astray with his good ideas. Hey, I’ve got an idea – let’s follow where the Lord leads. I bet that will work. And that is my good idea for today.

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