Great Compassion

On August 1, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 49: 10

They will not hunger or thirst, neither will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs of water.

There is another verse that says that God waits to have compassion on you (Isaiah 30: 18). He is just awaiting the opportunity to show His great grace to you. What prevents Him? We do. Isn’t that something? We don’t mean to, of course. But we often times don’t let him in. We don’t always give Him permission to work and move in our lives.

His desire is to show you great compassion. His compassion leads Him to show you His grace and His mercy. Of course, His grace covers every aspect of human existence. He longs to have compassion on you. But you have got to invite Him into those aspects of your life where you need grace and mercy. His Spirit is like living waters refreshing all the parched regions of your life. When you thirst, He is refreshing waters. If you hunger, He will fill you. You no longer have to suffer lack.

Here is what I want you to appreciate. His desire to show you His compassion is great. He wants to lead you to the springs of water. There is so much He wants to do for you. He is just awaiting your invitation. Open the doors that have been barred before Him. Throw yourself wide open and invite Him in. Ask Him to inhabit all of the rooms of your life. And lastly, give Him permission to pour Himself into you. He is waiting and longs to show you His great compassion.

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Deceiver

On July 25, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Revelation 12: 9

… Satan who deceives the whole world.

The facts are not always as they appear. Situations are not always as they appear. There is a deceiver present, and he is a master at his craft. He has been well able to fool Christians in all sorts of ways. That is one of the reasons that the Bible is so important to us. It is an anchor for our lives because it is truth and there is no deception in it.

One problem the body of Christ has suffered is that the devil has fooled us about all sorts of doctrine. We have been led astray by many winds of doctrine, some of which are so unimportant that they have been forgotten. None the less, they are deceptions that led people away from the truth. So, they fulfilled their function for the devil’s schemes. Others of his deceptions are clearly visible today. Two of the most damaging deceptions are that 1) there really is no devil; and 2) that the Bible is not the true Word of God. These two deceptions of Satan are leading people into all sorts of destruction daily. They have effectively limited the power of Christians so that many Christians have no more victory in their lives than those without God. This is a horrible shame.

Your actual Father is the Master of the Universe, the creator, the almighty and yet many of us are just about as powerful as a 3-volt battery. Christians get run over by the devil and they never even know what hit them. They certainly can’t fight back because they are deceived and powerless. This ought not be. I implore you to help me turn this around.

First, let us all get our heads out of the sand. Look around. The world is falling into chaos all around us. Evil runs amok in our towns and cities. It is hard to deny the power of the devil and the impact he is having in our society, yet many of us do. Let’s stop letting the devil get away with murder. We must first identify that it is he who is our enemy and then, secondly, we must give the Word of God an honored place in our lives. Not so that we can worship the book, but rather so that we will cherish its contents and allow it to work in our lives. We must have God’s help to overcome the schemes of the devil and the Word is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6: 17).

You are no longer deceived because you have heard the truth. Now we must all band together to fight the devastation caused by the devil and his horde. We must give the full measure of respect to the Word of God and a fully accept and appreciate that it is the weapon of our warfare.

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The Word is Love

On July 18, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 1: 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This passage contains a revelation that we would do well to comprehend. We will have a much better understanding of the Kingdom of God if we do. You would really be well served to read the entire first chapter of John. It says that Jesus existed before the world was made and it was through Him that God made everything. Importantly, this chapter teaches us that Jesus is the Word. So, God made everything we see through the Word.

The Word is God. When you understand that you see that if you don’t obey the Word, you are not obeying God. Then one might ask, “How can you obey the Word if you don’t know the Word?” I believe that our society, our American brand of Christianity, has not given the Word of God its proper place of respect. Sometimes we don’t like what it says so we invent excuses to put it away from us. The truth is, though, once you understand the Word, you will find you don’t disagree with it so much. It is very often misunderstanding that has misled you. As you spend time with the Word, and hence with God, you will see love arising.

It is this prevalent fear that God is trying to take something away from people that drives them away from God and away from the Bible. When you, once and for all, understand that God is love, you will embrace God and all that He has to say. God is not judgment, anger or correction. He is love. He is trying to communicate His love to you. God is not threatening or scary. He is love, and He is love all of the time.

If God is love and the Word is God, then doesn’t it stand to reason that the Word is love? Jesus came into the earth as a human being to heal and save a broken and dying world. Love sent Him here. Love required it. Now as you dig into the Word of God you are digging into Him and to all deliverance. Let the Word of God heal you and set your feet on a high place. Dust off that book, not for God but for you.

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One and the Same

On July 11, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 4: 17

By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

This is an amazing passage of scripture! It is saying that we are as Jesus. This whole passage of scripture speaks of love. We discover that love abides in us because God abides in us and God is love. That love is then perfected in us and through that love we are just the same as Jesus.

Jesus didn’t walk and talk and act on this earth in his own capacity. He was a witness of the love of God. He lived in that love and with that love and He was in complete unity with the love of God. He walked in love on this earth because He walked in God, and God was with Him through and by that love. It was this love, God’s enduring compassion, that gave Jesus the power to heal the sick and raise the dead. Love called Him and compelled Him.

That same love abides with us and in us. That same love can work miracles through us just the same as it did through Jesus if we will allow it to mature in us. It is that very same love because it is the same God that works in each one of us. Therefore, we can walk just exactly as Jesus did because the same love is at work in us as was in Him. We have the same witness and that is that God first loved us. And now His love is at work in us. We didn’t do anything to earn this love, it is because God chose us.

Now here is your part. Each person must allow God’s to mature within them. Each person must allow love to have its perfect expression through them. It’s not that we really have to do much, but we do need to allow love to have its perfect work in us. We must let go. We must give the Lord permission to work in us and through us. We have to release our selfish aims and ego-based desires. Those are rooted in fear. Release the fear of not having what you want or what you think you need and allow God to raise you to your high, appointed place by His grace and His love.

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Love Is . . .

On June 27, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 4: 8

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Love and God are interchangeable. They are one and the same. You cannot know God if you do not know love. If there is not love inside of you, then God is not inside of you either. If you are not walking in love, then you are not walking with God. It is just that simple. The very essence of God is love. It is not a personality trait, not something He has a lot of. It is what and who He is. Verse 16 reads, “the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

Here is a revelation for you straight from God. Love is the principle thing. It is what God has been telling us and teaching us about for five thousand years. Jesus left us this one commandment, to love one another even as he loved us (John 13: 34). He only needed to leave us one commandment because the one covers all. You will not hurt others if love guides you. And you will be good to others if you allow love to guide you. Everything that the apostles, Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit have tried to teach us is contained in one word. It is so simple that it has eluded us. Love!

Hey, Christianity is not difficult to understand. It is not complex. It is really quite simple. If you want to be the greatest Christian ever, then be the biggest lover ever. Learn to get outside yourself and be kind, generous and considerate. Get yourself off of your mind and ask what you can do for someone else. You are God’s hands in this earth. Allow Him to bless someone through you today. Get completely wrapped up in love and stop being judgmental and critical. Stop finding fault in others and just give yourself over to loving them and blessing them. You will be walking so deeply with God that your every breath will be a greater infilling of Him. That is a pretty good place to be.

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Exalted

On June 20, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 2: 9 -10

Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.

Verse eight of Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient even to the point of death. Therefore, God highly exalted Him. Jesus has been given the name which is above all names and the name to which every knee will bow.

Now as soon as some people read that, they chafed against those words. They may not admit it aloud, but they do not like the idea of bowing their knee to anyone. It is even hard to admit to oneself that the idea causes an internal tension. We really must allow ourselves to release our ego to our Father. It was this very thing that caused Jesus to be so highly exalted. He was able to humble himself to the point that His will no longer mattered. Obedience to the Father is all that really mattered. That is not to say that it is easy. It wasn’t even easy for Jesus, but we are able. Jesus fought the temptation to serve His own interest. We can and should do the same. Why? Because God would like also to exalt you.

And truly there is no joy greater than obeying the Father. I do not say that it is always easy, but I do say that there is great gratification in it. We often think that God is trying to get something from us, but it is just the opposite. He is trying to get something to us. If we will really learn humility; if we meditate on what it truly means to be humble and others centered, then we will find great revelation in the Father and in what He can do with us, and nothing is more fun than working with the Father. This week give time to the ideas of humility and obedience. Let yourself ponder what it means to be humble and ask the Father how you can be more obedient. I can promise you will have a very good week if you do.

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Humble

On June 13, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 2: 8

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus took on the form of humanity so that He could lead us into true harmony with our Father God. He did not present Himself as a King or an honored person of any kind. He came as a servant to all.

I am moved by this image of Jesus as so humble and obedient that not even death, not even a horrible death, could sway Him from His committed passion for us and the Father. This is the image of a man who was not here to serve His own selfish interests but rather to pay the price of reconciliation so that the Father and His children could become one again.

If we are truly to imitate Christ, then our imitation must be foremost in humility and obedience. This idea is critically important for us to grasp. Our task isn’t about feeding the hungry or clothing the homeless. It is not about working at church or building a home for the needy. Those are the manifestations of our having gotten ourselves so right with God that we have absolutely learned to humble our needs and desires to the direction of God. Humility is all about getting us off of our minds. It is the call to put other people before your wants and even your needs. It is not about you! It is about Jesus. He has called us to himself that we might be His hands in this earth. But even more importantly, we are to be His heart in the earth.

We must learn radical obedience and honest humility. Let us give ourselves over to the Father completely. See what He can do with you. Let go of yourself and your own control. Let go of all that you are telling Him that you want and just ask Him what He wants. Ask Him to allow you a chance to be obedient. Give Him yourself, your dreams and desires. Then let Him fill you with all that He would do with you. Humble yourself to His great desire and gratefully obey.

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