One Way Road

On March 24, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 32: 11                    NIV

Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promise on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I quoted from Dr. Jim Richard’s book How To Stop the Pain earlier this week. In that book Richard’s teaches that the way to happiness and a life of security and freedom is in following Jesus wholeheartedly. I would suggest that advice shows the way to the promised land that our Father has for us.

God is not trying to keep us out of the promise. He is trying to lead us into receiving all of His good gifts. Unfortunately, sometimes we quit on Him or do not go in the direction where the provision lies. I often think of it like the old Pony Express system. The riders needed to follow a prescribed route because that is where there supplies were stationed. God has already provided everything we need also but it is on the prearranged path. God has told us that He has good plans for us (Jeremiah 29: 11) and He has laid out a course and provisioned that route so that we arrive in the promised land on time, nourished and without injury. We just need to stay on track.

How is that actually accomplished though? We speak and write a bit figuratively so how does this apply to real life? I believe there is a practical truth revealed in today’s verse. Although we are living in different times and in a different situation than the Israelites I believe the truth and the revelation is in following Jesus wholeheartedly. I also believe there are several layers of truth in that statement.

First, there are a lot of lukewarm Christians out there. You know them. Some of them even attend your church regularly. Sometimes I fear one of them looks back at me from her home in my mirror. How do we prevent ourselves from being what I call a “Cultural Christian”? Somehow our Christianity ought to color our lives. There ought to be a difference in our lives since Jesus came into it and I do not mean that we attend church every week. A cultural Christian can do that. No, this is a heart matter. There ought to be something changed about us so that Jesus, his current thoughts, his teachings and his example are important to us. Do we really consider what it means to be under his lordship on a daily basis? Do we let him affect our thinking and decisions? Do we talk to him as if he really is our very best friend? Are we following him wholeheartedly or maybe just halfheartedly?

Second, as I said, this is a heart matter. Apparently we are supposed to follow Jesus with our hearts, even our whole hearts. So, our life in Christ is an internal matter. It is not for others to determine the commitment of our hearts. This wholehearted devotion to our professed Lord is not external, in other words, it is not about the things we do. It is not even mental as in study. A heart that loves Jesus will certainly show itself in study and actions but they are only the product. We are meant to have a heart connection with Jesus. He is supposed to influence our hearts and perhaps we even affect his. This is not an intellectual relationship, it is not a work relationship. We are supposed to follow Jesus with our hearts. For some people this is challenging because we have anesthetized our hearts in a vain attempt not to feel or express emotion. But we have learned that we will not enter the promised land if we do not follow Jesus wholeheartedly. This is not because our Father doesn’t want us reaping all the blessings of the promised land. It is just simple logistics. The way to the promised land is through Jesus and the way to Jesus is through the heart. It’s just how it is.

There is a way. The way has been marked out for us. Supplies have been stationed all along the way so that we will always have our needs met. However, there is only one way whether we like it or not and that is in following Jesus, his ways and his teachings with our whole heart.

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Cross the River

On March 23, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 32: 5

“If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

There are some passages of the Bible that just make you grieve. This is one of those for me but it is good for us to read it and learn from it. The background here is that the Israelites were on their journey from Egypt to the promised land. They were led by Moses. As the nation of Israel passed through the lands of Jazer and Gilead two of the twelve tribes, seeing that the land was good, petitioned Moses to give them this land rather than making them continue across the Jordan. Do you know what was across the Jordan? Yes, the promised land.

Yahweh promised the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey, a land ordained and set apart for them, the land of promise. Canaan, the land across the river, held all of that good promise but these two tribes wanted to stop. They wanted to quit. They gave up on the promise of God just shy of everything God promised them. How very tragic.

Why is this story in the Bible? It is there for our edification. There is nothing we can do to go back and help those two tribes but in the telling of their story, perhaps they can help us. How often have we stopped just short of the promise? Have we gotten tired, lost hope or our will to go on and stopped shy of God’s promise to us? It is easy to do but our God is a god of hope. In Him is our hope and the ability to go on.

The key to maintaining the strength to continue is to not rely on our strength or our will. Our strength is in the Lord and it is His good will to lead us by the hand. Our labor, our task is to learn to trust Him and to be led by Him. There are 57 uses of the word “strength” in the Psalms. In the 28th psalm we find this encouragement, “The Lord is their strength, And He is a saving defense to His anointed” (v. 8). Too bad the two tribes didn’t have a revelation of this. We, however, have been given these words in order that we might not lose our strength. We can understand that if we allow God to be our strength, our strong right arm, there is no need for us to get tired and fall short of the prize. Isaiah 57: 13 reads, “But he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land, and shall possess My holy mountain.”

We have only to take our refuge in the Father and we shall inherit the land and all of the fullness thereof. So, learn to lean on the Father. Use His strength and wisdom. Let Him carry you to the promised land where your life will flow with the proverbial milk and honey.

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Freedom

On March 22, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Galatians 5: 1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free.

I recently read How to Stop the Pain by Dr. Jim Richards. Though my copy of this book is highlighted throughout and hand-written notes garnish every chapter, there was one page, one paragraph that was so loud to my Pastor’s heart that I determined I must share it with you.

It is from this premise that Jesus came to set us free that Dr. Richards writes, “Following Him (Jesus) wholeheartedly is the safest life in the world. It has the greatest peace; it has the emotional freedom we all desire. To follow Him wholeheartedly, though, requires that we trust Him enough to apply His truth to our lives” (P. 94). Therein lies the rub. The freedom Jesus bought for us on Calvary is wrapped in the cloak of trust. If we put on this cloak and enfold ourselves in it we will absolutely be protected from the storms but how do we trust Jesus to the extent that we are willing to take those first tentative steps? For some people it comes from desperation. When we get ourselves in a deep enough mess, sometimes that is enough to allow us to make that leap of faith. Dr. Richards continues, “We must walk in love. We must discard our former way of finding safety and happiness and follow His teachings.” This requires us to do things differently and that can be a challenge.

Truthfully, most of us are not making cognitive choices about our interaction with the world. We just do what we have always done or what we were taught to do. This freedom in Jesus requires us to abandon our ways and live according to his ways. Even if we know the difference rarely do we make contemplative choices. We live according to reactionary patterns. It is possible, though, for his ways to become so ingrained in us that they surface without cognitive thought. In order for that to become our reality, though, we must spend quiet, meditative time with Jesus and with his word. It is not enough for us to merely read a chapter a day. That is good and fine but what we are talking about here is that word getting down in your heart. Whatever is in your heart will come out when faced with a situation. Many times we do not even have the luxury of thinking about our choices. Sometimes we just react and those reactions come from whatever we have sown in our hearts.

Truly the freedom that Dr. Richards encourages is from following Jesus wholeheartedly. As we spend time with Jesus, talking with him and listening to him, and as we observe him through the scriptures we gain a new reality in him. His ways become our ways and the chains that he came to set us free from fall away. There is freedom in Jesus. It is in trusting him and following him. It is in putting our feet in his footsteps instead of following the ways we have learned in the world. Knowing Jesus, not just knowing about him but knowing him is to know freedom. Trust him and be free.

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Longing, Yearning and Seeking

On March 21, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 1

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Here are the words of someone who loves God, I mean who really, really loves God. Who do you think wrote these words? If you said, “David” you are right. One of the things I love about David is his passion for the Lord. He inspires me but also shames me a little. Another thing I appreciate about him is his willingness to express his love and devotion to the Father. I also am impressed with his ability to express these ardent emotions.

For those of us living in the western world, the expression of emotions is almost a lost art. We have learned to spurn emotions themselves, how much more the expression of them? God, though, is emotional. He is love which is more than an emotion but certainly involves the emotions. He also hates. Did you know that? Run a search on that and you will see. He and David had a love relationship with each other and neither was afraid to admit or express it. David was so demonstrative of his love for God that he made his wife mad. Maybe she was a bit jealous.

I admit that David embarrasses me a little with his confessions of love. Here is today’s verse as it appears in the Amplified version, “O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You; My soul [my life, my very self] thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” His longing for God is palpable. You can feel the deep yearning in his soul for the touch of God, for God’s presence. I find David’s desperate need for communion challenging but God says of David that he, “is a man after my own heart” (Acts 13: 22). David longed for the Father, trusted Him and sought to follow His ways. Some people talk about David’s sins but until God recognizes me as one after His heart then I will refrain from judging David. In fact, I look forward to meeting him and telling him how much his songs inspired me. Oh that I might be like David and yearn for the Father will all my being as he did; with a desire so strong for fellowship with the Father that he ached in his emotions and even in his body.

We are blessed that David shared his emotions and his relationship with God with us. We, like peeping Tom’s, get to peer inside and gain a new perspective on the depth of relationship we can enjoy with the Father even while we are here in the earth. “Bless the Lord oh my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103: 1) and teach me to seek Him as fervently as did David.

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Perfect Peace

On March 20, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 26: 3               (NIV)

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

There are three elements to this verse. First perfect peace, second steadfastness and third trust. Perfect peace is the conclusion – that is where we want to arrive. We find that the way to that perfect peace is through steadfastness and trust.

So, what is steadfastness? The Tree of Life version reads, “You keep in perfect peace one whose mind is stayed on You.” People who keep their mind on God are kept in perfect peace. For some of us it would be enough to taste perfect peace every now and again but these people, those who keep their thoughts with God, abide in perfect peace. Honestly, though, it is no big surprise that perfect peace is in God. Jesus said that one of the things he left for us was his peace (John 14: 27). How can we not be in peace when we keep our thought lives enveloped in God? Jesus is the Prince of Peace. So, when we keep ourselves, our minds and our thoughts on God; when we are steadfast about what we let our minds meditate on then we will abide in that perfect peace.

Isaiah also revealed that keeping our mind stayed on God produces trust in Him and that trust leads to perfect peace. We might also speculate that the more we trust God, the more we do think about Him and about His way of perceiving things. Of course we experience more peace as our trust in Him increases. The more we keep our minds on Him and learn of Him, the more we trust Him. Then our peace increases.

So, it might be fair to say that in Him is perfect peace so that our only task, really is just to remain in Him. When we think about Him instead of thinking about the latest junk we heard on the news, then it is much easier to abide in peace. He is confidence and assurance. Think on Him instead of thinking on the things of the world and have joy and peace, perfect peace.

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Help has a Name

On March 17, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 124: 8

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

So, here we are at the base of things. The Lord, our God, created this earth we live on. As the creator and all powerful one He has the ability to help us when we need help. He created the earth and He created us and He is invested in helping us to live a good and happy life. The story of humanity, though is often the story of rebellion and independence. We don’t seem to want to rely on God to help us but, in truth, our help is in the name of the Lord. He is the only real help we have. That is such a simple proposition, let the Lord help you. Truth be told, the revelation is bigger than that. The name alone has the power to help, the power to save.

In the Old Testament the words “The Lord” referred to Yahweh whom we often call “God.” In the New Testament we call Jesus “The Lord.” God gave Jesus “a name which is above every other name” (Philippians 2: 9). He gave Jesus His own name and exalted him and that name above all things. In that name, which is also the name of God, there is exalted power and authority. The name of God has life in it and light. We know, too, that Jesus is the light and the life (John 1: 4, John 8: 12). God is in Jesus and Jesus in God. I don’t think, therefore, that you have to get bogged down in which of them is going to bring about your rescue. They are in this together with the Holy Spirit. They are three in one like we are. We are body, soul and spirit. So are they. They are together working to help you in all situations. Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for you at all times. He sent the Holy Spirit here to be with us so that we are never alone. He, the Holy Spirit, is our go along. He walks beside us all day listening to what the Father and Jesus are speaking.

Our Father is God Almighty. That’s big. He sent us His son and now He has sent us His Spirit. We abide with them and they abide in us. That is front page news folks. The Father is telling us that He, who made heaven and earth, is here for us, individually. We have the power of the entire trinity working for our benefit. We have only to call out. And while I do believe in calling God by His proper name rather than this title “God” what is most important in the time of need is that you know where your help lies. It is in the creator, your Father. Call on His name and whether you call Him God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Father, Dad, Abba or something else, know that His ear is already tuned listening for you. He is your help in the time of need. Your help is in the name of the Lord God Jehovah. Just call.

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Grasshopper Epidemic

On March 16, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 13: 33

There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

However we perceive ourselves is how we truly are. We create our own reality. “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverb 23: 7). In this case the Israelites perceived themselves as grasshoppers so that is what they became in their eyes and the eyes of their enemies. We talk ourselves into being that which we hold to be true in our hearts. Do you think yourself smart? Then you are. Do you think yourself healed? You are. What if you think of yourself as some negative as the Israelites did? Then that becomes the truth too. How long have you called yourself overweight? Let’s change your perspective and thus your truth.

Do you believe the Israelites would have fared better if they had perceived themselves differently? Couldn’t they have just as easily confessed that they were the heirs of a promise and that the Lord their God goes before them? Wasn’t that the truth? God showed His hand all along the way from Egypt to Canaan. He performed miracles and ran enemies out before them. They could have just as easily perceived themselves as the highly valued and protected children of God. Instead, they chose to think of themselves as grasshoppers. Honestly, this sounds a lot like modern Christianity.

Of course, we have the same record of witness as they. We have read about the miracles. We have seen the promises of God but still we too choose to think of ourselves as grasshoppers instead of mighty in Christ. We can be who we choose to be. In truth, we are who we choose to be. Do want to be healthy, wealthy, wise and have abundant friends? Then choose to be a giant instead of a grasshopper. Change your self-image to that of an anointed and appointed child of the king. Get a revelation of the deep love of God for you. He wants to magnify and exalt you so stop thinking of yourself in negative terms. Let God minister truth to your bones and to your heart. You are God’s greatest miracle and highly esteemed. Let it go to your head.

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