Living Bread

On April 11, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 6: 51

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.

It’s easy enough to accept this verse at face value. If someone says to us that Jesus is the bread of life we easily agree with them. What, though, does this verse really mean? Jesus said we are to eat this bread. If we do, we shall live forever. Okay, sign me up but how does one eat this bread?

Here is another question. Does this verse speak about consuming the Word or about communion? Better still, is there something else we are missing entirely? How do you imagine we are supposed to ingest this living bread, the bread of life, as it were? Go a step further and ask, how are we supposed to consume Jesus. That almost sounds disgusting, doesn’t it?

The truth of the matter is that He lost some people over this teaching which is kind of interesting. He had just told them how to have eternal life and they fell away. He even asked the twelve if they were going to leave also. As you know, they stayed with Jesus but this teaching was so strong and so difficult that many people stopped following Jesus. I guess we have the same problem today though. When the message gets tough the weak just leave.

It is a simple thing for us to say that in order to be saved, in order to gain eternal life we must partake of Jesus. The more difficult part is in figuring out what that means in practice. I am going to leave this for you to decide for yourself. Obviously this was not some platitude that Jesus offered. Had it been a shallow, non-substantive message, people would not have left him. So, there has to be something deep and strong about this, probably something which requires something of us. In any event, there is no life without Jesus, no life without eating the bread from heaven.

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Thinking Clearly

On April 10, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Proverb 23: 7               NKJV

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

I cannot get this verse out of my mind so we might as well deal with it. Allow me to say, first, that there are several layers of this verse but I am only going to deal with one. That layer is that the thoughts of our hearts determine a great deal about us from our behaviors to our health.

God created a wondrous mechanism when He created us. The Human body is complex and wonderful. It is no surprise that God is the master healer because he created the machinery. He knows how it works. Therefore, we can find much wisdom for our bodies and our health in the “Operation Manual” He developed for us.

One of the things we are learning through modern medical science and quantum physics is that this statement from the 23rd Proverb is powerfully true and at a very basic level. The truth we are all trying to grasp is that the thoughts we have are imbued with the power to make themselves come to pass. Another way to say this is that the way we think in our hearts, the beliefs which we hold to be truth, will be our reality. If I think I get the flu every winter, then I am right. If I think I don’t get sick then, guess what, I rarely do.

If God knew what He was talking about when He had these words penned then we can change our reality by changing our heart beliefs. This is the essence of Heart Physics with Dr. Jim Richards. There is also a book by Dr. Joe Dispenza titled You are the Placebo and much more about the placebo effect and the power of believing.

If we can harness the power of our own minds and mouths, for that matter, we really can change our destinies and our health. I just imagine God saying, “There is healing for this” no matter the problem. Our emotions are impacting our health and everything around us. Our thoughts are controlling us and determining our future.

The question that keeps buzzing around in my brain is, “Father, what can we not do when we cooperate with you?” What if we really became intertwined with the Father. What if He became the Lord of our thoughts and our beliefs? If we could hear Him speak to us daily, what would He say to us? He might show us how to think about our bodies so as to promote healing. He would heal our emotions. He would teach us how to create the realities He planned for us by marrying our thoughts about us with His.

As we think in our hearts, so we shall be. I believe this. I do not believe or mean to say that we are the answer, but I deeply believe that God in us, the integration of us with the Holy One, is the answer to everything. I do believe that our beloved and wise Father built into us the machinery for success at every level including good health. I am convinced beyond any argument that He intended, and currently intends, for us to be healthy. I am also convinced, persuaded, that His intent is for us to be whole in every realm of life. Whole – nothing broken, nothing missing. Could it be that part of our lack, our falling short of the glory He designed for each one of us, is in the beliefs of our heart? Perhaps we fail because we fail to jump into His arms and trust Him for completeness. What will He do for us if we let Him? Maybe a key to today’s verse, and ultimately to everything we need and want, is how a man believes in his heart about God. Maybe if someone could convince us that God is safe and from that point of beginning we could abandon our religious thinking and finally approach Him with all our baggage, we could become the transformed butterfly which He sees when He looks at us. Maybe we could finally jump into His arms and receive His abundance. We would forsake the pew for His lap. Communion would cease being a ritual and would be a meal shared in the presence of and with the Father. If we could have the thoughts about ourselves that the Father thinks about us we could, and would, be truly free.

I hope you will meditate on this verse. I pray also that something in today’s devotional touched you in such a way that you find new and more intimate avenues to your Father. I welcome your comments. Be Blessed my friends, and be whole.

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Fertile Desert

On April 7, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 32: 16 -18

The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, his righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Glory! Hallelujah! Does this strike you as good news? Or, perhaps, great news! I can even sweeten this by telling you when this is to happen. This is for you today.

The problem with many Old Testament verses is that people stumble over the timing. That is understandable. I will tell you that most of them are fulfilled in Jesus if you ever have doubt. The great thing about today’s verse is that Isaiah actually told us when this would become a reality. In verse 15 he disclosed that this change in the environment, this change in the world would come when “the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high.” Yahoo!

Jesus promised us another. In fact, he said it was better for us that he leave earth so that he could send the helper (John 16: 7). He told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they received that which was promised, or in other words, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 4 – 5). Then, on the day of Pentecost, the promise was fulfilled and the Holy Spirit was poured out from on high. You and I are not living in the time of which Isaiah spoke. This prophecy is for our time. We should take great joy in this good news.

Isaiah saw that because of the coming of the Holy Spirit we could live in peace and righteousness. This concept is very in keeping with other New Testament text. Paul wrote that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 21) and did you know that Jesus is the Prince of Peace? Additionally, when he left earth, he left us his peace (John 14: 27). Increasingly, we are seeing all of the pieces fitting together. It shouldn’t be any surprise, though, because all of this was part of God’s master plan. He knew when He whispered in Isaiah’s ear that this day would come and that what He told Isaiah would be fulfilled in our sight.

There is a key to unlocking all of this though. The key is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he is the “Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you” (John 14: 17). It is the “in you” piece that is so revolutionary. The disciples knew of the Holy Spirit but Jesus was telling them that when he went away and sent the outpouring of the Spirit, then the Spirit would come to not only live with us but in us. This continuing presence of the Holy Spirit is a game changer. The sad truth, though, is that it is only a game changer for those who recognize the truth and embrace it. He was sent as our helper so we have to let him do his job.

In him is this peace, confidence, righteous enjoyment and all of the other great and wonderful things that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have worked to bring us. Their plan installs each of them in our lives as partners. Isaiah saw the desert turned into a fertile field. That desert is our lives and hearts. They have been renewed in Christ and we have a joyous and victorious reality to live.

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No Worries!

On April 6, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 1

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

Is your heart troubled about something? Maybe it is something personal or maybe it is something more universal like the economy or crime levels. In any event, Jesus encourages us to give our concerns to him rather than let ourselves be tormented. He invites us to exercise our trust in Him and God to assuage our concerns and worries. When you have that unsettled feeling in the pit of your stomach because something is troubling you, stop and lean on Jesus. There is such a plea in Jesus’ voice in this passage. It sounds like a longing to take away our suffering; to take it on Himself so that we may be at peace. He is saying to us that if we will believe in God, really believe in God and also believe in Him, that we might be spared the anguish that otherwise affects people. Stop and take an inventory of your emotions. Are you worrying? Are you troubled? Use a few moments to roll the care of that issue or issues over to God and let He and Jesus carry the load for you today.

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Sun and Moon

On April 5, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 60: 20

Your sun will set no more, neither will your moon wane; for you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be finished.

The time of Isaiah’s ministry is placed circa 740 – 700 B.C. (Halley’s Bible Handbook, 2000, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, p.366). So, the question I have is, “When is the time Isaiah wrote about in today’s verse?” John 12: 46 records Jesus saying, “I am the light that has come into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not live in the dark.” When one takes these two verses together it is not difficult to conclude that Jesus is the one of whom Isaiah wrote. Jesus is the everlasting light.

If we buy into that logic then we are heirs to some other logical conclusions. Isaiah said that because Jesus, the Lord, is the everlasting light, we will have no more darkness. That is what Jesus said too, isn’t it? Our sun will set no more nor our moon wane. In other words, there is never a moment in which you do not have light. Consider for a moment, if the sun never sets and the moon never wanes then we have the greater and the lesser light at all times. Now what does that make you think of? I believe this should say to our hearts that the Father, who is represented by the sun, is always with us shining his light into our lives. Likewise, Jesus, represented by the moon never fades. He is always the full moon, the full light of our lives. His saving grace is constant, continual. He is ever shining his loving grace and the light of life on us. Every minute of every days is bathed in the warm glow of the Father and the Son.

As if that wasn’t enough blessing for one day, Isaiah went on to reveal that the our days of mourning are ended. We live now in perpetual glory. The glory of God, the goodness of God has been sown in our hearts and it radiates the joy of the Lord into every fiber of our being.

The joy of the Lord is yours and darkness is no more. That is some pretty great news. Thank you Isaiah!

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My Friends

On April 4, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 14

You are My friends if you do what I command you.

Jesus defined very clearly what he expects of his friends. He said that he no longer calls us servants but rather friends (John 15: 15). I do not have all the answers for yesterday’s questions but Jesus has answered one for us. His friends do as he says. What does that mean though?

At a minimum it means that we do everything in red type. If we do that, I believe we are doing well. The reality, though, is that everything in the Bible is him since he is the Word. I think we read the Bible and have good intentions. We embrace with our minds, with our intellect the things we see of Jesus in the Bible. It is quite a different thing, though, to actually live by his words. This is what his friends do however. This is the defining difference between slaves and friends but significantly this “doing” must come from our hearts. If it becomes a “work” i.e. something we must do for Jesus to love us, then we have jumped tracks and are headed on a different course all together.

Loving Jesus manifests in wanting to hear his words, read his words and ultimately do his words. Think about the person you love. Remember when you first met. You hung on every word, you did what they wanted to do just because. Friends seem to just like hanging out together. You like hearing their thoughts and they enjoy hearing yours. You share your lives. Would it really be a friendship if your only contact was reading stories about them?

Jesus wants our lives to become integrated with his. He wants us to keep him commands to us because they will lead us into success and happiness. We are going to need to change some of our thinking though. Our minds can be transformed though and that comes through the Word. If we will meditate on Jesus’ words, we will see the way. We will want to go the way Jesus points because it is a good path. Friends are not at odds with each other, they are headed on the same path in the same direction.

Jesus’ friends draw close to him and follow him in his ways. He is calling to you. “Come to me, come with me” he says. He wants to be with you. Draw closer to him today. Call him “friend.”

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Best Friends

On April 3, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 13                     NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus demonstrated true friendship. He also defined friendship in some meaningful ways. Proverb 18: 24 says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Surely, Jesus has modeled this kind of friendship for us and, he has become this kind of friend to us. In truth, isn’t he just the best friend you have ever had?

This verse certainly brings joy and a sense of celebration to the heart but I feel snagged by it also. If a real friend is one who would lay down one’s life for a friend, then it stands to reason that we would lay down a great many other things, as well, for our friends. The most costly of these is that I may have to lay aside my agenda, my wishes and my time for my friends.

We live in an age where we are all so busy that, really, we don’t have much time for our friends. We end up with virtual friends instead of real friends. I even wonder if the word “friend” means what it used to. Perhaps most of our friends are really acquaintances. I remember, as a child, my parents having friends over to play cards. Sometimes we went over to other friends of theirs and sat and sang songs all evening. We also took weekends to go visit relatives. We don’t do many of those things today. If, as the God’s Word translation says, “The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends” how do we demonstrate our love and affection for anyone? Or have we stopped caring altogether? Our heartstrings are pulled by the affliction of people who suffer around the world, we give money to groups who rescue abused and neglected animals but where is the real devotion in personal relationships? Are we only dedicated to those whom we can keep at arm’s length. Are my very best friends those on Facebook whom I never see and haven’t seen in years? Or like one person I know, who never intends or desires to see her Facebook friends in person, are many of us learning to isolate ourselves living as islands of one or two? What does it even mean anymore to have “meaningful” relationships? Do you sometimes wonder who would care if you dropped dead?

I think of the people who followed Jesus. They truly loved him. He loved them with all that he had. He loves you and I with all that he ever was and willingly sacrificed his life so that we could be best friends. Are we treating him as a long-distance relationship? What would it be like, how would it feel to treat him as an intimate friend? And what is a friend anyway? He showed us ultimate friendship in laying down his life for us, but what shall I now do, how shall I express my love for him? How does a real, true friendship with Jesus demonstrate itself? And is my relationship with him based solely on what he does for me? What can I do for him or any friend? Perhaps it is not about what you do though. Maybe it is just about being with them.

There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Jesus is one. Is there another?

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