Strength and Courage

On July 18, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 27: 14

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.
This is certainly a good verse for teaching about waiting on the Lord. I was really intrigued, though, over the line, “let your heart take courage.” I see in those words that we must make a decision to be encouraged. We have to decide to let our hearts fill with encouragement. You can choose to be discouraged or you can choose to be encouraged. Perhaps it takes strength to allow yourself to stand in courage instead of living in discouragement because David tells us to be strong. Certainly, in waiting on the Lord, you must decide to “faint not.” That means, don’t give up. Don’t give up on God or let your faith founder while you are waiting. Waiting in faith does take backbone. You have to decide to stand regardless of the appearance of the situation around you. You must decide to keep on confessing words of faith even when the circumstances appear bleak. You have to decide to let your heart be filled with courage. You can even learn to encourage yourself when you don’t have an encourager to do it for you. You purposefully decide to be of good courage. You purposefully decide to believe God and his word instead of letting your heart fall into discouragement. If you have felt discouragement lately, take heart; be of good courage because now you know that you can affect the condition of your heart. Allow yourself to be encouraged. Allow your heart to be filled with courage. The Word of God is the best encourager there is. Get in there and let your heart be full of the encouragement of the Lord.
Back to Top

The Giver of Bread

On July 15, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 6:11


Give us this day, our daily bread.
I wrote on this verse earlier this week. The emphasis then was twofold; first that bread must be received daily rather than weekly and second that Jesus is the bread. Today I want you to look at the first word of this verse and recall, as you do, that Jesus is teaching on how to pray.

I am struck by this word and this question occurs to me, “Why am I trying to earn a living when Jesus said to ask the Father to “give” me my daily bread?” It seems from this verse, and all that surrounds it, that providing my daily bread is Dad’s responsibility. It appears that my responsibility is to appeal to Him and to accept His gifts.

People get themselves very confused over whether Jesus’ teachings are metaphorical or literal. Let me answer that question for you. Yes!! They are both. One of the important lessons I have learned about Jesus and Yahweh is that they never only accomplish one thing. Dad may direct me to give money to a ministry in order to meet their need but His other goal and maybe even bigger aim is to bless me and meet my needs above and beyond all I can think. So in this verse Jesus is speaking very literally. He means for you to ask God to provide your daily sustenance and expect that the Father will. Jesus also means for you to understand the spiritual principle involved in receiving your daily needs from the Father. Yahweh is our provider. He is our source. Learn to expect Him to meet all of your needs. Secondly, understand that Jesus is the bread of life and ask the Father every day to give you more of this essential nutrient.

Back to Top

Lessons from Walt Disney

On July 14, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 12: 3          NIV

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips – who is our master?”

Most people wouldn’t come right out and defy God the way the speaker in today’s verse does but many of us say as much by our actions. Proverb 3: 6 which teaches us to acknowledge God in all our ways. Verse 5 of that same proverb tells us to not lean on our own understanding but rather to trust God. Do you see a picture forming here? We are not to try to excel in our own strength but instead to trust God and lean on Him. This teaching applies to us all but I think it can be hardest to accept by those people who: 1) have big personalities, or 2) have been successful in their earthly walk. Now, in order to really progress, they must deal with their egos and personalities.
I recently saw the movie Saving Mr. Banks which is the story of the making of the movie Mary Poppins. The Disney studios worked with the author of the book series who by all accounts was difficult at best. At one point I was rather impressed by Walt Disney’s approach. He, being Walt Disney, had a certain amount of authority, personality and success which he certainly could employ in order to get his way in matters. In this case, however, he did not try to overcome the difficult author by persuasive speech, his rather impressive record of successes nor did he try to cajole or intimidate her. This surprised me. I thought back in my own life as I tried to influence situations and obstinate, even intractable, people through the mere weight and power of my personality, persuasive arguments, reason and whatever other worldly tools were available to me. Of course, this is not the way the Father is leading us and I find that I end up feeling a little uncomfortable when I apply these techniques. Ms. Travers, the author, rather expected Disney to bully her but he didn’t. Instead of pressuring Ms. Travers, he endeavored to know her better. He sought understanding and wisdom. Once he did that he could meet her need and still make the picture. 
 
Our heavenly father would have us learn this same lesson. We are not called to win or overcome by the power of our personalities or our speaking skills. We are absolutely never to bully people into compliance nor to deceive them with half-truths and pretty speeches. There should be absolute honesty in all of our approaches and dealings with people. These are the children of God. Even if you don’t like them or they are standing in the way of what you want that does not give you the right to move them against their will or bully them. Your task is to find out what their need is and fill it. The person who wins is the one who fills the most needs of other people.

We belong to God. He owns our mouths and our lips and we reflect on Him with everything we do. We have a master. Although our egos may rail at the thought of having a master if we are Christian then it is true. It is by His grace and His blessing that we are supposed to get the things that we desire. If we have to do it through the force of our personalities or by persuasion then we are operating in the flesh and outside of God’s will. This is a hard lesson but one that is so important for us to learn because on the other side is God’s blessing and peace.

Back to Top

The Bread

On July 13, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 6: 11

Give us this day our daily bread.
I had the opportunity on Sunday to hear Pastor Wayne Anderson of Idaho speak on his most recent book, Change the World with Prayer. One of the messages he brought to us was Jesus’ teaching on prayer which is found in what we commonly call the Lord’s Prayer. I was very much struck by Anderson’s point about this one little, short verse having the word “day”, or a derivative, in it twice. As he discussed it I was reminded of how the manna that God provided from heaven to the Israelites would spoil after one day. that really got me thinking.
God promised to provide for the Israelites daily. The fact that this is a daily event is an important point. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction’” (Exodus 16: 4). The Israelites were specifically precluded from collecting two or three days of manna. They were supposed to take only enough for each person for one day and then trust God for the bread for the other days. That is not our way, is it? The ground was literally littered with manna but God said to gather only a day’s worth and not to keep any of it for the next day. It would be normal for us to want to collect enough for several days but God said “Let’s see if they will follow my directions.” “But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul” (Exodus 16: 20).
Overnight the manna that people saved became inedible. Years later Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread. Yesterday’s bread won’t feed you today. It was for yesterday. It was good food for yesterday but you need today’s bread for today. Thousands of years ago as God tried to get the Israelites to trust Him day to day for their provision He was also laying down a spiritual principle that Jesus picked up and attempted to instill in his followers, including us. So this is Jesus’ word to us that we need to feed daily on the bread which God provides for us. But what does this really mean? Is this spiritual mumbo jumbo or does Jesus mean this literally? What do you think Jesus is trying to get us to do about daily bread? 
 
“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6: 30 – 35).
I believe Jesus is teaching us that we need to partake of him daily. How do you do that, you may ask. My answer is John 1: 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the incarnate Word of God so to partake of him we partake of the Word of God. But wait, there is more. Blindly reading the Bible is not what I am talking about. A heathen could sit all day and read the Bible but never partake of Jesus. Our consumption of the Word is a meditative, contemplative, spiritual ingesting of the person of Jesus Christ as he is found in God’s Word. There is, to my way of thinking, a big difference between “The Bible” and “The Word” but I will leave that to you to figure out.
At the end of the day I think Jesus is telling us that God has provided for us just as He did for the Israelites. Our manna is the living word. Jesus seems to be teaching us that we must feed on it daily. Yesterday’s manna is no good for today. It met yesterday’s need but today is a new day and we need fresh bread. I promise that Jesus is fresh and appropriate to today’s need.

One last comment, I only gave you today an excerpt of what Jesus said about being the bread of life. I strongly recommend that you read the entire sixth chapter of John. I think it will be a blessing and definitely food for thought.

Back to Top

The Good Shepherd

On July 12, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 23: 2

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.
Do you notice that Jesus doesn’t lead us into valleys of destruction? He leads us to mountain tops and to green pastures. We get the crazed notion, sometimes, that God is leading us into the storms. Nope, He is trying to lead you out of the storm. He is there helping you out of the trials and tribulations. He always leads you to the light.
David wrote in verse four that even though he, David, walks through the valley of the shadow of death he would not fear because his shepherd, Jesus, would keep him. Interestingly enough, David wasn’t pitching a tent in the valley of the shadow of death. He was walking through. Challenges sometimes come but Jesus is there to lead you out and he will keep you safe in the interim.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all leading us to quiet green pastures where there is plenty of food and cool, clear water. All things are good where they lead us. There is always plenty. Just follow your shepherd.

Back to Top

Perfect Fit

On July 11, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 16: 2 – 3


They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or me.

Do you ever feel that you don’t quite fit in? I suppose most people feel that way at one time or another. If not, then we wouldn’t have so much conversation about being yourself and “fitting in”. Well, if you have ever felt that way, don’t worry. You are in very good company. Jesus didn’t fit. He was an outcast and in the eyes of the church leaders, most of his group was not fit for the Kingdom of God. Paul was a well-trained man of the church and though he was highly esteemed by the church at one time he was unacceptable in the eyes of God because he was persecuting all who believed in Jesus. Then he was converted in a very dramatic fashion. He became an important disciple of Christ but he was no longer in the grace of the church. So, as hard as it may sometimes be, do not fear and do not give up hope in our Lord because you don’t feel that you quite fit. Be you because that is who the Lord made you to be.

Seek God! Honestly search Him out! Chase Him with all your heart. When you have done that, He will make all things alright. You will find that He will teach you how valued you are in His sight. He will give you the acceptance that you so crave. Once you know in your heart of hearts that the Lord, our God, loves you just as you are, you can finally love yourself honestly and accept yourself just as He does. You are his precious no matter what anyone else says. And he loves you dearly. That is a promise.

Back to Top

The Spirit

On July 8, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 7: 39

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
But now the Son of God is glorified and seated at the right hand of God. Now the Spirit is a gift to all those who believe in the Son. The Old Testament people met God though they knew very little about the coming Messiah. They only knew that He was promised. In the New Testament, we meet Jesus, the Messiah; the once promised, now come Son of God. Jesus then told about the promise of the Holy Spirit. He even said that it was to our advantage that He go away so that He could send us the “Helper” (John 16: 7). There were many who did not recognize the promised Messiah once he came. Let us not miss the promise that has come in our age, the promised Holy Spirit. He is our helper and our teacher and we really need His help. Call upon Him just as you would our Father and our Lord Jesus to help you in a time of need. Let Him lead you and guide you into all knowledge. He is your constant help in a time of need. Call Him.
Back to Top