Accepted

On May 16, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 41: 9

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts, and said to you, “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.”

I suppose most people have dealt with rejection or the sense of rejection at some time in their life. Many have felt insecure in their relationship with God too. The good news is that God has accepted you. No matter what the world may say about you; no matter what your negative brother-in-law says about you, God loves you and accepts you; even as you are.

I am not trying to say that most of us don’t need some transformation in our lives but we have been chosen by God. We really need to meditate on this scripture and let it sink down into our spirits. We need to have such a rock solid understanding and recognition of God’s favor over our lives such that nothing and no one can cause us to doubt our acceptance by God. 

This is a really big deal. There are books and books on the topic of rejection because so many of us have dealt with feelings of unacceptance and rejection. Sometimes we feel that we can never be what others want us to be but God is here shouting loudly that you do not have to change for Him to love you. Even before you were born He saw you and you were, and are, lovely in His sight. No matter how many mistakes you make, He still sees the beautiful you and He would say to you that you are wondrously made in His own image.

I feel like I could and should write much more on this so that you hear time and time again that God considers you lovely and worthy of His affection. However, He has said it best, “I have chosen you and not rejected you.” Hear the word of the Lord.

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Good Measure

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

Luke 6: 38

Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap.
For years I didn’t really understand what this scripture was trying to get over to us. I understand give and it will be given to you. That is a clear direction from God concerning being generous in our giving to others. What is all of that other language for though? We do not have represented here a simple one to one ratio vis-a- vis giving and receiving. Rather, God is telling us that when we give, he gives back a vastly multiplied amount. It was one day when I was filling a container with a dry ingredient that this verse’s meaning became evident to me. As I poured my dry product into the container it began to fill while I still had more to fit into the container. So, I started tapping the container on the counter causing the substance to pack more compactly. Doing this allowed me to put much more substance into the container. Then I realized that is what “pressed down” and “shaken together” is all about. Maybe you could also press the dry material down with some sort of tamping tool so that you can fit more into the vessel. 

You see, God does not just give back to you in equal measure. He gives back an ample supply. He presses down and shakes down the substance so that he can get more into the container. And even then, he still runs the container over from his generous giving. He causes all things to come to you in abundance so that you cannot even contain it all. Well, good! Then you can take the overflow and give it away. But have plenty of pots and canisters available when you do because he is going to give back to you again, good measure!

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Spiritual Revenge

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

Job 42: 8

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

If you read the book of Job you will see that Job’s “friends” spoke against him for the whole book. I mean they really gave him a time. As soon as bad things started happening to Job his friends descended upon him and accused him of some great sin as the cause of the tragedies which were occurring in his life.

Isn’t that just like folks? They probably had been jealous of Job all the while because he was very wealthy and blessed in all things. Then when the devil started stealing his blessing, his friends began to harshly criticize him. In the end God corrected and reproved them.

Now if I were Job, I might not want God to send those chaps to me for me to pray for them. I can imagine saying, “God, I don’t want to pray for those fools that have harangued me for months. Just let them reap the fruit of their seed.” Fortunately for them, Job was obedient to God. I do like that they had to take him a big offering though. And we know that Job did pray for them because the subsequent verses tell us that God did accept Job’s prayer.

You see, the Old Testament teachings are consistent with the New Testament. God had Job pray for his enemies and we are under the same command today. Pray for those who persecute you and despitefully use you (Matthew 5: 44).

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The Worst Offense?

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

Proverb 24: 17 – 18

Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles or is overthrown, lest the Lord see it and it be evil in His eyes and displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him [to expend it upon you, the worse offender].

It is so easy to judge other people’s faults. But God did not send you and me into the world to judge it. That is His job alone. He is so adamant in this point that this scripture shows that His wrath will turn from the bad actor to the worse offender, i.e. those of us who judge others. 

We even think we are doing justly when we judge others’ actions yet Jesus said, judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7: 1). But when we speak to God about other people’s sins or sometimes even our perception of their wrong doings, God’s eyes turn away from their mistakes and onto our outright disobedience.

I know it is difficult but our part is to love and to pray for those whom we think are missing God’s best. And I do not mean those judgmental prayers. You know the ones where we condemn people and attempt to put them under bondage while in a conversation with our heavenly Father. No, our prayers are to be out of love and honest concern for their welfare. Do you want to please your Father? Pray earnestly and lovingly for those people that you think are falling short of God’s glory.

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Fearless

On May 10, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 112: 8           (NIV)

His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

This is just one of the benefits that belong to the person who reveres the Lord. We are supposed to come into a place within our faith that we no longer fear those who strive against us. Our hope and our trust are in Him, our Lord and provider. In Him is victory. In Him is peace, the kind of peace that makes us secure regardless of the circumstances. We can come into a place wherein our thoughts of Him and our faith in Him are bigger than any other person or thing we encounter. We only have to keep our eyes glued on Him and His word and speak His words instead of the doubt of this world.

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The Architecture of Prayer

On May 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 13: 5

But I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
This is a psalm of David described as a prayer for help in trouble. This part of the psalm certainly does not sound like he is praying for help though. The structure of this prayer is so insightful. David begins with his woes but by verse three is makes his petition to the Lord. Then by verse 5 of this six verse psalm, he has shifted into trust, thanksgiving and praise. David knows that despite the appearance of some problems in his life, his God will rise up and save him. He confesses that his trust is in the Lord and that ends his troubles. He knows what the end of the story is going to be and he sings his praises to the Lord.

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Burn ‘em

On May 6, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 9: 51 – 56

And it came about, when the days were approaching for His ascension, that He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him. And they went, and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make arrangements for Him. And they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

James and John had a real zeal for the Lord. They were offended that someone would reject their Lord and they were willing to do something about it. They would have wiped out that whole town if Jesus would have allowed them. But Jesus rebuked them. He said you don’t get it guys. I came to save people, not condemn and judge them. 

According to Bible Commentaries there were significant theological and cultural conflicts between Samaritans and Jews. These differences showed themselves when Jesus’ disciples went into the Samaritan village to make arrangements for their stay there. It is apparent that the arguments between these groups were of no small consequence to either group. In the case of the Samaritans it was significant enough to deny Jesus and his group to stay in their village. To James and John, that rejection was worthy of complete annihilation.

But Jesus apparently did not take exception with the Samaritans views or he would have never sought to stay in a Samaritan town. He certainly did not accept James and John’s view of needful and justifiable action. No, he rejected their reaction completely. Why is this important?

We all are faced with the same opportunities today that James and John faced 2000 years ago. While we are called to be zealous for the Lord and we applaud that zeal when we find it in others, we must have a care how we express our zeal. One commentary said that James and John failed to see the behavior of the Samaritans in the light of the social and cultural fabric. They did not recognize the national prejudices and bigotry at play (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible.). The commentary goes on to say that the Samaritans were not rejecting God, the message or the messenger of God but that is all that James and John could see. It might even be that it was something missing in James and John that caused their strong reaction, something broken in their hearts. We must be careful that we don’t burn others because we do not understand them or their beliefs. We should be careful that we do not condemn whole groups of peoples to hell because of our beliefs. 

Jesus rebuked those two disciples. He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.” What kind of spirit are they and all of us a part of? It is the spirit of love which is why Jesus gave us the one commandment, that we should love one another as he himself has loved us. Instead of criticizing and condemning others, we are truly to love them and pray for them. And by pray for them I do not mean to pray for God to change them to agree with us or our doctrine. For we might find, like James and John, that it is we who are wrong rather than they. Furthermore, it just is not our job to judge others. Jesus didn’t even judge and if Jesus didn’t then we certainly shouldn’t. Our job is to love everyone right into heaven and then we can let our Father sort it all out. 

Don’t let your zeal for what you think is right cause you to violate the love commandment. Don’t let your ideas condemn others else you might find that Jesus is not rebuking them but rather rebuking you. Be zealous in love and invite all peoples into the Kingdom of God.

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