Daily Declaration

On February 19, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 67: 19

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation [Selah].

What is salvation? So many times we have a narrow perspective on salvation. We often limit its scope to being saved from hell. Of course, that is one of the inclusions of the word salvation but these Old Testament writers had a much more complete understanding of salvation.

The word salvation, according to Strong’s, means “something saved, deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity; – health, help, welfare.” Therefore, God is our daily deliverance, aid, help, victory, prosperity, health and welfare. Does that put a different perspective on today’s verse? 

The word “Selah” means to stop, pause and consider. We are supposed to stop here as if this verse is a crescendo and ponder its meaning. When we do we notice that this little 15 word sentence is loaded with power and good news. One of the takeaways is that God bears our burdens. Another is that God is our salvation. We also see that it is possible for us to bless the Lord. There is at least one more though. That is that this burden shifting salvation occurs on a daily basis. There may be a revelation in there. It is not enough that I gave Jesus my heavy burdens yesterday. I must meet Him again this morning and pronounce his lordship over my life today. That is like fireworks going off in the sky above me. 

Every day we proclaim that Jesus is our Lord.  From that reality easily flows the daily laying down of our burdens. It becomes almost automatic to give him our worries, deadlines and cares when we begin with a daily declaration of his lordship over our lives.

I hope this revelation sets you free in at least one aspect of your life. Proclaiming his lordship over our lives daily unleashes his power into our day. It gives his angels assignments for our benefit. Maybe this gives the understanding and motivation for getting up five minutes early so that we can speak with Jesus and declare him as Lord today.

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Busy, Busy Bee

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

Psalm 46: 10

Cease striving and know that I am God. 

Well, I’ve done it again. I’ve allowed myself to get busy. Now to some of you that might sound good. Well, I do like to be busy and to have a lot on my plate. I like having a lot going on. But here is the thing, sometimes I get out of balance and get so busy that in the end I find myself not very effective, certainly not efficient. Always I look around and find that I am trying to do everything in my own strength again. Then, as now, I have to stop and put the pieces back in place. For me that means pulling out my calendar and scheduling my time. It means analyzing my work time to determine what I am doing with my time and it almost always means I have to clean up my diet and workout schedule too.

In the United States these days we wear our busyness like a badge of honor. Well, not me, not any longer anyway. In my life, “busyness” invariably means I have stopped living in grace in favor of living in effort. In fact, being “busy” has become a bit of a profanity to me because our Father has already corrected me in this and loudly. When I find I am beginning to feel the stress of too much to do and not enough time, then I know it is time for a checkup. You see, it always means that I have stopped leaning on Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit to be the work horses in my life and have put all of that heavy load back onto my shoulders. 

What did I find this time? My devotional life is nowhere as strong as it was, my Bible time is weak, prayer time limited, my workouts have fallen to almost nothing and my diet stinks. I have more and more to do so I am drawing further and further into myself instead of reaching out to the source of all strength, power and helpfulness. I am no longer yoked with Jesus. Heck, I am not even including Him in the emails. What?! I am working hard at getting little done. So, I repent – turn and go in a different direction.

I have personally experienced and also witnessed in others that we can actually get more done when we first connect with God. So instead of going straight to my computer, I must first go to my Bible. Time with the trinity must supersede work if I wish to be as effective as possible. Jesus really will do the heavy lifting if I will let him. Let’s make “busy” a bad word by devoting our hearts and time first and foremost to our Lord and savior. Let’s put the entirety of our lives in his loving hands, even our work, even our busyness. When we begin to tell people that we are busy, when we begin to think it and when we first begin to feel the stress of too much to do and not enough time, let us run, not walk, to the throne room of God and lay down our heavy burdens in humble repentance. Let’s turn our busyness into worship instead of it being a source of pride. Let’s get more done in less time while spending all of that time with the Lord. Now that sounds good, doesn’t it?

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Go With God

On February 17, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 37: 19

They will not be ashamed in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they will have abundance.

Now this verse you can take to the bank and I am not just making a pun. Here is your promise that in the economic downturn you will be running to the bank to make deposits. 

Many of us watch the stock market and other economic indicators. That’s fine. It’s even kinda fun. The key for Christians is don’t make those indicators your Bible. They do not, in fact, indicate your economic prosperity. Your indicators are in the verse above and others like it. God wants to get out there first and tell you not to rely on Wall Street predictions. He already has an economic plan for you and it is a plan for your well-being (Jeremiah 29: 11).

I have watched Christians work with God on economics. I have seen some listen to whatever they heard on the morning economic news and invest their belief in what they heard. I watched them fail. I watched them go nearly into bankruptcy. Yet others listened to the Word of God and even in the time of famine fared quite well. Some people even grew financially during some of the worst financial times. 

I guess it all goes back to the little train who believed he could. If you believe God, you will succeed according to God’s good promises. If you don’t believe, God, if you believe what you hear on the television, then, well . . . good luck. You either align your finances with God and reap along with Him or you align your finances with the world and go however the world goes. Go with the guy who can bring you abundance even during a famine. Go with God!

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Clean Hands

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

Psalm 18: 24

Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.

There are a few Old Testament prophets who have New Testament eyes and spirits. David and Isaiah are chief among these. David wrote most of the psalms and he wrote this one specifically. As an interesting side note, many people barely consider the psalms as part of the Old Testament. Many New Testament Bibles include the books of Psalms and Proverbs. I have known people who would scarcely acknowledge that the Bible contained anything more than Matthew through Revelation but who would read the psalms. The reason for this, at least in part, might be because David had such a big revelation of who God is.

Today’s passage screams New Testament dispensation to me. It has Jesus’ blood all over it. Hallelujah! You see, the passage is a little frightening until you get to the last three words. Then, all of a sudden, we are on shouting ground! I get fired up over this because I do not want to be judged or compensated according to my righteousness. That would end up worse than a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking. I am all too happy, though, to receive of God through the filters of His eyes. Yahoo! He recompenses us according to the how He sees us, according to the glory which covers us through Jesus. Come on, that is worth a shout, an Amen or something.

Give God praise. Give Him glory. He has laid aside a reward for you based on Jesus’ righteousness. Glory to God!

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Direct Dial

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

Psalm 107: 6

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

I love this passage of scripture. Talk about good news. It is pretty simply, theologically. When we call on the Lord, He rescues us. It is just that simple. Okay, there are two caveats. First, you have to believe it. There is nothing in this realm or the spiritual realm that is going to work for you without belief. You know this to be true. If you think you are dumb, your internal self is going to do everything to prove you right. If you believe you can do a thing, then you can. We have heard this in worldly circles since we were children. This principle is immortalized in the story of the little train that thought he could. So, that is principle one. If you think God will hearken to your voice when you call, then you are right.

Here is my second caveat though. You need to know how you best connect with God. I pick up my Bible and it is like a big pop-up book. God just pops up with whatever I need. You need to know what works for you. Here is a little self-test. I think once you take this test you will see how your internal self operates. So here it is – if you were stranded on an island and desperately needed to connect with the Lord, what method would you employ in seeking him? Would you pray, take the bread and the cup, or commune over the Word? This self-test will show you what you really think will connect you with God most easily. Maybe meditating over a specific scripture that speaks to your heart (maybe even today’s scripture) is what will move you into communion. Perhaps a song elevates your spirit. Here is the key, though, the secret is in finding what moves you into communion with the Father. He is already there waiting for you to connect. You just need to find what works in your heart. If you picture yourself in desperate need, stranded on an island with few to no resources, perhaps you will find what is nearest and dearest to your heart and what triggers that connection for you.

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Half Life

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

Psalm 55: 23

Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in Thee.

Now I don’t think most of us know “men of bloodshed” but I am willing to bet that everyone of us knows someone who is deceitful. Deceit is defined as: misrepresentation, deception, falseness. To deceive someone means to intentionally mislead. Of course it includes lying but one doesn’t have to lie to be deceitful. Deceit can be achieved by failing to disclose a pertinent fact such that someone is misled. It can be couching a situation in terms meant to cast one in a favorable light though the hearer is, in fact, shadowed from the whole truth. We may reveal only those facts which cut in our favor so that we intentionally mislead another. Deceit may even be achieved through our word selection. Perhaps the whole truth is that we are going to meet someone after work for a beer but we say we are going to a meeting out of the office in order to mislead someone.

No doubt you can think of other ways we can intentionally mislead others and yet allow our conscience the freedom of having not lied. Well, I don’t think Jesus is going to buy into that one. There are two points here. First, we are cutting our lives in half. Not good! Second, many times, perhaps most times, people see through our misrepresentations eventually. Then the trust and respect they have for us is damaged. Surely this isn’t what we want for our lives.

Part of the problem is that there actually is a social acceptance of lying. I have heard many people talk about lying to the IRS as though it is okay. There seems to be a general consensus that it is okay to lie if it furthers a reasonable purpose. Case in fact – there is a television commercial running right now for an intriguing new product. The product is called the Ring video doorbell. It is really a great idea. The idea is that one can view, from their smart phone, whoever is at the front door. In the ad, a woman answers the doorbell while sitting at what appears to be a sidewalk café. She tells the person at the door that she is bathing the kids. Wow! That is a blatant lie. She is not even home. You see, the people who put together that ad seem to think that it is okay to lie. What is even more disarming to me is that a lie was not necessary. The woman could have simply said, “I am sorry, I am busy right now,” or “I am not able to come to the door right now.” She didn’t have to lie in order to guard her security. This ad isn’t unique. It simply represents social acceptance of misrepresenting the truth.

We almost act, these days, as if people don’t deserve the truth. Well, maybe they do and maybe they don’t. I was raised that truth has its own value and I am glad I was. It makes life easier now. The real key here is that you deserve the truth. Your life and health deserve truth coming out of your mouth. Remember the principle of sowing and reaping. What do you think the harvest is of lying seed? God hears every word we utter and He knows all truth so He knows when we lie. That is deterrent enough for many. Cutting our life span in half might also be a pretty good constraint. Honor the truth.

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Casting

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

Psalm 55: 22

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you.

Tuesday we looked at 1 Peter 5: 7 which reads, “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” Seeing this same idea in the Old Testament brings three thoughts. The first thing which occurs to me is that God has not changed (Malachi 3: 6). The Old Testament God wants to care for us just like the New Testament God does. Secondly, it seems to me that Peter was increasing the understanding of Psalm 55 in his statement. Peter’s ministry was predominantly to Jews. Therefore, his audience would already know Psalm 55 and to cast their burdens onto the Lord.  They would also have known that this is the methodology for receiving God’s sustenance. Peter’s teaching explains why God gave them Psalm 55 in the first place. Peter explains that all of this is because God cares for us. 

Lastly, we can enter this verse through the back door and really wrap Psalm 55 and 1 Peter 5: 7 up in a pretty bow. The backdoor is that God wishes to sustain us. Therefore, He teaches us to cast our care upon Him. In other words, if you want God to sustain you then He has shown us that the way to receive that sustenance is to give Him all of our cares and burdens. Begin with the result and work your way backward to find out what you must do in order to receive that result. Do not stop there, though. The conclusion is that God provides our sustenance and the methodology for receiving it because He cares for us. We get to see His motivation for ever speaking Psalm 55.

For thousands of years now God has been calling us to go to Him to receive our daily bread and every other need met as well. He calls to us because He loves us and wants to take care of us. That is why it is almost sinful for us to “take care”. That is the role God has appointed for Himself. He is the ultimate caregiver, so roll all of your cares over on Him and receive the sustaining grace of His love.

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