Say It!

On November 18, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107: 2

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

So, my question is, what is it that the redeemed of the Lord are supposed to say. We have to look at verse one for the answer: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” That is what the redeemed of the Lord are supposed to be saying. You know what I hear often though? I hear things like “God gave me this cancer to make me strong” or “God took my loved one to heaven”. That is deception folks. God is all goodness. His expression is always lovingkindness (loving + kindness). He only gives that which is good. In fact, he doesn’t even have bad stuff in heaven to give to people. “For everything created by God is good” (1 Timothy 4: 4). Heaven is filled with goodness. That makes sense, right?

When bad things happen, they are not authored by God. God isn’t giving and taking away. He is giving. “God so loved the world that he gave” (John 3: 16). We need to get our language in synch with God’s Word. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” Amen!! God is good. Even little children know that. “God is great, God is good . . . .” Let us, each and everyone, allow the truth of God’s goodness to fill us even at the sub-atomic level. God is good and we say so!

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Acceptance

On November 17, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 15: 7

Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

God has not called us to be separatists but rather to love one another in the unity of His great love for us all. Nor did he call us to be judges, neither of the brethren nor of the world. This is a great temptation for us all. We know the way he has called us to righteousness. We have seen in his word behaviors he has told us to stay away from so it is easy for us to say that those things are wrong and judge people who participate in them. Sometimes we go even further. We judge those who are different from us or practice their faith in a different way. We need to remind ourselves that we are called into unity with one another (Ephesians 4: 3) and that Jesus gave us only one commandment (John 13: 34). That is that we love one another as he loved us. His love was sacrificial; putting our needs before his own. When we can get that one commandment down we will not have to worry about judging others. We will receive them in love. We will accept everyone even as Christ accepted us.

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Effectual Speech

On November 16, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

James 1: 26         (NIV)

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

The New Living Translation of this verse is even more direct. It reads, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”

That is straight forward but it sounds a bit harsh. James is trying to get across to us just how important the words of our mouth are. You cannot have an effectual religion and an unsaved mouth. That is just how it is. In this chapter James is writing about being an effectual doer of the word. He then says you cannot accomplish this if you cannot tame your tongue. 

There are many scriptures in the Bible about the words we speak. It seems to me that in this passage, James effectively refers to the body of verses about the tongue saying to us that you have heard all of these verses but still you let your mouth wander off in any direction it chooses. He tells us that we will never attain to effectual faith if we don’t once and for all get a bridle on our tongues. He wants to wake us up to the power of the tongue.

We must first grasp the importance of this and then learn how we are to use words in our everyday lives. If we do not, James says our religion is worthless. I do not want my faith to be of no use and I am sure you do not either. Let us examine the words we speak. Let us begin to guard the words of our mouth jealously. Let us draw together with a determined purpose; to focus our attention on the words of our mouths and help each other to have victory in this most important area.

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Shine On

On November 13, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 60: 1

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Yahoo! That is my commentary, Yahoo! I love seeing the good news of the Lord and this verse is light in a dark place (all puns intended). Look at verse 2: “For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.” Dare I say it again? Yahoo! Isn’t that “Sonshine”? Remember the verse from Monday? It was Proverb 4: 18 and I titled it “Sunshine”. Look at God confirming His word to you today.

Though darkness fill the earth, light shines on the children of God. Yea! Jesus fulfilled and confirmed this. Behold his words, “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8: 12). Isn’t that what Isaiah wrote? Isn’t that what Solomon conveyed in Proverb 4: 18? Do you think God is trying to get a point across? I think He wants us to realize that even when there are clouds on the horizon and our view is bleak He is still the radiance of love, compassion, help, and all else shining on us. His love is warmth on our shoulders. His glory is our crown covering us from the head down. 

Your light has come, glory to God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ and you need his light shining through the darkness. Though the world may be cloaked in darkness, Jesus is light for his beloved. Don’t live in darkness, don’t let that cloud remain. Shout because our Lord breaks through all and shines his glory on us. Praise his name!

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Filled

On November 12, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 33: 5 – 6

The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.

God gives us His justice and righteousness. The Bible says that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5: 21). We do not have to manufacture our own justice and righteousness. We have only to walk in His righteousness.

As we do, besides becoming our peace, he also becomes our stability. Another translation says that He becomes a “sure foundation” for us. In Him is a wealth of salvation for every situation. He saves us in all things. His salvation is more full than the salvation unto eternity with Him alone. It includes salvation anytime you need saving. We also receive a wealth of wisdom and knowledge so that we have His wisdom and knowledge for every circumstance of life.

And, as if that was not enough, we also walk in the reverence of the Lord, which is a gift from Him too. The reverence of the Lord, that relationship that we learn to walk in is a treasure trove in and of itself. Once you have the reverential love of the Lord in your heart, you have the key to unlocking anything and everything. It is the wisdom of God. The scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverb 9: 10). You will not have need of anything because His wisdom, knowledge and power are on the scene to lead you into all righteousness which also leads you into all other things too. It is a cycle that keeps you filled up with all of the goodness of the Lord.

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Multiplication

On November 11, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 4: 8

Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.

In this passage and its accompanying verses, Jesus explains how the Kingdom of God works. It turns out that God multiplies. Why is this important for you and me to know? Consider the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4. This widow went to Elisha complaining of her financial need and telling Elisha that the creditor had come to her door to take her two sons so that they might be his slaves in order to satisfy the debt. This woman was broke. She had no funds to give to the creditor in order to save her sons. And yet Elisha’s response to her was, “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” I bet she wanted to say, “I don’t have anything you old fool. That is why I am here.” But she didn’t. Instead she answered; I have nothing “except a jar of oil.” So, Elisha said, “Ok, go get every kind of jar, pot and vessel that you can borrow and don’t get just a few.” So she went to her neighbors and borrowed every kind of container she could. When she had obeyed that command, Elisha had her pour out her little bit of oil into the first container. Behold, after the first container was filled, there remained oil in her jar so she poured out into the second container. The oil remained until every vessel was full. The miracle was only limited by her obedience to collect many pots. Fortunately she did obey and she ended up with enough oil to pay off the creditor and live on the proceeds after that. 

The widow in 1 Kings 17: 12 had a little bit of flour and a little bit of oil. She was gathering sticks to make a fire. Then she was going to make a pancake for her and one for her son and then they were going to lie down and die. She was really destitute. She didn’t know about the law of multiplication. She didn’t know it but she was wealthier in seed than Elisha’s widow because she had some flour and some oil. The prophet Elijah told her; make me a little bread before you carry out your plan. See God often has a different plan than ours. She did as Elijah required and God multiplied her bowl and her jar so that from then on she ran out of neither flour nor oil. 

Maybe you need a breakthrough in some area of your life. Well, you need some seed. Maybe God is requiring you to sow some seed. Like Elisha said to the widow, “What do you have?” Maybe you need to give into someone else’s life so that God can multiply your seed thirty, sixty or a hundredfold. Maybe you don’t have much. Maybe you are like one of the women in these stories but understand that God gets your miracle to you by multiplying the seed that you sow. You’ve got to give him something to work with. Then he will make your miracle.

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Saved, Anointed, Blessed

On November 10, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 20: 6

Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed.

Who are the anointed of God? These are his saints. God has separated you unto himself. You are a chosen people, a holy race. God sent Jesus into this earth in order to make it so. That is what it took to separate you into a holy and secure place in the Lord. It took no effort on your part other than that you receive his anointing; receive his gift of salvation. When you did, you became set apart unto him. With that comes all the blessing of being his chosen. You have been anointed in the blood of Jesus rather than in oil. This was God’s will for you. It is the fulfillment of his desire so that he may care for you; so that you could partake of all of the blessing that inures to the anointed of the Lord. You, no matter how insignificant you may sometimes feel that you are, are the anointed of the Lord. You are highly favored and chosen so that he may show his goodness to you. You, though, must receive it. He prizes you highly above all things. He desires you and longs to be in deeper fellowship with you. You, though, are the captain in that relationship. He has saved you by his righteous right hand and will walk with you in all things.

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