The Other Son

On April 22, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 15: 31

And he said to him, “My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

Jesus told the story of the prodigal son and most of us are familiar with the story of the lost son who returns.  It is a great depiction of the love of the Father and His saving grace.  Take a moment, though, and look at the other son.  He was angry that when the wayward son returned that their father celebrated with great rejoicing while he, the older brother, had faithfully served his father for years without out misstep or complaint.  He saw all of the attention lauded on the found lost sheep and was jealous.  When he complained to his father he was also met with compassion and understanding.  The father told him that he owned belonged to this faithful son.

The parallel in this story is that you are not the lost but rather the faithful.  Sure, at one time perhaps you strayed but then you were found.  Or maybe you never wandered far from the Father’s house.  In either case you must see yourself now as the elder brother, not the lost prodigal.  When the prodigal son returned to the house of the father, the father ordered a robe to be put on him and sandals and a ring.  Then the father ordered the fatted calf to be slaughtered for a great banquet in honor of the returning brother. 

It is intriguing that there was a fatted calf.  The father did not wait for the son to appear and then order a calf to be set aside for a feast.  No, there was already a calf ready for a festival.  The older son could have thrown a party any day.  The father told him, “All that I have is yours.”  He did not need to wait for the father to throw a party for him.  He had already been given the keys to the kingdom.

In like manner, everything that Father God has is yours.  You do not have to wait.  He has already given you all right to everything He has.  Already the kingdom is yours.  You are a ruler over this kingdom along with your father.  All of His power is yours.  You can even throw a feast and serve the fatted calf.  You have all of the rights and privileges pertaining to the kingdom of your father.  He has even given you the use of His name.  You are entitled to your robe now, your ring now and you do not have to go around barefooted.  All of the assets of the kingdom are available to you.  So exercise your freedom as the child of the king.  Don’t wait around for God to throw you a party.  He has already given you everything the kingdom owns.  There is nothing left for Him to give you, He is holding nothing back.  Just go throw a party and invite all your friends.  You are a joint heir with Jesus so begin to exercise your rights.
Back to Top

There is Life in God’s Word

On April 21, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 4: 20 – 22

My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their whole body.


This is very similar to the advice God gave Joshua when he appointed him to take Moses’ place (see Joshua 1: 8). Interestingly enough, it seems that when God’s people have their backs to the wall God gives them the Word to help them break through their obstacle. In today’s verse we see that God’s Words are literally the stuff of healing and health. It is as if God wrote a prescription for what ails us. His Word fills us with life which and that filling overcomes sickness. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6: 63).

Jesus’ words are actually life and he is the life. So, as we continue to ingest the Word we literally saturate our tissues with the life giving, healing power of the Lord Jesus. I can imagine that it is difficult for some people to die because they have so filled their bodies with life.

God tells us to give our ear and our sight to the Word. Then He tells us to keep His words in the midst of our heart. This tells us that the attention that we are to give to the Word is not an intellectual endeavor but rather one of the heart. We are to open our inner being to the ministration of the Word. He is not calling us to become great theologians but rather to allow the Word to penetrate us and change us. It is not, then, what we do with the Word but rather what we allow the Word to do in us. The Word of God has the power to change our lives but it needs the fertile soil of our hearts in order to work rather than the sterile, antiseptic planting of our minds. Fill up on God’s Word. Keep it ever before your eyes and in your ears so that it can bring the abundant life that is Jesus’ will for you.

 

Back to Top

He Has Healed

On April 18, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 107:20

He sent His word and healed them.

I recall once when I was sick and running a high fever. I kept putting cold towels and ice packs on me to try to bring the fever down. As I lay on my bed with ice packs on my head and chest I began repeating, “I am the healed of Israel, I am the healed of Israel.” I said it over and over again. Where did that phrase come from? I have to believe that God gave it to me. Interestingly enough He didn’t tell me that I was going to be healed or that healing power was coming to me. He gave me words which confirmed that He had already sent healing to me. After three or four days the fever finally broke. The doctors never did discover the cause but the phrase that God gave me stuck with me.

For those of us who are not Jewish by birth our adoption in Christ has placed us firmly in the sphere of all blessings so that we can boldly claim the blessings of Israel. Today’s verse tells us unequivocally that God has already healed “them”, which means us and it shows us the means by which He effectuated the healing. God gave His spoken Word and His written Word and the power in His Word provides for every need we have including healing. But let us overlay this Abrahamic blessing with a little New Testament glory.

The great apostle, John, reveals to us that Jesus is the Word (John 1: 1, 14). I do not believe that the church has yet to grasp the enormity and the power of that simple truth but it makes great sense when you combine that reality with today’s verse. Most of us believe that Jesus is the great healer so it is a fairly easy leap to imagine that when God sent His word it had healing power in it.  

Jesus is the fulfillment of all promises and he has come to us, to live in us and to fill us to overflowing with the miraculous anointing and power of the Father of Grace. When Jesus lives in your heart then, truly, you have everything you need in order to manifest the abundant life that he said he came to give each of us (John 10: 10). Regardless of your need today, Jesus is the answer. He is the way, the truth, the life (John 14: 6). Reach into the depths of your heart and touch the love, the love that heals all wounds, all sicknesses, all disease, all brokenness. He is your healer, your Lord and abundant grace.

Back to Top

Power in Obedience

On April 17, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Joshua 7: 5              NIV

And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.


So to recap, Joshua is in charge of the nation of Israel. They have crossed over the Jordan River by a miracle of God and enjoyed a supernatural victory over Jericho. Jericho was a strong and fortified city but the Israelites took it without a struggle. Now they have gone up against a small town called Ai. Joshua’s advisors told him that he only needed to send up two or three thousand men because the enemy was few. So Joshua sent up about three thousand men but the text says, “They were routed by the men of Ai” (v. 4). So what has happened here?

After the defeat of Jericho, God gave the Israelites specific instructions regarding the disposition of the spoils of war. Some of the spoils they were allowed to keep but other material was designated for the treasury of God. After the defeat at Ai, Joshua fell on his face before the Lord perplexed at how a small band of men could defeat the nation that took Jericho so easily. Wouldn’t you know, when the army of the Lord entered Jericho some of the men took what belonged to the Lord and kept if for themselves. There they sealed their fate.

This would be an appropriate place to talk about the tithe and stealing from God but there is another facet of this behavior worth considering also. Our behaviors, our hearts condemn us. It is hard to receive from God when your heart tells you that you don’t deserve His mercies and kindness. One might argue in one’s mind that the benefits of being a child of God still accrue to them but their heart will not allow them to receive. True, God still loves us, Jesus still died for us but we separate ourselves from God because of the guilt and shame in our heart of hearts.  

If there is any sin keeping you from full fellowship with the Lord of Grace simply confess it and pour the blood of Jesus over it. You never have to feel guilt over it again. But make sure you renounce it and turn away from it too. You are made clean in the blood of the lamb and in Jesus you can and should enjoy the fullness of the abundant life. Be filled with the loving grace and mercy of our Lord.

Back to Top

God’s Logic

On April 16, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Joshua 6: 2                 NIV

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”

Score massive points for Joshua. Not only did He register that God had spoken these instructions but he also followed them to the letter. I am glad for Israel that I was not the leader of the nation because I would probably still be sitting there saying, “That can’t be God.”

Sometimes we need to follow the Lord in spite of logic because His instructions do not always make sense to our mortal minds but they will deliver wonders and victory when we follow Him. You know the rest of the story. The priests, on the seventh day, blew the long blast on the trumpet during the Israelites’ seventh circuit around Jericho, the people shouted when they heard the blast and, as the song says, the walls came tumbling down. The soldiers did not have to file through a few gates but rather each person just walked straight up and they took the city with ease.

What do you think distinguishes Joshua from those of us who would have questioned the logic of God’s battle plans? Can you picture Joshua arousing this great multitude of people and getting them to march around the walled city of Jericho for seven consecutive days? He must have been very sure that he had heard from God. If you knew beyond all doubt that God spoke specific directions to you wouldn’t you also find the strength and courage to follow His instructions to the “T” just like Joshua?

In all the years that Joshua followed Moses one surmises that Joshua witnessed what was necessary in order to lead the nation of Israel. He must have observed Moses fellowshipping with the Lord and learned how to separate himself from the fray of everyday life so that he could hear the Word of the Lord. I am also reminded of the advice the Lord gave Joshua when he took Moses’ position. God’s sage advice was two-fold. First, be strong and courageous and second, do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth but rather meditate on it day and night being careful to do all contained therein (Joshua 3: 8 – 9).

In conclusion, having walled cities, or any other challenge for that matter, crumble at your feet comes from precisely obeying the Lord’s instructions. We can only have faith and confidence in those oft times seemingly illogical, nonsensical directions when we know beyond doubt that we have heard the voice of the Lord. That kind of confidence and faith comes only from fellowship with the Lord and in His word but fellowship in the Word and in the presence of the Lord yields the bold courage that frees one to follow uncharted paths, it emboldens the heart to do all that the Lord has spoken and it sees obedient zeal in place of questioning critical thought. It gives an ordinary human being the fortitude to do that which seems unreasonable to the human mind and to do such in confidant assurance of the prize.

So if what God is telling you does not seem to make good sense to your logic center, rejoice. You have joined very good company for no one who has ever done anything great for the Lord has not had to face the same fears, doubt and indecision. Just get alone with your Father and let Him confirm His will to you and don’t worry if His logic doesn’t agree with the world’s. That is where the fun begins.

Back to Top

Time Away

On April 15, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 5: 16

But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

This passage is speaking about Jesus. As you read the accounts of his life, you will discover that Jesus frequently went off by himself for time alone with his Father. Likewise, we need to learn to get away, alone with God regardless of how busy we are. We will never walk in the way of Jesus without doing the things he did. Surely if he needed time alone with God, then we do too.

I am encouraging you to find time to be alone with God because that is where your intimacy with him is found. No matter how much we go to church or how big our ministries are, the relationship with the Father is built in the quiet times together. Show him how precious he is to you by giving him a few minutes of your time. If you cannot give God some of your time, then how important to you is he really? I promise you that the rewards are well worth the time spent.

Back to Top

Enemies Defeated

On April 14, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 81: 13-14

 13  Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
 14 I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.

I well imagine the Lord is of the same mind today; that we would turn our ways to him so that he can subdue our enemies for us. He would squash our problems if only we would let him. We are often so busy trying to fight battles in our own might that we do not leave room for him. We forget to walk in love but rather walk in our own self-centered, self-serving ways. God cannot work in that environment. The bible says that faith works by love. If we would only listen to him, he would solve all of our problems for us. We lie, cheat … whatever we have to do to get our way. It really is too much work. If we would give away what we want, we would receive back many fold that which we desire. How frustrating it must be for God, sometimes, to want to do for us and yet not be allowed to because we refuse to create an environment in which his power can flow. His power flows through love and faith.

Do you want God to subdue your enemies? Do you want Him to turn His hand against your adversaries? Maybe your adversaries are sickness or injury, or poverty or bad relationships or disobedient children. Re-read verse 13 again and substitute your name in place of “Israel.” If you want God to overcome them for you so that you don’t even have to fight those battles for yourself, then listen to him and walk in his ways. It really can be that easy.

 

Back to Top