Listen

On October 16, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 50: 4

He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple, the Lord God has opened my ear.

When I began studying the Bible seriously, there was one thing that really amazed me. I was surprised how easily people heard God speak to them. I was unaware of God speaking to people today. I mean there were a few special ministers, I guess, that God spoke to, but not to regular people. That was not Biblical though and I had to face the truth. God didn’t lose His voice and people still hear Him today.

It is a good thing that God is still speaking. We need to hear His voice today. You too can begin to hear His voice clearly if you do not do so now. First, you must believe that He will speak to you. This verse ought to help in that regard. Ask God to open your ear then ask Him to speak to you. Next is the hardest part of all; find some quiet in your life. I don’t mean you have to just sit in a dark room for hours, though if that is what it takes for you to hear God it would be well worth it. In my own life I found that I had very little quiet in my world. There was almost always some kind of sound machine on in my world. If it wasn’t the television, then it was the radio or stereo. Sometimes I was listening to Christian teaching tapes, but even Christian teaching tapes and CD’s do not take the place of the voice of God.

I was amazed at how little time it took for God to begin speaking to me. In fact, I discovered that He had been talking all along, I was simply unable to hear. As soon as I set my heart to hearing God, there He was.

One word of caution, and this is something I did almost clinically in the beginning though automatically today. As you begin to hear a voice in your head, check it out against the Word of God. God will never contradict His word. If what you hear doesn’t line up with the Word of God, reject it. I also asked God to confirm His word to me. When I thought I had heard God speak to me, I would ask Him to confirm it by another witness and He always would. Usually, He would show me a scripture that agreed with the word I had heard. Sometimes he would use a minister to confirm it. Regardless, I didn’t move until I was certain that it was indeed God.

And that is all there is to it.

Also see: John 10: 27

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Rich in Mercy

On October 9, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 2: 4 – 5

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

Hallelujah!  Even in those times when you have to face your shortcomings, there is always this great word. God loved you beyond reason yesterday, and the day before that. And He knows your heart. He sees your goodness even when you fail miserably. But don’t use all your energy trying to succeed; in anything, even Christian things. Give up, give in and let God in. Use your energy in prayer, praise and thanksgiving and let Him do all of the heavy lifting for you. He loves you so much and He wants to help. As you expose all of your “stuff” to Him, He heals, soothes and comforts. He longs to take you into His arms and heal you. You don’t have to be so strong. You were never called to be tough. You were called to be His child. You were called to be the object of His love and attention. You can do that, can’t you? Let Him love you. That is His job. He is rich in mercy. He has more than enough. Receive an additional measure of Him today because He loves you with all His being.

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Peace, Peace

On October 2, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 9: 6

For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us . . . and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Ephesians 2: 17

And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.

One of the greatest commodities of Christianity is peace.  If you want a revelation, run a search on the word peace. Even if you run the search in the New Testament alone, you will see an amazing mosaic unfold before you.

Besides being the Prince of Peace, Jesus is also called the Lord of peace (2 Thessalonians 3: 16). Father is the God of peace (1 Thessalonians 5: 23). Paul opened many of his letters with the blessing of peace and grace. Peace, living in peace, being at peace with others and in life’s circumstances, is part of our heritage, our inheritance. When Jesus was about to leave the earth and return to heaven, he told his disciples that he was going to leave his peace here, for us. His peace, he said, is different from the peace we have known in the world (John 14: 27). What is different about it? To start, it is perfect. You are, therefore, entitled to his perfect peace.

Jesus warned us that the world has trouble in it and as long as we live in the world, we will be exposed to this trouble. Fear not, though, because he said that even in these times of trouble, we may have peace. In fact, the words he spoke, his teachings, were intended that we may have peace. “Take courage,” he said, because he has overcome the world and all it’s trouble (John 16: 33).

So, what is the point of all this? You know things happen which are unpleasant. Occasionally you must deal with unpleasant people as well. That is life on this planet, for now. However, you are not required to live in that unpleasantness. Your inheritance is peace. So, how do you go from unpeaceful situations and stress to living in the perfect peace of your Lord? Well, the answer is actually there in the question. Living in the Lord, is the answer, and the way to his perfect peace. I wish this came easily but for some, it does not.

Sometimes we must be uncomfortable enough to invest some time and energy. We don’t have to live in torment, but the way out is through. Jesus is the prince of peace, the Lord of peace. Time spent with him is the way of peace. To have the peace he left for us, we must seek him and his peace. I wish it fell out of the sky onto you, but it doesn’t. It is in Jesus and when you are in Jesus, then you will find you are in his peace too.

It is challenging for me to give an entire lesson of getting into that space with Jesus in this format, but if you feel challenged, please, feel free to contact me. Above all, don’t live in turmoil and torment when Jesus made a way for you.

Blessings, peace and grace to you!

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Balance

On September 25, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Philippians 2: 3 – 4

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

There are two sides to this coin. The first I think is obvious and was the thrust of Paul’s message. Namely, we are not to be so self-absorbed that we fail to be mindful and attentive to the needs of others. Paul wanted Christians to get themselves off their minds. Truly, this is a restatement of the love commandment.

Natural man is self-concerned. Self-preservation is a primitive urge that, in civilized society, has morphed into many other forms of self service. God, however, has called us out of our “natural” state and into the Kingdom of His son. In that Kingdom, each of us is cared for by the Father so we have no need to worry about our needs or even our wants. In the Kingdom, we turn our thoughts to others. This is the perfect order, the way of the King. This is a very simple and understandable message. The only difficulty is in execution. Fulfilling our divine order becomes possible when we intertwine with the Father. Then His ways become our ways.

The other side of the coin and the one not overtly discussed, but certainly implied is that we must give some care to ourselves. Do I contradict myself? No, not at all. Father has the care of you, but He may have told you to rest your body or your mind and you have forsaken His instruction. That is failure. Father has not asked us to martyr ourselves. He wants you to take care of yourself. He just doesn’t want us to be selfish ignoring other peoples’ needs in favor of our desires. We are to follow Him in all things. That necessarily includes obeying His instructions for our well being.

In the Kingdom, there is no selfishness. When we understand the Father and understand the Kingdom we will not feel the need to fight for our wants and needs. In fact, all of our needs are in the Lord. Partake of Him and you will be filled. Then you will be well able to meet the needs of others.

If all your resources are going to feed your passions, you may need to check in with the Father, but do not fail to listen to Him about your welfare either.

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Bless the Lord

On September 18, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 5: 48

Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

What a crazy thing for Jesus to say! Has he met me? Jesus had many crazy things to say. Having been brought up hearing many of his statements, we are somewhat less shocked, but imagine being in a crowd hearing him make that statement for the first time. Even equating us in any way with the heavenly Father was heresy.

How about this one, verse 22, “You have heard . . . You shall not commit murder . . . but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty.” Jesus even said condemning another as a fool was enough to warrant punishment in fiery hell. What do you think of that? Can you imagine seeing Jesus publicly deliver this message? He also said that a man who looks at a woman with lust in his heart is guilty of adultery.

Jesus came teaching a different way. The people of his time did not know what to do with him. I wonder if we have caught up to his teachings any better than they. The ideas are outlandish. The key, though, is that Jesus did not teach willpower. He did not attempt to alter people’s actions as much as he wanted to alter their hearts. You see in the example of adultery and murder that there were no guilty acts. Jesus was speaking about the condition of one’s heart. He isn’t teaching us today about governing our actions. Instead, Jesus is talking about being one with the Father in our spirit selves. If our hearts are perfect towards God, sin will not be a problem. There will be no murder, but that isn’t the big point, I don’t believe, that Jesus is making.

He wants our hearts to be perfect towards God. He was showing humanity a new way to live. No longer was humankind to be bound to a set of laws, religiously following the words and admonitions. Instead, Jesus called people into a relationship with God the Father. Even his continued reference to God Almighty, as Father, irked many. In these passages, Jesus taught that what is in a person’s heart is more important than their rigorous adherence to laws and principles. Even if one had the willpower to refrain from temptation, their heart could still be corrupt. Jesus came teaching for us to join our hearts to God. He wants us to get our hearts right, to clean up the inside and as we do, he would have us draw nearer and nearer to our Father.

Perhaps this does not sound like radical teaching today. Still, we may be challenged to live with our hearts open before God, our lives intertwined with Him. I hope this passage encourages you to draw closer to Yahweh with the passion of your heart. When we go before Him do you think He will weigh our actions, our righteous deeds or will He instead weigh our hearts. Will He look to see His fingerprints throughout our lives and an invitation from us for Him to live within the very fabric of our spirits? I think Father will not be that impressed with our deeds, whether evil or good for our good deeds weigh very little and even our “sins” are not weighty in His eyes for they are absorbed in the blood of the one who is worthy. Our hearts, however, that is the one thing that He has no control over. I believe He will judge how willing we were and are to give our hearts to Him, how willing we are to invest our love in trusting Him and believing in Him. He will see whether we longed for Him or if we only held down a pew.

Let this be a word of encouragement. You do not have to be the most learned theologian. You do not need to be able to quote Bible passages. When you stand before God, you will be able to give Him the one thing that He values most, your love.

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Speaking, Listening

On September 11, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 10: 19 – 21

When there are many words, wrongdoing is unavoidable, but one who restrains his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver, the heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of understanding.

This is an intriguing, if a bit frightening, bit of scripture. There is definitely good news here, but there is a warning as well.

This passage makes me want to not speak because with many words we find the snare. Clearly the advice is to restrain from saying all that we might. However, there is another part of this. The lips of the righteous feed. So, speaking in wisdom, speaking the words of the Father is like manna from heaven, in fact it is manna and feeds the multitudes.

Sometimes we don’t listen to the words of wisdom offered us. We die for lack of understanding. Even today, we may be dying spiritually, emotionally, or even physically because we have failed to recognize the words of wisdom. Worse yet, sometimes we ignore wisdom and that is what I find most frightening personally and frustrating professionally.

All the pastors who receive this will relate to the latter part of that last statement. A pastor’s heart grieves seeing the beloved sheep wander aimlessly, not heeding the master’s voice. I have lived that so many times, watching someone hurt knowing I have an answer. It grieves the heart. Knowing this, living this truth causes me to wonder how often I fail to hear or fail to follow the words of my Lord and Father. How horrible is their grief watching me wander from the path cleared and ordained for me?

There is so much packed in this passage. Are you the person who speaks when they should hold? Are you the one who shows wisdom in your restraint? Perhaps you are like choice silver in your words. At the end of the day, we may also ask ourselves if we are foolish in our failure to follow wisdom. Do we fail to recognize wisdom when our blessed Father sends His words to us in the mouth of a person?

This passage offers many opportunities for fear: fear that we talk too much, fear that we are not hearing Him speak to us, fear that we fail to recognize His voice in the words of another person. However, there is no fear under the sun (or son) that has power over you because Jesus is Lord of it all and hallelujah for that. Take a deep breath and exhale and as you do, say, “Abba” because your Father is listening to your breath, your heart, and your words right now. He is waiting to quell all your fears and to lead you upon the right path that being called, the path of rightness or as we know it, the path of righteousness. They are all the same. It is the path which He has already prepared for you. He will guide your words and anoint your ears. Listen, beloved, for the Lord is speaking to you right now.

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Big Dreams

On August 28, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 37: 4

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This certainly sounds like good news to me. You? And yet, I wonder. There seem to be many people who have not identified the desires of their heart. What is your dream? What do you want?

I remember when I was young that I didn’t go after everything I wanted. I kinda waited for things to come to me or for my parents to provide. There were definitely some things I would have liked to have done, adventuring types of things but I never told my parents. Those things were in my heart but not before my eyes. They were not where I could grasp them, so I didn’t pursue them. I regret that.

Life is different now. I understand my heavenly Father and that He wants to bless His kids. I now do with Him what I should have done more frequently with my parents. I tell Him what is in my heart. There is an important point buried in that statement though, because the thing I find I must do is to search my own heart.

Have you searched your heart lately? Do you know what is in there? Some call it soul searching. I find I need to spend time searching my heart. You know, you can go along believing you are pursuing your ambitions and yet when you slow down and search your heart find that your desires have changed.

Some people are going along without any dream at all! I don’t want to be that person, ever! To me, that isn’t living. It is existing. I do not believe our Lord gave us all these wonderful words to live by so we can just live day to day without a goal or ambition. I believe He wants to continue to fulfil our dreams until we step into the fulness of eternity where we will live our dreams fully.

This life is a dress rehearsal for the rest of eternity. We are authorized to dream big and to communicate those desires to the Father of fulfillment. I think about Ephesians 3: 20 where Paul described our Father, “who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” Paul teaches that our Father thinks bigger than we do and is able to fulfill dreams more grand than anything we have yet thought about or asked for. Come on! That is big! This verse would not exist if we were not supposed to have dreams and pursue them. It is part of God’s plan that we should take our heart’s desires to His throne room and give them to Him.

If you cannot, right this moment, say what your dream is, then take some time alone and search your heart. If all things are possible, and with God you know they are, then what do you want?

Here is my advice. Develop that deep desire. Communicate it to the Father and then Don’t Take Your Foot Off the Gas! Or, for the cyclists, Keep Pedaling. Don’t let age, failure, deadbeat relatives or anything steal your dream! Second, find someone who will agree with you. If you don’t have that person in your life, call me. You haven’t dreamed a dream big enough yet that I can’t agree with you! Let’s give Dad some fun things to work on. Let’s go big!

May your heart’s desires be fulfilled, in Jesus’ name.

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