Death and Taxes

On August 8, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Acts 1: 2 – 3

[U]ntil the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

There was a period of forty days between when Jesus was resurrected and when He ascended to heaven when He made several appearances to his disciples. He had his body and was alive. He ate with them and they touched His body. This is the period of time when Thomas, whom we like to call doubting Thomas, pressed his finger into the wound in Jesus’ side. When Mary, who was the first to encounter the risen Jesus, pressed into Him, He told her not to “cling” to Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father.

It is interesting to note that there was this period of forty days when Jesus appeared to his disciples. He had arisen from the dead with his body but He had not yet ascended to heaven. He used this time to minister to his disciples and to teach and instruct them. I imagine that this was very special time to the disciples. From this we get an understanding of resurrection and that Jesus’ body did not just evaporate in that tomb but that it was raised up. We gain insight into our own day of resurrection and that we also will be alive just as Jesus is now alive. He is alive and this message was truly born in that forty-day period between the resurrection and Jesus’ ascension to His Father when the disciples saw Him, spoke with Him and touched Him. Their experiences with Him during that period strongly influence our message today. He is alive! And we will live with Him for all eternity and the power and glory of His victory. He is most assuredly alive. He lives. And it is for us that He lives. Truly this is a message worth shouting from the rooftops. Our Jesus defeated the bonds of death. He overcame a world of destruction and decay so that we all might live and not die. He conquered death and taxes, the two things that we think cannot be overcome. He had fish paying His tax for Him after all. When we get a real deep revelation of His victory over the things that seem impossibilities to us then we are going to gain our own freedom. We will be truly alive, then, in him.

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Mirror Image

On August 7, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 1: 3       TPT

The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image!

Jesus is the exact representation of God. You can see some great expressions of this idea by reading this verse in a variety of translations. Here are a few:

WE – He is just like God himself,
CJB – The very expression of God’s essence,
NLV – The Son is as God is in every way.

When you look at Jesus, you have seen the Father. That is such an important statement. If you love Jesus, you can feel safe with the Father too. So many people have a poor, even antagonistic relationship with the Father even though they say they love Jesus and confess him as Lord. This ought not be. I don’t know how we have gotten so brain-washed about God’s character. All we have to do is believe the Bible; well, and read it, to see that He is kind and good.

I have observed something else lately. I guess I’ve been seeing bits and pieces of this for years, but Jesus really brought it home to me over the last two weeks. Who we see and experience Father to be is greatly influenced by who we are in our inner selves.

I had noticed that God speaks to each of us in our own voice, tone and manner. When I would hear people relate things the Father spoke to them, I could hear their world view and voice. I remember Kenneth Copeland sharing something the Father communicated with him and I thought, “God, never speaks to me that way.” Later I realized it has everything to do with our different personalities. We do the same thing. We allow ourselves to reflect the communication patterns of those with whom we converse. So, when Jesus or the Father speaks with you, they will use syntax and colloquialisms that you use. That’s cool!

There is a deeper reflection on this too. It goes beyond communication to relationship. Listen to how people describe God or their communion with God. What you will hear has a lot less to do with who God is and more to do with who they are. Jesus reflected God with whom He was connected. You will find that he reflects you too. The thing that brought this into clear focus for me was when Jesus made a joke one day last week. I began speaking with him and Father about their sense of humor. They really do have quite the good sense of humor. People admit that casually and reference giraffes as their evidence. During this conversation, Father showed me that the sense of humor, the flavor of humor that I was experiencing was my own sense of humor. God was reflecting me.

How many people, though, actually know God’s sense of humor personally? You see, if you don’t have humorous nature, Jesus and God will not be able to relate to you on that level. Whatever you give to them is what they have to reflect back to you. A friend of mine caught me calling Jesus “Dude” this week. Okay, people don’t usually refer to him that way but in our closeness and the closeness of the moment, it worked. It reflects our relationship. Later in the week I was working on a Word of the Day when he quite literally made me laugh out loud. Here I was, sitting all alone, laughing aloud. It took me a moment to compose myself. Jesus is funny.

People who are afraid of God, don’t know Him. If they think He is vengeful and judgmental it is because that is what they impose on Him or carry to the meeting themselves. Those who don’t trust Him, are afraid of Him, or think He wants to take something away from them are reflecting themselves onto Him. They won’t let Him express His true nature which is love. He is love. When will we get that? His essence is kindness and gentleness. Endeavor to know God better. Get to know the many facets of who He is. To do that, begin with what you take to Him. Take a light heart and maybe He will tell you a joke too.

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Dangerous Language

On August 6, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 1:29 – 31

[B]eing filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.

Paul is describing a wretched group of people here. First, he shows the malevolence with which they are filled and then he tells us how those things manifest. He begins with “they are gossips” and then goes on through some pretty atrocious attributes. It strikes me that he begins this list of horrible characteristics with gossiping. One would think Paul could have headed his list with something more diabolical than gossip. But maybe, just maybe, gossiping is much more treacherous that we thought. Otherwise, why is it even included in this list? It is keeping pretty bad company.

Most of us recognize the other items in this list and most of us would denounce them. But how many would say that gossip is a real problem and denounce it? How many of us would balk at a gossiper as we would a hater of God or an arrogant, boastful inventor of evil? You see, God is showing us in this passage that the same unloving attitude that makes one an evil hater of God is that which causes us to gossip. Gossip is malignant and creates discord and strife in the body of Christ. It is a big problem as evidenced by its inclusion in this verse. Paul wished to cut it off in the churches to which he ministered. We, therefore, need to be mindful of gossip as well.

Gossiping is not really frowned upon in our society as can be easily evidenced by watching any reality show. They are all about drama and gossip. How many other television shows are completely based on gossip or gossiping? Quite a few. This general acceptance in our society makes it difficult for Christians to recognize the danger of gossip. It even cloaks when Christians are participating in gossip because it does not stand out anymore. And it seems that no one is immune to either the lure or the effect of gossip. But gossip is very damaging to the body of Christ.

Thus, we must all be vigilante to police our words and root out gossip from our lives. As Ephesians 4: 29 instructs us, we should only speak those words which are good for edification. And when we find ourselves trapped in a conversation which turns to gossip and running others down, we must find ways to extricate ourselves. It is best for us when we are around others who are using their words for edification rather than for tearing apart. And maybe as we make an effort to remove ourselves from gossip, others might be influenced as well. Take this message from Paul to heart and be mindful about the things you say and help others grow in their use of language too.

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Energy Drink

On August 5, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 63: 2             TPT

I’m energized every time I enter your heavenly sanctuary to seek more of your power and drink in more of your glory.

This is another Psalm of David’s. He did not write every psalm, but he did write a good many of them. Verse one reminds us why God said David was a man after God’s own heart. It reads, “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Isn’t that good?  From this beginning point David goes on to expressing two important thoughts. Notice though, that he begins in adoration of the Father. I believe that may be a significant fact explaining David’s success.

Verse two goes on to reveal that David believed he routinely entered God’s heavenly sanctuary. That’s quite a statement! How did he enter the Father’s heavenly sanctuary? It must be that in David’s times of meditation he visualized himself entering the Father’s haven. Selah, pause and consider that. David is matter of fact about this part of verse two. It is just the set up for what he wants to say. That tells me that to David this was routine and nothing worth commenting upon. It is just what he did. He entered into the Father’s presence regularly.

I have noted that modern Christians often pray for God to invade our space. First, it shouldn’t be an invasion. He should be welcome here all of the time. The bigger point, though, is that we seem to be keen on inviting the Father into our space but perhaps not quite as intentional about visiting him. There is nothing wrong with asking Dad into our activities. That’s a good thing. It seems clear to me from this passage, though, that we should regularly visit Him at His house.

Second, it must be okay to seek God’s power. It is right here in a psalm. Father didn’t correct David for going to the throne room seeking more of His power. In fact, He apparently granted David’s request in ever increasing amounts. David drank in the Father’s glory. He looked upon the Father in His grace and majesty and was renewed, physically, but likely spiritually, emotionally and mentally as well. David came away from His time meditating WITH the Lord, energized. Wow! Is this going off as loudly in you as it is in me? We gain energy from hanging out with God at His house. Moreover, we are allowed to go to His sanctuary to stock up on energy and seek God’s power and glory.

I find this an empowering verse and I certainly hope you do too. We don’t have to continually, nor solely, pray for God’s glory to infiltrate the earth. That’s great but any time any of us wishes to bathe ourselves in the Father’s glory, we have a standing invitation to the Throne Room of Grace which is full of mercy and refreshing. You can show up and drink in His glory. That is astounding to me. Are you thirsty? I know I am. Let’s see how God’s glory satisfies.

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Pondering

On August 2, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 77: 6

I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders.

I really like this scripture. It has a nice feeling to it, but it also shares some key insights to meditation. For example, did you notice that the author meditates with his heart? Well, that’s not very western of him. Oh yeah, he wasn’t western. Our faith originates in the east. No wonder some of these ideas perplex us.

The author goes on to say that his spirit ponders. Okay. Let’s pick up our meditation series right there. First, though, remember that we have quieted down physically, emotionally and mentally. Breathe deep, slow breaths, maybe put on nature sounds or atonal, soothing music, turn off the phone, light an aromatic candle or wax burner. In other words, make your physical surrounding one of relaxation.

Then as we engage stillness in our bodies and internally, we turn our minds and attention to the Father. Perhaps you imagined Him sitting with you at your kitchen table or in lawn chairs on your patio. This is all to connect you with the Father in your heart. We can use this time to let our minds rest and instead interact with Father with our spirits. You know how to do this. Remember when you fell in love and you didn’t have to say anything to each other. Your hearts felt like they just matched beats. Or, remember how you connected with your new baby who couldn’t yet speak? Connecting with God is really very much the same. You reach out with your heart rather than your mind and make the connection there. Then, you can certainly use your mind as a tool of your heart to communicate but make the connection with the Father in your heart rather than in your mind.

Now comes the fun part. We get to ponder. Here are some synonyms of meditate: contemplate, think about, consider, ponder, cogitate, muse. I just really like ponder. People get all weird about meditating, though we all do it all the time, but when we think about pondering something, it all becomes normal again. Yea! So, here we go. I am going to show you one of my favorite ways to meditate. Let’s ponder Psalm 46:10.

I have shared with you three translations. The NLT reads, “Be still, and know that I am God.” God’s Word Translation reads, “Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God.” And the Passion Translation has, “Surrender your anxiety! Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God.” They are all the same verse but don’t look the same, at least at first blush. So, here is what I do, and, by the way, this is where lots of Words of the Day come from. I just begin to ask questions about the differences. I ponder the differences. Why did the editors choose one word over another? What are some other words which mean the same thing? What is the difference in each translation? Are they communicating the same thing but from different vantage points? What ties them together? What was the author experiencing at the time of writing? Do the verses before and after give me insight into the meaning? Then, the most important question of all, if I slow down for a moment and think about this verse, what does it mean to me? How can this wisdom fit into my life?

And that’s it. You’ve just meditated. Of course, that is only one way. I like to meditate over verses by looking at different translations. You may enjoy pondering a Bible story. Picture Jesus on the day he and his apostles fed the five thousand. What did that look like? What did Jesus do? What did his disciples do? As you observe and ask questions, you will discover the Holy Spirit providing insights and answers. It’s really a whole lot of fun. You might even put yourself in the scene. What would you be doing? Are you distributing food, taking up the leftovers or are you just sitting by Jesus watching and listening to him?

Do a little mental meandering. Ponder a scripture, a story or a scene. I would love hearing about your experiences, so share them either by replying to this devotion or post it on our site.

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Breathe, Meditate (Part 2)

On August 1, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 46: 10             TPT

Surrender your anxiety! Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God.

Let’s continue our look at meditation today. I hope you have concluded that meditation is a vital part of the Christian walk. If you have not, then you might want to conduct a search on the word meditate. Secondly, I hope you have decided to make it part of your walk with Christ.

The first step in effective meditation comes from Psalm 46: 10. The NLT reads, “Be still, and know that I am God!” In order to know God, we must first find stillness in our being. For me that took two forms. First, I had to learn to relax my body. Ultimately that ended up being the easiest. However, Pat Richards from Impact Ministry brought up a good point yesterday. Although I was talking about a virtual cup of coffee in yesterday’s Word of the Day, she pointed out that drinking coffee before trying to meditate or during can sabotage your success because of the caffeine.

The second was learning how to get my mind to be still. This was a great deal more challenging for me. One of the techniques I learned from Dr. Jim Richards was to take all those ideas that were bombarding my mind and tie a balloon to them and release them. The first time I tried that it caused me increased stress because I didn’t want to lose those thoughts. So, I imagined God above me raking in each balloon I released. That worked for me. I also put a note pad and pen beside me when I was learning to quiet my mind. All those “to do’s” and ideas that came to me got written down on that pad so that my mind could relax.

We’ve talked about this stillness in relationship to worry this week. The God’s Word translation told us to let go of our concerns. Okay, what does that have to do with being still so we can know Yahweh as God? If you are worried and agitated, then your inner person is anything but still. You need to release those concerns to the Father so that your heart can be calm. You can receive God’s peace when you feel He has all your concerns in hand. Look at today’s version of this same scripture. It too is coaxing us into releasing all of our worries and concerns so that we can be silent and still and watch God show His divinity in our lives.

We spoke about breath this week too. I find that slow, deep breaths help both my physiology and my psychology. If you count as you breathe, maybe inhaling to a count of five and doing the same as you exhale, you will likely find that your body and your mind ease. Also, think thoughts like, “With every exhalation, I relax a bit more.” You can even breathe, exhale, relax your legs; breathe, exhale, relax your arms; and so on. Don’t forget to relax your face. You would be surprised how much tension you may hold in your face.

We are learning how to relax so we can learn to meditate but releasing the tension from your body and from your mind will improve your health and your mood too. God knew what He was doing when He told us to meditate. He was instructing us for our good.

Walk through these relaxation steps today. Find out how many breaths it takes you to calm yourself down on the inside and the outside. Within a short time, you will reduce that number significantly. After you have calmed yourself down, endeavor to hold onto that peace and have a good relaxed day, all day.

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Breathe, Meditate

On July 31, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Joshua 1: 8

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

This is one of those “stand out” verses in the Bible. Some Christian circles use it a lot while others don’t teach it quite as much. Even fewer teach what it means to meditate or how to do it. I am going to use it today as a practicum.

This week I have sent you two emails that encourage quiet, contemplative time with God. In other words, meditation. God told Joshua that this was the key to success. The problem is, most of us were not taught how to meditate. As for slowing ourselves down so that we can hear God’s voice, well, that’s just not a strength either, though that is what Psalm 46: 10, our verse from yesterday, directs us to do.

The Holy Spirit is the breath of God, so I find the easiest way for me to relax and quiet my inner self is to take a couple of slow, deep breaths. When you breathe deeply and slowly, you signal your body that you are safe. It does not have to keep itself primed for fight or flight. This is a super powerful tool! Breathe. Anytime you feel anxious, angry, worried or any other energy emotion, just breathe deeply and slowly. Focus on exhaling out every last bit of air in your lungs. This is actually healthy for your lungs too because many of us breathe in the middle volume of our lungs which means we never empty it of the stale, used up air. If you, at the same time, imagine yourself meeting the Father in a safe place of your own choice you will likely feel yourself connecting with Him.

Picture a place you like. For some people it is their own kitchen table with cups of coffee steaming nearby. Others like to walk on the beach, sit in the woods or wade in a creek. Better still, sit by a creek, in the woods, in the mountains with a cup of coffee and your Father. Now that sounds heavenly to me. Wherever you choose, make it a place of supreme safety and comfort. When you meet your Father in that place you will notice that many of the barriers which block good communication are automatically lowered. Don’t go to His throne room where He looms gloriously in His majesty because you may find it hard to approach Him. Go there when you want to see His glory and worship Him. Instead, sit down in your own living room with Him.

Now, here is another secret. Once you are connected with the Father, you don’t actually have to speak with Him. You can actually think of other things, do other things. See, the big objective is to live with Him day and night. Well, you certainly wouldn’t talk non-stop with a person you were with all of the time. Healthy relationships do not depend on non-stop chatter. Sometimes it is nice to just be with Yahweh in the quiet of your mind and soul. Having said that, still we need those very still, quiet times. Then they swell into the ever present “now” with the Father.

So for today we have learned two things to help us in our meditation or restated, our quiet time with the Lord. First, breathe. Second, visualize yourself in a tranquil, peaceful place with your Father at your side.

Tomorrow, we will explore a bit further into this idea of reflective time with the Lord.

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