Fruit Club

On September 5, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 16

You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

I, just like every other minister of the gospel, revel in sharing the Good News. Everyone wants to hear how Jesus’ life and sacrifice will improve the quality of their lives. We are living in an age of self-interest almost to the point of self-absorption. What this means for ministers is that the message people want to hear is how Jesus helps them. The question we have attempted to answer is, “What is in Christianity for me?” Today’s verse functionally turns that question on its head because Jesus made it clear, in this statement, that it isn’t all about me. This is an uncomfortable and harsh reality for some of us but for others of you, this is a higher form of truth and reality and one that you embrace avidly.

Too often we get the cart before the horse but if we spend time with this verse, pondering the fullness of its message, we find rich revelation. Jesus makes clear that the Father will do whatever you ask of Him when you approach Him through Jesus. However, that is the second part of the equation. The first part is that He chose you. We all think we chose Jesus, almost like we graced him with our acceptance of him. We fill our salvation with arrogance as if we were some prize worthy of winning. We weren’t. There is nothing in us that makes us worthy of anything EXCEPT the Father’s love for us. His love for us has clothed us in the worthiness that Jesus won for us. The only thing we did was to accept this garment of blessed grace.

Secondly, Jesus points out that there was a reason for choosing us. Sadly, it isn’t because we are so wonderful, wise and beautiful. We have a purpose and he appointed us for this purpose, that we should bear much fruit. There is also a consequence for not fulfilling our purpose. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He (the Father) takes away” (John 15: 2).

I want to preach just the part of the verse that says the Father will do everything we ask in Jesus’ name but that would be a miscarriage of my duties to you and to the Father. The truth is what equips you and not just the candy-coated version. When you understand the Father’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice you also appreciate that everything they tell us to do benefits us. Yahweh’s love is pervasive but it is not egotistical nor meant to train you to be a spoiled, arrogant child. He wants to raise you into the vision He has of you as a mature partner in His kingdom.

The natural consequence of bearing good fruit is abundant harvest. People spend many words and thoughts trying to figure out the purpose of life when it has been “hidden” right here in plain sight for thousands of years. Your purpose and mine is to bear good fruit. As we do, the Father multiplies our seeds so that a bountiful crop is always maturing in our back yards. Christianity was never meant to be a “Bless Me” club. It is a service organization. It turns out, though, that the way to the blessings is through service.

I want you blessed and happy. I desire that your basket overflow continually. So, go serve someone else. Think about what others may need or what you could do for them. Start at home and at work. What could you do today for your mother? How about your spouse? Maybe your next door neighbor would love just to have a visit or take your mechanic a glass of tea. Do you have doorman in your building? There are people around you all day who need to see Jesus’ fruit. You are the branches on his vine. Bear much good fruit.

Back to Top

Peace, Peace

On August 18, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 10: 13

If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.

Jesus talked about peace or blessed people with peace quite a number of times. Before he left the earth he even made a point of leaving his peace here with us (John 14: 27). What is so compelling about peace that caused him to frequently say, “Go in peace” or “peace be with you?” We have to dig into our Hebrew roots to get an appreciation of this peace which Jesus speaks of and even directs us to bless others with.

The Hebrew word is Shalom, and it is very rich with many shades of meaning. The simplest way to describe the Jewish idea of peace is wholeness in every area of life, or I have heard others say, “nothing missing, nothing broken.” This necessarily means that your health is not broken, your finances are whole, your relationships fruitful, your spirit vital, and every other facet of life you can think of functions perfectly. When Jesus, or any other Jew, says “peace” to you, they have spoken a blessing which covers every aspect of your life. Now, consider today’s verse. Does it take on more meaning?

Jesus intimates in this passage that we have the right and perhaps even the obligation to speak a blessing of peace on the households of others. This may manifest in you praying peace as you enter a friend’s house. Maybe you are invited to attend a party or even a Bible Study at someone’s house. You can give that home YOUR blessing of peace. In so doing, you are speaking wholeness to that household – nothing missing, nothing broken. That is a powerful privilege the Lord Jesus has given us. So, think of that as you visit people’s homes and maybe also stop at your own front door and speak “Peace.”

Back to Top

Be Blessed

On August 16, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 112: 1 – 3

Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on the earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Every now and again we need to hear and be reminded of the blessing of the Lord for those who love Him. We can soak in these words; breathe them in and let them fill the tired and weary parts of our soul, rejuvenating the very marrow of our bones.

The Lord is great and full of love and compassion for His kids. His lovingkindness plays throughout our lives and even dances on the cells of our bodies. His words, His expressions of kindness are salve to the spirit. All the words and all the thoughts of the Lord are for your well-being. God Almighty is a blessing to you and longs to fill your life with the power, joy and glory of His might. He fills your soul with blessing and empowers your success and your peace.

All things, in the Lord, are peace and joy. We need to learn to breathe Him in with every inhalation. He is more than enough and yet we never seem to have enough of Him. We always want more of Him. And so, we seek Him and yearn for Him and for the day when we will be saturated with Him.

For those who love the Lord, there is wealth, riches and enduring righteousness. He has poured Himself out so that we may be full of His goodness. The glory of His kindness to we, His children, shall shine through the ages. Eventually, all the world will see and know the greatness of our God through the lovingkindness which He demonstrates in our lives.

I pray the blessing of the Lord chases you down in the street today, overtakes you and overflows to you. As you are blessed, you can bless the nations. I pray the blessing of your life shines brightly and brings praise to our Father and Lord. Amen.

Back to Top

The Plan of Blessing

On May 31, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 28: 1 – 8

Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.
8 The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

I know the verses today are long but you’ve just got to know what was in God’s mind. You need to see His plan for you and it is spelled out very well in the passage above. This isn’t even all of it. The blessing continues for another six verses.

I am always surprised when people talk about the God of the Old Testament as mean, angry and vengeful. Have they read the Old Testament? Do fourteen verses of blessing sound vengeful? Besides, the Old Testament God is the same as the New Testament God. “God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change,” (Psalm 55: 19).

We saw yesterday that God had a plan for our well-being. His master plan for us was blessing upon blessing. How can you beat being blessed coming in and going out. How about, blessed in the country and blessed in the city? It is like saying you will be blessed when the sun is up and when it is down. Or, you will be blessed when you breathe in or when you exhale. That was God’s plan for you and is His plan for you. He has not changed, neither has His plan. So why aren’t more of us abundantly blessed.

There is a four letter word in answer here, “obey.” What an awful little word that is to so many of us, but let’s get a revelation of this. God is trying to get the blessing to us but we are busy trying to figure out how to be in neither the country nor the city, neither inside or outside. I often think of the Pony Express in these situations. If the Pony Express riders did not follow the prescribed path, if they didn’t go the way they were told, then they would have missed the waystation which held their provisions and fresh horse. We are like that rider sometimes. We don’t follow Dad’s instructions and then when we end up in the desert, hungry and thirsty we grumble and complain. We blame Him. All the while, His labor was spent pouring out the blessing. Your ship may well be in but you are in the desert instead of at the port. That is the purpose of obedience, to insure that we are in the right place at the right time.

Look at God’s plan, it was (and is) one of blessing. He isn’t trying to break you, hurt you or make you stronger. He is trying to fulfill His plan for good. His plan was not for calamity or trials but for blessing. Let this sink in, then think back to the last thing God told you to do and jump on it. It is part of the blessing.

Back to Top

Trust and Blessing

On May 25, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Jeremiah 17: 7

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.

In a conversation last week, the theme about trusting God kept coming up. Time and time again the circle seemed to close on our learning to trust the Lord. I believe with the people in the conversation last week that this is a critical lesson for us.

Today’s verse says plainly that blessing is in trusting the Lord. Why is that? How can God lead us in the paths of blessing if we do not trust Him enough to follow Him? He can’t. He can point out the way to go but if we do not believe that He is always leading us to the land of plenty then we will hesitate.

Abraham is known for his faith but it was really obedience that made him the Father of the nation of Israel. His father, Terah, received instruction to take his family and go to the land of Canaan but he got comfortable and stopped before accomplishing what God told Him to do. He saw a good land and did not trust God to take him to a better place. Eventually God spoke to Abram telling him to leave his family and go to the place where God would show him. Abram complied and now we know Abraham as the Father of the faith and you didn’t even know Terah’s name. It was through simple obedience that Abram learned that God was on his side. Through obedience, he learned he could always trust God. Through trust and obedience, he became the Father of faith.

Sometimes the big revelations are in the little messages. There is no great message in obedience other than just do it. However, obeying God gives us the evidence and belief that we really can trust Him. As we move over into trust, we find blessing. The blessing has already been provided by our Father. We have to learn to trust Him so that He can lead us to the blessing. Otherwise, we end up wandering around in the tall weeds like the Israelites wandered around in the desert.

How do you learn to be blessed? You learn to trust God daily for the small things. You must learn to hear God for yourself . If you cannot hear God speak to you, how can you trust Him? How can you do what He says if you can’t hear Him. This is ground zero. Practice hearing His voice. Contact this ministry if you need help hearing Him because this is where you must start. Then you can live the life of the blessed person, blessed coming in and blessed going out.

Back to Top

God Success

On May 19, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   2 Comments

Proverb 10: 22

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.

This is the last day of our sojourn through the proverbs and I can think of no better proverb to end on than this one. I have been wanting to write on this for months anyway.

Do you know that you can do a lot more good in the world with riches than without? God knows it and so He intends you to be rich? Does that bother your sensibilities? I hope not because God has a plan and that plan involves making you rich. Hey, He said it! Besides, the verse tells us that you should not feel chagrin or shame. It is the blessing of the Lord which makes us rich and God adds no sorrow, misery, worry, shame, chagrin, or regret to it.

But wait . . . there’s more, much more. My good friend, Dr. Chuck Goldberg shared the real truth of this scripture with me and it brings great joy and perhaps even a little relief. Dr. Goldberg was on the Rabbinical path until he chose the study of medicine. That is a blessing to you and I because he was able to reveal to me what the original Hebrew of this text is and it is earth shaking. The Hebraic rendition of this verse is, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and your toil adds nothing to it.” Wow! When we get back to the original language the truth and revelation leap out at us. For those of you are have been learning about and leaning into the integration, the intertwining of you and Jesus, this is at the heart of that critical lesson.

Our success is not about our gifts, talents, brilliance or even hard work. Success and riches are the by-product of a life intertwined with the Lord. As you have heard me say before, He does the heavy lifting. Our job is to pray and to listen to Him. That is also why Psalm 46: 10 is so important. It reads, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Do you see the parallel with Proverb 10: 22? Success is not in our striving but in our “knowing” and experiencing Him as God.

I have been blessed to work with a number of business people lately and I have seen time and again that God keeps imparting this message in numerous ways. I have watched as He continues to lead you into business integration with Him as a partner. I celebrate you and hope that this “Word” from the Lord encourages you. It turns out that our “workaholic” patterns and mindsets are not of the Lord. In fact, in light of these scriptures they are not only unscriptural but might you argue they are sinful? They fly full in the face of these two scriptures. He has said, “Cease striving.”

God is the author of success and riches. I do not deny that we can attain some level of riches in our own strength but I am increasingly aware of the high cost of doing it ourselves. First, we never succeed to the level we would if we let God be the author of our success. Second, the cost usually is in sorrow.

Success with God and in God brings no downside, no sorrow. Success in the world is often marred by broken health, broken relationships and devastation in many areas of life. One’s spiritual life is guaranteed to suffer. This is the sorrow and suffering that God intends us to bypass. He has only good plans for us and everything with Him is good. There is no downside. Come on! That’s exciting. Can’t someone shout?! Let’s get a full revelation of this. God wants to bless you financially and in the offing is goodness and blessing in every single area of your life. That is God success. He wants you to have enough money to meet your needs, yes, but we’ve got to get past that. He wants you supporting ministries and sending ministers into all the world. He wants your star to shine so brightly and so high in the sky that it will draw people to it and thus, to Him. And, He wants to do the hard work. He does not want you to strive to achieve any of this but rather to lean on Him. He wants you to learn how to trust Him and work with Him as you never have before.

Be still, cease striving and let Yahweh show who is God. His action will bring rest and wealth and your toil, well, it adds nothing. It is all about Him and the power of His might. Yahoo! Find your way into that deep relationship with Him which issues from within your spirit. Look into your heart and find the creator of the universe. Then wrap your tendrils around Him and succeed.

Back to Top

Wisdom’s Fruit

On May 17, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 8: 32 – 36

Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, “but he who sins against me injures himself; all those who hate me love death.”

The speaker in this passage is wisdom. Wisdom was in the beginning with God and by her He founded the earth. “Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor” (Proverb 3: 16). In her are blessing and life, so if we want either those or riches, we should seek wisdom. She promised that those who diligently seek her will find her (Proverb 8: 17). This book of the proverbs is her book. She discloses herself here and the fruit of seeking her.

One of the first things I noticed from this excerpt from the eighth proverb is that we must heed instruction. That, I believe, creates a rather large stumbling block. To receive instruction requires humility and we are loathe to humble ourselves before anyone, even sometimes God. God gives wisdom to people on earth and they are meant to share it with others. However, one cannot share what others will not receive. However, wisdom teaches us that it is in our own self-interest to seek and receive the offerings of wisdom.

Another fruit of receiving wisdom is favor from the Lord. I like to think of God’s favor as the grease on the wheels of life. As you enjoy the Lord’s favor, life simply goes more smoothly. All sorts of things, both small and large, just seem to go your way. From getting a good parking place to securing a major contract for your business, God’s favor greases the way and we obtain that favor when we seek wisdom and heed her lessons.

Wisdom is calling out in the streets. She wants to be your ally. If you seek her, you will find her and one great way to seek her is in this book of wisdom , the Proverbs. Honor is with her; success is in her hand. She wants to bless you. Call upon her and receive, of the Lord, all His goodness.

Back to Top