Manger to Messiah

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

Galatians 4: 4         NLV

But when the right time came, God send his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

Do you believe God is all powerful? Do you believe He has supernatural powers and can do things which supersede and confound physical law? If so, then why did He send his son to earth by way of a normal, human birth? Jesus already existed, did he not? “He was in the beginning with God,” (John 1: 2). So, why did God send him as a human person. In fact, many believe that Jesus visited the earth many times by simply manifesting in a physical form. So, why didn’t God send the Messiah to earth using His supernatural powers? Why didn’t Jesus simply manifest physically and begin his ministry?

The answer is in the verse as well as lurking in some of the questions. Jesus didn’t come to earth as a supernatural being. He didn’t come as the second person of the trinity. He came into the earth as we all do. He came as a human person subject to all the laws to which we are bound: spiritual laws, physical laws and legal pronouncements from both man and God. Because He was born of a woman, he was subject to the law of Moses even though in his position in heaven as the Son of God, he was far above it. This is one of the most fundamental aspects of the divine replacement miracle and redemption but also a profound and important concept. Jesus came to earth subject to the law so that he could ultimately free us from the law.

In thinking about Christmas, we think of the birth of the child, and it brings these questions to mind. It is amazing, is it not, that the Messiah should come in such humble means. The Apostle Paul, in this letter to the Galatians, and then eventually to us, demonstrates why it was so important for the Son of God to humble himself, as he did, and enter earth as each one of us did. From that first breath, he experienced life on the earth as we do. He was subject to gravity and hunger. He had to pay taxes and deal with family who didn’t respect him. He had all the challenges we do because he was born of a woman. He came as a human.

In order to free us from the bondage of the law, he too had to be subject to it. He didn’t come in his godly visage and superimpose his will. That is what we would expect. It represents the way we deal with problems. Jesus, though, gave himself to the problem. He didn’t use force to make us change. He didn’t come preaching damnation if we didn’t line up and obey him. He came preaching redemption and salvation none of which would be the result of our actions but rather because of an act of love that he would perform. He made himself subject to the law, even to the point of death so that we could be freed from the slavery of the law. If you are not astounded by this, I have not explained it well and hope that you will pray for God to show you beyond the words, what He intends to convey for it is the greatest of miracles, the most profound gift, and a philosophy that perhaps no great thinker has every truly comprehended.

Jesus changed the world without force, without self-aggrandizement, without recruitment, without a powerful office or position. It was the very fact that he was made subject to the law that we were able to become free of it. When Jesus was above the law, when he was living in the supernatural heavens of God, he humbled himself to be born into the earth like any other little child. He shattered the shackles of the law so that we might be free, but he did it by submitting himself to the law. He changed the world by being obedient and a servant. He observed the requirements of the law changing the system from within rather than from without.

Although Jesus was subject to all the laws of the physical and spiritual realms, he was not a slave to them. He listened to God, his father, and our God taught him to be the master of the laws. So, he was subject to them but not mastered by them. This is our legacy, but we do not understand our position in him. If we truly understood who Jesus is and that he lived in the earth as any other person, we would do as he did and we would be truly and magnificently free. We would walk on water and more.

We are severely limited in our thinking and in our faith. As you look towards Christmas Day and to the beautiful gift of love, remember that Jesus was just a baby. He was born of a woman. He had to grow up, just as we did. He didn’t always have things go his way; life wasn’t always easy. Yet, as he grew, he put on his mantle and walked into his role as the Messiah, the savior of the whole world. How did he get from the manger to Messiah? If you answer that question, answer it without making excuses like, “Oh, but he was the Son of God,” because now we know he was born human, answer it truthfully, intelligently and introspectively, you will have one of the greatest revelations of all time. You will transform your life and the lives of everyone around you. Merry Christmas!

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I’m Just Sayin’

On April 25, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Revelations 12:11

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.

You may have noticed that the Old Testament and New Testament verses about healing are different from one another. The Old Testament has the promise, and the New Testament is much more about application. This is one of those application verses. It teaches us how to overcome.
Throughout this series we have seen the implication of our words. Here is yet another verse which leads us to understanding the power of the words we speak. In this case, we learn that our words are a key tool in overcoming the challenges we face. This verse also, I believe clearly, illuminates and resolves the question of who fights the battles of life. We shall never win in our own strength. It is Christ and his victory which has given us the power to be overcomers. However, and this is key, it was not the blood of the lamb alone which delivered. Victory is in the blood and the word of our testimony. In other words, victory is in Christ’s blood and our words.

Jesus paid the ultimate price to gain our release from the shackles that had all humanity bound in slavery. We were destitute, humanity’s only hope, the promised Messiah. Then he came, hallelujah, but was unrecognized by most. In the darkest of hours, Jesus nailed our enslavement to a cross. For all appearances it looked like the ultimate defeat, but out of the shadows arose triumph and that triumph set us all free. Or did it?

Today many remained enslaved. The victory of Christ is ours for the taking, but look around. Many have chosen not to claim the freedom that is theirs in Christ Jesus. It is heartbreaking. Were they to know that their victory is as close as the confession of their lips, then they could be free. Salvation has been won by the bravery and love of the Christ. It is claimed and becomes our own through our words. It is like having something in lay away that all you need to do is claim it through the use of speech. Salvation is for anyone who will claim it.

The great revelation is that all that Christ won for us is claimed in this very same way. As I wrote to you previously, salvation, prosperity and divine health were all purchased at Calvary. The question is why we go to the hill and return with only salvation. It is all there for us if we would only submit our claim ticket. If we can, with confidence, claim, “I am saved,” then we ought to also be able to say, “I am healed” with the same certainty. Likewise, our financial wellbeing is in the blood of the lamb and the words of our mouth.

Here is the point. Jesus’ blood has done its part, but we see from this verse that we have a role as well. Honestly, this truth makes us a bit uncomfortable because we don’t want anything to depend on us. None the less, this is how the Kingdom works. It is how it works for God and for Jesus as well. Remember, the world was not created because God thought it. He said something. That is also why Jesus remained silent when he was tortured and questioned. His words would have changed the outcome. We have been made in God’s image and in Christ’s image too because he is the exact representation of God. Thus, we must operate the Kingdom principles as they have taught and demonstrated. So, the reality is that we must say something. When this verse says “they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” it means our words are how we participate in the overcoming blood of the lamb. The word of our testimony means the words of our mouth. What are we saying and are we intentionally saying what we want to see manifested in our lives? Look back at the prayer from last Monday’s Word of the Day titled Shift Gears. Borrow language from it, use it to help you write your own if you like. Let today’s word from the Lord affect you. Let it impact how you engage with Christ over your healing. Praise him. Thank him. Oh, what marvelous things he has done for us!

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The Love of Salvation

On January 31, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 4: 8

God is love.

Let’s talk about salvation a little bit today. We have all kinds of thoughts and theories about salvation and from many different perspectives. I would like to focus on love today. Dare I? What’s love got to do with it? I think you already know the answer. Absolutely everything.

From where does salvation come? We know that salvation is the product of Jesus’ sacrifice. We also believe that we have a responsibility to share the good news of Jesus’ offering to others so that they may know that the price of salvation has been paid for them? So, here is the question, what happens if a person dies having never encountered a person who told them about the love of God?

John 3: 16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus went on in verse 17 to say that he did not come to the earth to judge and condemn, but rather to save. So, God, who is love, offered his own son as a sin sacrifice for us because that is what love does. Another way of thinking about Jesus’ sojourn on earth is that the entire trip here was so that people would be saved.  If God sent Jesus to earth to save us, doesn’t it stand to reason that He would provide assurity that we all get multiple chances at salvation.  Would God go to such extreme measures and then leave salvation to chance?  Love saves. Love does not condemn. Love doesn’t judge, banish or kill. Those are the things of the thief, not of the Father. God gave everything so that each person on earth might be saved. Let me say this again, “Love Saves!”

So, now let me ask the question again. What happens to a person who leaves this earth having never made a confession for Christ? The answer is, Love saves. God is not dependent on me to have preached this glorious gospel in order for Him to save someone. God did not leave salvation to people. He and Jesus provided it. If you think about it, you realize it is very arrogant of us to think that we are the source of salvation. We tend to think that a person’s salvation is decided here on this earth and because some person preached him the gospel. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for everyone of us telling the good news of our salvation. I just don’t think God has left this important matter to such tenuous circumstances.

I believe in love. I believe in a Father who gave His son specifically to save us. It stands to reason, then, that He has plenty of methods in place to assure that people get the chance to meet Jesus. Who says that has to happen on this earth? Does God not have the means to control the stars and planets? Can He not meet a person in the Spirit or in ascension? Who knows, but we know that God is big. He is not limited to this earth or our corporeal ideas.

I am not saying I believe in limbo, because I know that my salvation is not the product of my right or wrong behaviors. It is because of Jesus and him only. I know my Father well enough to know that if He gave His son to die a cruel death for humanity, He isn’t going to sit on His thumbs and let us go to hell. I am convinced He has His ways to preach the gospel to people after they leave the earth. And why not? Why do we think the whole universe is tied up in our miniscule realm of experience? God is big, the universe is big, and He has ways.

Do you have a loved one who passed away without a public expression of faith? Do not worry. Jesus didn’t die on a cross just to let them pass to eternal torment without introducing himself personally. And when someone meets Jesus face to face, they will make a proper decision for him. Everyone who meets Jesus wants to be with him.

Love saves. It sent Jesus to the cross for salvation. Will Yahweh Father not do everything He can to make sure we all get to enjoy that salvation with Him? What does Love have to do with salvation? Everything, absolutely everything.

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Beneficiaries

On December 9, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 3: 6      NLT

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

The third chapter of Ephesians is one of the hardest chapters in the Bible to read. Why? Because it is so rich that first, you can’t read a full sentence before you are stopped by the awe of what you just read so you keep re-reading the same sentence. Second, because there is so much to highlight or scribble notes about, you cannot read it easily from the comfort of a chair or couch. Truthfully, you need to go back and read it again in a new Bible or a different translation because your everyday Bible probably has so many notations and highlights that it is almost difficult to read it with fresh eyes. That is what I am doing. I am reading from a Bible a friend of mine loaned me and I am very much enjoying the new and fresh revelation I am receiving. Today’s verse is taken from that Bible, the New Living Translation. Reading Ephesians 3 today from a version other than my normal New American Standard jogged a few cobwebs loose. I am only going to pick up on one little idea from the passage. It is almost an afterthought rather than the main topic of the verse, but intriguing none the less.

I was taken by the words “the promise of blessings.” This passage was written by Paul who was a Jew among Jews. He had the very best rabbinical teaching available and was steeped in the law. For him to write that God revealed to him His hidden plan is not so much a surprise, but that the plan was to incorporate Gentiles into the family of God was a radical idea. So, it is funny to me that God’s secret plan was the inclusion of non-Jews and that a well-trained Jew was given this revelation. Still, that is not what grabbed my attention today. What struck me is the Jewishness with which Paul wrote this verse.

Modern Christians think of the inclusion of Gentiles in terms of salvation. Yea salvation! That’s great news. It is, however, only part of the good news and Paul knew it. If you notice, he did not write that both Jews and Gentiles enjoy salvation together. He said we all join in the blessings of the Christ. See, Paul understood Deuteronomy. Many Christians don’t even read it, but it is a GREAT book full of the promise and the blessing. That is exactly what Paul was thinking about when he wrote this passage. He didn’t think of the “Great Plan” as merely a golden ticket for the heaven train. He understood that we now stand in the same blessing as the Jews. That means day in and day out here on earth we can, and should, see the blessing of God working for our benefit. We should be living in the blessing every day and in everything we do. We are inheritors of the promise of blessings. Let that one sink in. While Christians mostly think about being the beneficiaries of salvation, Jews know that God is a here and now advocate and friend. They understand that the blessing is supposed to touch all of life.

Some people are going to wait until their physical bodies die to begin to live in the grace and blessing of God because they don’t know any better. I’ve got news, you are now Jewish, and you have inherited all of the promises of the Old Testament. You are entitled to that land flowing with milk and honey and that was not a after-life dream. The Israelites crossed the river and walked in the land and now you can too.

What do you want? Maybe you want salvation for a wayward child. Maybe you want a new goal and new mission for your life. Dig deep and ask yourself what you truly want. Maybe you want to know Jesus better and better each day so that he becomes as real to you as any living person. You can have all this and more. You have the promise of God’s blessings. Now, what will you do with that promise?

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Defeating the Enemy

On May 7, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 16: 15

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

There is much political and economic attention on China. China is not our adversary. Satan is (1 Peter 5: 8). Therefore, I would like to suggest a different way of thinking about China. Let’s bring spiritual attention to China rather than meditating on the political and economic issues. Below is part of an article about the challenge facing Chinese Christians.

Elder Li, whose family is closely monitored by police, asks Christians in the United States to pray for his family and for Early Rain Church. “We pray that we depend on God when we lack, because apart from Him we have no good thing,” he said. “We pray God makes us put our trust in Him at this difficult time. We pray the Holy Spirit fills us to respond to our situation with gentleness and respect.”

I believe that is a prayer we can all get behind. It speaks to our own lives too and I pray that we always respond with gentleness and respect.

The key for us, as Christians, is to intellectually separate the Chinese people from Chinese Communism. We are tied to Christians of all nationalities. We have the same interests and the same father. It is important for us to remember that while the world spins in fractured antagonism, our Father is a God of reconciliation and love. We can be the voice of calm and reason because we speak from a heart of love and love must, and always will, carry the day.

So, my appeal to Christians is that we claim China for the Lord. Communism and political systems are not God, nor do they make good masters. They are institutions of men, but the Lord has established His government where Jesus is Lord. Faith and love are how we overcome adversity, that and the word of our testimony and the blood of Christ. That precious blood was shed for Chinese and North Koreans and Russians. It is up to us to win these countries, and their citizens, for Christ.

There is a war. We are warriors in this fight for the souls of the Chinese people and indeed the souls of all people. The good news is that Jesus has already won. Now it is up to us to pray in that victory for China. Through prayer Christians around the world can intercede in the affairs of man. To succeed, we must proceed without judgment. This must be an act of love. We can change the course of human history in China by getting into agreement with Jesus. You have the power of salvation in your hands. Do not waste it. Pray for China. Intercede with a heart of passion and compassion. Let us do the work to which we are called, preach the good news to all creation; spread the love of Christ to all people. We can do this. May it be done according to the grace which is within us through Christ, our Lord.

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Seek and Find

On March 5, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 19: 10

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I am re-reading probably my favorite Christian book of all time, The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri J. M. Nouwen. In chapter 8 the author hits on what I believe is a critical distinction. He writes, “The question is not ‘How am I to find God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself be found by him?’” (Image Books, 1994, P.106) Many of you read my own story recently in a Word of the Day entitled, Lost and Found. About that momentous event in my life I often say, “I chased Him until He found me.” It’s so true. Father wasn’t holding out on me. I needed to lower a couple of walls and I needed to accept Him.

It is so enlightening that we spend so much time and energy talking about judgment when Jesus explicitly said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world,” (John 12: 47). He came to seek and save the lost. He meant us. He isn’t judging us; he is seeking us. We were lost and now we are found. However, that is not the end of the story. We think of this as a salvation message and that is not wrong. It is not the fullness though.

Remember in my story, I was already saved. So, why was God seeking me? He had already found me, right? Not completely. I was saved, spirit filled and going to heaven, none the less, I was separated from Him here on earth. It was not as if I did not know the Father at all. In fact, if you had known me before the fateful trip to Anaheim, you would have said I was a pretty religious person. However, there was much more for the Father and I to share, much more that He wanted with me and for me. It makes me wonder; despite our closeness now, how much more does He still want to give me? Does He still wish to “find” me in new ways or at new levels? Is there more Father?

This is the reality I want us to ponder and question. Though we have come to know the Father, have we really allowed ourselves to be found by Him? Are we allowing Him to speak to us, express Himself to us, love us? Though you may have been saved for fifty years now, I think the need of seeking Him has not lessened. It seems the more of Him we have, the more we can have and even the more He longs to give. The closer we get to Him the more of Him radiates on us. Therefore, my admonition to you is, “Seek and be found.”

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Not Fair!

On February 5, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 20: 12

These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.

Do you remember this story, how the landowner bargained with workers at the beginning of the day to pay them a certain wage for a day’s work in his vineyard? Towards the end of the day he took on more workers. At day’s end, he paid all the workers the same wage, even those who came late in the day. The workers who worked all day were upset that the people who worked a half day, or less, received the same wage as they. I might be upset too.

This is a two-fold message I believe. First, it is an obvious salvation message. Those who come into the vineyard, or in this case the kingdom, are rewarded as generously as those who arrived early. Second, it is a message about God’s kindness and generosity. Why are we upset that he chooses to be generous to those who worked one hour?

I believe part of the answer is that we are still locked into an earning mentality. The workers thought they “earned” their wage by their full day’s labor. They thought they earned the reward through their labor. This passage reveals a God who doesn’t make us earn His benefits. He gives freely. If He chooses to bless people who don’t deserve it, we should be happy rather than angry or jealous because we see God’s love in action towards all people.

Then there are the rewards of salvation. Those of us who have worked in the vineyard for years ought to reap a bigger reward than those who show up at the last minute. Right? That is what our worldly self says to us. Moreover, we feel legitimate in that thought. The reality is, though, that God is giving gifts to all. Salvation is free. None of us deserved His grace when He extended it to us but with time, we have begun to feel that we have earned something. Some people live like the devil and then in the eleventh hour pray to Jesus for salvation while other people have served him all their lives. What is the equity between these two groups? The only equity in God is love. Love bestows great gifts without regard for earnings. That does not square with our brains, but we need to allow it to settle into our spirits. Those who come after us are just as worthy and unworthy as we. The only way we receive a wage or salvation is by the free grace of the Father’s kindness and generosity. We didn’t have to earn it and neither do those people who are making their way towards the kingdom.

I think this story rankles within us because it is so “unfair” in the way we were raised to think. However, when we look at this from God’s perspective it begins to help heal our hearts. We needn’t lament God’s kindness towards anyone for it is that very kindness that blesses us today.

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