Show Me You Love Me

On April 28, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 23 – 24

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Would you like a test for the maturity of your Christianity? Well, here it is, delivered by Jesus himself. He told his followers, “Hey look, if you are going to be a follower of mine then you must keep my word.” That is why generations upon generations of believers have honored the Bible. If we are true Christians, i.e. followers of Christ, then we evidence, not only a reverence for the Bible but more importantly we follow its precepts and teachings. We are not followers of law but rather we live the Word. The answer is not in feeding the poor and housing widows. That is all good but the unsaved do that also. Those works are from a human ethos and will not buy our way into heaven nor show our love and devotion to Jesus. He said if we love him, we will keep his word.

I would posit that the first step to keeping his word is reading his word. How many “believers” do you know who never pick up the Bible?  Frankly, there is a catastrophic epidemic of non-believing believers. How can we believe if we never read the book? In what do we believe?

The second step is to do what we see there. For example, the Bible teaches us to pray for those who persecute us and mistreat us. Do we do that? There are hundreds of places, literally, in the Bible which tell us not to be afraid. Do we ever battle the fear that attacks us? God said to lay hands on the sick and pray for them. Are we praying for the sick? This is not about perfection, nor about those times we fail. It is about intending to live what we learn from the Bible. Jesus is quite strong on this point. He says that if we do not keep his word then we don’t love him. It is just that simple.

Christian faith doesn’t have to be complicated. Jesus didn’t give us a laundry list of things to do. He gave us one commandment – love others as he himself loved us. Then he said, if you love me, you will keep my word. Honestly, that is pretty simple. If we love him, then we will find out what his word says and keep it in our hearts. If we do not do so then we may well have reason to question whether or not we really do love him. The prayer we prayed for salvation is not a ticket to get into heaven. It is a marriage proposal. And we engage our love through the Word. That’s it. Nothing else will do.

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The Word of the Day

On April 17, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 1: 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

It all began with the Word as all epic quests must. The Word is the power, the beginning and the end. If you are going to undertake any grand project may I recommend that you take a page from God’s playbook? Begin with the Word.     

When God initiated His immense project of creating and populating the earth, He began with the Word. The Word was with Him in the beginning and it was through that Word that everything that was created came into being. Salvation began with the Word also since Jesus is the Word. Thus the Word saved us from eternal hell. Healing begins with the Word. “He sent His Word and healed them” (Psalm 107: 20). Everything begins with the Word.

In my dialogue with God this morning He asked me what the Word means to me. “Well,” I said, “it is salvation and mercy and grace and life and ….” Even as I answered though, I could feel that I wasn’t expressing what it really means to me. You see, when I need to reach God I usually meet Him over the Word the way the priests of old used to meet Him over the mercy seat. I heard the father speak to me. “Don’t answer with your mind. Tell me what is in your heart about the Word.” I stopped and regarded my heart and it took only a moment for this one Word to well up within me. “Love. The Word is love.” Today’s verse tells us that the Word is God and we know from 1 John 4: 8 that God is love. Therefore, the Word is love. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3: 16). So it seems that love is the Word and the Word was sent to us to heal us, save us, redeem, restore and help us. Everything that God is, everything that He wants to do for us is embodied in the Word. That is why the Word is so powerful. It is the power of God in the person of Jesus, our Lord and savior.

It grieves me to see the Word given so little attention at times. Christians and even ministers are not clinging to it as we ought even though our destiny is to be wedded to the Word. How is Jesus to come for his bride when we love not His incarnation in and through the Word? We are abandoning our love and as we do we forsake the blessing and authority that is its substance. If you have not given the Word a prominent space in your life then you are depriving yourself of the victory which is the meat of the Word. Our blessed Father is sending His love to us through His Word. He transmits everything we need through the Word which is alive and came into the earth to save us all. You cannot separate Jesus from the Word. Any attempt to do so results in our disabling the power of Jesus in our lives.

Whatever you do, whatever you are given to do, whether the task be gigantic or commonplace, begin it all with the Word. It is the grace for success in your job, business, marriage, relationships with your children, and every other aspect of life. One word from God can (and will) change your life forever. Get into the book and let God speak His words of encouragement and affection to you. Open your heart and let Him speak His Word directly into your heart. It is with your heart that you first accepted the Word, Jesus, into your life unto salvation. Now let Him speak a new word into your life. Whatever you need, He is right there with the Word to bring it to pass. Be blessed; be filled, in the name of Jesus, our Lord.

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Desert or Oasis

On March 4, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 14: 22

Surely all the men who … have not listened to My voice shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers.

This verse is taken from a piece of a conversation between God and Moses. I have to stop right here in awe of dialoguing with God. That should be a goal for us all and what a privilege it is to get to sit in on this conversation. Anyway, they are discussing the people that God freed from Egyptian slavery and subsequently led to the Promised Land. 

The end of the story is that these people did not get to enter the Promised Land even after travelling for years to reach it. What is going on here? The long and short of it is that you can only enter the land of promise by faith. The reason they didn’t get to go in is because of doubt, they did not listen to God’s voice. We run the same risk when we don’t turn our ears to hearing the voice of the Lord.

Let’s begin simply. The easiest way to hear God speak is simply to pick up the Bible and read it. If a person is unwilling to do that then there is very little any minister or even God Himself can do for them. They are going to die in the desert with their testimony of doubt. Everyone can hear God speaking to them because He has written it down. Let’s keep it simple here. Pick up the book. Read it. No excuses.

We love to look down our noses at the Israelites but many times we are their modern day equivalents. We think, “If I had been there I would have been different.” Well, we are there. Many of us are still wandering around in the desert despite the voices calling out to us. Additionally, consider that they did not have a Bible. Okay, they had a cloud and that is cool but you don’t have to go outside and see if the cloud is still there. You can pick up your Bible and have God speak to you any time you wish. It’s like having a tape recorder with God on it so that all you have to do is press “play” and God begins speaking to you. Wow!

Doesn’t it strike you that these folks followed God around for forty years and yet did not get to enter into the Promised Land? It grieves my heart for them. But then it grieves my heart tremendously today when I see so many people rob themselves of the promises of God. Do you know why the Israelites took 40 years to make an 11 day trip? The answer is exactly the same as to the question, “Why is Jesus taking so long to come back.” He sees us wandering around in doubt and unbelief and he knows if we are confronted with the promise we will not be able to enter in because of our unbelief. God did not take the Israelites the most direct route because of the littleness of their faith. He knew that would fall immediately. So He led them around in the desert; feeding them manna from heaven, water from rocks, meeting their every need and answering their every complaint. He went before them in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night, His very presence with them at all times. He showed them miracle upon miracle trying to build their faith. However, when they reached the goal and surveyed the land of promise their report was full of doubt. Love couldn’t let them go in because they would have destroyed themselves. So, God had to wait to raise up another generation, a generation that could go forth in faith and take possession of the land which God had already given them.

Let the report about our generation be different. Let us end the desert years and go boldly into the Promised Land. There is so much the Father has for us if we can but listen to Him and do what He says. We all need to hear the voice of God and that is available to each of us but the Israelites did not fail to enter in because they did not hear the voice of God. They failed because they did not listen to God. They didn’t attend to His word. It really is that simple. They didn’t give it the proper weight in their lives and they did not act according to the Word of God. We can be different. With just a little effort and faith as small as a mustard seed we revolutionize our experience and our environment. We can be the generation that believed. Read the Word, listen to what God is saying to us and be a believer.

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Holy Helpers

On March 2, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 1: 4          NIV

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

I have been trying to learn something about angels. Charity Kayembe wrote a nice piece on angels that stimulated me into thinking about them. You can find her angel article at www.cwgministries.org.

After Jesus was tested by Satan the text reads, “Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him” (Matthew 4: 11). Isn’t that interesting? It seems that one of the jobs of angels is to minister to the children of God. To minister to means to attend to the needs or wants of another. The angels are sent to attend to our needs and wants. This definition begins to describe their role for me. Until now, though, I have largely ignored their role and I believe that to be error. Angels are sent into the earth to help us. We don’t pray to them. We only pray to the Father in Jesus’ name but that is not to say that we can’t talk to them. I usually pray to the Father about them. I ask Him to station His angels around my property and to guard me while I travel. You can do the same thing.

Another thing to note is that angels are not little babies. They are big dudes! How would a little baby minister to your needs? I need strong warriors not infants and that is exactly what God sends. Look at this description of angels from Psalm 103: 20, “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, which perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” They are mighty in strength! Hallelujah! When the Roman guard went to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and hacked off the ear of one of the Roman soldiers. Jesus told him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26: 52 – 53).  He certainly was not imagining the Father sending 72,000 babies and I quite imagine that the idea of a pack of cherubs would not have comforted Peter and the disciples.

We need to get an accurate portrayal in our minds and spirits of these ministering spirits. They are powerful and they are sent to help us. But there is another key which we find in Psalm 103: 20. Did you notice the phrase, “obeying His word”? This is an extremely important and potent phrase and if we understand it we can really loose some power on our behalf. It means that the angels, those big dudes who are mighty in strength, hearken to the Word. Selah! Let’s stop and ponder that thought. Can you see all of scripture and the hundreds of devotionals you’ve read in your life all coming together in that one simple phrase? There is a powerful reason why ministers of the gospel have been teaching us to meditate in the Word and to follow that up by speaking the Word. Every time you speak the Word over a situation angels hearken to it. They are attracted to the Word of God.  In fact, they love the Word of God because they have a revelation about it. Conversely, notice that the scriptures do not say that the angels hearken to our whining and crying. We can moan and groan until the cows come home but it will do us no good. The angels are warriors who fight on our behalf but they need their marching orders. It is the Word of God which empowers and directs their actions. God said, “I am watching over My word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1: 12). When we speak His Word it releases His angels into our situation. I believe if we can receive even a small understanding of this dynamic it will change our lives and habits.

The Word is the sword of the spirit and the angels are spiritual warriors. They are ministers sent to attend to the needs and wants of the children. When you speak God’s Word you give them something to work with. Get to know your angels and start expecting them to help you. And every time you read your Bible just think that you are arming yourself with might and power. Then speak that Word into your life and allow God’s ministering spirits to move mountains for you.

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To Catch a Thief

On January 30, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 6: 31

Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry, but when he is found he must repay sevenfold.

The devil is a thief. Jesus said that he comes only to steal, kill and destroy (John 10: 10). If he is caught, though, he also must repay seven times. That is the law by which he is bound. He is not allowed to run around stealing from you. Jesus has already defeated the devil. We are not awaiting some battle that is going to take place. It is done. Jesus went into hell and took the keys of death, hell and the grave. Everything that the devil ever had is now under Jesus’ feet and therefore under our feet. How long, then are we going to allow the devil to steal from us?

The problem that I often have is that I wait for God to do something when the power of the Almighty is alive inside me. Jesus said to speak to the mountain (Mark 11: 23); he didn’t tell us to pray about it. That’s kinda tough. I am supposed to do something about the situations of my life. I am supposed to wield this power. I would rather whine to Dad and Him do something about it but He says, “I have, I have done it all. I have given you everything you need. Now go forth and use the sword I gave you.” “Oh yeah,” I think, “I have the Word and the Word has already whipped the devil.” The Word is in my heart and now it must be in my mouth. I have to say something.

No one said there was anything comfortable about this. In fact, many of our churches don’t teach us this so we kind of look like deer in the headlights when we hear this message. Kenneth Hagin spent 50 years of ministry teaching people to speak to their mountains. I guess it is time we start talking. Speak protection over your family and belongings. Cover everything with the shed blood of Jesus. Then start telling your mountains to jump in the sea.

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Length of Days

On January 29, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 1 – 2

My son, do not forget my teaching but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you.

Proverbs is one of my favorite books of the Bible and this has long been one of my favorite proverbs. However, now that I am studying the heart I am hearing everything differently. Before when I have read or even when I have meditated on this scripture I have focused on “keeping His commandments” and the benefit that confers onto me. However, that isn’t really what this passage says. It doesn’t say for me to keep the commandments but rather for my heart to keep them. Why the distinction? Well, anything else would be a work of the flesh. Keeping the commandments might make me a good Pharisee but my heart keeping them makes me a good Christian or “friend of Christ” which is my definition of Christianity.

We can help ourselves to remember His teaching by continuing in Bible study. To keep it in our hearts requires us to spend some time with our hearts. We have learned that God has inscribed the entirety of His word on our hearts as part of the New Covenant which we have become a party to through the new birth. However, there is an uncovering or a discovery of all that is written there that must take place in order for us to actually keep His Word with our hearts. Head knowledge is not going to satisfy the condition precedent for the promise that God has given us in this passage. In order to have fullness of days and length of years we must keep the Word with our hearts. That first means falling in love with Jesus since He is the Word and then it means going into our hearts where God resides and allowing that Word to be revealed in the heart library. It must become real to our hearts and we must guard and keep it with our hearts rather than our brains for it to have power. Everything else is just, as one friend calls it, intellectual Christianity; fun for your brain and intellect but without life and power. The Holy Spirit doesn’t live in your brain.

God isn’t promising to do something for us if we will do what He says. He is teaching us that long life is the natural byproduct of keeping His statutes with our hearts. He isn’t so much giving a promise here as showing cause and effect. When you worship God through and with your heart you touch all that He is and when you do that, your life is always improved. So, open up the library vault of your heart through your discovery of the Word of God. Meditate therein until the indelible ink of God has saturated your being. Then all manner of blessing will flow from it.

You thought this was going to be a devotional on healing, didn’t you? Well, it is. To your good health ….

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Treasure Trove

On January 26, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

 Psalm 119: 161- 162

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Thy words. I rejoice at Thy word as one who finds great spoil.

The value of the Word of God, it cannot be overestimated. It has life and healing in it, but what, really, is the Word of God? Or stated differently, is the Bible synonymous with the Word of God?

I do not believe it is. To me the Bible is the physical replication of the Word of God. I do believe it is sacred text but the text alone is not what gives life to our bones. It is the living word that contains the miracle working power. At its most fundamental level the Word is Jesus (John 1: 14). At the highest level I would say that “The Word” is every pronouncement of God. It is every utterance that has ever proceeded from God’s lips. The question for us is what does any of this mean for my life, for our lives here in the earth? Understanding that the Bible is a recordation of God’s word is important. We actually have access to God’s diary. Think about that a moment. Now, let’s go to the next step. When we read the Bible we are just reading black text on a white page unless we allow the next level of engagement to manifest. That is where we recognize that the words that we read can be lifted off of the page. They can be ingested as the staff of life. No longer are they simple words but now they carry the voice of God. They are language but spoken language rather than written. We begin to hear the Father’s voice in our ear and in our spirits speaking life to us.

Then comes the next level of God’s Word to us. Not only do we hear His voice in the pages of the Bible but then we begin to hear His voice speaking to us about our lives. This is not a departure from the Bible or from the “Word of God” but rather an extension of same. God takes His heart, which is revealed so transparently in His word, and extends those principles to our specific life circumstances. They still are “The Word” and in a sense they still are the Bible because God will never, ever tell you anything that contradicts with the Bible. I just don’t think He has stopped speaking. He is still filling pages with His word. Maybe in the years to come, after the rapture, there will be a third testament. Perhaps some of us will have the job of compiling a new text. I don’t know but the point is that God is alive and He is still speaking. Not only that, but even the Bible is not in stasis. It breathes and speaks. God’s word is alive. Don’t think of His word as just a compiled book that we call the Holy Bible. Think of it as His breath leaving His mouth and breathing new life onto you. You can go into the pages of that book and the next thing you know it has jumped off of the page and is shouting joyous good news. It is dancing in your room and praising God.  

The Word of God is alive and it is precious. It is health and liberty, victory and life. We rejoice because God has given us His word but He isn’t done yet either. Listen to what He will speak to you today either through the Bible or whispered in your ear. Either way it is time to celebrate the Word of God.

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