Numbers 23:19-20 (NIV)
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? 20 I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
Within this powerful story of Balaam is found some of the greatness Words in the Old Testament. Here are the Words of Him who is faithful and true. Here, God through Balaam declares His character and nature. He gives us a glimpse of who He is and why we should trust Him. He isn’t like humankind who breaks promises, He will fulfill whatever He has promised. That is the promise of promises! There are so many promises that we are under and God says He will fulfill them all! What about when we don’t see them being fulfilled? Stretch out in faith and speak the Word of God – it won’t return void but will accomplish its purpose!
When God blesses something or someone, we are hard pressed to do anything but bless. When God’s mouth speaks blessing, when His purpose is to bless and He has set His hand to do it, then blessing will flow! We cannot change it! His command is His command and we can only obey His command to speak what He speaks. So, we will bless and give blessings on those God has blessed – why work against God?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
April 10
Psalm 84:1-2 (NIV)
1How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalm 84:4 (NIV)
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
How awesome is this Psalm! It is so true! For those who have never basked in His Presence or don’t understand why people like myself love to worship Him, please read this Psalm! Where else is the peace and joy and love and encouragement and…? Everything is found in Him, so doesn’t it make sense that if you just dwell in His Presence that you would have everything! Ahh, but so few know how to dwell in His Presence and people are afraid of what may happen. Could strange things happen in His Presence – well it did for Peter – but let’s not talk about that.
How do I get in His Presence. First I clear my mind of everything else. In fact I have a pad of paper so when things pop into my mind, I write them down to clear them out. Second, I spend TIME with God, talking, singing, dancing, listening and being creative with God. Third, I allow enough time for His Presence to permeate my being. The wonderful “feelings” of being in His Presence don’t come all the time, but He is worth my time, my effort, my creativeness period. I never have regrets getting in His Presence. Why do people spend hours praying and worshipping the Lord everyday?
Psalm 84:10 (NIV)
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
1How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalm 84:4 (NIV)
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
How awesome is this Psalm! It is so true! For those who have never basked in His Presence or don’t understand why people like myself love to worship Him, please read this Psalm! Where else is the peace and joy and love and encouragement and…? Everything is found in Him, so doesn’t it make sense that if you just dwell in His Presence that you would have everything! Ahh, but so few know how to dwell in His Presence and people are afraid of what may happen. Could strange things happen in His Presence – well it did for Peter – but let’s not talk about that.
How do I get in His Presence. First I clear my mind of everything else. In fact I have a pad of paper so when things pop into my mind, I write them down to clear them out. Second, I spend TIME with God, talking, singing, dancing, listening and being creative with God. Third, I allow enough time for His Presence to permeate my being. The wonderful “feelings” of being in His Presence don’t come all the time, but He is worth my time, my effort, my creativeness period. I never have regrets getting in His Presence. Why do people spend hours praying and worshipping the Lord everyday?
Psalm 84:10 (NIV)
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
April 9
1 Corinthians 10:5-6 (NIV)
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
I hope that you, like me, are thoroughly convinced that the sacrifice and blood of Jesus our complete Savior has completely removed our sins of past, present and future – forever! So the verse in Romans, “the wages of sin is death…” would not apply, in context, to my life since I am IN Christ. However, that doesn’t mean the sin doesn’t bring death. Here we see a very sobering concept that is brought right into the New Covenant. We cannot go on sinning and expect for death to stay far from our lives. Let me give you an example.
If a spouse commits adultery there is a lot of death that will follow. There will be a death (even if the marriage is resurrected) to the marital relationship, there will be a death between the children and the offending spouse, there will be a death to the ministry of the offending spouse and finally there will be a death that happens in the soul of the offender. Sin equals death and we see that in the example of the children of Israel. We cannot go on sinning and think that death will not creep in to those areas and then quickly spread throughout our lives. One of my observations is that some of the “lesser” sins caused the death of thousands. Slander and grumbling topped the list on sins that cost the people dearly. Beloved, we need not be afraid to lose our salvation, but we should fear God because He taught us that these things bring death – He paid dearly for our life – to have life – more abundant life – choose life!
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
I hope that you, like me, are thoroughly convinced that the sacrifice and blood of Jesus our complete Savior has completely removed our sins of past, present and future – forever! So the verse in Romans, “the wages of sin is death…” would not apply, in context, to my life since I am IN Christ. However, that doesn’t mean the sin doesn’t bring death. Here we see a very sobering concept that is brought right into the New Covenant. We cannot go on sinning and expect for death to stay far from our lives. Let me give you an example.
If a spouse commits adultery there is a lot of death that will follow. There will be a death (even if the marriage is resurrected) to the marital relationship, there will be a death between the children and the offending spouse, there will be a death to the ministry of the offending spouse and finally there will be a death that happens in the soul of the offender. Sin equals death and we see that in the example of the children of Israel. We cannot go on sinning and think that death will not creep in to those areas and then quickly spread throughout our lives. One of my observations is that some of the “lesser” sins caused the death of thousands. Slander and grumbling topped the list on sins that cost the people dearly. Beloved, we need not be afraid to lose our salvation, but we should fear God because He taught us that these things bring death – He paid dearly for our life – to have life – more abundant life – choose life!
Friday, April 8, 2011
April 8
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Do you see the toughness in these verses? It reminds me of the toughness that God put in man from the beginning of time and all the way through the winning of the west of America and even until the last great war – WWII. Somehow after that something has happened to America and it has become like gangrene in our churches. The toughness of God has got to come back to the American church! It may be that the only way that it happens is persecution!
However, since we have an inward helper, a powerful and mighty working that IS God, we can be changed! We can all be champions! We can compete and win with a take no prisoners attitude. It takes intentionality to be a champion. We just can’t let life take us and live from day to day to “make it”. There is a discipline that comes from God that IS the toughness that will bring our “natural” (now unnatural in the Spirit) inclination of giving in or giving up to the submission of pressing through to get all of God and to live all of the life that He has ordained us for. We can be – in fact we are people who DO beat our bodies into submission. We are people who run to get the prize, who can’t be stopped, who do not hesitate, who are in strict training! If we are not, we will not deny the new man within ourselves! Don’t deny it! You ARE a champion – do the training!
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Do you see the toughness in these verses? It reminds me of the toughness that God put in man from the beginning of time and all the way through the winning of the west of America and even until the last great war – WWII. Somehow after that something has happened to America and it has become like gangrene in our churches. The toughness of God has got to come back to the American church! It may be that the only way that it happens is persecution!
However, since we have an inward helper, a powerful and mighty working that IS God, we can be changed! We can all be champions! We can compete and win with a take no prisoners attitude. It takes intentionality to be a champion. We just can’t let life take us and live from day to day to “make it”. There is a discipline that comes from God that IS the toughness that will bring our “natural” (now unnatural in the Spirit) inclination of giving in or giving up to the submission of pressing through to get all of God and to live all of the life that He has ordained us for. We can be – in fact we are people who DO beat our bodies into submission. We are people who run to get the prize, who can’t be stopped, who do not hesitate, who are in strict training! If we are not, we will not deny the new man within ourselves! Don’t deny it! You ARE a champion – do the training!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
April 7
Psalm 73:2-3 (NIV)
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Do you ever find yourself like the Psalmist, envying the rich? It is so easy to look upon the people of this world that have “made it”, that aren’t struggling right now in this economy, that still spend money on all sorts of non essentials, and think that their life is great. It is easy to envy people with means and desire to be in their shoes. But Asaph (the writer) says that when he was developing this attitude, (based on what he could see and the principles of this world), he came to his senses and saw that the end of the rich and wicked wasn’t a good one, and he compared it to his end which was good. We see Aspah looking spiritually at things and that it was keeps his foot from slipping. He almost slipped, but didn’t, because he came to an eternal perspective.
The rich and famous of our day, the Hollywood stars, the sports stars and even the business stars are no one to be envied if they don’t know Christ. What else means more than having Christ in this life and the next? We have got to turn our eyes of this world and on to the next. Do we envy a star like Charlie Sheen? We see that his arrogance has overtaken him and is bringing him to personal ruin. All the wicked and arrogant, no matter how rich will come to the same end.
Instead of envying them, how about being super thankful for your relationship with Christ. Of course we are to ask for our needs to be fulfilled and even more than that, we ask for more in order to live a life a giving, but who really cares about “those people” who are this societies “haves”. I would rather be a “have not” (which is impossible in heaven’s opinion) with Christ that a “have” without Christ. Is there a place to “have” it all? NO! Do you understand what I mean – do you agree or disagree?
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Do you ever find yourself like the Psalmist, envying the rich? It is so easy to look upon the people of this world that have “made it”, that aren’t struggling right now in this economy, that still spend money on all sorts of non essentials, and think that their life is great. It is easy to envy people with means and desire to be in their shoes. But Asaph (the writer) says that when he was developing this attitude, (based on what he could see and the principles of this world), he came to his senses and saw that the end of the rich and wicked wasn’t a good one, and he compared it to his end which was good. We see Aspah looking spiritually at things and that it was keeps his foot from slipping. He almost slipped, but didn’t, because he came to an eternal perspective.
The rich and famous of our day, the Hollywood stars, the sports stars and even the business stars are no one to be envied if they don’t know Christ. What else means more than having Christ in this life and the next? We have got to turn our eyes of this world and on to the next. Do we envy a star like Charlie Sheen? We see that his arrogance has overtaken him and is bringing him to personal ruin. All the wicked and arrogant, no matter how rich will come to the same end.
Instead of envying them, how about being super thankful for your relationship with Christ. Of course we are to ask for our needs to be fulfilled and even more than that, we ask for more in order to live a life a giving, but who really cares about “those people” who are this societies “haves”. I would rather be a “have not” (which is impossible in heaven’s opinion) with Christ that a “have” without Christ. Is there a place to “have” it all? NO! Do you understand what I mean – do you agree or disagree?
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
April 6
Numbers 16:3 (NIV)
3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”
We know that the people of Israel did a lot of grumbling. Here they grumble against Moses and Aaron and its a particularly awful thing because of the challenge to who the leaders of these people really were. This was a major breakdown in the line of communication of the Lord’s directive by His chosen instrument. Their questioning in the above verse was God. It is a direct insult to God when He is the one who set up the leadership in any organization and especially in the people of Israel. As we read this chapter, we can see that those leaders and their follows – and they had plenty of them – ultimately met a radical end. After that the whole community rose against Moses and Aaron and God had to send a plague to stop the rebellion. Thousands of people died as a result of this rebellion.
We can see a type of death today in people who challenge God. We don’t want to have any authority except ourselves. Even though we don’t live under a “Moses model”, there are leaders and elders that God has put in our lives to help us. When we reject that guidance and bluntly, authority, we set ourselves up to experience more pain and plagues in our lives. God’s attitude should really cause us to pause and think about how we talk about the leaders in our church and the leaders in the church. There is no way that we can have unity with one another without grumbling, complaining and rebellion against God’s ways being a thing of the past. If you think about it, God gives us people in our lives to enrich us – our mentors, our pastors, our leaders and given to us to enrich us. Why do we reject that?
3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”
We know that the people of Israel did a lot of grumbling. Here they grumble against Moses and Aaron and its a particularly awful thing because of the challenge to who the leaders of these people really were. This was a major breakdown in the line of communication of the Lord’s directive by His chosen instrument. Their questioning in the above verse was God. It is a direct insult to God when He is the one who set up the leadership in any organization and especially in the people of Israel. As we read this chapter, we can see that those leaders and their follows – and they had plenty of them – ultimately met a radical end. After that the whole community rose against Moses and Aaron and God had to send a plague to stop the rebellion. Thousands of people died as a result of this rebellion.
We can see a type of death today in people who challenge God. We don’t want to have any authority except ourselves. Even though we don’t live under a “Moses model”, there are leaders and elders that God has put in our lives to help us. When we reject that guidance and bluntly, authority, we set ourselves up to experience more pain and plagues in our lives. God’s attitude should really cause us to pause and think about how we talk about the leaders in our church and the leaders in the church. There is no way that we can have unity with one another without grumbling, complaining and rebellion against God’s ways being a thing of the past. If you think about it, God gives us people in our lives to enrich us – our mentors, our pastors, our leaders and given to us to enrich us. Why do we reject that?
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
April 5
Psalm 31:23-24 (NIV)
23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. 24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
It is our task to be strong in the conviction of God’s faithfulness. We have to be convinced and I do believe that most of the onus is on us. The tendency to degenerate and “float” in life cannot be accepted as o.k. If I want to preserver through difficult times I have got to understand God’s faithfulness. When we have a grasp of that, then we can be strong and we can take heart.
There are several ways that we can understand the faithfulness of God. First of all we can be in one difficult circumstance after another and see God come through. I don’t think that this can be totally avoided, yet I think that we could not be in so many difficult circumstances if we would learn the lessons we are suppose to get. The second way is to know God through His Word. It is an amazing thing – the Word of God. We have a great opportunity to know God through His Word which we are so richly blessed with.
God, help us not to drift away from the knowledge of your faithfulness without trouble. Keep us close to you. We desire to be strong in heart and mind.
23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. 24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
It is our task to be strong in the conviction of God’s faithfulness. We have to be convinced and I do believe that most of the onus is on us. The tendency to degenerate and “float” in life cannot be accepted as o.k. If I want to preserver through difficult times I have got to understand God’s faithfulness. When we have a grasp of that, then we can be strong and we can take heart.
There are several ways that we can understand the faithfulness of God. First of all we can be in one difficult circumstance after another and see God come through. I don’t think that this can be totally avoided, yet I think that we could not be in so many difficult circumstances if we would learn the lessons we are suppose to get. The second way is to know God through His Word. It is an amazing thing – the Word of God. We have a great opportunity to know God through His Word which we are so richly blessed with.
God, help us not to drift away from the knowledge of your faithfulness without trouble. Keep us close to you. We desire to be strong in heart and mind.
Monday, April 4, 2011
April 4
1 Cor. 5:11
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
At first read this may seem a little to strict. After all how about the humanity of believers? If you think this, I have some good news and some bad news. First the good news!
The good news is that this isn't talking about somebody who "slips" up or has a momentary lapse from their walk with the Lord. This is talking about people who call themselves Christians and not only don't walk the walk, but continue, without reservation, being sexually immoral, greedy... This all started (the discussion) with Paul rebuking the church for allowing a man who is having sexual relations with his step mother to continue on like nothing abnormal is happening. The point is that if we act like it is no big deal then the person who is caught in that sin will continue to ruin himself. Obviously we should not just stop talking to a person like this, but in the name of Love we should approach them, reprove them and pray for them (lovingly). Yet if that doesn't work, here is the bad news, we MUST not fellowship with them. We cannot go on acting like nothing is happening. If someone was a rapist or a murderer or a drug dealer, we would disfellowship him right away with no problem. Somehow the Spirit of God thinks that drunkards, swindlers, slanders and fornicators... deserve the same treatment. It is our task to bring the Kingdom of God into their lives - how - stop eating with them.
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
At first read this may seem a little to strict. After all how about the humanity of believers? If you think this, I have some good news and some bad news. First the good news!
The good news is that this isn't talking about somebody who "slips" up or has a momentary lapse from their walk with the Lord. This is talking about people who call themselves Christians and not only don't walk the walk, but continue, without reservation, being sexually immoral, greedy... This all started (the discussion) with Paul rebuking the church for allowing a man who is having sexual relations with his step mother to continue on like nothing abnormal is happening. The point is that if we act like it is no big deal then the person who is caught in that sin will continue to ruin himself. Obviously we should not just stop talking to a person like this, but in the name of Love we should approach them, reprove them and pray for them (lovingly). Yet if that doesn't work, here is the bad news, we MUST not fellowship with them. We cannot go on acting like nothing is happening. If someone was a rapist or a murderer or a drug dealer, we would disfellowship him right away with no problem. Somehow the Spirit of God thinks that drunkards, swindlers, slanders and fornicators... deserve the same treatment. It is our task to bring the Kingdom of God into their lives - how - stop eating with them.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
April 3
1 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NIV)
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
I stumbled upon this during a recent study session. Isn’t it funny how you can read a book dozens or more times and miss something so wonderful as this illuminating truth?!
I want to be like Paul! I want to care very little if I am judged by people in the church or outside the church. “Water of a ducks back” would be a fitting saying to aspire to as it seems here that the Apostle has nearly mastered it. When I think about why it is difficult for me the only conclusion that I can come up with is that I care too much about what others think. What a trap! As this verse goes on it talks about Paul not judging himself either! I see the freedom in this way of life and I want it – do you? His conscience is clear because he understands what Christ died for. He has determined to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and that has propelled him to a life that lacks judgment on him. He is aware that God judges him, but he trusts God be true and faithful. There is much more here, but suffice to say – stop judging yourself, care little about what others say, and live your life to the Lord.
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
I stumbled upon this during a recent study session. Isn’t it funny how you can read a book dozens or more times and miss something so wonderful as this illuminating truth?!
I want to be like Paul! I want to care very little if I am judged by people in the church or outside the church. “Water of a ducks back” would be a fitting saying to aspire to as it seems here that the Apostle has nearly mastered it. When I think about why it is difficult for me the only conclusion that I can come up with is that I care too much about what others think. What a trap! As this verse goes on it talks about Paul not judging himself either! I see the freedom in this way of life and I want it – do you? His conscience is clear because he understands what Christ died for. He has determined to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and that has propelled him to a life that lacks judgment on him. He is aware that God judges him, but he trusts God be true and faithful. There is much more here, but suffice to say – stop judging yourself, care little about what others say, and live your life to the Lord.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
April 2
Numbers 9:23 (NIV)
23 At the LORD’s command they encamped, and at the LORD’s command they set out. They obeyed the LORD’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.
Do you long to live like this like I do? My desire is to be guided by God and not by schedule, others, need, desire or anything else. When God says stay a while, then stay a while, when God says move on, then move on. Do you ever stay a while and later because of what happens in the crunch of the time of that day think, “did I stay too long with God?” Is that possible? We are people who desire to be where God wants us to be, but how do you know?
In this chapter of Numbers it was easy! If the cloud settled (yes a visible cloud by day that turned into a fireball of sorts at night), then God’s people settled and if the cloud moved out then the people moved out – simple right? Are you wishing for those days? Although I think there is something to the “seeing” in the spirit realm, we certainly have the spirit of God within us to tell us where to go and when to go there or how long to stay where we are. Our fundamental problem is that we are not tuned into the Spirit of God whose temple we are. We still decide things based on our knowledge and wisdom. First you have to believe that God wants to give you the knowledge of when are where to go or stay, and then you have to seek it. His Word says that if you seek, you will find – and certainly this applies to the direction of our daily lives that we have given to God’s rule (“Lord” our decision maker). You CAN hear the Spirit of God, you CAN know His will for you! He HAS and WILL reveal it to you. Why would He hold it back?
23 At the LORD’s command they encamped, and at the LORD’s command they set out. They obeyed the LORD’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.
Do you long to live like this like I do? My desire is to be guided by God and not by schedule, others, need, desire or anything else. When God says stay a while, then stay a while, when God says move on, then move on. Do you ever stay a while and later because of what happens in the crunch of the time of that day think, “did I stay too long with God?” Is that possible? We are people who desire to be where God wants us to be, but how do you know?
In this chapter of Numbers it was easy! If the cloud settled (yes a visible cloud by day that turned into a fireball of sorts at night), then God’s people settled and if the cloud moved out then the people moved out – simple right? Are you wishing for those days? Although I think there is something to the “seeing” in the spirit realm, we certainly have the spirit of God within us to tell us where to go and when to go there or how long to stay where we are. Our fundamental problem is that we are not tuned into the Spirit of God whose temple we are. We still decide things based on our knowledge and wisdom. First you have to believe that God wants to give you the knowledge of when are where to go or stay, and then you have to seek it. His Word says that if you seek, you will find – and certainly this applies to the direction of our daily lives that we have given to God’s rule (“Lord” our decision maker). You CAN hear the Spirit of God, you CAN know His will for you! He HAS and WILL reveal it to you. Why would He hold it back?
Friday, April 1, 2011
April 1
1 Corinthians 2:4 (NIV)
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
One of the big questions that I hear often is; “why don’t we see more miracles?” Contained in this chapter is one of the reasons for that as well as a guiding principle of our way of life.
The answer is probably on the tip of your tongue right now. We don’t have the gospel preached like this anymore. The American Gospel is full of good works and morality, it is full of the love of God, but as far as power – not so much. There is a power in the preaching, a function of the Holy Spirit to empower the message and to prophetically speak to people, that is much more common, but as far as a demonstration (to show off, to prove by convincing proof), not so much. Why did this happen and when did it happen and how do we change it?
It has happened many times throughout the ages since Christ and not just in America! I believe that verse 14 is the key to why it happened. First of all people don’t understand walking (a way of life) in the Spirit. They have traded in walking in the Spirit for living a good moral life and it is NOT the same! The Spirit will empower you to live morally, obviously, but there is so much more! There is a life of miraculous power that flows from the Spirit to do much more than live right and I don’t think I have to explain it to you. Secondly, we have traded in the Spirit of God for the wisdom of this world! We want to appeal to the masses, so we have taken away anything that may offend people, like the power of the Holy Spirit. We have not wanted to appear “kooky” or “fanatical”, so we have sophisticated our church services to appeal to the world. Now of course we use all kinds of things like fog machines to appeal. In my thinking some appeal would be fine, but NEVER to the removal of the demonstration of the power of God. It is the preaching with the power that Jesus exemplified and that we seek after.
Oh God, come and visit us! Release your power on us oh Lord. We want to be a people who show you off to the world! We don’t care if it looks crazy, we are crazy for you and not ashamed to be sold out for you.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
One of the big questions that I hear often is; “why don’t we see more miracles?” Contained in this chapter is one of the reasons for that as well as a guiding principle of our way of life.
The answer is probably on the tip of your tongue right now. We don’t have the gospel preached like this anymore. The American Gospel is full of good works and morality, it is full of the love of God, but as far as power – not so much. There is a power in the preaching, a function of the Holy Spirit to empower the message and to prophetically speak to people, that is much more common, but as far as a demonstration (to show off, to prove by convincing proof), not so much. Why did this happen and when did it happen and how do we change it?
It has happened many times throughout the ages since Christ and not just in America! I believe that verse 14 is the key to why it happened. First of all people don’t understand walking (a way of life) in the Spirit. They have traded in walking in the Spirit for living a good moral life and it is NOT the same! The Spirit will empower you to live morally, obviously, but there is so much more! There is a life of miraculous power that flows from the Spirit to do much more than live right and I don’t think I have to explain it to you. Secondly, we have traded in the Spirit of God for the wisdom of this world! We want to appeal to the masses, so we have taken away anything that may offend people, like the power of the Holy Spirit. We have not wanted to appear “kooky” or “fanatical”, so we have sophisticated our church services to appeal to the world. Now of course we use all kinds of things like fog machines to appeal. In my thinking some appeal would be fine, but NEVER to the removal of the demonstration of the power of God. It is the preaching with the power that Jesus exemplified and that we seek after.
Oh God, come and visit us! Release your power on us oh Lord. We want to be a people who show you off to the world! We don’t care if it looks crazy, we are crazy for you and not ashamed to be sold out for you.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
March 31
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
I think sometimes that we would rather talk about whether we should worship with hymns or modern worship songs than talk about the cross of Christ. What I mean is that we are so easily drawn away from the central message of the Gospel by so many other issues. Actually, I was surprised to learn that the debate still rages about the style of worship. Really? Is that what the academia of Christianity is still talking about?
The central message of the Gospel has to do with the invasion of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus said it all the time, “if I cast out a demon by the finger of God then the Kingdom of God has come upon you”. The centrality of this powerful reign of God on earth is the cross of Christ. Through the cross we enter into – everything! All the promises, the forgiveness, the power, the ministry, the advancement of the Kingdom are all done to us and through us because of the cross. We take communion to remind us of the cross, of what a great sacrifice of love it was and what great benefits it brought to us.
So if I align myself with the cross and its proclamation, do I become a fool for Christ? Do I become foolish in the site of this world? Probably – yes. The question is, who do we want to be considered wise by? The world or God Almighty? To the world I may be considered weak and a fool, that is o.k., God considers me His son. It’s a good trade.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
I think sometimes that we would rather talk about whether we should worship with hymns or modern worship songs than talk about the cross of Christ. What I mean is that we are so easily drawn away from the central message of the Gospel by so many other issues. Actually, I was surprised to learn that the debate still rages about the style of worship. Really? Is that what the academia of Christianity is still talking about?
The central message of the Gospel has to do with the invasion of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus said it all the time, “if I cast out a demon by the finger of God then the Kingdom of God has come upon you”. The centrality of this powerful reign of God on earth is the cross of Christ. Through the cross we enter into – everything! All the promises, the forgiveness, the power, the ministry, the advancement of the Kingdom are all done to us and through us because of the cross. We take communion to remind us of the cross, of what a great sacrifice of love it was and what great benefits it brought to us.
So if I align myself with the cross and its proclamation, do I become a fool for Christ? Do I become foolish in the site of this world? Probably – yes. The question is, who do we want to be considered wise by? The world or God Almighty? To the world I may be considered weak and a fool, that is o.k., God considers me His son. It’s a good trade.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
March 30
Psalm 21:6 (NIV)
6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
There are several kinds of eternal blessings. Of course eternity is an eternal blessing. Living forever sounds great especially when you consider the alternative! The older I get the more I thirst to live forever. He truly has put eternity in our hearts.
There is another kind of eternal blessing, the blessing that runs from here to eternity. Those blessings that are from the very throne of God like joy that are an eternal reality. The joy in heaven cannot be accurately written about because of its immensity. There is a vein of this joy that we can experience on this earth and it runs all the way to eternity. The Psalmist talks about the king being glad because of the joy that God is giving him. The joy is found in God’s presence! Why all the talk lately about His presence? Part of it is found right here.
If we long for the eternal things rather than the temporal things, one of the things we long for is the joy of the Lord which is not like a fleeting happiness that is dependent of the circumstances. This joy is found in His presence and we will see more evidence of this as we read through the Psalms and as we get in His presence. What we need is found in Him and one of the things we MUST have is His joy because as Nehemiah tells us, “it is our strength.” You get the joy by being in His presence. It doesn’t come from “doing” anything, not even studying the Word of God. It comes from His presence.
Lest you end this devotion thinking that I just said that the Word of God isn’t effective, that is not what I said. When you use the Living Word of God as a text book, you hinder what God can minister to you through it. When you read and dwell IN it like you are looking for treasure and listening for God’s Word for you, His lesson for you, His life for you, then the Word will propel you INTO His presence.
6 Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
There are several kinds of eternal blessings. Of course eternity is an eternal blessing. Living forever sounds great especially when you consider the alternative! The older I get the more I thirst to live forever. He truly has put eternity in our hearts.
There is another kind of eternal blessing, the blessing that runs from here to eternity. Those blessings that are from the very throne of God like joy that are an eternal reality. The joy in heaven cannot be accurately written about because of its immensity. There is a vein of this joy that we can experience on this earth and it runs all the way to eternity. The Psalmist talks about the king being glad because of the joy that God is giving him. The joy is found in God’s presence! Why all the talk lately about His presence? Part of it is found right here.
If we long for the eternal things rather than the temporal things, one of the things we long for is the joy of the Lord which is not like a fleeting happiness that is dependent of the circumstances. This joy is found in His presence and we will see more evidence of this as we read through the Psalms and as we get in His presence. What we need is found in Him and one of the things we MUST have is His joy because as Nehemiah tells us, “it is our strength.” You get the joy by being in His presence. It doesn’t come from “doing” anything, not even studying the Word of God. It comes from His presence.
Lest you end this devotion thinking that I just said that the Word of God isn’t effective, that is not what I said. When you use the Living Word of God as a text book, you hinder what God can minister to you through it. When you read and dwell IN it like you are looking for treasure and listening for God’s Word for you, His lesson for you, His life for you, then the Word will propel you INTO His presence.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
March 29
John 20:27-29 (NIV)
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Doubt and belief. There was, in the written Word of God, the prophecy of what would happen to Jesus and that He would raise from the dead, but even those who followed Him closely didn’t get it. These guys DID believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but they didn’t interpret the Scripture correctly which especially in Thomas’ case, caused a GREAT doubt. Even after others told Thomas that they had seen Jesus and touched Jesus, Thomas remained resolute in his doubt. In fact he declared that he would NOT BELIEVE until he saw Jesus himself and touched him with his own hands.
Is this what we have become in the western church? Unless we experience it, see it, feel it for ourselves, we won’t believe? Just like in the days of Jesus, the Jews missed the fact of Jesus being the Messiah because they didn’t think He would come that way, some people are missing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit because they don’t think He would come that way. I am not saying that our church is experiencing an “outpouring”, but it sure is experiencing something of an increased presence of the Spirit! When any other ministry or persons have great signs and wonders in their life or ministry, do we have to see it to believe it? Do we automatically assume that it isn’t true or real even when we have people we know who have experienced it?
As I write I feel the presence of the Spirit on me. My body is quivering under His power. Is it true? I can tell you that it is true and more than that I encourage all of us to not be like Thomas. He is not our example. We are people who walk in the Spirit and live, move and have our being in Him. We are not doubters, we are believers! We will not succumb to cleaver schemes of the evil one or man to be draw away from God because we have the discernment of the Spirit. We will believe and press into what God is doing in our age. I encourage everyone to drink deeply and hold on to God!
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Doubt and belief. There was, in the written Word of God, the prophecy of what would happen to Jesus and that He would raise from the dead, but even those who followed Him closely didn’t get it. These guys DID believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but they didn’t interpret the Scripture correctly which especially in Thomas’ case, caused a GREAT doubt. Even after others told Thomas that they had seen Jesus and touched Jesus, Thomas remained resolute in his doubt. In fact he declared that he would NOT BELIEVE until he saw Jesus himself and touched him with his own hands.
Is this what we have become in the western church? Unless we experience it, see it, feel it for ourselves, we won’t believe? Just like in the days of Jesus, the Jews missed the fact of Jesus being the Messiah because they didn’t think He would come that way, some people are missing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit because they don’t think He would come that way. I am not saying that our church is experiencing an “outpouring”, but it sure is experiencing something of an increased presence of the Spirit! When any other ministry or persons have great signs and wonders in their life or ministry, do we have to see it to believe it? Do we automatically assume that it isn’t true or real even when we have people we know who have experienced it?
As I write I feel the presence of the Spirit on me. My body is quivering under His power. Is it true? I can tell you that it is true and more than that I encourage all of us to not be like Thomas. He is not our example. We are people who walk in the Spirit and live, move and have our being in Him. We are not doubters, we are believers! We will not succumb to cleaver schemes of the evil one or man to be draw away from God because we have the discernment of the Spirit. We will believe and press into what God is doing in our age. I encourage everyone to drink deeply and hold on to God!
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