A Blessing

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
2 Peter 1:2-4

 What a blessing! These verses are full of God’s goodness.  First of all, grace and peace multiplied  because of our knowledge of God and Jesus.  Grace and peace was ours upon salvation, but now a promise that it will be multiplied as we continue to get to know our God and Savior!  As more about God is learned and as we spend more time in His presence, by the very nature of His character we will gain more grace and peace because His creation and sending of Jesus was and is all about grace and peace.  He desires peace with us and peace within us.  He reaches down with grace to reconcile us to Himself for relationship.  That relationship then brings about more grace and peace!

 Secondly, His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.  Wow!  That’s a lot! Divine power is power above all others.  It is ultimate power, and God uses that power to give us life (abundant and everlasting) and godliness (the ability to be holy – set apart for His glory).  And this all comes once again through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence (That’s Jesus! Who was glorified through the resurrection and excelled in perfection even here on earth!)  We see again that knowledge of God and Jesus is what leads us into this life and godliness!  Know God, read His word, spend time with Him – here is peace and grace.

 Lastly, is the promise that is ours upon salvation but that we must claim and grow in – to become partakers of the divine nature.  Yes, at salvation we become partakers of the divine nature, but we do not want to stay a baby in the things of God.  Only when we are transformed through God’s word do we escape the corruption that is in the world by lust and experience the precious and magnificent promises! 

May grace and peace be yours this day.  May you know the abundant life and godliness that comes from walking with your Savior.  May you experience His precious and magnificent promises this day.  May you put the things of this world behind you and reach forward to the upward call of God through Christ Jesus.

 

Who to Listen to?

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception,
according to the tradition of men,
according to the elementary principles of the world,
rather than  according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8

Who are you listening to?  Are you believing the world’s ways or God’s ways?  How can you know God’s ways?  Read His word!  Know what He says!  Know the mind of Christ through fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  We can know what God says and since He created it all, He has the answers, not science, not philosophers, not the wisdom of the age or the culture.  Truth was laid down before the foundation of the world.  Wisdom is the very essence of God.  If you want to know if something is right or wrong, go to the author of morality.  He wrote the moral code for your benefit, for your good. 

Galileo was put under house arrest by the church because he espoused the belief that the earth rotated around the sun rather than the sun rising and setting on a fixed earth.  At one time the idea of a rabbit being a ruminating animal was absurd as told in Scripture.  But now we know that that rodent goes back and chews certain of his pellets.  The word of God is reliable and even though we may not understand all of it (God is infinite; we are not), we can trust it!

Who are you going to listen to?  The Creator or the creature?

Dust Storms

“Ah Lord God!
 Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!
 Nothing is too difficult for You…”
Jeremiah 32:17

That is perspective!  Eternal perspective!  I don’t know about you , but sometimes I get my hand in the sand and can’t see past the dust storm!  But God made the heavens and the earth!!!  And that in just 6 days!  If He can that, my piddly requests are nothing. 

Getting a broad perspective by reading the whole word of God is essential to our faith.  In Exodus today, I read about God coming down to Mt. Sinai to speak to His people that He had just brought out of Egypt with His mighty hand. (Nothing is too difficult for You!)  Then in Daniel, I read prophesy that has been fulfilled and prophesy that is to come.  If God fulfilled prophesy, He will surely continue to keep His word in the future (Nothing is too difficult for You!)  I read in Psalms about David’s suffering because of sin – his own and others and saw God’s great compassion and forgiveness.  (Nothing is too difficult for You!)  Finally, I read in Luke about God’s great provision for His people through Jesus Christ as well as for our earthly needs. (Nothing is too difficult for You!)

 I have to ask myself: “If I choose not to believe, after all the great and mighty things that God has accomplished through creation, in history, in prophesy, and in my life, is not that pride?  Are my problems more significant than those of the nations, of history, than of others that I would declare God unable or unwilling to reach down and be there in the midst?  I dare not.  I will proclaim that “Nothing is too difficult for You!  And then I will walk in faith and let God who ordained my steps, fulfill His perfect will for me.  The dust storms will still come, but God…!

 

Keep Watch

This is a repeat, but so important

 

“Watch over your heart with all diligence,

For from it flows the springs of life.”
Proverbs 4:23

Check up time!  Are you watching over your heart by spending time with God every day? Hanging out with Godly friends that are walking in the word? Fleeing temptation when it comes to electronic input such as tv, computer games and images, radio, etc…? Are you attending church?  Getting involved in serving others?  Reading good books? Able to stand against the arguments of this world’s philosophies?

Find strength in one another and in the word of God and at His throne through prayer. Something that helps me is to visualize myself at the throne worshipping, dancing, sitting at Jesus’ feet, or walking in the garden with Him. 

Life is hard.  There are a lot of distractions and temptations.  Is it worth it – this godly living?  Oh yeah!!!  Every bit of it and then some!  The rewards are peace and love and patience and joy and eventually eternal life!  You get to talk to the very Maker of the Universe and feel His arms about you!  Godly living coupled with a relationship with the One who gave His life for you is never boring!  It is not all fun and games.  The storms will come, but you are an overcomer through Christ!

Keep watch diligently.

 

Don't choose the Pig Sty!

“I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,

And I will not remember your sins.”
Isaiah 43:25

If old sins are haunting you, then you are listening to Satan.  He loves to bring them up to discourage you, keep you from God with false guilt, and take your mind away from growing in righteousness.  Don’t let him do it!!!  If you have unconessed sins, confess them and then know that now, therefore, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus! (Romans 8:1)  When those sins come to mind, rejoice and praise God that they are covered with the blood of Jesus.  Do not sit and stew and allow Satan to turn your thoughts to doubt.  You were born again.  End of discussion.  You can not go back into your mother’s womb, and neither can you be unborn from the kingdom of heaven.  Christ’s death was the worst possible form of torture.  It was the depth of human sinfulness.  And it covered all sins!  There is nothing that you can do that does not fall nder the covering of Christ Jesus’ sacrifice. 

 As God’s child (you can’t be unborn) you get to decide how you will enter heaven.  Will you limp and drag and go in dirty and shameful because you chose to live this life on earth in your way never growing closer t God and never knowing His comfort and relationship?  Or are you going to go in leaping and dancing, laughing and exulting because you have grown in your relationship with God, have enjoyed daily fellowship with Him and known the truth of your forgiveness through His great grace and mercy?  The choice is yours.  I would hate to see a prince or princess born to royalty living in filth and poverty, dirty and content living with pigs! 

Know God’s forgiveness and grace and don’t let Satan steal your victory!

 

Let Your Light Shine

“The eye is the lamp of your body;

When your eye is clear,
Your whole body also is full of light;
but when it is bad,
your body also is full of darkness…
If therefore your whole body is full of light,
with no dark part in it,
it will be wholly illumined,
as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”
 Luke 11:34 and 36.

 The eye is the window of your soul.  It is a two way window.  You see out of it and view your world and interpret it by what is in your heart (Out of the mouth the heart speaks).  Other people can also see into your soul through your eyes.  Others can discern hope and joy and gaiety or the can discern discouragement, pain, and hopelessness by looking at your eyes.  What do your eyes tell others about your soul? 

In Scripture darkness and light are used in two metaphors.  One is that darkness is sin and light is righteousness through Christ.  The other metaphor is when light stands for understanding and wisdom and darkness is naivety or foolishness.  Understanding and wisdom comes only through a relationship and growth in your relationship with Christ through Bible reading and prayer as the word of God transforms you and you allow Christ to be Lord over different  areas of your life.  In Luke 11 these two metaphors go hand in hand.  Your soul can only be illumined (made bright) by Jesus Christ.  Your spirit is “quickened” or made alive when you ask Jesus to be your Savior.  But it takes the transformation of your mind through the word of God for your soul to display that aliveness.  That transformation comes as you give up more and more of your life to Christ.  When He is Lord over all, then there is “…no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined.” 

What part of your life are you still holding onto?  Is it finances, relationships, health, fear, anger, or something else?  Once you recognize that you have not truly given rulership of that area to Jesus, call upon Him and let it go.  He can handle it much more efficiently and always for your eternal good!  Shine for Jesus by letting your eyes be bright.  Let your eyes send a message of joy and hope to this world.

 

God is in the Details

Okay.  So I learned that Lunesta and Tramadol do not mix well in the human body!   I slept and cried for the last two days with no reason.  Then I checked the drug interaction and found the culprit.  I had asked my pharmacist when he ordered the Tramadol for me if it would interact with any of my other meds.  He said no.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  By yesterday afternoon I had my smile back!

 “He caused their chariot wheels to swerve,

and He made them drive with difficulty;
so the Egyptians said,
“Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
Exodus 14:25

I had never really noticed this verse before, but God is in the details.  Not only did the Egyptians take out after the Israelites across the bed of the Red Sea, but God made their wheels to go wacky even before then.  So much so that even though the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud did not convince the Egyptian army of God’s presence, their wheels did!  Wow!  10 plagues later and they are just now getting it!  But it is too late.  They storm into the Sea after the Israelites and are drowned in a rush of water.

 I hope that I don’t miss the presence of God in front of my face (the pillars of fire and cloud).  I pray I don’t miss the little details that God is working out in my life.  I want to praise Him and acknowledge Him in all that He does and is.  Look for God in the details and praise Him for each little thing.

Life From Death

“The magicians tried with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on man and beast.  Then the magicians said to Pharaoh. ’This is the finger of God.’”

Exodus 8:18

 This verse struck me today, because it is the first plague that the magicians could not conjure.  They made their staffs into snakes, they brought frogs up form out of the land, they turned water into blood, but they could not make dust into gnats.  They could not take something dead and bring  about life.  That is only something that God can do.  And they are quick to acknowledge this.  Only God can take dirt and make mankind breathing into him the breath of life.  Only God can take a dead spirit and bring it life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Satan can duplicate some of God’s acts and miracles.  But he cannot create!

God created music for His glory – Satan twists it and uses it for evil.  God created sex for procreation and enjoyment – Satan twists it and uses it for evil.  Anything that God creates, Satan can twist and make revolting, but he cannot create life from death.  Only God, the creator of the Universe can take nothing and make it into something!  What a mighty God we serve!

 

God's Castle Walls

“How great is Your goodness,

Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!
You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Blessed be the Lord
For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.”
Psalm 31:19-21

“Those who take refuge in You”, “You hide them in the secret place of Your presence”, and “You keep them secretly in a shelter”.  These all remind me of Psalm 91: “He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust?’” and “He will cover you with His pinion, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”

So, the question is how do we enter into His protection?  Psalm 31 says that it is the “secret place of His presence.”  We enter into His presence with praise and thanksgiving.  We go confidently before the throne of grace and sit in His lap and dance in His presence.  We bow before Him and walk with Him.  When we are in prayer we are in the presence of God!  There in His presence we are free from the worries of the conspiracies of men, form the strife of tongues, from the besieged city, from the snare of the trapper, and from deadly pestilence and terror and destruction, etc… (Psalm 91)  The world is a hard place; it is Satan’s domain.  But as Christians, as children of the King we have a refuge – a shelter!  There we find God’s lovingkindness and His faithfulness.  There we find joy in the midst.  There is peace. 

Are you hiding under His wings?  Are you running to His shelter and protection?  When hard things happen are you taking refuge in God?  He is bigger than our circumstances and will either change the circumstances or He will change our hearts.  Sometimes the changing of our hearts is the harder way, but God lifts us up and gives us strength. 

 

God of the Moment?

“So the people believed;

and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction,
then they bowed low and worshipped.”
Exodus 4:31

This verse is recorded as Moses first returns to Egypt after the burning bush incident.  The people are quick to worship when they think that their affliction will be lifted.  But as Pharaoh continues to refuse their exodus, they begin to grumble and gripe and eventually it all comes to a climax when they are released and find their way to the Mountain of God where they bow down to the golden calf.  The Israelites were fickle people.  I don’t want to be that way.  I want to worship the one, true God whether I am in a time of affliction, poverty, wealth, suffering, etc…  He is the God who loves me no matter what my circumstances are.  He is the God who gave His Son to die for me when I was still a sinner.  He loved me in my shame and pain.  I can do no less, but to love Him no matter what.  My circumstances may change – I may go from bondage into freedom, or from freedom into bondage – but my God never changes!  I will praise Him in the storm and in the sunshine.  I will not bow to the god of the moment in order to manipulate the outcome.  I will be faithful to the end to the Living God.

 I hope that this is the cry of your heart as well.