James 1:5
But if any of you lack wisdom, --
Has a need of something you don't have, in this case, wisdom.
let him ask of God, --
Don't just assume you'll have it, or try to get it in your own power; but ask God for it.
but let him ask in faith --
Believe and know in your heart that God is faithful to always do everything He said He would do, and He has promised to give us every good thing in this world and so much more in the forever life to come.
without any doubting. --
If we're not sure God will answer, if we think it's impossible, or we don't deserve it, or for some other reason we think won't get whatever it is, then we won't get it.
For let not that man (who doubts) expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. --
When we doubt, we break that connection. When we firmly believe, we leave the door open for whatever we ask for to come to us. Expect it. Trust God that much.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
Ziba
II Samuel 9, 16, 19
David loved Jonathan, and honored his name by welcoming his lame son, Mephibosheth. That's where we first meet Ziba, "a servant of Saul's household" (II Samuel 9:2). Ziba wasn't a slave, because slaves couldn't own anything, but Ziba had a big family, 15 sons, and 20 servants of his own (9:10, 19:17). We first see that David told Ziba to serve Mephibosheth by farming all the land that had belonged to King Saul for Mephibosheth's benefit and income.
The next time we see Ziba is when David is fleeing from Absalom and he meets David with provisions for him and all who are with him. David asks about Mephibosheth, and Ziba lies to David, telling him that Mephibosheth has deserted him to try to be king, himself! David believes him, and gives all of Mephibosheth's land to him! Here Ziba has accused his master of making a power-play when he, himself was doing so.
Then when David returns to Jerusalem, he talks with Mephibosheth and finds out how Ziba slandered him, and David divides the land between the two of them (19:24-30). But Mephibosheth renounced his claim on any of Saul's lands, saying that Ziba could just have it all, and now that King David was back in Jerusalem, he could still eat at the king's table and be provided for.
It seems to me that Ziba had no regard for his lame master, who owned the wealth (the land) and tried to steal it from him by slander and deceit. But Mephibosheth was not competitive with him, and had little regard for material possessions. Ziba wanted earthly riches; he got the land. Mephibosheth had gratitude toward David, and was provided for by the king. They both got what they wanted.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
David loved Jonathan, and honored his name by welcoming his lame son, Mephibosheth. That's where we first meet Ziba, "a servant of Saul's household" (II Samuel 9:2). Ziba wasn't a slave, because slaves couldn't own anything, but Ziba had a big family, 15 sons, and 20 servants of his own (9:10, 19:17). We first see that David told Ziba to serve Mephibosheth by farming all the land that had belonged to King Saul for Mephibosheth's benefit and income.
The next time we see Ziba is when David is fleeing from Absalom and he meets David with provisions for him and all who are with him. David asks about Mephibosheth, and Ziba lies to David, telling him that Mephibosheth has deserted him to try to be king, himself! David believes him, and gives all of Mephibosheth's land to him! Here Ziba has accused his master of making a power-play when he, himself was doing so.
Then when David returns to Jerusalem, he talks with Mephibosheth and finds out how Ziba slandered him, and David divides the land between the two of them (19:24-30). But Mephibosheth renounced his claim on any of Saul's lands, saying that Ziba could just have it all, and now that King David was back in Jerusalem, he could still eat at the king's table and be provided for.
It seems to me that Ziba had no regard for his lame master, who owned the wealth (the land) and tried to steal it from him by slander and deceit. But Mephibosheth was not competitive with him, and had little regard for material possessions. Ziba wanted earthly riches; he got the land. Mephibosheth had gratitude toward David, and was provided for by the king. They both got what they wanted.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Able To Admonish
Romans 15:14
And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. --
Paul is writing to Gentile Christians in Rome before he has been able to go to Rome to meet them. But from what he has heard about them, he concludes that God has given them His goodness, and that they have studied or been taught the knowledge of God's Truth; this is what qualifies them to "admonish one another."
So when we perceive that another brother or sister has slipped into some wrong or deceptive or harmful act or thought process, then we must examine ourselves first to make sure we have God's goodness in us and have accurate knowledge, then we will be qualified to admonish them, but only in love (see I Corinthians 13).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. --
Paul is writing to Gentile Christians in Rome before he has been able to go to Rome to meet them. But from what he has heard about them, he concludes that God has given them His goodness, and that they have studied or been taught the knowledge of God's Truth; this is what qualifies them to "admonish one another."
So when we perceive that another brother or sister has slipped into some wrong or deceptive or harmful act or thought process, then we must examine ourselves first to make sure we have God's goodness in us and have accurate knowledge, then we will be qualified to admonish them, but only in love (see I Corinthians 13).
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Betrothal
Hosea 2:19-20
And I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.
God loves us passionately, as a newlywed groom is enamored with his new bride. His lovingkindness toward us is the reason we exist. He made us, He knows us, and He is a Husband to us. This involves our communion with Him, deliverance from sin and troubles, enablement to serve Him, enlightenment to know Him, guidance into His ways, forgiveness of all our sinfulness, hope for a bright future and eternity, praise in admiration of all God's wonderful and perfect qualities, and preservation of our life and well-being regardless of circumstances. Betrothal is a promise, a covenant God makes with us (not a contract). It shows how He will protect us and provide for us and care for us in an intimate, romantic way.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
And I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.
God loves us passionately, as a newlywed groom is enamored with his new bride. His lovingkindness toward us is the reason we exist. He made us, He knows us, and He is a Husband to us. This involves our communion with Him, deliverance from sin and troubles, enablement to serve Him, enlightenment to know Him, guidance into His ways, forgiveness of all our sinfulness, hope for a bright future and eternity, praise in admiration of all God's wonderful and perfect qualities, and preservation of our life and well-being regardless of circumstances. Betrothal is a promise, a covenant God makes with us (not a contract). It shows how He will protect us and provide for us and care for us in an intimate, romantic way.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, April 15, 2016
David And Jonathan
I Samuel 18:1-II Samuel 1:25-26
(I Samuel 18:1,3) After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
(20:15) "And do not ever cut off your kindness from my family--not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the Earth."
(20:16-17) So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan had David reaffirm his other oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
(20:41-42) ...Then they [David and Jonathan] kissed each other and wept together--but David wept the most.
(23:17-18) Jonathan said, "Don't be afraid. My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this." The two of them made a covenant before the Lord....
(II Samuel 1:25-26) How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women.
Both David and Jonathan loved the Lord our God, and they gave His love to one another. From the time Jonathan met David, when Saul interviewed him, he recognized God's love in him, and loved him as himself. Their friendship never did have any arguments or misunderstandings, even though Jonathan's father was King Saul, Israel's first king. Had Saul followed the Lord as his son did, God would have allowed his dynasty to continue, and Jonathan would have been the next king. But Saul thought he knew better than what Samuel told him God wanted him to do, and set his own understanding above God. So God rejected him and chose David to head the dynasty that would rule Israel and beget the Savior, because he was "a man after God's own heart." Jonathan knew that God had chosen David, and he wanted what God decided more than what would be "best" for himself politically. This is real love, not any imitation, like David saw in his wives. They did not love him, and even Michal, Saul's daughter that thought she loved him, only loved her idea of what she wanted him to be, and when he took off his royal robes to dance before the ark of God wearing the common garment of the Levites, she considered him "naked" of his dignity, and despised him. So Jonathan's love was the only true, pure love David knew, other than God's own love for him.
It distresses me to see how wicked people have twisted this pure, true love into a perverted homosexual liaison. Love is not sex; God loves us and parents love their children, and there are numerous other examples of pure love not involving a physical intimacy. God gave us sex as "the marital act," to validate a marriage between a husband and a wife by becoming "one flesh," a physical act. Two people who are the same gender cannot perform this "one flesh" act so they cannot consummate a marriage; even though they may have a wonderful friendship, it's only friendship, not marriage.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(I Samuel 18:1,3) After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
(20:15) "And do not ever cut off your kindness from my family--not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the Earth."
(20:16-17) So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan had David reaffirm his other oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
(20:41-42) ...Then they [David and Jonathan] kissed each other and wept together--but David wept the most.
(23:17-18) Jonathan said, "Don't be afraid. My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this." The two of them made a covenant before the Lord....
(II Samuel 1:25-26) How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women.
Both David and Jonathan loved the Lord our God, and they gave His love to one another. From the time Jonathan met David, when Saul interviewed him, he recognized God's love in him, and loved him as himself. Their friendship never did have any arguments or misunderstandings, even though Jonathan's father was King Saul, Israel's first king. Had Saul followed the Lord as his son did, God would have allowed his dynasty to continue, and Jonathan would have been the next king. But Saul thought he knew better than what Samuel told him God wanted him to do, and set his own understanding above God. So God rejected him and chose David to head the dynasty that would rule Israel and beget the Savior, because he was "a man after God's own heart." Jonathan knew that God had chosen David, and he wanted what God decided more than what would be "best" for himself politically. This is real love, not any imitation, like David saw in his wives. They did not love him, and even Michal, Saul's daughter that thought she loved him, only loved her idea of what she wanted him to be, and when he took off his royal robes to dance before the ark of God wearing the common garment of the Levites, she considered him "naked" of his dignity, and despised him. So Jonathan's love was the only true, pure love David knew, other than God's own love for him.
It distresses me to see how wicked people have twisted this pure, true love into a perverted homosexual liaison. Love is not sex; God loves us and parents love their children, and there are numerous other examples of pure love not involving a physical intimacy. God gave us sex as "the marital act," to validate a marriage between a husband and a wife by becoming "one flesh," a physical act. Two people who are the same gender cannot perform this "one flesh" act so they cannot consummate a marriage; even though they may have a wonderful friendship, it's only friendship, not marriage.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Raised With Christ
Colossians 3:1-4
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, --
When we were baptized we were displaying the picture of "having been buried with Him in Baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead." (2:12) Baptism is the acted-out picture of our dying to the old, natural life, being buried beneath the water, and rising up out of the water to live a new life.
set your hearts on things above, --
Our hearts are the seat of our emotions; we are to passionately love our Lord and desire to be with Him.
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. --
Jesus Christ has finished His work and is now seated on His throne, as God's "right-hand Man" to rule the Universe with Him.
Set your minds on things above, --
Our minds are the seat of our intellectual thought processes; God "reasons with us," (see Isaiah 1:18), so that our faith proves not to be "blind," but perfectly reasonable according to God's higher, perfect reasonableness. That's why we are to "study" God's Word so that we can understand it correctly (II Timothy 2:15).
not on earthly things. --
Our priorities: the important, eternal things must take precedence over our earthly, urgent things that we must do today.
For you died, --
As Jesus died on the Cross, He took upon Himself each of our deaths, dying in our place as the substitutionary sacrifice; therefore, as His death applies to us, then we died.
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. --
The life we have now is that eternal life that we will live forever. We will live that life, starting now and continuing forever with Jesus. So our life now is in Christ, hidden from us here in this world because it is in Christ in Heaven, and He is in God the Father; so we have our life in Heaven, inside the Almighty God, that we are beginning to live right now.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, --
Jesus Christ lives, and we live in Him, so He is our life now, not ourselves.
then you will also appear with Him in Glory.
When Jesus comes back to this Earth, He will "rapture" His church, we will all receive our Resurrection bodies, like His, and we will be His partners in setting up His Kingdom here and ruling it with Him, starting with that 1,000 years. We will shine like the sun then, displaying His Glory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, --
When we were baptized we were displaying the picture of "having been buried with Him in Baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead." (2:12) Baptism is the acted-out picture of our dying to the old, natural life, being buried beneath the water, and rising up out of the water to live a new life.
set your hearts on things above, --
Our hearts are the seat of our emotions; we are to passionately love our Lord and desire to be with Him.
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. --
Jesus Christ has finished His work and is now seated on His throne, as God's "right-hand Man" to rule the Universe with Him.
Set your minds on things above, --
Our minds are the seat of our intellectual thought processes; God "reasons with us," (see Isaiah 1:18), so that our faith proves not to be "blind," but perfectly reasonable according to God's higher, perfect reasonableness. That's why we are to "study" God's Word so that we can understand it correctly (II Timothy 2:15).
not on earthly things. --
Our priorities: the important, eternal things must take precedence over our earthly, urgent things that we must do today.
For you died, --
As Jesus died on the Cross, He took upon Himself each of our deaths, dying in our place as the substitutionary sacrifice; therefore, as His death applies to us, then we died.
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. --
The life we have now is that eternal life that we will live forever. We will live that life, starting now and continuing forever with Jesus. So our life now is in Christ, hidden from us here in this world because it is in Christ in Heaven, and He is in God the Father; so we have our life in Heaven, inside the Almighty God, that we are beginning to live right now.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, --
Jesus Christ lives, and we live in Him, so He is our life now, not ourselves.
then you will also appear with Him in Glory.
When Jesus comes back to this Earth, He will "rapture" His church, we will all receive our Resurrection bodies, like His, and we will be His partners in setting up His Kingdom here and ruling it with Him, starting with that 1,000 years. We will shine like the sun then, displaying His Glory.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
When God Relents
Jonah 1:17,2:10
But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
If a fish had a an upset stomach, would it not go deep into its home, the sea, to get sick? But this fish came all the way up to the surface, to the beach, to throw up. So Jonah didn't drown, as he expected. He didn't drown when they threw him into the sea from the ship, and he didn't drown when the fish threw him up. God's plan for Jonah could not be thwarted. Everything Jonah did to try to get out of it, only made him more effective when he did it. Nineveh was filled with cold-hearted, violent men who had done atrocities to the peoples they invaded, and deserved judgement. But when Jonah came, looking stark white from the fish's digestive acids, their hearts softened and God relented. God will always relent when people repent, confess and forsake.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
If a fish had a an upset stomach, would it not go deep into its home, the sea, to get sick? But this fish came all the way up to the surface, to the beach, to throw up. So Jonah didn't drown, as he expected. He didn't drown when they threw him into the sea from the ship, and he didn't drown when the fish threw him up. God's plan for Jonah could not be thwarted. Everything Jonah did to try to get out of it, only made him more effective when he did it. Nineveh was filled with cold-hearted, violent men who had done atrocities to the peoples they invaded, and deserved judgement. But when Jonah came, looking stark white from the fish's digestive acids, their hearts softened and God relented. God will always relent when people repent, confess and forsake.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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