Jonah 3: 8-10
... "Cry loudly to God for help. Turn from your wicked ways and your acts of violence. Who knows? God may reconsider His plans and turn from His burning anger so that we won't die."
God saw what they did. He saw that they turned from their wicked ways. So God reconsidered His threat to destroy them, and He didn't do it.
God never enjoys destroying the wicked. He would rather they turn from their wicked ways. Always.
God had called Jonah to go preach in Nineveh that God would destroy them in 40 days because of their great wickedness. They deserved it; Jonah had heard all the stories, and may have even witnessed, how cruel and violent these people were, in perpetrating unspeakable cruelty on those they conquered.
Jonah wanted God to destroy them, and he knew that if they repented that He wouldn't, so he ran in the opposite direction (4:1-2). While he was in the big fish's belly he cried out to the Lord, and He performed a miracle in having that fish vomit him up on dry land, instead of at the bottom of the sea (2:1-10).
I've seen a picture of a fish cut open with a man inside it. People who have spent any time inside a big fish have all their flesh and hair bleached white from the fish's digestive juices.
Can you imagine how stark Jonah must have looked there in the Middle East? That had to have had an effect on the Ninevites. Johah got only a third of the way through the city when they all decided to repent, from the king down to the lowest servant, and recognized the power of Jonah's God (3:5-9).
God does destroy the unrepentant evil people, and He destroyed Neneveh a generation later. But He will also always relent and forgive those who repent and turn away from evil.
God has told us His ways; His good, moral, kind, generous ways. Evil is always bad for us, it always hurts and harms us. Ourselves and those around us.
And God calls all people everywhere (Acts 17:30) to turn from their idolotries and thefts and murders and immoralities (Revelation 9:21), and turn to Him, to recognize that His Son Jesus is our Savior by taking our place in death as our personal Sacrifice (as He fulfilled that first chapter in Leviticus, the individual person's sacrifice). His Blood shed for our forgiveness actually takes away all of our sinfulness, from the grossest sin down to the "innocent" fib, and that Original sin that we inherit from Adam as our "flesh," our "sin-nature." This cleansing makes us fit to enter Heaven, because God will not tolerate any kind of sin to dwell in His Presence (see Habakkuk 1:13).
O my Father, You are so kind, so wise, and so powerful to have designed this Earth for us, to put in it everything we need, and to give us Your written Word so we can know You. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit in us to teach us Your Truth, and to be able to understand how all parts of Your Word fit together to tell one Story, the Story of Man, from before the beginning to beyond the end; the Story of our need and Your provision; about Jesus from beginning to end of the Book.
Thank You for Your great Love, wanting for everyone everywhere to repent and follow Your ways. That is how we can access Your bountiful provision here on this Earth, and be cleansed to spend our Eternity with You.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Our Generous God
Philippians 4: 17, 19
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Paul wasn't wanting only to have his own needs met, but that those who provided for him would be blessed. "Help me want the Giver more than the giving" (song: "More Than Anything," by Natalie Grant).
Then those who have been generous with their material goods will be blessed abundantly by God, according to His riches in glory. God is not stingy, He is very generous. He is the Source of riches beyond compare.
He is the Source of everything that exists, and He is extremely generous with everything He put into this Earth for our use and prosperity. To access this abundance, we only need to follow His ways, according to His purposes for each of us.
God wants us to prosper, but we don't because we violate His Love He has given us, rejecting it and Him, and do things our own way. Then we deny ourselves and others the good things He put here for us to enjoy by closing off the ways to access them. Governments do this, also businesses and individuals let greed overtake their attitudes. They believe the enemy who tells them that to have something it must be taken from someone else.
But wealth grows, just as trees grow, crops grow, and children grow. God has designed this environment for our sustenance and benefit; and just as the number of people grows, the capacity to grow what we all need is inherently in the soil and oceans and mountains and streams and our imaginations.
Whatever you need more of, give it away. God's ways are not our ways. When we hoard, we lose what we have, but when we're generous like God is, then He will multiply what we have to not only meet our needs but have more than we need to share with others. The more generous we are, the more we will receive. It's an upward spiral.
Most of us just don't trust God enough to try Him on this (Malachi 3:10).
I know I have given away some time when I was "running late," and ended up at my destination on time or even early. Now I try never to hurry, but consider that I will get there in God's time.
But Paul's talking about money here. Do I trust God enough to give away money for His work even if I think I won't have enough left? Do I tithe off of my top, or wait to see if I'll "have enough"?
If I wait, I won't have enough. My tithe must come off the top, to receive God's blessing to multiply the 90% to cover more than the 100% covered before. I don't know how He does it, but He stretches what I've tithed on. I have never gone hungry, or lacked a roof over my head or a place to sleep.
So Paul wanted those in the church at Philippi to benefit by sacrificially giving. Because He knew how generous God is.
O my Father, You are God. You are God Almighty. You are our Source for all wealth, health, and well-being. You have given us to one another so that we can love one another as You have loved us. When we care enough to notice what their needs are, and take of what You have given us to help them, then the World will know a little of Your character.
Father, I want others to get to know You, to get acquainted with how wonderful You are, and how You love us all. Help me, Father, to live out Your character in all my relationships with my family and friends and neighbors and clients and readers. And even the strangers I meet while I'm out.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Paul wasn't wanting only to have his own needs met, but that those who provided for him would be blessed. "Help me want the Giver more than the giving" (song: "More Than Anything," by Natalie Grant).
Then those who have been generous with their material goods will be blessed abundantly by God, according to His riches in glory. God is not stingy, He is very generous. He is the Source of riches beyond compare.
He is the Source of everything that exists, and He is extremely generous with everything He put into this Earth for our use and prosperity. To access this abundance, we only need to follow His ways, according to His purposes for each of us.
God wants us to prosper, but we don't because we violate His Love He has given us, rejecting it and Him, and do things our own way. Then we deny ourselves and others the good things He put here for us to enjoy by closing off the ways to access them. Governments do this, also businesses and individuals let greed overtake their attitudes. They believe the enemy who tells them that to have something it must be taken from someone else.
But wealth grows, just as trees grow, crops grow, and children grow. God has designed this environment for our sustenance and benefit; and just as the number of people grows, the capacity to grow what we all need is inherently in the soil and oceans and mountains and streams and our imaginations.
Whatever you need more of, give it away. God's ways are not our ways. When we hoard, we lose what we have, but when we're generous like God is, then He will multiply what we have to not only meet our needs but have more than we need to share with others. The more generous we are, the more we will receive. It's an upward spiral.
Most of us just don't trust God enough to try Him on this (Malachi 3:10).
I know I have given away some time when I was "running late," and ended up at my destination on time or even early. Now I try never to hurry, but consider that I will get there in God's time.
But Paul's talking about money here. Do I trust God enough to give away money for His work even if I think I won't have enough left? Do I tithe off of my top, or wait to see if I'll "have enough"?
If I wait, I won't have enough. My tithe must come off the top, to receive God's blessing to multiply the 90% to cover more than the 100% covered before. I don't know how He does it, but He stretches what I've tithed on. I have never gone hungry, or lacked a roof over my head or a place to sleep.
So Paul wanted those in the church at Philippi to benefit by sacrificially giving. Because He knew how generous God is.
O my Father, You are God. You are God Almighty. You are our Source for all wealth, health, and well-being. You have given us to one another so that we can love one another as You have loved us. When we care enough to notice what their needs are, and take of what You have given us to help them, then the World will know a little of Your character.
Father, I want others to get to know You, to get acquainted with how wonderful You are, and how You love us all. Help me, Father, to live out Your character in all my relationships with my family and friends and neighbors and clients and readers. And even the strangers I meet while I'm out.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Our Judge
John 5: 22, 27
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.
And He gave Him (the Son) authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
God the Father has given to Jesus to be the Judge of the Earth. And not just the Earth but the whole Universe. Why?
All three Persons participated in the Creation, so is (are) the Owner(s).
Now the Son, the Second Person of the Godhead, has become Man, and bought us with His precious Blood, so we belong to Him by purchase, also. That's why Jesus has all authority to judge.
And those He has redeemed, He has taken upon Himself the wrath due each of us; so those who belong to Him by faith will face Him as Judge for rewards only (the Bema seat, I Corinthians 3:10-15).
All the rest will face His Justice for all the evil that has deceived them, and drawn them away from what is Good. They will suffer the wrath that sin brings (the Great White Throne, Revelation 20:11-13).
God takes no pleasure in the death of a wicked person (Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11), because that person has no more opportunity to turn away from wickedness to embrace God's Love, which is what He would much rather they do.
We are all responsibie for all our choices, even when we think we have no choice but to do what we do. We just don't recognize the alternative, to do what's right. So we all will give an account for even every word that we say (Matthew 12:36-37). And especially our choice to accept or reject that we deserve the Death Jesus died for each of us to save us from the power of sin and death and deception.
O Father, thank You so much for sending Your own Son, my Lord, Christ Jesus, to be my substitute in Death so that You could give me Your Spirit to live in my spirit, making it alive; now I can communicate with You. Teach me to listen closely for Your quiet voice in my spirit, leading me into the path You want me to take.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.
And He gave Him (the Son) authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
God the Father has given to Jesus to be the Judge of the Earth. And not just the Earth but the whole Universe. Why?
All three Persons participated in the Creation, so is (are) the Owner(s).
Now the Son, the Second Person of the Godhead, has become Man, and bought us with His precious Blood, so we belong to Him by purchase, also. That's why Jesus has all authority to judge.
And those He has redeemed, He has taken upon Himself the wrath due each of us; so those who belong to Him by faith will face Him as Judge for rewards only (the Bema seat, I Corinthians 3:10-15).
All the rest will face His Justice for all the evil that has deceived them, and drawn them away from what is Good. They will suffer the wrath that sin brings (the Great White Throne, Revelation 20:11-13).
God takes no pleasure in the death of a wicked person (Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11), because that person has no more opportunity to turn away from wickedness to embrace God's Love, which is what He would much rather they do.
We are all responsibie for all our choices, even when we think we have no choice but to do what we do. We just don't recognize the alternative, to do what's right. So we all will give an account for even every word that we say (Matthew 12:36-37). And especially our choice to accept or reject that we deserve the Death Jesus died for each of us to save us from the power of sin and death and deception.
O Father, thank You so much for sending Your own Son, my Lord, Christ Jesus, to be my substitute in Death so that You could give me Your Spirit to live in my spirit, making it alive; now I can communicate with You. Teach me to listen closely for Your quiet voice in my spirit, leading me into the path You want me to take.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, July 16, 2018
What Was Gain Is Now Loss
Philippians 3: 7-14
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Whatever things were gain to me are now loss for detracting from Christ in my life.
I won't attain the goal of the Resurrection of the dead until Jesus returns, but I will continue to press on, putting in the past what is in the past, and stretching forward to reach what lies ahead, toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
This is a new day, the "first day of the rest of my life." A new start on doing what I can toward the benefit of God's Kingdom that is here on Earth within us now, and will cover the World at His return.
O my Father, help me, strengthen me to do these things. Teach me how to keep the past in the past, how to reach forward to lay hold of what You are offering me, and to allow the loss of whatever is keeping me from fully embracing You and Your ways in my life.
Father, you allowed Saul of Tarsis, the Pharisee, to give up all his standing in the community, and the wealth it gave him, to become Paul the Apostle and Evangelist, travelling the whole known World, supporting himself as a tentmaker, and depending on the generosity of strangers to meet his needs.
I feel like I am on my way to do what Paul did, and I am looking forward to see what that will look like for me. I am not Paul, I am not like Paul in many ways, but I trust that You gave me the dream of vagabonding the World spreading the seed of the Gospel, much like Paul did.
And I have given up my mansion for a small house, which I don't consider a sacrifice at all, any more than Paul did, in counting all he had before as garbage.
Father, now that I have turned this corner of ridding myself of that burden and becoming debt-free, please show me step by step what You would have me do to obey You in sowing the seed of the Gospel wherever You have determined is fertile soil.
Lead me, Father, take my hand and guide me into the very path You have designed me to traverse in this World, until Jesus returns to claim His own.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Whatever things were gain to me are now loss for detracting from Christ in my life.
I won't attain the goal of the Resurrection of the dead until Jesus returns, but I will continue to press on, putting in the past what is in the past, and stretching forward to reach what lies ahead, toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
This is a new day, the "first day of the rest of my life." A new start on doing what I can toward the benefit of God's Kingdom that is here on Earth within us now, and will cover the World at His return.
O my Father, help me, strengthen me to do these things. Teach me how to keep the past in the past, how to reach forward to lay hold of what You are offering me, and to allow the loss of whatever is keeping me from fully embracing You and Your ways in my life.
Father, you allowed Saul of Tarsis, the Pharisee, to give up all his standing in the community, and the wealth it gave him, to become Paul the Apostle and Evangelist, travelling the whole known World, supporting himself as a tentmaker, and depending on the generosity of strangers to meet his needs.
I feel like I am on my way to do what Paul did, and I am looking forward to see what that will look like for me. I am not Paul, I am not like Paul in many ways, but I trust that You gave me the dream of vagabonding the World spreading the seed of the Gospel, much like Paul did.
And I have given up my mansion for a small house, which I don't consider a sacrifice at all, any more than Paul did, in counting all he had before as garbage.
Father, now that I have turned this corner of ridding myself of that burden and becoming debt-free, please show me step by step what You would have me do to obey You in sowing the seed of the Gospel wherever You have determined is fertile soil.
Lead me, Father, take my hand and guide me into the very path You have designed me to traverse in this World, until Jesus returns to claim His own.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Blessing For Insult
I Peter 3: 8-9
To sum up, let all be harmonious, like-minded, sympathetic, brotherly, loving one another, kind-hearted, compassionate, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
Let's all think the same way, have sympathy for one another, love one another with brotherly/sisterly love, being kind-hearted (not hard-hearted), and considering myself as no better than the one reviling me.
Not "giving as good (or bad) as I get," but turning the situation around in giving a blessing, a compliment to the other, answering in a soft voice, not yelling back.
Lord, help me to think before reacting, and then responding in Truth, gently, compassionately. Strengthen me to be able to do this, Lord.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
To sum up, let all be harmonious, like-minded, sympathetic, brotherly, loving one another, kind-hearted, compassionate, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
Let's all think the same way, have sympathy for one another, love one another with brotherly/sisterly love, being kind-hearted (not hard-hearted), and considering myself as no better than the one reviling me.
Not "giving as good (or bad) as I get," but turning the situation around in giving a blessing, a compliment to the other, answering in a soft voice, not yelling back.
Lord, help me to think before reacting, and then responding in Truth, gently, compassionately. Strengthen me to be able to do this, Lord.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, July 14, 2018
"Healing Of The Nations"
Revelation 22: 2
... And the leaves of the Tree of Life were for the healing of the Nations.
God will never stop working to heal us completely even throughout all eternity!
He will never give up on us.
There will be a whole New Heaven and New Earth, and there will be no more curse; no more sickness, sorrow, wearing out, death, etc. It will be a whole New Universe! Based on a whole new Basis of Existence.
Since God will finish the work He began in us on the Day Jesus returns (Philippians 1: 6), then maybe we will be His servants who serve Him, and other "peoples" will be the Nations that will need healing.
I don't know; God can make as many Worlds and Universes as He wants, and He's only given us a bit of a glimpse of what will come after this one.
He has told us that we will, "be His people and He will be with [us] and be [our] God" (Revelation 21:3); and everything will be made "new" (v. 5). We will live with Him forever, and belong to Him. Jesus' Kingdom will never stop increasing (Isaiah 9:7), and we are His Royal Family who will "sit on His Throne" with Him (Ephesians 2:6; Revelation 3:21), meaning that we will help Him "rule" or run this New Creation.
We are God's imagination, and He's made us in His image after His likeness, so we have imagination, too, to create new things out of what He has created for us.
We can see even now in this life that God has given us so many gifts of abilities and skills and propensities to accomplish whatever our imaginations can conger up when we get together with our purposes and are willing to do the work to make it happen. (As God said in Genesis 11:6.) As a Race of Man we have accomplished so many "miracles" of technology, medicine, manufacturing of goods, quality of life, etc., whatever we've been able to imagine.
O my Father, You are so great, greater than I can imagine. You are good, and our standard for goodness. You are just, and our standard for justice. You are our Creator, our Maker, our Designer; and You are our Model for who You want us to be.
You sent Your own Son, Who is the same as the Father, to be our Messiah and Savior. And to show us how You are. You gave us Your Law, all the rules to guide our lives, to show us what He would accomplish, and He did. He said, "I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it" (Matthew 5:17), which He did in His life (all the civil and moral laws) and His death (the sacrificial laws, as the Lamb of God).
Father, You have planned out everything that has happened, is happening, and ever will happen, throughout all eternity past, present, and future. And You are so wise and clever to use even what evil people wickedly imagine in their rebellion against You to accomplish Your will and Your plan, so that everything will come out and end up exactly the way You planned it.
I know I can trust You to do whatever You do for my benefit, even when I am not enjoying what is happening in my life or in the World around me. Just as You used my choices to show me how much I needed You (and still need You, every day), so the freewheeling of the evil surrounding us in this World is to show those of the World their need for You, also.
Show me, Father, where I am to go, what I am to do, what attitudes to hold, who I am to converse with, what words to use, what lifestyle to display; that You will use me to draw many to Yourself. That I will be used of You to find and gather some of Your lost sheep into Your fold.
That Your Kingdom will grow to tremendous proportions, and You will receive all the glory for all You are and do.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, July 13, 2018
Your Own Estimation
Romans 12: 16
... Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Sometimes when we compare ourselves and our accomplishments with others, we will see how far they are ahead of us in some way and feel envy for their achievements, or see ourselves as better than they are and become vulnerable to pride.
This is why we are not to compare ourselves with others. Each one of us is gifted differently from everyone else, so we'll always find inequities (II Corinthians 10:12).
But we each are accountable to our Lord (Romans 14:4).
Having studied Scripture for so many years, I could look down on others who have not had that opportunity. But they would be able to look down on me in some other skill or talent in which they excel.
O my Father, please help me to see others as You see them, not in the light of my own experiences. Teach me to value them as You do, and to value myself with the worth with which You see me. Help me to always remember how sinful and depraved I was when You found me, to humble me before You, and in the sight of others, to consider their needs before my own.
Thank You so much, Father, for Your great Love wherewith You love me. Help me to love others with Your agape Love, humbling myself before them, whatever it may cost me.
Because I know You will always provide my every need, and whatever is more than my bare necessities is to share with others who don't have even that much.
Teach me Your ways, Father; Your generosity, Your compassion, Your tenderness. That my life in this World might show forth Your character through my personality, to draw others to Your great Salvation.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
... Do not be wise in your own estimation.
Sometimes when we compare ourselves and our accomplishments with others, we will see how far they are ahead of us in some way and feel envy for their achievements, or see ourselves as better than they are and become vulnerable to pride.
This is why we are not to compare ourselves with others. Each one of us is gifted differently from everyone else, so we'll always find inequities (II Corinthians 10:12).
But we each are accountable to our Lord (Romans 14:4).
Having studied Scripture for so many years, I could look down on others who have not had that opportunity. But they would be able to look down on me in some other skill or talent in which they excel.
O my Father, please help me to see others as You see them, not in the light of my own experiences. Teach me to value them as You do, and to value myself with the worth with which You see me. Help me to always remember how sinful and depraved I was when You found me, to humble me before You, and in the sight of others, to consider their needs before my own.
Thank You so much, Father, for Your great Love wherewith You love me. Help me to love others with Your agape Love, humbling myself before them, whatever it may cost me.
Because I know You will always provide my every need, and whatever is more than my bare necessities is to share with others who don't have even that much.
Teach me Your ways, Father; Your generosity, Your compassion, Your tenderness. That my life in this World might show forth Your character through my personality, to draw others to Your great Salvation.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
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