Zechariah 1: 1-6
In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
The Lord was very angry with your fathers.
Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Return to Me, declares the Lord Almighty, And I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.
Do not be like be like your fathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices. But they would not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the Lord.
Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
But did not My words and My decrees, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?
Then they repented and said, The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as He determined to do.
Zechariah reminded the Jews who returned to Jerusalem how God had been angry with their ancestors for not listening to Him, and He deported them.
But now God's Word has outlasted their ancestors, who have died, and God brought the people back, just as He said He would do. Now it's time to listen and heed what God says.
They admitted that God had done exactly what He said He'd do, and that He had dealt with them according to their own ways and deeds.
This encouraged the people to continue to rebuld the Temple, which at this point in time has sat for 15 years.
Zechariah 2: 12
The Lord will inherit Judah as His portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem.
Now God is again choosing Jerusalem to possess as His own along with the territory of the Southern Kingdom, Judah.
And all this prompts Darius the king of Media-Persia (Babylon) to support them. (See Ezra 6:1-12 for his decree).
Daniel tells us that this Darius was the son of Xerxes (Ahasuerus, the husband of Hadassah, aka Esther) (see Daniel 1:1-2ff).
God always keeps His Word. Whenever God says He will do something, you can be sure He will do it, so sure that it's as if it's already done.
God had told Jeremiah at the time Judah was being deported to this far country, that God would bring them back in 70 years. Then, seventy years later, Daniel was reading Jeremiah's writings, and realized that the seventy years had passed! So he began to pray, and received a lot of his visions of the future.
But Zechariah is reminding the people who had returned to Judah, that the reason their people had been in the foreign land to begin with was because they had not listened to what God was telling them back then, disobeying His commandments and precepts. God had told their ancestors what He would do, and He did it.
Now the people have returned, and it's time to start listening to God, listening to what His prophets were saying. All their ancestors from back then as well as the prophets who spoke to them were by now all dead, but the prophesies that they had given were coming true--God's Word had outlasted all those people.
God's Word will always stand. Not one word, not one tiny part of a letter of a word, of God's Word will ever not come true, no matter how much time passes and no matter what people do.
Mere Mankind cannot tamper with what God has established, whether it be His Creation or His Word about it. (See the First Law of Thermodynamics for the science of Creation, and Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17 for the permanence of His Word.)
So when God has promised to give me something that I don't have yet, I will thank Him for giving it to me, and look for it to appear. He is never early or late, but always just on time.
O my Father, thank You for Your faithfulness and Your patience with us, with me. Thank You for all the wonderful answers to my prayers that I have seen so far in my life, and I thank You also for all the things that haven't happened yet in my timeline that You have already done for me, to answer the rest of my prayers according to Your goodness and generosity.
Help me, Father, to trust You more each day, as I draw close to You and learn more of Your character and personality. Teach me how to love You back, as You have loved me; and how to love my neighbor, my fellow man, as You have loved me, too.
Continue to teach me, Father, how all the dots connect in the story of Scripture. Thank You for telling us our past, so that we can trust that You know what You're doing; and to believe You when You tell us what hasn't happened yet in our Time.
All Your plans will be successful, and all Your purposes for which You made every detail of every part of all Creation will be fulfilled--have been already done, to unfold day by day as Time passes, until we can see it all finished.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Rulers Or A Ruler
Proverbs 28: 2
When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers; but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
It seems to me that when the people of a Nation do not know the ways of the Lord, and rebel against His ways, then they wind up with several different shades of political opinion, and those of each pursuasion try to assert authority; leading to "many rulers." This is chaotic.
But when a leader stands out as one with the ability to see through all the shades of opinion to discern the right way to lead the people, his authority will be able to govern with justice and equity, maintaining order.
That is how I understand these verses. This concerns the governance of a Nation, a whole country. But it's the people of that Nation that determines what form of political power will have the authority to rule them.
People who know the Lord and His ways will set up leaders who will govern according to the needs of the people.
But when the people are foolish and only care for themselves and this World's things, then they will allow evil men to ascend into power in the Nation, and govern in a way that takes advantage of the people, using them only to grow the coffers of those in power.
So the individual people do best to live their own personal lives in a right and responsible way, paying attention to not only their own affairs, but also aware of what they can do to promote godly leaders into power, to have authority to rule righteously, to the benefit of all.
O my Father, please be with Your children in every Nation, to strengthen us for the troubles to come, and to do what we can in every realm to encourage the good, and elevate the righteous.
And remind us to pray for those who have the power of authority over us, whether in a local or a national level; to pray for them individually to come to You, Father, and to govern us righteously and justly; so that we will have the freedom to live our lives according to the Love wherewith You have loved us.
And may Your righteousness reign in our hearts and in our halls of power.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers; but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
It seems to me that when the people of a Nation do not know the ways of the Lord, and rebel against His ways, then they wind up with several different shades of political opinion, and those of each pursuasion try to assert authority; leading to "many rulers." This is chaotic.
But when a leader stands out as one with the ability to see through all the shades of opinion to discern the right way to lead the people, his authority will be able to govern with justice and equity, maintaining order.
That is how I understand these verses. This concerns the governance of a Nation, a whole country. But it's the people of that Nation that determines what form of political power will have the authority to rule them.
People who know the Lord and His ways will set up leaders who will govern according to the needs of the people.
But when the people are foolish and only care for themselves and this World's things, then they will allow evil men to ascend into power in the Nation, and govern in a way that takes advantage of the people, using them only to grow the coffers of those in power.
So the individual people do best to live their own personal lives in a right and responsible way, paying attention to not only their own affairs, but also aware of what they can do to promote godly leaders into power, to have authority to rule righteously, to the benefit of all.
O my Father, please be with Your children in every Nation, to strengthen us for the troubles to come, and to do what we can in every realm to encourage the good, and elevate the righteous.
And remind us to pray for those who have the power of authority over us, whether in a local or a national level; to pray for them individually to come to You, Father, and to govern us righteously and justly; so that we will have the freedom to live our lives according to the Love wherewith You have loved us.
And may Your righteousness reign in our hearts and in our halls of power.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, February 4, 2019
Walk Circumspectly
Ephesians 5: 15-21
V. 15. Therefore be careful how you walk,
(See then you walk circumspectly,*)
"Circumspectly" comes from "circum," around, like a circle; and "spectere,"to look." So it means looking around so as to stay within the circle; intentionality.
Walking is taking one step at a time, living our lives one moment at a time.
Not as unwise men (fools*) but as wise.
The Bible always uses the word "fool" to denote someone who has no spiritual understanding, or one who rebels against the spiritual knowledge he's been taught.
"Wisdom" refers to knowing, understanding, and applying God's principles by which He designed this Earth, and laid out in a form we can follow in His Law.
V. 16. Making the most of your time,
(Redeeming the time,*)
To "redeem" is to buy back or recover. We are to make the most of the time, the era, in which we are living. Pay attention to where you are, when you are, and how to avail yourself of the advantages and avoid the pitfalls of the times and culture we are in, wherever we are in the World; in every place, and in every time.
Why? Because the days are evil.
Whatever days we are living in, there is evil all around us. That's why we need to pay attention to our culture and environment and be wise in our use of it.
V. 17. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Don't act like a fool who ignores how God designed the World to work; but get to know Who our God is, and how He wants us to cooperate with how He made it all. And as our Father, He wants us to do well and be successful, as even human fathers and mothers want for their children.
So how do we do this?
V. 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation (debauchery**)(excess*), but be filled with the Spirit,
"Dissapation:" when energy is used or lost without accomplishing anything useful.
"Debauchery:" excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.
"Excess:" going beyond what is regarded as customary or proper.
Getting drunk on wine is allowing yourself to be contolled by the influence of the alcohol on your brain and thinking processes.
Being "filled with the Spirit" is allowing yourself to surrender your thinking to the control of God's Spirit in you, to think accurately according to Truth.
V. 19. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
Conversing in words from Scripture, God's ideas.
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Being in constant prayer in the presence of the Lord with us.
V. 20. Always giving thanks for all things in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father:
This presence with the Lord is to keep us aware of God's constant goodness to us, and prompt appreciation and thanksgiving to Him.
V. 21. And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
To love our neighbor as God loves us, putting their needs before our own, as Christ did when He took our death upon Himself to save us.
This is all laid out so orderly, simply, and able to carry out in our daily lives, from moment to moment, day by day. Simple, but not easy, considering that our own flesh distracts us from the Lord. How can we be constantly aware of His presence with us, in the busy-ness of our lives in this World we live in?
That's why we need to pay attention, and not just slide through the days. We will never slide into rightousness, only into sin. We slide downwards--it takes effort and attention to improve every day; to grow closer to our Father, and into the molding He is shaping us constantly into the image of His Son.
O my Father, help us all to live our lives circumspectly, paying attention to Your presence with us all the time, and teach us Your ways as we interact with others in our worlds.
Continue to mold us and shape us into the very image, the character, of Your Son, our Lord Christ Jesus.
And send out Your workers into Your fields, Father, so ripe and ready for harvest.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Scriptures from the New American Standard Bible.
* King James Version of the Bible.
** New International Version of the Bible.
V. 15. Therefore be careful how you walk,
(See then you walk circumspectly,*)
"Circumspectly" comes from "circum," around, like a circle; and "spectere,"to look." So it means looking around so as to stay within the circle; intentionality.
Walking is taking one step at a time, living our lives one moment at a time.
Not as unwise men (fools*) but as wise.
The Bible always uses the word "fool" to denote someone who has no spiritual understanding, or one who rebels against the spiritual knowledge he's been taught.
"Wisdom" refers to knowing, understanding, and applying God's principles by which He designed this Earth, and laid out in a form we can follow in His Law.
V. 16. Making the most of your time,
(Redeeming the time,*)
To "redeem" is to buy back or recover. We are to make the most of the time, the era, in which we are living. Pay attention to where you are, when you are, and how to avail yourself of the advantages and avoid the pitfalls of the times and culture we are in, wherever we are in the World; in every place, and in every time.
Why? Because the days are evil.
Whatever days we are living in, there is evil all around us. That's why we need to pay attention to our culture and environment and be wise in our use of it.
V. 17. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Don't act like a fool who ignores how God designed the World to work; but get to know Who our God is, and how He wants us to cooperate with how He made it all. And as our Father, He wants us to do well and be successful, as even human fathers and mothers want for their children.
So how do we do this?
V. 18. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation (debauchery**)(excess*), but be filled with the Spirit,
"Dissapation:" when energy is used or lost without accomplishing anything useful.
"Debauchery:" excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.
"Excess:" going beyond what is regarded as customary or proper.
Getting drunk on wine is allowing yourself to be contolled by the influence of the alcohol on your brain and thinking processes.
Being "filled with the Spirit" is allowing yourself to surrender your thinking to the control of God's Spirit in you, to think accurately according to Truth.
V. 19. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
Conversing in words from Scripture, God's ideas.
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Being in constant prayer in the presence of the Lord with us.
V. 20. Always giving thanks for all things in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father:
This presence with the Lord is to keep us aware of God's constant goodness to us, and prompt appreciation and thanksgiving to Him.
V. 21. And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
To love our neighbor as God loves us, putting their needs before our own, as Christ did when He took our death upon Himself to save us.
This is all laid out so orderly, simply, and able to carry out in our daily lives, from moment to moment, day by day. Simple, but not easy, considering that our own flesh distracts us from the Lord. How can we be constantly aware of His presence with us, in the busy-ness of our lives in this World we live in?
That's why we need to pay attention, and not just slide through the days. We will never slide into rightousness, only into sin. We slide downwards--it takes effort and attention to improve every day; to grow closer to our Father, and into the molding He is shaping us constantly into the image of His Son.
O my Father, help us all to live our lives circumspectly, paying attention to Your presence with us all the time, and teach us Your ways as we interact with others in our worlds.
Continue to mold us and shape us into the very image, the character, of Your Son, our Lord Christ Jesus.
And send out Your workers into Your fields, Father, so ripe and ready for harvest.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Scriptures from the New American Standard Bible.
* King James Version of the Bible.
** New International Version of the Bible.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Positive Thinking
Luke 6: 45
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Jesus put it out very clearly, that whatever we put into our hearts--our beliefs, our thinking processes, our attitudes--that's what will overflow out our mouths.
When we determine to look for the good, the positive, the honorable and praiseworthy in other people, that's what we will find. And we will be filling our hearts with all these good things.
But if we allow ourselves to notice and pick up on all the things we disagree on, or disapprove of, or consider wrong; then we will be filling our hearts with all these negative things, that Jesus called evil, and our words and lives will go accordingly.
So if we want to live our lives in happiness and joy and well-being, we would do well to heed what has been called God's Thought List.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book on the values of thinking positively, and even people who don't acknowledge God will "ask the Universe" for what they want, and maintain a positive point of view on life.
This is one of God's principles of living that He tells us about in His Word. Whenever the World finds something that works, it turns out to be a Biblical principle. Because God designed the World to work this way. So even when unchristian people run their lives according to God's principles, they will work, and the people will gain this World's prosperity to enjoy. But that's all.
Jesus said, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37). That is the situation of these people who only consider the Universe to be their "higher power."
We live only a few days, a few moments, in this mortal life; we will spend all eternity, forever and ever, in the next. This life is our schooling as children, and how well we listen to our Teacher and learn what He is teaching us, and living our lives according to His ways, will determine our positions at our "graduation," our "adoption," when we will receive our spiritual bodies in exchange for these carnal bodies.
Both the saved people and the lost people will receive spiritual bodies: the one, suitable to live with God forever; the other, suitable to exist forever in the absence of all that God is, since they rejected Him.
So we all would do well to focus on the good that God gives us all every day, and turn to Him as our Source of everything we need.
O my Father, fill my heart with Your good things: Your Word, Your attitudes, Your understanding and discernment; Your ways.
When I speak, may my words reflect Your character.
Help me to renew my mind and thinking, and to put on Your Full Armor of God each day as I face this World and the spiritual authorities in the heavenlies.
Help me to remember that I battle not flesh and blood, that people are precious; and strengthen me day by day.
And enable me to promote Your Kingdom every day, Father. That Your Name be honored and glorified, that You will receive all the praise and all the credit, that Your Throne will reign over all Creation forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Jesus put it out very clearly, that whatever we put into our hearts--our beliefs, our thinking processes, our attitudes--that's what will overflow out our mouths.
When we determine to look for the good, the positive, the honorable and praiseworthy in other people, that's what we will find. And we will be filling our hearts with all these good things.
But if we allow ourselves to notice and pick up on all the things we disagree on, or disapprove of, or consider wrong; then we will be filling our hearts with all these negative things, that Jesus called evil, and our words and lives will go accordingly.
So if we want to live our lives in happiness and joy and well-being, we would do well to heed what has been called God's Thought List.
Philippians 4:8 says: Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything that deserves praise, think on these things.These are all very positive things to look for, notice, and pay attention to.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book on the values of thinking positively, and even people who don't acknowledge God will "ask the Universe" for what they want, and maintain a positive point of view on life.
This is one of God's principles of living that He tells us about in His Word. Whenever the World finds something that works, it turns out to be a Biblical principle. Because God designed the World to work this way. So even when unchristian people run their lives according to God's principles, they will work, and the people will gain this World's prosperity to enjoy. But that's all.
Jesus said, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37). That is the situation of these people who only consider the Universe to be their "higher power."
We live only a few days, a few moments, in this mortal life; we will spend all eternity, forever and ever, in the next. This life is our schooling as children, and how well we listen to our Teacher and learn what He is teaching us, and living our lives according to His ways, will determine our positions at our "graduation," our "adoption," when we will receive our spiritual bodies in exchange for these carnal bodies.
Both the saved people and the lost people will receive spiritual bodies: the one, suitable to live with God forever; the other, suitable to exist forever in the absence of all that God is, since they rejected Him.
So we all would do well to focus on the good that God gives us all every day, and turn to Him as our Source of everything we need.
O my Father, fill my heart with Your good things: Your Word, Your attitudes, Your understanding and discernment; Your ways.
When I speak, may my words reflect Your character.
Help me to renew my mind and thinking, and to put on Your Full Armor of God each day as I face this World and the spiritual authorities in the heavenlies.
Help me to remember that I battle not flesh and blood, that people are precious; and strengthen me day by day.
And enable me to promote Your Kingdom every day, Father. That Your Name be honored and glorified, that You will receive all the praise and all the credit, that Your Throne will reign over all Creation forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Test Me, Try Me
Psalm 26: 2
Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.
King David wrote this Psalm, and asked God to be his examiner. David really wanted to do things God's way, and he knew that he didn't always do that. So he wanted God to judge him now, so he could change his ways when he needed to.
This is like a seed that David thought on for a long time. He later wrote Psalm 139, which is all about God's greatness, and he ends it with this more familiar and more complete thought:
Like David, I realize that I also make mistakes. I also am vulnerable to taking things into my own hands and making a mess of it. And how much better it is all around to just cooperate with how God designed this World to work, and do things His way in the first place.
But to know how to do all that, I need to know God. He is the Source. He is the Life I need to live, He is the Light that gave light to the Sun. He is the Love that put the order into the Universe. He is our standard for Beauty and Right.
But we live in a broken World. Our environment has been polluted, being cursed by sin, and our DNA has been corrupted, and our enemy the Devil is also trying to destroy us.
So we must defend ourselves from the World's ways, the enemy's ways, and our own flesh body we live in. It seems like everything's against us.
That's why we're all desperate for God, whether we realize it or not. We all need to know Him to know that we can trust Him to be our kind, gentle, compassionate Father and Teacher and Mentor. The better we know Him, the more we are able to trust Him with our deepest selves.
So I want God to examine me. I want Him to see my deepest secrets that I'm hiding from myself; to expose them so I can know myself, and confess and forsake every thought, every attitude, every passion that is not in alignment with His ways for me.
Then I will be able to live my life according to the way He wants me to, and He will be pleased, just like a good parent is pleased with their successful child. I want Him to smile upon me, and take pleasure in what I do.
So I depend on His Holy Spirit in me to lead me, to guide me into the footsteps of Jesus, not turning to the right or to the left, not running ahead or lagging behind, not pulling away or wandering off. That straight, hemmed in path that leads to everlasting enjoyments (see Matthew 7:14).
Then I will spend eternity with Him, with the Source of all that is good and desirable and enjoyable. Without Him there is no light, only darkness; no truth, only deception; no pleasantries, only hardships. No order, only chaos; no love, only hatred; no pleasure, only pain.
God wants to be good to all He has made, but He will not force Himself on anyone. Whoever would rather be deceived, God will allow them to believe lies. Whoever wants to do his own will, God will let him. He gave us a freedom of will, to choose for ourselves, and He will not interfere with that. (See Romans 1:18-32.)
But to all who want to know the Truth, He will teach them. All who want to know a better way, He will lead them. He is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance, to realize that their own way is not really what they want after all, and that they deserve death for their rebellion against what is right. (See II Peter 3:9.) To repent is to turn around.
When I realized that the religion I grew up in was not "working" for me, I went on a search for the "Truth." It didn't matter to me what that "Truth" would be, I just wanted to know it so I could believe it and not be deceived.
God honored that by letting me investigate several "truth systems," knowing how seductive they could be, but none of them convinced me. Then He brought me back to the "hub of the wheel," and to Himself. He showed me that Jesus took my death sentence for me, in my place; and He freed me from the chains of an addiction I was not able to shake off myself.
And I learned more of Him as time went on. Jesus is the Truth I had been seeking, and He is the Life I could never live until then. And He is the only Way to the Father, the only path that leads to Him. That is the path I am walking on now.
God has been so good to me; the more I run to Him, the more I curl up in His lap and let Him love me, then the more He reveals Himself and His ways to me.
So I want Him to clean out from my heart everything that interferes with His perfect, pure ways. This process is called Sanctification, and it will continue until Jesus returns (see Romans 8:23). That's when our carnal bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies, and we will be adults in God's family, fully responsible for helping Him run His Family Business, the Kingdom.
Until then we still live in our mortal flesh, so we need to watch out for all the things we are vulnerable to here. And continually ask Him to test and try us to reveal whatever else is still lurking in the recesses of our beings.
O my Father, try me, examine my heart and my mind. Expose anything there that needs to be cleansed and healed.
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and a right mind; renew my thinking that I may think Your thoughts, not mine.
O my Father, Your ways are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. Teach me Your ways, my Father, and Your thoughts. Keep my feet on Your straight path, not turning to the right or to the left.
And may I forever give You all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, all the blessings, forever and ever, Amen!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.
King David wrote this Psalm, and asked God to be his examiner. David really wanted to do things God's way, and he knew that he didn't always do that. So he wanted God to judge him now, so he could change his ways when he needed to.
This is like a seed that David thought on for a long time. He later wrote Psalm 139, which is all about God's greatness, and he ends it with this more familiar and more complete thought:
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139: 23-24.)I understand David's thinking here, and this is also my prayer. I would much rather God judge me now, showing me what I'm doing wrong, so that I can change my thinking processes in renewing my mind (Romans 12:2) so that the words and actions that come out of my heart will be according to God's way for me, not what I want to do.
Like David, I realize that I also make mistakes. I also am vulnerable to taking things into my own hands and making a mess of it. And how much better it is all around to just cooperate with how God designed this World to work, and do things His way in the first place.
But to know how to do all that, I need to know God. He is the Source. He is the Life I need to live, He is the Light that gave light to the Sun. He is the Love that put the order into the Universe. He is our standard for Beauty and Right.
But we live in a broken World. Our environment has been polluted, being cursed by sin, and our DNA has been corrupted, and our enemy the Devil is also trying to destroy us.
So we must defend ourselves from the World's ways, the enemy's ways, and our own flesh body we live in. It seems like everything's against us.
That's why we're all desperate for God, whether we realize it or not. We all need to know Him to know that we can trust Him to be our kind, gentle, compassionate Father and Teacher and Mentor. The better we know Him, the more we are able to trust Him with our deepest selves.
So I want God to examine me. I want Him to see my deepest secrets that I'm hiding from myself; to expose them so I can know myself, and confess and forsake every thought, every attitude, every passion that is not in alignment with His ways for me.
Then I will be able to live my life according to the way He wants me to, and He will be pleased, just like a good parent is pleased with their successful child. I want Him to smile upon me, and take pleasure in what I do.
So I depend on His Holy Spirit in me to lead me, to guide me into the footsteps of Jesus, not turning to the right or to the left, not running ahead or lagging behind, not pulling away or wandering off. That straight, hemmed in path that leads to everlasting enjoyments (see Matthew 7:14).
Then I will spend eternity with Him, with the Source of all that is good and desirable and enjoyable. Without Him there is no light, only darkness; no truth, only deception; no pleasantries, only hardships. No order, only chaos; no love, only hatred; no pleasure, only pain.
God wants to be good to all He has made, but He will not force Himself on anyone. Whoever would rather be deceived, God will allow them to believe lies. Whoever wants to do his own will, God will let him. He gave us a freedom of will, to choose for ourselves, and He will not interfere with that. (See Romans 1:18-32.)
But to all who want to know the Truth, He will teach them. All who want to know a better way, He will lead them. He is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance, to realize that their own way is not really what they want after all, and that they deserve death for their rebellion against what is right. (See II Peter 3:9.) To repent is to turn around.
When I realized that the religion I grew up in was not "working" for me, I went on a search for the "Truth." It didn't matter to me what that "Truth" would be, I just wanted to know it so I could believe it and not be deceived.
God honored that by letting me investigate several "truth systems," knowing how seductive they could be, but none of them convinced me. Then He brought me back to the "hub of the wheel," and to Himself. He showed me that Jesus took my death sentence for me, in my place; and He freed me from the chains of an addiction I was not able to shake off myself.
And I learned more of Him as time went on. Jesus is the Truth I had been seeking, and He is the Life I could never live until then. And He is the only Way to the Father, the only path that leads to Him. That is the path I am walking on now.
God has been so good to me; the more I run to Him, the more I curl up in His lap and let Him love me, then the more He reveals Himself and His ways to me.
So I want Him to clean out from my heart everything that interferes with His perfect, pure ways. This process is called Sanctification, and it will continue until Jesus returns (see Romans 8:23). That's when our carnal bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies, and we will be adults in God's family, fully responsible for helping Him run His Family Business, the Kingdom.
Until then we still live in our mortal flesh, so we need to watch out for all the things we are vulnerable to here. And continually ask Him to test and try us to reveal whatever else is still lurking in the recesses of our beings.
O my Father, try me, examine my heart and my mind. Expose anything there that needs to be cleansed and healed.
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and a right mind; renew my thinking that I may think Your thoughts, not mine.
O my Father, Your ways are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. Teach me Your ways, my Father, and Your thoughts. Keep my feet on Your straight path, not turning to the right or to the left.
And may I forever give You all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, all the blessings, forever and ever, Amen!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, February 1, 2019
Who May Live With God?
Psalm 15
V. 1. Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy mountain?
What kind of person will the Lord allow to live with Him in His holy dwelling?
V. 2. The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the Truth from their heart;
The one whose character is beyond reproach, who can be counted on to hold to their integrity regardless of the situation. Whose heart is filled with Truth that overflows out their mouth.
V. 3. Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to his neighbor, and casts no slur on others;
One who never speaks negatively of another, who treats their neighbor with kindness and never mentions what they don't approve of.
V. 4. Who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord;
Who may be disgusted with an evil lifestyle, but looks for the good in each person, and encourages those who have respect for God.
Who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;
Who always does what they say they will do, and never goes back on their word no matter what it costs to keep it.
V. 5. Who lends money to the poor without interest;
To lend to one who cannot repay, and even forgive the loan.
Who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Who won't let something slide if it will benefit them but not consider the other person.
Whoever does these things will never be shaken.
Whoever has this high quality of character will have victory over all kinds of adverse circumstances, allowing them to bounce back even higher.
O my father, thank You for Your faithfulness to Your Word, and Your great mercies to relent from giving us our fair punishment, laying it on Your Son instead; and Your boundless grace to gift us with every good thing we could never earn or deserve.
Father, Your character is what we saw in Jesus, always doing good and encouraging the poor and infirm and disabled. Each person is precious to You, my Lord; every human being You made in Your own image and likeness. No matter how we degrade and denounce ourselves as a race of man, we cannot erradicate or obliterate Your image in us. Even the worst of us still retains Your likeness, even as we twist and uglify the beauty You placed in each of us.
Help us, Father. Teach us Your ways. Show us our great worth to You, as well as our unworthiness of Your attention. Keep us humble before You, as we realize how much You value each of us.
Help me, Father, to have the sterling character of the one in this psalm: to think before I speak, and refrain from saying anything I may not be able to fulfill. And when I do say I'll do something, help me to be faithful to my word, as You are to Yours. Teach me how to transform my mind, to have the mind of Christ, to think His thoughts, and fill my heart with His good Truth and compassion and tenderness and gentleness.
Continue to work on me and in me, Father, conforming me into the image of Your dear Son, His unassailable character; that those seeing me would not see me, but Christ in me.
Because for me to live is Christ, for without Christ I am dead. And Christ lives in me in His Holy Spirit, giving me the life I now live. Your breath is in my lungs, as You breathed into Adam's nostrils to give him the breath of life; so I will use the breath of my lungs to give You praise.
And to see You in every other person, and love them with the Love wherewith You have loved me, in the strength and power of Your Spirit in me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
V. 1. Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy mountain?
What kind of person will the Lord allow to live with Him in His holy dwelling?
V. 2. The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the Truth from their heart;
The one whose character is beyond reproach, who can be counted on to hold to their integrity regardless of the situation. Whose heart is filled with Truth that overflows out their mouth.
V. 3. Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to his neighbor, and casts no slur on others;
One who never speaks negatively of another, who treats their neighbor with kindness and never mentions what they don't approve of.
V. 4. Who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord;
Who may be disgusted with an evil lifestyle, but looks for the good in each person, and encourages those who have respect for God.
Who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;
Who always does what they say they will do, and never goes back on their word no matter what it costs to keep it.
V. 5. Who lends money to the poor without interest;
To lend to one who cannot repay, and even forgive the loan.
Who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Who won't let something slide if it will benefit them but not consider the other person.
Whoever does these things will never be shaken.
Whoever has this high quality of character will have victory over all kinds of adverse circumstances, allowing them to bounce back even higher.
O my father, thank You for Your faithfulness to Your Word, and Your great mercies to relent from giving us our fair punishment, laying it on Your Son instead; and Your boundless grace to gift us with every good thing we could never earn or deserve.
Father, Your character is what we saw in Jesus, always doing good and encouraging the poor and infirm and disabled. Each person is precious to You, my Lord; every human being You made in Your own image and likeness. No matter how we degrade and denounce ourselves as a race of man, we cannot erradicate or obliterate Your image in us. Even the worst of us still retains Your likeness, even as we twist and uglify the beauty You placed in each of us.
Help us, Father. Teach us Your ways. Show us our great worth to You, as well as our unworthiness of Your attention. Keep us humble before You, as we realize how much You value each of us.
Help me, Father, to have the sterling character of the one in this psalm: to think before I speak, and refrain from saying anything I may not be able to fulfill. And when I do say I'll do something, help me to be faithful to my word, as You are to Yours. Teach me how to transform my mind, to have the mind of Christ, to think His thoughts, and fill my heart with His good Truth and compassion and tenderness and gentleness.
Continue to work on me and in me, Father, conforming me into the image of Your dear Son, His unassailable character; that those seeing me would not see me, but Christ in me.
Because for me to live is Christ, for without Christ I am dead. And Christ lives in me in His Holy Spirit, giving me the life I now live. Your breath is in my lungs, as You breathed into Adam's nostrils to give him the breath of life; so I will use the breath of my lungs to give You praise.
And to see You in every other person, and love them with the Love wherewith You have loved me, in the strength and power of Your Spirit in me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, January 31, 2019
To Give Account
Matthew 12: 16-17
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
Wow, we really must be aware of what we're saying all the time.
My late husband had a horrible potty mouth before God found him, and that was helped the next morning after he was saved. But, decades later, when he was the president of his own company, conversing with other business heads about the machinery they needed, when he went on automatic, those words would slip out without his notice. When I called his attention to it, it was a big surprise to him!
We all need to pay attention to the words and attitudes we allow to escape from our mouths. Especially if we were saved later, after childhood, after we created bad habits.
It's not easy to pause in the heat of a passionate exchange to think about the words we are about to use in defense of our position. Even if the other party is attacking our persons and personalities, we must take the higher ground and stick to the issue with pure language.
O my Father, please continue to help me, teach me to put a guard on my mouth and tongue, to carefully consider the words of my lips, before I say them.
Keep me mindful, Father, of Your ways and Your way of seeing things. Give me Your eyes to see, Your ears to hear, and Your understanding to perceive the events of my life according to Your Truth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
Wow, we really must be aware of what we're saying all the time.
My late husband had a horrible potty mouth before God found him, and that was helped the next morning after he was saved. But, decades later, when he was the president of his own company, conversing with other business heads about the machinery they needed, when he went on automatic, those words would slip out without his notice. When I called his attention to it, it was a big surprise to him!
We all need to pay attention to the words and attitudes we allow to escape from our mouths. Especially if we were saved later, after childhood, after we created bad habits.
It's not easy to pause in the heat of a passionate exchange to think about the words we are about to use in defense of our position. Even if the other party is attacking our persons and personalities, we must take the higher ground and stick to the issue with pure language.
O my Father, please continue to help me, teach me to put a guard on my mouth and tongue, to carefully consider the words of my lips, before I say them.
Keep me mindful, Father, of Your ways and Your way of seeing things. Give me Your eyes to see, Your ears to hear, and Your understanding to perceive the events of my life according to Your Truth.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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