Desire and Good

As I was praying this morning, I lifted up Ps. 73:23-26 for a friend, but the words of the passage spoke to my heart as well.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I was impacted by the phrase, there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. How all inclusive is that! David was not attached to things in this world. As I examine my heart, I wonder if my desiring is only for God. Am I treasuring Him above all else? This world, our life style, our plenty and ease of living all seem so good. Have they clouded our love for God? Have our hearts desire wanted to settle in and make a comfy little nest? Have we forgotten that we are sojourners and travelers?

And then in v. 28 it says, But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. In another version it says, God is my good. I love that! Can I say that God is my good? What a thought to meditate on. He has blessed me with so much. I certainly can say that He is my good, but is He my only good?

Father,

Thank You for these thoughts and the power in Your words. You have impacted my life. I do desire You, but I need You to purify my desire. Take away any penchant for this world. Instead unite my heart to be one with Yours. 

In Jesus name,

Amen

Abiding

Jn. 15:1-17

As I read this passage this morning, I am moved in my heart. I must make it my own; memorize and meditate on it. Write about it. I must echo the words of Jeremiah, Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words become to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. I must devour more of God's word and bury it deep in my heart. Only then will it change and transform me. There is always the possibility that when I read Scripture and want to obey, that I will change within my own will and power. Even though my motive is good, the end result is not. It must be all of Him. As Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:10, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So on to John 15. Initially I must recognize the characters in this passage and their respective positions: Jesus, the Father, and John [speaking for all believers]. 

• Jesus- He is the vine who cleanses me through His words. provides life and sustenance to the branches, and gives me a place ot abide [a home] . 
• The Father is the vinedresser with the responsibility of pruning and then gathering of unfruitful branches to be burned. 
• John and all believers are branches, branches that must be clean, bear fruit, and be constantly abiding in the vine. 

Pruning: The Father prunes not to cause pain or to be cruel, but to make the branches more fruitful. I am not sure how the branches on the vine feel when they are pruned. Do they feel pain since they are a living being? Regardless, as a branch, the pruning would cause intense pain, but pain that has a wonderful purpose. God calls us to endure hardship, to fight the good fight, and to bear the burden. None of these speak of ease. 

Cleansing: Eph. 5:26 says that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. and Titus 3:5 says he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Jesus stated simply that He washed us with His words. How could His words have so much power? He is the logos the living word. When God speaks, words become life! The power of His words was twofold; one a cleansing that washed away our sin, and secondly, a giving of new life. He did not cleanse us to leave a vacuum, but to graft in His being, to make us partakers of the divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:3-4 says, His divine power has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness by which He has granted to us His precious and very promises so that we may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world. Wow! What a glorious gift!

Abiding: He cleansed us to give us new life, this new life is dependent on abiding. Just like a branch dies apart from the vine, so we would die apart from Jesus.  Abiding is essential. It is our power source. If we try and live for Jesus apart from abiding, it will only end in failure. But abiding in Jesus produces much fruit, much power, and much closeness. Jesus states it plainly. Apart from Him we can do nothing! 

Fruitbearing: Once we are cleansed, pruned, and are abiding, then we become productive. Fruit will abound. If we circumvent the divine plan, we will become a withered branch ready to be gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. Who would chose that? No one in their right mind. The Father is glorified by our fruitbearing. Not only that but it proves we are His disciples. It is a mark of our status. It identifies us as a child of God. 

Praying: When we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we can ask whatever we wish and it will be done. Whoa! We have a direct line to the Father. Our words will be answered. But what is the catch? We will be abiding and His words will be in us. Therefore His words will be our words. We will be praying the words of the Son to the Father. Of course, they will be answered. Our abiding in Him and His words abiding in us will unite us with the will of the Father. We will see life as the Father does and His will will become our will. 

Glorifying: By this the Father is glorified. The 'this' includes our cleasing, abiding, fruitbearing,and praying. We glorify the Father when our life is in line with the Son and the Father. When His words abide in us and We abide in Him. We are filled completely by Him and our will has become His will.

Loving: The Father loved Jesus and Jesus has loved us and then we abide in His love. The love originates with the Father and comes down His divinely ordained channel right into our hearts. His love has transformed us into His disciples. As the Son has loved the Father so we must love the Father.

Obeying: Keeping Jesus' commandments is vitally connected to abiding in His love. Jesus obeyed the Father's commandments and so we must obey His. Of course, this is just a greater explanation of what it means to abide. Abiding gives us the power and the desire to obey. Without abiding obeying becomes a duty, a duty that is often too hard to do or to maintain. But if we are abiding, we have the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. It enables us to obey as Jesus obeyed His Father. 

Joyful: (Rats! I couldn't make joyful end in 'ing') The end result of pruning, cleansing, abiding, praying, glorifying, loving, obeying is all joy! Jesus wants us to be joyful! So He has spoken His words, those words of divine power into our lives so that His joy would be in us and our joy would be full! Wow! What a gift!

Father,
Thank You so very much for this great gift! I have been cleansed and have felt your pruning. Give me Your grace and strength so that I may abide in Jesus, obey His commands, love You and others, and glorify You. Thank You for the joy that will be mine.
In the power of the Spoken Word,
Amen

Letters

Rev. 2:1-17

As I read these first three letters to the churches, I see some words that could apply to my life, my time, and my culture. Concerning Ephesus, Jesus commended them on their patient endurance, their bearing up for Jesus' name, and their not growing weary. But they had abandoned their first love.

I am beginning to wonder if something akin to this is happening to believers today. We have endured patiently for many years. We have borne up through wars and financial ruin. Yet, I am afraid our hearts have grown cold. Perhaps we have abandoned our first love, for the sake of prosperity, possessions, and liberal politics and policies. Jesus, our first love, would never condone the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies or the abolishing of the traditional concept of marriage, things that many churches buy into wholeheartedly. Yes, America has lost it's first love, it's foundation in the Bible, and its ethical democracy. But what about individual Christians? Have we cooled so far that we have abandoned our first love. When we read out Bibles, it is a fruitless activity. We we hear of atrocities, what is our response?  This plague of creeping apathy must be stopped. Individually, we must examine our hearts to see if any corners of coldness are thriving and then pour the heat of the gospel and the Spirit right in that spot. It must be dealt with immediately or it spreads without notice. 

Then to Smyrna, the angel of the church wrote that the devil would test them by throwing them into prison. But the angel says to be faithful unto death. Scary words and words we have never experienced in America. But could it be in our future as more and more of our freedoms are disappearing? The war the devil has waged here came on subtly so that now he has such an inroad that he can openly assault and alter our complete way of life. How sad to witness a war being fought with hardly a skirmish! Yet for the individual Christian, this is a wake-up call. Examine your heart and live. Make provision for whatever you need to endure whether, it be fines, prison. or even death.

We must remember the final words of this letter, The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. 

Father,

I ask You to warm my heart today. Pour the heat of the gospel into my life melting any coldness or stiffness that might be hidden there. Help me to be Your vessel to show to all the peoples that Your hand if mighty.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Poor Choices

John 12:37-50

As I read this passage, I just feel the heartbreak of Jesus. Such an intense rejection must have grieved his soul! He offered freedom, but they wanted slavery. He offered light, but they wanted darkness. Unbelievable that man would choose so poorly! In spite of all the signs, the healing, the bread, the resurrection, still there was disbelief. Why? What was the problem? 

Some believed but were afraid of the Pharisees, afraid they would lose the privilege of the synagogue and their own crafted religious system. But the sad thing is that their time in the synagogue was devoid of truth. They lost the most important thing, the true reality for something vacuous and false. 

Others refused because they loved the glory of man more than the glory of God. How heartbreaking that they would reject the God of the universe for the applause of man, the most fickle being on earth! What an indictment! 

Then in v. 44 it says that Jesus cried out. He didn't just speak, but from His agony of soul He uttered great truth. Whoever would believe in Jesus would believe in God, the One who sent Him, the One who had reached out to man to offer a way out of darkness. He sent Jesus, the light of men to shine a light on the darkness of sin and point the way to the Father. Even in the rejection, Jesus did not judge. But the words that He had spoken would judge on that day. The words that they had heard but not believed had come from the Father, and in these words was and still is eternal life. They were so close but yet so far away! The decision was so simple but yet so difficult! They were willing to eat His bread and have their physical bodies healed, but not willing to believe His words! How selfish, grasping, and indulging! 

Father,

I believe Jesus' words, yet in my heart I see remnants of my old nature. I still see my own rank selfishness trying to control and dictate my actions. Keep speaking Your words to my inner man. Keep strengthening me with Your grace. I need You constantly. Help me to make right choices.

In Jesus' name,

Amen

Suffering

1 Pet. 18-25

Suffering is definitely not considered a positive in our culture. But in God's culture, it is! Since we live in this world in a body of flesh, part of our world's culture has seeped in and taken root in our hearts, especially the part about suffering. Yet, God's culture is stronger and has claimed significantly more of our thoughts and hearts. So as I read these words about suffering, I must buy into them! I must be all in!

There is no innate credit for the person who does wrong and suffers for it. In fact that is called justice! But for the person who is good who thinks of others, who is a good neighbor, who pays his bills and his taxes, who is honest and loving, for this person suffering is a gracious thing in the sight of God. It is a gracious thing because it is only through His grace that someone can endure the suffering without getting bitter or hardened.

Even more than that, our suffering is our calling. The believer is called to suffer because Christ suffered. He is our example. What he suffered, we must! Following in His footsteps is no cakewalk! Jesus continually (and not just once) entrusted Himself to His Father. He knew and understood that suffering  could not be accomplished without the Father. Suffering that is gracious has a loving and forgiving spirit toward the one inducing the suffering. Suffering that comes out of nowhere and takes a loved one with no notice can only be endured with the Father. Any suffering no matter how horrendous demands the grace of God to be endured. Without His grace, suffering can cause bitterness, desolation, devastation, depression, mental and physical states from which a person cannot recover. Without the grace of God, suffering becomes a black whole swallowing a part of a person or even the entire person. 

So when it says that Jesus, God in the flesh, someone with all the angels of heaven at His beck and call, had to commit Himself to the Father constantly and continually to endure suffering, then so must we! How can we think that we can handle it on our own? How foolish and prideful! This calling demands God's enabling!

Father,

I confess that I have not always relied on Your grace as I suffer. Help me to do this Give me Your grace to ask for the grace that I need. You must do it all in my life.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Joy and Delight

Jer. 15:16

Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.

What a beautiful attitude toward God's words! Oh that I might be an eater of God's words, that I might devour them and treasure them! What in this world do I joy and take delight in? Family, friends, possessions, esteem? All of those things pale in light of God's word, or should I say should pale. How easily distracted are our hearts! How easily turned to value what is temporal and earthly! We often forget whose name we have taken or has taken us. We are bought with the price of the life of the Son of God and are no longer our own. We are His, and because of this one fact we must take delight in the things that are eternal, in the things that are filled with Jesus.  We must eat the words because they are He. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word, the living Word, the Logos is Jesus Christ. He is our delight and our joy!

Father,

Give me an unquenchable appetite for the Word, for Jesus. Give me that delight and joy that only comes from You. Help me to always remember who has called me and who is my owner. Help me to remember I am called by Your name!

In the name of the Word,

Amen

Final Remarks and Benediction

Heb. 13

This chapter deals with so many issues ranging from hospitality to strangers to adultery and sexually immoral people. The Bible has a word on all the things that we need to know. I want to list some of the topics covered in this chapter: 

• Be hospitable to strangers.
• Remember those who are in prison.
• Hold marriage and the marriage bed in honor and undefiled.
• Keep free from loving money.
• Be content.
• Don't fear what man can do to you.
• Remember leaders, those who taught us the word, and imitate their lives.
• Jesus is timeless and unchanging.
• Watch out for diverse and strange teachings.
• Be strengthened by grace and not foods.
• Jesus suffered outside the camp and shed His blood for us. 
• We have a lasting city yet to come.
• Through Jesus we an offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.
• Do good.
• Share what you have.
• Obey leaders and submit to them because they keep watch on our souls.
• Pray for believers.

So much vital information all packed into one chapter. And yet there is more. The book has a beautiful and fitting benediction.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Father,

I ask that through Jesus You equip me with everything good that I may do Your will. I want to be pleasing in Your sight and give glory to Jesus who is the rightful owner of all glory forever,

In His name,

Amen