Author: Thomas E Meyer Jr

Formerly Homeless Sinner Now, Child of God, Saved by Grace.

In Christ, we are being Transformed into a New Creation! We are Helping More People Become God’s Friends!

One of my favorite past times involves watching the array of home renovation shows on television and you tube.  There is simply something magical about the transformation of a tired old room or tired old house into a cozy place of rest.  From dated, decrepit and broken to new, refreshed and restored.  From hideous and unsightly to beautiful and welcoming.  From useless to hopeful and useful.

Having participated through several renovation projects following the days of Hurricane Katrina, I can assure you there is nothing magical about the process itself!  Our Volunteer in Mission team I spent two years renovating old homes.  It was dirty, tedious and tiresome.  Many days were spent tearing down the old walls, pulling out nails, getting dirty, tired, and sometimes, frustrated.  But the results were homes that were beautiful, refreshing, functional, and welcoming.

Why is it that our human nature receives so much satisfaction in viewing the process of transformation?  We delight in watching this progression over and over again as is evidenced by the popularity of renovating shows on HGTV and similar channels.  We simply can’t get enough of seeing what was once old and ugly being changed and renewed into something our minds had not conceived.

Perhaps we are drawn into this reclamation process because it reflects the very work, we wish we could do on ourselves if we should be granted the chance to do it over again and differently. Perhaps it is the recognition what God longs to do in each of our hearts, souls and lives.  When we receive Christ as our Savior, scripture claims we “exchange our old life for a new one.”  We exchange sin for forgiveness, pride for humility, legalism for grace, fear for love, weakness for strength, immorality for morality, self-defeat for victory in God, anger for joy.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 Easy-to-Read Version

Helping People Become God’s Friends

11 We know what it means to fear the Lord, so we try to help people accept the truth. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know us too. 12 We are not trying to prove ourselves to you again. But we are telling you about ourselves. We are giving you reasons to be proud of us. Then you will have an answer for those who are proud about what can be seen. They do not care about what is in a person’s heart. 13 If we are crazy, it is for God. If we have our right mind, it is for you. 14 The love of Christ controls us, because we know that one person died for everyone. So, all have died. 15 He died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from death so that they would live for him.

16 From this time on we do not think of anyone as the world thinks of people. It is true that in the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks. But we don’t think that way now. 17 When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. [a] The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new! 18 All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him. 19 I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold people guilty for their sins. And he gave us this message of peace to tell people. 20 So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is like God is calling to people through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. 21 Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin[b] so that in Christ we could be right with God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation is come; the old has gone, the new is here!”  2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

There are those among us who are deeply pondering the questions: “can who I am now, can where I am now, can my future be brighter and more hopeful and hope-filled than it is right now?” What chance is there that the outlook on my life would be, could be, should be, will be changed if I had a chance to do it over again?” “What can I do to remove myself from my past choices, and decisions?” “There is no more of me which I can surrender, I have done all I know how to do!” “But I am still stuck, in my here and my now and I am going nowhere fast.

Who is it who is not asking themselves this series of questions in these times? We do not dare to surrender ourselves to the ravages of pandemic, we want to live, we want to be wholly alive healthy and wholly more prosperous than we were yesterday and the day before that. Someone once said we were promised a future filled with hope and prosperity, but who said it and where is it right now?

Jeremiah 29:10-14Easy-to-Read Version

10 This is what the Lord says: “Babylon will be powerful for 70 years. After that time, I will come to you people who are living in Babylon. I will keep my good promise to bring you back to Jerusalem. 11 I say this because I know the plans that I have for you.” This message is from the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14 I will let you find me.” This message is from the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place. But I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have sent you,” says the Lord, “and I will bring you back to this place.”

Where we are now and where we have been and where our current outlook on our future is right now will definitely continue to have a powerful influence on who we are in this moment. We cannot escape our past, but we can refresh it. We can change our perspectives; we can re-interpret them and reframe them. We can choose to reassign, re-consign them into the waters of forgetfulness. We can give them their beach towels, their beach umbrellas and just walk away.

We take a chance; we exercise our God-given right to risk everything on the sure belief that there is an absolutely better future waiting for us to discover it and experience it. We take a chance; we risk it all in faith that God does in fact have the greater and greatest plan for our future than we did. Once we surrender our lives unto, into, God, He sends his Holy Spirit to dwell within us and begin a process of transformation.  But into what exactly are we all being transformed?

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

GOD SLOWLY TRANSFORMS US

Transformed into the image of God.  Though we are created by God in His image, sin taints how we view God and, therefore, how we see ourselves. An incorrect view of God leads us into a warped view of ourselves.  But once His Spirit lives within us, God begins to peel back the layers of deceit and doubt that cloud our vision of Him, and which prevent us from reflecting His image in our lives.

Just as any home renovation takes time, our transformation is slow and steady. Day by day, God strips us off the old habits and old thoughts that keep us blind and replaces it with truth.  Though the echoes of our old life will come calling, we do not have to assign them any priority or relevance or any power over us.  Sometimes, we fear that we haven’t changed at all, but rest assured, if you are walking obediently in God’s Word, you are not the same person you used to be!

Exercising this personal risk of choosing God and choosing transformation does and will not come easily.  Though God does the internal work, we are called to surrender every inside and outside area of our life and live in obedience to His will. If it seems like hand-to-hand combat with an enemy you cannot see, it is because it is supposed to be internal hand to hand combat! We will Overcome!

Liken your experience to watching a jumbo jet soaring gracefully in the skies.  From the ground, the flight seems smooth and graceful.  We would never know, unless you are on the plane, the amount of turbulence the passengers could be or actually are experiencing.  In the same way, we feel every bump and bruise in our journey with Christ, and sometimes we get discouraged because it gets so very difficult.  But that’s not what others see.  They see your victories, your joy, your faithfulness, your hopefulness.  They see the light of Christ in your life.

Along with the old passing away, “the new has come!” Old, dead things are replaced with new dynamic, vibrant living things, full of an empowered life and the indescribable glory of God. The newborn soul delights in the things of God, abhors the past things of the world and the flesh. Our purposes, feelings, our desires, understandings are fresh and different. We see the world differently.

The Bible seems to be a new book, and though we may have read it before, there is a beauty about it which we never saw before, and which we wonder at not having perceived. The whole face of nature seems to us to be changed, and we seem to discover ourselves in a new world. The heavens and the earth are filled with new wonders, and all things seem now to speak forth the praise of God.

There are new feelings toward all people—a new kind of love toward family and a refreshed kind of love for neighbors, a new compassion never before felt for enemies, and a new love for all mankind. The things we once loved, we now detest. The sin we once held onto, we now desire to put away forever. We “put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9), and put on the “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

What about the Christian who continues to sin?

There is a substantial difference between continuing to sin and continuing to live in sin. No one reaches sinless perfection in this life, but the redeemed Christian is being sanctified (made holy) day by day, sinning less and hating it more each time he fails. Yes, we still sin, but unwillingly and less and less frequently as we mature. Our new self-hates the sin that still has a hold on us.

The difference is that the new creation is no longer a slave to sin, as we formerly were. We are now freed from sin, and it no longer has any measure or degree of power over us (Romans 6:6-7). Now we are Holy Spirit empowered by and for righteousness. We now have the choice to “let sin reign” or to count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11-12).

Best of all, now we have “holy boldness,” and the power to choose the latter.

The new creation is a wondrous thing, formed in the mind of God and created by His power and for His glory. When we reflect on the ways in which we have grown and matured, we can see how slowly, ever so slowly, God has been chipping away at places in our lives that needed restoring.  Be encouraged by the promise found in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us now pray,

Psalm 40 The Message

40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
    a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
    they enter the mystery,
    abandoning themselves to God.

4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
    turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
    ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
    of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
    compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
    and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
    account for you.

6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
    that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
    that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
    so I can listen.

7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.
    I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
    you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
    became part of my very being.

9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
    I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
    a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
    I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
    let the congregation know the whole story.

11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,
    don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
    are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
    a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
    I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
    so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
    hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
    will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
    will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
    will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
    oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
    tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
    make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
    but God, don’t put it off.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

O’ Lift up your heads, O ye gates; And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: And the King of glory will come in!

1 Rejoice, the Lord is King:
Your Lord and King adore!
Rejoice, give thanks and sing,
And triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

2 Jesus, the Savior, reigns,
The God of truth and love;
When He has purged our stains,
He took his seat above;
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

3 His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv’n:
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

4 Rejoice in glorious hope!
Our Lord and judge shall come
And take His servants up
To their eternal home:
Lift up your heart,
Lift up your voice!
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Charles Wesley, 1744

Psalm 24 American Standard Version

The King of Glory entering Zion.

A Psalm of David.

24 The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek after him,
That seek thy face, even Jacob. Selah

7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
And be ye lifted up, ye [a]everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
8 Who is the King of glory?
Jehovah strong and mighty,
Jehovah mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
Yea, lift them up, ye [b]everlasting doors:
And the King of glory will come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
Jehovah of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Psalm 24 is a beautiful song of adoration and worship to our God.

I picture Psalm 24 as a raucous worship romp, the type of song David would have danced like an ecstatic man to the presence of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:12-22) as it is about to be reverently carried inside the Tabernacle. It has the feeling of crescendo behind it, particularly the last four verses. I can hear a modern-day array of drums of all sizes and shapes, the artists and their music pulsating out the question “Who is this King of glory?” over and over again with strength, triumph, sending electricity through a worshipful throng.

He is the Lord Almighty, and we can rest in him. So often we try to do God’s job. We put the weight of the world on our shoulders, thinking it’s our job to solve all of life’s problems. We forget that our only job is to worship and glorify the King, it’s God’s job to do everything else. The psalms have been clear that all of our problems in this life are not going to go away, but they are also clear that God defeats our greatest foes. God defeats evil. God is the ultimate victor, and we are on his team. We can rest, trust in him through all of the ups and downs of this life. Through the times we are drowning. Through the storm and the war.

Psalm 24 covenants us to seek God’s face. I love this picture. God wants us to see him. He wants us all to see his face shining upon you (Numbers 6:24-26).

God wants to see the expressions upon our faces, wants to hear each beat of our heart, and every thought from our souls as we encounter the power of God here,

A PSALM OF DAVID. THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL ITS FULLNESS, THE WORLD AND THOSE WHO DWELL THEREIN. (PSALM 24:1)

King David starts out this royal hymn by drawing our attention away from ourselves and to the One who owns it all. He does this by showing a contrast right at the beginning of the psalm, a contrast that should dramatically remind us of our place in the universe.

Starting with the title, the text literally reads, “Belonging to David, a psalm. Belonging to Yahweh, the earth.” As great as King David was, he was still only a mere mortal man. Even though he was a poet and prophet, wrote under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he was just a man. Anything he had and anything he accomplished was given to him by the grace of God (2 Samuel 12:7–8).

Fallen man oftentimes looks at the earth as if it belongs to him, or worse, as if the earth was just a lucky break in the evolutionary scheme of things. But “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The earth belongs to Him and to no one else. He is the rightful owner. There is only one name on the title deed to the universe, and it’s not yours and it most assuredly, not mine. It’s Yahweh’s. That awe factor, magnitude of that thruth should serve as the only essential foundation to everything else in our lives.

Not only does the earth belong to the Lord, but everything it contains. That includes your home “your castle,” your car, your cash. More specifically, every single human being, without exception, belongs to the Lord. That includes your neighbor, your family, the homeless person, even you. “Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). We are stewards, good or bad, of what He has entrusted to us. It all belongs to God.

Since everything in the world belongs to God, why then do we spend so much time and energy accumulating and clinging onto the “rust prone” things of this world? Perhaps it’s because in the back of our minds we still believe they belong to us. We have not 0.01% yielded in submission to the sovereign ownership of God.

How are you and I doing in our perspectives of our place in the universe? Do you and I recognize and acknowledge the fact that you and I own exactly nothing in this world? Every one of our very life-breath comes from Him (Job 34:14–15)!

Psalm 24 proclaims the majesty and grandeur of God, but at the same time describes Him and His attributes in specific ways we can relate to. Let’s start with the first section of this beautiful Psalm and I will show you what I mean:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.” (Verses 1-2)

God is so indescribably, immeasurably big and powerful that He created the whole of time and space. Genesis 1 lays out the story that the eternal God spoke and created light and everything else in the world as we know it. He molded man into His image from the dust. That is an awesome and powerful God!

Yet, with the mess we have continuously made of things, why does not God just start from the beginning again and create something else? Why will He create a new Earth when He comes back?

The answer lies in Genesis 1 when it says after each of His creations or artwork – “And God saw that it was ALL good.” God loves the earth and the fullness of the earth; He just wants to redeem it from the fake hold the devil has placed on it.

The enemy is not the Creator or the Artist, he is just the usurper of the creation. God wants us to appreciate His earth from His eternal perspective, not despise it or destroy it.  He is after full redemption of our lives and the things around us.

On to the next section of Psalm 24…

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seeks Your face. Selah (verses 3-6)

Though God made the whole majestic earth, there is a place in Him and in His presence that goes echelons beyond Him just laying back, casually, passively, basking in the light He created, enjoying His creation here from a distance.  

His holy place is a place of revelation and love in His presence. It is a place of glory – a place where true peace, perfection, and extravagant love exists.

We always need to look at Hebrew Testament scripture in the light of New Testament revelation. I have heard this section of scripture preached from the pulpit as a “get your act together, so you can get into the presence of God” message. In the Hebrew Testament during the days of the tabernacle, the people would go through the outer courts, sacrifice their offerings, wash in the lavers and the pools of water, and come into the presence of God. They came in as instructed by God with formulas and patterns, but in the New Testament Christian life – this is a prophetic vision of what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

Through His death on the cross, He became our sacrifice, our ritual lamb, and our cleansing water. When we receive His blood and put our faith in the cross, our hands become clean, our hearts become pure, and we turn our faces from the idols of this world to the only true God. By faith, we receive the blessings and the righteousness of God through the sacrifice of the slain Son of God.

Only through Jesus can we enter into the presence of God. Nothing else can bring us in. Our responsibility in coming into the presence of God is simply this:

We have to acknowledge the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God and who exactly, exactingly we are without Savior Christ, receive the cleansing power of the blood, and walk in boldly into the throne of grace and into His presence.

Continuing on…. to another completely different section….

Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?ancient
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah (verses 7-10)

Can you imagine how heavy old gates are? Or what about giant wooden doors like in ancient medieval times?  Imagine now, after all these years, how hard it must be to get those gates open or lifted up. I am imagining the big fortresses of the great castle complexes, how many men it took to penetrate those gates or those walls. It might take an unconventional army of men to pull them open.

We are commanded here in this Psalm to open up the gates and the doors of our lives regardless of how heavy they are…. and with that command comes a covenant promise that the “King of glory shall come in.”  

They may seem heavy or impossible at times to lift up, but God is mightier. The Lord is mighty in battle. He is the Lord of hosts. As we seek Him by making ourselves available to His presence and receiving the power of His blood, the gates of our hardened and stony hearts, our sin darkened souls, spring open and we find freedom. He comes rushing in and overwhelms our narrow world view. 

God is not just the King bounded by earthly borders and boundaries, but He’s the “King of glory” and His glory comes into our lives and changes us forever.

Then we pause like the word “Selah” implies here at the end of this Psalm. 

Selah literally means – Stop and think about it.

We ought to give our mirrored selves a break in His presence. We stand in His glory which is undeniably unmatched and is unmatchable in all respects. The whole earth, as it pertains to our temporary lives, is redeemed and the fullness of His glory changes everything. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness”

Psalm 24 is a testament to the Sovereignty of over His creation and our lives.

As David did, as He sang and danced before the Ark of the Covenant, as he had the honor of welcoming the God of his salvation, before all of the people, we today have that self-same honor to welcome the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords into the Tabernacles of our souls.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

God, give me perspective. Help me to stop trying to carry the world on my shoulders. Help me to see and feel that you are already carrying me. Help me to rest in you. Help me to seek your face and worship you! You are the King of glory! You are the genuine conquering King who has defeated Satan and evil. You give hope for this life and on into eternal life. You have saved and rescued us Jesus and I thank you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you that your love is so real and so deep and so true. You are the Lord Almighty, the King of glory. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayers. My heart is overwhelmed: God of my Salvation, I Pray! Lead me unto the Rock which is Higher than I!

One thing I love about reading, studying and praying and meditating through the book of Psalms is that each Psalm usually begins with a Psalmist’s heavy heart crying out, and ends in praise and rejoicing. Psalm 61 is no exception.

There are several reasons I love Psalm 61, and verse 2 is a bit part of that. Here are some of the reasons that Psalm 61:2 is such a huge encouragement for me:

  • No matter where we are on this earth, God hears us. There is no where we can go that God cannot reach (Psalm 139:7). This fact alone should provide comfort and encouragement to the heart and soul of the reader identifying with “alone”.
  • We all feel overwhelmed at some point or another. David says, “when my heart is overwhelmed”. Not if, when. It is completely normal for our hearts to feel overwhelmed on occasion. The key is that we each need to take it unto the Lord.
  • God is our rock. What an encouraging and reassuring fact, to know that we have a rock which cannot be moved (Psalm 62:6).

As much or as little you are in need of some major league encouragement today, just remember, God absolutely hears you when you cry, and when you are just overwhelmed; all you need to do is talk to Him. He will lead you and protect you!

“From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2

Psalm 61 AKJV

Psalm 61

To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed:
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For thou hast been a shelter for me,
and a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle forever:
I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows:
thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.
6 Thou wilt prolong the king’s life:
and his years as many generations.
7 He shall abide before God for ever:
O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.

8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever,
that I may daily perform my vows.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Hear my cry, O God

Attend unto my prayer

From the ends of the earth

My cry comes unto Thee

And when my heart is overwhelmed

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I

That is higher than I

For Thou has been

A shelter unto me

A strong tower

From the enemy

And when my heart is overwhelmed

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I

That is higher than I 

These are the words to a much beloved camp song, and they are also the words to Psalm 61. Hundreds, probably thousands, if not millions of campers have come and gone to summer camp or sat in the woods of a forest by some river or flowing stream and sat around the campfire, trying to quiet their souls from the harsh circumstances of life singing these words, reflecting upon their meaning.

For years upon years, more than they can remember, they have been gathering together both believers and non-believers, just to break away from mainstream civilization to give unto their taxed and tired hearts, bodies, minds, souls some much needed rest., to detoxify themselves from the hustles and bustles of life. And why not? we all need to take that time away to simply “chill out” from life. We can only take so much upon ourselves that we feel like we will just “burst.” For mental health and physical and safety reasons, we need to have that time.

When Life seems to go on forever and ever and ever …. without any end ….

David is recognized as the author of this psalm, and David frequently found himself in many situations where the entire world was against him. After being plucked from his father’s flocks and assigned to be a bodyguard and musician for King Saul, David was constantly sent out into battle and eventually hunted down by the king himself. Saul knew the favor of God had departed from him and had been given to David, and his own failures haunted him to the point of jealously and madness. Even after Saul spared his life and he ascended to the throne, David was assailed by warring nations and his very own sinful desires.

No matter the cause or reasons, we can all relate to David at times. It may seem like everything comes against you: a medical diagnosis, a lost job or loved one, another failure, a fall to temptation, or some other calamity. And it seems like they all just happen at once – when you assess your life and think you can stay steady under this new tension, another weight is dropped on your shoulders.

Psalm 61 was written by David at one of the many times when he was far from home and safety. It begins with his desperate cry to God. He is despairing, lost, and struggling. “My heart is crying, and it is overwhelmed!” he tells the Lord.

If we are rigorously and vigorously honest, with ourselves, and with others, many of us can truly relate to the feelings of David. We know what it is like to sit in darkness and wonder if light will ever come. In his sorrow, David calls out to God in prayer. He knows the only way he can rest and find safety in the Rock of Salvation is if God reaches down and, intercedes and places him atop the rock which is higher than he and everybody else is where only God can reach him.

Are Your Heart and Soul being Overwhelmed?

The depth of sadness described in this psalm is not an everyday sadness. The level of exhaustion and resignation is not the normal tiredness we feel at the end of the day. It is a profound, soul-rending sense of loss and fear. It is important not to make light of the deep struggles’ others may go through by comparing your heart felt soul felt pain, however legitimate, with theirs.

That being said, we will be worn down by the world. Jesus Himself promised us that even our loved ones could turn on us, and practically guaranteed that we would have trouble in this life. Our world is fallen and tainted by sin, and no amount of manmade goodness can cover the stain of evil that has scarred mankind. The weight of our sin weighs heavily upon our souls and shoulders.

Many things can contribute to an overwhelming sense of dread at the prospect of facing even one more day. A sudden and dangerous medical diagnosis, deep personal loss through financial hardships and or death can certainly be a valid reason to grieve and to mourn. On days when it seems that the whole world is against you, that sense of loneliness can be pretty overwhelming. Even in the face of the everyday evils that swarms over the earth devouring the innocent and preying on the weak can overwhelm a soul sensitive to the heart of God.

What Ought We to be Doing in such times as these?

First of all, know and accept that your grief is not being misplaced. When you reach the lowest point, know that your mourning has value, is not worthless. God surely and certainly wants to hear the deepest cries of your heart at all times, if your heart is only capable of producing tears, God accepts that honesty.

Next, we must always remember that God not only wants to hear our cries, but He also wants to heal our wounds. He wants to carve out the broken places in our lives, soothe them with His healing presence, and replace them with more of Himself. Only by inviting God into your hurt can you experience a peace that passes all understanding, regardless of what all else is happening around you.

It is healthy to grieve, but it is not healthy to wallow endlessly, assuming there is no hope. In all things, Jesus is the author of and ultimate place hope for the world. His grace is sufficient for every shortcoming, and His strength is made perfect in every weakness. While we should express our sorrow in healthy ways, we should also be willing to give our hurt to God and trust 1000% He will work something good from it. We will never fully understand the mind of God in this life, but faith can sustain us through the dark times when our walls come down.

In God, David has always found safe refuge and secure shelter. He has found rest, comfort, and retreat in places only God knows. So why would he not, in his darkest moments, cry out to the God who is his “rock,” his hiding place, and his fortress? And as he cries out, David finds 100% comfort in God’s grace and care.

Sometimes, when our hearts are overwhelmed, all we need do is cry out to God and ask that in our desperation and fear, God would place us on stable ground. God would comfort us and lead us to safety. God would shelter us and deliver us. Right in this exact and exacting moment or season, what is overwhelming you?

In this season of pandemic hot and cold, and summer and winter and job loss and only Lord knows the weight what of all those other activities, what weighs heavy, heavier and heaviest on your heart? Hopefully, the words of this Psalm will bring you comfort and a small amount of peace as you remember that when your heart is overwhelmed, YOU PRAY! you always find rest in God, your rock.

The next time your heart seems overwhelmed, try turning to God in worship.

You may not feel fully invested in that exact moment, but the Word of God never returns to God void. God will absolutely use even the smallest amount of faith to work miraculous things in our hearts. Psalms like this one are called psalms of lament, and they are in the Bible for a reason: they can be a model and an outlet for our worship when words simply will not come. Try reading through this entire psalm or another familiar passage and use those words to pour out your overwhelmed heart unto the God Who is never overwhelmed.

God the Father can NEVER be OVERWHELMED!

God the Son, Jesus can NEVER be OVERWHELMED!

God The Holy Spirit can NEVER be OVERWHELMED!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray, (PSALM 61 The Message)

61 1-2 God, listen to me shout,
    bend an ear to my prayer.
When I’m far from anywhere,
    down to my last gasp,
I call out, “Guide me
    up High Rock Mountain!”

3-5 You’ve always given me breathing room,
    a place to get away from it all,
A lifetime pass to your safe-house,
    an open invitation as your guest.
You’ve always taken me seriously, God,
    made me welcome among those who know and love you.

6-8 Let the days of the king add up
    to years and years of good rule.
Set his throne in the full light of God;
    post Steady Love and Good Faith as lookouts,
And I’ll be the poet who sings your glory—
    and live what I sing every day.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Unconventional Leadership: Those who would exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who would truly humble themselves will be exalted!”

In these contemporary times, humility is a greatly under-emphasized quality among humans. Some don’t know what it means, don’t know how to appreciate it, don’t know how to love with it, and aren’t all that sure they want to have it.

Culturally, we are much more likely to be drawn to the energetic, dynamic, charismatic, crowd-drawing leader. That’s who gets the headlines and the attention. and television appearances and bigger money. But, if we listen closely and watch carefully, we can see in Jesus someone who is humble, but strong; humble, but charismatic; humble, but crowd drawing; humble, but dynamic.

You see, the same Lord who spoke into the threatening waves, stilled the storm and spoke into the crowds is the Lord who washed feet and died on a cross and fed the thousands and held babies in his arms when it wasn’t politically correct.

So maybe we might need to rethink humility and try living and loving it like Jesus did. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what we need to do; no “maybe” about it! Let’s be like Jesus, and the humility comes along with the character!

Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition – Traditional Version

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

Matthew 23:11-12 The Message

11-12 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Humility can seem like the most unlikely place to look if you and I want to gain in knowledge, wisdom, skills, or grow much in any way as a person. Should not you and I instead be more bold, brash, and willing to chase after everything you desire? Contemporary, conventional wisdom certainly says so, but conventional wisdom also tends to overlook if not just plain forget the greatest example set by the most accomplished and yet most humble person ever to walk this earth.

Jesus humbled Himself before God and before man, yet He was and always will be the most exalted among us. As in all things, we should follow His example and seek to humble ourselves before others in all that we do and speak. “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” Christians read in Matthew 23:12. These spiritually inspiring Biblical words of encouragement should be used as an essential guide as we go through this life and encounter new people and situations which call for your humility.

in Matthew 18:3, Jesus told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

This statement echoes the statement made in Matthew 23:11-12 that in order to be in eternal communion with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, an attitude of service and humility must burst forth from the seams of our character and countenance, leaving no doubt that the grace we all freely received for our salvation took root within our hearts and has borne much fruit.

The fact is that no single person knows absolutely everything. No matter how smart and wise you think or allow yourself to believe you are, the amount we know pales woefully in comparison to everything that we do not know. This is, thankfully, what other people are for. They are there to teach us and provide us with everything we lack, and we are to do the same in return. Unfortunately, such an exchange of skills and talents is virtually impossible without humility.

If you consider someone else’s ideas and opinions as beneath you, or if you come to everything with preconceived notions and judgments, then you will surely either have greater difficulty or never be able to learn anything new. You will always get yourself stuck in your narrow and limited view of the world. Everyone has different experiences, different knowledge, and different skill sets which are meant to complement, not to compete with, our own. Being too prideful to learn from others is the best way to stunt your personal growth.

Being humble does not mean that you and I have to let ourselves be changed by someone else’s way of thinking. Perhaps there are, in some areas, where you are more knowledgeable than another person, and you do know a better way. You should, not however, scorn what anyone else has to say. Be willing to hear them out, listen and move on respectfully if their ideas are not right for you.

Not only should we strive to humble ourselves before others, as Jesus did, but let’s ultimately humble ourselves before God. 1 Peter 5: 6 instructs Christians to, “humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” If we are too great an effort to be too prideful to see God working in our and our neighbors lives and to submit to God’s will for us, then He will truly never be able to lift us up to the abundant life in God that we are called to live.

Imagine the scope of all the possibilities which would flourish in our lives if we so chose to filter our minds through the spiritual colander of humility, washing away all unrighteousness and iniquity that enslaves us and leaving behind only the God honoring qualities that produce the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Though humility should be practiced for the sake of itself, it’s also nice to know that being humble has some very important benefits for our daily lives. As you and I can hopefully see, far from making a person weak, humility is in fact one of the biggest strengths that someone could ever display. Praise God! Alleluia!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us give a moments rest to our hearts, surrender ourselves and humble ourselves.

Psalm 61:1-4 AKJV

Psalm 61

To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.

1 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed:
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For thou hast been a shelter for me,
and a strong tower from the enemy.
4 I will abide in thy tabernacle forever:
I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

Almighty God, I know You can shape and reshape everything, that no thought can be withheld from You.  “Who is he who hides council without knowledge?”  Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know.  “Hear and I will speak I will question You and You shall declare to Me.  I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You,” therefore I surrender myself over unto your unconventional leadership.  Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

 

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When Making our Life’s Investment in Jesus, Walk Worthy of the Calling!

Apostle Paul calls us all to be like-minded… having unity in the spirit and the love of Christ in our hearts – being of one accord; encouraging the saints and demonstrating tender-compassion in humility of heart, towards one another. But mercy, truth and unity will only come when we have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship in the Spirit flowing through our inner beings – for it is only as we are fully surrendered, yielded to the Holy Spirit, that He is enabled to work in us, conform us, into the likeness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:1-6 J.B. Phillips New Testament

Christians should be at one, as God is one

4 1-6 As God’s prisoner, then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling. Accept life with humility and patience, making allowances for each other because you love each other. Make it your aim to be at one in the Spirit, and you will inevitably be at peace with one another. You all belong to one body, of which there is one Spirit, just as you all experienced one calling to one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father of us all, who is the one over all, the one working through all and the one living in all.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Paul has written this letter to the Ephesians and God has preserved it for our reading so that we would learn who we are. God wants you to know who you are.

Each and every one of us an identity, and that identity has been given to you by God. Each and every one of us have been called to a great calling. We have been called to being something significantly more than mundane living on this earth.

Ephesians Chapter 3 covenanted that we are to display God’s wisdom and glory. This is what we have been called to do. We are chosen, redeemed, predestined, adopted, heirs, saved, and reconciled so that God would be glorified, and his wisdom would be on display. Ephesians 3:20-21 summarizes the calling. God would be glorified through us (His Body – the church) and through Jesus for all generations forever and ever. God being immeasurably glorified is our calling.

Ephesians 3:20-21 J.B. Phillips New Testament

20-21 Now to him who by his power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine—to him be all glory in the Church through Jesus Christ for ever and ever, amen!

Walk Worthy (Ephesians 4:1)

Our covenant calling is that God is glorified by people for all generations.

Therefore, Paul urges us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

If our purpose is to display God’s glory and God be glorified through us, then there is a particular way to covenant our lives for this calling. We do not get to be a Christian and act and behave how we want to act or do what we want to do. That is not our covenant calling. This walk is our response to all that God has done for us, which we read about throughout the first 3 chapters of Ephesians.

We are to live covenant lives reflecting this new identity. You and I have been called to something great and glorious. Walk worthy of it!

In Ephesians chapter 2 Paul condemned us because we were walking in a way that followed the ways of this world, following the plans of Satan, following the passions of our flesh, and carrying out the desires of the body and mind.

That is the former walk. Now you and I have a new walk. The new walk is not to go back carrying out your desires in your body and mind. The new walk is not following our passions. Our new walk is not following the ways of this world. Now you and I are to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

Now Paul says something subtle, but very important in this first verse. Paul says, “I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord.” Paul starts there before he tells us to walk worthy of the calling. Why does Paul even bring up that he is a prisoner for Christ at this moment? Because we need to know up front, before we make a decision to follow in Christ’s covenant, our walking worthy is going to be costly.

Paul urges to walk in this way understanding that the walk is costly. You and I will not fit in with the world when we start making decisions for the sake of not ourselves but for all of those who God just declared have become our neighbors. Understand that trying to walk according to our calling is countercultural. How you will now behave is the opposite of what the world thinks is right or good.

The Character Which Brings Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:2)

Now, consider what you think would be the first command for walking worthy.

Of all the things God could command us first to consider in walking worthy of the calling, what do you think that command would be?

Read Ephesians 4:2-3. Notice the first point Paul makes is for Christian unity.

In verse 2 teaches us the character needed to maintain Christian unity.

Verse 3 gives us the charge to maintain this unity.

Ought that we should be overly surprised that the first quality Paul addresses for walking worthy is unity? Unity is very important to our Lord because a lack of unity can never bring any God glory. Disharmony wrecks God being glorified.

Paul begins with the attitudes necessary for unity. Too often there has been an attitude that we can have unity on doctrine alone. There is an attitude that as long as we agree that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body, one Spirit, one hope, and one God and Father of all, then we can be ugly to each other, have poor attitudes, be rude, attacking, and the like and still have unity.

Much to the great grief of God, we have each seen and heard far too many times supposed Christians attempt to defend the gospel and defend the truth by being angry, vicious, slanderous, condescending, and sometimes even being deceitful.

I unfortunately experienced this when I was training to preach. A preacher from another church decided that what we were doing was wrong, primarily because we were teaching and preaching the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from a more traditional Bible Based approach and perspective. The ugly, hateful attitudes, words were just echelons beyond shocking and disappointing to me.

I want us to notice where Paul starts for Christian unity. “With all humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

There cannot be any degree or measure of unity without these things. It does not matter how much doctrine we think we have right and correct. We have missed the gospel completely and do not know the calling to which we have been called when we are lacking humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearing.

Jesus exerted the power of God and defended the teachings of Christ without resorting to being ugly or hateful. I think we can get the idea of how we are to behave when we read humility, gentleness, and patience. People are going to say things and do things that are simply not right and unscriptural. We are to respond with humility, gentleness, and patience.

Any number of other Christians in the Body of Christ do not know what you and I know. They may not have studied the Bible as long as both you and I have.

They may not be as smart as you and I think you and I are. They may be confused on some teachings. They may have adopted some ideas that others have learned through culture have taught but are not found in the scriptures.

How are we going to handle important these things? A correcting response must be with humility, gentleness, and patience. Some of you simply will not accept some of the concepts from the scriptures I have taught while I have been studying and praying over the Scripture passages and writing these devotions.

How should I handle that? Should I be angry? Should I be more forceful with you? Should I put you down? Should I intimidate you? Should I make slanderous comments about you to you or to others? No! that’s very much wrong! When Christians are speaking, we must remember humility, gentleness, and patience.

If this was not enough, Paul says that we are to bear with one another in love. We are to endure patiently with one another because we love the soul of the person. We ought to love each other and will continue to work together without bitterness or anger. Think about how we talk to each other. Think about how we act toward each other. Think about each and every one of these things especially when we are too busy vigorously disagreeing. Why? Paul continues in verse 3.

The Charge To Maintain Christian Unity (4:3)

We are to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Some translations rightly read that we are to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We are to desire unity and do all we can to continue it. Notice that we are not to create unity but to maintain it. We are to keep the unity that is already in existence that comes from the calling. We have been joined together in Savior Jesus Christ. Be eager to maintain that unity. Be diligent to maintain this unity. Make every effort to continue together in unity.

Consider: We do not have unity if it cannot be seen. Unity is not something that ought to be seen as only a concept. Unity is seen in behavior. A lack of unity in a marriage is evident. Unity in a marriage is evident. If we truly have unity in our marriage to Jesus Christ, then it will be evident. Peace is the bond that holds this unity together. We will see peace in our relationships and behaviors. We desire unity and will, by our marriage to Christ, make all effort to maintain that unity.

Look carefully at this image of a chain. Do you notice even for one hot fleeting moment the “red question mark” linking(?) the two ends of the chain together? This is not unity. Too often we think this is unity. Occasionally all the links sit in the same room. But this is not one chain. They are not unified. There is no unity. We do not have Christ-like unity unless we have participation and involvement.

As I have already said above,

The Apostle Paul calls us all to be like-minded… having unity in the spirit and the love of Christ in our hearts – being of one accord: encouraging the saints and demonstrating tender-compassion in humility of heart, towards one and another. But mercy, truth and unity will only come when we have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship in the Spirit flowing through our inner beings – for it is only as we are fully surrendered, yielded to the Holy Spirit, that He is enabled to conform us, into the likeness of Christ.

We have the mind of Christ – to think as He did; to speak as He did; to live as He did and to love all our neighbors and behave as He did. And so individually and collectively we have the means to walk and live and pray in spirit and truth.

In his letter to the Philippians the Apostle Paul gives this vital challenge to all believers – IF we have received any consolation in Christ; if therefore we have any comfort of love; if therefore we have any fellowship of the Holy Spirit and if therefore, we have any bowels and mercies in Christ, we are to demonstrate this in our lives by being of one same mind. (Philippians Chapter TWO)

If we, as children of God, have received His goodness and grace, comfort and hope, hope and compassion, then we are to maintain the same goodness, grace, comfort and love and be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the body of peace. There ought to be no question marks between any two-chain links!

The challenge to all believers is to faithfully and committedly and prayerfully develop a Christlike character, demonstrating the same love that He displayed.

We are to be united in spirit and fervent in love – looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.

We are to walk worthy of this glorious calling we have been given. Walking worthy means being eager and making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As we make this walk with Christ, let us place a much higher priority on coming together in Christ, a greater focus on unity.

First, let us be more patient with each other. Let us be gentler with each other. Let us be humbler, not thinking so much of our abilities or knowledge. Let us patiently bear with one another because of the love we have through Christ.

Second, let us be eagerly maintaining the unity which is to be found only through God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Unity is visible. Unity is not accidental. Unity requires us merging, weaving our lives together in God’s word regularly. Otherwise, we are individual links who have questionable proximity to one another proclaiming the “united chain” we are to be in Christ.

You will never see any question marks or any missing links between the link of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It can never ever exist!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us come together as One Body, “perfectly” united as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

Heavenly Father I pray that I may show forth the grace of Christ, the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit – in thought word and deed towards all who are the called according to Your purpose, so that in unity of spirit we may honor Your name, through our earthly witness, in Jesus’ name I now pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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Making a Genuine Investment in our Futures. Investing in Self or in Jesus?

The 16th century German theologian, Martin Luther is credited with saying “A religion which gives nothing, which costs nothing, and which suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”

We understand the value of anything is determined by its investment, either in time, money, or personal sacrifice. When Savior Jesus Christ says, “follow me,” he is beckoning us, not just to go to the nearest trendiest outdoor cafe, hang out with him, or tag along, but instead unto a devout, different, and dedicated, life.

An old time, circuit riding preacher, Alex Johnson, in his sermon “It’s easy to become a Christian, but so very much harder to live as a Christian,” observed that “the mark of a great leader is the demands he makes upon his followers.”

In today’s devotional Bible passage from Luke, Jesus reminds us of the value of “future investments,” discipleship and its sacrificial demands upon the lives of those who choose and desire to follow Him to Follow Him EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Luke 9:23-27 The Message

23-27 Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Master Rabbi Jesus had just finished His ministry in the Galilee area and set His face to Jerusalem. He started to prepare His followers for His fast-approaching death and resurrection. He earnestly started to train His disciples for their post resurrection mission and ministry and increasingly, He has made hints to his disciples about His person, His sacrifice on the cross and his coming kingdom.

Jesus not only started to explain privately to His disciples about His mission and ministry – His death and resurrection, but He has also talked to the gathering crowds about what it genuinely means for a believer, to become a true disciple of His – and we read that Jesus said unto all,“ if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

All believers are children of God but there is a vital difference between being saved as a son and following the Lord as His disciple. (Ephesians 1:3-14)

We are saved from our sins because we trusted Jesus as Savior, who died on the cross – we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

But to become a true disciple we must make critical sacrifices in how we view and perceive the world and the circumstances we are daily presented through it.

We must look in the mirror and essentially believe that who and what we see looking back at us has quite a few and very different interpretations when seen only through the tainted eyes of mankind versus the eyes of Savior Jesus Christ.

From somewhere beyond our biases and prejudices, Jesus here covenants with us to not see the world as we see it – endless vistas of hopelessness and “see the world as He sees it,” with an everlasting hope for an eternal future far beyond our understanding, far, far beyond our time and season of living on this planet.

But to get to that ultimate place of hope, we have to ultimately sacrifice those “treasures we treasure beyond everything, and everyone else,” take up our own cross, daily, and follow the Lord Jesus – we are to walk the way of the cross. (Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 13:44-52, Matthew 19:16-22, Luke 12:13-21)

James 1:19-25 ESV

Hearing and Doing the Word

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

To be a disciple it must not only be hearing the Word and being a listener, but it is also add doing the Word and sacrificially applying it to our everyday agendas.

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is not only knowing that Christ has identified with our sins – (sonship) – but that we are to reciprocate in kind and identify with Christ – (discipleship)… We are to identify with His sacrifice and surrender, His crucifixion, His suffering.

We are covenanted to be like Christ in His humanity and to deny ourselves if we are to be His disciples – but to do so we are to surrender our lives to the Spirit, to give ourselves as a willing and living sacrifice to the Father and then to say as did Christ, thy will not mine be done. Self, the self-life and all that is connected with the old sin nature, must remain thoroughly consigned unto God’s Grace.

The world does not understand this kind of life and worldly Christians have opted to keep “self on the throne of their life” – but to follow the way of the cross we are to give our lives to the Lord. Our life is to be a life of surrender, suffering, sacrifice and service to the Him.

If you and I freely choose to give up your lives for the Lord, you and I will not lose it but rather, by making the choice for salvation through Christ to save it.

Following the Lord in sacrificing, surrendering and re-surrendering, suffering and service is a daily discipline – as Jesus said, “if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

As the founder of Methodism Reverend John Wesley famously quipped in his well-considered advice about being a day-to-day Christian every single day.

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

What are the kingdom implications for Christians in these days of pandemic?

Social Isolation, Quarantine, Social Distancing, Mask on Mask off, vaccination!!

The day-to-day challenge is even greater to be the Body of Christ, the Church in such a sacrificial way as not to risk the safety of others and to make others sick.

Jesus asks us to surrender ourselves, to deny ourselves. To just say “no” to our- selves. This is more than just denying oneself of personal comfort, pleasures or possessions. It is giving up, surrendering, re-surrendering, self-gratification. Self-indulgence. Self-centeredness. Self-interest, not cause harm unto others.

Denying self goes against the grain. It’s not what our self-seeking culture is about. In our technology driven, virtual reality existence, everything today is geared toward self- gratification, self-satisfaction. Self-love. Self-devotion.

Jesus calls for self-denial. Self-sacrifice. Self-abasement. Self-control. Self-surrender and re-surrender and a growing and a maturing self-discipline.

Discipleship calls for a covenant commitment

Jesus simply says, “Follow Me.” This is the natural result of self-denial and cross bearing. He is the motivation for what we do, who we are, and how we live.

Following Jesus leads to ministry and mission. Following Savior Jesus leads us to involvement in the lives of others. And not just the comfortable environment of fellow Christians. But it leads us to interact with the less fortunate who need our help. With sinners with whom we can share the Words of the Gospel. With opponents of Christianity to whom we can present a sure defense of the gospel.

Disciplined following of Jesus leads us to Bible study. Prayer. Worship. And fellowship. Following Jesus leads to an intimate relationship with the Father.

Ironically, following Jesus leads us to save ourselves by losing our ourselves as His disciple. The disciple’s questions to paraphrase Jesus is not “What can I get?” But “What can I give?” Not “What is the safe thing?” But “What is the right thing?” Not “What is the obvious thing?” but the “Love of Christ” thing!

In this time when we are “sequestered” to our homes, travel is limited and our public church assemblies are cancelled or curtailed for health and safety, we’re reminded that covenant discipleship is so much more than church attendance.

The day-to-day Christian life is a daily disciplined life, a devoted discipled life and a continual discipling life. It’s a disciplined life to surrendering it all to God.

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
― The Right Reverend John Wesley, (1703-1791) Founder of Methodism

In the name of God, the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us now pray,

Loving Father, more and more I want to surrender my life to You, to take up my cross daily as a willing sacrifice and to cry out, thy will not mine be done. I pray that my old self-life will remain firmly nailed to the cross as I submit to Your leading and guiding in all I say and do, in Christ’s name I pray, Alleluia! AMEN.

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Prayer: The Promise of Praying Together (Matthew 18:19-20)

What Jesus Did! ‘The Lord Is There!’ What Hope is Given! “The Lord is There! What Mercy is Revealed! “The Lord is There!” What Assurance is Experienced! “The Lord is There!” What Grace is made Available to us! “The Lord is There!”

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ manifests His presence in a special way when two or more of His disciples meet to pray. The promise is “that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

Matthew 18:18-20 The Message

18-20 “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

How we ought to rejoice to know that where two or three are gathered together in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He has promised to be there among us – for He is the Head of our church, we are all members of His body!

Scripture is clear, as believers we are the corporate body of Christ and when two or more members of Christ’s body are united in prayer or praise, thanksgiving or worship – we are in a small way fulfilling Christ’s high priestly prayer: that we may be one, even as He is One with the Father. Christ is the Head of the body – and when as few as two or three members are united together in Him, they are one community of faith, one with Christ, who is the Head of His growing body.

What an indescribable joy it is to know that Jesus has promised to work in and through the prayer and praises of His people. What an immeasurable comfort to know He is with us as we unite together in fellowship around a shared meal or simply join together, we break bread, pass the cup of blessing, in remembrance of Him. How undeniably important to keep Jesus in His rightful place, as HEAD.

When we come to the Lord in prayer or praise, whether it be individually and corporately. I must decrease and He must increase, for there is one Lord; one faith; one baptism into the body of Christ and there is One Head, who is to guard and guide us individually and corporately. (John 3:27-30 AKJV)

He must completely increase, we must sacrificially decrease so that it is Christ’s beautiful Spirit of unity in the faith, which leads us and guides us as we come together in His name – for prayer and petitions; conversation and communion; a simple communal meal or a meeting of fellowship and church governance ‘for where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.’

This well beloved, oft quoted, oft prayed passage of Scripture must also be clearly understood in its proper historical context when Matthew wrote it.

We must also be aware of Several key understandings implicit in this passage:

  1. Because the Lord is present when two or three of his disciples are gathered together, his sovereign power and sovereign authority are present, too.
  2. The power of two or three to agree is not a general statement — in other words, this is not a blanket promise that if two Christians agree about something, God will have to carry it out. It is in the “legal” context of church discipline, sin, and fellowship that these verses apply. (Deuteronomy chapters 17 and 19)
  3. Because the sovereign power and the authority of the Lord are ever-present, the agreement between these gathered Christians is a reflection of what has already happened in heaven, not vice versa!

To understand exactly what Jesus means in Matthew 18:18-20 we have to look at the context, which includes the surrounding verses in the passage, and the passage before and after, the background of the book and author, including the original audience. Sometimes even just the heading of a passage can helps us.

The heading for Matthew 18:15-17 ESV is, “If Your Brother Sins Against You,” or “Dealing with Sin in the Church” in another translation.

Matthew 18:15-17 ESV

If Your Brother Sins Against You

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Not all biblical translations and versions include the phrase “against you,” but either way we can and should clearly also gather that this passage is about sin and discipline in the Christian community, specifically His Body – the church.

Matthew’s original audience was likely comprised of mostly Jewish believers and some Gentile believers; his gospel was also an evangelistic tool for Jews who did not yet believe as well as good news for Gentiles who did not believe. The Jews reading Matthew’s gospel would have immediately known that this passage dealt with church discipline. Why? Because the passage would have clearly reminded them of the passages in Deuteronomy, concerning the law. 

Deuteronomy 17 and 19 speak of 2 or 3 witnesses gathered to testify in court. The witnesses were necessary to establish a case in court.

The Hebrew Bible (Hebrew [Old] Testament) was Jesus’ Bible, and He used it in preaching and teaching. Jewish readers or listeners would have been all too familiar with allusions to Hebrew Bible passages; they knew their Bible well. Unlike most modern Christians, they would not have needed cross-references. This is just another reason to know God’s Word well and to study both the Old Testament and New Testament, neglecting neither.

This does not in any way shape or form mean Savior Jesus does not hear our prayers when we pray alone or with two or three people etc. …He does. (John 14:13-14, John 15:16, John 16:23-25-27 Authorized King James Version) 

Our Lord and Savior is present when his people gather together. The fellowship they share is vital. The decisions that are made under the Lord’s guidance by the Christians gathered reflect the decisions in heaven. To put it succinctly: Jesus clearly wants all his disciples to be a redemptive community of Godly character.

When we come to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in prayer or praise, whether it be individually and corporately as the local church. We must each sacrificially decrease, and Savior Jesus Christ must then absolutely increase, for there is one Lord; one faith; one baptism into the body of Christ and there is One Head, who is to guard and guide us individually and corporately as communities of faith.

It is important to realize that inherent in the whole procedure is love for each member of the fellowship, including the fallen brother. It is the concern of a family. Where consuming love for truth and the church flow together, Jesus says that “whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

We must sacrificially decrease so that it is Christ’s beautiful Spirit of unity in the faith, which leads us and guides us in all things as we come together in His name – for prayer and petitions; conversation and communion; for a simple communal meal or a meeting of fellowship, and church governance, for ‘where two or three are gathered together in My name, I Jesus am there among them.’

What do you believe God for today? Not what you ask, but what do you expect that He will answer? This may well disclose our faith — and our likeness to Christ. Yet it may also urge us to rise to a higher life in the fullness of His Spirit.
Think of the potential, the unlimited vistas of prayer open to us! “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us now pray,

Loving Father, how glorious it is to know that the Lord Jesus is my living Head. May He lead and guide all my intercessions and prayers – my conversation and communion with others, both individually and corporately. As I gather together with other brothers and sisters, to pray and praise and worship You, I thank You that Christ is the Head in our midst. May all I say and do, both individually and corporately be honoring to You, in Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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Powerful People are Transformed, Renewed and Empowered by God! 

Here, The Apostle Paul is now describing to the Followers at Rome how to be different, how to be transformed, to be God’s singularly unique servant in a hostile world. He honors particular character traits, offers special rewards for each. Anywhere in the world we live right now, we are dared to be different!

  1. Those who are genuinely humble before God, who turn to Him in absolute dependence, will be assured of a place in His kingdom.
  2. Those who show compassion on behalf of the needy, the hurting, will receive (in return) much comfort in their own lives.
  3. Those who are gentle—strong within yet controlled without, who bring a soothing graciousness into irritating situations, will win out.
  4. Those who have a passionate appetite for righteousness, both heavenly and earthly, will receive from the Lord an unusual measure of personal contentment and satisfaction.

Before going further, let’s ask ourselves these questions (try to answer each one decisively and directly, studiously and honestly, and hopefully and prayerfully):

  • Am I really different? How do I define ‘different?” How does Paul define it? How does God ultimately define “being different? being empowered? being inspired?
  • Do I take “being different” seriously . . . so much so that I am willing to change?
  • Is “being different” coming through to me that serving others, empowering and inspiring others are some one of the most Christlike attitudes I can have?
  • What significant difference will the ideas expressed throughout Scriptures have on my life? The life and lives of my family? The life and lives of my community?

The bottom-line question is not, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” but rather, “What “different” are you and I becoming, now that we are being empowered, inspired by Father, Son and Holy Spirit to “Go! Light up our world?”

Romans 12:1-3 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Powerful People are Transformed and Renewed by God

It’s been a while, but I’m going to start with a question:

Are you and I actually allowing God to work powerfully in our lives?

Today I desire to try to encourage you that if you really want to experience God working powerfully in your life you need to allow Him to transform your mind.

Let us begin our time of transformation here;

Romans 12:1-2 Authorized King James Version

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We are transformed, renewed, empowered, enlightened, by sacrificing the whole of ourselves to the perfect will of God. That is a whole lot to think of.

let us try to briefly address that one first:

The will of God is a phrase we might use as disciples of Jesus.

The “the will of God” has two or three biblical meanings.

First, there is the “sovereign will of God”, that is something that will always happen whether we want it to or not. We cannot slow it down, we cannot hinder it by any of our means, any way shape or form, nor can we ever hope to stop it.

Second, there is the “revealed will of God” in the Bible, things like do not steal, do not lie, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)

In this our sinful world, people might know what the revealed will of God is for humanity and yet still choose to willfully, ignorantly, ignore what God has said.

Then third, there is the path of wisdom and spontaneous godliness.

Wisdom is when we consciously apply the word of God with our transformed and empowered and renewed minds to address complex moral circumstances.

Spontaneous godliness can occur when we live most of our lives without conscious reflection on the hundreds of things we say and do all day.

For us to live and move into our faith, for us to live lives which are holy and acceptable to God we each need to allow Him to change and shape (empower, transform) our minds so that both you and I will have this inspired feeling, urge, this irresistible growing, and maturing desire to seek to freely “give the whole of ourselves up,” to His will and purpose for us in every area of our lives.

As King David Prayed,

Psalm 17:1-4 Authorized King James Version

A Prayer of David.

1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry,
give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night;
thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing;
I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.

When I became a Christian around 20 years ago, I read the book of Romans for the first time.

Since then, I have revisited the words of the Apostle Paul on many occasions.

Romans contains the beautiful message of the gospel and practical insights into how we should live.

There are four words that can be used to summarize The book of Romans:

SIN, SALVATION, SANCTIFICATION AND SOVEREIGNTY.

SIN: we are all sinners.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered into this world and every generation since then has been damaged.

All of us are born with a corrupted human nature, we sin because we are sinners, we experience less than we were created for in this life.

In our natural fallen sinful nature, we are enemies to the will and purpose of God.

Because of sin we are separated from God, our relationship with Him is broken and we would spend eternity apart from Him.

SALVATION: We need a way to be saved.

We need a way back to God.

We need a way to be forgiven of our sin.

The message of Romans 6:22-23 is clear, the wage of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus, God incarnated into flesh, Jesus lived a perfect life, and willingly went to the Cross so that He could take the punishment our sin deserved.

Because of His sacrifice on the cross, His perfection, His righteousness is imputed to us when we trust in Him as Lord and Saviour.

Imputed, that means by faith we are treated as if we had never affected by sin. Through faith in Jesus, we are ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven by God.

Best of all, our salvation is not something we have to earn it is given as a free gift to all who believe and trust Jesus.

Because of His work on the cross we can have a restored relationship with God in this life and for eternity.

SANCTIFICATION: When we become disciples of Savior Jesus Chrit, God does not immediately transport us to Heaven. There is still some stuff that God needs to do in our lives to make us fit for Heaven.

Think of this as the gradual healing of an opened wound. As time goes on, the doctor attends to it, the body works to heal it, the scab gets smaller. Eventually, our full healing takes place, the scab falls off as it has completed its work. Over time, God takes our scars, forms scabs over them, and then they fall away. As they heal up, they are comforted and they are soothed, and they are healed.

Yes, we are forgiven, yes, we are saved, yes, we are assured of our salvation, yes, we have a new and “healed” mind, a new and “healed” spirit; but we are still under the direct influence of our sinful nature, and still clothed in sinful flesh.

Until we die and God calls us home to be with Him forever, we all will struggle in a continuous battle to be holy as God is holy until we are ultimately glorified.

SOVEREIGNTY:

The Sovereignty of God is the fact that God is the supreme authority, and all things are under His control.

Do we choose God or does God choose Us?

What did Master Rabbi Jesus have to say to this critically important question?

John 15:11-16 The Message

11-15 “I’ve told you about these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things, I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

Ultimately God is in absolute control of all things, though He may choose to let certain events happen according to natural laws which He has ordained.

God has created a world in which freedom is a real possibility so I have a simple answer, in His Sovereignty God chooses those who will choose Him.

Our thoughts are influenced or conformed by many different things in this world.

Which is why we need God to transform, empower, inspire, the way we think.

Paul instructs us in a few specific areas of our life where our thinking must be transformed from a sinful, worldly way of thinking to a godly way of thinking.

He starts with the Body of Christ, His church, then relationships with other believers, then government, unbelievers, and sharing the gospel with others.

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12:3 AKJV

Let’s return to Romans 12:3, Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be rigorously, vigorously honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves not by the faith of the world but faith God has given us.

Here is one characteristic of a transformed mind, Humility.

Do not think you are .000001% better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

Do we tend to think we are better than others?

Do we tend to think we are better than non-believers? Do we tend to think we are better than those with different views on life?

Are we better than those who face different struggles?

Do we judge other Christians who don’t behave the way we do?

Be honest rigorously and vigorously in your evaluation of yourself, measure yourself by the faith God has given you and against God’s sovereignty over you.

This challenge is to church. Your attitude within the church.

Can our attitudes and behaviors cause significant damage within the church?

I am sure most of us could name someone who has been hurt by somebody’s attitude, behaviors or actions within a church.

Maybe you have been personally hurt by someone’s attitude within the church.

If any of us fall into the trap of thinking too highly of ourselves, we will most directly, decisively and very much definitely hurt others and ourselves.

Many modern churches are littered with wrecked lives because of arrogant, self-righteous, and judgmental Christians.

We are meant to be disciples of Jesus who live powerful transformed lives of faith born from a real relationship with God and a growing, maturing, deep understanding of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

When we understand the transformational, empowering truth of the gospel, we truly recognise our dependence on Jesus for our salvation and our everyday life.

The gospel, the Word of God is the only true source of our thinking, our acting.

The ways of the world will never lead any one to even .0001 ounces of humility.

Even the faith we have is from God!

Let me be clear, Paul is not advocating self-loathing; I’m a sinner, woe is me, I’m awful!

You and I have absolute worth to God; you and I are so infinitely valuable to our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ! Such a high value – He was willing to die for us!!!

Gain your full significance from the undeniable fact that God loved you enough to give His son for you and for me and the whole world and allow God through the Ministry and work of the Holy Spirit to empower you and to transform you.

Time has gone by quickly so I will close with this:

God gave everything for you and me.

That’s EXACTLY how valuable you and I are.

Jesus gave His life for you.

Jesus gave His life for me.

Our value is not based on what you or I do or even who you or I are. Our value is found in whose (God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) you are.

Your value is measured in nothing less than the price of your salvation – the life blood of Savior Jesus Christ poured out for you and for me.

You and I are indescribably valuable to God.

The question is, “how indescribably valuable is God to you and to me?”

Let me encourage you to allow God’s to change and transform your mind so that you can be a powerful person and live your life as a holy sacrifice to Him.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let’s pray,

God, Our Father, in deepest gratitude for all which You have done for us, we do offer ourselves and our gifts to You—living sacrifices of worship and praise. Transform our hearts and minds from the inside out; show us what is good and pleasing in Your sight, so that we may be quick to recognize Your call, and quick to respond. In the name of Jesus, our Messiah and Lord, Alleluia! Amen.

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Arise, Shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. God’s Light, Our Life!

Jesus told you that He is the Light in the world; whoever follows Him, not the ways of the worldly, will not walk in darkness … but in the divine light which expels all shadows of wickedness (John 8:12). Today He is reminding you and me to Arise! Stand proud and firmly planted! Shoulders back; chin up; shine your light — because the light of the Lord is with you; the glory of God dawns upon you. No matter what comes against you, persevere steadfastly in faith and hope. You and I have all the confidence and encouragement we need for today because our inspiration, and our light are not from this world but from above.

Isaiah 60:1-6 Authorized (King James) Version

60 Arise, shine; for thy light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people:
but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light,
and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see:
all they gather themselves together, they come to thee:
thy sons shall come from far,
and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together,
and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged;
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,
the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee,
the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
all they from Sheba shall come:
they shall bring gold and incense;
and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“Rise and shine!” A mother or father says to their drowsy kids to get them out of bed, feed them breakfast, and on their way to school. But they don’t want to hear of it. All they want to do is sleep. “Rise and shine!” Shouts an intimidating drill sergeant at 4am into bunk beds filled with fresh recruits. But they do not want anything to do with him. They’d rather stay in the comfort of their beds.

“Rise and shine!” It’s a bright and cheery phrase, so isn’t it kind of ironic that it’s almost exclusively spoken to people who don’t want to hear one word of it?

How would you react if, in the middle of the night, into your bedroom prances someone who’s obnoxiously awake for such an ungodly hour and tells you to “Rise and shine!” I don’t know which would be louder – the audible groan coming from the person in bed, pulling their covers back over their head, or the sound of the alarm clock flying in the direction of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed wake up caller.

Today is the twelfth day after Christmas. Many are celebrating the Festival of Epiphany. Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning, “shine forth” or “appearance.” At Christmas, we celebrated Jesus as the Light of the world, born into our darkness. At Epiphany, we celebrate because that Light of the world shines forth as the Savior of the whole world – for both Jew and Gentile. So, it makes sense that we would shout; “Rise and shine” on the day of Epiphany. But still, hearing those words in these pandemic days, is enough to make us cringe. They are almost always spoken unto a people who do not want to hear them.

If anybody did not want to hear about rising and shining it was the people of Judah during the prophet Isaiah’s time. The Assyrians had deported 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel – a full 83% of the Promised People, exiled, wiped off the map.

And now, there was another “biggest bully on the block,” the Babylonians were waiting in the wings to come in and crush the remaining 2 tribes of Judah and carted and marched them off into exile. This was an extraordinarily tragic time. (Psalm 137) This is an indescribably catastrophic time in Israel’s brief history.

The Lord had been faithful to his promises and his people. He led them out of slavery from Egypt. He parked them in the Promised Land complete with cities they didn’t build and fields they didn’t plant. Even after all of the Lord God’s faithfulness, the people turned away from him, ran after idols. (Isaiah 53:6)

Sure, they went to the temple and made offerings with their hands, but their hearts were on another planet. They gave lip service to things like justice and mercy but were more interested in lining their own pockets at anybody’s expense, even God’s. But in spite of their faithlessness, the Lord wanted his people back. God yet wanted the people to see the dawning light of their God.

He would use those nations of Assyria and Babylon to discipline his people, and it wouldn’t be pleasant. They’d be ripped away from hearth and home, family and familiarity, removed from the land, from the temple – those very visible reminders of God’s presence among them – and plopped into a land not their own, surrounded by a people not their own.

Things were not pretty. After long years of exile, into that pitch black scene of despair from the past and hopelessness for the future came the prophet Isaiah shouting the “shocking” words of our Old Testament lesson, Arise and shine!

A lot of people might hear that and just think, “Great, here’s another Christian who’s too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good; always rattling on about how God’s got a plan for hope and prosperity and how things will “soon” get better.” 

It’s probably enough to make us cringe. Yet, Isaiah had it right, but apparently did not remember when he said, “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.” He said it himself – things are bad! And now he has the hypocritical nerve to continuously shout out, tell me to rise and shine!

Sometimes Christians get perceived that way, don’t we? Like people who walk around saying, “Don’t worry, be happy!” all the time, completely detached from reality, oblivious to what the lives of real people are actually like. And when that happens, the results are predictable: Are you really listening to me? Do you have any idea what I’m going through? Rise and shine?! You don’t know about my marriage; you don’t know what it’s like to have a son/sibling/parent I haven’t talked to in a decade; you don’t know about my addiction, my abuser, my worries. Quit shouting! “It’s a dark world, and Christians aren’t immune from it either.”

That kind of dark cynicism inevitably creeps in, sets up shop in our hearts, too. 

Why should I bother with the word of God right now– I mean it’s not like it’s going to change anything. Preacher, tell me one more time about light and hope in Christ and I’ll give you an unimaginable time, because you do not know how hard it is out here! 

That’s the clever snare of the fowler – it seems like a message of hope and a promise of God, spoken in the name of Jesus, is somehow invalidating the experience of the person we share it with. As if the light of the gospel can’t possibly be for you or me, because my life is such a testimony to its opposite!

Pretty soon, we become used to the darkness, thinking that this is all there is. Here I am, just me and my problems, getting acclimated to my new normal, decorating the walls of my abyss, because nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.

“Nobody knows the trouble I have seen! Nobody knows my darkness I endure.” Yet, into your pitch-black scene, your perception of despair from the past and hopelessness for all our futures, comes Isaiah shouting at us to arise and shine!

What’s going on here? Are Isaiah’s words simply blind optimism for a silver lining? Hardly. Listen to what he says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” Rise and shine! This is what this time celebrating Epiphany is all about – rise and shine because the Son of God shines on you, yes even you are living under a cloud of thick darkness.

This is the Light of the world prophesied by Isaiah, preached by Paul, and presented gifts by the Magi – and this Light is for you and for me. Jesus came not to demand something of you, but to be something for you – he came to be yours and mine substitute, living every moment of his life in perfect obedience to his Father in Heavens will, because he knew we couldn’t, and we wouldn’t.

The Glory of the Lord! The Light of the world has dawned! Jesus is 100% alive!

Jesus came not to demand something of you and me, but to be something for you and me. Jesus came to be our Savior – the One to rescue us from our sins.

Meditate upon it! Study and pray over and through it – the very Light of the world slain by the darkness of death only to burst forth in the glorious day of his resurrection, for you and for me. The Light of the world has come, not to demand something of us, but to be something infinitely greater. Jesus came to be our Light – to show you and me that even in the darkness of this world and the thick darkness of our sin, he shines on us with his perfect forgiving love.

Arise and shine! Isaiah says, not like an obnoxiously cheery wake-up call that gives you no power to actually do what it asks. Isaiah says, Arise and shine not to try to get us to do something, but to show you and me what we have received.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. The Light of the world shines – for you and me. Do you see how that little phrase “for you and for me” takes this short devotional to a whole new level?

Jesus is the Light of the world! Great. Jesus is the Light of the world who shines his forgiveness upon you and me and all who come to believe. That makes all the difference in the eternal equation, doesn’t it? God so loved the world – that’s true enough. God so loves you – that is the enlightened point of God’s gospel.

Rise and shine, because the Light of the world is shining on us! Rise and shine, not because everything in yours and my life will simply, suddenly, at the snap of a finger get better, not because the estranged from God will suddenly become the beloved of God. Rise and shine because his promise is true and it’s for you. Rise and shine because the Light of the world shines on you in your darkness.

How does he do it? Jesus, the Light of the world, cuts through the dense fog of our doubt with a word spoken his name and carrying with it his full authority – “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 23:34-35) The Light of the world pierces the sin darkened night of our guilt by placing into our hands and on our lips his own body and blood for forgiveness of sins, whose sins? Yours! Whose sins? Mine! The Whole World’s.

Through the water and word of Baptism, the Glory of the Lord, the Light of the world reached his radiant hand into the dark abyss that was yours and mine life and pulled you and out, calling us by name, making you and me his very own.

Rise and shine this Epiphany because the darkness of sin and doubt must flee from the radiance of the Son of God who’s on our side. Rise and shine because the Son of Righteousness rises upon us with healing and with forgiveness in his wings – not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. Rise and shine, because Christ shines his light on us, sets us free from sin, and sets us loose to shine his love to everyone around us. Rise and shine, because the dead, darkened, and despairing don’t stay down when Christ Jesus is in the mix. Rise and shine, celebrate this Epiphany because Christ is here, and he’s here for you!

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray,

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love.  Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created.  And You shall renew the face of the earth. 

O, God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. ​Through Christ our Lord. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

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Waiting on God as He is Waiting upon You! Do You Wonder If God Approves of You? Why would God Wait On Me?

I can hardly think of more beautiful words in all of the Hebrew testament from God to his people. To speak unto his people in those ancient of days and then just to think about these realities in our own lives right now, through Christ.

So, I just want you to just let these words of God fall on your heart, to hear God saying to you, fear not, I have redeemed you. I have saved you from your sin. I have made you my son or daughter. You are my child; I have called you by name.

Oh, let these thoughts God has towards you everyday quietly soak in, the God of the universe has called your name. He says, you are mine, you belong to him. What an amazing thought. In my life today I belong to God, you belong to God.

Isaiah 43:1-7 Authorized (King James) Version

43 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,
and he that formed thee, O Israel,
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:
I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight,
thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I am with thee:
I will bring thy seed from the east,
and gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up;
and to the south, Keep not back:
bring my sons from far,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
7 even every one that is called by my name:
for I have created him for my glory,
I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Lord says to us, do not fear for, I am with you, you are mine. God calls us by our name, and He is with us when we are in rough waters. He restores our soul. When we are afraid, we are stuck in a difficult place it is not a dead-end because our God is with us. We need not be afraid for His light is shining, though, and the dark cannot, will not overtake us. For our Heavenly Father, has redeemed us, and He will never leave us. Our God is always with us, for we are His people.

God is with us always, for we are His people.

God loves us, even while we are sinners, His sworn enemies! Romans 5:8-10

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

It is very empowering and indeed, inspiring, to hear such words spoken to us.

Yet, there are always questions and thoughts lingering in the background. We think on these words, how wonderful they are and then wonder how on earth they can possibly apply to me – because “I know me better than anyone else!”

“Celebrate God as God Celebrates Me”

Do you care about who God celebrates?

Do you care if God celebrates you?

“Embrace God as God Embraces Me”

Do you care about who God embraces?

Do you care about God embracing you?

“Approve of God as God Approves of Me”

Does God Wonder whether or not you approve of Him?

Do You Wonder If God Approves of You as you approve of Him?

Do you wonder why the Creator of all the universe would desire to celebrate you? Do you wonder why the Author of all life would desire to embrace you?

Do you care about God’s approval?

Do you care if God approves of you?

Do you care or wonder if God is 1% pleased with your worldly life, absent Him?

Psalm 13 Authorized King James Version

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart daily?
how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God:
lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord,
because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Do you care enough about God as He cares about you to stop whatever it is you are doing to just sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with you?

Do you wonder if God is 1% pleased with your Christian life? How can you make sure that God approves of your life which he gave you? For approval, there has to be law/rules, an approver and someone who needs approval. Imagine a form that you have to fill out to get approval from God. What will that form be? What should be the information in that form to get God’s approval? Let us find out.

Imagine a form that you have to fill out to get approval from God. What will that form be? What should be the information be in that form to get God’s approval?

What does it mean to “Approve?”

To Approve, per Webster’s dictionary means to officially agree to or accept as satisfactory, prove.

So, how should our form to be seeking God’s approval begin to take shape?

1. Background Check: Anything we do for someone else requires a background. In the case of our seeking God’s approval for ministry, work in His Kingdom, I see God taking in our “big picture” of who we are when no one else is looking.

Do we walk with the “sluggards” the habitually lazy persons? Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 6:9, Proverbs 10:26, Proverbs 13:4, Proverbs 20:4, Proverbs 26:16?

Do we Walk by the Spirit? As a “spiritual person, God’s Holy Spirit is the one who leads us into all path of living a life that is pleasing or approved by God. 

Galatians 5:16“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

So, our completing the Background section of your approval form, should list Holy Spirit as both our guide and our reference. Any amount of our education. political power or money cannot get anyone into heaven or approval of God.

If a person hearing the Gospel of Christ, humbles themselves, listens to the direction of the Holy Spirit, he or she is a winner. Without proper background information, the approval form cannot proceed or is the first filter to decline.

2. Your Name: Does God really know you?

Isaiah 43:1 – “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”

In this grace age, through our redeemer, you and I have the right to be called sons or daughters of God. Remember God called Samuel by name. As a young person, God chose to call Samuel. One could consider that Eli’s sons were around. If God is calling, are you hearing the call?

If you and I are able bodied, if you and I are not able bodied, (we have each been called by God), are we listening to the call and following the commands of God?

In Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born, I consecrated you” was the message for Prophet Jeremiah. 

Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.” God created you in the first place and he sent his own son Jesus Christ to die in the cross for our sins, for our redemption.

In Our “not as able, able-bodied” “Old Age” ….

Psalm 92:13-15 Authorized King James Version

13 Those that be planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
they shall be fat and flourishing;
15 to shew that the Lord is upright:
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

3. Is your “sinners rap” sheet empty?

He is your redeemer: Usually, when filling out background forms, if the answer for misdemeanor or criminal record is yes, you will have to list all instance of these occurrences.

If you are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, your rap sheet should be empty. If it is not, clearly, approval is not possible, even though God loves us.

Many listen to and hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but precious few truly has the confidence to say that their sins have been forgiven. Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” If your approver knows, if your ultimate approver, Jesus Christ, is your advocate, how amazing it is to absolutely know that you, I, are redeemed.

Psalm 103:3 – “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” But God blots your sin, if you repent.

Isaiah 43:25 – God forgives and forgets your sin. God is omniscient, but he decides to forget your sins on your repentance.

4. What rules apply to you? Law or Grace: 

Romans 3:19-24, vs 23,24 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

The law is the mirror to show the inadequacy of man, but grace is the gift of God which brings sufficiency.

When we wear Christ as our everyday garment, when we believe, Jesus took our sins on the cross, our sins have been blotted out, Jesus paid the penalty for us.

5. Your Thoughts – God knows your Thoughts: 

Psalm 94:11 “God knows the thoughts of a man, that they are mere breath”. You can recollect memories attached to your soul. You and I can choose to dwell on OUR thoughts. The Rich man remembered about Lazarus and his brothers.

– Psalm 139:2 – God embraces and understands thoughts our from afar.

– 2 Corinthians 10:5 – Taking every thought captive

– Proverbs 12:15 – Counsel for mentors

– James 1:5-7– Some people claim they are not hearing from God. He will tell us, if it is best.

– Isaiah 6:8-12 – Thoughts of how we will respond to God’s call upon our lives.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

9 And he said, Go, and tell this people,

Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat,
and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered,

Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
and the houses without man,
and the land be utterly desolate,
12 and the Lord have removed men far away,
and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

– 2 Timothy 3:16 – He speaks to us through his Word.

– Proverbs 3:5-7 Prioritize God’s thoughts above our own no matter how wise.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes:
fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

6. Our worship aptitude – sweet savor of sacrifice before God, Joyful Noise: 

Psalm 100

A Psalm of praise.

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness:
come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God:
it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all generations.

7. What is our exercise regimen?

Feeding on God’s word: You should not need to keep your life busy to come across as successful and not have any time for God.

Ezekiel 3:1-4

3 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

Psalm 19:9-11

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Psalm 34:8-10

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints:
for there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

I can only just imagine that so many people who are reading this right now are walking through some sort of trial. Or if you’re not walking through a trial right now, that some trial is likely just around the corner. And whether you’re in the “fire” right now or the “pending heat” is coming around the corner, know this, the God of the universe is with you. You are his child, you belong to him, and he will provide for you – he will bring you though. (Psalm 121) 

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

So, God, I consider and meditate the awesomeness of your Scriptures, pray, specifically right now, for people who are listening to this who are walking through trials, God I pray that they would know your presence with them.

I pray that they would come to know exactly how precious they are to you. We praise you oh God as our father who calls us by name. So, God I just pray that if somebody You know is walking through a trial right now that they would know you’re with them and that your power would keep them. That you would enable them to stand in the middle of the trial, and that God, you would bring them through it in a way 100% glorifies your name for all the grace you give them.

God knowing that trials could be around the corner for any of us we praise you, that in the middle of it we can always look up to you, know that we belong to you and that you will carry us through. We praise you oh God as our redeemer, as our Savior and the one who’s promised to bring us through the trials we face in this life. Lord, we desire only to celebrate and embrace you as you do unto us!

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen

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