Friday, April 17, 2020
Saturday, February 29, 2020
The Path To The Cross
I am getting ready to start an on-line Bible Study with Bible Gateway. The Study is called The Path To The Cross. I opted for the accompanying study book and began reading it today to prep for the first video class next week. At the end of the reading prior to the video, the study book asked two questions.
The first was what I thought a life of passionate obedience and faithful devotion to God looked like.
The question brought to my mind two verses from the Bible, one from the Old Testament and one from the new. The first was Micah 6:8
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Wow, sounds simple. I thought about it, though. I must take every thought and action and hold it to the light of this verse. Are they just, even if my worldly mind does not feel just response is required? Are they merciful, even in the face of the unmerciful? And, are they humble even if the humility goes against what I feel I deserve. Not as easy as the few words of the Lord's requirements.
The second verse was from the Book of Romans, Chapter 13, verse 8: "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
Another wow, when you really think about it. Every thought and action must now be exposed to the light of love. They must be totally loving regardless of the thoughts or actions that my own are prompted by from another, another maybe not so loving.
The second question was equally thought provoking. It wanted to know what sacrifices might be required in order to obey God and love Him with all my heart, soul and strength? My list started pretty quickly.....1) My pride, 2)The self-importance of my desires, 3)My personal opinion, 4)My personal vengeance, 5)My goals, my wants, my desires. Basically the "My" part of life. Sacrifices really are uncomfortable when they invade your personal space.....
If you feel the tug, share your comments or personal observations on the two questions.
The first was what I thought a life of passionate obedience and faithful devotion to God looked like.
The question brought to my mind two verses from the Bible, one from the Old Testament and one from the new. The first was Micah 6:8
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Wow, sounds simple. I thought about it, though. I must take every thought and action and hold it to the light of this verse. Are they just, even if my worldly mind does not feel just response is required? Are they merciful, even in the face of the unmerciful? And, are they humble even if the humility goes against what I feel I deserve. Not as easy as the few words of the Lord's requirements.
The second verse was from the Book of Romans, Chapter 13, verse 8: "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
Another wow, when you really think about it. Every thought and action must now be exposed to the light of love. They must be totally loving regardless of the thoughts or actions that my own are prompted by from another, another maybe not so loving.
The second question was equally thought provoking. It wanted to know what sacrifices might be required in order to obey God and love Him with all my heart, soul and strength? My list started pretty quickly.....1) My pride, 2)The self-importance of my desires, 3)My personal opinion, 4)My personal vengeance, 5)My goals, my wants, my desires. Basically the "My" part of life. Sacrifices really are uncomfortable when they invade your personal space.....
If you feel the tug, share your comments or personal observations on the two questions.
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Just This Side of Understanding
Do you ever read something, scripture in particular, and feel that there is something there you just don't understand?
It is good to contemplate those things. It may be that God wants you to look deeper, to reach into His Word and pull things together, to pray and meditate about the passage that puzzles you. If that be the case, the Holy Spirit will reward your efforts with new understanding.
It may also be that you are not ready at this point in your faith; that you are yet to have the ability to understand that which escapes you. It may that you are, as God said to me this morning, "You are just this side of understanding." I believe that is part of our faith; the part that says even if I don't understand, I believe and trust.
If we get all tied up in having to understand every little (or big) thing, we can miss a lot that God has for us on the road that we are traveling. At times we have to be an Abraham....just pack up and head out to a place He will (at some point) show us. This can be physically, vocationally or theologically. Jesus told His disciples, when they were brought before the courts, not to worry about what they would say, that The Holy Spirit would speak through them. Do you think that they really understood? I don't and I doubt they did when it happened, because they were "just this side of understanding."
God tells us "My thoughts are not your thoughts." I am just happy when God decides I am ready for something knew and opens my mind and understanding just a bit! So, I keep reading and praying and listening. I can't imagine what it will be like to cross over to the side of understanding and be illuminated by all of God's Glory, to worship the Source of all knowledge, to understand the bottomless love and compassion of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, to give eternal thanks to my Savior.
Its all just over there....
It is good to contemplate those things. It may be that God wants you to look deeper, to reach into His Word and pull things together, to pray and meditate about the passage that puzzles you. If that be the case, the Holy Spirit will reward your efforts with new understanding.
It may also be that you are not ready at this point in your faith; that you are yet to have the ability to understand that which escapes you. It may that you are, as God said to me this morning, "You are just this side of understanding." I believe that is part of our faith; the part that says even if I don't understand, I believe and trust.
If we get all tied up in having to understand every little (or big) thing, we can miss a lot that God has for us on the road that we are traveling. At times we have to be an Abraham....just pack up and head out to a place He will (at some point) show us. This can be physically, vocationally or theologically. Jesus told His disciples, when they were brought before the courts, not to worry about what they would say, that The Holy Spirit would speak through them. Do you think that they really understood? I don't and I doubt they did when it happened, because they were "just this side of understanding."
God tells us "My thoughts are not your thoughts." I am just happy when God decides I am ready for something knew and opens my mind and understanding just a bit! So, I keep reading and praying and listening. I can't imagine what it will be like to cross over to the side of understanding and be illuminated by all of God's Glory, to worship the Source of all knowledge, to understand the bottomless love and compassion of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, to give eternal thanks to my Savior.
Its all just over there....
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Don' Be Afraid To Give Up Your Demons!
In the last few weeks passages in The Gospel of Luke have spoken to me about things I haven't thought about before and I thank God for the insight. The passage I am writing about today shows a situation that I myself occasionally find myself in, but are committing to avoiding with the help of my prayers, and hopefully yours! I will be praying for others in the same situation, whether I know them or not.
The passage is about Jesus healing the demon possession man, a man possessed by "Legion" because there were many. The demons knew Jesus and begged Him to let them enter a herd of pigs. He did and the swine ran down the hill, into the lake and drowned.Witnesses who normally fed the pigs and saw what happened fled the scene and told of it in the city and throughout the country.
The reaction of the people is what spoke to me.
"Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him (Jesus) to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your own house, ad tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him." Luke 8:35-39 NKJV
When we contemplate our lives and how we are and what we do in reference to Scripture, do we not, if not in words, but, maybe, through our response to what God shows us, ask Jesus to leave us alone?
By not responding to the correction or conviction of the Holy Spirit is that not what we are doing?
God please forgive us and strengthen our conviction to respond to your leading as we travel down the road of sanctification!
Let us all not be afraid to give up our demons and then tell everyone about what God has done for us.
The passage is about Jesus healing the demon possession man, a man possessed by "Legion" because there were many. The demons knew Jesus and begged Him to let them enter a herd of pigs. He did and the swine ran down the hill, into the lake and drowned.Witnesses who normally fed the pigs and saw what happened fled the scene and told of it in the city and throughout the country.
The reaction of the people is what spoke to me.
"Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him (Jesus) to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your own house, ad tell what great things God has done for you." And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him." Luke 8:35-39 NKJV
When we contemplate our lives and how we are and what we do in reference to Scripture, do we not, if not in words, but, maybe, through our response to what God shows us, ask Jesus to leave us alone?
By not responding to the correction or conviction of the Holy Spirit is that not what we are doing?
God please forgive us and strengthen our conviction to respond to your leading as we travel down the road of sanctification!
Let us all not be afraid to give up our demons and then tell everyone about what God has done for us.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
"Therefore take heed how you hear."
The title words of this thought for today are cautionary words of warning from Jesus in the 8th Chapter of Luke. He goes on to say "For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have even what he seems to have will be taken from him." Luke 8:18 NKJV
Along with preaching about the Kingdom of God, Jesus took time to spend one on 12 time with His disciples who were, along with the Holy Spirit, going to build the church of the New Kingdom. Jesus did a lot of His preaching to the masses in parables and performing miracles that should have been recognized by Israel because of the prophesies of the Old Testament (sight to the blind, deaf hear, lame walk and the dead are made alive). In most all recorded instances, Jesus would pull His disciples aside afterwards and explain the parables, their understanding still dulled by the traditions they had been raised with as Jewish children and adults. They were yet to fully understand the "New Kingdom" of God.
Even to me, a good part of the parable of the sower seemed passive on our part. We were one kind of soil or the other and hopefully would be changed as we move forward in our relationship with God. But, today in Luke 8:11-18, I see this statement from Jesus. "Therefore take heed how you hear." Wow, I thought, we are supposed to control and chose how we hear. So, I looked back at Jesus' explanation of the sower to see how I can determine how I hear.
The first seed of the sower went by the wayside. These, Jesus explained, are the ones who hear the word, but the devil comes and takes it from their hearts so that they won't believe. So I thought about it and the only way this could happen would be not to already be a believer or to be living with un-confessed sin that separates us from our close relationship with God. We need to make sure our sin is confessed and forgiveness is asked and our hearts will retain God's word and our right relationship with Him.
The seeds on the rock are those who hear and are immediately overjoyed, but have no root, so they believe for a while, but in time temptation causes them to fall away. So, I thought, if I don't want to hear this way what must I do. How do we insure roots in our garden. We constantly cultivate and weed and fertilize and water the soil. That is the same thing that is required of God's word in our hearts. We must study and pray and add to the things of God that we put in our hearts on a daily basis. This will cause our soil to be full of nutrients and our roots to grow deeper.
Some seeds fell among the thorns. These are those who hear, but then they go out unprepared and are choked and knocked down with cares, lure of riches and pleasures and the word may not completely die in their hearts, but it does not mature and produce the fruit of discipleship. To avoid this way of hearing, we must put God first and deny ourselves when our focus overshadows our discipleship. Then we take this approach and add the cultivation and fertilizing and we confess our failures and sins along the way and we become the last type of those who hear....
"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." Luke 8:15 NKJV
Our noble and good heart, cleaned by confession and forgiveness offered freely by God, can keep His word and bear fruit with it, even through the trials of our faith. The Greek work here, translated patience, means to "bear with it under persecution of your faith."
This is how, with God's help, I choose to hear! Let me be the seed that fell on good ground. What say you?
Along with preaching about the Kingdom of God, Jesus took time to spend one on 12 time with His disciples who were, along with the Holy Spirit, going to build the church of the New Kingdom. Jesus did a lot of His preaching to the masses in parables and performing miracles that should have been recognized by Israel because of the prophesies of the Old Testament (sight to the blind, deaf hear, lame walk and the dead are made alive). In most all recorded instances, Jesus would pull His disciples aside afterwards and explain the parables, their understanding still dulled by the traditions they had been raised with as Jewish children and adults. They were yet to fully understand the "New Kingdom" of God.
Even to me, a good part of the parable of the sower seemed passive on our part. We were one kind of soil or the other and hopefully would be changed as we move forward in our relationship with God. But, today in Luke 8:11-18, I see this statement from Jesus. "Therefore take heed how you hear." Wow, I thought, we are supposed to control and chose how we hear. So, I looked back at Jesus' explanation of the sower to see how I can determine how I hear.
The first seed of the sower went by the wayside. These, Jesus explained, are the ones who hear the word, but the devil comes and takes it from their hearts so that they won't believe. So I thought about it and the only way this could happen would be not to already be a believer or to be living with un-confessed sin that separates us from our close relationship with God. We need to make sure our sin is confessed and forgiveness is asked and our hearts will retain God's word and our right relationship with Him.
The seeds on the rock are those who hear and are immediately overjoyed, but have no root, so they believe for a while, but in time temptation causes them to fall away. So, I thought, if I don't want to hear this way what must I do. How do we insure roots in our garden. We constantly cultivate and weed and fertilize and water the soil. That is the same thing that is required of God's word in our hearts. We must study and pray and add to the things of God that we put in our hearts on a daily basis. This will cause our soil to be full of nutrients and our roots to grow deeper.
Some seeds fell among the thorns. These are those who hear, but then they go out unprepared and are choked and knocked down with cares, lure of riches and pleasures and the word may not completely die in their hearts, but it does not mature and produce the fruit of discipleship. To avoid this way of hearing, we must put God first and deny ourselves when our focus overshadows our discipleship. Then we take this approach and add the cultivation and fertilizing and we confess our failures and sins along the way and we become the last type of those who hear....
"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." Luke 8:15 NKJV
Our noble and good heart, cleaned by confession and forgiveness offered freely by God, can keep His word and bear fruit with it, even through the trials of our faith. The Greek work here, translated patience, means to "bear with it under persecution of your faith."
This is how, with God's help, I choose to hear! Let me be the seed that fell on good ground. What say you?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
