January 31
Seeing the Works of God
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman
Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord.... - Psalm 107:23-24
When you were a child, perhaps you may have gone to the ocean for a vacation. I recall wading out until the waves began crashing on my knees. As long as I could stand firm, the waves were of no concern to me. However, as I moved farther and farther into the ocean, I had less control over my ability to stand. Sometimes the current was so strong it moved me down the beach, and I even lost my bearings at times. But I have never gone so far into the ocean that I was not able to control the situation.
Sometimes God takes us into such deep waters that we lose control of the situation, and we have no choice but to fully trust in His care for us. This is doing business in great waters. It is in these great waters that we see the works of God.
The Scriptures tell us that the disciples testified of what they saw and heard. It was the power behind the gospel, not the words themselves, which changed the world. The power wasn't seen until circumstances got to the point that there were no alternatives but God. Sometimes God has to take us into the deep water in order to give us the privilege to see His works.
Sometimes God takes us into the deep waters of life for an extended time. Joseph was taken into deep waters of adversity for 17 years. Rejection by his brothers, enslavement to Pharaoh, and imprisonment were the deep waters for Joseph. During those deep waters, he experienced dreams, a special anointing of his gifts to administrate, and great wisdom beyond his years. The deep water was preparation for a task that was so great he never could have imagined it. He was to see God's works more clearly than anyone in his generation.
God had too much at stake for a 30-year-old to mess it up. So, God took Joseph through the deep waters of preparation to ensure that he would survive what he was about to receive.
Pride sometimes engulfs God’s servants who have access to His great power, but when receipt of the power has been preceded by adversity, His child uses it with grace and gives all glory to Jesus rather than claiming recognition for himself.
If God chooses to take us into deep waters, it is for a reason; the greater the calling, the deeper the water. Trust in His knowledge that your deep waters are preparation to see the works of God in your life, to see His glory revealed in you and in your circumstances.
The words of our Brother Hillman strike a profound chord in the symphony of our lives, for who among us has not suffered? Who among us has not been betrayed by someone we trusted? Who among us has not been penalized for wrongs we did not commit?
Who among us has not dreamed great dreams of personal achievement or of great works done for the Kingdom of Christ only to find our accomplishments to be among the mundane and inglorious deeds of ordinary men?
Should we languish in a prison of despair because the heights of glory we thought were to be ours have not been scaled? That’s not what Joseph did in his prison. Even though his brothers had sold him into slavery, even though Potiphar’s wife lied about him when he refused her favors, even though prison was his seeming reward for his faithfulness to the law of the Holy One, yet he abounded in faith; yet he remained faithful!
When we are hemmed in on every side by limitations not of our own making; when we are faced with consequences unworthy of our diligent efforts; when we are bound by chains of mediocrity when our abilities assured us acclaim would be ours, may we yet hold fast to the One whose Word, fulfilled in Christ, is “yea and amen,” II Corinthians 1:20.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Only Option
January 30
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.’” Matthew 22:37-38.
This command very clearly delineates our devotion to God. It includes the fear, service, obedience, and worship of our great God and King who is our Creator, our Comforter, our Healer, our Teacher, our Guide, our Paraclete, our Savior.
The dictionary definition of worship says it involves intense admiration, adoration, honor, and devotion to someone or something. Practically, worship is our reasonable response to our God. Worship is an act that is much more than our reasonable response to the One who made Heaven and Earth and who holds everything that exists in the hollow of His hand; it is our just due.
When we neglect to worship our God and King, we are withholding from Him something that is far more than a perfunctory act of obeisance, we are refraining from paying a debt of gratitude and homage to Him that is required of all men!
Indeed, we are told by Paul in Romans 14:11, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee in Heaven and in Earth and under the earth shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Every knee…every tongue…That is an all-inclusive declaration of the pervasive nature that the worship of Christ shall be. It does not state that only the knee of believers shall bow to or that only the tongue of the faithful shall confess His Lordship. No! Every knee shall bow! Every tongue shall confess!
The scoffer who mocks the faithful as they trod to church each Sunday with their Bible under their arm shall bow and confess! The unrepentant criminal who languishes in a prison cell shall bow and confess! The terrorist who makes himself into a living bomb to destroy believers as they stand against a diabolical mindset that presumes God to be a hater instead of a lover of men who do not espouse their belief system shall bow and confess!
Everyone who is ever born shall be among those who worship Jesus, who acknowledge Him as God and Savior of all men, who bow their knee and yield their tongue to the praise and honor of His holy, mighty, matchless name!
The only option any man has, the only choice any man can make is this…will he bow and confess today while he has life and breath? Or will he bow and confess on that great Day of Judgment when all men’s works shall be tried by fire? (See I Corinthians 3:13.)
As you, dear reader, contemplate your options, be mindful of Paul’s admonition in II Corinthians 6:2, “Behold now is the accepted time, behold today is the day of salvation."
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.’” Matthew 22:37-38.
This command very clearly delineates our devotion to God. It includes the fear, service, obedience, and worship of our great God and King who is our Creator, our Comforter, our Healer, our Teacher, our Guide, our Paraclete, our Savior.
The dictionary definition of worship says it involves intense admiration, adoration, honor, and devotion to someone or something. Practically, worship is our reasonable response to our God. Worship is an act that is much more than our reasonable response to the One who made Heaven and Earth and who holds everything that exists in the hollow of His hand; it is our just due.
When we neglect to worship our God and King, we are withholding from Him something that is far more than a perfunctory act of obeisance, we are refraining from paying a debt of gratitude and homage to Him that is required of all men!
Indeed, we are told by Paul in Romans 14:11, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee in Heaven and in Earth and under the earth shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Every knee…every tongue…That is an all-inclusive declaration of the pervasive nature that the worship of Christ shall be. It does not state that only the knee of believers shall bow to or that only the tongue of the faithful shall confess His Lordship. No! Every knee shall bow! Every tongue shall confess!
The scoffer who mocks the faithful as they trod to church each Sunday with their Bible under their arm shall bow and confess! The unrepentant criminal who languishes in a prison cell shall bow and confess! The terrorist who makes himself into a living bomb to destroy believers as they stand against a diabolical mindset that presumes God to be a hater instead of a lover of men who do not espouse their belief system shall bow and confess!
Everyone who is ever born shall be among those who worship Jesus, who acknowledge Him as God and Savior of all men, who bow their knee and yield their tongue to the praise and honor of His holy, mighty, matchless name!
The only option any man has, the only choice any man can make is this…will he bow and confess today while he has life and breath? Or will he bow and confess on that great Day of Judgment when all men’s works shall be tried by fire? (See I Corinthians 3:13.)
As you, dear reader, contemplate your options, be mindful of Paul’s admonition in II Corinthians 6:2, “Behold now is the accepted time, behold today is the day of salvation."
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Paying the Debt
January 29
Paying the Debt
A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, the beloved mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression.
One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.
She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. “It’s a real bad neighborhood, your Honor,” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.”
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions -- ten dollars or ten days in jail.”
But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero, saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. ‘Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.’”
So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.-- Brennan Manning (from The Ragmuffin Gospel)
"My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart also will be glad; and my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right." Proverbs 23:15-16
Mayor LaGuardia, for whom LaGuardia Airport in New York is named, is one of the most greatly admired men of his time. Certainly, in this instance when he left his mayoral home to participate in the proceedings of a debtors’ court, he evidenced not only human compassion but also the spirit of Christ who left the glory of Heaven to come to Earth and pay man’s horrible debt of sin.
Certainly this story of LaGuardia is reminiscent of the words spoken of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-11 which tell us:
“Jesus, who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be held to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself of no reputation by taking on the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even to death on a cross!
“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This story of LaGuardia, a mere man who evidenced the loving compassion of our dear God and Savior Jesus Christ, should inspire us to live our lives in such conformity to His that we may behold the impoverished spiritual condition of our fellow sojourners on this fallen planet and introduce them to the One who “Owns the cattle on a thousand hills,” Psalm 50:10, and who promised in Philippians 4:19 that He would, “supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”
Man’s greatest need is not financial, not physical, not emotional, not professional, but spiritual. Until the ransom for his debt of sin has been paid through his acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice in his behalf, nothing else he has can avail him anything but a temporary enjoyment of the fleeting advantages of time.
May we shout it from the housetops (Matthew 10:27) that as Fiorello LaGuardia set men free from monetary debt, so Jesus Christ has set all men who believe His love and receive His salvation free of the debt of sin.
Paying the Debt
A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, the beloved mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression.
One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.
She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. “It’s a real bad neighborhood, your Honor,” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.”
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions -- ten dollars or ten days in jail.”
But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero, saying: “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. ‘Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.’”
So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.-- Brennan Manning (from The Ragmuffin Gospel)
"My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart also will be glad; and my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right." Proverbs 23:15-16
Mayor LaGuardia, for whom LaGuardia Airport in New York is named, is one of the most greatly admired men of his time. Certainly, in this instance when he left his mayoral home to participate in the proceedings of a debtors’ court, he evidenced not only human compassion but also the spirit of Christ who left the glory of Heaven to come to Earth and pay man’s horrible debt of sin.
Certainly this story of LaGuardia is reminiscent of the words spoken of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-11 which tell us:
“Jesus, who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be held to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself of no reputation by taking on the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even to death on a cross!
“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This story of LaGuardia, a mere man who evidenced the loving compassion of our dear God and Savior Jesus Christ, should inspire us to live our lives in such conformity to His that we may behold the impoverished spiritual condition of our fellow sojourners on this fallen planet and introduce them to the One who “Owns the cattle on a thousand hills,” Psalm 50:10, and who promised in Philippians 4:19 that He would, “supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.”
Man’s greatest need is not financial, not physical, not emotional, not professional, but spiritual. Until the ransom for his debt of sin has been paid through his acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice in his behalf, nothing else he has can avail him anything but a temporary enjoyment of the fleeting advantages of time.
May we shout it from the housetops (Matthew 10:27) that as Fiorello LaGuardia set men free from monetary debt, so Jesus Christ has set all men who believe His love and receive His salvation free of the debt of sin.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
A Prayer in Jesus' Name
Lord Jesus, You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. You are still the Healer and the Provider. You still own the cattle on a thousand hills. You are still able to supply all our needs according to Your riches in glory and You are still able to cause even the enemies of Your servants to be at peace with them.
Jesus, we are not asking for anything that You haven't already promised...we are not contriving a list of blessings that You haven't already said are ours. NO! We are standing on Your WORD that cannot fail and cannot lie! We are coming boldly to Your throne of mercy and grace where You have invited us to come and cast all our cares upon You because You care for us.
Because we believe and are sure that You have the answer to every need we ever face, we come to You today with our brothers' needs. They are Your children, Lord; they are Your servants. Our brothers have spent themselves in the furtherance of Your Kingdom's purposes and to the glory of Your name so we come to You in their behalf, claiming Your complete provision for every need of each of Your children who have placed their lives at Your feet.
We ask for Your peace that passes understanding to keep their hearts and their minds stayed on You, Jesus. We ask Your healing touch upon them to deliver their bodies from pain and affliction. We ask Your peace for their emotions and for their spirits where Your Holy Spirit dwells.
We bind every foe who would persecute them or rob them or harm them in any way; we grind the enemy of Your purposes to fine powder and scatter him impotent to the wind! The evil one cannot hinder Your work as it's being accomplished through Your children...he cannot harm their bodies or minds or spirits or reputations or finances! The evil one cannot assail Your children's families!
The hedge of Your protection and Your holy angels stand guard round about Your children and NOTHING can penetrate that hedge! Nothing of evil can get past those angels!
We claim evidence today of the efficaciousness of all Your promises; of all Your provision; of all Your protection upon Your children...and in accordance with your WORD, we believe that before we speak, Your answer to every need is on its way.
It is in Your mighty, matchless name we pray, Jesus. Amen.
Jesus, we are not asking for anything that You haven't already promised...we are not contriving a list of blessings that You haven't already said are ours. NO! We are standing on Your WORD that cannot fail and cannot lie! We are coming boldly to Your throne of mercy and grace where You have invited us to come and cast all our cares upon You because You care for us.
Because we believe and are sure that You have the answer to every need we ever face, we come to You today with our brothers' needs. They are Your children, Lord; they are Your servants. Our brothers have spent themselves in the furtherance of Your Kingdom's purposes and to the glory of Your name so we come to You in their behalf, claiming Your complete provision for every need of each of Your children who have placed their lives at Your feet.
We ask for Your peace that passes understanding to keep their hearts and their minds stayed on You, Jesus. We ask Your healing touch upon them to deliver their bodies from pain and affliction. We ask Your peace for their emotions and for their spirits where Your Holy Spirit dwells.
We bind every foe who would persecute them or rob them or harm them in any way; we grind the enemy of Your purposes to fine powder and scatter him impotent to the wind! The evil one cannot hinder Your work as it's being accomplished through Your children...he cannot harm their bodies or minds or spirits or reputations or finances! The evil one cannot assail Your children's families!
The hedge of Your protection and Your holy angels stand guard round about Your children and NOTHING can penetrate that hedge! Nothing of evil can get past those angels!
We claim evidence today of the efficaciousness of all Your promises; of all Your provision; of all Your protection upon Your children...and in accordance with your WORD, we believe that before we speak, Your answer to every need is on its way.
It is in Your mighty, matchless name we pray, Jesus. Amen.
Greek vs. Hebraic
January 28
Greek versus Hebraic
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman
"I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword," Zechariah 9:13.
In the early church there was an emphasis on developing a heart toward God. This was the Hebraic way. The scriptures were not accessible like they are for us. So, the relationship with God was the key focus. God related to his people on a personal and intimate level. And obedience was the key to a healthy relationship with God. Decisions were not made based on reason and analysis, but by obedience. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," Psalm 111:10.
This is why many of the miracles performed in the Bible went against natural reason, (i.e. feeding five thousand, crossing the Red Sea, retrieving a coin from a fish's mouth, walking around Jericho to win a battle, etc.) God constantly wanted to check the leader's obedience, not his knowledge. Knowledge and reason came into the early Church with the Greek scholars in subsequent centuries. This is when the church began to affirm oratory skills among Church leaders. Gradually, over many centuries the focus on knowledge and reason has become more accepted in the Church.
Loss of intimacy with God has been the fallout as a result of the influence of the Greek spirit. The primary focus has been teaching and discipleship instead of the development of a personal and intimate relationship with God. This has resulted in a form of religion, but one without power.
In the early church, the rabbi was there primarily for quality control, not as the primary teacher and speaker. He did not even address the people from an elevated platform. The whole congregation was in a more circular format, each sharing what they believed God was saying. The focus was on the power of God working through each individual, not one individual. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26.)
Is your focus on gaining more knowledge or growing in intimacy and power with Jesus? He desires to know you intimately.
Our Brother Hillman has articulated a truth that many people of faith have observed but have been unable to explain. We read the exploits of kings and prophets in the Old Testament and we see the power demonstrated by the Apostles of Christ, then we look at ourselves and wonder at the lack of efficaciousness in our own walk of faith.
Can Os Hillman be right? Are we so focused on teaching and learning and understanding the WORD that we have neglected our relationship with JESUS, the LIVING WORD of GOD?
Are we so busy serving the purposes of the Kingdom that we have neglected to sit at the feet of the King? Have we become so devoted to sharing the truth of God with the lost that we are too busy to place our hand into the hand of the Master and to walk in sweet fellowship with Him?
If we are as busy doing the Lord’s work as was Martha, we have little time for the devotion of Mary. Jesus prefers our devotion. (See Luke 10:38-42.) If we are to be effective in the work of the Kingdom, we must first be intimate with the King. We must walk with Him, commune with Him, rest in Him, or we have nothing of value to share with anyone else.
We must KNOW our Savior, not merely know of Him (See Acts 19:13-15.) If we go about doing His work without Him, we become as those on judgment day who will say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t I prophecy in Your name? Didn’t I cast out demons in Your name? Didn’t I heal sick bodies in Your name?” And Jesus will say to them, “Depart from Me; I never knew you.” Matthew 7:21-23.
Lord Jesus, take our good intentions and conform them to Your will. Take the eagerness in our hearts to serve You and conform it to Your heart of love that reaches out in Your way, in Your time to those to whom You send us. We know You can best do that when we draw near to Your bosom and abide in You.
Greek versus Hebraic
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman
"I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword," Zechariah 9:13.
In the early church there was an emphasis on developing a heart toward God. This was the Hebraic way. The scriptures were not accessible like they are for us. So, the relationship with God was the key focus. God related to his people on a personal and intimate level. And obedience was the key to a healthy relationship with God. Decisions were not made based on reason and analysis, but by obedience. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," Psalm 111:10.
This is why many of the miracles performed in the Bible went against natural reason, (i.e. feeding five thousand, crossing the Red Sea, retrieving a coin from a fish's mouth, walking around Jericho to win a battle, etc.) God constantly wanted to check the leader's obedience, not his knowledge. Knowledge and reason came into the early Church with the Greek scholars in subsequent centuries. This is when the church began to affirm oratory skills among Church leaders. Gradually, over many centuries the focus on knowledge and reason has become more accepted in the Church.
Loss of intimacy with God has been the fallout as a result of the influence of the Greek spirit. The primary focus has been teaching and discipleship instead of the development of a personal and intimate relationship with God. This has resulted in a form of religion, but one without power.
In the early church, the rabbi was there primarily for quality control, not as the primary teacher and speaker. He did not even address the people from an elevated platform. The whole congregation was in a more circular format, each sharing what they believed God was saying. The focus was on the power of God working through each individual, not one individual. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26.)
Is your focus on gaining more knowledge or growing in intimacy and power with Jesus? He desires to know you intimately.
Our Brother Hillman has articulated a truth that many people of faith have observed but have been unable to explain. We read the exploits of kings and prophets in the Old Testament and we see the power demonstrated by the Apostles of Christ, then we look at ourselves and wonder at the lack of efficaciousness in our own walk of faith.
Can Os Hillman be right? Are we so focused on teaching and learning and understanding the WORD that we have neglected our relationship with JESUS, the LIVING WORD of GOD?
Are we so busy serving the purposes of the Kingdom that we have neglected to sit at the feet of the King? Have we become so devoted to sharing the truth of God with the lost that we are too busy to place our hand into the hand of the Master and to walk in sweet fellowship with Him?
If we are as busy doing the Lord’s work as was Martha, we have little time for the devotion of Mary. Jesus prefers our devotion. (See Luke 10:38-42.) If we are to be effective in the work of the Kingdom, we must first be intimate with the King. We must walk with Him, commune with Him, rest in Him, or we have nothing of value to share with anyone else.
We must KNOW our Savior, not merely know of Him (See Acts 19:13-15.) If we go about doing His work without Him, we become as those on judgment day who will say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t I prophecy in Your name? Didn’t I cast out demons in Your name? Didn’t I heal sick bodies in Your name?” And Jesus will say to them, “Depart from Me; I never knew you.” Matthew 7:21-23.
Lord Jesus, take our good intentions and conform them to Your will. Take the eagerness in our hearts to serve You and conform it to Your heart of love that reaches out in Your way, in Your time to those to whom You send us. We know You can best do that when we draw near to Your bosom and abide in You.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sustenance and Life
January 27
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 16:25
We can understand the word ‘way’ to mean both a narrow, single aspect of a whole spectrum of issues or we can understand it to mean one event within a range of issues. The point within the context of the proverb is that mankind is frequently driven by blind self-deception or ignorance.
Man often has no absolute certainty regarding right and wrong because his ethics have been impacted by the standard of the world and he has never seriously compared what he has accepted as truth against God's immutable verity. How does our understanding of the word ‘way’ compare to the Holy One’s irreversible, incontrovertible law?
Until we have thoroughly investigated God’s truth and embraced it to ourselves as the only word worthy to be the foundation of our lives, we cannot say with any assurance that we know truth. Until we have searched for truth, we can literally know nothing.
The Word says, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” John 8:32, so until we have sought the One who is truth, “You shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13, we can know neither the truth nor He who is Truth!
Until we have sought the truth, we can merely scamper down trails to captivating rabbit holes where we will stumble over the very thing we thought was our foundation for life.
The great advantage of that fall, the enormous benefit to our well-being when we have toppled from the pinnacle of our deception is that in our plummet we often find we have landed on the veracity of God’s word that we once discounted as foolishness.
When we have lost our way sufficiently to seek the Bible as a roadmap for our further travels in life, we will understand the veracity of the Word which says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death,” Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25.
When we have made that life-saving discovery, we will allow the Holy Spirit to re-chart our course, we will allow Him to “teach us all things,” John 14:26. And the things He will teach us will be sustenance and life to us.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 16:25
We can understand the word ‘way’ to mean both a narrow, single aspect of a whole spectrum of issues or we can understand it to mean one event within a range of issues. The point within the context of the proverb is that mankind is frequently driven by blind self-deception or ignorance.
Man often has no absolute certainty regarding right and wrong because his ethics have been impacted by the standard of the world and he has never seriously compared what he has accepted as truth against God's immutable verity. How does our understanding of the word ‘way’ compare to the Holy One’s irreversible, incontrovertible law?
Until we have thoroughly investigated God’s truth and embraced it to ourselves as the only word worthy to be the foundation of our lives, we cannot say with any assurance that we know truth. Until we have searched for truth, we can literally know nothing.
The Word says, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” John 8:32, so until we have sought the One who is truth, “You shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13, we can know neither the truth nor He who is Truth!
Until we have sought the truth, we can merely scamper down trails to captivating rabbit holes where we will stumble over the very thing we thought was our foundation for life.
The great advantage of that fall, the enormous benefit to our well-being when we have toppled from the pinnacle of our deception is that in our plummet we often find we have landed on the veracity of God’s word that we once discounted as foolishness.
When we have lost our way sufficiently to seek the Bible as a roadmap for our further travels in life, we will understand the veracity of the Word which says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death,” Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25.
When we have made that life-saving discovery, we will allow the Holy Spirit to re-chart our course, we will allow Him to “teach us all things,” John 14:26. And the things He will teach us will be sustenance and life to us.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Beneath the Surface
January 26
"The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." John 14:26-27
Is the surface of your life like a tumultuous sea? Are the waters rough and foreboding? Deep down, beneath the surface, you can experience the “peace that passes understanding…” that only Jesus can give because it will “…keep your heart and your mind stayed on Him,” Philippians 4:7.
No matter how severely the winds and the waves batter the shore, those who abide in the depth of His love will have complete peace.
Deep Waters
Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to harbor, the captain was asked, “How did the terrible storm last night affect you?”
The officer looked surprised and exclaimed, “Storm? We didn’t even know there was one.”
You see, the sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as “the cushion of the sea.” The ocean may be whipped into huge waves, but the waters below are never stirred.
Have you experienced the “cushion of the Savior”? The waves of worry and fear will not overcome you if you put our faith and trust in Christ. Anonymous
"The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." John 14:26-27
Is the surface of your life like a tumultuous sea? Are the waters rough and foreboding? Deep down, beneath the surface, you can experience the “peace that passes understanding…” that only Jesus can give because it will “…keep your heart and your mind stayed on Him,” Philippians 4:7.
No matter how severely the winds and the waves batter the shore, those who abide in the depth of His love will have complete peace.
Deep Waters
Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to harbor, the captain was asked, “How did the terrible storm last night affect you?”
The officer looked surprised and exclaimed, “Storm? We didn’t even know there was one.”
You see, the sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as “the cushion of the sea.” The ocean may be whipped into huge waves, but the waters below are never stirred.
Have you experienced the “cushion of the Savior”? The waves of worry and fear will not overcome you if you put our faith and trust in Christ. Anonymous
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