What about the Holy Spirit?

 Various denominations have varying ideas of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Some think that when the Holy Spirit came the first time on the day of Pentecost, what happened then needs to be repeated in the life of Christians, meaning all will speak in tongues. I’m not sure if this includes the wind and fire and wondered why we need to do language study if going to a foreign mission field.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

After this, they shared the good news with all visitors who spoke different languages and they understood what was being said.

Others use a term “slain in the Spirit” and fall to the ground unable to move, yet this is not highlighted in the Bible.

The most characteristic activity of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture is to reveal God and speak for him. The prophets received messages from the Spirit of God and were empowered by him to deliver those messages to God’s people. All of Scripture was written by human authors carried along by the Spirit. The words, styles and genres are the authors’ but they’re also the words of God, inspired (breathed into them) by the Spirit of God.

At that initial filling of the Spirit, the preaching of the apostles was effective and underscored with signs and wonders. The Spirit also directed their activities by telling them whom to send where and forbidding them from entering certain territories while leading them into others.

The Spirit still teaches and sanctifies God’s people through the Word of God, giving us power over sin and conforming us to the image of Jesus, helping us live and pray as He produces ‘fruit’ in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He also gives each believer specific gifts so we edify one another. These gifts motivate us to share His teaching, encouragement, compassion, and other blessings that edify and strengthen the Body of Christ. To limit His fullness to speaking in other languages or falling on the floor seems short-sighted.

Perhaps this happens when the Bible is interpreted by experiences only. It could also happen with false associations. When my husband and I attended a church slo-pitch game for the first time, our team won for the first time. When we went to a second game, someone said, “So glad that you came, you are our good luck charms.”

I need to say these things to warn people about experiences. For instance, speaking in tongues can be valid, but at least one of the cults does it — and they deny Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I need a close relationship with God to be able to discern what is true and from Him, and what will lead me off on a tangent. For that, reading and studying the Bible is important, but so also is keeping short accounts regarding sin and being obedient to what I know is true. The Liar is continually trying to trip me up. The world’s ideas are also contrary to God’s ways.

PRAY: This day started with unexpected news that seems false. Jesus, I need You and Your Spirit to guide me, even in the little things, and to fill me so my attitudes and behavior honors You. I am rejoicing that You love me and want the best for me — and that blessings from You are always true, biblical, and bring You glory.

Eternal means eternal, forever, always…

When my husband became a Christian, a godly man explained to him how he would now live as a believer. He put a cup on the table right side up and said that God wants us to be filled with His Spirit so He fills us. However, if we sin, we tip over and like this full cup, we are not able to hold that fullness of the Spirit. How true. The Holy Spirit does not cause, initiate or tolerate sin.

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13–15)

Then this man explained that the way to become upright again is to confess our sin and ask God to fill us. He tipped the cup back up, then added, “You will go through life like this” and tipped it, stood it upright, tipped it, and kept repeating those actions. He said, “As you mature and become more like Jesus, you will learn to quickly be aware of sin and quickly confess it, and stay upright longer.” In other words, eternal life has its ups and downs, but it is still eternal, forever, life always with Jesus.

This illustration has changed lives. It is true to Scripture and to experience. It is impossible to avoid temptation; everyone experiences it. Learning to recognize it and say no to it is vital. Yet it is also important to learn how to get back in our spiritual groove. Otherwise growth is hindered, even stops. God is faithful to convict and teach His children.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

Like a hand in a glove, the mind of Christ works in my heart to want His will and function accordingly. He saved me from sin’s penalty and enables me to learn the way to be saved from sin’s power.

I once attended a church where a man said he no longer sinned. He claimed that to sin was a disgrace to God’s saving power. But the Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Another person in that congregation told me that she believed in Jesus, but if she decided she didn’t want eternal life with Him, she could back out of being saved. Even as a new Christian, I wondered how eternal life could be lost if it was eternal.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That life is in Christ who promised to never leave us. How can we lose it if we did nothing to gain it? Those who presume they are saved because they did the ‘right’ thing also presume they can lose it if they do the wrong things. So sad. The loss when we sin is fellowship and the ability to walk in the Spirit, but that is restored as soon as sin is confessed and turned away from.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m so joyful that You are my Savior. Yes, You want obedience, but not that it saves or keeps me, but because Your will is good for me. It also glorifies You when this limp and useless glove allows Your hand to move it. If I’m trying to do anything without You, that work is totally useless. I might boast of my goodness or in the temporary results, but none of what I do when tipped over is good for me in the long run, and brings no glory to You. Besides all that, You keep Your promises and know how to work in me to desire Your will and do what You ask. I’m so glad that You saved me, are saving me, and eternal life lasts for eternity!

We divide, God unites and multiplies...

 

Moving dozens of times, going to Bible school and seminary, and visiting churches while on vacations adds up to exposure to many different denominations. All were Christian, yet the emphasis of each varies. Since then, I’ve learned that this is a complex issue. Early Christian beliefs even had branches too, such as Jewish Christianity, Pauline Christianity and Gnostic Christianity. These days, some might say Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodox, ’liberal’ vs. ‘evangelical’ or use other terms such as Calvinist or Arminians, never mind all the denominational titles.

Many theologians would divide Christians by how they interpret the way of salvation. For instance, Calvinists believe that God must produce in us the decisive desire for Christ. Arminians believe we must produce in ourselves the decisive desire for Christ. The Arminians say that God helps us and all people, but people provide the last, decisive impetus and desire for that belief.

For me, the Calvinist view seems the most biblical, not particularly because of Calvin’s five points but because it most glorifies God. Me being the master of my own fate seems to put me in the power seat rather than the Lord, and that glorifies me. Not biblical.

All that said, I also like how Watchman Nee defined the soul as being my intellect, emotions, and will. It is the part of me that runs my life without Christ. When Jesus saved me, He led me to understand that my mind, emotions, and volition needed to be turned over to Him, not abandoned but transformed. That is a process but also begun by Him when He made me a new creation:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:16–17)

From this and other verses, walking in the flesh involves my mind, emotions, and choices. The new life is governed by the Holy Spirit in all three areas, yet the flesh stubbornly tries to maintain the primary voice in things. It wants life to be reasonable, comfortable, and done ‘my way’ so that it makes sense, feels good, and I have a sense of being in charge. However, trusting God often involves the opposites.

Not only that, I see these three fleshy elements having a focus in Christian denominations, in varying degrees and with much or little impact, but having an impact. The pentecostal denominations do focus on the Holy Spirit, but also emotions are important. The churches of God and its branches are more into human volition and making decisions (like “choose Christ”) and stress the importance of our will. The baptist-types stress right knowledge and having a sound mind. The devotional I’m using is a challenge because the focus is on the human will to the point that the author believes we can decide ourselves out of eternal life.

One pastor explains that if you focus on something with a magnifying glass, the things around it become fuzzy, even distorted. This seems to be the problem with all these denominations and various belief systems. We get too involved on what we think is a major issue and miss the importance of the entire Word of God, even the importance of glorifying God — instead of my thinking, my feelings, my will. Even Jesus said, “Not my will but thine be done” and He shows us to rely totally on our heavenly Father, not any part of me, myself, or I. While that is safe and takes time and faith to learn, it is also scary if I don’t know the love of God or trust Him to want the best for me and the glory that is due Him.

I come from a weekend that was so blessed by God that I’m almost numb with gratitude and joy. How can I say thanks? As the main organizer for this reunion, I could say “I did it” and that would not only not be true, it would ruin the blessing. God did it all and I feel like a bystander at a major display of His power and love. Others, even those not Christian, have expressed the wonder of what this event has done to their hearts. Only God. Only God.

PRAY: Jesus, how can I say thanks for the things You have done? I want the world to know that You love us, all of us, and that You can do anything. Your big blessing is coming here to die for us that we might live. After that, all is incredible, designed to transform us into Your image. Amazing grace! Again, I worship You, the God who is enough!

God at work!

The events of the past two days are almost impossible to describe. For months I’ve been planning a family reunion, only because God would not let me say no. I’ve felt blind, helpless, never done this. Prayed much. God woke me three times at 5 am with instructions for the next steps. It has been an unbelievable ride as I kept asking Him for help. Every day brought something amazing, either great good news or terrifying situations, sometimes both. I kept praying, stumbling along, asking others for help.

And things began to happen. Out of my control, not in the plan. Obviously God was taking the reins and making this His event. After months of many emails, web posts, and phone calls, the time finally came.
It started Thursday night with a walk through for the venue and a damage deposit. The weather was iffy. I prayed again — for good weather. The next morning all the wildfire smoke was gone and the sky was blue, but the wind was fierce. I asked Him to change that. Within five minutes, no wind. For these three days, near perfect weather. Heat wave cooled, nights cooler. Fresh air. Amazing.

Friday morning brought about half of those registered with the rest of the family arriving the next day. Some came in campers, others stayed in nearby hotels. A few still live in the area we grew up, first cousins and friends for a lifetime. Many of them had not seen each other for decades, or never, yet it was as if all were old friends.

I felt like a spectator. Nothing could have prepared me for the incredible unity and delight of nearly one hundred people mingling together in such perfection. The catered food was perfect and the sharing and openness was amazing. The few Christians in the group rejoiced with me at what God was doing.

Again, I felt like a spectator. When people tried to thank me, I told them this was the blessing of God who loves families and the answer to many prayers. These verses are one way to describe what we experienced at this family gathering:

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. (Psalm 17:6)

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. (Psalm 9:10)

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. (Psalm 63:5–7)

There is not enough space to write of all the good things God showered us with in this reunion. All I can repeat is what the psalmist says and that surely God is enough. He knows how to make a reunion totally unforgettable.

PRAY: Jesus, I am overwhelmed by You. This special time was not my skill, but yours. Yet my lack of skill was not on stage either. You are the Great Organizer of Events and this reunion has been a testimony to Your love and power and the joy You desire for Your people. Many thanks for letting me watch You at work!

Do not shrug off God’s words…

Today’s reading was another one of those ‘if you don’t believe then you wander on the wilderness and cannot enter God’s promised blessing’ messages. It made me think: “If I don’t believe what?”

I believe Jesus is the Savior sent by God to take care of the problem of sin. Once my faith in Christ was true, then my eternal life was true. But what if I don’t believe I am sinning? What if that unbelief is impeding my growth, or putting me in the dark about many things, or causing doubt of all sorts? This is what happens with many who don’t know Jesus as their Savior, yet could it be a big hindrance to Christians also?

Oswald Chambers says, “When Jesus brings a thing home by His word, don’t shirk it. If you do, you will become a religious humbug. Watch the things you shrug your shoulders over, and you will know why you do not go on spiritually.”

What does the Bible say about such a situation? It calls it disobedience and sin. What do I do with that? Certainly not shrug my shoulders…

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8–10)

 Certainly a huge part of not moving forward is failure to see or to admit sin. If I am stuck there, how can I grow more? Sin is a barrier to communication with God and honesty with others as well. As Chambers adds, the golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience….If things are dark to me, then there is something I will not do. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey. There is only one way to get past that and back into the light. Confession of sin is one of those things I must obey.

John Henry Jowett, said to be one of the greatest preachers in the English-speaking world, says this: “The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father’s giving: it is beyond that we can ask.”

Forgiveness and cleansing sounds simple but it is one of the greatest answers to prayer — as long as I can keep on asking it, every time I sin, fall short, or disagree with God and want to do my now thing, even if my own thing seems okay. Who do I think I am to figure I know better than God? That alone is a huge sinful barrier to becoming like Jesus.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8)

PRAY: Jesus, You have been doing things in my life that are so incredible that I want to tell everyone to trust You, to know that Your abilities go farther than our most hopeful prayers. I’ve not always known this, but You keep informing my heart of the goodness of Your heart. It is a fearful thing to consider that my ideas are better than Yours and even more fearful to shrug my shoulders instead of confessing my foolishness.

Eternal God speaks into a world of time

Sometimes the Word of God speaks to us in parables, figures of speech, types and other literary devices to make His truth simple for us to understand. We readily understand most of them such as the verses that say God covers us with His wings. Few would assume that means God is a chicken.

However, there are places where He uses eternal language. This means terms that tell of His realm — where time is not an issue and everything is now. He knows about creation before He made it, how it exists, and what happens to it. Most of us struggle with eternal language because it speaks of what God did before it happened as if it already was true…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4–7)

As for types or typology, this is seeing how a person or event, usually in the OT, foreshadows another person or event usually in the NT and the future. For example, Romans 5:14 compares Adam to Christ: “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”  Obviously Jesus is not like Adam in many ways. Types need careful interpretation and a good understanding of all the Bible. They can easily be given meanings not intended. For instance, the devotional for today was written by a person who ties an OT type too tightly to her Christian experience without realizing that a type is a term that illustrates but is not perfectly like what it typifies.

For instance, Joseph is an OT type of Christ yet Jesus did not get sold into slavery or interpret dreams. In thinking this way, she says that God promised His people that when they entered the Promised Land every place that they would tread had already been granted to them. He didn’t say that He would give it to them; He said that He had given it to them. This is eternal language.

The author of this reading didn’t get it that the land was theirs whether they took possession of it at that time or later. Those who didn’t get it missed out because they did not believe, not because they didn’t take it and enjoy it right away. God knew what would happen and He could say it was theirs even before they were born, never mind how long it took them to figure it out.

This is a type, but not the same as the gift of eternal life. That gift is given to those who Jesus chooses, not offered the gift of faith. Actually, the gift God offers is Jesus. When He gives us eternal life, He gives us the new life of Christ and He comes in, giving us His wisdom, righteousness, even His mind. We are given all that Christ is, including a revelation or a ‘knowing’ of what we have:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him…. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:13–20)

PRAY: Jesus, I know also that none of my salvation from sin is up to me. You give me experiences, even wilderness wanderings, to teach me to listen to You and obey You, to love You with my whole heart. You use all things for my good, to make me more like You. And You know me so well than You offered me Yourself at a time when there was no thought of refusal. You do not throw Your pearls to swine, only to those You choose before the foundation of the world, before we were even born!

The most discouraging part of becoming like Jesus…

Today’s reading is sad. The author describes her conversion and the joy of it, then asked someone how to get power over sin and was told that this was a life-long battle. She then became very disappointed and, again using the OT story of the Israelites as a bases, she wrote:

So ignorant was I of God’s ways that I in turn became a spy, bringing a bad report of the land to the Christians who came to me for counsel, telling them it was indeed a good land but adding the fatal “nevertheless” of unbelief, that the people who lived in the land were too strong for them, and the cities were walled and very great. Many a one did I thus turn back, causing them to wander with me in the wilderness for many years.

This author lived long before our time, and because her devotional is entitled, “God is Enough” I do hope she realized that such wandering is not abnormal. It is a stage of spiritual growth that some call “a period of spiritual crisis and struggle” and absolutely necessary to spiritual maturity. There is good reason for this stage.

The joy of salvation puts us in ‘honeymoon’ mode where we think we can do anything, conquer all our enemies and defeat sin. However, that stage cannot last. The NT says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him” (Colossians 2:6) so we conquer sin’s power in the same way that we were delivered from its penalty — by trusting Jesus and not ourselves. In other words, we need to learn that much of this “I can do it” is without understanding that like salvation, we are helpless to live a victorious life without total reliance on Christ.

For some, this can be a long time of “wilderness wandering” because the smart, capable people have no desire to become helpless, not merely believing the theology of it, but fully knowing the reality of it. As Paul wrote, when he was weak, God’s strength happens. Many do not even realize they are relying on themselves and not Jesus.

Spiritual dependency is next. This part of spiritual growth involves surrender, willingness to give glory to God and not keep it for myself, and a total commitment to total obedience. The devotional author calls that complete consecration, yet errs to say that without this, no one can enter heaven.
The only way that can be corrected is looking at the whole picture. Those who are saved will be taken through a time of frustration and struggle to learn that Jesus is necessary for all of life, whatever I do, even the seemingly insignificant things:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Some stop growing at this point of yielding because the human way of thinking cannot make sense of it, or more likely, does not want to give up their own way and in great humility follow Jesus into great fruitfulness, yet even the OT says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8)

This is the way out of wandering in the wilderness. It cannot be done by a decision of the will, or by feelings or even reasoning. It is part of the saving work of Jesus and a matter of faith. Like salvation from sin, being rescued from its power can be trusted — or resisted. Yet even curing that resistance is a work of our Savior:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Many realize we need to see Him face-to-face to be fully cured of relying on self. We need this understanding because the advice given to this author is true, not an error, only incomplete. Yes, I will fight sin all of my life, not because I have no way to win but because sinlessness belongs only to Jesus and learning that He fights for me is part of the journey. The total victory happens when I leave here and go home.

PRAY: Jesus, I agree that You deliver sinners from the penalty of sin and that I will experience some degree of its power as I battle the forces of evil in this world. However, only when You take me home will I be delivered from sin’s presence and finally realize the truth that You indeed are enough!

Source of Truth?

Reading the work of someone who thinks that our will is key to being saved has been a helpful exercise. This author warns against letting feelings dictate their theology, yet needs a warning also. Christians should not let their experiences dictate their theology either. Nor should we decide that all the warnings in the Bible apply to those who have experienced new life in Christ as a result of His gift of faith.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)

Faith in Christ is a gift. It is given to those that are chosen by God to bear fruit that glorifies Him. Also, He supplies all we need to do His will — all we need to do is ask.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)

However, there are people who hear the gospel and know it is true, but their faith is not the same as saving faith. It is more like the demon’s who believe and tremble, or the seed that falls on non-fertile soil in the parable of the sower. It is a faith that does not last. The OT illustrates it and the NT describes this and warns any who have this temporary or inadequate ‘faith’ by giving examples and describing true, lasting faith and what it looks like:

(Many Israelites) were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:20–22)

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15:2–6)

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26–27)

As the NT says, the test of true faith is what happens when I have it. Fruit is described in Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 13 and throughout the Bible. Without it, any ‘faith’ is not in the saving work of Jesus Christ with this gift that makes it possible. On the other hand, it is possible to think “my faith saves me” by having faith in faith rather than in the Savior. Satan’s lies are abundant and subtle. However, the NT writes to those who fall for them and says this:

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:36–39)

PRAY: Jesus, I know emotions can side-track me, my will is willy-nilly and not like Your will, and my mind comes up with many non-biblical and selfish ideas. Yet in all this, Your Holy Spirit keeps me trusting You and not all that fleshy nonsense. This is because my salvation depends on You, not my will, not my feelings, and certainly not my ability to always think rightly. You are the living Word and Your book is the written Word, saving and keeping me just as You promise. Nothing I think, do, or experience can stop You from this, or even ‘help’ You do what You alone can do and have done. Eternal means eternal.

Being set apart for God is His doing!

I’m puzzled this morning how the writer said yesterday that we need to give ourselves fully to God before we can enter heaven and then makes this statement for today:

How few of us know that we are not our own and that we actually do belong to God! We have heard it and read of it often and have perhaps thought we believed it; but really knowing it is a different matter. It is essential to our peace and well-being that we do know that we belong to God. Any doubt about our position in relation to God is a grievous hindrance to our spiritual prosperity and development. To make us in His own image is the object of God’s workmanship, and nothing short of this will accomplish His divine purpose in our creation.

This writer says on one day we need to give ourselves totally to God to enter heaven, and on the next that we belong to Him and He is transforming us into the image of His Son. Again, I think of the hand in the glove. The hand does the actions, the glove is useless without its presence and power. The devotional seems to promote two kinds of Christians, those that choose only to believe and those that are fully obedient as if the glove does all the work.

The Bible is clear that we are saved by faith. Good works follow, motivated by a life that God has changed, and those works are the hand moving in the glove. Even though it seems that some Christians are not moving much and are less involved than others, their growth is up to Him. He says:

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

Other readings add to this statement. One says that her life of faith grows better every month as her Savior cleanses her from all unrighteousness. Another says God’s care is such that all evil must pass through Him before it touches us, and even if it comes, God uses it for good. A third reading starts with this:

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Jesus is my sanctification. This reading adds these thoughts: “The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter into the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly.”

In other words, my holiness is not about imitating Jesus but letting His perfections manifest themselves in my body — like a hand in a glove. I read these words with delight. This gives me even greater desire to cooperate in that process in which Jesus is the perfection of all things and those perfections are mine as I learn to live in faith and am kept by the power of God.

PRAY: Jesus, I rest in the reality that You are my Savior and my sanctification. Being told I have to make any of this happen is defeating for I already know that I cannot. I need You. All the time. Every day, every hour. The good news is that You are available, here with me, giving me all that I need to do whatever You ask of me, and to love You with all my heart.

Jesus said it — that settles it!

The author of today’s reading seems to consider consecration as being something we do. However, both the OT and the NT say things like:

Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine. (Exodus 13:2)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

While this author tells us we must consecrate or to set ourselves apart for God, the Bible tells me that I belong to Him by faith in Christ, therefore saying yes to that teaching is saying yes to something that is already true. God set me apart for Himself. I do not make it true by what I do. Rather, my changed life demonstrates He has done it.

Some think we are called to consecration and it does not happen without taking several steps, like the Israelites who were delivered from bondage in Egypt, given commands about how to live, failing to do it or enter the Promised Land, wandering in the wilderness, then finally entering and beginning the battle there to take that land. The devotional writer calls that final step full consecration and says this means we need to be fully consecrated before we can enter heaven.

I cannot ignore that the NT says I am God’s the moment I was saved. I will battle sin but His promise is our security to the point that He declares the following:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4–9)

The verbs in this passage are incredible. Verses 5-6 say that “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This means I am alive in Christ and already seated with Him in heavenly places. What could be more consecrated (set apart for God) could I be!
This will seem odd to those who preach the importance of works, but telling me what God has already done does more to motivate my devotion and obedience than telling me what I must do. Do I hear an ‘amen’?

In eternal terms, I’m already there. In time, my life is imperfect and I battle those giants like fear, disappointment, making errors in judgment, thinking I know better than God (that is a big one), but the Bible tells me that I am His, nothing can separate me from His love, and He is living in me, my life, my eternal life. And eternal is eternal. It is not about making progress.

PRAY: Jesus, the most subtle temptations to doubt You or to worry about being ‘good enough’ often come from well-meaning people who are caught in the lie that salvation depends on me and my choices, and that I can will myself out of Your loving care and eternal salvation. Your Word is my defense. I am not an OT Israelite but a participant in the New Covenant. While their story depicts some of my experience, You say I am Yours, totally and forever. You said it. I believe it. That settles it.

Holiness and grief

Earl Grollman, a rabbi and grief counselor, says penetrating  things about grief. For instance, "Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.”

I know that grief visits when least expected, but if I shut the door on grief, it will only come calling again and again. Letting it in, feeling it, expressing it, or letting happen whatever it brings is the only way to satisfy its painful demands. Grief is relentless and without it, our broken hearts cannot be healed.
Today’s reading is about holiness. Dare I compare it to grief? Certainly it is at the other end of the spectrum but both are about love. Think of it; holiness is to be like someone who loves us so much that He was willing to become like us but without sin — and die so that we could become like Him. How is that like grief? Without holiness, our broken lives cannot be healed.

Not only that, the love of God is relentless, as is grief. Jesus says this:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Grief does that too. It knocks at the door of my heart, a painful visitor yet a healer. Jesus comes to eat with me, not painful but He also is a healer. When He first came to my door, I was broken and in pain. He did more than tap on the door; He opened it and walked in. Ever since that day, whenever sin deals its awful blow, He is there, knocking, wanting in to bring repentance and healing. He persists. Like grief, He will not let me go until I welcome Him.

Today’s reading says that His commands to be holy are all based on the fact that He to whom we belong is holy. In order to be one with God, which is our final destiny, we must be like Him in character; and since He is holy, we cannot be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) without ourselves being holy. That is, it is because we are the Lord’s and not in order that we may become His that we are called to be holy.

“I am the Lord your God” is always the ground of His appeal. He doesn’t say, “I will be your God if you will be holy,” but He says, “Be ye holy, because I already am the Lord your God.” I have been  bought with a price. Holiness is the result. That event happened and holiness happens, just as a searing loss happens and grief follows. Grief is His sorrow, weeping with us, part of what we feel.

When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. (John 11:33–35)

Even though Jesus knew what He would do — raise Lazarus from the dead — He wept. Even though I know my lovely sister-in-Christ is gone and in heaven with Jesus, it is not a sin to weep, to grieve for sorrow. Yet this also points to the holiness set before me.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)

PRAY: Jesus, my friend is now like You — and our loss is her gain. Her holiness is perfected. Grief ultimately leads me to thoughts of my own life and death. Because of You and because of grief, I am motivated to holiness even as You are holy. No one knows when You will call us home. The desire to be more like You is heightened because of the depth and sorrow felt this week. Keep knocking. The door is open.

No fear of death

A close friend called Thursday evening to tell us that his wife went to bed the previous night, happy and healthy, and woke up with Jesus. A numbing shock, I struggle thinking what that loss is doing to him and their family. We know them well and share their pain.

How quickly life can change. No one knows when the end comes, or what will be involved, or even who is next. My emotions include a socked-in the-gut feeling. I try to think of the joy she is experiencing with seeing Jesus face to face, with life’s trials, sorrows and problems forever gone. Mixed in with that has been a tinge of fear. I’m 10-15 years older than she was. Will I be next? Am I ready for that? I know the verses:

God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

Fear is not God’s will. It’s a symptom of a lack of faith, a failure to trust Him and believe that all He says is good and all He does is His very best for me. I don’t deserve His mercy and grace, but that is the good news of the gospel — “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) and what can I do to stop Him from loving me?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31–39)

From this passage and others, the words “fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” do not refer to me being perfectly able to love others. They mean that I am perfected by knowing that God perfectly and eternally loves me. Nothing can change that, not even my mistakes and moments of resisting Him. He loved me when I didn’t believe. He loves me now. Whatever He has planned for me, it is for my good, not to harm me.

Our dear friend is with Jesus. Could there be a better place? Yes, we are grieving. Her family are in shock. Her little grandchildren will be confused and full of questions. But God loves us and He is with us, always, no matter what.

PRAY: Jesus, I know that dealing with death is part of living. Everyone is terminal, yet like every other human experience, walking with You makes a difference. You held our friend’s hand and gently took her home. The timing hurts but the method speaks of love and even shouts to never fear for You always do what is best. We cry out for comfort, yet also rejoice that You looked death in the face and conquered it — so we do not have to fear it, and we will see her again.

Secured and kept by grace

 

When a person is drafted or enlisted into the army, at that moment he (or she) is a soldier. Then comes boot camp and many other experiences that teach that person how to be what they already are, living and acting as a soldier should act.

In Scripture, the gospel includes a similar idea. When Jesus took me into His forever family, I became a Christian, but I certainly didn’t know how to act like one apart from His enlightenment and training that came with this new identity. It is described here:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)

The Bible calls this sanctification or consecration. When Christ saved me, I was set apart by Him and for Him, a new creation but one that had a lot of learning to do so I would live like that new person should live. Every Christian knows the fight to keep that old nature from ruining our efforts.

Today’s reading says this truth: “The thought of God in the deliverance of Israel was not that they should wander in the wilderness but that they should be brought into the Promised Land, which typifies the life of full consecration.”

However their refusal to enter, and their excuses about the giants in the land, and all their mistakes and disobedience did not mean these people were not His. They had a lot to learn after resisting His leading and teaching and they often went AWOL from bootcamp to do their own thing, but He eventually took them to the place He promised.

At the end of the reading, the writer of the devotion makes a statement that is not biblical: “Entire consecration, therefore, is binding on every Christian, and sooner or later each one must come to know it, for there is no entering heaven without it.”

This statement may be intended to provoke persistence in learning, but it fails to show that consecration is both a reality and a process. If misunderstood, it flies in the face of salvation by grace. The OT saints were not entirely set apart in their behavior even after getting in the promised land. The thief on the cross was told he would be in paradise with Jesus and he missed bootcamp entirely! When Jesus says, “You are mine,” then we move into training to act like it, and our lives change. Some change at different rates, or in varying ways, but Jesus saves — our efforts to behave come from the Holy Spirit who is with us and in us. We are not saved by faith and then kept saved by works as this writer seems to suggest.

The Galatian church had a problem with trying to perfect their Christian lives after they were saved, not realizing that this perfection is in Christ, not our fleshy efforts. Paul wrote this:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Galatians 2:20–21)

Then he added a question that applies to this idea of being perfected before we can get into heaven. Instead, he affirms that growing in grace is part of our new life, not done in self-effort nor  does God turn away believers who fall short of full consecration.

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? (Galatians 3:2–6)

John agrees: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3) 

PRAY: Jesus, consecration happens because You saved me and set me apart. Faith in You is my entrance to heaven, not how pure I am before You will let me in. In You, I am no longer condemned. Romans 8:1. While some may be better soldiers in this life and others not so good at it, You will never kick anyone out of Your army for a lack in their level of commitment for it is grace that got us into this amazing relationship with You in the first place, and grace that keeps us here If my commitment could do it, I would not need You.

God can do it…

 

Planning this big event, our family reunion, has been a learning experience. In the past few months God has shown me that even though my faith moves from strong to weak and back again, He hasn’t changed at all. A life-long lesson for me and one that took forty years of wandering, and the death of an entire generation, for His people to learn.

They came to the land God promised but failed to enter. While they were weak and saw themselves as “grasshoppers” compared to the “giants” that lived there, it was not their weakness nor their enemies’ strength that kept them from going in, but their unbelief. The Lord was able but it took a long time for them to realize it. I can relate to that slowness to learn.

After their wandering, when most of them died, they trusted the Lord and took the land, but what is interesting is that they knew after leaving Egypt that God was capable. They sang an amazing song of praise (see Exodus 15:3ff) yet when they saw the giants, they forgot or neglected to act on what they knew and turned back.

How many times have I done the same. The reunion task is too big for me. In discouragement and feeling great fatigue just thinking about it, I often want to quit. Then God reminds me, sometime subtly and sometimes with a 2x4 at the side of my head, that this was His idea and it will happen. Curves come. Some who said they would help back out, the to-do list has too many items, well-meaning friends say “you can do it” without realizing that “no I cannot” is theologically correct. I cannot do it. But God can!

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? … You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode… You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.” (Exodus 15:15–18)

 Two days ago, I had no problem with the curves, the too-many to-do items, or believing God was at work. This morning I work up feeling like a grasshopper and wanting to run and hide. Nothing has changed except the way I’m thinking — in fear instead of faith. The task is the same and so is the God who entrusted me with it. Like the children of Israel, do I really want to wander in the wilderness or go at this with confidence?

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. (1 Chronicles 29:11)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)

For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21)

This last passage is revealing. It reminds me to watch out for a “little fox” that tends to mess me up — whenever God does amazing things, it is for His glory. If I get even the tiniest notion “that it will be glory for me” then He stops working on the ‘amazing things’ and puts His focus on my self-centered attitude with determination to change it to what it should be.

PRAY: Jesus, this task was Your idea and You are making it happen. I need to back off and have no thoughts of any sort of personal gain or fame from it, not even the glory that “oh, she trusts God” or anything else that puts the focus on me. Again, I’m my own worst enemy, foolishly trying to make a giant out of a grasshopper instead of looking to You — the One greater than any adversity or bad attitude.

The Battle belongs to God

In the past few months I’ve noticed that the greater faith I have in God, the more I am able to do things I thought I could not do. In other words, faith in me doesn’t work very well. When what I decide to do doesn’t work out, confidence drops. When what God decides to do, it happens. Today’s reading agrees with this:

It is nothing to God to work with many or with few, and no giants or walled cities can successfully oppose Him. It was unbelief, therefore, and unbelief alone that prevented the Israelites from going into the Promised Land. It may have sounded like humility to themselves to talk of their own weakness and of the strength of their enemies, but it was really unbelief.

The devotional author goes on to say that focus is more important than self-image. It might seem humble to focus on my weakness, but that also puts the spotlight on me and my sin instead of Christ. I cannot do what He asks, but He goes before me and works to perfect His strength in my weakness.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

I’ve heard this said flippantly, as if the speaker knew the teaching but it was not part of their experience or a reality that they felt weak. I’ve done the same thing, yet still put confidence in my strengths. It is when I faced “giants in the land” that weakness shows up and it becomes very much a fact that without Christ, I can do nothing.

And this is the odd part: reaching that place is where the life  of Christ and His power becomes obvious. It is in the place where I say “I can’t” and am totally convinced of my weakness. In that place is where another truth is realized:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love (Ephesians 1:3–4)

In all this, another factor is at work — faith. In the face of giants, unbelief gives up when the focus is on me and weakness. Yet Jesus graciously comes to the rescue of those who are helpless. I see Him in a different way when I cannot do what I know He wants me to do. Instead of asking the impossible, He is asking me to let Him do it. Like that hand in the glove. I need to stop trying to move the hand and let Him move me.

Even though I still feel weak and unable. Even though the task seems impossible. And when He begins to move, and I see the results, my faith in Him soars… oh, I know, faith is the assurance of things unseen, yet when He moves, He lets me see it — and He fills my heart with praise and great joy. I want to tell the world about the wonder of Jesus Christ.

PRAY: Jesus, I’m such a small nothing, a tiny blimp in history and in Your kingdom, yet You allow me to watch You change weaklings into conquerors, which is an amazing thing, particularly in the hearts of the weaklings! What You do is upside down and backwards compared to how the world thinks we should live when we want to make things happen. How delightful to be in on this ‘secret’ of living as a weak winner instead of a do-it-myself nothing.

Mind my own life…

God’s ways are never predictable yet always a blessing. Last night at a church league game, one of our team pulled a major error that resulted in a loss for us. I was annoyed. However, God used it to answer a seemingly unrelated question I’d been praying about.

My question concerned a concern that I’ve had about a third person. I am constantly annoyed with her and am not sure why. What is going on in her life that incurs my attitude? What is going on in my life that this person should bother me?

Then, at that game, I realized something. The man who made the major error tends to boast of his talents and tells everyone else how to play. His error was a major humbling experience, and I know that is more important to the Lord than our team winning the game. This reminded me of an old story and then answered my questions about concerns for other people.

The story is out of one from the Chronicles of Narnia called “The Horse and His Boy.” Two riders are together. The boy watches as Aslan, the lion representing Jesus, leaps on the back of the other horse and claws the girl who is riding it. In horror, the boy asks why this is happening and Aslan replies, “This is her story, not yours.”

Then I thought of Peter and how he was told of his future by Jesus. After Peter had betrayed Him, Jesus said to him three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved but Jesus told him to feed His sheep. Then Jesus said…

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:17–22)

In other words, Aslan as Jesus, and Jesus Himself tell those who ask such questions to mind our own business. What He is doing in the lives of others, particularly as a strong discipline, is none of my business. He disciplines me and unless I share it, it is not on the evening news. Such is His amazing grace. He does not expose my sins unless I openly do it myself.

I do not need to know what He is doing in the life of someone else. They may have an attitude that affects their lives that I cannot pin-point, or they may not like me for some reason that God has not yet clawed my back about. Whatever is going on in both of us is subject to His conviction and correction, but in grace and kindness, He is not making it public knowledge, or at least not revealing it to me. He knows when I am not in a place where I can be trusted with such awareness. He says, “What is that to you? You follow me.”

PRAY: Jesus, I get it. I can pray for that man whose arrogance was obviously humbled. I can pray for the people who annoy me… but mostly need to pray for my own attitude. To be like You is to protect the people in Your care from others who have not yet learned to mind their own business. If I can be helpful and gracious, You will keep me informed about how to pray. Otherwise, I need to mind my own business and my attitudes lest I find You clawing at my conscience to correct me instead of them.

Whole-hearted obedience?

 

It’s a familiar story. The child in the back seat refuses to sit down. His father finally stops the car and tells the boy they will not move until he sits. The boy finally sits, but as the father starts the car, he hears him say, “But I’m standing up on the inside.” This story helps explain this Scripture:

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. (Leviticus 20:7–8)

God says I am to consecrate myself, yet He is the one who does it. “Consecrate” and “sanctifies” are the same word! This word means to be set apart for God. He does it, and when He tells me that I am His, but my inner attitude and that act of God are to match. In other words, God says that I belong to Him and He has set me apart from the world and my old life to belong to Him. No standing up on the inside. No inner rebellion that says, “I am my own master” or that I can do whatever I want to do.

In the OT, God says this of His people. It still applies today:

I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” (Ezekiel 37:26–28)

God made a covenant of peace with me through the sacrifice of His Son. It is an everlasting covenant. He has set me on this earth and His Spirit lives in me. He dwells with me. I am His and He is my God. His purpose in doing all this is that the world will know that He is the Lord who sets His people apart and makes His home in us. This is a forever reality.

So if I take the attitude of the little boy who was sitting down and looking as if he was obedient, I would be saying to God, “I might be doing what You tell me, but in my heart, I’m doing what I want to do” — then I am not consecrating myself — even though the Lord God has consecrated me.

I see this attitude in others. I’ve recognized it in myself. The amazing thing is that we are children of the God who persists. He will not leave us with that resisting attitude.

One example… our family reunion. It happens in ten days. I didn’t want to do it. God’s idea — He set it on me. I argued. He persisted. I finally sat down, still standing up on the inside. But He worked, not so much on me it seemed, but on the reunion. He woke me up three times with a to-do list. He set family members into eager desire to participate. He motivated one cousin to buy 100+ t-shirts so we could dress the same, and others to help pay the bills, and others to take charge of food, or the venue, or registering everyone, or making sure all pay for the catered meals, or games for the kids, or activities that will enable communication between people who either have never met or have not seen one another for decades. I have watched God plan the job He set me apart to do and then started making things happen. My heart soon stopped resisting Him and I am jaw-dropped at what He is doing.

Who could resist a God like that? He overwhelms me. This is like a roller-coaster ride, filled with ups and downs (the downs are not related to the reunion except as distractions) yet a total thrill that is keeping me clinging to Him in wild delight. When He wants something done, I cannot stop it.

PRAY: Jesus, if I ever doubt Your presence or Your power, I realize how foolish that is. You are showing me that even as You ask anything of me, it is You who makes it happen. Even when I resist and fail to fully cooperate, when You want something done, it will be done. Thank You for Your grace and goodness that helps me to sit in joyful surprise and open-mouthed, gratefully able to watch You at work.

How to be transformed...

 

Yesterday was filled with emotions. Unexpected help came regarding family reunion plans that thrilled me. Not only new ideas to help people enjoy one another, but a great deal of thoughtful and encouraging motivation expressed with it. Then our team nearly won a soccer match only to have it tied in the last minutes and lost in a shoot-out. And after that, a different kind of shooting with an attempt to assassinate the former US president. Then I had a long dream in which a false teacher, filled with nonsense ideas about the way people think, led two church services filled with thousands of people who thought she was wonderful. I woke up distressed at this depiction of the way our world is going. My emotions threatened to take my focus off Jesus.

Today’s devotional reading echoed some of the low points of the previous twenty-four hours. It speaks of self-centeredness saying again that the great sin that plagues us is our focus on me, myself, and I. To be calmer, more level, I needed to focus on Jesus, not think about me.

However, the Bible does say to examine ourselves. Like emotions, this can also get out of hand. Too much looking at me is not good either. Those emotions did that while biblical self-examination should be motivated by a desire to find and root out sin. Yet today’s reading warned that too much of it, or having a me-focus can lead to making excuses, feeling sorry for me, comparing myself to others less fortunate, or even pride that I am better than so-and-so.

(Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9–14)

Even reading this story and thinking I am humble can turn into pride that thinks, “At least I am not like that self-righteous Pharisee.” While emotions can put my focus on me, so can pride. I’m supposed to view life in humility.

Not easy. Rare is the truly humble person. Today’s devotional offers this spiritual discipline to push out those sneaky personal pronouns: “The commands to look to Jesus, to behold His glory, to have our eyes ever toward Him, are literal. When we are looking to Jesus, we cannot see ourselves, for if our faces are to Him, our backs will necessarily be to one another.” The Bible says:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Looking at Jesus not only takes my eyes off myself, my emotions, and my performance, but as this verse says, it is a transforming process. We are affected by what captures our attention. For instance, our family spent a couple years in a southern state around people with a drawl that produced a ‘you all’ accent in our children. What is fed into our minds does have an effect  on our lives. No wonder Jesus said,

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48–51)

He was illustrating the importance of relying on Him as sustenance for life. Relying on me only leads to more hunger and even starvation. Focus on Jesus feeds me well.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, looking at You instead of at myself changes my days and my dreams. Your will and responses affect me, even bring great joy at the good ideas of others instead of envy, and glad for fair play instead of being a sore loser fan, also upset at violence instead of thinking a victim gets what they deserve (as some do), and make me upset with false teaching and the harm it does rather than dismissing a dream as only a dream. Keep my eyes and thoughts on You. Only You can transform my selfishness into clear thinking — and help me with humility.

Going deeper…

 

It’s humbling to think about the hardness of my heart and my spiritual blindness before Jesus came into my life. I had started reading the Bible every day when thirteen and read it for seventeen years before understanding what it said. I now realize that this was done as a ritual and habit (copying my mother) yet God not only used that self-centered motivation to keep me reading, but kept on using even this most selfish reason to read it to teach me His will.

For a long time after being saved, even though my sins were confessed and I’ve tried to keep short accounts with God, it wasn’t until recently that He showed me how He has used even my mistakes to teach me His will. I brooded over those mistakes and rued them as if they had ruined my life. But God (two wonderful words) showed me that those mistakes were tools to powerfully change my heart and my attitudes. He waited a long time until I was ready to see that this was a good thing. Not that the sins were good but that in great mercy and love, He used them for good. Seeing this reality brings great joy to my heart.

Today’s reading reminds me how, after a long time of backsliding on the part of the children of Israel during a time when the book of God’s law had been lost, it was found again. These people assembled in the public square of the city to hear it read. At first they wept; but as God enabled them to understand it better, their lives changed from sorrow to rejoicing and then...

All the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Nehemiah 8:12)

For them, it was realizing God is holy and His joy was their strength. They did not have to live as if all was lost because, in their position as God’s people, they were blessed and cared for by a God who is holy and loved them.

This truth is still a blessing to God’s people, even though many of them still are fearful of what God might do if they want only His will and not their own way. Part of this is human pride, as if any of us know better than God what is good for us. The other contributing factor is not knowing God in a factual way, having false ideas about Him. Some of this is motivated by Satan’s lies, including those that come through false teachers. The NT warns me of those who claim to be Christians yet put unbiblical burdens on their followers:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13–15)

The subtlety of false teaching often urges people to trust God for what we want rather than for what He wants, as if His will is not good for us. However, as today’s reading says, the words “Thy will be done,” when once we understand them, become the dearest words our lips can utter.

PRAY: Jesus, You are teaching me the value of ‘just keep reading’ and how Your Spirit will take care of my burdened heart in the most amazing ways. What You reveal is astonishing and not at all like the false teachers and their messages, and sometime even contradicts sincere but unenlightened ideas that genuine Christians believe, ideas that give us anxiety instead of that peace and joy Your love wants for us. Oh Lord, open my eyes and my heart to a deeper and fuller understanding of the blessedness of Your will.

God’s Amazing Grace

My sister often said that even after mom died, mom was still picking up after her. Sis had a habit of never putting things away and then wasting time looking for her stuff. Today’s reading says this, and it reminded me of her…

God surrounds us; He goes after us to set straight the things we have made crooked and to undo the mistakes and failures that lie behind us. Mothers do this for their children all their lives, beginning with picking up the scattered toys in the nursery and then going “behind” them as they grow older to undo and atone for all their mistakes.

I’m not sure that is true for every mother, but I know that it is true about God. All my Christian life He has been showing me the truth of these verses:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

“All things” includes my mistakes, even the biggest of them. While some of the worst involve other people and should not be shared, I can say this — even the stupidest things I have done have turned into either lessons in how to behave, or exposures of sin to confess, or both. This is the grace of God. He is able to use whatever I do or don’t do in the classroom of life for His purposes. And those lessons work, even though they may need to be repeated several times.
Part of this is because God knows me. He knows exactly what to do that will accomplish His purposes for me…

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1–6)

The passage goes on to say that I cannot flee from His presence. Realizing that is important. No matter where I go or what I am doing, He is there to lead me, hold me, enlighten me. He created me so knows what will enable me to stay healthy, be happy, and be the most useful to His plans. Knowing that He is with me and knows me, makes a difference in my thoughts. Sure, I forget at times. Or the enemy feeds me his favorite ruse, “God does not really want the best for you” when I’m having problems, but the Lord always rescues me.

For instance, I had a thing come up yesterday and was uncertain how to deal with it, but the verse on today’s calendar says: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and the truth that Jesus is my wisdom gave confidence to solve the problem. How gracious of God to care and to use even a calendar page to reassure and correct a small confusion.

PRAY: As the days go by, Your Word is a continual blessing. Even when I forget or am distracted from major truths about You and what You do, Jesus, You continue to abide with me and meet all needs, even using the smallest to the largest difficulties to change my life. Like mom with my sister, You are always picking up after me. Even the mess-ups that I make are used for good in Your hands. Praise to You for such loving care!

Tested by Fire

 

Two homes burned this week in our city and news footage showed terrible destruction. My thoughts of fire are usually negative. However, today’s reading is a reminder that God uses it to describe His great love. I was accepted and died for — even while a sinner, but He loves me too much to leave me in that condition. He will not permit evil to linger undiscovered and uncured in me and allows trials like fire to refine my life.

As the reading says, this is not severity but mercy and character building. I am to be a friend of God throughout all eternity, far grander than even redemption and it requires a deep harmony with His will. It is an unspeakable boon that He loves me enough to do whatever is necessary to make me fit for companionship with Himself. To this He says:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6–11)

Part of the purpose for trials also affects this life. He wants to equip me to know and do His will while I’m here on earth:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21)

He also wants to protect me from lies, so He continually intercedes for me as He did for Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32)

He is gracious to explain His purpose for trials. I am saved, promised eternal life, and can rejoice in it, even though… “Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:3–7)

The fire thing is described in the OT:

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:10–11)

For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance. (Psalm 66:10–12)

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. (Proverbs 17:3)

Even Job understood trials, experiencing far more than I ever will yet his reaction was twofold:

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me… (Job 23:10–16)

PRAY: Jesus, I sometimes dread Your power, yet like Job can also trust Your refining plan. You use fire, but Your heart is for me, not to destroy me but my sinfulness, and draw me deeper and closer to Your heart. Enable me to focus on the image of refined gold, not on the fire that enables its purity.