Urgency

1 Corinthians 7:29-31  -   What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;  those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;  those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Paul lived every day devoted to one thing…the Lord’s work.  Every decision that he made…every relationship that he nurtured….every tent that he made was driven by the true purpose of his life.  Paul lived and breathed to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and disciple those that accepted the grace that he gives when we trust him.  God had placed an urgency in his heart…a feeling that time is short…that his priorities should always have God’s work at the top of the list.

Paul is warning us here not to be driven by the isolated moments in our lives….or for that matter not to be controlled by the long term commitments we have made to others here on this Earth.  Whether we are married or single….sad or happy…rich or poor…we should rise every day and ask God what he has for us to do…to always live as if the day we were granted today is our last.  God could return today…this very moment to claim his children...or it could simply be time for him to come and get you or one of your loved ones…and take them to Heaven.  Worse yet…God may be granting permission for Satan to claim a lost person you know….to be banished to a world of misery! 

Today will be the first or last day of someone’s life.  In an average day…. 358,192 people are born and 154,889 die….somewhere in our enormous world. (source….https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html)…  started me thinking…just how many of those are lost?  If my actions today could ensure that one more person goes to Heaven….why would I not be doing everything possible to find that lost sheep….like the shepherd in Matthew 18: 12-14, “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off ? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Father…I wish I could say that I have always put you first…but you know my heart and how selfish I am most of the time.  Help me today to shed some more of that ‘me disease’…and begin to place you first in my life and work.  Teach me how to think of you as more important than where I live…what I wear….and whether I marry.  Show me your purpose for me on the Earth…and equip me to do what you need me to do.  Send me out to do your work…..whatever that may be.  Place in my heart an urgency….that time is short…that I must try to increase the number of people who know and love you every day. Amen.

Want...or Need?

1 Corinthians 6:12-  "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything

Short verse...but very powerful words.  Paul is stating a simple economic principle…wants verses needs.  We want ….but  do we really need…everything that we have.  Do we own the ‘things’…or do they own us?

I understand this all to well…you see one way to fill loneliness is to shop with your free time.  Did I really need everything I bought on some of those trips…probably not…but it filled the lonely hours after the divorce with something to do.  I loved the positive comments I got the next day at school when I wore the new outfit…or shoes.  I didn’t realize just how out of control I was till I moved…and needed 3 closets to house all the…things….I had bought. 

Sure…its okay to shop….and God blesses us every day with nice things….but when we make the decisions to buy a new car…just because we want one…or we buy another pair of white shoes…just because they are cute….we may be on the way to being mastered by materialism. Do we spend more time watching TV…or playing on the computer than we do with God…or working for him in some way?  It doesn’t seem like an idol….but if you just have to have it …if it is just something to ‘fill’ time…and you don’t really need it…it may have more control over you than you think.

God …help me to reexamine the things that I do and the stuff that I buy.  You have allowed me to live in a great world of freedom…and you have blessed me with more than enough resources to pamper myself with things ….but this morning I ask you to help me stop and ask you how you would have me spend my day…let my love for you drive what I do with the blessings you allow me to have. Help me to be satisfied with what you say I need.  Amen.

God's Workers

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 - I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Paul was trying to help the new Christians understand that men are merely the vessels of God’s word. They were fighting over which preacher was best…attaching themselves …their faith…to the ‘man’ who taught them. He wanted them to understand that no man is greater or smarter than another...in fact….we are nothing.   We can only understand what God reveals to us at any given time.  We may plant the first wisdom of the gospel…or explain a deeper understanding of a verse we have read many times…but God controls it all. The wisdom of the bible is God’s wisdom…our faith is in Christ…not the man who teaches us.

I love to read inspiration books.   I have come quite attached to the books of Max Lucado. God placed his works in my hands at just the right time to help me heal.  His books are full of “God’s” wisdom…..specifically written for those of us that have been hurt and battered by life.  God has blessed so many preachers and writers…Joyce Myers…Beth Moore….Charles Stanley….Paul…Luke….John.  Each ‘person’ was given what they were given by ‘God’ …for a specific purpose….a planter….or a waterer says Paul.  God takes the seed and the water and puts it together…in his time…so that we can grow and become strong.  My faith…my healing came from God…he just used Max’s books to help me…cause they were written in just the right words for me.

Father I thank you for the seeds that my sweet parents and Sunday School teachers planted so long ago.   I thank you that those seeds that I buried and let go dormant for so many years were once again placed in dirt…and watered by Max and Beth…and Paul. Thank you for allowing those seeds to once again grow…guard their growth ….keep them strong…..and keep amazing me with just how mature a plant you can make me.  Help me be patient while you prune and trim my branches into the plant you need to do your work…even though the process is sometimes painful. .Amen   

Power Through the Spirit

1Corinthians 2: 1-5  -  When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Well…I had a hard time not copying and pasting the whole second chapter…you really need to read this whole chapter.  I love how Paul admits that he is powerless…admitting his weaknesses….declaring his fear to the whole world.   Paul flat out declares to everyone that his ability to speak and teach …his ability to remain cool and calm even under he extreme conditions of imprisonment…come from the Holy Spirit.  Every word that he spoke ….or wrote in a wonderful letter ….every song that he sang in prison….every ounce of his energy and will were powered by the spirit.  And its power is free…unlike the gas I am paying $3.89 for every week to power my car!

I am learning just how true this….for I too must admit that I am nothing…know nothing….have a horrible memory problem….and absolutely have no rhythm.  I have a total fear of speaking to a crowd…unless they are a bunch of silly teens….for some reason ...they laugh at all my mistakes.  I wake up some mornings in awe that he has ever accomplished anything with me inside a classroom.

So…I began a journey of rereading the Bible straight through a little over a year ago….and I made a promise to myself.  I would not take anything at face value…I would really read and pray for God to open up the hidden wisdom in every chapter of his great book….and he has.   Each night I have to tell myself to stop after one or two chapters…to digest all that each one contains.  And I will never be satisfied with starting my day any other way but processing the wisdom I read about the night before by writing….it is nothing more than amazing to sit and allow his spirit to help me write.

Father…I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit…..and the power he can give to all of us.  I sit in tears once again…so humbled and amazed that you chose to reveal even the smallest bit of wisdom and strength to me.  I shout out to the rooftops how very lowly I am…like Paul I admit every weakness….every fear…so that you can send more of your spirit to give me strength….so that you can make me a worthy vessel to use to share your gospel.  So all the people who know me will see you instead! Amen.

Weakness is a Strength

I Corinthians 1: 26-29 -  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before him.

Seems so backward if you ponder it very long…but it makes perfect sense if you just take it at face value.  God’s wisdom is infinite…he can do all things through all people…and he loves to show off by choosing the weakest of us all.  It is his wisdom…not our own that accomplishes anything.  When we realize that everything we have and ever hope to become is powered by this miracle…complete humility allows us to become stronger than we ever dreamed.

So many bible greats come to my mind….like Moses…a murderer…no control over his temper…he ran to hide and became a shepherd…till one day God appeared to him in a burning bush.  Moses made excuses…but God would have none of that…he could see how he could take this broken man…with all of his failures and bad habits…and turn him into a leader…and great prayer warrior.  Moses took the rod in his hand…and allowed God to direct his every step…his humbleness allowing him to meet face to face with God and receive the commandments we still follow today.

Or maybe Paul himself….so consumed by power that he condemned uncounted Christians to suffer imprisonment or death.  So sure of his own wisdom…clinging to the old testament laws…refusing to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  God had to strike him blind and speak to him in person to humble his soul…and show him that he was wrong.  Ironic that he turned him into one of the most powerful preachers ever?  I think not…just another example of how God chooses people to do his work.

Father….thank you for your perfect wisdom.  Thank you that you never stop teaching us that in your wisdom is the power to do all things…that you can use us best we when admit that we are weak.  I am so sorry that I ever thought that I could do anything in my own power….and ask your help to keep this bit of wisdom in the front of my brain.  Go with me today and use what I have in my hands to make me a vessel of your gospel.  Pull me to my knees to ask you for what I need to go out in your strength…not my own. Amen.

Thank You God!

Romans 16: 25-27 -  Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,  but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him--  to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

The last words of a most heartening letter…giving glory to the father who helped him write every word of encouragement…and inspiration…Paul closes this letter to the Roman churches with a lengthy list of the ones who helped him and nourished him along his travels.  Some were new converts….some missionaries…some members of new churches...some were relatives…some were his dear friends….but all were brothers and sisters in Christ.  He called us to greet all with love and help them in any way we can….but to guard carefully against those that would begin to tear down God’s work in false teaching.

Good advice…to stop and thank those that have helped you find the best friend you ever had…to tell others to greet the ones who showed you the love of Christ and taught you from his word the truth of Jesus.  For God will establish us all as his ambassadors…to be friends to the lost and lonely…to carry his word to the dying and lost…to reveal his word to the new Christian….to work at his command….to share his gospel to all. Like a great relay race…we must all carry the baton at some point.  We must pick up the cause of Christ and do our part in showing his love to everyone.  And in the end….give all the glory to God!

The list of people I need to thank for my training and encouragement would fill a book.  My family…the many friends I have met in numerous towns as I moved many times in my life…the church families that I worshiped in along the way…memories of the sweet people who helped shape me bring strength to me even now…even if the names of some are lost to my old brain.  The most recent are no more important to me than the ones who taught me in preschool classes…all the great lessons combine in my heart and soul to make me a stronger person in Christ…they have built in me a resolve to always persue a deeper relationship with the mighty God who gives me life and breath each morning.

Thank you God ….for the hundreds…no …probably thousands of people that you have sent my way to teach and train me.  I wish that I could send them all a sweet letter like Paul…to tell them how much they have meant to me.  Bless each one father…bless them as they touch other lives …as they encouraged me…..as I know they continue to encourage others each day.  Help me be a light to someone…to show your love as Paul did…to help the ones you will send to me to encourage…to help them any way I can. Amen

Unity

Romans 15: 5- 7 -  May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Unity….everyone worshiping the Lord with one heart and mind…accepting everyone …accepting everyone the way Christ accepts us. We sure do need some of that in today’s  world of split churches….broken marriages….and single parent homes.  We go our selfish ways and rarely think of these words from Paul. 

I have often thought that the perfect church would take a little from each denomination that exists…their best strengths…the thing they do best for God…and blend them into one great religion.  I am not sure that is what Paul meant…that we should all be a part of one great church…rather that we should all work together in our church to glorify God.

So simple…why do we make it hard?  Just love everybody…accept everybody

…encourage everybody.  Let God do the judging and deciding what is right and wrong.  We are to share his love and guide others to understand the truth of the gospel…with love and unity…to everyone…period!

Father…thank you for loving me and teaching me to love everyone else…regardless of how they worship you.  On this Sunday … pray that all the Christian religions begin to work together to share your gospel….that we begin to learn from each other how to love you more deeply.  Amen.

Loving Evil

Romans 12:18-21 -  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.  On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Evil threatens us every day.  It seeps in around us and fills every crevice we do not fill fully with the love of Jesus. We try to battle it by ourselves…and when we are wounded Satan would love nothing more than for us to lay down and lick our wounds like a dog….or worse yet cry out in pure uncontrolled emotions …anger controlling us and making the wound larger. 

I am glad God sent this reminder to me…I have fallen in this trap of Satan many times.  I was the woman who yelled furiously at officials when my sons did not get the right call….thrown out of more than one game for my uncontrolled temper.  I was the wife who screamed and pouted when she did not get her way. I held fast to bitterness when I lost a job …for an unjust reason….and let it fester in my heart for years.  And I willingly spoke hatful and angry words about the woman who broke up my marriage…and more than a few about the man who said he just didn’t love me anymore.

This passage reminds us of how to do it right…to love past the pain of the wound and let Jesus heal it.   Paul says…be not overcome or subdued by the evil…but to absorb the evil  with the love of Christ.  Evil only thrives when love is absent…God’s love speaks softly to the anger and uncontrolled emotions of evil and begins to tame it…like a wild horse.  God can use us to speak softly to the evil that we encounter…and help us see how to minister to it….changing it slowly into his love.

I haven’t been thrown out of a ball game in years….and I still remember the sweet peace that washed over me when God took the last bit of hate and bitterness from my heart over that job loss.  I am beginning to see that the divorce was not all my ex spouse’s fault… many of my own sins helped to drive us apart.  I am still working on the pouting and selfishness….that habit was embedded deep into my soul...and God keeps working on it…chipping it away slowly with the love of my church and friends…and the daily messages he sends through his wonderful word.

Oh father…I am so sorry for the years I spent letting evil trick me into being a vessel of hate and anger and revenge.  Thank you ….thank you…thank you…for teaching me how to love instead of hate.  Thank you for the sweet peace that drives me to love you more and more each day.  Help me to take each day…each moment…each new battle one at a time….to stop when I see evil and ask you to show me how to love it…as you did for me on that cross. Amen.

Doxology

Romans11:33-36  -  Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

My bible called this a doxology…a short hymn of praise to the Lord! I call it an amazing explanation of just how big our God is.  Paul sure doesn’t sell him short…we just will never know everything there is to know about life …God is everything….God controls everything…through him all things have meaning.  Paul is just completely overtaken by the love of God…and thanks be to God that God allowed him to write these beautiful words down and share them with us!

We can try all we want to figure out this crazy world…with all its good and bad days.   Or we can just rest in the knowledge that God has our best interest at hand…and give him glory like Paul for being God.  We will never reach the limits of what he can do for us…we will never understand all of his judgments…we will never know his mind completely. God is God…and we are just his people…created to enjoy the beauty and richness of this Earth he created…not understand every tiny detail of what happens to us while we are here.

From God I have received everything I have ever gotten….through him I will receive anything else in life…I should give everything I own to his service…because in God are all things! Just give him glory and worship him in the depth of who he is….and use the blessings and trials he allows to shape us into creatures that love him more than anything else.  Love him with every ounce of energy he gives me each day!  Gives a whole new meaning to one of my favorite sayings….Thank God its Friday!  Thank God its today…look at the marvelous world around you and see the God who made it just for you to enjoy!

Father…help me to stop like Paul and sing you a doxology more often.  To just marvel at how big and mighty and glorious you are.  To tell you how thankful I am that you made a world so beautiful for me to live and breathe. To tell you that I understand that you are bigger than life itself and I trust you to take care of me.  Forgive me for trying to put limits on you and trying to figure out the details of life that only you can understand. Forgive me for not telling you everyday just how much I love you and to thank you for loving me. Amen.

Our Purpose

Romans 10:13-15 - for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

There it is…in just a few words…our purpose…our task.  We are to be the feet of Jesus…if we don’t…how does anyone else ever come to know him? It is one thing to feed ourselves…to worship…to drink in his word and learn….but eventually God will send us out…like Paul….to share his love….to teach others…and see others saved! We are to bring the good news to others!

I know…you just don’t see yourself as the preacher type….I don’t either.  So maybe we should expand our notion of what it means to preach…stop thinking of a preacher being the one behind the podium on Sunday…reading scripture and explaining it one verse at a time.  If we open up our minds to the power of Christ… we can open up our hearts to new ways to share …to preach…to those that have not heard.

Truth is we preach with our actions every day….whether we want to or not.  We show what we believe about Christ as we walk and talk with others each day. If we are weak…we show them the Jesus who can carry us when our energy is gone.  If we are strong…we show them the faith Jesus can give.  If we pray…they see who we depend on for life itself.

Father…help me be a better preacher.  Help me to show the world what you have done for me in my daily routines.  Make my feet beautiful….beautiful feet that goo where you send them…and are ready to share your love. Amen.

Prayers of the Spirit

Romans 8:26-28 -  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

What comfort this passage gives me…when I am so tired…so completely spent…broken down and empty….the Holy Spirit takes over and prays for me. That must be how I made it through some of the worst times in my life…. that in those times of weakness…the Spirit just carried me.  The Holy Spirit knew exactly what I needed and interceded for me with groans only God understands.

Even in my daily conquest to pray more ….and pray more effectively…I sometimes have no clue what to pray for.  This passage gives me great comfort. As I lift up my prayers and requests to God …the Spirit intercedes and translates for me. The Holy Spirit knows what they need…so I don’t need to worry. 

And I love the last verse of this passage. I have clung to its promise many times.  When things seem out of control or the storm tosses waves so big you can see yourself drowning….just remember that God has a plan….for our good….because he loves us and is training us according to his purpose.  That is the hardest thing…to just wait and see what great thing God has planned for us…bigger and better than anything we ever planned for our self!

Father…I thank you for this gift of the Holy Spirit.  I thank you for this great friend who listens to my every prayer…and ‘fixes’ them before any of my weak ones get to you. Forgive me for the times I have not prayed because I did not remember these words of Paul. Help me to remember that I have the strength of the Holy Spirit to help me when I feel weak and helpless…and let me patiently rest in his arms while he prays for me. Amen.

Battling Sin

Romans 7: 20-25  - Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

How comforting to know that Paul struggled with sin…this amazing man who seemed to carry any load Christ asked of him is calling himself wretched!  This man who sang hymns and praised God at midnight from a jail cell…is admitting his own personal battle with evil.  Paul describes what all of us feel many times a day as we struggle to follow the spirit and do what God wants…not our own selfish desire and do what we want. Helps immensely for me to know I am not alone in my own battles of the flesh….that even the great preacher Paul struggled daily with some sin in his own life.

These sins have been at work in our life for quite some time.  They have made sin a habit…learned over time…set in our minds and hearts as the only way to do things….sometimes even set in our hearts as the right way to do things. We have become experienced in winning battles of the flesh….to the point that evil has disguised itself as good.  Evil wins most of the time…because it is what we knew before Christ came into our hearts…sin remains prevalent in our hearts because we don’t take the time to identify the evil and ask God to erase it from our lives.

James E. Haynes Jr. put these flesh battles into three categories.  There are ‘sexual sins’ like lust….impure relationships….or pornography…that rob us of the real love God offers. The battles of ‘misguided allegiance’ like witchcraft….idols…or cults…that brainwash us into believing anyone else can provide for us at all.  And the battles of ‘relationships’ like hate….envy….gossip…murder …and unforgiveness…that take hold of our hearts and minds and turn us into bitter creatures…forgetting just how loving and caring our Lord is.  Pick out your sin…or maybe I should call it a ‘bad habit’…that sounds a little less defensive….it is in the list…in one of these three categories….and if we don’t battle it and remove it from our life…it will continue to control us…even though we have given our hearts to God.

What we must do… is ask God one by one to help us conquer any of these sins…to slowly erase the effects they have had on our lives and give us power to eradicate them permanently from our lives.   These bad habits are built over time…and this erasing process is not instant. We have to pray daily that God will help us…and as we win the small battles…we become strong…and build new character traits…that God can use to make us workers for him…like Paul.  Our battle against sin becomes our testimony to God’s power at work in our lives.

Lord you know my battles with many sins…I pray this morning that you help me be courageous and strong as you help me to more like you.  The process is painful and hard sometimes…for I too am wretched…letting evil overtake me way to many times.  Thanks be to your son…who makes it possible for me to identify these sins and ask you to erase them from my life…even turn them into a mighty testimony of how much you have done for me.  Give me power this morning to permanently place each sin you identify completely out of my life. Amen.

Grace

Romans 6:11-14 -  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Grace is an extended kindness….given to all who believe in Christ Jesus.  The acceptance of his love into our heart begins the process of cleansing sin after sin from our life. God’s grace defends us with his son’s power over sin. His victory over death gives us victory over sin in our own lives.  We no longer are ruled by our sins…we have the power through Christ to overcome and put them behind us….forever!

We are justified…or made right by God.  We want to follow his ways because we love him.  We want to serve and do the right thing because his love is more powerful than the sin that trapped us.  If we truly have asked God to save us through his son…we want nothing more that to wake every morning and say…thank you for a new day….show me what you have for me to do! 

His love sanctifies us for his use….sets us apart as his servants…sin no longer our master…but Christ’s love driving us to share the great things he has done for us…driving us to give up our own lives for his work here on Earth.  Christ’s love is the most powerful thing in the world.  It is so powerful it cannot be measured in our earthly standards…only when we reach heaven will we truly understand its wide ranging ability to transform our dead bodies ruled by ugly sin into new…beautiful creatures controlled by God’s grace.

Father…help me to really understand the power you can give me to overcome sin in my life….to use your word to identify sins in my life…then use your love to overcome the control they have in my life.  I will need your help more that ever…cause Satan will fight this process…he will miss having me help him out… and he will try to trick me into keeping a few sins…like he has before.  Help me to speak the words of truth that Paul gave us in this passage…to not let sin rule in my mortal body…but rather let all sin die and allow Christ to place in me the power of his love to fill me with an attitude of service and love. Amen.

Trials

Romans 5: 1-5  - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

I love the way Paul explains how our new faith in Christ produces a mature person….able to see past the separate details of life….the good things and the bad.  The person who has truly asked God to live in his heart has been given the Holy Spirit…and even learns through every trial that the hope we have in God is not changeable.  No matter what happens…he is there to hold our hand…and teach us the full meaning of hope.

Paul knew well what he was talking about.  He had suffered much from preaching the truth of Christ…so this letter to the Church at Rome contains Paul’s heart…not just some random teaching.  Paul used his faith to cling to God in his suffering and that faith in God produced perseverance.  As he continued to believe and be tested trip after trip God built character in Paul that was amazing. It was this combination of faith, perseverance, and character that gave Paul hope…the hope in Christ that we all share…the reward of heaven when we have completed our work here on Earth.

These verses promise me the same thing….if I would but see my trials and sufferings as teaching tools of God.  He is trying to produce in me perseverance….character….and hope.  Perseverance….to remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement.  Character….our ability to reflect the true image of God.  Hope…an unwavering expectation of the love of God.

Lord…thank you for justifying me through your son’s death on the cross.  Forgive me for not telling you more often just how much your love means to me.  I pray this morning that you would help me to stop and think about these verses the next time I am faced with hardship.  I pray you would help me think more like Paul and see these times as your teaching tools to make me more like you. Amen.

Faith

Romans 4: 18-20 - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God…

Paul well understood the concept of faith…but chose to use an example from the Old Testament.  He explains the difference in work….being paid for what you do… and faith…believing in the grace that God gives as a gift.  He quotes one of my favorite Bible authors then…the beginning of David’s Psalm 32, "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."  Then…he chooses the father of the Irsaelite nation as his model of what true faith must be in all of us.

It doesn’t matter how old or young….how weak or strong….how educated or uneducated…are rich or poor….what matters is that you believe.  What matters is that you believe ….against all hope…that God is big enough to accomplish what he ask you to do with what you have….period!  God can awaken what he needs in our lives….just as he awakened the seed of Abraham at 99….and the womb of Sarah at 90.  He can and will send to us all that we need once we say yes to his call.

And the really cool thing is the payoff we get when we truly have faith…the strength we gain as we trust him is amazing! Look back to how Abraham grew in the Lord…to the point that he was willing to sacrifice the one son God blessed him with because he wanted to be obedient to God. Think about Noah…and the great boat he built to save all those animals…because of faith.   Think of Joseph…and the mighty leader he became…because he had faith.  Look at Paul…and the amazing way he could lead people to understand how Jesus came to die for our sins and give their life completely to God.

Problem is…at least for me ….is that we limit God to what WE think WE can do.  I am a Sarah…laughing out loud…..or a Moses….giving God excuses….or a David…falling in sin before I finish my job! Oh how thankful I am that our God can handle even our human nature…no one else is so loving…so forgiving…so restorative.  He can take us all where we are…and if we have faith in him…he can build us into mighty servants.  When we stop laughing…he can restore our womb and plant the seed of a great nation.  When we stop giving him excuses…he can turn us into a confident leader who leads a stubborn nation to a land of promise.  When we repent of our sin…he can save us by his grace and make us a great King!

Father…help me to have this kind of faith. Erase any doubt that you are capable of accomplishing through me ….anything….period.  Help me to stop limiting my work for you because I think of what I have been in the past.  Help me to think beyond my human capabilities…and trust…even when I cannot see…that you have a big…huge….enormous plan for my life…..bigger than I could ever dream of.  Fill my heart with courage and strength as I begin to trust you with all that I am…not just the pieces I know about already.  Help me to accept that hidden in me somewhere are talents and gifts that you have yet to reveal and use…help me say yes to you…so you can speak to me…and reveal the work you would have me to do for you!  Amen!⁹⁹

Conviction of the Law

Romans 3:20-23 -  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.  But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Paul was wise beyond his years.  The wisdom that God imparted to him after his conversion is amazing to read. I had memorized Romans 3:23 when I was young….but I never really noticed these few verses just before.  No one is going to be one bit closer to God by following his law…. BUT by following the law we become conscious of the many sins in our lives.  We are descendants of Adam and Eve…we sin…we cover up our sins for years until one day we are knocked off a horse or worse…..and God starts to reveal to us the many things we are doing wrong.

As we read the bible…especially the parts that explain God’s law…we are convicted of our wrongdoings….and we come to an understanding of faith. We are like Paul…in that we never got to walk the dusty roads with Jesus…eat with him…sit at his feet and listen to his great teaching.  So we must walk in faith…we must read his story….and believe!  We believe like the Psalmist David….who wrote, “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. (Psalms 31:1)”

Oh Lord…forgive me for my many sins…each day you reveal to me new ones as I read your word.  Thank you for restoring me and making a way for me to understand …thank you for allowing me to tap into your righteousness by believing in your love for me!  Thank you for the forgiveness and mercy that allow me to start new each day.  Give me a new hunger to keep reading and studying…and keep my heart prepared to react to the sin you identify each day…so I can throw off the old habits that deceive me and put on new clothes of wisdom and trust in you! Amen.

The Circumcised Heart

Romans 2: 11-13  -   For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

From the beginning of time…God has hated all sin.  He has never shown favoritism….to anyone!  Adam and Eve received the same wrath and consequences as we do today. They were banished from the garden where they could walk and talk with God every day…just as our sins today separate us from a loving God who wants the best for all his children.  We must stop being hypocrites! We must stop saying one thing…and showing those around us something different!

Paul talks about circumcising our hearts …judging ourselves before we judge another…to clean our own house before we see the dust of another.  Funny… how we tend to do this backward…we get all puffed up about some issue and then God says…what about you!  Like King David in Samuel 12:1-7….where he had just sent Uriah to the battlefront…so he would be killed…and he could raise the baby he and Bathsheba had made in sin that night!  Nathan was sent by God to tell him a story… about a poor farmer…who had been treated just the way David had treated Uriah.

David didn’t get it with Nathan’s story…he had to be told about his sin…Nathan had to tell David that his story was about him! But thank God…David immediately saw his sin…repented…and reconnected his heart to God.  The consequences of his sin were great…he lost the son they had conceived in sin.  But God rewarded his circumcised heart…a heart that continues to seek God and examine his life for new sins that might interfere with his ability to love God to the fullest.

Father …thank you for Paul and his tough words of ‘tough love.’  Help me father to always SAY and DO the same thing.  Forgive me for being just the hypocrite that Paul talks about…and thank you so much for continuing to send me Nathan’s to reveal these hidden sins so I can ask you to remove them from my heart and life.  Circumcise my heart anew today…and prepare me for the next lesson in ‘how to love others correctly’…so I will see it instantly….and ask you to remove it.  Father…help me to work through the consequences of these many sins with your love and guidance. Help me to forgive myself and put these sins in the past…so you can use the lesson I learned to help others.  Amen!

The Truth of Sin

Romans 1:28 - 32   - Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Wow….what a comprehensive list of sins! Paul just laid it all out there huh? He sure wasn’t worried about stepping on any toes.  And I dare anyone who reads this to not find at least one of these sins they are guilty of….I know I am! Paul gives us all a warning here…did you read that first verse carefully… “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” It kind of sums up for us what is still wrong with our world too.  We have let our minds justify many of these behaviors as okay…even though deep down in our hearts we know they are wrong. 

 God created us to love him…to serve him…to share in his glory.  But we listened to our selfish hearts…and sinned. Even if we have asked God to come into our hearts and forgive us of these sins we retain some of the sinful habits from our old lives.  We have to ask God to remove these sinful habits from us so we can be more effective witnesses for him.  Peter says it best in 1Peter 2:16…. “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”  And I would ask you to readjust your definition of ‘evil’ this morning.  Evil is anything….anything that prevents you from knowing God in his fullness.

 There is no level of sin in Gods eyes….gossip and lying are just as evil to God as murder….both separate you from the love of God.  Both require forgiveness and both can be forgiven and washed clean from our lives. The murderer may have to deal with a few more life consequences than the gossiper…but both these behaviors are evil…they twist the truth of God to fit our own needs instead of melding the image of God into our hearts and lives. Paul said,  “we suppress the truth with our wickedness” …that could easily be paraphrased ….we justify our sins by refusing to see the truth.    

 God…I thank you for the forgiveness of my sin and the mercy you show to me every day as I continue to sin.  I also thank you for bringing me to a season of life where I can be more honest with you about my sins…sins that I harbor just because they are habit…or sins I may not have realized were sins. Please sweet father never stop revealing these sins to me until every last sin that I have hidden by twisting your truth is revealed and removed…so I can be a mighty witness like Paul. Fill the new spaces these sins occupied with an abundance of your love that will help me do what you have planned or me each day!  Amen.

Send Me

Acts 28: 24 – 27 -  Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet:  " 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

What a trip!  Paul’s ship runs aground on Malta…he is able to shake even a deadly viper from his hand without harm …and arrives in Rome just as God had said....to meet with Caesar.  But the words of Luke do not record the meeting the Lord promised.  Instead Luke speaks of Paul’s continued ministry...in spite of the chains he must wear 24/7…a house arrest that God used for two years to spread the gospel truth. And so Luke ends his discourse on Paul’s life…with the words of Isaiah 6:9-10…spoken to another group of people with hard hearts and sinful lives. I will print Isaiah’s words starting with verse 8…and adding verses 11-12… listen to the verses just after Luke referred to carefully…

^“ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’  Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”  Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”

And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far…

Truth is...we are all like the calloused people referred to in these scriptures.  We should all pray that God opens our ears…our eyes….and our hearts…DAILY…to the power that Paul used in his ministry. We all must make the choice to hear God or the world.  And even when we choose God we must always be on guard for the traps that Satan WILL place in our path.  There will be people who do not accept the message we are called to preach…there will be times of persecution….there will be long boat rides of “seemingly” lost time…there will be snakes that come out of the fires we build to warm ourselves.  We must do as Paul did…hold fast to the faith we have in the father…and keep our eyes on the final prize…the joy we will receive when we meet with the father face to face for completing the task of spreading his gospel to EVERYONE God places in our lives!

Father…I thank you this morning for life and breath and the opportunity to share your love today! Forgive me for the many days I have not awoke to your sweet voice telling me to go and tell the wonderful things you have done in my life.  I was too busy having a pity party when the reason for my party was caused by my own selfishness. I am so sorry Lord that I have not asked you to open my ears and eyes and heart sooner in my life.  Today is the first day of the rest of my life…so I join Isaiah…and Paul…and the many before me who have said, “send me.”  Open my ears…my eyes…and especially my heart… to always hear your voice and never turn away from your love again. Send me Lord…wherever you need me to go and tell others what amazing things you have done in my life! Amen