“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…” (Phil. 2:5a).

Think of how the Lord Jesus let go of all–status, position, respect. He
gave up his rights to be respected, waited on, and adored.

Jesus walked and lived in “Glory Town.” He gave up the praise of angels, who
prostrated themselves and covered their faces with their wings when he
walked by, and they sang harmoniously that reached the furtherest star when
they found him near. Jesus humbled himself and became small for us.

Dress yourself in modesty. Fall off the pedestal others and maybe you have
placed yourself upon. There are a lot more important things to think of than
to think of yourself subconsciously.

Look at others. Look at the poverty around you–not just financial poverty,
but also marital poverty–broken families and families abused. Dress for
success by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Even next to you in church
there are hurts and pains. Do you see them?

“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana, of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there” (John 2:1).

In the book of Exodus chapter seven you will find a story of judgment fallen against the nation of Egypt. There God caused all the waters to be turned into blood. It did not  matter if there was left-over water in a cup for it was turned into blood. Recognize that God owns the waters and the molecules that make up everything visible and invisible and He holds it all together.

We do not know the couple’s name who was married but we do know that Jesus, God’s Son, turned the water into wine. Recognize this fact: When the resources of the world runs out and dries up God is there to show you His joy. He wants us to recognize Him. He is the giver of life and all good gifts.

Our God would rather bless than judge. Invite Him to the wedding of life. God weds you and me to His life so that we may be thankful for His good gifts. If we forget and turn away from Him we invite His judgment and our souls become worried and fretful. The world doesn’t like it nor do they understand when we find Jesus to be our source of joy.

Father help us to realize that You own all things and everything. May we fall down upon our faces with gratitude and thank You. Ingratitude is when we forget the gifts You give.  You give the water and all good things. Thank You for giving us the miracle of gratitude whereby we may thank You. Amen

“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Proverbs 1:8). The culture will try to dictate what you are to believe and how to behave. The culture changes but the culture should not change us. We are to go into the culture and choose to confront the culture with the gospel. It is the job of the father and mother to teach their children the right way, which is God’s way. The father and mother choose to be the professors in the home, using the Word of God as their main text book, and with total dependence upon the Holy Spirit. When parents live with an agenda that says, “Me and no other” will rule and reign in my child’s life, they are setting themselves up for a fall, and their children. We are to live in the fear of God and not by our own set of fears. When we live with God’s total control over any thing that takes place in our children’s lives, then we can know God’s power. The culture entices but God’s leadership through the parents can be much stronger when children are taught with truth and love.

“The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to
go forward” (Exodus 14:15, ESV).

The children of Israel were facing a dilemma. The army of Pharaoh behind
them and the Red Sea in front of them. The mountains flanked them. What
would they do?

God said to Moses to take the children of Israel forward. “Go forward” the
Lord God said. Moses did not choose to be nostalgic about the past to what
God has already done.  He could have prayed and not listened to God. After
whining Moses could have said, “You are on your own.” Moses could have
disobeyed God.

Moses led the children of Israel forward into a massive sea. In that moment
of crisis he led them forward. This is a Red Sea Rule. Quit marinating on
the ups and downs of your life. Fix your gaze on the present and look to the
future and go forward. Do what God has said to do.

Solomon says, “Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be
established. Don’t turn to the right or to the left; keep your feet away
from evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27).

“Return, and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 20:5).

Hezekiah, the king, the captain of God’s people, was a godly man but he had great troubles heaped upon him. His country was under siege and he was deathly sick. National crisis is bad enough but to have a personal crisis is trouble piled high.

What do you do? He turned to the Lord with tears and used the means God had given him for healing. Sometimes God will alter things in His universe just to meet our needs. Sometimes God heals on earth and other times He heals in glory.

Friend, we do not know when we will die, but we do know we will. It is up to us to live and to live well in the power of the Spirit of the living God. To live in lethargy, complacency, or self-sufficiency, is to live with the threat of settling down in a world that is cursed with sin and death.

This is not God’s best. God’s best is to allow our needs to continually drive us to Him upon our knees and for each of us to stay close to Him. Let your troubles drive you to Christ. This is the power of the third day. And by the way, we are all terminal, for we do not know when or where, but we do know we will not live forever in this body of clay.

A New Start

“For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Paul went through much of living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christ. So many problems came and went against him, trouble on every side of him, problems that pressed hard against him, and yet he learned the secret of contentment.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Tell me what you see? I see in the mirror a man who is aging and breaking down externally. But, again,  take a look in the mirror of the Word. What do you see? Do you see the eternal springing up within you, the everlasting joy that comes from looking away from the obvious to the real?

Paul did not faint because he kept his eyes on the eternal and the internal. His daily focus was disciplined upon Christ and His Word. He learned that the outward things were temporal and could be discouraging. The things not seen were eternal and were an eternal weight of glory. What is discouragement? It is a temporary loss of perspective.

Focus on that which is unseen, the truths you know in your heart, for it is that truth that is a reality. We need to focus on the inner man. Life is passing us by. We have the opportunity to focus on the eternal and internal daily for the next 364 days of the year.