Get Alone

“For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after he is killed, he shall rise the third day” (Mark 9:31).

Why did the Lord Jesus have to teach His disciples about His death and resurrection when it should have been plain to see? One reason was that the nation of Israel was in denial and ignorance because they had not been taught the pure Word of God. Past generations were in the dark concerning God’s remedy for sin and its dominion. They did not take time to hear.

Sin will blind and deafen a soul to the voice of God. In Daniel’s day the LORD revealed by books and scripture the plan and purpose of God to Daniel. Daniel realized the people had sinned, and brought reproach unto their own head, which degenerated the minds of the people toward their promise. God’s chosen people did not hearken to the servants, the prophets, who spoke God’s name to the Kings, princes, and the fathers, and to the people of the land (Daniel 9:6).

Do you want to know how to know God? Get alone with God and allow Him to instruct you. Read His word, pray unto Him in prayer, in secret private prayer. It’s been said that the pious, religious hypocrite needs an audience to pray because he prays to be heard. To impress. But, friend, if you and I really desire God’s voice then we need to take time to hear and to be heard by God above. There in the secret place He will instruct in righteousness which yields fruit everlasting.

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  • On the Shoulders of Others

    “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”  (Exodus 3:2).

    John Newton, Anglican Pastor from the 1700s who gave us “Amazing Grace”, had a favorite image in the Bible. It was the unconsumed burning bush which Moses saw and from the bush heard the voice of God. To Newton, the bush was a metaphor for Christians who undergo severe suffering.

    He wrote, “Some Christians are called to endure a disproportionate amount of suffering. Such Christians are a spectacle of grace to the church, like flaming bushes unconsumed,  and cause us to ask, like Moses, ‘Why is this bush not burned?’ The strength and stability of these believers can be explained only by the miracle of God’s sustaining grace.”

    There are stalwart saints, like John Newton, William Law, Bishop J.C. Ryle, Elisabeth Elliot, Joni Eareckson Tada, Stephen Davey,  and more who have battled but not burned. Their tough take on suffering has helped deepen my walk with Christ and given me something rich to pass on to others. A spectacle of grace for others to see Jesus in us!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Be Wise and Listen

    “And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and show it to thee” (I Samuel 20:12).

    The son of King Saul, Jonathan, spoke to David in the presence of God’s hearing and seeing, and brought out to David that he would speak to his father about David and get his father’s true opinion of what he thought of David. He promised David to find out once and for all.

    The rest of the story is known to all Bible students. King Saul wanted David dead. He chased David all over the countryside trying to murder him and get him out of his life and kingdom. The result was disastrous for King Saul and Jonathan.

    Today many reflect the way they think of King Jesus by their action. There are no gray areas when it comes to Christ. Either we are for Him or against Him, wanting Him or driving Him away, crowning Him or crucifying Him. The Lord did not send peace upon earth but a sword to divide and to cut through.  

    The heart truly reveals what we think of David’s greater Son. Our motives, methods, and hidden thoughts will reveal what we imagine of God’s only begotten Son. The Word of God tells us, “To kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12).

    God runs this universe by decree, not by democracy. God’s decrees will succeed. Puny, foolish men with their godless living will not eradicate or hinder His work. God’s scepter of righteousness will sound forth and what we think of Him really does matter.  We will either cry out in repentance or cower in rebellion. Listen and be wise to the Spirit of God for He is sounding out what we think of God’s Son.

  • Let Me Show You Something

    “And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:26).

    The hearts of the two disciples have been overwhelmed with sadness, but now their minds have been opened by the Scriptures…and now they are ready for their eyes to be opened to the Savior.

    Only the Spirit of God can open the eyes and hearts to the Christ of God. He alone is the One who illuminates the Scriptures to our hearts. He is the Teacher who stands alongside to give us what we need for the hour.

    Frankly we don’t believe God’s Word because we do not depend upon the Spirit of God to open parts of the Word of God to us. There has to be a cross before there is a crown. There has to be a cross before there is a kingdom. Jesus wore the crown of thorns before He wore the golden diadem. And He will explain Himself to us if we will open the golden book of Scripture.

    The cross was a doorway into eternal glory for the Son of God and for all who will believe in Him! Oh my friend allow the Resurrected Word to explain the written Word. The Fulfiller of Scripture will explain the prophecies of Scripture. Oh He is the great I Am; the Passover Lamb Whose blood protects His people from the angel of death and the wrath of God.

    Father please open our eyes that we may believe. Help us to open the Book before the world opens our eyes. You are the Living One and we are dependent upon You. Thank you for Your written Word that is explained by You. We are thankful to be instructed in righteousness. In your name! Amen.

  • Mere Life

    “A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). 

     

    Too many people walk through life with gloves and a raincoat on, refusing to observe and experience the beauty and the wonder of the world around them and above them. So many have forgotten the privilege of not only earthly delights, but also of our unearthly purpose.
    Each day has its own distinctness and its own inexhaustibility. And yet how few really realize the miracle. Just because we take it for granted, doesn’t mean it isn’t miraculous. Perhaps nothing is really ordinary.
    Do not treat your faith in God as if it were an artificial limb that you strap on each day. Though faith in God is meant to be full, yet to many it only helps you to stumble along, it never really becomes an intrinsic part of you. Whatever happened to that holy wonder, that appetite for the sacred? Have we grown blind to the sacredness of everyday things and of everyday people?
    It’s been said that as we get older, we don’t regret the things that we did do, but only those things that we failed or forgot to do. Life is short, and at times it is shorter than its “supposed” to be. But there is the question that troubles me far too many times: Why do we still continue to live bland, insipid lives? Why do we waste the days that God has given us? Each day comes and we forget but once in human history that each day comes!

     

  • Became A Human Being

    “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:12).

     

     Isaiah tells us, “For unto us a child is born” (Isaiah 9:6a), not just a child of human conception, but a child of divine representation. God who created all things created and condescended Himself into the span of a young woman’s womb. God took up residence, Himself, in the womb of a woman.

     

     Who would have thought of such a thing? One question would be, “Why”? Another question to ask is “How low can you go?”

     

     Would you be willing to become a cockroach to save the world of cockroaches from their filthiness? NO! We would not even think of it. But God became a baby, a child, and for this reason to die upon a cross to save us from our sins! To save us from our sins is to save us from physical, spiritual, and eternal death. To save us from our sins is to allow God back into you to be God in you.

     

    “Great is the mystery of godliness,” Paul tells Timothy. God became a man so that you can become a son or daughter of God. God was born of a virgin so that you and I can become born again. Are you consciously, conspicuously, continually found with the child of the Holy Spirit within you? If not, why not?

     

  • No Bones About It

    “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones” (Ezekiel 37:1).

    Where are the young pastors and young people or old people who are captured and carried by God? Where are those in the church today who are set down right in the midst of dry bones? Where are the people of God that are not nodding in the pew but noticed by God and used by God?

    The blessing of dry bones has to begin with us being a blessing. We are to be captured by God, carried and set in the middle of the dry bones, and we are commanded to preach to the bones. Ezekiel was told to do the same. We are to “tell forth plainly.” Instead of being tossed on a dry dead bone heap, we are told to preach plainly to “them there bones.”

    When we listen and we tell plainly, then a miracle will happen. The dry bones began to find moisture, life, and begin to stand up. Instead of being famished, they become fat. They march around speaking of the resurrected Lord. Oh the sound of awakening will be heard in your village if you will listen and then tell. God specializes in graveyards. It is just a affirmation of allowing Him to capture us, then carry us, and command us to preach to the bones. Watch for the breath of God to blow!