The Greatest Message to the Lowliest of Messengers

“But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 61:1).

It is an amazing feat to see a child of God go backward and downward away from the Father’s love and care. And yet each has the potential to back up and back down from the amazing grace and capture of our Father in heaven.

With all that is before us, the bema seat of judgment by Christ, heaven’s reward or heaven’s rebuke, with the presence of the King– it would seem, rather, that we would not turn away and spoil our soul. But it happens too often to so many. We can sit and church and backslide on God. We can sing songs of thanksgiving and songs of Christmas and yet be in a state of lukewarmness. But it shouldn’t be nor should our lives become a disgrace to God’s grace.

God the Father has given the resources we need to live above this world and with the ability to resist its undertow. Yes it takes discipline and devotion but it is doable through faith in the indwelling Christ. God has brought us back from the depths of despair and from the loss of wasting time.

If the Word of God is not changing us into the very image of Christ, then the Word of God is not functioning as it ought. And that is not because of the seed of the Word, for it is not bad, but it is because of the receiver of the Word. We can tell if we are beholding God or allowing the world to mold us into something we don’t want to become. Again, God has given us all we need that pertains to life and godliness. But we have to avail ourselves of its power. He is looking for those who are poor in spirit and who trembles at His Word.

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  • Is God on America’s Side?

    “Are you for us, or for our adversaries? No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord” (Joshua 5:13-14).

    Is God an American?  Is He a Republican?  Is He a Democrat?  Is God King and Defender of our nation?  In Christian thought God has been often invoked for political ends, but history shows He will not be so used.

    We are not just another country, but neither are we God’s chosen people.  We should not believe that America is God’s chosen nation.  God established one chosen nation and people:  the Jews.  We are not Israel.  We are not God’s gift to the world.

    There is no doubt we drink from wells we did not dig and we eat fruit from trees we did not plant.  We will no doubt be judged nationally and individually with stricter judgment for “unto whom much is given, much is required.”  We expect blessing, but we have done plenty to expect judgment.

    Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was asked whether God was on his side and he replied, “I do not care whether God is on my side; the important question is whether I am on God’s side, for God is always right.”

    Our greatest gift to this country is to return to biblical priorities of the church, and, more importantly, in so doing we will be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

  • Flummoxed and Flabbergasted

     
    “They will be called oaks of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:3, ESV).

    The King of Babylon had a bad night. And because he had a bad night everyone else was going to have one as well. He was confused about the dream he had. He did not understand it.

    The King’s advisers were stunned. They were asked to give the details of the dream and the meaning of it. How could they do this? Only the gods could’ve revealed what the King dreamed.

    Daniel was neither flummoxed (confused) or flabbergasted (stunned). He had FAITH in the living God. Daniel asked for an appointment with the King. He would reveal to the King what God would reveal to him (Daniel 2:16).

    Daniel asked to meet before he knew the dream and the interpretation of it. Now that is faith. That is counterintuitive courage. I will tell you the truth, I am flummoxed and flabbergasted.  How could this young man have been so sure? Daniel wasn’t stalling for time, he was asking for a time to meet with the King!

    The fact of the faith is this: Daniel knew who his God was and what He could do. Daniel was soaked and steeped in the sovereignty of God. Faith like that was not built overnight; it began somewhere and at some place.

    Here is what I want us to take from this lesson. Maturity is a slow process and so is the development of faith. But sometimes God breaks the mold and works swiftly in a man. But for the most of us, faith comes slowly, just as slowly as to the oak tree. But growth does come. Daniel knew God and so can you. God planted His seed in you when you were born again. Allow it to grow. Trust and obey for there is no other way.

     

     

  • Positive Peers

    “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (Proverbs 1:10).

    “I am the peer pressure,” said a young man in high school. He was being interviewed by a reporter who asked him how he lived the Christian life in front of his peers. He pointed out that it was not the culture that swayed him but he the culture. He would not back down or stand down. Who taught him this mode of affront?

    We hear of all kinds of horror stories about the local “goings on” in the public schools. There seems to be a certain death knell that is pervading and depressing many Christian parents about our local schools, even our youth groups in our churches.  There is a modern, degenerate America,  we all know that is before us. And the reasoning given to us today is that we can shelter our children in our “mission schools.”

    The “woe-mongers” are all around us. Their forecast is intimidating. Their language is severe. We who are children of God live by faith, and we are to stand up with conviction with courage and declare with a great emphasis, “I refuse to be intimidated. I believe that our children will be the positive peers!” Parents train, pray, and send them out as arrows that leave their hands.

    It is better to allow tough things for our children to encounter than to take every obstacle away from them. Let’s train our kids to win their peers to Christ and rejoice in that. Let’s train our children to be a catalyst which stops the other sheep dead in their tracks, letting them know everybody’s not doing it.

    The faithfulness of God is to be depended upon and not the faithfulness of a dad and mom who “outthinks” God. Students swimming against the stream, students strengthening the spiritual sinew of their own bodies, who lean hard upon God is the joy of doing life God’s way.

     

     

     

     

  • Perpetual Joy

    “And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even” (Numbers 19:19).

    We can not be part-time Christians. We are all in full-time Christian service, or we should be. A man who is faithful to his wife most of the time is not faithful at all. A man who is a Christian and something else is not a Christian in deed.

    Have you noticed that birds do not sing because they have an answer, they sing because they have a song. When sin has touched us we are deadened and saddened. Yet God has made a way for us to be cleansed from all defilement.

    God has given you the power of the third day for continual cleansing and joyful singing. Wash yourselves in the ongoing work of the cross of Christ. Out of His wounded side flows the blood and the water. Confess and turn back to your God today for the song He gives.

  • Your Own Meditation of the Bible

    “The Israelite’s did as they were told; some gathered much, some little” (Exodus 16:17).

    What would happen if you and I would read more of the Bible on a daily basis? I believe it would change the way we think, talk, and walk. We get into so many ruts in life that sometimes we need to get into the “rut of reading more” and allowing the Spirit of God to shape us into His people.

    America needs more Christians who would read, digest, and depend upon the Author to imprint His Word upon the hearts and minds of His people. It would literally change us from the inside out. It would turn our lives upside down and right side up.

    The Bible read for significant minutes will become the Essential Everyday Life Commentary upon what we feel, do, and live. Try it and find out how God will speak to each of us on His level. See the wonder of life in His Word and find yourself walking more in His presence. Gather much and you will receive more. Gather little and you will receive more.

  • Whiners or Workers?

    “Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may become
    blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
    generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out
    the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

    J.B. Philipps translates this verse: “Do all you have to do without
    grumbling or arguing.” Don’t be a whiner. Kim and I went to the library
    years ago and found a video entitled “Wendy the Whiner.” We showed it to our
    oldest and every time she felt like whining we would remind her of the cloud
    that came from Wendy’s mouth when she whined.

    It is not fair to ask others to do something that you and I would not do by
    ourself. If it is leading a family, a Sunday School class, a youth group, a
    group of deacons, a small group, or in any situation or group, the one who
    leads will lead out front without grumbling. This is not to show off or to
    pour on guilt, but it is to grow oneself for the glory of God personally and
    socially.

    It has been said that most of the significant things done in the world were
    done by persons who were either too busy or too sick. There are few ideal
    and leisurely settings for the disciplines of growth. Unity and harmony in
    the home and the church home is paramount to the glory of God!