Month: May 2023

“And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.”

1 John 5:14-15 (NAB)

In the midst of economic forecasts of a coming recession, there has been a lot of talk on the financial news that we are only weeks away from reaching our nation’s debt ceiling. Financial analysts are warning of an economic collapse and recession in this country. I can’t help but reflect on the few biblical examples of how God’s people fared during previous economic hard times. We may not have a Joseph placed in command over our nation’s economy, as he was during the seven year famine in Egypt, but God is still on the throne in each of our own lives. We may not have the prophet Elijah residing in our home, blessing and refilling our empty jars with daily provisions, but Jesus lives in our homes with us, and He is our provider. The Israelites, after their great deliverance from slavery, found themselves in a difficult place, out in a wilderness with no food or water anywhere. God didn’t lead them there to starve to death, He led them there so they would learn to cling to Him. When they cried out to God, He sent them food from heaven and water out of a rock. Whether we are to face a wilderness through an economic challenge or in the form of spiritual dryness, God has one single motive in bringing us to the point where we will cling to Him, and His only motive is love. Sometimes it requires difficult times for us to cling to God. He loves us so much that He longs to reveal His extravagant love to each one of us. When everything is going well, and we are not struggling in any area, we may loosen our grip. It is in our troubles and moments of need that we cling to Him and that’s when God can shine for us. If everything went smoothly without a problem, we would never see the greatness of God. We all need a Savior, and God intends to never let us forget it. Self sufficiency can go only so far, before we discover our insufficiency. John clung to Jesus, physically, spiritually and emotionally throughout the three short years he lived with Him. He wrote this scripture today, to help increase our confidence in God. We all need more of a hunger for God, to make us cling to Him as John did. He tells us that this is our confidence in Him, that if we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us, and if He hears us, then we know that we have what we have asked Him for. John reminds us to ask “according to His will”, and to be confident that God will take care of us. Our confidence is based on God’s love for us, not because He is a magic grantor of wishes. We don’t wish, we pray. He is our Father in heaven who loves us, and we can have confidence in prayer because Jesus told us to. Jesus came to show us the Father, and He is the one who goes to the Father on our behalf. Timothy wrote,”For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

With Jesus as our mediator, we have confidence that when He told us,

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14) Let’s believe in the Father’s love for us and in our mediator, Jesus. We do not have to fear the economic recession that is talked about because we have the same God of biblical history, who miraculously fed His people in the wilderness, who filled the widow’s empty jars each day, and who led Joseph to keep storehouses full of grain in preparation of the famine. He loves us, He lives within us, and He wants us to pray with confidence, so He can shine His love in our lives today. 

“Only think of me when all is well with you, and please do me the great favor of mentioning me to Pharaoh, to get me out of this place.

The truth is that I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I have not done anything here that they should have put me into a dungeon.”

Genesis 40:14-15 (NAB)

Joseph is speaking to one of his fellow prisoners, a cupbearer for the King of Egypt, the Pharaoh. The cupbearer did something that upset the king and was briefly punished by being thrown into the dungeon. Joseph was already imprisoned there after suffering a series of misfortunes and injustices. He was abandoned by his own brothers, then kidnapped and sold as a slave, and finally ended up in a dungeon for a crime he never committed. He made friends with, and earned the respect and trust of many fellow prisoners and jailers, while he was there. He befriended the cupbearer who previously worked close beside Pharaoh. When the time came for that cupbearer to be released from prison, Joseph pleaded with him to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf. The cupbearer promised to remember Joseph and to intercede for him, but he actually forgot all about him. For days, weeks and months, Joseph kept hoping and praying that the cupbearer was speaking to the king on his behalf, but nothing changed and Joseph remained in the dungeon. Two long years later, the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and mentioned him to Pharaoh and Joseph finally received his long awaited breakthrough. God has an appointed time for everything. We may feel forgotten at times. People may forget us, but God never forgets us. If Joseph was meant to be freed sooner, God would have quickened the cupbearer’s memory, but He didn’t, because it wasn’t his time yet. When Joseph was finally set free, he was more than just a man freed from prison, he was God’s man of the hour, promoted to second in command over Egypt. It happened before a famine was about to affect all the land, but Joseph had wisdom and a plan for storing grain, which provided food for his nation. He was not merely a former convict with an expunged record, he was a promoted royal official over Pharaoh’s entire household as well as his nation. Pharaoh even took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. Joseph waited years just to be free, and he was delighted just to see the ocean, sun and sky again. He never thought about a ring, royal robes or a gold chain. He spent many years in that dungeon, but his years of waiting were not lost years. God teaches us many lessons in our waiting period. The best thing about Joseph’s character is that although his troubles were all instigated by his envious, abusive brothers, he never held any resentment toward them. When God reunited Joseph to his father and brothers, there was only love and forgiveness between all of them. Although his circumstances took a confusing path, full of heartbreak and disappointments, Joseph’s faith in God reaped a reward later. In the end, Joseph was promoted to a position of power, and was able to supply food to Egypt and his immediate family during the famine. It’s hard to see it in the moment, but God’s timing is always perfect. If we learn one thing from Joseph, it’s that we don’t need to know our destination, when we trust God as our driver. He can turn everything around in one day, by promoting  and lifting up those who trust in Him. 

Lord, we pray for your perfect will to be done in our lives, and give us the grace and wisdom to wait patiently in spite of disappointments.

“Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fail to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled;”

Hebrews 12:14-15 (RSV)

Paul told us through his writing, to pursue peace with all people and to strive for holiness. Then he adds, without which, no one will see the Lord. As I read this I think, “uh-oh, without holiness, no one will see the Lord?” Then my chances are pretty slim. This scripture keeps a healthy fear of God within any believer. The Lord wants every believer to see Him and to live Holy, but we cannot make ourselves Holy, because it is God who sanctifies us. Paul said more about this, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) 

Everything Jesus did for us, has a divine purpose that goes beyond giving us a “Get out of Hell free” pass. He wants to put His own nature with us. If we strive for the pathway to holiness, He will keep us on that path until He comes. Jesus can transform anyone into a holy believer, because holiness is meant for everyone, not just those who are called to full time Ministry. Jesus pretty much summed up all of the Ten Commandments into just two:

To love the Lord our God with all our heart and then to love our neighbors as ourself. It’s His blueprint for holy living. Being made Holy or sanctified is what God does in us, not what we do to change ourselves. In striving for holiness, a new way of praying begins to take shape within us. Prayer is no longer just about asking God to do what we want, it’s asking God to help us do more of what He wants. To strive for holiness is simply striving to be the person God created us to be. Jesus said without Him, we can do nothing, and we cannot achieve a holy life on our own efforts. Only through Jesus, can a person live out the two greatest commandments. God wants to share His nature with us and that’s how He alone can transform us into a life of holiness. With holiness we receive love from God for those who we never loved before. With holiness we can trust, where we previously let anxiety rule us. With holiness we can forgive that one person who we find the hardest to forgive. It is Jesus who helps us look beyond the face of that enemy, and hear Him softly whisper that He loves that person as much as He loves us. That is His path to holiness. I heard a theologian say that the word for holiness (Kadosh) is only mentioned a few times in the Old Testament, but it’s mentioned repeatedly throughout the New Testament. The reason for that difference is that we now have Jesus, who paid the price for our salvation and is alive within us. The epistles remind us that we are new creations in Christ, our old ways have gone and have been replaced with new ways. Someone once said “God is still writing our story. Let’s not steal His pen.” Jesus is not yet finished transforming us into new creations, without our striving for holiness. I feel like the simplest prayer to say is “I want to be better, I don’t want to stay as I am, Lord.” 

Jesus, you desire us to be holy, to take on your nature, so we pray that you make us better, help us to live in holiness and become the new creation you have called us to be. Amen

…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever. Amen.”

Revelation 1:5-6 (NAB)

I learned something by watching the coronation of King Charles. I learned that most people love their own country in spite of weak leadership and imperfect laws. Up until the day of coronation, the buzz in all the news outlets was about how unjust it is to lay the burden of the costly and pompous rituals of Coronation day, upon the backs of Britain’s tax payers, yet the faces of the British citizens in the streets said it all. They were proud of their country and happily celebrating the coronation. They were not celebrating faulty tax laws, or a failing economy or even the specific person who was being crowned. They were celebrating a centuries old tradition and an honored ceremony of their nation. Those citizens were simply proud to be British. While the head minister offered up a loud prayer to God, calling upon the “King of kings” and asking for His divine guidance over King Charles’ reign, the camera was focused on Charles’ face. He looked like he was feeling a mixture of emotions, one being a humble sense of unworthiness. I wondered what thoughts ran through his mind during that pre-crowning prayer. Maybe a montage of mistakes that he made in his lifetime, suddenly ran through his consciousness. I thought of the mother of his two sons, Diana, and wondered if they would have had a better marriage, Diana might have been in that room with him, instead of Camilla. There was a brief look of restrained tears in his eyes, and we’ll never know what his thoughts were. Whatever Charles was thinking or feeling, the humbling of that loudly spoken prayer was a touching moment for many. Every king in history likely also felt a transient sense of unworthiness on their coronation day. The scripture tells us that Jesus is the ruler of all the kings of the earth, and where two or more are gathered in His name, He is in the midst. That means that while the minister prayed for Charles, and with any other person in agreement with his prayer, Jesus entered the room, and that is always an awesome moment. I think that would explain the restrained tears in Charles’ eyes. The throne of England is not a position earned by popular demand, it is based on inheritance. Jesus made us all into a kingdom of priests for God, and He is our king. We also cannot earn the title of priesthood based on merit or popularity, it is assigned to us by grace, and based on our adoption into the kingdom of God. Peter wrote, “You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) 

That is who we are, and it’s spoken by the humbling loud prayer of Peter, a leader in the church that Jesus established. We may not feel worthy to be a royal priesthood, but it’s who we are, simply because we are called out of darkness, and into His wonderful light. Just as the British citizens were not celebrating the problem tax laws or faults of their leaders, but simply the national pride of a British coronation, we also are not celebrating the many failures or shortcomings within the church, but rather our transformation from darkness into light in Christ. As humbling as it was for Charles, we are also humbled that God has called us to be a part of His royal priesthood. We couldn’t earn it, but like Charles, we inherited it. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:16-17)

Today, we celebrate our King of kings, Jesus, who chose us to become His royal priesthood, and in humble gratefulness, we pray that His light continues to shine through each of us. Amen

GOOD FATHER

“As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were not washed with water or anointed; you were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in swaddling clothes. No eye looked on you with pity or compassion to do any of these things for you. Rather, on the day you were born you were left out in the field, rejected. Then I passed by and saw you struggling in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, “Live!”( Ezekiel 16:4-6)

God uses very harsh language to describe the state of unbelief that His people were in at this time in their history. Centuries after He had called them out as a people for Himself, He intended to make a great nation of believers out of them, who would teach the faith to the world. Instead, they fell into a total apostasy, rejecting the faith and His commandments, so He spoke to them through the prophet Ezekiel.  God saw their rejection of Him as rejecting His fatherhood, and leaving themselves as a helpless baby, lying on the ground. They abandoned themselves from their Heavenly Father, and practically aborted themselves by rejecting their God. He passed by and saw them squirming in their blood with an uncut navel, and goes on to say, “Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil.”(Ezekiel 16:9) God picked up the bleeding baby, anoints him with oil, feeds, nurtures and adopts him as his own, and speaks to the baby saying “Live.” 

God is by nature, a good father, and it is His same paternal love today that pursues each of us, picks us up wherever we are lying, and washes us clean through His grace and forgiveness. He is our good and perfect father, who wants to nurture us and watch us grow, constantly saying to us “Live”.  If there is any message that everyone needs to hear, it’s that God is a father, who has deep paternal love for us. If someone had a bad earthly father, they might live with a false image of what God is like. Someone once told me that he wanted nothing to do with an ego driven God, who demands to be worshipped. It left me speechless, because I cannot even imagine such a strange  perspective of God, yet there are people who really think this way. When people reject God, He is saddened more than He is angered. The heart of a parent wants their child to live healthy, happy and fulfilled. A parent will do all within their power to make it happen, and it is no different with our father in heaven. He said only one word to the baby, “Live.” He says it today to every one who has slidden away from the faith, and anyone who rejects His offer to be a good father to them. He isn’t driven by ego, demanding to be worshipped, He is driven by passionate fatherly love for each one of us. Once we receive His paternal love, our natural response is to worship and love Him in return. 

We love you heavenly Father, and we want to live for you, and allow you to have your way in our lives and our families’ lives. Amen

“The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

Luke 2:40 (NAB)

Jesus never lived a full adult life, dying at the age of thirty three, but He did live a full childhood, teen and young adulthood. God chose to have His son complete those early stages of His life, before going to the cross. Although Jesus was God incarnate, He humbled Himself to become human and submit Himself in obedience to His parents for many years. He was blessed with the unconditional love of His mother and father. God’s plan was that they both have a part in helping Jesus to be molded into the loving and merciful Messiah that He became. Much of what Jesus taught people as an adult, He learned from His early childhood and teen years. Being raised according to the customs and traditions of any first century religious jewish family, He regularly attended synagogue services and learned from His own Rabbi. He also had years to learn the skills of a carpenter’s trade from Joseph, His father. He physically labored with His father every day, gathering, cutting, measuring, and hammering, as they together created many products out of wood. He learned things during His humanity, from His parents, like honoring God, and trusting Him through prayer and worship. Being both human and divine, I imagine Jesus as a boy, having intense eyes, so that when He looked at someone, He could see deep into their soul. Scripture tells us He was filled with wisdom, probably beyond any others at His age level. Since He is the Prince of peace, I would think He was always even tempered and calm, speaking in a way that calmed the panic or stress in those around Him, the same way He calmed the stormy sea later as an adult.  He probably participated in joyful festivities like laughing, singing, dancing and worshipping with friends and family, during the Jewish festivals. When He began His ministry, neighbors who knew Him from His youth, said, 

“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son ?” (Matthew 13:55) Their response revealed that they thought of Jesus as one of the neighborhood boys. Although scripture reveals very little about His childhood, we know He was born during very tumultuous political times, and there were many uprisings against the oppressive Roman government. We know this because even as an adult, He still encountered the Zealots. There is no question that from His boyhood, Jesus was well aware of the injustices that people were suffering. He grew up among friends and neighbors who intensely hated those Roman authorities. Much of what He taught as an adult, He learned from those early childhood and teen years. Although He witnessed a lot of hatred, He recognized that hatred was as sinful as murder. He learned from His youth that violence never produces what a peacemaker can do. In spite of a society full of injustices, His first priority was to spend time alone with His Heavenly Father. At twelve, He went off by Himself to be in the temple, during His family’s Passover trip to Jerusalem. Even as a boy, He deeply craved time in communion with His heavenly Father, and He told His parents He had to be in His Father’s house. In the crazy times He lived in, Jesus still knew that time alone with His father was essential. He realized that trouble will always be in this world, but He wanted to share the peace He had with all of us. Most of the lessons He taught as an adult, were learned from what He observed during His youth growing up in first century Palestine. God had a purpose in giving His son a complete and fulfilling childhood, teen years and young adulthood, to prepare Him to endure the cross later, when His time came to become our sacrificed lamb. Jesus probably felt like a misfit at times, when His divine nature, clashed with the human nature of people and attitudes all around Him. All that He observed in His childhood and His early life experiences became lessons that evolved into a sermon or a parable years later. From the boyhood experiences of Jesus, we are reminded that we also live in a tumultuous world, full of anxiety, anger and injustice. Each experience of His youth, and all the good that Mary and Joseph instilled in Him, helped to form the human side of who Jesus was. The same is true for us, and we have also become who we are through our life experiences and our time spent with God. Jesus kept a priority of setting aside time to be alone with His heavenly father each day. This world may seem to be going crazy, but God still looks past all outside appearances and searches the hearts of people. Good things result when we make time to be alone with Him. Jesus showed us how to give God the first fruits of our time. When we tithe our time to God, we become refueled spiritually. 

Lord Jesus, thank you for the small glimpses into your boyhood. In spending time each day with you, we pray you look into our souls and give us all the wisdom, strength, hope and peace that we need. Amen

“Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:13 (NIV)

Mercy is both awesome and frightening. It’s awesome because it’s given freely to all of us who are undeserving. It’s frightening because it’s the hardest virtue to live out, yet it affects our eternity. It’s easy to show mercy to someone who we genuinely like, or feel true pity and compassion for, but when we come up against a person who mistreats or betrays us, or hurts our loved ones, the hardest thing is to live out the beatitude of showing mercy. Jesus said “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”. All that Jesus taught was radically different than typical first century Palestinian morality. Instead of an eye for an eye, He taught that by showing mercy, we would receive mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement. When we stop to think about it, receiving mercy or showing mercy both have eternal consequences. We are invited to freely receive God’s mercy to be saved, but we also need to show mercy, or else we will be accountable to God one day. If there has ever been a person who didn’t deserve your kindness, but you showed it anyway, that is mercy. Mercy is our first experience in life. Without mercy, we are born as cold, helpless, naked and hungry infants. It’s the mercy of God that we are nurtured, fed, clothed and loved by at least one or two parents. Satan despises God’s mercy and would rather see us live a defeated life with unresolved guilt and feelings of unworthiness. A death bed conversion is mercy at its highest power, forgiving the undeserving of all sin just before their death. God pours out His mercy and love to all people, and then He searches the earth for anyone who will receive it, as the thief on the cross did. Mercy triumphs over judgement and snatches souls out of the pathway to hell. After we receive His mercy, Jesus desires that we show it to others. Every father wants his children to reflect his good traits and in showing mercy, we reflect the traits of our Father in heaven. If mercy means that much to Jesus and His father, then we all need to have more of it. 

Lord, thank you for your abundant mercy that searches the darkness to find all the blind and lost souls to save. Grant that we, who have received your abundant mercy, may show mercy to others. Amen

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:15-16 (NIV)

Jesus said a lot about not being neutral or moderate. He said if we are not with Him, we’re against Him.

If we do not gather with Him, we are scattering. He wants us to be either hot or cold, but never lukewarm, or else He spits us out. 

These are powerful scriptures. It keeps us on our toes, since no one wants to be spit out. It’s interesting because I’ve always heard people give advice saying “Everything in moderation.” That may be true in some things regarding food or alcohol, but when it comes to loving Jesus, He looks for the hot or cold passions, but never lukewarm or neutral. The coldest ones can still be touched and transformed by His Holy Spirit and the hottest ones are already on fire, but the lukewarm are neither for or against Him, and that seems to bother Jesus the most.

After all, the first commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The neutral people are those who say things like, “I’m not religious, I’m just spiritual”, or “I prefer to keep my faith private.” The parable of the King throwing a big banquet, but no one showed up, seems to be about the neutral ones, who wanted to keep their faith private and hidden. Jesus told us not to hide our light under a bushel, because salvation is too great a gift to keep secret. God’s love and mercy is such good news that He deserves our enthusiasm. When it comes to sharing His truth, God has a history of using flawed people to work for Him. Those He uses are either hot or cold, but seldom lukewarm.

Paul, who was formerly Saul, was a Pharisee who was dead set against the Christian faith. He was killing Christians until Jesus appeared to him and knocked him off his horse one day, forever changing his heart. He repented and became the apostle Paul.

Peter, on the other hand, was fiery hot with passion and zeal, even though the heat of his passion was often misdirected. He pulled out his sword to defend and fight for Jesus. He thought the gospel message was only for Jewish people, and he thought he was still supposed to keep a kosher food diet.

God is okay with hottest or the coldest, because He sees the potential He has to work with. So if someone has a passion like Peter, even if it takes a wrong direction, God will redirect and use that passion for His kingdom. Someone could feel ice cold about something, or in a situation they don’t like being in. They may be riding their horse in a wrong direction, like Saul was, but Jesus can work with it and reroute them. Whether we are hot or cold, God will change us for the good, as He changed Peter and Paul.

For those we pray for every day, God is able to reach the hearts of those lukewarm friends and loved ones, as we keep these words of Jesus close to our heart.

Lord, help us to become people of passion who love and serve you, always allowing you to change us, and never let us settle for a lukewarm faith. Amen