The Sufferings of Christ and Our Response

"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." I Peter 4:1-2 I mentioned in an earlier blog about how my physical pain has made me so much more aware of the true physical pain that Jesus endured to save us from our sins. I also mentioned that it has made me sorrowful over my sins in a way that I've never experienced before. I think I've had sorrow over my sin more along the lines of the pain it has caused me or others. I'm not sure how often I've really considered the pain that it caused to Jesus. Sometimes I think that when we hear the Bible stories over and over from childhood, they tend to become commonplace and we forget the magnitude of them. We say, "Jesus died on the cross for our sins," but do we really think about what He suffered? Matthew Chapter 26 records the account of Jesus' arrest. First, He was betrayed by one of His disciples for 30 pieces of silver. Then the rest of His disciples deserted Him and fled. Jesus was then taken before the Sanhedrin and accused of blasphemy. Those surrounding Him struck Him with their fists and spat in His face. Imagine that for a moment, the Almighty God of the Universe being struck by human fists and the One worthy of all reverence being spat upon. After this is the account of Peter denying Jesus just as Jesus had told him he would. Jesus was then brought before the governor who found no basis for charges against Him but gave in to the people who called for His crucifixion. Once again, Jesus was spat upon and mocked and a crown of thorns was placed on His head. It's interesting to remember that thorns were part of the curse for the sins of Adam and Eve in the garden, a correlation I believe I learned from a Beth Moore Bible study. John chapter 19 records that Jesus was scourged. The Roman scourge was an instrument of torture often used before crucifixion. It was a whip with several leather straps with bits of bone and other objects attached to them. It would not only bruise the flesh but tear it as well, causing deep wounds into the muscle and much bleeding. After the scourging, it is recorded that Jesus was forced to carry His cross for some time toward the place of crucifixion. At some point, the soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Jesus. Then Jesus was nailed to the cross by His hands and feet. From what I've heard in the past, Jesus would have had to push Himself up on His nail-pierced feet just to take a breath, not to mention that His torn back was against the cross. Even then, people were hurling insults at Him. I believe, though, that the most painful part of all of this was when He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Obviously God did not forsake Jesus. To quote from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, "Since Jesus was dying for our sin as our substitute, He was experiencing the agony of separation from His Father. It was the agony of hell." So, what is my point in bringing all of this up? What I've been convicted of through this time of pain is how reluctant I am to actually follow Christ the way He tells me to. In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." We live in such a "me first" society. We are told that self-fulfillment is our right and goal and that we should fight for our rights. But, God calls us to be like Jesus who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but He made Himself nothing and died on the cross for us. The one person in all of history who had a right to defend Himself instead chose to be the sacrificial lamb so that we could have the chance to be reconciled to God. I Peter 2:23-25 says, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.' For 'you were like sheep going astray,' but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." We are not to excuse sin in our lives, but I have. I have fought for "my rights" when I should have been serving others and entrusting myself to God. May we remember what Christ has suffered for us to give us salvation that none of us could ever earn or deserve. May we be more concerned with being righteous than in standing up for our rights. May we be like Jesus who came not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many. Martyred missionary, Jim Elliot is quoted as saying, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Our eternal reward in Heaven is worth so much more that anything we can gain on this earth.

Is Healing the Goal?

So, I wrote a post the other day about how I'm not sure that healing should be the first thing on a Christian's mind when struggling with illness. I've said before that I want this time in my life to be a time of refining in my Christian walk and that's still true but I also very much want to be healed. I've struggled with what I wrote because I seem to waffle between being strong and really focusing on God and whatever His will is for me in this time and times of just really crying out for relief and answers. I shared this with a younger but very wise friend the other day and she reminded me that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Even Jesus asked God to deliver Him from the fate that He knew awaited Him, but His ultimate prayer was that He would submit to God's will and not His own. So, with that I am going to share what I wrote the other day. Perhaps we can get a dialog going about how others see this and it will be an encouragement to those who need it. By the way, I'm not saying that anyone who is sick should not be taking care of their health or seeking treatment if that is how God is leading, just that our focus needs to stay on God and not our circumstances. Here goes: For Christians, should healing be the goal? I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. I'm reading through the Bible with the plan suggested by Bible Gateway. The New Testament readings have taken me through the books of Hebrews, James and I Peter lately. Those books all contain verses that encourage us to see our trials as reason for rejoicing. Hebrews 12:5-11 speaks of God disciplining His children. He tells us not to lose heart because He disciplines those that He loves. It compares His discipline of us to that of an earthly father with his child. Verses 10-11 say, "10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Another translation calls the result "the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Who doesn't want that in their lives? James chapter 1 verses 2-4 say, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Verse 12 says, "12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." I Peter 1:3-7 speak of the living hope that we have, by God's mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus. Verses 6 and 7 say, "6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."When I first suspected that I had cancer 5 years ago, I sat down intending to pray that the results would not be cancer. The words that came out of my mouth, however, were "Thy will be done." I had been asking God to change me and I suspected that this would be part of the process. I'm not saying that God caused the cancer but that He allowed it to strengthen my faith and perseverance. At the time of my initial diagnosis it was the cry of my heart that the changes I had been asking for would come through this trial. I wanted to be a better wife and mom and be more intentional about teaching my kids about following God. For a while that happened, but as I began to feel healthier some of our old habits crept back in and the focus became more on eradicating the cancer so I could get on with my life. Through this most recent trial of pain and weakness there have, of course, been times of intense crying out to God for healing. There came a point a couple weeks ago, however, that I just felt I needed to praise God in the midst of the storm and stop begging God for healing and clamoring for ways to help Him out with it. I still very much desire to be healed but not at the expense of the refining process that has God in the fire with me. Isaiah 43 1b-2 “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;I have summoned you by name; you are mine.2 When you pass through the waters,I will be with you;and when you pass through the rivers,they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;the flames will not set you ablaze." God's word never promises us a life without trials, but over and over again He promises to be with us no matter what we face. I know there are those who believe and teach that any Christian who has enough faith will be healed by God. I would like to believe that but I don't think it is entirely supported by Scripture. I also know of some giants of the faith who have not been healed but God has greatly used them in His Kingdom. One example of this is Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni was paralyzed in a diving accident many years ago. Her disability has spawned a ministry to folks with disabilities all over the world. She also speaks and is a great encouragement to many I am sure. I am always amazed at her sweet spirit after all that she has been through in her life. I believe it is the result of knowing God's presence in her moments and days. I believe the sense of God's presence comes out of a keen awareness of her need. Trials tend to clear away extraneous issues and bring into sharp focus what is really important. I remember praying, "I want to want what You want for me" in a growth group meeting a couple years ago.I'm not always at the place where I already want what He wants, but it truly is the desire of my heart to get there.

Pain and Purpose

I've been going through a rough patch lately. I went from feeling really well to having a good deal of pain and weakness. Sometimes it's hard not to give in to doubt and despair. God keeps reminding me of His love and presence as He always has. For example, He spoke something to my mom that was the exact thing I had been praying about. For those of you who don't know, I am dealing with metastatic cancer which spread to my spine. I feel I've had amazingly little pain for how extensive the damage to my vertebrae was and I'm so thankful to God for that. I am fighting the cancer naturally as I feel God led me to in the beginning. This rough patch has me thinking and praying about many things. I feel like the cancer can be a picture of my spiritual life. When I'm not feeling well, I can be very disciplined as far as food and other ways that I need to take care of my body. When the storm passes I tend to let my guard down. I feel like it is the same in my relationship with God. When times are hard it's easy to spend a great deal of time seeking Him and spending time in worship. When all is well, there is a tendency to let the relationship slide to some degree. It's sometimes hard to believe how faithful He is when I am so fickle. Some of the pain that I've been having has made me think of the pain that Jesus suffered at the hands of those who tortured and crucified Him. It has made me so much more sorrowful for being casual about sin in my life after all that He suffered to free me from it. In my Christian life I have spent far too much time focused on myself and my happiness which caused me to sometimes be angry and bitter. God always convicted me and I would turn from it but I usually wallowed in it first. Then there's still the tendency to waste time. I don't want to do that anymore. Sometimes it's easy to justify when I don't feel well, but there are plenty of things one can accomplish while sitting. I'm reminded of a story that Corrie ten Boom told in her book, Tramp for the Lord. Corrie tells of a woman in Russia who was so crippled by MS that she could really only control one finger on her right hand. In spite of this, she would spend her days and long into the night typing Russian translations of Christian books for others to read. When Corrie visited her she wondered why God hadn't healed her. Sensing this, the woman's husband said to Corrie, "God has a purpose in her sickness. Every other Christian in the city is being watched by secret police. But because she has been sick so long, no one ever looks in on her. They leave us alone and she is the only person in all the city who can type quietly, undetected by the police." He also said she spent much time praying for those whose writing she translated. What an amazing testimony of someone who could have felt sorry for herself but instead used what little she had for God's glory. Some verses that are encouraging me right now: Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." And my son, Tanner, keeps reminding me of Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Romans chapter 8 reminds me that I need to be focused on God and not on my illness. John Piper does a reading of it on YouTube. Check it out, you'll be blessed. I've also been reading all of Psalm 27 repeatedly. I want my desire to be like the Psalmist's. Verse 4 says, "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." I don't want that to be my attitude only when I have a problem, but always. As Romans 8 calls us to, may we live by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

Be Still and KNOW

Yesterday I was reminded of the verse, "Be still and know that I am God;" Psalm 46:10a. I feel like that verse is most often quoted as a call to just sit down and meditate on who God is. Believe me, I'm not saying that's a bad thing but I'm also thinking there's more to it. I feel like maybe the verse could say, "Be still and (you will) know that I am God." Forgive me if I'm wrong here! If you look at the rest of the Psalm, it is all about God being a fortress for His people in the midst of calamity. Verses 1-3 say,"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Often when I'm fearful God will remind me of the stories in His word that show His power over the sea. In Exodus 14, the Israelites had fled their slavery in Egypt, led by Moses. They found themselves in a situation that they thought was hopeless, as they were at the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in behind them. They told Moses that he should have left them alone to be slaves instead of bringing them out there to die. In verses 13 and 14 Moses told them, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." The passage goes on to say that the Angel of the Lord and the pillar of cloud that were in front of them went around to stand between them and the Egyptians. The cloud brought light to the Israelites but darkness to the Egyptians. Verses 21-22, "Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Sometimes I think that these stories lose their impact if we're not careful. Think about walking on dry ground through the midst of the sea with a wall of water on each side of you! This was miraculous and all the Israelites had to do was to trust and obey. They stopped clamoring and they saw the salvation of the Lord. Even the Egyptians recognized that God was fighting for Israel. They tried to flee but the sea overtook them. There are several other stories in the Bible of God's power over the water, from parting the Jordan River to Jesus walking on the water or calming the storm. None of these cases involved the people of God needing to DO anything to help themselves. In every case, they needed to be still, or as some other translations render it, cease striving and see God's salvation.Of course, then they needed to obey and walk across the dry land or whatever it was that God led them to do. So, yesterday when I read the words, "be still," I felt like it was as if God were laying a hand on our shoulder to calm us in the midst of whatever storm we may be in; a moment to pause and refocus and to know that the storm hasn't caught Him by surprise, nor does it give Him cause to worry. He's GOD; All-powerful, all-knowing, compassionate Creator God who is our refuge! And if we will be still and stop trying to work everything out, He'll show us. I love these verses from Psalm 139, "You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you." Whatever you're going through today, slow down, feel God's hand upon You. Trust Him and give Him the time and space to show you He is God.

The God Who Sees

I read Isaiah chapter 40 today. I love this passage because there is so much imagery of God's awesomeness and power. It also speaks of God as a shepherd, gathering the lambs in His arms and gently leading the nursing ewes. Verse 12 says, "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?" Isn't that some great imagery? The passage goes on to ask in verse 13, "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him?" The obvious answer to that question is that God has no need of counselors and teachers. He is almighty and all-knowing. Knowledge comes from Him. Verse 16 says, "Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering." The cedars of Lebanon are mentioned many times in the Bible. From what I've read, they can grow to be 100 feet tall and can live for more than 1000 years. This imagery shows that even a great forest with many animals is not enough as a burnt offering in light of God's greatness. Indeed, no earthly offering comes close to being adequate, which is why God, in His great love, sent His only begotten Son to atone for our sins. The passage then asks what likeness can be compared to God, an idol of gold or silver, or if one were poor, and idol of wood? How ridiculous to believe that any of these could compare to the Living God. There is a story of an idol in I Samuel 5 that I have always found rather funny. The Philistines had captured the Ark of God from the Israelites. The Ark represented the presence of God. It was kept in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and later the temple. It could not be approached by anyone except the High Priest and then only once a year. After the Philistines had captured the Ark, they placed it in the temple of their god, Dagon, a man-made god. On the two mornings after the arrival of the Ark, the Philistines found Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark. On the second morning his head and hands had broken off. Idols cannot stand in the presence of God! Isaiah 40:25-26 says, "'To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal.' says the Holy One. 'Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.'" Psalm 147:4 says, "He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name." It's so cool to me to think that God calls each of the stars by name. In Genesis 15:5, God said to Abraham, "'Look up at the sky and count the stars-if indeed you can count them.' Then He said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" If we know Jesus as Savior, we are counted among those descendants of Abraham. The passage in Isaiah goes on to ask how God's people could say that God is not attentive to their needs. I've always loved the second verse of the song by Rich Mullins titled Sometimes by Step. It says, "Sometimes I think of Abraham, how one star he saw had been lit for me. He was a stranger in this land and I am that no less than he. And on this road to righteousness sometimes the climb can be so steep, I may falter in my steps but never beyond Your reach." The God who knows the number and names of the stars also knows your name. The Bible says He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He cares so deeply for us, even to the tiniest detail of our lives. Verses 28-31 of Isaiah 40 are probably some of the most familiar verses in the Bible. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint." Earlier this week I was reminded that one of the names of God listed in the Old Testament is El Roi, meaning the God who sees. The God who created the Universe and who numbers the stars, sees each of us. He does not become weary or tired. He promises to give us strength as we wait upon and trust in Him. Father, thank you for showing us both Your unfathomable greatness and Your gentle concern for us. Help us to focus on and trust in You as we walk this road. Amen

Remain in the Vine

I read Isaiah 5 and 6 yesterday. I hadn't realized that God referred to Israel as a vineyard in the Old Testament. He talks in these chapters about how He planted the vineyard and carefully tended it, but it did not produce a good crop. The passage states that God had done all He could for the the vineyard but when He looked for good grapes it yielded only bad. God had been so patient with His people. He promised them good if they would only follow His decrees and trust Him (Deuteronomy 30:16) Time after time they disobeyed, but then they would cry to Him and He would forgive their sins and rescue them from whatever calamity they had gotten themselves into. It seems like it wouldn't be long, though, before they were back to wallowing in the pit of sinfulness, following in the ways of their idolatrous neighbors. Finally it came to the point that God had to remove the hedge of protection around His vineyard and uproot its vines. He allowed His people to be carried into exile by their enemies and their land to be destroyed. Why was it so hard for God to get the attention of His people? If they had listened to Him and obeyed and trusted, they would have lived in peace in the land He promised on oath to Abraham. However, they never stopped leaning on their own understanding. In Romans 1:18-32, the Bible talks about those who knew God, but who neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. Verses 22-25 say, "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen." God had rescued and blessed His people over and over and they still kept falling away into idol worship. The thought recently came to me that idol worship is really worship of self. We want to do our own thing instead of following God, so we create a "manageable deity" to make ourselves feel better about our sinful choices. I'm sure that most of us don't have a carved idol that we bow to, but don't we so often bow at the altar of self-gratification in one way or another? When I think of God's people being carried away(literally) by their enemies, I'm reminded of the verses in James 1:13-15 "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." How can we keep from being dragged away and enticed by our lusts? We must remain in the vine. John chapter 15 gives us the picture of Jesus as the vine and His people as the branches. Just as in the passage in Isaiah, God is the gardener or vinedresser. Verse 4 says, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine." Verses 9-11 state, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." So, allowing ourselves to be carried away by our sinful desires leads to death, but remaining in the vine by obeying God's commands brings complete joy. God loves us so much and His commands are not to steal our joy as the devil would have us believe. They are to give us a joyful, abundant life, even during times of struggle and pain. Father, help us to remain in the vine so that we won't be carried away by our enemy. Show us where we bow at the altar of self and help us to be like Jesus, who humbled Himself even to death on a cross. Let the only exaltation that we seek be that You would one day tell us, "well done, good and faithful servant."

Trusting God

When I was diagnosed with cancer nearly five years ago, I felt led by God to fight it naturally. The leading came as we prayed and researched and as medical professionals at a big city hospital, who billed themselves as "the best," kept dropping the ball so to speak. So I started on the protocol that Sean and I felt led to pursue. I instantly felt better than I had in years. I wasn't without doubt and fear, however. Many times I would pray and ask God for confirmation that this was the right path. Every time I prayed that prayer I felt reassured by Him through a Bible passage or a song. Many times there were multiple reassurances. Ten months after my initial diagnosis I had a follow-up MRI. There was some slight growth of the cancer which made us and others wonder if I should continue on the natural path. I spent the night after receiving these results searching the Bible and praying. One of the verses that really spoke to me that night was Psalm 118:8, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans." I knew I needed to stay the course, trusting God for the outcome. He also reminded me through the two devotions that I read the next morning that He is the calmer of the wind and the waves. He is all-powerful. There have been ups and downs, but God has been faithful through it all. Sometimes I take my eyes off Him and start relying on my own strength and understanding. I am reminded of the many times that God's people should have trusted Him but instead trusted in man. One example is King Asa. Asa was king of Judah after Israel and Judah had divided into two separate kingdoms. His story is found in 2 Chronicles chapters 14-16. Asa started well. He "did what was good and right in the eyes of God," taking away the foreign idols and commanding his people to seek and obey God. Asa had an army of 580,000 men with shields, spears and bows. Verse nine states that Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with a million men and 300 chariots. Asa cried to God, "O Lord, there is none like You to help, between the mighty and the weak." It doesn't say how, but the story goes on to state that the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and they fled. There are many accounts in the Old Testament of God defeating the enemies of His people without the people even needing to fight. They simply had to trust and obey. For many years after the aforementioned victory, there was rest for Asa's kingdom. In chapter 16, it says that Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah. Instead of seeking God, Asa made a covenant with the king of Syria, something that was expressly forbidden by God. This alliance did result in turning back the Israelites, however Asa was rebuked and there was no more peace in his reign. Don't we often do that too? Not that we are fighting earthly armies, but we are fighting the enemy of our souls. When we are tempted and tried, sometimes we trust wholeheartedly in God and see great victories. Then another trial comes and we look to ourselves or to some earthly wisdom for the answer. Not that we aren't to use our brains or to involve others, but the first place we need to go is to God. We need to seek His direction and then we need to follow it. Is the direction you receive going to be the same as mine? Not necessarily. That's why each of us needs to have a thriving relationship with God. The book of Hebrews talks about running the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. Each of us has our on race to run, our own battles to fight. There are two stories in 2 Samuel 5:17-25 in which the Philistines came out against King David. Both times David inquired of God. God gave him different instructions for each battle. What if David had just decided to use the same plan instead of seeking God the second time? If God led David two different ways against the same army, I think we can expect that He may lead us in different ways than each other. Obviously he won't lead us to do something that is contrary to His word. Proverbs 3:5,6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." Isaiah 55:6-9 states, "Seek the Lord while he may be found;call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Wherever you are today, in a time of trial or a time of peace, seek the Lord. Trust Him to show you the way and then continue to seek and to trust. I quoted from Psalm 118 at the beginning of this post. The first and last verses of the Psalm are the same, "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

Be Strong In the Lord

Mad at myself because I've been farting around on the internet. I just realized it's kind of funny too (in a sad way) because the devotion I read was about tearing down strongholds and everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. I guess maybe I've thought of that verse as referring to ideologies but it really could be anything that gets in the way of our relationship with Him. The stupid thing is that the stuff I'm looking at isn't even interesting for the most part. I've just been procrastinating on writing or doing anything productive. I've done quite a lot of sitting since finding out my cancer had spread to my spine in late January. Early on it was because we were worried about the fractures in my vertebrae. More recently it has been because of intermittent pain. I am not used to sitting around and I fell into the bad habit of spending (wasting) time on somewhat worthless surfing or TV watching. The frustrating thing is that I have always wanted to write and now that I had the opportunity, I wasn't using it. I have spent some time in these months writing down insights from the Bible, but I hadn't done anything substantial. This frustrated me too because my diagnosis reminded me that we are to redeem the time. None of us knows how long we have but when you're healthy it's easy to think you have lots of time. The Bible says that our lives are a vapor and that we need to make the most of our time. Anyway a while back I shared my frustration at the time wasting with some friends with whom I've been doing a Soul Care study. They encouraged me to start writing a blog. Right around the same time, a childhood friend who had recently lost her 25 year old daughter posted an article titled Powerful Advice from a Dying 24 Year Old. The last three words of the article were, "make it count." This had been a motto that my friend's daughter lived by during her illness. That article helped to spur me on in beginning this blog. I wrote last time about being alert to the devil's schemes. I think sometimes we feel that the devil's schemes are overt and we should be able to recognize them right away. However, the Bible says that the devil parades around as an angel of light. He will do his best to deceive us into selfishness, anger, calling our sin something else, and, in this case, idleness. His ways are subtle. If he can get us to justify our sin he will be able to drag us down. We don't have to allow this though. Ephesians 6:10-18 talks about putting on the full armor of God, being strong in HIS POWER, so we can stand against the devil's schemes. We are also reminded here that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Satan would like nothing more than to get us fighting with people instead of standing against him. Verses 13-18 state, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." What are all these pieces of Spiritual armor? The belt of truth-Jesus said in John 17:17, "sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." In John 8:31 and 32 Jesus said, "if you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Again, it is not just knowing the teachings of God but putting them into practice. The breastplate of righteousness: a breastplate is meant to protect our most vital organs, especially the heart. We are told in Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart,for everything you do flows from it." How do we do that? By keeping our focus on God and following Him, desiring to be changed and refined through our relationship with Him. Philippians 4:4-9 says, "4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace-the gospel is literally the good news that Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we could have peace with God. Our sin separates us from God, but we are reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus. As the verses from Philippians 4 above state, He also gives us peace in our lives as we trust in Him and bring Him our concerns and focus on things that are pure and right and lovely. The shield of faith-Hebrews 11:1 says,"11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." It is trusting God and following Him step by step even when we can't see where we are going. It is knowing that, "He who promised is faithful."(Hebrews 10:23). It is stated in the description of the armor that we will be able to extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one with this shield of faith. The devil will do anything he can to shake our faith, but just as Jesus did in the wilderness, we can defeat him by reminding ourselves and him of the truth. We belong to God and He has already defeated Satan. The helmet of salvation-again, the sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection have bought us salvation from sin and have transferred us into His kingdom and assured us of everlasting life. The sword of the Spirit-it always comes back to the word of God. Jesus quoted God's word to the devil each time he tried to tempt Him in the wilderness. We need to immerse ourselves in the word. Satan will do his best to counterfeit God's word to us, just as he did to Eve in the garden. We need to really know the truth of the word so that when the father of lies tries to distort it, we will recognize it and refute it. The passage on the armor ends with an exhortation to pray in the Spirit on all occasions. We are not to live by our own strength but to acknowledge our own helplessness and our dependence on God. When I started writing this entry, I had only read a portion of the verses in 2 Corinthians 10 that referred to tearing down strongholds. It was after I started writing about the armor of God that I realized the other passage speaks of weapons. The passage reads, "4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."If we know Christ as Savior, the Bible says we have the same power available to us that raised Jesus from the dead. We don't need to walk around defeated and constantly struggling. We do need to employ the armor and the weapons, though. When thoughts come that are contrary to the word, we need to take them captive and make them obedient to Christ. Let's ask God to make us conscious of the devil's schemes and to help us to be strong in the Lord as we take our stand against them.

Is Tobiah in Your Temple?

The Old Testament book of Nehemiah recounts the story of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem after the Israelites had been taken captive. Nehemiah was cupbearer to the Persian King, Artaxerxes. Nehemiah had been told that the people of Jerusalem were in great distress because the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates burned with fire. He reacted to this news by mourning, fasting and praying. He confessed the sins of Israel and beseeched God to keep His promise to restore those who would return to Him and keep His commandments. God answered his prayer through King Artaxerxes by allowing Nehemiah to return to Judah. The king also sent letters to the governors of the provinces along with officers and horses to protect Nehemiah on his journey. The book goes on to recount how the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt amid much opposition.I will probably explore some of that subject in later posts, but I wanted to focus on something I had never taken notice of in my earlier readings of the book.One of the main people who opposed the building of the wall was a man named Tobiah the Amonite. Nehemiah 2:10 says, "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Amonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites." Not a very friendly greeting. Repeatedly throughout the book there are references to Tobiah and others attempting to thwart the work. In Nehemiah 4:3, Tobiah is quoted as saying, "What are they building-even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stone." Now for the part I had never noticed before. Nehemiah had returned to King Artaxerxes. While he was away from Jerusalem, Eliashib, the High Priest, had prepared a room in the Temple for Tobiah the Amonite! Nehemiah 13:5 states that Eliashib, "had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests." So, here was their enemy who had repeatedly tried to thwart their plans, LIVING IN THE TEMPLE! Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem, threw Tobiah and his belongings out of the Temple, had it cleansed and the articles of worship restored. When I read this passage I was flabbergasted! Why on earth would the priest allow Tobiah to live in the Temple? Apparently they were related by marriage somehow, but still...how did Israel's enemy end up living in a chamber that was supposed to be reserved for the articles of worship? As I chewed on this for a while, I started thinking about I Corinthians 6:19-20, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies." This made me think of the "Tobiahs" that we allow to take up residence in our Temples. What is it that occupies the places in our minds and hearts that should be dedicated to our worship of God? God deserves our wholehearted devotion, not bits and pieces of us. For a long time the Tobiah in my temple was anger and bitterness. I had made an idol of happiness. Instead of keeping my eyes on Jesus and choosing to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, I focused on me. Now, I would try to pass it off as hurt and disappointment and deceive myself for awhile, but God would always bring me to the place of recognizing it as sin and repenting of it. It took me a long time, however, to completely throw that Tobiah out. There are so many things that we can allow to take up residence, we have to always be on our guard against the devil's schemes. I Peter 5:8 says, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." We need to take our focus off ourselves and keep it on Jesus. We need to ask God to shine His light into our lives and show us our sins. Then we need to repent, not just once but daily-sometimes hourly if we're honest. We also need to be filled to overflowing with His living water so there's no room in our temples for Tobiah. Let's pray with the Psalmist, "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23,24

Priorities

Because of their repeated and willful disobedience to God's law, God allowed the Israelites to be taken captive. The exiles were carried off and held captive for 70 years. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. Eventually, as told in the book of Ezra, God put it on the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia, to send the Israelites back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Cyrus also called on the people of Persia to give gifts to the Israelites for the rebuilding. He removed the articles of the Temple from the house of the gods of Nebuchadnezzer and restored them to Israel. The people whom God raised up for the purpose returned to Jerusalem.The first thing they did was to rebuild the altar and offer sacrifices to God. They did this before beginning the work on the Temple. I believe they were acknowledging the sins of their ancestors that had led to the exile and were consecrating themselves to God. They were acknowledging God's sovereignty and their need for Him. Sometimes God calls His people to a task but then instructs them to wait on Him. Unlike the builders in the book of Ezra, we find it hard to wait and sometimes rush ahead without being properly equipped. I think of the Israelites at the base of Mt. Sinai. Their leader, Moses, had gone up on the mountain to meet with God and receive His law. The Israelites became fearful and impatient and asked Moses' brother Aaron to make them a gold idol which they began to worship, calling it their god. Then there was King Saul. The Israelites had disobeyed God in asking for a king. He had given them their wish, having Saul anointed as King. King Saul's first activity recorded in the Bible is that he went out and attacked the Philistines. Nowhere does it say that he was instructed to do so. In reading the story in I Samuel 13, it seems that he had proceeded without seeking God. Verse 4 says, "So all Israel heard the news: 'Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel has become obnoxious to the Philistines.'" The people joined Saul but were so frightened by the situation that they hid. It says that the men who were with Saul were quaking with fear. Somehow Saul knew that the Prophet Samuel was to come on the 7th day to offer sacrifices to God. Samuel didn't arrive on time and when Saul saw his men beginning to scatter he decided to offer the sacrifices himself, something he was not authorized to do. When Samuel arrived and confronted him, Saul answered, "I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor,' so I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." Instead of seeking God's direction in the first place, Saul had rushed ahead and had gotten himself and his people into hot water. Then he compounded the problem by offering the sacrifices he was not in authority to offer. How often do we rush ahead with something, maybe even something good, without first seeking God? Then, when things don't go according to our plan, we wonder why. We may even begin to try to manipulate God or other people or to blame them for our failure. I feel like that is what Saul was doing. He had gone ahead with his own plans and when things didn't look good, he decided to try to get God on board. When Samuel did arrive and confront Saul, he told him that had he obeyed God, his kingdom would have been established over Israel for all time. His disobedience, however, would cost him his kingdom. Reading further in I Samuel reveals that Saul didn't learn his lesson. Back to the Israelites in the book of Ezra; because they had sought God and His forgiveness and protection, they were able to rebuild the Temple. They faced much opposition but they were enabled to complete the work. The Bible makes it clear that God desires to bless His people. II Chronicles 16:9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." Isn't it neat to think of God looking for people to pour His strength into? He does this through the framework of our commitment and obedience to Him, not by blessing our agenda. God already has a plan. We need to seek Him and submit and then watch the glorious results.

Rules or Relationship

Psalm 119:18 New International Version (NIV) "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." Often we want to know what God's laws and decrees are. The Christian life would be so much easier if we just had a list of rules to follow, right? However, as I'm reading Psalm 119, I am struck by how the writer repeatedly asks God to teach him. Verse 2 says, "Blessed are those who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart." So it's not just a matter of knowing and keeping the rules, it is a matter of seeking the Father. In verse 5, the Psalmist cries out, "Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees." It doesn't matter how good I may be or how many rules I know, I will never perfectly live out all of God's law. The Bible says that the law was given so we would recognize our need for a Savior. Over and over the Psalmist says he seeks God with all of his heart. He repeatedly asks God to teach him his decrees. He speaks of meditating on God's word and hiding it in his heart. This means thinking, investigating, memorizing and wrestling in prayer over God's word as we seek to really understand it and apply it to our lives. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." That goes so much deeper than memorizing a list of dos and don'ts. We can outwardly keep the rules but have evil thoughts and intents. Jesus dealt with this in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. He said that lustful thoughts are akin to adultery and hatred to murder. In Jesus' day there was a group that prided themselves on knowing and following all of the Old Testament law. They even made up rules of their own to add to it. In Matthew chapter 15, Jesus calls them hypocrites and says, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." They followed the "letter of the law" but not the spirit of it. Jesus also refers to them as whitewashed tombs that looked good on the outside but inside were filled with dead men's bones. The Pharisees obviously thought that they were superior to others and they failed to love others as they should. Jesus said that the whole law can be summed up in two commands:"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." And, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37 and 39. Sounds simple, but is it? It's so easy to fall into a rule-following mode and forget to work on our relationship with God. When that happens we have a tendency to start to think that we are better or more worthy than someone else, just as the Pharisees did. Philip Yancey writes in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, "Thunderously, inarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters,thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace." Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God. We can never be good enough to earn God's favor. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death but that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. How amazing that the God of the Universe loves us so much that He provided the way for us to become His children. When we realize our need for a Savior and accept the free gift of salvation, He rescues us from the domain of darkness and transfers us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:3). That is only the beginning, though. Like the Psalmist we need to not only read God's words and know the statutes and decrees, we need to seek Him wholeheartedly and ask Him to teach us what it truly means to follow them. The more we seek God and learn of Him, the more we will desire to live for Him and for others. In Jeremiah 33:3 God tells us, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Let's call to Him expectantly!

Be Filled

God says of His people, Israel, in Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." We look to so many things to try to make ourselves feel fulfilled. We are vessels made by God who longs to fill us with Himself. He tells us to wait on Him (Psalm 27:14), to delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4) to seek Him (Jeremiah 29:13) and to love Him wholeheartedly (Luke 10:27), but we busy ourselves trying to do things for Him and to try and make ourselves feel fulfilled. We pursue careers, relationships, worldly applause, thrills, even so called Christian service and apart from a right relationship with Him, they all leave us empty and longing for more. If we would stop pursuing our own happiness and begin to seek Him wholeheartedly, we would be able to approach all of those other pursuits from a place of fullness rather than need. We would be givers rather than takers and would be joyful in the giving. Thinking back on Martha and Mary, it seems that Martha was deriving her worth from the tasks that she was doing. But our true worth is in the One who created us and loves us so much that He gave His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. When we try to fill ourselves, often we end up frustrated and upset with those who don't fall into line with our agenda. Martha was frustrated that Mary wasn't helping her, but Mary had chosen to spend time in the presence of Jesus. Martha was being depleted while Mary was being filled. Saint Augustine said of God, "You have made us and drawn us to Yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in You." This quote is part of a longer writing in which he takes his heartfelt questions from God's word and wrestles with them in prayer. Let us seek God in this way, truly desiring to know Him. Then, as He fills us with Himself we will be blessings rather than burdens. As the Bible says in John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Martha and Mary

To tell you the truth, I've always sort of felt like Martha gets a bad rap in this story. I think that those of us who have the gift of service or just enjoy serving probably have the hardest time with it. However, a couple months ago, the story popped into my head and I started meditating on it. I now have a different perspective. Here's the story: Luke 10:38-42New International Version (NIV) At the Home of Martha and Mary 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” So, I always thought, "well someone needed to be taking care of things." But then I realized how ridiculous that is. Martha had the Incarnate God of the Universe in her living room. No-one needed to cook and clean at that moment. Martha actually had the audacity to order Jesus to make Mary help her. Sadly, I realize sometimes I talk to God that way. Mary had chosen to sit at the feet of Jesus, worshiping Him and learning from Him. She had chosen to dwell in the shelter of the Most High that I talked about last time. Martha, on the other hand, chose to worry and fret and work when she too could have been sitting at the feet of Jesus. That focus on Jesus would have given her the strength she needed when it was the right time to serve. As I thought about this, the insight occurred to me that Mary was demonstrating her need for Jesus by sitting at His feet and learning from Him. On the other hand, Martha's attitude seems to suggest that she felt that Jesus needed her. Don't we sometimes do that? We think, "I have so much to do I don't have time for Bible study and prayer." How often do we get our priorities out of whack by trying to serve God when we have not been "sitting at His feet?" Our relationship with Him needs to be our number one priority if we are to be of any service to Him. Before we try to go out and do great things for God, let's spend time in His word and in prayer. Then He will be able to work through us to accomplish His will. Jesus often went off by Himself to pray. How do we think we can get by with less?

Thoughts on Psalm 91

Hi All. I decided to start this blog as a way to share insights I'm learning in my study of God's word. My prayer is that it leads my readers and myself into a deeper relationship with Him. I hope it blesses you! Psalm 91:1 states, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." I always thought that was one thought expressed two ways.This time when I read it I got a different meaning. We have to choose to dwell in the shelter of the Most High and then we will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I think in the past I've seen both statements as being passive i.e. those who are saved will automatically dwell in the shelter of the Most High and in the shadow of the Almighty. Verse 9 says, "If you say, 'The Lord is my refuge, and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.'" Verses 14-16 state, "Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." These verses reinforce the idea that it is our responsibility to dwell in the shelter of the Most High.What does that mean? I think it means that we make it our goal to seek first His Kingdom and to live according to His statutes. John 14:23 says, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves me he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.'" Isn't that awesome, to think of God living with us? God's word says that His commands are not burdensome. On the contrary, His commands are for our protection. How many bad consequences could we avoid by reading His word and doing what it says? Thankfully, we don't have to do it on our own. If we know Jesus as our Savior, then the same power that raised Him from the dead lives in us by His Spirit. Ephesians 1:19-20 It's an amazing fact that through Jesus we can come directly into the presence of God. Hebrews 10:22 says, "let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." We need to discipline ourselves to dwell in His presence. We must seek Him through His word and in prayer. Then we need to obey. We can't expect God's presence if we are going our own way. Does all of this mean we won't face trials if we do these things? Jesus said, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 We live in a fallen world with all kinds of trouble. However, if we choose to dwell in the shelter of the Most High we will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.