In the World

I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father…I have overcome the world…

John 16:28,33

Oswald Chambers wrote in his devotional for December 4, “ Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.

And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.”

Living mindful that we are not our own but His own peculiar people marks us for a life that is different from all others.  God Almighty is the creator of all things and He alone gives life and breath to all, therefore, I came from God into this world.  How I live now in the time that has been allotted to me is determined by how I respond to everything that surrounds me.  My first response, as a Christian, is to make sure my actions align with Him.  My first pursuit, as a Christian, is to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, established by my own efforts of doing and being good, but from a vital union with Him that aligns me, moment by moment, to His purpose; a willing and obedient vessel.  

This response and this pursuit then assures me my activities in the world are truly a reflection of Him.  As He is, so are we in this world.  This then, builds a confidence in us to stand before Him on the day when the books are opened and life is judged that we are not found ashamed of whom we have been and the works we have/have not finished; because, like Jesus, we have overcome the world.  

The appetites and desires of our life have been so altered and realigned in His presence that these things in the world grow strangely dim.  We live with our affections set on heavenly things.  Heaven fills our hearts and like Paul, we can say our desire is to depart and be with Jesus, but for the sake of others, it's better that we remain. 

As we walk through this month of preparation towards Christmas, let us be mindful that the celebration of the birth of Christ reminds us that He, the King of Glory, is coming again. As surely as He came into this world as the son of God, He is coming again.  We have a day that we look for and hasten, making sure our lives are lived in this world in all purity and holiness. 

Timing

Timing ~ 

I have spoken and will bring it to pass.  I have purposed and I will do it.

Isaiah 46:11

In seasons of life throwing unexpected and confusing events (which seem to be abounding everywhere, for everyone, right now) our safe place is found in resting on the word God has decreed about His purpose. His word never fails.  It is the matter of timing we must learn and understand.   Gods purpose. Gods timing. God’s ways. 

In the declaration to Isaiah God says ‘My thoughts and ways are not yours’.  This does not say we can not understand or have them. We are living in an hour that we, the people of God, need to hold fast and seek  SPIRITUAL wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of His will.

Ecclesiastes reminds us ‘to everything under the sun there is a time and a season’.  God has created all things for His purpose.  We, as arrows in the hands of God, are used at his discretion and purpose.  

As we consider biblical examples of peoples lives, we see repeatedly seasons of human preparation before climatic events.  Everything and everyone grows and is nurtured unto His purpose so when the fulness of His time comes, we can step into the activities God has prepared. 

Until the time that God’s word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested Joseph.  A dream given, that took years to fulfill.  Moses lives 40 years as royalty, missteps the timing of God, only to live another 40 being prepared in the backside of a desert in order to save a nation.  Esther, living in captivity, is set and prepared by God to save her people.  Jesus, himself, grew in wisdom, stature and in favour with God and man.  Preparation time is never wasted time.

Our ability to pursue the process of preparation is the test we must face. It is the ‘rest’ we are to live in because  our confidence is in the reality, that through the preparation, God is working all things together for His good.  

He has spoken. It is impossible for God to lie. His word is true. 

 He will bring it to pass. My times are in His Hands.  

He has purposed and He will do it.  He actively watches over His word to perform it.

We find from from Isaiah forty two, the servant of the Lord does not grow faint nor is he discouraged while he is engaged in the establishment of Gods justice on the earth. My personal conviction is that weariness and discouragement settle in me the further I have allowed myself to be removed from the heart and mind of God.  Confusion and frustration come only as my eyes and mind consider circumstances that are not fitting my picture.  Somewhere in this consideration is the temptation to mis -judge God.  Within wrong assumptions we embrace ‘lying vanities’ and we can find ourselves casting off restraints…evil hearts of unbelief causing us to depart from the living God.  Discouragement is simply the loss of courage.   

Found in Isaiah thirty, we are reminded not to turn aside to or seek other ways when we faced with circumstances we don’t understand.  

In returning (we’ve left) and rest (from anxious activity) you shall be saved.  In quietness and in trust shall be your strength. 

Quietness and trust is not passivity.   In no way does this position give us permission to be casual observers, spiritually disinterested or casting off restraints with the mindset that God is sovereign and there is nothing we can do.   While it is true God is sovereign, you and I can never remove ourselves from the responsibility that continual trust in God is an absolute for us.  The just shall live by faith, without this it is impossible to please Him.  There must reside within our hearts, at all times, the reality that God is true.  He is faithful.  He has spoken it and He will do it.  Without this, we can be accused of those who hold evil hearts of unbelief that depart from the Living God.  

Quietness and trust are the strengths we must carry through this season.  Hearts and minds stayed upon Him, finding His grace is sufficient in every situation.  Whatever  preparation God is working in this season, may we be found in this position of confidence in His purposes for our individual lives as well as the corporate purpose of His body at large. .  

He’s the performer. I’m the believer. 

He has purposed and He will do it.  Our times are in His hands.  

Purpose

The Lord has made everything for it’s purpose….. Proverbs 16: 4

Purpose is defined as ~ the reason for which something is done or created, or for which something exists.

A wise man once said, “If you don’t understand the purpose of a thing, you misuse it.” 

The gospel of John reminds us that all things have been made through Him and without him was not anything made that was made.  Colossians highlights all things in heaven, on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities, all things are made by Him, through Him and for Him.

Jesus’ pursuit of justice and mercy as the servant of God, sent as the Son of man,  redeemed and established righteousness in a people.  Jesus, now seated in heavenly places with all authority in heaven and earth given unto Him, has authorized use of His name and power to the children of God. 

What comes first, purpose or creation? Do we create and then determine purpose, I don’t think so.  Being fearfully and wonderfully made speaks to intent of design. God had purpose before he created the earth.  Proverbs tells us He possessed wisdom at the beginning of his work.  Before anything was shaped and brought forth, God had intent.  With mans creation, purpose is then communicated.  The question, “Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?reveals purpose preceded creation.  

As the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus for good works, we have been prepared to carry forth His purposes on this earth.  We have an inheritance in Christ being predestined according to His purpose who works all things according to the counsel of His will.  ‘There are many plans in a mans heart, but it’s the Lord’s purpose that prevails’  Proverbs 19:21 NIV

Not only have all things been made by Him and through Him but FOR HIM.  Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, from his first letter in chapter six, the reminder that they were not their own, rather joined to the Lord, they became one spirit with Him.  He exhorts the body of Christ with this revelation in Romans to yield their bodies as servants unto righteousness.  

Fulfilling our purpose on this earth is to find our place of identity and oneness with Jesus to engage in His purpose.  Life must be about Jesus.  When we can learn to live from our union with Him worldly pulls lose their hold. 

Gods ultimate purpose, for the fulness of times, which he set forth in Christ, is to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  Jesus lived and works (ever living to make intercession for us) to serve the purposes of our Father.     

With an understanding that He alone satisfies, our press for purpose can be fully realized in our press for a oneness with Him.  We are here, with all resources of heaven, to continue His work.  We are the ministers of reconciliation, committed with a word of reconciliation, living in an hour needing greater works to be done.  

We live in a tension of being and doing, yet it is one expression. Our union with Him, enables us unto doing.  Apart from Him we can do nothing that extends His purpose on this earth. Vitally united with Him, we hold His mind and heart, enabling us to do, as Jesus proclaimed, what we see the Father doing. 

From Isaiah forty-two we find the standard of Jesus (and so us) as the servant of God.  Isaiah admonishes, Behold this servant!  Look at this one.  Look at this kind.  He becomes our standard of service. 

We note from this proclamation of ‘servant’, the humility and obedience acknowledged prior to the upholding and delighting, prior to the deposit of His Spirit upon Him. We can see this from the gospels where Jesus’ act of obedience to submit to baptism at the hand of John was key to the open heaven over Him. Validation and empowerment came after the obedience.  

In conversation with my David, he notes, You can be a beloved son and not be well pleasing.  Most preaching is designed to make people feel the love from God…but without the crisis point of obedience, the well pleasing isn’t heard and we are not validated or endowed with the Spirit for further obedience, unto justice on the earth.  In obedience we become Him, corporately moved along by His Spirit, into His righteous government on the earth, which is so much larger than simply ‘social justice.  For it to be righteous, justice it must flow from God’s standard of righteousness.  

Our efforts to establish justice and mercy are increased as we walk humbly before Him, always dependent upon our union with and obedience to Him

The Lord has made everything for His purposes. 

May we be found faithful!

The World is Passing Away

 Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is the world  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:15-17

Love ~ 26 agápē – properly, love, centering in moral preference.  In secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) likewise focuses on preference as does the verb (25/agapáō) – in antiquity meaning "to prefer" (TDNT, 7).  In the NT, 26 (agápē) "involves recognition and judgment of value, whence its frequent nuance of 'preference.'  The verb agapaō most often means 'value, set great store by, hold in high esteem'; . . . Helps Word Studies 

We will never overcome what we love.  Jesus reminds us the world holds an allure for the natural man. Temptations are common to us all, but to overcome a love for the world, to live in it and not be one with its culture and ideals, we must ‘love’ God with our all. 

I am always checking my heart to see where my attachments lean. I’m aware I will never overcome what I indulge, excuse or prefer over God.  Heart checks are a daily need.

There is much in the world that can be appealing so the need to properly discern what is good and acceptable in the eyes of our Father requires a heart that is willing to embrace truth and be adjusted.  26/agapē ("love, divine preference") describes all of God's being and actions.  For the believer 26/agapē ("love, divine preference") is the affirmation of what the Lord affirms, and the rejection of what God hates (cf. Ps 97:10). Helps Word Study

For the child of God, holding an appetite for worldly things becomes a torment to the soul. This mixture grieves the Holy Spirit who works to keep us pure and unblemished. We find ourselves resisting Him in order to satisfy our own desires. 

Jesus, tempted in the lust of the flesh, his desire for food, is the same temptation we see for Adam and Eve.  The children in the wilderness had such a strong craving for food it led them into sin. Proverbs 23:3 addresses the man given to his appetites. In these events we can understand a need for a fasted lifestyle to bring our lives into submission.

This ability to deny ourselves teaches godly restraint.  Consider all the places Jesus did not go, things he did not do, words he did not say, until he was instructed by His Father.  The instruction to overcome the world isn’t to be confused with will worship, Col. 2:23, rather an expression of obedient submission.  He learned obedience by the things he suffered.  The ability to tell yourself no and walk it out in the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the victory that overcomes the world.  Again, we won’t overcome what we ‘value, set great store by, or hold in high esteem’.

The lust of the eyes, holds this drive and pursuit for ‘all the kingdoms of the world with their splendour’.  Eve’s looking at the fruit until it became a delight to her eyes and something she believed would fill a void (make one wise) should heighten our awareness of what we focus on.   We desire a standard of life that gives success, prestige, comfort and security and In a desire to achieve this, many are led astray into harmful activities. 

How many things have I pursued in my lifetime that have led to misadventure and pain because of my willful and wrong desires.   Things that did not fit within the context of God’s timing and plan.  These occur through the pride of man where we value our rights and exalt self, our will, above Gods.  Only humility will overcome pride. 

Our love for the Father must so permeate us each day with the strength of our fellowship satisfying our souls, meeting every need and leaving no room for a love of the world or the things that are in it.  

The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Learning Love

Freely you have received, freely give.  

Matthew 10:8

It’s a reality to life you can’t give what you don’t have.  It’s a principle set by God.  First there must be the receptivity.  The majority of our stuggles in life circle around our abilities to trust and believe someone.  People!  I know no other ‘perfect’ human other than Jesus Christ.  We have all faced our own perculiar dysfunctions as children; behaviours and thinking patterns ingrained as we grow up.  David often says, just because you grow older doesn’t mean you grow up.  

As believers we have this goal we are moving towards fround in Ephesian chapter four ~ growing up in every way into the fullness of Him -

This is alot of work.  This requires much willingness to change.  This presents pain and comes with suffering.  Identities are shattered and rebuilt.  Values are replaced.  Not by the efforts of our own but as we behold Him, we become like Him.  Transformed by the very working of His Holy Spirit, HE makes all things new.  

I like something a man of God once said, ‘we are not looking for behaviour modification

we are looking for transformation’ and that by the Spirit of God. Yet, this all hinges on my willingness to believe and receive what God has decreed. 

David adds this thought this morning as I write ~ “It’s a funny and awkward truth about people. They can’t view anyone in a relationship with them as more valuable than they view themselves. Honour eventually seeks it’s own level. If I despise me, I eventually have to despise anyone who loves me, as I judge anyone who’d love me ( if they really knew me ) as more broken than me. That rolls outward to the relationship in general.”

The receptivity from God can never come from simple practices of mental assent. While agreement with God is absolutely necessary, this must be a truth birthed in us by the Holy Spirit.  It must become revelation to our heart and mind.  Identity must be redefined by Our Father in Heaven.

For me It began with Romans 5:5. The Love of God has been (past tense) shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  Leaning into and asking for His help to make this a reality to me as I studied Ephesians chapter one.  

In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons (and daughters) through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved, verse 5,6.

Ephesians chapter one is filled with rich, full, generous words that describe Gods heart for you and me.  As we prayerfully meditate on these truths, the water of the word washes and purifies our consciousess that is so aware of our faults and failings.  We learn to be loved without resisting and grieving the work of the Holy Spirit.

  Can you imagine the grief we cause when we continually reject love?   There’s only so much rejection we mere humans will tolerate until we quit trying.  Thankfully, His love never fails and He never quits. This means that as I lean into Him, I become one with His abilities and character.  His heart and mind and His love never fail, never fade out and never come to an end.  He is longggggggggsuffering.  

Through a purposeful pursuit of knowing Him and His love we are ultimately free from the lying vanities and the cycle of rejection.  We can begin to pour out what we have freely received. I love that word, freely.  I don’t have to work for it.  I don’t have to be perfect to keep it; cp: Romans 5:8; Romans 8:31-39.  CONSEQUENTLY I don’t bring this into my relationship with others.  Freely I have received, freely I give.  

May this be a day and a season of new beginnings where we are able to step into greater dimensions of knowing and displaying His love.  Let the change begin in us so that truly all men will know we are His disciples because we are rooted and grounded in His love and filled with the fullness of our God able to freely give to all.  

Grief and Sorrow

He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.

John 1:11

One of the hardest lessons in life to learn is how to process the pain of rejection.  Yet, as disciples of Christ, destined to partake of his sufferings, we will find time and opportunity to meet this.  There will be a test.  Love is unproven without the pain of suffering.  Our love for the Father and His word will remain theory until it is challenged through the dynamics of our relationships.  Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commandments.  His one new commandment that fulfilled the law was love, love even as I have loved you.

The bible tells us Jesus was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief and for those who choose a narrow path and desire to know the love of God we will find our lives shaped by the pain and sorrows that inevitably come with relationships.

It is the sorrow and grief we’ve all experienced that drives our humanity to withdraw and guard self.  When the word tells us to guard our hearts, this is not an instruction to put the walls up, lock the door and turn out the lights, but rather to watch for anything that works division and separation.  Just as Adam was set in the garden to keep out the evil one, we too, guard our hearts to keep the seeds of rejection from taking root and keep  them (our hearts) in the love of God. 

As sure as we breathe rejection, betrayal, wounds, sorrow and grief follow and the only place we will find deliverance is in joining Jesus at the cross.  

I found myself in prayer the other morning dealing with thoughts and emotions of self righteousness over my pain.  The Holy Spirit said, nail it to the cross.  I wasn’t quite ready to stop nursing it, yet right or wrong it had to die to end it’s power.  “Sin lies at the door and it’s desire is for you, but you must master it.”  As I remember Jesus as the son of man, I am able to minimize my pain by considering him who endured such hostility.  This enables me to face my own fears and resist the temptation to protect myself. 

There’s a wide path we can take but it does lead to destruction. The funny thing about rejection ~ you think you’ve got it dealt with until you have to interact with the human who is causing you the pain.  Where there is no genuine care and love there has been no healing.  The danger in all this is finding your heart in a place of unforgivenness, assuming that the pain you are experiening was intentionally inflicted.  The Spirit is willing but the flesh weak, requiring the help of the Holy Spirit to overcome temptation. He is the only one that can help us forgive and move on.   

At some point, as disciples of Christ, we are going to have to operate by the Spirit, and through the Spirit obey the word and move on.  Love covers the multitude of sins and always chooses to believe the best of others.  

The question can not be the righteness or wrongness of a particual event but the ability I am given to love when wronged.  Jesus loved his own to the end.  Again, from Isaiah 53, Jesus was a man despised, rejected and acquainted with sorrows and grief, yet he moved with compassion, freely poured out his life and loved to the end.   As His disciples, we are called to share, not only in his sufferings being conformed unto his death, but in the power of a resurrected life.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. 

Weights

Hebrews 12: 1

KJV ~ ….let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,….”

NIV ~ let us throw off everything that hinders, 

NLT ~ let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. 

NASB ~ lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, 

AMP ~ stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us

*Helps word study ~

Lay aside: 659:apotithémi: to put off, lay aside lay off or aside, renounce, stow away, put.

The sin: 266 hamartía (a feminine noun derived from "not" and 3313 /méros, "a part, share of") – properly, no-share ("no part of"); loss (forfeiture) because not hitting the target; sin (missing the mark). 266/hamartía ("sin, forfeiture because missing the mark") is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originate,(self-empowered) nature. 

The observance of lying vanities, wiles, stategies and snares of the evil one, serve to divide us from God.  By giving heed to the things that are contrary to the truth God has spoken, we begin to engage with and adapt to the lie.  The lies embraced become wrong worship, idols. These, of course, ultimately become the strongholds that limit our lives and set our boundaries, keeping us from becoming the fullness of His workmanship created in Christ.  

Can we call the lying vanities that we observe the weights that trip us up, I believe so.   Is there one particular lie we refuse to let go of that becomes the sin of unbelief which has entagled?  We could identify it by the propensity to continually come back to it when pressed in it’s particular vulnerabilty.

We all have them, our own personal limitations, our own stumbling points.  As I’ve said, they are revealed by the phrase, I know what God says, but…. This is the strongest indication our heart has departed from the living God. Satan must have our agreement to build a lying vanity.  I can not enter into the rest He has for me because of what I choose to believe.  Our will is the most powerful tool God has created for man.  This is our greatest sacrifice, to yield back to Him that freedom to choose and willfully submit to His leadership and direction. 

Joshua asked, how long will you put off entering and possessing the land, Joshua 18:3. Proverbs 6:9 asks How long will you lie there, when will you arise?  The Lord asked Samuel,1 Samuel 16,  “How long will you mourn over Saul?”  We all have our ‘how long’s’ and dependent on how ensared, entangled or encumbered we might be by the lies, there is always hope and deliverance for us.  Because, dearly beloved, no matter how big and strong the lie, God is just greater and all things are possible to Him who chooses to believe.  

The blind man in Marks gospel, sits by the road crying for mercy when he hears Jesus is passing by.  His cries are rejected by the disciples yet he cries louder.  Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.  Lies come with torment and the torment works to control us.  Jesus calls for him and the disciples now encourage him (which is irony in itself) but notice what the blind man does, from Mark 10: he first casts off the cloak that identifies him with his condition and ability to beg, and the end of the story is him recovering his sight.  No more blindness which makes me mindful of 2 Cor. 4:4  where we learn the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…. There is something Satan doesn’t want us to see or believe! But thanks be to God, He who has said, Let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and sets us free. 

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Romans 13:12

Hebrews chapter three reminds each of us, the word did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.  I believe with every word, the grace of God abounds to set us free.  May this truly be a life giving, liberating word that brings new freedoms and great joy to us all. 

Forsaking Mercy

While my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to thee into thy holy temple, those who regard lying vanities, forsake their own mercy.    

Jonah 2:7-8 KJV

• NIV ~ Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love to them.

• Amplified: Those who regard and follow wothless idols turn away from their

   [living source of] mercy and lovingkindness 

• NASB 1995: Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness

• CSB: Thos who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love.

We did some word studies last week on ‘observe lying vanities’ and noted the numerous other translations rendering the phrase lying vanities as idols, as noted above. These other translations give us a different thought as well as to what is forsaken.  While the KJV uses the word mercy (Hebrew is Hesed which we had studied) these other translations give us pause to consider whose faithfulness is being forsaken. 

The Hebrew word forsaking is to leave behind (to loose) especially to abandon or leave destitute.  Do we abandon our faithfulness to God or do we abandon His faithfulness to us.  

As we consider the Hebrew word for mercy, Hesed, we see once again, it is preeminently, God's perfect loyalty to His own covenant. Since covenant is always between two parties we saw from this word The Lord also requires full loyalty from believers who enter it to share unlimited blessings – even as disloyalty to His covenant brings condemnation. We find Old Testament and New Testament alike the covenant is conditional.  His Covenant-Love never meant 'kindness' in general, to all and sundry.”

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, Deut 7:9 

If you love me you will keep my commandments…John 14:15

Our part of the covenant requirement is to love Him.  While God is good to all and makes his rain to fall upon the just and unjust He has chosen us to be His own special possession.  ‘I will be your God and you will be my people’ comes with the promise of every spiritual blessing in heavenly places becoming ours as we keep covenant with Him.  We know God is faithful, the question to us becomes our faithfulness to Him. If you love me, you will keep my commandments…..

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Tm. 2:13

Jonah said, observe lying vanities (which in reality become worthless idols as we give time and attention to them) and forsake faithfulness, forsake the covenant. Did you notice Jonah said his soul had fainted observing these lies?  We cannot allow ourselves to give time and attention to any lying vanities that would create and give misplaced worship.  With time and attention given, we begin to serve them. Our lives adapt to the lies we hold to.  As we obseve the lies, they become bigger than our God, noted in our phraseology of ‘ I know what the word says, but…’   Lies becomes an idol by the amount of thoughts, words, time and money they demand.   Where do these stand between us and the word God has decreed?

Jeremiah 32: 37-41 I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety.  And they shall be my people and I will be their God.  I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them.  And I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. 

Lying Vanities

I’m going to break this down today as we look at three significant words from our verse; Observe #8104,  Lying #7723and Vanities # 1892, from Helps Word Study Dictionary ~ 

Observe ~ 8104 shāmar – guard pro-actively, quick to employ offensive as well as defensive measures to protect; ready to take aggressive (immediate) action to safeguard; be on guard to speedily engage in confrontation whatever jeopardizes what is entrusted; a guard on watch, ready to militantly guard.
***Summary (synonyms) 5341/nāṣar ("guard") stresses the vigilance needed to keep intact.  It focuses on maintaining (preserving) what has been entrusted.  

8104 (shāmar) stresses the readiness to fight for what is guarded, a more confrontative guarding than 5341 (nāṣar).

Lying ~ 7723 shāw’ – properly, nothingness (unreal), so connected to disappointment and deceit ("empty results"); without value because illusionary; misleadingly contrary to what is true (appropriate). "7723 (shāw’) designates anything that is unsubstantial, unreal, worthless, either materially or morally" .

Vanities ~ 1892 heb̠el – properly, a vapor, disappearing like a breath; vanity, coming to no purpose ("in vain") – without substance or value;  what is "vaporous, coming to zero" – without meaning because merely temporary and fleeting (transient); be worthless, come to naught, futility, like worldly possessions and achievements "gained" apart from faith – hence of no eternal meaning. ["Vanity" is a key word of Ecclesiastes and occurs over 30 times elsewhere in the Bible. It literally refers to how all things under heaven (without the Lord) simply "end at zero”.]

Other translations render ‘lying vanities’ with the word idol.  If we heed God’s rebuke about attending to idols that have eyes that don’t see, ears that don’t ear, mouths that don’t speak, we learn to observe the one who does see, hear and speak.  Joshua was promised good success and a prosperous way as he meditated and obeyed the word of God, Joshua 1:8.  Jesus repeated Moses command, during his temptation in the wilderness, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ 

Our reality today is one where knowledge and information abounds.  We’ve never had access to so much world wide information as the internet provides us.  We are deeply engaged with a quest for knowledge but does it produce the abundant life Jesus came to provide?  Confusion actually comes from too much knowledge. If there is confusion  about something, it is not clear what the true situation is, especially because people believe different things. Confusion occurs in a situation in which everything is in disorder, especially because there are lots of things happening at the same time.  

James chapter one addresses this very thing ~ ‘A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.’  We ask for wisdom and do not receive any because we are conflicted about what we really believe.  It lies in the common statement we make,’ I know what the word says, but'.  

What is the lying vanity I am observing causing me to waiver in the reality of God’s truth and forsake the mercy thatcould be mine?

Hosea reminds us we can be destroyed over three things ~ 

• Lack of knowledge

• Rejecting knowledge

• Forgetting knowledge

As I’ve noted before, there are many voices in the world today and none of them our without significance, but I want my ear attuned to the words that will keep me rightly aligned with the Father, ‘a walk worthy of Lord, fulling pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good word and increasing in the knowledge of God,’ Colossians 1: 10.

I live continually these days  pressed by the Holy Spirit to “Attend to my word. Do not let it depart from your eyes”, understanding the ease of deception that leads astray.

 2 Timothy 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it 15: and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  17: that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

We are a people who are continually being shaped for this hour, to bring glory to our Father through our transformed lives.  Viitally united to the Spirit of Truth and feeding upon His word, we want to be of quick understanding able to discern and refute lying vanities. 

May the mercies of God keep us as we choose to rightly ‘observe’ guard pro-actively, quick to employ offensive as well as defensive measures to protect; ready to take aggressive (immediate) action to safeguard; be on guard to speedily engage in confrontation whatever jeopardizes what is entrusted; a guard on watch, ready to militantly guard - the truth God has decreed. 

JOY

Please enjoy today’s blog that has been written by Sarah Primus. She pastors alongside her husband Paul, at Keystone Victoria here in Victoria B.C. I am confident your hearts will be strengthened and encouraged.

Blessings, Jeanne.

Romans 14:17 tells us that the Kingdom of God is not in eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. As we enter into communion and fellowship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit, joy is an unwavering reality that we can lean into. 

In some seasons, joy seems to bubble up from our hearts so easily— but other seasons not so much. I’m also sure we’ve all had a “count it all joy when you fall under various trials” (James 1:7) moment at some point in the past two years. These are the moments we choose joy rather than feel joyous. Our natural mind tells us that joy is the result of seasons where everything is going our way, but on the contrary, the Bible tells us that our greatest joy often comes on the other side of greatest pain. It was for the joy that was set before Jesus that He endured the cross scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2). 

Jesus warned His disciples of the sorrow they would experience at His departure from earth: 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20) Rather than preventing their sorrow, Jesus encourages them that their greatest sorrow would result in their greatest joy. 

To strengthen His thought, He uses an example that many of us women are familiar with:

“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:21-22)  The pain of child birth cannot compare to the joy experienced as you hold a beautiful newborn baby in your arms. In the same way, the Lord leads us through seasons of pain knowing that on the other side we will have the joy that cannot be taken from us. Jesus promised the disciples that they would experience the joy of His indwelling Spirit. He would reveal Himself to them in a greater capacity. He would also use them to “birth” or bring forth His kingdom on earth. This promise remains for us today.  He has given Himself to us as our joy, and He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will also use us to manifest Himself to a world that needs joy that cannot be taken from them.

I pray that if you are reading this and find yourself in a season of trial and sorrow that the joy of the Lord would be your strength. May you have eyes to see the joy set before you. May you be aware of His nearness in the midst of trial. God grant you grace to choose joy. Though weeping last for the night, there is joy coming in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

The God of Endurance

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Romans 15:5-6

I want to remind you today of an essential nature of God’s character, He is the God of endurance.  We are told God is longsuffering, not willing for any to perish and so He works in us to establish and strengthen us unto this position of being immoveable and always rejoicing.  

I don’t know about your world, but I’m finding a daily need for endurance and encouragement, a strengthening of spirit that can stand, in this day.  I’m mindful that the Lord has always been at work preparing His church for His return and that we are not facing anything in our days the early church did not face; or His church universal does not experience daily.  North American culture has been insulated from much of the persecution and affliction the rest of the world endures, yet this has still been a season for many throughout North America to experience differing forms of hardness.  In the church, it tends to bring confusion, unrest, division instead of what it should bring, the manifold wisdom of God revealed, establishing a people prepared.  

We live in days that demand great endurance within the body of Christ.  We see from the following notes from the Discovery Bible Word Helps the scriptures associated with the word always include the persecution pressing the need for endurance.  

5281 hypomonē (from 5259/hypó, "under" and 3306/ménō, "remain, endure") – properly, remaining under, i.e. endurance; steadfastness, especially of God enabling believers to "remain (endure) under" the challenges He allots for them.

For the believer, 5281 (hypomonē) is "Christ-empowered endurance" which enables them to get from "God's point A" to "God's point B."  This only happens by the direction and strength the Lord provides through His inbirthing of faith (4102/pístis, “inbirthed-persuasion").

Examples

2 Thes 1:4: "Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance (5281/hypomonē) and faith (4102/pístis) in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure" (NASB).

Heb 12:1,2: "1Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance (5281/hypomonē) the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (4102/pístis), who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (NASB).

Js 1:3: "Knowing that the testing of your faith (4102/pístis) produces endurance (5281/hypomonē)" (NASB).

Key quotes : C. Ellicott (at 1 Thes 1:3), "5281 (hypomonē) is the brave patience with which the Christian contends against the various hindrances, persecutions, and temptations that befall him in his conflict with the inward and outward world.”

Not only do we learn God as the God of endurance but He is the God of encouragement as well.  This word so shows us the fullness of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.  What is there, truly, that we have not been given to overcome all hardships encountered?

Again from the Helps Word Studies we find encouragement defined ~ 

3874/paraklēsis ("holy urging") is used of the Lord directly motivating and inspiring believers to carry out His plan, delivering His particular message to someone.  The core-meaning of 3874/paráklēsis ("personal urging") is shaped by the individual context, so it can refer to: exhortation, warning, encouragement (comfort), etc.

This is the same word we find at the beginning of chapter fifteen of Romans, verse 4 ~ 

“Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragment of the Scriptures we might have hope”…..

All endurance and encouragement made possible because HE IS the God of endurance and encouragment.  OUR UNION WITH HIM giving to us all we do need to live in this harmony with Him and one another.  Romans chapter fifteen continues with the scripture that reminds us He is also the God of Hope who fills us with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to abound in Hope. 

Please note our last thought here, this is all to be found in “accord with Christ Jesus”.  Jesus is the standard everything must measures up to.  All things ultimately gathered unto Him, to be found in Him, so that He is the fullness of all things.  If it isn’t Jesus, it isn’t right.  

May we find our place of peaceful harmony with Him that provides us the ability to endure and be encouraged bringing glory to God our Father.

Hold the line

For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.  It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He will not deny us, If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 

2 Timothy 2:10-13 NASB

It's a reality of life that pressure produces change.  Not all stress is evil.  Without the places of ‘press’ in our lives there would be no growth.  None of us like pressure nor the frustration it brings.  As adults, we live creating environments to remove any and all stimulus pushing our buttons.  Yet, we have been created for the chaos of life, so Paul’s words written to Timothy still echo down through the years, fitting the church today.  

We do not know what our futures hold. We do know that God is at work preparing His church for those events.  ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying’ is an admonition Jesus decreed with many of His hard to understand sayings.  We always want to understand the ‘why’ of our instructions but sometimes it’s a matter of simple  obedience enabling us to be safely set in right places at the right time.  

Being right and doing right will be our safest bet in the days ahead. Understanding comes, but God does expect and require us to step into obedience without understanding.  Although he (Jesus) were a son, he learned obedience by the things He suffered.  That’s pressure.  That’s the press.  Making right choices IN the hard moments.  ‘Holding the Line’  requires us to stand in the right spot with the people you have been given to stand with, not deserting your place.  Paul wrote that he endured all things for others salvation.  This isn’t only about you and me; It’s about other’s salvation and the eternal glory we want all to share.  

It is not a day to cast off restraints, nor to excuse laziness or busyness.  Paul reminded Timothy soldiers do not get entangled with civilian pursuits since their aim is to please the one who enlisted them. This is a day to fine tune hearts and minds, so that our spiritual lives are alert and unmoved by the chaos. Paul exhorted Timothy to, as a good solider, endure hardness. 

We will all face trouble, ‘In the world you shall have tribulation’.  The issue becomes how we face it. Do we murmur and complain?  Do we try to escape and run back to our comfort zones?   Do we throw up our hands and surrender?   Do we cry out to God ~ ‘so unfair!’?  All of us are touched by these temptations because it is simply human nature.  BUT…..

We are not like those people who turn back and get destroyed. Jesus said be of good cheer when we meet up with trouble.  Count it all joy!  We are those who choose to endure unto the end and be saved.  We choose to cast off the works of darkness, complacency, stoney lukewarm hearts.  We arise as children of the light, shinning and displaying His glory in this chaotic and troubled time.

The counsel of the Lord

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked….

Psalm 1:1

Its interesting to note that the Jewish Bible uses the word ‘happy’ in the place of blessed most times throughout it’s rendering of Psalms.

  1

Vines Word Studies note this Hebrew word ˒ashre 835), as “blessed; happy.” Basically, this word connotes the state of “prosperity” or “happiness” that comes when a superior bestows his favor (blessing) on one. One’s status before God (being “blessed”) is not always expressed in terms of the individual or social conditions that bring what moderns normally consider to be “happiness.” So although it is appropriate to render ‘ashre’ as “blessed,” the rendering of “happiness” does not always convey its emphasis to modern readers.

We are all looking for what we consider to be happy in this blessed state.  Surely all blessings make us happy.  Doesn’t Proverb’s tell us that the blessing of the Lord enriches our life and adds no sorrow?  Therefore, all blessings must be good.  However, I submit to you our good is not always God’s.  God has a long term view about our well being while ours is very temporal and immediate.  It is a product of the culture we have been raised in and learned.  

But counsel ~ who and where do I go when I need advice?   As a Christian, I am exhorted by the Lord Jesus to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’ with the Amplified Classic highlighting ‘his way of doing and being right’.  There is a ‘mind of Christ’ that we are to have and hold as we process any decisions and changes needed.  His counsel is the foundation.

1 Cor 14:10 There are many voices in the world and none are without significance.

Learning to discern the counsel of the Lord comes with diligent inquiring so from our Psalm today we are reminded not to ‘seek’ advice from the ungodly but to find our delight in the law of the Lord. From Proverb’s 8, we find wisdom declaring ~ “Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.”   Jesus Himself is declared prophetically from Isaiah 9 as ‘Counsellor’. The Holy Spirit himself is a Counselor who searches the depths of God to reveal to us the thoughts and wisdom of God, [1 Corinthians 2:10-14] 

With many plans in the mind of a man, we must make sure it is the LORD that is directing our steps.  The word tells us that there is wisdom in the mulitude of counselors, but it must be ‘godly’ counsel.  Please note again, the psalmist writes using the word ‘seeking’ counsel from ungodly people.  While getting advice when we are unsure is encouraged, too many voices can sow confusion and all voices must be processed through His. 

As Job found with God, there is a counsel that is darkened by words without knowledge (Job 38:2). To hold advice that lies beyond our power of comprehension (understanding) without possessing the capacity to righteously weigh and judge that counsel is a dangerous pursuit.  

Jesus carried the Spirit without measure and we learn of that seven Spirit fulness of God that He possessed from Isaiah 11; wisdom, understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  It’s the fear of the Lord that moves us into obedience.  It is might or strength that gives us the ability to do what the wisdom and knowledge instruct.

It is our responsibility to discern the Godly quality of what we are hearing.  Does it measure up to the standard of Jesus?  Everything we hear must be held to the light of the word and judged accordingly.  What could be more UNgodly than taking counsel from the lies the devil sows and the fear it can create?

 “….we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,..” Col. 1:9 

Blessed is the one who walks in the counsel of God, delighting in His word. 

All Hope Abandoned

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

  Acts 27:20

Our story today revolves around the trip Paul made as a prisoner to Rome.  The ship Paul is on encounters a storm  [G5189.typhōnikós; from τυφῶν tuphōn (a hurricane)] and all hope of being saved is, KJV ‘taken away’  ESV, “abandoned” [4014periairéō (from 4012/perí, "all-around, encompassing" and 138/hairéomai, "to take, separate") – properly, completely separate, remove totally (inclusively, comprehensively); leave behind entirely.

The sun and stars, used for light and navigation, are completely gone.   The sailors have no sense of where they are or where to go.  They are at the mercy of the wind and waves that are carrying the ship. They’ve been violently tossed, nobody’s eating, cargo and ships tackle have been thrown overboard in an effort to simply save their lives. The darkness has continued for days, the storm has not let up and all hope of being saved is abandoned.  

I want us to grasp the vividness Luke paints of this scenario. All hope of being saved is abandoned.  It is hopeless. There was absolutely nothing in the circumstances to draw encouragement from and into hopeless, the God of Hope steps.

Abraham, when human reason for hope was gone, hoped on. Romans 4:18

Why so downcast on my soul, put your hope in God. Psalm 43:5

For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:37

Many times we try to simply hold our confidence in the things we can manufacture, without God.  We speak about our hopes and dreams and when they fall apart, somehow we blame the failure on God.  Please examine with me today, from the Helps Word Studies notes, this greek word translated hope.  I believe it will provide us much insight into the “hoping” we do.

1680 elpís (from elpō, "to anticipate, welcome") – properly, expectation of something sure (certain); hope.

For believers, 1680/elpís ("hope, an activeexpectation") is always based on receiving the title-deed of faith, His inbirthed persuasion about what to expect (wait, hope for).  See Heb 11:1 (cf. Ro 10:6-8, 17 with 1 Jn 5:4).  Faith is always something received (generated by the Lord, never people), so biblical hope (1680/elpís) is always from God(about what He has spoken), i.e. it is not mere human optimism ("wishful thinking”).

Hope (1680/elpís) is built on the persuasion God gives about His will, inbirthed through faith (4102/pístis).  Hope then embodies faith (4102/pístis), and faith-hoping consummates "through love" (cf. Gal 5:6, Gk text).

Working it out . . .

1. (Heb 11:1) Hope begins with receiving faith from God, and endures as faith-hoping through an "interim" (waiting) period, i.e. from when faith is imparted to its full outworking "through love" (Gal 5:6). Accordingly, hope (1680/elpís) is placed "between" faith and love in 1 Cor 13:13. Hope takes the progression of the Lord first inworking faith, and then developing this faith-hoping to consummation "through (divine) love" (Gal 5:6).

Reflection: Why is love "the greatest"?  Because love includes faith and hope (by definition), not because faith or hope are "inferior."  As "3" is "greater" than "1" or "2" because it includes them……”

So when Paul stands in the midst of the adversity and declares that there will be no loss of life among the men, he does so because the word God has brought him has filled him with faith and hope.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God and strengthens Paul who is then able to stand and encourage others, ‘take heart’.  Paul had to face the same thoughts and fears they all experienced but the God to whom He belonged and to whom He worshipped said… and now He has confidence all will be well. 

‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.’  Verses 24/25.

Did the circumstance changed in the moment Paul had the word delivered to him?  No, but I’ll leave it with you to read the rest of the story.   This is just a reminder today that when all hope is gone, we are to continue trusting and hoping in the God we belong to and worship knowing the God of Hope is filling you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So… don’t throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

Drifting

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For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 

Hebrews 2: 1

I want to highlight today the warning about ‘spiritual drifting’ and relay the Helps Study Notes on this word DRIFT. ~

1. 3901/pararreō ("gradually drift away") means to "lapse" into spiritual defeat, describing how we slowly move away from our moorings in Christ. Indeed "spiritual drift" is common – slowly departing from God's best by settling for mediocrity by substituting our own beliefs

Reflection: Most spiritual disasters are not from "blow-outs" . . . just slow-leaks

1. "Spiritual drifting" happens to many after they "shed the big sins" – but go on living in the flesh with "respectable" self-government. This is never acceptable to God (Is 64:6); indeed, anything done outside of faith (God's persuasion) is sin (Ro 14:23).

Reflection: Delayed obedience is still disobedience, and partial obedience is still sin!

The past few weeks we’ve looked at ‘whatever is not of faith is sin’ and then ‘men’s hearts failing them from fear’.  Understanding our need to stay rooted in Him, His word and presence, today, we find our admonition from the writer of Hebrews. 

Currently, in my studies on Hebrews, I am enjoying William Barclay’s Daily Bible Study on the book of Hebrews.  I would like to offer his explanation of this word. 

“We have two key words in this verse prosechein and pararrein.  We have taken prosechein to mean ‘to pay attention to, which is one of its commonest meanings.  Pararrein is a word of many meanings.  It is used of something flowing or slipping past; it can be used of a ring that has slipped off the finger; of a particle of food that has slipped down the wrong way; of a topic that has slipped into the conversation; of a point which has escaped someone in the course of an argument……… It is regularly used of something which has carelessly or thoughtlessly been allowed to become lost. 

But both of these words have also a nautical sense.  Prosechein can mean to moor a ship; and pararrein can be used of a ship which has been carelessly allowed to slip past a harbour or a haven becaue the mariner has forgotten to allow for the wind or the current or the tide.  So, then, this first verse could be very vividly translated: “Therefore, we must more eagerly anchor our lives to the things that we have been taught lest the ship of life drift past the harbour and be wrecked”. It is a vivid picture of a ship drifting to destruction because the pilot sleeps. “

I think we can all call to mind the story of the ten virgins, the five wise keeping sufficient oil to light their lamps upon the announcement of the bridegroom coming and the five foolish ones, who have neglected to provide for themselves enough for the moment and are shut out as they try to gather but are too late.   

We are not to be like those caught unaware! 

• ‘But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.' 1 Thessalonians 5: 4

• ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life— and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of all the earth.…’ Luke 21:33-34

• ‘I have told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away’. John 16:1 AMPC

For this reason (Hebrews further exhorts) because the message we have heard was declared first by the Lord, attested by others, confirmed with signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will; for this reason, if (and it did) every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution under the law, how shall we, under the new covenant, escape if we neglect such a great salvation?  

There is a reason we are to live daily feeding and abiding in Him.  When Jesus returns He returns as the righteous judge.  

We must therefore, with very special intensity, pay attention to the things we have heard so we do not drift! 

Failing Hearts

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the seas and waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.  For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Luke 21:25-26

Isaiah 8:1 for the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.  But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honour as holy.  Let him be your fear and let him be your dread. 

Afghanistan, Haiti, Covid variant, potential vaccine passport requirement, wild fires, all  heighten our awareness of last days with the imminent return of our Lord and our need to be ready. 

Bishop Ellicott’s commentary notes state ~ Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (26) Men’s hearts failing them for fear.—The verb so rendered is used by St. Luke only in the New Testament. Its literal meaning is to breathe out the soul, and it was, therefore, a word which would naturally enter into the vocabulary of a physician, both in its primary and figurative sense. The mental state which it expresses exactly agrees with that described in Acts 27:20, in connection with the tempest.

For looking after those things.—Literally, ‘for expectation’, the noun being used only by St. Luke in the New Testament.

The writer of Hebrews tells us one solution to “failing of hearts’  is the assembling of the body, not forsaking it and exhorting one another to remain assembled.  While we understand the natural application of this, I want to consider with you the spiritual aspects of assembling the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”   Hebrews 10:25 

If Satans’ great tactic is to divide and conquer us individually, it is because it ultimately impacts the assembly of the body of Christ, his church. It is from our own place of fear and need for control, we live from a place of self preservation, guarded and aloof from His body as opposed to a trust in our Father and from others.  Let’s note ~ hearts fail from fear.

Ephesians tells us that the body grows and increases in love as each part does it share.  Paul wrote also to the Corinthians that every part is a member individually with each part set as it pleases God.  Every part is divinely connected to another forming the whole body fitly framed for the temple of the Lord to dwell in. We are individual members not independent ones.

There is a deception that lies within the church today; that we can be something solely with God, yet without others.  The hurt, the offence, the unforgiveness, bitterness, strife and envy, work to keep us divided. Fear is a strategy of the evil one.  Hearts fail from fear. This is common to all of us, but hearts must be healed through a willingness to humble ourselves to His word and each other for the purpose of remaining one body, united by one Spirit with one Lord who is over all and in all. 

Somehow, I sense that in this assembling, we will find our greatest safety in the days ahead, spiritually as well as naturally.  Lives threatened and hanging in the balance cry out for help. “All who believed were together and had all things in common”.  In the midst of the Lord adding daily to his church, we see great persecution.

Today, it’s in the unity of the local body that He has placed us, we are collectively guarded, kept, watched over and prayed for.   In our submission to one another out of reverence for Christ, we find community as our safe place. As our future unfolds, we truly do not know what we will face, except the potential for greater restrictions and hardships for His church, demanding our need for a community already established with a love held and trust built. 

There is so much here to consider during the coming days.  Facing greater pressure, we find the greater the need for abiding, both in Him and His body.  As we see the days approaching, our vital connections help us guard our hearts, keep our heads right, bodies disciplined unto godliness, AND our hearts from failing!

Whatever is not of faith ~

But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]. 

 Romans 14:23 AMPC

While the Apostle Paul was writing concerning food, this verse sets a standard for the ‘whatever's’ in our lives.  Every action we take must originate and proceed from a conviction of its approval by God.  Four times, the Bible tells us ‘the just shall live by faith’.  

While we live in the midst of a morally corrupt society, we, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, must hold Biblical convictions but we cannot hold biblical convictions without a continual, daily feeding upon the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul wrote that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds through the process of attending to the words from the mouth of God.  God’s word spoken, that it might be written = the Bible.  

We just acquired a copy of “The Jewish Study Bible” Tanakh translation.  In the intro remarks of this bible it says, “ More than twenty-five centuries have passed since an anonymous Jewish poet wrote an elaborate and lengthy prayer that included this exclamation: O how I love your teaching! It is my study all day long…Ps. 119:97.   These two themes — the love for the Torah (teaching) and dedication to the study of it — have characterized Jewish reading and interpretation of the Bible ever since.  The love is the impetus for the study; the study is the expression of the love.”  

The Psalmist wrote again from 119, ‘Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you’. Without the entrance of His word, there is no illumination about right and wrong.  Without the Word, we hold the worlds moral compass.  As we attend to the Word we begin a process of renewing our minds.  Our lives, our choices, our opinions, become realigned to those that agree with God and His Word.  Romans chapter seven tells us the law came and we died. The words of the law revealed the conditions within our hearts.  “I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’.”  

The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.  Psalm19: 7-10

 We are daily inundated with information from so many differing sources. There are many voices in the world and none without significance.  Every voice we allow into our lives ultimately has the power of influence. Jesus said words are seeds sown into our hearts.  The devil works through the “words, thoughts, imaginations” to deceive and blind us.

As we pull our verse apart ~

But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats [perhaps because of you], stands condemned [before God], because he is not true to his convictions and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful]. 

~ we find where we have doubts and misgivings, they spring from an uneasy conscience.  Again, while Paul is discussing diet, we can all assign this standard to all aspects of living.  This becomes our moral compass.  As believers, living true to your own convictions can only be maintained as we are confident our convictions are His.  We have His approval on our choices, words and deeds  When we are confident about His will governing our every choice what then proceeds are our acts of faith.  We know we have His seal of approval on them. 

I only do what I see my Father doing. 

I only say what I hear my Father saying. 

He who has seen me, has seen the Father. 

These are just a few of the Words that I try to align my daily activities with. Do I always measure up? Of course not, but it is the higher calling and we are all to press towards.  

I want the world to know I am a Christian with a moral compass that has been set by Him and defined by His Words. 

Patient and Kind

Love is… patient and kind. 

1 Corinthians 13:4

Patience is the fruit of faith and hope, rooted in love.  Kindnesses are acts displayed while we are being patient. 

We try to operate in the love of God by our own efforts and human reasoning and thus end up equating Gods love to man’s.  We are to first understand the unlimited and ceaseless love that is God and allow that to permeate our very inner most being.  

Paul wrote to Titus about the appearing of the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour.  ‘He saved us not because of any works on our part, but because of His own great mercy; by the washing of the new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit which he poured out on us RICHLY through Jesus Christ our Saviour’.  This is true because God who is love, is patient and kind to all. 

If, and He has, God has so freely given His son to us, how will He not with Him, freely gives us all things?  The answer, of course, is He has, and He does and He will continue to do so because God, who is love, is patient and kind to all.  

As we grow in our understanding and receptivity of the love God holds for us, we begin  to understand that God is patient and kind with us and then as we receive that into our lives, we become carriers of a grace that extends beyond our human limitations.  

William Barclay notes on ‘patience’ indicate this wordn is always about longsuffering with people, our interaction with people, not our circumstances. Patience exercised in our circumstances is a different Greek word.  

‘Kind(ness)’ is a word filled with such richness and when combined with ‘patience’ you end up seeing the goodness and kindness of God expressed in and through all His acts from Old to New Testament, fulfilled in and through His greatest act of love, the giving of His son.  It is this very love that instills within each of us a faith towards God and a hope for our future.  

Helps Word Study on kind: 

5543/xrēstos ("usefully-kind") relates to what is suitable as the situation truly demands.This kindness really works because it is never morally regrettable.  It adapts service to the real need and hence is "thoroughly useful" (TDNT) – "agreeable because well-fitted" ("working in the yoke with Jesus," cf. Mt 11:30)

Note: The Greek NT has many words which are only fully translated in a hyphenated phrase.   5543 (xrēstos) for example means "kind-and-good" ("usefully kind").  On the spiritual plane, 5543/xrēstós ("suitable, usefully kind") describes what God defines is kind and therefore eternally useful!  "We have no adjective in English that conveys this blend of being kind and good at the same time" (M. Vincent).

As Paul writes, Now abides faith hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love…we begin to understand the foundational need and purpose of abiding in His love.  Without an understanding and trust in the goodness and kindness that is displayed from God’s love, we have no strength for faith, which gives substance to our hope.  Both faith and hope are rooted in love.  His love for us, and consequently our ability to love others, enables us also to exercise faith and hope towards them.   

Since is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance so God is longsuffering with each of us, unwilling for any to perish; it literally means God is willing to work with us for as long as it takes to bring us into the right place of life with Him.   

How can we display the same acts of kindness and patience towards others unless we first find our roots growing deeply into the very heart of God, for us?  Paul wrote this love that God is and holds, believes the best, hopes the best and endures all things; bringing us right to the reality that faith, hope and love are eternal truths.  

May we find our roots deeply entwined within His heart, bearing fruits of goodness and kindness, as we mark our every act and word with patience. 

Never Cease to Hope

Love….hopes all things ~ 

1 Corinthinans 13:7

Amongst faith, hope and love, love is the greatest.  All things flow from the fountain of love.  There is no faith apart from love and there can be no hope without the same abiding work of love. 

1 Corinthians doesn’t simply tell us what love is and how we are to love, it tells us who and how God is.

God is Love. 

But lets talk about hope for a minute. It’s a wonder to me how we can all be so familiar with certain scriptures and their application, yet at different times in our lives fail so fully in their promises.  It always brings me back to the foundation of our lives and the inability we have to live, apart from Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Our life demands union with our life source, an abiding, not a visit. 

Character is best seen in the outworkings of our connections with others.  It is displayed and tested as we mingle with others. You’d think the remedy would be isolation,  but since we have never been created to be alone this can’t be good or right.  Character is tested in the calm and the chaos. 

We’ve talked about how every family in heaven and on earth derives its name and nature from God as Father.  Do you ever wonder what kind of family connections you will be a part of in heaven? Please note Ephesians three says’ every family’, so this seems to me, there has to be more than one family, or one kind of family in heaven, just as there are here on earth. 

So family is an eternal reality and, like marriage, we are to learn eternal truths from.  We learn how to love in and through the relationships we have been set in. We are tested and pruned through the connections we hold.  This is the way of God.  

Working recently with a young father and his family who are beginning their pastoral ministry, we have encouraged them to live church just as they live family.  If a man can’t rule his own house, how can he oversee the house of God.  The family is God’s school.  

And God is the God of hope, who fills us with all joy and peace in believing that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This very God of hope is the one who fills us with our sense of future and hope that we may continually rise up and move forward, unified in His love with all joy and peace in believing, we are too abound in hope! 

William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible Series on this verse renders this  ~ 

“ love never ceases to hope”. 

 We may have times and seasons where our circumstances and conditions seem hopeless but the one who is the author and creator of all things, who knows the beginning from the end, is never hopeless. 

As our love is found rooted and grounded in Him, increasing though our vital connection with Him and tested through our connections with each other; may that Hope be found as endless and abounding as His love.  

Selah.  

Tension in the Unknown

The tension of not knowing……….

 By faith Abrahm obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going. 

Hebrews 11:8 

Every change in our life is met with a certain amount of trepidation.  We simply do not hold all the answers and we cannot control all the circumstances that inevitably occur.  The one thing that is demanded of us is this stedfast confidence in what God has said. Abraham obeyed, by faith. 

Every move David and I had to make in our lives began with a word from God that we chose to believe and obey and they always contained a ‘not knowing’.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out…. not knowing where he was going. They say the first step is the hardest and while that may be, it’s usually the continued walk into the unknown that causes most of us to trip up. 

Peter’s step out of the boat and onto the water to meet Jesus was a successful for a few steps, at least until he was moved by the things surrounding him… the boisterous wind and waves.  Boisterous speaks loudly! 

We learn from Exodus that the children of Israel were led by God in a very specific way “lest the people changed their minds when they see war and return to Egypt”.  There is tension that comes to us from the things seen.  We could be tempted to change our minds. 

We find the children of Israel again in a situation where they are mindful of the things they have left behind in Egypt and “In their hearts they turned to Egypt”.  A longing for what is left behind will create a desire to return, especially if what we are seeing isn’t what we had expected.  Remembrance of the foods in Egypt and a despising of the manna caused their strength to dry. 

We all begin our journey with expectations. When those don’t align we begin to experience the tension of our own winds and waves.  The questions we ponder are over our ability to hear the Lord correctly, or simply the building unbelief in our unkept heart and minds. Double minded folks are unstable in ALL their ways. 

We are all familiar with the story of Lot’s wife. Lot, his wife and his two daughters, are “seized by the hand” and brought outside of the city.  They are instructed not to look back or stop anywhere in the valley.  Lot’s wife fails to obey and turns into a pillar of salt.  

Jesus said in Luke 17 in regards to Lots wife, the one “who seeks to preserve his life will lose it”.  

David and I have often said, had we known what it would cost (spirit, soul and body) to have moved to Canada, we would have never taken the first step.  Fortunately God does not choose to communicate all He knows at the beginning.  As Jesus said, I have many things to say that you can’t bear right now.  Man is required to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  

Being called out and instructed to move forward, especially into the unknown, demands faith, trust and absolute confidence and commitment in and to the Lord. 

So, how do we handle the tension that occurs as we move forward without looking back?  Simple but not easy ~ we KEEP our eyes on Jesus.  We behold him in every facet of worship and word.  We let our mouths be filled with thanksgiving over who He is, what He has decreed and how He is working.  We are EVER mindful of Him.  

Having “never been this way before” demands our attention to be focused on the presence of the Lord, cp. Joshua 3:3-4.  The ark before them showing the way they were to go and then they followed. 

The one thing we CANNOT do is look back.  Let’s consider the end of others who did and be mindful of what our heart holds and our eyes see.  These examples are all written so we do not fall prey to the same error. 

Paul had to forget and press.  Jesus had to set his face to move forward into His purpose and we will find that we too must be willing to live in the times and seasons of going out, not knowing the way, simply finding our steps secured by Him. 

He makes us walk on the high places and keeps our foot from stumbling. 

Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abrahm obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going.