Remember

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you….

 Philippians 1:3

From one of the Apostle Pauls great prayers, we see how he prays for the saints in Philippi. But, my thought was remembering MY God and giving Him thanks.  

Remembrance is simply a “calling to mind” an awareness of (someone or something that one has seen, known, or experienced in the past).  While it may be easier to remember the painful experiences in life that impact our sense of security, we find Jeremiah’s Lamentations calling to mind the mercies and faithfulness of God to find hope.    

Peter wrote in his second epistle, chapter three, verses one and two ~

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles….
 

You will notice from our verse today that Paul’s remembering creates his thankfulness.  Back in January 2021 we heard from the Holy Spirit to “guard thanksgiving”.  Thanksgiving is lost as we “forget” all the goodness God has and is extending to us.  Hosea reminds us Gods people perish when they forget.   
 

From the greatest salvation and redemption in Jesus Christ to the daily blessings, we must call to mind all that He is and all He provides.  The Psalmist wrote I would have fainted and lost heart if I had not believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.  Calling to mind, giving thanks, actively stirs our faith and creates a peace that passes all understanding. 

Paul wrote in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and again from Ephesians 5:20 we are exhorted to be actively giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Psalm 105 is a rehearsal of Gods deliverance to the children of Israel.  Written down so it would be remembered. Remembered, to be rehearsed and celebrated, for all generations.  Surrounded with acknowledgment and praise, these verses are filled with the faithfulness of God. 

Each of us have stories that can recount the faithfulness of God; the way he has delivered and led us to this moment in time. We are kept by His power and love.  This I call to mind and have hope, He is faithful and his mercies are new today. 

Our strength, our hope, our joy, our peace, His love and mercy, are all enhanced in our hearts and minds as we remember what He has said, remember who He is, remember what He has done, and in the remembering say THANK YOU.  

Examination

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

2 Cor. 13:5

Can we stand the scrutiny?  Are we lovers of the truth, having received with meekness the engrafted word.   The Apostle Paul wrote “we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth”.  Are we holding only the truth as we enter into self examination?

I find it amazing how we are all capable of denying truth as it is presented to us.  Especially when it confronts something that requires change to align with God.  With that, we can better understand this scripture, “today if you hear his voice”.  There's always a ‘today’ and an ‘if’. 

There is a standard that has been set for all judgment,  Acts 17:31-

“inasmuch as he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

There is one who will ultimately judge us in all purity and righteousness.  Where I don’t want to align to any aspect of His standard I begin to harden my heart to the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Bible calls it resisting and grieving the Holy Spirit. When we stop looking into the perfect law of liberty, the mirror of the word, we forget who we are and what we have been given.    

Thus we are instructed “examine yourself”.  This is Gods preference.  

If we would judge ourselves we would not be judged.  But when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord so that we would not be condemned with the world.    

2 Cor 11:31

We look into this perfect law of liberty that reflects His image and we can see how we are doing.  Where the Apostle Paul instructs the Corinthian church in communion, he highlights a failure to judge the body of Christ as the dynamic that leads to weak, sick, and members sleep (death). Not just a remembrance of Jesus’ body offered, his blood paying for our redemption, but an examination of heart and mind towards each and every individual member.  Things like honor, love, forgiveness, unity become areas that must always be guarded and kept.   Again, Paul reminds the church in Corinth, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him and the body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirits dwelling. There is only one body, one spirit, and one Lord, to which we all find our place in.  

Holding these truths, and aligning our lifestyles to reflect His holiness, we find ourselves fleeing what the world savours.  Knowing we are in the world not of it, doesn’t make us immune to the temptations from the lust of our flesh, eyes and pride; but knowing Christ lives in us by the presence of His Holy Spirit, we discipline ourselves to yield to His leadership.  We learn to tell ourselves no without Him having to.  Thank God He will and He does, but knowing when to say no to yourself is a sure sign of spiritual maturity. 

So, we engage in this examination of self for alignment that produces righteousness from a heart that lives to please God. 

Hardened Hearts Test God

“For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness…When your Fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof though they had seen my work.”   

Psalm 95:7-9

When Jesus met his temptation in the wilderness to step into presumption he countered the temptation quoting scripture ~ “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

We don’t test God, but God does test us.  All testing is an examination, a revealing.  A search me O God and know my heart.  Try me and know my ways.   We are either approved or shown where we are lacking; not for the purpose of condemnation, but for growth and ultimate approval. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Our need and ultimate demands on God to prove Himself is something understood in a child.  It is the learning process. Every child must grow up.  Every lesson must be learned to provide the stable foundation of God’s faithfulness.  Each act is teaching us God can be trusted and when he instructs, we learn it is for our well being. 

As I said last week, there is a learning process for all revelation and while God is patient with us there comes a time where we are expected to know and believe what has been decreed and displayed.

As parents raising children, we all appreciate the seasons where we know, they should know.  The emotional dynamics that occur within correction and discipline is unpleasant.  Hebrews reminds us that discipline is a must and while it’s unpleasant it will, when submitted to, yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness….. thus there must be seeing, hearing and obeying without a need for God to prove Himself.  

“Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts….and put me to the test”

Hebrews chapter three and four reminds us of the spiritual implications of Psalm 95:   They heard.  They demanded proof.  They saw.  They did not obey.  They hardened their hearts.  All from an evil heart of unbelief which ultimately incurred the judgment of God. 

“…none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.”   Numbers 14:22-23 

Where there is no revelation knowledge, Proverbs says, people cast off restraint.  Where there is an evil heart of unbelief people simply cannot inherit the promises of God.  Where we are unable to inherit the promises of God there can be no rest for our souls. 

“Today if you hear his voice harden not your hearts…..and put me to the test” 

We hear and then fear.  We hear and then obfuscate.  We hear but need another word. We see but want the confirmation.   In hearing, we are pressed to obey but without yielding we ultimately harden our hearts.  In seeing we are expect to believe.  Apparently ten times was enough for the children of Israel ~  These men saw His glory and His signs and yet put Him to the test ten times and did not obey His voice.  

As long as there is a willing heart to obey, God continuously reveals Himself.  He wants us to increase in the knowledge of Him.  Where I reject the workings of God, I delay the promise, delaying the promise carries the potential of never entering into His fullness.

There is only one right way and it’s His.  There is only one path that promises abundant life and it’s His.  What is left to us is our choice to believe.

“Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts….and put me to the test.” 

The Lord Will Provide

Jehovah Jireh ~ The Lord will Provide 

Church culture today, typically highlights this name emphasizing financial benefit based primarily on Philippians 4:19.  To understand Jehovah Jireh as only a provider of finances is very limiting to the character and nature of God. 

As I’ve noted before, we are invited into the knowledge of God.  The Apostle Peter actually instructs believers to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God.  Since we are predestined to be conformed, God is working through His Spirit to reveal himself to us through and in every occurrence in life. The more we can see, understand and receive of Gods workings in the midst, the more we can align to His character and nature. There is the learning process of revelation and revelation occurs through the process of learning.  

We are going to look at Abrahams process of learning who Jehovah Jireh is and see how His revelation grew with every experience he had in God. We are going to discover the offering of Issac is actually a culmination, a fullness of revelation for Abraham and his unshakable confidence in Jehovah Jireh. 

Jehovah Jireh is a redemptive name and we see it’s ultimate fulfillment in the Father’s gift of Jesus.  A redemptive name simply reveals God’s desire and nature for our restoration. Redemption is defined as repurchase: to get or win back. 2 : to free from what distresses or harms: to free from captivity by payment of ransom: to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental.

• ‘Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

As we consider Abraham’s journey, we discover the process of his learning begins

in Genesis chapter twelve; called by God and given his initial promise. 

• Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Abraham moves out not knowing where he’s to go and comes to a land he learns the Lord will give to his offspring. His revelation builds upon this future promise of provision. With this revelation, Abraham builds an altar and worships the Lord.   He moves on, settles on the east of Bethel and builds another altar to the Lord.  Each time and place Abraham is seeing and increasing in the knowledge God and His provision.  

Abraham learns in Egypt, the God who provides blessing also provides affliction on those who dishonour Abraham (cf Gen12:3).  We find Pharaoh afflicted with great plagues and Abraham very rich in livestock, silver and gold. He’s learning the Lords provision is not just financial gain, but also divine judgment and deliverance.  

We see this again within his relationship with Lot. Abrahams willingness to yield the better land and his intercession for Lot shows his growing knowledge and deepening dependence on Jehovah Jireh to provide.  

Chapter fourteen we see Abraham expressing confidence in His God; ‘the most High, the possessor of Heaven and Earth’ and the one who provides for Him.  Affirmed by God in Chapter fifteen, Abraham asks what God will give him since he has no child. 

• After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Every time Abraham encounters the Lord, he is learning through the experience God is  Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. His revelation eventually becomes the heart knowledge that is foundational to His willingness to offer Issac.  His learning process built the confidence for his trust in Jehovah Jireh so by the time He had gotten to this place He was firmly established in ‘the Lord will provide’. 

Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”  Genesis 22:8

The altar Abraham built on this mount reveals a culmination of an established revelation which we also see as his unshakeable confidence expressed in Romans chapter four.

As we grow and increase in the knowledge of God, our personal revelations become the foundation that provide strength and stability for our times. From these, we truly do go from faith to faith, strength to strength and glory to glory. 

Always mindful of Romans 8:32 ~ 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things.  

Adversity

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small…Proverbs 24:10

• If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength! NIV

• If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meagre. NASB

• If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. NLT

The following are the variables for the word “faint” from the NAS EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE showing the use of the Hebrew word from Strongs #7503 raphah: sink, relax.   They paint a very clear picture. 

        abandon (1)  become helpless (1),  cease (2), collapses (1), discouraged* (2), discouraging* (1), dropped (2), fail (5), fall limp (2), feeble (1), forsake (1), hang limp. 

Helps Word Study identifies it as “withdrawing from pressure or resistance”.  

‘Helps’ defines strength from the Hebrew word ~ kōaḥ – properly, rock-wall strength (cf. Arabic cognate, kiḥ, "rock-wall") – i.e. "be a wall" to resistance; power to withstand assault – potent enough to maintain, as suits the challenge like a retaining rock-wall which provides full protection to achieve what is needed (cf. TWOT, 1,  437; cf. NT 1411/dynamis, "power").

We learn from Proverb 24:10 fainting in times of trouble is about strength. 

I’ve started a series  on our FB group based on the invite from Jesus to come and learn of Him. You can check it out here if you’d like ~ 

        https://www.facebook.com/groups/523946385153363/

The video from this week focused on Is. 42:4 concerning Jesus ~ He will not grow weak or be discouraged till He has established justice in the earth. We learn from Jesus this quality of faithful endurance.   We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring forth His character of faithful endurance as well. 

We are to keep our eyes on Jesus and consider him lest we grow weary or become fainthearted. We know Jesus said in the last days mens hearts would fail them and in another verse, asks if he will find faith on the earth when he returns. 

The Apostle Paul, in facing the adversities of his life beseeches God to remove them.  God’s response, “My grace is sufficient”.  This was enough for Paul to deal with his circumstances.  It’s no wonder his prayers in Ephesians are filled with a desire to be filled with a Spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God.  

Most of our stumbling occurs in times we are being moved from our firm foundations.  The wait has been long, the way is hard and we begin to allow circumstances to realign our thoughts.  We begin to alter God realities by considering the things which are seen. 

We are strengthened by His enabling power at work in us so our wall of defence is rock solid. Our wall of defence is strengthened because He is our safe refuge and our strong tower.  We hide in Him and have no broken down places of entrance the enemy can access.  As Jesus said, Satan is coming and has nothing in me; let it be so for us.  

Colossians 1:11 reminds us we are strengthened with all dunamis ”might” according to his glorious kratos “exerted power” unto all endurance and patience with joy  (chara ~ joy because of grace).  Philippians 4:13 encourages us; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 

1743 endynamóō (from 1722/en "in," which intensifies 1412/dynamóō, "to share power-ability") – properly, impart ability (make able); empower(ed).  1743/endynamóō ("made able, empowered") refers to the Lord sharing His ability (power) to accomplish all He grants faith for.  Accordingly, 1743 (endynamóō) is directly associated with faith (4102/pístis, "God's inworked persuasion"). Ro 4:20: "Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong (1743/endynamóō) in faith (4102/pístis), giving glory to God" (NASB).  

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  Hebrews 11:32-24

It’s the hour to strengthen our hearts. To shore up that which is lacking so we may run and not be weary, walk and not faint.  With Him all things are possible.

It Depends on Faith...

It Depends on Faith

"That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed…” 

Romans 4:16

A couple of events occurred over the past week serving to remind me once again that life is a matter of faith.  It does depend on faith.  The just are to live by faith is an exhortation that occurs four times throughout the bible and we are all familiar with Hebrews 11:6;  without faith it is impossible to please God.  Note, it doesn’t say God won’t love us, it says, we can’t please Him without faith.  

 Everyone has stuff that they must face and overcome through their own dependency and trust in God.  Anyone could have reason to quit and give up at almost any time, but successes are found in perseverance and adherence to Him. It depends on faith. He who comes to God MUST believe He is a rewarder of those who are diligently seeking Him. 

Everything depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed. 

Spiritual success is not firstly by works or human effort, it is through faith.  While we are then required to work out our faith, James’ epistle points this out in chapter two verse eighteen

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

So faith still requires obedience to the direction God gives.  We have to believe the instructions are God given.  If they are God given, obedience is required.  If they are God given, grace is available and the promise is guaranteed as faith accesses grace. Faith must rest on grace. The promise rests on our ability to stand in His grace.

As our surrounding culture shifts, deception grows.  As deception grows, disciplines become lax and unbelief invades.  We become double minded regarding the promises of God.  Unsure of His guarantees, we stop accessing the grace needed to achieve all He has ordained. 

There are heavenly seeds waiting to be sown so that the creation of God may occur here on this earth.  We must believe.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven requires faith accessing grace to do His will.   We must believe. 

Jesus reminds us from Luke seventeen, IF we have faith the size of a mustard seed we would say……. A mustard seed, as you know, is the smallest of all seeds. Every seed in God is big.  It holds destiny and must be sown to be seen.  Alignment and agreement with God’s promise sows the seed. We won’t sow what we discount.

It’s the declaration unto sowing.  

It’s the watering unto growth.

It’s the patience unto reaping. 

These days require us to be strengthened in faith like Abraham. Like Abraham, we make thanksgiving our sacrifice while we wait.  He did not weaken in faith when he looked around and considered his circumstances.  There was no wavering concerning God’s promise.  He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.  

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed. 

MUST forgive

“You must forgive him”.

Luke 17:4

Forgiveness is something we all need.  We daily fall short of perfection.  We all speak when we should be silent.  We offend with words and actions.  We are just human. 

Jesus, teaching his disciples in Luke Seventeen, begins to address offence. Verses one through ten give the context. 

The admonition Jesus brings is to pay attention to yourselves! If someone sins against you, rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him.  (And p.s. we don’t keep count - you must forgive him.)  

The disciples, met with this new and living way, ask Jesus to increase their faith (I’m thinking because they know how hard it is to not be offended and how easy it is to not forgive).  Jesus tells them it’s not really a matter of faith.  Faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain. Then he tells a story about the servant and concludes with;  you don’t get praised for obeying (my translation). You must forgive. 

From Matthews gospel, we find our prayers for forgiveness are hinged on our forgiveness of others.  Ephesian’s chapter four instructs believers to forgive as God, in Christ, has forgiven us.  Jesus told his disciples; when you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Jesus bypasses thoughts and feelings and simply sets before us - You must forgive.  As servants of our Lord, forgiveness is a duty. Lest we think no one has ever suffered the pain of injustice, may we pause to remember exactly what transpired for Jesus on the cross.  His response as he is dying is a prayer for forgiveness for all who’ve unjustly accused and are now killing him.  Jesus said, they know not what they do.  I would submit most times we have no understanding of what we are creating with our accusations and refusals to forgive.  It is just too too easy to justify our disobedience by justifying our feelings.  We must forgive.

If we could hold the awareness of spiritual happenings in the moments we are tempted to hold offence, we could better process and see the accusations assaulting our minds. The lust of our flesh feeding on tasty morsels of hurt feelings verses the leading of the Holy Spirit who leads us into love and victory, 

Jesus keeps setting this standard before us ~ ‘even as’.  Love even as I have loved you.  Forgive even as I have forgiven you.  Where we feel justified in holding on to our offences, we deny the grace that could be ours to overcome.  

We cannot deny the one single advantage we, as children of God, have been given: His supernatural ability at work within us.   We are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man so are enabled to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.  We are able to do all things by and through His strength.  There is grace that abounds to the one who will come and find it.  Grace is not hiding.  It’s with God in the presence of His mercy.  Mercy, because none of us deserve forgiveness; yet, it has been freely given to each of us.  We did not work to get it.  It was freely provided.  

You and I cannot stand in the presence of God at His throne of grace and not come to terms with any unforgiveness that may lie in our hearts.   

Please consider all aspects of unforgiveness ~ 

• Ours toward God. He has failed me.

• Ours directed at ourselves. I’m a failure

• Ours directed at others. They’ve failed me.

As we position ourselves at this throne let us receive mercy and find the grace to help us forgive and love well.   For we MUST forgive.  

Do you Love me … more than

Do you love me…..more than these?

John 21:15

Without taking the time to walk through the fullness of this scene, I’d like to focus on the question Jesus asks Peter after he (and others) have decided to return to fishing.  

I believe this encounter once again shows the Father’s willing heart to prepare us for every season we must walk into and through.  Peter here is facing a spiritual crisis of calling. Scripture says - at the crossroads we find wisdom crying out and showing the right way.  It is narrow. It is hard.  It is inconvenient.  It is unknown (for the most part).  BUT JESUS is here to help Peter settle some issues.  

The word for love that Jesus uses in this first question is the Greek word agape.  I’m sure we are all familiar with the variations Greek gives for ‘love’ but let me emphasis that agape is a self sacrificial love expressed for the well being of another.  This is the love God has.   Peters reply was his love for Jesus was affection ~  phileo to be distinguished from agapao in this, that phileo more nearly represents tender affection.

Jesus’ question is comparative.  As the abundance of the provision of the miraculous catch of fish lays before him, Jesus asks, do you love me more than these?  “These” are the matters not of physical fish, but what the fish yield. Heart issues of control, security, provision that the abundance of fish might bring Peter.  

The apparent contradiction is that Peter fished all night, in his own strength, and caught nothing.  Jesus appears and in one declaration the catch is so large the boat is overflowing.   Now the question, Do you love me more than these.  So much is revealed in the examination of this provision.  

Peter is faced really with two questions here; what do you love and who do you love?  

Questions each of us must answer.  What do we hold in our hearts that we are willing to sacrificially give our lives for?  Our spouses?  Our children?  Our parents?  Others?  Agape is willing.  Agape is willing sacrifice; not only from a sense of duty, but delight.  Religion can be so insidious that the potential for rote performance removes any sense of heartfelt delight in our serving.  

This is the other factor that keeps coming to me by the Holy Spirit. Obedience is required, willingness is desired (not considered optional).  It is the will that is sovereign to man.  It is man’s will that God will not violate. 

The question remains. Do you love me more than these?  The examination of life reveals what we love and willingly sacrifice for.  We can examine our days.  Not just the intent of our hearts, but the reality of our giving, whether in duty or in delight. Sometimes we just have trouble sharing our fries. 

Jesus reminds us the love we are called into is a love that steps into family, into humanity, and loves ‘even as’.  We give ourselves up for the well being of another. If we set our affections on things above and yield to the workings of God we can find ourselves like Jesus, enduring our cross.  For the joy set before us, we can delight to do His will. 

You will notice the end of the conversation did not change Peters calling but rather searched the heart of a man to reveal the one thing that was lacking to help him move along.  

All you need is Love

“We love Him because He first loved us…..” 1 John 4:19

There is an entrance into Love that begins with the understanding of God as the creator of all things.  All things are created by Him, through Him, and for Him.  And since in His infinite wisdom He created us, He understands both the limitations of our flesh and the need of the surpassing greatness of His power to work in us. 

Love begins with Him.  He is the starting place and the very foundation of love. 

Without will or ability to receive and acknowledge that we are infinitely more valuable to Him than our daily doings, we are tempted to doubt this great truth. 

Without starting here; He loved us first, we will find ourselves challenged to respond to Him well.   Jesus said if you love me you WILL keep my commandments.  This intimate relationship has never designed to be a relationship of duty but rather delightful desire.  We can’t begin to love Him until we fully realize the length, depth, height and breadth he has gone to by bringing us into His family. 

We grow from knowing and receiving the Love he has for us, to the love we hold for Him, seen through our desire (not our perfection) to submit and obey.  A stony heart, a religious mind, can serve from duty but in that duty we hold certain expectations of what is owed us because we have performed our’s.  

 Knowing is one thing, receiving another and it is a necessary personal revelation for every believer.  A knowledge and receptivity that flows from hearts producing thankfulness with much joy.  A joy creating liberty that delights to do His will. 

A love that has been freely received is freely given.  So, we come to ~  by this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  The only debt we are told to hold from Romans, is to love.  Our standard given by Jesus is to love EVEN AS he has loved us.  You can see the process of love and begin to understand how this all starts with our ability to first receive His love.  

I think we can all can examine our lives, seeing the places we actually love, to the level and degree we believe we are loved.  Our judgment of God’s activity - His Love - towards us often defines my response to others.  

We are all well schooled in the knowledge of biblical love but living it out daily is the issue.

I want to close with this thought from 1 Thessalonians chapter three and verse twelve: 

“May the lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you  :15 so that he may establish (literally strengthen; give support to; make firm) your hearts blameless (free from fault or defect) in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

A simply thought from the phrase so that.  Paul’s prayer for love increasing and abounding is so that our hearts would be blameless (without accusation, without guilt and shame) in holiness. It’s always about our hearts.  

I wonder how many problems would be resolved in our lives if we simply remained in His love. Perhaps our daily activities would be better suited if we began by being rooted and grounded in love.  

Selah. 

Approved, Tested, Entrusted.....

 1 Thessalonians 2:4 

English Standard Version

“.…but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.”

Paul writes, beginning with verse two, “As you are aware, we had already endured suffering and shameful treatment in Philippi. But in the face of strong opposition, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. 3 For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.....BUT...."

Once again, we note the phrase “not to please man, but to please God”.  Paul wrote to the Galatians, “If were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  A strong reminder for all who handle the preaching of His word.  

Lets us consider several words from our verse in Thessalonians; 

• approved,

• entrusted

• and test.

First please note the English words, approved and test are the same Greek word.  

From Helps word Study we learn ~ 

1381 dokimázō (from 1384/dókimos, "approved") – properly, to try (test) something to show it is acceptable (real, approved); put to the test to reveal what is good (genuine).  See 1384 (dókimos).

1381/dokimazō ("to approve by testing") demonstrates what is good, i.e. passes the necessary test.  1381 (dokimazō) does not focus on disproving something (i.e. to show it is bad).

1. 1381 (dokimazō) is commonly used in antiquity for testing metals (see also Prov 8:10, 17:3), i.e. "to test, try (prove)" – like when a precious metal is "proven" genuine (fit).

2. In sum, 1381 (dokimázō) refers to confirming ("proving") something is genuine, i.e. not overtly to disprove it. It shows something passes the necessary test (scrutiny, examination) – "to prove with a view to approve" (Vine, Unger, White, NT, 22). The Lord often tests people for the purpose of revealing what He approves, as He did with Job (Job 1,2). The Lord does this to make us . . . not break us!

The Father’s examining of our hearts is the testing that approves (or not) every motivation and qualifies us (or not) to be the aroma that speaks “out of God, before God, in Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:14-15) 

We know and believe that God’s word is living but does that mean that every word spoken by us is?  I am suggesting God’s approval is seen in a tangible way.  “This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” Hebrews 2:4 

Entrusted is ~ 4100 pisteúō (from 4102/pístis, "faith," derived from 3982/peíthō, "persuade, be persuaded") – believe (affirm, have confidence).

Entrusting is what comes on the heels of His approval.  Having been tested (it is the trying of your faith that produces…) and found faithful you are then found approved and entrusted with speaking His word, on His behalf, in Christ.  

Once again, we are faced with our heart’s motivation.  I remember years ago being given a list of directives to check before I ministered, not solely on the what but with emphasis on the why.  What was the motivation of my heart for those I was standing before?  Who did I want to please?   I wish I could say it was always the Lord, but from times of insecurity and or fear, the focus was at times on me or others.   This is why testing and approving will always be with us.  We know God searches our hearts and minds, with the aligning work as unto His approval.  

Perfection is never the issue with God, but heart motivation always is. Entrusted with little yet found faithful brings increase.  Testing, approving, entrusting is the way of God for His child.  Opportunities given begin the approving, testing process and entrusting is further grace given, according to each man’s ability. 

If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.   1 Peter 4:11

Aroma

We are the aroma of Christ to God …

‘…..through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. ‘ 

2 Corinthians 2:14-15

Paul’s writings tell us there is a ‘smell’ about us.  It is both alarming and pleasant, dependent upon the individual smelling.  Back in the day, before wearing scents was frowned upon, there were some fragrances others wore that I found, personally, unpleasant enough that I avoided close contact. Spiritually we know, that to those who love their darkness, the light and fragrance that we emit is something that reminds them of sin and death.  To others, it is welcomed and life giving.  The first rejects, the second breathes in.  

Our purpose is to make sure the fragrance we emit is the aroma of Christ ascending to God.  A danger here is in the desire we all carry to be accepted.  Nobody likes rejection.  Yet our purpose is not to be people pleasers, saying and doing only what we think others want to hear.  The fear of man brings a snare.  But rather, to make sure our lives and words are the aroma of Christ unto God.  Jesus said, ‘I always do the things that are pleasing to my Father’.  Consequently, the Father never left him, John 8:29. 

Jesus preached messages that were right in God, but unpleasant enough to offend  crowds.  They left him, plotted and ultimately crucified Him to remove the pressure that His words and life produced.  Dead, cold, wrong hearts do not like pokey preachers. Those who seek ‘life’ welcome words that pierce their hearts and begin to allow the saving grace of God to work.  

Paul, from verse seventeen sets the standard for our speaking.  He was not like ‘so many’ (that’s a disturbing phrase), who peddle Gods word.  I had to take the time to look at peddlers from Helps Word Study ~ 

2585 kapēleúō – properly, to act as an unscrupulous merchant, i.e. "a huckster" who profits by "peddling the Word of God" for personal gain.  2585/kapēleúō ("peddler") is only used in 2 Cor 2:17 – of people "marketing the ministry" (the Word of God) for fast gain.

1. 2585 (kapēleuō) means "to traffic in dishonest trade (business)," like a petty-dealer who scams unsuspecting, naive "buyers." In 2 Cor 2:17, it refers to exploiting the Word of God (the Bible) by a religious phoney (charlatan).

Reflection: Some well-known (Christian) speakers still merchandise ("hawk") the Word of God to do their own kingdom-building.

[This unethical use of the media abuses the Gospel – "marketing Christ as a product" for the speaker to gain personal profit at God's expense.]

1. 2585/kapēleuō ("to swindle, hawk") comes "from kapēlos, a huckster or peddler; also a tavern-keeper. . . . The term . . . was especially applied to retailers of wine, with whom adulteration and short measure were matters of course" (WS, 813). These itinerant merchants swindled buyers (i.e. people they never expected to see again).

Paul reminded Timothy that godliness was not a means to gain and continues on in Second Corinthians comparing his motivation with the ‘peddlers’.  But as those, who hold pure inner motives, in sincerity.   We who are sent from God, speak in Christ, in the sight of God.  Literally from the Greek, it reads; ‘out of’ God, before God, in Christ we speak.  

That will create the fear of the Lord when you think about the what and the why of words we speak.  Do we hold pure inner motives?  Are we speaking before Him? Does it come out of him?  Is it in Christ?  Jesus help us.  

As ministers of reconciliation, holding words of reconciliation, beseeching others to be reconciled to Christ, our responsibility is to make sure we are first and foremost the aroma of Christ.  Speaking in Christ, in the sight of God, we are guaranteed to be aligned with Jesus doing those things that are pleasing to our Father.

Increasing Qualities

For if these qualities are yours and increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

2 Peter 1:8

I have said numerous times that holding the knowledge of our Father and his son, Jesus Christ, is eternal life. Not only life after we leave this earth, but a quality of abundant life we have been given as His children now. 

We are exhorted to grow and increase in this knowledge every day.  There is something yet to discover about the greatness of our God and the beauty of Jesus.  I’ve emphasized a believer’s need to feed upon the word and develop their relationship with the Holy Spirit, solely to remind us all, that without both our growth and development is stunted and shallow.  

The verses from Second Peter, three through eleven, provide us with a foundation to examine ourselves.  God has not only made the way for us to enter His family, but He has provided for us everything, ALL things, that pertain to life and godliness by His divine power.  What is His divine power, but the presence of His Holy Spirit who is the revealer of the heart and mind of God.  He, as our teacher, takes the things of Jesus and declares them to us. 

All things that pertain to life and godliness come through the knowledge of Him. Jesus told Philip, ‘he who has seen me has seen the Father’.  Jesus is the word of God made manifest that we might see and believe.  Through these realities we are invited to share  His own glory and excellence.  All that He is we are to become and it is through these exceeding, great and precious promises that our growth begins. 

The Apostle Paul reminds us that as we behold Him ( 2 Cor 3:18) we are transformed from one degree of glory to another.  We are changed into the images we behold.  Our minds are renewed to the things we give attention to.  We are either being transformed into the images and mind of this world or into His divine nature.  We are designed and to become as He is, in this world.

I would love to have the heavens open and see Him, with my physical eyes, high and lifted up in His majesty but until, or if, that happens I must be content to see Him as He reveals Himself to me through the written words of this bible.  

It is a PRESSING NEED in this hour for every believer to guard their hunger for the word.  If the greatest temptation in the days ahead will be deception, we must hold to the word of truth.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  His word is truth.  In a culture seeking to diminish everything about Jesus Christ, we as His people must, must, must, be diligent to guard what we give ourselves as the bread of our lives. 

Peter sums up his opening remarks with the exhortation to ‘make every effort’;  ESV reads ~ 

 ‘be all the more diligent’ meaning, (spoudē) "eagerness to do something, with the implication of readiness to expend energy and effort”  

to add, (epixorēgéō (from 1909/epí, "appropriately on," which intensifies 5524/xorēgéō,) "richly supply everything an ancient chorus needed to be a grand production") – properly, lavishly supply, as suitable (apt) to outfit everything needed to accomplish a grand objective

~ to the foundation of your faith, all the qualities listed in verses five through seven.  

A branch abiding in the vine produces fruit.  Living in a vital union with Him, allows His divine power to work in us.  Apart from Him, we can not produce His fruit.  

Peter assures us from verses eight, ten and eleven, three things:  

• One, IF these qualities are ours AND increasing, they keep [kathístēmi (from 2596/katá, "down" and 2476/hístēmi, "to stand") – properly, set down (in place), i.e. "put in charge," give standing (authority, status) for someone to rule (exercise decisive force).].. us from being ineffective AND unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

• Two, IF we practice these qualities we shall NEVER fall.

• Three, THAT in this way, there is richly provided an entrance into the eternal Kingdom.

Lacking these qualities lets us know that we are blind, have forgotten who we are and what we have been given through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Pursuing them assures us that we are growing and increasing in the knowledge of the one who has called us to His own glory and excellence.  A must needed and worthwhile pursuit for these days.  

Show Me....

“Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”… Exodus 33:18

 I’d like to begin with something my husband, David, wrote ~ 

“In Exodus thirty-three eighteen, Moses is asking nicely for God to show him His glory.  The Lord initially responds in the affirmative and gives a fundamental and profound description of His character. It’s beautiful and full; it just makes a heart soar with trust and hope….but, there’s a but. 

BUT- is the first word of verse twenty, and by using that word, He’s just put a limit on His mercy, graciousness  and goodness.  He said “you CANNOT see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

Without saying God’s mercy, grace and goodness to us all isn’t enough- God forbid anyone ever thought I believed such a thing- let me say that this one verse reminds me that in all of my asking’s of God; even the ones where I just want to know him more intimately, they are still subject to His right to reveal Himself when and how He chooses. 

He’s God; which means He’s the initiator in this relationship. He sets the boundaries, the times and He sets the tones. In all of my pursuits of Him,  it’s my previous responses to Him that has largely determined what I can now see, but even when I’m a good and perfect boy ( right ) the ultimate revelation of Himself is in His hands, not in my pursuit.

Today, I’m reminded that mercy has boundaries. That even when I get what I asked for, it might not look like I expected.”

We are a church generation holding first and foremost a desire to be the dwelling for the presence of our Father. Churches universally are returning to their first love, engaging in corporate prayer, dry bones are coming alive and burning with new passion for Him. In this pursuit, we want our motives established on a solid foundation.   

Two simple thoughts this morning ~ first, we do not pursue the external manifestations of God’s great glory and power; we pursue the knowledge of Him.  We pursue Him, not His displays or provision, to walk in His ways and be pleasing unto Him.  

Moses’ prayer from verse thirteen, Exodus thirty three: “please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favour in your sight.”

God did and does reveal Himself through physical manifesations - a fire by night, a cloud by day, splitting the red sea, manna, quails, snakes, earthquakes, plagues and yet First Corinthians chapter ten shows us they STILL were not a people who had learned the ways or nature of God.  Jesus, from Johns gospel, tells us twice, (4:48;12:37); ‘even if the people see a miracle they would not believe.’  

Second, the primary way we as New Testament believers are to “see” and ‘know” God, the Father and his son Jesus Christ is through the written, Holy Spirit revealed, Word of God. Our pursuit is then transformational and life giving.  

He is The Word made manifest and the word written that we might know and see.  “He who has seen me has seen the Father”, Jesus also said, “…you search the scriptures that you might find life but you refuse to come to me…”, John 5: 30. His words are Spirit and life.   You can’t hold the word without a relationship with the Holy Spirit.  You simply produce a dead letter and church tradition. It is by both His word and His spirit that we live. 

Jesus’ rebuke of Thomas was based off of Thomas’ need to see with his natural eye in order to believe, John 20:28-29.  The bible has been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.  The blessing of believing, while not seeing, is key for every believer pursuing the glory of God.  

Any disappointments and set backs I’ve had in my life as a believer have come from expectations of how God should have done something .  Unresolved disappointments produce, as I said last week, an evil heart of unbelief, causing us to depart from Him. That looks like not reading our bibles, no prayer, no engagement with God. That never changes until we humble ourselves and submit, agree with what He is (has) said and leave His ways and works in His hands. 

To sum up,  we seek to know Him, to know His ways, that we may walk in them and be pleasing in His sight.  Show me your glory is a cry we should all hold, but not from a place of needing to see a tangible manifestation to believe or know who He is. “Show me your glory” is our cry to see every written word come alive as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and thereby holding a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 

Troubled Times

Let not your heart be troubled.  You believe in God, believe also in me. 
John 14:1

Trouble from Helps Word Dictionary ~ 

5015 tarássō – properly, put in motion (to agitate back-and-forth, shake to-and-fro); (figuratively) to set in motion what needs to remain still (at ease); to "trouble" ("agitate"), causing inner perplexity (emotional agitation) from getting too stirred up inside ("upset").

From Ellicott's Commentary we find greater insight into these words from Jesus. 

“It is more natural to take both these clauses as imperative—Believe in God, believe also in Me. Our English version reads the first and last clauses of the verse as imperative, and the second as an indicative, but there is no good reason for doing so; and a sense more in harmony with the context is got by reading them all as imperatives. As a matter of fact, the present trouble of the hearts of the disciples arose from a want of a true belief in God; and the command is to exercise a true belief, and to realize the presence of the Father, as manifested in the person of the Son. There was a sense in which every Jew believed in God. That belief lay at the very foundation of the theocracy; but like all the axioms of creeds, it was accepted as a matter of course, and too often had no real power on the life. What our Lord here teaches the disciples is the reality of the Fatherhood of God as a living power, ever present with them and in them; and He teaches them that the love of God is revealed in the person of the Word made flesh.”

Faith begins with our knowledge of God.  Jesus said eternal life was in the knowing of them.  We do not trust someone’s word without a basic knowledge of them as an individual being trustworthy.  Trust is defined as the assured reliance on someones character, truth, ability or strength.  We don’t trust what we do not know.  Faith begins with knowing who God is.  Our faith will fail time and time again when challenged if we are not able to rest in an assured reliance on His character. 

There is no doubt we are living in “troubled” times with an abundance of troubling events.  Troubling times, in the world, have existed since the fall of Adam.  Sin abounds.  The sin nature lives in the hearts and minds of those unyielded to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  Yet Jesus, in the midst of his and the disciples trouble, directs us all to the one sure thing that gives the help we need. Believe in God and Believe in Jesus.  

I know when times of trouble knock on our door, we are all tempted to doubt.  Every temptation is common to man.  Yet what is the temptation?  Hebrews chapter three shows us the promise of God, met with an evil heart of unbelief,  produced the inability to enter into the rest (or the promise) of God.  We all know, without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God, but do we believe the doubt, in the midst of trouble, can produce this evil heart of unbelief which causes us to “depart” from God?  We also know that God will never leave us, nor forsakes us, but in our withdrawal from Him, there is no light to dispel the darkness of doubt.  The entrance of His word gives light.  It illuminates the heart and mind. 

I love the thought John chapter one leads us into, IN THE BEGINNING was the word, and the word was with God.  Life always flows from the word that God speaks to our hearts.  Jesus, from the gospel of John tells us, all that the Father has is his, and the Holy Spirit has been given to take what is Jesus’ and declare it unto us.  He holds the word that will dispel the darkness.  It’s always at the beginning of every trouble we find ourselves in.   

As we enter into 2022, we will face great challenges and more trouble.  The question is always how I will meet the trouble when it comes?  What will my response be when tempted?  

A believing heart is always at rest.  Confident in what God has said and knowing God is faithful to His name, faithful to His word, faithful in His covenant.   Jesus is the faithful witness to the faithfulness of God.  He is faithful over the house of God, which is us!

“Let not your heart be troubled, Believe in God.  Believe also in me”.  Jesus.  

The Upward Call ~ Philippians 3:14

Due to the length of this Good Word, it’s just been emailed to our subscribers, but as we go out of this year may you be mindful of your choices to move forward into the upward call we have all be given in Christ Jesus. Philippians chapter three reminds us of choices and invites us into preparation for every season we face.

Adore Him

Adoration ~ 

Deep love; worship 

“And when they saw the Starm they rejoiced with exceedingly with great joy.  After coming into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold frankincense, and myrrh. 

Matthew 2:11

My prayer is for our hearts to hold this wonder and joy that overflows with adoration as we celebrate the gift of Jesus.

Merry Christmas ~ Jeanne

Justice

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love (Hesed~covenant loyalty) and faithfulness (emeth/ truth, firmness, faithfulness) go before you. 

Psalm 89:14

Helps Word Study on justice: 

(SN 4941) mishpāṭ – properly, a judgment – based on a (legal) standard; preeminently, God's "yes" or "no" verdict, reflecting His eternal Essence; to judge, govern.

This root focuses on the moral standard – the basis of a judgment (more so than the process, [There is no OT term for "justice" per se that fits the limited meaning of justice in modern English.] In sum, this root focuses on the standard (basis) of a judgment, determines its moral, ethical and spiritual value.  4941 (mishpāṭ) is supremely used of God's judgments which are based only on the morality of His eternal Being.  

With the Apostle James reminding us that mercy exalts above judgment, I want to look at the beginnings of Mary’s conception from Matthew chapter one.  Joseph is described in the ESV as a “just man” unwilling to put her to shame. This word shame actually means to expose, make a show of,  which has the power to produce shame but it actually means to expose.

Further it records Joseph considering.  From Helps word studies we learn Joseph is ‘enthumeomai’ (from 1722 /en, "in a state or condition," intensifying 2372 /thymós, "passionate response") – properly, in a passionate frame of mind, easily agitated or quickly moved by strong, provoking impulses.

[This root (enthyme-) refers to "passionate supposing (surmising)" in a person's mind (heart) producing fervent, inner cogitation.]

How many times have we found ourselves in a situation knowing we were righteous in our thoughts, just, justified but perhaps from wrong judgments dispensing something that was unrighteous?   Perhaps we even had scriptural precedent for our considerations.  

Joseph, under the law, was allowed to ‘put her away’ which would have demanded exposure in order to condemn with the punishment of stoning.  

We find a similar set of circumstances when Jesus is faced with judging the woman caught in adultery from John’s Gospel chapter eight. Jesus’ response is not one of condemnation but release and freedom.  The scribes and Pharisees judge according to the flesh, John 8: 15, but Jesus says, his judgment is true because it is not his alone but in agreement with the Father.  Jesus shows us judgment under the law of liberty.

Justice can only be right when we have first taken the time to allow our hearts and minds to align to our Fathers.  We might have scriptural precedent to stand upon, much like Joseph, much like the scribes and Pharisees, but it’s holding the Spirit of wisdom and understanding to know what is righteous for each individual.

He (Jesus) will judge with equity, which is simply appropriate action for the individual situation.  Equity is not fairness, rather that which is fitting.  Equity with justice must be administered In meekness, (power under restraint).  Jesus dispenses justice and mercy with equity in meekness.  Mercy does not destroy justice, rather mercy fulfills justice.  It is not a one size fits all kind of judgment, except in the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.   

The increase of His government and His peace are ours to administer. May righteousness and justice be the foundation for all we do. 

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!