Sweetest Name I Know
There is a name that is above all other names
Have you ever found yourself thinking about why Jesus came and what He was really saying to us? I personally do not believe that Jesus came to say, "Why can't you be like me so the Father will love you?"
If Jesus had said that He would have made the Father’s love for us conditional with an unattainable standard applied.
Many years ago I was someone who thought that way and I was often discouraged as a result of it because I knew how much I wasn’t like Jesus. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of the good news to me.
I believe Jesus came because we were nothing like Him, and even on our best days we still miss the mark. He came to fix that problem for us by making us the very righteousness of God. Thankfully we are told in,
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Think about it, God loved us even when we were not aware of Him and living in rebellion to Him.
Jesus gives us a righteousness we could never earn. A righteousness the Father would approve of and welcome. God’s own righteousness. The Bible says that God cannot deny Himself and since it is His Own Righteousness we now possess in Christ, He will not deny us. We do not and cannot earn this righteousness in any way. We cannot merit the right to be in relationship with God.
The law of Moses was never a way of being made truly righteous before God. It revealed righteousness very clearly, and as a result condemned us. That’s why when it was in force regular sacrifices were required due to the fact that no one fulfilled its demands. If the standard of holiness it required could have been attained there would have been no need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins over and over again.
The righteousness God was desiring from before the foundation of the world is the righteousness we now possess in Christ. It was the solution His Son Jesus would provide. You see it was God’s plan all along that at the right time we would be made righteous by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus.
We do not add anything to Jesus to have relationship with the Father and maintain it. Jesus completed the work at the cross, He rose from the dead proving He was authorized by God, and then He ascended on high to sprinkle His own blood on the real mercy seat of heaven forever eliminating our sin. This means we are a people of great hope, promise and everlasting life! Jesus finished the work!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus sweetest name I know!
Gray Sky Reminder
Even when it is gray and gloomy in life God still loves you
You know it’s interesting that even when it is cloudy somehow we know that the sun still rose and is shining above them.
We simply trust that sun will rise each and every day and shine brightly with all of its glory.
We even know that when night falls it is simply because the sun is shining on the other side of the world, but we are certain it is still shining.
I know of no one that struggles with this reality because it is a known fact, and it serves to remind us that some things just are.
It says in the Bible in,
Isaiah 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
God is always going to be who He is. He never changes and He never has need to think He should. He is perfect in all of His ways. His wisdom supersedes all other wisdom known to man.
This great and mighty God, all powerful, all knowing, all wise, is Father to all who have come to faith in Christ Jesus!
He is your Father and He deeply loves you with the same love He loves Jesus with.
John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus has given you the glory He had with the Father. What is that glory? Unbroken, unhindered relationship. Full and wide open acceptance and the invitation to dwell before Him. You need only take advantage of what is already yours through what Jesus has done.
That means my friend that God, although He is very great and mighty, has chosen to love you and be for you and to help you.
Today whatever you may face you need to say to yourself, I belong to a very great God, a great big God, an all powerful God who loves me!
It may be gray skies where you are but you know that the sun will shine again. It might appear to you that things aren’t going the way they should right now.
I can confidently promise you that God your Father is still for you, and if He is for you who can be against you. By faith allow His love to break through in your situation and bring you the joy and peace it is meant to bring to you even in the midst of your storm.
The Enemy of Rest
God offers a rest unlike any other known to mankind
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
It’s interesting when you think about the generation of Israelites that God brought up out of Egypt with a promise to do them good.
They had lived under bondage to slavery for four hundred years and yet once they crossed the Red Sea the slightest little inconvenience could send them into a deep dark spiral of complaint and doubt.
Their sin was unbelief in what God had promised to them and how He had revealed Himself to them as their faithful God and rescuer and desired to care for them. But they allowed anything and everything to bring that into question or to outright allow it to insinuate that God had somehow lied or misled them. Of course they sought to blame Moses as opposed to outright blaming God but God knows the real truth.
They had become so suspect of God that when they reached the border of the promised land they refused to go over. God brought them to the destination He had promised them for an inheritance and they could not cross because of unbelief. Their perspective of God was inaccurate due to their unbelief. As a result they could possess what they had been promised by God at the start.
They had been witnesses to amazing miracles in which they were freed from Egypt with and then cared for during the journey with. They were not strangers to the supernatural power of God intervening in important and critical moments. I would argue that that generation saw more and greater miracles than most professing Christians in modern times. But for all the supernatural displays they still managed to lack faith towards God according to Who He was revealing Himself to be to them. They still could not take Him at His word. Because they could not take Him at His word they could not enter into His rest.
They awakened everyday fearful of what He might do if they did not do. They lived as though they must earn and yet somehow knew they did not measure up and therefore their claim of faith was actually a faith in themselves.
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Hebrews 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Until a person has ceased from faith in their own works to merit His favor and acceptance they remain in a place of unbelief. They cannot and have not come into the rest God has promised. For one to cease from heir own works for assurance and confidence they must become convinced of God’s goodness and His desire to love them and care for them as a Father. There’s an orphan spirit at work int he church today because there’s been such a mixture of law and grace preached so often. You’ve been invited to grace that favor of God that you did nothing to merit. It is a gift it is not of works lest someone would be able to boast. It is truly a gift given by a gracious loving God and it is yours for the receiving. I pray you will take time to relish that precious gift and make your boast in Jesus making it available to you freely.
Jesus & Leftovers
There’s something about leftovers that can encourage you today
Jesus did two different miracles of feeding the the multitudes. He fed 5000 men besides women and children (Mt 14:20)(Mk 6:44)(Lk 9:14)(Jn 6:10) and He later fed 4000 men besides women and children (Mt 15:38)(Mk 8:1). They call these two miracles of feeding the multitudes mirror stories because they are so similar, yet different. The feeding of the 5000 men besides women and children ended with 12 small baskets (Kophinos) it is a lunch sized basket enough for one person, of leftovers remaining. Just the right amount to feed the disciples, who, remember Mark said they hadn’t eaten. I call these leftovers a picture of sufficiency.
The feeding of the 4000 men besides women and children began with 7 loaves and a few fish and ended with 7 large baskets (Spuris) a basket big enough to fit a man in like Paul when they lowered him over the wall in a basket of this type (Acts 9:25). That’s how large the 7 baskets of leftovers remaining were. I call these leftovers a picture of abundance.
You might recall when Paul had a thorn in his flesh in 2Corinthians 12:9 and appealed to God three times for it to be removed. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” A sufficient grace is as great a testimony to the goodness of God as an abundant grace might be.
You may also recall that in, 2Corinthians 9:8 it declares that God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
An abundance of grace also gives God glory. We get to experience both of these manifestations of grace at various times in our lives. It is not just one type of grace that we get to experience. What’s important is our need to stop trying to earn His favor, and discover how to sit down in Christ and rest. We need to learn what it means to sit down in the Spirit and receive what God is offering in the moment. Even when things seem difficult you have either His sufficient favor or abundant favor. Sit down within and receive.
I love how Jesus not only fed the multitude He made sure His disciples weren’t left out in both occurrences. I love how Jesus was able to have His wits about Him even after hearing about John’s death, having to listen to the disciples report on how their ministry time went, and being made aware of the hunger of the people. He was loaded with one thing after another and yet He was able to administrate the moment according to grace.
When you learn to rest in His grace you too can be bombarded with many things in your day and yet know exactly what needs to be done and how. You can still find you have something to bring to the moment. You will never give so much that you are left hungry while others are well fed. There’ll either be sufficient leftovers, or an abundance so great it will last you a long time afterwards. He will take care of you!
Lit Up
There’s advantages to living out loud for Jesus
I have a motorcycle that was given to me as a gift from a good friend in Mississippi who heard from the Holy Spirit to give it to me.
I greatly enjoy that motorcycle but as we all know often people have difficulty seeing a motorcycle.
So, mine is really lit up both during the day and at night. I wear a white helmet to help me be seen and I wear reflective and protective clothing as well.
I want to light things up so that it is easier to be seen and noticed and to add to my safety when riding.
Did you know that the same holds true spiritually?
There’s a lot of things I was never asked to participate in because people knew without a doubt I belong to Jesus and was and still am living my life for Him.
While others who professed to be Christian but did not live it out loud were being invited to participate in things no believer should I was never asked. In fact, when the dirty jokes and course language would be occurring on a construction site I would be working on and I appeared all of a sudden much of it if not all of it would stop and guys would become civil.
They knew who I was and what I stood for. I wasn’t condemning anyone to produce such a result. It was just that they knew I love Jesus and as a result it often changed the environment when I showed up.
There will always be a rowdy sinner or two who will push the envelope on purpose and do their best to get at a believer or make it difficult on them. But for the most part my experience has been that people do not behave the same when they know a real Jesus lover and follower is present.
This is what it means to let your light so shine. Love on people with purpose by sharing the good news with them. If they are meant to be a part of your life they will avoid you due to the conviction your life for Him brings into their conscience. If God is looking to capture their hearts they will journey with you and likely become a good friend.
It’s really a win win. Even when I was persecuted I praised God for it. Jesus said blessed are you when men revile you and speak all manner of evil against you for His name sake. I like to live my life lit up! It’s better that way. It’s way more exciting than being incognito.
Ever Present Help
You never be alone once you come to Jesus
I remember when a record freeze hit Texas and wreaked havoc on thousands of peoples lives. The loss of power led to hardship and misery for many. Life threw a curve ball at them and they were not equipped to handle that type of situation because they never dreamed it would ever happen to them.
A loss of power proved to be very dangerous in a vulnerable situation. All it took was the perfect storm.
As believers we will go through storms that catch us by surprise. We need to know that we will never lose our power because our connection is sure. If our connection depends on our performance it is not sure. The great apostle Paul discovered this in his own life.
2Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The Holy Spirit is our supernatural power supply. Knowing what keeps us connected at all times is of great importance. We know we will go through trials, tribulations and hardships. We all have some sort of weakness that gets exposed along the way. But to push through and persevere well we need to know that we are connected.
The key is to being certain is knowing you are in Christ and Christ is in you. He is your continual source for unbroken and unhindered connection. Your ability to go before the throne of grace and find mercy to help is not based on your own performance, it is based on the performance of Jesus which was perfect and complete.
That is why we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus. Not our own obedience but His! By reminding ourselves of His performance on our behalf we can rise above our mistakes, failures, weaknesses and unexpected difficulties by discovering we have a connection and the power necessary to thrive, not just survive. Jesus wants to show Himself strong on our behalf.
This is why we can count it all joy when we go through diverse trials. When we learn to rely on the finished work of Christ we discover the ever present, always available, power of the Holy Spirit to carry us through the toughest and most dangerous storms of life.
Jesus will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you. Once you are His, He will forever be with you and for you. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes this our reality. He is always present to help if we will just let Him. I encourage you to look to Jesus and live today no matter what might be happening to you or all around you.
How You Can Know
Time to recapture that special thing you once had
This coming November 8th my wife and I will have been married for 36 years. I love her so much, and I really enjoy being with her. I enjoy it because I like her and find her interesting and fun to be with.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to spend time with someone you know, like and enjoy?
It would not say much for our relationship if I only spent time with her and she with me out of a duty to do so. If we were only spending time with each other simply because we would not wish it to appear as though we were not happily married, that would be both sad and dangerous.
Spending time with someone you enjoy and like comes easy. But when you are told to spend time with someone you hardly know, aren’t sure you really want to get to know them, and think it will not go all that well to start with, you aren’t very inclined to invest your time and energy into spending any real time with them. What time you would spend, would be from a motivation of duty and not all that rewarding because of it.
Sadly, this is the reality for many a professing Christian. They are trapped in spending time doing their devotions from a position of duty. They’re not all that interested in truly connecting with Jesus in an intimate way as that is somewhat foreign and in some cases scary to them. They are afraid of what might transpire if it were to really happen. What would the conversation be like? What might He put His finger on that is wrong with me? Or so they think.
You see when believers are being given the true gospel message of His love and grace they see Him as an accuser more than they see Him as an advocate. When they are under messages of you better or else, they are afraid to approach because they live under an expectation fo being in trouble as opposed to being invited to come and get grace.
When we fail o understand the abundance of favor we have received in Christ we struggle with relating to Him regularly and freely. But when we begin to get grace and understand the favor that it is and the warm welcome we will experience when we spend time with Him it fuels our desire to be with Him.
One sure way to know whether or not you are convinced of grace is to ask yourself just how freely and eagerly you desire to connect with Him regularly. Ask yourself if you do devotions out of duty or are eager to discover something new about Him and have Him speak to you. It really is the starting point of understanding and receiving grace in the way it is meant to be understood and received.
Spending time with Jesus should not be boring, a duty or something less than other experiences in life. He gave Himself for me and He is the most exciting person that has ever been or will ever be. His wisdom has no equal, His humor is witty and can even instruct, His love transcends any other love I’ve ever known. He’s better than any best friend because He understands me better than anyone could ever understand me and still He enjoys being with me.
This is vibrant relationship and it exists because He is real and has made it possible. I encourage you to enjoy Him today and always and if you seem to have lost the wonder of doing so, I encourage you to go to Him and ask Him to help you get it back.
Can Anything Compare?
You are given a very special privilege
In a recent morning text conversation with my grandson regarding the special privilege we have to be able to freely fellowship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit spoke to me.
To get across the point to him about how special it is to get to daily converse with the Lord and receive from Him I used some things I knew he could connect with.
Our exchange began with me saying to him: “Good morning buddy! Have you said good morning to Jesus, the Father and Holy Spirit? Have you had any conversation with them today? Have you set your mind on things above?”
He responded: “I was just about to do that.”
Then I made the following observations to him. I said, “It’s a great privilege to get to do that. It’s the greatest privilege there is. It’s more special than anything else in this world!”
He responded: “For sure!” Oh how I love that boy!
I went on to say to him: “I’ve been spending time this morning meditating on things He spoke to me, and I am loving it.
Nothing can make me more excited than having Him reveal things to me. Not even a TN National Championship could make me more excited. Not even a brand new fancy motorcycle could make me more excited. Not even a long awaited and desired special Christmas present could make me more excited.
There’s nothing like the privilege of knowing Jesus and hearing Him speak to you! But if we do not take advantage of that special privilege do we really believe it is all that special?”
To all this he was declaring agreement and to my question he responded, “no.” Right answer grandson!
You and I have been invited to the greatest privilege there could ever be. But if we fail to recognize it for what it is we will also fail to take real advantage of it.
It’s a privilege, not a duty. It’s a get to do it, not a have to do it. It’s a man this is special moment, not a man I better or else moment. Jesus will not make us spend time with Him. He is not desperate for us to do it, but He is eager for us to do so because of His great love for us. The privilege is ours to get to do it.
I hope that today and everyday you will take full advantage of this great privilege in your life. I sincerely hope you can see the get to of this, as opposed to the have to.
What an awesome special privilege it is to be invited to always be in close fellowship with the Almighty and know Him as Father!
Thank You Jesus for such a great gift! Thank You for going to the cross and making this my reality. Thank You for inviting me to fellowship with You every day.
Just The Same
Do you know what Jesus really did for you?
I have identical mirror twin daughters. One is left handed and the other is right handed. When they were born we had to paint ones toenails just to make sure we kept up with who was who. The was how much alike they were.
As they got older differences in their personality made it easier to tell them apart. Eventually differences in how they each liked their hair and their taste in clothing helped as well.
There’s something about identical or same that we all instinctively get. No one needs to go to class to make such discoveries they know it when they see it or experience it. Knowing what it means to be the same comes easy.
Or does it?
Jesus prayed a prayer for us that uses the language of the same and yet it gets past many what it was He actually said.
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
There’s three things in this pray of Jesus that should stand out to every believer in Christ.
Jesus prayed that we would have the same unity with the Godhead that He had.
He prayed that we would be brought into the same fellowship He had with the Father.
He acknowledged that we are loved just as equally as He was loved.
Jesus died to give us the same unity, the same fellowship and the same love He knew with the Father and the Spirit. This is huge!
You are loved just as much as Jesus is loved by Father. As a new creation in Christ you have been made one with the Father just as Jesus was one with the Father. You are not God like Jesus but you are one and you have been made a son. You have been given the same access and fellowship too!
I challenge you to read this prayer over and over again out loud and hear yourself speaking it. I also challenge you to meditate upon it until it begins to take root as real faith with regard to your position in Christ. It will change you in ways you never imagined it could. Jesus did not go to the cross just to get you to heaven. He did so much more than that. He has given us the things that were and still are of greatest importance to Him! We are highly favored now that we are in Him!
Abundant Goodness
God is good all the time is more than just a good saying, it really is true!
Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Here we have an Old Covenant believer who gets how wonderful God really is, and how generous and good God really is.
This person has not been a witness to the Son of God giving His life to make Him righteous. He has not been a witness to how Jesus took on the sin of the whole world and in exchange imputes the very righteousness of God to those who believe and yet this person gets that God is good!
Under the New Covenant the goodness and love of God are on display so much greater than anything Old Covenant people could have possibly known. I wonder what this Psalmist might have written had he known Jesus had come and died on the cross so that he could possess eternal life.
I wonder what measure of praise and thanksgiving might have flowed from the pen of that writer then. I marvel that a man under the law could write about such things with such enthusiasm.
I marvel that in this New Covenant in which we stand the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. You and I have been placed in Christ and that means that everything promised is now a yes and a so be it in our lives. God is for us! God is for you! You are crowned with favor!
Scripture says, “it is good that the heart be established with grace.” The heart needs to be established with grace. Grace means unmerited favor with God. Let me say it this way. It is good that the heart knows without a doubt the favor of God. Or how about? It is good when the heart does not waver or doubt in the least that the favor of God is unyieldingly present in this moment and always. If God is for me who can be against me.
This is one time I love how it was stated in the Message Bible
(Message) Hebrews 13:8 For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself. 9 Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.
Don’t let your heart be lured away from the goodness of God revealed in Christ for you. Don’t let yourself speak bad things to your soul just because circumstances don’t seem to be in your favor at the moment. Put your hope in God! God is for you!
I encourage you to speak the gospel of the New Covenant to your soul everyday so that you can retrain your thinking to be in step with what Christ has accomplished and be energized to offer thanks unto God regularly for the amazing wonderful God that He is towards you, and His abundant goodness all the time.
An Eternal Covenant
Everything that could derail the plan of saving you was taken out of the way in the covenant God made with His Son
Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—21 may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him.
All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen.
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
God is at work! He is at work in you!
God made an eternal covenant that is the final covenant and it was ratified by the blood of Jesus.
God did not ask you or I to bring something to the table for this covenant to be put into place. It was put into place at the cross where Jesus took our sin upon Himself and then gave to us His righteousness.
You and I do not have a pseudo righteousness that we set out to earn by living a good life. The righteousness we were given is God’s own righteousness. That is why the love we receive is the same love Jesus received and the fellowship we get to enjoy is the same fellowship Jesus enjoys.
The goal on the part of God was to fix things in a way that we could not mess up.
You have been saved by a God who is all wise, powerful and capable of saving to the uttermost those who come to Him by faith in Jesus.
Coming to Jesus did something so supernatural and powerful we have yet to fully comprehend the depth of its work.
You have been saved to the uttermost when you came to Jesus.
Not because of any devotion on your part, not because you had put your life together enough to be worthy of approaching, but because you were completely undone and the Holy Spirit revealed the truth concerning Jesus and you believed it.
You became a new creation a species that never before existed until that moment in time when Jesus came to dwell in you. You are no longer who you once were and you are nothing like anyone else on this planet. God is now at work in you on the basis of a covenant that is unbreakable and eternal in the heavens.
Rejoice today the Father and the Son left nothing undone as it pertains to you. Everything that could potentially derail the plan to save you was taken out of the way when the Father made a covenant with the Son. He made sure you could be saved to the uttermost by making an eternal covenant once and for all.
Simple Obedience
Sometimes it is the simple things that allude us but are meant to bless us the most
I had a dream last night that I hired a young man to pull a water hose down to the edge of a lake and stand there putting water in the lake. In my dream I paid him $9.00 an hour to just stand there with that hose and the water on. It was my water he was putting in the lake and he was being paid for the time he was giving.
I later found him, after all was said and done, feeling insecure about it with his friends. I explained to his friends that all I asked him to do was stand there with the hose and he would be paid $9.00 an hour for it. Then they looked at him and said, “dude it can’t get any easier than that, what’s your problem?”
Now remember, this was a dream I had.
There’s a friend of mine whom I had advised it was okay to say no to some things, especially when the Holy Spirit is saying no.
In Hebrews in the Bible it speaks of a rest in Chapter 4. A rest supplied by God in which we cease from our own works and rely on what He has done through His Son.
It is a continual Sabbath, not just one day but a way of life for us.
But there is also a New Covenant principle I believe is largely missed as I know I have missed it before. It is called life by the Spirit.
You see it is not only obedience to the Holy Spirit when I do the amazing thing He wants to do through me. It is obedience to the Holy Spirit even when He wants me to stop and take a break.
Paul was obedient to the Holy Spirit when he did not go on into Asia even though Paul wanted very badly to do so. Instead Paul ended up going into Macedonia. Paul was not disobedient by not going where he wanted to go. He would have been disobedient if he had gone ahead and gone where the Holy Spirit was not leading him to go. Even if Paul had done wonderful things he would still have been guilty of disregarding, and disobeying the Holy Spirit.
You see New Covenant living is no longer a, “by the rules kind of life.” It s a, “by the Spirit way of life.”
We are to live as Jesus did, “by the life and power of the Spirit going where He says go and doing whatever He says is ours to do.”
Sometimes that is nothing more than relax and enjoy a moment in time with someone He has given us in relationship in this life, or in a place of solitude. It can be so easy to complicate things when we aren’t listening and understanding that even the simple things fit into the scope of His will for us at times.
I encourage you today to grow in what it means to simply live surrendered to the Holy Spirit with the understanding that sometimes that means stop and rest.
Seeing The Father
You are not an orphan
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The disciples had journeyed a good while with Jesus and heard Jesus speak often about His Father. Their curiosity was getting the better of them. They were ready to see Jesus’ Father. At least here we discover Philip was.
But here in Scripture we find it revealed that Jesus was a perfect image of the Father here on earth. Jesus did what he saw His Father doing, and He spoke what He heard His Father speaking.
John 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Whenever Jesus showed compassion and healed a person that was because He witness the Father at work healing that person. When Jesus spoke forgiveness it was because He heard the Father speaking forgiveness.
There’s something really comforting to knowing you are not an orphan, you have a Father, not only do you have a Father you have the best Father ever. I trust that you know very well that if you are in Christ, God has become your Father too.
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus prayed for you to be one with the Father just as He was one with the Father. The original glory of fellowship with the Father that Jesus had He prayed you would have with the Father so you could know how precious it is to know God in such closeness.
I hope you were able to also note how Jesus said, “that the world may know that You have sent me, and that You loved them as You have loved Me.”
Jesus was praying that about you! You are loved like Jesus was loved by the Father! The same Father who did such mighty and wonderful things through Jesus is for you, with you, and loves you just as He loved Jesus.
Can you see that Father being your Father today? He is! I hope you’ll take some time and think about this so that it can sink in and bless you.
He Sets A Table
You’ve been invited to come and dine
Years ago when learning to grill my son in law picked out some ground meat from the store for hamburgers and very lovingly cooked for the family. Several who ate that day got food poisoning due to some of the meat being bad. My son in law was well intentioned but he lacked experience. He felt bad when that happened too.
It took a while for some to desire a hamburger off the grill after that. It was a nice table that had been set for everyone but the memory that lives on is not one of having had a great meal. Hahahaha. We have had great meals off his grill since then, but it took time for that to happen.
Now unlike the table my son in law set that day, the table Jesus sets for us is always set with good things, you will never get food poisoning at the table Jesus sets. There are no bad or evil things at His table. Jesus really knows what he is doing.
Jesus does however set a table for us in the presence of our enemies. He wants our enemies to watch as He faithfully cares for us and provides us with good things. It is like rubbing salt in the their wounds reminding them of Christ victory over them. This was prophecy spoken about Jesus in the Psalms.
Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Because we are in Christ this is also true of us. Jesus is still doing this through us so that it is never forgotten that He is favored by the Father and has passed that favor on to us. When we get this by revelation of the Holy Spirit we begin to walk in an awareness of His willingness to give us good things. Things like healing and provision. When our faith in Him and His willingness is awakened it peels back the veil that was trying to hide the fact that heaven is opened to us and the goodness of God is ours for the receiving.
His righteousness in us is the key to everything in the kingdom! It is the reason we have favor with Him it has nothing to do with what we did to earn such favor from God. Jesus already earned it and has given that favor to us that is why it is by grace.
So come boldly to the table that has been set for you and let His enemies be tormented as they watch you dine in His favor while they fruitlessly claim you are unworthy. Sit, eat, smile and enjoy the abundance of favor Jesus has provided you. Let it be put to good use by learning to rejoice in the truth of His abundant love and grace.
Loving Instruction
Instruction even when painful is a good thing
When I was around five years old my three older brothers decided to teach me how to ride a bike. At the time we lived way out in the country and had a really steep gravel driveway. I had just learned to stay balanced around the house when I saw my dad a good way down the hill with a man he had been helping to survey some land. My dad was standing in front of the mans open driver side door with some tools in his arms when I yelled out, “look dad I can ride” and started down the hill. I began gaining speed fast and my dad was yelling, “hit the bakes, hit the brakes!” I yelled back, “How?!” Just then I ran straight into my dad, the tools went flying my dad went backwards into the car door, but I was safe. You see if my dad had not stopped me there was a long way to go down that hill and it would have been really bad.
But, my dad stopped me. He used his body to do so, and it wasn’t pretty but I was safe. Oh the love of a dad in the clutch moments of life.
When you come to Jesus the Father commits to you. He will look out for you in an effort to see you grow and to see you succeed and He knows there will be lessons along the way.
My dad sat me down and instructed me after that incident, not because he stopped loving me and wanted to disown me, but because he wanted me to know how to stop a bike. It was because He loved me and wanted me to be able to ride with confidence knowing how to handle my bike in any situation. His concern was for my well being, and that is how it is when Jesus comes to our rescue and we are corrected by His instruction.
Correction is not unloving, it is a sure sign of belonging, being loved, and being cared for at a much deeper level than unwarranted praise could ever offer. It says this very thing in Hebrews in the Bible.
You might be going through a time where the Father is sitting you down to instruct you in some area, but do not be discouraged by it, be encouraged. It means you belong to Him and you are greatly loved. Listen carefully and get up knowing you are now empowered to do differently. Let His joy and peace rule in your heart even those times and you will experience great success.
Your Father wants you to succeed! He delights in seeing you rise up and take on what before was a challenge to you, but is now being seen as an opportunity because you took advantage of His instruction. His love will not let you remain ignorant and unprepared. He has given you His Spirit to lead you into all truth and equip you for the journey ahead.
Rejoice in knowing you are so greatly loved today and always especially when you need some instruction along the way!
Catch The Wake
If we learn to live by the Spirit we get to rest as we go along
I remember as a boy riding in the car with my dad down the highway. He would get right up behind a large tractor trailer and ride real close to it. When asked what he was doing he would say I am drafting, another better word would be slipstreaming.
You see he understood that by getting into the right spot behind the truck he could save gas by being in the pocket and he explained that in that pocket the winds collapsing behind the car would push it forward while there would be no resistance on the font of the car. Another term for this would be slipstreaming.
Slipstreaming pulls another object along with it in its wake. Thus it decreases the effort of whatever is being pulled behind it. I think it could be likened to rest. Like when riding a bike downhill as opposed to uphill. Geese by nature know this rule and fly in formation for very long distances as they each in turn switch out positions along their journey while they draft off one another’s wake.
This is a way of describing what has taken place in the New Covenant. Whereas fellowship with God was a very complex and difficult thing under the Old Covenant and very labor intensive. Under the New Covenant things have been greatly simplified. In Ephesians 4 it speaks of how when Jesus ascended He led captivity captive in His train. In other words, He slipstreamed them into heaven with Himself. We get to experience fellowship on the basis of what Jesus went before us and did. He made the way clear for us to have the Spirit.
We are to live in the slipstream of the Spirit of God. In the New Covenant this is most reasonable and possible. Since our confidence is based on the obedience of Christ and we trust we are hidden in God with Him, we are enabled to live aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit at all times. We are not peddling uphill to keep up with Him, we are carried on the wind of His Spirit caught up in His wake as it were. We can rest if we will only believe. I encourage you today to enjoy the rest He offers and let yourself be carried along in His wake.
Attention To Detail
If we only were always aware of just how affectionately aware He is towards us
Have you ever picked up on how that sometimes when you read things certain phrases jump out at you? Such is the case when I read,
Luke 12:6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
To really benefit from something powerfully spoken you sometimes need to pause and chew on it just a bit to get all the nourishment it’s trying to give to your soul.
Such is this passage. I marvel that there has never been even one sparrow at any given time that was forgotten by God. He has cared for each and every one of them and knows when they fall. That is attention to detail on a whole other level.
But it doesn’t stop there. You see something even more important to capture is stated. God watches me so carefully that even the hairs on my head are numbered by Him. I must confess I am keeping His subtraction skills well tuned. But the beauty of this statement is that it ascribes an amazing value to me, and to you.
You see you and I are of more value than the sparrows. So if God gives incredible attention to detail with sparrows and has never forgotten even one, I find it difficult to believe He would ever forget me or you.
There is a love and compassion that runs really deep with God and it was put on display at the cross of Jesus. Be encouraged today in knowing that you are very well known by God and take time to get to know Him better by the grace that yours in Christ Jesus. I promise it will never be a waste of your time and you will not be disappointed.
I encourage and challenge you to enjoy His love and attention in your life today and always despite anything occurring around you in the natural trying to say otherwise.
Powerful Backup
There’s someone who’s for you that cannot be beaten
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
When I was younger my older brother Mark was considered a really big guy and he could be intimidating to people. He is four and a half years older than I am and when you are in middle or junior high school, that is a really big deal. I remember we lived in an apartment complex and there were older boys who liked to bully the younger ones. Some of the older boys were much bigger than the rest of us especially my younger brother Scott. One day an older boy was treating Scott really bad and Scott told him he was going to tell his older brother about it and the boy laughed and said go tell him. Scott did and the rest is history. Mark showed up on the scene and put that older boy in his place really quick, I won’t go into the details on it. After that the bullying stopped and Scott became bolder than he had ever been. He knew he had backup that could not be disputed. Backup that could do what it claimed it could do.
I shared that story to show how that when we know someone powerful is for us we are not as fearful in troubled situations. The good news is, you do have powerful backup!
You have an elder brother, His name is Jesus and He dismantled the powers and principalities at the cross. He’s for you, not against you. Paul said it this way in the Bible in his letter to the Corinthians. Since we have this hope, we are very bold! You too can be very bold.
Be encouraged today to step out in faith in whatever He has put into your heart knowing that any attempt to intimidate you will have to go through Him. He’s got you! He’s with you! He’s for you! Be strong and very courageous, God is on your side!
Never Alone
Did you know you have a friend with you that will never leave you?
Earlier this week my lovely wife Sheila and I got took some time to ourselves to go up into the mountains and enjoy some fresh sunshine and mountain air.
There’s a point where you cross over into the National Park and your phone can no longer get service. There are no towers available to use, so no one can reach you. It is nice to unplug and just enjoy the sights and sounds of nature together without interruption.
You know while there is a possibility of disconnecting from technology and other sources of disruption and distraction, there is no way I am ever disconnected from the Holy Spirit. It is possible to be less aware of His presence and availability, but He is definitely with me regardless of how I feel, or think, in a given moment.
If you belong to Christ and have received the Holy Spirit He is with you always. He will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you. You will never be abandoned. You will never be without His help should you want it and need it. He is ever with you because His presence is with you is based on the obedience of Jesus, not your obedience. You didn’t do anything to earn His fellowship and faithfulness. Jesus paid for it already. That is comforting to know because even the well behaved blow it from time to time, and you need to know that when you do you haven’t scared, or run off the Holy Spirit. It’s possible to grieve Him but you can never run Him away. He is with you according to the promise of the Father made long ago based on the obedience of Jesus.
This is why the grace you received in Jesus is so amazing. His favor given to you has equipped you well beyond your wildest imagination.
Oh the wonder of His grace and the steadfastness of His love!
Be encouraged, the Holy Spirit is just as available to you today as He has ever been.
Paul told the Galatians the Holy Spirit is received and active based on faith, not works. So rest in Jesus and let your faith bring you to the place of sensing Him afresh today! He wants to work through you to bless others. To sense Him at work in you, you need only believe and ask Him for His help today.
Distracted By Jesus
When things go wrong you need a good distraction to keep them from taking over.
Have you ever noticed that the more you dwell on a particular thing the more intense your awareness of it becomes?
I remember as a kid that if I hurt myself and I was bleeding that the more I focused on the bleeding and played the incident back through my mind the worse the situation became. My shock and initial yelp would evolve into a torrent of tears, sobbing, and moans as though I might be dying.
Naturally I was in no danger of losing my life, just a thimble of blood and some play time were all that were at stake. But my dwelling on it often resulted in a loss of much more time than it should have. Amazingly, we can choose how we will frame any particular incident in life. The more dramatic we make it, the more time and energy it will claim by making it more difficult to overcome.
I had a coach who greatly helped me with accidents and pain. He taught me how to focus on something else so I could take my mind off what was happening, and get through it much quicker. I am forever grateful to that man. He didn’t ask me to pretend it never happened, he just wanted me to not allow it to become more than it really was.
Now this correlates to our spiritual well being and progress. You see when we experience problems, painful disappointments or grievous set backs we can choose to play it back over and over again allowing it to grow larger, or we can focus our attention on the One who can help us. Looking unto Jesus! I love that phrase in the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible.
A group of Jewish believers were experiencing strong temptations, persecutions, and threats for following Christ and leaving behind the former things they once put their trust and hope in. But they were encouraged to let themselves get distracted by looking at Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of their faith. There is something powerful about setting our gaze and thoughts on Jesus. It makes everything happening seem small by comparison. It’s God’s prescription for not being taken over by the moment.
Isn’t that what we all need in chaotic, painful and confusing times? I encourage you today to take a good long look at Jesus and see if it doesn’t have the power to ease the pain, clear the confusion, and release some joy in your soul. Such is the Benefit of Distraction when you are distracted by Him.