When God Answers Gimme-Prayers

                                           Deer gazing - longingly?-  in neighbor's window

We live in a 'demanding' society where energy is often focused on self serving rights and  entitlement. - putting personal wants/needs before the good of others.
What is sad is that this attitude - perhaps more than we realize - has crept into the mind-set of Christians.  And doubly sad is that it is not only the world that has influenced this attitude but some high profile bible teachers have taught that it is God's will for us to demand the things that we want and to tell Him how we want our prayers to be answered.
But is this entirely new?  No, as we search the scriptures we see that there has always been the human tendency to tell God what we need and why and how He should fulfill our requests demands.

I have been hearing more and more often how the bible is outdated in its teachings and no longer applies in our modern times.  Is it possible that we have 'outgrown' the ancient teachings of God ? Hardly - I believe they were never more needed or relevant.

The scripture has been given us for our protection and knowing God's will. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ~ II Tim. 3:16  And according to Rom. 15:4, the old testament stories are not just recorded history but were specifically chosen because they picture for us the lessons we need to learn.
The question I want to look at is not - "Should we pray God-Gimme prayers?" but rather, "Do we want God to answer God-Gimme prayers?"

The first bible example we have of a 'gimme-prayer' is in the story of Lot.  It is easy to miss the implications of this detail in light of  the story's more distracting elements.
God told Lot to flee for safety to the mountains.  Note God's words .."Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."~ Gen. 19:17.   But look at Lot's response... "I can't escape to the mountains because some evil might overtake me and I die..  Let me go to Zoar and I will live!"~vs.20
God answers Lot's gimme-prayer, but what do we see unfold?   Though Lot's demand was granted, he did not experience what he sought - safety. Reaching the city, Zoar, he finds he is too afraid to dwell there.  God had told him where he would be safe ...  Lot's 'gimme' answer filled him with fear.

Lesson number 1 about 'gimme-prayers' -- If God grants them we may end up with the very thing we feared most , the very thing God's way would have spared us from - Fear, not peace, is woven into the results of granted 'gimme-prayers'.
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We have another story from the life of Hezekiah.  Hezekiah, as the king of Israel, had been a good king, ruling in righteousness and experiencing the favor, protection and even miraculous intervention of God on his behalf. But then came the day he became very ill and God sent the prophet Amos to him with the message... "Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live."~II Kings 20:1.   This message did not find a 'thy will be done' response in Hezekiah's heart.  Hezekiah's bitter response was,"All my life I have tried to please and serve you, and this is the thanks I get?"  
God answers the 'gimme-prayer' of Hezekiah,  and grants him fifteen more years.
One probable reason for Hezekiah's bitter response is that he had no son at the time God said it was his time to die. We know how important it was for kings to have sons so that they would have an heir to the throne.
What played out as the result of God granting Hezekiah his 'gimme-prayer' ?
Two things happened in these fifteen years that changed history.
The first was that Hezekiah trusted the enemy and showed them all the treasures in his house. This 'befriending' of the enemy led to Hezekiah's descendants taken captive into Babylon and made eunuchs.
The second thing was that the son born to Hezekiah in those 'extra'  fifteen years was named Manasseh, who became one of the most wicked kings of Israel.  In fact, because of Manasseh the people of Israel became so wicked that God turned his back on them, saying, "So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies." ~II Kings 21:14.

Lesson number 2 about 'gimme-prayers'  --  Even though, our way may seem to be far better than God's way, the result of our getting our way may have have far reaching effects that we could never have fore-seen or guessed.  Had we known what God knew in His sovereign knowledge we would never have demanded our gimme-prayer request.
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Jesus in teaching us about 'gimme-prayers' told the parable of the prodigal son - a story we are all very familiar with.
It is the story of a younger son, who lived in the shadow of an older brother.  A brother who could do no wrong, who stood to inherit the family farm, who lorded his superiority over his younger brother  and shamed him in his youthful pursuits of enjoying life.
 It rankled the  boy's soul, that he should work for his older brother knowing it would be the older brother who would be the one to gain from his labor.  It was hardly fair.  And did his father understand how he felt?  No, it was always the older brother's example that was held up to him.
Until the night he resolved to take things into this own hands, and decide the course of his own life. He would demand what was coming to him - his inheritance.  Why shouldn't he have it ?   His brother could take care of the things were would be his one day anyway!
And so he demanded his father give him what was rightfully his - what difference if he received it now rather than after his father's death.  His father quietly agreed to the gimme-demands of his son and made the sacrifice to liquidate enough of his resources to give him his inheritance portion.
We know the story.   With money in hand to buy him happiness, he hurried from home to indulge his every want and desire.   Who said money couldn't buy happiness?   It did !!  -- but only for a time; there was not enough to sustain his chosen life style indefinitely.
Left destitute and alone, wallowing in misery and filth -  the son came to his senses, recognizing at last where the real foundation of health and joy was in the home of his father,  where he lived under his  father's provision and protecting love.
Did his father receive his now penny-less son back?   Yes, oh yes !  He had been watching and waiting for him to come home - quick to forgive him and embrace him in his waiting arms.

Lesson number 3 about 'gimme-prayers' - Oh yes .. the world's glittering treasures entice and invite and promise us everything we could desire and more.  We feel that 'if only' this or that was given to us, our life would be complete and we would be happy.   And yet, most often, the things we believe will guarantee our happiness are the very things that rob us of it and leave us wretched and empty and poor.  Along with Jesus' parable to teach us this truth, we can also look at the example of the Israelites who demanded meat, and lost their lives in the resulting plague.  We can also look at the example of when they demanded a king, and brought upon themselves taxes,  conscription of their sons into the army, even seeing their children offered in fire sacrifices to strange gods.  Wicked kings turned them away from the God that loved them.
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Conclusion  --   Do I ask God for what I think I want, for what I believe is needful in the lives of my loved ones?  Yes, God invites us to come and share our hearts, thoughts and desires with Him, but I never leave off the 'fine print'  - "Lord, I give you veto power over my desires that are not Your desires.  I pray that you do, not according to my will, but Yours ... because I know that Your will is perfect, and your ways righteous and just and loving." 

Victim Mentality

A secret garden enjoyed by a few who know how to find it. 

The people kept coming and Martha’s welcoming smile never left her face. She was the hostess of hostesses.  But this day,  running back and forth,  refilling endless cups and plates, her smile began to fade.   Hearing Jesus voice but not able to follow the conversation made her think of what she was missing out on -  how she would love to just sit down with everyone else and listen to Jesus’ words. 

 But no, she was the ‘servant’ of all – who would serve them if SHE didn’t ?   Was it really so much to ask that someone could at least OFFER to help? 

Mary !  where was Mary ??  oh yes.. right at Jesus feet totally oblivious to her sister’s need of help.   It just wasn’t fair , was it ?  

Her feet hurt, her arms ached,   she was tired.   Couldn’t Mary at least help a LITTLE?  

And didn’t Jesus even notice that Martha was alone in serving everyone ?   Did He not notice that Mary was not lending a helping hand ?  

Maybe if she just brought Jesus’ attention to her need .. He would ask Mary to help her. Serve Mary right to have to be reprimanded by Jesus Himself !  

When Martha finally  brought the situation to Jesus’ attention, she was so upset her words were harsh and her anger directed not only at Mary but at Jesus Himself  …”Don’t you care? Tell Mary to help me!”    

How did Jesus respond ?    He said ….   

“Oh Martha, you are so good at serving, but Mary has chosen the better part and I will not take it from her.”   

(Luke 10:38-42)

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His younger brother had always been spoiled – the best loved son, the one who always got the bigger portion of meat…. the pampered treatment.  How many times had he, the elder – the first born ,  got in trouble for something that was his younger  brother’s fault?  

Then,  the ultimate !   His brother asks for his inheritance – not to invest.. oh no !  but to squander on riotous living, indulging the flesh.   Where did that leave him but to continue to do all the work himself..  labouring all day in the heat while his father longed for his prodigal son, standing at the road gazing into the distance.   The hurt burned within the elder brother’s heart ! 

Then one particularly hot and difficult day, when it was finally over and he could turn to home and food and rest,  what does he find but a party !!   And not just any party, no – it was in his brother’s HONOR !!    Celebrating what … that he had come home penniless and knew he would find a father with his hand out to replenish his empty pockets?? 

Heaping insult upon injury !!  How could this be !   Did his father really not have any love or even courtesy left for his elder son to even consider his feelings  ?    Did nothing matter to him except his love for  his younger son, no matter what he did ??  

When the elder son vents his anger to his father ….   What does the Father say in response?   “Son, everything I have has always been yours.  Come celebrate with us, for your brother who was dead is alive again.”   

(John 11:32)

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Peter has just been told by Jesus that his death would not be a pleasant fall asleep, awaking in heaven kind of death.    His death would be by crucifixion.   Not an easy thing to hear.   A life of following Jesus and then dying a horrible, humiliating, torturous death?

Peter looked over and saw the loving exchange of glances between John and Jesus.  Why did Jesus have that special bond with John ?  What was it that John had that he obviously didn’t?    Hmm …   wonder if John will also die a horrible death ?    So Peter asked .. “What about John?  How will he die ?”  

And Jesus answered ….   “What’s that to you ?  You follow me .. Keep your eyes on me, not on someone else, judging them.” 

 (John 1:22)

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Our pastor made a point in his last Sunday sermon on the life and temptations of Joseph,  “A victim mentality lowers immunity to temptation.”  

Contrary to the Joseph's immunity to temptation, we can see how the truth of the quote  is played out in the above scenarios.

The elder brother allowed that ‘seed’ to take root early in his life, resenting his brother , resenting the  unconditional love of his father,   resenting his brother going off doing what he willed while he was out slaving in the sun to save the farm. Always he was left wanting, the one doing without.   

Then when temptation came to hate his brother, to hate his father for throwing the party,  … he fell headlong into the temptation, refused his father's love and refused to even attend the dinner party -  he  allowed sin to rule in his emotions/thoughts and finally actions.

Martha started off delighted that Jesus came to visit !   She started off being happy to do what she was good at – serving !    But then she looked at what she was ‘missing out  on’  ..      everyone else  enjoying being waited on hand and foot and free to enjoy Jesus' company.   She was delegated to the lowest rank --servant in her own home!  

Wasn’t fair …  victim mentality….    And then temptation came knocking to point fingers at Mary and accuse her of not doing what she should be doing  … and so temptation found a resting place and conceived to bring forth Martha’s sin of turning away from her own gift and being critical of someone else's. 

Peter, considered himself sold out to Jesus,  boldly claiming that he would go/be anything for Jesus !  We know that his times of testing were coming but of course Peter had no idea at this point  Jesus still walking with them. But when Jesus told him of how he would die, it shook his confidence.   Why?   Why would he have to die a violent death ?   Was he being singled out for this?   Was he more deserving of it than the others ?    He looked over at John .. the one that Jesus seemed to favour or love the most …   what about HIM ??   

And in taking his eyes of Jesus and onto comparing himself with John and feeling like he was coming up short for some reason beyond his control… temptation  came …  and found a hook in him.    Until he could not keep the question back .. “What about him ?  How is HE going to die ?”   

I don’t think we realize how easily the ‘victim mentality’   presents itself in our thinking ..  or  what a short path it sometimes is from thought to sin.  First a thought, then handling of the thought,  emotion responding to the thoughts,  then  emotion acted out. 

When we look at Jesus’  responses in the examples above,  some might comment at His seeming lack of compassion to the person’s pain.    But if we look closer we see that in each instance, Jesus confirms the one coming to Him, but leaves no room for temptation to have any hook.

I remember when my daughter was little and would come to me in tears over some hurt and I would pick her up and   --  if the ‘wound’ did not need medical attention --  I would distract her …   excitedly pointing out something I knew she would like… and often the excitement in my voice would be enough for her to forget her tears and focus on what I was offering her.   

I see Jesus doing the same thing with us.  Not that He doesn’t recognize our hurt or doesn't want to gather us close , but He quickly draws our attention away from our pain to Himself .. because it is only in Him that we have the comfort, healing, answers that we need and seek.

We, as followers of Jesus are commanded to die to self.    In German the word for suicide is ‘selbstmort’ – the direct translation would be self-murder.    That’s what it feels like when we try to put our ‘flesh’  to death, doesn’t it ?  

The easiest way is to hide in Jesus --  to flee at the first stab of pain , the first hint of temptation … flee TO the arms of Jesus and find all we need there.  

One of my favourite verses … .”The Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe!”   Pr. 18:10 ..    If we remember that ‘Name’  means ‘character’  then this verse holds a very secure promise of comfort.   The character of God is surely one we can trust in ,  He never changes and we are invited to run to Him in any and all circumstances and He promises we will be safe from all alarm !  

Why is Death the Punishment for Sin?

“ For I am the LORD, I change not; …...” Malachi 3:6

God, as the Creator of all we know has the sovereign right to establish His own standard of right and wrong and system of justice.
It is interesting when we look at our world we see how inescapable is the standard God set forth from the time of creation. How closely a civilization builds its justice system on God’s justice system directly determines what kind of society it is.
His ten commandments are even today a bedrock of right and wrong in a courtroom or in everyday life.
God is a God who does not change - and neither does His standard of justice.

When God was giving the ‘law’ to Moses He established the justice system of retribution for wrongs. In whatever way a man was ‘harmed’ by another, there needed to be a restitution or price paid in ‘kind’ . In Lev. 24 we are told …. animal for animal , eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc.

Life for Life ... "And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot". Duet. 19:21

Like for Like was the only ‘restoration to wholeness’ that was lawfully right.

For example, if I give someone a valued piece of pottery and ask them to guard it well and they through carelessness chip it, there is only one way that they can make it right. For them to return to me the chipped pottery does not ‘restore’ or pay for the damage. The only thing that will make it right would be for them to find a ‘perfect same as’ piece of pottery and return the undamaged one to me. It must be the ‘perfect like’ in place of the broken/damaged one.

Before God created the earth and all that is in it, there was only the perfection of God’s heaven. Not only was God perfect, but all that was around him was also perfect. Nothing but indescribable beauty surrounded Him and filled His heaven, including the angels who served Him. Not least of which was the most beautiful of them all , Lucifer, the angel leading heavenly worship.
But then, Lucifer, became proud and in becoming proud, entertained arrogant thoughts of being like God in ruling by his own desires and over a domain of his own. He persuaded one third of God’s angels to follow him in his rebellion.
God, of course, could allow no such thing -- it was open rebellion in His face. Lucifer and his followers were banished from their estates and forever condemned in their sin.
We know God as a forgiving, merciful God .. Why did He not find a way to forgive Lucifer and the angels who followed him ?

Remember God’s ‘like for like’ law of justice ?
What had been ‘damaged’ / ‘misused’ by Lucifer ? Was it not the ‘life’ that God had given him ? God is the Source , the Being from which ALL life originates, flows and is given. All life belongs to Him. As it says in Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. and all God has to do is ‘recall’ that Life and "man will return to dust". (Job. 34:14)

Life, because it belongs to God is ‘holy’ … all life is meant to glorify God, all creatures with Life meant to fulfill the purposes of God and His desires. Because God is also LOVE ,He is only satisfied with perfectly happy creatures of His creation and He has given man instructions/commandments on how to live in perfect happiness, contentment and fulfillment. Anything we do contrary to that is a violation of His Life in us and is called ‘sin’.
If a creature ‘misuses’ the life that has been given him to harm himself or others or uses it to rebell against the God of Love that gave it , that is sin and must be atoned for.
So using God’s law of justice … like for like … that means Life for Life when sin against it is committed.
In God’s perfect heaven, there was no ‘death’ …. so there was no retribution/forgiveness possible for Lucifer. Life could not be given for the life that he misused. His own life is now tarnished, broken in sin … it could not atone for itself .. no more than the chipped pottery could be returned for retribution.
So Lucifer and his angels face an eternal punishment.

When God created man, He desires creatures that would choose to love Him, choose to serve Him -- creatures that would be children - His family in every sense of the word. A Being of Love that delights in calling Himself ‘Father’ needs children to pour His love out on.
To give his ‘children’ the freedom to come to Him because they loved Him and desired Him , He had to give them free will.
Free will, however, has a default of self-rule. Does God have free will ? Yes, of course.. He is sovereign. Does His freedom of self-rule -- creating/governing according to His own desires make Him a selfish Being ? No, because He is also a perfect Being .. in truth, in justice and in love and mercy and lovingkindness. For a Perfect Being to rule according to His own will and desire results in a perfect world.
But give free will to an imperfect being, then the ‘default’ to self-rule becomes something easily misused in that decisions/choices will be made without consideration of others’ well-being and for selfish reasons/goals. God’s will will be overruled by self-will. Every parent knows the ‘self-bent’ of their child when they begin to recognize the power of free will.

And so God, knowing that in creating man with a free will, He was creating a man who would fail, who would make wrong choices/decisions -- in other words ‘sin’ against or with the LIFE that God had given him -- God formulated a plan so that He would not have to condemn man when he sinned as He had to do with Lucifer.

That is why God told Adam and Eve … the day you sin, you will die. Death was not ‘created’ by God in His original creation -- only ‘sin’ brought God’s pronouncement of death into our world.
Why was death the punishment God decreed upon Adam and Eve ? Because only if there was death .. could their ‘sin’ be paid for …. LIFE for LIFE … can only be given where there is death.

A ‘broken’ life cannot atone for itself .. or one broken life for another broken life.. Only a Perfect Life can atone for a broken one. Adam and Eve both sinned and every man after them, there was no Perfect Life to give for broken Life.

We read in Rev. 13:8 that “the Lamb (was) slain from the foundation of the world.” We know Jesus did not come until 4000 years after Adam and Eve … yet God says for all intents and purposes He was ‘crucified’ from the foundation of the world. Why ? How?

God, in human form, Jesus, was the only Perfect Life that could be given to redeem the broken Life of every human being.
So how to apply the Life for Life before Jesus was slain ?
God set up, as it were, a line of credit. From Adam and Eve on, to the day Jesus gave His Life, every man could ‘borrow’ against that ‘reserve’ .
Every man could come to God with his ‘sin’ and with a token ‘life for life’ perfect animal sacrifice allowed God to ‘cover’ his sin until everyone’s sin debt would be paid in full by the Perfect Life for Life sacrifice of Jesus.
Animals cannot take away the sin of the world, (Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.) it is not really like for like .

But in establishing the animal sacrifice God was able to use the life of a perfect animal to apply the ‘line of credit’ to everyone who came to Him. And the people in bringing a perfect animal sacrifice for their sin … Life for Life... they were continually reminded how serious ‘sin’ was before God and that without forgiveness there was no fellowship/communion with God and no eternal living with Him.

In the old covenant sin was only ‘covered’,(Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin) it was not taken away as it is with the new covenant. ( I John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and JUST to forgive us our sins and to CLEANSE us from all iniquity) Why is He just ?? because Perfect Life has been given for Life -- and therefore we can be cleansed from our sin as if it never were ! In the new covenant the ‘line of credit’ is no longer necessary - every believer in Jesus draws on His riches of forgiveness directly - simply for the asking.

My Life has been given to me for the glorifying of Jesus and for His good purposes for me. If I misuse that life to pursue my own interests , or to fulfill my own fleshly desires, then I am ‘sinning’ against that Life that belongs to God. How aware I need to be to ‘use’ my ‘life’ -- not just my given earthly life span -- but the moment to moment use of it , being careful that I am truly using it in a way that will glorify the God to whom it belongs.

Col 3:17 "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."

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Wait .. Waited.... Waiting

Bald Eagle waiting/looking for food

Waiting just seems to be a part of life, for both man and beast.

I have just had an exercise in waiting.

An accidental observation in a lung x-ray revealed to my rheumatologist a widening of my mediastinum.

That began a long series of blood tests, scans, biopsies.... all of them in the plural and all of them followed by waiting periods often extended by doctors going 'out of town' or tests lost or needing to be redone.

Waiting, waiting, waiting -- that extended into weeks, then several months.

Finally, this week I got that call I had been waiting for that gave me some definitive 'answers' or at least an indicated direction of resolve.

The suspicious nodule in my substernal goiter is impossible to biopsy for cancer. The only way is be sure is to biospy it after removing my thyroid gland. But, my oncologist/surgeon explained, in my case that is not a simple surgery since it will take two surgeons and my breastbone needing to be broken to help get the thyroid gland out.

So I am scheduled for more appointments and waiting for the inevitable surgery.

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In thinking about my situation ....I have realized some things about waiting.

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1> The feeling of being alone. Perhaps the common childish fear of being abondoned by parents is a fear that never really leaves and we feel remnants of it throughout our lives. When we are standing outside a building waiting for someone to come pick us up or waiting in a coffeeshop for a friend who is late. we feel suddenly alone and the fear of abandonment threatens to surface even though reason tells us the wait is only temporary.

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2> Waiting involves dependancy on someone else.

There is only one reason to 'wait'. Someone/something is needed in our life that we have no control over. Someone else has the power or authority to make it happen but for some reason their action is delayed.

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3> Waiting is emotionally demanding.

Waiting draws an intensely emotional focus on the thing we are waiting for, causing the other things in our life to pale in importance. When we are waiting for something, it is difficult to impossible to prioritize any other way than to keep that waited-for-thing at the top of our 'focus on' list.

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Waiting - how happily we would banish it from our lives.

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And then - when we turn for comfort to the scriptures we are simply told ... "Wait on the Lord!"

How can that be comfort?

We wait feeling so alone struggling to trust/believe that He will come through, somehow, sometime.

But will He? Perhaps His will is not what we are hoping for...perhaps His timing is not our timing...perhaps we are undeserving of His attention.... are we abandoned?

Fear arises in our hearts minimizing our faith.

We wait... watching, hoping, longing for that one thing that will make our life better .. if only the Lord would act on our behalf.

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But wait .... we have it all wrong ... there is something beautiful we have missed !

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Psa 27:14 "Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!"

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The way we read the verse we subconsciously read into it all of the emotion of what the word 'wait' brings to mind and heart.

But there is something VERY different when God calls us to 'wait' for Him - something I only learned recently.

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The Hebrew word for 'wait' is a word that means 'to bind or entwine'. That word meaning suddenly changes the whole situation.

What God is inviting us to do .. rather than sit alone and afraid... is to come and wait 'entwined' with Him.

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We are not asked to wait alone.

He Himself will wait with us, His arm protectively around us as we wait together.

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We wait, not dependent on the frailty of man or the unpredictability of circumstances.

We wait knowing that God has all things under His control. We need not fear.

God asks us, rather than struggling to keep our emotions from frustrating or terrifying us, to bind ourselves to His word, to His promises as we wait together with Him.

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Then, instead of being focused on the 'thing' we are waiting for we are focused on Him... our hearts entwined with His... our thoughts following His thoughts, our mind grasping hold of His promises , our emotions 'resting' in the security of His peace, our hearts rejoicing in praise and thanksgiving.

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THAT is what 'waiting' on the Lord is !

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What are you Holding?

Except for a very few years of my life, my calendar planning has always been governed by the rhythm of the school year.
Since my daughter and son-in-love are both teachers and my two granddaughters are both in school, there is no way of getting around it – so much of what we plan and what we do depends on school scheduling , whether it is a Pro-D Day (day off for kids- professional day for teachers) spring break, Christmas break or SUMMER HOLIDAYS.

It is again summer holidays.

Immediately, what comes to mind are long, sun drenched days when people plan vacations, lazy days at the beach or the lake, camping , outdoor activites - whatever is the pleasure of choice. Beautiful memories are built and treasured around summer holidays !

But !
With the summer fun I see good things set aside. I see churches emptying, bible studies, prayer meetings, Sunday School put on summer hold.

I’m really NOT suggesting people should not withdraw from day to day activities to refresh, renew and spend valuable time with family or friends. We all need that to stay strong in body, mind and soul and in our relationships.
But I remember when churches first began to accommodate people's shift in focus in the summer and gave up trying to keep Sunday School and church programs going. I remember being so puzzled as a child -- and asking "Is God not important in the summertime?"

As I thought about this recently, the first verse from I John came to mind and it pictured for me the different ways people relate to God and how major a role He plays in their lives.

The first line of the verse is “That which was from the beginning”
How many people never go beyond this realization. They are vaguely aware that somewhere there was a beginning.. and acknowledge that God was there… but there is little conscious effort of going beyond that point.
The people in Noah’s time would fit here. Self-indulgence and pleasure for the moment had long removed any thought of God beyond the very distant “once upon a time” concept of Him.

The next line says “that which we have heard”
There are those who have heard of God, who know Him through the words of others. These people relate to God from a distance, doing the religious things as a duty or habit but never experiencing a personal relationship.
Job , before he was tested, was one of these kind of people - by his own admission.
Job 42:5 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear…”


The verse continues with “That which we have seen with our eyes”
God is coming closer into ‘personal’ view. We have all watched our young children busy at play. We call and we know they hear us …but their eyes and attention remain focused on their play. We call them by name, “Johnny, LOOK at me!”
We are far more attentive to what we are hearing AND seeing !
Job moved to this level after God said, “Look at me, Job!” and Job looked and listened and exclaimed… "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear…But now my eye sees You.”

Do we stay there or do we follow the progression of I John 1:1 ? The next step is “That which we have looked upon!”
Do you see? Something happens between “seeing” and “looking upon”. There is a getting up from where we were and walking over to take a closer look.
We are now engaged mind and emotion….examining …. Interested!!
Perhaps we could use Zacchaeus as an example here. He quite literally was not content to see Jesus from afar. He climbed up a tree so that he could get a good look… quite literally “to look upon” Jesus. He felt the stirring in his heart that this was no ordinary man !

Then comes the last step ! “and our hands have handled”
We have now reached out and taken something. It is in our hands!! We are hearing, seeing , touching , feeling – other things have been put down, forgotten – what is in our hands is most important. This is where relationship happens, as Zacchaeus found out. To his delight, Jesus looked up and I’m sure with a smile that melted Zaccaeus’s heart, said, “Come down, Zaccaeus, I must come to your house today and sit at your table.”

That is where I want to be! No matter how busy my life is , how much joy God’s world gives me , I want to keep Him in my hands and heart…. I want to give Him first place…. I want Him to know that He is always welcome at my table.

The verse ends with defining the subject…. "The Word of Life"…. The Word of God made life for us --- Jesus!
How much time will you give Him this summer ?

********

The Default Setting

The above picture of me holding a tiger cub was what started my train of thought that ended with this post.
(In case you are wondering, the picture was taken when I was in my mid thirties in the West Edmonton Mall. Holding that tiger was one of the more thrilling moments of my life. Just before the photo was snapped the tiger bit my arm. The photographer quipped, “You are not supposed to bite the lady until AFTER she pays.”)

The thread …..

I sent this photo to a friend.
Her daughter liked the photo and finding out that she shared my love of animals I sent her an e-mail about the ‘pets’ I have had in my lifetime. My favourite have been the wild ones that I tamed.

I did not realize as I was reliving some of my animal experiences that I would find an answer to a question that has lurked in the recesses of my mind.

As I was lying in bed this morning, after awakening, I thought about a girl named Susan, whose family I knew well. We grew up in the same church, went to S.S. together and were in the same class in high school.

One beautiful day, when she was 16 , Susan asked to borrow her dad’s convertible to take her very best friend – they were almost inseparable - for a ride.
Her dad agreed with one stipulation. “Don’t take the top down.”
Susan promised and took the keys.
She drove a short distance down the road, pulled over and rolled down the top of the convertible.
She happily drove the familiar route to pick up her friend.
The day was perfect, two best friends laughing together, enjoying the wind in their hair….. Until……..
Susan lost control of the car and rolled it into the ditch.
When the car rolled, Susan’s friend --- this was before the days of seat belts- fell out and the car rolled over her.
She was killed instantly.

The ambulance came and both girls were taken to the hospital. Those who were there remember the hospital corridors ringing with Susan’ screams, “I am a murderer, I am a murderer.”
Her world changed in an instant – the consequence of a moment of disobedience hanging a dark shadow over her that was never lifted for the rest of her life.

I thought about her this morning and I wondered….
Why is it that our default button is set to disobedience??
Why is it always easier to disobey than to obey?
What parent has ever had to teach their child disobedience?

I have always wondered why…….

Then suddenly these two seemingly unrelated trains of thought collided in my mind and I understood!

When we moved to our dream property what I loved best about it was the wild animals and I so enjoyed taming some of them, in particular the squirrels.
We had purchased property that had never been previously populated.
The animals had lived their lives in freedom, undisturbed by man.
So their default button was set to fear me, to disobey my invitation to come close.
They lived outside of me and I had to coax them in.
With great patience and persistence I succeeded in winning their confidence and trust.

When God created man, God created him with a free will.
That meant – outside of God.
Where God is there is perfection, goodness, purity, holiness.
Outside of God is where disobedience reigns, where evil lurks and darkness determines default buttons regarding our choices.
To find God we must respond to His wooing, trust His outstretched Hand; believe that He is for us and not against us.
Except for God’s patient persistence none of us would be His.
We would have stayed where we were comfortable with the default buttons that motivate us toward disobedience and self-rule.

Why did God not set our default button to obey?
Because He wanted a people who would serve him not because they were pre-programmed to obedience but because He desired children who out of the freedom of their hearts CHOSE to love Him.

Our hearts melt when we see how much God loved us that He was willing to bear the parental pain of disobedient children, so that He could have the joy of children who chose to obey.

Obedience is the purest act of service or worship that we can offer God.

In I Sam. 15:22, 23 we see how strong He feels about this….
“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”

And yet, much as God hates our disobedience … His desire is to draw men to Himself, not destroy them

"Jeremiah saw and said, “The Lord has appeared of old unto me saying, ‘Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.' "” (Jer. 31:3)

Have you responded to His love and let him change your heart?
Has the default setting in your heart been changed?
Is it set by choice to ‘obedience’ ?

In the Beginning......God ! (Gen. 1:1)

I love beginnings. I love that moment when I have a sewing project in mind. The supplies are purchased, the workroom is in order and I am ready to begin. In my mind I see the finished product – perfect and exactly as I envision it will be.
No mistakes have yet been made, no frustration with uncooperative materials, no interruptions, no broken needles or snapped thread, no disappointment that a part or whole is less than I hoped.

I wonder if that is how God felt when He hovered over the waters six thousand years ago.
Did He see only the finished perfect end of His plan? Or did He linger over the problems, the struggles, the disappointments, the calamities, the horrors, the sin, the evil that would cover the time between the ‘beginning’ and the ‘end’.
Did He hesitate deciding whether or not the creation He was about to speak into being would be worth His anguish and pain?

When my finished product is ready for unveiling to the public eye, no one sees the redos, the adjustments, and the compromises that were part of the construction of the project. All the public sees is what it was meant to be all along.
Will it be that way for God too?
When finally He comes for His bride, and transforms this old earth into the New Jerusalem forever, will He give it His stamp of approval and say “It is good!” - forgetting the price it cost Him, a price that included the life of His Son?

I think about each day being a beginning… a day that is a blank and unsullied slate on which I will write my thoughts, my words, my actions.
Each morning it is clean and pure, but when I look at it at the end of the day, how does it look? Is it something I would delight to frame and hang on the wall for all to see? Is it neatly notated with a lovely script or is it haphazardly scrawled in black, a slate I wish I could just wipe clean or hide in the bottom drawer?

What if I took the words ….”In the beginning ….God”….. and made them my motto to live by.
If I begin each day with…… God – putting Him first, seeking His kingdom instead of my own. It I put Him in the beginning of my day … would He not still be there at the end? And be able with a smile to put His signature at the bottom of my day’s slate?

And what if I place my motto before my mouth …. “In the beginning….God”….
If I think of Him before I speak, if I test my words to see if they are godly and kind.

What if I consider…..”In the beginning ….God”….. Before I turn on the TV or the radio, sit down at the computer or look at videos, books, magazines, movies?

What if I let….”In the beginning…. God”…. rule how I act or react, how I make my plans, how I dress or spend my money?

What if I give God the beginning of every moment…. rather than call out to Him to help me when I get bogged down in the mire of my own reasonings, my own plans, my own desires, my own wrong choices or dire consequences.

Human history proves that to come to the place where putting God first is our natural response takes heart resolve and mental will power.
What comes natural is say ‘Me do it!” - to do our own thing ,follow our own inclinations, our own plans, our own desires and only when we run into problems do we think to involve God.


In the beginning … God.
The first words in the bible, the only how-to book ever written that will guide us safely through life and into eternity.
Perhaps we need to stop with those first four words, and only when we get them right and worked into our daily lives, continue to read the rest of the book.

God's Heart

God declared King David to be a man after His own heart.
There is one descriptive verse about David in I Sam. 22:2 that I think portrays God’s heart in a ‘nutshell’.

It says, “and every one that was in distress and every one that was in debt and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.”

There was something about David that drew those who were troubled or struggling with life – those whose life was going nowhere fast, those who found no purpose in their life, those who were overwhelmed by circumstance.
Is that not also true of Jesus? Was it not the common people, the rejected, the lame, the halt, the sick, the hungry that followed Jesus and were drawn to Him?

This world extols the ‘beautiful’ people, the rich, the famous, those who have excelled in some field of endeavour. So often we carry this standard of judging merit over into our perception of God, and cringe in our unworthiness.
Yes, we are unworthy before God but recognizing our need is what qualifies us to enter God’s very throne room.
He is looking, not for the worldly wise, but the one who looks to Him for direction,
not the strong but the one who recognizes their weakness,
not the rich but the one who is poor in spirit,
not the one who commands the stage of life, but the one who is forgotten in the crowd.

God says, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price..
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labour for that which satisfieth not?
Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live;
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, behold, I have given him for a witness to the people.” (Is.55:1-4)

Isn’t it comforting to know that we can come to God in our brokenness, in our need, in our frustrations and heartache of life and He is waiting to answer the deepest cry of our heart!

God Speaks in Sign Language

Did you know that God speaks in Sign Language?
There are times when we are faced with a decision that does not present itself with an obviously right choice, leaving us unsure as to which way God would have us go.
Down through the history of man God has in times like that clarified His directive by speaking in ‘sign language’.

It is often the clearest, most assuring, personal word we hear from Him, but I find that many people are afraid to trust ‘the language’ or its value in their relationship with God.
Oswald Chambers often referred to God as ‘the God of the haphazard’ (God of co-incidences).
If you want to hear God's ‘sign language’ you cannot believe in mere co-incidences.

We have so many instances in scripture where God spoke through ‘sign language’, and even encouraged His people to ask for it.
“The Lord spoke ….saying..’Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above.’ (Is. 7:11)

God is eager to confirm to us His word, to give us the confidence and assurance that YES we have heard His voice! No doubt! How easy it is to 'trust and obey' when you are sure God has spoken!

Gideon is the originator of our colloquial phrase “put out a fleece”. If he was going to accept the job offer he needed to be sure it was God offering it to him. He asked God for a ‘sign’, not once but twice and then when he was still unsure but too embarrassed to ask God a third time, God who knows the insecurities of our hearts, offered him a third sign - one so clear that it removed all doubt from Gideon’s mind. (Judges 6)

When Hezekiah begged God for his life and God said he would give him 15 more years, Hezekiah asked for a sign that God’s promise would come true. He requested that the sun go backward ten degrees. God gave him the sign. (II Kings 20:10,11)

While God is never impatient with men/women who desire a sign to be sure that it is God’s voice they have heard, He does become angry with those who desire a sign for the sake of the sign.
Jesus was very abrupt with the scribes and Pharisees who came to Him and said, “Teacher, we want a sign.” Jesus answered, “An evil and adulterous generation…shall be given no sign.” (Matt.12:39)

I recognize that our biblical fellow saints did not have the written word as we have it, and the only ways they had to confirm they were making a right decision was to seek the Lord’s word through a prophet or receive a sign from God.
Today, we cannot ask for a sign simply because we are too lazy to study what God has already clearly portrayed in His word. But when our desire is to choose the best.. to be obedient to what we believe God is saying to us, I believe that God delights in us asking for a sign.

I have asked so many times and God has always answered.

A couple of years ago when my husband began to be serious about selling our property my heart sank…it was the last thing I wanted to do. I did not believe I would ever be as happy anywhere else. So I began to pray and ask that God would give me a sign that He was directing our move. In fact I asked Him to spare me looking - that if He wanted us to move - it would just ‘fall into our lap’. And it did. He gave me not one sign but many! I felt like Gideon!
Maybe I will share that story in another post!

When I worked at Eatons, I had an hour for lunch, or an hour at supper time depending on my shift. I did not want to waste that hour just sitting in the staff room and do small talk. So I began to pray that God would send people my way to share the hour with, people that I could help or encourage or comfort or direct toward God. And they began to come. It was rare that I had a lunch hour alone, in fact, I sometimes had more than one person wanting to share my break.
The first time it happened I was in a quandary. I had made an appointment for lunch, but shortly before my break started, I received a tearful call from someone who needed a shoulder to cry on. Could I please meet them for lunch. I could not find it in my heart to say no, and even though I already had made a commitment to someone else I said yes.
Hanging up I thought, what have I done? I can’t be in two places at once! I did not know which one of my two appointments was the most important.
Immediately I prayed. “Lord, I have gotten myself in a mess… I don’t know which of the two people You want me to meet with. I ask you to work it out. Cause one of them to cancel so that I will be free to meet with the one You chose for today.”
I felt strangely at peace and waited. The phone rang… it was my original lunch partner calling to say that something unexpected had come up and she could not come after all… could she come tomorrow instead. I assured her that was fine with me, and brushed aside her apologies.
That happened several times, and while I was told by some people that I was behaving in rather an irresponsible way, I never felt that God minded. When I would look up and say, “Well, it happened again!” He would just smile down and work it out – every time!

I believe that God is eager to guide us and direct our paths in a way that we clearly understand. Do we not do the same for our children?

James 1:5 is still true today..”If any of you lack wisdom, let his ask of God, that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not!!”
ASK ! and see if God will not confirm His personal word to you, so that you can walk in confident obedience!

God of all Comfort

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people!” says your God. (Isaiah 40:1)

This past week has been a roller coaster of sad or upsetting news, of prayer requests and weeping with those who weep.
While none of my own family suffered directly, people close to me or people close to people close to me seemed to be under an onslaught of tragic events.
There was a mother badly beaten, a daughter falsely accused of a serious crime, a father suffering a serious heart attack while out jogging, a brother killed in a car accident, a mother-in-law with a baffling medical condition scheduled for serious open heart surgery, an uncle dying of cancer, a young women in hospital with difficult pregnancy – the list goes on.

The beautiful thing that happened in the midst of all this is that an army of prayer warriors fell to their knees to call out to the One who alone can help in the time of need. Hearts swelled with love and concern for those in pain. Prayer requests flung out into the bogging/e-mail world were caught by outstretch hands and lifted up to heaven’s Throne.

And God heard and answered.
In several situations tears of sorrow are turning into tears of joy!
Sorrow shared is sorrow divided and joy shared is joy multiplied!!
How wonderful it is to celebrate ‘good news’ with those we also wept with.
Priorities slip easily into their rightful places; the things of this world seem mundane in the light of our shared trials, grief and joy.

I read these beautiful words today….

“For the Lord will comfort Zion,
he will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert likes the garden of the Lord,
Joy and gladness will be found in it; Thanksgiving and the voice of melody!”
(Is. 51:3)

When yielding to the God of comfort in a terrifying situation and finding that refuge of peace close to His heart, there is nothing sweeter than the presence of God that covers His child.
I have experienced it and I have heard countless others who attest to the same.
We are not promised roses without thorns in this life…. In fact we are promised tribulation and trials. But we also have the promise that God will take us through!

Annie Sherwood Hawks was born in New York in 1835.
From an early age her gift of writing poetry was evident and though she wrote hundreds of poems, there is only one hymn for which she is still well known.
As a young wife and mother, one day as she was busy with household tasks, she was filled with a sense of the nearness of God and she wondered how anyone could ever live without Him… either in joy or in pain. Poetic expression filled her mind and she wrote the words to the old hymn “I Need Thee Every Hour” which was set to music by Pastor Robert Lowry.
Annie was surprised by how deeply this hymn seemed to comfort so many people.
But sixteen years after she wrote the words, she found herself in the valley of sorrow following the death of her husband.
In her grief, she personally experienced the comforting power of the words she had been given that had comforted so many others and were now comforting her.

I need Thee ev’ry hour, most gracious Lord; no tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee ev’ry hour, stay Thou near by; temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.
I need Thee ev’ry hour, in joy or pain; come quickly and abide or life is vain.
I need Thee ev’ry hour, most Holy One; O make me thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.”

“I even I, am He who comforts you!” (Isaiah 51:12)

"He Walked with God"

First thing every morning , over the past year, it has been my habit to walk for an hour with my friend, Micheline.
As we walk we notice the weather, enjoy the valley view, and point out to each other the daily changes in the vegetation. We admire people’s homes or landscaped yards; we greet the people we pass, step aside for the young boys on bikes on their way to school, smile at people walking their dogs, comment on the activity of life around us.
And we talk…. about everything, our faith, our families, politics, our hobbies, our friends, our experiences, our worries, our sorrows, our joys or disappointments.
We have gotten to know each other, how we think and feel, what makes us happy, what upsets us, what fills our days.
We have learned the answer to the question of Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they are agreed?”


There are two people in the bible that walked with someone.
One was Enoch and the other Noah.
About both of them it says, “He walked with God”.
Don’t those words thrill your soul and make you want that to be true about you too?

There is an intriguing detail these two men share in their bible stories.
Have you ever noticed that neither of them has a single word recorded of what they said?
I wonder….. Did they know the One they walked with so well that their words were no longer necessary? That they walked in such peace, they listened instead of talked?

We know very little about Enoch. His story is contained in two short verses, and yet what volumes those two verses hold.
We know he lived for 365 years, “walked with God” and “he was not, for God took him”. (Gen. 5:23,24)
What a walk that was. I like what one little girl said about it. “Enoch and God went for a walk, and then God said,’ It’s closer to my house than to yours, so why don’t you just come over to my house”.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for Enoch? To just ‘go home with God’?
We have a commentary on Enoch in Hebrews 11:5 , that tells us it was Enoch’s faith that caused him to step over death. Faith so strong, so focused God-ward that turning back to earth one day was out of the question, and he was translated directly into the Presence of God - because ‘he pleased God’.
Enoch is an example of those of us who are ‘walking with God’ when Jesus returns and we too will be translated! Taken from this earth into the reality of Eternity !! What glory that will be!!

We have a longer account of Noah’s life but through the chapters that tell his story, we have not a single word spoken by him.
Even though God asked him to do what would have seemed a very futile exercise – to build a boat on dry land- Noah replied not a word, he simply obeyed.
Walking with God, he had no questions, no arguments.
God spoke, he heard, what was there to say?
I’m sure he built the boat aware of God at His side, helping him, showing him how to do it. The mocking voices of the people were like far away static and didn’t deter him from focusing on the One whose voice he loved.
He is also spoken of in Hebrew 11:7. It says his life’s motivation was fear – fear, the beginning of wisdom- and it was his faith that made him so sure that what God said was true, even though what he saw in the natural was contrary.
Because of his faith, that pleased God, he inherited the righteousness that comes not by works but by trusting God.
Noah, even though the New Covenant was still a long way off, stepped over the ordinances and rituals of the Old Covenant and inherited the same salvation that you and I are offered through the cross – through faith!

What examples these two men are to you and me even though they lived so long ago.
Can you and I ‘walk with God’ as they did?
I don’t mean just as a way of saying that we are His child and have been ‘born again’ into His family. I mean in a very real conscience sense, where we are aware of Him every moment of the day.
Is this what the verse is talking about th at bids us ‘pray without ceasing’?
A habitual awareness of Him walking with us, beside us, our very thoughts melting into His?

From the time I first read of these two men, that they ‘walked with God’, my heart’s desire was to be like them.
I have not always done so…. The noise and cares of this world have at times pulled me away ….but since I first experienced the reality of God ‘walking with me’ I cannot be happy any other way.
I have found that how real ‘His presence’ is to me, is directly related to how much time I spend in His word. How can we say we love Him when we don’t read His e-mail. (E-ternity letters)
I think that is the secret to Enoch and Noah’s ‘silence’ – the more time we spend ‘listening’ to God, the less we speak!
And then when we do speak our words will “always be seasoned with salt, that ‘we’ may know how ‘we’ ought to answer each one.” ( Col. 4:6)

I know in my own life when I ‘walk with God’, I am aware of a deep sense of peace that nothing can disturb.
I find there is also a very clear perception of His voice and my own thoughts and feelings are quiet.
‘Walking with God’, makes it easy to bring God into smaller and smaller details of my life, and asking for His help, His direction, His thoughts becomes my automatic response.
Have you not found that to be true in your life??

Are you not thankful that we have a God , who is not afar off, but who is so near that we can walk together with Him? Trusting Him in and for everything?
And one day, our walk -according to I Cor. 5:7 - will be changed and we will 'walk no longer by faith, but by sight’, because we shall see Him face to face !!

Incentive Gifts

We all love gifts ! To give them , or to receive them.
While gifts by definition are free and unsolicited , they are always given for a reason or a purpose: a birthday, a special occasion, a holiday, or a ‘just because’- to express gratitude or friendship or sympathy.
We also promise gifts as an incentive.
“If you pick up your toys I’ll give you a sucker”,
“if you do your chores I’ll give you an allowance”,
“if you get on the honor roll we’ll go to Hawaii”,
“if you graduate from university I’ll buy you a car!!”
From the time our children are little we recognize the value of incentive gifts.
Being wise parents who understand our children, the promised incentives are ones we know will encourage them not to give up, to help them stick-to-it even when the going gets tough. We offer the gifts out of love and desire to see them to excel.
God says that if we , being evil parents know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does He? (Matt. 7:11)
When Jesus gave His messages to the seven churches , He promised incentive gifts to all those who would persevere until the end !! You and I are included in these promises.
Have you recently thought about the things that Jesus is offering to those who stay true to Him, “To him that overcometh will I give….” ?

The first gift is the right “to eat of the tree of life .” The tree of life still stands in the paradise of God – we will see it and eat from it !!
When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God evicted them from the garden to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life – because this tree would have locked them into an eternity separated from God. So what is God promising us here?- That He will give us the fruit of this tree – ensuring us of an eternity in the presence of God, living in fellowship with Him!!
He also says He will not blot our name out of the book of life, it will remain a permanent entry signifying our eternal citizenship of heaven
Jesus also promises that “the second death will never hurt us”. Never again will we need to fear the danger of being separated from God – we will truly have eternal security !!

Another incentive gift is the promise of eating the hidden manna. Did you ever wonder what the manna called ‘angel food’ (Psalm 78:25), that God sent from heaven to feed His people in the wilderness, tasted like? I would love to taste it. The fact that He calls it ‘hidden’ gives the message it is not for everyone…just those for whom He has put it away – for those who overcome, whose who are worthy.
Food is always a great incentive to us , isn’t it? Every celebration, every special event centers around food – a banquet, a dinner, a basket of fruit, a cake, a box of chocolate, an ice-cream cone. We reward ourselves and each other with food. If we find satisfying our taste buds so enjoyable here….can you imagine what it will be like there? What heavenly things we will savor?

He also promises us a white stone. In the Roman courts at the time of Jesus, the person on trial standing before the judge to hear the verdict was given a white stone if he was acquitted, and a black stone if he was condemned. If we stay true to Jesus until the end ,He, as our judge, will give us the white stone signifying our forgiveness, and it will have our new name written on it – forever, throughout all eternity we will be declared pure and righteous!!

Jesus also promises us ‘power over the nations’. Does this mean we will sit in the judgment seat with Jesus when the heavenly courts are in session to declare God’s righteous judgments? He says He will give us permission to sit with Him in His throne, even as His Father granted Him permission to sit in His throne.

There is a wonderfully poetic promise of the morning star! Jesus declares that He Himself is the bright morning star. (Rev.22:16) Is this a promise that Jesus will be all our own, to spend intimate one-on-one time with, sitting at His feet, reveling in His love, never tiring of His voice?

If we endure until the end Jesus promises we will be given white raiment. We love to shop for that special garment befitting a special occasion – Jesus promises us a new ‘garment’ , heavenly raiment to wear as we enter eternity !! Can you imagine how beautiful it will be?

And Jesus says He will confess every victorious overcomer before the Father and the angels. Does your heart beat with anticipation of the thrill of that moment, when heaven rings with Jesus’ voice calling out your name to announce your arrival to the Father?

Jesus promises that He will make us a pillar in the temple of God.
He will write on it the name of God, and the name of the city of God – the New Jerusalem- , and also His own new name !!
An ancient Roman custom was to commemorate emperors or generals who had served their country well by erecting a pillar on which would be written their name, the name of the god under whom he served, the city he served and the honorable deeds for which he was remembered.
Jesus promises us that whatever we do in His name, will be commemorated forever – it will not be forgotten!

I think sometimes we are easily overwhelmed with the idea of what the new world will be like!
It is a little like someone promising me a 250 gb computer - with fast connection to the internet and all the latest software- back in 1965. I would not have understood what I was being offered, unable to grasp the magnitude of its potential. But today I find I absolutely amazing - beyond what I could have ever envisioned when I was a teenager.
I believe it will be with the same explosion of understanding and new awakened senses, that will make us gasp with delight when we take in our first view of the New Jerusalem.
I can’t wait to see the wonders that God has planned for us.
Let us renew our diligence to persevere, letting nothing distract us from our goal!


Hebrews 6:11,12 “And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Divine Joy

Jesus - “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. “ (Heb. 12:2)

When I try to imagine that first Easter day it is easy to understand the joy that would have filled the hearts of those who loved Jesus.

I think of the women who walked with heavy hearts that early morning on their way to Jesus’ tomb bringing embalming spices, remembering the horror of the last days. I’m sure there were few words spoken between them, words had been exhausted.
Then they come to the tomb, shocked to see the stone rolled away , shock turns to puzzlement, and puzzlement to amazement when they see the angels and hear their despair-shattering message that Jesus is not dead, but alive!!
Can you imagine the pounding of their joy filled hearts as they run to find the rest of the disciples to tell their unbelievably good news?
I’m sure they ran as they had not run since they were children, the spices they had so carefully selected and carried to the tomb fallen and scattered on the ground, forgotten.

How quickly the news must have spread, some believing, some afraid to believe, others skeptical.

I think of Peter and John who tried to outrun each other on the way to the tomb hoping against hope that the women told them the truth and how their hearts exploded with joy - their hope confirmed when they see the empty linen clothes.
I think of Mary weeping in the garden and how her tears turned into joy when she recognized Jesus' voice speaking to her.
I think of the Emmaus brothers’ rush of joy when they recognize the One who is breaking bread with them.
I think of the disciples' fear exploding into joy when Jesus is suddenly standing in the room with them.

The world had changed over night ! The streets would have been abuzz with emotion.
The excitement and joy passing from one to another, “Have you heard?” “Can you believe it?” I’m sure nothing was ‘normal’ that day ... the daily chores were forgotten, work benches were left unattended, I wonder if they even remembered to eat!
Jesus , the Son of God who had walked among them as a Man, whom they had touched, spoken with, followed and listened to - had defied death and the tomb.
How does a human mind grasp the magnitude of what had just happened – what had been prophesied for thousands of years had become reality – right before their eyes!
The prophecies were fulfilled.

While we identify with the joy in the city of Jerusalem that first resurrection day, there is One whom we forget to consider – have you ever thought of the joy of Jesus?
If we consider the depth of his agony in the garden, and recognize that what chained him to the horrendous events culminating in his death was “the joy set before Him”, how great was this promise of divine joy ?
How do we wrap our limited mental capacity around such a concept -- That on that Easter morning Jesus’ joy was the greatest of all.

When Jesus declared “It is finished!!” was it His burst of divine JOY that grasped hold of the veil in the temple and tore it, top to bottom? The 6” thick veil before the Holy of Holies that symbolically separated you and me from God’s presence?
Did He shout with joy “Behold I and the children which God hath given me!” ? (Heb.2:13)
How great was His joy when knew His work was accomplished, His purpose fulfilled - he could now “bring many sons unto glory”. (Heb. 2:10)
Did you ever consider the joy that filled His heart when He took you and me by the hand to lead us to the Father for the first time?

Once again this Sunday morning all across the world people will gather and the words will resound….

“He is risen!” and the joyous response - “He is risen indeed!!”

Is your response personal? Does joy rise up your heart when you remember what His resurrection means for you?

"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain,….if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable – but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept!”
(I Cor. 15:17,19,20)

Was the Cross Really Necessary?

Do you ever look at words and wonder how it came to be that those particular sounds came to have certain meaning?
Forgive, is one such word I have been curious about and a little research revealed that the root of our word ‘forgive’ comes from two Old English words, ’for’ meaning ‘away, off’ and ‘giefen’ meaning ‘to give, to grant’. Putting the two words together gave the meaning ‘to give away’. That earliest meaning dates from 900 AD. From there the word meaning evolved to mean the canceling of debt and then also to include offences.

To forgive – to ‘give away’….. give away offences? Hurts, wrongs committed against us, debts owed, - ‘give them away’?
The verse comes to mind in Psalm 103:12 where David rejoices that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
To be forgiven ! From the time we were little children, we have understood the concept of forgiveness. It means we are OK again, we are safe within a relationship, we are still loved.

Have you ever wondered , as I have, why God sent Jesus to die on the cross so we could find forgiveness for our sins?
Could God not simply have made a decree stating that if we but believed in Him, He would declare our sins to be forgiven? Then Jesus would never have had to suffer the horrible indignation of death on the cruel cross.
For a time I was content simply to accept the fact that the cross was the means God chose by which to declare our sins to be forgiven.
But then, I realized that there was a much more compelling reason why Jesus came to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Forgiveness is often understood as the wiping out of a debt. But that is taking a very narrow view of forgiveness revealing only half of the equation.
Consider the following scenarios:
You have a large loan you find you cannot repay, and the lender forgives your debt. You go free but the lender is left ‘paying’ the debt.
You accidentally (or otherwise) damage someone’s property and they forgive you. You go free , but they have to pay for the replacement or repair of their property.
You are careless behind the wheel and cause the car to leave the highway and crash into a pole, seriously injuring your passenger who will as a consequence never walk again. The passenger forgives you .You go free but the person you injured will pay for the rest of his life.
You start a rumor about your neighbour than is not true and it damages her reputation . She forgives you but she must live with the damage you caused.
So you see, forgiveness does not wipe out a debt, it simply transfers the burden of payment from the guilty to the innocent party. It restores a relationship but does not ‘undo’ the debt incurred.

When you or I sin, we violate God’s standard of righteousness. We consequently owe a debt we cannot pay, it is too large – we cannot undo the sin and sin cannot enter the holy presence of God.
We seldom think of the fact that no man sins alone. My sin has a rippling effect of consequences put into motion, that may continue even after I am forgiven. Only God knows how much pain and reactionary sin my original sinful action or words caused.
Sin is serious, and it cannot simply be ‘undone’.

In Joshua 24:19 there is a statement Joshua makes in his last words to Israel before his death. He says, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.”
God will not forgive? No. The penalty must be paid, the responsibility for payment of the debt incurred must be shouldered by someone.
It is only because God is a God of Love, of compassion , of mercy, that He could not bear to let us perish in our sins.
.”

If Jesus had not been willing to suffer in our place , you and I would have had no recourse but to spend eternity in hell, separated forever from God.
I love the words of a song, "I owed a debt I could not pay, He paid a debt he did not owe."

We see Jesus in the garden, praying in agony of soul , begging the Father if there was ANY OTHER WAY, that He would spare him the cruel suffering.
Don’t you think that God would have answered Jesus’ prayer if there was another way?
Jesus’ agony in the garden was recorded for us so we could know the severity of the penalty for sin, so we grasp something of what it cost God to take upon Himself the responsibility to pay the debt that separated us from Him.

I am so grateful , so eternally grateful for what God was willing to do for me , to suffer the death that I deserved. His forgiveness allowed me to be restored into relationship with Him.

“To show my gratitude, Lord, may I forgive even as I am forgiven!” (Matt.6:11)

“..Having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” (Col.2:13b,14)

What is so Amazing about Grace?

The song Amazing Grace is one song that is truly amazing!
It is probably the best known hymn in both secular and Christians circles. It has been played and sung in virtually every conceivable environment by saint and sinner alike.
What is it about this song that even though it clearly presents the gospel, it has been given such universal appeal and acceptance?
Today yet again, with the recent release of the movie “Amazing Grace”, it is propelled with even greater force into the public consciousness.
The popularity of the song is inconceivable unless you leave room for God’s hand using it as a vehicle that reverberates God’s salvation message into the darkest corners of society.

While God’s grace is freely spoken of, I sometimes wonder if we truly understand the full meaning of the word.
Sometimes words or phrases become so familiar and common place that they lose the original depth of meaning the word represents. For example a word we use every day , “Good-bye!” has lost its intended prayerful blessing since it has been shortened from the original “God be with ye”.

I took a look through scripture and was inspired afresh by God's amazing gift of grace.

There is a difference in the meaning of the word ‘grace’ when it is used in the old or the new testament.
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word translated grace means ‘kindness or favor’, and is most often linked with ‘found’.
While no man ‘deserves’ God’s grace , in the Old Testament God’s grace was not freely bestowed on men but was given in response to the righteous acts of a man, or based on his merit.
We see this clearly demonstrated when Abraham bargained with God to show mercy upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The bargaining position Abraham held was not that God should ‘freely bestow unmerited favor’ upon the people of the cities but that if there should be found a number of ‘righteous’ men then God would spare the cities. The required number were not found and God could not save the cities, but Lot , who is called ‘righteous’ in II Peter 2:8 did find ‘grace’ in God’s eyes (Gen.19:19) and was saved.
Other examples are –
“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen.6:8),
“If now I have found grace in thy sight…”Gideon, (Judges 6:17),
“If I have found grace in thy sight”, Moses (Ex.33:13)

In the New Testament ‘grace’ takes on an added dimension of meaning.
The Greek word for ‘grace’ means “the divine influence upon the heart and it’s reflection in the life”
We all know that it is “through grace we are saved through faith , and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God..not of works lest any man should boast” ( Eph.2:8,9)
Salvation, resulting in our restored relationship with God, cannot be attained by any human effort, it is purely and completely God’s work. But there is still something required of man in order to receive the free gift of salvation God requires individual trust in Him, believing that Jesus has paid the full price for our pardon.

Grace not only gives us entrance into the kingdom of God but it is grace that enables us to ‘stand’ . ( Rom.5:2) In other words we need grace to be saved but we need grace to STAY saved. Here is where the New Testament meaning takes on such depth of meaning.
Grace is the ‘divine influence upon the heart’. God’s grace works to influence us , to give us the strength we need to live the Christian life.
Do you see how this is different from the Old Testament grace?
In the Old Testament God’s grace was given in response to man’s righteous acts.
In the New Testament God’s grace is extended to all His children to ‘enable’ them to live righteous.
In the Old Testament grace was with GOD , in the New Testament Grace is with US!

Here is the gulf fixed between law and grace.
Where the Law demands righteousness, grace enables righteousness.

Does that not bring Romans 6:14 into sharp focus? “For sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Where the law had no power over sin, grace gives us the power we need to conquer the influence of sin in our lives.
Even Jesus needed this ‘divine influence’ as His enabling strength to offer Himself as our sacrifice. Heb.2:9 ..”that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

We are commanded to ‘grow’ in grace in II Peter 3:16
If grace is understood as the enabling power given by God then growing in grace means that I need more and more of God’s influence working in my heart.
Heb. 4:13 invites us to come boldly to find the mercy and grace that we may need in any situation.
John 1:16 says that we are given ‘grace for grace’ – if we use the grace we have we will be given more grace. If you are feeling weak spiritually, .ask for more grace ! His grace is always sufficient for us. (II Cor.12:9)

But there are also warnings . In I Cor. 15:10 the apostle Paul acknowledges that it is by God’s enabling influence (grace) that he is what he is , but he is careful to emphasis how diligently he worked that God’s ‘grace’ would not be in vain, but that it would be evidenced in his life.
And also in II Cor. 6:1 Paul beseeches his fellow workers not to receive God’s grace in vain.

How is it received in vain?

If you fill up your car with fuel, it has received ‘grace’ or enabling power to move but if it is not driven anywhere it has received the fuel in vain.
If God’s grace is not evidenced in our life as Christ-likeness, if we do not use God’s enabling grace to be victorious over sin, if we do not use God’s grace to exercise the gifts He has given us for service in His vineyard, then we have received His grace in vain.
And Gal. 5:4 says that if we return to the law we have fallen from grace…. we have abandoned the power we need to live pleasing before the Lord.

God has put words to his ‘grace’ or enabling power. In Acts 20:32 it says that …”the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified…”
Reading and studying God’s word will give you more grace! It will build you up in strength.

The very last words of the bible are a prayerful wish for you and me… “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! (Rev.22:21)
If we have His grace , then we have His enabling power to be like Him, and to serve Him from a pure heart.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...."