This morning I read and was arrested by Psalm 43. Verse 3 says, "O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places." Is that not beautiful? Let us ponder this verse. If you're in a very dark cave with no flashlight, but you see light, do you walk away from the light? NO. You walk toward the light, letting it lead you to the opening or exit of the cave so you can walk out of the darkness. Darkness can be pretty scary, yet we tend to walk in it quite frequently, don't we? So, the light leads us...out of the darkness.
And truth has become such a 'relative' thing, hasn't it? But, no, not really. We only want to make it relative to justify going our own way, don't we? And then we wonder why the world is in such a mess! If 'your truth' and 'my truth' are not the same, this could be like two trains traveling at high rates of speed on the the same track...but heading straight toward each other! NOT GOOD! Yet, if we embrace the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus, we'll all be traveling in the same direction even if we are going at different rates of speed. After all, Truth is one of His names. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life;" so, He is the Way to the Truth which leads to (His) Life. Now we see truth leading...to the Life, as He went on to say that "no one comes to the Father but through Me." May we arrive there safely, having been led by His light and His truth.
Psalm 136:7 says, "To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting." In our day and age, we have GPS's. Before those came out, we had compasses and maps. But prior to that, travelers looked to the stars to guide them, as the three wise men did. These are only part of 'the great lights' made by Him, but part of the reason He made them was to direct, or, lead us. And, where was that 'star in the east' (Mat 2:2) leading the three wise men? to the new little Life, who, even as a babe, was worthy of worship and would grant them eternal Life. That great light led them to His dwelling place. Oh, let's read the verse again! "O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places."
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
...for power is perfected in weakness...
Well, I'm not exactly starting off with something that would 'draw people in,' am I? Who wants to be weak? I must confess, I don't like being weak, either. Yet, at the same time, I desire His power to be perfected in me. We live in 'oxymoronism,' don't we? (Don't look it up. I just coined it).
That verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9, arrested me yesterday. Let me give you the entire verse: And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” As Americans, we were once a nation full of Christians who walked out their faith. Oh, yes, there are some today, but I suspect not nearly as many as there were 100 years ago. And I'm sure the reasons are more numerous than we'll ever know, this side of heaven. But I have to wonder how much of it is that we refuse to allow ourselves to be weak. And, by this refusal, how much of His power has NOT been perfected in us? Owww...this sadly applies to me as well as the rest of His body.
I've always been single. This is a great excuse for not allowing myself to be weak. What about the adult who was an abused child? the adult who was bullied in junior high? the adult male who wasn't into sports as a child, but preferred music or reading? The list goes on. Could we possibly meet ANYONE who has no reason to put on a tough exterior to hide their weakness?
Yet, He has said His grace is sufficient for us and His power is perfected in our weakness. Do we REALLY believe it? I'm jobless at this time. Do you think I want to appear to be weak, especially as I look for possible jobs and see few, if any, that truly 'fit' what I'd LIKE to do? We fear being taken advantage of if we exhibit our weakness...even by God...even by the Church.
Yet, He longs for us to allow Him to unleash His power in us. He longs, more than that, I suspect, that we would TRUST Him. I'm not sure we remember how, as we've been so self-sufficient. But, He is faithful, even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). Isaiah (11:3) said, "He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear." We westerners are not in the habit of applying this verse to ourselves. We, for the most part, trust our ears and eyes far more than we trust Him. We've trusted more in our 401K's than we've trusted in Him. Our brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries have much more experience at this AND 2 Cor 12:9, as they've had much taken away from them that has made them 'strong' in and of themselves. I fear this is the only way most of will let go of our 'faux strength' and let Him become our strength. He is, after all, no respecter of persons, is He? May we choose NOW to expose our weakness to the One Who is full of strength and longs to operate it in and through us, as, in Heaven, that opportunity (to choose) will be over. O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Ps 8:9)
That verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9, arrested me yesterday. Let me give you the entire verse: And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” As Americans, we were once a nation full of Christians who walked out their faith. Oh, yes, there are some today, but I suspect not nearly as many as there were 100 years ago. And I'm sure the reasons are more numerous than we'll ever know, this side of heaven. But I have to wonder how much of it is that we refuse to allow ourselves to be weak. And, by this refusal, how much of His power has NOT been perfected in us? Owww...this sadly applies to me as well as the rest of His body.
I've always been single. This is a great excuse for not allowing myself to be weak. What about the adult who was an abused child? the adult who was bullied in junior high? the adult male who wasn't into sports as a child, but preferred music or reading? The list goes on. Could we possibly meet ANYONE who has no reason to put on a tough exterior to hide their weakness?
Yet, He has said His grace is sufficient for us and His power is perfected in our weakness. Do we REALLY believe it? I'm jobless at this time. Do you think I want to appear to be weak, especially as I look for possible jobs and see few, if any, that truly 'fit' what I'd LIKE to do? We fear being taken advantage of if we exhibit our weakness...even by God...even by the Church.
Yet, He longs for us to allow Him to unleash His power in us. He longs, more than that, I suspect, that we would TRUST Him. I'm not sure we remember how, as we've been so self-sufficient. But, He is faithful, even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). Isaiah (11:3) said, "He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear." We westerners are not in the habit of applying this verse to ourselves. We, for the most part, trust our ears and eyes far more than we trust Him. We've trusted more in our 401K's than we've trusted in Him. Our brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries have much more experience at this AND 2 Cor 12:9, as they've had much taken away from them that has made them 'strong' in and of themselves. I fear this is the only way most of will let go of our 'faux strength' and let Him become our strength. He is, after all, no respecter of persons, is He? May we choose NOW to expose our weakness to the One Who is full of strength and longs to operate it in and through us, as, in Heaven, that opportunity (to choose) will be over. O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Ps 8:9)
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
No Expiration Date!
One of the verses I pray for the suffering church is Acts 16:25 ~ But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; so, I pray that my brothers and sisters who are in prison will pray and sing hymns of praise to God, that the other prisoners would hear them, and be encouraged and/or saved. I've prayed this many times, but today as I did, it came to mind that even though Paul wrote this verse some 2,000 years ago, it didn't expire. It can be, and probably is, as applicable today as it was then. Of course, this is true of most verses in the Bible, but it just hit me today in a way it hadn't before. (Don't you just love it when He does that?)
We're used to lots of things having an expiration date on them...food, prescriptions, hmmm...what else? But the Word of God never expires. It never has and it never will. Hebrews 4:12 (one of my favorite verses) says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." God is eternal and so is His Word. Indeed, John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So the Word is as eternal as He is, for the Word is with Him and IS Him. Wow...that's utterly amazing, don't you think?
Our present culture is defined well by two words: 'instant' and 'disposable.' We have become used to having most of what we want NOW! And, when we tire of it or use it up, we just throw it away. There is rarely much more thought given to it. We just buy a replacement. I grew up before life became so much that way and the generation before me grew up at the end of the depression. Therefore, they threw little away unless there was absolutely no value left in the item. Many never learned to throw anything away, as they'd had to do without a lot that we've since taken for granted .
How much of this have we applied to other things that we should not have applied it to? How about human life? If you 'accidentally' get pregnant, you just toss it away and conveniently call that unborn baby a 'blob of tissue.' This helps ease your conscience. If you meet someone you're very attracted to, why wait to get married? You can go ahead and have sex now! Why wait? After all, why should we have to wait for anything? We're so special!
We apply it to the Word of God as well. Sadly, many of today's believers are unfamiliar with the Old Testament. So, if you use an Old Testament verse to exhort another believer with, they'll often say, 'That's Old Testament, so it doesn't apply today.' It is true that you need to look at the context of the verse, yet I find that many verses written to Israel (in the Old Testament) also have application to the Church of the New Testament. This is getting lengthy, so I won't give too many examples, but let's take Proverb 8:33 "Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it." And how about Isaiah 55:8 "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD." How about Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him?" Do you really think these are not for the Church as well as for Israel? I do. Let us not put an expiration date on that which has none!
We're used to lots of things having an expiration date on them...food, prescriptions, hmmm...what else? But the Word of God never expires. It never has and it never will. Hebrews 4:12 (one of my favorite verses) says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." God is eternal and so is His Word. Indeed, John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." So the Word is as eternal as He is, for the Word is with Him and IS Him. Wow...that's utterly amazing, don't you think?
Our present culture is defined well by two words: 'instant' and 'disposable.' We have become used to having most of what we want NOW! And, when we tire of it or use it up, we just throw it away. There is rarely much more thought given to it. We just buy a replacement. I grew up before life became so much that way and the generation before me grew up at the end of the depression. Therefore, they threw little away unless there was absolutely no value left in the item. Many never learned to throw anything away, as they'd had to do without a lot that we've since taken for granted .
How much of this have we applied to other things that we should not have applied it to? How about human life? If you 'accidentally' get pregnant, you just toss it away and conveniently call that unborn baby a 'blob of tissue.' This helps ease your conscience. If you meet someone you're very attracted to, why wait to get married? You can go ahead and have sex now! Why wait? After all, why should we have to wait for anything? We're so special!
We apply it to the Word of God as well. Sadly, many of today's believers are unfamiliar with the Old Testament. So, if you use an Old Testament verse to exhort another believer with, they'll often say, 'That's Old Testament, so it doesn't apply today.' It is true that you need to look at the context of the verse, yet I find that many verses written to Israel (in the Old Testament) also have application to the Church of the New Testament. This is getting lengthy, so I won't give too many examples, but let's take Proverb 8:33 "Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it." And how about Isaiah 55:8 "“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD." How about Isaiah 30:18 "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him?" Do you really think these are not for the Church as well as for Israel? I do. Let us not put an expiration date on that which has none!
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