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GOD’S VALENTINE.021415

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“God loved (loves) the world so much that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes (trusts) in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[e] believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one,  .  .  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”  John 17:20, 23

To them [His saints] God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27

Happy Valentine’s Day!

God’s Word in Your Heart.021315

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Psalm 119:11; David said, “Your words have I hidden in my heart, so I might not sin against You.”  (‘Hidden in my heart’ just HAS to mean that I’ve memorized it.)

Deut. 6:6, Moses said, as a part of the Jewish Creed, the Shemah, “These Words shall be in your heart.”  (as in “I know that by heart, I’ve memorized it.”)

Joshua 1:8; Joshua says, “This Book of the Law (God’s Word) shall not depart out of your  mouth, but you shall meditate on it both day and night, so you can do all that is written in it.”  (I bet if you meditate on something day and night, you’ll memorize it without even trying.)

Psalm 1:2; David says, [God’s man] “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates both day and night.” (same as Joshua)

Hebrews 4:12-13; “The Word of God is quick (alive) and powerful, sharper that any two-edged sword, piercing, to the dividing in two, of the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

I’ve got a theory.  If God’s Word is like what it says in Heb. 4:12, and we hide God’s Word in our heart, (memorize it) then the discernment that is in His Word is in our hearts, and we can see, on some level, the thoughts and the intents of peoples’ hearts; (not just other peoples’ hearts, but also our own.)  I’m sure there are a lot of wise, scholarly pastors and teachers of God’s Word who would disagree with me, but if the Holy Spirit of the Living God is dwelling in us, then it seems reasonable to believe, even trust, that the discernment of the Living God could and would be dwelling in us as well.  For me, this is a very BIG reason for us to memorize scripture.  Because if we can discern the thoughts and intentions of peoples’ hearts, then we can know what we really need to pray for, for them.  Our intercession goes waaay up on the effectiveness scale.

Someone said that the reason we pray is for us to get to know God, for Himself, not just for what He can do.  Hiding God’s Word in our hearts and meditating on those Words both day and night, will surely draw us closer to God and allow us to know Him better.

BEAR FRUIT? 021215

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In John 15:5-8: Jesus says to his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Galatians 5:22 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  Matthew 28:19, in Jesus’ Great Commission, He says, in part, “Go make disciples  .  .  .”   What is fruit?  Fruit is two things: 1] the fruit of the Spirit; and 2] disciples we help God bring to Jesus.  If you are filled with the Spirit, [1] you will bear (show, demonstrate, produce) the fruits of the Spirit. You’ll act and talk nice, you’ll be happy and giving and forgiving; you will exhibit the characteristics of love that are discussed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “the Love Chapter”.   AND  [2]  You can’t help but tell what you’ve seen and heard about Jesus. (see Acts 4:20) When you do that, others will come to know Jesus; they will become disciples of Jesus; they will become the fruit of your discipleship. Jesus says, in Luke 9:23, “If you want to be my disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross (die to your sinful nature) daily, and follow Me.”  That’s what it means when it says in John 15, “If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”

I was going to ask, “How do we bear fruit?”, but Jesus already answered it.  So let me add:  God picked us (Christian brothers and sisters) before the foundations of the earth to be His, to be surrendered to Him, to do His will, so He will be glorified, and He will give us whatever we ask because we bear much fruit.  Talk about being in tune with the Spirit!  Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!

 

Cares and Deceit.021115

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In Matthew 13: 1-9 and 18-23, Jesus tells the parable of the “Sower”.  He tells the story of the farmer casting seeds; some fell near the road and the birds ate them; some fell in the rocks, but because the soil was thin, when the sun came they withered away; some fell in the thorns and the thorns choked them out; and some fell on fertile ground and they bore fruit, 30, 60 and 100 times as much as was planted.

I want to talk about the seed that feel in the thorns; in verse 22, Jesus says, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and he becomes unfruitful.           Seems like most of the people I know who claim to believe in Jesus, here in 2015 America; fall in ‘Category No. Three’ of this parable: “Those who hear the Word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and they become unfruitful.”

What cares?  Work. Busy-ness. Stress. Taxes.  Fear. Sickness. Worry. Sometimes we’re like Chicken Little, running around saying , “The sky is falling. The sky is falling!”.  Sometimes it seems like the sky really IS falling.

What deceit? (lies from the devil)  The lies about how money will solve all our problems.  Then we can have cattle in the bank and money out West.  We can travel, and dance and sing and party to our heart’s content.  We can have all kinds of stuff we can use for 15 minutes and then stack in the closet or the garage to get in the way.  We can have big stuff that requires care, maintenance, repair and expense on a regular basis, so much that we don’t know how we’ll pay for it.

What’s wrong with all this?  It distracts us from God.  Cares and lies.  How do we fix it?  We quit focusing on the cares and stuff and start focusing on God.  We “trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will take care of us.” (See Proverbs 3:5-6)  Then we really can ‘bear fruit’ to the glory of God.

God’s Servant.021015

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In 2 Timothy 2: 24-26, Paul says to Timothy, (Tex’s paraphrase)  “God’s servant must not argue, but be gentle, ready and able to teach, patient (as in ‘love suffers long’), humbly teaching those who oppose him; maybe God will let them see and accept the truth, so they can escape the trap of the devil, and stop doing his will.”

Do you feel the love in this verse?  It follows the “Love Chapter” I Corinthians 13. ‘Don’t argue with them’; that’s the part about not demanding your own way.  ‘Gentle’; that’s all about being kind, not irritable or grouchy, not boastful or proud or rude.  ‘Ready and able to teach’; loving enough to put up with them ‘not getting it’; to continue telling them the truth.  ‘Humbly’– when they say something mean and tacky, you don’t have to gig ‘em back; because the Spirit in you can believe the best for them, hope the best for them, and never give up praying for them.

This works; even for little kids and teenagers (LOL!); sometimes even for old people who never really grew up.  ‘Course the whole point is that you can do these things only when your heart is totally surrendered to God, so that it is not you that’s doing anything, but God’s Holy Spirit, Who is pouring through you, leading you and them into all truth.

What Shall We Do? 020915

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AT PENTECOST: Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”  Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”   Acts 2:37-39

DURING JESUS’ EARTHLY MINISTRY: Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe [trust, rely on, and have faith in] Him whom He sent.”  John 6:28-29

The simplified version of this question is: What shall we do to get right with God?  And the answer is: Give up and trust Him!!! What is the work you do for God?  Trust Him.  ‘Repent’ in Peter’s words is the same as ‘trust’ in Jesus’ words.  ‘Baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins’ is the same as ‘accept and proclaim that’ “you believe (trust in) Jesus whom God sent”, and [in His substitutionary sacrifice for YOU].

Jesus didn’t say the part about the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit was not yet sent, but Peter did, because he was experiencing the Gift of Holy Spirit at that very moment.  “For the promise [really] is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off.”  Just so you’ll know, we need to renew our commitment to Jesus not only in the beginning of our personal relationship with God, but also every day.

YOKES and RELIEF.020815

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And He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart (humble), and you shall find rest unto your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Matthew 11:29

What do you have to do to get relief?  Take Jesus’s yoke .  .  .  What does that mean?  What is a yoke anyway?  A yoke is a piece of wooden harness people in underdeveloped countries still use  to control their oxen and mules and donkeys.  It fits around their necks and they chain the wagon or the plow to the yoke so the oxen can pull it.  There’s a ‘single-tree’ yoke (for one cow or mule), and there’s a ‘double-tree’ yoke for two oxen or donkeys to pull together.  In that case there’s a beam (wooden pole) that hooks the two ‘yokes’ together.  So if you ‘take Jesus’s yoke’ on you, you are making yourself available to do His work, to carry His load.

Sounds like work; but it’s not so much a physical yoke, as it is a spiritual yoke.  And being yoked with Jesus can’t be all bad.  Sounds like if you’re going to help Jesus bear His burdens; He’s gonna help you bear yours; sometimes it even feels good to pull the load when everything is working right, and you’re doing it together.  Especially when Jesus says, “For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”  It’s almost humorous; considering I’m always thinking, “My yoke is always rubbing me the wrong way; and my burden always feels so heavy and unbearable.”

If you think, as do the wise and prudent, that you’re in control, and you’re gonna make everything turn out like you want it to (by doing all the right things the right way), you may be in for a rude awakening.  (See Matt 11:25)

On the other hand, if you’re a baby (a little child), and you know how bad you need help, God through Jesus will reveal Himself to you, and reveal all the things you need to live a happy, fulfilled life.  And you’ll know that taking Jesus’ yoke, His Spirit and His discipline on you (being willing to do whatever Jesus wants), is exactly what you’ve been waiting for and hoping for, all your life.  That’s relief!

 

Babes and Revelation. 020715

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Jesus says, “Thank you Father, Lord of [all], that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes. (infants).” Matt. 11:25  What is this passage really saying to us, here in affluent 21st Century America?

Who are the ‘wise and prudent’?  They are the well-educated and disciplined, the intelligent and self-controlled, the properly trained, socially acceptable, law-abiding.  Just the kind of people the world wants to know.  Jesus says, “Thank you Father, that You wanted to hide the truth about You from those people.  I’m glad; I agree with you!” (Tex’s paraphrase)

And then He says: “revealed them to babes.”  Just the opposite.  How unwise and un-prudent can you get?  Babes not only haven’t learned.  They’re totally untrained, totally helpless, totally undisciplined, totally uncontrolled, totally undeserving, totally unable to figure out what’s going on.  And God, the Father, with Jesus, the Son applauding, revealed these things to people who don’t know how to row; they can’t even find the boat.  Maybe, probably, ‘babes’ includes people who are poor, people who don’t quite get it; don’t quite have it; mentally or emotionally, psychologically or socially.

The best part is ‘revealed‘.  God didn’t make ’em go to college; take a pilgrimage, or fast or pray, or beg for mercy.  He just revealed it to them.  Why?  Because He was looking at their hearts, and He knew they’d be genuinely glad to receive the truth and the light and the miracles of Jesus.  He knew they’d respond by trusting Him to take care of them.  He knew they were the ‘fertile ground’ that was waiting to receive the seed of His truth.  Hallelu Jah!

And then Jesus says, “No one knows Me except the Father, and no one know the Father except Me, and those to whom I choose to reveal Him.” Jesus chose to reveal God (by instant transmission, a flash of Light) to those babes.  Guess the best we can hope for is to be one of the babes.  I’m afraid I don’t know how to act like a babe, much less be one.  I can only hope Jesus will reveal Himself to me, in spite of myself.

You know what’s so great about revelation?  You don’t have to work at it.  It just sorta comes to you.  Usually when you’re not even looking; not even expecting it.  Babes get revelation (from Jesus).  How do you get it?  You “humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

David Trusted God.020615

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In “The Twenty-third Psalm”, David says, “The LORD is my shepherd;  I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures;    He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

What is this passage really about?  It’s about what happens when you really trust God.  In Acts 13:22,  it says that David was a man after God’s own heart.  What did David do to touch God’s heart?  He trusted Him.  He fought lions and wolves, because he knew God was taking care of him.  Heck, he fought Goliath, calling him an uncircumcised Philistine, and whipped him, because David knew God was taking care of him.  He trusted that God would take care of him his whole life, even when he did really bad stupid things like go to bed with Bathsheba and then have her husband Uriah killed in battle.  In spite of David being a ‘regular’ person who sinned like the rest of us, God called him “A man after My Own Heart”, because he trusted Him.  The 23rd Psalm is David telling what happens when you trust God, when you really and truly, with all your heart, trust God.

ALL YOUR WAYS? 020515

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In Proverbs 3:5-6, Solomon says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

So what does it mean? ‘In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths?’  ‘All your ways’ means ALL.  All your hopes, all your dreams, all your desires; all your heartaches, all your frustrations, all your disappointments; job, school, church politics; the dance on Friday night; on your wedding day; when your kid dies; this is about your momma and your daddy, your brothers and sisters, your friend that’s closer than a brother; your husband and your wife; your kids, the good ones and the ones that went astray; for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, forever.  Sounds like getting married?  It is, except more so.  This doesn’t just last till ‘death do us part’.  It’s forever.

I’ve looked up ‘acknowledge’ in the dictionary, and it  is defined as “1] to admit to be real or true; recognize the existence, truth, or fact of: 2] to show or express recognition or realization of: [as in, “Oh, I get it!”];  3] to recognize the authority, validity, or claims of:  4] to show or express appreciation or gratitude for.

Hebrews 11:6 says, in part, “anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  “Acknowledge Him” then, must mean to admit that God is real and true, to recognize His authority; and be glad for what He’s done; He will reward you by telling you where to go and what to do, and He’ll take care of you when you mess up.  He’ll direct your paths.