No Reluctance
How well do you know God as your Father?
Have you ever been online shopping and found something you were looking for that you knew the value of and when you noticed how ridiculously low priced it was you struggled to say yes to it?
The reluctance to “pull the trigger” so to speak, is rooted in a suspicion of it being real. It’s just too good to be true. How, or why, would anyone sell such an item at such a low price when it sells everywhere else for way more than they are saying they would take for it.
We wrestle with things in life due to suspicion much more than we might realize. Suspicion is the opposite of trust. If I trust someone I am not suspicious of them. If I lose trust I become suspicious. Whenever we are hurt, disappointed or feel let down by someone because what we expected them to be, or to do, that did not come to pass we are prone to lose a measure of trust in them.
I struggle to trust mechanics. Most people I know say they struggle to find one they can trust. I’ve been ripped off before by shops claiming to give good service at a reasonable price. It makes it hard to trust after that happens to you.
Our ability to just respond to them making their promises gets harder and harder each time our expectation fo them is not met.
This phenomenon happens to believers in the call to believe God and take Him at His word. You see whenever someone has been misled by their own desires and expectations they placed on God, as opposed to discovering more about who He truly is and what He is truly like, they wind up disappointed that things didn’t turn out as they had planned. When God does not perform according to they misguided idea of Him, they become hurt. But it is not God who hurt them, it is their reluctance to take the time to get to know the truth concerning Him as opposed to seeing Him only the way they wish to. It is misguided expectations or notions about Him that complicate things.
For instance, did you know that there is no reluctance in heaven as it pertains to God being Himself and doing all He has actually said He would do?
When our faith and expectation align with who He truly is and what He has truly promised He will do, heaven is not reluctant to see it come to pass. All the angels and other created beings of heaven trust God and take Him at His word and do whatever He says needs to be, and should be done. They do this with no reluctance. They do not question His wisdom in it, they simply immediately do whatever He has declared needs to be done. They know His motives are always perfect.
Reluctance is not a trait of the kingdom of God. It is a trait of the flesh and of those who live outside the kingdom of God. God will be who He is to you and I every time. He will also do according to what He has promised to you or I. He will be and do without any reluctance on His part. As a Father who loves us He desires that we get to know Him better so we better understand who He is and what His ways are. Our reluctance towards His will for our lives will always spring out of a lack of trust, and trust cannot go any further than the truth we’ve come to know concerning Him.
To be led by the Spirit we must grow in this way so we can trust at deeper levels and break free from our suspicions which fuel a reluctance to act. I encourage you to spend time with each day discovering more about who He truly is according to how He has revealed Himself through Jesus.
The Blessing Of Right Distraction
There’s such a thing as healthy distraction
Have you ever noticed that the more you dwell on a particular thing the more intense your awareness of it becomes?
I remember as a kid that if I hurt myself and I was bleeding that the more I focused on the bleeding and played the incident back through my mind the worse the situation became. My shock and initial yelp would evolve into a torrent of tears, sobbing and moans as though I might be dying.
Naturally I was in no danger of losing my life, just a thimble of blood and some play time were all that were at stake. But my dwelling on it often resulted in a loss of much more time than it should have. Amazingly, we can choose how we will frame any particular incident in life. The more dramatic we make it, the more time and energy it will claim by making it more difficult to overcome.
I had a coach who greatly helped me with accidents and pain. He taught me how to focus on something else so I could take my mind off what was happening and get through it much quicker. I am forever grateful to that man. He didn’t ask me to pretend it never happened, he just wanted me to not allow it to become more than it really was.
Now this correlates to our spiritual well being and progress. You see when we experience set backs, problems, or painful disappointments we can choose to play it back over and over again allowing it to grow larger, or we can focus our attention on the One who can help us.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Looking unto Jesus! I love that phrase in the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible.
A group of people were experiencing strong temptations, persecutions and threats of setbacks. They were being tempted to go backward, not forward. But they were encouraged to let themselves get distracted by looking at Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of their faith. There is something powerful about setting our gaze and thoughts on Jesus. It makes everything happening seem small by comparison and the temptations seem silly to us when we see His beauty before us.
Isn’t that what we all need in chaotic, painful and confusing times? I encourage you today to take a good long look at Jesus and see if it doesn’t have the power to ease the pain clear the confusion and release some joy in your soul. Such is the Benefit of Distraction when you are distracted by Him.
In My Name
Do you know what “In My Name” is really about?
Have you ever wondered what “In My Name” really means? It is widely used by multitudes in the church to end prayers and supposedly command things to happen. But is that really what it is about?
In a way, you could say that Jesus’ name has largely been treated like an incantation.
John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
This has confused some over the generations who have treated “In My Name” as being a phrase to add to the end of a prayer in order to guarantee the desired outcome, or to command things to happen. But, many have used the name in that manner and nothing happened. So some became disillusioned about prayer being answered or about the believers’ authority in Christ. The Bible testifies that hope deferred makes the heart sick. So to me, it is of great importance that we better understand what this is all about.
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
The name of Jesus is not an incantation to be used to get a desired outcome. It is not the magic phrase that makes God want to do something He might otherwise be disinclined to do. Jesus modeled it for us.
John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.
Now, to my knowledge there is no place in all of the Gospels where we find Jesus saying “In the Father’s Name.” When He is healing the sick, or raising the dead, performing miracles, or casting out demons, there’s no record of Jesus saying “in the name of the Father.” But we just read that Jesus manifested the name of the Father to the men He had been given.
The desire of the Holy Spirit is that we would be in such close fellowship with all three of the Godhead that our desires would reflect theirs just as Jesus’ desires reflected the Father’s.
That is why being unsure of God’s will cannot be overridden by adding, “In Jesus Name” to the end of a prayer or command. Adding the name does not activate our faith in Him. When Jesus said you will ask whatever you will “In My Name” and it will be done for you, He was not speaking of worldly desires being fulfilled by use of a magic phrase. Jesus was saying when you are determined to represent Me and you are asking for something rooted in what you’ve come to know about Me, it will be done for you. You see, when you know who He is, and you’re confident in knowing His ways, you have faith to speak and to act. (Acts 3:1-16) Peter and John knew Jesus well. They acted based on their knowing Him and knowing His desire. They did for the lame man what they knew Jesus would do. It resulted in a great miracle that opened a door of opportunity for them to preach the gospel.
In other words, you will be backed up when you are representing Jesus in your life! You and I are called to live in the power of “In My Name.”
He Sent His Word
God speaks healing to you today
When it comes to wanting to know what the Father is like there are glorious evidences of His goodness throughout Scripture if we can observe it.
For instance, way back long, long ago when Israel was in slavery God very mercifully determined their time in that situation had come to an end. So He set in motion His plan to deliver them. He used Moses as His vessel to go to Pharaoh and intercede for their release from slavery. Through a series of 10 plagues that God sent against Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let them go, they left Egypt. But they did not leave destitute bedraggled and unable to make the journey God was taking them on. They left healthy, wealthy and free.
It truly is amazing to to see how the Egyptians were so eager to see them go they gave them gold and goods for the journey, they just wanted them gone.
In the Psalms it says the following about that moment in history as the Israelites went out.
Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
God made sure they were physically well when leaving their bondage behind. He even delivered them from their destructions. In other words God did a complete work of setting them free. So free they would never again go back into bondage to the Egyptians.
Even way back then there was something in the heart of God that desired to see His children being and doing well. There is no sickness in heaven and no one there is destitute, beaten down or dismayed. All sickness and discouragement is a direct result of the fall of man that gave sin a place here on this earth. It came under the curse of the fall. But God has seen fit to intervene as it pertains to that curse and bring healing on all fronts. He offers you spiritual, emotional and physical healing in His Son Jesus Christ.
The truth of Who He is and what He is like simply needs to be activated in the heart and the soul needs to be washed with the truth not only about His ability to heal, but also about His willingness to do so.
So based on who Jesus is and what Jesus is like and revealed the father to be like, I speak healing to you today in all three areas of your life. I declare that He who loves you is not only able to heal you, He is willing and desiring to do so. Go and have a blessed day today in His name and always. His grace and peace be with you.
Empowering Grace
You will never be unequipped to do whatever God might ask of you
I have a complete set of very helpful battery operated tools that I use often. They serve me well and enable me to complete a job effectively and efficiently.
I am very glad I have such tools when I am doing a project. I am able to achieve my goal of completing it much quicker and simpler than I otherwise might be able to do it.
To me, those tools serve as an example of empowering grace. If I had to do the same job using an older style tool it would involve more of my own energy and time. The challenge of completing it would be much greater and possibly discourage me from even wanting to attempt it. But with the empowering grace of a good tool the hope of completion in a timely and effective manner makes the prospect a bit more appealing than it might otherwise be.
When you came to Christ you received empowering grace. You received a grace that connects you to a vast array of helpful tools that are effective and make the challenge of doing the will of God in your life more appealing. You see He will never ask you do anything He will not give you what you need to do.
I’ve listened to people over the years talk about the will of God and some have said things like, “never say never to God or you will find yourself doing exactly what you said you will never do.” They say such things with a tone of dread like it is a warning meant to help me, or others, avoid God’s malicious intention to make us pay for saying never.
But is that really what God is like? Is that an accurate representation of who He is and how He is towards His children? Because of these types of ideas being bandied about in the body of Christ some have been discouraged from desiring to know the will of God for fear what it might mean to them in the way of hardships and difficulties. It is a sad commentary on who God is as a loving Father who is for us and never against us.
You’ve been given the Promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, who empowers you to know Jesus more fully. He also connects you with everything you need to be able to do what He reveals He has planned for your life.
Nothing will ever be too hard for you if you learn to walk in His empowering grace. Walking in empowering grace encourages you to go deeper in trusting Him in all things and every situation. But if His goodness and faithfulness is allowed to be brought into question trust is hindered by a suspicion of His intention. He worked out the way for you to have the promise of eternity with Him along with a promise of hope for better things. Why would He after all that decide to be mischievous towards you and do things to torment you?
Your Father is good all the time and He offers to you an empowering grace today through Jesus that will equip you to not only know, but to be able to do, according to His good will and pleasure regarding you. I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit give you revelation of such things today so you can be about the Father’s business just as Jesus was. His will is always what’s best for you! There’s blessing in knowing and doing His will by His empowering grace.
The Wisdom Of Favor
There’s a wisdom to favor you need to be aware of always
Have you ever noticed how easy it can be to make a bad decision on something major because the wisdom of God was never sought in it and then turn around and blame God for a bad outcome?
This happens often. I know I have done it before. I have been faced with an important decision to make and thought I knew best what to do and did not even consider asking the Father about it. After all it was just something practical so why bother Him? But after making my own decision about it, and later regretting it due to it not turning out as expected, I found myself wondering why God let it happen.
Truth is He will let me have my own way if I want it. He will not force me to decide according to His wisdom. He will gladly and willingly give me His wisdom when I ask for it but He will not shove it down my throat so to speak.
I’ve seen this happen to people over relationships, houses, cars, employment, etc.
As soon as I think I am smart enough on my own to plow ahead and do my thing without taking advantage of the relationship I now have with my Father who knows all things, I tend to end up regretting it.
Sometimes along the way, there were times I thought I knew His wisdom on a matter and it still did not turn out the way I had hoped. I discovered I was not really hearing Him on it, I was hearing my own voice or the enemies voice and not discerning the difference. It was used, none the less by Him, to teach me how to discern the difference. So what was a momentary inconvenience or very disappointing hardship became a wonderful life and relationship lesson for my benefit. The more I get to know Him and His ways the better I know His voice.
I’ve done it myself, and know others who have made choices on their own and then been upset with God as though He should have stopped it from happening. He could have intervened and made all this go away. The more a grow in my understanding of having His favor, which is a grace walk, I realize most of my hardships I have brought on myself by not taking advantage of the access to His wisdom I have been freely offered. He is using every situation in my life to help me grow in relationship with Him. He is not causing any of the bad things to happen. But He will even use a bad thing of my own making to bring me into a deeper understanding that turns me to Him.
Think of what I am saying this way, it’s like having a professional mechanic as a dad and when your car breaks down you determine you will fix it yourself without even letting him know about it. He would gladly help you with it if you asked, but you want to do it yourself. In a healthy relationship there’s a humility that honors the other person and respects their wisdom. When that is truly active you ego to that person for advice and guidance.
Favor grants you the permission to go to your Father on any and every major decision you will ever make. He has already given you Helper in the Holy Spirit who is always with you to guide you if you will only allow Him to function in your life. Your Father greatly loves you. He is there for you. He’s given you His favor so you can approach anytime about everything happening in your life. I hope you’ll take heart and take advantage of His amazing wisdom of favor today and always. Have a blessed day!
Savor Your Tremendous Favor
You have tremendous favor that you need to savor
When thinking about what it looks like to have favor with God can anyone look beyond Jesus for an example?
Jesus walked in favor with His Father. Yet when we look at the things that unfolded in Jesus’ life we discover that not everyone liked Jesus.
The religious leaders hated Him. The town where the man with lots of demons lived whom Jesus set free asked Jesus to leave their territory.
Jesus spoke of places He had been to and His testimony didn’t sound to favorable based on how they had rejected Him.
Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Jesus, although he abided in favor with God His Father still experienced being rejected. Even His own brothers rejected Him.
John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
Favor does not pave an easy straight street under our feet and then line with extra exuberant cheerleaders on both sides who are always for us. But favor will at times open doors of opportunity for us and will always make it possible to commune with the Father at any and all times.
Knowing you have favor with God can produce favor with others. It doesn’t produce it with every single person you will ever meet but it will produce it with many who are sensitive the presence of God and moved by it. Knowing you have God’s favor to the point you are walking more and more confident increases the fragrance of Christ in your life.
2Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.
When it comes to favor there’s nothing better or greater than having it with God and truly knowing you have it with Him. It will shield you against the rejections of others when you know you are loved by the One who truly matters most. It can also aid you in connecting with the right people in life as you discover who along the way is moved by the favor you are walking in with Jesus and the Father.
Savor the favor today and always!
Favor Applied
Do you know how to take advantage of God’s favor in every situation?
When we think of the favor of God that is ours now through Christ we should think of it in terms of how it brings us near to God and gives us ready access.
The grace we have received is meant to make that a reality 24/7 in our lives.
Now what grace is not guaranteed to do is shield us from any every situation life may throw our way. Being in the favor of God does not mean everything will go well 100% of the time so that we are never inconvenienced in any way.
In fact, Jesus promised that in this world we would have trials and tribulations. But thankfully He added that we should be of good cheer because He had overcome the world.
We will experience some rough patches in our journey of life, times when we are persecuted, misunderstood, inconvenienced in some ay or another, touched by the effects sin has had on this world and systems. But this does not take us out of favor with God or establish His favor is not at work in our lives.
It is in such times that the favor we’ve been given is powerfully activated because it allows us to run to Him freely to find mercy to help us in our time of need.
You see for the Bible to say we will have times of need should immediately let us know that favor is not about eliminating any and all situations that would potentially put us in place of need.
So long as we draw breath our faith will continually be needed and activated with regard to what it means to turn to our Father for mercy to help. Our faith will be activated in the area of our relationship to Him as well in the area of giving Him praise, and thanking Him for His faithfulness and goodness.
You are loved today and always with an everlasting love that will never fade. The throne of grace is open to you 24/7 365 days a year and 366 on a leap year. He will not turn His face away from you because the Son of His amazing love lives within you. You have favor today and always and despite whatever difficult thing you might be going through right now. I encourage you to receive His love and take advantage of His favor in your life today.
Of His Fullness
Where does your confidence in knowing God as Father come from?
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
The Logos of God became flesh. Jesus was the embodiment of the heart of God the Father. Because God’s word conveyed His heart.
That word came and dwelt among us! Mankind witnessed His glory too! A glory of closeness with the Father as a Son never before witness in humanity. This Son was full of grace and truth.
Jesus was full of something! He was full of favor with God because that is what grace is. He was of favor as the Son of God. He was full of truth as the word made flesh!
John testifies that of the fullness of Jesus we have all received and grace for grace. We are given favor to get favor. Why so we can experience the relationship with the Father Jesus knows and experienced. Jesus prayed in John 17 we would share in that same glory as He had with the Father.
The next verses are intriguing as well. Moses was the one the law was given through. Moses was the vessel for ushering in the Law Covenant which stood in force until the cross took place.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jesus brought us a New Covenant in which grace is our entrance and keeping in relationship with God and truth is our guide in living out our time here on this earth.
Now we need to understand that Jesus came to set the record straight on the Father. Jesus was the only One who could truly do that because Jesus was the only One who had truly seen the Father and knew Him from the right perspective. Only the perspective of Jesus regarding the Father is perfect. So we are wise to take to heart what Jesus says concerning Him and how Jesus walked to reveal Him. Jesus declared the Father!
Jesus went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. Jesus was demonstrating what the Father was like and the Father was and will always be good. He is a gracious and kind Father to those who are His. He loves with an everlasting love and He sent His Son to forever fix the issue of broken fellowship and relationship with us. My right standing with the Father is only through Jesus according to the grace He has given to me and my knowing of the Father is to be according to the truth Jesus is and He revealed concerning Him. Looking unto Jesus the author and the Finisher of our faith! Jesus only Jesus! I will forever praise Him!
The Beauty of Favor
What gives you a right to know God?
Whenever we talk about grace we are actually talking about unmerited favor with God.
This unmerited favor has never been earned by any human being. It is a gift. When we hear of it with regard to Noah it say, “Noah found grace.” Think about that for a moment. Noah discovered something that existed on his behalf that he had never seen or understood before. So what was the grace Noah found?
Relationship with God. Noah heard God speak and he, by faith, acted on what he heard because he believed. Noah found grace. Noah realized God wanted to engage in fellowship with him and Noah engaged in return. Noah accepted the invitation initiated by God. The same is true of Abraham the Old Testament prophetic picture of faith and grace.
It is then that the whole righteousness by faith understanding enters the picture with regard to how God works.
Abraham believed and it accredited to him as righteousness. Another way to say that is Abraham believed God was real and really had invited him into relationship with Himself and God made it possible by imputing righteousness to Abraham. Abraham did not earn it, nor did Noah. You did not earn it, nor have I.
Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Grace is unmerited favor!
Now this is a much bigger deal than many take the time to realize. This is what guarantees our continual relationship access with God and it has been secured for us through the obedience of Christ Jesus. Jesus is the gateway into this grace and He has secured an eternal grace for us.
The purpose for Jesus securing it for us is not so we can become the most popular among our peers and have everyone on this earth think we are special. It is so that we can have access and experience wide open unhindered access into a glorious privilege of fellowship with God.
Everything Jesus did points to the great privilege of knowing God and being in right relationship with Him. Without the favor of grace there would be no continual fellowship with God. The privilege would not exist. That is the beauty of favor! You and I get to know God as He wishes to reveal Himself and has revealed Himself through Jesus His Son. We now get to know Him as sons. We get to know Him as privileged ones. Privileged because we were born into this glorious position by an invitation from Him based on the merits of Jesus! Oh the beauty of favor! I do hope you will take time to enjoy this marvelous privilege today and always.
You Have Favor
What do you base your sense of well being on?
I know it isn’t Christmas time but I need to bring to our attention something I feel is very important and encouraging to think about. Luke 1:28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
Now that verse seems okay until you unpack the context Mary was living in. She was a young Jewish girl living in Nazareth under very difficult circumstances and being oppressed by the Roman Government at the time. In most cases many would argue she was anything but blessed and highly favored when you look at the conditions in which she had to live her life.
So, what if she had compared herself with others that lived at a much higher level of comfort and prosperity than she did, and determined her perspective would be shaped by these comparisons?
Thankfully, Mary chose to believe the angel despite the hardships she was under and accepted the invitation to become the mother of Jesus.
The measure of our happiness is not to be determined by the things we possess, or the level of living we can accrue in this life. It is definitely not to be found by comparing ourselves with others. It is best if it is determined by the blessing of life we have received in Christ Jesus. That’s the foundation of all lasting joy.
So I encourage you today to never allow your perspective to be colored by your surroundings, circumstances or by trying to compare with others. Such things are never permanent anyway. Let your perspective be determined by His love for you today and always!
Go and have the richly blessed day He’s ordained for you because you too are now favored and blessed in Jesus Christ.
The Pipeline of Faith
We all understand how pipes deliver things to us like water, fuel, and other needed day to day things. Faith is the pipeline of heaven.
Mark 7:25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” 28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
A table symbolizes a place of receiving provision for life and health. It symbolizes abundance, connection, fellowship and joy. For this woman, even the crumbs from His table would be a blessing. To her, to be a dog getting the crumbs would be a blessing. Thus when we as His children have a place at the table we are very thankful. The table He sets is never empty. He sets us a table in the presence of our enemy! He wants the enemy to see how abundantly He has provided for us and how faithfully He cares for us. It is like rubbing salt in the enemy’s eyes. That is why we openly give praise to God for what we expect to receive from His table. We need at this point to give heed to something Scripture testifies to in,
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Everything to do with the kingdom begins at the point of faith for us. Everything flows to us through the pipeline of faith. No pipeline, no flow. No one goes to the table unless they believe there’s something for them and they will be welcomed to it. The Greek woman whose daughter was delivered bears witness to the willingness of Jesus, and Jesus is a witness to the willingness of the Father. She heard about Him and believed what she heard and went to where He was. She did not allow her own estimation of her unworthiness determine it for her, she based her decision and determination on His goodness and willingness, and she received according to her faith.
Her faith was not based on the thing she desired to see happen. Her faith was based on what she had heard concerning the kindness, goodness, ability and willingness of Jesus. Her faith was in His character and nature, not the outcome itself. She had heard He was loving and gracious and was able and willing to heal and deliver those who were coming to Him. Her faith brought her to Him. Everything we could ever need is found in Him and faith seeks to make us aware of Him and aware of what He is truly like.
You are loved today and always by your faithful gracious Heavenly Father. By coming to His Son Jesus in faith to be forgiven and made alive you became His child supernaturally and He is for you not against you. Everything in His kingdom is accessed by faith in Him. Faith is the pipeline through which His virtue flows in us and through us to bring His solutions into our lives on a daily basis. It is good to know Him for who He is based on how He has revealed Himself to be. I encourage you to approach Him in faith today and everyday.
Sweetest Name I Know
There is a name that is above all other names
Have you ever found yourself thinking about why Jesus came and what He was really saying to us? I personally do not believe that Jesus came to say, "Why can't you be like me so the Father will love you?"
If Jesus had said that He would have made the Father’s love for us conditional with an unattainable standard applied.
Many years ago I was someone who thought that way and I was often discouraged as a result of it because I knew how much I wasn’t like Jesus. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of the good news to me.
I believe Jesus came because we were nothing like Him, and even on our best days we still miss the mark. He came to fix that problem for us by making us the very righteousness of God. Thankfully we are told in,
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Think about it, God loved us even when we were not aware of Him and living in rebellion to Him.
Jesus gives us a righteousness we could never earn. A righteousness the Father would approve of and welcome. God’s own righteousness. The Bible says that God cannot deny Himself and since it is His Own Righteousness we now possess in Christ, He will not deny us. We do not and cannot earn this righteousness in any way. We cannot merit the right to be in relationship with God.
The law of Moses was never a way of being made truly righteous before God. It revealed righteousness very clearly, and as a result condemned us. That’s why when it was in force regular sacrifices were required due to the fact that no one fulfilled its demands. If the standard of holiness it required could have been attained there would have been no need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins over and over again.
The righteousness God was desiring from before the foundation of the world is the righteousness we now possess in Christ. It was the solution His Son Jesus would provide. You see it was God’s plan all along that at the right time we would be made righteous by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus.
We do not add anything to Jesus to have relationship with the Father and maintain it. Jesus completed the work at the cross, He rose from the dead proving He was authorized by God, and then He ascended on high to sprinkle His own blood on the real mercy seat of heaven forever eliminating our sin. This means we are a people of great hope, promise and everlasting life! Jesus finished the work!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus sweetest name I know!
Gray Sky Reminder
Even when it is gray and gloomy in life God still loves you
You know it’s interesting that even when it is cloudy somehow we know that the sun still rose and is shining above them.
We simply trust that sun will rise each and every day and shine brightly with all of its glory.
We even know that when night falls it is simply because the sun is shining on the other side of the world, but we are certain it is still shining.
I know of no one that struggles with this reality because it is a known fact, and it serves to remind us that some things just are.
It says in the Bible in,
Isaiah 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
God is always going to be who He is. He never changes and He never has need to think He should. He is perfect in all of His ways. His wisdom supersedes all other wisdom known to man.
This great and mighty God, all powerful, all knowing, all wise, is Father to all who have come to faith in Christ Jesus!
He is your Father and He deeply loves you with the same love He loves Jesus with.
John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Jesus has given you the glory He had with the Father. What is that glory? Unbroken, unhindered relationship. Full and wide open acceptance and the invitation to dwell before Him. You need only take advantage of what is already yours through what Jesus has done.
That means my friend that God, although He is very great and mighty, has chosen to love you and be for you and to help you.
Today whatever you may face you need to say to yourself, I belong to a very great God, a great big God, an all powerful God who loves me!
It may be gray skies where you are but you know that the sun will shine again. It might appear to you that things aren’t going the way they should right now.
I can confidently promise you that God your Father is still for you, and if He is for you who can be against you. By faith allow His love to break through in your situation and bring you the joy and peace it is meant to bring to you even in the midst of your storm.
The Enemy of Rest
God offers a rest unlike any other known to mankind
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
It’s interesting when you think about the generation of Israelites that God brought up out of Egypt with a promise to do them good.
They had lived under bondage to slavery for four hundred years and yet once they crossed the Red Sea the slightest little inconvenience could send them into a deep dark spiral of complaint and doubt.
Their sin was unbelief in what God had promised to them and how He had revealed Himself to them as their faithful God and rescuer and desired to care for them. But they allowed anything and everything to bring that into question or to outright allow it to insinuate that God had somehow lied or misled them. Of course they sought to blame Moses as opposed to outright blaming God but God knows the real truth.
They had become so suspect of God that when they reached the border of the promised land they refused to go over. God brought them to the destination He had promised them for an inheritance and they could not cross because of unbelief. Their perspective of God was inaccurate due to their unbelief. As a result they could possess what they had been promised by God at the start.
They had been witnesses to amazing miracles in which they were freed from Egypt with and then cared for during the journey with. They were not strangers to the supernatural power of God intervening in important and critical moments. I would argue that that generation saw more and greater miracles than most professing Christians in modern times. But for all the supernatural displays they still managed to lack faith towards God according to Who He was revealing Himself to be to them. They still could not take Him at His word. Because they could not take Him at His word they could not enter into His rest.
They awakened everyday fearful of what He might do if they did not do. They lived as though they must earn and yet somehow knew they did not measure up and therefore their claim of faith was actually a faith in themselves.
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Hebrews 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Until a person has ceased from faith in their own works to merit His favor and acceptance they remain in a place of unbelief. They cannot and have not come into the rest God has promised. For one to cease from heir own works for assurance and confidence they must become convinced of God’s goodness and His desire to love them and care for them as a Father. There’s an orphan spirit at work int he church today because there’s been such a mixture of law and grace preached so often. You’ve been invited to grace that favor of God that you did nothing to merit. It is a gift it is not of works lest someone would be able to boast. It is truly a gift given by a gracious loving God and it is yours for the receiving. I pray you will take time to relish that precious gift and make your boast in Jesus making it available to you freely.
Jesus & Leftovers
There’s something about leftovers that can encourage you today
Jesus did two different miracles of feeding the the multitudes. He fed 5000 men besides women and children (Mt 14:20)(Mk 6:44)(Lk 9:14)(Jn 6:10) and He later fed 4000 men besides women and children (Mt 15:38)(Mk 8:1). They call these two miracles of feeding the multitudes mirror stories because they are so similar, yet different. The feeding of the 5000 men besides women and children ended with 12 small baskets (Kophinos) it is a lunch sized basket enough for one person, of leftovers remaining. Just the right amount to feed the disciples, who, remember Mark said they hadn’t eaten. I call these leftovers a picture of sufficiency.
The feeding of the 4000 men besides women and children began with 7 loaves and a few fish and ended with 7 large baskets (Spuris) a basket big enough to fit a man in like Paul when they lowered him over the wall in a basket of this type (Acts 9:25). That’s how large the 7 baskets of leftovers remaining were. I call these leftovers a picture of abundance.
You might recall when Paul had a thorn in his flesh in 2Corinthians 12:9 and appealed to God three times for it to be removed. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” A sufficient grace is as great a testimony to the goodness of God as an abundant grace might be.
You may also recall that in, 2Corinthians 9:8 it declares that God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
An abundance of grace also gives God glory. We get to experience both of these manifestations of grace at various times in our lives. It is not just one type of grace that we get to experience. What’s important is our need to stop trying to earn His favor, and discover how to sit down in Christ and rest. We need to learn what it means to sit down in the Spirit and receive what God is offering in the moment. Even when things seem difficult you have either His sufficient favor or abundant favor. Sit down within and receive.
I love how Jesus not only fed the multitude He made sure His disciples weren’t left out in both occurrences. I love how Jesus was able to have His wits about Him even after hearing about John’s death, having to listen to the disciples report on how their ministry time went, and being made aware of the hunger of the people. He was loaded with one thing after another and yet He was able to administrate the moment according to grace.
When you learn to rest in His grace you too can be bombarded with many things in your day and yet know exactly what needs to be done and how. You can still find you have something to bring to the moment. You will never give so much that you are left hungry while others are well fed. There’ll either be sufficient leftovers, or an abundance so great it will last you a long time afterwards. He will take care of you!
Lit Up
There’s advantages to living out loud for Jesus
I have a motorcycle that was given to me as a gift from a good friend in Mississippi who heard from the Holy Spirit to give it to me.
I greatly enjoy that motorcycle but as we all know often people have difficulty seeing a motorcycle.
So, mine is really lit up both during the day and at night. I wear a white helmet to help me be seen and I wear reflective and protective clothing as well.
I want to light things up so that it is easier to be seen and noticed and to add to my safety when riding.
Did you know that the same holds true spiritually?
There’s a lot of things I was never asked to participate in because people knew without a doubt I belong to Jesus and was and still am living my life for Him.
While others who professed to be Christian but did not live it out loud were being invited to participate in things no believer should I was never asked. In fact, when the dirty jokes and course language would be occurring on a construction site I would be working on and I appeared all of a sudden much of it if not all of it would stop and guys would become civil.
They knew who I was and what I stood for. I wasn’t condemning anyone to produce such a result. It was just that they knew I love Jesus and as a result it often changed the environment when I showed up.
There will always be a rowdy sinner or two who will push the envelope on purpose and do their best to get at a believer or make it difficult on them. But for the most part my experience has been that people do not behave the same when they know a real Jesus lover and follower is present.
This is what it means to let your light so shine. Love on people with purpose by sharing the good news with them. If they are meant to be a part of your life they will avoid you due to the conviction your life for Him brings into their conscience. If God is looking to capture their hearts they will journey with you and likely become a good friend.
It’s really a win win. Even when I was persecuted I praised God for it. Jesus said blessed are you when men revile you and speak all manner of evil against you for His name sake. I like to live my life lit up! It’s better that way. It’s way more exciting than being incognito.
Ever Present Help
You never be alone once you come to Jesus
I remember when a record freeze hit Texas and wreaked havoc on thousands of peoples lives. The loss of power led to hardship and misery for many. Life threw a curve ball at them and they were not equipped to handle that type of situation because they never dreamed it would ever happen to them.
A loss of power proved to be very dangerous in a vulnerable situation. All it took was the perfect storm.
As believers we will go through storms that catch us by surprise. We need to know that we will never lose our power because our connection is sure. If our connection depends on our performance it is not sure. The great apostle Paul discovered this in his own life.
2Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The Holy Spirit is our supernatural power supply. Knowing what keeps us connected at all times is of great importance. We know we will go through trials, tribulations and hardships. We all have some sort of weakness that gets exposed along the way. But to push through and persevere well we need to know that we are connected.
The key is to being certain is knowing you are in Christ and Christ is in you. He is your continual source for unbroken and unhindered connection. Your ability to go before the throne of grace and find mercy to help is not based on your own performance, it is based on the performance of Jesus which was perfect and complete.
That is why we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus. Not our own obedience but His! By reminding ourselves of His performance on our behalf we can rise above our mistakes, failures, weaknesses and unexpected difficulties by discovering we have a connection and the power necessary to thrive, not just survive. Jesus wants to show Himself strong on our behalf.
This is why we can count it all joy when we go through diverse trials. When we learn to rely on the finished work of Christ we discover the ever present, always available, power of the Holy Spirit to carry us through the toughest and most dangerous storms of life.
Jesus will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you. Once you are His, He will forever be with you and for you. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes this our reality. He is always present to help if we will just let Him. I encourage you to look to Jesus and live today no matter what might be happening to you or all around you.
How You Can Know
Time to recapture that special thing you once had
This coming November 8th my wife and I will have been married for 36 years. I love her so much, and I really enjoy being with her. I enjoy it because I like her and find her interesting and fun to be with.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to spend time with someone you know, like and enjoy?
It would not say much for our relationship if I only spent time with her and she with me out of a duty to do so. If we were only spending time with each other simply because we would not wish it to appear as though we were not happily married, that would be both sad and dangerous.
Spending time with someone you enjoy and like comes easy. But when you are told to spend time with someone you hardly know, aren’t sure you really want to get to know them, and think it will not go all that well to start with, you aren’t very inclined to invest your time and energy into spending any real time with them. What time you would spend, would be from a motivation of duty and not all that rewarding because of it.
Sadly, this is the reality for many a professing Christian. They are trapped in spending time doing their devotions from a position of duty. They’re not all that interested in truly connecting with Jesus in an intimate way as that is somewhat foreign and in some cases scary to them. They are afraid of what might transpire if it were to really happen. What would the conversation be like? What might He put His finger on that is wrong with me? Or so they think.
You see when believers are being given the true gospel message of His love and grace they see Him as an accuser more than they see Him as an advocate. When they are under messages of you better or else, they are afraid to approach because they live under an expectation fo being in trouble as opposed to being invited to come and get grace.
When we fail o understand the abundance of favor we have received in Christ we struggle with relating to Him regularly and freely. But when we begin to get grace and understand the favor that it is and the warm welcome we will experience when we spend time with Him it fuels our desire to be with Him.
One sure way to know whether or not you are convinced of grace is to ask yourself just how freely and eagerly you desire to connect with Him regularly. Ask yourself if you do devotions out of duty or are eager to discover something new about Him and have Him speak to you. It really is the starting point of understanding and receiving grace in the way it is meant to be understood and received.
Spending time with Jesus should not be boring, a duty or something less than other experiences in life. He gave Himself for me and He is the most exciting person that has ever been or will ever be. His wisdom has no equal, His humor is witty and can even instruct, His love transcends any other love I’ve ever known. He’s better than any best friend because He understands me better than anyone could ever understand me and still He enjoys being with me.
This is vibrant relationship and it exists because He is real and has made it possible. I encourage you to enjoy Him today and always and if you seem to have lost the wonder of doing so, I encourage you to go to Him and ask Him to help you get it back.
Can Anything Compare?
You are given a very special privilege
In a recent morning text conversation with my grandson regarding the special privilege we have to be able to freely fellowship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit spoke to me.
To get across the point to him about how special it is to get to daily converse with the Lord and receive from Him I used some things I knew he could connect with.
Our exchange began with me saying to him: “Good morning buddy! Have you said good morning to Jesus, the Father and Holy Spirit? Have you had any conversation with them today? Have you set your mind on things above?”
He responded: “I was just about to do that.”
Then I made the following observations to him. I said, “It’s a great privilege to get to do that. It’s the greatest privilege there is. It’s more special than anything else in this world!”
He responded: “For sure!” Oh how I love that boy!
I went on to say to him: “I’ve been spending time this morning meditating on things He spoke to me, and I am loving it.
Nothing can make me more excited than having Him reveal things to me. Not even a TN National Championship could make me more excited. Not even a brand new fancy motorcycle could make me more excited. Not even a long awaited and desired special Christmas present could make me more excited.
There’s nothing like the privilege of knowing Jesus and hearing Him speak to you! But if we do not take advantage of that special privilege do we really believe it is all that special?”
To all this he was declaring agreement and to my question he responded, “no.” Right answer grandson!
You and I have been invited to the greatest privilege there could ever be. But if we fail to recognize it for what it is we will also fail to take real advantage of it.
It’s a privilege, not a duty. It’s a get to do it, not a have to do it. It’s a man this is special moment, not a man I better or else moment. Jesus will not make us spend time with Him. He is not desperate for us to do it, but He is eager for us to do so because of His great love for us. The privilege is ours to get to do it.
I hope that today and everyday you will take full advantage of this great privilege in your life. I sincerely hope you can see the get to of this, as opposed to the have to.
What an awesome special privilege it is to be invited to always be in close fellowship with the Almighty and know Him as Father!
Thank You Jesus for such a great gift! Thank You for going to the cross and making this my reality. Thank You for inviting me to fellowship with You every day.