Tag: Hope - Proverbs 23-24

Proverbs 23:18

Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Tag:  Hope

This proverb comes on the heels of the previous which tells us not to envy sinners.   Solomon wants us to be careful that we don't cast our gaze onto those without Christ and faith in God, thinking that what see in our sight is actually what is in our vision.   In our sight we see the wicked playing; loving life and spending time in frolic and fun.   But, in our vision ... our long-term vision ... the future, what we see takes on a different look.   In the future, we have hope.  We have something that is coming that others don't see.   In the future we have "hope."  That is something the unbeliever can't say.   We have a blessedness coming that can't be compared to anything we see the world doing.   When we look with the eyes of faith we, like Moses, see a city in the distance, Who's maker and builder is God (Hebrews 11).  Faith asks us to ... demands us ... to look not with fleshly eyes but with eyes of hope.  We see, through faith, what God will do, not what is being done.   Look in faith today.  Your hope will not be cut off.  When we are in suffering we typically see with our earthily eyes.  We see the look in the mirror and see that cancer has ravished our hair.   We get up to work and discover time as stolen our step.   But God gives us hope.  He has a future for us.  We might see one thing with our eyes of flesh, but we see something completely different with our eyes of faith.  We see hope.   

Tag: God's Deliverance - Psalm 108-110

Psalms 109:26-27

Help me, O Lord my God!

Save me according to your steadfast love!

Let them know that this is your hand;

you, O Lord, have done it!

Tag:  God's Deliverance

The writer of this Psalm, King David, is lamenting how he is being stalked and hunted and ridiculed by his oppressor.   He wants and needs deliverance.   The words of the Psalm speak about someone who has spurned David's kindness and has returned his blessing with cursing. There is much written in regard to the "imprecatory" nature of this psalm.   David seems to be praying down hell fire and brimstone on his enemy.   Whatever the nature of the psalm, the above couple of verses show David's real mindset.  He knows he is helpless against this foe, so he turns to the God who loves him and the God who can save him.  He not only knows to turn to God for salvation, he turns to God wanting all to know that it is ONLY God who saves him.  He attempts to take no glory away from God.   He gives all the praise to God for being able to save him and for saving him.  That is what praise for our salvation is all about.  We must come to realize that there was nothing in us to warrant being saved.   ONLY God can redeem us.   Praise Him, alone. 

Tag: Thanksfulness When God Says, "No!" - 2 Chronicles 25-29

1 Chronicles 28:3-4

But God said to me, You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’ Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father's house, and among my father's sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.

Tag: Thankfulness when God says, "no!"

What do we do when God says no and re-directs our plans?  In the above passage we have David's answer to that question.  God often has different plans for our lives.  When He redirects us and says "no" to our plans, we can often become bitter.   Balaam is an example of what can happen when we are told "no" but we keep persisting with God.  Balaam became a picture of the wicked prophet (Numbers 22).   Elisha's servant, Gehazi, also, was told "no," and instead he used deception to get what he wanted (2 Kings 5:15-27).   When God told David "no" in regard to building the Temple for God, David did not force the issue and find a way around God's Word.  Instead, David thanks God and remembers how God DID bless him.   He goes on to prepare everything Solomon, his son, would need to build the Temple.  When God tells us "no" in one area, it doesn't mean we are to stop and do nothing.  It means we are to stop doing what He tell us to stop doing, but not to stop working for Him and serving Him.   We are to be thankful for how God does use us.   God may not grant us OUR plan, but that does not mean He has NO plan.   We are to work the plan God gives us and to embrace it as a blessing.   We are privileged to work for God and serve Him, no matter the plans He has for us.  

Tag: Every Role is Important to God - Numbers 18-20

Numbers 18:3-5

They shall keep guard over you and over the whole tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die. They shall join you and keep guard over the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent, and no outsider shall come near you. And you shall keep guard over the sanctuary and over the altar, that there may never again be wrath on the people of Israel.

Tag:  Every role is important to God

The tribe of Levi was to "keep guard" over all things "sanctuary."   It was their role to make sure no one entered a place that was reserved for only the priest and/or high priest.  Some had high exposure roles and some had less notable responsibilities.   But, each had a role to play.  Man is impressed with roles, God is not.   Note what David says in the Psalms:

Psalms 84:10

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

David knew there were lessor roles that some played.   God simply wants obedience and faithfulness in our roles.   We might think the role we play should be bigger or more important, but God puts us where He wants us.   That is how God puts the Body of Christ together: 

1 Corinthians 12:18-25

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

Tag: Finding Your Value in the Gospel - 2 Timothy 3-4

2 Timothy 4:11

Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Tag:  Knowing your are valuable!!! 

The above passage is written toward the end of the letter Paul writes to Pastor Timothy, who was the Elder at Ephesus.   The letter would be read, after Timothy's private reading, to the entire church.  That was the custom.  Imagine you are young Mark, sitting in the congregation, listening to the letter being read by Timothy.   Years earlier Paul wanted nothing to do with John-Mark.  Note his words to Mark's cousin, Barnabas:

Acts 15:36-41

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

There "arose a sharp disagreement" between them and John-Mark was the reason.  Now Paul, years later, writes to Timothy, send him to me, he is "very useful to me."  The Gospel, in the hands of men who know the truth, can make anyone "profitable" (the Greek word means "useful").   It is used of Onesimus in the book of Philemon.   Paul tells Philemon the same thing, that Onesimus is "profitable."  The name "Onesimus" actually means, "useful."   When men are submissive to the Gospel they become value to the Kingdom.   Those without the Gospel have value in this world, but not in the Kingdom work.  Barnabas worked with John-Mark and helped him to become useful to Paul.  Paul worked with Onesimus and helped him to become useful to Philemon.   This IS the work of the Gospel for the Kingdom. 

Tag: Joy Flows for those IN Christ - John 13-15

John 15:11

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Tag: Joy Flows for Those In Christ

Note John's further thoughts on joy:

John 16:24

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

(Joy comes as a gift from God)

John 17:13

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

(Joy comes from hearing and obeying God's Word)

1 John 1:4

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

(Joy comes from hearing and obeying God's Word)

2 John 1:12

Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

(Joy comes when believers live in harmony with each other centered around Christ)

 Jesus died to give us joy!!  We have joy when we bear fruit in Christ and love one another.   Complete and fulfilling joy is not an "individual" quality based upon "personal" circumstances.    In the context of the verse in chapter 15 we see that joy is a result of bearing fruit while united with Christ.  The fruit we bear is love for others ... sacrificial love ... like Christ's love for us.  Therefore, joy is not something to strive for but a fruit, given to us by God, as we "abide" in Him and think like He thinks.   It is obvious from the above verses that God wants us to have Joy.   God wants the joy to be overflowing and complete and abundant in our lives.   The way we do that is to abide in Christ and to obey His word by loving others.   Right after this verse Jesus explains what it means to love others:

John 15:12-13

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

So, joy and love are not separated.  You can't have joy unless you love and if you love you will have joy.  

Tag: The Blessings in the Midst of Discipline - Joel

Joel 2:26-27

“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Tag:  Blessings Despite Discipline

In the above passage, Joel has stated God's blessings for the nation of Israel.   However, in the verses prior to these in chapter one and most of chapter two, Joel has spoken about the servers discipline of God on the nation for their constant disobedience.   Israel had rejected God's commands and gone after the gods of the nations around them.   God is a jealous God!!  He will not allow us to pursue other gods.   However, in His discipline, the purpose is to drive us back to Him so that He can bless us.  Note how the writer of Hebrews frames discipline from God:

Hebrews 12:5-11

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God brings discipline because He wants to produce holiness.   Embrace the discipline and enjoy the fruit of it.