Tuesday Thought -- September 30, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18)

John 3:16 is probably the most well-known and most memorized verse in the Bible, and for good reason!

You can see the heart of God in these verses. God loves us. God is willing to sacrifice for us, even that which is most precious to Him. God doesn’t plot and plan and wait to punish us. Rather, He has plotted and planned and waited to be able to save us. To save us is God’s great desire.

You can also see the response God requires of man in these verses. God’s salvation is not given without our response. He has provided everything we need to be saved. He desires us to be saved. But He will not save us without our willing response to His offer. God requires that we believe in His Son. The belief God requires is not idle intellectual assent, but the full response of the heart: to trust, to surrender, to follow.

The offer from God is available to everyone and God is waiting for our response.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- September 29, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.’  In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’” (John 3:1-3)

For a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council, Nicodemus had already come a long way in his attitude toward Jesus. He was willing to call Jesus “Rabbi,” meaning teacher. He was willing to acknowledge the miraculous power Jesus had, he did not try to ignore it or explain it away. He was even willing to say that Jesus was from God. All of those things were uncommon and bold statements to come from such a person as Nicodemus. Only a few members of the ruling council would be willing to make those kinds of statements. Not too many Pharisees would, either. So, I’d have to say Nicodemus was a pretty good man, with pretty good beliefs.

We could also say more about Nicodemus that would accrue to the positive side of the account of his life. He was a moral man and a man who very carefully kept the Law. He had to be or he wouldn’t be a Pharisee and he certainly would never have become a member of the ruling council without those qualifications, either. One more thing, Nicodemus would have known the scriptures very well. It was part of the position he had and part of what prepared a man for it.

Right beliefs, right living, right knowledge. Sounds like a pretty right man, don’t you think?

Jesus didn’t! He saw through to Nicodemus’s heart and knew there was something essential missing. Nicodemus was trusting in himself. He was trusting in his knowledge, his beliefs, his lifestyle, and probably several other things that he was responsible for. A relationship with God is not found in any of those. Salvation isn’t found in any of them.

Nicodemus needed to start all over again with a radically different life, a life initiated and sustained by trusting in Jesus.

“You must be born again.” That’s what Jesus saw as the great need of Nicodemus. If we are trusting in ourselves, like Nicodemus was, it’s our great need, too. It’s where it all starts!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- September 26, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” (John 2:1-5)

The wedding in Cana provided the forum for the first miracle Jesus performed. I don’t know whether it was through poor planning, guests who drank too much, or uninvited guests showing up, but they ran out of wine at the wedding. Although Jesus had not yet performed a miracle, Jesus’ mother somehow knew He could help and she came to Him with her request.

Notice that Jesus was not willing to turn over the direction of His ministry to someone else, not even His mother. He kept control, telling her, “My time has not yet come.” It’s very easy to allow other people to set the priorities for your own life, especially your service to the Lord. Other people can always find many things for us to do for the Lord and His kingdom. The responsibility to determine how the Lord wants us to serve Him does not rest with other people, it rests with us. Like Jesus, we need to keep control of our own service, listening to the voice of the Lord, not the voice of others, even those close to us.

And notice the final words of Mary in this passage: “Do whatever he tells you.” Those are the most important words Mary ever spoke. She knew that Jesus took precedence over her. It wasn’t her will or her directions that people should follow, but the will and directions of her Son. She gave good advice for all of us to follow: “Do whatever He tells you.”

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- September 25, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas’ (which, when translated, is Peter).” (John 1:40-42)

The first thing Jesus did when He met Simon was to give him a new name, a nickname. It would be the name by which he would become most known: Peter. It’s a name that means “the Rock.” There are two reasons Jesus may have given that nickname to Peter.

He could see into Peter’s soul and knew that he was a solid, stable man.

Rock solid was not the way Peter had been or was now, but it was the character trait Jesus wanted Peter to develop.

I put my money on the second reason, it was a characteristic Jesus wanted to see Peter develop, and one that Jesus helped him develop over the next three years.

If Jesus were to meet you today, what nickname would He give you? If He looked deep into your soul, what character trait would He see by which He would name you?

Or, what character trait do you think Jesus would like to help you develop over the next few years?

Peter did become the rock and provided great stability in the early years of the church. With God’s help, what will you become?

His, by Grace,

Steve 

Wednesday Thought -- September 24, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” (John 1:29)

John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God.” How did he know to call Him that? It had to have been revealed to him by God. John understood what the mission of Jesus in the world was to be. He was to be the sacrifice that God was providing for the sins of the world, the Lamb whose shed blood would cover sin.

Lamb of God is not the only title for Jesus that is used in this first chapter of John’s Gospel:

John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word.” Jesus is the One who communicates God’s message in the flesh.

John 1:1 – “And the Word was God.” Jesus is God Himself come into the world He created.

John 1:4 – “That life was the light of men.” Jesus is the One who would show people the way to God.

John 1:18 – “God the One and Only.” Another clear expression of Jesus’ deity.

John 1:34 – “This is the Son of God.” Jesus is the unique expression of God, His Son.

John 1:41 – “We have found the Messiah, that is the Christ.” Jesus is God’s chosen and anointed One, sent by Him into the world.

John 1:51 – “The Son of Man.” That’s the title Jesus used of Himself, here and elsewhere. In fact, it’s the title Jesus used of Himself more than any other title. It expressed the truth that He had truly become a man in His quest to save us.

No one title is adequate to express all that needs to be expressed about Jesus. His work is so complex. His position is so “out of this world.” Every title is meant to communicate something else about Him, His glory, His character, His work. Every one provides something different for which to praise Him.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- September 23, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

I think that verse is the most astounding message you will find anywhere. It’s the most astounding message that you can find in the Bible. Add all the other writings that have ever been done in history and it's still the most astounding message. God became a man and lived among us!

I don’t have any trouble believing that God exists and it’s not that astounding. I can’t think of any other explanation for the world in which we live. The intricate design of the universe and of life shouts that there is a Creator.

But that God would become a man is truly astounding.

     The Infinite One took on finite flesh.

     The Timeless One bound Himself in our days and years.

     The Omnipotent One laid aside some of His power to take on weakness.

     The Omniscient One gave up some of His knowledge.

     The Ever-living One took on death.

There’s another truly astounding message a couple of verses later:

“From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” (John 1:16)

When God became man, He didn’t do it to torment or punish us. He did it for one reason: to bless us, to give us His grace!

Now that’s astounding!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- September 22, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1:10-13)

It is true that the majority of the people of the world, both in the days Jesus and today, don’t even recognize who He is. Most ignore Him and others outright reject Him.

But what a marvelous opportunity God has given us through Jesus. He has given each of us a choice. When we recognize Jesus, we have the opportunity to open our heart to Him in faith. When we do, God does a miracle in us. He adopts into His family. He makes us His children.

That’s the core of what Christianity is. It is a relationship with God, entered through Christ, by which we have a Father/child relationship with God. He loves us like a perfect Father. He takes care of us, providing for even our deepest, hidden needs. We become more and more like Him, being conformed to His image, just like children often become more and more like their parents as they age. He provides a home for us, not for just a few years as we grow up, but for eternity, a home specially built just for us. He gives us a rich inheritance. We are the heirs to all our Father owns.

Why in the world would anyone turn that down? They just don’t recognize who He is. They just don’t see what He really offers. Thank God that somehow your eyes were opened, and so was your heart! What an opportunity! What a privilege!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- September 19, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-4; 14)

Have you ever thought about which miracle in the Bible is the greatest, the most impressive? There are some marvelous miracles recorded. Perhaps you would say the splitting of the Red Sea when the Israelites left Egypt. Perhaps Jesus raising Lazarus from death. Perhaps the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Perhaps Jesus walking on water or stilling the storm. Perhaps Jesus taking a little boy’s lunch and feeding a multitude.

Certainly, all of those, and many others, are very impressive miracles that testify to the power of God. But I don’t consider any of them the greatest miracle of all time. The miracle I consider the greatest is the one recorded in the verses above. The greatest miracle is that God became a man and lived among us, “the Word became flesh.”

It is a miracle of tremendous love. As God in heaven, Jesus had all power. A God in heaven, Jesus received all the glory. Jesus gave that up to enter our world because He loved us enough to come save us.

When we could do nothing to come to God, God came to us! Now that’s a great miracle!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- September 18, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Isaiah closes with a two-fold prophecy of the future. In the first part of the prophesy, God looks to the new heaven and new earth and those who will dwell in it for eternity. It is a promise, spoken many times in the Bible, that people from all nations will be a part of it. People from all nations will gather together to proclaim the glory of the Lord.

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations -- to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD -- on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD. “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure.” (Isaiah 66:19-22)

What a glorious vision. God is in the process of sending His Word to the nations. God’s Word will not return empty. There will not be a nation or a people that will not be represented in His eternal kingdom. Together, we will worship the Lord.

The second part of the prophecy is not so glorious. Not everyone will be part of the eternal worship of the Lord. Not everyone will respond to His Word. To those who reject Him and rebel at His Word, there is a different message.

“And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66:24)

There is eternal joy and praise on one side of the vision and eternal fire on the other side. That’s why we proclaim His message of salvation to those around us and those around the world!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- September 17, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.’” (Isaiah 66:1-2)

It all belongs to God. He made it. He made heaven and earth. Everything you see and everything you don’t see was made by God and belongs to Him.

Why is it, then, that we think we can build something that might impress Him? The grandest temple ever built is like a Tinker Toy to Him. He made the Grand Canyon, the Swiss Alps, the Sahara Desert, and the Milky Way! Do you really think anything man might make could even compare to them and the thousands of other sights like them?

No, it’s not what we can build for Him or do for Him that impresses God. But there is something that impresses Him. There is something that He esteems. It is the one who is humble, contrite, and reverent.

God is not looking for what you can do for Him. He’s looking inside your heart. It’s what He finds there that means more to Him than anything else in all creation, certainly more than anything you could ever do for Him.

So, take care of your heart, it is the only real gift you can give to God!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- September 16, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.” (Isaiah 65:17-20)

“‘Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,’ says the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:24-25)

I don’t know of anyone who needs to be reminded that life is hard. This world we live in is marred. It is way less than perfect. It’s polluted. It attacks man with a vengeance sometimes that includes tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, heat, cold, and on and on the disasters go.

Life isn’t fair, not here on earth. Death has no minimum age. It strikes, sometimes even the very young, and sometimes in the prime of life. Competition is fierce. It’s truly a dog-eat-dog world. The lion chases its prey and so on down the entire food chain.

This world is not a pretty place to live, not in a lot of ways!

But here’s the exciting promise of God: this world isn’t all there is!

There is another world coming, a new heaven and a new earth. The next time around the unpleasantness of this earth will be wiped away. Death and pain will be a thing of the past. Competition on all levels will be gone. Not even the memories of earth’s pain will remain.

Focus on life in this world, and it can be pretty depressing. Focus on the life to come, and there is great hope! The best is yet to be!

In His Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- September 15, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:5-6)

What do we have to offer the Lord in the way of righteousness? NOTHING! Even the most righteous men and women among us still fall way short of God’s expectations, of His righteousness. It is a Paul says to the Romans, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)

Whatever righteousness we think we have to offer to the Lord is like filthy rags, soiled beyond acceptance to Him. So, what is our hope? Without righteousness there is no way we can have a relationship with God or hope to be with Him in eternity. We have no righteousness by which we can come to Him. We are in a desperate situation, all of us are. BUT!

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:21-22)

Our own righteousness --  filthy rags -- no longer matters. The sins that sweep us away have been dealt with. God has offered us His own righteousness! It comes through trusting Jesus Christ and following Him.

Thank God that what we cannot do for ourselves, He has done for us!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- September 12, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

This is a prophetic word that Jesus said found fulfillment in His life and ministry. Jesus stood in the synagogue of Nazareth, His hometown, unrolled the scroll that contained the writings of Isaiah and read this passage. Then Jesus declared, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

Isaiah listed the things that Jesus, the Messiah, would come to do:

Preach the good news of God’s grace to the poor, the spiritually poor.

Bind up the brokenhearted, sharing God’s comfort with them.

Proclaim freedom for those made captive by sin.

Proclaim release for those caught in the darkness of wickedness.

Proclaim the year of God’s favor and of His vengeance, a day coming when God will save and judge.

Comfort those who mourn.

For all of the people in Isaiah’s day and for all of us Jesus takes the trash of our lives, the ashes and marks of failure, and turns them around. In Him, there is beauty, not ashes. There is gladness, not mourning. There is praise, not despair. And in all of this God is glorified in what He does in us.

Why would anyone follow Jesus? Read it again, why would anyone not want to follow Him!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- September 11, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

Do you ever wonder why your prayers seem to go unheard? It is as though God is deaf. He either doesn’t hear or He just doesn’t answer.

Sometimes when that happens, the problem is not with God, it is with us. There’s something wrong with us or with our prayers that keep God from answering. It’s not that He does not hear, He hears every prayer. There is nothing wrong with His hearing, “His ear is not too dull to hear.” There is nothing wrong with His ability to answer. It’s not that He doesn’t have the power to respond to our prayers, “His arm is not too short.”

Isaiah says that one of the issues involved in unanswered prayer is our own sin. Our sin causes God to turn a deaf ear to us. Unacknowledged sin creates a barrier between us and God. It’s not that He doesn’t love us anymore or that we are no longer saved, but there is something wrong in our relationship.

Another of the issues involved in unanswered prayer is that our requests are sometimes off base with His will. We ask selfishly or do not understand the ramifications for the world, for others, or for His purposes of what we have requested.

So, if our prayers seem to go unanswered, we should look first into our own hearts.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- September 10, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:9-10)

There are hurting people all around us. They are in our offices, our neighborhoods, our classrooms, our families. They are wounded by the words of others. They are hurt by the actions done to them. They are in need because of the circumstances of their lives.

We see them, although often we do not notice them. Sometimes, perhaps often, we contribute to their hurt. Our words are the words that wound. Our actions are the actions that hurt. We contribute to the circumstances that leave them in need.

God cares for the wounded, the hurt, the needy. God is calling us to care for them, too. He call us not to just care for them in our hearts, but to care for them with our mouths and our hands and our wallets. God calls us to take action to demonstrate our care.

There are words that soothe and actions that help. Those actions will be pleasing to God. Let those be the words and the actions that come from our mouths and hands.

Let’s keep our eyes open, there are people around us who could use a kind word or deed from us.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- September 9, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“For this is what the high and lofty One says -- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’ I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me -- the breath of man that I have created. I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him.” (Isaiah 57:15-18)

The contrast between God and man is great. God is high and lofty, eternal, and holy. Man is lowly, mortal, and sinful. There is a gap between God and man that is so great that it cannot be crossed, not by anything man can do.

But God has crossed the gap to reach man. He came Himself, God in flesh, to do it. We didn’t deserve it and we didn’t earn it, but God did it of His own initiative and out of His own heart of love for us.

He has reached out His hand, not in anger or in an accusing manner. He has reached out His hand in love and grace, extending it to man. And here’s the condition upon which He extends it: He extends it to those who know they need it! He extends His hand of grace and love to the humble, those who know they can’t do it on their own. He extends His hand of grace and love to the contrite, those who know their own wickedness and seek forgiveness from Him.

We deserve God’s anger, His rage, His punishment. He offers His grace, His love, His forgiveness. He offers these to the humble and the contrite, not to the proud and those who justify or minimize their sin.

It’s not how good you are that will help you make it to God. It’s how honest you are about your sin and your need and how willing you are to grasp God’s hand as He reaches out toward you.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- September 8, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant -- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. The Sovereign LORD declares – he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.’” (Isaiah 56:6-8)

God has always had a special place in His heart for the people of Israel. From the days of Abraham, even till today, they are His special people. He watches them closely. He loves them. He works to bring them to Him.

But, the people of Israel are not the only ones on the heart of God. God announces that He will bring foreigners to His holy mountain and give them joy. Salvation would not be limited to the Jews, we Gentiles have been welcomed into His house, too. His house is one for “all nations.”

In fact, the reason God has such a special place in His heart for Israel is that His plan was to use them to bring His salvation to all people. Now, He is working to bring every tribe, tongue, people, and nation into His house. He has promised that there will be people of every one of those groups in His eternal kingdom. No group of people will be excluded. God wants them all and will have them all.

Imagine the day when we will gather for eternity, red men, white men, black men, and every shade in between will be there. Latino, African, Asian, American Indian, Arab, Anglo, and every other nationality will be represented. The most closed nation in the world will be penetrated, God has promised it. Iraq is not beyond His reach. Neither is Saudi Arabia, nor the most remote region of Africa.

God’s Word will penetrate them all. That’s His plan and His promise. And today, He’s doing it through us!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- September 5, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Nature has its laws. They are principles that God established in creation that are always at work. The one Isaiah mentions here is one we talk about in nursery rhymes: “April showers bring May flowers.” When the rains come, you can count on their having an impact on the land, on what grows, and what is produced. The rain, with its moisture and its nutrients, will accomplish its purpose. There will be growth and productivity.

There are spiritual laws at work in our world, too. Just like the natural laws, these have been established by God, too. They are always at work. Here’s one: God’s Word will make an impact wherever it goes.

If we send God’s Word into the darkest land in the world, the darkness will not overcome the Word. Rather, the Word will impact the darkness and diminish it. We’ve seen it happen already in place after place around the world. Lives are changed when God’s Word is preached. It’s a spiritual law.

When you apply the Word of God to the life of one who is already a believer, things happen there, too. Growth and spiritual productivity is the natural result of the growing presence of God’s Word in our lives.

So, do you want to grow spiritually and be spiritually productive? Here’s one of the keys – the Word of God. Get into it and let it get into you and things will happen in your life. It’s a law!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- September 4, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God thinks differently than we do.

We think short-term, usually about how something will make us feel immediately, but sometimes looking 10 to 20 years into the future. God thinks long-term. Not long-term, like 10 to 20 years, but long-term, like one to two millennia! God thinks with eternity in mind, we rarely do.

We think selfishly. Perhaps we don’t want to, but we still usually do. We think in terms of how something is going to affect us personally.  Even when we deny self, we still think about how things will affect those we know and care about. God thinks unselfishly. It’s not about Him, it’s about His people, all of them. It’s not just about His people, it’s about those who aren’t His people, too. Perhaps most about them! How will what happens affect them? How will it draw them to Him?

Those are just two ways that God’s thoughts are different from our own. I’m sure there are more. I’m sure there are ways God’s thoughts are different from ours that I will never think of.

But there is help for us. Paul wrote, “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” (1 Corinthians 2:11-12)

God doesn’t keep us in the dark about what He’s thinking. He’s given us His Spirit to help us understand His thoughts and His ways. He’s put Him right inside each of His children.

Don’t trust your own thoughts! Seek to understand God’s, by listening to His Spirit.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- September 3, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)

There are so many places to which people turn for satisfaction.

Many give themselves fully to their careers, believing that if they just work hard enough, get the right breaks, and are successful enough their work will fill the empty place in their lives.

Others give themselves to pleasure and seek it wherever and however they think they can find it. Sex, food, drink, drugs, you name it, if they think it will bring pleasure they’ll try it. Surely, somewhere, sometime they’ll find something that will satisfy, and last.

The accumulation of wealth is a favorite pursuit of Americans. It’s the American dream and when we look at people like Bill Gates and their marvelous possessions and seeming freedom, we think if we can just get enough money we’ll be satisfied, too. If we only knew the real emptiness in the hearts of many wealthy people.

Good causes. Family. Church activity. Art. Music. The list of places people look for satisfaction seems endless. I all of them, the end is the same. The emptiness is still there. There is no satisfaction in any of these pursuits.

“Why spend money on what is not bread?” That’s Isaiah’s question. Why seek satisfaction where it cannot be found? Instead, look in the one place where it can be found. “Come to Me,” God says, “that your soul may live.”

In God, and in God alone, there is real, lasting satisfaction! But, then, we already know that, don’t we?

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- September 2, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:6-7, 9, 12)

Sheep are dumb animals. They put their heads down into the grass and roam wherever their nose takes them. When they finally look up, they are lost and not smart enough to find their own way back to the safety of the fold.

Sheep desperately need a shepherd. They need someone who will keep watch over them. They need someone who will seek them out when they wander away and carry them back to the fold. They need someone who will protect them from the dangers that are around them. They need someone who will protect them from their own mistakes, undoing the wrong they’ve done.

We are like sheep. We get so caught up in our own needs and desires and in the things of this world, that we wander away. When we look up, we have no idea how to get home, how to get back to God. There are dangers all around and, mostly, there are dangers from within ourselves. It’s our own mistakes that lead us astray.

We have a Shepherd. One who watches over us. One who seeks us out when we stray. One who carries us back to the fold. One who protects us from the dangers around us. One who covers over our own mistakes, even at great cost to Himself, bearing our sins on His back.

We have a Shepherd. Aren’t you glad!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- September 1, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:2-5)

Why do people follow Jesus?

It’s not His charm. He was blunt. He didn’t allow people to hide their sins. He pointed out their sins. He told it like it is.

It’s not His physical appearance. He was rough and simple, with no physical beauty.

It’s not His accomplishments. What did He accomplish? He gathered a few hundred followers. He had a very short teaching ministry (just three years). He built nothing, invented nothing, gathered no money, founded no empire.

Yet, there is something about Jesus that attracts people! Hundreds of years before He was even born, Isaiah would prophesy about it. It’s what He did for us that attracts us. He sacrificed Himself for us: what love! He paid the price for our sins: what mercy! He invites us to be His family: what grace!

What Jesus did is not pretty, it’s just the thing we need most in all the world. He took our sin upon Himself. He allowed Himself to be punished with the punishment we have earned and fully deserve.

That’s why people follow Him. That’s why I follow Him. Don’t you?

His, by Grace,

Steve