No Matter What

Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he [Jacob] said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Genesis 32:26 NASB

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you would wrestle all night with GOD?  How great is our desire?  Or do we say a prayer or two and then drop it?  Do we let our attention wander to the next shiny thing we think we have to have?

Jacob was about to meet his brother after years of estrangement.  After settling everything the day before the big event, Jacob goes off on his own and tries to sleep.  But instead of sleeping, he wrestles with a man.  Or was it an angel?  Was it GOD?  Whoever this stranger was, Jacob recognized divine intervention and refused to let go until he was blessed.

In our ADHD society, do we desire one thing no matter the cost?  That treasure hidden in the field or that pearl of great price?  Or do we flitter about like a boat tossed at sea?  I know where I want to be but I am not there yet.  Maybe I need to take a lesson from Jacob.  Someone who was willing to hold on for dear life for GOD’s blessing. 

LORD thank you for your blessings even when our lives are full of distractions.  I pray we will care more and love more.  And our desires will turn into a longing to hold on to YOU for dear life.

Please don’t pick me last…

JESUS said to him, “Come with me.” Luke 5:27b CEV

Who was JESUS speaking to?  In this passage, it was Levi, the tax collector.  Flip over to Matthew and we see JESUS telling this to a bunch of fishermen.  JESUS tells another to “let the dead bury the dead” and to follow HIM.  But that one didn’t.  Others did.  People flocked to JESUS—and they followed HIM.

Did HE select the smartest?  The strongest?  The best looking?

“I didn’t come to invite good people to turn to GOD.  I came to invite sinners.” Luke 5:32 CEV

He called the uneducated.  The lost.  The forgotten.  The maimed.  The hated.  The sinners.  The ones always picked last.  And they loved HIM.  They followed HIM.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed HIM on foot from the cities (Matthew 14:13b NKJV).

JESUS picked us first.  HE didn’t call the religious leaders first.  HE had harsh words for them.  What does that say for us today?  We have a chance.  If HE called a bunch of fishermen and a tax collector to be HIS disciples, then we can follow their example and say yes.  We don’t have to be the smartest, the prettiest, or the strongest.  We need to be willing. 

 
LORD, thank you that you picked us first.  YOU don’t expect us to have it together.  YOU don’t expect us to have it all figured out.  YOU expect us to be willing.  I pray that we will be willing and obedient to YOUR calling.

Glory?

…And we beheld HIS glory… John 1:14b NASB

When Moses talked with GOD, HIS glory came in a pillar of smoke (Exodus 33:9).

When Solomon dedicated the Temple, GOD’s glory came as fire consuming the sacrifices and offerings (2 Chronicles 7:1).

And when GOD removed HIS glory from the Temple because of judgment on Judah, it departed with the cherubim (angels) in the air (Ezekiel 10:18-19).

And so we read about GOD’s glory in the Old Testament.  Mentioned briefly, covered in mystery and interacting occasionally with the human race.  But then we reach the New Testament.  John begins his gospel with the odd words: In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD, and the WORD was GOD (John 1:1 NASB).  And we continue reading until we get to verse fourteen 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.

JESUS is the glory of GOD.  Instead of a cloud of smoke or a pillar of fire, HE came as fully human.  And fully GOD.  My brethren, hold not the faith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the LORD of glory, with respect of persons (James 2:1 ASV).

How will GOD’s glory intersect your life today?

How to end?  How about a blessing?

Now to HIM who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of HIS glory blameless with great joy, to the only GOD our SAVIOR, through JESUS Christ our LORD, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen

Prayer--Does It Matter?

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD… Isaiah 38:2 NASB

Why pray?  To praise GOD?  For thanksgiving?  We pray for GOD to intervene and make a change in our lives.  Can my prayer change the course of events?  I know GOD can.  But does my prayer affect GOD?

Omnipresent.  Omniscient.  Can a GOD who is everywhere and knows everything be persuaded to alter the inertia of life due to my prayers?  What arrogance it is to think so.  But if our prayers cannot change events then we all must be fatalists.  Everything that occurs is preset.

Our minds are bound in the here and now.  We cannot fully comprehend the majesty of GOD.  Is it any different with prayer?

Yes GOD is omniscient.  But yes JESUS told us: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks find, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8 NASB).

There is a tension, a balancing act.  GOD knows all but yet we are called to approach the throne with our prayers and petitions.  Who are we to dare to approach the Creator of the Universe with our requests?  We are HIS children.  We are HIS beloved.  And HE cares about our cares.

LORD, we cry out to you.  The important, the small, the life-changing and the meaningless.  YOU hear all.  And we thank YOU.

“Hey, I’m Spiritual, not Religious”

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our GOD and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27 NASB

Today, it’s cool to be an iconoclast.  “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual,” is the new mantra.  And, from the tone, it’s not good to be religious.  I’ll jump on board.  I want to be deep.  Not some shallow boat tossed by every wave but a deep spiritual giant.

But is being religious bad?  I criticize rote memorize of scripture (understanding, we need understanding!) but yet I find memorized scripture is what helps me when I’m in need.  I criticize mindless ritual but yet chaos leaves me wondering, unsure, “what am I supposed to do?”

JESUS dogged the religious leaders of the day regularly.  But yet HE went to temple, regularly.  Many of the people HE healed were on the way to temple or already there.  And HE taught at temple.

James, JESUS’s half brother, who grew up next to our LORD, wrote in his letter.  True religion? Visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27b NASB).  Since we are so spiritual, do we visit widows?  Orphans?  Are we unstained from the world or separated?  Detached?  Not quite living in the mess but hovering above it in our “holy” communities?  Unfortunately, I think I know where I am.

LORD, help us to be not only a Spiritual people, ones filled with your HOLY SPIRIT but also a people who practice true religion.  I pray we take care of widows and orphans.  I pray we keep ourselves unstained from the world.  I pray we do not detach from it but are a part of it—a light shining into the darkness.

Use Your Words

Use your words… how often do we tell that to our children?  Or adults in anger management?  Or in pep talks to ourselves when we practice a confrontational conversation?

Words are powerful.  Words can destroy.  Hurtful words—whether true or not—are remembered.  But the converse is true as well.  Words can create.  And GOD said, “let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:3 ESV).  With a spoken word, GOD set creation into motion.

And as I think on the importance of words, I wonder about The WORD.  John begins his gospel referring to JESUS as The WORD.

And the WORD became flesh and dwelt among us... John 1:14a ESV

The WORD became flesh to redeem creation.  The WORD died.  The WORD defeated death, by coming back to life.  The WORD paid the price and set us free from bondage.

So how will you use your WORD today?  Is HE a lucky rabbit’s foot where if we pray correctly and do the right things, HE must grant our demands?  Or is the WORD, a Savior?  LORD of my life?  And out of my love for HIM, I attempt obedience?

LORD, I pray we will be people of The WORD.  Followers of CHRIST—people “who did receive HIM, who believed in HIS name, HE gave the right to become children of GOD, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of GOD.”  

I could eat you up

But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! Galatians 5:15 NASB

Gives whole new meaning to “you’re so cute, I could eat you up.”  Doesn’t it?

When studying the Bible, the context must be taken into account.  Literary.  Historical.  Cultural.  But this is one verse that I think might be more applicable today then when it was originally written. 

Gossip and slander have always been issues.  This verse is a warning to those first century Christians. 

But what about today?  We live in a consumer society.  We use up and throw away.  We love games such as “Pac-Man” and “Hungry Hungry Hippo.”  Those of yesteryear had real worries of having food on the table.  We worry about “paper or plastic.”

And people?  Today, it is not uncommon to use someone and then discard them.  “That’s real life.”  And then we go on our way.

Will we be a people who bite and devour one another?  And when we are done, we throw them away?  For some reason reality shows come to mind here.

LORD, help us to be a people who do not bite, do not devour.  Let us be a people that value others as ones created in YOUR image.  By our obedience to YOU, we are set apart.  We desire to be “a people for GOD’s own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of HIM who has called us out of darkness into HIS marvelous light.”

Cleanliness is next to Godliness… NOT!

I have searched and searched my Bible but it just isn’t there.  Sometimes I tell people that “verse” is found in Hezekiah 2:12.  Hezekiah, like David, was a great king but not a namesake for an Old Testament book.

But what does the Bible say about cleanliness?  Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. (Proverbs 14:4 NKJV)

This is an exciting verse.  To stay clean, don’t have oxen.  What could be better?  With no oxen, the barn will smell good too.  But how much labor would get done?  They are called beasts of burden for a reason.

This is like Christianity.  If we don’t deal with the poor, the orphaned, the crazies, then life is much neater.  Cleaner.  Smells better.  The poor remind us of our blessings.  The orphaned, while cute, do eventually enter adolescence.  And we know teens try the most saintly of parents.  And the crazies.  Who to expect?  Not normal.  Not neat.  And kind of smelly.

But then where is the strength of our faith?  James says faith without works is dead (2:17).  Do we want to carry the load? Do we want to spread the WORD no matter the cost?  I do.

LORD, help us to step out of our nice, clean bubbles and do true religion.  Help us “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.”  It might be messy but then YOU are the one who cleans us up.

A Present for my Enemies

Do you memorize scripture?  I like to and teach my kids to memorize scripture.  From when they could talk, we would practice different Bible verses.  No, they did not understand them.  Nor were they always said correctly.  But understanding is built upon a foundation of knowledge.  Memorized scripture? A foundation of knowledge.

I started with Psalm 23.  I say a verse, she repeats.  The whole chapter is only six verses.  How hard could it be?  Verse five: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies… and my daughter repeats “I give a gift to my enemies.”

I give a gift to my enemies?  She understood presence to be presents.  As a child, she likes to receive presents, so why wouldn’t her enemies?  I correct her.  Gently, of course, but firmly.  The next night? “I give presents to my enemies.”

She got me thinking.  JESUS says to Love our enemies.  What does that mean?  My oldest might be on to something in her misunderstanding.  Maybe we should give our enemies a gift?  A gift of a positive thought?  A gift of refraining from a biting word about them?  It’s hard to love my enemies but maybe I’ll start with a gift.

LORD, help us to give presents to our enemies.  It is easy to ignore our enemies but to love them… help us.  Help us to give our enemies a positive word, a gesture of reconciliation.  All motivated out of an expression of love for YOU…

A Pinched People

Psalm 39:10 says “Won’t YOU stop punishing me?”  A cry from the Psalmist to GOD.  A serious study I was typing.  An in depth, deep work.  But as I proofed my page, I read “Won’t YOU stop pinching me?”  That simple typo made me think.

My Dad loves to tell of going to church with his mother.  As a young boy, he would lose interest in the sermon and start to fidget.  My kind and gentle grandmother would pinch him under the arm on the tricep to help him refocus.  From my understanding, that pinch felt akin to a cattle prod heated to just below the melting point of steel.  She pinched him because she loved him.  She wanted him to learn the importance of sitting still and listening.

Hebrews 12:7a says For those whom the LORD loves HE disciplines.  Discipline is not pleasant but as a child of GOD, we are to expect correction.  Sometimes light—a gentle prodding to the right path.  Sometimes hard—punishment designed to get our attention.

I know discipline will come, but I wonder what I do want from GOD?  The correction of a pinching on the tricep or the delayed punishment that comes later?

Dear LORD, I pray that we will be a pinched people, ones that respond to your immediate correction.  I pray that we will pay attention.  We will learn to sit still and listen to YOU.  And I pray we will praise YOU when that pinching comes…