Thankful in Advance

2/29/2016

Psalm 119.14. Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. – St. Anonymous

(*I do read Psalm 119 more often, but in my reading plan, I read it for sure every Leap Day; once every 4 years.)

Psalm 119 is a mouthful, and when I first began to read it, it sounded like the same thing over and over and over again: Lord, I love your law; Lord I need your statutes, etc. But I have learned to read the Psalm more slowly and carefully, and when I do, I see something new. Today was no different.

Today, I discovered a principle I think I’m to strive for: Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. What is well-tried? It is well used. Well-tried is like the grip on a mountain bike; one’s hand is never far from it while riding. Well-tried is the result of dependability and trustworthiness. Well-tried is customary. Well-tried is proven. We all go back to the proven over and over and over again.

Our problem with God, perhaps, is we tend to think of our relationship with Him as sort of a once and done. It’s like the old couple sitting in their porch chairs on a summer evening and she says, Honey, you never tell me you love me. He replies, Darlin’, when we got married all those years ago, I told you I loved you, and if that ever changes, you’ll be the first one to know. We often treat God like that. But in reality, we’re far too needy to leave God alone for too long: Lord, help me, feed me, give me, give me, give me…

The Psalmist said, Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it. He used God’s promises a lot. He knew it was trustworthy to take God at His word. He tried it over and over and over again and he knew there was no other way. God is reliable, not to mention faithful, loving, and true.

If God is omniscient (all-knowing) then is there anything He doesn’t already know? I mean really, if God knows what I need before it’s ever entered my consciousness, then why do I treat Him like He is forgetful, or suffering from some deitic form of Alzheimer’s? Oh, you want proof? Just listen to our prayers… and how often we beg God for something rather than thank Him profusely for providing… and then patiently waiting for Him to provide what we need, and the maturity to trust Him as faithfully as He treats us.

Our prayer-life will tell us a lot about what we think of God.

I do need God. I do need Him to come through for me in ways that are exceedingly abundantly beyond what I can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3). But I needn’t beg; God’s hearing isn’t diminished in the least. I must learn more and more to thank Him for what He’s already doing on my behalf, and to anticipate His involvement in my living in greater and greater ways – He’s good at that beyond my wildest dreams.

Father, may it be recorded of me that, Your promises are well tried in my life, and Your servant wouldn’t have it any other way. Teach me Your ways, and may I rejoice in the learning – amen.

God Said

2/28/2016

Numbers 24.5 How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! – Balaam of Beor

When an ancient king named, Balak of Moab, was threatened by the Israelites, he sought the counsel of a sorcerer named Balaam. Balaam was supposed to be someone special with lots of ‘power’ and Balak wanted him to come and put a curse of ruin God’s people. So, Balaam, always ready for the next job, saddled up his donkey and headed to Moab.

What Balak and Balaam didn’t factor in was God’s love for, and protection of, His people. They thought they could just conjure something up and cause the Israelites to stumble as a people. Then, like now, one does not get to do that.

Balaam was told by God, don’t say anything about My people that I haven’t’ told you; only say what I tell you to say. And Balaam did. Not because he wanted to, but because he realized he was dealing with Someone far greater than he imagined. Balaam found out there really was a God; and he wasn’t Him.

In his Third Oracle, (Numbers 24) Balaam said this of the people of Israel: How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! A pagan got a bird’s eye view of what God thought about His people. As I read this, I wondered how the Israelites saw themselves. Sometimes it’s good to push the Pause Button and remember what God thinks of us – He sees us vastly different than we see ourselves.

Of course, when Balaam spoke these words Balak was PO’d. Remember, he’d hired Balaam to put a hex on Israel and ol’ Balaam wasn’t delivering the goods. So when all the hexing was for naught, Balaam decided, let’s just Israel them hex themselves. In Numbers 25 you can read how the hex on Israel was of their own making: they began to get friendly with the Moabites and party with them.

Hexes, often, are more subtle than someone’s blustering up an evil word over us. Words are words, but actions, oh man, actions’ll getcha every time. The problem with Israel was they decided to hang around those people and in short order, those people rubbed off on them. Funny it wasn’t the other way around. When in Rome, eventually (if one isn’t careful) one’ll do what the Romans do. Moab was no different.

Jesus said in Mark 7.15: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” We want to blame our sins on externals; Jesus said we better pay more attention to the internals. It wasn’t proximity that caused Israel all those problems all those years ago: it was a decision to act that got them in such hot water.

You’d think our beliefs were enough, but sometimes even they aren't enough to stop what's brewing up in our own hearts.

Father, may I be governed by what I know You think of me. May I be alert to my thought process and may I take responsibility for my actions that result from my thoughts. Help me in the everyday battle to fight the inward fight against the things that come up inside me and to remember what You say about me: How lovely are your tents, O son, your way of life, O child! Amen

Persistence

2/27/2016

Mark 6.6 And [Jesus] marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. – St. Mark

I would translate this in a number of different ways: How can you be so stupid? Why is it that because it is Me, you can’t accept it? To name just a couple. I marvel that Jesus marveled. But this was also a side of his humanity, wondering what got them to where they were, believing what they did.

The sunny side of this story is that “…He went about among the villages teaching…” Jesus persisted in what He came/was sent to do: teach and preach and reach people for the Kingdom of God. His neighbors and the people He knew in Nazareth may not have accepted Him but others did. It is almost laughable the lengths God has gone to get us to accept Him for Who He is and what He’s done. I think His marveling persists to this day.

It is like God, however, to do things the opposite of the way we think and the way we understand. If left to our own devices, we’d persist in our sins and die meaningless, purposeless lives. God does things that go against our grain. It’s not that He does it purposely as much as it is even if He served it up in gold foil on a silver platter, we still wouldn’t get it because of our present fallenness. But despite God’s and our ways not meshing, God persists in working in our lives so that we do get it – God desires we succeed.

And to what do we succeed? God Himself. As a man pursues and gets himself a wife, God pursues us. Our problem is we don’t recognize God’s pursuit. Or we misunderstand His pursuit: what does He want to take from me; where does He want me to go; what does He want me to do (that I don’t want to do)? Does an infant child entertain those thoughts about his or her parents? Of course not. And what does the parent want? To give him or herself to the child.

Jesus wasn’t appreciated in His own hometown. Go figure. We know who you are, we know what you’ve done. But Jesus demonstrated mighty works among those people and yet they were hardened against Him because He didn’t fit their mold, and He was from Nazareth – tells you what they really thought about themselves…

It is a marvel that I persist in approaching God my way. I’m not really sure what other way there is besides His way. I need to be taught His way. Psalm 25:4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Psalm 119:26 When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!  Psalm 119:29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

Jesus marveled at people’s petulant persistence. I don’t want to be in that crowd.

Lord, help me to know Your ways. Teach me Your paths. Teach me Your statutes. Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me Your law. Amen

Incomprehensible Unstoppable

2/26/2016

Mark 5.15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. – St. Mark

Jesus encountered a man in the region of the Gadarenes one day. The man had become in himself a haunt for the vilest and evil things. He was regarded by the locals as demon-possessed, and he was very dangerous. So, as Jesus approached him, he screamed: “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me[!!!]” (the exclamation points aren’t in the text, the screaming is). It says, Jesus was commanding the demons to leave the man (Vv. 7&8)

Imagine, you and your pastor are walking through a part of your town and all of a sudden a man comes rushing at you screaming about God and Jesus and swearing up a storm. You haven’t done anything except be there, and here’s this lunatic screaming bloody murder just because you are. It’s not a pleasant thought to me. My thought would be: run, or call the cops.

And so you begin to pray and before you know it, the man is in his right mind and is more like a little kid than a confrontational monster. The man begins to honestly ask about God and maybe tells you he used to go to church and Sunday school when he was a child. He reveals he’s from a rough childhood, and there’s been significant abuse of various kinds in his life as a child and a young man. The rage and the anger is a result of all that.

So, you arrange to get him some clean clothes and some food, and he winds up at your church the following Sunday and there is great fear among your people that he is the very man who has terrorized that part of your town for quite some time. And people are afraid; they’re very suspicious. They keep their distance.

Imagine you’re with Jesus and all of a sudden the very man He’s healed is now being rejected for being in his right mind, and Jesus is being rejected for shining His light into a blackened soul and bringing life in instead. It’s hard to understand the incomprehensible, the unstoppable, and the non-conventional. In America these days, we either let the mental run loose, or we run from them. God has a heart for those who’re trapped in circumstances beyond their control. Most normal people can’t or won’t identify.

The power and presence of God isn’t for the faint-hearted, or for the know-it-all. The power and presence of God in our day is for setting the captives free, for giving sight to the blind, and for liberating those who are oppressed either by man, or by devils. The power and presence of God is not containable or controllable, but it is for the benefit of those who cannot help themselves and the includes just about all of us, all of the time. And as weird and confusing as it appears sometimes, it reveals our own powerlessness, and our need for the presence and power of God in our own lives.

Father, may I not fear the results but simply trust that whether or not I understand, You love us all from the greatest to the least, and You care for us in ways we cannot understand. Help me to trust and rejoice that You are in the business of bring life into death, light into darkness, and friendship into loneliness and fear. You’re a good, good Father – it’s Who You are…amen.

Who Then is This

2/25/2016

Mark 4.41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”- the disciples

Yesterday, I got home from a trip to the beach. I forgot how good it sounds to hear the crashing waves, to smell the sea air, and to feel the ocean breeze. Going there was a great reminder of how much I enjoy being at the ocean. There was one thing for sure: the water did exactly as it wanted no matter what I thought about it; or wanted it to do.

St. Mark accounts that one day, Jesus and His disciples went to the beach and got into a boat with the intention of going ‘to the other side’ (wherever that was). As they made their way, they encountered a storm so severe that the boat began to get swamped. (Remember, 13 guys in a boat…) Jesus’ men began to freak out at the intensity of the wind and waves and they called on Jesus to save them. Two things happened: He rebuked ferocity of the wind and waves, and the water became calm; and He questioned their faith.

The first question was: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” It was a natural reaction given the circumstances: men, water, boat, storm. But they forgot Who was in the boat with them: Jesus, sleeping, storm. So, Jesus rebuked the storm, and things got very quiet and calm.

The next question was: “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” No matter what they wanted it to do, the water did what it wanted to do…until God told it what to do. The big question for us when we doubt God is: Why do you doubt, have you still no faith? Good question.

The last question was merely: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” 

I think when the wind and waves of life are crashing around us, and it looks hopeless and terrifying, we need to remember Who it is that holds us in the palm of His hand. I think when we stand at the sea and experience its power and immensity, we need to remember Who it is who rebukes the wind and the waves and cares about us deeply.

We all have questions and we all have doubts, but these are merely the things that help us remember Who it is that controls our life and our living. Doubting is normal but it is also an occasion to remember Who He is and that He is in charge whether we understand it or not.

And when it is all over we will exclaim: Who is this, that even the circumstances of our lives are completely under His majesty and rule? Our arrogance demands we be excluded from such treatment; faith demands that we trust Him.

Great and loving God, I would have been terrified too; I have those moments yet today. May I learn to trust and to live honestly before You. May I sleep soundly in the midst of life’s storms knowing that there is nothing that happens without Your knowing and I can believe You know what You are doing. Build me faith Lord. Amen.

Immediately

2/22/2016

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Mark 1:10

The word, immediately appears multiple times in Mark 1. Immediately means without mediation, or, as we might think: going directly to the boss with no interruption. When I go to see the doc, I get seated immediately in the waiting area until I get called back to the inner sanctum where I wait in the exam room, where eventually, the doc comes to take care of my medical needs. I usually get the bill immediately as well. Mostly, to us, immediately means somebody wants something from us: now.

Also, in Mark 1, Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (v. 14) In other words: the time is now and it is immediate – I’m not waiting any longer to tell you about Myself and My Kingdom. It seems God doesn’t have any delays in His plan – it always happens when the time is fulfilled, or just right.

In Galatians 4, 4 & 5 Paul wrote: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. This is immediacy. The time was right and it was right now.

I’ve always wondered what the right time is/was for God. Apparently, it is when God is satisfied, and man is not expecting it. The ancient Jews in Jesus’ day weren’t expecting it. The day I got saved I didn’t wake up and exclaim: Well, this is it; today is the day! When it happened it was immediate and it was unexpected.

When someone comes to Christ, seeking for Him to become their Lord and Savior, there is no waiting period, they get ushered into the presence at once; immediately! The waiting is on our part, we’re usually the ones dragging our feet. But not Jesus – He is in the right-now business.

It’s all about the timing of the heart. God’s timing began the day He created the world. His timing followed on the day the two ate the forbidden fruit and found themselves in need of as escape from death. God’s heart is always on time: let’s do this right now.

I need to remember that the time for people is right now. So will, some won’t, who’s next; and can we come back to you at a later moment? In the fullness of time, there is only immediate. When the heart is ready the Spirit brings life. Can we believe that for ourselves? Can we believe that for others? God believed it for us.

Lord, prepare my heart this day for the adventure that lies ahead and for the ones You’ve prepared for me to encounter. May I be ready immediately to respond to the needs You reveal – Amen.

The Will of the Lord

2/14/2016

Acts 21.13-14 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” – St Luke

We modern dwellers here in legoland have an unfortunate tendency to think that these guys in Acts were a sort of sanitized biblical superhuman race that never had a bad day. How wrong. They were people who lived in turbulent times where much happened lawlessly despite the occupation of the Empire.

In Acts 21, we see Paul being warned by his fellow believers and companions not to go to Jerusalem because of what they perceived would happen to him there (see verse 12). Paul told them to quit trying to change his mind because he was not only ready to go to Jerusalem, but to face imprisonment or death if need be, so that the Name of Jesus would be glorified. “And since he would not be persuaded, they seemed to mumble dejectedly, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” These people weren’t a bunch of crybabies – they were committed believers. And, oh, by the way, dejectedly, they said the only thing they knew to say: let God’s will be done.

I don’t see people like this around me. I see warm and winsome people but not those who will beg leaders to do what they think is right and get all emotional about it. It says volumes about the modern believer in the west. It says a lot about the modern church in the west. But head on over to most third world countries and see what they have to say about their leaders marching into harm’s way for the sake of the Savior and His Kingdom. Different tune…

Dejection is normal when we can’t have our way, but submission is the cure for dejection; and giving God the glory is the only way to respond to disappointments: thank You Lord, that this isn’t going my way, but Yours. If we get into the habit of glorifying God in our disappointments, it helps us in our trust for Him, and this oft mysterious and misunderstood thing called, His will. Dejection is normal; glorifying Him in the midst of it is not. But one is called for over and above our natural reaction. Can I trust God when it hits the fan in my life? Perhaps our calling is to say: Let the will of the Lord be done!

The lesson for me is trust. Yes, those ancient ones were befuddled by what they saw their pastor and leader doing, but they knew deep down it was the right thing to do and they’d all be the better for it; the Ultimate Leader is God and He never fails, no matter what might happen in Jerusalem (or legoland).

Father, may I learn to trust You when I am dejected and upset over things that don’t go my way. May I trust You and believe beyond the status quo and conventional wisdom. Whether I see it or not – or like it or not, Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever – Amen!

Finishing Well

2/13/2016

Acts 20.24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. – St. Paul

I think Paul’s relationship with the church at Ephesus was one of his most rewarding. His most affectionate epistle was written to them. And the farewell written of in Acts 20 shows how deep and special was his love for these folks.

If there’s one thing Paul wanted more than anything else, it was to finish well. I can identify; I think that’s a good idea. I too, another Paul, want to finish well, especially for God and His kingdom. Money won’t do it, possessions won’t do it, neither will position. Only walking with Him in humility and obedience means anything.

So, what is the meaning and purpose of finishing well? I think it’s pretty simple actually – I think it means accomplishing what God has put me here on earth to do. And truly, that isn’t all that difficult. It means doing a good job in all I do to love Him and love others. It means being a good spouse (if I have a spouse). It means being a good parent or grandparent; or aunt or uncle; niece or nephew. It means being a good and loyal friend. It means being a good employee. Or boss. It means being Jesus to everyone I encounter. Till the day I breath my last.

Finishing well means finding purpose in life and doing everything I can to fulfill that purpose for the good of others and the glory of God. (See 1 Corinthians 10) Paul knew his mission and his God – we are no different in that’s what we’re called to: knowing, growing, and going. How we finish shows how committed we are to what God has called us to do and to be.

We should do our best to know God personally and deeply and the rest will take care of itself. Psalm 37.4 says: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. That’s where we find meaning and purpose and the reason to finish well. The hardest thing we have to do in this life is keep our focus on Jesus. The easiest thing to do beyond that is to trust Him with the results. Jesus knows just exactly what He desires from each of us and it’s…wait for it…Him!

The Apostle Paul wasn’t a complex person. There may have been a time when he thought he was but the end of the race for him was simply: …I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. If Paul was anything at all, he was serious about his relationship with Jesus and how that relationship impacted others, and pleased God.

Lord, may I emulate this great disciple and focus wholly and solely on my relationship with You to the good of others, and to Your glorious grace – Amen.

Burnt Manuals

2/12/2016

Acts 19.17-20 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. – St. Luke

My friend Mat says, God likes to blow things up. We men make a habit of constructing things and claiming the glory of what we’ve constructed; and then God loves to come alongside us in all our doings and blow them up. At least He does so to those who seem to be making a big deal out of seeking Him, and building things for Him: churches, ministries, schools, programs, yada, yada, yada saying, look at who we are and what we’ve done for God.

God has nothing against constructs, except those constructs which are built by seemingly well-meant, and well intentioned persons, that forgot to honor God in all they’ve built and constructed. Is the church really just about me, or is it about something else? Is religion really just a cash cow? Will we stand before the Almighty and proclaim: “Lord, look at all we’ve been able to do for You, in Your Name!”?

Not everything that’s built for God, is as wonderful as we oft think it to be. When God is around, we better get used to the idea that God loves to blow things up: Let’s do this My way. In the passage above we learn God was blowing up some notions simply by showing up – “Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices…” (v.18) True revival changes people’s hearts, attitudes, and actions… When God shows up, nothing is sacred.

Think about this nation, the good old U S of A. We started well (perhaps) and ever since there has been one issue after another. There’s been war and conflict and victory and defeat. Our money is embossed with our trust for Him, but our actions speak otherwise. I keep hearing the populace is angry; but with a spoiled-rotten populace and a self-serving and deceptive government class, who really cares? We’ll see.

The things we do are to be done with honor and respect for God. However, society has been so sanitized of God, it’s no wonder that all we hold dear is becoming increasingly drear. Who do we trust? God? And everything these days seems to be so volatile. I’m not saying everyone has to believe in God (although I think everyone ought) but it’s plain to see that life and living and government and society are woefully incomplete without Him; and moving pell-mell away from Him.

God, because He loves us, has His thumb on the detonator. Perhaps it’s time, like the ancient Ephesians, to confess our practices and burn our manuals… maybe we’ll see how futile and empty our lives are by depending on our own cleverness, and the government, not the God whom Paul preached. The unshakable power of the Gospel.

Father, as long as I’ve breath on this earth, may I preach the gospel with my actions and my words. May I help those whose lives are fraught with emptiness and futility to see the God who loves them and wants to save them from their own devices. Lord, I pray in these dark days for another great awakening where people trust You, live wisely, and invest in love, goodness; and You. Amen

Knowable

2/10/2016

Acts 17.23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. – St. Paul

Apparently, the ancient Greeks in Athens had many deitic symbols of the gods they worshiped – so many in fact, that to cover all their bases, they had to put up a shrine to, The Unknown God. Paul took the opportunity to capitalize on their own words: The Unknown God. He explained to them that indeed God was unknown to them but that He would be known by them if only they would turn from all of their other gods and seek The Unknown God. If you’re going to admit to not knowing Him, let me help you…

Many people go through life knowing of God but not really knowing Him. In their minds they think the knowing of God is sufficient for them; God is “up there” and as long as He is, then there is some benefit to having the knowledge that He is. But God up there is not the same as God in here (point at your heart when you read those words).

God is truly, the Unknown God, to millions. It’s not that He doesn’t exist, it’s just that He is unknown. Some of that unknowing may be self-inflicted ignorance, and some of it may just be ignorance. It’s not that God doesn’t want to be known, and hasn’t gone out of His way to be known – just take a look at creation around us… It’s just that many simply see no need to know God on a personal basis.

God wants to be our Friend. God sees us differently than we see ourselves. God sees mankind as the pinnacle of His creation. God sees vast potential in each of us. God is the Greatest Resource in the Universe and He has availed Himself to us for that very purpose. But many are ignorant or suspicious of His motives: What’s God going to make me do? What’s God going to take from me? Will I have to go to the Congo? (yes, people actually ask that question.)

The reason God is unknown to so many is that He is unknown to many – no one has ever explained to them Who He is, and why He wants to be known. They simply look to the externals in life, and ignore, or try to stifle, the internals of life: the need to know and the desire to be loved.

A friend of mine posted a quote by Ravi Zacharias the other day: When you say there's too much evil in this world, you assume (by your own logic) there's good. When you assume there's good, you assume there is such a thing as a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil. But if you assume a moral law, you must posit a moral Law Giver, but that's who you're trying to disprove and not prove. Because if there's no moral Law Giver, there's no moral law. If there's no moral law, there's no good. If there's no good, there’s no evil. What's your question?” On that basis alone, we ought to arrive at a conclusion of God. But He remains to millions, by their will, ignorance, and pride, unknown.

Like St. Paul, my job is to say, Well, since you obviously don’t know God, let me tell you about Him.

Father, help me to see those to whom You wish to reveal Yourself. May I be used to tell others about You, the Unknown God, that You are really not unknown, but knowable. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear, and words to say to make the Unknown, Known. Amen.

See My Faith

2/7/2016

Acts 14.9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well…  - St. Luke

My word for the year is Miracle. I am associated with many people who need a miracle of God to happen to them. For some it’s financial, for others, it’s health. Still for others it’s relationships and for others it’s employment. The list is endless. So I pray and ask God for miracles to happen in the lives of these people.

Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” (Acts 14.8-11 ESV) Miracles are a testimony of God’s power and presence, and, of His tender mercies toward us.

If you read the account in Acts 14, you’ll find that Paul saw faith in a man to be healed. Faith ought to be visible either in the walking, or the anticipating. Those who walk in faith are visible. Those who are seeking God for something beyond what they can ask or imagine are visible – something about them that causes others to wonder.

Paul never meant to be a circus sideshow – he simply saw the faith in the crippled man and in response called out for his healing; and God, in His power and presence responded as well: crippled man rose and walked.

Now the crowd Lystrans didn’t fare so well – they thought their gods decided to do something through their emissaries: Paul and Barnabas. It is still true today – see one miracle, and we put it on the front cover of every magazine, and newspaper in the country: When You See What Happens Next You’ll Be Reaching for Toilet Paper.  Miracle’s are supposed to help us to see God; but for many it’s just another unexplainable event that has no bearing on their feeble lives. Entertaining, yes; life-changing, not so much.

God isn’t about entertaining us; He is about transforming us. I think He gives miracles to those who look with eyes of faith for them.

Miracles aren’t always vast moves of God blowing people away to the point where they are too astounded to come up with an explanation. More often, miracles can be reconciliation of a ruined relationship. Miracles can be the power of God to overcome addiction. Miracles can be the presence of the Lord so strong that I cease thinking one way and begin to think another. Miracles are usually unexpected, but are life-changing. That’s what I am looking for. No drama, no trauma, just God.

My word for the year is Miracle. I’m living and praying these days for the changes in my life and in the lives of others that only God can bring. With God all things are possible. My prayer is that we have such visible faith that God sees and grants the things we so desperately need, but have no means of getting.

Lord, see my faith – Amen.

Figuring It All Out

2/2/2016

Acts 9.31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. – St. Luke

If there is one thing evident in the Book of Acts, it’s the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had ascended and the Holy Spirit had come upon them all in presence – very real, and power – awesome and mysterious. And so, under the care and guidance of the Spirit of God, the Church flourished and grew. And this was evidenced by the respect of the Lord – and comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Usually, in the circles I run in, the Holy Spirit is thought of as, or connected with, power. Typically, we think of the power of the Holy Spirit to convict, convince, and perhaps, conquer in the battle with sin, self, and Satan. Rarely, at least among those whom I fellowship, is the Spirit thought of as a Source of comfort. We like to think more about the gentleness of God or Christ, and when something dynamic is needed we turn to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. I confess, I’ve always thought that way.

It’s not a matter of three gods, it’s more the understanding of God: the Three-in-One, co-equal, co-eternal. You cannot have God’s power and presence without God’s love and comfort, and all of Who God is, is encompassed in His entire Being: Spirit, Soul, and Body: God the Father, Christ the Son, God the Spirit.

I don’t want to mistakenly label God. The Trinity is awesome, wonderful and inconceivable in the human mind. But Scripture assures us that the totality of God is manifest in three distinct, yet  perfect expressions: Father, Son, and Spirit. I don’t even attempt to comprehend it – it’s just the way it is and I accept it thus.

What caught my feeble attention today was the phrase: “…in the comfort of the Holy Spirit…” I admit and confess I’ve simply not thought of the Holy Spirit in that manner before. In my simple mind I’ve always tried to assign things to each member of the Trinity, and so, in my thinking, I’ve sort of wondered what the role of the Holy Spirit will be in eternity – I’ve never made that leap.

Today, I’ve had to step back and just accept that God is beyond my comprehension, but very much present in my life and to that, I accept the comfort of the Holy Spirit leading me and guiding me toward the things I am to say and do to further the Kingdom of God and the presence of the Church in this world; of which I may be a tiny part, but never, ever unnecessary. Comprehending God is not my job – loving Him, serving Him, and telling others about Him is…

Father, give me those today to share with, about You! I know I can’t figure it all out – but walking with You and living in Your presence is all You ask of me – amen.