“For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” (1 John 5:4 MKJV)
The topic is victory: victory that is to come; victory that is available today. Victory is intentional in that we are able, with the Lord’s help, to live each day with the intent of victory. There is also element of simplicity to daily living victoriously.
Alan Redpath wrote a book he titled “Victorious Christian Living.” Long ago I read it, but don’t remember much now, and no longer have the book. What I do remember is a story about Mr. Redpath’s speaking engagement in Los Angeles, California, that took place some years ago. He stood silently before a group–of pastors and pastoral candidates, I believe–leaning a bit to one side then the other, an effect of his old age. Finally, to the hushed audience he sang slowly the children’s song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” He continued singing for several minutes. When he stopped, there were no dry eyes among the attendees. The message sunk deeply through the crusty skin, into the inner person. Y’shuaJesus loves us. That’s Victory. That’s Simple!
Regarding victory, Matthew Henry commented on the scripture from 1John that “Faith is the cause of victory, the means, the instrument, the spiritual armour by which we overcome. In and by faith we cleave to Christ, in contempt of, and in opposition to the world. Faith sanctifies the heart, and purifies it from those sensual lusts by which the world obtains sway and dominion over souls. It has the indwelling Spirit of grace, which is greater than he who dwells in the world. The real Christian overcomes the world by faith.”
Y’shuaJesus loves us, from which we develop a habit of faith. This faith grows from the good soil of our lives. We begin the day in communion with our Lord. We read a passage of His Word. We think about it as we go about our duties and tasks of the day. We thank our Lord for the blessings we are given—those for our own use, and those given us to pass on to others. Faith develops as we walk in the Spirit of G-d. And as Mr. Henry tells us, “faith is the cause of victory.” It is through this victory that we overcome the world.
Y’shuaJesus loves us. Now what is the question? Y’shuaJesus’s love is the answer to all questions, all problems, all daily struggles. Simple victory, today and tomorrow. Y’shuaJesus’s love is not a reason to celebrate, it is The Reason to Celebrate.
Praise You, LORD, for in You we have our being, and through You we have victory. AMEN.
“. . .they were looking intently into the heaven. . .” (Acts 1:10 MKJV)
We looked, last time, briefly into victory. We are eternally victorious. Also, we are mandated to live victoriously today. On a daily basis, we must remember our home is in heaven and that we are bound there. Likewise, we must daily gaze intently, into Heaven. For as Luke writes in Acts, the angels told the disciples Y’shuaJesus will come in the same manner in which they watched Him depart.
This gazing into Heaven with intent is intentional living, intentional victory. As we rise in the morning, we have an opportunity to think though all we desire to accomplish during the day. We can choose to submit this in prayer to our Lord, and accept His will, His way, throughout our day. As we step through our plan with our Lord, we prepare ourselves to meet obstacles too. As we go about our day, we choose to be one who will not be defeated, to be one who overcomes. In a way, we are like the child’s inflatable toy that is round on the bottom, and weighted, and can’t be knocked down. It rolls over nearly touching the ground as a child hits it, but it pops right back up. It occurs to me that like that toy, victorious living is flexible living. We are intent upon Messiah throughout our day.
While driving throughout America, meeting people, talking to people, I meet many who seemed to rise above the inevitable difficulties thrust upon them. I also met many who seemed to live in constant defeat. There’s a slogan among truckers who pull flatbed trailers that says “Get ‘er done!” It is an attitude. It is a way of life. Sore muscles from hard work the previous day don’t stop a driver with this attitude. The driver gets up in the morning and gets going. Some days it feels like it just isn’t worth it at all. Traffic, weather, police checkpoints, all contribute to a sense of hopelessness that easily creeps into a driver’s mind. But a driver with a victorious attitude simply moves onward, one step at a time.
One thing I noticed that separated successful drivers from those that were defeated was in the way they would talk. The more a driver seemed to complain about circumstances and events, the more negative and defeated the driver’s life seemed to be. The more positive a driver’s attitude, the more the driver was able to “Get ‘er done,” the more prepared to succeed.
As people who follow Y’shuaJesus, we are in this world, and must face the same opportunities and difficulties as those who choose not to follow Y’shuaJesus. What we see in any circumstance, any event, is like the cliché of looking at a half-full cup of water as either half full or half empty. It’s all in attitude. It’s all in the way we look at things. How will you face your day? Will you see a glass half empty, like it’s nearly empty of water? Will you see it half full, like it’s nearly full? It’s your choice. Chose to live victorious, chose to live intently gazing toward Heaven for the coming of our Lord while always stepping forth, overcoming.
As Paul wrote, “Finally, brothers [and sisters], rejoice. Perfect yourselves; encourage yourselves; mind the same thing; be at peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11 MKJV)
“For the LORD your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:4 HCSB)
While driving truck over-the-road, the company provided me with directions to the assigned destination. These directions were to be strictly adhered. But not always did they work. I recall a time in Maryland, after following the company’s precise directions, I ended up on a narrow, winding rural road lined with million-dollar homes. I flagged down a small delivery truck driver to ask if I was in the right place. He shook his head, wondered how I’d managed to get this far. No, I wasn’t in the right place. And there was no place to turn about, being over 75 feet (27 meters) long. I had to continue along the road, make a few turns, then I’d come to a round-about. He instructed me not to try to go around that round-about, but to cut across it, as I’d never make it otherwise. Eventually, thank G-d, I made it back to the main highway. It turned out my load went to a small facility that was just a block from where I turned of the highway. The directions were very wrong.
Unlike the roads in the old Roman Empire that all led to Rome, not all paths lead to victory. Victory as not just something far off, in the future, but also available today. Victory is intentional, simple, and hopeful. We can imitate the ways of victory in the G-dly ones G-d brings into our lives, and through various writings, such as the Apostle Paul’s. Another road to victory is becoming passionate about our Lord. There’s unforgettable victories, as there are forgettable failures, which lead to repeated failures. There’s also restorative victories. These are not all the roads leading to victory. And we do not take just one of them either.
We have G-d’s Word providing direction to victory. We have G-d’s promise in Deuteronomy that G-d goes with us to fight for us to give us victory. We move freely from one road to another, trusting in our Lord’s righteous victory, and in His ability to provide victory in our lives. When we awake in the morning, do we choice which road we should take for the day’s victory? Perhaps we do. In our morning devotional times we may see we need to be more intent upon victory, more passionate. Perhaps during the day we are reminded to forget a failure and proceed without fear. Or perhaps we’re reminded of a past failure, and shown how not to repeat it. There are many roads we may take leading to victory, and our Lord will not only show us the way, but will walk the road with us. Our Lord’s directions, unlike my company’s, won’t leave us on a narrow road, lost. He is with us all the way!
Other Victory Roads are praise and worship, and there is the victory that we find serving G-d’s people, using our gifts, fitting well into the Body of Messiah on Earth. We haven’t touched upon what I might call the Road of Awe, which is a holy and righteous fear of the LORD. And what about the victory that comes through listening in the quiet for the Spirit to speak? And there’s a certain victory that comes through letting go, surrendering to the flow of G-d’s Spirit. (No, this isn’t Eastern meditation, or some other system or practice that empties the mind only to be filled with demonic spirits.)
Victorious living is our right, purchased on Calvary. Victorious living is also a privilege of those who will believe on the Son of our Creator, our Lord Y’shuaJesus. We are children of the King. We are noble men and women. As such we have an obligation to seek victory today, that we might be beacons, bright lights, drawing lost human vessels tossed upon the seas of life, to our Savior Y’shuaJesus. Let us now rejoice, not when we find victory, but rather because we have it in our position as children of the King.
Thank You, LORD our G-d, King, Creator, in the most holy Name of Y’shuaJesus. You are victory. You are life. Amen and Amen.
“And He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45 MKJV)
This story is one of my favorites. The disciples are not at first named. It could be me and you. The Roman road still exists. It leads out of Jerusalem near a small village and down a hill. The road is made from stones, like the stones on the Via De La Rosa, the road Y’shuaJesus trod on His way to Golgotha to die for me, and for you.
These disciples were talking about the events of the weekend. They were conversing and reasoning together, in reality a civil sort of argument, about what had happened to Y’shua. They’d expected the Savior of Israel to lead a rebellion against Rome. They’d expected many things that appeared now to be but dreams, gone like vapor after awakening. They were perplexed, astonished even, for they’d heard Y’shua wasn’t dead, that he’d come back from the dead. Why, he’d even appeared to certain women of their company.
As this argument continues, a man appears and asks, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk, and are sad?”
“Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” is one’s response. Then this stranger explained the events of which they discussed and reasoned—argued.
It occurs to me that I might easily have rebuffed this man who appears ignorant of the times, the hopes and dreams of Israel’s deliverance, and how we have the right to be sad and mourn our loss.
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” says this fellow who’d joined the pair.
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (v27)
They did not know this was Y’shua, until later. It was in one of the disciples’ homes, into which Y’shua had been invited, that they shared bread. Y’shua took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. It was then that their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
“They said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (v32)
It is my prayer that our Lord Y’shuaJesus continue to open the eyes of our hearts. And more that our hearts burn within us. It is in reading and application of His Word, His Scriptures, that we are transformed, conformed to Him. As we read the Bible, we must interpret it; we must find our understanding within it.
While in college, I had two English literature professors with differing opinions about interpretation of literature. One, Jimmi Cushing, a poet and professor, taught about various ways we interpret literature. One of the ways we use is to bring some of ourselves to the text. We bring it it our own personal experiences and situations. The other professor taught his version of interpretation, and that this was the only proper interpretation.
It’s easy now to laugh a little at the second professor’s method. I recall my interpretation of Emily Dickens’s poetry as being love poems to our Lord. My professor said this is bunk, that she wrote to a mysterious lover, one that was never revealed. He said I was wrong, he was right. Needless to say, I stuck to my thesis, and was ridiculed in class by him. Okay. He’s entitled to his foolish view.
Jimmi Cushing wouldn’t necessarily have agreed with me on my interpretation, but he’d have said I have the right to this interpretation.
Hum. Sound familiar in light of various religious world views today? There are those with dogmatic views of their religious writing that say they are right and any other thinking is wrong. There are others that believe all truth is relative truth. That is my truth isn’t necessarily your truth; both are true, for us individually.
So we have a hard task today, with so many teachings, even short devotionals. Jude warns of those who “have crept in unnoticed. . . who turn the grace of our G-d into lewdness and deny the only Lord G-d and our Lord Y’shuaJesus Messiah. . . [who] mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. . . [they] are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” (Jude 4, 16, 19)
Once, some years ago an Australian Christian pastor lamented to me that the United States exported so many false Christian doctrines. It’s no longer true today; false doctrines emanate from all countries and all denominations.
Y’shuaJesus warns us, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out.’” (Matthew 24:23-26)
Jude tells us we are to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” And “building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of G-d, looking for the mercy of our Lord Y’shuaJesus Messiah unto eternal life.” That we may not fear, we have been given the Spirit of the Living and Holy G-d as a seal and a guide. We approach all teaching and reading of the Scripture as children of the Creator of the Universe, as babies, really. And we remember the way Y’shuaJesus opened the eyes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
We pray: Lord, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your Law.” (Psalm 119:18) “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.” (Psalm 119:37) “Give me understanding. . .” (Psalm 119:34)
And what of those who read and don’t understand? Those who desire, but simply haven’t yet received the Lord as their Lord and Savior, but have received a Bible and begun to read it? To those who seek G-d in His word, assistance will come. Remember the Ethiopian in the desert (see Acts 8:26) and how G-d brought to him a man to help him understand.
May we be ready to be a Philip to a person reading the Word. May we test all spirits, to see that they are indeed from G-d. May we inspect all teachings, that the Spirit of G-d within us bears witness to them as of G-d.
We live in perilous times. We live in exciting times. Now let us be found continually reading the Scriptures to know Y’shuaJesus, to be transformed by Him. Let us be filled with the Spirit, praying always for all the Saints of the Living G-d.
May G-d Bless, Keep, and Shine upon you all, in the Name of Y’shuaJesus, our Lord and Savior. AMEN.
“And let your soul delight in abundance.” Isaiah 55:2
In his devotional on Rev. 21:23, Charles H. Spurgeon wrote:
“Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon him alone. Here we must have the help of our companions, but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus. Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth, but there they find everything in God. We use the bucket to fetch us water from the well, but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to the living water. Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no messengers from heaven then. They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God, for there they shall see him face to face. Oh! what a blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures, the Lord, and not his works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.”
I read that and think: “Where’s the satisfaction we have now, compared to the glory of eternity?” But the in my Bible, Isaiah 55 is titled, “An Invitation to Abundant Life.” It is an invitation to those who thirst to come to the waters, free of charge. We are challenged with, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?”
Y’shuaJesus compared Himself to the door to the sheep pen. We are invited to enter His pen, where He will guard us, watch over us, lead us out to pasture, and back into the pen for protection. At night, the shepherd literally lay upon the ground before the opening to the sheep. In this way, the shepherd defended the sheep as they slept. No one or no animal got through the opening. Y’shuaJesus, the door for us sheep. In this same passage, recorded in John 10:7-10, Y’shuaJesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Here’s my thoughts on this. The abundant life satisfies in the hope of tomorrow, the eternal tomorrow. The abundant life satisfies in the hope of today, for we are in the care of The Shepherd, and He watches over us. The abundant life satisfies in the putting away, the covering over, of the past in which we lived according to our own desires, our flesh. Our sins, confessed, are remembered no more.
We come to understand the ways and schemes of our enemy to take away our satisfaction, to take our satisfying and abundant life and turn it into a chaotic mix of anxiety and seeking things that do nothing for our true abundant and eternal life. This enemy is the enemy of G-d, exploiting our weaknesses, those of our bodies, our minds, our emotions.
It is G-d’s enemy who taunts us. G-d’s enemy trying to hurt us, G-d’s children. Might I be bold enough to say to our Lord that His enemy is tormenting me, and I’d like Him to deal with it? If I’m not, then am I trying to deal with the enemy myself? Am I really that strong? When the enemy hammers me, he’s trying to hammer G-d.
Once, many years ago, on New Year’s eve, I stood on a beach on the western coast of America. I cried out to our G-d, saying, “I can’t do this.” So G-d allowed me to not continue in the direction for which I was afraid. When I reflect upon that time of my life, I now realize I failed to accept a great blessing because I couldn’t see the bright future, only the dark. My trial was nothing like Y’shuaJesus’s and yet He prayed: if it were possible take this away, but G-d’s will be done.
May we delight ourselves in the LORD. May we submit to Him who called us, who wore filthy rags, and clothed us in His righteousness. May we catch the true vision of the future, the eternal future. May we remember the difference between caverns and tunnels. A cavern leads us down into the earth, while a tunnel leads us through a mountain. G-d leads us into tunnels that He be glorified in us; G-d does not lead us into caverns, caves, in which there is no exit. It is only the enemy of G-d that wants us to believe we are headed into a cavern. Thank You, Y’shuaJesus, that You said, “Your Will Be Done.”
“Set out Your wonderful loving-kindness, O Savior of those seeking refuge in You, by Your right hand, from those who rise up against me.”
(Psalms 17:7 MKJV)
Regarding this scripture, Spurgeon wrote: “His favours are always performed with the love of his heart. He does not send to us the cold meat and the broken pieces from the table of his luxury, but he dips our morsel in his own dish, and seasons our provisions with the spices of his fragrant affections. When he puts the golden tokens of his grace into our palms, he accompanies the gift with such a warm pressure of our hand, that the manner of his giving is as precious as the boon itself.”
Immediately upon reading this devotional passage, I thought of my “Bread Crumbs” experience. “Blessings take many forms,” I thought.
Briefly, let me share with you what I experienced with Y’shuaJesus about twenty years ago as I trudged from monastery to monastery on the Greek peninsula of Mt. Athos.
Mount Athos is home to many monasteries that welcome and host “pilgrims.” The first monastery in which I spent the night served only Turkish coffee and sent me on my way, hungry, thirsty, and still quite worn out from the previous day. It was in the hills, however, near a small chapel, that a monk shared bread with me. It was stale, too hard to eat. But it caused me to know that the Lord, indeed, was present in my hunger, thought of me, and promised that He’d be my provision.
Now, as quoted in the devotional, it says simply “marvelous loving-kindness.” And this is a wonderful way to spin off a devotional. But something caught my inner eye as I read, “Set out Your wonderful lovingkindness. . .” It works along with my experience with the dried crust of bread with which G-d blessed me.
G-d set out His loving-kindess to me, showing me not only His favor, but bringing me to the awareness that it is in Him in which I receive all sustenance. Indeed, Y’shuaJesus is the living water, the essential ingredient to our lives, making all food possible, and other blessings possible.
I saved those crumbs of bread. They are reminders of G-d’s mercy and kindness and provision. No, He didn’t fill my stomach at that particular moment. But He filled my soul in that I knew He looked upon me and that He had set before me a table from which I’d be filled.
I believe this is the beginning of my acceptance of delayed gratification. No longer must I have it now. I can wait because the table is set and it will be given to me in abundance when it is time.
And in my story “Bread Crumbs,” I relate that the next night I feasted and was treated with what was nearly reverence, by the monks of another monastery. (Perhaps I’ll post that story for you one day.)
Thank You, Y’shuaJesus, not only did you invite me to eat with You at Your table, You fill me with Yourself, now, that I might be sustained until the time comes that I receive Your blessing, and eventually that I sit with You at Your Great Feast. AMEN.
“Who is this who speaks, and it occurs, when the Lord does not command it?”
(Lamentations 3:37 MKJV)
The following, written a few years ago, seems an appropriate reminder that G-d is in control, though not always sensed:
By command of the Lord things happen. If it wasn’t commanded, it wouldn’t have happened—it can’t happen.
Several weeks before Easter I submitted a “Home Time” request to the company for which I drive truck. I intended to be home a week before Easter and through that Easter weekend. It didn’t happen that way, however.
I delivered early on Friday, the week before, hoping to be routed home at least by Monday. Monday came and nearly went before my load came over the communications system; I was to load pipe on Tuesday bound for Oklahoma City. Not only was it 500 miles short, it was in the wrong direction!
“Okay, LORD, let’s see what Your going to do.” But things weren’t looking too good. Fifteen trucks from my company were headed to the same place, at the same time. All of us would be hoping for load assignments after we delivered.
I loaded the pipe, had a short conversation with another driver, and headed out. I slept in the truck parking area at the pipe yard, arriving a few hours before the fellow I’d spoken to in Houston. In the morning, we were unload first, being first to arrive. Once unload, he suggested breakfast at a truck stop near by while we waited for loads.
We had a nice breakfast, and both of us were contacted to come to Tulsa, to the company terminal for dispatch from there. I dreaded going to Tulsa; it can take quite a while to get a load from there and it was already mid-day Wednesday.
Once in Tulsa, the other driver and I started talking again. This time I told him that I had some “Road Home” Truckers’ New Testiments, and said I’d like to give him one. His eyes teared a bit and he said “I knew you were a Christian!” I was a pastor, once. He told me his story of being ousted from the church for reasons I shant go, but beyond his control, and for nothing he, himself, did. Now he knew that God was prompting him to return to his relationship with Him.
I sat in Tulsa another day while loads went out to places near my home area, wondering if I’d been lost in the shuffle. Finally, late Thursday, I received a dispatch to a town 200 miles short of my home, for delivery after Easter. I couldn’t believe it. “LORD! What Now?”
I hooked up the pre-loaded trailer and headed out. As I prayed I began to believe I could arrive at the delivery site before it opened in the morning. I prayed that God would ensure that it would have the staff to unload me on Friday. I prayed I’d be able to drive all night safely, without incident.
I arrived around four in the morning, climbed into my sleeper bunk, and fell asleep. At eight o’clock, when the plant opened, I went to the office. “Thank You, LORD, I can unload today.”
Once unloaded, I went to a nearby truck stop, ate a nice breakfast, then slept for several hours before leaving empty for home. I mulled over the whole affair. I realized, more than I’d like to admit, I fretted quite a bit about getting home for Easter. What went wrong? Why were things so difficult sometimes?
The answer came quickly in the form of a remembrance of something written to a dear friend. I’d said that I was out here experiencing the things that truckers go through to better be able to empathize with them. It is one part of my assignment to be directed to the very place that I “run into someone” and present a Bible; it is another to experience the lifestyle of the trucker.
Through this experience I truly understand how little my faith is, how little my trust in God’s care and faithfulness. Even in the unpleasant experiences, God’s there. In Jesus, nothing that I “suffer” He hasn’t’ in much greater measure.
I also came to understand that things progress in small steps. I’m not superman; I don’t leap tall buildings. I can climb the stairs one step at a time. I learn to trust. I learn to have faith. I learn. One Step At A Time! Thank You, Lord Y’shuaJesus for understanding me and how I learn and grown. Thank You for drawing me to You even when I seem to resist. Thank You, My Teacher—Lord Y’shuaJesus Messiah.
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it. . .” (Luke 14:28 MKJV)
Jimmy Cagney, in 1956 a made-for-radio production, played a vagrant reporter caught up in a mission for justice in a small town being bullied by a powerful man of low integrity. A political official told him not to expect help in his quest. “You have nothing to lose,” the man told the reporter.
Nothing to lose! We’ve learned about the rich man Y’shuaJesus asked to sell all, and then to give the money to the poor. The cost was high. He had much to lose. Too much. At least that’s what he thought.
When we have something, how do we have an attitude toward G-d that is as if we had nothing to lose? In part it’s loyalty, dedication, integrity. Y’shuaJesus said (Luke 14:26) “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” And we’re all familiar with (Mat 6:24) “No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
So we applaud the reporter for his persistence in seeking justice, boldly speaking truth. It’s something big, something obviously needing a crusader. That reporter stirred people against the tyranny of the reprobate. But then he could, he couldn’t himself be attacked. Unlike one character in the story, he didn’t have a home with a mortgage that might come under jeopardy by fighting against evil. He didn’t hold a public office. He couldn’t be fired. He was foot-loose, fancy-free, as the expression puts it. A vagrant. No job. No home. Nothing to lose.
But how can I live my life as if I had nothing to lose? Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Strong faith enables the servants of God to look with calm contempt upon their most haughty foes. We know that our enemies are attempting impossibilities. They seek to destroy the eternal life, which cannot die while Jesus lives.”
So to the love we have toward our Lord and Savior that fosters dedication, integrity, loyalty, we add the knowledge of our true life: eternal life. An eternal perspective. It can’t be taken from me. Y’shuaJesus granted it; He will keep it for me. With that in mind, what else is important? There is to be only One Who is to be my Lord, my Master. I must focus upon Him, who holds the key to Heaven, and ultimately the key to Earth.
Focusing on G-d each day is making a choice to be loyal, dedicated to Y’shuaJesus. It is integrity. It is honesty. It is considering G-d and His glory in each decision I make during the day. In the little decisions. In the big decisions. In each choice, I must choose the way that exalts G-d, that is true to Him. This applies equally to small things as big. It applies to things in private, unseen by anyone, as to things very public, seen by all.
Live today as if we have nothing to lose. For really we don’t. Earth will pass away. Heaven awaits us all, if not today, then tomorrow or the next tomorrow. Eternity with G-d awaits those called by Him.
“But in all these things we more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37 MKJV)
Matthew Henry, in his commentary, writes: “We have good assurance of our preservation and continuance in this blessed state, Rom_8:35, to the end. The fears of the saints lest they should lose their hold of Christ are often very discouraging and disquieting, and create them a great deal of disturbance; but here is that which may silence their fears, and still such storms, that nothing can separate them. We have here from the apostle, a daring challenge to all the enemies of the saints to separate them, if they could, from the love of Christ.”
I like the word “disturbance” that Matthew Henry uses for what happens when we let everything from fears to frustrations loose our hold of Messiah.
There’s a screen saver that has a pond into which a drop falls. The drop splashes into the calm water, ripples are created spreading out from the center. Eventually the pond returns to its quiet state–only to have another drop hit.
I think it is like this with our lives; we go calm for a moment until something disturbs us. Our emotions rise and fall, and all around us feel the effect of the drop.
Growth in Messiah is not that the drops don’t fall into our quiet pond, which is our sought-after state with Messiah, but that we allow Messiah to absorb the effect of the drop. Then the tidal wave is minimized, though never completely eliminated until Messiah returns, until we are with Him in His Glory.
Another way to understand disturbances is flying in an airplane. Occasionally the pilot will warn passengers that there may be some disturbances and to please fasten seat belts. Perhaps we need to fasten our spiritual seatbelts, and keep them fastened, to avoid falling out of our spiritual seats.
Paul tells us about the source of disturbances and how to buffer its effect: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world’s rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:12, 13 MKJV)
As comforting as it might be, I can’t blame all disturbances on an external spiritual power. In my journaling I worked through some issues I’d had the previous day. Part of what I wrote may be of interest:
“. . .worked through some of the frustrations in my mind. It seems when I feel responsible for a mistake, I am very disappointed in myself and become frustrated. Double wammy, here! It is pride that shows itself when I think I should be better than making mistakes. Then not properly responding to issues arising from the error is the second wam-bam. I suppose I didn’t beat myself up too badly. Ate and felt better. Lesson Number Two was not eating properly, opening the door for physical drain that contributes to my mood and responses.”
So listen for the voice of The Captain, take your spiritual seats and fasten your spiritual seatbelts; get ready for a bumpy ride.
May G-d have mercy upon us, upholding us in our Earthly lives, as we long for life with our Lord in the place He prepares for us. Bless the Name of the Lord, our G-d.
“These were the potters and those who lived among plants and hedges. They lived there with the king for his work.” (1 Chronicles 4:23 MKJV)
Spurgeon once wrote: “Dwell ye with the King for his work, and when he writes his chronicles your name shall be recorded.”
Occasionally, I question what I’m doing, where I am in the Lord’s service. I wonder about direction. I question. G-d blesses me in so many ways. I see His work, and yet continue to wonder at my value. There I said it! Yes, that is the issue. Well, perhaps it is an issue, not just the issue.
I am blessed in my work, my life, but begin to wonder about my value in G-d’s service. There are triggers that push me into this sort of thinking, setting me to thinking about what I’m doing, where I’m going with that doing. Am I suppose to change my doing, change directions. Sometimes the triggers occur before a trial. Trials are experiencing the peaks and valleys in one’s walk with the Lord. They exist. For every valley and low point there is a green pasture with its high points on the other side.
Even in this ‘knowing,’ I seek to find if I’m where I am suppose to be, as if were the first low experienced. Now this isn’t such a bad thing to do, occasionally. It isn’t the questioning that is dangerous; it’s getting overly anxious, despairing, seeking other than G-d for guidance and approval.
Yes, approval. If I don’t feel of value, am I going to seek approval from people or activities that give me the illusion of value? If I do, I’m doomed to a swamp filled with alligators and lots of bugs. I don’t like bugs, especially the kind that bite and leave me with swollen spots that burn and itch.
Paul, in Athens, said, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is served with man’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives life and breath and all things to all. And He has made all nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling, to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:24-27 MKJV)
Questioning where I am, if I do right in what I’m doing, is not wrong. It is a normal response to an event or series of events. How I respond makes all the difference in my relationship with our Lord.
It is written, it is ordained, we are to “seek the Lord.” It will do no good to ignore the promptings to question, as if in some way this means we aren’t as spiritual as we would like to appear.
Once, some years ago, I attended a church that had an attitude of continuous rejoicing. But in the eyes of many people I saw something that contradicted their smiles, hand-waving worship, their rejoicing. It seemed to me they were pretending to have the Joy of the Lord, ignored there feelings. Perhaps they feared that they might be less spiritual if they admitted they were having a hard time, a bad day. The Psalms cry out praises of G-d’s work and faithfulness. But also they tell of troublesome times, times like our own. “You make us a strife for our neighbors; and our enemies laugh among themselves.” (Psalms 80:6 MKJV) And this, as with all the Psalms, ends with promise and hope: “Turn us again, O LORD, the G-d of Hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.”(Psalms 80:19 MKJV)
Just as ignoring issues, questions, isn’t the answer, seeking guidance before seeking the Lord is also quite destructive. Remember King Saul’s searching: “And Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium, at Endor.”(1 Samuel 28:7 MKJV)
Our situation isn’t the issue; our response is the point. Ignore the issue and create an emptiness that we try to fill in some way, opening us for addictions. Seek guidance not approved by G-d, and we will suffer the discontent like King Saul. Our response is to admit to the Lord our feelings, our thoughts. Are we not encouraged to take our thoughts captive to G-d? We seek the Lord.
I question my value. I understand I desire approval. I seek the Lord. And I wait upon the Lord for His way of showing me, telling me, holding me, approving of me.
Thank You, LORD! You, O LORD, our savior and redeemer, Who walks with us in our valleys and leads us to green pastures, fresh water, calming peace—Your Peace.
Jonah’s Song 