Ezekiel 36:33 reads in the Young's Literal Translation, "Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of My cleansing you from all your iniquities, I have caused the cities to be inhabited, And the wastes have been built."
For some, 2012 was year to be quickly forgotten given the pain you may have experienced from a job loss or your home put on the auction block or the discomfort from a strained family relationship. Yet, what do you expect for 2013? A brand new year or will 2012 spill over bringing more discouraging news? What really is the point of making a new year's resolution when there is not much to look forward except more hardships?
For others, 2012 was an excellent year which brought perhaps a job promotion, a closer knit family through though a difficult season. Your spiritual walk with the Lord flourished and you reached out to others in need, resulting in an increase of blessings and sweet communion with the body of Christ.
Regardless to what 2012 may have been to us as believers we have the promise that God will continue to be God to us in these late hours of the final days before His glorious return (2 Peter 3:10-14).
Not only will He continue to cleanse us, as Ezekiel described, which is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but God will restore those places we only perceive as a waste.
Recently, as a nation, we have mourned the tragic news of innocent lives destroyed, wasted by individuals who were possessed by hate and cruelty. Lives and places were utterly destroyed, leaving a by a horrific stain on the landscape of many hearts and minds.
Can hope still spring up? Can life be restored? Can the night of weeping pass and joy be found in the morning?
Yes! God can take the bitter waters of marah and turn them into sweet waters (Exodus 15:23-24) and bring a promise of healing. The water that Jesus spoke is Himself, the living water,made possible when we are thirst and dry (John 4:14). Ezekiel 47 speaks of salt water turning fresh to give and support life, changing everything in its path.
We can enter 2013, digging deep into the life of Christ, to be the well of fresh, living water for others that will make a lasting difference in this new year and coming generations.
2013 will be a remarkable year, unlike years past.
It will be a year of breaking expectations and trends, the predictable will be no more because we are on God's fast track of events leading to His return. As there will be an increasing gross darkness over the earth, a last day revival will break out across the nations. The yearning and desire to pray will be restored. Many will risk their lives to further the gospel of Christ,yes, even in this nation, while the love of many will only grow even more colder to the things of God and hatred toward those who represent Christ will abound.
There will be events that shatter and break, mend and mold, but as long as we are rooted in Christ, we are a people unshaken and unmoved by these things.
Yet, we only grower stronger and sweeter while 2013 becomes a promising year of God's fulfillment of the many things we long to see Him do in our lives and in the lives around us, even for those who are in desperate need of courage and hope who can't face another year, alone.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Speaking the Truth in Love
Recently the Lord was speaking to my heart regarding offenses. Some people are easily offended while others seem to shrug off offenses without much effort. As many of us know, we will encounter offensive people many times throughout our lives. And sadly, we will offend others either by choice or without realizing it.
One of the definitions of offense means a stumbling block. A stumbling block is an obstacle to progress or an impediment to belief or understanding. In other words, an offense causes someone to trip over our words or some offensive action done on our part.
By the very nature of us living as Christians, we are an offense to those in the world. I Peter 2:7-8 described Christ as a rock in which many take offense and stumble. Jesus warned the disciples in Luke 17:1, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come”(NIV). According to this passage, it is one thing to be the offended party but the greater sin is with the one who offends.
We see this in Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:1-5 where Jesus warns those that offend a “little” one in Christ, it would be better if a millstone was tied around the offender’s neck and drowned. Notice that between the verses when Jesus takes a little child in His arms (verses 36-37) and the warning for those who offend (verse 42) the disciples report that there is a man who is casting out demons in Jesus name.
The disciples were offended by someone outside their close knit circle who was doing the very thing some of them had failed to do. Just before Matthew 18, in chapter 17:14-15 a man brought his demonized son to the disciples but they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. Jesus is aware of the pride in the disciples that has the potential to offend others. Jesus warns in Matthew 18:2 unless you change and become little children, you never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus takes seriously those who offend.
We must always keep in mind we are the offender because of our sin and disobedience and Jesus is the offended party. When we fail to put this in right perspective, we soon forget His love and kindness in which He first drew us to Himself. He forgave us and imparted to us a new life washing away our sins and giving us a new start, a new beginning!
How is it then we can become so offended by the “little ones” in the body of Christ who are doing the very thing we should be able to do but because of the hardness of our hearts as a result of an offense, we are become a stone in which they stumble.
Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:9-13 to be careful for the things which might be lawful to us might offend a brother or sister in Christ. When we wound a weak conscience, Paul says in verse 12, we wound Christ.
One of the definitions of offense means a stumbling block. A stumbling block is an obstacle to progress or an impediment to belief or understanding. In other words, an offense causes someone to trip over our words or some offensive action done on our part.
By the very nature of us living as Christians, we are an offense to those in the world. I Peter 2:7-8 described Christ as a rock in which many take offense and stumble. Jesus warned the disciples in Luke 17:1, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come”(NIV). According to this passage, it is one thing to be the offended party but the greater sin is with the one who offends.
We see this in Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:1-5 where Jesus warns those that offend a “little” one in Christ, it would be better if a millstone was tied around the offender’s neck and drowned. Notice that between the verses when Jesus takes a little child in His arms (verses 36-37) and the warning for those who offend (verse 42) the disciples report that there is a man who is casting out demons in Jesus name.
The disciples were offended by someone outside their close knit circle who was doing the very thing some of them had failed to do. Just before Matthew 18, in chapter 17:14-15 a man brought his demonized son to the disciples but they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. Jesus is aware of the pride in the disciples that has the potential to offend others. Jesus warns in Matthew 18:2 unless you change and become little children, you never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus takes seriously those who offend.
We must always keep in mind we are the offender because of our sin and disobedience and Jesus is the offended party. When we fail to put this in right perspective, we soon forget His love and kindness in which He first drew us to Himself. He forgave us and imparted to us a new life washing away our sins and giving us a new start, a new beginning!
How is it then we can become so offended by the “little ones” in the body of Christ who are doing the very thing we should be able to do but because of the hardness of our hearts as a result of an offense, we are become a stone in which they stumble.
Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:9-13 to be careful for the things which might be lawful to us might offend a brother or sister in Christ. When we wound a weak conscience, Paul says in verse 12, we wound Christ.
Friday, November 30, 2012
The Credit of a Righteous Life
In Genesis 15:6 it says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
This was long before the cross when Jesus spilled His blood to make us righteous, to bring us into right relationship with the Father (Romans 5:9) The King James Version uses the word "justified". In the original, justified means judicial-approved in a legal sense and it means to defend the cause of.
Living a righteous life is to under God is our defense who bore our sinful offenses - God being the offend party - yet, through His blood, we are made righteous i.e. judicial- approved before Him. Defending your own righteousness is foolish and is evident of a heart of unbelief!
For you see, Abraham was fully persuaded God would do what He promised (Romans 4:21). To be fully persuaded requires trust, faith in the power of God to fulfill His promises.
How many of us desire to live righteously but we are not fully convinced God will do as He promised? Instead of trusting Him, we find ourselves justifying and rationalizing why we decided to take matters in our own hands. But anything short of faith in God is unbelief - a terrible sin that affronts the very attributes of God! God is who all powerful, all sufficient, the One who can far exceed our heart's desire by answering our cry, if only we believe Him!
It's no wonder we don't experience so much a "credit" but a "debit" in our spiritual life because we limit the scope and power of God to perform His word! We are running in the red, exhausted, frustrated and wonder why our prayers seem hollow and empty.
Beloved, in Galatians 3:6 the word credit comes from the Greek word, logizomai which means to reckon, to take into account. Abraham reckoned God's power to perform His promise - God being the Logos, the very Word of God.
Let's resolve in our hearts to reckon God's faithfulness and power to perform what He promised us. And let's account for the unbelief in our hearts. When we learn to trust Him, being fully persuaded in His power to act, we learn what it is to truly be righteous people of God.
This was long before the cross when Jesus spilled His blood to make us righteous, to bring us into right relationship with the Father (Romans 5:9) The King James Version uses the word "justified". In the original, justified means judicial-approved in a legal sense and it means to defend the cause of.
Living a righteous life is to under God is our defense who bore our sinful offenses - God being the offend party - yet, through His blood, we are made righteous i.e. judicial- approved before Him. Defending your own righteousness is foolish and is evident of a heart of unbelief!
For you see, Abraham was fully persuaded God would do what He promised (Romans 4:21). To be fully persuaded requires trust, faith in the power of God to fulfill His promises.
How many of us desire to live righteously but we are not fully convinced God will do as He promised? Instead of trusting Him, we find ourselves justifying and rationalizing why we decided to take matters in our own hands. But anything short of faith in God is unbelief - a terrible sin that affronts the very attributes of God! God is who all powerful, all sufficient, the One who can far exceed our heart's desire by answering our cry, if only we believe Him!
It's no wonder we don't experience so much a "credit" but a "debit" in our spiritual life because we limit the scope and power of God to perform His word! We are running in the red, exhausted, frustrated and wonder why our prayers seem hollow and empty.
Beloved, in Galatians 3:6 the word credit comes from the Greek word, logizomai which means to reckon, to take into account. Abraham reckoned God's power to perform His promise - God being the Logos, the very Word of God.
Let's resolve in our hearts to reckon God's faithfulness and power to perform what He promised us. And let's account for the unbelief in our hearts. When we learn to trust Him, being fully persuaded in His power to act, we learn what it is to truly be righteous people of God.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Praise that Swallows the Enemy
Exodus 15 is a song of praise for God's mighty deliverance for Israel after they crossed the Red Sea. A song which should have been sung before they crossed over to the other side.
In verse 9 it reads, "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied on them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." This same Satanic boasting is found in Isaiah 14:14: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."
In response God says to the enemy in 15:12, "...the earth shall swallow them" and in Isaiah 14:15, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."
For all the empty boasting the enemy whispers and taunts in our minds to tell us we will be overtaken, we are going down and will never recover, the Lord has one answer to Satan: You will be swallowed up!
God gives us this precious promise in Isaiah 25:8: "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it."
The word for swallow in the orginal means to engulf, to be brought to confusion, to destroy and confound.
When we worship the Lord in the midst of our trying circumstances, in our pain and when there seems to be more questions and fewer answers, and when everything it seems in life is hurled at us - worship the Lord!
For when we worship the Lord despite our circumstances or the outcome, we make room for victory for the enemy to be swallowed up.
Praise will set up an ambush for the enemy who is never satisified until we are destroyed. But what might seem a certain defeat is for his own fall just as the Lord drove the Egyptians to the Red Sea.
So raise your hands to the Lord and fix your gaze on Him alone even when you hear the sound of horses and chariots bearing down upon you. Worship is about to part the waters to swallow him! And it will be you that will be satisifed at his fall!
In verse 9 it reads, "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied on them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them." This same Satanic boasting is found in Isaiah 14:14: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."
In response God says to the enemy in 15:12, "...the earth shall swallow them" and in Isaiah 14:15, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."
For all the empty boasting the enemy whispers and taunts in our minds to tell us we will be overtaken, we are going down and will never recover, the Lord has one answer to Satan: You will be swallowed up!
God gives us this precious promise in Isaiah 25:8: "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it."
The word for swallow in the orginal means to engulf, to be brought to confusion, to destroy and confound.
When we worship the Lord in the midst of our trying circumstances, in our pain and when there seems to be more questions and fewer answers, and when everything it seems in life is hurled at us - worship the Lord!
For when we worship the Lord despite our circumstances or the outcome, we make room for victory for the enemy to be swallowed up.
Praise will set up an ambush for the enemy who is never satisified until we are destroyed. But what might seem a certain defeat is for his own fall just as the Lord drove the Egyptians to the Red Sea.
So raise your hands to the Lord and fix your gaze on Him alone even when you hear the sound of horses and chariots bearing down upon you. Worship is about to part the waters to swallow him! And it will be you that will be satisifed at his fall!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Made Clean
David in cried in Psalms 51:2, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and in verse 7b "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" and in verse 10 he pleads, "Create in me a clean heart, O God..."
Sin always leaves a stain on the soul that no natural soap and water can remove. Guilt is not easily removed from the mind and heart. For sin is never superficial but it seeps beneath the pores of the skin right down into the bones, causing corruption and decay. There is not one part where sin does not adversely affect a person.
Only through the blood of Jesus are we washed and made whole. Titus 3:5 speaks of the "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit". The original word for "washing" means a bath and "regeneration" means to be born again.
No wonder King David cried that the Holy Spirit not be taken from him. For no other power could deliver him from the terrible transgressions he had committed.
Likewise, we have an enduring promise in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive and purify or cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. The word cleanse in this passage means to be "unstained".
As believers we are made new (and being regenerated) through the power of the Holy Ghost so when we honestly confess our sins, the Lord removes the stain sin leaves behind.
As for David, he used a very unique word in Psalms 51:2 for washing. One primitive root means to make clean by "trampling with the feet". The implication is washing garments with fuller's soap. Washing cloths to make them clean and bright with fuller soap is mentioned in Micah 3:2 and implied in the whiteness of the Lord's garments in the transfiguration.
God not only forgives but makes us spotless and bright!
Sin always leaves a stain on the soul that no natural soap and water can remove. Guilt is not easily removed from the mind and heart. For sin is never superficial but it seeps beneath the pores of the skin right down into the bones, causing corruption and decay. There is not one part where sin does not adversely affect a person.
Only through the blood of Jesus are we washed and made whole. Titus 3:5 speaks of the "washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit". The original word for "washing" means a bath and "regeneration" means to be born again.
No wonder King David cried that the Holy Spirit not be taken from him. For no other power could deliver him from the terrible transgressions he had committed.
Likewise, we have an enduring promise in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive and purify or cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. The word cleanse in this passage means to be "unstained".
As believers we are made new (and being regenerated) through the power of the Holy Ghost so when we honestly confess our sins, the Lord removes the stain sin leaves behind.
As for David, he used a very unique word in Psalms 51:2 for washing. One primitive root means to make clean by "trampling with the feet". The implication is washing garments with fuller's soap. Washing cloths to make them clean and bright with fuller soap is mentioned in Micah 3:2 and implied in the whiteness of the Lord's garments in the transfiguration.
God not only forgives but makes us spotless and bright!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A Cry from the Cave
Psalms 34, 57 and 142 are wonderful Scriptures for troubled times.
David wrote these Psalms while staying in a cave. He was fleeing from Saul who was in hot pursuit. Then David tired to seek refuge in the enemy's territory only to run after pretending to be insane in front of King Achish (I Samuel 21:10-15 and 22:1-2).
Once at the cave of adullam, he was surrounded by men who were in distress and in debt or had some grudge against the ruling authority.
Through this dark and unsettling time, David poured out his heart to God for help and mercy.
Psalms 34:6 says, "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psalms 57:2-3, "I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Shelah.
And Psalms 142:1 "I cry out to the Lord with my voice: with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble."
Do you see a common theme running through these Psalms?
When we are in trouble and surrounded by trouble (or by troubled people) we need to cry out to the Lord. Don't let the these circumstances shut your mouth, steal your voice or cause you to go silent and isolated. Rather call out to God for help! He delights in hearing the voice of His children. Like a good and wonderful father, God is moved by our cries. He delights to save and deliver us from our troubles.
And notice another theme running through these Psalms. David almost always returns back to a place of praise. He is grateful for the works God has and will do in his life. David has not lost his mind nor was he corrupted by the discontented men surrounding him. Rather he changed them into mighty men of valor because David chose to hold on to God's promises to deliver him.
Shall Not Want
Psalms 34:9-10 says, "O fear the LORD, you his saints: for there is no lack to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing."
At times our appetites can be liken to a roaring lion.
We are rarely satisfied long enough to enjoy being well fed, well provided for or having a terrific day. For the most part, we live in a discontent society that is constantly looking for the next wow factor..something bigger, better and immediate. There is a gnawing in the pit of our stomach of the possibility of missing out on something. Or the fear of being without which drives much of our appetites and desires.
Sadly, we in turn are consumed by those very things we relentlessly pursue.
David gives us the key of being full and fulfilled: the fear of the Lord. When we stand in awe of the greatness and goodness of God, we don't need to look for something or someone else to meet our needs and desires. For the fear of the Lord gives us a proper perspective of our desires.
Also, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). When we fear the Lord we can ask for those things we desire, but with His wisdom. We can rationalize any of our desires to sound reasonable. Reverence of God's nature teaches us that we don't come to Him asking for foolish things that can be consumed on our own pleasures, but rather what pleases Him.
And when we learn to fear the Lord, we receive a deeper understanding of His goodness. He will not withhold anything He determines is best for us. Though we might not be able to understand completely what we think is best is very different from what He desires for us.
At times our appetites can be liken to a roaring lion.
We are rarely satisfied long enough to enjoy being well fed, well provided for or having a terrific day. For the most part, we live in a discontent society that is constantly looking for the next wow factor..something bigger, better and immediate. There is a gnawing in the pit of our stomach of the possibility of missing out on something. Or the fear of being without which drives much of our appetites and desires.
Sadly, we in turn are consumed by those very things we relentlessly pursue.
David gives us the key of being full and fulfilled: the fear of the Lord. When we stand in awe of the greatness and goodness of God, we don't need to look for something or someone else to meet our needs and desires. For the fear of the Lord gives us a proper perspective of our desires.
Also, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). When we fear the Lord we can ask for those things we desire, but with His wisdom. We can rationalize any of our desires to sound reasonable. Reverence of God's nature teaches us that we don't come to Him asking for foolish things that can be consumed on our own pleasures, but rather what pleases Him.
And when we learn to fear the Lord, we receive a deeper understanding of His goodness. He will not withhold anything He determines is best for us. Though we might not be able to understand completely what we think is best is very different from what He desires for us.
Monday, January 2, 2012
He Makes All Things Possible and New
On New Year's Eve thousands from all around the world gathered in Times Square in eager anticipation of the ball dropping at the stroke of midnight. Apart from the celebration, there's seems to be some urgency to let the waning hours of 2011 quickly slip away in hopes of a new year, a new chapter. Perhaps this year might be better than 2011.
A year promising a stronger economy or peace where the world has known wars, healthier minds and bodies or personal success or anything but what 2011 failed to delivery.
Likewise, for the believer with each passing year, there's a deep longing for the promises spoken through God's Word to be realized in our lives. And with the promise comes a sense of newness, renewal and refreshment. For all those that gather around the clock watching for the stroke of midnight to signify another year, hopefully a better one, most only turn away feeling much the same as they did just minutes before. Had anything really changed?
Yet God who is outside of time makes all things possible and new...including a new year at His choosing for those who hope in His word.
Take Abraham for instance. In Genesis 18:10, God said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." It might not have been a new year by the ancient calendar of their day, but it was new year for both Abraham and Sarah. God's promise of a son was made possible and it meant a new year in the life for the couple who were about to be parents.
For those without Christ, Romans 5:6 offers a new year at anytime: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (NIV). And for those in Christ, His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:23).
Happy New Year!
A year promising a stronger economy or peace where the world has known wars, healthier minds and bodies or personal success or anything but what 2011 failed to delivery.
Likewise, for the believer with each passing year, there's a deep longing for the promises spoken through God's Word to be realized in our lives. And with the promise comes a sense of newness, renewal and refreshment. For all those that gather around the clock watching for the stroke of midnight to signify another year, hopefully a better one, most only turn away feeling much the same as they did just minutes before. Had anything really changed?
Yet God who is outside of time makes all things possible and new...including a new year at His choosing for those who hope in His word.
Take Abraham for instance. In Genesis 18:10, God said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." It might not have been a new year by the ancient calendar of their day, but it was new year for both Abraham and Sarah. God's promise of a son was made possible and it meant a new year in the life for the couple who were about to be parents.
For those without Christ, Romans 5:6 offers a new year at anytime: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (NIV). And for those in Christ, His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:23).
Happy New Year!