YIKES! - CLOSER to 60 THAN to 50

As we come to the end of another year it is always important to stop and reflect on what God has done in us and through.  I try to take time to think about the things that have happened.  I like to reflect on the lessons learned through the hard and challenging things God has brought into my life.  This is also a time when I am overwhelmed with deep thankfulness to God for the amazing privilege I have of serving Him.  This year as I thought about these things I also realized, perhaps for the first time, in a meaningful way that I probably have fewer years in front of me than I do behind me. So as I was reading this Psalm the Lord challenged my heart. 

Psalm 92:12-15 (HCS) The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. [13] Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courts of our God. [14] They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, [15] to declare: “The LORD is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Here are several thoughts on these verses.  The godly will flourish and thrive like a well established trees. Like Palm trees which can be blown by the wind and bend almost parallel to the ground yet they keep spring back and keep on growing.  Or like cedars which were known in ancient Israel for their immense size.  So how are the righteous like Trees?   No matter what storm comes their way they are NOT shaken or uprooted they keep on growing.  WHY?  Perhaps because of where they are planted. They are planted in the house of God.  They THRIVE in the courts of the Temple.  This is poetic imagery as the Psalm tells us that the Righteous who are like trees are rooted and grounded in God and God alone.  That is why they are growing and why they are unshakeable.  The end result for the godly who have made God’s presence their continual pursuit is that they will bear fruit in old age.  Part of that fruit is to declare WHO God is and what He is like.  He is Just and Fair and He is the Solid ground on which I can stand when everything else around me is shaking and falling apart. 

PRAYER: Lord God please help me to sink my roots down deeply into You and Your WORD.  May I seek to live each moment with an awareness of Your presence in my life.  Please Lord Jesus, keep rooted and grounded in You and FRUITFUL for You.

SCARED BY A SHADOW?

Shadows - are interesting.  In very bright light they can be dark and seem almost solid.  When one of our daughters saw her shadow for the first time in bright sunlight at age two it scared her because she tried to get away from it and could not.  Later on as our girls got a lot older we would play shadow tag where you tried to step on someone’s shadow without allowing your own shadow be stepped on.  (For some reason I always lost - perhaps the sheer size of my shadow put me at a disadvantage.)  But one lesson I learned from shadow tag was that the closer you were to the person the easier it was to step on their shadow.  Let’s look at these verses together.

Psalm 91:1 (NLT) Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [2] This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

In the Old Testament the idea of God’s presence was described as being near to God in His Temple.  To be close to God required a physical nearness, in this case close enough for God to become their shelter.  The imagery gets even more vivid with the next phrase.  To “rest in the SHADOW of the Almighty.”  I know God does not cast a shadow - but if a person wanted to be in the shadow of Jesus they would have to be very close to Him.  The idea is the same.  If we want to REST in God we must be CLOSE to Him.  Close enough so that His shadow falls on us.  Wiersbe tells us that: “The safest place in the world is a shadow, if it is the shadow of the Almighty.”  And Spurgeon reminds us that: “Great nearness is in view - we must walk very close to a companion if we would have his shadow fall on us.”  If we are to pursue nearness to God, closeness with Him, and intimate relationship with our Lord it will require BEING CLOSE to Him.  How do we do that?  The primary way is to spend time with Him reading and meditating on the Bible.  And talking to Him about the things that we see in His Word and the things that are going on in our lives.  The end result of continually resting in God’s Presence -  in His shadow is seen in verse two.  Those who draw close to God can declare about the Lord that - He ALONE is MY refuge, He is MY place of safety, HE is MY God and I Trust Him.   

PRAYER: Lord Jesus help me to draw close to YOU and help me to rest in that closeness.  Help me to Remember as I rest in You that YOU are MY refuge and MY place of Safety.  Thank You Lord Jesus that You are MY God and that I can TRUST you Always.

POWERFUL WORDS: NOTHING - SEPARATE - MORE

Words are powerful they have the ability to convey feelings, ideas, as well as emotions.  When we think of these words MORE, SEPARATE, NOTHING.  These are strong words with deep emotions or feelings attached to them.  For example SEPARATE - I hate it when I travel because it separates me from Carol.  It is a necessary part of ministry but I hate those times of separation.   NOTHING - There is nothing further we can do your father is in God’s hands.  MORE - fixing that car is more trouble than it is worth.  There is power in words.  In our Wednesday afternoon men’s Bible study we were studying Romans 8:35-39.  Great verses that can challenge, encourage, comfort, and convict.  We spent time meditating on this passage during the week and then we shared those thoughts together. Here are some of what we shared from the meditation we did on these verses.

Romans 8:37 (NIV) ...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

“We are MORE than the troubles that try us.  We are MORE than the sum total of our mistake riddled past.  We are more than the gnawing worries of unknown tomorrows. We are MORE than the mud we have been formed out of.  We are MORE.  We are MORE because He sent His only Son for us.  We are more for Christ Died and rose again FOR us.  We are MORE for He currently dwells in us. We are MORE than conquerors THROUGH HIM that loved us.  We are MORE!”  W. Codilla

Romans 8:38-39 (NLT) And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing, Nada, Zero, Zilch, Nobody, Naught...

         CAN

Separate us, divide us, disconnect us, detach us, or split us, part us,

         From God’s Love EVER!  NOTHING!!!!  MK

PRAYER: Thank You Lord God that NOTHING can separate me from Your amazing Love for me.  Thank You that because of who You are I am MORE than a conqueror.  Please Lord God help me to live out the TRUTH these words in my life everyday. 

Is My FREEDOM a CLOAKING DEVICE for SIN?

I grew up in a church tradition that was fairly rigid.  Though my parents were very open about the fact that many of the things others tried to force on us were merely issues of preference it still made it hard for me as a teenager to begin to sort through what it would mean to live a God honoring life.  I did wrestle with questions like: Could I wear blue jeans to church? Could I read the New American Standard version of the Bible?  Could I go swimming on Sunday?  Those questions hardly seem important now.  But they caused some soul searching back then.  Of course the more I studied and learned and grew the more I realized that there were many areas of personal preference where godly Christians differed.  So as I meditated on 1 Peter 2:16 it made me think of the balance necessary to live the TRUTH of the Bible out in our everyday lives. As I thought about this verse I had to ask myself do I ever use my “freedom” as a way of covering over or making excuses for sinful behavior in my own life? 

1 Peter 2:16 (NIV) Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

1 Peter 2:16 (JBP)  As free men you should never use your freedom as an excuse for doing something that is wrong, for you are at all times the servants of God.

If I am convinced that I have the “freedom” to watch TV that does NOT mean I have the freedom to watch things which dishonor God.  If I say because I have freedom to watch TV it really does not matter what I watch then I am ignoring what the Bible says about the kind of things I may look at (Ps. 101:3).  I could be using my FREEDOM as an excuse or cover-up for filling my eyes and mind with something sinful. 

1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (NIV) "Everything is permissible" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible" - but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Here the thought of Freedom is explained in a different way.  I may have “freedom” to do a lot of things but the question really should be are those things BENEFICIAL and CONSTRUCTIVE?  In other words are they HELPFUL in my walk with the Lord?  Are they things which will lead me closer the Jesus?  Will these things lead me towards holiness or towards worldliness?  I should not be asking: do I have the FREEDOM to do this?  or ...watch that? or ...say this?  Instead I should ask: will doing this, saying this, watching this draw me into a closer more intimate walk with the my Jesus?  I Love this explanation from the Life Application Bible Commentary:  “Christian freedom does not mean that anything goes; believers are not free to do whatever they want or to use their freedom as a cover-up for evil.  In other words, believers must not hide behind their freedom in Christ in order to sin. We cannot use freedom and forgiveness as a cloaking device for self-indulgence, adultery, or poor spending habits.”

If I am truly seeking to be ALL that God has called me to be.  Then I will USE my “freedom” to consciously choose to SERVE God.  I will use my “freedom” to purposefully choose to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I will not let “any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth” instead I will try to make sure that the things that I say and do will be “helpful for building OTHERS up according to their needs” (Eph. 4:29).  WHY?  Because I want what I say and do to be of help and encouragement to others and I do NOT want to grieve the Holy Spirit by my words or actions. (Eph. 4:30)

PRAYER:  Lord, God please help me to think of YOU first when I think about the “freedom” I have in living my life for You.  Please help me to think of the impact my words and actions may have on others and help me to seek to Honor You in the choices I make.