Life In His Name

Do All Roads Lead to the Same God?

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:11:00 +0000

Intersection, originally uploaded by Kiddi Kristjáns.

"The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.' (John 4:25-26)

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)

Many voices claim that it doesn't really matter what religion you practice - that in the end, all spiritual roads lead to the same god. They claim that there are many paths to salvation, though each person may define for him or herself what salvation really means.

Lest I be misunderstood, I'm not saying we should be unkind to people who aren't Christian. After all, it was Jesus who said, "love your enemies." So, if we are to love even our enemies, certainly loving everyone on the planet is inherent in the command, being that an enemy would be the last person anyone would love. Therefore, the Word of God teaches that followers of Jesus Christ are to love everyone, making no distinctions between people; in fact it is precisely our love that is supposed to draw others to Jesus.

What I will say, though, is that those who claim that all religions are the same and imply that they all fit with Christianity are mistaken. Further, it makes even less sense for a Christian to acknowledge all religions as being avenues to salvation.

Why are Christians called Christians? We're followers of Christ. So Christians are supposed to accept and follow the teachings of Christ. He is the Teacher, and we are His disciples. Let's look at what the Teacher taught by studying some of His "I AM" statements, found in the gospel of John.

I am the door. Before the flood, believing God's word, given through Noah, and acting on that belief by getting on the ark, was required for salvation. There was only one way to enter, and it was through the one door. It was a door that was divinely shut and would not reopen until after the waters subsided.

Also, Jesus uses the door in the context of the parable of the sheep. He as the Good Shepherd is the gatekeeper to the flock. Those who enter by the gate were safe inside, enjoying their Shepherd's protection. Jesus said that He is the door to salvation. "I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved..." (John 10:9).

I am the way. No one comes to tha Father but by Him. There's no salvation apart from God, and Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the way to Him.

I am the truth. Psalms 69:13, David says that the truth has the power to save. No wonder then that Jesus, whose name means "God saves," said that He is the truth. The truth is required for salvation.

Jesus did not say "a" truth, "a" way, "a" door. He used the definite article. There is only One. If you are truly His disciple, you acknowledge that He is the truth, and that His every word is more real than life itself.

There is only one God, and one path to reach Him. That way is Jesus Christ.

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Something from Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:01:00 +0000

And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Mark 8:17

"But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God..." Deuteronomy 1:32.

I'll admit it. Sometimes - more often than I care to think of - I forget who God is.

I'm not the only one with God-amnesia. In Mark, the disciples twice watched Jesus miraculously feed thousands of people. But when they went into the wilderness on their journey, they worried that they only had one loaf of bread among them. "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?" Jesus asked. "Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?"

The Israelites had a serious memory problem too. God had intervened on their behalf time and time again. He brought them out of Egypt with great riches. He led them through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. He led them to the lip of the Red Sea, and although they were surrounded with barriers on all sides, God’s power knew no limits. “The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Exodus 14:22).

He provided them with food and water in the desert - He made the bitter waters of Marah sweet, and He rained bread from heaven (Exodus 15:25; 16:4).

However, they still forgot who He was (Deuteronomy 1:32). When they lacked water again a short time later, they doubted Him. The Bible says that Moses "named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us, or not?'" (Exodus 17:7).

We know that they shouldn’t have doubted. So why do we?

Their doubting at Massah and Meribah is extremely significant. In fact, one of the most repeated verses of Scripture refers specifically to this instance and warns us not to make the same mistake (see Psalms 95:8).

Consider the following:

"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah." Deuteronomy 6:16

"He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD." Deuteronomy 8:3

If you’re familiar with the story of Jesus’ life, these words should look familiar to you. After He had fasted for 40 days, the first thing the devil tempted Him to do was to turn rocks into bread - to rely on His own power to meet His physical needs and not trust God the Father to provide for Him. In response, Jesus quoted verses from Deuteronomy that showed how God provided for the needs of the Israelite people in the wilderness. He understood what His disciples had not yet grasped - God provides for His children.

In the Bible, God is often distinguished from other gods as the one who created the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything in them. He created everything we see, even existence itself, from nothing. If He can create a world from nothing, He can create the things you and I need from nothing, too. It doesn't matter what the need is. If the need is a job, He can create one for you, regardless of the state of the economy. He can breathe life into a failing marriage. He can lift a desperate heart out of a crippling depression. He can break the chains of resentment, addiction, and sin. He created the universe, and He can create the answer to your need right here, right now.

There's no doubt about it. God will provide for you. Trust in Him. You won't be disappointed.

Let's remember who God is - God is the God who provides.

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For God to Know and for You to Find Out

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:20:00 +0000

But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 1 Corinthians 2:14, NLT

There is power in the Word of God. Even while immersed in an elaborate, almost universally accepted system of religion which had assimilated pagan traditions under ostensible trappings of Christianity, noted priests like John Hus and Martin Luther sparked reformation based solely upon their reading of the Bible. The Word of God is "living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

God speaks for Himself on the power of His word:

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11)

But what effect does His word have on the faithless heart? The Bible teaches that spiritual truths are spiritually understood. The carnal mind is unable to comprehend the truths of God. And those who have an attitude of disrespect toward God should not expect any kind of special sign of His existence, or some supernatural confirmation of the power of His Word. God is God. He is sovereign. He transcends humanity, and his thoughts are incomprehensible to us except as He chooses to reveal them to us through His Spirit. He doesn't have to give signs. He doesn't have to submit to anyone's criteria of belief or convince anyone He is real. His existence doesn't depend on anyone's help or acknowledgement.

Throughout the gospels, we see that faithless people would unflinchingly cling to their rejection of Christ, no matter what signs or miracles they witnessed. He raised the dead; He healed the sick; He made the lame walk; He cast out demons; He fed the multitudes. Even in spite of all this, some still asked for a "sign". Like a genie in a bottle, they thought Jesus should just perform magic tricks for them upon request (John 6:30). Some even said, "Just tell us you're the Messiah, and we'll believe You!", but it just wasn't true. Their hearts were hardened against Him. Their rejection of Christ was already complete, irrevocable.

That's not to say He doesn't desire to connect with us. In fact, the message of the Scriptures is quite the opposite. God would do anything to save each one of us. He created us, and then became one of us so He could redeem and restore us to our Edenic state. He became like us - who were created in His image - so that He could redeem everyone in our image (Romans 8:3). Even the faithless and unbelieving; even those who revile Him.

The Lord is not afraid to match wits with you. He invites you to sit down and reason with Him (Isaiah 1:18). He has promised to reveal Himself to those who seek Him with all their hearts. If you have your doubts or questions, go to God. Give Him a chance to answer you. He will give you enough reason to know He's there. Be diligent about seeking Him, and you'll be amazed at what you find.

What have you got to lose?

In his book "Take the Risk", Ben Carson talks about Pascal's Wager. Throughout the book, Carson explains his theory of decision-making using a best and worst-case analysis. What's the best and worst thing that could happen if I do something? What's the best and worst that could happen if I don't do the thing in question? He applies this question to belief in God.

Think about that. If there really were no God, and you fully believed in Him, what is the worst that could happen? You'd still have lived your life with a sense of purpose, which likely made you happier than you otherwise would have been. What would you really have lost?

On the other extreme, what is the worst thing that could happen if God really does exist, buy you don't believe in Him? You could be facing quite a slap in the face. Jesus Christ appears in the clouds, and as the Bible says, "all the tribes of the earth mourn...", and people wish the rocks could fall on them (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7). What if it's all true? Every word of the Bible? The Scriptures say that "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow" (Philippians 2:10). Check this out:

"I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." Isaiah 45:23, NASB.

Now ask yourself: if the Bible is all true, and you take the chance of not believing, what do you stand to lose then? Is that really a risk you're willing to take?

Photo by forrestegan accessed via flickr

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The Magic Words of Salvation

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:23:00 +0000

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4, NASB)

Have you ever heard a preacher on television or on the radio say something like this?

"If you want to be saved, repeat after me: I repent of all my sins. I accept Jesus as my personal Savior. That's it! You are now saved!"

Of course, it is true that through repentance our sins can be forgiven. The prayer above can certainly be effectual if the words come from a place of honesty in the person's heart. But sometimes, when we see an appeal like this on television, the preacher seems to be inferring that just repeating their words somehow saves us.

Is that true? Does the Bible teach that we can obtain salvation just by saying certain words?

The Word of God teaches that our belief and repentance must be deeper than that. Here, we will focus on repentance. Sin is a heart disease, and repentance requires a heart change. If in our hearts we are truly sorry for our sin, and confess it to God, then we obtain forgiveness (1 John 1:9). However, we cannot expect that a mere recitation of the words "I repent", or any words for that matter, will in any way take the place of actual repentance.

This point might seem so obvious that it doesn't merit mention. But is it really? Aren't there people who even today believe that reciting specific words gains them some kind of favor with God? Throughout history many have fallen to this deception. In Jeremiah 7:9-10, we see that the Israelites were breaking God's commandments - committing adultery, stealing, worshipping idols, even committing murder - and then entering the temple called by the name of God, thinking they had forgiveness, and a license "to do all these abominations..." They truly thought that because they were in the temple, they were automatically right with God; like they could recite some magic words and gain salvation.

So, it's not so inconceivable that people might feel that the truths of the Word of God could be used in much the same way as a magic spell to make them right with God. It's one thing to say the words. It's another thing to mean them.

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector who both enter the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood up and loudly prayed, thanking God that He was not like the tax collector, bragging to God about how good he was. The tax collector, though, simply threw himself upon the mercy of God, recognizing his utter helplessness. Between the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus said the tax collector was justified and not the Pharisee. (One translation says that the tax collector had been "declared righteous".)

What did the tax collector do? Did he just casually ask for mercy? The Word says that he was beating his chest. This is what the Hebrews did when they were experiencing serious grief and mourning. Check out Jeremiah 31:19:

"After I strayed,
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth."

Beating your breast meant profound mourning, shame and humiliation. It signified a grief too deep for words. It was more than a casual request for mercy. He begged for mercy. He was desperate. He knew he was an abject sinner.

What did the tax collector do that the Pharisee did not? He begged for mercy (the Pharisee didn't even ask); acknowledged his lowliness (the Pharisee was high on himself); and humbled himself before God. That Pharisee was being trite; the tax collector meant what he said with all his heart. Jesus summed it up by saying, "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Now let's take a look at the words of Solomon regarding what true repentance looks like:

"... if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You ... saying, 'We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly'; if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul ... and pray to You ... then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place ... and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You..." (1 Kings 8:47-50)

We can fool a lot of people, but we can't fool God. His eyes see the darkest corners of our hearts, and he is aware of every motive within us even when we ourselves are not. If we are trite and unrepentant, there's no guarantee God will even hear us (Psalm 66:18; 2 Chronicles 7:14).

Solomon was aware that when we as sinners go to God, we must do so with all our hearts and souls. Remember, repentance is about our relationship with God, and how we are seen in His eyes is what counts, not anyone else's. If we're just mouthing words, but not meaning them in our hearts, who do we think we're kidding?

Heavenly Father, today let us experience true repentance not only for any unconfessed sins, but also for the sinful condition of our hearts. Let us feel Godly sorrow which leads to repentance and no regret (2 Corinthians 7:10). Once we are forgiven, help us to let go of the unhealthy guilt and give us Your peace (Romans 5:1). True to Your promise in Ezekiel 36:26, give us new hearts and put a new spirit within us.

Thank You!

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

photo by Jacob...K accessed via flickr

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Mourning Ends When Morning Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:49:00 +0000

"For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning. (Psalm 30:5, HCSB)"

The older you get, the more times you experience moments like these. Getting a heartbreaking phone call. The flood of tears. Walking through the corridors of a hospital. And then there's that moment when you see your loved one, lying in that hospital bed, not looking quite the same. Sometimes only machines are keeping them alive. They are alive in the most basic sense of the word, and yet they are really dead.

I arrived to the hospital too late for my grandmother - she had already stopped breathing when I walked into the room. Her face was changed. The lifelessness was immediately evident somehow. As soon as I recognized it, the flood came again.

Today, for my uncle, we arrived while he was still on the respirator. He still had reflexes - he moved his legs when the doctor tickled his feet. But the doctor was clear about the fact that what happened to his brain was a catastrophic event from which he would never recover.

My other uncle mentioned to the doctor that our only hope was a miracle, to which she replied, "Not even a miracle could save him at this point." (I don't think she's too clear on the meaning of the word miracle.)

I watched my mother approach his bedside, stroke the hair back from his forehead, and gaze at him with deep sadness. In my eyes, it was a silent attempt to accept his loss, to say goodbye to the brother that always remembered her across any distance, always called, and never failed to send her birthday and Christmas cards, year after year.

There is no easy way to say goodbye. Often we get so caught up in the daily routines of life that we can forget the fleeting nature of our lives. The death of someone close shakes us back to reality and reminds us of our mortality. We remember that God has said that our lives are like a vapor that disappears into the wind.

A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:6-8, NASB)

It hurts. But I praise God for the hope of the Second Coming of Jesus. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Psalm 30:5 says that weeping spends the night, but there is joy in the morning. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit which He gives as a gift to those who love Him and keep His commandments. To me, this verse means that God is assuring us that our suffering is only temporary. Suffering itself will pass away; it will die an eternal death. Jesus gives us inexpressible, inexplicable, unfathomable joy here and now, and then on that glorious morning, we will live with Him forever in that joy.

Weeping may spend the night, but joy awaits us when the morning light of the Son of God shines upon us.

Come, Lord Jesus. Let us see the light of Your return break this night into eternal day.

photo by [ henning ] accessed via flickr

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True Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:59:00 +0000

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1, NASB)

I once heard Pastor Alejandro Bullon say in a sermon that the difference between God and Satan is that God wants to lift us up, and the devil wants to push us down and step on us. I have found this to be true in my own life. At my lowest point, I felt completely insignificant and unlovable. I felt like nothing I said or did mattered, because I didn't matter. Knowing that God and my family loved me didn't seem to make any difference in my state of mind.

I now recognize that every time I felt the message that I was worthless pushed into my mind, it was exactly what the devil wanted me to think.

Jesus, on the other hand, has a different way of seeing me. When I was down, He lifted me up. When I felt unlovable, He professed His love for me. And as much as the devil wants to make us feel bad about ourselves, the truth is that we are priceless in the eyes of the One who loved us enough to die in our place.

This is the essential difference between Christ and Satan. Christ is about selfless love, while the devil is about self-love. That's it. People say that it's irrational to believe in Jesus. But what's really irrational is to choose to ally with someone who hates you over Someone who loves you.

The devil claims that God wants to oppress us. That is the most absurd, sinister, and hypocritical statement ever made. The truth is that he is the one who wants to oppress us. Consider what happens to someone who is demon-possessed. We read in Matthew 9:32 and 12:22 about demon-possessed men who were mute, and the latter was also blind. In Matthew 8:28 we read about two demon-possessed men who were living in tombs and were so violent that no one could pass by anywhere near them. In Mark 5 and Luke 8, the demoniac was naked, living in a cemetary, cutting himself with stones, filthy, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Make no mistake: this is what the devil does to people when he has complete control over them. How is that liberating? On the contrary, it is oppression in it's cruelest form. That is the existence the devil wants for us. He accuses God of doing what he himself actually longs to do.

Now consider what became of that man when Jesus came into his life. Mark 5 says that when the townspeople came to see what had happened, they found the formerly demon-possessed man calmly seated, clothed, and in his right mind, and "he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed" (verses 15, 20).

So you see, Jesus is the real Prince of freedom, not the other way around. Jesus is the One who loves you. He is so committed to you that He left untold glories to become a human being on this earth, live a sinless life, suffer persecution, and die in your place, so that you wouldn't have to be a slave to the devil and sin any more. "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36)! Jesus said that He, the Truth, would make us free (John 14:6; 8:32). He laid down His life for you, and He took it back up again to live forevermore (John 10:17-18). "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

Don't believe the lies that Satan tries to tell you. You are no insignificant person. You are the object of God's infinite love. If you feel crushed and broken, draw near to Jesus as you are. He is there waiting to pick up the pieces of your broken life. In His loving arms, you will find true freedom.

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Grace, Truth, and the Glory of God

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:59:00 +0000

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14, NASB)

When Moses met with God in the tent of meeting, in that divine conference room, he made a quite a special request. "Please," he asked God, "show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:18).

God's glory is difficult to define. What exactly is it? What does it look and feel like? We know that it shone so brightly in Exodus that it made the skin of Moses' face glow for a period of time after he left a meeting with God (34:29-30). We know that sin cannot exist in its presence. We know there was a supernatural manifestation of it above the mercy seat in the most holy place.

To truly get a sense of what the Bible has to say about God's glory, we would need to examine its usage wherever it appears in Scripture. We won't attempt that here, but we find another description in Exodus 24:17, which explains that God's glory appeared "like a consuming fire on the mountaintop" to the eyes of the Israelites in the valley below.

God granted Moses' request, although Moses received only a partial revelation of God's glory at that time. As God descended to stand before him in the cloud, He placed him in the cleft of the rock and covered his eyes with His hand. We don't get much detail here from Moses about what He saw, but we do know what he heard. God declared His name to him: "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful (compassionate) and gracious, longsuffering (slow to anger), and abounding in goodness (lovingkindness) and truth..." (NKJV with words from NASB in parentheses). This is the way God identifies Himself - as compassionate, loving, gracious, good and true.

If we read the first chapter of the gospel of John, we can't help but recognize some allusions to the Old Testament in general and to the above-mentioned verses in particular.

First, when John says that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," the Greek word for dwelt was the same word used in the Septuagint for the tabernacle. Quite literally, John is saying that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Likewise, when John says "we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father," the word used for glory was the very word used to describe the shekinah glory of God found in the most holy place in the Old Testament.

Now, let's consider some Johannine allusions that those of us who haven't studied biblical languages can pick up on. The rest of John 1:14 says that Jesus was "full of grace and truth." Does that sound familiar? This statement is a direct allusion to God's name as described in Exodus 34:6. "The LORD... gracious... and abounding in (or full of) goodness and truth" (italicized text added). The Amplified Bible actually provides the words favor and lovingkindess as alternate translations for the word grace. So literally, both verses say their object (the LORD God in the OT and Jesus in the NT) is full of grace and truth.

Let's not miss these points - first, Jesus could not be more full of truth, because He is the truth. "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6). Second, the self-proclaimed name of God includes compassion, an undeniable attribute of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Other examples of Christ's compassion can be found in Matthew 14:14, 15:32, 20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34, 8:2; Luke 7:13. You get the picture.

In Jesus, we have a complete and perfect revelation of God's glory. We read in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is the "brightness of His glory and the express image of His person" (1:3). Now we can behold Christ with uncovered eyes. Though Moses made that special request, we can see in Jesus all the brightness of God's glory. Not a partial but a full revelation. Once we have looked upon Jesus, we have seen God's glory.

Heavenly Father, let us contemplate Christ in the word of God, and in so doing, let us be changed into His image; let us be covered by Your grace and filled with Your truth today.

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The God Who Sees Me (A Prayer)

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:08:00 +0000

Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me." She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13, NLT)

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him." Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. (Genesis 21:14-19, NASB)

Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:14, NASB)

'AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.' (Acts 2:21, NASB)

Heavenly Father,

We know that the way you saw Hagar, you are the God who sees us. We know that just the way you heard the cries of a little boy in the desert, You are the God who hears us. You are the God who loves and provides for us. You provided Your Son so that we could have life, have peace with You, and be reconciled to You.

Let us be reconciled to You oh God. Gives us strength in our weakness. Let your strong right hand sustain us.

You told us not to worry about our food or our shelter or our clothing, because You know that we have need of these things. You said that if we seek Your kingdom You will provide for our necessities. I pray that you provide for precisely what it is that we need in our lives. We have complete faith in You and thank You for fulfilling Your promises to us.

We ask in the name above all names - in the name of Jesus!

Amen

See also:

Exodus 15:22 - [ The LORD Provides Water ]
Exodus 16:1 - [ The LORD Provides Manna ]
Exodus 16:8 - [ The LORD Provides Meat ]
Psalm 34 - [ The LORD, a Provider and Deliverer. ]

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Greater Than Our Circumstances

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:54:00 +0000

"Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed." (1 Peter 2:20-24, NLT).

Sometimes we get tired of doing what's right. Our minds are inculcated with the idea that we must see results for any behavior to be deemed worthwhile. And let's be honest about how we define results for ourselves: getting what we think we should get. Have you ever felt like doing the right thing wasn't yielding real results, and was therefore completely pointless?

I generally ask rhetorical questions like that because at some point or another I've asked myself the same thing. I guess as human beings, on some level, when we think we're doing the right things, we naturally feel that we deserve to get certain outcomes. I once knew a middle-aged, married couple who served as elders in church and were pretty active leaders there. They seemed to have put it all together in their spiritual lives - and in general, I saw them as a pretty exemplary pair. When their marriage fell apart because of infidelity, however, the wife responded by giving up on her faith altogether. I'll never forget her words - "I've always gone to church and done the right thing. This was not supposed to happen to me."

Clearly she expected that her "good behavior" would mean that her life had to go the "right" way - the right way being that it would go the way she thought it should go. The end of the marriage was seen as a failure on God's part to hold up His end of the deal.

I think we can understand her initial reaction. David asked some similar questions in Psalm 10.

O Lord, why do you stand so far away?
Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
Why do the wicked succeed in everything they do?
Why do the wicked get away with despising God?

If David wrote this so many centuries ago, we should not be surprised that wicked people pop up around us. But unlike the former elder, David didn't lose his faith in God. He understood that even in the worst situations, God is greater than our circumstances. He knew that the fact that he was undergoing hardship didn't mean he was alone.

And even today, Jesus is always with those who call upon Him. If we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13).

Although the former elder's patience with doing good ran out, the Word of God says, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary" (Galatians 6:9). It calls for patient perseverance on our part. If that scripture did not contain a promise, we would have reason to lose heart. The fact is, though, that we don't have to lose heart, because of the promise set before us. In due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. We may not always get what we think we should get in life, but if we trust God, we will always get what is truly best for us. Not when we demand it, not when we lose patience, not when we lose faith, but in due time. Not on our time, but on His time.

In Luke 18, Jesus encouraged the disciples to pray persistently and not lose heart (verse 1). He tells a parable of a widow who made a request of an arrogant judge who has no regard for God or for others. She asks him to avenge her against someone who had wronged her. It seems that the wicked people of David's time were around in the widow's day, too. Notice the similarity of her plight to that of David's in Psalm 10. "Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked!" he cries. The judge ignored her for a while, but this lady just kept on coming back and made a pest of herself to the point that the judge said, "I'm going to give her what she's asking for just to get her out of my hair!" (verse 5). Now listen to what Jesus said next:

"Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."

Although God may appear to delay His answer, He promises to avenge His children. Note that millennia after Abel's death, God still remembered him and declared His intent to avenge him, and "all the righteous blood shed upon the earth" (Matthew 23:35). Amazing!

If you are in need of avenging, remember the words of the Lord: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." That means that we are not to take justice into our own hands (see Romans 12:19). Paul said, "never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God..." (Romans 12:19). It may not happen today, but we must take God at His word and trust Him to do what's best. He will not forget us. "I will not leave you as orphans," Jesus promised (John 14:18). He will never leave us or forsake us. He is with us until the end of the world, and then through all eternity.

Even if we don't always feel that way, we are always on the winning end of the battle. God has promised us ultimate deliverance, and He has reserved a place in His kingdom for us. We shouldn't lose heart over those whose only reward is temporal, but be joyful that our reward is eternal. And when God delays vengeance in order to give even the wicked a chance to turn from their ways, repent, believe in Christ and be saved, we must not resent it as Jonah resented God's patience with the Ninevites. Rather, we must be grateful that God also gave us the opportunity be His children. We must trust that in His infinite love He is doing what is best for everyone.

Let us not lose hope because we cannot see everything that He sees. We have promises from the Lord that will not fail. Let us trust completely in Him today.

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The Most Beautiful Number

noreply@blogger.com (Javier) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:21:00 +0000

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26).

for⋅bear⋅ance [fawr-bair-uhns]

–noun

the act of forbearing; a refraining from something.
an abstaining from the enforcement of a right.
a creditor's giving of indulgence after the day originally fixed for payment.
Law The act of a creditor who refrains from enforcing a debt when it falls due.
refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due.
Tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation; patience. (from dictionary.com)

Do you have any experience with debt? If you've pursued higher education and had no form of paying the full cost yourself, you know about loans; and if you've since graduated from university, you know more than you'd like to about interest rates and repayment. When you signed your promissory note, you read in black and white that you would be responsible for repaying the full amount of that debt. When you went through exit counseling, you were reminded in no uncertain terms that you were responsible to pay it back, and you understood the serious consequences of failing to repay in a timely manner.

However, there is a little room for mercy. If your debt to income ratio is high enough, you can qualify for a forbearance. Recently, I applied for a forbearance on my student loans because I wasn't in a good position to pay the amount I was being charged. I requested it, not because I questioned the validity of the debt, but because I recognized my personal inability to meet the requirements of the debt.

It's interesting, then, that Paul uses the word forbearance in describing what God did with all the sins that were committed before the cross. Paul says that "in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed." The key to the concept of forbearance is that the debt has not ceased to exist; only the payment is not required of the indebted person for a specified period of time. Until Christ, humanity owed a debt of sin, for which God's justice required payment. But God, in His forbearance, did not require the payment that was due. It wasn't that the debt was wiped out and no longer existed; it was just that God, understanding our overwhelming debt, and not wanting us to die eternally, gave us the promise of Christ, and until the fullness of the time came, He was pleased to forbear our debt (Galatians 4:4). While the balance of our lives was owed, He did not require payment from our hands.

According to dictionary.com, the legal definition of forbearance is "a refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due." Worded differently, forbearance is "a creditor's giving of indulgence after the day originally fixed for payment." What was the date originally fixed for payment? Let's reacquaint ourselves with what the Lord said to Adam and Eve back in Eden: "... for in the day that you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). So what was the original due date? Was it not that very day that they should have died? And they did die spiritually, and in a very real sense because their access to the tree of life was thence cut off - but they should have died physically as well. Forbearance took effect from that very day - we know this because Adam and Eve continued to live. God could have taken His breath back from their lungs, but that would have left them with no possible opportunity to be redeemed. Rather than execute justice at that time, in that way, He forbore. And we know the reason He was able to forbear was because He had already committed Himself to the cross; He had already provided Himself as the one who would pay our penalty (Genesis 22:8); that very day He sacrificed animals in their place, to point forward in time to the death of the true Lamb of God. From that moment, until the moment Christ paid the ultimate price for us, God forbore. He let humanity's massive debt of sin remain on the books of heaven.

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:21-26).

Now, through faith in Christ, we don't just have the requirement of repayment suspended - the loan is forgiven. The debt is wiped out. Jesus generously paid it all, and our account balances on the books of heaven, as well as those of the faithful throughout all time, are now represented by a very beautiful number - zero! Our sin mortgage has been paid. We're out of debt. He has given us the opportunity to have redemption, restoration, reconciliation, peace with God. And now, as we read in the closing words of John's gospel, "but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." Amen!

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