Where He Leads – July 31, 2015

Romans 8:14     For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Hosea 1:10     "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'children of the living God.'

John 1:12     Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

Galatians 4:5     to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Ephesians 1:5     he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--

In Acts 8:26-27, an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go to that chariot of the Ethiopian and stay near it. So Philip ran toward the chariot.” The two have a Bible study in the chariot. It’s so convincing that the Ethiopian is baptized that day. Philip teaches, the Ethiopian obeys, and the gospel is sent to Africa.

Romans 8:14 says, “the true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them.” You invite a couple over for coffee. Nothing heroic. Just a nice evening with friends. But from the moment they enter, you feel led to inquire, you feel a concern that won’t be silent. So you ask. You catch a glimpse of what it means to be led by the Spirit. Has it occurred to you? You have the same Spirit working within you that Philip did! Think about that.

Repayment – July 30, 2015

Romans 12:16- 18     …Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.…

1 Samuel 26:11     But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go."

Proverbs 20:22     Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

Proverbs 24:29     Do not say, "I'll do to them as they have done to me; I'll pay them back for what they did."

Matthew 5:24     leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

2 Corinthians 8:21     For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

1 Thessalonians 5:15     Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

God moves us forward by healing our past! Can he really? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart? Of course He can. In fact, God cares more about justice than we do. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:17-19, “Never pay back evil for evil. . .never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said that He will repay those who deserve it.”

We fear the evildoer will slip into the night, unknown and unpunished. Escape to Fiji and sip mai tais on the beach. Not to worry. Scripture says, “God will repay,” not “God might repay.” God will execute justice on behalf of truth and fairness.

Unlike us, God never gives up on a person. Never. Long after we’ve moved on, God is still there, probing the conscience, stirring conviction, always orchestrating redemption. Fix your enemies? That’s God’s job.

Unburdening – July 29, 2015

Matthew 11:30     For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

1 John 5:3     In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

Galatians 5:1     For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

John 8:36     So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Acts 15:10     Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

If we let him, God will lighten our loads. Why don’t you try traveling light? Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Try it! Try it for the sake of those you love. How do you embrace someone if your arms are full of bags? For the sake of those you love, learn to set them down.

And for the sake of the God you serve, do the same. God has a great race for you to run. But you have to drop some stuff. How can you share grace if you’re full of guilt? How can you offer comfort if you’re disheartened? God is saying, “Set it down, child. I’ll carry that one.” What do you say we take God up on his wonderful offer? We just might find ourselves traveling a little lighter.

Spitting Site – July 28, 2015

Hebrews 12:15     See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

Galatians 5:4     You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Titus 1:15     To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary     12:12-17 A burden of affliction is apt to make the Christian's hands hang down, and his knees grow feeble, to dispirit him and discourage him; but against this he must strive, that he may better run his spiritual race and course. Faith and patience enable believers to follow peace and holiness, as a man follows his calling constantly, diligently, and with pleasure. Peace with men, of all sects and parties, will be favorable to our pursuit of holiness. But peace and holiness go together; there can be not right peace without holiness. Where persons fail of having the true grace of God, corruption will prevail and break forth; beware lest any unmortified lust in the heart, which seems to be dead, should spring up, to trouble and disturb the whole body. Falling away from Christ is the fruit of preferring the delights of the flesh, to the blessing of God, and the heavenly inheritance, as Esau did. But sinners will not always have such mean thoughts of the Divine blessing and inheritance as they now have. It agrees with the profane man's disposition, to desire the blessing, yet to despise the means whereby the blessing is to be gained. But God will neither sever the means from the blessing, nor join the blessing with the satisfying of man's lusts. God's mercy and blessing were never sought carefully and not obtained.

In 1882 in New York City, Joseph Richardson owned a narrow strip of land 5 feet wide and 104 feet long. Next door was a normal-sized lot owned by a man who wanted to erect an apartment building. He offered Richardson $1,000 for his plot. Deeply offended, Richardson demanded $5,000 which the builder refused to pay. The builder built the apartment building, assuming the slender lot would remain vacant and the view exposed. But Richardson built a house instead—blocking the view! Dubbed the “Spite House”, Richardson spent the last fourteen years of his life in the narrow residence that seemed to fit his narrow state of mind.

Revenge builds a lonely, narrow house. Space enough for one person. No wonder God insists we “keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent!” (Heb. 12:14-17).

Whole - Heartedly – July 27, 2015

Mark 12:30     And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Proverbs 23:26     Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.

Proverbs 4:4     Then he taught me, and he said to me, "Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.

Psalm 119:24     Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

Proverb 3:5     Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

God gives us more by going deeper than we ask. He wants not only your whole heart—He wants your heart whole. Why? Hurt people hurt people. Think about it. Why do you fly off the handle? Why do you avoid conflict? Why do you seek to please everyone? Might your tendencies have something to do with an unhealed hurt in your heart? God wants to help you for your sake.

Your family history has some sad chapters. But your history doesn’t have to be your future. The generational garbage can stop here and now. You don’t have to give your kids what your ancestors gave you. Talk to God about the scandals and scoundrels. Invite Him to relive the betrayal with you. The process may take a long time. It may take a lifetime. Difficult for certain. But let God do His work!

Transformers - July 26, 2015

Romans 12:2     Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 4:23     to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

Ephesians 4:24     and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10     and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Titus 3:5     he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

1 Peter 1:14     As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

Family pain is often the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early, and because it involves people who should have been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them. All this time you’ve been operating on faulty data. “You’re stupid. . .slow. . .dumb, like your daddy.

Decades later these voices of defeat still echo in your subconscious. But they don’t have to! Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” And 1st Corinthians 13:11 adds, “Let Him replace childish thinking with mature truth!” You are not who they said you were. You are God’s child!

God Never Changes – July 25, 2015

Psalm 90:2     Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Genesis 1:1     In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 21:33     Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

Isaiah 40:28     Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Job 36:26     How great is God--beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.

Though he creates, God was never created. Though he makes, he was never made. Though he causes, he was never caused. Hence the proclamation in Psalm 90:2, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”

God—an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God. You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. The terrain tells us how to travel. We may challenge these forces and alter them slightly, but we never remove them. God, our Shepherd, doesn’t check the weather; he makes it.  He doesn’t defy gravity; he created it. Unchanging. Uncaused. Ungoverned. These are only a fraction of God’s qualities, but aren’t they enough to give you a glimpse of your Father? Don’t we need this kind of shepherd? Don’t we need an unchanging shepherd?

In Jail – July 24, 2015

Philippians 4:11     Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

2 Corinthians 9:8     And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

1 Timothy 6:6     But godliness with contentment is great gain.

1 Timothy 6:8     But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Hebrews 13:5     Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. If happiness is one delivery away…you are in prison—the prison of want! That’s the bad news. The good news is, you have a visitor. Look across the visiting table at the psalmist, David. He whispers, I have a secret to tell you, the secret of satisfaction. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” It’s as if David is saying what I have in God is greater than what I don’t have in life.

Contentment comes when we can honestly say with Paul, “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have. I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty.” You think you and I could learn to say the same?

Blessed Rest – July 23, 2015

Psalm 23:2     He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Revelation 7:17     For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; 'he will lead them to springs of living water.' 'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

'"

Isaiah 49:10     They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

Ezekiel 34:14     I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

We are eternal creatures. We ask eternal questions. Where did I come from? Where am I going? Is there life after death? These are the primal questions of the soul. And if left unanswered, such questions steal our rest.

Only one other living creature has as much trouble resting as we do. Not dogs…they doze. Cats invented the catnap. Most animals know how to rest—with one exception. These creatures are woolly, simpleminded, and slow. Sheep! Sheep can’t sleep. For them to do so everything must be just right. No tension in the flock…no hunger in the belly…everything has to be just so. Unfortunately sheep cannot find safe pasture or find food. They need help. They need a shepherd to lead them, and help them to lie down in green pastures. Without a shepherd they can’t rest. Without a Shepherd, neither can we!

What If – July 22, 2015

Matthew 6:27     And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Psalm 39:5     You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.

Matthew 6:25     "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Luke 10:41     "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,

Luke 12:11     "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,

Philippians 4:6      Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Peter 5:7     Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Worry is the burlap bag of burdens—overflowing with whaddifs! Whaddif it rains at my wedding? Whaddif after all my dieting, they discover lettuce is fattening and chocolate isn’t? The burlap bag of worry!

No one wants your worries. Truth be told, you don’t want them either. No one has to remind you the high cost of anxiety, but I will anyway. Worry isn’t a disease, but it causes diseases—high blood pressure, heart trouble, migraines, and a host of stomach disorders. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” Worrying is one job you can’t farm out, but you can overcome it. David declares in Psalm 23:2, “He leads me beside the still waters.” He leads me. He is ahead of me. He is in front. God leads us! And what a difference that makes!