SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET

“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seatedas much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish,” (John 6:11 NIV).



Have you ever noticed this pattern in the gospels – the disciples get in a bind and Jesus bails them out. It reminds me of the old fifties program, Father Knows Best. The kids got in trouble, the father solved the problem and then he taught us all an important life lesson at the end. Come to think of it, “Father Knows Best” would be a fabulous subtitle for the gospels!

In John 6:1-15 we find the disciples in a precarious situation. Their lawn party had turned into quite a bash. The guests far exceeded their expectations, the disciples hadn’t planned on providing dinner, and it appeared the crowd was expecting refreshments. But the disciples didn’t have the funds or the food to feed them. All they could scrounge up were five loaves of bread and two dried fish. The crowd was getting restless, the disciples were getting nervous, and Jesus was getting ready. He took the five loaves and two fish and told the crowd to sit down – he told them to rest.

Then He lifted the food toward heaven, blessed it, and commanded the disciples to hand out the provisions to those who were seated. He didn’t feed the people who were running around worrying – but the ones who were at rest. To those He gave “immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine” (see Ephesians 3:20 , with twelve baskets left over.

When we believe God, we will have rest and peace in our lives. I want you to do something for me. Right now, I want you to use your imagination. The Bible tells us in Ephesians that we are “in Christ” and Christ is “in us.” It also tells us that we are seated “in heavenly places” and “transferred to the kingdom of Christ.” Picture yourself sitting right beside Jesus under a spreading oak tree. Perhaps His arm is around your shoulder and your head is resting on his chest. You can feel the beating of His heart against your cheek and your head moves with the rise and fall of His breathing. With His other hand, He strokes your head and immediately knows how many hairs are on your head. His breath warms your skin as it brushes past your face. Imagine Him looking into your eyes and knowing your innermost being and meeting your gaze with a warm, affirming smile reassuring you of His love and care.

Now tell me, as you imagine yourself in the presence of Jesus, how anxious do you feel? How rejected do you feel? How worried about tomorrow are you?. No matter what you are going through today, Jesus is right there with you. So maybe you just need to sit down and be quiet for a while.

 

Believing God Knows Best

“In all their distress he too was distressed,” (Isaiah 63:9 NIV).

When bad things happen we may never understand the why. God tells us, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Dr. James Dobson said: “Trying to analyze His omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man.” It’s simply not possible. But there is one thing we can be sure of. “All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful,” (Psalm 25:10) whether we understand them or not.
When we encounter difficulties, it is easy to jump to conclusions. We may think God is mad at us or punishing us. We wonder if God is not blessing us because we’ve disappointed Him in some way. But all through the Bible we see that some of God’s closest friends experienced the darkest nights.
Joseph suffered. David suffered. The disciples suffered. Elizabeth suffered. Mary suffered. Martha suffered. Mary (Jesus’ mother) suffered. Paul suffered. Jesus suffered. And each one of these men and women were smack dab in the middle of God’s will. The ordinary pabulum of popular religion, of health and prosperity, just doesn’t line up with the suffering we see among some of the most godly men and women in Scripture. The abundant life that Jesus came to give does not come without struggle any more than a butterfly can soar without a struggle from its cocoon. We would never slice open a cocoon and expect to find a butterfly ready to fly. Without the struggle, the butterfly could not grow strong enough to take flight.
Jesus warned us that we would have struggles in this life, and yet struggles always seem to catch me by surprise. “Consider it all joy,” James said, “when you encounter various trials…” (James 1:2, NASB). Notice James said when and not if. Honestly, I wish there were some other way.
Come to think of it, Jesus wished the same. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will,” (Matthew 26:39). The cross. There was no other way.
Take a look at the names given to the Holy Spirit: Intercessor, Helper, Counselor, and Comforter. The very nature of those names lets us know that we are going to have difficulties this side of heaven, and thankfully God did not leave us to struggle alone. Jesus wept. The Holy Spirit groans. And God’s heart aches. In one beautiful sentence, we catch a glimpse into the heart of God as we go through tough times: “In all their distress he too was distressed,” (Isaiah 63:9). We may not see God’s face during the difficult days of pain, but you can be sure He is there, and many times His face is streaked with tears.
Sometimes life is tough. As we practice Acts 17:28, In Him we live and move and have our being, it does not mean that we will walk a down path void of treacherous twists and turns. It does mean that no matter where the road may lead, we are not alone.
So many times I’ve cried out with King David, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” only to discover that He was right there with me all the time. None of us knows what the future holds. Sometimes we just need to put our hand in God’s and walk around the next corner with Him—even when we don’t understand. In that journey of the unknown, we’re apt to experience moments of sudden glory in well-placed nuggets of gold.

CHECK THE LABEL

“When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity’ ” (Luke 13:12).

Have you ever wondered if God even knows your name? Have you doubted His awareness or even His concern about what you are going through? Have there been times when you felt totally alone and worthless? I have. I can really relate to the woman described in Luke 13. Oh, our problems may not be exactly the same, but the feelings and emotions are – and so is the answer.

Jesus knew this woman. He knew she had been sick for 18 long years and that she had tried everything to be healed. He knew – but He looked past her pain and saw who she really was, and all she was created to be. He could have called her by name, but instead He said, “Woman.” Jesus included her whole identity in that name; everything she was at that moment, everything she had been in the past, everything she hoped to be in the future. He knew every detail of her life, and He loved her. And just as He loved this broken woman, He loves you.

Truth: Your identity was established before the world began, in the heart and mind of God.

This woman had been assigned an identity by the relentless illness that plagued her body. Anyone who knew her identified her by that illness. Her heart must have been filled with feelings of unworthiness. I imagine she felt unwanted and unloved. She must have felt like a nobody. But when Jesus saw her, He looked at her through different eyes and called her to Himself. With one word from Him, everything changed and would never be the same again. All of a sudden, she was somebody.

There she stood, sick and in pain to the point that she was completely doubled over. Imagine what she felt when she realized that Jesus was talking to her. He was calling her - an outcast. And when she heard His voice, she heard something she hadn’t heard for a very long time, if ever. She heard the unfamiliar but longed-for voice of love.

Many of us feel unwanted and unloved, but we can be assured that God knows us and loves us just as we are and right where we are, in the midst of our mess and sickness. One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” Your identity was established before the world began, in the heart and mind of God. Before you were wanted or not wanted by human hearts, before you were planned or not planned by human minds, you were wanted and planned in the heart and mind of God. Created by God…for God. Wow! That makes you important. You are valuable—and the simple but almost unbelievable reason is that God created you. You can judge a product’s worth and value by looking at the one who made it.

Take a look at your label found in Psalm 139:13-16: For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Grab hold of the truth that God knows you, loves you and is for you. And that is all you need to face whatever life brings your way.

 

Promise Keeping

Thursday, February 14 Promise Keeping When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it ... Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 Recommended ReadingJames 5:12 The third of the Ten Commandments -- "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" (Exodus 20:7) -- has been wrongly interpreted to mean using God's name in a curse or profane statement (although that is certainly to be avoided). Originally, it referred to making a vow or promise with God as your witness that you would keep your word. If you failed to keep your promise, you were guilty of using His name in vain. You had involved God in your deceit or unfaithfulness, and God is not to be "used" by His people for their convenience in such a way. King Solomon wrote an extended paragraph about the danger of making vows and promises to God and, by extension, to others with God as our witness (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7). The apostle James, following his half-brother, Jesus of Nazareth, went further: Don't make vows at all. Just let your "Yes" mean yes and your "No" mean no (Matthew 5:37; James 5:12). Instead of making a promise in God's name, we should let our character serve as a guaranty for our word. If you say "Yes" or "No" today, follow through appropriately. Better not to promise than to promise and not pay. We must never promise ourselves any more than God has promised us.   Matthew Henry     :

Step Away from the Shore

Step Away from the Shore
“Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water” (Matthew 14:25, NCV).



Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see. John Shedd says, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” Faith is willing to take risks, embrace the unseen and step away from the safety of the shore. We fear the outcome or don’t understand the step God has asked us to take. We are afraid to fail and are more concerned about our “reputation” as a Christian than we are about being obedient to God. As long as the enemy can keep us preoccupied with a selfish perspective, our faith is impotent.

Authentic faith naturally produces action, but faith is hindered unless we abandon ourselves to that faith. Did you know that the African impala can jump to a height of over ten feet and cover a distance of greater than thirty feet? Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in any zoo by a three-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will land.

Many people say they do believe God is who He says He is and that He is able to do what He says he will do but falter at the point of believing that God is willing to work in their lives. If we don’t believe He is willing to keep His promises, we are not walking in faith. Oh, we find it easy to agree mentally with the truth that we serve a powerful God who loves us and has a great plan for our life, but that belief is worthless until it settles in our hearts and changes the way we live. If we don’t live it, we don’t really believe it. If we are not willing to step away from the shore, we will miss so much of what God has for us in life.

The story is told of Will Rogers who came to his friend, Eddie Cantor, for advice. Will wanted to make some important changes in his act but was worried about the danger of such changes, explaining that he wasn’t sure if they would work. Eddie Cantor’s response was, “Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is!” The same is true of faith.

Faith believes that God is willing. The life of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s willingness to work in our lives. The disciples had personally witnessed God’s willingness to save His children. Yet, in Matthew 14, we find them in a boat, caught in a storm, afraid and still questioning God’s willingness to rescue them. Did they cry out in fear? Yes! Did He come? Yes!

Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water, between three and six o’clock in the morning, the darkest time of the night. I have often wished I could have been on that boat with the disciples, waiting for Jesus to show up. I imagine the questions and complaints were flying. “Why would Jesus send us out here, knowing the waves were high? Where is He? Why is He waiting so long to rescue us? Can’t He just calm the waves like He did before? I ministered all day long and this is my reward? Is He really coming? I don’t understand!” Sound familiar? It does to me.

We are quick to believe the lie that God is angry with us and as a result, will not bless our life or meet our needs. The truth is that God is willing and waiting to pour out His favor and blessings on a life of faith. Hebrews tells us that faith always honors God and God always honors faith. “Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him” (Hebrews 11:6 NCV).

I think part of the problem is that we don’t know how to define “blessing.” A blessing is not always easy, painless, simple, comfortable or expected. A blessing often comes, wrapped in the mystery of darkness. But I am learning the truth that anything that makes us cry out to God can be counted as a blessing. Why? Because when we are desperate and in pain, when we have no answers and the darkness is closing in, we cry out to God, just as the disciples did, and He comes! Not because we have earned His presence or His mercy, but because we cried out with a tiny seed of faith, as His children, knowing He is not only able but He is willing to come. Step away from that shore. He will meet you there.

 

GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT SIN

“But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done” (1 John 1:9, NCV).

 
 The first time we commit a sin it is painful. We are filled with remorse and mourn the fact that we have grieved the heart of God, but regret is not enough when it comes to dealing with sin. Unless we confess and turn away from that sin, we are likely to commit it again. If we allow sin to settle into our life and refuse to confess it, that sin eventually hardens our heart and builds spiritual calluses in our soul. When we become comfortable with our sin, we are walking in enemy territory and setting ourselves up for spiritual failure and discouragement.

The good news is that Jesus understands human frailty. He is well acquainted with temptation and the tactics of Satan. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for yours and mine. He paid our sin debt in full.

1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done” (NCV).

This verse was written to believers as an encouragement to deal with sin and a promise that when we do so, God will be faithful to forgive us and clean up the mess that sin has caused. We are not perfect – just forgiven. To experience that forgiveness fully we need to keep short books on sin. That means being sensitive to sin and immediately choosing to do something about it. God is serious about sin. We need to be as well.

1. We must confess sin continually. “Confess” means to agree with and is a present tense verb meaning that we must confess sin frequently and continually.

2. We must confess sin completely.We commit sins one at a time. We need to confess them one-by-one as well.

3. We must confess our sin confidently.Once we confess and repent of our sin, we can put it behind us. God is just and fair – seeking only one payment for sin. Jesus has already made full and complete payment with His death on the cross.

One of Satan’s favorite tactics is to resurrect buried sin. Wrapping that confessed transgression in his vain taunts and useless accusations, the enemy hauls it back into focus, hoping that guilt will paralyze and imprison a soul set free. Satan can hold us prisoner if we let him. But how often do we believe his empty lies – and by doing so, grant him access to that which he has no right? To break the hold of sin, we can and must stand against the enemy, trusting not in our feelings but in the facts of God’s word. And those facts are unchanging and crystal clear – when we confess sin, God forgives it.

PRACTING GRATITUDE

God inhabits the praises of His people(Psalm 22:3 KJV).

Gratitude is the most effective way to deepen your consciousness to the fact that you are the object of God’s affection and love. Giving thanks awakens your senses to see God, to hear God, to taste and see that He is good. When you feel far from God, praise will bring you back. When you have strayed from acknowledging God’s presence, when you have forgotten in him we live and move and have our being, praise and gratitude will be the ramp to get you back on the right road.

I shudder at the words of Romans chapter one. “They neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened,” (Romans 1:21). They did not glorify Him. They did not give thanks to Him. “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…” (Romans 1:24). The light of their eyes went dark.

Praise keeps you alert to the glimpses of glory all around. The more you glorify God with praise and thanksgiving, the more your eyes will be opened to the deep well of His love that is but a bowshot away (Genesis 21:19). God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3 KJV). He feels right at home in a heart that praises Him. He enjoys being there!

I believe gratitude grows with practice. When you thank God, regardless of your feelings, it primes the pump of your heart until gratitude begins to flow freely.

If this is a language you have not spoken often, you can become fluent…with practice. Paul wrote, “I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything” (Philippians 4:11-12 NLT, emphasis mine). “I have learned.”

As with any foreign language we attempt to learn, the more we use it, the more fluent we become. Is it too strong to say that the language of gratitude is a “foreign” tongue? I don’t think so. We come into the world screaming with our very first breath, “It’s all about me and my needs!” With tightly closed fists and squeezed shut eyes we demand attention. A newborn babe can think of nothing more than his wants and his needs: feed me, hold me, change me, nurse me…and do it right now! I would like to think we eventually grow out of that infantile attitude, but I’m sorry to say, many never do.

But we don’t have to live like self-centered, self-absorbed ingrates. We can learn God’s love language of gratitude that opens our eyes and unfurls the fingers. We can speak words of gratitude that remove the blinders to see glimpses of His glory every day. As we discover and practice the beautiful language of gratitude, our native tongue of self-focused dissatisfaction begins to fade.

And we practice. And we practice. And we practice.

I often ask my Spanish-speaking friends who are also fluent in English, “When you dream, do you dream in Spanish or in English?”

Most of the time they say Spanish. A few say both. But only the ones totally immersed in English, who have lived in the States for a long period of time, actually dream in their learned language rather than their native tongue.

Oh how I long for the tongue of gratitude to become the language of my dreams - my heart language. But that will not happen by putting my Bible under my pillow. It is a result of practice as I live and move and have my being in Him with a grateful heart.