Tuesday, June 1: Grow up!

Have you ever noticed that if you are in your comfort zone, that you are not growing? Growth is one of those aspects of life that should begin at birth and not finish until death. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said,

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

Certainly, this applies to each of us even more strongly in our Christian walks. Peter was one who displayed an inordinate amount of growth. When he was walking with Jesus, Peter often acted rashly or spoke without thinking. He is known for bragging that he loved Jesus more than the rest, and then Jesus revealed to Peter that Peter would deny Jesus three times within the next few hours. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was ready to defend Jesus from the mob of Jewish leaders, took out his sword, and sliced off the ear of Malchus. If Jesus had not healed Malchus, Peter would not have written any books in the New Testament. He was courageous, but certainly rash.  Tradition tells us that when Peter was to be martyred, he asked to be crucified upside down, for he did not feel worthy to suffer the same death as his Savior. Peter grew immensely, and we can see that growth in the words of 1 Peter and 2 Peter.


5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-11


We come to the Lord with faith, and should add virtue to that faith. Virtue can be moral excellence or chastity. Next, comes knowledge, and the important knowledge is of the Word of God. Following knowledge is self-control, the ability to abstain from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We add perseverance on to self-control, finding the ability to keep on keeping on, through whatever struggle God allows in our path. Now we are getting to the advanced aspects of the Christian walk, as godliness comes next, with the outpouring of that godliness becoming brotherly kindness. It all ends in the greatest attribute, love! Love is everything! When people treat you badly, do you respond in love? I know I don’t always, which shows that my growth has not yet finished! Don’t let the love in your life be like a tennis term, where love is nothing. It needs to be the beginning and the end, the best of you and the worst of you, the greatest gift. Love is God and God is love.

Monday, May 31: Remember!

Today is Memorial Day, a day of picnics and the opening of many swimming pools around the country. Additionally, the day also is associated with huge sales in the department stores. Sadly, as a nation, we have lost sight of the real reason for this holiday. An editorial cartoon reminded me that on Thanksgiving, we bow in thanks of the things we have, and on Memorial Day, we bow in thanks to the people who gave their lives for what we have. Even the men who fought without dying sacrificed, leaving home and homeland to defend our way of life, not knowing if they ever would return.


Though I spent two years at the United States Air Force Academy, I never was called to serve this country. In that time, I studied many of the heroes of the Air Force, who died serving. While at the Academy, I still remember a conversation I had with my mother, who reminded me that the only real hero is a dead hero. Certainly, she was not willing to give up her son for the sake of country. Yet even in the training I received, I was relatively unaware of what others had done for me. No matter how much reading and studying we do about the historical events in reference, we typically don’t picture those events as accurately as a first-hand observer would. That is what I felt like when I saw the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” particularly the opening assault on the beaches of Normandy. The brutality of that scene was overwhelming, along with the inevitability of countless deaths of teenage men. My visit to the cemetery at Omaha Beach was one of the most chilling days of my life. I still vividly remember walking from gravestone to gravestone in the pristinely maintained cemetery, with grass a lush green even on a cold, winter day. I couldn’t help noticing the young ages of the majority of the dead, most under 20 years of age. There are close to 10,000 Americans buried there.


Remember!


God told the Israelites to do the same:


9 Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, 10 especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
Deuteronomy 4:9-10


“Take heed,” reminds us to watch out over our own lives. It takes work to guard over our own hearts, but each moment we are capable of sinning. If we reflect on His commandments, His merciful hand in our lives and His miracles, we will not forget! The Lord performed many miracles for the children of Israel. They even heard His voice on Mount Horeb, giving them the 10 Commandments. In this passage, the Lord reminds us to remember what our eyes have seen or those memories will depart from our hearts forever.


What have we seen? We have seen His mighty hand of miraculous power in each of our lives. Each of us following Him was blind and now sees; was deaf and now hears; was dead and now lives! On this Memorial Day, remember the ones who sacrificed for your life, for your freedom. But more importantly, remember God’s hand in it all, especially in your own life! As the passage above says, teach your children and your grandchildren, so they will not forget, either!


Remember!

Sunday, May 30: The balance of your Christian walk

Living in this world after becoming a Christian is like walking on top of a fence. On one side of the fence is the world while on the other side is heaven. Hebrews tells us that we are seated in the heavens already, for God is outside of time and sees us in our future home. Yet while we are in this temporary dwelling place, and in these earthly tents, we are being constantly attacked through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16) There are times when we fall from the precarious position of balance into the world, but the Lord pulls us back, just as Jesus reached His hand down to rescue a drowning Peter, after Peter had walked on water like the Lord.


Having saved us from the world, the Lord doesn’t want us to feel the pressure of following the Law, as even though the 10 Commandments were perfect, they were designed as a tutor to show us that we could not follow them all the time. Instead, the Lord gave us a system designed with our flaws in mind. That system is Jesus, the only perfect man, who died for our sins, spilling His innocent blood instead of ours to pay the price for each of us. If you have accepted the Lord as your personal Savior, you are no longer a slave to sin, but you will continue to sin until the day you are in His presence. Some people who claim to be Christians miss the point, and continue in their sinful practices, knowing the Lord will forgive them. Doesn’t that dishonor the work on the cross of Jesus rather than honor Him?


15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Titus 1:15


We honor Jesus through our works and through our lives. Yes, we are sinners, saved by His grace, and we will continue to make mistakes. Yet Jesus will teach us through those mistakes. Each day, we should become more like Him. There are many Christians who argue about sin. Is it a sin to smoke? Is it a sin to drink? With half of Christian couples in the United States getting divorced, is that a sin? If you feel that any of those are wrong, they are!


14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Romans 14:14


Be careful that you don’t venture into “moral relativism,” or the belief that we decide what is right or wrong by how we feel about an issue. That is not what the Lord is telling us in His Word:


21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Romans 14:21


Instead, understand the bigger picture. If anything we do causes a fellow Christian to stumble, we are to walk away from it. It doesn’t matter if the Bible specifically mentions that action as sin or not. Smoking is certainly a great example, as it is never mentioned in the Bible. We know the addictiveness of nicotine, and the fact that smoking is frowned upon by even a majority of non-Christians. We also are aware of the fact that the body is the temple of God, and smoking certainly is bad for that body. Recent statistics show that one-third of all smokers will die because of that habit. When a fellow Christian sees you smoking, can it cause them to stumble? Could they rationalize their own sinful behaviors through your action? ”If he can smoke cigarettes, then I can smoke pot. God never mentions marijuana in the Bible and it is grown naturally.”


There’s an easy answer to those weak arguments. Don’t do it if it causes your brother to stumble. If this sounds a little black and white, it is! Through the writings of Paul, God took the gray areas and brought them to His side. Walk in the light for God is Light! We should desire to resemble Jesus rather than the Madison Avenue idea of what is cool or acceptable.

Saturday, May 29: Have you packed your parachute?

Faith is a decision to trust, and in the case of Christianity, it is a decision to trust in God. We are trusting that the many promises that He has made to us through His Word will all be fulfilled. Everyone has faith, but not everyone has faith in God. If you turn on a light switch, you have faith that the room instantly will become brighter. To understand this with more of a life-or-death point of view, a skydiver can take all the steps to make his journey safer by packing his own parachute, checking it multiple times and following all the guidelines of how to make a safe jump. Yet when it comes down to the last moment of taking that one step out of the airplane, he must have faith that the parachute will open and bring him safely to the ground. When Paul wrote to the church members of Thessalonica, he commented on their faith:


3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 2 Thessalonians 1:3-8


Paul was known for his long sentences, and the verse above is another of those, so take your time wading through the various clauses! He begins with a testament of his compliment of the faith of the church members, which was growing exceedingly. What causes faith to grow in abundance? Is it ease of situation or smoothness of life? How about prosperity or wealth? If you go to a gym, your muscles aren’t going to grow by watching others exercise. Instead, the muscle has to be worked hard in order to build it. No pain, no gain. Similarly, this philosophy applies to the faith of believers. We grow when tested.


Could answered prayer have anything to do with increased faith? It certainly can, yet don’t forget that our prayers are not supposed to be Christmas wish lists made to the great Santa Claus. The sweetest prayers are the ones made on behalf of others, which are intercessory prayers. That has more to do with hardship, trial or tribulation, as we support our fellow believers by asking the Lord to come to their rescue. Though each of us seem to run from trouble, sometimes that is right where God wants us in order to force us to trust in Him above self! I read a book in college entitled, “The Body in Pain.” The book’s main premise was that to a person who has not experienced pain, a pin prick will be so excruciatingly painful that the person will think they are about to die. Yet after experiencing different levels of pain, we realize that our pain tolerance has grown and that the pin prick was nothing.


God draws us closer to Himself through the various trials. When we look back on the situations He has pulled us through, our faith grows. The more difficult the trial, the greater testimony we have of His merciful hand in our lives. If you remember what He has accomplished in your life, your faith will grow. Additionally, if you want your faith to grow, read His Word:


17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17


What it comes down to is a life-or-death decision, like that of the skydiver. Do you truly believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Your eternal life is based on that one step. Have you packed your eternal parachute properly?

Friday, May 28: For such a time as this!

What is your most frequent complaint? I think mine is, “I’m tired.” Why is it that we have this unexpressed expectation for life to go smoothly? When God instructed us in the 10 Commandments to not covet, He was telling us to accept the situation He puts us into, knowing that God selected that situation specifically for each of us. Can you trust that God knows what He is doing?


Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
John 9:1-3


First of all, how can you tell if a man has been blind since birth or became blind later in life, simply by walking past him? My guess is that this man was known to Jesus and His disciples. The question asked by the disciples in an interesting one. Who sinned? The answer that Jesus gives makes me think that sin can cause hardship, trial or sickness, but in this case, the man had done nothing wrong. In fact, Jesus reminded them that neither had the man’s parents. So what was the purpose of his blindness?


Though they were near other waters, Jesus made clay from His own spit and the ground and sent the blind man to the Pools of Siloam to wash the clay from his eye. He walked in faith, as any blind man has to do. I cannot imagine walking without vision. When the blind man journeyed the distance to the pool, walking in faith, he was given the gift of sight. The purpose of his blindness was so that the Lord could heal him. Others certainly witnessed the miracle, and had their spiritual eyes opened to believe in Jesus as Messiah, too.


Are you willing to suffer severe hardship for the Lord? He might not heal you, but could even demonstrate to others the peace you continue to have in the midst of a trial. After coming to the Lord, the next decision each of us needs to make is whether or not we can trust Him. He has proven Himself trustworthy. Let Him involve you in His miraculous plans.

Thursday, May 27: How do you hear God?

“The Lord told me that you are going to marry Amy.” What would you do if a Christian made a comment to you of this nature? Wow, that is a lot of power being given to a person! Simply by not marrying Amy, this person could make God into a liar in the perspective of the message-giver, yet the truth of the situation is, this bearer of a prophecy was a false prophet. God is never wrong, never lies and never puts more emphasis on our words than His!


7“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Exodus 20:7


Of all the 10 Commandments, this is the one that is probably the least understood. Many people think it refers to using the Lord’s name in a curse word. Certainly, that is part of it, but that doesn’t touch on the enormity of this command. “In vain,” means in any empty manner. That could mean cursing or swearing using the Lord’s name, yet it also could apply to our previous situation of someone saying, “The Lord told me to…”


The Bible is the finished version of God’s Holy Word. He is not adding to the Bible. Neither is He subtracting from it. If God tells you to do something, is it through His Word that He is speaking? Remember, God never will conflict His Word. Humans all suffer with pride, and though we can feel the prodding of the Holy Spirit leading us, the phrase, “God told me” is certainly overused in Christian circles. Is it possible that it wasn’t God’s voice, but your own? Is it something that you desperately want and you feel that God wants you to have it? I have a job interview coming up in a couple weeks and I would love to get the job, yet for me to say that God told me that He was going to give me this job would be untrue. Additionally, if God is speaking to one person and not another, is the one going to be prideful of his advanced spirituality?


What does the Bible say about the voice of God?


3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The LORD is over many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
The voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,
Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth,
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
Psalm 29:3-9


Additionally, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in a still, small voice, and Jesus told us that His sheep know His voice, but God the Father spoke loudly (Deuteronomy 5:22) when giving the 10 Commandments to the wandering Jews. God speaks loudly in His Word. If you don’t read it, how can you hear Him? If God told you something, what verse did He use?

Wednesday, May 26: Fight or flight?

All of us have those polarizing moments of emphasis. Even our euphemisms describe that point in time: “when the rubber meets the road,” “when push comes to shove,” “when your back is up against the wall,” or “it’s now or never.” Those phrases describe the timing of “when to throw in the towel,” which is a description of surrender. In boxing, when a white towel is tossed into the ring, that side has retired. It’s a smaller scale of an army hoisting a white flag. God allows each of us to fall into situations that will test our faith, if we are believers. He also allows people to fall into situations that will bring us to faith, if we are not believers.


When my mother was dying from emphysema, it certainly was a traumatic event in our family. It wasn’t a surprise for any of us to see her in that situation, as her lifetime of chain-smoking had destroyed her lungs. For many years, she was on oxygen, and also suffered a lot of pain from broken ribs and other bones, due to severe osteoporosis. Though I had heard the Lord’s calling on my life as a teenager, and followed Him at that time for a couple years, the desires of the world became more important to me and I slipped farther and farther into the world of sin. Mom had done the opposite. Though she had not come to know the Lord as her Savior until she was middle-aged, her walk with Jesus had grown sweeter as her death approached. Though I loved her and she loved me, the chasm between us had grown to an immeasurable width. That chasm’s reason became evident to me with the defining difference being an acceptance of Jesus. She worried desperately of my endpoint for eternity, but also knew that if she discussed it, I would only slip farther away.


Unbeknownst to her, the Lord was breaking me, in answer to my Mom’s prayers and the prayers of many others. I finally reached my breaking point. I couldn’t look down for I was on the bottom. It was finally time to start looking up. With nothing to show for my life, I finally decided to hand over the reins to Jesus and do it His way. This was the “fight or flight” moment in my life. Could I still have turned my back on Him? Certainly, I could have, but the Lord put me in a position where I finally was humble enough to see the destruction I had caused. At that point, you either run away from Him or run into His comforting arms!


3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.             
 1 Peter 1:3-9


How can you tell if your faith in Jesus Christ is fake or real? Does it stand the test of trial? When you are in the darkest place, do you run to the light of His love or do you blame the darkness on Him? Yes, our God allows the difficulties in our lives, but He doesn’t cause them! Yet He always is there to comfort us if we turn to Him. Often as believers, we have to deal with the ramifications of our sin, which might involve some definite hardship. Yet never forget that He never will leave you nor forsake you. He will carry you when you cannot walk! Nothing compares to the glory of His love, and the salvation that He promises never will perish.


Today would have been my mother’s 75th birthday. I miss her, but I have eternity to share with her. God used her sickness, her pain, her prayers and her faith to bring me back into His loving arms. “All things work together to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purposes!” It was a sweet surrender when I threw in the white towel!  Happy Birthday, Mom, and thank You, Jesus!

Tuesday, May 25: World religions

Last week, there was a news report of a man driving 140 miles per hour down the interstate. The police chase ended when he blew an engine in his Corvette, earning the man a one-month jail sentence. The late night speedster is actually a friend of a friend, and a week before the arrest, the mutual friend told me of this man’s belief that he had been reincarnated 700 or so times, and had once been Leonardo Da Vinci. At the time, I commented that all these people who believe in reincarnation think they were someone famous in a past life. I guess that is much more romantic than being a garbage collector. After the news report, I wondered if this man would treat his current life with more regard if he believed it was the only chance at life that he got.


It brought the subject of world religions into my mind. Muslims believe in an afterlife. In fact, according to the Koran, warriors who die fighting in the cause of Allah, the god of Islam, are ushered immediately to Allah's presence. Additionally, enemies of Islam are sentenced immediately to Hell upon death. In Islam, sin is anything that goes against the will of Allah and sin is an act, not a state of being. Heaven, or paradise, is something that must be earned.


Buddhism is quite different, putting an emphasis on karma. Karma is the force that drives the cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being, based on action and motive. Do good deeds and you will be reincarnated as a higher being. Bad deeds cause the opposite effect. Want 500 tries at getting it right? This is the religion for you! After numerous tries, if you keep progressing, you might become an enlightened being.


Though Judaism has many of the same fundamentals as Christianity, humanists seem to be setting the standards rather than God’s Word. Jews believe in mitzvahs, which are basically “good deeds.” On Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, Jews spend the day fasting in the temple while reflecting on the actions of the previous year. If you have performed more good deeds than bad, you are a good person. Most Jews do not believe in an afterlife.


Christianity is quite different. Unlike Buddhism, you only get one chance, unless you are a Catholic and your friends or relatives pay a priest to pray you into heaven from purgatory, both concepts that are not to be found in the Bible. Unlike Judaism, heaven is a place of reward for forgiven sinners, rather than “good people,” as the Bible teaches that all of us are sinners and even one sin makes a man a sinner. Unlike Islam, Christianity teaches its followers to love their enemies, rather than kill them. Islam is also a religion that teaches that lying is wrong, though when speaking to your enemies, lying is required.


There are many other religions out there, as well. How do you decide what is right? Some people believe that all paths lead to the same result, or that all religions lead to the same God. If this is how you view the world, if you wanted to go from Los Angeles to Paris, would you just get on board any airplane to take you there? What a ludicrous philosophy! To me, the truth of Christianity lies in the Bible. It is an integrated document written by many different authors in a lengthy time period of a few thousand years. Yet one statement never conflicts another when read in context. Historically, it has proven itself not just accurate, but perfectly accurate. As prideful as men are, authors write about themselves and their own exploits. Instead, in the Bible, the variety of authors wrote about God, most notably, Jesus Christ, who humbled them all with His love, honesty and miracles. No other document associated with any religion makes predictions or prophecies that come true. In the Bible, they all either have come true or will. Jesus is not one of the answers. He is the only answer. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. To be forgiven, we only have to acknowledge who He is and what He did for us. He does all the rest. Repent and follow Him!


6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
John 14:6-7


God tells us in His Word exactly who He is. When we accept parts of that and change the parts we find more difficult to believe, does it change God? He is what He is and accept Him or not, He cannot change and will not change! Any god I could invent wouldn’t hold a candle to the One we have who loves us. Get to know Him better today! He cared enough to send His very Best!

Monday, May 24: Pentecost

Yesterday was the anniversary of Pentecost, a Greek word meaning “fifty.” In the Old Testament, this Jewish feast week was called Shavuot, which in Hebrew means “weeks.” Beginning on the second day of Passover, the “counting of the omer” began, referring to a sacrifice of an omer-measure of barley. The second day of Passover was also called “Firstfruits,” and was the beginning of the barley harvest. After seven weeks elapsed, the wheat harvest began, signifying the start of Shavuot. On the Hebrew calendar, this feast began on the first day of Sivan, and was one of the three feasts of Moses that required for every Jewish man twenty years of age or older to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.


Additional significance lies in the fact that during the exodus of the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, Shavuot marks the day when the Jews received the Law. Having departed Egypt in haste, with Pharaoh’s soldiers in hot pursuit, the Jews carried their emancipation from slavery with the requirement of following God’s Law. In the Bible, seven is symbolic of completeness, and not ironically, after seven weeks of seven days, God shared His Law with them. According to tradition, King David was born and died on Shavuot, which is the only one of the seven feasts of Moses using leavened bread instead of unleavened bread. Leaven points to sin, as it causes bread to puff up, while prideful sin causes man to puff up.


A deeper significance of the day involves another anniversary, as Shavuot is also the day that the Church began. The resurrection of Jesus occurred on the day of Firstfruits, that second day of Passover, as He was the firstfruit of the resurrection. The resurrection is a category, rather than an event. To explain that further, just as Jesus was resurrected, each of us as believers will be in the first resurrection, concluding with the following verse:


16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18


After He was resurrected, Jesus appeared to His disciples before He departed from the Mount of Olives and returned to heaven in a cloud. A Sabbath’s journey away, according to the Book of Acts, the disciples left the Mount of Olives for the upper room. Just as Jesus promised, when He departed the believers, He left them with the Holy Spirit:


15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:14-18


The word for “another” Helper, is allos (ἄλλος), which differs from heteros. Allos signifies another of the same sort, while heteros signifies another of a different sort. This tells us that the Holy Spirit is like Jesus. Yet there is a difference. Jesus walked with His followers, and was with them for three years, but only part of the time. The Holy Spirit is a gift to believers that will be with us at all times, as He dwells inside of us:


7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
 John 16:7


So on that first Pentecost Sunday many years ago, celebrating the anniversary of the giving of the Law, the first believers were filled with the Helper, who will teach us and bring to remembrance all things. He will imbue us with power. He came in as a rushing wind! What a gift we have been given! God is dwelling in us!

Sunday, May 23: New kid on the block

This is one of those days when I am glad to be a man. My youngest sister, Julee, is having her first baby at the age of 46. Amazingly, she did it God’s way as she remained a virgin until marriage at the age of 45. In this day of sexual freedom with the “Me Generation” living by the creed of “If it feels good, do it,” she has certainly been one in a billion. Last night when I spoke with her on the telephone, her contractions had begun. They were 11 minutes apart and the doctor on call told her to try and get some sleep, and not to come to the hospital until the contractions were five minutes apart.

Around 10 this morning, she and her husband, Mark, made the journey to the hospital. After staying up most of last night, wondering if the contractions were getting closer together, she has been enduring the pain of labor all day. Now, 24 hours after labor began, I received the following text message from my niece:

“Pray. It’s getting intense and hard for her. She’s tired!”

Can you imagine any man enduring this? If there were a handful able to endure the pain, can you imagine any who would be willing to endure it more than once? When God told man to go forth and multiply, He gave women the amazing gift of enduring the pain and an even more amazing gift of forgetting the pain.


A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
John 16:21


I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16


At 11:13 p.m. (EST), Julee gave birth to a healthy, 7-pound, 13-ounce boy. She called me and sounded exhausted after 27 hours of labor, which she did without a C-section or epidural. It was so sweet to pray with her on the phone before the delivery and after the delivery, and to dedicate this baby to the Lord! I am so thankful for God’s gift and His mercy of giving my sweet sister a baby after all these years. Though Sarah was much older at 90, I think of this as a miracle, testifying of what blessings God bestows when we choose to follow His commandments. Congratulations, Mark and Julee. Now, continue the process by bringing up your son in the ways of the Lord!


Glory be to God for this gift! I am relieved and thankful (and also glad I will never have to endure labor). Isn’t it just awesome that Jesus chose to enter the world in this very way? Mary endured the same turmoil and pain for our Lord to be born, that He might live and die for us! That’s why mothers get flowers, gifts, cards and love on Mother’s Day and fathers get a tie on father's day. The father’s part in the birth involves a moment of pleasure, compared to the intense, ongoing pain of the mother. Sorry, Dad! But don’t worry, you have a tie coming!  By the way, his name is Declan Elijah Weems, not Hootie!

Saturday, May 22: What's the most dangerous cancer?

Early this afternoon, I went to the dermatologist to have some precancerous spots frozen from my leathery skin. Working in the sun all day, every day, isn’t the easiest way to keep your skin soft as a baby’s bottom. Part of it is my own stupidity as I don’t use sunscreen. I was fortunate to have a tennis student with a dermatology practice, and she found many of those spots on my face, ears and arms.


It made me think deeper about cancer. I have read that doctors guess we each get cancer 7-10 times in our lives, yet most of the time, our bodies fight off the cancer with a healthy immune system, without any knowledge that cancer infiltrated the normally healthy cells. When those healthy cells turn into rogue cells, a compromised immune system has difficulty reversing them back to healthy. At that time, cancer grows and spreads, and kills a person from the inside out. There are treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation that can help fight the battle. With chemotherapy, they slowly drip poison into your body, with the hopes of killing the cancer before killing the host!


Sin is a cancer. Similar to cancer, sin will kill us from the inside out. While the dermatologist has to freeze the precancerous spots over and over again, sin has only one remedy. When Jesus died on the cross, He carried the burden of all of our sins. That means our past, present and future sins! When we ask Him into our hearts and lives, that burden is removed forever!


14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
James 1:14-15


My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 2:2


Propitiation is one of those three-dollar words. It means to appease the wrath of the divine judgment. The death of Christ fully satisfied all the righteous demands of God toward the sinner, as sin must be punished, but it must only be punished once.


How sad that the world puts more emphasis on the cancers that destroy our bodies than the cancerous sins that destroy our eternal lives! Don’t forget that you need not struggle with making an appointment. God will meet you right where you are and will take that deathly sin away from you immediately, if only you ask! Even if you are a Christian, walk in the freedom of having that burden removed by confessing your sins to Him.


If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

Friday, May 21: Tires!

Today, I put new tires on my truck. The tread was extremely worn, one of the tires needed to be refilled with air every couple weeks and another tire had a cut in the sidewall for over a year. It doesn’t matter how expensive your car or truck is. Without a good set of tires, it isn’t going to take you very far. Though even new tires can have blowouts, we tend to trust a new tire much more readily at high speeds or on bumpy terrains. The last set of tires carried me to some special places, and I hope that I will be able to say the same about this set of tires.


Do you know the feeling of wearing an old, worn out pair of tennis shoes? They make knees ache, joints hurt and by the end of the day, your legs are exhausted. In the same manner, a new set of tires gives new life to the car. It corners better, gets better traction in the snow or rain and makes the ride so much smoother.


Jesus is more concerned with the way we walk than the way we ride! Our walks with Him shouldn’t wear out like a set of tires or a pair of shoes. Instead, daily they should improve by drawing closer to Him.


8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8


It’s amazing to think of the relationship Adam had with God in the pre-sin Garden of Eden. He walked with God and talked with God. There isn’t a better way to get to know someone than the close fellowship of a walk together. Each Friday, I walk up a 2-mile steep hill with a tennis student for exercise and the only time that the conversation wanes is when we get out of breath from the ascending. As believers, when we walk with God, we spend time talking to Him and listening to Him. How can we know Him without that communication? Yet after sin entered the picture, man never had that same relationship with God again. Moses could talk to God, but not look upon the Lord. We can walk with God, as He is living inside of each of us as believers.


Someday, we will see His face. I can’t begin to imagine what He will look like, but I know that His eyes will have a sweetness and gentleness far-surpassing my imagination.


10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10


We all were present at the crucifixion of our Lord as our sins put Him there. It sounds like in the future, He will retain those scars of the wounds He received instead of us. Keep your walk with Him, your eyes upon Him and never depart! He will put air in your tires and soles on your shoes, as Jesus is the only Soul Man! That’s where the rubber meets the road!

Thursday, May 20: Whose advice do you value?

Phillip Calvin McGraw sure does love to tell people what they should do with their lives. Better known as Dr. Phil, he makes an inordinate amount of money dispensing advice to a big variety of guests with a bigger variety of problems on his television show. His simple language and Southern drawl seem to convince his guests that he cares and never would mislead them. A song called “Wear Sunscreen” offers us this scintillating wisdom concerning advice:

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

Why are we so quick to listen to a man’s advice, and hesitant to listen to the advice that the Lord offers? His Word is filled with advice! If we follow His Word, our lives would be so much easier. Isaiah shared this passage with us:


“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the LORD,
“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
That they may add sin to sin;
2 Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
Isaiah 30:1-3


Dr. Phil isn’t the first person to dispense advice that doesn’t involve Biblical truth. He is on a long list of psychologists, psychiatrists and psychobabblers who cannot share the truth if they don’t follow the truth. Jesus is the Truth and the only Way! It doesn’t matter if you believe in the power of positive thinking. Norman Vincent Peale was appalling in the same manner that Paul is appealing! If your advisor doesn’t follow Jesus, be very careful how closely you adhere to their advice. The answer isn’t blowing in the wind; it’s in the pages of God’s Word! Beware of the hot air of most dispensing advice!  Unless the advice is grounded in God's truth, it will lead you to Egypt!

Wednesday, May 19: Bird brains!

I park my pick-up truck right outside my door and it is not more than a few feet away from the largest window in the apartment. Lately, I have been watching a robin spend an inordinate amount of time looking at himself in the side-view mirror of my truck. The bird does more than just look…he pecks at the mirror, and additionally, poops all over the side of the truck. This is occurring on a daily basis. Every once in a while, he gets bored with that reflection and flies into the glass window of the apartment, pecking against that glass. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, thinking that he was just stupidly in love with his own reflection.


A friend explained it to me today, and upon researching on the internet, I found a great population of other people enduring the same, odd-bird behavior. An on-line ornithologist gave the same explanation that my friend did. Male robins and cardinals are prone to this behavior, though it is not limited to only those birds. Springtime seems to be the most common time for that behavior as it is mating season, but what is the consensus opinion is that the bird is doing battle with another male…in the mirror. The poop trail is his marking of territory. Suggested solutions were varied and involved putting a bag over the mirror, a car cover, or even a solution of dishwashing soap placed on the mirror to make it more opaque. Of course, the easiest solution is to hit the stupid bird with a broom until he quits breathing!


Birds are not known for their incredibly large brains! As humans, our brains are much closer to the capacity of those birds than they are to the capacity of God’s brain. I bet God looks at us in much the same way. “You are fighting against yourself again!” How often do we fall into that same trap? With God’s perfect plan for our lives, He still allows us to choose our own way. Yet when we choose the wrong path, He faithfully and patiently brings us back to the path He designed especially for each of us. Just like the bird, our biggest mistakes usually take place when we are egotistically looking at ourselves, even when we don't realize that is what we are looking at! If we keep our eyes on God, we won’t even begin to worry about our enemy in the mirror.


Yes, we do fight against powers and principalities, the demons of Satan. Yet it doesn’t really matter what battle lies in front of you. If your eyes are on yourself rather than God, you are destined to lose the battle every time.


22 You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’
Deuteronomy 3:22


Though we seem to think that the battles in our own lives are so big that we have earned the right to worry about them, in truth, we are no better than the bird pecking against a mirror. Trust God! He loves you so much that He desires to protect you and do battle for you! We are soldiers in His army and He has the power to defeat anyone and anything!

Tuesday, May 18: Called by His name!

I heard a comedian say that if you have your name on a building, you have really made it. If your name is on your desk, you still are pretty important. Yet if your name is on your shirt, you probably could have made some better career choices!


This morning, I read the Book of Philemon, which is not a major accomplishment being that it is only 25 verses long. The epistle is simply a letter from Paul to his friend Philemon. At the beginning of the letter, we see five titles or descriptions of people in the first sentence:


1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, 2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
Philemon 1-2


First, Paul is described as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Instead of calling attention to himself and his title of apostle, we see a more humble extreme. Some scholars think that Paul was describing the fact that he was incarcerated, but it is deeper than that. Knowing that Paul chose his words carefully when he wrote or spoke, we know that he meant exactly what he said. How was Paul a prisoner of Jesus? Jesus certainly captured his heart. Additionally, Paul was in jail not because men had placed him there. Instead, Paul was in jail because it was God’s will for him to be there. Once Jesus has purchased our lives with His blood, He owns us. That is what redemption is all about. Then our lives are for His glory, rather than for our own self-aggrandizing glorification!


Next, Timothy is described as “our brother.” What a great reminder that all of us in the family of God are related. It shouldn’t surprise us how often we argue and battle with fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. If you have grown up in a larger family, you realize that battles constantly arise. Yet the bigger part of those battles is the phrase that blood is thicker than water. Even though we fight, we love each other, forgive each other and support each other. I could have an argument with my sister, but if a stranger attacks her, I will break down walls to come to her defense. We often can lose sight of the fact that each of us serving the Lord has been chosen by Him. Why should we fight with people that He chose for His purposes? Love your Christian family, your brother from a different mother and your sister from a different mister!


Both Philemon and Apphia are described as “beloved.” This is the Greek word agapetos, ἀγαπητός, which comes from the Greek word used for the most selfless and spiritual love, agape. This is a strong reminder that the Father looks upon each of us as believers with an unconditional love. God’s love isn’t based on our ever-changing performance. He’s not a lover, plucking petals from a flower. “He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not.” Instead, just realize, He loves you! He chose you for His purposes.


Philemon is also described as a laborer. If you belong to the LORD, He gave you at least one spiritual gift. Additionally, He calls you to use your gifts for His glory, laboring for Him. That labor is to bring more people to know Him by sharing His love with others and it is also in helping other believers to know Him better through teaching, encouragement, etc. Remember, a successful ministry has nothing to do with size. The LORD has called me to write this blog. Does it matter how many people read it? Not at all! We have all seen small ministries filled with God’s power and large ministries that seem to glorify man more than God. Just be willing to work for Him and He will use you.


Lastly, Archippus is described as a fellow soldier. There is a battle that has been raging on this earth since the fall of Adam. It involves powers and principalities, the host of angels. When Lucifer sinned, he departed heaven with 1/3 of the heavenly host, yet there are 2/3 remaining on God’s side. This battle is waged around us constantly, and with the angels outnumbering the grains of sand in the sea, it is a large battle. When we accepted Jesus as Messiah, we changed teams. Don’t forget that Satan wants to destroy you for leaving him and turning to Jesus! He also wants to destroy your testimony so that God won’t use you to further His kingdom.


There are many titles that we honor as men: president, chief executive officer, senator, and others. Yet in this short book, the Lord shares with us five titles that each of us have as believers. Never forget that your title isn’t so important. It is the title of the God you serve that matters.


He is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the Chief Cornerstone, the Holy One of Israel, the Rock of my strength and my Hiding Place. He is my Deliverer, my Savior, the Lord of all the earth. He is Elohim, El Shaddai, and Jehovah-Jire. He is the Living God, Lord of all the Armies, the Most High God!

Monday, May 17: Filled with the Holy Spirit

I heard a teaching from a pastor recently who said we as Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit until we sin, and then we are “un-filled,” until we confess our sins. After confession, we are filled again. That theology didn’t sit right with my spirit when I heard it. Rather than simply disagree, I turned to the Bible to find the answer.


In Acts 1:8, we see that God gives believers the Holy Spirit to imbue them with power and become witnesses for Him. In Acts 2:4, the Day of Pentecost arrives (a day celebrated this coming Sunday). In Acts 1:12-15, 120 people in the upper room are all filled with the Spirit. In Acts 4:8, we see Peter in front of the Sanhedrin, and Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit. In all of these, the word “filled” is in the aorist tense in the Greek, πλησθεις (plēstheis, or the passive participle pimplēmi). The aorist tense signifies an event that occurred at one time in the past. This tense alone tells us that God fills us with the Holy Spirit at one time!


In Acts 4:31, we see that believers prayed and are all filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 6:3, there is a need of distribution of food to the widows. The requirement of the men for this job is that they must be filled with the Spirit. Do they lose that job when they commit a sin, and then gain the job back after they have asked for forgiveness? This sure puts more emphasis on our works than on the work that Jesus did in our behalves on the cross! As long as I live on this earth, I will continue to sin. That brings to mind Paul's words:


15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
 Romans 7:15


Lastly, in Acts 6:5, we see that Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit, while in Acts 11:24, we see the same description of Barnabas. What is the significance of being filled with the Holy Spirit? All of God exists inside of each of us as believers, rather than a small portion of God in each of us. That is hard for our finite minds to conceptualize! Rather than removing a portion of Himself when we sin, He remains in us as the Comforter. And when do we need that comfort more than after we have sinned?


Confessing our sins is an important aspect of walking with the Lord, but we can’t wrongly put too much emphasis on our own failures. If you are not aware of your sin, or forget a sin you committed, the Lord is still faithful to forgive your sin if He is your Messiah. As much as we want to take control of our own lives, we are richly blessed that God is truly the One in control!

Sunday, May 16: Mirror, mirror on the wall…

Sitting at a stoplight today, I found myself behind a woman who was fixing her hair and doing her makeup in the rearview mirror. Though she should have been focused on the more important task of driving her car, she was focused on her own beauty. It made me think about the invention of the mirror, and upon checking Wikipedia, found that it was invented early in man’s history, mostly for personal grooming. Though there were less clear versions of the mirror early on, around the time of Jesus they began making metal-coated, glass mirrors in Sihon (what is now Lebanon). Since that time, mirrors additionally have been used in decoration, architecture and in scientific instruments. Yet the initial usage is still the most common.


Before the invention of the mirror, I doubt that people cared quite as much about every hair being in place. Questioning a companion, “How’s my hair look,” would be the closest thing to a mirror, unless you gazed into a still, pool of water! Upon reflection, I thought of how much more valuable a mirror would be if it revealed what was on the inside of a person rather than what was on the outside!


It is a true challenge to each believer to see ourselves the way God sees us! There are certainly two sides to that coin, as usually, we think too highly of ourselves, knowing that God has told us in His Word that our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful at best. Yet when we have received salvation from the Lord, the Father sees the righteousness of His Son when He looks upon us!


14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
 Psalm 139:14


Though most people would choose to have Hollywood looks, that is not the beauty that we should desire. In Isaiah 53:2 when prophetically describing Jesus, Isaiah says, “He has no form or comeliness and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” The beauty of Jesus is on the inside, just as it should be for all of us as believers.


“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
Matthew 6:1-4


God created you exactly the way you are, so He certainly loves the outside. He also made the inside and easily sees our hearts and motives.


3Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psalm 24:3-5


Clean hands demonstrate our actions, while pure hearts demonstrate our motives. If we spent as much time developing those godly motives instead of focusing on the tone of every muscle and the placement of every hair, we might start to reflect our Lord, whose beauty was on the inside! Mirror, mirror on the wall…why focus on the outside, ya’ll?

Saturday, May 15: I don’t know nothin’ about birthing babies!

I feel a little like Prissy in Gone With the Wind, who is known for the infamous words, “I don’t know nothin’ about birthing babies.” Though she had bragged about her knowledge of childbirth, and claimed to have helped her own mother, when push came to shove (sorry about that one), she lied and had no experience as a midwife to assist Scarlet O’Hara in the birthing process. Today is the due-date for my youngest sister, who is ready, willing and able to be the greatest mother ever. Yet just as the billions of other mothers who have come before, she is wondering how great the pain is going to be and how she will handle that pain. So, Julee, today’s blog is for you. Though I can't help with the process, I can help with the prayer and encouragement!  Here are a handful of Bible verses to remind you of God’s part in this miracle!

He will gently lead you:

10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
 Isaiah 40:10-11

Because you love and obey the Lord, He will bless your offspring!

2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
Deuteronomy 28:2-4

Why are you having a child at your age? The Lord is rewarding you!

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Psalm 127:3

God formed this beautiful baby for His glory!

7 Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”
 Isaiah 43:7

Don’t worry about the pain. It will pass, and you won’t remember how much it hurt. You will only remember the joy of the gift the Lord is giving you!

A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
John 16:21


Just remember the miracles that the Lord performed in order for this baby to become a part of your life, your family and your future. Think of the sweet time with your Dad at the Mayo Clinic! Without that, this never would have happened. Think of the gift the Lord gave you in Mark! Think of the miracles He has worked in your life. Don’t forget that all of us are the sum of our parts. Take away any part and you would not be exactly the same. Though you desire for Mom to be with you, don’t forget what we talked about concerning the part her death played in changing my life! I would call this the “It’s a Wonderful Life” school of thought. I can’t wait to be an uncle again.


Lord, bless Julee on this day, or whatever day you designed for her little one to enter this world. Help her! Give her strength, endurance, encouragement, great doctors and the reminder that her baby is your miracle, a gift from You! Amen!

Friday, May 14: Don’t be one of the frozen chosen!

Sometimes in my walk, there’s a song by Keith Green that can hit me right between the eyes. “My eyes are dry, my faith is old, my heart is hard, my prayers are cold. And I know how I ought to be alive to You and dead to me.” Though God has given us peace that passes understanding in the midst of the greatest trial, we have to trust Him for that peace to occur. When we fail to trust in His promises, we become Christian popsicles, cold and hard. Soft and pliable are better attributes as Christians.

“The same sun that softens the butter hardens the clay.”

Though the Jews are God’s chosen people, each one of us who walks with the Lord has been chosen by God, too. He doesn’t hang us out to dry as believers, but goes before us in all we do:


29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
Deuteronomy 1:29-30


After the Jews disobeyed God when He told them to conquer the people in the Land of Canaan due to their enormous size, He punished them. While being punished, the Jews opted to try and fix it their own way, but God’s hand wasn’t in their attempt. He warned the disobedient Jews that He was not with them in the endeavor, but they went anyway, and were defeated:


41 “Then you answered and said to me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight, just as the LORD our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.
42 “And the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’ 43 So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain.
 Deuteronomy 1:41-43


We can find ourselves in similar circumstances when we choose to disregard God’s Word and walk in sinful practices. Yet remember that God does not punish us to destroy us. He only chastises the ones He loves! One of God’s greatest promises, and reminders, comes in a subsequent verse:


7 “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’
Deuteronomy 2:7


If you are His and He is yours, God will bless ALL the work of your hand! You will lack nothing! This is not the prosperity gospel, preaching wealth and earthly gains. Yet your needs will certainly be fulfilled by the God who loves you so much that He cannot take His eyes off you! If you find yourself enduring a cold streak in your walk as a Christian, come back to the cross and that place of trust. Let God soften your heart. If He shapes it while it is frozen, it will shatter! Even at the hands of the Master Potter, the clay needs to be warm and soft to sculpt!


And by the way, Happy Birthday, Dad!

Thursday, May 13: Tail-wagging happiness!

A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself.

--Josh Billings (19th-Century American humorist)

I don’t know what it was that woke me, but I sat up in bed alertly in the middle of the night. It could have been a sound, a little earthquake or a dream. Though I don’t know what woke me, I know what greeted me. Whitney, the 18-month-old black Labrador, instantly began to wag her tail, then licked my face. Her tail went thump, thump, thump, against the bed. I rubbed her belly as I put my head back on the pillow to return to dreamland, pondering the amazing gift that God gave to dogs.


How many people do you know that share their happiness with you warmly every time you see them? There is not a moment when I enter the house when Whitney is not ecstatic to see me. Her tail is powerful. Luckily, I don’t have a coffee table, for if I did, she would clear it with that perfectly-positioned sweeper! God didn’t give us wagging tails. Instead, we have smiles. Yet unlike a wagging tail, those smiles can be authentic or feigned:


27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
28 I am afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that You will not hold me innocent.
29 If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
Job 9:27-29


In truth, the smile that becomes a billboard on our faces should reflect our future, rather than our present condition. We live in a broken world, but we are only visitors here. Don’t let the present get in the way of the promise!


And Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
1 Samuel 2:1


It all depends what holds your attention, what you are watching! If your eyes are focused on heaven, you won’t see the mess around you!

Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
--Lewis Grizzard