Laughing in Praise

 

Read Genesis 21:1-7. Consider Abraham’s and Sarah’s ages when God fulfilled His promise to them of giving them a son. Upon Isaac’s birth, Sarah laughed.

Do you give up on God coming through for you as He promised? Do you have an idea on how He will fulfill His promise? It could be that God sees the fulfillment of His promise in a different way. 

Instead of expecting God to answer you prayers and His promises in a particular way, know God will fulfill them in the best way. His thoughts are higher than ours and His ways always come in the perfect way and at the perfect time. 

This year, hold onto God’s promises and continue to grow your relationship with Him through prayer. Expect He will intercede like He promised. Know He is faithful to Himself, His promises, and you. Have no boundaries in which you expect God to work in your life. 

God is boundless. He works in great and mysterious ways. When God answers your prayers and fulfills His promises, laugh in joy and surprise as Sarah did declaring the glories and faithfulness of God.

Life Challenge

 

The God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including His people, His own special possession. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is His name! Jeremiah 51:19 (NLT)

Growing up, each child wants to be like someone. Some children want to be firefighters, police officers, or doctors. Others want to be the President or a teacher. Throughout the Bible, we read of people who want to be like others. Most often, we read about the Israelites wanting to be like the people of other nations and having what they have.

The Israelites descended from Abraham and Sarah. To Abram (Abram’s name before God changed it), a man who had no heir, God promised he would have as many descendants as the stars in the skies (Genesis 15:5). He continued this covenant with Abram, in Genesis 15:7-8,

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God. (NIV)

God made another promise to him saying He would make Abram’s descendants a “people.” He said in Genesis 17:4, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you; you will be the father of many nations.” Before God led Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt, these people were not a “people.” The word “people” means a group of individuals called by one name and made into a nation. God made Abraham’s descendants a nation when He rescued them from Egyptian slavery using Moses and Aaron.

In Genesis 26:3-5, God reiterated His promises to Abraham’s son, Isaac. Isaac passed God’s promises as a blessing on Jacob in Genesis 28:3-4. Yet, the descendants of Abraham were not a nation. They were a collection of people from the same area. These people, by God’s plan, became descendants (heirs) of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In Exodus 6, when God spoke to Moses about the Israelites in Egypt, He told him Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew Him as Yahweh, “the existing One.” Yahweh God explained He had covenanted with these men. With His rescue of the Israelites from Egypt, He declared His relationship with the people of Abraham. God told Moses,

“I am the LORD (Yahweh, the existing One). I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD. I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. (Exodus 6:2-4)

God then commanded Moses to tell the Israelites, "I will take you (the Israelites) as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." (Exodus 6:6-7, NIV)

God said His relationship with the descendants of Abraham is close. He called Abraham’s descendants His people. God did not call other people and make them His own. With God’s declaration about the Israelites, He made them into a nation, His nation. This nation was the inheritor of the promises God made with their founding fathers. He would be their God and they would be His people.

Consider Israel’s spiritual life. They followed God, then sinned repeatedly. These descendants of Abraham worshiped God in the tabernacle, then made a golden calf at the bottom of Mount Sinai. They promised to obey His commandments and decrees, then kept things from the villages and cities they attacked. These Israelites had a spiritual life of peaks and troughs. What caused them to stand strong for God then disobey Him? What would make a group of people called by Yahweh His nation turn their backs on Him? This God is the same One who redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. He made them to be a light for the nations (Isaiah 42:6).

What happened? The Israelites sinned against God because of temptation. The ways people lived in the surrounding nations enticed the people of God. They wanted the gold and silver. The Israelites wanted idols, false gods, like other nations had. They must have thought, “Surely, the land of those nations is thriving. Their gods are working for them, so let’s give offerings to their gods, too.” This desire for more things-more gold, fame, and glory-drew them away from their devotion to Yahweh, LORD. Their actions, words, and thoughts disobeyed God’s commandments and said to Him they were not content with what He, the Giver of all good things, gave them (James 1:17). The Israelites coveted, killed, took part in adultery, worshiped other gods, etc. They no longer distinguished themselves as the people of God, His nation. Abraham’s descendants were like other nations. They became like the nations who God allowed to defeat and rule over them. The Israelite nation, people God chose and made into a nation, became slaves and exiles. They were in bondage to other nations and to their sins. What about these other nations enticed the Israelites? For a while, these nations prospered, defeated other nations, and expanded their empires. In the end, other stronger nations defeated them.

Considering this again, we read about the Israelites and wonder how they ever could have wavered in their spiritual fervor. God was among them in by cloud, fire, amazing provision, in protection, and in power. How could they have left Yahweh to be like the other nations? Understand, they wanted what other nations had, while forgetting Who made them a nation and proved Himself faithful to His covenant with them. They wanted to be like Babylon, Edom, Amorites, and other nations.

If we look honestly at ourselves, we realize our spiritual lives are no better than the Israelites’ lives. We have had times of faithfully following God and growing in our relationship with Him, then gradually or suddenly, we stop. When we consider these dips in our spiritual journey, we realize we decided we wanted more than God was giving us. We were not content with the “good and perfect gifts” He has given us (James 1:17). Reflecting on this, we realize we are no better than the Israelites, who were no better than the Babylonians, Assyrians, and other nations around them. We each are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Of course, saying we fell away from God assumes we had a relationship with Him already.

Let’s think about this. God, through Abraham, covenanted with the Israelites. Yahweh promised to be Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s God. That was a personal covenant for them from Him. Only from Exodus 6 does God make this covenant with a group of people, the Israelites. He chose the Israelites to be His people, a nation. God chose them to draw other people and nations to a covenant relationship with Him. They could do that by their faithfulness to Him and His to them. They were to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6 & 60:3). The Babylonians, Assyrians, et al. had no covenant with Yahweh God. The people of these nations followed in other gods like Molech (child sacrifices required), Chemosh, Asherah (goddess of fertility who had temple prostitutes), and Baal. Each of their gods were false gods. These gods had no power. They were idols made by people from parts of God’s created world. They could not move themselves or cause any benefit or harm to people who bowed to them.

With this information, reflect on what this means for us. We are like Israel, who are like Babylon and the other nations. We sin and fall short of the righteous standard of God. The other nations had no god that could cleanse their sins from them. The nations’ gods could not help or save them. Their spiritual journey was a flat line in the trough. They had no hope of salvation from sin and no hope for eternal life with God. Still, they were like us, sinners separated from God.

The Israelites knew God and knew about Him. He chose them before they were a people, before each of them was born. God chose them when He covenanted with their ancestor, Abraham. These same Israelites had the prophets and priests of God who proclaimed what God required-to love Him with their whole being and to obey Him. The people who were not His people saw and heard about what God had done over the centuries. They understood from the Israelite lineage, God loved them, was gracious to them, and protected and provided for them. Still, the people of God had a spiritual journey of peaks and deep valleys. They had no steady upward growth in their spiritual journey with Yahweh God.

Consider this. God existed from before time began. He makes Himself evident in creation, provides testimony of Himself in personal accounts from people over these millions of years since He created people. The Bible, His word, tells us about Him-His attributes and works. Many of us have heard of the covenant God had with the Old Testament Israelites. This covenant was a covenant to lead the people to seek and follow Him. It carried His promise of always caring for them. Yet, God’s first covenant did not provide salvation, the cleansing from the stain and guilt of sins. God required by His laws that the Israelites twice daily offer animal sacrifices to atone for their sins. No created thing was perfect enough to cleanse people of their sins.

God had the perfect plan. He sent His Son, Jesus the Messiah, to be born as a man and live a sinless life as fully God and fully man. This Son, Jesus, died at the hands of humans. They crucified and laid Him in a tomb, which was then sealed. Yet, three days later, He rose from death to life as death’s conqueror. Forty days later, Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven to intercede for us. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’ sacrifice cleanses the stain and guilty conscience from the sins of each person who believes in Him as the Son of God, the Messiah, and who confesses and repents of their sins. To be a Christian, a person must believe in Jesus the Messiah and confess and repent of his or her sins. From then, Jesus redeems the believing person. God declares him or her righteous. That makes her or him more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. That person can know he or she will have eternal life with God in His kingdom. This is the second covenant God gave to all humanity. It surpasses the first covenant, which could not save a person from his or her sins nor give eternal life.

You must ponder on and decide for yourself whether you will believe, confess, repent, and surrender your life to Jesus. Honestly, consider your life beside the Israelites’ spiritual journey. Do you recognize you have spiritual troughs and peaks as the Israelites? God covenanted with them. This covenant was not a redeeming one. Of course, a few people of Israel showed their faith with their lives of obedience to God. God called each of them righteous. Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, and other great men and women of faith God declared righteous.

Are you like the Babylonians and other nations who had no spiritual journey and covenant with Yahweh God? They either did not know God personally or did not know about Him they had no covenant with Him. Are you like the Israelites who wanted to be like their neighbors? Whether you are like the Israelites or like their neighbors, you still need redemption-cleansing-from your sins. Jesus paid the redemption price for you to be freed from the debt of your sins. That debt of sin is an eternal death penalty, an eternal separation from God.

Perhaps you are like the second covenant people, who are in a faithful covenant relationship with God and are co-heirs with Jesus in God’s kingdom. Unlike the first covenant, the second covenant ushered in by Jesus provides salvation and cleansing from sins for all people. Jesus died so each person could be made righteous and so God would declare them righteous. The heirs of Abraham are people of faith. Remember, God declared Abraham righteous in Genesis 15:6. This means Abraham is the father of people who believe in Jesus and become righteous through Him. The Gospel is for each person. God loves each person and wants each one to be saved from his/her sins and death. He wants everyone to become His redeemed child and co-heir with Jesus Christ. He sent His Son to earth because of His great love for each person and His desire to have a righteous relationship with each one. John 3:16 testifies to that. In it, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Through the millennia, Many Christians have stood for Christ and endured persecution. These testimonies of His people and the Bible proclaim God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness available to every person. Each person gets to make his or her decision about believing in Jesus as the Son of God. Be more than other people. Choose to be like Jesus. Jesus is the image of truth and perfection.

Be Imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)

Who will you choose to be like?

Other people or Jesus?

Knowing Protector

“Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.’” (Genesis 20:6 [NASB])

With God’s “I am” statements of the Old Testament and Jesus’ “I am” statements in the New Testament, especially in the gospel of John, God teaches us about Himself, about His nature. When people speak of themselves using “I” statements, they tell us about themselves, too. In Genesis 15:1, God told Abram He is his shield. He used the Hebrew word anoki for “I am.”  Bible writers used the word anoki three hundred fifty-nine times in the Old Testament to tell people about God and other people. In Genesis 15:1, the shield God equates to Himself, as in Ephesians, is Abram’s faith. It, by metaphorical connection, is Abram’s protection offensively and defensively. By God saying He is Abram’s shield, He meant He is his King, too. By telling Abram He is his King, Protector, and faith, Abram could have confidence and faith that what God said would happen, i.e. His promise of Abram having a host of descendants, would occur.

In Genesis 20, God tells us, and Abimelech, more about Himself and His nature. What did God tell Abimelech, Abraham, Sarah, and us about Himself with the two “I am” (anoki) statements in this chapter? Let’s recap this story quickly then look at God’s anoki statements in verse six.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was very beautiful. Abraham felt any man would kill him to have her for his wife and/or in his harem, so he told Sarah to tell whoever asked that she was his sister. In fact, Sarah was both his wife and sister. She had the same father as Abraham, but a different mother, so they would not have lied by saying she was his sister. It was not the whole truth though. The truth was that God gave them a joint promise to have many descendants through their marriage union, so in His eyes, they were husband and wife. Sarah was dutiful, and several times she and Abraham told kings and other men she was his sister. On this occasion in Genesis 20, they told this partial truth to Abimelech, the King of the Philistines in Gerar. Abimelech felt, since Sarah was Abraham’s sister, he could take her and put her in his harem. God had something to say about that. He did not say it to Abraham and Sarah directly. God spoke to Abimelech in a dream telling him He would judge him to death for stealing another man’s wife. Abimelech protested in his dream he had not touched Sarah and pleaded for himself and his nation by appealing to God’s justness. God explained He knew what Abimelech said was true. He explained He had kept him from touching Sarah, but now he had to do what He said and return Sarah to Abraham. Abimelech confronted Abraham the next day about his relationship to Sarah and his causing him to sin against Sarah, him, and God. He returned Sarah to Abraham along with gifts to appease his conscience, prove his innocence, and vindicate himself before people.

This story is interesting in several ways. God spoke to a person not of Abraham’s line. He spoke through a dream. God revealed Himself and His nature to people. He set a standard of obedience even to people who came not from Abraham’s line. Consider closer God’s “I am” (anoki) statements in this chapter.

God used anoki twice in verse six. He said to Abimelech in a dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore, I did not let you touch her.” First, note God spoke to the king in a dream, a way common to the people of the area. God speaks even to people who do not believe in Him. He is Creator of all things, people included, and wants a relationship with each person, not just Jews and Christians. God knocks on the heart’s door of each person. This passage shows that even before Paul spoke about Christ coming for the uncircumcised and circumcised God seeks a personal relationship with every person.

The “I am” statements God used in verse six speak volumes. He said, “I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this.” This word “know” comes from the Hebrew word yada. Yada is an experiential knowing. First you see a person, then you hear about that person. Next you learn of the person then personally speak with him or her. Finally, you begin to seek the person as part of your every day life and get to know him or her very closely. This kind of knowing is most often experienced in our relationships in getting to know a person who becomes our husband or wife, or our best friend(s). It equates to our relationship with Jesus Christ, too. God used the word yada when He told Abimelech “I know the integrity of your heart.” God knows each person; He knows their heart. He knows each of us better than we know ourselves. We can hide nothing from God. God knew Abimelech had not yet slept with Sarah even before he protested he had not touched her. He knew Abimelech’s integrity would not let him sleep with another man’s wife. God’s statement to Abimelech meant He knew Abimelech-his heart, his spirit, his mind, and his strength. God knew Abimelech intimately even though he was not of the line of Abraham. He created Abimelech and had kept up with him daily because God is intimate; He is imminent. God is right here with our next breath. He is not just out there somewhere watching over all things in a big intangible way. God is transcendent; He orders and cares for the world on a macro level because He cares for His creation. God is both immanent and transcendent. He knows people intimately, and He keeps things orderly. With God’s first “I am” statement, He told Abimelech He is all-knowing. He knew Abimelech intimately, and He knew the situations of the world around him.

In the second “I am” statement of verse six, God told Abimelech, “I also kept you from sinning against Me.” This verb “kept” comes from the Hebrew word chasak and means to hold back, restrain, and withhold. Without Abimelech knowing Yahweh God as his God, God knew Abimelech and cared intimately about him, so He restrained him from sinning against Him, Abraham, Sarah, and himself-his integrity. Sinning is not just harming the person whom you go against. It affects each relationship a person has. Besides this, any sin is an act of unrighteousness and unrighteousness is an action against God who is righteous. This was not the main message God had for Abimelech in this part of verse six though. God explained to Abimelech He is all-mighty and able to keep him from sinning even though he did not know God intimately or recognize Him as his God. God cared enough about Abimelech that He did not want him to wreck his relationship with Abraham and Sarah before it began. He did not want him to cause confusion within himself and undermine his own integrity. God also did not want Abimelech to sin against Him even though he did not know Him as his God.

In these two “I am” statements, God revealed to Abimelech, Abraham, Sarah, and later Bible readers, including us, that He is all-knowing (omniscient). He knows us intimately because He created us and has been with us closely (imminently) every day of our lives. God knows us better than we know ourselves. God also revealed He is all-powerful (omnipotent). He can stop us from harming ourselves and other people, and our relationship within our self, with other people, and with Him without us even knowing Him intimately. He is God over all things and people. When we know, yada, God, He gives us His power not to fall to temptation and sin. He also gives us the knowledge we need for each situation. God is the fount of knowledge and power.

These two “I am” statements do not end this story. God reveals Himself to us, relates to us, and gives us power over temptation, but we must act upon it. In verse seven, God commanded Abimelech to act upon what He revealed to him. Because God gives each person freewill to obey Him or not, Abimelech did not have to obey God’s command. What did God command Abimelech to do? “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” God explained He knew Abimelech’s heart of integrity. He told Abimelech He gave him the power to keep his hand from Sarah. God explained who He is with this dream. He acknowledged and appealed to Abimelech’s integrity. God then commanded Him to act upon that integrity with His power and do righteousness by restoring Sarah to her God-given husband. Abimelech could have said, “No.” Still his integrity and God’s stated judgment of him and his household if he did not obey led him to obey God. Abimelech acted obeyed God with God’s power. He went beyond what God required and gave to Abraham a vindication payment to prove his integrity and prove he had not touched Sarah. Abimelech gave Abraham any land in his kingdom he wanted and invited him to be a part of his nation.

God is all-knowing. He knows more about us than we do and even knows those parts we think we have kept hidden from Him. God is all-powerful. He can keep us from sinning even when we do not have a close relationship with Him. God wants to have a relationship with each person, not just with the Jews or the people from Abraham’s line. God created every person. He wants a relationship with every person. God wants to give us His power to overcome temptation and sin to keep us righteous. In being made righteous, our relationships with people, with ourselves, and with Him remain faithful and pure. God keeps our hands and hearts from sinning if we will accept and use His power to withstand temptations.

We each have a choice like Abimelech. God has revealed Himself to us today. He has shown us His power and makes it available to us to fight temptation. Will we be obedient to Him, accept His power, and be in a righteous relationship with Him?

God provides the way to a right relationship with Him through the salvation He offers by His Son, Jesus Christ’s, death and resurrection.

Will you accept God’s gift of salvation from your sins and have an intimate relationship with Him?

God, I have tried to live a good life. I know I haven’t always done the right thing because I want to take care of myself. Please forgive me for choosing myself and my ways over You and Your ways. Help me realize and live knowing You love and know me intimately, so I can trust in You implicitly. Help me accept Your gift of salvation and live with Your power each day so I can remain in a right relationship with You, other people, and myself. Amen.

Shield and Blessing

“After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’” Genesis 15:1 (NASB)

As a prelude, let’s remember what had happened in Genesis 14. In that chapter, four kings of the southern part of Canaan went into battle against five other kings. In the process of this battle, King Chedorlaomer of Elam and the other three kings of this alliance took Lot, Abram’s nephew, captive along with his possessions. When Abram heard about this, he pursued the kings with his men and defeated them. He returned with Lot and all his possessions including the women and people. The king of Sodom, the place where Lot lived, offered a reward to Abram of the goods he rescued. Abram lived up to his vow to God not to take anything from this king for himself. Abram showed his desire was not more wealth, but the LORD God. God would bless him with his greatest earthly desire.

Abram explained what this desire was in chapter fifteen, an heir from his own body. Before God told him of His blessing, He spoke of something Abram and all people of the LORD would need. God told Abram not to fear, and He is his shield. In actuality, He said not to fear because He is his shield. Why is this significant? Why did God say it before He proclaimed His blessing on Abram?

In reading Genesis 15:1, God told Abram He is his shield. A shield’s purpose is to deflect the swords and other offensive weapons of war, such as arrows, darts, pikes, and claymores. A shield, as an offensive weapon, allows a soldier to punch an opponent like a metal fist and to trap the opponent’s sword hand and weapon against his body. Soldiers rely on their shields heavily. From Ephesians 6:16, we learn the shield from the “armor of God” equates to faith by which to combat what Satan throws at us. Interestingly, in Genesis 15, before God told Abram he would have an heir and numerous descendants, He told Abram that He is his shield, his faith. He does not tell him to have faith, but that He is his shield (of faith). Believe in God. Trust in Him. Faith is belief and trust in someone or something. Abram’s faith is God, and is from God. Faith is having confidence in what or who you know. In Genesis 15:1, God meant as you have learned to trust Him, believe Him because of your relationship with Him. He said this before He revealed His plan to grant Abram’s deepest desire-to have an heir from his body. Abram’s heir did not come immediately. He would need to remember God’s promise, His covenant, to Him. Abram would need to remember God is his shield, his faith. He could trust, believe, and have confidence that what God said would come true.

God reminds each of us to have faith in Him often before situations and people test our faith. Abram’s faith experienced testing several times before God’s appointed heir was born to him. Abram and his wife Sarai doubted God’s promise and tried to create his heir through Sarai’s maid, Hagar. From Abram’s and Hagar’s union, Ishmael was born (Genesis 16). Later, Abram and Sarai had a son of their own whom they named Isaac. Through God’s promise to Abram and His promise to be his shield-his faith-we can learn to trust/believe/have confidence in God, and His truths and promises. Just as God did with Abram, often God reminds us of Who He’s been for us and what He’s done for us before a trial occurs. Then, just as Abram received God’s blessing, we will get through and receive God’s blessing. We who believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior know God and from our knowledge of Him in our lives, in the Bible, and the testimony of His people, realize God is always faithful and we can have continued faith in Him.

He is our shield. He is our blessing.

Oh Lord, be my shield when trials come my way. Forgive me when my faith falters. It’s not that I don’t believe in You, but that I have allowed my situation to become greater in my mind than You. Nothing is greater than You. Please lift me up and restore my faith so I do not fail You and so that I grow into a deeper relationship with You. Amen.

Because God Chose You

Remember every day, God chose you.

He chose to love you before you were in your mother’s womb.

God chose to lavish His grace on you, so you would be saved from your sins and not be separated from Him.

He chose you to “be all things to all people” so that you can tell them the good news–the gospel–so some could be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22).

God chose you to bend, break, and remold you into His image because of His love.

He tells you to cast your burdens on Him because He cares for you, and to take up His yoke, which is lighter (1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28-30).

Why does God allow difficult things to happen? That is a common question.

        Possibly to remind you He is God.

Possibly to cause you to seek Him so He can grow you and reshape you more into His likeness.

More than anything, difficult and easy times provide an opportunity for us to learn a big lesson we and reinforce our deep connection-our personal relationship with God.

Abraham had just received God’s promise that Sarah, his eighty-year-old wife, would have a son in less than a year. He had a relationship with God then God told him, He had to see if the outcry in Sodom and Gomorrah was accurate. Abraham had a close enough relationship with God that he began to intercede for the people of those cities (Genesis 18).

Closeness to God makes us intercede for others,

not only supplicate for ourselves.

Paul had a close relationship with God. It came through many a blinding light on the road to Damascus and through many trials of beatings and persecutions. His closeness to God brought a dramatic change to the Roman world of the first century and to humanity since then.

Closeness to God creates the heart of God in us for lost people.

It gives us love, God’s love, for all people so that we “strive to become all things for all so that we might win some to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Joshua was a strong man of God. When God sent him and 9 other men into the Promised Land to spy it out and report back to the Israelites, he told the people it was a bountiful land and that Yahweh was almighty enough to give it to them. As they prepared to enter the Promised Land, Joshua challenged the people. He reminded them who God had been and would continue to be for them. Joshua called them to renew their commitment and service to the LORD.

Closeness to God leads people to commit and serve the Lord.

A genuine heart of God in a person for other people-to serve Him, to intercede for them, and to try to win them to Christ-cannot be manmade. Nothing we can do causes us to be good enough to be acceptable to God and for His service. Only God can make each person acceptable-holy. He provided this way through His Son’s death on the cross and resurrection.

Why can God’s people do these things?

Because God chose them.

God loves them.

God empowers them.

And they love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Do you have a heart for God? Have you heard Him calling to you to come to Him? Did you go? Did you give your heart to God, so you can be saved from your sins and have an eternal relationship with the God who created and loved you before you were ever formed? Today is the perfect day for you to stop running and answer His call to your heart. Today is the perfect day to turn around from striving to survive, succeed, make it one more day in this world. Each of us sins. Whether you are saved or not, God is calling you to turn back to Him today…now. What will you say to Him? He is there calling and waiting.

Lord, we do not understand this love of Yours. We do not understand how one man dying, even Your Son, can erase our sins and make us holy. But, Lord, we want to leap in faith to You and ask You to hold us, forgive us, and remold us into Your image for Your service. Please accept the sacrifice of my sin-broken heart and make me clean and new for You. Amen.

A Birthday and a Callling

A Birthday and A Calling

Today marks 41 years to the day since I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I wasn’t naughty. If you lived in my home, you didn’t dare be naughty. I didn’t take drugs or drink alcohol. I made mostly A’s in school. I was working on being self-sufficient. It’s necessary in today’s world to take care of yourself because no one else would, right? Still, I was like most people; I ran from God as He pulled on my heart.

I don’t know of what I was afraid; I had experienced love in the church and from the church staff for years. No one in the church had ever hurt me, but instead showed and taught me about God’s love. I learned the endearing songs “Jesus Loves Me” and “Jesus loves the little Children” as a preschooler in church. I heard the stories of Jesus’ birth, Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead, Jesus turning water into wine, and His healing of people-the leper, the blind man, the woman who bled for years. Still, when God called to my heart and mind, I ran. When I say I ran, I mean I literally ran. I couldn’t tell you who was at the door, but I knew it was church people when the bell rang. I ran upstairs to my room, out the back door, and down the fire escape.

Why did I run? I really don’t know still. Maybe it had to do with that drive to be self-sufficient. Maybe I didn’t want to lean on anyone. It’s possible, the Father figure of God scared me, like my father scared me. I think the biggest reason I ran from God is why most people run. I was afraid of what He would ask me to do.

Remember all the stories in the Bible of which you’ve heard. God called Abraham to be His man. He told Abraham He would make him the father of a great nation, then told him to go to a land he would show him. God told Moses to go to Egypt and set His people free. God called Samuel while a little child and used him to be His prophet. He called Isaiah, convicted his heart of his sin, then sent him out to be a prophet. Jesus called each of the disciples to follow Him. They didn’t know they would follow Him to the cross. You get my point here. It seemed when God called people, He called them to sacrifice themselves, their lives, and their stuff. I had my whole life ahead of me. I was afraid of what God would call me to do. I was afraid. That’s how I re-entered my parent’s house at 14 years old.

I remember nothing else about that night except that I didn’t run from God anymore. My life started revolving, by my choice, around church-choir, youth group, Sunday School. I didn’t go to church anymore just for a haven or to be with people who loved me. I went to church to know God more. I couldn’t get enough of Him. When the youth played on a Friday night, I read my Bible on the church steps. When a special youth week occurred, I was there devouring the Word. During that week, I sensed God telling me I would be a minister’s wife. That was the second time I realized God was speaking to me. Then I remembered, when I was nine years old and in Sunday School, I felt God softening my heart for missionaries. My teachers taught about them that day and the page they gave me to color was about Thailand.

That fourteenth summer of my life one other thing happened that brought me to the foot of the cross. A young adult woman took an interest in me. She was ten years older than me, but she decided to include me in her life. This young lady picked me up and took me to the mall, to burger restaurants, to choir, and to church. One snowy day, we arrived at her apartment to sled down the hills around her apartment complex. After sledding, we made hot chocolate in her kitchen and then sat on the floor. After some quiet (remember, God was working on my heart), I asked her why she cared about me. I had never known her before she chose to care about me. Her response changed me forever. She said, “I love you because Jesus loves you and me.” My glass wall shattered! Why? Because someone loved me when she didn’t have to.  She chose to love me.

God’s love through Jesus Christ shattered my wall and I have never been the same. His love shattered my defenses of self-sufficiency and fear. I realized without Him I could do nothing. Paul said this positively in Philippians 4:13 when he said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Jesus stated it explicitly in John 15:5. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

At that time, I realized I need not fear. God loves me more than anyone. His love wants only the best for me, so why should I fear what He may call me to do. The greatest Bible verse we all have memorized expressed God’s love. John 3:16 tells us how great God’s love is for us. It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Since God loves me enough that He sent His Son to die for me (for my sins), and for the whole world for all time, then I can trust Him and not fear. David wrote about the coming Messiah throughout the Psalms. In Psalm 27:1, he declared his faith in Yahweh. He said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?”

At that point in time, when I was 14 years old, God told me He loved me enough to send His Son to die for me. He told me He is my light and salvation; I have nothing to fear. Through the Bible, God also told me that without Him, I can do nothing. Faced with these three absolutes, I realized my mortality, sinfulness, and need of the Savior and Lord. Without fearing to what He would call me in the future, I walked into His loving, open arms and gave my heart and life to Him. God gave me a new birthday, a spiritual birthday. Today, I say, “Happy birthday, to me. Thank you, Jesus.”

We don’t know to what God will call us. Neither do we know what we will face in the future without God. The future without God is unknown. A future with God, we understand, holds love, guidance, strength, and provision. There is nowhere we can go that God won’t find us. Likewise, there is nowhere God can send us that He won’t love, protect, provide, and guide us. What is fear? It is fearing the unknown. With God, nothing is unknown. We realize He loves us. That is what is important. I didn’t know where God would call me to walk or work in the future, but I trusted Him and His heart implicitly.

Where do you stand today? Are you afraid of the future? Do you feel unloved? God loves you now, just as you are. Go to Him and His love and you will never need fear what will come against you, or of being alone and unloved. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31 [NASB])

We know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Just as it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39 [NASB])

Lord, God, I realize I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Thank You for dying for me and for Your forgiveness. Thank You for Your love that never gave up on me and never will give up on me. Please take my heart today and make it anew for Your purposes. I trust You and have no fear. You are God and know all things. Whom shall I fear? I am Yours for Your purposes. Amen.

Faith: What Is It? (James 2:14-26)

¹⁴ What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. ¹⁸ But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” ¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.²⁰ But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:14-26 (NASB)

Introduction

James addressed the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem with these sermons/teachings. An editor then compiled into one epistle near the end of the revolt against Rome or right after it. James taught the Jerusalem Christians during the mid-40s AD when famines occurred and the people of Jerusalem suffered from lack of food and money. Wealthy Jews sent food aid to the Jews of Jerusalem, but the Christians of Jerusalem received little of the aid. Because of this, the Jewish Christians would be tempted not to help another person with the meager amount they possessed. They would be tempted to recant their faith in Jesus Christ so they could receive aid from the wealthy Jews. With these things in mind, it makes sense James spoke to his people in Jerusalem about faith – what is it, what it is not, and what God expects from a person of faith.  

In James 2:14-26, James spoke about faith – what it is and how people show their faith. In verses fourteen, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-six, James defined true faith as bearing fruit – actions of love and kindness to other people and to God. He succinctly stated “faith without works is dead.” (vs. 26) What did James mean by this statement? What did he mean when he said, “Faith without works was useless?” (vs. 20) 

What is Faith?

James began this section of his speech saying in verse fourteen, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” Did he counter Paul’s theology of justification by faith? Through this study, we will learn James did not disagree with Paul’s theology of justification/righteousness. He spoke about the results of true faith. A true follower of Christ will produce fruits resulting in right actions and words. In James 1:22, James said, “But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” James believed and taught as did Jesus that belief in God and His Son produced righteous actions – a life lived out as a servant of God who enacted the two greatest commandments Jesus taught (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Faith - Mental Assent Only?

With verse fifteen, James began unpacking what he meant by works of the faithful. A believer in God and Jesus Christ cared about the poor. James specifically referred to a brother or sister - fellow believers - who could not meet their own daily needs. He asked, “What use is it to people needing food, clothes, or shelter to just receive words from a believer?” Of what use is the peace blessed on a person (vs. 16) if he or she does not have daily physical needs met? Jesus spoke of this same thing in Matthew 25:34-40 when he told of when the Father judged people at His return. He said God would bless the people who clothed, fed, gave drink, and gave shelter to “the least of these brothers of mine.” John the Baptist spoke of helping the poor in Luke 3:11. John asked a question related to this topic in 1 John 3:17. He said, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” Each of these men taught children of God to put into actions his or her belief in Jesus Christ. They told fellow Christians to show God’s love in practical ways providing for the daily needs of others. To James, a faith with no actions shows the person does not have a genuine faith. True faith derived from the love God through Jesus Christ instilled in a believer always manifests itself with righteous actions. James emphasized this point with verse seventeen, by saying again, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” True faith and conversion shows itself in the actions of the person. If no righteous actions show, then the person’s faith is destitute of power (is dead). That person may not be saved from their sins because true faith produces good fruit/works in a person growing toward Christlikeness. Even people other than ministers are to show their faith in loving actions. They are to grow toward Christlikeness along with ministers called by God. 

Faith – More than Mental Assent

James asserted rightly that faith is more than a mental assent of God. A person may challenge you about your faith. That one might challenge that your faith cannot be seen if it has no works; whereas his or hers can because of his or her works. A person’s faith cannot be seen and justified by other people without it being put into action in real life. True faith must show right fruit/actions - give evidence or proof of its existence. A person can boast and say he or she is a Christian, but if no outward manifestation shows by actions, that person’s faith is of no value. Paul said this same thing in Galatians 5:6. He said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Actions of love show/express the faith a person claims and asserts. Jesus said this as well in Matthew 7:16. He said the fruit of a person’s belief will show the person he or she is. In the Matthew passage, Jesus spoke about false prophets and then he taught, “By their fruits you will recognize them.” This can apply to people who claim to be Christians. Their fruits – actions and words – will enable others to recognize them as followers of Christ or not. James acknowledged even demons recognize and believe the Lord God is the God of heaven and earth (vs. 19). He said they shudder in fear because of this knowledge knowing they are not good, but evil. The point James made in these verses is anyone can acknowledge God as God, but only those who produce acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior , God as almighty God, and bear righteous fruit – who do right and just deeds – are Christians. He repeated verses fourteen and seventeen again for emphasis in this section in verse twenty. He said in this verse, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” Faith is more than mental assent. 

Faith - Examples

Once again, James gave examples of true faith. In verses twenty-one through twenty-five, he spoke about Abraham and Rahab. Both people received no teaching about God and never saw Jesus Christ, but their faith in God justified them in God eyes. Their later actions justified them as true believers in the eyes of other people. 

Let us look at Abraham. When God promised him descendants who numbered more than the stars in heaven, Abraham expressed awe. He believed the LORD God. We read this in Genesis 15:6, “Then he (Abram) believed the LORD, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Righteousness in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew word tsedaqah and means righteousness as ethically right, righteousness/justification/salvation of God. This righteousness reflects God and has the quality of being holy or right as God is holy and right. The New Testament word translated as “righteousness,” which James used in verse twenty-three, comes from the Greek word dikaiosune. It means righteous, virtue, purity, and rightness and correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting. It has a judicial feel of being made right. It comes from right thinking, feeling, and acting. This righteousness is not the righteousness called tsedaqah of being holy and right as God is holy and right. The Old Testament word speaks of the being and the New Testament word speaks of the judicial use - doing and living. So when James said in verse twenty-one, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” justification for him came secondarily after being made righteous by God. This second justification came because he lived out his faith, by being obedient, due to his love for God. Abraham offered the only sacrifice he had to give God, his son, Isaac. He showed true faith when he lived out his faith with loving actions toward God and others (i.e. Lot at Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction). 

When faith works with actions, the result is faith being perfected. “Perfected” comes from the Greek word teleioo and means to make perfect and complete, to add what is wanting to make a thing full/perfect/complete. A person’s faith is complete when every action, word, and thought of the person reflects his or her faith. According to the Bible, this will occur when we are in the kingdom of God. This process is called sanctification. When Abraham put Isaac upon the altar and offered him as the sacrifice, he showed his love of God. His faith true showed him to be a friend of God (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8). Is our faith so pure and active in our lives that God calls us His friend? 

James emphasized again his teaching about faith resulting in right works. He stated in verse twenty-four, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” A person shows him or herself to be righteous by his or her actions that come from his or her faith. That is the meaning of “justified” for James in the New Testament. It is a justification before the eyes of other people because of one’s actions, thoughts, and words. 

With verse twenty-five, James reminded his hearers and later readers of a woman from Jericho named Rahab. When the Israelite spies of the exodus entered the Promised Land to see the land, cities, and people, they encountered Rahab. She welcomed the spies to Jericho and kept them safe in and through her home on the city’s walls. Rahab declared the LORD God as the God of heaven and earth because of what she had heard about the God of the Israelites. Her faith in the Israelites’ God and their promise to keep her and her family safe led to her assisting the spies to leave Jericho safely (Joshua 2:9-14, 6:22-25; Hebrews 11:31). Rahab acted upon her faith in the LORD God (the God of the Israelites) by trusting His people to keep her safe and by providing them a safe exit from Jericho. Her actions testified to the spies of her faith in God and His people. Rahab’s actions proved her faith, just as Abraham’s action to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God proved his faith. God justified - made righteous and holy - Abraham and Rahab when each believed in God as the God of heaven and earth. They both were justified - proved their faith - when they acted upon it, Abraham towards God and Rahab towards God’s people. 

What is Faith?

This lesson is so important that James repeated it four times within thirteen verses. As a finale, he stated it again for the final thought like he stated it in the first verse of this teaching. James wrapped his teaching with the thematic statement. He said, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” Just as faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior saves you, lack of faith leads to death, separation from God. How does God know who has true faith? He looks at a person’s heart. Is that person’s heart cleansed - made right and pure? Does that person’s heart have His intentions, which shows in the person’s actions, thoughts, and words? How can other people know if a person is a child of God other than by his or her fruit – his or her actions and words? Humans cannot judge a person’s heart, but they can see some of a person’s heart by his or her actions and words. We learn from James in this passage a person is justified by faith in God by God. That person is justified in eyes of humans by the works and words in that person’s life. 

Recap

James stated faith is not truly faith that justifies a person unless it flows with the love of Christ as actions and words in the world as love for God and humankind. He gave examples of this kind of life through Abraham and Rahab lives. James did not say works can justify a person in God’s eyes. God looks for faith in a person’s heart as justification. Works perfect the faith of a person. They attest to the inner faith the person has in Jesus Christ. Faith and works must go hand-in-hand. 

Relevance and Conclusion

For people today considering this passage, we each must consider first if we have ever had a true faith experience with God. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? If you have and are living a life of love towards other people because of the love Christ put in you through the Holy Spirit, you can know you are a child of God. 

The other question that must be asked: If you are doing loving works in the world, are you doing them out of faith in God? Have you left faith behind when you do this work for God? Do you need to stop and take time to be with God - be empowered by Him, receive His further command, and get His blessing for the continuance of the work? As God’s children and even more so for Christian service workers, it is easy to hear God say do something then get busy doing it. We are working for the Lord so it must be right, right? Yet often when we turn around and see we are no longer working with God, but alone and under our own power. Good works may not be the best works. Under the command, power, and daily guidance by the Lord, your good works will be the best works. Then you will be doing what God wants you to do that day. 

Where do you fall in this spectrum? Are you doing good works, but not as a child of God? That will not save you. Are you doing good works God told you to do, but in your own power? Or, are you doing the best works under the blessing, power, and daily guidance of the Lord?

Each of us must go before the Lord now and determine where we stand with God.

Will you take that challenge?

God's Law as Tutor: A Galatians 3:19-29 Devotional

Focus verses 3:19, 24-25, & 29

19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. 

24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

I have heard people over the years ask why did God give the laws in the Old Testament if they were not to be followed forever? Why can’t keeping the Law provide salvation from our sins and guarantee us a place with God in heaven? Paul wrote on this specific thing in Galatians 3.

Why did God give the Law if He did not intend for them to give salvation to humankind and eternal life with God in heaven? In verse 19, Paul said God gave the His laws because of sin. Sin separates a person from God because God cannot be in the presence of sin. The laws of God provided temporary cleansing from the stain of sin so a person could be in God’s presence. However, it did not provide permanent and eternal cleansing and removal of sin and guilt. The Law was imperfect because they were a covenant between God who is faithful and perfect and humankind who is unfaithful and imperfect. Humanity could not always keep the laws of God; they were fallible and unfaithful. So the laws were not effective to cleanse a person from sin and guilt. For this purpose, God prepared a way from the beginning of time for humankind to be rid of their sin and guilt through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Since the purpose of the Law of God was not to provide salvation, what was its purpose? Verse 24 explains this. God gave His Law to lead people to Christ. By obeying the Law of God, people recognized their sinful selves and their inability to cleanse themselves perfectly and permanently from sin and guilt. They realized the futility of it. This kept people looking to God because they knew He is faithful and they were unfaithful. They looked to God’s perfection for the way to be closer to Him. God provided that way through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Before, the Law led us to God, but we could not stay permanently in His presence because of our sin. Christ’s death provided permanent cleansing from sin and guilt so we could stay in the presence of God and be in a continual relationship with Him. Through Jesus Christ, believers become children of God. When you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are descendents of and heirs with Abraham whose faith God said made him righteous.

You see, faith in Jesus Christ as the perfect Son of God who died to pay the penalty for our sins is what gives righteousness. Nothing we do, like keeping the laws of God, can make us clean enough to be in the presence of God. So nothing we can do earns our way into heaven. Abraham (Abram at that time) believed in God and His promise and God proclaimed Him righteous (Genesis 15:6). Faith in God through Jesus Christ, not works, is what makes a person righteous.

Whether you are from China or Argentina, of dark or light skin, from a religion of many gods or a Jew, when a person believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God he or she becomes a child of God – cleansed and saved. That person becomes new in Christ. I do not know what your background is and do not need to know. God knows, and He still loves you. Right now, if you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for your sin, accept Him as your Lord and Savior, and confess your sins, you can become a redeemed (cleansed) child of God, just as Abraham did. Exercising the faith God gives you makes you righteous, just as God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith in Him. If you gave your life to Jesus before but are far from God now, you have not lost your salvation. You can confess your sins to Him because He said, “He is faithful and just to forgive all sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

What will you choose today?

Believe in Jesus Christ, confess your sins, and allow Jesus to be Lord of your life. Renew your relationship with God through confession.

These have to be your choice because God gave you free will. He will not force Himself on you.

What do you choose?