God of My Proclamation

“Jesus said, ‘Did I not say that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40 [NASB])

We say we believe in Jesus and have faith that God will take care of us. We spend times in quiet on the mountain communing with and listening to God. Then, the day arrives when we must go back down to the valley, the world in which we live, and do just that, live our earthly life. Oh, it would be phenomenal to live on the mountain with God all our earthly days, but what good would that do? What glory would that bring to God? Our praise of God would be the only voice heard by Him if we did not leave the mountain.

When we return to the valley and proclaim the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Savior who died to save us from sin, then others can hear and will come to know Him as their own Savior. More voices will be raise praise to God and glorify Him. Our mountaintop experiences are wonderful and sought. We should spend time with God there to rejuvenate our spirits and body and reconnect on a deeper level with the Lord. That doesn’t mean we can only spend time with God on the mountain.

Still, while in the valley proclaiming the Lord, answering people’s questions about Him and His salvation, we will also experience difficulties-trials, persecutions, and hatred. Will our time on the mountain sustain us through these difficulties? Will the growth we had while on the mountain keep us trusting God? Or, will the faith we proclaim not remain strong and our testimony of His faithfulness, love, and mercy falter as we wade and gasp in the raging waters of the storm?

What we learn with God on the mountain will be made stronger through the fires of trials. Or it could if we maintain our trust in Him.

Our situations are not beyond God’s ability to handle. God’s abilities are beyond our understanding.

Situations do not define God. God defines situations. 

He is all-powerful.

Don’t let your limited perspective keep you from trusting in the limitless strength and power of faithful God.

Had it not been the LORD who was on our side, let Israel now say,

‘Had it not been the LORD who was on our side when men rose up against us,

then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us;

then the waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul;

then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.’

Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.

Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper;

the snare is broken, and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124 [NASB])

Lord, I love spending time with You. I don’t want to leave, but eventually You push me like a chick from a nest to return to the world and work. Fires and storms arise while I am in the valley and at times seem to overwhelm me. I feel like I am barely standing against the onslaught. Lord, help me remember You are my refuge and strength. Just because I am not on the mountaintop with You does not mean You aren’t in the valley with me. Help me seek You. Use me to proclaim Your greatness and fame so others will come to know You. Keep me strong for Your glory so others can see You and will seek to follow You, too. Keep my mind from small things and instead stay focused on You, great God of unfathomable power, love, and grace. You will never let me fall. I can rest in You. I love You, Lord. Amen.

Glory and Grace

“Father, glorify Your name,” some heard Him say.

A cry from His heart, the Father’s greatness proclaimed.

Sound like thunder; an angel speaking;

Lack of understanding; lack of believing.

A week before His sacrifice, the Savior’s purpose drew near;

His mind in anguish, in His heart, the people He held dear.

For these He gave up His claim of royalty and fame;

For these He took the name Savior for their sin He came.

Not His hour when as man He would want to dash away,

But in the Father’s hour, as the Son, His love to proclaim.

Soul troubled, Father’s glory, Jesus gave His everything

So each person who believed, His love each would receive.

Love more than mere sentiment, more than coins, He gave;

Love most expensive that required a heaven-sent only God could pay.

A love undeserved no mere mortal could ever repay;

Love from God stamped on each believer, “Balance zero, debt is paid.”

Reluctantly we question whether to “give up” our plans

To accept this deep love, this grace, with Him take a stand.

For this purpose, He said, He came to that hour;

For this purpose, we each must choose Him or to cower.

Life in our own strength with our own design and purposes

Can lead us through darkness, sin-stain, roads never certain.

With fear, trepidation, anxiety, and pain

We walk life alone instead of calling His name.

Our pride, our sin, our pushing and shoving Him away

Causes us to falter, to fall, to question the way.

Yet, life full and certain, darkness chased away

Comes with humility, repentance, accepting His pain.

His pain chosen freely because of the Father’s love;

His love given freely, He came down from above.

A love so extreme, for each person so certain

Because He’s Creator, Savior, the breaker of sin’s curse.

How can we fathom a love so great and free

When we never knew, never gave, could not conceive?

It’s more than a statement, more than a lavish, extreme gift.

It came through a Life’s blood, puncture, and anguish.

What greater love can we deem of such great a depth,

Than what Jesus said, a life for a life, a breath for breath?

Still our life for another’s isn’t enough to redeem;

Only Jesus’ life offered can a person make clean.

Cleaned from the stain of a person’s wrong choices.

Washed from the darkness of guilt that haunts us.

Better breathing anew with light for the dark way;

Jesus’ death gives new life, guidance, protection each day.

A death of one sin-free, no need to endure pain,

Yet, He chose because of love to provide a way

For people travel-weary, guilt-laden, sin-stained,

To live with God, be released, proclaim His great name.

This kind of love, once-given, no remittance required

Comes from depth of heart only God can provide.

We receive what’s undeserved, unable to remit;

We give what we have, a grateful heart, love, and obedience.

This depth of love is grace, undeserved and free

For the sin-stained person who turns, repents, and believes.

Jesus, the Son of God, come down because of love

Saves from sin, redeems from death, renews us within.

Grace so much greater than all our sin,

Once given, never rescinded, gives new heart within.

Love only God could provide in such unfathomable depth.

Jesus, His purpose, to that hour, God He glorified to His last breath.

Though unable to offer love at the depth of His grace,

We show our love, His love, with our obedience.

Whether lifted up or cast down by troubles and trials,

As Jesus’ followers, our voices lifted, God glorified.

Oft considered foolish and weak by people refusing to believe,

God’s people, Jesus’ followers, allow His wisdom to be seen.

What’s folly to one man, for others is wise.

What’s weakness in stance is God’s greatness in other’s eyes.

God’s grace given, His love perfect and free

Came through the Son’s death upon crossed-tree.

A love shown with His life at greatest of price,

Requires nothing of us but faith, confession; our heart and life.

He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces,

And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken.

And it will be said in that day,

‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.’  Isaiah 25:8-9 [NASB])

 

(For more, read John 12:27-50, John 15:13, & 1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

Peace, I Give

Things which eye has not seen

And ear has not heard,
            And which have not entered the heart of man,
             ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit;

for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?

Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 

Now we (Christians) have received,

not the spirit of the world,

but the Spirit who is from God,

so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 

which things we also speak,

not in words taught by human wisdom,

but in those taught by the Spirit,

combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,

for they are foolishness to him;

and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 

But he who is spiritual appraises all things,

yet he himself is appraised by no one. 

For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he will instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

                                                            1 Corinthians 2:9-16 [NASB]

Why do Christians have the mind of Christ?

When we became followers of Jesus, His Holy Spirit came to live in us. In John 14:18-30, Jesus said He did not leave His disciples as orphans. Even though they (and we) will not see Him on earth again until His return, He will live in us through His Spirit and we will live eternally with Him. We have the mind of Christ because Jesus loves us and we love Him, just as He and the Father love and abide with each other. For this reason, followers of Jesus can always have peace, His peace, not the worlds, since the Spirit lives in them. Christians do not have to fear. Jesus is always with us through His Spirit and so we can have His perfect peace, a heart peace which nothing can alter or destroy.

How does this mind of Christ, which Jesus gave, help us?

In Matthew 10:24-25, Jesus reminded His disciples a student is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. If a person would deign to malign a leader, that person would have no problem maligning the student or servant either. We are no greater and should expect nothing less than what our Master and Teacher experienced. Yet, we need not fear what may happen. Why? We don’t need to fear because we have the mind of Christ, the Holy Spirit, within us and can live with true peace recognizing that though our bodies and spirits may be tormented in one or many ways, nothing can take our salvation and hope from us. We each are more valuable than sparrows. So, be brave and courageous, and continue to confess, teach, and preach about Jesus to the world. (Matthew 10:26-32)

Peace Jesus gives to each of us who believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

Peace we can have as we live each day of our lives whether in joy or trial.

Peace we must choose to hold on to when storms batter and fray.

Peace is what Jesus gives.

His love gives peace.

When the din of the world assaults our ears, we can go to our quiet place within ourselves and hear Jesus’ voice anew,

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27 [NASB])

We have the mind of Christ because Jesus loves us, and we love Him.

God's Fame or My Name

The Pharisee and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4 [NASB])

Consider a boat. What makes it seaworthy? Does the name of the company that owns it give us confidence in the boat or its actual construction? We must consider that with our lives and people who teach us in our world.

The main question that arises from this passage is for what kind of sign are we looking? Do we want a sign so we can tell others the meaning and gain recognition and followers? Or, do we seek a sign so we can praise God and lead others to Him? Jesus raised this question in Matthew 16:1-4.

In this passage, we need to consider two things, the people of the story and the signs of which each speaks. The people include the odd joining of Pharisees and Sadducees to remove Jesus’ power over the people, and then Jesus Himself. The signs in this passage speak of how this group of men sought to trick Jesus and what they themselves did not understand of Jesus’ purpose on earth.

The Pharisees were the Law givers and upholders of the Jewish Law. They believed God provided the Jews with the written Law and the oral Law. The Pharisees were known for their personal piety and their teaching Jews should obey all 600+ laws in the Torah. They were a minority in the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council) yet they seemed to control the decision-making because they had popular support among the people. Because the Pharisees considered the oral tradition as equal to the written tradition, it evolved over the centuries as they added to God’s Word, which He forbade in Deuteronomy 4:2. In Matthew 9:14, 15:1-9, 23:5, 16, & 23, and Luke 11:42, the Gospels give examples of the Pharisees considering their traditions as equal to God’s Word. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife. They believed in the Messiah setting up His kingdom on earth. Because Jesus came to earth not to set up the earthly kingdom with power and might that would overthrow their current rulers, the Romans, and because His teachings were contrary to theirs, the Pharisees feared Jesus decreased their power and leadership among the Jews, and so wanted Him gone.

The Sadducees were a part of the Jewish leaders and of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin. They were the aristocrats of the Jews and known for corrupting their religious devotion. The Sadducees controlled the Jerusalem Temple, known as Herod’s Temple. They only accepted the written word of Moses. The Sadducees rejected the oral tradition as being equal to the written word. They rejected the supernatural, including angels, demons, heaven, hell, and bodily resurrection. The Sadducees believed the soul died with the body. They held strongly in ritual purity as prescribed by God through Moses. Because the Sadducees didn’t believe in a heaven, hell, or bodily resurrection, they had no need for a Messiah as spoken of in the works outside the written tradition and as Jesus preached.

With this understanding of the actors in these four verses, let’s consider closer what these men said. The group of men confronting Jesus asked for a sign from heaven. Jesus challenged them on that and spoke of the sign of Jonah. Were these men speaking of the same thing? The answer comes from the ultimate motive of the questions. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus. Were they testing Him to determine if He was blaspheming? Jesus will show us the truth of that in verses two and three.

First, consider what the Pharisees and Sadducees asked. They asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. This word for sign comes from the same Greek word for sign as Jesus spoke of in verses three and four, semeion, which typically means a miraculous sign to confirm or authenticate something. The motive of these religious leaders was overtly to prove Jesus was a blasphemer, but by doing that, it would prove their authority as the religious leaders of the Jews. The covert reason, Jesus would bring to light with His statement.

What was the real reason for the religious leaders asking for a sign from Jesus? In verses two and three, Jesus asked them, while the surrounding crowd listened, if they knew how to read the sign in the sky telling people when it would rain or be a fair-weather day, how did they not know how to discern the sign of the times? Jesus basically said these leaders of the Jews could read the physical signs of earth, but even as spiritual leaders, they were unable to discern the spiritual sign of the times. This statement by Jesus proved the sign for which the Pharisees and Sadducees asked of Jesus was a way people used to prove the cause they pleaded was God’s when actually they did not do that. The religious leaders asked the question to put them in an exalted place where people would continue to look at them as their leaders for disclosing Jesus as a non-Messiah and a blasphemer.

Jesus’ statement continued in verse four. He not only showed the Jewish leaders’ covert question, but He labeled them for the people who could not see what they did. He said in verse four, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” First Jesus revealed the leaders’ covert motive for the question, to raise themselves in the eyes of the Jews as spiritual leaders, and then overtly called them evil and adulterous. These Pharisees and Sadducees were evil and adulterous and leading the Jews to be the same. Jesus made the Pharisees and Sadducees a lesson for the crowds that followed Him and heard about His teachings and signs.

A lesson comes in this sign of Jonah of which Jesus spoke. The only sign the evil and adulterous would get would be what happened to Jonah. What happened to Jonah? Jesus explains this sign in Matthew 12:39-41. He said,

But He (Jesus) answered them (Pharisees and scribes) and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they )the Ninevites) repented at the preaching of Jonah; and something greater than Jonah is here.” [NASB]

The sign of Jonah, Jesus said, was his coming back to life three days after being taken into the deep. Jesus, like Jonah, would be dead for three days and then come back to life. He would be bodily resurrected. Jonah was a sign for the Ninevites sent by God and they repented, though later reverted to a wicked life. Jesus challenged the Jewish religious leaders. He asked how they could be spiritual leaders of God’s people when they could not read the spiritual signs of the time. They we so afraid of losing their fame and followers that they did not see the sign of God in front of them and lead the people to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The Ninevites who repented would judge the Jews, who though they had the Messiah in front of them did not believe.

The sign of which Jesus spoke was a sign given to confirm His authority to preach, teach, heal, cleanse, and forgive. Its end purpose was to exalt the One giving the sign, God the Father. It authenticated Jesus and His eternal purpose by doing what man could not replicate or that for which man could not take credit. The Jewish leaders asked for a sign to authenticate Jesus as a blasphemer, not to exalt God but themselves so the Jews would continue to follow them. These leaders asked for signs to tell others about their abilities and greatness instead of seeing God and praising Him.

We have that choice to make every day, too. It comes down to what makes our boat seaworthy, the name on it or its Workmanship?

Will we ask so we can tell or see so we can praise?

Not all asking brings seeing God, but all seeing of God comes from asking of Him.

Likewise,

Not all telling brings praising of God, but all praise of God brings telling about Him.

Lord, so often I ask for You to show me Yourself, but then I don’t proclaim Who You are or what You’ve done. Please forgive me. Sometimes, if I am completely honest, I even claim a new insight learned, but don’t give you credit. Forgive me, LORD. I am not so smart to tell of You from my earthly insight. Help me always to see You to proclaim You. Help me realize I am but a created being who always needs to You to keep from sinning. I am weak and You are strong. If it were not so, I would not be saved now and able to proclaim Your goodness, mercy, grace, and love. You, oh Lord, are almighty and I am not. Thank you for Your love of me from the beginning of time. Thank you for Your plan to save me and for saving me from myself, my sins, and my due judgment. Lord, all I can do when faced with Yourself is prostrate myself on my face and praise You. I love You, Lord. Amen.

Drops

On that dark and gray-clouded day

“What happened, what occurred?” the people asked.

            The stranger in the crowd, “Who is that man?”

            The follower on the rock, “My teacher. What wrong has He done?”

            The mother gasping in heart-pain, “My son. What did He do?”

            The solder standing at cross-beamed timbers, “Surely, He’s who He said.”

Then a lone woman fell on her knees at the base of Life, looking up in wonder at the greatest miracle ever heard, ever seen     

            as anguish crossed his face

            as His eyes looked upward

            as His words rang out true.

And as His blood drops fell before my bent knees, “I knew I was unworthy to be in His sight.

            then anguish crossed my face as I considered my sin-stain unworthiness

            then my eyes looked upward, and I knew love

            then my tears fell before His feet.

Unworthy though they be,

            my tears dropped one, then two, three and four.

            first around His blood drops,

            then increasingly more

            as my heart broke at my sin

            as I looked on His glory

                        drops of pain, aware of my sin

                        drops of gratitude, aware of His love

                        drops of thanks, aware of my redemption

                        drops of love, recognizing this Man as my Savior divine

                        drops of Joy, aware of my new story to tell.

Sin-stain. Love-gained. Redemption made Free.

Risen from the grave

Risen from my knees

His story because of my story.

I must tell

            of a woman on her knees weeping into blood drops

            of so great a love given my heart and soul made clean

            of His great love shared for the world to return

Redemption provided

Blood-death given

So all could be cleaned

                           forgiven

                           redeemed

                           made new

To live now and eternally with the God who never gave up on me.

Blood drops. Tear drops now mingled.

The lone woman now redeemed.