LET GOD ARISE

Numbers 10:35 “And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, O Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered.”

The story was told of a little boy named Tommy. Tommy was in the fourth grade and he walked to school. Everyday on his way home, a group of eighth grade boys would torment him. They threatened him. They pushed him down. They knocked his books all over the sidewalk. This went on for several weeks. It got so bad that poor little Tommy didn’t even want to go to school any more.

One evening, while lying in bed, Tommy prayed. “Dear Lord, I am so tired of these bullies. Tomorrow, I’m fighting back. I would really appreciate it, if you would show up.” The next day, just like every other day, the bullies showed up to push around Tommy. This would be the last day that those bullies ever confronted Tommy, though. He hung his back pack on the gate next to him, he balled up his fist, and he closed his eyes. He was taking a stand. What he didn’t know, was that his back pack has pushed open the gate door of a yard that was the home of a very large Doberman. When Tommy opened his eyes he saw the bullies running down the street with the Doberman chasing close behind.

Perhaps you have felt like Tommy. Maybe you have felt ganged up on. Day after day you find yourself pushed around by life. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could close your eyes for just a minute and when you opened them again, your problems would be gone? Although God does not promise us a life free of trouble, he does ensure us of moments when he will scatter his enemies.

Our scripture indicates to us that there can be times when God moves and his enemies flee. You see, as Moses made the call “Rise up, O Jehovah”, it was a call for the Israelites to pick up camp and move. The tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant (which was God’s manifest presence) were moving. The cloud that led the children of Israel was changing locations. If God’s people were to remain within the blessings of God, they had no choice but to pack up and move after it. It wasn’t always convenient, but it was necessary in order for them to progress forward and be closer to God’s Promised Land.

Moses undoubtedly knew that there would be enemies out there that intended to stop their forward progress. They were enemies that wanted to keep them at bay. But God was moving and he would scatter his enemies. It was up to the Israelites to follow.

In our lives today, we will encounter enemies and the closer we get to God’s promises the more clearly we will see them. They will stand in an attempt to block you from your calling, from your peace, from your joy. But, just like in the wilderness, God will rise up. He will move. The question is, when God moves, do you have the faith to follow? Will you press on even when you can see your enemies? No matter what they may be, whether the enemies are in your home, on your job, in your emotions, etc. When God moves, they will scatter. If we follow after him, he will clear the path. Keep walking. Keep moving. It’s the only way to get through.

OUR SOVEREIGN GOD

Daniel 4:37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

A little girl, dressed in her Sunday best, was running as fast as she could, trying not to be late for Sunday School. As she ran she prayed, “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late!” As she was running and praying, she tripped on a curb and fell, getting her clothes dirty and tearing her dress. She got up, brushed herself off, and started running again. This time she prayed a little bit differently: “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late…but don’t shove me either.”

This girl understood that God is in control of everything. The word “sovereign” is both a noun and verb. As a verb it means, “to rule,” and as a noun it means “king” or “absolute ruler.” To say that God is sovereign is to say that God is in charge of the entire universe all the time. The Westminster Confession puts it like this: “He ordains whatsoever comes to pass.” In a nutshell, God’s sovereignty means that he is absolutely free to do as he pleases and to demonstrate his absolute control over the actions of all his creatures. Or, to put it another way, he permits, for reasons known only to him, people to act contrary to his revealed will, but he never allows them to act against his sovereign will.

The sovereignty of God is a very humbling doctrine. Sovereignty reminds us that God is God and we are not. It’s an exalting doctrine because it gives us a big view of God. Many of us struggle because our view of God is too small. It’s also a mysterious doctrine because it brings us face to face with the problem of evil and free will. If God is sovereign, why is there evil in the universe? If humans have free will, how can God be in control? These questions have been debated for centuries. Suffice it to say that God is sovereign and you and I are fully responsible for all the choices we make. It’s a clarifying doctrine because it teaches that there is no such thing as luck, chance, fate or coincidence. You can have God or chance, but you can’t have both. It is an empowering doctrine. Since God is in charge, no mere human can intimidate you. You can live your life with boldness and confidence, without fearing anyone or anything. Since God is sovereign, we can trust him with our lives.

Understanding God’s sovereignty causes us to focus on him, not ourselves. Our response should be to fall at his feet and to give him everything we are and everything we own. Pride is not the sole possession of the powerful, the rich, or the famous. It controls each of us if we’re not careful.

Our scripture says it best. Everything he does is right and all his ways are just. He is a great big God that controls the universe. Still, he cares you and me. Let us place our trust in the God who does everything right. He is sovereign and he is in complete control.

SIMPLY HAPPY

Luke 12:15 “Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family said it very well. He wrote, “Though I can make no claim to wealth, I have tasted most of the things Americans hunger for; new cars, an attractive home, and gadgets and devices which promise to set us free. Looking at those materialistic possessions from the other side of the cash register, I can tell you that they don’t deliver the satisfaction they advertise. On the contrary, I have found great wisdom in the adage, ‘That which you own will eventually own you.’ How true that is. Having surrendered my hard earned dollars for a new object only obligates me to maintain and protect it; instead of its contributing to my pleasure, I must spend my precious Saturdays oiling it, mowing it, painting it, repairing it, cleaning it, or calling the Salvation Army to haul it off. The time I might have invested in worthwhile family activities is spent in slavery to a depreciating piece of junk. This would be funny if it weren’t so true.”

Ask most people today if money buys happiness and they’ll say no. But ask those same people if a little more money will make us a little happier-- and most will agree. The Roper Organization asked Americans who make $15,000-$30,000 how much they needed to fulfill all their dreams. The largest group said they’d need $50,000-$60,000. Yet when that same question was put to people earning over $50,000, the largest group in that segment said they’d need at least $125,000 a year, if not more.

Over the past fifteen years researchers have studied the relationship between money and happiness. They have concluded that money can buy pleasure, but not happiness. What’s the difference? Pleasure is temporary release. Ability to take a Florida vacation, buy a better car, a membership at the country club. We can buy temporary feel goods, and we can often do it for years at a time. But, happiness comes from your experiences in which you enjoy investing your mental and emotional energies.

There is no doubt that God intends for us to live an abundant life. Christ said so in John 10:10. He grants us so many opportunities to find the fulfillment that will bring happiness. Those opportunities may not consist of making lots of money or having numerous possessions. Happiness comes from investing in your passions and investing in people

If every job in the world paid the exact same– what would you do? Would you keep doing what you’re doing now? Your answer is very telling. We all may not have our dream job. We may not all be living in our ideal situation. Even so, happiness is attainable. Be encouraged to invest some of yourself in the things that motivate you. Follow the calling that God has placed on your life. It may not require a change in vocation – simply a change in attitude and approach.

Truly, our jobs do not define us. Our financial portfolio is not our definition. Life consists of so much more. Be challenged today to live big by pursuing the things that God has placed in your heart. Do it even if circumstances don’t immediately change. Let your heart be touched by your new outlook on life. You’ll find happiness in the place that you never thought to look.

SECOND CHANCE GOD

2 Chronicles 33:13 “And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.”

We like to think that success is based on one victory after another, but even in the sports world, we know that simply is not true. Hank Aaron, the man who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, struck out more times than 99% of the players who make it to the major leagues. Yet we do not remember him for the strike outs, just the home runs. He was of the belief after each strike out, if I just get another chance, I’ll hit a home run.

Everybody who finds their way to Jesus Christ comes with the realization somewhere along the line, that they failed miserably in their relationship to God. They come to God, not with a bold list of demands, but in a humble spirit in need of a second chance. I do not fully understand where we got the image of God being an old angry man with a long beard ready to zap us from outer space for each error we make, but it did not come from the Bible.

Scripture informs us that our God is a “second chance God”. He took a murderer by the name of Moses, and turned him into a great national and spiritual leader. He took a liar and deceiver by the name of Jacob, and made him the cornerstone of a nation. He took an adulterer and murderer like David, and used him to write many of the Psalms to strengthen and encourage the people of God. He took a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was now living with a sixth man and turned her into the first evangelist to go into Samaria. He took some of us, knowing what we were, and turned us into to what we are becoming today.

Our scripture is a portion of the story of King Manasseh. He was an evil man that was full of pride. He had rejected God and his laws. But one day, God brought Manasseh face to face with reality. He found himself in prison at the hands of Assyria. At that point nothing that he had previously placed his trust him could help him. Not his riches, not his power, not his crown. His situation was hopeless, and he was helpless. You may know all too well how humbling difficult circumstances can be. It is in those moments that, like Manasseh, we have an opportunity to remember that God offers second chances.

A person whose life had been a complete moral and spiritual disaster, got a second chance from a second chance God and he spent the rest of his life attempting to lead his people back to God. You can never go back into the past and change what was said or what was done, but all of us have the opportunity in God to make a positive difference in what takes place from here on out. So what if you’ve blown it for the past two years, past twenty years, or past forty years. You don’t have to end up that way. Don’t buy into the silly notion that once we give our hearts to the Lord, we will not require a second chance from God. Do know without a doubt that God loves us and, in his great mercy, is willing and ready to give us the opportunity to get it right.?

If you find yourself off track and feel that you’re lost, remember God is a God of second chances. Let him redirect your path. Live in his forgiveness. Be free and spend the rest of your life being the person he created you to be.

LAY IT DOWN

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Native hunters in the jungles of Africa have a clever way of trapping monkeys. They slice a coconut in two, hollow it out, and in one half of the shell cut a hole just big enough for a monkey’s hand to pass through. Then they place an orange in the other coconut half before fastening together the two halves of the coconut shell. Finally, they secure the coconut to a tree with a rope, retreat into the jungle, and wait. Sooner or later, an unsuspecting monkey swings by, smells the delicious orange, and discovers its location inside the coconut. The monkey then slips his hand through the small hole, grasps the orange, and tries to pull it through the hole. Of course, the orange won’t come out; it’s too big for the hole. To no avail the persistent monkey continues to pull and pull, never realizing the danger he is in. While the monkey struggles with the orange, the hunters simply stroll in and capture the monkey by throwing a net over him. As long as the monkey keeps his fist wrapped around the orange, the monkey is trapped.

It’s too bad that the poor monkey could save its own life if it would let go of the orange. It rarely occurs to a monkey, however, that it can’t have both the orange and its freedom. That delicious orange becomes a deadly trap. The world sets traps for you that are not unlike the monkey trap. You hear constantly that if you just have enough money, enough stuff, enough power, enough prestige-then you’ll be happy. Under that illusion people spend their whole lives thinking you must have it all. The call of Christianity is unlike that of the world. The focus of the world is on what you can get out of life. A Christian is called to be live life on a higher plain.

The Apostle Paul challenges us to offer ourselves as a sacrifice. Instead of constantly increasing ourselves and taking more for our own contentment, he urges us to lay it down in order to please God. It is an act of worship – he says. We have all learned by now that this idea is very contrary to our own personal nature. Why would I live as a sacrifice, when I can live with surplus? It’s troubling to our natural minds because it is a spiritual truth. The natural eye perceives things in light of our feelings and surroundings. The spiritual eye looks beyond immediate need or want and sees a greater calling which leads to a greater life.

We are confronted every day with circumstances that demand we choose between a world view and a God view. If we choose to adopt a worldly attitude by tightly holding on to things more than we seek after God, we rob ourselves of a deeper connection with the one who created us. God longs for us to give him our body, our mind, and our will. If we make the commitment to be different from the world and to lay our lives down for Christ, we will live fulfilled and blessed. We will have our hope, not in things that pass away, but in one who lives forever.

THE HERITAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that rises against you will be condemned. This is the heritage of the servants of God.”

Have you ever had the experience of planning to make something absolutely wonderful and at the last moment something went wrong and messed it all up? Have you ever played in a game, and it looked for certain that your team was definitely going to win, and somehow things started to go wrong and you just could not believe you lost? Have you ever met a person and you knew deep inside, this was the person you really wanted and you were hoping to spend your life with, but somewhere the relationship went sour and came to a painful end? Life is full of situations that come into our lives and alter our plans for the future. Sometimes we make bad decisions and are forced to deal with things we do not like. Sometimes though, difficult and painful circumstances can come into our lives simply from us making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. It is inexplicable, but it happens.

As believers we are sure to encounter difficult times. The Psalmist wrote, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” But there is great hope found in our scripture today. Nothing that is created to harm us will prosper. Notice that it doesn’t say that weapons won’t exist. There is no promise that life will be free of difficult moments, some which are extremely trying. The promise is that they will not prosper. The word prosper means “to be successful”. What an amazing promise. Weapons will be formed. People will talk. We may be persecuted. Times may be stressful. But according to the promise of Almighty God, nothing designed to destroy us will succeed.

I get the mental picture of a toy gun. It looks real. If you didn’t know it was a toy and it was pointed directly at you then you may be fearful for your life. Then the trigger is pulled. And slowly from the barrel of the gun comes a small flag with the word “BANG!” You see, many times the enemy attempts to overcome us with the mere threat of destruction. When times do get rough, we may feel as though we have lost. We may experience desperate feelings of hopelessness. That is the enemy’s game plan. Convince us to give up, to quit trying based on the perception of defeat. The prophet Isaiah proclaims, don’t worry and don’t quit. No weapon formed against you will prosper.

Why can we have this assurance? The prophet teaches us that it is the heritage of the righteous. The word heritage means “something reserved for one.” Victory has been reserved for you and me. It is mine. Not because I can fight hard enough to win. Not because I am strong enough to overcome. I have the promise of victory simply because I am a child of the Most High God. It is my heritage.

Understanding that promise ought to change our perspective about trials and troubles. Sure they are uncomfortable, but they will never defeat you and me. In fact, these troubles just solidify my standing in the Kingdom. You are a child of God. Nothing will be successful in destroying you. Let us all walk today in the confidence of our heritage.

SOMETHING TO BRAG ABOUT

Jeremiah 9:24 “But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth.”

An older woman was cruising a busy parking lot in her new Mercedes-Benz looking in vain for a parking space. She finally saw someone loaded with packages heading for a car, so she followed him, put on her blinker and waited patiently until he pulled out. Just as he pulled out a young man in a sleek black Porsche zipped in to the space ahead of her. She was dumbfounded and outraged, and jumped out of her car, shouting, "How could you do that? Didn’t you see me waiting there with my signal on?" He smiled an arrogant smile and replied, "That’s what you can do when you’re young and fast." As the young man was about to enter the store he heard the hideous crunch of metal striking metal. He ran back, horrified, to see that the woman had gunned her Mercedes and smashed it into his beautiful black Porsche. He ran back and cried, "How could you do that?" She smiled back at him and replied, "That’s what you can do when you’re old and rich!"

I remember growing up and watching some of the people in my church. They seemed to be without flaw. In their pressed suits and perfect dresses with their bible in hand. I was convinced that those individuals, if necessary, could have walked on water. Many of those people profoundly impacted my life for the better. However, there were those who were acutely aware of their “flawlessness”. The way they dressed, the way they spoke, and the things they abstained from had become their defining characteristics. They knew they were “good” and maybe even “holy”. They were also acutely aware of the rest of us who were not “perfect”.

As a teenager, I was no longer impressed by them, but I was more perplexed. I was perplexed because I could not figure out why I was still imperfect as they made perfection look and sound so simple. They made me feel as if something was wrong with me. I felt as though I was chasing this untouchable goal of “sanctification”. And it wasn’t just me. Anyone who was not pre-packaged in perfection was looked down upon. “Clean up and then you can join our club” was the unspoken motto of the day.

There was a boastful spirit that was centered upon rules and regulations. Don’t go here and don’t go there. Don’t wear this and don’t say that. And because they didn’t go to those places, because they didn’t wear those things, because they didn’t say those words, they were better than anyone who did. I grew up feeling guilt and shame (not to mention fear) for every misstep, for every temptation, for everything…period.

As a young adult, I realized that I had spent so much time without hearing about the love of God. It had been so long, that the idea of a God who loved me aside from what I did was tough to comprehend. I mean, how would I really know that I was saved if I could not validate it with either abstinence or performance? What could I boast about?

Don’t get me wrong. I am hungry to please God. I want to lay aside the things that hinder me. I want to love God with every part of me. I know, without question, that sin cannot increase in my life simply in order for grace to increase.

Our scripture today says it best. The only thing that I can be proud of is that I know God and that I know his love for me. It doesn’t mean that I have more revelation than the next person, but simply that I have the privilege of having my life touched by his precious love and that I know him as my savior. I should not hold my head up high because I have checked everything off my own list of qualifications. I should instead be humbled by the fact that there isn’t a pen big enough to blot out all of my sin and failure. I should hold my head high because he loves me enough to cover my sin in his blood and receive me as his own.

As we journey through life, we ought to always live with the knowledge of God’s love for us. I am challenged today to never boast of the way I do things. You see, I too can be tempted to become intolerable of things that are different. I too can look at things that are new and innovative with suspicion. I pray that I never cause others to feel the way I felt as a child. Instead, let us all remember that it is God alone that judges, justifies, and blesses. That’s something to be proud of.

A SUCCESS STORY

I Corinthians 4:12 “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well. The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. So when the wind blew, he was not afraid. He could sleep in peace. There was nothing dramatic or sensational in the young boy’s preparations – he just faithfully did what was needed each day. Consequently, peace was his, even in a storm. Paul says "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

Are you successful today? What measure do you use to measure success? The world may measure success by profit - how much are you earning? By prosperity - what do you own? By prestige - how high are you in the corporate ladder?

How does God measure success? We’ll see from scriptures that God measures success by faithfulness. How faithful are you to God? Faithfulness is not a virtue appreciated much today. We see that in marriages. We see that is business commitments. We see it in so many facets of our society. Why should we remain faithful?

God wants us to be faithful to what he has called us to do. He is not going to measure you based on how many converts you have, how many years you have served the church, how many great things you have done… These are all important, and we want them. But growth comes from God Himself. God wants to see our faithfulness. True success is not to be measured in terms of what man can see, but in terms of what God sees. "My judge," says Paul, "is not man or even myself, but God." Our scripture tells us that the important thing for us is to be faithful… faithful to God and the work God has entrusted to us.

Notice the words Paul uses: we are "servants" of Christ; "entrusted" with a message of salvation; and "given a trust". These words describe the work of a steward (or slaves). It is not our culture today but the people of Corinth understood immediately what Paul was saying - A steward was a confidential slave to whom the master entrusted his affairs. He was an administrator of the master’s household, but still a slave of the master. Although he had great responsibility, he was always and in everything, accountable to the Master. Both he (slave) and his work belonged to the master. It is a description of you and me. We are redeemed of the Lord. We belong to him. He is our Lord and Master, for he redeemed us by his blood and this life comes from him. He has given us all a trust - a work. The most basic one is the great commission - to share the Gospel. All of us have a different calling. Some may be called to be pastors, some teachers, some evangelists… but whatever it is, it is God’s work and we are his servants. Let’s all be challenged today to work towards faithfulness in everything we do. Then, will we be a true success story.

ALONE IN A STORM?

Luke 8:24 “The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"

Robert Munger was in a storm, this is his story in his own words, he wrote:

“Being assaulted by winds and walls of waves and a wildly tossing sea was like being run over a train in a dark tunnel. We knew the typhoon was coming, but I for one hadn’t expected it to pack such a wallop. Everything was battened down as we prepared to take a direct hit. Those of us who were on deck had our slickers on, similar to the old yellow slickers used by New England fisherman. Being a novice to things of the sea, I’d hung mine up by a hot pipe a few days before and the heat had melted all the oil from the fabric. Now my slicker leaked like a sieve. It wasn’t much good but it was all I had to wear as the ship shuttered and pitched into huge mountains of brine and foam.

It was fast approaching midnight. As I made my final rounds on deck, everything I saw brought on physical terror. The lights of the ship reflected only a few feet out over the water. Each wave became visible only as it reared to crash. More than once, I thought, what if I were washed overboard while making my rounds? No one would even know. I would be lost forever in a violent, angry sea. The possibility of death was enough to focus my mind. But almost as terrifying as drowning was the fear of falling into darkness and death all alone. No one to see. No one to hear. No one to report. The blotting out of life. Caught. Trapped. Right there in the eye of the storm.”

I don’t know what storms you’ve been through but I do know that all of us at some time or another have had an experience in which we have felt our life to be so tiny, tossed around like that little cargo ship in the middle of the wide ocean. Tossed around as if in the middle of a storm that would not go away. With our lives in danger, with chaos threatening at any moment to undo us, to rip life away. Thrown in every direction.

Our scripture offers a great account of how Jesus calmed a great storm seemingly just in the nick of time. It did not happen, however, before panic gripped the hearts of the disciples. While they are fighting for their lives, Jesus is sleeping below deck. Have you ever felt like the Savior was sleeping while the storm was on? Have you felt like Job who said, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.” (Job 23:8, 9) You know, there will always be times when we may not feel like God is near, but it is in those times when we can’t feel God’s presence that we need to trust him. Jesus later asked the disciples where their faith was. God wants us to trust him no matter what. If we only trusted him in the good times, we wouldn’t really be trusting him. He wants us to rely on him.

Is your faith in what you can do? Is your faith in the lies that the devil has convinced you of like the lie that ‘Jesus doesn’t care about you’? Where is your faith? If you will rely on Jesus, he will calm the troubled storm of your life. No, it doesn’t mean that you won’t ever have to face another storm; it just means that you will have someone on board who can take care of the winds. That’s the kind of person that I want to take with me.

FROM USELESS TO USEFUL

Philemon 11 “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.”

Although Philemon may have been ready to give up on Onesimus, God wasn’t. He steered Onesimus to Rome and made certain that, out of the million or so inhabitants, he came into contact with the Apostle Paul. When Paul first met Onesimus and found out that he was the runaway slave of a Christian he knew from Colosse (a city in present day western Turkey, a city over 1,000 km away), he recognized that his heavenly Father was at work. And so Paul went to work on Onesimus. He pointed out Onesimus’ sin of running away from his master, and then he followed that up with the good news of how Jesus had already paid for that sin. As a result Onesimus was not only converted to the faith, he became a trusted and reliable helper to Paul. The runaway slave who had once been useless, now finally lived up to his name, Onesimus, which means “useful”.

Just as God guided and directed Onesimus’ steps to Rome, he still leads us today. It’s no accident that we are where we are. God brought us here to learn that, even though we often run away from him, he has forgiven us and has plans for us. Through the work of Christ, God makes us useful again.

Although Onesimus was a changed man, he still must have been nervous about going back to Philemon. After all, Roman law gave slave owners the right to brand the forehead of runaway slaves, lock them in chains, or simply execute them. Onesimus knew he deserved any one of these punishments because he had not just run away from Philemon, but had probably stolen from him as well. Paul must have sensed these fears and so he wrote to Philemon that he would pay for any damage Onesimus had done. This promise allowed Onesimus to go back and serve his master free of the fear of punishment.

Do you see the parallels between Onesimus and us? Although we should be punished for our sins, Jesus told his heavenly Father to charge those sins to him. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross so that we now can serve our God without fear of punishment. Not only that, Jesus also provides for all of our daily needs.

We’re like the man who was arrested for stealing bread. He admits his guilt but begs the judge for mercy explaining he stole the bread to feed his children. Because the man pleaded guilty the judge has to assess the fine. He fines the man $100 but before the man can be taken away, because he doesn’t have the money to pay the fine, the judge goes over to the clerk’s desk and pays the fine for him. The judge then gives the man a check for $1,000 to feed his children. That’s what Jesus does for us. He forgives us and then he equips us.

The work of Jesus makes us who, by nature are less than useless, into useful tools of God’s bidding. Therefore we can and will go forward boldly and joyfully with the work and challenges God has set in front of us, no matter what our life is like.

OVERCOME OBSTACLES

Joshua 3:3 “When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.”

The dictionary defines obstacles as “something that stands in the way or opposes”. Something that is between where you are, and where you want to go. Life is filled with obstacles. Some of them will be small, such as maybe a road block on the way to work, or some will be large, like diseases that keep you from being who and what you want to be. Michael A. Guido of Metter, Georgia, columnist of several newspapers wrote about an artist in Mexico who lost his right hand, his primary hand, while working on a statue. This lead to a lot of frustration. But the artist did not give up his work. He learned to carve with his left hand. His beautifully finished masterpiece was called “In Spite Of”. Booker T. Washington was born in slavery. Thomas Edison was deaf. Abraham Lincoln was born of illiterate parents. Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis. Alexander Pope was a hunchback. Julius Caesar was an epileptic. All of these men faced obstacles that stood between where they were and where they wanted to go.

There are also spiritual obstacles as well. Things that hinder us and stand in our way of receiving God’s inheritance for us. These obstacles stand between where we are in our walk with God and where we would like to and should be. I’m sure that we all would like to be closer to the Lord. If we struggle in that area, we should ask the question, “What stands in our way?” Satan himself is a master of placing obstacles or hindrances in the way.

Even the great apostle Paul was not immune to Satan’s obstacles. 1 Thessalonians 2:18 says “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” Paul uses the Greek word egkopto, which means “to impede one’s course by cutting off his way”. Much like the old cowboys who are going to cut them off at the pass, they ride quickly to get there ahead of the enemy so they will be in the way. That’s what Satan loves to do and he is good at it, he loves to place obstacles in the way.

Here in Joshua chapter three, Israel stands on the banks of the Jordan River. The land of promise is in view. They can look across the river and see all that God has promised them, their very own homeland flowing with milk and honey. However there is an obstacle. The Jordan River is there and now it is at flood stage. One scholar who had visited the Jordan River during the time of it’s flood stage described the river as being fourteen feet above the normal level and with the water rushing quickly by, quite an obstacle for a million people with their children and their flocks. What were they going to do?

Our scripture offers the clear direction on how to overcome obstacles. Watch for and follow the Ark of the Covenant. To the Israelites, the ark would come to represent the visible presence of God. Often times, it is so easy to keep our eyes upon the obstacles instead of God. For the children of Israel, the commandment was to watch the ark – not the river.

It is undeniable that we will encounter obstacles in our walk with God and the pursuit of our destiny. The obstacles, however, can not change the promise that we have been given by God. With your heart, look to God and follow him. He will lead you through those challenging times and you will receive the fulfillment of his promises.

BLESSED SUBMISSION

Hebrew 5:7 “During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

During the 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted what became known as "the marshmallow test" with four-year-olds in the preschool at Stanford University. The object of the exercise was to assess each preschooler’s ability to delay gratification. Each child was given one marshmallow. They were told that they could eat it immediately or, if they waited until the researcher returned in 20 minutes, they could have two marshmallows. Some kids in the group just couldn’t wait. They gobbled down the marshmallow immediately. The rest struggled hard to resist eating it. They covered their eyes, talked to themselves, sang, played games, even tried to go to sleep. The preschoolers who were able to wait were rewarded with two marshmallows when the researcher returned. Twelve to fourteen years later the same kids were re-evaluated. The differences were astonishing. Those who had been able to control their impulses and delay gratification as four-year-olds were more effective socially and personally as teenagers. They had higher levels of assertiveness, self-confidence, trustworthiness, dependability, and a superior ability to control stress. Remarkably, their Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were also 210 points higher than the "instant gratification" group.

A key difference between successful people — leaders — and those who struggle to get by is self-discipline. As Confucius wrote, "The nature of people is always the same; it is their habits that separate them." Successful people have formed the habits of doing those things that most people don’t want to do.

Jesus lived a disciplined life, and he certainly excelled at a very difficult field, which is the area of submission. Jesus called all of his followers to follow his example by “Taking up the cross daily”. The cross is the ultimate example of submission. It represents Jesus’ willingness to submit to the point of death, his whole life was under the authority of God, and so he was the most influential person to ever walk the face of the earth. To submit involves a large area of service in life. The disciples were having yet another discussion about who among them was the greatest, and Jesus taught them a lesson about submission that they would never forget. They did not yet understand Jesus teaching on submission, and so he demonstrated for them. He took up the job that nobody wanted; he washed the filthy, stinky, dirt-caked-on feet of the disciples and ended the argument about being the greatest.

It is an example of submission that is for the good of everybody. It is seeing the world from another person’s perspective instead of a self-centered world view. It is making other people feel important and loved through an act of service and an attitude of submission. Submission, the way that Jesus thought of it, was never in the context of dominance. It was not an overbearing spouse inflicting their will on the family. It was never the small giving way to the bully. Submission, in Jesus eyes, was becoming the least so that God can use you to do things that are great. Submission should not be thought of in the context of how others should submit to you, but how you should submit to others. Submission is an attitude that shapes actions. It liberates us from having to have it our own way. It frees us from forcing our will on others.

Submission is an attitude. It is a way to approach life. But it is also freedom. You can’t get your way all of the time, so why force it. Instead submit to God, submit to authority, submit to family, submit to your spiritual leaders and submit to each other. Live in the freedom of God’s will for your life.

LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Colossians 1:10 “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”

One of golf’s immortal moments came when a Scotsman demonstrated the new game to U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and the surrounding vicinity, while the ball waited placidly on the tee. Again the Scotsman swung and again he missed. Our president waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, “There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.”

President Grant made a statement that could be true about many lives. There seems to be a fair amount of exercise…but I fail to see the purpose. Have you ever felt as though your life consisted of much activity with little or no progress? For all the busyness in our lives we must ask “Are we getting anywhere from it?” "Is there a purpose for it all?" Purpose gives meaning to our lives. It gives one the ability to say, “I know why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Here’s the key question. Are you living or do you just exist? There is a difference; there is a big difference. Webster’s defines living as “vigorous, alive and full of life.” Existing is defined as “to have being.” So many wake up, go to work or school, keep house, whatever the case. They go about their business, but they have no real sense of purpose in their lives. The happiness and fulfillment of their life depends largely on circumstances and achievements. If they were completely honest, they would admit that inside, they are empty. I am not saying that we all have to live lives of liberality, and a new, wild change every day of our lives, however we can learn to live lives of stability and have that vigor and livelihood rather than being content with just “being.” The inspired word of God gives direction to accomplish this.

We must “seize the day”. No one wants life to be mediocre. We want our lives to be full. We want everything we can get out of every day, but what are we willing to do about it? We are wrapped up in deadlines, and commitments, problems and priorities and it just doesn’t always happen. There are ways to seize the day, every day of your life. We must know the purpose of our life. The IRS is a great example of understanding their purpose. In the IRS handbook it says, “During a state of national emergency resulting from enemy attack, the essential functions of the service will be as follows: assessing, collecting, and recording taxes.” So while we all panic, they will be doing what they always do…taking our money. But, they know their purpose.

Recently, I have been challenged to Love God, Serve Others, and Live Big. Now that’s living life to its fullest. God did not create us as beings to just plop down on the earth and do our time, and go back from where we came. He created us as living creatures to live our lives to the fullest, but to do it his way. Dig down deep and ask yourself, how full is my life? Am I living or existing? Am I giving God 100% of every day that he has given me on this earth? The answer may be surprising, but it’s a great place to start living the rest of your life for him.

COMMITTED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…”

Perhaps you’ve heard the old story told about a pig and a chicken walking down the road together. As they walked along they read a sign advertising a breakfast to benefit the needy. The chicken said to the pig, “You and I should donate a ham and egg breakfast.” The pig replied, “Not so fast, for you it would just be a contribution, but for me it would be a total commitment.”

In Christ’s departing words, he challenged his followers to be committed to making a difference in the world. There are several reasons we should try to make a difference in other people’s lives. I would say one of those reasons is that the world actually depends on it. Can you imagine a world where nobody cared about anybody else? Can you imagine a world where nobody tried to ever help anybody else?

The world we live in depends on people helping people. We depend on the world giving food and aid when there is a Tsunami or a gigantic earthquake. We depend on the world to help when one nation unfairly attacks another. We would never survive if people didn’t try to help each other. Without compassionate people, this world would collapse into cold indifference.

We should also try to make a difference in other people’s lives because it makes such a wonderful difference in ours when we do. We are never told how the Good Samaritan felt after helping the man alongside the road, or how Paul felt when he helped deliver the money to a church in Jerusalem, but I would think that both felt very good.

As much as people need others to lend them a helping hand, there is one thing needed even more. People need somebody to reach out to them with a hand full of the love of Christ. There is no better way to strengthen your heart than to lift someone else up in the love of Jesus.

Another reason we need to reach out to help in Jesus’ name is because we are expected to by God. Our scripture means that we are expected to reach out to others and make a difference in their lives; a difference for God, because if we will but introduce others to Christ, He will make a difference in their lives.

Jesus didn’t say to go and be happy. He didn’t say go and make money. He didn’t even say go to church and then go home. He said go and make disciples. The word disciple means one who embraces and assists in the spreading of a teaching. Certainly we embrace the teaching of Jesus, don’t we? And if we do, we are called and expected to assist in the spreading of that teaching. And that is the best way of all in which to help someone else.

We should try to make a difference to others because – the world depends on it, it makes us feel very good, and God expects it. God is love and the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like him, so love is the foundation of every command he has given us; ‘the whole Law can be summed up in this one command; ‘Love others as you love yourself.’

God uses people like us. Has God used you to touch others? Would you want God to use you as his special envoy to help others? If you want him to, he will, but you have to be willing to let God use you. Be committed to make a difference.

WHEN YOU'VE BEEN LET DOWN

Hosea 11:9 “I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man— the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath."

Nothing is more universal than to have expectations of someone and to find out that those hopes, those expectations, are not being met. And that is not just a human issue, not just a feelings issue; it’s a spiritual issue too. It’s a spiritual issue because when we are disappointed in somebody it kicks up in us some things that are not pretty. It makes us want to do things and say things that are not especially Christ-like. And the prophet Hosea discovered that in his very human, very real, disappointment, there was much that he could learn about what God feels about us.

You see, one of the basic ideas in Hosea’s prophecy is that God does care about us. God does care about what we do and what we are like; God is concerned with our loyalty. But Hosea saw, I think more deeply than anyone else, that God is hurt when we are not what he intended us to be. God feels a real pain when we are less than his hopes for us. But more than that, God shows us how to channel those feelings, how to make something positive happen with our disappointments.

Obviously, disappointment with others shows up when they do not measure up to our expectations of them. When you have hopes, when you have standards, when you want somebody to be something or to do something, and they turn out failures, we are disappointed. That much is obvious. And it’s really unavoidable.

The problem is that my expectation for somebody else and his own hopes, his own plans, just may not be the same. What I want someone to do or to be and what he wants for himself –well, these just don’t connect. And, deeper, there is something in us that makes us want to push aside other people’s agendas for us. There is a natural rebelliousness in us, and it makes us want to revolt. Like the fellow who tried on a suit in the clothing store and said to the clerk, "If my wife likes this suit, can I bring it back?" How we do push hard against each other; how we do rebel against those who love us the most.

Put all this together and it makes for real, serious, painful disappointment. And so Hosea paints a picture of a God who remembers with anguish how much he loved his people, all that he did for them back there in the wilderness – and why don’t they remember?

Be encouraged to be pleased if you feel disappointed with someone, because that means you care. That means you have the capacity to value and to care. You see, if you are never disappointed that really means you have become cold and cynical. If anything goes, if it doesn’t matter to you how those close to you behave, well, that means you’ve grown numb. You’ve lost a wonderfully human dimension.

Now when you get slapped in the face with some disappointment, what is your natural reaction? What is it you want to do? How do you handle it? Well, some of us just retreat to the comer and pout and feel sorry for ourselves. But others want to punish. We want to hurt. We want to react and manipulate and extend our control if we can. Guess what? God feels that way too. Even God feels anger; even God wants to rebuke and to punish. As much as some would prefer to get rid of all the harshly judgmental passages in the Bible, we cannot. There they are. God speaks in wrath, God’s feelings flare up, and his disappointment turns into a desire to strike out.

But, how does our God deal with his disappointment over us? When we have not measured up to his dreams for us, God acts like God. God is simply himself. “I am God and not man, in your midst.” He is true to his own nature. He does not allow himself to be drawn down to petty accusations or the smallness of vengeance. He is true to himself and acts with compassion and love. He never gives up on us.

That’s how we are to struggle with those who disappoint us. Keep on caring, keep on giving, be ourselves, be what God has called us to be, and know that in the last analysis it is the life with a cross in it that wins others’ love and loyalty.

FOR THE APPROVAL OF ONE

Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

William Shakespeare wrote “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” Have you ever felt like you are on stage, the stage of life performing for the audience all around you? I have often felt the pressure and the pull of performing on life’s stage. I’m certain that you have also felt that pressure. -- “What do my coworkers think of my work performance? What do my classmates think of my academic skills? What does my church think about my Christian walk? From the world’s point of view, a good appearance- a good show is the only thing that matters. If we’re not careful, life morphs into a stage, every man and woman- the actors.

We can become addicted to approval. We can live from day to day allowing our emotions to swing based on what others think of us. We can spend our lives foolishly trying to please the crowd and live for the approval of man. There is a tyranny and bondage in living for man’s approval. Henry Swope said, “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure which is: “Try to please everybody.”

Instead of living in bondage, craving the approval of everyone around us, the Bible calls us to live for the approval of one. Paul realized that it is impossible to fully please man and God at the same time. The Scriptures call us again and again not to live for the expectations of man, but for the satisfaction of God. We live for the applause of one. There is nothing better or more fulfilling to know that God says, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” Can anything compare to having the smile of God’s approval?

We can talk about how important it is to please God rather than man. We can look at all the great heroes of the faith who lived and breathed for the approval of God alone. But where does that leave us? How do we live for God’s approval? Well, Christ instructed us all to love God with everything that we have. Wow – that seems like a lot, right?

Living for God and loving him wholeheartedly requires faith, obedience, and sacrifice. We must believe that he is. Enoch had enough faith in God that he was literally raptured into God’s presence. Noah had faith to build an ark for a coming flood. Abraham had faith to leave his own country to a land that God would show him. Jesus had faith enough to look beyond the cross and see the resurrection.

You see, all the approval that man can offer only lasts for a moment. As soon as the applause quiets down, we will be back to performing in an attempt to generate more approval. It is a constant rat race that ends in disappointment and pain. But when we fix our sights on living for the one true God that already has preferred us by sending his son to die in our place, we are sure to gain the fulfillment and peace of his approval.

Be encouraged today to live for the approval of one. He already loves you.

YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES

Luke 3:22 “…and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you remember being asked that question when you were growing up? When I was growing up it seems like all the boys wanted to be policemen and firemen. GI Joe and Superman were my TV and comic book heroes. In the living room I would watch the action as Superman used his x-ray vision to look through brick walls to find the lady in distress.

I don’t know about you, but as I watched those cartoon heroes, and was influenced by the real life ones I had at home and school, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I wanted to help people and save the day just like those guys.

Think it no accident that God has written into each of our hearts that same epic. Every great book or movie or play is the same. The characters, setting and problems may change, but the story is always the same. Things start out quiet, then events begin to take place that create a crisis, then a hero emerges that brings victory. All the great old-time westerns have that theme; just watch any episode of Bonanza or the Lone Ranger. Even the love stories are written with that element of crisis, a hero emerges and saves the day.

Did you ever think about Jesus growing up and being asked by folks, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Of course most would assume that he would be a carpenter like his father. He was certainly trained in that trade. But Jesus knew from an early age what he had been sent to do. “When I grow up I’m going to be the Savior of the world.” Now that’s ambition. But it wasn’t ambition at all – it was his purpose. “When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son,” the Scriptures say.

The human body of Jesus Christ had been groomed to go to the cross. For thirty years Jesus prepared for this moment. The eternal destiny of humanity hung on his decision to follow through, and the very character and truthfulness of God was on the line. The Bible says “He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Today God is writing the epic of your life. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer westerns, romances or sci-fi, the story is the same. Satan is waging war in your life for your heart. God wants you to abandon all for him. He wants you to surrender all. He wants you to love him with all your heart and all your soul and all your might. I think the most effective thing Satan does in our lives is not to turn us away from God, but simply to keep us from full surrender.

Now here’s the good news: you are the hero of your story. You’ve got what it takes. On a day long ago Jesus Christ set his face to the cross of Calvary; but today God’s inviting you to set your face to your cross too. “If any man will follow me,” Jesus said, “let him deny himself daily, take up his cross and follow me.” If you’ll do that today, God has greatness in store for you. You were created for this. You were brought into this world to be a lover and a follower of God. You were placed here to bring glory to him. Surrender to that calling on your life and live blessed.

BOUND BY LOVE

Song of Solomon 3:4 “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go.”

"A Raisin in the Sun" is a play about a family on Chicago’s south side. The father dies and leaves a small legacy in the form of an insurance policy - several thousand dollars. The mother was going to use the money to fulfill a longtime dream of buying a small bungalow for the family to live in. It would not be the Taj Mahal, but they would be able to move out of the tenements, and call it their own. The son also had a dream. He’d never had a decent job, so he convinces the mother to give him the money as an investment in a business deal (a deal that couldn’t miss). The mother wanted happiness for her children more than anything. And so she gives him the money, and the so-called "friend" of the son promptly skips town with the money. The young man is left alone to face his mother and sister. His shoulders are slumped in defeat. His head bows low as he tells them the money is gone. The sister rips into him. She screams at him. She calls him names. In every way possible she lets loose on him with contempt and scorn. When she finishes her tirade the mother speaks, "I thought I taught you to love him." The sister shouts back, "Love him? There is nothing left to love." The mother says, "There is always something left to love. And if you haven’t learned that, you haven’t learned anything. Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and the family ’cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he been through and what it has done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they’ve done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you aren’t learning - because that isn’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in himself because he has failed.

Do you recall what it is like to fall in love? Do you know of the first dizzying wave of colliding senses; when your heart leaps, and everything is intensified in a rush of exploding wonder. Life seems to surround like a sea of sweet and gentle breezes. Suddenly there is the existential knowledge that life was made for love. When you’re apart from your love, you’re busy savoring the thought of their image and essence.

Solomon’s imagery is the remembering of "dove eyes" of his well beloved, the rose of Sharon. When together new lovers are overpowered with each other’s presence (like a "bundle of myrrh"). There is the sense of being lost in abandonment, totally absorbed. The female voice in the Song felt the "banner over me was love" and it "ravished my heart."

To fall in love is to be irresistibly drawn, inexorably to the source of that love. Jesus came to be in love with his own. Standing on a hill outside of Jerusalem Jesus cried, "O Jerusalem,...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings,.."

Jesus brought this love with him from heaven. He came to earth, to us to fall in love. And his beloved hung him on a cross. For you and I that might have ended a love affair. Divorce would have been the first words on my lips. But the first words on the mouth of Jesus were, "Father, forgive them."

God entered time and space in a manger in Bethlehem, grew up and died as a voluntary sacrifice in our place. He did that because we are his beloved, and he wished to reveal himself to us and fall in love with us. What do you say to such love? All he really wants to hear from you is, "Yes, I love you, Lord. I will give myself to you."

REMEMBER

Psalms 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

Here is a great little reading from an anonymous author. It is entitled, “Life – But No Living”. It reads:

First I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now, I am dying…and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.

So often, we push ahead to the next big goal or event in life and we fail to live today. We should stop everyday in order to realize that we are blessed. God has given us some wonderful benefits to enjoy for life and living today. Let’s slow down a bit in order to learn and recognize what these are.

That’s the way the Psalm begins by David stirring himself up to bless the Lord. Maybe he was in a season of complaining. Perhaps he was numb to God’s blessings or apathetic and unable to recognize how blessed he really was. To bless means to say good things about the Lord in a spirit of admiration and gratitude and wonder. David seems to have been successful motivating himself, because by the time he reaches the end of the Psalm, he’s inviting angels and creation to join him. There’s something about worship and gratitude that is expansive and inclusive. From the tiny little chicken gathering her yellow chicks under her wings to the complexity of the human body to the beauty of an autumn hillside, we begin to see God’s glory and it causes us to want to say good things about him. Consequently, the Psalmist never made one petition in this Psalm.

The Bible informs us that there are many benefits that come along with serving the Lord. Some of them are tangible and others are intangible. Some of these benefits are: forgiveness, loving kindness, renewed strength, mercy, grace, healing and many more.

One bumper sticker from years ago states that the benefits of serving the Lord are ‘out of this world...so true. When we focus on the many good things that the Lord has given to us, we begin to overflow with thanksgiving. It is a natural response to so many blessings.

In our natural state, it is easy to dwell on our problems, our shortcomings, and the disapproval of those who despise us. Yet when we fix our eyes on Jesus and allow his grace to saturate our minds and souls, then we begin to see the world in a new perspective. We discover that the benefits of serving the Lord are greater than anything the world has to offer.

Nothing compares to the loving grace so freely bestowed upon us by God through his Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit quickens our hearts to give him praise, adoration and thanksgiving.

Today, let us give Jesus the glory that is due his name for the wonderful blessings that are ours because of his sacrificial death on Calvary. Let us take the time to ponder the benefits that are ours because of our relationship with him.

LIVING IN THE LIGHT

John 1:9 “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

Helen Keller told a story of a dramatic moment when Anne Sullivan first broke through her dark, silent world with the illumination of language:

“We walked down the path to the well house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motion of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant that wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!”

The moment Helen Keller described is that moment her world of darkness was shattered with the light of language. Although she was the same person physically, her life was transformed. She now had a way she could see and understand.

Spiritually speaking, people are living in a world of darkness. In the 1970’s Simon and Garfunkel produced a song entitled The Sound of Silence: “Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.” This is an accurate description of the way many people feel today—they are living in spiritual darkness. They are in need of spiritual illumination, a divine light.

According to John’s gospel, Jesus is the light of the world. If you look in the dictionary, the first definition for “light” is “something that makes vision possible.” In other words, light makes it possible for us to see. Without light, we are hopelessly blind - blind to our surroundings, blind to our situations and circumstances, blind to even ourselves. Light makes it possible for us to see clearly – things as they really are.

Through Christ, we now know and understand we are created by a God who loves us and wants a relationship with us. We now know and understand that our sin and rebellion has severed our relationship with our God. We now know and understand that we can regain that relationship now and forever through Christ Jesus. We now know right from wrong. We now know and understand the marvelous place prepared for those who strive to walk in his light and the terrible destiny of those who reject the true light.

We learn in grade school that without sunshine there would be no life possible on earth. The sun provides the basis for all life on earth. The sun is the source of energy for all plants, and indirectly, for all animals. Take away the sunlight and all life on earth would soon perish. Sunlight sustains our lives not only due to the energy it gives us in our food but also because it helps our body synthesize vitamins. Too, it brings vitality to our red and white blood cells. Shut up the strongest man in a dark dungeon and he becomes pale like a corpse, loses physical vigor and strength, loses the power to resist disease and he will waste away.

Spiritual life can be found in none other than in Christ. Just as he is the giver of all physical life so he is the provider of spiritual life. He is life itself. He proclaims in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me.”

Are you walking in the light? The light of God’s love for you? Remember that those who follow Christ are following light and will not exist in darkness. Let his light illuminate your path and see life in a whole new way.

MAYBE IT'S TIME TO MOVE

Deuteronomy 1:6 “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.”

A.W. Tozer said that if most churches were asked, “What is the worst enemy the church faces today?” most would come up with the wrong answer. He says that many would say that the worst enemy of the church is liberalism.

Tozer goes on to say that, “The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes ‘lord’ in the life of the church. Programs are organized and the prevailing conditions are accepted as normal.

This is what had happened to the Israelites. In our scripture, the Israelites have taken an eleven day journey from Egypt to the Promised Land and it turned it into a forty year experience in the desert. Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. Kadesh-barnea was the threshold of promise. It was the desert entry point to the Promised Land. It was the place from where they sent the twelve spies to spy out the land. They had been held back and detained by God himself. But one day, God said to them, you have stayed too long in this place. It is time to move out and move forward.

For you and me, this may be an important mandate as well. Sometimes it is so easy to be settled in a certain place. We can get very comfortable going through routine and maintaining the status quo. Spiritually speaking, we can go through the motions of our walk with God without moving out, moving on, or moving up with him. This can be a dangerous in which to live. Complacency, according to Aesop, “chews up character, value, and truth.” It brings us to a place where we believe a lie about ourselves. Have you ever found yourself satisfied with something less than what you originally desired? Complacency will convince us to settle.

Perhaps our complacency may be rooted in a tendency to live in the past. The past, both the good and the bad tend to keep us stuck in the present. If we have failed in the past then we may allow the past to tell us that we can or cannot be. We allow the past to destroy what God has for us in the present. Don’t get bogged down. Theodore Roosevelt said, "The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. Don’t live in the past. God will tell us also: "You have stayed too long in this place.”

If necessary, start over. Whatever it takes, get moving again and expect the best from your life. Expecting the best means, don’t look anymore to the negative areas of your life. Always be positive. Did you know that Mohammed Ali only lost two fights in his lifetime? And both of these fights had one thing in common that was different from all the other fights: in a press conference prior to the fight, he said, "Now, if I lose this fight..." It’s the only time he ever said it, and he lost them both. Expecting the best means looking for the positive areas of your life. Don’t focus on the negative. Don’t get stuck. Move to the new level that God has ready for you.

CREATED FOR COMMUNITY

Acts 2:44 “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”

The huge redwood trees in California are amazing. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and more than 2,500 years old. You would think that trees that large would have a tremendous root system, reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth. But that is not the case. Redwoods have a very shallow root system. The roots of these trees are, however, intertwined. They are tied in with each other; interlocked. Thus, when the storms come and the winds blow the redwoods still stand.

With an interlocking root system they support and sustain each other. They need one another to survive. So do we. So God has given us his church which is the body of Christ on earth. When one comes to Christ, they become a part of the body of Christ. Through Christ we are bound together in a community of faith. Belonging to Christ means we belong to each other. Fellowship with Christ means fellowship with each other. Through Christ, God has made us a family, a community of faith. This is our God-given support system. As such, it is intended to meet some crucial needs in our lives.

It could not have easy to serve Christ in the first century. Times were tough and persecution rampant. The early believers were bound together into a fellowship, a community. They needed each other; there is strength in numbers. - It also isn’t easy for us to follow Christ and truly live for him. Discouragement. Temptation. Sin. Apathy. Failure. Materialism. Unbelieving family and friends. Doubts. Rejection. Unanswered questions. We face so many obstacles in our desire to live for the Lord. God however has not left us on our own to run the race and fight the battle. He has given us each other.

In his book The Connecting Church, Author Randy Frazee writes, “The experience of authentic community is one of the purposes God intends to be fulfilled by the church. The writings of Scripture lead one to conclude that God intends the church, not to be one more bolt on the wheel of activity in our lives, but the very hub at the center of one’s life…..”

We were created for community. The journey of life and faith is often trying, difficult and painful. In Christ we are a community of faith, a special place where we can minister and be ministered to. We need each other. Therefore, the community of faith needs to be a priority in our lives.

The closer we stand in community, the more we will be able to hold up. Throughout our lives and especially during tough times, God desires to strengthen and empower us through the community of believers. He expects us to support each other during the storms of life. That is why we need to be an active part of a community of faith. We need others and they need us.

Be encouraged today to connect with those that God has placed in your life. We should never try to go it alone. Relationships are vital to our growth and development. Never discount them. Cherish each and every one. Grow together and live blessed.

A ROLLING STONE

Mark 16:6 “"Don't be alarmed," he said.”You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

The world has heard many important messages, learned many great truths and experienced many dramatic and life-changing events. But none of them can come close to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed this is the heart of the Christian faith and nothing in the history of the world can match the significance of Jesus being raised from the dead because when Jesus rose from the dead, He proved that He was exactly who He claimed to be and had accomplished what He came to accomplish. His resurrection confirmed that death is not the end for the believer but a through road to eternity. This has been the hope of God’s people throughout history and it is a hope that depends on the resurrection of Jesus Christ because His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. The resurrection may be denied, it may be despised, it may be mocked, men may make an effort to explain it, to give some rational arguments to explain the phenomena, but it is the only hope of life after death, the only hope of eternal salvation, the only hope of being with God in glory forever. Without the resurrection of Christ there would have been no gospel and the cross would have been totally unnecessary. But the Lord has truly risen.

This is the reason why the Gospels do not end with Jesus’ death and burial. Instead of ending with despair and heartbreak they end with joy and the hope of a new life. Jesus Christ “was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”. Before the resurrection, Christ had appeared before two human courts, the religious court of the Jewish Council and the secular court of the Roman Governor. Both these courts rejected his claim to be the Son of God and condemned him to death. Furthermore, both these courts had united to prevent any breaking open of his grave. The tomb was made secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a Roman guard at the site. The seal of the Roman emperor had all the power and authority of Rome behind it and a Roman guard consisted of a sixteen-man security unit of well-trained soldiers. In spite of these precautions on the third day the seal was broken, the soldiers were completely paralyzed and Christ rose from the tomb.

By this act God reversed the decisions of the Jewish council and the Roman Governor and publicly declared that the claim of Christ to be the sinless Son of God was true. The resurrection confirms that every promise of God is true. If all that he said about his death and resurrection were fulfilled, then his other promises had to be true and would also be fulfilled. The resurrection confirms God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation to every repentant sinner who puts his faith in Christ as “He was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Our justification depends on the resurrection of Christ for had Christ remained on the cross, or in the grave, God’s promise to the sinner of salvation and eternal life would also not be fulfilled. If Christ is not risen from the dead, then he has no power to pardon or save us. But if he is risen, then this is proof of his power to pardon and save. It is only the risen Christ, received and confessed by faith, who brings to the sinner pardon, peace, eternal life and victory over sin. We celebrate a stone that rolled away. We celebrate a risen savior. Because he is alive – we live.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Malachi 3:6 “I am the LORD, and I do not change.”

There are many things that are changing rapidly all around us. We are living in a constantly changing world – and as the years go by the rate at which the changes occur are increasing more and more. Practically every phase of life changes. Travel has changed – from horse and buggy in my great-grandparents time to auto and air today. We hardly even take notice when a space shuttle sends someone to space any more. Political methods have changed – from absolute monarchs to democracies. The entire medical field has changed – things that were once impossible are now routine, and what used to take weeks or months to heal is now outpatient. Times have definitely changed.

In our scripture, God was referring to his own qualities of patience, long-suffering and mercy when he said, “I am the Lord, I change not…” The word Lord here is the Hebrew word Jehovah. His name Jehovah means that he is the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient God who created and sustains it all. He never had a beginning and will never have an ending. God has always been, always is and will always be. God is more awesome than I’ll ever understand and infinitely more complex than I can ever hope to explore. He transcends all time, all space, all knowledge, and every other dimension you can come up with.

God existed before the heavens and earth were made, and he will exist long after they have been destroyed. God causes the universe to change, but in contrast to this change he is the same. James said that our God is the “Father of lights, with whom is no variation, neither shadow of turning.” The writer of Hebrews said that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.”

This is great for you and me. It means that God will never change the way that he feels about us. God loves man and created him to have a relationship with him. He loved the first man Adam in the garden before he sinned, and he loved that man after sin entered the picture. We ought to be thankful today that God doesn’t change the way he feels about us. He loves you just as much today as he has ever loved you and no matter what you do you won’t change that. You can’t make God love you any more – and you can’t make God love you any less. Even if you feel that you have wrecked your lives with sin and shame, you’ve thrown away your opportunities, you’ve walked on the grace and mercy of God, you turned your back on him, yet he stands there with open arms waiting to receive you to himself. He loves us.

I am thankful that even today when I mess up, when my pride gets in the way, when my impatience gets in the way, when I don’t love people like I ought to, when I don’t take my life as serious as I ought to, when I neglect his word and prayer that through it all God loves me.

How can God love me through all of that? How can God love you through all of that? How can God continue to love man when man treats God with such contempt? He can love us this way because he does not change – his mercy endures forever.

IT IS FINISHED

John 19:30 “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Finishing. This is one of the hardest things for man to do. Man is a great starter, we are quick to embark upon things that need to be done but lack the strength many times to carry it through. Man, though his intentions are true and sincere, lacks the ability to finish what he starts. Max Lucado states that, “Our human tendency is to quit too soon and our human tendency is to stop before we get to the finish-line. Our inability to finish what we start is seen in the smallest of things like: a partly mowed lawn, a half read book, a letter begun but never completed, an abandoned diet, a car up on blocks or it shows up in the most painful of areas: like an abandoned child, a cold faith, a job hopper, and wrecked marriage.”

In our life we are tempted to quit so many times because of the odds and enemies that have come to stop our successes in God. If you feel like quitting remember that Jesus was tempted in every point as we are yet without quitting. He felt like quitting but pressed to victory. It is finished is not a cry of defeat but a cry of relief, victory and fulfillment. He took the bitterness of defeat and transformed it into a finished victory. He absorbed our defeats against sin, Satan and self and accepted this victory by proclaiming – It Is Finished!

The Greek word is “Tetelestai” which in our version of the scripture is translated, "It is finished." Archaeologists have repeatedly found its Latin equivalent, consummatum est, scrawled across tax receipts used in those days, indicating it also meant "paid," A renowned Presbyterian professor has speculated that many standing near the cross probably interpreted the Savior’s words as having that connotation. With sin’s account settled, our debt of guilt was wiped out.

Our redeemer’s glorious cry of “It is finished” was the death knell of all the adversaries of his people. Psalms 76:3 says “There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle.” The Hero of Golgotha used his cross as an anvil and his sorrows as a hammer, dashing to bits the bundle after bundle of our sins. He snuffed every poisoned arrow of the bow and trampled on every indictment and accusation. He struck down with his hammer the darts of the enemy that try to pierce our soul. He has pulled out Satan’s sword from its sheath and busted it across his knee like a piece of dried wood and cast it into the fire. No sin of a believer can now be an arrow to mortally wound him; no more can condemnation be a sword to kill him, for the punishment of sin was borne by Christ. The full price was paid by our substitute, Jesus Christ. Who can accuse you now? Who can condemn you now that Jesus has justified you? Christ is the one that died and rose again. He emptied the quivers of hell and broke off the head of the arrows of wrath. On the ground lays the splinters and relics of the weapons of hell’s warfare. This only remains visible to remind us of our former danger and great deliverance. Sin has no more dominion over us. Jesus made an end of it for us.

No matter what you may be facing today, remember that Christ died for you. He won so many victories for all of us on the cross. Don’t quit. Keep holding on. Live in the triumph that he has gained for you.

SEIZE SELF-CONTROL

Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”

Each of the different characteristics of the fruit of the spirit focuses on how we respond to God and how we treat other people. Joy and faithfulness are expressed vertically while peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness bear directly on how we interact with others. And love, which has both a horizontal and vertical dimension.

Nestled among the fruit of the spirit is the seemingly out-of-place fruit of self-control. This characteristic of a Christ-follower seems to focus more on me instead of on my relationships with other people. I can exercise self-control when I’m the only person in the house. In fact, sometimes the hidden, private moments when no one else is looking is precisely when I need self-control the most.

However, if we properly exercise the fruit of self-control, it will benefit those around us. In some ways, we might consider this virtue the most important because without self-control the works of the flesh cannot be overcome and the other elements of the fruit of the spirit will not be evident.

When the Greeks wanted to illustrate self-control, they built a statue of a man or a woman in perfect proportion. To them, self-control was the proper ordering and balancing of the individual. Aristotle once said, “I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.” Plato believed that our animal urges must be governed or else they will produce “a feverish state in the soul, a city of pigs” which knows no limits. When we’re not self-controlled, our life is like a pigsty.

The word translated “self-control” in the NIV is rendered “temperance” in the King James Version. It comes from the word “strength” and means, “one who holds himself in.” To be self-controlled is to not live in bondage to the desires, passions and appetites of the flesh. My body is a good servant but a miserable master.

Is it possible to display self-control in our self-centered and self-seeking culture? Most all of us need it and want it, but some of us may feel like there’s no hope. Perhaps you’ve tried to control these areas before but have struck out so many times that you just feel like giving up.

In his excellent book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes: “Our ordinary method of dealing with ingrained sin is to launch a frontal attack. We rely on our willpower and determination. Whatever may be the issue for us – anger, fear, bitterness, gluttony, pride, lust, substance abuse –we determine never to do it again; we pray against it, fight against it, and set our will against it. But the struggle is all in vain, and we find ourselves once again morally bankrupt…”

Let’s face it. We’ve been created with a multitude of moods, passions, and desires. They all need managing. They must be under control or they will end up controlling us. Lewis Smedes says that self-control is like the “conductor of a symphony orchestra.” Under the conductor’s baton the multitude of talented musicians can play the right notes at the right time at the right volume so that everything sounds just right.

Likewise, our appetites and longings have their proper place. Self-control is the Holy Spirit’s baton in our hearts under whose skillful direction everything stays in its proper place and comes in at just the right time. To be self-controlled is to be Spirit-controlled.

There is no way we can develop self-control on our own. There are more than enough things pulling us back into unrestrained living. The good news is that you don’t have to give in to them, or into your own desires. As you submit and surrender to the Spirit’s control, you can experience freedom and power that you’ve not seen before.