"This I Know - God Is For Me"

If you've ever had a trusted friend suddenly, and for no real reason, turn on you as though you were a stranger, then you can relate to David's sad lament at Psalm 55. His prayer was probably written some time in the middle of his 40 year reign over Israel and later turned into a song for worship with stringed instruments. That's just a guess on my part but having studied his life and his Psalms for a long time, this is one of many that sound like they fit with David's struggles during that period.

"My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me and horror overwhelms me." V:4-5 ESV
"For it is not an enemy who taunts me - then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me - then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together, within God's house we walked in the throng." V:12-14 ESV
"My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. His speech was as smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords." V:20-21 ESV


We can be surprised by a long list of possible tragedies in this life. But betrayal of any kind is especially upsetting and difficult to get past. It's hard to trust anyone after an incident like David has described be it friend, employer, spouse, fiancee, relative or as David seems to intimate, a brother in the Lord. You just expect better from someone who has cultivated your confidence and given you every reason to trust them. But, it just doesn't always work out that way.

If you are struggling with ANY kind of tragic outcome from the breakup of a marriage or engagement to a seemingly irreversible breakdown of your health or someone you love, indeed if you are suffering in any way at all, David has a word for you that he too learned from bitter experience -

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." V:22 ESV
"You have kept my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. THIS I KNOW, THAT GOD IS FOR ME. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?" V:8-11 ESV HALLELUJAH!

"Life - Death - LIFE!"

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24 NIV

So what does one do with the knowledge that death is imminent? I'm thinking right now of several brothers and sisters for whom I and many others have been interceding in prayer for their healing, comfort and peace. Just in our spiritual family we have been praying for more than twenty people who are directly connected to that church family who are battling with cancer. A few have died, a few more are staring death in the face and some have had successful treatments that have prolonged their lives a bit longer.

Mortality is the one fact of life that is inescapable. We're all headed down the same path and whether today or tomorrow or forty years from now, reality catches up to us and we have to deal with it. I don't sit around and think about dying, well at least not very much, because I'm still healthy and able to carry on with my life. But, I am realistic enough to know that my body is deteriorating faster than I had expected. And, I think it a healthy exercise in living to give serious consideration to the end of my life as I've known and lived it.

What I DO think about a lot is what I have to look forward to. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I have been given the GREATEST BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL, God my Father. Actually, that, for me, constitutes the greatest blessing of life, PERIOD! Peter said it very clearly at 1Peter 3:18 -

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."

Because of Jesus Christ, God has reached out to me and drawn me back to himself and that just absolutely TRUMPS everything else in my experience. Of course I had to respond to God's love with faith and serious obedience, but the payoff beats everything else I might have achieved or received in this life.

When I served as an elder in a Dallas church, I went with one of our deacons to visit his neighbor who was dying with cancer. As we entered her bedroom, her mother, who had come from Tennessee to care for her was silently weeping in a nearby chair. I sat down on the bed beside the lady and took her hand and asked how I might serve her. She looked into my eyes and said, "I'm afraid of dying. Can you help me to not be so afraid?" Very gently I began to question her about her relationship with Jesus Christ and her faith in God. She affirmed both but I could tell neither was really strong or real enough to help her see past her present condition. So, I opened my Bible and read Jesus' words from John 5, then turned to Hebrews and read these words to her -

"Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid." Hebrews 13:5-6

We prayed together, I prayed then she prayed then I prayed again. Three days later she died. Her mother told me she died in faith, without fear and thanked me again for encouraging them both.

When we really see the truth Jesus came to show us, death is merely one huge step in a better direction. We can take that step with courage and faith, even in the midst of horrific pain and suffering, because we now can feel the greatest blessing of the gospel, God has embraced us in love. I've been very privileged to actually witness that pivotal moment. HALLELUJAH!

"Thinking About God"

Many years ago on a deserted stretch of beach in San Juan, PR, I made the life changing decision to LOOK UP for the first time in a long time. At the end of a long night of introspection I came to the realization that I had literally lost my mind. So, just after dawn that Sunday morning, I walked the short distance from that small bar to the beach, removed my shoes and walked. All day. Back and forth. Thinking and praying. For the first time in my life, I just talked to God honestly. By the time I arrived at the Naval Base later that afternoon, my head was clear and my heart was full. The promise I made to God that day put me on a course that I have tried to follow since.

A few years ago when I began to create this blog, one of my primary motives was to exalt God as Father to all who willingly submit their own spirit to his guidance. Like any father, he only wants what is best for his kids but we must learn to pay attention, to listen to him. There are many distractions that can take us in directions that wont end well, particularly during the early teenage years when we are more influenced by peers and often the wrong heroes. But, like any truly caring father, God never gives up, never quits, never abandons us to our own ignorance of obvious reality. Such was true in my case, for which I am more grateful today than at any other time in my life.

For a long time I have loved Paul's Doxology at the end or Romans 11 -

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him?
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! AMEN."

 That praise of God should be spoken in my heart daily to remind myself of the greatness of God my Father. I wont ever have the capacity to fully comprehend all that it means, it's just to deep for my small mind. But, I can learn to appreciated what it means for my life because Paul didn't stop there -

"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.  Romans 12:1 NIV

I really appreciate these words from The Message -

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your every day, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out."  Romans 12:1-2

That just kinda says it all. HALLELUJAH!

"A Slave of Christ Jesus?"

The word "slave" offends all that is human and spiritual in my heart. For that reason, Paul's way of introducing himself to the Roman Christians may seem a bit extreme to some folks.

"Paul a slave of Christ Jesus called to be an Apostle and set apart for the gospel of God." Romans 1:1

In a recent Wednesday night Bible class we were discussing why Paul would use the word "doulos/slave" to introduce himself. It turned out to be quite a lively discussion which concluded two obvious reasons:
1) That is how Paul saw himself in relation to Jesus
2) Most of those Christians in Rome were living slavery and Paul wanted to identify with them

I have a subjective opinion that Paul may have been the first of the Apostles to identify himself as a "slave of Christ Jesus". He uses that term in relation to himself many times in his writings, as did the other Apostolic authors of the New Testament, but I can easily see those Jewish men having the same extreme reaction to the word that I have. Maybe not, but I can easily see the other Apostles learning from Paul the absolute extreme spiritual benefit in seeing themselves in that way. Me too!

Paul's favorite word to describe Jesus and their unique relationship is "LORD/MASTER". Undoubtedly all people of faith in Jesus think of him as Lord just like Paul did but for us that word may only be a word that we have read in the Bible. For Paul it was always about relationship. When he wrote his second letter to Timothy, he called himself a "prisoner" of Jesus. He used many such terms because that was how he saw himself before his Lord.

The thought occurred to me as I was walking that Wednesday morning, DOES JESUS SEE PAUL AS PAUL SAW HIMSELF - JESUS' SLAVE? After turning that thought over in my mind several minutes I took it to the next level, DOES JESUS SEE ME AS HIS SLAVE?

In the Greco Roman culture the lowest of the low were those slaves who were slaves by choice. That describes Paul and me too. I am by choice a slave of Christ of Jesus. But does he see me in that way - a slave of the lowest caste. So I asked my class that question which sparked much animated discussion. Finally I asked them to read Jesus' own words -

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you." John 15:13-15

I think Jesus was urging his Apostles to see him in a very different way, a way that allowed him to be both man and God, not just a controversial Rabbi, and allowed them to draw strength from him for the trials they were about to encounter. He truly wanted them to see him as "friend". Me too! I also think Jesus wanted them to see each other as "friends" rather than adversaries competing to become the greatest among peers.

Possibly much later, Paul also wrote these words -

"Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family, so he is not ashamed to call them brothers". Hebrews 2:11

Seeing myself as a "slave of Christ Jesus" is a good, spiritually healthy context to live before him. He IS my LORD and I have willfully submitted my whole life and commitment to him as his slave. But, it sure is a great comfort to my spirit to know he loves me enough to give his life in total, willing sacrifice to give me life that truly is life. And, his Holy Spirit constantly assures my own spirit every good and bad day, that Jesus sees me as his friend and brother. He sees me as family.   HALLELUJAH!

"Drifting Away"

"It's critical that we keep a firm grip on what we've heard so that we don't drift off. If the old message delivered by angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all it was delivered in person by the Master, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles as he saw fit." Hebrews 2:1-4 MSG

The realization that I have NO IDEA what God is doing in the heart and life of any person was truly an earthquake moment. That was the result of years of study and meditation on scriptures that before had seemed so clear, but had become much clearer in the light of that realization. Like so many Bible teachers and church leaders, even college professors under whom I sat, the assumption that the "age of miracles ceased with the death of the Apostles of Christ" was just not open for question. For some reason that conclusion always kind of bothered me but I never really challenged it in my own spirit. Over the years as I continued to study and think and observe, my hesitancy to question the assumption I had been taught, slowly began to spawn a new awareness of God's Spirit in my own life.

God always does whatever he pleases because he is God, even all kinds of things I may not understand or can explain. Paul sums it up for me at 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."

 None of us require the same "signs and miracles" to be repeated today to know who Jesus Christ is. That fact has already been adequately confirmed by the Holy Spirit, I can read all the true evidence I need for that confirmation. However, God and his Spirit are still actively working in whatever way the Father wills to achieve his eternal purpose. That working may manifest itself in all kinds of ways that wont fit with the majority experience. Just because I have no answer, no plausible explanation for some specific occurrence doesn't mean God did or did not cause it to happen. However, if I didn't fully embrace 1 Corinthians 12:6 as being applicable to me too, I see no reason to even pray.

The really scary part however is the idea of "drifting away" if we fail to pay attention to what God has said, what he has done and what he is doing. "Drifting away" is rarely, if ever, an intentional result. We can easily become careless with our faith however and fail to allow it to grow beyond where we are at any time. For me, the Holy Spirit is the constant from the days of Paul and those early Christians to today.

As I reflect back, I think what I was taught about the Holy Spirit from the time I became a Christian as a young teen caused me to virtually ignore him. Actually I was never taught about the Spirit at all. But when I slowly continued to study for myself in earnest, gradually I have become acquainted with him in my life. The huge difference he has made is this - my faith is no longer attached to the church in any form or by any name. My faith is now totally, gratefully anchored in Jesus Christ, not me, not my heritage, not my family, not any church of any kind, forever in my Lord. HALLELUJAH!

"An Open Invitation"

"Jesus stood and in a loud voice said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given." John 7:37-39 NIV

When Jesus made this very bold statement a sharp debate erupted immediately among his hearers. Some said, "He is the Prophet" (Deut 18:15). Some said, "He is the Messiah". Others said, "He can't be because he doesn't fit the Scripture". But, when the temple guards reported back to the chief priests and Pharisees and had not arrested Jesus, their explanation was, "No one ever spoke like this man". Then one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus, who had recently spoken with Jesus (John 3), tried to defend him, but the others shouted him down.

The closest "Scripture" I have found that approximates Jesus' promise is at Isaiah 44:3 -
"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground; I will pout my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring."

All through the Bible, especially in the prophets, the Psalms and virtually all of the New Testament, over and over God says in a variety of ways, "COME".  This divine invitation has been the focus of earliest Christian art, poetry and music. I grew up singing, "Come to Jesus, he will save you, though your sins as crimson glow.", and a whole host of similar songs. From the very earliest Christian art, God is depicted as two hands reaching down from above in open invitation.

We have no way of knowing how long John was involved in writing his "Revelation". I have often sat for extended periods trying to visualize this old warrior, the lone remaining Apostle of Jesus, writing down what Jesus said to him and the many visions he received. His isolation on the Isle of Patmos was the perfect setting, away from all distraction, but I believe he was still eager to tell Jesus' story to anyone who would listen. I think it appropriate and revealing that John closes his Revelation with this invitation -

"The Spirit and the bride say "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Revelation 22:17 NIV

That constitutes the same invitation Jesus had issued more than half a century before, only NOW the Holy Spirit is personally and directly involved in its proclamation, in partnership with Jesus' "bride". And those who "hear" still respond in the say way they did when Jesus offered it. Jesus had said that when the Spirit comes "he will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment" but the world doesn't want to hear that today any more than the Pharisees did. The same kind of debate still rages all over the world.

But, many do hear and many are "Coming" to Jesus because they choose to "believe". That will always be true because the Holy Spirit does his work and Jesus' bride, his church, continues to stand before men just like Jesus did, and offer the same open invitation to all who hear and are thirsty for God's love. HALLELUJAH!

"Jesus' Resurrection - Why It Matters"

So, today is Monday, the day after Easter. Does what we thought and did yesterday have an lasting effect on today and tomorrow and next month? As I looked through the myriad of Facebook posts yesterday, I counted only a mere handful that failed to wish "everyone a Happy Easter" or some similar sentiment that was connected to Jesus and his resurrection. That's a good thing. Now we all go on with life as we choose to live it.

The title I chose for this post is stolen from my good friend and brother, Charley Bazzell, the pulpit minister at University Church of Christ in Murray, Ky. His sermon yesterday morning challenged and encouraged all of us to consider why Jesus' resurrection matters. His premise was that celebrating Easter as a holiday for coloring eggs, family gatherings and wearing a new dress or hat or whatever is a good thing if we see more to Easter than any or all of those priorities. Obviously there is much more that can easily become secondary in our personal belief and celebration of the holiday that truly "matters".

Peter wrote these words long before there ever was an Easter celebration -

"Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago." 1 Peter 3:18-20 NIV

Although I am not certain how to interpret Peter's meaning or intention regarding the "spirits in prison" to whom Jesus preached, I feel confident of the message that his statement conveys to me, a message that is directly tied to the ministry of God's Holy Spirit. Peter said the Spirit was responsible for two huge events -
he brought Jesus out of the grave and was in some way active in Jesus preaching to those spirits in prison.

My heart wants to include ME in that number of imprisoned spirits, even though that may be an improbable interpretation at best. The Spirit has now revealed to all the human family for all time, past-present-future, that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God and that his death in a human body and subsequent resurrection was the central element of God's eternal plan so that he could defeat our own ultimate death and give us everlasting victory in Jesus.

Paul wrote these monumental words at 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 -

"Death has been swallowed up in victory" (quoting Isaiah 25:8)
"Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting? (quoting Hosea 13:14)
"The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. Bit thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

I tend to think all of us are included in "the spirits in prison" because we all have been imprisoned by sin and headed toward a dark, hopeless eternity. However, because the Spirit resurrected Jesus from the tomb, we now know that death no longer represents any loss or defeat but victory just as it did in Jesus.

Charley's great message ended with a question - "What does Jesus' resurrection mean to you?" Probably all of us could create a fairly long list in answer to the question, but for me it kinda sums up in this - GOD REALLY DOES LOVE ME! Through his Son and by his Spirit's ministry, I can celebrate victory over death and the grave. Now that's something to celebrate every day!  HALLELUJAH!