Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Exod 21–23
Chronological Order: Gen 32–34
Overflowing And Satisfied
Is Jesus sufficient? What I mean by that is to ask is He able to meet your needs? Now I’m sure you believe He is able to meet your spiritual and eternal needs but what about your mental, emotional, and physical needs today? You may intellectually believe that He is capable of meeting these needs as well but I wonder if deep down you really believe it with all that you are. Brothers, I’m not suggesting I’m holier than thou. There are times when my behavior shows that I still doubt God’s provision and sufficiency. I believe He is sufficient intellectually but when I worry about my wellbeing or my future I am really showing my doubt.
In today’s reading Jesus once again feeds a multitude – this time it is four thousand people. Jesus took seven loaves and a few small fish and not only fed all of these people but when the scraps were taken up there were seven baskets full of leftovers – more than what He started with. Jesus is not only capable of meeting our needs but far exceeding them. Why were there leftovers? There were leftovers because everyone ate their fill and they were satisfied and Jesus’ provision was more than enough. Can you imagine feeling satisfied in every way? I’ve always loved the following verse:
John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
When I read that verse I get a sense that Jesus isn’t simply talking about eternal life though that is certainly part of it. No, I feel strongly that Jesus is talking about all of existence; He wants us to not only get by in life but to have an abundant life. Now I have had my times of living on the mountaintop. I have had times when I felt truly close to God and I want to tell you my life never felt so complete or full as during those times. I was content. I was joyful. I was satisfied. Once there, why didn’t I remain there? Well that’s due to the other part of that verse concerning the thief. You see Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. He seeks to steal from us what Christ came to give us.
How does Satan accomplish such a theft? He does this by causing us to search for the wrong things to meet our needs. We seek financial security. We seek a nicer job, or house, or spouse. We seek nicer things. We seek money, food, cars, sex, sports, booze, drugs, and on and on. On some level we think each of these things will make us happy and yet after acquiring these things we feel even emptier. We just can’t seem to be satisfied.
When I felt satisfied in my closeness with God I sought after nothing more than His presence and I was satisfied. My needs were met. Perhaps another verse comes to your mind as I say this.
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
We read that verse not all that long ago. In context Jesus was speaking about this very issue of God’s sufficiency. Brothers, if all I ever did was focus on all the things that I didn’t have that the world values, if I only focused on my hurts and fears and wants, I would be living the life Satan wants me to have. Fortunately my eyes have been opened. God has blessed me incredibly and I know it. I’m living a fairy tale. I’m living a happily ever after ending. My cup sure does overflow. With all my blessings there is only one bit of it worth anything and it is that which flows from a close walk with my God, my Savior, my King. He is sufficient and I am satisfied. I hope you are too.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Chronological: Job 1–3
The Karate Kid
Today we read of the temptation of Christ. Jesus had just been baptized and the next thing we know he is wandering in the wilderness for an extended period of time without food or water. I wonder how many of us can relate to that. I accepted Christ with a fire in my heart. Over the years, however, there were times when my spiritual life seemed to dry out. At times I even felt, and acted, as if I was lost. When did Satan come to tempt Christ, when He was His strongest or weakest? Satan attacks when we are at our weakest.
Satan’s first jab was directed at Jesus’ physical weakness – hunger. His body needed food but His mission was not to serve Himself but His Father in Heaven. Jesus parried Satan’s thrust of temptation by using that great two-edged sword – the Word of God. Jesus knew God’s holy Word and He knew how to handle it appropriately. You’ll notice that Satan attempted to use this sword as well but in a self-serving, and thus inappropriate, way. Jesus easily deflected Satan’s repeated attacks. He was able to do this because He knew God’s Word. He had studied and memorized God’s Word and was prepared, even when at His weakest, to defend Himself.
Do you see why it is so important to spend daily time in God’s Word? If you haven’t figured it out yet let me inform you that you are in the midst of a spiritual battle. If you submitted your life to Christ you have enlisted in the Army of God and that makes you a prime target for the forces of darkness. Are you walking out into that battlefield every day without your armor? If you do take your sword with you, do you know how to use it appropriately? You can’t just go around swinging that thing wildly – someone will get hurt. No my friend you must put yourself through spiritual warfare boot-camp and then you must hone your skills every day.
I once heard it said that we cannot fight God’s battles with Satan’s weapons. I find that brilliant and, after some reflection, rather obvious. Lies, deceit, hate, murder, theft, self-centeredness – do you think you can go to war on the side of God using those weapons? Of course you can’t. Your weapons are selflessness, charity, truth, love, prayer, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Find yourself a mentor, a spiritual Mr. Miyagi, and do the daily grind of “wax on, wax off” exercises to strengthen your spiritual muscles and to develop your skill in wielding your spiritual weapons. (Forgive the Karate Kid metaphor – I realize not everyone is familiar with that movie)
Bottom line, Jesus has given you an example of how to fight against the darkness. Learn the lesson. Develop your spiritual knowledge and skills so you will be ready for battle even when you find yourself at your lowest.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Back in God’s Presence
Today is the end of 2011. I hope it has been a good year for you and your family. I also hope that you found our year of reading through the Bible in chronological order a blessing; it has truly blessed me. As we finish reading the last chapters in Revelation which describe the coming reign of Jesus the Christ, I think it appropriate to review.
Back in Genesis we saw that man started in a perfect relationship with God. He created a being in His own image and then split that image into man and woman. We lived an ideal, perfect life back then. We were His stewards of this world He created and in the evenings He would walk with us in the cool of the evening. He gave us only one rule; don’t eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. We could eat of any other tree including the Tree of Life.
One rule and we couldn’t even obey that. How did Satan entice Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit? He told two lies. He said that if we ate of that fruit we could be like God and he said that we would not die. Why did we believe it? We believed it because we wanted to believe it. We wanted to be our own gods. We didn’t want to have to obey anyone. Satan seduced us with the very thing that seduced him, godhood.
What was God’s response? Disobedience to God is sin. Our sin separates us from Him. We could no longer walk with Him in the Garden of Eden. Why? In the garden was the Tree of Life. Why did God not want us to partake of that tree after we disobeyed Him? Remember that it wasn’t out of bounds before our sin but after. Satan sinned by wanting to be God himself. He lives forever. He is unredeemable. If, after eating of the forbidden fruit we also ate of the Tree of Life we too would be unredeemable; we would be forever trapped in our sin, separated from God forever. God put mankind out of the Garden of Eden as the first step in His plan for redemption.
Do you remember how Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin with a fig leaf? They attempted to cover their own sin which wasn’t possible. Only blood could cover sin so God killed two animals to create for them a covering. We cannot cover our own sin; we cannot work our way back into His presence. After putting them out of the garden, God placed an angel with a flaming sword at the entrance. The only way back into God’s presence was through death.
Further demonstrating our inability to work our way back into His presence is the story of Cain and Abel. Abel offered the blood of a lamb to cover his sin. Cain wanted to earn his way back into God’s good graces so he offered not blood but the works of his own hand. Cain’s offering was rejected. You cannot earn your way back into the presence of God.
The Bible goes on to demonstrate our complete filthiness before a holy God. It shows us that we cannot obey one of God’s rules nor 600. It shows us that we need a savior. We need someone to walk up to that angel at the entrance of God’s presence and take that flaming sword right in the heart. We run from death but Jesus walked right up to it and accepted it as an eternal sacrifice for our sins. That is the story of the Bible. It is a story of hope, of redemption. It is a story that billions of people on the face of the planet Earth need to hear. It is a story your Savior has commanded you to tell. Will you tell it?
In closing I’d like to make a suggestion. I find that the end of a year is a good time to sit back and assess where I’ve been over the past year and where I hope to go in the next. It is particularly helpful to do a spiritual assessment. How have you grown spiritually over the last year? Which areas of your spiritual life saw improvement and which areas were a struggle? What changes will you make in the year to come to become more like Jesus Christ? What behavior is God’s Holy Spirit urging you to change?
When we accepted Christ we became a new person. Our challenge ever since has been to continue down the road of discovery. We need to continue down the road of sanctification which is really a process of discovering who we are in Christ. We can’t work our way back into God’s presence but through the saving grace of Jesus Christ we have been cleansed from our sin. Where we once could not obey 1 or 600 of God’s commands we now can, because His Holy Spirit resides within us. It is not us but Christ who lives within us that makes us able to come into God’s presence. Take full advantage of that great gift. Make a plan to become more like Christ in the year to come. He will help you do it.
Have a blessed day and year to come!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Prepare For Action!
There is a war coming. No, I do not mean an earthly war with Iran, or China, or North Korea. I mean a spiritual war. Throughout history this war has been going on in what I would describe as low-intensity conflict. The forces of evil have waged a coordinated guerilla war on the Children of God. This type of war seeks to draw us into an ambush by appealing to our old self. The forces of darkness tease us with appeals to the flesh. Have you heard the following quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson?
“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
Satan attempts to sow a thought that will lead to an action to a habit to a character to a destiny. All he needs is for you to take that first step and you will slide down that slippery slope all by yourself. I think Peter hints at this battle in today’s reading when he says the following.
1 Peter 2:11
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
So we are to abstain from the passions of the flesh? Why? Because these passions wage war against our souls. But how are we to fight against these passions? Peter gives us an idea about that in today’s reading as well.
1 Peter 1:13-16
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Do you realize you are in a battle? Even armies that are not at war prepare themselves for action. How much more seriously do they take preparation for battle when a war has been declared? Brothers, we cannot afford to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. We must be holy because God is holy. We must prepare our minds for action. We must be in God’s Word every day. We must make it a daily habit to go before the Lord in prayer, not simply to ask for stuff, but to build our relationship with Him, not so He can know our heart but that we can no His.
You cannot win this battle in your own strength. Now is the time for real men in Christ to cling firmly to their savior, sword, and shield. Do not blindly stumble onto the battle field my friend. Put first things first. Prepare for action!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
If Peter Can Do It So Can You
Peter is a fascinating character. He seems to me to have been a man of great passions. I think he sometimes took action before he thought. I’m reminded of the times Jesus rebuked him during His earthly ministry. Many a time Jesus is quoted as saying to His disciples things like “Ye of little faith” or “How long will I be with you”; He even said to Peter once “get behind me Satan”. Peter, as well as the other disciples, never seemed to get things exactly right. At one point the disciples had to call for Jesus to help them cast a demon out of a possessed person because they couldn’t get the job done themselves. Jesus had to correct them at another point because they were arguing amongst themselves as to which of them would be greatest in heaven. Even at the end Peter claimed that he would follow Jesus even in to death only to then deny Him three times.
After the crucifixion Peter and the rest of the disciples locked themselves away in fear. They thought Jesus was the Messiah and yet he was dead. Remember these guys had Jesus personally teaching them about Himself, His mission, and God. Still they didn’t get it. In today’s reading we read something rather spectacular. Today we see Peter perform a miracle that previously only Jesus had performed.
Acts 9:36-41
“Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.”
Peter raised Tabitha from the dead just as Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. How did Peter get this kind of power? Earlier he couldn’t cast out a demon now he can raise the dead! Did Peter get his power because he suddenly “really” believed that Jesus was the Son of God? No my friend, Peter was one of the first to believe Jesus was who He said He was. From the day Peter left his fishing boat to follow Christ until this point and even until his death he was a work in progress. Here we see Peter raise a woman from the dead. Later Paul will have to rebuke Peter for his two-faced treatment of gentiles.
You see brothers, we are all works in progress. Upon submitting our lives to the authority of Christ we begin a long journey toward the character of Christ. We are saved in an instant, we are born again in an instant, but we never finish discovering the new person Christ re-created us to be. We will stumble, we will sin, and we will hurt as a result, but if we are faithful we will slowly become more and more like Christ every day.
What do you do when you stumble? Do you quit? Do you give in to the sin that desires to have you? I hope not. I hope your response is to turn to Christ in prayer, confess your sin, ask Him to give you the strength to resist, and then pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go boldly forward toward your eternal destiny. Remember, if Peter can do it so can you!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Self-centeredness – Get Behind Me Satan!
Today’s reading provides a number of great lessons by Jesus. At one point Jesus was preparing His disciples for His coming suffering and death. Peter told Jesus that He should not allow such a thing to happen. Remember that Peter understood who Jesus was – He was the Son of God, the Anointed of God. If Jesus had wanted to destroy all sinners and all who stood in His way at the time of His earthly ministry, He had the power to do just that. You do understand that wiping out those who would kill you is a temptation for any human being don’t you? Peter was tempting Jesus to do His own will rather than the will of His Father. In response Jesus showed us how to deal with temptation.
Mark 8:31-33
“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’”
What was the problem with Peter’s way of thinking? His way of thinking reflected a focus on what he wanted rather than what God wanted. This in and of itself is sin and frankly I fear it is the greatest problem facing the church today. We are to be focused on God not ourselves. Jesus makes this clear later on in today’s reading.
Luke 9:23-25
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”
What good is getting everything you want only to lose all that you need? Would you throw away a mountain of treasure for a pile of garbage? That is in fact what we are doing when we keep our minds focused on ourselves and our selfish desires rather than on God and His will. You’ve probably noticed that after every post I write “Dying to self, living to serve!” That theme was developed from the verse above. As we grow to spiritual adulthood we must lose more and more of our self-centeredness and gain more and more God-centeredness. It is hard. It is uncomfortable. We will fail often but relentlessly the maturing Christian will become like Christ in that regard.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Matthew 15:29–16:12
