Gratitude, the Mother of Virtue
If you need to be more grateful, I suggest you spend more time at the foot of the Cross.
If You Get Where You Are Going, Will You Like Where You Are At?
Is all our going, and doing, and buying and selling getting us where we want to be?
Fear Not, For I Am With Thee
There is a word I'm hearing a great deal these days, it's the word "fear".
Living in The Path of the Blessing
God wants to bless us more than we want to be blessed.
Intimacy with God
There are keys and conditions to Intimacy with God.
The Wonder of His Indwelling Presence
The Bile shows us three kinds of people in the world.
In His Presence
Perhaps the most wonderful thing in life is to be in God's presence.
Answered Prayer
Does God answer prayers long after they are prayed here on earth?
Mentoring
You & I influence others by simply "being" here.
Making Your Life Count
Today, what part of your life is given "on purpose" to mentoring someone else?
Where do we find Peace?
The Bible speaks of a day like ours when "men's hearts fail them for fear."
Gratitude, the Mother of Virtue
Thanksgiving is an American holiday to remind Americans to pause and be grateful. Our forefathers who fled from oppression in Europe came to this continent seeking freedom. When they got here, they stopped to say "thank you"
"Thank you" to whom? Their hearts turned in prayer to say thank you to God. It was He who delivered, sustained, and provided for them. Their gratitude welled up in them and needed expression. Which begs the question, "where does gratitude come from anyway?" We who are blessed to live in America should be among the most grateful people on earth. But are we grateful as a people; or do we take so much for granted?
Harry Emerson Fosdick once said that gratitude is the mother of all virtue. I've given thought to that remark. I think he was correct. Being thankful says a great deal about us. Self-centered people are not grateful. In contrast to gratitude, they assume the world owes them even more. You can measure your character by the depth of your gratitude.
Today we have such a high view of man and such a low view of God. Some presume that God owes us forgiveness because He loves us. If you see God as in debt to man, you will not be thankful for His grace and mercy. Oswald Chambers says of gratitude: "the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. When once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God."
If you need to be more grateful, I suggest you spend more time at the foot of the Cross. There where the blood flows down you can see how God hates the sin and selfishness in you. Jesus Christ hates the wrong in you, and the Cross is the measure of His Hatred. The only way God could love us was to execute His precious Son in our place. Only when you see yourself in the light of Calvary, lost and condemned, can you find a thankful heart. Seeing how lost we are without Him, we can see how much God has loved us. Then and only then can we begin to humbly be thankful. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."
If You Get Where You Are Going, Will You Like Where You Are At?
Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and yet loses his own soul?"Matt.16:26 that's a very good question to ask any American these days. We are the busiest people on the face of the earth. If we aren't doing something, we'll find something to do!
But wait a minute. Is all our going, and doing, and buying and selling getting us where we want to be? Neil Simon in his Broadway play, Plaza Suite, has a couple returning each year to their honeymoon suite @ the Plaza Hotel for a "renewal honeymoon." The couple has been married many years now, and the husband has built great corporations, made millions and become very powerful. Yet, they are not happy. He especially is not satisfied.
When his wife asks him, "what would it take to make you happy? What is it you want to do?" The husband walks over to the penthouse window looking out over New York and says with great passion, "God, I'd like to do it all again." I see the emptiness in that, don't you?
That brings us to the question: "if you get where you're going will you like where you're at?" The answer is no; if you are in pursuit of the wrong values. King Solomon remarked in Eccles. "what does a man do after he becomes King?" He answered his own question by saying, "all is vanity."
What are you about? What does your daily routine look like? You can learn a lot about a persons values by asking a few simple questions:
Where do you spend your money? Look at your check book.
Where do you spend your time? Look at your date book.
Who do you spend time with? Look at your relationships.
Look at your checkbook
All of us are trying to survive in this period of economic recession. However, just one year ago we Americans were in the midst of an unprecedented economic "boom" The Bulls were running Wall Street and Americans were spending their newly acquired wealth. What did you acquire that you don't really need? Perhaps you got what you wanted, but now do you like what you have? Our check book is a true reflection of our values. It reveals what we are "attached to."
Look at your Date book
Where are you spending your time? Have you spent this valuable commodity on business and pleasures to the neglect of people and things that should get your prime time interests? It is a tragedy to get far down the road, and look back not knowing how you got where you are, and not liking where you are. Many a father has seen his children grow up without giving them the time and attention they needed. Sometimes we just need to stop, look at that date book and start eliminating that which should be eliminated, and write in that which needs to be there. We need time with God, time with our family, and time to for self to refresh and grow.
Look at your relationships
One of the best things I ever did as a father was to call my daughter when I'd been out of town several days, and make a date with her. She had three brothers who got lots of my attention, but those dates from time to time let her know how special she was to her Dad. Have you looked at your relationships lately, and seen the neglect, or the lack of depth in them. Learning to nurture the precious relationships God gives us is a valuable thing. Find where you have not given your best time and heart to the best people, and purpose to change that. Do it now.
I ask again, "If you get where you are going, will you like where you're at?"
Fear Not, For I Am With Thee
There are many "verbs" in the Bible that call our attention to multiple human emotions. Action words like believe, bless, rejoice, love, and hope are frequently used to describe our relationship with God. However there is a word I'm hearing a great deal these days, it's the word "fear". People are saying "I'm frightened," or "I'm afraid" as expressions of anxiety to describe their fearful state of mind.
Someone said that you would have to be crazy not to be afraid if you listen to the news media these days. What with warnings of more economic downturn, job layoffs, terrorist attacks, biochemical warfare, and the possibility of Armageddon before us daily, why shouldn't you be fearful?
Mark 6:45-51. describes the disciples of Jesus as in a boat in the midst of a storm on Lake Galilee. As the tempest blew, they feared for their very lives. Jesus was on the shore, observing their fearful state when He started walking toward them. Here was the Lord Jesus walking in the midst of the waves, the storm all about Him, totally in control. The disciples saw Him and thought he was a ghost! They now were more terrified of the ghost than they were of the storm!
This makes me want to ask you two questions: What are you afraid of? What terrifies you the most these days? What storm is rocking your boat? Are you in a storm, and paralyzed by fear. Here is a truth for you to think about: That which frightens you is bigger than your faith in God. Indeed, if your fear controls you, it IS your god. There is a sense in which paralyzing fear is an Idol that stands between you and God. Proverbs says, "the fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe."(Proverbs 29:25) Understand that inordinate fear is the opposite of faith. It dishonors God and destroys our joy. The psalmist reminded us that, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me," Whatever is frightening you, give it to your Father. His perfect love at work in your heart will cast out the fear. (1st John 4:18)
This brings me to the second question: Do you have a healthy fear of the Lord? It is not the spirit of our day to speak of the "fear of the Lord." Perhaps it is due to a misconception of the meaning. Deut.31:12 tells Joshua to, "Assemble the people-men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns-so they can listen and learn to fear your God"Okay, listen and learn, my friend. To fear the Lord your God is to:
Honor and Respect The Lord God as Sovereign Ruler of the Universe.
Trust in Him alone to provide for you and to protect you.
Refuse to put anyone or thing as a priority above Him.
The disciples in the boat, could not see Jesus clearly because of the storm. He looked like a ghost, not their lovely Savior. Yet, He walked on that lake to them and for them to still the fear that gripped their hearts. You and I today need to take our eyes off the things that frighten us and see our Savior God walking toward us. Worship Him, give Him your respect, trust, and fears. Fear disappointing Him more than anything else. Fear Not!
Honor and Respect God as Sovereign Lord of all things.
Living in The Path of the Blessing
God wants to bless us more than we want to be blessed. This is a fact of Scripture. From the loving heart of God flow forth rivers of Blessings. In the Old Testament is recorded the prayer of a man who believed this. His name is Jabez. We read his prayer in 1st Chronicles 4: 9 " and Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "because I bore him with pain."
There are three things that seem remarkable about this introduction to the man named "Pain" (Jabez). First, is that as you read the book of 1st Chronicles, you notice that it is very boring reading for the first four chapters. You notice it is just "begats" from verse to verse. Almost no comment, just line after boring line of "begats." You might as well be reading the phone book! Then just like the Word of God, comes this insightful verse. In the very middle of all the who begat whom, comes the phrase, "and Jabez was more honorable than his brothers." He just "jumps off the page" at you!
The second interesting thing is that he has a funny name. The name Jabez means "pain" or painful. His mother seems to have had a difficult delivery giving birth to him, so she named him "Pain."
Wow! What a way to go through life with your Mom. Every time she calls your name you are reminded of what a pain you are to her!
So, what are the life messages we are to learn from Jabez. It is so obvious the Holy Spirit wants us to learn from this man who alone stands out in the list of "begats."
First, Jabez was an ordinary man. Born in pain he lived with adversity all his life. The only thing extraordinary thing about him is his relationship to God. Can you relate to that? You and I can be special if we can be special to our Heavenly Father. Regardless of how you started out in life, you can live in God's favor and stand in the path of His divine blessing.
Second, Jabez was an honorable man. He was more honorable than his brothers. Does that mean he was more honorable than all the generations before him, or does it mean he was more honorable than his "immediate" family or tribe? It really doesn't matter! He was honorable enough to God that he could ask to be blessed indeed and get what he asked for. What about you? Are you the kind of man God can bless indeed? Notice the prayer of Jabez, "Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed" He doesn't just ask to be blessed; he asks to be blessed "indeed." His prayer is for God to really bless him significantly! Some have found this request to be selfish, or materialistic. Not so! He was an honorable man. How can an honorable man pray a dishonorable prayer that God answered?
The lesson for us is that "the eyes of the Lord go to and fro" seeking a righteous man or woman that He can bless! The lesson is that obedience opens the doors to God's blessing and favor. He loves us all unconditionally, however He has a special place in His heart for the honorable man or woman. Not everyone can be intelligent, wealthy, of noble birth, or physically beautiful and charming. However, we can all be honorable in God's eyes. And, frankly that's the view that matters most. How God views you is ALL that matters.
Thirdly, Jabez prayed the most unusual prayer in the Bible. Listen to it carefully as it has four parts to it. "Oh that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that Thy hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from harm" 1st Chronicles 4: 10
Notice the four parts to his request of God:
1." Bless me indeed"
To some this seems a selfish idea. Why, the very thought of asking God to bless him, give him territory and such is just too self-serving. Yet, Jabez is an honorable man. It seems that because he is an honorable man, he feels he can ask God to trust him with more. Have you ever felt you were on such intimate terms with God that you could ask Him to bless you, even really bless you? This prayer is about the man's relationship with God. He asks God to bless him because he knows God's heart. He feels God is a blessing giving Father. Indeed, this is the picture of God we get from Jesus in Luke 11:9-11. Jesus tells us to ask, seek, knock, and the Father eagerly gives good gifts to his children. You and I have not because we ask not. Also, we have not because for other reasons we feel unworthy to ask the Father to bless us. When you have not an abundant blessing in your life, it tells us more about you than it does about God. An honorable man feels he can go to God and say, "bless me indeed."
2. Enlarge my border
Don't get confused here. This is more than a request for more territory or property on which to graze his sheep. Jabez wanted to increase his influence for God and for Good in the world. He wanted more ministries, to give God greater glory. In his day, only those with land had great influence. (See Proverbs 3:9,10) This is not a selfish prayer from a vain money hungry man. He is available to God to enlarge the circle of his influence. This is an honorable man asking an honorable thing of the King of the universe. To many times we ask to be blessed for selfish and material things only to waste the blessing on ourselves. (See James 4"3)
Every disciple of Jesus should pray this honorable prayer, "God bless me indeed, increase and enlarge my influence, so I can in turn bless you and your kingdom"
To enlarge your borders can mean to make me a better Father, husband, friend, witness, or disciple. It can mean to get you out of your predetermined "comfort zones' so God can lead you into relationships and blessings beyond your wildest dreams. Remember, that to him whom much is given, of that person shall much be required. It is a good thing to ask God to stretch you, and enlarge your influence.
3. Lay your hand upon me
This is a request for God's presence and God's power to be upon him. Jabez needed to feel that God was with him and God's anointing was there in all he did. Only an honorable man prays this kind of prayer. To ask God to lay His mighty hand upon you is to volunteer for service in God's kingdom work. You need God's power to do God's work! We, just like Jabez can ask the Father everyday to lay his hand upon us. We can feel his presence, and go forth in His power.
Need we be reminded that to ask for this from our Holy God is to severely restrict what you do and where you go! God's hand upon a man is an awesome thing! Only a life totally yielding to God's will can be blessed with the Power of God and the very Presence of God.
Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary wrote in his diary:
"Father, make of me a crisis man
Bring those I contact to decision
Let me not be just a milepost on a single road,
But make me to be a fork,
That men must turn one way or another after having faced Christ in me!"
This is the spirit of Jabez, asking God to lay His hand upon him.
4. Keep me from evil (harm)
Jabez, born in pain, and used to living with it, asks the God of his fathers to deliver him from pain. God answered his prayer! The final portion of this wonderful prayer request is that he be protected from evil and pain. This is a prayer you can pray everyday for yourself and for those you love. It is a prayer for God's protection. Peter at Pentecost quotes Psalm 16:11 when he says, "I saw the Lord before my face, He was on my right hand that I should not be moved"(Acts 2:25) every child of God has God's protection if we only have faith to ask for it. He can and will bless you with victory over the Evil One.
See then the four parts to this Jabez prayer:
1) Bless me indeed= God's provision
2) Enlarge my territory= God's purpose
3) Lay your hand upon me=God's presence & power
4) Keep me from harm= God's protection.
What a challenge from God's word for us. This brief reference in Scripture to Jabez is there to inspire us to claim God's blessing in our daily lives. Seek to be a person God can bless "indeed." Ask Him repeatedly, every day to empower, protect, and provide for you, in order that your influence may increase to His glory.
Intimacy with God
David said in the Psalms, "where can I go from thy Presence"
God is everywhere, omnipresent, but that does not mean God is everywhere Personal. He is right here in this room, but I cannot always feel His presence. Yet when I begin to praise His Holy name, He "manifests" His presence because He inhabits the praise of His people. So you see there are keys and conditions to Intimacy with God.
Paul Minerth says "relationships are important. The three most important relationships in life are: 1.Itimacy with God, 2. Intimacy with self, 3. intimacy with others" How can we relate more intimately with God?
Relationship with God is hindered when we fail to understand the horribleness of Sin.
God went to a great deal of trouble to make sin go away, so we could come into His presence. See john 1:14 1st John 2:1,2, 2nd Cor 5:17ff
1. Never take sin lightly, because of it's natural consequences, it earns "wages" we must pay.
See Rom 6:23
2. Never take sin lightly because of its spiritual consequences. It separates us from intimacy with God.
James 1:15 tells us sin will finish intimacy!
Sin Costs God dearly, and it can cost us precious intimacy with the Father. Psalms 66: 18 says, " if I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me when I pray"
Relationship with God is hindered when we fail to understand the wholeness of God's mercy and unconditional love for us.
If you were in a room alone with God's Manifested Presence, how would you feel?? Some would feel only guilt and shame. His presence like a bright light only reveals our unworthiness. Yet, there is true guilt and false guilt. In Rom. 7: 14, we see Paul's true sense of healthy guilt. In Rom 8:1, Paul tells us there is no "condemnation" for those who know Christ. Often, Satan "accuses" us of things (from our past) that God has already forgiven and forgotten! Never allow Satan's false guilt keep you from the Father's loving presence.
The Wonder of His Indwelling Presence
The Bile shows us three kinds of people in the world. It describes us in terms to of our relationship to God. This relationship, or the lack thereof is about you and the Holy Spirit of God.
Three kinds of people in relation to His Spirit:
1. the Natural Man (or person). This is described for us in Jude 19, :"...the natural man, void of the Spirit"
This is the lost person who has no saving relationship to the Spirit of God. He or he does not have the Spirit of God within them. Most people in this world are in this sad position.
2. The Spiritual Man (or person). This person has the Holy Spirit in his or her heart and is walking daily in yielded relationship to God's presence in them. If this is you, then blessed are you as you rejoice in your intimate walk with the Spirit of God.
3. The Carnal Man (person). Amazingly, there is a third person who unlike the natural man, has the Spirit of God, but the Spirit does not "have" him or her. You can be a born again, saved child of God, and not be spiritual or spiritually minded.
Paul describes these people in detail in 1st Corinthians. These "carnal" ( the Greek word is 'fleshly') believers were suing one another in court, committing fornication, and totally abusing spiritual gifts! Yet they were "carnal believers."
When we are carnal, controlled by the flesh and it's appetites, we look and act just like a natural man! Only God knows who we really are. John the Apostle says, "if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" What does it mean to "walk in the Spirit?"
Simply, it is to day by day and moment by moment, both acknowledge His Presence and Power within you and to choose to yield yourself to His Spirit. Then, He can and will live out the life of His Son in you. Choose this day to be "Spiritual"
In His Presence
Perhaps the most wonderful thing in life is to be in God's presence. People the world over have "religious" practices to call God down, conjure Him up, and to invite His Presence. The Presence of God is a big deal! Yet for the follower of Jesus it can be a daily experience. He promised to be with us, in us, and to live through us. Still many of us cannot remember the last time we knew & felt His Presence. Why do you suppose this is?
We are told in Scripture to "be still and know that I am God" When was the last time you got still for the expressed purpose of meeting your God? "Being still" implies a focus, purpose, and intensity. God seems to come to those who "diligently seek Him."
Do you have a "meet God place" in your life? Where is it? How long has it been since you've been there? I suggest you go to that place often and meet Him there. Others will know you've been with God and benefit from it.
One last thought. It seems the busier we are, the behinder we get. Have you noticed that? Especially with men, we have difficulty being still. Men seem to need to "do" something to find validation. However, when you are in His Presence, there is not anything you can do for Him! He doesn't need you to do anything for Him.He's already done it all for you. Jesus paid it all, and all to Him I owe! Just be there with Jesus' Presence and worship Him. As you yield to Him He will flood your soul with joy unspeakable, and your countenence will reflect to all who see you that you've been with God.
Answered Prayer
Recently I over heard a man praying for his son. The son, now grown was away from God. The father in his prayer said to God, "Father I ask you to remember every prayer I ever prayed to you for my son John, and I ask you to answer those prayers." Are you as captured by that prayer as I am? This man asked his Heavenly Father to remember his prayers offered to God years & years ago! He was in effect saying to God, "I expect you to answer those prayers." Wow! There is a blessed truth here for all of us.
Does God answer prayers long after they are prayed here on earth? Oh yes He does.Often His answers are delayed for decades. Do you recall in the Gospels the story of John the Baptist's parents? Zacharias & Elizebeth were up in years and had no child. She was barren.For many years they had prayed for a child, but now she is beyond child-bearing. Then one day as Zacharias, was going about his priestly duties in the Temple, the Angel Gabriel comes to him and announces to him that his prayers are answered. Remarkably, Zacharias argues with Gabriel! He says in effect," I haven't prayed for a son in years, We are now too old for children." ( see Luke One) Zacharias & Elizabeth had forgotten the request, but God had not forgotten. He delayed the answer , then answered it better than they asked it. They only asked for a son and they got John the Prophet, the forerunner of the Messiah!
So I urge you to start asking God to remember all those prayers you've prayed over your loved ones. Just in gentle faith, remind Him of them, and let it be known you still expect Him to answer. "You have not, because you ask not"
Mentoring
Years ago I read a poem entitled "my neighbors Bible" It talks about our influence upon others:
"I am my neighbors Bible, he reads me when we meet,
Today he reads me in my home, tomorrow in the street"
The verse goes on, but the thought is simple. You & I influence others by simply "being" here. When we aren't even aware of it , our influence for good or evil goes forth. Ever notice how small children mimic the adults around them. A boy will walk like his Dad, and a girl will laugh like her Mom. The child will pick up on our behaviors and attitudes, and unknowing to the child becomes like us! How scary is that?
Jesus trained his disciples using that very "with them" principle. He mentored them "on purpose" by spending real-life quality time with them. Long after those eleven men forgot some of Christ's words, they would still remember HIM! He was their Bible, and they were never the same after having been with Him.
You can be a positive influence by accident, and that's good. However, if you determine to mentor others " on purpose" that's even better.
Today, let your little light shine!
Making Your Life Count
One of the truly great things the Apostle Paul ever said is recorded for us in II Timothy 2: 2. He speaks of the awesome power of one- on- one discipleship, by saying to Timothy, " the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."
Look at the multiplication of Paul's life message in that one sentence? The light of Paul's life goes from Paul to Timothy, then from Timothy to "faithful men," then from faithful men to "others also" That's four generations of Truth! Wow! Only God knows the scope & power of that kind of influence.
Years ago, a wise man said to me, " I'll not ask you how you are doing, but I will ask you how others are doing because of what you've been doing?" I was a college student when Loren Sanny, of the Navigators asked me that. At the time I was a young evangelist, content to preach where ever anyone would listen. I had never thought of the idea that we can "pass the Torch" to others by deliberately looking for "faithful men" and then pouring your life into them. I understood preaching to crowds, but not trying to make a difference through just "one"
Today, some forty years later, I can look back over my life and see that the best efforts of my life as a follower of Christ, have been those times I took the time to teach, train, and disciple others. Those "faithful men & women" are the fruit of my life. The just "one" have become a multitude!
Today, what part of your life is given "on purpose" to mentoring someone else? As a parent, it can begin with your child, or your mate. I am continually reminded that someone else needs what I just learned from God. Am I willing to look for that faithful man or woman who will let me mentor them?
My thought for the day: are you a river of life flowing into others or are you becoming a stagnant pool, where the blessing stops? That's something to ponder!
Where do we find Peace?
What a day in History we are living in! Anthrax scares, bombings, assignations, war, and terrorism are the daily news. Millions are desperate to find a sense of safety and escape from terror. The Bible speaks of a day like ours when "men's hearts fail them for fear."
As we observe how people react in uncertain times, it challenges us to ask, "where is the source of our peace?" Is peace and safety to be found in gas masks, body suits, a drug to cure a bacteria, or in moving to the mountains in isolation? I don't think so. This is not to say we should not be wise and cautious, because we should. However, as your world is falling apart, the "peace that passes understanding, that guards your hearts" (see Phil. 4:6,7) has never been found in externals, but rather in the eternals.
Believers in Christ are believers in God's sovereignty over world events. None of this current world crisis is a surprise to God! The song writer said it well:
This is my Father's world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees,
of skies and seas,
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world
let me not forget,
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world
The battle is not done.
Jesus who died,
Shall be satisfied
And earth and Heaven,
Shall be one.
All of this is to say, you and I as God's blood bought children must find our peace from "inside out" living. Our outward circumstances are many times beyond our ability to control. However, our inner life of fellowship with Christ is within our reach. Peace in the midst of the storm is ours for the asking. When and if we trust Him, believing that the "battle is not done," we can rest assured that one day God's will shall be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Let it begin today in your heart.
Have a Blessed Day,
