What Is Your Will In Christ?

 I'm struggling with something that bore down on me this morning. It's something that I may even be guilty of and I sincerely hope not...  This morning I ran across a post on social media from a Christian site that merely quoted Isaiah 58:8 and nothing else:  “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind." (NLT) (They quoted it from KJ) I know that their intentions are good and I mean no offense, but God requires something prior to receiving the fruit of the promise. The word "Then" alludes to it. The prior verses are worth searching out in order to avoid setting up false expectation and disillusionment in people looking to God for hope and the much needed fulfillment of the promise. See what I mean... “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the opp

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Revelation 4:11 (KJ) If I could ask you one question and receive an honest answer it might be this:  What reality are you serving with the life you've been given? It might seem an odd question, especially without further explanation, but the fact is that it's a question worthy of some honest introspection - some inward examination and thoughtful consideration.  The answers one might receive could vary widely based on who the question is posed to in the world at large, but for the true Christ follower, ... there should only be one. I'm sometimes challenged personally by the things that I write. And as odd as that may seem, I know that at times the things that I write about are based on things that the Lord brings to my own personal attention through His efforts to further conform me to His image. As I take stock of my

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NLT) Have you ever stopped to consider everything in your life - what you have, what you do, what you use, what you value, and then challenged yourself to trace it to its true origin - to its raw beginning?  Everything we see, hear, feel, - everything, that affects our senses, has a root component. Tracing its parts to the rawest of composition will bring one who believes what God has said to a humble conclusion. As much as man may pride himself on this thing or that, there's not one thing that can't be traced back to something that God provided, not one root component that Omniscient God didn't bless us with in creation, not one effort that God did not provide strength or talent for, and not one living thing that God did not give life to ... including the man who boasts of his accomplishment. The man who builds a house does so with materials and components derived from what God provided, with

The hearts and minds of so many are pulled in differing directions with the distractions, conflicts and trappings of life in our current era. So I'd like to take a moment to   once again  bring to the forefront an issue of eternal significance that out weighs all of our temporal concerns and gives it a proper place in importance. We've passed the month and day that we as Christ followers set out as the season of special thanks that we offer to God, so we now turn our attention to another observance that we hold - the season of expectation around the birth of Christ. These days we might begin to think about Christmas weeks or even months in advance and find ourselves caught up in the preparations and busyness that we might include during the days leading up to the day we celebrate the observance of the King's arrival. I think though, that if we allow those things to overshadow any of the things that were happening leading up to His appearance and His birth among us over 2000

God's call to relationship has been gracious and patient, His heartfelt gifts too numerous to count and not the least among them, the life of His own son has been presented for our redemption to Himself - the offering of His own great heart at great personal cost in pursuit of His bride. Who will count themselves void and worthless to Him? Who will reject Him - to be forever driven from His presence and lost to His loving and eternally promising purpose? Good deeds alone won't save anyone. The perfunctory exercise of organized religion doesn't save anyone. In fact, some Pharisees had the habit of compliance to religion and the practice of gathering together and going through the motions for the sake of appearances. If we've done diligence to study scripture, we might know how Jesus felt about that - He rebuked them. What God wants from us is a true relationship - not just words, but true submission and interaction with Him.  There's only one way to begin - only one

 How much thought do we give to who and how big God actually is? How often do we remind ourselves of it?... "Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD ? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?Has the LORD ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?  No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. T hey are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand."  Isaiah 40:12-15 (NLT) The peace we have with God through Christ Jesus doesn't cancel out our need to have the deepest of respect for the God of all creation. It doesn't eliminate the need for us to show the reverence owed to the God who breathes stars into

thanks:  "an expression of gratitude; grateful acknowledgment of something received by or done for one." - Collins Dictionary thanksgiving:  "the act of saying or showing that you are grateful, especially to God" - Cambridge Dictionary Thanksgiving:  is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and the Philippines... - Wikipedia Despite any possible contention around the general details of American Thanksgiving   (given current society's bent toward argument and dissension) ,  the intent expressed in it's very name bestows on it  the potential occasion of a holy offering in its observance - "thanksgiving". The definition of what it means to anyone is demonstrated and dependent entirely on how the "holiday" in question is in fact honored and observed by them. As with most things of old tradition these days, the opportunity is all too

"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel."  Psalm 22:3 (NLT) Praise... If I say "God I praise You" and nothing else in connection with that statement ... did I just praise Him, or did I simply make reference to a thing that I might have performed previously?... What happens when we actually give praise to God?... "The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the LORD with these words:  “He is good!  His faithful love endures forever!”  At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD. "The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple of God."   2 Chronicles 5:13-14 (NLT)  The word praise has two forms. One form of the word is a verb - an action and the other, in simple terms, is a noun - referring to a thing.  To h

 As a teenager, many years ago, a wise man told me "Never trust another man to tell you what God is saying to you from His word. Read it for yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of it. Then sift everything in your life through it." I've followed that advice for decades since and it's blessed me immeasurably.  “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth . The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. John 14:15-17 (NLT)(Emphasis mine) "He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth."... Truth. When it comes to the most important issues of our lives, both now and eternally, what is the truth? The wise in humanity know that the truth's found in the whole of God's inspired word from

"They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD’s sight. That is why the LORD’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own special possession." Psalm 106:39,40 (NLT) "Idols" in the reality of God's perspective can be anything that we give more attention or value to than the God that created us for Himself. Given that He created us for Himself, that one relationship, or the lack of it between God and each of us, will rightly overshadow any and every other in importance in that moment of final judgment - just as it rightly should have from the moment that He first gave us breath. What's revealed in that final moment of God's examination of us and our hearts toward Him will be the defining moment of our eternal future. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."  Revelation 4:11 (KJ)

We can go through life thinking that we're good - doing good, being good, etc., but the truth is that we were all born under a curse because of the sin of one man - Adam. Adam was the first human being created by God to inhabit His newly created earth and it was Adam who brought all of mankind under the curse of God's anger by the commission of one horrendous error. It was the same error that led to the once beautiful and powerful angel Lucifer's downfall - to his being cast out of heaven with all of his followers, and to his being known from then on as satan or the devil. Father God had created the perfect environment for mankind to share with Him. There was no corruption, no death and no disease and everything was more amazing than I'm sure we could fully imagine in the garden that God created to place man in and walk with him there. God fed Adam and cared for him fully. He personally walked in the garden and talked with Adam ... until Adam repeated Lucifer's sin

  “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT) I had a personal epiphany some years ago that changed the way that I approach God and the way that I've prayed since. It wasn't that I didn't already know the scriptures and eternal fact that my moment of further emerging clarity brought front and center into my thoughts. It was though as if the Holy Spirit pulled all of it together for me into a transforming moment of growth that required both my further submission and my trust to override some of my more visceral human urges when walking with Him through life here. The knee bending moment of illumination involved so much of what I'd learned and experienced over many years about and with our God, but centered on those two verses in Isaiah 55 and on

Many years ago, I was hundreds of miles away from my home working as a supervising foreman on a construction crew erecting portions of commercial buildings in northern California. We were loaded with work and always a little short handed on experienced crew, so there was always an interest in retaining skilled hands whenever possible. That usually wasn't an easy task because the work was always hard, hot and fast paced. It was the kind of work that tended to attract hard core personalities with some bad habits when hiring from the local labor pool in whatever area we happened to be working in at the time. Those of us who commuted from out of town would often stay in hotel rooms paid for by the company that we worked for and that would usually mean that the accommodations weren't always the best, but we learned to deal with it.  Being a little older than most of the crew and in a position of authority with the company meant that I would often have a room to myself while the othe

 Deep into the book of Exodus in the bible, God begins to give Moses instructions for building His Tabernacle - His traveling Holy Place. All of the details were exact and the list of materials were things that served God's purpose and things that obviously gave Him pleasure or He would not have included them in His project. So it is with us... I've read the account of the constructing of the the Tabernacle before and found the long list of details far less exciting and less interesting than other passages of scripture. This time though, as with others when reading the Living Word, I came to a new realization that made the text come alive to me in a way that made this somewhat laborious passage come to reflect a truth far more exciting. This Holy Place made to host God's presence on earth was designed to move and to be portable from place to place on the journey to the promised land, was constructed of the finest things, and was no doubt very beautiful - though hard to full

"Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14(NLT) Some will cite that verse popularly in social media as we're witnessing society's further decline into perversion and immorality. The only concern I have is that the prerequisite to the promise of forgiveness and the restoration that it contains is seemingly overlooked or taken far too lightly,... because t here can be no realization of the promise without submitting obediently to what God requires of us first.  It becomes an interesting study to not only search out God's promises, but to identify what He requires of us in order to own any and each of them. For every promise that God offers, there's a qualifying requirement or condition that has to be met - a prerequisite. For example, take the first part of that verse  "Then if my

Every day seems to birth a new conflict, natural disaster and continual, escalating political arguments. Chaos seems to be the revolving order of the world as it spins perpetually, suspended in the heavens. Where is hope found in all of this? Where does peace exist? Daring to probe even further, from where do purpose and the meaning of life hail and give birth to understanding when all seems without hope and chaos endlessly wearies our bones?  If my hope and security were anchored in  this world, this life would have little value to offer in encouragement to my searching heart and spirit. Thankfully, my eyes and my focus aren't on this place alone. My hope is anchored beyond the chaos, weariness and suffering. My security is found in a power far greater than any originating from this world and my eyes are set on my true home - a place far beyond the turmoil set before me...  "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation i