Go Figure
Made any discoveries lately?
Here in these parts where I live, when someone hears something hard to believe, they might say, “Who would have thought that? Go figure.”
Receiving information at any level that was once something not accepted, but is now presented and received, would merit a “go figure.”
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Go figure! When you see in Scripture how Jesus reacted to all sorts of dire situations in which people were in great need, you are seeing how God the Father responds to it.
So, what was the Father doing while Jesus walked the earth?
Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.
Matthew 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.
Who resisted and protested these actions of Jesus, who was showing us what the Father is like?
Matthew 12:22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now, when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
This attitude of religious resistance to God’s goodness for those in need still exists today. You see, when God heals by supernatural means, a man cannot take the credit.
Matthew 14:14 And when Jesus went out, He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
The Father demonstrated compassion by healing through Jesus. Why would He do such a thing? Could it be due to one of His names? Jehovah Rapha. We are never more like the Father and more like Jesus than when we are being moved with compassion to do good and to heal others through the working of His mighty power on display by means of the Holy Spirit He has graciously and generously given to all who ask for Him.
This is why we should also expect to see the move of the Holy Spirit in our gatherings. God has compassion on His children. One might say He wants more for them. Go figure!
Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
The one another’s of Scripture cannot be done in isolation from the body of Christ, and the Father loves the gathering because that is the place His children come together. He will manifest Himself there as well to those who gather in faith in His name. He is still moved by compassion and supernaturally healing today. Go figure!
Abundance
Want to flourish?
The dictionary defines this word as meaning - a very large quantity of something. Plentifulness.
The Scriptures say the following concerning God,
Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
1 Timothy 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance (Enough to spare, surplus) of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 1:16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
God dwells in abundance. He will always be more than enough. He not only has more than enough, but He is more than enough.
God gave us His fullness in Christ, and Christ gives us His fullness in the Holy Spirit. Grace was and is exceedingly abundant towards us. More than that, Faith and love are included in that abundance in Christ Jesus. God has given us an abundant mercy, an abundant grace, an abundant life, and an inheritance in heaven that does not fade away! The power of God keeps us through faith for salvation!
God is full of some things! Things like compassion, graciousness, and long-suffering, and He is abundant in mercy and truth. He has set His affections upon us in Christ Jesus. He causes us to flourish in Him. I encourage you to enjoy flourishing in His abundant goodness towards you today.
Could It Be?
Is it possible?
Ever been told something that seemed too good to be true?
There’s a passage in the Bible that is amazing to me and offers the opportunity never to need to worry about situations and circumstances.
Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
He meets my every need! But not in a way that scratches the bottom of the barrel. He meets it according to His riches in glory!
Now this is only an encouraging and amazing promise when I am convinced of His love and the oneness He has made possible.
There is even this promise in the Old Covenant that the Psalmist brings to light.
Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.
Now this holds weight with us when we live in the confidence of,
2Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
By knowing His love, our oneness with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit, and being convinced of being made righteous with God’s righteousness as opposed to our own, these promises come alive to us.
Instead of always thinking of how far from the mark we may be or how much we think we lack, what if we focused on what Christ has done and made possible for us? What if we actually walked in the blessings of God’s promises, which are now yes and amen in Christ?
What need are you faced with? The God who counts the hairs on your head cares for you and loves you. He wants to meet your need and put His blessing you on display to the world around you.
Could it be? I say yes!
Pecious Sleep
Are you tired?
Today is for all those who struggle to sleep at night for whatever reason. Every circumstance that threatens any promise of God in your life will always come with a reason for its existence to justify its place.
It might even have science behind its reason. A miracle is when a promise of God defies proven science and occurs on your behalf anyway.
I know of nothing that is attacked more than sleep for many people. Since the Father loves us with the same love He had for Jesus, and since Jesus loves us so much, it was part of His motivation to endure the cross. Now, He has sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and given us His peace. I have determined I am God’s beloved.
Why is it important to know I am His beloved when it comes to getting some sleep?
Psalm 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.
Jesus, as His beloved, was able to sleep in a boat during a storm. Talk about a vivid, loud, moving, and incredible circumstance that should forbid any human being from being able to sleep. A boat tossing, the wind howling, the rain falling, and the disciples screaming to each other what to do to keep from sinking. That is a profound circumstance that would have more than enough science behind it to justify not being able to sleep.
What circumstance, justified in the natural, argues against this promise in your life? Is this promise for you today, to the degree it was for Jesus that day on the water in that boat with His disciples?
Before you set out to answer such a question, I encourage you to first answer the question about being His beloved. Once you answer that one, I encourage you to consider this other passage of Scripture given to us for our encouragement and strengthening.
2Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
I want to walk in an ability of faith that subjects all my circumstances in life to the promises He has made, rather than subject all the promises He made to my circumstances. I want to live my life in agreement with what He has said more than what I can see, touch, taste, feel, smell, or hear. His word says He gives sleep, so I sleep. I believe you can too! I bless you today with this promise from Him.
Loved Like Jesus
Did you know?
Have you ever taken time to imagine what it is like to be loved by the Father with the same love He has for Jesus? Before the cross, Jesus prayed for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in that prayer, He spoke something very profound.
John 17:20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
In this prayer, Jesus is not speaking about unity amongst believers. He is speaking about unity with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is speaking about being one with God through being in a relationship with Him.
In this relationship that Jesus makes possible, we are loved with the same love that the Father loves Him with.
Why did Jesus declare the Father’s name to us? So that the love with which the Father loved Jesus would be in us, and Jesus would also be in us. He has made His abode with us. We have been hidden in God with Christ, and I can assure you that being in that place in Christ, there is no animosity occurring.
I believe this revelation is what led Paul to write the following to the Colossian church.
Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Our perfection is realized in being one with Him. Our being loved is secured by being one with Him.
Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I encourage you in the love of Christ today. Be persuaded of this amazing love we have received in Christ Jesus. See yourself as one with Him. Know that you are greatly loved by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let this good news of being loved like Jesus by the Father invade your soul.
Not Difficult
Yes, you can!
If I gave you a $100 bill and asked you to give it to a perfect stranger, could you do it?
Think about it, would it be difficult for you to approach a person with a $100 bill and say, “Hello, I would like to give you something to bless you?”
Would you be afraid of offending them? Would you fear rejection? Would you feel that the value of what you are offering would negate your fears and intimidation and empower you to offer it anyway?
We are not as intimidated when we know for certain that whatever we have to offer is of great value and thus expect it to be appreciated.
I mean, who wouldn’t want $100?
This example does not allow for a “what if” because we are likely to assume everyone would appreciate $100. We know that the world out there loves money and esteems it with the highest value.
How valuable is eternal life? Healing in a desperate situation? A miracle? The revelation of being loved and cared for?
Should we really think it strange or difficult to pray for someone we see who appears to really need it?
Should we think it is strange or difficult to share the good news of Jesus with someone we encounter?
Should the desire to bless and make a difference in the life of another be something strange or difficult to us?
2 Corinthians 5:18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Again, the Scriptures say,
2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says, “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The more we believe in the grace of God we have received and the goodness of God we have tasted, the easier it is for us to share it with others. Those who truly know they are blessed in Him have a desire to share the blessing with others. Such as you have, you can give!
Determination
What’s one thing you will do no matter what?
Every day, some people wake up at a certain time, get dressed, get in their car, drive to work, and then work for a specified time based on their employer’s expectations.
Interestingly, they do not allow aches and pains to get in their way. They do not allow a friend’s call, “Let’s go to the lake today,” to interfere with their commitment to go to work. They are committed because they know the importance and value of having a job to provide for their lives and the lives of those they love. Therefore, a job ranks very high on their scale of value, and it sets their determination to do what they must to have it, keep it, and advance in it.
Jesus said something very important and wise.
Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
How does one lay up treasures in heaven? It involves being kingdom-minded as opposed to earthly-minded. One way of understanding kingdom-mindedness is to put God’s will and His purpose at the top of my values scale.
Is there something you are so passionate about and committed to that nothing is allowed to interfere with it?
If the surrender and trust God wants from me takes a back seat to the things I want to do, I am being earthly-minded as opposed to kingdom-minded.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Being determined to do God’s will and trusting in His ability to take care of us stores up treasures in heaven. Being passionate about the things He desires is a good thing. He is pleased by our faith; without faith, we cannot please Him. Faith is active, not passive. There is a goal to faith that leads to making decisions and commitments. Faith is at the heart of determination because it acts based on something hoped for but not yet seen.
Paul said, 1Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
What are you determined about? What are the things you will not compromise on no matter what? Are they things that will bring heavenly reward? I want to live with an eye towards my eternity. I want to sow where I know it will count for all eternity. To achieve that goal, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me with my resolve and determination to do all that He has in mind for me.
The Gathering
Where’s your fellowship?
What would you say if I told you never to get together with your blood relatives, especially your immediate family members, again, because gatherings don’t matter?
I would be willing to bet that you would think I was crazy and ridiculous, and you would disregard my point of view. You would be right to disregard me, too.
But think about it, isn’t this what many who say they are Christians are doing today? It is becoming popular for people to say that gathering doesn’t matter, only believing in Jesus matters.
Here’s another question. Have you ever met a child born into a family who believed they chose their family? Or would it be more accurate that they were part of that family based on the decision of the parents to have them?
1Corinthians 12:18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
It might help if we take a moment to think who this was written to. It was not a letter to an individual. It was written to a gathering of believers in Corinth referred to as the church at Corinth. The Apostles did not travel to minister to individuals or establish one person in Christ, and call that a church. The fivefold ministries were given by Jesus for the equipping of the saints, plural, so that the church would be able to grow and the body of Christ would be edified.
Ephesians 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
How can a believer engage in the one another commands if they are never a committed part of a community of believers? How do you love all the more a person you never see? How do you strive for unity with someone you are never around? How do you prefer another as better than yourself if you never see them or have contact with them?
The proof that gathering with other believers on the Lord's Day matters is revealed in how hard the enemy works to keep believers from being there.
He will try to send sickness or physical pains and sleeplessness on the weekend, emergencies late Saturday evening, or stir dissension in a home on a Sunday morning. If the gathering meant nothing at all and posed no threat to his agenda, he would leave people alone on weekends and allow them the convenience of an easy choice.
Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
The Lord can use the enemy's tactics against believers for an opportunity to equip if we will only rise in faith and stand against the enemy's schemes. Having done all to stand, stand therefore!
Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The gift of fellowship is a wonderful privilege that is an integral part of the New Covenant Gospel. I hope and pray you are taking full advantage of all that it can offer your life today.
According To
How do you do life?
According To
Why is it so simple for a person to follow the instructions of a medication and yet so difficult to do so with spiritual life issues?
A medication will say when to take it, how many times a day to take it, and whether or not to take it with food. I’ve not heard of anyone who struggles to follow the advice given to maximize the benefit of that medication.
Scripture offers us some sound advice for spiritual success in life by telling us what to walk according to. Yet I see some struggle to receive and apply such advice.
Let’s start with just one example.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
I’ve witnessed so many attempting to rid themselves of condemnation by digging in deeper to their own will power and resolve to get their act together in accordance with the law, thinking it will be the ticket to removing their condemnation. The result is an even greater condemnation when they fail to perfectly keep the law, and until they realize that perfection under the law is an exercise in futility, they will keep going around the same mountain.
They need to get a revelation of,
Romans 8:4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
The flesh here refers to a confidence in the flesh and its strength to become righteous. It is not referring to immoral lifestyles. Of course, someone living a blatantly immoral lifestyle will be subject to condemnation. Here, Romans is speaking about life according to the Spirit being the ticket to freedom from condemnation. In other words, it means living in surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Actively hearing and following the voice of the Holy Spirit and submitting to His leading is how I rise above the pitfalls of the lust of the flesh. To listen and follow His leading, I must trust He is good and wise and have as warm a sense of relationship with Him as I do the Father and my Lord Jesus. That will be hard to do if my doctrinal position does not afford me the privilege of knowing just how involved He is meant to be in my life, and makes all the information in Scripture concerning Him a thing of the past.
In You
Do you know what is in you?
Are you aware today of what is in you? Here are just a few passages to get you started in thought about the abundance of blessings at work in you.
John 14:20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
1Corinthians 1:6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
1Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
2Corinthians 9:14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.
Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Philemon 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
1John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
All this and more is in you because of Jesus Christ! Live today according to the “In you.”
Our High Priest
Who’s your priest?
Were you aware that the New Covenant is a better covenant and one of the main reasons for it is due to who our High Priest is now?
Hebrews 7:11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. 13 For He of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 17 For He testifies: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 20 And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath 21 (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: “The LORD has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ ”), 22 by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.
Aaron, Moses’ brother, was the first priest of the Old Covenant. He died and was buried. So it was with every priest that followed after him. That was called the Leviticus priesthood because Aaron was of the tribe of Levi. That is the change being talked about in the passage. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah. Jesus died and was raised again to life eternal. He will never die again. His priesthood is forever.
Hebrews 7:23 Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
Jesus is not merely a continuance of the Levitical priesthood under the Law. He is a complete replacement priesthood of a New Covenant. He is the Mediator of a better covenant with better promises! There will never be another covenant or another priest of the covenant. Jesus has the final say, His is the final ministry and His promises are sure and He offers a sure hope to those who truly put their trust in Him. Jesus is not an earthly priesthood overseeing shadows and types He is the heavenly priesthood who went in once for all time to in the real holy place of heaven and sprinkled His own blood on the real mercy seat in heaven and then sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high! He does not need to keep offering sacrifices year after year. His being seated at the right of the Majesty is a testament to the fact that His sacrifice was more than enough and His blood more than sufficient. All praise and honor and glory be to Jesus the Lamb who was slain and the High Priest of our confession who now not only our Savior but our Lord!
The Voice Of Blood
Did you know that blood can speak?
Were you aware that in criminal investigations, blood evidence is of great importance?
Blood evidence can be crucial in criminal investigations. It provides information about a crime scene and can potentially link a suspect to it.
In other words, blood becomes a crucial witness. It brings testimony to a trial. In a way, I guess you could say blood has a voice.
We know this to be true based on what we read in Scripture.
Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
The blood of Jesus testifies concerning those who have received Him as their Lord. His blood speaks something definitive about you.
Interestingly, the blood of Jesus does not speak accusations against those who are covered in it. You may recall the story about the first two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. It is the first recorded murder in human history. Cain became jealous of his brother Abel because God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s. This angered Cain, and he took a rock and bashed his brother Abel’s head in and killed him. Cain then buried Abel’s body to hide it and figured he would pretend he did not know what happened to Abel. The story happens in Genesis chapter 4.
Genesis 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
God says, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”
Have you ever wondered what Abel’s blood was saying to God? Whatever it was, it found Cain guilty of murder and led to bringing Cain to justice before God. I wonder if it was crying out, “Avenge me! Give me justice!”
Guess what? The blood splatter evidence of Jesus cries out and bears witness to God about all who have it on them. But it isn’t crying out what Abel’s blood cried out. It says something better! Instead of declaring we are guilty, it declares we are not guilty. Instead of calling for justice against us, it calls for favor towards us.
1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
It will always be better to let the blood of Jesus testify on your behalf than for you to testify on your own accord. God knows the difference, and anyone without the blood of Jesus will be unable to justify themselves before God. I am thankful for the blood of Jesus because it has cleared me from all wrongdoing before God.
Encouraged
Why connect with others?
The enemy is most encouraged when believers are discouraged. So, the question is, how do believers stay encouraged despite the attempts of an enemy to discourage them?
I’m sure many could offer a diverse set of answers to this question. However, I wonder how many of those answers would touch on the need to gather with other saints regularly, with a commitment to both bring something to that gathering and receive what others bring to it. You see, the enemy likes to isolate a believer in order to discourage them. He wants to keep them away from others because he knows the danger that they can pose to his agenda.
1Corinthians 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.
Colossians 2:1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Being committed to a fellowship of believers for the purpose of mutual encouragement in the Lord is of great significance to being and staying encouraged. More than that, it is a matter of being equipped as a disciple of Jesus.
Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
I’ve never heard of a five-fold ministry gift that goes to individual believers’ homes to fulfill this calling to equip. They do this equipping in the gatherings of the saints, and it is of great importance to Jesus. The goal of this equipping is to believers in their calling and empower the commands that Jesus gave to be a blessing to one another—commands such as love one another as I have loved you, do good to one another, care for one another, and share with one another.
Romans 12:5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another;
These cannot be fulfilled from home, separated from the fellowship of believers to which God desires you to belong. The online church cannot facilitate these very important interactions and needed equippings. The in-person gathering is a very important part of that very important process. If you want to really stay encouraged, stay connected in person, and bring whatever you’ve received from Jesus with you.
Resurrection Matters
Why be concerned?
Why is resurrection so important to us individually?
Matthew 22:31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Romans 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
How do we possess a lively hope? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! Many either hate or love the fact of resurrection. Those who hate it do so because of judgment, while those who love it do so because it promises eternal life.
Acts 24:15 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.
Just by grace through faith in Jesus, unjust when He is rejected. Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Without the resurrection, you have no hope of a good (clear) conscience!
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The fuel of hope for the believer is rooted in resurrection truth!
1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
Without the resurrection of Jesus, you and I are still in our sins! More than that, resurrection means there’s still yet more to come! Even after death comes calling, there’s more to come!
1 Corinthians 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That victory is displayed as a promise through the resurrection of Jesus! So, the real question all must be able to answer is simple, “Do you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead?”
A gospel devoid of the fact of resurrection and a call to believe it with the heart is no gospel at all.
Wanna Be A Rebel
What are you?
I still remember how big a deal it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s to declare that God was not dead.
A very beloved praise song declared, “God’s not dead, no! He’s still alive.” This would repeat twice more, and then we would sing, “My God’s not dead, He’s still alive, singing glory hallelujah Jesus is alive!” Jesus is alive was an anthem, and many were coming to faith in Christ.
During the Jesus movement, the proclamation of Jesus's resurrection and people's need to believe it were central to everyone’s witness for Christ.
Romans 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
A belief in the resurrection of Jesus is essential for salvation. No one becomes a new creation in Christ without believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, and therefore, Jesus is alive!
If you remove the resurrection from the gospel, Jesus is like any other religious figurehead who died and is still buried. However, it is important to note that the fact of resurrection is not something added to the story simply to spice it up. It is an essential part of New Covenant doctrine.
It was a good thing that Jesus rose from the dead and then ascended to heaven, because in so doing, the Holy Spirit was released to come with great power. Hopefully, we all remember what took place at Pentecost.
The disciples needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to proclaim resurrection as good news to the people because it was a truth that was greatly unpopular with the religious leaders.
Acts 4:1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
There is an anointing of the Spirit on the message of resurrection.
Acts 4:33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
Romans 1:4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
If you wanna be a rebel, be sure to preach a gospel with the fact of resurrection in it. Don’t leave out this anointed truth from your witness for Christ.
Academic Expertise
Are you sure?
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
What just happened? Peter and John gave a lame man from birth such as they had, and he got up, walked, and leaped in front of everyone.
Of course, this led the theologians of the day to question their actions and methods since they used Jesus’ name for this notable miracle. Sound familiar?
Let’s disregard that a man lame for 42 years is now walking and instead spending the rest of his life begging will get to work and provide for himself and others.
Let’s disregard the joy and excitement this must have meant for his family.
Let’s disregard the way this miracle impacted the lives of others because of God’s heavy presence in it via the manifestation of the Holy Spirit at work.
Let’s focus only on the fact that they said “in the name of Jesus of Nazareth” and do all we can to forbid them from ever operating in this manner under that name again—pharisaical motivation shrouded in a veil of sincere devotion based on “being the ones who are educated in understanding how to interpret.”
Were you aware that an obsession with theology can risk idolatry?
It happens when one becomes an expert on one particular character attribute of God to the exclusion of all that He is. They tend to become the language police of others once that happens.
When that happens, you end up with a God created in the image you want as opposed to how He has chosen to reveal Himself.
Ignoring what you don't quite understand and picking only that which you appreciate can create a distorted perspective of God. Meanwhile, the totality of who He is and what He has done is without reproach, even when it has led to someone saying or doing something really odd and strange that is difficult to explain.
This is all based on the mistaken notion that one person has completely figured out God and can now set everyone else straight about it. Only Jesus could perfectly and accurately tell us what the Father was like.
John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
God Is Kind
Need some kindness?
I can honestly testify that I have never been drawn to someone who I knew wanted to take advantage of me and treat me badly. In fact, the opposite was true.
I generally avoid such people and put up boundaries to save them from being tempted to try to treat me in such a way.
No one will be drawn to Jesus if their perspective is that God is out to get them and make them a slave who is to be taken advantage of.
However, the Scriptures do not teach that as being the way God is towards us.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Here’s what I see when I read this.
God is rich in mercy (Not giving us what we truly deserve due to our missing the mark in our flesh). He’s rich in mercy because of His great love, which is towards us! He wants to show the exceeding riches of His grace (favor) in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus! He saved us apart from our efforts to be good!
This does not describe a God out to get you and make you suffer for missing the mark. It describes an approachable, kind, merciful, and loving God who desires to bless you with Himself.
I apply this truth concerning God and how He is toward me in a very personal way so that my confidence is bolstered in His goodness and my mind is more easily changed toward Him as opposed to away from Him. This is true about God. He is good all the time. He is kind and loving, merciful and gracious, and faithful to a thousand generations! The prophet Joel said it this way,
Joel 2:13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.
My perspective of Him must match the New Covenant description of His heart toward me in Christ, or I will needlessly be cheated of much of the good and kindness He desires to bring into my life. Our God is kind!
Love Much
Are you in love?
I remember an episode of a popular TV series called The Andy Griffith Show. In this episode, a character named Gomer experiences Andy saving his life. As a result, Andy comes out to get in his car and finds Gomer washing it. In fact, every time Andy turns around, Gomer is doing something for him.
Gomer is so taken by Andy’s effort to save him that he just wants to do things for Andy. Gomer is grateful and understands how precious life is and that his life was saved. Gomer responded.
Something similar to what happened to Andy happened to Jesus. One day, Jesus was dining at a Pharisee’s home when a woman of ill repute came in and began washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and then anointed them with a costly oil.
The Pharisee was offended by it, and Judas could only think of the cost of the perfume and thought it to be a waste because he also had a wrong perception.
Luke 7:47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
Now, many have taught this to mean people who lived really badly and realize they are forgiven will always love more than those who lived morally good lives but also were forgiven. That can be a perspective, but the principle I see Jesus offering is one of perception on the part of the individual.
I wasn’t a good boy in my mid-teens to early twenties before truly coming to Jesus. I wasn’t someone that parents hoped their sons and daughters would hang out with. My wife, on the other hand, grew up in church all her life and was a good girl by most accounts. However, the real truth is that she needed Jesus just as much as I did. You see, an astounding morally good person needs forgiveness in the same way and as desperately as a depraved person does. It can be a dangerous perspective to think one is t not all that bad but simply wishes to go to heaven and to know Jesus. This type of thinking leads to an imagination that one did not need Jesus as much as another who was obviously destitute in their morality.
The real gospel of the New Covenant removes this false notion by declaring that all are guilty and no one is righteous regardless of how well-behaved or misbehaved they might be. After all, the Scriptures clearly teach that if someone breaks the least commandment, they have violated all of them and are found guilty of breaking the whole law. So, if someone told a lie, it is the same as if they murdered. The law condemns the whole human race and declares them as enemies of God.
This is only changed through faith in Jesus Christ, who offers us His forgiveness and love freely. This is why Paul could preach with such authority that Gentiles did not need to become Jewish; because in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself through a new and living way. Jew and Gentile alike would have to relate with God and come to Him by the same means: faith in Christ alone.
Everyone is a sinner until they come in faith to receive Jesus and accept His grace. I know I needed Him and still need Him more than any other person I know of. Such a revelation can spare us the aggravation of falling into a superiority mindset over others and keep us in a position of trusting and receiving from Him according to His love and grace. It activates a desire to love much. Besides, Scripture teaches us that,
1John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.
A Strong Heart
What is your heart condition?
It is okay at times to have a spiritual heart health check. Just as when one goes to have their heart checked by a doctor, and they run tests to determine the strength of the heart by putting it under stress, likewise, life brings challenges that put one's spiritual heart under duress. Challenges test the strength of our spiritual heart and reveal its condition.
The psalmist said it this way during a moment of introspection.
Psalm 40:12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.
When a believer engages in introspection that involves self-evaluation with the idea that performing at less than 100 percent results in isolation and rejection, they are bound to experience spiritual heart failure.
The heart needs to be grounded in New Covenant revelation and understanding if it is to be strong and equipped to endure even the hardest trials of life. Spiritual heart conditioning involves giving it what it needs most to be strong. We will never get beyond our need for the true New Covenant Gospel.
Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
When difficulties or challenges present themselves to us, our hearts will be tested. Good spiritual heart health is turning the negative into opportunity by seeing things through the eyes of faith that produces trust in Christ—eyes that see Him as He is and know His faithfulness, yes that see and perceive His great love for us.
You and I will never be able to trust Him beyond the point of our knowing we are loved by Him. A strong heart is one rooted and grounded in Him and His love. Even now, if this devotion reveals any hint of weakness in the heart, it is an invitation to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the love of Christ to your heart to strengthen it. It should lead us to speak the Gospel to our hearts again and again till it sends down deep roots that can find the water of the Spirit no matter how serious a drought we might think is occurring in the natural circumstances of our lives. Today, I leave you with a true gospel-rooted prayer in the Scriptures for you to meditate on for the strengthening of your heart.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Let Love
What are you allowing?
There are some things in life one has to allow before it will happen. Some things require letting them happen. If you have an indoor pet, the only way it can go outside is if you let it. After all, that is what the word let means. It means not to prevent or forbid. It means to allow.
As believers in Jesus, love wants to express itself toward others through us. But for it to be highly effective, it must be allowed to do so untainted.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Here, it says, “Let love.” Allow it to be ministered to another without hypocrisy. In other words, it needs to be sincere, which means it should not be offered with any hooks. Love in action is not offered to make another person beholding. Love is to be offered freely according to its true nature and quality.
Love is full of hypocrisy if it comes with an “I’ll scratch your back, and you scratch mine” mentality and expectation. We are to let love express itself as it is, not based on what we can get out of it.
A primary characteristic of love is a desire to give of oneself to benefit others. It is to be used in a way that causes advancement, encouragement, strengthening, blessing, or well-being to another.
Part of the process of letting love be love will lead you to abhor evil. To abhor something is to detest it utterly. To have no appreciation for it.
When many think of evil, they associate it mainly with extreme bad behavior. Wrong behavior habitually practiced and executed at extreme levels is evil.
Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!
Here, we find that those who rallied to make the Gentiles to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses were deemed evil workers.
However, that is not the only definition of evil.
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
What does it mean to depart from the Living God? It means to leave behind what He says is necessary for a relationship with Him. It means to look to our own devices for salvation, justification, and sanctification. It is to do things our way while imagining He is required to be impressed with us. It is moving away from knowing His will and desires to only yielding to our own.
An evil heart of unbelief will look to things other than Him for what is needed and will refuse to yield to the Holy Spirit for the benefit of others, thinking that He exists only to prosper themselves. This is why we are told to let love be without hypocrisy. I encourage you today to let love be love.