All Glory To God!

god created the universe, and he does things his way. You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.

-james vernon mcgee

A common question, from believers and non-believers alike, is “Why does God allow bad things to happen?”

Why are innocent people killed?

How could a loving God allow sickness, poverty, death, and disaster to occur?

He has the power to prevent it.

Why doesn’t He?

What if I told you that, through an understanding of God’s character, you could say, in the worst imaginable scenario, “All Glory To God!”

What if I told you that this phrase, “All Glory To God!”, could become the battle cry of your life? That it could be an anchor that would allow you to weather any storm?

I pray that God makes your heart that “fertile ground” that allows the seed of His Word to grow and produce a fruit thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!

god’s grace in calamity

On a hill named Golgotha, a perfect, sinless man was brutally executed in a public way.

He was mocked and spat on.

He was stripped naked and slapped in the face.

He was beaten so badly that He no longer looked like a human (Isaiah 52:14)

An unspeakable act of human injustice, hatred, and evil took place that day.

Yet, in remembering this act, the most vile and disgusting act ever perpetrated by man, we, as believers, shout, “All Glory To God!”

Through eternity, past present and future, all of creation, when recalling this event, shouts “All Glory To God”

I ask then: Can God bring glory through your situation?

Is any situation you face, real or imagined, more heartbreaking, more disgusting, more unthinkable, than what happened that day to Jesus?

If God, through an unsearchable and impossible to understand wisdom, can take THAT act, the worst act, and use it to bring about the greatest expression of grace and mercy that the universe has ever and will ever know, an expression of grace and mercy that extends to every person, to all of creation, throughout eternity…Can He not use your situation to do the same?

Can He use the martyrdom of a saint to bring about the awakening of other people?

He can! All Glory To God!

Can He use the evil act of one person to ignight the heart of another toward love and mercy?

He can! All Glory To God!

Can He use the division of some to bring about the unity of others?

He can! All Glory To God!

Can He use your life, with all of its faults?

Can He use your hands, which at one moment were used as instruments of evil, and transform them into tools of healing?

Can He use your mouth, which at one time spoke blasphemies, and transform it into a megaphone that proclaims the glory of God to the ends of the earth?

Can He use your mind, which previously harbored evil thoughts, and transform it into one that can comprehend a Holy being in which there is no darkness whatsoever?

He Can!

All Glory To GOD!

Let us never again look upon a situation, a person, an event or an act and elevate it to a position that is higher than our God.

Let us never again take something created and let it rob us of the faith we have in its Creator.

God’s glory can not and will not be diminished.

Romans 11:33-36

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

Love vs Tolerance

"Here, no man proclaims his birth or wealth as a title to honorable distinction, or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the name of hereditary authority. He who has most zeal and ability to promote public felicity, let him be the servant of the public. This is the only line of distinction drawn by nature". 

-Samuel Adams

The definition of tolerance is: showing willingness to allow the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.

Growing up, I was taught to be tolerant of others’ viewpoints, which seemed like a good virtue.

I realize now that tolerance is not only unbiblical… The idea of tolerance, like an unchecked infection, has become rampant and pervasive… A threat to our country.

I am advocating that by being tolerant, we are shirking our responsibility as servants of God and of our country.

“Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” (Luke 14:5)

If any of us were to see a loved one walking toward a danger, out of love, we would warn them.

If they were doing something dangerous, we would correct them.

If we can clearly see the danger, while they cannot, then it is our responsibility to warn them.

How weak and how un-loving of an individual would we have to be to elevate their viewpoint and opinion of the situation to a higher value than that of their well-being and safety?

If someone is walking into a busy street and about to be hit by a car, we don’t care about how they feel. We don’t consider their opinion.

We care about the truth.

We tell them, point-blank, “watch out!”

We grab them if need be! We physically restrain them!

This is not an un-loving act.

In the same manner, when we encounter someone who, by ignorance or delusion, is holding a world-view that is a threat to themselves or others, it is our responsibility to warn them.

Carrying out this responsibility will, naturally, cause division.

“Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.” (Proverbs 9:8)

When, after breaking a bone, you go to the doctor, that doctor is going to do something very painful. They are going to set your bone into its proper position by force. They are going to take an already painful situation and add to it.

This is not an un-loving act.

You are not going to be happy, in the moment, with that doctor.

That doctor, though, is willing to endure your anger and cursing out of a sense of duty.

Other nations have received their laws from conquerors; some are indebted for a constitution to the suffering of their ancestors through revolving centuries. The people of this country, alone, have formally and deliberately chosen a government for themselves, and with open and uninfluenced consent bound themselves into a social compact.

-Samuel Adams

We have forgotten this “social compact”

We have forgotten the duty that all of us share to each other and to our country.

Being so far removed from the formation of our country, we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that tolerance is of more value than the very fabric of our nation.

This delusion has permeated beyond public discord and has infected even our homes and personal relationships.

We have a duty and a responsibility to those we love… starting in our homes and relationships and extending out to those who live in this country.

We must speak out.

We must physically restrain, if need be.

We must be willing to endure, like that doctor, the hatred and cursing and resistance that come from someone being corrected.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

Jesus was willing to do it.

His willingness to speak the truth and correct those He loved led to Him being mocked, beaten, and killed.

If we are going to call ourselves His followers, we need to do the things He did and be willing to endure the things He endured.

If we are not willing, then we need to admit to ourselves that we are not His followers at all.

“So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.” (1 John 1:6)

discerning truth

In discussing this topic with a co-worker, a point was raised: “Was Hitler being tolerant or loving?”

Lest you read this article and think I am advocating that you go off and start forcing your opinions on others, I want to explain an important point.

Your opinions are no more valuable than someone else’s.

Jesus said, concerning the Pharisees, “They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:14)

Paul tells us, “Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.” (Romans 3:4)

Only when you have objective truth are you in a position to correct another person.

Objective truth does not come from popular science, today’s culture, or feelings and personal experience.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

He said, concerning the Father, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

This is further explained in John 1:1: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Your opinions, feelings, and perspectives are flawed and of no more value than those of anyone else.

God’s word is eternal, perfect, and “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3)

It is only when your house is built on that “solid rock” that is Jesus, that you are in a position to correct another person. (Matthew 7:24)

Any other position is like shifting sand and is of no value to another person.

Entering Rest

Hebrews 4:1

God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.

When the Israelites left slavery in Egypt, they were being led to the Promised Land.

There, they would live in houses they did not build, drink from wells they did not dig, and eat from crops they did not plant (Deut. 6:11)

God, who has control over events and time, had orchestrated a plan in which the Israelites would enjoy rest and abundance.

This rest and abundance would not be the result of their hard work...

Their land and their houses would not be bought with capital gain from careful investment...

The Promised Land was a gift that God chose to give to a group of people, based not on their merit but on His graciousness and generosity.

In this land, He would be their God and they would be His people. They would know that He is LORD, the one who brought them out from under the burden of the Egyptians (Exodus 6:7)

In the Promised Land, they would have the full experience of the promise God made to them: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14)

The Promised Land was not a material gift, though the materials needed were included, it was an eco-system.

Here, God would display His glory, power, and love.

God had one requirement: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you."

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As we all know, the Israelites did not experience this gift.

The original group to leave Egypt did not even get to experience the geographical land that God had set aside for them, and Hebrews 4 shows us that even those who came after them, though they experienced the geographical land, did not experience the promise.

They got the land… They did not get the Promised Land.

Psalm 95:8-11 explains this

"The LORD says, “Today, if you hear his voice, Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

God is explaining to us that the Promised Land is still out there.

He tells us, "TODAY, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts like they did." "Don't miss it like they did!"

I am not advocating that you buy a plane ticket and travel to the geographical location. Travel there and you will find many people living in the LAND who aren't living in the PROMISE.

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Are you under a burden today?

Do you feel enslaved by a set of problems?

Have you cried out to Him, asking Him to deliver your relationships, your finances, your health?

Just as He heard the Hebrew people, He hears you.

As a good Father, He saw your situation and got to work.

Hebrews tells us, "His works have been finished since the creation of the world."

Today, the Promised Land is available.

Why then, are you still burdened?

Why are you still experiencing the slavery of this world?

Why does this verse seem to be describing your situation: "You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!" (Haggai 6:1)

It is because you have placed yourself under the oath that God made, "So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest."

Like those Israelites, you are walking through the wilderness in circles, while the Promised Land sits, prepared and complete, waiting for you to enter into it.

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God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, and He provides for you... He will never leave you or abandon you... But the wilderness is not your home.

This is why you are tired, thirsty, and unsatisfied.

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience."

God tells us what is required of us:

"if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."(2 Chronicles 7:14)

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I am not preaching a "prosperity gospel" that says God is a vending machine that, if you press the right key combination, spits out a new house and car...

I am preaching that God knows your need. He knew your needs before the creation of the earth, and if He was willing to give His own Son to save your eternal soul, He surely will take care of any other problem you have.

"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Mathew 6:33)

If you will humble yourself, pray and seek His face, and turn from your wicked ways, He will hear you.

He will take you out of the wilderness where you plant but harvest nothing. Where you eat but are still hungry, and drink but are still thirsty.

You will find a rest that has been prepared for you before the creation of the earth.

He will be your God, and you will be His person.

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If by God's grace He chooses to open your eyes and let you experience this rest, I give you one additional warning:

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.

He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed." (Deut 8:11-19)

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14)

The Path of Life

Psalm 16:11

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

What is the path of life?

All of us face crossroads every day.

We have questions about our careers, our relationships, and how we should be spending our time in general.

We cry out to God, asking Him to give us a roadmap.

"Tell me what to do to fix this problem."

"Tell me what to do to overcome this obstacle."

"Tell me which job to take, which person to marry, which house to buy..."

Oftentimes, when I pray like this, God seems to be silent...

I read in Psalms that He "makes known the path of life." I come to Him asking for that path, but I leave frustrated because I'm not given a chronological road map of my life.

Do we serve a road map?

Is the value of God that of a 1-800 fortune teller who will tell you when you will marry and when you will die?

We may come to God with a myriad of questions, but at the end of the day, they all boil down to this: "Is it going to work out?".

We all have a picture of how we want our life to go...

We all have a plan.

We aren’t seeking THE path of life, we are seeking a very specific, personalized path.

God has given each of us unique desires and personality traits. He placed us each in a specific time and location under specific circumstances...

Each of us walks a different path.

All of us, though, fall under the experience of "life"

"The path of life" that God reveals may not show you who you will marry, but it provides the answer to every single question you will ever face. (including who you should marry.)

So what is it?

Where can you find it?

Proverbs 8:34-35

Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.

The "path of life" isn't a map or an answer key...

It is a person!

Wisdom isn't an answer to a question...

It is a person!

Are you worried about your relationship?

Does it look like you could be laid off tomorrow?

Have you failed again and again and are at the point of giving up?

You don't need an answer...

You don't need a vision of the future...

You need a person!

"In His presence, there is fullness of joy."

"At His right hand, there are pleasures"

We spend so much time looking for joy...

We run from source to source at breakneck speeds seeking pleasure...

We think that if we choose the right career, the right spouse, or the right set of behaviors... we will find these things.

In all of our effort and striving, we run right past the person, coming up empty-handed.

Next time you find yourself at a crossroads...

Next time you ask yourself or someone else, "What do I do?"

Ask yourself this: "Do I need an answer or do I need a person?"

Exodus 14:13-14

“Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Dying To Live

DYING TO LIVE

Matthew 5:17

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose."

The law existed before time.

It existed before Adam and Eve, and it existed before Jesus was born on earth.

The law is perfect and it leads to life...

Even non-believers can look at the law and say that it is good...

Do not murder, steal, or lie... even non-believers naturally strive to keep the law.

What does Paul mean then, when in Romans 7:10 he says, "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death."?

Since Jesus said, "I came to fulfill the purpose of the law"...before Jesus came, the law was not accomplishing its purpose.

It was incomplete.

Galatians 3:21 confirms this when it says, "Truly, if there was a law that we could keep which would give us new life, then our salvation would have come by law-keeping."

Deuteronomy 30:16 says, "For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live. "

So then, why does Paul say that the law brought death?

Paul is describing the law apart from Jesus.

He is describing an unfilled law.

Misunderstanding this fact led me to hate the law.

I strove to "keep His commands and walk in His ways," and I failed.

I read verses like Psalm 119:97, "Oh, how I love your law!" with disdain.

Really? You LOVE the law???

I mean, I knew the law was good, I wanted to keep the law... but there was no way that I could, with an honest heart, write the words "I love your law"

I felt justified in my hatred by verses like Galatians 3:10: "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse."

Like someone throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I had equated the curse that comes from seeking justification through the law...with the law itself.

Out of ignorance, I went about just trying to forget the law.

I had decided that I couldn't keep the law, therefore, it had no purpose in my life.

I figured that my sanctification would come from a process outside of myself... That The Holy Spirit would just change me by His own volition, apart from any effort on my end...

All hatred and anger (which is what I had toward the law) stem from fear.

Satan had used fear to rob me!

Fear of not measuring up.

God has recently spoken wisdom into my life, and I can now, with an honest heart, say, "Oh, how I love your law!"

The Purpose Of The Law

John 14:15-17

“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."

This is the formula!

This is the FULLFILLED law!

"If you love me, obey my commandments."

This is the first part of the law...

This is the part of the law that Paul had...

He tried his best to keep it, and he said, "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death."

Then comes Jesus, who said in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

THIS is how it works!

If we love God, which is only possible if we are given, by His grace, a new heart, then we should keep His commandments.

When we attempt to do that... we will probably fail.

But when we attempt to do that, The Holy Spirit, The Advocate, who never leaves us, leads us to all truth.

We, in partnership with The Holy Spirit, experience the purpose of the fulfilled law.

It goes like this:

1.) We sin

2.) The law points out our shortcomings

3.) We look to The Holy Spirit

4.) The Holy Spirit leads us to the truth.

What is the truth?

Jesus tells us in John 14:16! "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus

So, we come to Jesus...

He cleanses us, taking our shame and forgiving us.

He teaches us, showing us how to overcome.

He carries our burden and walks with us through the suffering.

When we walk this path, we are experiencing Romans 8:29: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."

We are living 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Jesus did not come to get rid of the law!

The law is not your enemy!

The law is those John 6:68 "words that give eternal life."

The law is those Proverbs 16:24 words that are "like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body."

You only have to understand the formula...

Let the law drive you to Jesus and be transformed!

Pray like this:

"God, you promised to give wisdom to anyone who asks. Give me wisdom concerning your law. Reveal to me how sweet it is! Give me a teachable heart. Give me a love for your law and reveal to me its purpose so that you can accomplish your will for my life! I want to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Thank you for the way you created. Help me to understand it."

Slavery: A Positive Term

Romans 6:22

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

The original word for slave, δούλος, properly signifies a slave.

It was originally used as a term of honor. In this sense, Moses would have been called δούλος του Θεού, a slave or Servant of God.

The Hebrews spent 400 years in captivity, as slaves, in Egypt under Pharaoh. If you were to speak to one of these captives, none of them would refer to themselves as "σκλάβος του Φαραώ" (slave of Pharaoh). While someone serving in a position of distinction under Pharaoh might refer to themselves in this way.

Prior to learning this, it was confusing when I read verses such as Romans 6:22. It was confusing when, throughout The New Testament, Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and others referred to themselves as slaves or bondservants of God. There is a recurring theme of slavery to God and His righteousness.

I had only ever viewed the word slave as a negative one. It brought to mind the African slave trade and forced labor.

I had accepted the word's negative connotation and, in my mind, had worn it as a badge of honor.

It was my understanding that when Jesus gave me new life, He had sealed me. He had made me unable to do anything but follow Him.

Where once I was unable to follow Him, now I was unable to do anything but follow Him.

When I read in Romans:

"Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life."

I read it like this:

"Now, you have no choice but to do those things that lead to holiness."

How often has following Jesus felt like this?

How often has it felt like a chore to wake up on Sunday to go to church?

How often has reading a chapter of your bible before bed been something you do out of obligation, to check off a box?

Being a disciple of Jesus is not about a "quiver in your liver". You are not always going to feel like running down the aisles, twirling a flag...

Sometimes, being a disciple means enacting discipline.

Sometimes it means doing the hard work of digging through the Word, of meditating on its deepness, and not stopping at surface level.

However, if reading The Word of God starts to feel like a chore, it's an indication of some sort of misunderstanding.

This misunderstanding had permeated every area of my life.

My understanding of the Word was incorrect.

I believed that, when Jesus saved me, He made me a new creation and that this new creation was unable to do anything but "those things that lead to holiness."

Yet, my day-by-day, minute-by-minute straying from God testified against my understanding.

This created a disconnect.

When I would look in the mirror, I saw two people: who I understood myself to be... and who my actions proved that I was.

Being "A slave to God" was a mental construct, not a reality. It was religious jargon.

My misunderstanding of the word had allowed me to live in hypocrisy, the very hypocrisy that Jesus despised and warned against when He said, in Matthew 6:1, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."

In my mind, because I was a slave, those "acts that lead to holiness and result in eternal life" were going to happen whether I wanted them to or not. They were a condition of the state of being born again.

This understanding led to a "hands-off" approach when it came to my discipleship. "Acts that lead to holiness" were not something that I planned out.

Please do not misunderstand me: I am not capable of producing good works. ONLY God is capable. Any good work that we have a part in is only possible via The Holy Spirit choosing to act through us...

The Holy Spirit, though, does not take over our bodies and cause us to operate as robots.

A good work, accomplished via The Holy Spirit, happens when we choose to act in the authority of Jesus as His representative. Then, The Holy Spirit empowers that act.

Think of it like this: the President of the United States has representatives underneath him. He sends these representatives across the world in order to carry out his plans and purposes. These representatives are acting under his authority.

Imagine that you walked in to see one of these representatives in their hotel rooms, kicked back with their shoes off, watching TV while they were supposed to be at an important meeting. You ask them, "What are you doing here?" and their response was "I’m waiting for the president to do a work through me!"?

Yet, as a Christian, this is how I was living!

I called myself, like Paul, "A Servant of Jesus"

My life did not look like Paul's.

My life looked like some guy in a hotel room with his shoes off, watching TV.

After learning the true meaning of the word slave, δούλος, I see that it is a position. It is a role.

How many of us, who are born again, can truly call ourselves A Slave of Jesus?

How many of us hold that occupation?

Jesus offers this position to anyone who believes.

Not only does He offer it, but it is the life He is expecting His followers to live.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us, "we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Only when we step into our role as δούλος του Θεού, Slave of God, are we able to fulfill the reason for our being alive.

Pray like this:

"God, I have sinned. I have made my life about me. You put me here in order that I may do good works. You gave me authority and power to do those good works in your name. I have not been prudent. I have not walked as a representative. Help me to do so. Show me who I am and open my eyes to the authority you have given me. Give me your wisdom and direction so that I can live as I should, no longer out of a feeling of obligation but with a feeling of gratitude and excitement that you, The King, would call me and equip me to participate in your kingdom.

Playing Games

Genesis 27:11-15

“But look,” Jacob replied to Rebekah, “my brother, Esau, is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He’ll see that I’m trying to trick him, and then he’ll curse me instead of blessing me.”

The name "Jacob" means "One who cheats."

Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright, Isaac out of his blessing, his wives out of their children, and Laban out of his wealth.

Everything Jacob gained was gained by scheming and cheating.

God very obviously blessed Jacob. Not because of his cheating but despite it.

God told Moses in Exodus 33:19

“I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.

When we read the Bible, it is easy for us to glorify the men that it writes about.

Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed.

God did great things through these men!

How much more could God have done through Jacob had he decided to rely on God fully instead of his cunningness?

How much more could God have done through Moses had Moses bridled his passion and anger?

God did not bless Moses or Jacob because of their actions...

God blessed Moses and Jacob despite their actions.

There is no one who is good.

There is no one worthy of blessing.

God chooses, for His own purposes, to show mercy and compassion on whom He chooses to show mercy and compassion.

One way that God has chosen to bless us is by recording, in the Word, the mistakes of the people He used.

Jacobs Mistakes

Behind each scheme of Jacob, we see the advice of a woman who is close to him.

Rebekah advised him to deceive Esau and Isaac.

Leah convinced him to sleep with Zilpah

Rachel convinced him to sleep with Bilhah

Out of a desire to please his wives, Jacob deceived Laban.

Rachel’s deception in stealing Laban’s idols (which she concealed from Jacob) would have gotten Jacob killed had God not personally stepped in and warned Laban to leave Jacob alone.

The word paints a picture of a man who is not walking in authority.

Like a eunuch, Jacob has forfeited his authority and has put himself in the position of a servant to the women around him.

Like a eunuch, Jacob has no drive or direction of his own.

Like a eunuch, Jacob has the physical attributes of a man... He is physically strong and capable. He is able to physically lead and protect a family but he is unable to do so spiritually.

The Word is very clear on the role of men and women in a kingdom-centered relationship.

1 Timothy 2:12-15 tells us, "I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result."

Men were created with the capability and responsibility to lead.

Women were created with the capability and the responsibility to submit.

Satan is the opposite of Christ.

When we are living in the reverse of the plans and purposes of God, we are walking in the plans and purposes of Satan.

We see it in the garden...

Had Adam walked in authority, had he taught Eve what God had instructed him, and then led her to obedience, there would have been no sin.

Had Adam, even after Eve had sinned, refused to compromise... God may have responded differently.

Adam gave up authority, which allowed Satan to step in.

Satan deceived Eve.

Eve led Adam.

Adam sinned.

Did God not bless Adam despite Adam's actions?

In the same way:

Jacob gave up authority, which allowed Satan to step in.

Satan deceived Rebekah

Rebekah led Jacob

Jacob sinned.

Did God not bless Jacob despite Jacob's actions?

Again, God chooses to display mercy and have compassion on whom He chooses.

God causes the sun to shine on both the righteous and the unrighteous.

God's plan and purposes will not be thwarted by our actions.

We serve a holy God who does what He pleases among men on earth and angels in heaven.

It pleases God to bless His children.

God will not bless disobedience.

God can and will USE disobedience...

He will not bless it.

Oftentimes, what we view as a blessing... might just be God’s dispensation.

Though God’s providence is always good, there is something greater which is only available to those who, by fearing God, have obtained wisdom in how they should walk...

The blessing of righteousness.

Jesus describes this blessing in the "be attitudes": Seeing God, Receiving mercy, Inheriting the earth, Being called Children of God.

Let us, as men, learn from Jacob.

Let His story be a warning to us.

Pray like this: "God, I submit to you. I do not have eyes to see, please give me eyes. I do not have ears to hear, please give me ears. My hands are ineffective to carry out your work, please give me hands. You promised God that you would make me wise and show me where to go, that you would guide me and watch over me. You warned me not to be like a horse or donkey, which doesn't understand. That must be led with bits and reins, or they will not come near you. Strengthen me and give me understanding so that I can walk in the path you laid out for me. Allow me to walk in the path of your blessing and not be content in only your dispensation."

Remain

REMAIN

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.

Each night as we look back on our day, we often see a life that falls woefully short of the example we have in Jesus.

Where He was patient with others, we were short and ill-tempered.

Where He showed love, we were quick to demand our way.

Where He kept His focus on what is above we were consumed with what is below.

It's easy, during those moments of conviction, to make resolutions.

We promise God and ourselves that we will try harder.

We feel God responding and we are filled with motivation and we go out the next day and we start trying to correct our behavior...

Someone cuts us off on the way to work and instead of letting the expletives fly, we hold our tongue and then we look at God and say "See? I'm doing it!"

You aren't doing it.

The "It" that God is looking for is not behavior modification.

The "it" that God is looking for is not a set of rules to keep.

The "it" is a gift.

"it" is freedom.

"it" is what Jesus died on the cross to offer you.

"it" is a life connected to the branch.

When you are connected to the branch, no behavior modification is needed. The Holy Spirit flows through your mind, spirit, and soul and you become an instrument of God producing fruit and bringing light to the world.

When you are not connected to the branch, no behavior modification is sufficient. The spirit of the antichrist which is in the world and in your flesh flows through your mind, bod,y and soul and you become an instrument of satan producing death and bringing darkness to the world.

"Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned."

Next time you let the expletives fly... stop and look.

Ask yourself "Where was the disconnect?"

What happened an hour ago, a day ago, a week ago, that cut you off from the branch?

That is the issue.

Not your behavior.

Your behavior is a symptom.

Find the illness.

Repent.

God will graft you back to the branch.

Work = Rest

Work = Rest

John 4:34

“My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work."

Life is busy and difficult. Every day, we face new problems that seem to pile up, one on top of another.

The world offers an endless array of tools and methods that claim to provide a reprieve from the stresses of life.

Some people turn to entertainment, others to drugs and alcohol...

These things may temporarily distract you from the problems in your life... But once the distraction ends, you find your problems have remained, waiting to be solved.

What's the solution?

For many, it's to live in a perpetual state of distraction...

Moving from one source of pleasure to another, with periods in between, putting out fires that become too big to ignore.

God has a different solution.

A solution that works...

It is work!

Matthew 11:28-30

"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

What Jesus says almost appears counter-intuitive.

He says "Are you weary? Do you want rest? Okay, take my burden."

Jesus is not being funny.

He is trying to explain a concept to us that I believe most people do not understand.

A concept that He lived out!

What if I told you, that you desiring to avoid work that was causing your exhaustion?

Your desire for rest is the source of your lack of rest...

God created you with a specific purpose.

He designed you!

In the garden, the first thing He did when He created Adam was to give him a job...

Adam was to husband the garden and husband Eve.

Later, when Adam sinned, God told him in Genesis 3:19 "By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made."

You were designed to work!

James Vernon Mcgee says "God created the universe and He does things His way... you may have a better way but you don't have a universe."

God said that we would work until the day we die...

You may try to fight against that...

You may scroll on your phone for hours on end, watch a million movies, and drink all of the alcohol in the world...

It will not change anything about the way God designed you and the way He structured His universe.

He designed you to work...

A horse was designed to work as well...

A horse can not run continuously.

A horse must sleep, eat, and drink...

A horse does these things so that it can continue working...

Where men run into problems is when we start sleeping to sleep...

When we start eating to eat and drinking to drink...

If you want TRUE rest... it comes from God.

That means you have to do things His way.

Jesus said, "My nourishment comes from doing the will of my Father and finishing His work."

Try it!

Lean INTO work instead of avoiding it.

Go into your job and look for people to serve.

Go home and serve your wife and children.

Go to bed praising God.

Wake up and do it all again.

See if God won't fill you with energy...

It worked for Jesus!

Consigned To Death

There are times in our walk with God that it will appear as if He has abandoned us.

Where once there was joy and peace and confidence, we will find disillusion, angst and questions.

We will know logically that God has not abandoned us but there will be a real feeling that we have suddenly been thrown out of the house of God and that we are walking through the world on our own.

This is something that is talked about extensively in The Bible. It is what David was experiencing as he fled Israel, was hiding in caves from those who were trying to kill him and wrote in Psalm 13:

"O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?"

We have access to the entire story of David. We know that God had not forgotten David, that He had not looked the other way even for a second. I'm sure that David knew this logically as well, but David was expressing something that all of us as Christians will go through.

I believe it is summed up in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. / For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.

No one, no matter how strong or how sure they are, welcomes death.

They may welcome what comes AFTER death, but no one welcomes the process of dying.

It is a painful experience.

God understands this.

Jesus experienced it first hand.

Jesus overcame death and now holds it in His hand. He is able to use death for His purpose.

One of the ways He uses death is talked about in Romans 8:13

"For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

I believe that in these moments where it feels that God has left us, He is giving us an opportunity to walk in this principle.

When you suddenly find yourself in this valley, you will see parts of your flesh that are normally hidden.

You will see fear and anger. you will see doubt and unfaithfulness. You will see weakness.

Jesus said "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"

The flesh, in these moments, will do everything it can to escape. Like an animal caught in a snare, it will do anything it can to survive.

If God chooses, by His grace, to allow you to see this situation through spirtual eyes, you will see what He is trying to acomplish.

He is bringing to light the hidden parts of your flesh.

He HAS caught them in a snare, and He is holding them up and showing you what they really are.

This is the moment where you are given an opportunity to, by The Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.

It’s not by willpower. It's not by positive thinking or rationalizing.

It is a messy, painful experience.

It is by not turning your face away from the situation but rather sitting in it and offering it to God that you are allowing Him to uproot these parts of you that you do not normally see.

This is very difficult to do.

God understands this.

God loves us enough to keep pushing us toward these experiences even though they are painful.

Just like a father, who's child comes to him with a splinter, knows that the experience of uprooting it will be painful, continues on. The temporary pain, no matter how beyond comprehinson it is for the child, is worth the result of true health.

Next time you are in this situation, instead of pleading with God to remove you out of it, i pray that He gives you spiritual eyes to see it for what it is.

then you will say like the psalmist "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

Coveting Rest

Coveting Rest

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”

All of us want rest.

If you are born again, you know intellectually that Jesus's words are true.

If you are anything like me though, you are weary and burdened and you have seeked that rest but have not found it.

You know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is telling the truth. You know He will give you rest.

So why do you not have it?

Is it that you haven't figured out the method to obtain it?

Is it that you keep messing up and He is withholding it from you?

Is it that you havent prayed hard enough, sang praises loud enough, gave enough or read your bible enough?

If you are like me, you find yourself in a constant cycle of wanting rest, seeking it out, and ending up MORE exhausted when you fail to find it.

It could be that you are coveting rest.

Covet: To desire or wish for, with eagerness; to desire earnestly to obtain or possess.

Jesus WANTS us to have peace...

He died on the cross for us!

He has the ABILITY to give us peace

He holds the keys to life and the grave!

The problem is that when we covet rest we walk right past Jesus, who is holding rest in His hand, ready and eager to give it.

We walk right past Him and we look and we look and we find nothing.

We sing songs about Him and He shows up and we walk right past Him looking for rest.

We read our bible and He shows up and we walk right past Him looking for rest.

We do good deeds and He shows up and we walk right past Him looking for rest.

We covet rest.

Jesus did not say, "Come to me when you are weary and burdened, and you will find rest."

He said "Come to me when you are weary and burdened and I will GIVE you rest.

Rest is not something you are owed because it is not something you earn.

Rest is not something you deserve...

Rest is a possession of God.

He gives it when and where He chooses.

The Good news is this: We serve a suffering God.

We serve a God who has gone through the trials we have gone through and who can truly sympathize.

We serve a God who TRULY loves us... unconditionally. He proved it when He willingly bled and died on a cross for you.

We serve a God who is not limited in any capacity.

If He wants to give you rest... no one can hold back His hand. No circumstance can overcome Him.

Rest is a possession of God and we serve a good and gracious God!

Go to Him!

Don't go to rest!

Search for rest...

Search day and night.

Go to the highest mountain or the lowest depth.

Search every corner of the earth.

Search your flesh.

Search all of human wisdom.

Search all of the pleasures of this world.

You will not find rest.

Search for God...

Jeremiah 29:13 "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me."

Deuteronomy 4:29 "You will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him."

Psalm 145:18 "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth."

You won't have to look very hard.

Proverbs 8:35 "For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD."

Refining Fire

Refining Fire

1 Corinthians 3:11-14 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. Their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.

The day of God’s judgment is coming sometime in the future

Martha, Lazurus's sister, knew about this day.

She put her hope in it!

Standing at Lazurus's tomb, when all hope seemed to be lost, the worst moment of her life, she looked to some future day for comfort.

She said to Jesus " I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

But Jesus's response to her reveals a truth that will change our lives!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life."

Jesus was saying to her "I am the day"

When a holy God enters the room, His presence is a fire.

All of us are like Martha, waiting for and putting our hope in that day.

That day when all of the evil in the world, all of the pain and suffering, all of the anxiety-inducing events that steal our joy, are burned up in an instant...

Like Martha, we are missing something though.

We are missing something that is right in front of our faces!

Jesus!

The day!

The fire!

That same fire coming to the entire world in the future is available right now!

That day is approachable, right now, through God's grace, to anyone who is born again.

Do you have evil in your heart?

Are you going through pain and suffering?

Are you holding onto anxiety?

There is a fire that those things can not withstand.

Malachi 3:1-3 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD.

"who will be able to stand and face Him when He appears?"

When we worship

When we pray

When we read The Word

When we wake up in the morning

When we seek God

Let us seek out this fire.

Before we speak

Before we act

Let us seek out this fire.

Submit your mind, your heart, and your soul to this fire so that you may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD!

Lawless

‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ Deuteronomy 27:26

Can you do that?

Can you observe all of the words of the law?

Try it today!

Read Psalm 119 and you will see the prayers of people whose only option at the time was to do just that:

My soul faints with longing for your salvation,

but I have put my hope in your word.

My eyes fail, looking for your promise;

I say, “When will you comfort me?”

Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,

I do not forget your decrees.

How long must your servant wait?

These people loved God! They loved His commands and His laws! They say it over and over again... Yet they were not free.

Their souls were fainting and they were wondering "How long do I have to go through this?"

Has following God ever felt that way to you?

Has waking up for church on Sunday morning or sitting down to read your Bible ever felt like a chore?

Think back to when your eyes were first opened...

Think back to when you were driving in your car and that specific song came on at that specific time and the dam broke and you were overwhelmed with joy and peace and suddenly it wasn't a chore to raise your hands and praise God!

Think back to those times in your life when you didn't see a way forward but God showed up and made a way where there was no way...

No longer were you praying "My soul faints with longing for your salvation"

Your soul was overjoyed! Your salvation was right there in front of you!

Galatians 5:22 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

So how do you get back to that?

Galatians 3:1-6 says: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Faith

Faith is what you use when you sit in a chair.

If you have faith in a chair, you will put your entire weight on it and you will rest!

If you do not have faith in a chair. you will kind of hover over it, half sitting half squatting...

A chair that you have no faith in will leave you more tired than it found you!

How do you come to faith in a chair?

Do you try really hard to have faith in it?

Do you say a series of words over and over or sing a song that makes you feel good?

You can't "see" that a chair will hold your weight Hebrews 11:1 says faith "is the evidence of things we cannot see."

So how do you gain faith in a chair?

You examine the evidence!

You shake the chair around! You kick the legs, you watch someone else sit in it, you put a little weight on it yourself, and test it out!

You say to the chair "Chair, I'm going to give you a chance, and based on what I see from you I am going to make a decision"

Romans 10:17 confirms this when it says "Faith comes by hearing"

Faith does not come from yourself.

Faith does not come from trying really hard.

Faith is not an emotion.

Faith is the evidence!

You don't seek after faith...

You seek after the truth and faith is a consequence of finding that truth!

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The answer is to seek Jesus.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Humble = Exalted

Matthew 23:13 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

It is hard to speak on humbleness. All of us are born into a world where we must preserve our selves, not only our physical self but also our dreams and ambitions.

From the moment we are born, there seems to be trials and dangers around every corner, physical dangers that want to take our life and our health but there is also a system in place that wishes to conform us to its image.

It is against the interest of the flesh to be humble.

The definition of humbleness is: "having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance." A second definition is: "of low social, administrative, or political rank."

Again, humbleness to someone who is living by the flesh would be a death sentence! We all want to be important, we all want social standing and high rank.

Yet Jesus says in Luke 17:33 "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it."

God wants you to be humbled, yes, but that He can lift you up.

It is not His will that you walk around with your head hanging low, feeling unimportant, having no power in this world

He wants to see you soar on wings like an eagle, He wants to lift you up and set you in a high place as His son, He wants you to bring the kingdom of Heaven into this world.

Humbling yourself is hard

But how much harder is it to strive against a living God?

Proverbs 3:34 says “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Jesus confirms this when He says "those who exalt themselves WILL be humbled."

The problem is that: the flesh is blind.

If only you could see God! If only you could see the person He is, the love that He has for His children! If only you could see His plan and His purpose for your life and the GLORY that He want's to bring you into to!

But the flesh can not.

The flesh can only see worldly things: money, earthly power, social status...

The flesh is temporary and it strives after temporary things.

This world, with all of its wealth, all of its power, all of its status, it is a shadow and it is fleeting.

There is coming a day when all of it will be burnt up by the source of light that makes it visible in the first place.

That light is like the sun rising in the morning, growing brighter and brighter until a moment when it completely overtakes the darkness of night.

In the noontime, when the sun is at its highest point, there is no trace of darkness.

How pointless it is to try and grasp at a piece of that darkness... to claim a bit of it and try and hold it in your hand... to base your importance on it and strive after it and devote your life to it..

Is it not better to put your hope and devotion in the light that is surely coming? a light that does not fade away, that can not be overtaken? An eternal light!

If your identity is in this world, you will be humbled. You will fade with the darkness and all of your striving and straining will disappear in an instant when the sun breaks the horizon.

But if your identity is in the sun, though you may appear low for a moment, though the darkness may boast in its appointed time, you know that noonday is coming.

1 Corinthians 2:8-11 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except for their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Pray like this:

Lord, awaken your Spirit in me. Open my eyes to the truth that you set before the foundation of this earth. Show me the temporary nature of this world and reveal to me the light sitting just behind the horizon. Let it shine on me now, let it be what guides me during the night. Help me to humble myself now that I may be lifted up. Help me to stand next to you in the night so that I can stand with you in the brightness of noonday. My flesh is weak and it wants temporary things but I know you have put your Spirit in me, the same Spirit that raised Christ into new life. Do the same in me, Lord. Buried with Christ and raised to new life that will never end.