Keys

For the last two years I've had a key to the fellowship hall at our church. This building which has a gym on the top floor and a kitchen with a dining room and small classrooms off to the side on the lower level, is separate from the main church building. The only connection is a covered walkway for those rainy days. So for the last two years, I've enjoyed access to anything I needed to get in kitchen area for my classes in the main building.


Yesterday, as I was setting up for our final Bible study class this year, I asked if the back door was unlocked to the main building so I didn't have to walk all the way around with my arms full. As we were walking to unlock it I mentioned that I didn't need the fellowship hall unlocked since I had a key. That's when my friend told me, "It's the same key that unlocks the doors in the main building too."


All this time I had the key to the main building! I can't tell you how many times I walked all the way around, waited for someone with the key, or went in search for someone to unlock one of those doors: And it was in my pocket the whole time! 


Isn't that how we often treat the Spirit within us?


We have full access to God, but we tend to forget that and rely on others to tell us or lead us in Spiritual matters. Books, teachers, and Bible studies are great tools to encourage and challenge us, but we should never rely on them as our main source of hearing from God. We have the Spirit within us! Read His Word and go to Him in prayer- He will guide us. Jesus promised. 


If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever......But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit - the Father will send Him in My name - will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
John 14:15-16, 26

For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:18

Are Your Lemons Sugar Coated?

Today I found something I wrote about 4 years ago.
What do you think?

Are Your Lemons Sugar Coated?

Have you ever had a fish bone stuck in your throat? Hurts doesn't it? You know it won't kill you that instant, but what if it punctures your throat? Or gets lodged there long enough to become severely infected? Every time you swallow, it sends a searing pain through you body, so you try not to, but instinct has you gulping like a fish out of water. You know you need help, but don't know what to do.

            Now imagine someone passes by and offers you a palm-sized yellow object which sparkles. They tell you that it will get the bone out and save you, and they even offer to let you lick it a little to see if you like it. You try a timid taste and realize it is sweet! That, of course, makes you swallow again in pain, but you now have hope. You thank them profusely, and accept the life saving object gratefully. Beaming over your new treasure, you take a small bite and nearly drop it in disgust: It is horribly sour!  How could that possibly save you? Reasoning with yourself you begin to think that perhaps you are just supposed to keep licking it. As you do, the pain in your throat becomes gradually less, but deep down you know that the bone is still lodged there and that most likely you are becoming numb with pain. Well, nothing is wrong with that, is there? Perhaps that is all there is to it, and it is welcome enough. There is the nagging thought that you still have to get the bone out, so you decide to try biting it once more, but after all the sugar your mouth is coated in, it tastes even worse than before! Now what? If only that person had told you what to expect! If only you knew if it is suppose to be sour! How will this really save you?

Do we as Western Christians even recognize the full flavor of the gospel anymore?

When we are sharing the gospel with others in industrialized nations, do we tell them what they desperately need to know in order to be saved, or are we so worried that they will not be interested that we sugar coat it?  The Lord Jesus Christ never promised it would be easy: In fact, just the opposite. In John 15:20 Jesus says, “Remember the word I spoke to you: 'A slave is not greater that his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you...” ¹ It is not all sour however! Jesus also says in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” What are we truly more concerned of? This “...momentary light affliction...”(2 Corinthians 4:17) or the eternal?

If a person speaks of God, do we wipe the sweat from our brow and check off one more for the kingdom of God? Don't think that because someone believes that Jesus is the Son of God they are saved. Remember “...the demons also believe- and they shudder!”(James 2:19) Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?' Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!'” 

How can we know then? The apostle John says in 1 John 2:4-6, “The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' without keeping His commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.” Is the truth in us and in those we are witnessing to? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

What can we do? We work out our “...own salvation with fear and trembling”, knowing that it is “God who is working in you enabling you both to will and to act for His purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13) We look forward to the day when we will hear our Master say, “Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your Master's joy!” (Matthew 25:21) Why? Just as Christ, we do this for the joy that lay before us! (Hebrews 12:2)

So, as we share with others that Jesus Christ is the Son of God... “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...”(1 Corinthians 15:3-4) are we giving them sugar-coated lemons, or are we allowing God to make the lemonade?

¹ See also: Matthew 10:22, Luke 21:12-19

Always Learning, But...

The apostle Paul says something to his child in the faith, Timothy that is very interesting. The Spirit had him warn us that in the last days of something to be aware of:
 ¹ But know this: difficult times will come in the last days. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, ⁴ traitors,reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the form of religion but denying its power. Avoid these people!
    ⁶ For among them are those who worm their way into households and capture idle women burdened down with sins, led along by a variety of passions, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth, men who are corrupt in mind, worthless in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress, for their lack of understanding will be clear to all, as theirs was also. (Emphasis mine)

2 Timothy 3:1-9


This is the information age. We can learn just about anything we want within a few moments of internet searching. There is also a Bible study, or Christian "self-help" book for just about every topic you could imagine and several in the popular topics. Are all of these things bad? No! But be aware that some of them can be.

Are you coming to a knowledge of the Truth? In other words, are you coming to a deeper knowledge, understanding, and relationship with Jesus Christ? "Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6 As you learn more and more about the Truth, there will not be the heavy burden of restrictions and duties (law), but there will be a deep love, passion, and devotion to Him. You will be freed! "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32


Are you free?

Feeling What I Know

I realized once again tonight that I have one of the most precious and sought after gifts of mankind: I feel safe and at peace. 

Do you realize how rare that is for humanity? Even among Christians, we do not always feel what we know.

I have no fear of life, because I have full confidence and trust in my Father. He is trustworthy and I know He loves and wants the best for me. What a blessing!

For the LORD loves justice and will not abandon His faithful ones. They are kept safe forever, but the children of the wicked will be destroyed.

Psalm 37:28

Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.

Revelation 4:11

For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is trustworthy.

Psalm 33:4

Do not despise the LORD's instruction, my son,
    and do not loathe His discipline;
    for the LORD disciplines the one He loves,
    just as a father, the son he delights in.
Proverbs 3:11-12

The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him."
John 14:21

Josiah's And Your Peace

I've been reading about Judah's King Josiah and am amazed at what the Bible has to say about this man though we seldom hear of him. He reigned from approximately 640 B.C. to 608 B.C., and his grandfather was King Manasseh who was rebuked by the Lord for the evil he did. Josiah was also the father of King Jehoiakim, who reigned when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar first conquered Jerusalem.

Though there are about two chapters written in 2 Kings about all that Josiah did, a small passage written at the end of his life spoke heavily to me:

"The king commanded all the people, 'Keep the Passover of the LORD your God as written in the book of covenant.' No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.... Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.
In spite of all that, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with."  2 Kings 23:21-22, 25-26

Josiah did all that he could do and was loved by the Lord, but His wrath must be satisfied. God did allowed him to reign 31 years and die in the first battle leading to Jerusalem's eventual capture, but it still had to come in order to accomplish the fulfillment of His words. Even the Word of God says there was no king like Josiah - not before of after him - who turned so completely to the Lord, yet even his two sons who reigned did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and his people were captured.

So why bother? Because the promise of the Lord is Good and True. Josiah sent priests to a prophetess named Huldah, who spoke a message to him from the Lord - "...because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you - declares the LORD. Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place..." 2 Kings 22:19-20

The Lord promised Josiah that he would not see all the disaster and would die in peace, but read 2 Kings 23:29. "During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at the Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him" So what happened to dieing in peace? I believe that the peace the Lord promised to Josiah was in his spirit - not just in his physical realm. God promised him shâlôm - peace, just as Christ promised it to us. Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful."

This is the peace I believe Josiah had. This is the peace available to all who will believe: The peace of a trouble free and fearless heart - In the midst of a city, country, and world gripped by the chaotic consequences of sin.

Yes, things will go terribly wrong in life, but we've been given Peace.

Spiderman and the Holy Spirit

Yes. There is a connection.

Recently I have been growing closer to the Lord. One of the great truths I have been spending time learning, is that we have the ability, through the Spirit of God, to do amazing things (John 14:12). The problem is that we don't ask for it with the right heart (James 4:3). God wants us to produce much fruit in His name! In John 14:13, Jesus says, "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

There is just one little difficulty in this. It really ticks off Satan when we are living fully for the Lord and learning to become better disciples. He doesn't want us to have it too easy when we are producing much fruit, so he tries whatever tactics he can, to get to us. In fact he is so predictable in this, it is often one of the clues that I am pleasing the Lord.

This is when the verse comes to mind from Luke 12:48. "...Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more." If we ask God for greater empowerment through the Spirit, we need to understand that much will be required of us. That includes putting up with the tactics and antics of the Fallen One.

The funny thing is that every time I read Luke 12:48 I think of Spiderman. When Peter Parker is learning to cope with his new found spidey-skills, his uncle Ben tells him "With great power comes great responsibility." It becomes a sort of motto for him throughout his crime-fighting career. This is exactly what I feel like when asking the Father for the Spirit to empower me to do even greater works, to the glory of the Father through the Son. With them comes a great responsibility to honor the Lord and not myself in any way.

All the way through my sin-fighting career...

Blessed Are: The Peacemakers

Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.
Matthew 5:9

The next verse in the series of the beatitudes is on the blessing to peacemakers. I want to do this verse justice, since there are so many wonderful applications possible. However, they just aren't meshing in my brain well right now. Why? I am not at peace!

It has been a very long week - I know it's just Monday, but I'm counting since last Monday. I'd have to say that it has crescendoed to last night where I left my phone in the rain and I'm fighting getting sick. Some of that said, I decided to go out to get my writing done elsewhere since the Wi-Fi at my house isn't working and I can't really complain since it's not mine anyway... Also, have you ever tried to study or write with a pile of laundry staring at you from right next to a very wonderful and loving, yet talkative husband?

So here I am sitting at a bread place staring down a gentleman eating a warm, crispy baguette and trying to write about peace. God has such a sense of humor.

That's when the Lord seems to speak to me most clearly. Today He reminded me that the kind of peace He gives comes when it really doesn't make any sense to the rest of the world. I should be ornery and frustrated, but deep down, I'm really not. Even Jesus said to His disciples at the last supper, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful."  John 14:27

Another important lesson He taught me was that Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers..." Not 'Blessed are those who are at peace all the time...' We show ourselves as God's children (sons) not by the fact we seem to float around in a state of bliss, but that we strive to make peace - especially when we don't want to. We are to be makers of peace, and in order to do that we have to be in situations where peace needs to be made: Even if it's just acknowledging that it is within ourselves.

Today, take some time to find places to be a peacemaker, and say a pray of thanks for the peace that comes to you in order to do it.

Blessed Are: The Poor In Spirit

Over the next several days I'd like to take a closer look at the teachings Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 5:3-12

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

For years I saw it as an unhealthy form of humility: A brokenness in spirit like an animal trained too hard - beaten down and hopeless. Later, I thought that it meant to be weak, or lacking, in spirit. This conjured images of those who just didn't know any better and followed blindly. I wondered how a loving Father could ever expect and desire for me to be poor in these ways.

I've come to realize, however, that a lot of the issues we have when hearing this verse stems from the fact that in America we are bred on success: Pulling ourselves up by the seat of our pants to gain an advanced education and money, money, money. While there is nothing wrong with hard work and commitment, we have placed way too much emphasis on self. We are told we are special. We can do anything if we just put our mind to it. We have the power within ourselves to accomplish our dreams. We have the right...

I love the line from Disney's movie The Incredibles. The young boy Dash complains to his mother, "But Dad said our powers made us special!"
"Everyone's special, Dash." she replies.
He mutters back to her, "Which is another way of saying NO ONE is."

There can only be One who is Special. And we are not Him.

The New American Commentary summarizes it well. "'Poor in spirit' as a virtue, must refer not to a poor quality of faith but to the acknowledgement of one's spiritual powerlessness and bankruptcy apart from Christ".

We can not live as though we, as individuals, are the most one important to God. Yes, He loves us and has gone through all this trouble for us, but apart from Jesus we are nothing. John 14:6 states, "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father except through Me.'"  Again in Acts 4:11-12 we hear, "This Jesus is The stone despised by you builders, who has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved."

Jesus Himself wonderfully defines what it means to be poor in spirit:
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it. What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angles in the glory of His Father, and then will reward each according to what he has done.'" Matthew 16:24-27

This is what we need to understand to be poor in spirit:   Stop trying to be your own Jesus.

Peace

This morning I am sitting in an amazing little coffee shop named JoZoara that has a super-nice staff. It even reminds me of Alaska a little bit. Outside it's sunny and warm, while cool and shady inside. There is a large cup of hot tea in front of me with relaxing music playing in the background. I'm catching up on emails and blogs and have my Bible open next to me.

I'm at peace.

These are the times that it is easy to be at peace. Everything seems right in the world- At least for this moment. The problem with the world is that it seldom remains this way. Not long before Jesus' crucifixion, He warned and comforted the disciples. He knew they were going to run and hide. He said, “Look: An hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” John 16:32-33 He had also said to them earlier in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”

So what kind of peace is this? Obviously, it's not a happiness or calmness which the world considers peace. I think Biblical peace is a secure knowledge and faith in God that He will work everything out in the end. No matter what the trial, He overcomes.

It is something we have to practice daily. Pray Philippians 4:6-7 with me today, “Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let it is a comfort to us and a witness to this chaotic world.

www.jozoaracoffeeshop.com