We are not alone

The Holy Spirit 

descends on Christ 

at His baptism. 

(Photo © 2016 by V. Nesdoly)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Galatians 3:26-4:7

TO CHEW ON: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out Abba Father!’” Galatians 4:6

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

On this day, when we cross the threshold of the new year, we may come with a variety of emotions. There may be anticipation over all those crisp new calendars and empty date blocks yet to fill. There may be a feeling of “here we are again” jadedness. Or there may be outright dread of the unknown that we will face in the next 365 days.

Our reading today reassures us, however we’re feeling, we are not alone on this journey. If we have believed in Christ’s atonement for us (…were baptized into Christ have put on Christ - Galatians 3:27), have accepted His buying us back (are “redeemed” - Galatians 4:5), then we are His responsibility. He has adopted us as His sons and daughters. Our hearts witness to this and now recognize Father God as “Daddy” (“Abba Father”).

It’s not on our own that we come to this place of belonging, dependence and security, though, but through the Holy Spirit: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts…” Galatians 4:6.

We have a companion for the days ahead, a multi-faceted helper, as witnessed to by His many names:

Eternal Spirit - Hebrews 9:14
Holy Spirit - Psalm 51:11; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30
Power of the Most High - Luke 1:35
Spirit of Adoption - Romans 8:15
Spirit of Christ - 1 Peter 1:11
Spirit of Counsel - Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of Glory - 1 Peter 4:14
Spirit of God - Genesis 1:2
Spirit of grace - Zechariah 12:10
Spirit of Holiness - Romans 1:4
Spirit of Judgment - Isaiah 4:4
Spirit of Knowledge - Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of Life - Romans 8:2
Spirit of Lord God - Isaiah 61:1
Spirit of Strength - Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of Prophecy - Revelation 19:10
Spirit of the Father - Matthew 10:20
Spirit of the Lord - Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of the Son - Galatians 4:6
Spirit of Understanding - Isaiah 11:2
Spirit of Wisdom - Isaiah 11:2

(The above list from the NKJV Thompson Chain Bible - “Titles and Names of the Holy Spirit” #3634.)

With such a companion we can go into the year with the confidence of well-taken-care-of children!

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You that I don’t enter 2017 alone, but have the Holy Spirit as my companion and helper. Amen.

MORE: Holy Name Day

Today the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Name. The day’s liturgy begins with this collect:

"Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The battle of 2015

Happy New Year! 

Spiritual Warfare - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Colossians 1:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." - Colossians 1:13


Kristine McGuire grew up in a Christian home and gave her heart to Jesus at an early age. However, a combination of things including an interest in horror movies and scary books, a series of life events that frustrated and angered her, and the performance-based legalism of the church she attended, fueled an attraction to the occult.

And so for eight years as an adult she gave herself to ghost hunting and activities as a psychic, medium, and witch, rationalizing that she could be involved in these things as a Christian, even calling herself a Christian ghost hunter.

Her story, told in An Insider's Guide to Spiritual Warfare, shines a light on one area where many in our society and even some professing Christians are living under the power of darkness, that is, through involvement in the occult. McGuire writes:

"People are hungry for a spiritual connection with God …. Satan counterfeits the power and good gifts of God, twisting them into what we see being done by mediums, psychics, diviners, energy healers, and those who practice forms of magick and spellcraft" - p. 160.

But we don't have to stay in this dark place of fear, deception, and confusion. For as our focus verse reminds us:

He has delivered [rescued, drawn to Himself] us to Himself from the power [authority, right to act, ability, privilege] of darkness [darkened eyesight or blindness, ignorance respecting divine things and the accompanying ungodliness and immorality] and conveyed [transferred, removed and relocated, "… refers to the deportation or transference of captured armies or populations from one country to another" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 1671] us into the kingdom [royal power, dominion rule] of the Son of His love [agape love].

Recognizing and getting free from the power of the occult is only one aspect of spiritual warfare. As we enter this year, let's prepare to fight in all areas as captives-who-have-become-warriors of the kingdom of light. McGuire ends her book with this challenge:

"Spiritual warfare:
It is in the prayers we say or forget to say.
It is in the choice to be kind or hurtful.
It is in our work ethic or lack thereof.
It is in the people and relationships in whom we choose to invest or not to invest.
It is in the experiences, mundane or supernatural, we accept or deny.
It is in the causes we take up or reject.
Every day the battle wages.
You are a spiritual warrior.
The time has come. Take up spiritual arms.
And with God's help, make your stand" - Kristine McGuire, An Insider's Guide to Spiritual Warfare, p. 226.

PRAYER: Dear God, please alert me to areas where I am playing with and living in darkness. Help me to live completely in the Your kingdom of love and light. Amen.

MORE: Feast of the Holy Name

Today the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Name. The liturgy for today begins with this Collect:

Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Kingdom vignettes

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 4:21-41

TO CHEW ON: "And He said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow and he himself does not know how.'" Mark 4:26-27

I love the parable descriptions Jesus gives of the kingdom of God (also called the kingdom of heaven). There are many sprinkled throughout the gospels. Let's look at a few today to discover more about this realm which Jesus mentioned so often.

• Jesus described the kingdom of God as rooted in God's generosity and forgiveness (Matthew 18:23-35) with its own divine fairness - Matthew 20:1-16.

• He called it "hidden treasure" and a "pearl of great price." These descriptions imply a search (we dig for hidden treasure, dive deep for pearl-bearing oysters), and great value —"treasure," and "pearls" worth trading everything for - Matthew 13:44-46.

• This kingdom is available to all who will accept the invitation and fulfill the requirements for entry (put on the wedding garment—the free gift of salvation) - Matthew 22:2-14.

• Surprisingly, riches may prove to be a hindrance to entry (not on the part of God, but on our part) - Matthew 18:24-25.

• Our reading today talks about this kingdom's mysterious and inexplicable expansion. The man scattered kingdom seed and without him doing anything more, it took root and grew - Mark 4:26-27.

• We also read how from small beginnings (a mustard seed) it grows huge—tree-sized - Mark 4:30-32.

• The kingdom of heaven flourishes in the midst of other 'kingdoms' just like wheat and weeds grow together. Only "at the time of harvest" will the two be separated - Matthew 13:24-30.

• It's as subversive and pervasive as leaven. Just as yeast introduced to a lump of dough eventually disseminates to every part of the lump, so the kingdom of heaven will spread around the world - Matthew 13:33.

• God expects stewardship and accountability from His subjects - Matthew 25:14-29.

• He also expects us to live in a state of readiness, waiting for the return of the bridegroom (Jesus' second coming) - Matthew 25:1-13.

• To sum up, the kingdom of heaven is powerful - 1 Corinthians 4:20.

Some things to think of today in the light of what we've seen about the kingdom of God:

1. Are we a part of it?

2. Is it that valuable treasure to us that prompts us to give up everything else to gain it?

3. Are we involved in inviting others to be part of it, and helping it expand?

4. Are we behaving like stewards, realizing that someday we will need to give an account of how we have used our talents and opportunities?

5. Are we ready if our Bridegroom should return today?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for these wonderful parables of the kingdom of heaven. Help me to know how to transpose what I read in them into attitudes and actions that affect my everyday life. Amen.

MORE: Thank You for Giving to the Lord

The parable in our focus verse today reminds me of this song. It tells the story of someone arriving in heaven and discovering the impact of the life he or she has lived. May that be you and me someday!

Will you trust in 2012?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end" - Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

In the last little while I have been reading A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider. The book (an anthology of writings by members of the The Word Guild) contains many first-person stories of difficulty, crisis, and just plain hard stuff.

One woman's three-year-old son dies unexpectedly just after being given a clean bill of health for a chronic illness. A mom of young kids gets a diagnosis of liver cancer. A businesswoman suffers a stroke at age 36. Another mom's 22-year-old son leaves home and hasn't been heard from since. So much pain! How can the wise man possibly say, "He has made everything beautiful..."?

Yet even in all the pain of these stories, each teller does come out with something beautiful. For example, the mother who loses her three-year-old says, "Not everyone loses a child, but at some point in our lives, most of us face something that devastates us ... We will grieve but we don't have to endure a life of continuous sorrow. 'God is close to the broken-hearted and He rescues those of us who are crushed in spirit' - Psalm 34:18. I don't know how He does it, but I've experienced it for myself" - Evangeline Inman, "Live Life to the Full," A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider, p. 63.

We know we too will face a variety of things in the year ahead. We anticipate the good stuff—babies being born, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, vacations. However, chances are good 2012 will also hold some hard stuff—storms, accidents, illnesses, deaths... Will we continue to trust God, and believe that He knows what He's doing when He allows these into our lives?

The old Bible commenter explains it well:

"God has made everything, as all things in creation are made by Him, for His pleasure and glory, and all well and wise. There is a beauty in them all. So all things in providence. He upholds all things. He governs and orders all things according to the counsel of His will .... Times of plucking up and breaking down, of weeping and mourning, of losing and casting away are all necessary and seasonable and beautiful .... All His judgments will be, when made manifest ... like a piece of tapestry. When only viewed in parts no beauty appears in it. But when all is put together it is most beautiful and harmonious" - Excerpts from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on Ecclesiastes 3:11 (emphasis added).

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to trust You implicitly as You oversee the weaving of my life's tapestry in 2012. Amen.

MORE: "Do I Trust You Lord?" by Twila Paris




Today the church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The liturgy for this day begins with this collect:

"Eternal Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."