Changed

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Samuel 9-12; Psalm 80


TO CHEW ON: "Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man." 1 Samuel 10:6

Who of us wouldn't welcome such a transformation as happened to Saul?

The Bible speaks much of being transformed, changed, and renewed. As we study it, we discover we too can experience such a radical remake. Let's look at some other Bible passages that speak of becoming a new person (i.e. spiritual renewal) to understand what such a radical renewal involves.

It begins when we trust Christ for salvation.

• Jesus calls this event being "born again" and "born of water and the Spirit" - John 3:1-8.

• Paul speaks of being saved "through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" - Titus 3:5.

• In another place he calls this being "in Christ" and describes it as a "new creation—old things have passed away; behold new things have come" - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Our new spiritual baby selves need to grow.

• We do this by spending time with God - Isaiah 40:31. For us this means things like reading the Bible, reflecting on how its teachings relate to our lives, and talking to God in prayer. During this time spent with Him God transforms and renews our minds - Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23.

• God promises to stay involved in the process of renewal for our entire lives - Philippians 1:6; 2:13.

• All is not lost if we mess up, like David did. "Create in me a clean heart ... and renew a steadfast spirit in me," he prayed (Psalm 51:10) after repenting from adultery with Bathsheba and masterminding the murder of her husband.

Empowering for special jobs. 

• God sometimes brings about such new-person events to empower people for special jobs. That's what happened to Saul here—and to other Old Testament characters before the Holy Spirit was available to all after the day of Pentecost.

• Throughout the New Testament we see God the Spirit assigning and empowering people:

- The Holy Spirit directs the choosing of seven men to oversee the daily distribution of food - Acts 6:1-7
- The Holy Spirit sends Ananias to pray for and baptize Saul - Acts 9:10-19
- God tells the Antioch church leaders to send out Barnabas and Saul/Paul, which they do after laying hands on them and praying.

And so we see that this renewal that happened to Saul can also take place for and in us. It will probably not happen in an instant, as it did in him, but may the change in us over time, be just as dramatic.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank you for the many ways You bring about change and renewal in my life. Help me today to live in cooperation with that process. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 80


MORE: The Holy Spirit invades all of life

"The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me."- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest,  April 11 reading.

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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.

Registered in Zion

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 87:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "And of Zion it will be said,
'This one and that one were born in her; …
The Lord will record,
When He registers the peoples;
This one was born there.'" Psalm 87:5,6


"The most resistant Gentile peoples will find spiritual birth in Zion," is my Bible's footnote explanation of this psalm (K. R. "Dick" Iverson, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 752).

I love how the psalmist names specific nations as representative of its inhabitants: Rahab (symbolic of Egypt - Isaiah 30:7), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia. These were Israel's neighbours.  Some had been or were enemies. Of individuals from these tribes/nations the writer says, "This one and that one were born in her; … The Lord will record, When He registers the peoples; This one was born there."

"He shall enrigister every individual among the converted nations as a true citizen of Zion, entitled to all covenant privileges" - Pulpit Commentary.

I see a picture of God, constantly scanning the peoples of earth, looking for signs of movement toward Him: "… to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him" - 2 Chronicles 16:9.

I see Him writing the names of these from every nation in His book: "…The Lord will record, /  When He registers the peoples…"  They are holy (separate). They are His - Isaiah 4:3.

Finally, I see this international crowd, before the throne, praising God:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” - Revelation 7:9-10.

There is no basis to the criticism that Christianity is a European/North American religion foisted on other nations and people groups by the white man. It is, from its inception, truly international. It knows no borders and has no language or race barriers.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to die for everyone. Regardless of skin color, language or location, all of us can be born again ("born in her [Zion]").  We thank you for drawing and claiming the most resistant heart. 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.

Breath of new life

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 20:19-31

TO CHEW ON: "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" John 20:22

Jesus breathing on the disciples brings to mind another time God breathed on a man: "And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" - Genesis 2:7.

God as the source and sustainer of our human breath (life) is a theme that flows through the Bible (e.g. Job 33:4; Ecclesiastes 3:19; Acts 17:25). But even in the Old Testament there are inklings of a new quality of life ahead.

Isaiah 42 is a Servant Song (a prophetic reference to Jesus) where God, the giver of physical life (Isaiah 42:5) speaks of the Servant doing a "new thing." He will be a "… light to the Gentiles / To open blind eyes / To bring out prisoners from the prison…" - Isaiah 42:7.

God speaking to Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones vision says, "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live" - Ezekiel 37:5.

Them comes Jesus. He tells Nicodemus it is necessary to receive Him and being reborn (John 1:12-13), and that that rebirth is necessary to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

And here we see Him performing the very act—breathing on the disciples—that God had performed when He created the first man to give him physical life. My Bible's footnote to his verse explain it simply: "The old creation began with the breath of God; now the new creation begins with the breath of God the Son" Siegfried Schatzmann (notes on John), New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1480.

Has Jesus breathed on you? Have you been reborn of the Spirit in this way? Here's how Jesus explained it to Nicodemus:

"Jesus said, 'You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit'"  - John 3:5-6 - The Message.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this life that You breathed into me when I accepted to You. Help me to let the life of Your Spirit have access to all of me. Amen.

MORE: More about the new life:

• It makes us a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

• It is not achieved through our works but by God's mercy - Titus 3:5.

• Our hope is a living hope because of Jesus' resurrection - 1 Peter 1:3.

• This life is visible and obvious to others by the way we love people - 1 John 4:7; 5:1.

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The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson - Used with permission.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Enter the supernatural dimension

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: John 3:1-17

TO CHEW ON: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” John 3:3

Nicodemus started his conversation with Jesus by giving Him an almost generic compliment: “‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him’” - John 3:2.

Jesus’ answer (‘“Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’” - John 3:3) didn’t seem to have anything to do with what Nicodemus had just said. Instead, Jesus cut to the chase, addressed the heart of the matter, probably got at what Nicodemus wanted to know: What do You have; and can I get it too?

In the conversation that followed, Jesus explained several things to puzzled Nicodemus:

1. He needed to be “born again” to see this kingdom of God - John 3:3.

2. He could only enter this kingdom through this new birth - John 3:5.

3. Being “born again” was not a physical but a spiritual experience. It involved water (baptism, repentance) and the Spirit.

4. The Spirit was the member of the godhead active in this new birth. The Spirit’s action is compared to wind (John 3:6-8). I can’t help but think of the Spirit hovering over unformed creation in Genesis 1:2 before the light arrived. Here, at the new birth, the Spirit blows over human lives to activate them toward God spiritually.

5. This new birth would be and is based on a physical time-and-space event—Jesus’ death and resurrection - John 3:13-16.

Still today we puzzle over the depths of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. Thinking back to our own “new birth” experience, we may be able to detect the work of that Spirit wind as we felt dissatisfaction with life as it was, began a search for answers, were wowed by how God brought people into our lives, and seemingly orchestrated circumstances to bring us to repentance and faith. Suddenly we saw evidences of God everywhere. His fingerprints were all over our lives!

Jack Hayford sums up the new birth wonderfully in an article in my Bible:

“New birth is more than simply being “saved.” It is a requalifying experience opening up the possibilities of our whole being to the supernatural dimension of life and fitting us for a beginning in God’s kingdom order” - Jack Hayford, “New Birth,” New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1447 (emphasis added)

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for paying the death penalty for my sin so I could enter the kingdom of God. Please keep my eyes open to the supernatural dimension of kingdom life—even as I still live on natural earth. 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.

Under whose authority do we live?

 Jesus' authority extended over nature. 

(Image from Standard Bible Story Readers Book 2 

Used with permission)

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 20:1-8

TO CHEW ON: “Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and scribes together with the elders confronted Him and spoke to Him saying, ‘Tell us by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is it who gave You this authority?’” Luke 20:1,2

The religious leaders were justified, in their own minds, to challenge Jesus’ authority. As this IVP New Testament Commentary article points out:

“He has had no official training. He comes from Galilee, an area not known for its religious instruction or anything else of stature (John 7:52). He has never sat under a rabbi. Where does his authority come from? How can he justify the things he has been doing? This is really a fundamental question for the entire gospel (Luke 4:32,36; 5:24; 9:1; 10:19)” - IVP Commentary accessed through BibleGateway.com.

Jesus’ answer with another question was right in line with the back-and-forth discussion style of the day. (“This style of disputation was popular in the ancient world. It was designed to show who could ask the wiser question and expose the weaknesses in the opponent” - IVP Commentary).

His question (“’The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?’”) accomplished several things:
- It equated the authority of His ministry with the authority of John the Baptist’s.
- It revealed the religious leaders as unwilling to believe that either John or Jesus came from God.
- It put them in a dilemma (Luke 20:5,6)
- It silenced them for now (but they would be back - Luke 20:19-22).

The claims of Jesus’ authority are still an issue today, to unbelievers and believers alike.

To unbelievers, His words, “‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7) are an affront to the human spirit, which is quite happy with its state.

To believers, His words: “‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it ‘“  (Luke 9:23,24) show how demanding living under His authority will be.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, when Your authority challenges my self-will, help me not to play mind games but to be honest with myself and deal with heart issues. 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.

Life gardeners

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Peter 1:13-25


TO CHEW ON: "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of God which lives and abides forever." 1 Peter 1:23


It is soon planting time in the part of the world where I live. Gardeners are planning their plots. They are buying seed. They are readying the soil. Though they can't accomplish the mysterious process of germination, they will do all they can to get the soil just right and plant high quality seed so that their garden will be a success.

The Bible talks a lot about our lives in terms of seed, new life, growing a good crop. Our focus verse today tells us that God's word is the guaranteed seed of new life in us. Other places also talk about God's word as being unable to fail (Isaiah 55:10-11). So why does it not always produce a good harvest?

Because in our lives there is another variable — the soil. And that part is up to us. Jesus told a parable about the possible soils of life in Matthew 13:3-9. He talked about wayside soil, shallow soil, weedy soil, and good soil.

Later He explained to His disciples what each soil signified in a person's life (Matthew 13:18-23).

• We discover that wayside soil where the birds snatch the seed away is the person who doesn't understand God's word. 

• Stony soil in which the seed germinates but never gets established is the person who doesn't let this new life get rooted in new habits and lifestyle changes. 

• The weedy, thorny soil is the life that is cluttered with other interests, agendas and goals. If the seed germinates, it is soon crowded out and starved for water by competing weeds. 

• And then there is the good soil, which is the receptive life where the word germinates and grows to produce an increase of thirty, sixty or one-hundred percent.

If you're a person who is new to these ideas, you may be like the wayside soil — bewildered and confused about what Jesus and His life and death mean to you. You can read Jesus' explanation of new life to someone for whom this was a new idea in John 3:1-16. You can ask God to help you understand.

Even after God's word has germinated into new life in us, we still need to keep an eye on soil conditions. Just like a gardener doesn't forget about a plant once it has poked through the soil but weeds, fertilizes, cultivates and aerates around it, so we need to be vigilant to nurture the new life in us.

If our new life is in danger from shallow roots in stony soil conditions, we can encourage them to grow deeper. Joshua 1:8 has some good advice on how to do that:

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

If our plot us full of the weeds and cares of everyday life, Jesus tells us how to tackle those things in Matthew 6:25 and 33:

"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body....Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met  - MSG paraphrase.

Let's be vigilant to care for and nurture the soil of our lives so that God's word will realize its potential of a good harvest in us.

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank You for the Bible which is the seed of new life. Please show me where the seed of Your word has competition from other things in my life. Help me to care for my life plot with the dedication of a successful gardener. Amen.

MORE: Gardening advice

• "How to get soil ready for spring planting" is a practical article on preparing garden soil for spring planting. 
• "How to maintain your garden in summer" talks about techniques you can use so the plants in your garden survive the growing season.  

These articles have practical ideas for your natural garden. As you read them can you find ways that natural gardening parallels establishing and maintaining life's spiritual garden? 


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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.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Breath-born

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 20:19-31

TO CHEW ON: "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" John 20:22

Way back in Genesis we read, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" - Genesis 2:7.

Here, as we see Jesus breathing on His disciples, we can't help but notice the parallel and ask, what is happening? A footnote in my Bible explains:

"The old creation began with the breath of God; now the new creation begins with the breath of God the Son" - Siegfried Schatzmann,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1480.

Another article says:

 "...here on Easter night the disciples do, in fact, receive the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2). Jesus' word is direct and unequivocal: 'Receive" and in doing so the disciples are 'born again' by the Holy Spirit's regenerating work in them (Romans 8:11-17) - Scott G.Bauer, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1481.

Doesn't this 'breath' reference also bring to mind John 3, where Jesus talks to Nicodemus about the new birth?  

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" - John 3:8.

Have you felt that breath on your nostrils? Have you breathed it in? Are you spiritually alive, so that you can say "The Spirit Himself bears witness with my spirit that I am the child of God'? (Paraphrased from Romans 8:16)


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your breath of spiritual life. Please nourish that life in me by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

MORE: Made alive = regenerated = born again

"When we were dead God made us alive. How did He do this? Jesus' answer in John 3:5-8 is that we are born again by the Spirit. And Paul wrote that God saved us 'by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit' - Titus 3:5. The word regeneration means 'born again,' so our new birth is again ascribed to the Holy Spirit." - Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Kindle Location 1354 (emphasis added).

Doubt, skepticism (a.k.a. unbelief)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 22:15-33

TO CHEW ON: "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk .... But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, 'Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?'" Matthew 22:15,18

What "wickedness" was Jesus referring to here? What was the root of the Pharisees' sin in their plot against Jesus?

On the surface, their henchmen were pleasant enough—deferential and flattering. "Teacher, we know that You are true and teach the way of God in truth," they fawned.

Of course if they and their sponsors knew such a thing, they certainly hoped their knowing would be proved wrong by how Jesus would trip Himself up with His own words, perhaps even say something that would incite the Romans to arrest Him. So one sin they were guilty of was what Jesus named, hypocrisy.

However, I believe their hypocrisy grow out of a more serious sin—unbelief (little or no trust, skepticism).

The Bible is full of unbelievers:

• Abraham was one when he doubted God's promise of a son - Genesis 17:17.

• Moses was one when he doubted God could feed the people the meat He had promised - Numbers 11:21.

• The disciples proved themselves unbelievers when they couldn't exorcise a particularly difficult demon - Matthew 17:19-20.

• Israel's religious leaders  (the chief priests, elders, scribes, and Pharisees) showed themselves unbelievers on many occasions - Matthew 21:32, Luke 22:67, John 3:11, John 12:37.

The consequence of unbelief was serious:

• It kept Moses and Aaron from entering Canaan with the people - Numbers 20:12.

• It silenced Zacharias throughout Elizabeth's pregnancy - Luke 1:20.

• It hindered Jesus from doing more miracles - Matthew 13:58.

• It was the root of Judas' betrayal - John 6:64.

However, unbelief is not a sin only Bible characters committed. Jesus' warnings against unbelief echo down the years to us today. Because unbelief is the sin that will finally condemn us to an eternity without God:

"He who believes in the Son has ever lasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" - John 3:36 (see also John 3:18, 8:24, 16:8-9).

I ask you, have you made that initial decision to believe in Jesus? (Jesus called it being "born again." Check here for a longer explanation of what that means.)

I ask myself, do I as a believer in Jesus live a life characterized by belief or unbelief? What about you?


PRAYER: Dear God, unbelief is serious. Please grow my faith in You deeper and stronger. I say with the man who came to Jesus: "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." Amen.


MORE: Unbelief—"the A1 sin"

"Is it not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity, for me, an atom, a particle of dust, to dare to deny his words? Is it not the very summit of arrogance and extremity of pride for a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, "God I doubt thy grace; God I doubt thy love; God I doubt thy power?" Oh! sirs believe me, could ye roll all sins into one mass,--could you take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, adultery, and fornication, and everything that is vile and unite them all into one vast globe of black corruption, they would not equal even then the sin of unbelief. This is the monarch sin, the quintessence of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs of the wine of Gomorrah; it is the A1 sin, the master-piece of Satan, the chief work of the devil."

~Charles Spurgeon~

(From this post on The Old Guys blog that features a daily quote by now-dead saints.)

An occasion for testimony

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 21:1-19

TO CHEW ON: "'But for all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.'" Luke 21:12-13

Jesus' words, "But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony," remind me of a story I heard this summer.

A missionary to the Middle East related an incident where he felt God was telling him to bring Bibles into a certain country.* Though he argued with God, "But that's illegal. It will get me arrested," he felt no release from the assignment.

So he went and, as he expected, his suitcase of Bibles was confiscated and he was put in jail. Fortunately he had one Bible on his person and was soon explaining the gospel to his cellmate. Before the night was over, that man had accepted Jesus.

In the morning the missionary was released. "But you must promise not to give away any more Bibles," the authorities said.

"I'll try," he said, "but I can't promise."

It was no good. He could not resist giving out more copies of the scriptures, and so later in the day found himself being hauled off to jail again. There he was put back in the same cell, where his last night's cellmate lingered on.

He, though, was ecstatic at the missionary's return. "I had so many questions," he said. "I was asking God to send me the answers. He sent you!"

Jesus' words, reinforced by this story, prompt me to ask, how differently would I view life if I looked at things that happen to me as potential occasions for testimony? Things that look bad on the surface — illnesses, hospital stays, accidents...could they be disguised occasions for witness?

I challenge myself, and all of us, to view the events of life with that possibility in mind. Instead of praying for release from the uncomfortable, inconvenient, even nasty incident, let's pray to have the insight to see the opportunity, and the courage to speak the good news about Jesus in it.

*names and identifying details have been left out to protect the people involved.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to see that You allow every detail in my life for a reason — that things that feel like accidents, mistakes, even tragedies, are there by Your permission. Help me to use these events as occasions to witness about the reality of You in my life. Amen.

MORE: Gaither Vocal Band "Born Again"

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