The "we know"s of John

 

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 John3-5; Psalm 37


TO CHEW ON: "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true..." 1 John 5:20

As we read 1 John 5, the phrase "we know" keeps popping up. What are the things John told his readers way back in the first century, and tells us now, that "we know"?

1. "We know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2).

[Know here and in its last appearance (in 1 John 5:20) is ginosko which means to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of, perceive, feel, understand.]

2. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life..." (1 John 5:13).

[Know here is oida from horao which means to see with the eyes, see with the mind, perceive, know, become acquainted with by experience, to see, look, take heed, be aware.]

3. "... we know that He hears us, whatever we ask..." (1 John 5:15)

4. "...we know we have the petitions we have asked of Him" (1 John 5;15).

5. "We know that whoever is born of God does not sin" (1 John 5'18).

6. "We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19).

7. "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding..." (1 John 5:20a).

8. "...that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true..." (1 John 5:20b).

As I read this list of certainties posed by John, I am again impressed with how the Christian life is a push-and-pull of faith and experience. Notice how our lists of knows (the know of experience) is bracketed by two knows (learning to know, getting a knowledge or perception of).

I ask myself, which of these knows can I declare with confidence? Which do I need to grow in? Most of all, am I progressively advancing in knowing Him (1 John 5:20b)? I do that by buttressing my faith through experience in all the ways John lists.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to have the confident knowledge of You that John expresses. Above all, help me to know You.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 37

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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.

A waiting lifestyle

Photo courtesy Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Thessalonians 1-2; Psalm 15

TO CHEW ON: "For they themselves declare concerning us, what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." 1 Thessalonians 1:9,10

In the next two days we're going to read all the way through 1 Thessalonians. As we begin today, here are some background facts about the book to help us understand its setting.

1. 1 Thessalonians was the first of Paul's letters that has been saved and the first book in the New Testament to be written. My Bible's introductory notes date it at A.D. 50—written before the Gospels, though they describe earlier events.

2. Paul founded the church in Thessalonica on his second missionary journey. It was on the route he took after having the vision of the Macedonian man begging, "Come over to Macedonia and help us" - Acts 16:10.

3. On that trip (about 49 A.D.) Paul went to Philippi (Acts 16:12-40) and then to Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9). His stay there was brief and controversial but life-altering for that "...great multitude of devout Greeks and not a few leading women" who believed Paul's gospel message.

One of the main themes in 1 Thessalonians is the return of Christ. In fact, a reference to it appears in each chapter. It is a theme thread we can follow as we read through the book.

In today's focus verses, Paul is complimenting the Christians there for their stellar reputation.

(The "...they…" ["For they themselves declare concerning us… etc. - vs. 9] who speak so glowingly of the Thessalonian believers refers back to the other believers in the region: "… all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe…" - 1 Thessalonians 1:7.)

It's interesting to note what these early and quite new Christians were known for:

• Faith in God - 1 Thessalonians 1:8.

• A dramatic lifestyle change as they turned from idol worship to worship and serve God - 1 Thessalonians 1:9.

• An attitude of expectancy. These people had a reputation of waiting for Jesus' return - 1 Thessalonians 1:10.

• A serenity about the future as they no longer feared the "wrath of God" - 1 Thessalonians 1:10.

I wonder how the expectant lifestyle of these Christians looked. Maybe they had stopped collecting stuff, like property and clothes. Maybe they were making sure all their relationships were tended to. They probably spoke of their expectation to family, friends, and neighbors so that their dear ones would believe too and not be left behind. It's clear that they had a reputation for sounding forth their beliefs (1 Thessalonians 1:8).

A good question to ask ourselves is, what sort of reputation do we have as believers? Are we known for our faith in God? Have we turned from our old pre-Christian ways? Do our lives give any evidence at all that we expect Christ to return? (Or do we really expect that?)


PRAYER: Dear God, I am challenged by the simple yet bold faith of these one-year-old New Testament Christians. Please help me to firm up my expectation inYour return so that it becomes evident in my lifestyle. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 15

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1 Thessalonians (Read Scripture Series)




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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.

Don't let your spirit wear out with your body

Smiling elderly man  - RGBStock.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Corinthians 3-4; Psalm 150

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore we do not lost heart. Even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16

At our home group meetings we typically hear one prayer request after  another for healing and better physical health (our group is made up of seniors). It illustrates how, after a certain age, the body wears out and falls prey to a variety of diseases and malignancies. Our "outward man is perishing."

But we are not to lose heart in this. Why? Because our "inward man is being renewed day by day."

But is it? Despite failing physical systems, a slower pace, loss of vitality, energy, brain power and drive, are we being renewed? How does this happen?A collection of verses under the heading "New Person" in my Bible gives some ideas of how this comes about.


Renewed day by day:

1. It starts with confession of and turning from sin on our part and a work of God's grace in our hearts - Ezekiel 18:30-31; Psalm 51:10.


2.By faith we accept that God is doing something in us - Philippians 2:13.

• A little further on in our 2 Corinthians reading Paul reminds us: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation—old things have passed away, all things have become new" - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

• There may be other evidences too. For Saul there were new powers of prophecy. Samuel promised him he would be "turned into another man" - 1 Samual 10:6.

3. But we don't just sit by waiting for ourselves to be magically changed. We cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He prompts us to live differently.

• We spend time with God. Isaiah talks about waiting on the Lord to renew strength (Isaiah 40:31).

• We cut away old habits and practices of sin and in this way identify or mark ourselves as God's possession. Paul refers to this in Colossians 2:11 as the "circumcision of Christ."

• We refuse to be defined by and conformed to our former lusts - 1 Peter 1:14.

• We put on the new man - Colossians 3:10.

4. We persevere despite physical failings and weakness.

• Our focus verse (2 Corinthians 4:16) reminds us not to lose heart despite the fact that  physically we're wearing out.

• Philippians 1:6 reassures us that "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

So, if our bodies are failing us and the state of our affairs is deteriorating rather than improving, we need to remind ourselves this is happening only in the physical, earth realm. In the meantime, our spiritual renewal can and should continue day by day till we pass from this life to the next.

PRAYER: Dear God, I pray that the day by day renewal Paul talks about here will happen in me. Help me to rise above the trials of a wearing out body and cooperate with You in this process. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 150

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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.

Spirit-born

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 3-4; Psalm 104


TO CHEW ON: "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'" John 3:5

Talk of being born again hardly moves the needle on the Richter scale of our minds. But when Jesus first introduced this idea to Nicodemus, it was earth-shaking. It really should remain that to us too. For it is the way we "enter" and "see" the Kingdom of God.

How? In Jesus' words by being "born of water" (repentance) "and the Spirit."

J. I. Packer says of the interchange between Jesus and Nicodemus:

"Speaking corporately for Himself and His disciples to Nicodemus and to the whole class of unregenerate religious people to which Nicodemus belonged, Christ went on to explain that the inevitable consequence of unregeneracy is unbelief — 'Ye receive not our witness' (verse 11). The gospel produces no conviction in them; unbelief holds them fast.


What follows, then? Should we conclude that preaching the gospel is a waste of time, and write off evangelism as a hopeless enterprise, foredoomed to fail? No; because the Spirit abides with the Church to testify of Christ" -  Knowing God, p. 74 (emphasis added).

The Spirit's working is, by Jesus' description here, a mysterious, unaccountable thing:"'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'" (verse 8).

Packer again:

"It is not for us to imagine that we can prove the truth of Christianity by our own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity save the Holy Spirit, by His own almighty work of renewing the blinded heart. It is the sovereign prerogative of Christ's Spirit to convince men's consciences of the truth of Christ's gospel; and Christ's human witnesses must learn to ground their hopes of success, not on clever presentation of the truth by man, but on powerful demonstration of the truth by the Spirit" - p. 74 (emphasis added).

Which is why we must not give up on anyone, no matter how resistant to the gospel they appear. For we have no idea how the Spirit is working in their lives, what is growing in the field of their hearts (Matthew 13:24), how Kingdom leaven is spreading  in the  secrecy of their inner lives (Matthew 13:33), or how they might even now be finding themselves mysteriously drawn to God's wedding banquet invitation (Matthew 22:2,9-10).


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to birth me into Your kingdom. God, the Spirit,  please use my life to accomplish Your mysterious, wind-like workings. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 104 

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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 breath of hope

Image from RGB Stock Photos

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 37-39; Psalm 42

TO CHEW ON: "Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live.' " Ezekiel 37:5


The people with whom Ezekiel would have first shared this vision were far from home. Their beautiful Jerusalem had been ravaged and they were living in Babylon amongst those who spoke a different language, ate different food, had differed customs, and worshiped a different God than they did. Ezekiel's vision would have filled them with hope.

The hope begins with the action in verse Ezekiel 37:5 - God causing breath to enter those bones.

[Breath - ruach is breath, wind, spirit  of living breath in man and animals, spirit as the seat of emotions and mental acts, and the Spirit of God.]

Ezekiel's vision has various interpretations. According to my Bible's study notes,* this vision may be:

- a prophecy of the post-exile return of the exiled Jews from Babylon.
- an Old Testament picture of bodily resurrection.
- an analogy for spiritual regeneration and the birth of the church.
- a prophecy of national Israel being restored in end times.

If we take it as an analogy for spiritual regeneration and apply it to our own lives, it can also give hope to us.

Spiritual life in the Bible begins with that birth / wind of the Spirit. Jesus, talking to Nicodemus about being born again, used the picture of wind: "' Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes form and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit' " - John 3:7,8.

Spiritual work continues with the Spirit's enabling. After His resurrection, Jesus came to the disciples before He commissioned them and "He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' " - John 20:22.

Spiritual work takes off by the power of the Spirit. Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Spirit's empowering and when He came on the Day of Pentecost and baptized them all, He came with "… a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind…" - Acts 2:2.

Whatever that pile of dead bones is in our situation, God can also revive it with His life-giving breath. Like the exiles of Ezekiel's time found hope in this picture of breath coming into the dead bones of their situation, may the thought that the Spirit can breathe spiritual life into what seems dead to us also fill us with hope today.

PRAYER: Dear God, please come into the discouraging things, the disappointments and areas of my life that are dead with Spirit breath of life. And we remind You of our loved ones that appear spiritually dead. Please revive them with Your breath of spiritual life. Amen.
* New Spirit-Filled Life Bible study notes on Ezekiel authored by Howard M. Ervin, p. 1098.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 42

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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.

Turn back

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Lamentations 4-5; Psalm 30

TO CHEW ON: "Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old." Lamentations 5:21

The bleak book of Lamentations ends on a bright note—the possibility of returning to God.

Stories of repentance (turning back to God) run through the Bible.

• David repented after committing adultery and murder (Psalm 51:1-19).

• Josiah repented when the priests found and read the books of the law (2 Kings 22:11,19).

• The pagan Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:6-9).

• Even evil King Ahab repented after hearing about God's coming judgment from Elijah (1 Kings 21:27).

I love the story of the Prodigal Son and the wording Luke uses to describe his return: "But when he came to himself he said...I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned...'" (Luke 15:17-18).

I'm sure you can remember your own coming to yourself, that moment when you 'repented' (turned, changed direction) from unbelief to faith, self-direction to God-direction. I know I can. I tell my story here (end of "My Rambling Story").

Of course following that one moment of big repentance when life takes a whole different direction, there are hundreds of smaller repentances. Each time we find ourselves again taking control of our lives and letting our old carnal self have the upper hand we can repent, turn back and be restored and renewed.

Jack Hayford says about repentance:

"The implications of biblical repentance are threefold:
1. Renunciation and reversal.
2. Submission and teachability.
3. Continued shapeability.


There is no birth into the kingdom without hearing the call to salvation, renouncing one's sin and turning from sin toward Christ the Saviour (Acts 3:19)" - Jack Hayford, "Repentance," New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1293.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for drawing me back go Yourself. I pray for the prodigals in my life, that You will bring them home in the same way. Amen.

MORE: Praise is Rising by Brenton Brown and Paul Baloche

"Hear the sound of hearts returning to You
We turn to You
In Your kingdom broken lives are renewed;
You make us new..."

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.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Together again

"Prodigal Son" - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 30-32; Psalm 21

TO CHEW ON: "Again I will build you and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin of Israel!
You shall again be adorned with your tambourines,
And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice."  Jeremiah 31:4

A family feud, a rift between you and an old friend, a church split, a betrayal by a business partner… Most of us have experienced the severing of a trusted relationship and know its fallout of sadness, disillusionment and the ache of an empty place at the table, empty pews in church, the empty office.

Israel and Judah had split into two nations during the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam. That was about 300 years before Jeremiah's time. Though the crisis pain of that split had no doubt long healed, the desire that the two nations of God's chosen people be reunited lingered. In today's reading we hear it in Jeremiah's prediction of  together again: "I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall all be my people" - Jeremiah 31:1.

Let's look at the bright picture Jeremiah paints of that reuniting:

This is a worldwide ingathering "I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth…" Jeremiah 31:8, 10.

There is repentance and renewed spiritual sensitivity: "They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them" - Jeremiah 31:9.

There is celebration, singing and dancing - "You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice …. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old together;  For I will turn their mourning to joy…" Jeremiah 31:4,13.

There is vibrant praise and worship - " ' Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise and say, "O Lord, save Your people…" ' "  Jeremiah 31:7.

There is hope: "Again I will build you and you shall be rebuilt" - Jeremiah 31:4.

There is new life and productivity - "You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria …. Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden…" Jeremiah 31:5, 12.

Over it all there is a sense of God's love, protection, and care - "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you … He who scattered Israel will gather him, and Keep him as a shepherd does his flock … And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness says the Lord" - Jeremiah 31:3, 10-11,14.

The picture of God reclaiming His people Israel can be compared to what it's like when He brings humanity back to Himself, healing the rift that split us and God apart when Adam and Eve sinned.

He brings us from wherever we are and accepts us no matter what our condition. Our tears of repentance and renewed spiritual sensitivity soon change to joy, singing, celebration, praise, and worship as we realize our happy condition. Our relationship with our Creator leads to renewed life and creativity. In the Shepherd's care we find security and satisfaction.

If you haven't come home to the Father, He calls to you today: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindess I have drawn you…"

Come to Him today!.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for wanting me back and making a way. Help me today to appreciate and enjoy the benefits of being Your child. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 21

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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.

Your dead shall live

Image courtesy Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 23-27; Psalm 114

TO CHEW ON: "Your dead shall live;
Together with my dead body they shall arise.
Awake and sing, you who dwell in dusk;
For your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead." Isaiah 26:19


Bible commenters view Isaiah 26:19 with its reference to the dead living again in several ways.

- Spiritual Resurrection
My Thompson Chain Bible links this passage to the topic of "Spiritual Resurrection." So does the Asbury Bible Commentary: "Isaiah 26:19 is an oracle of salvation, a shout of joy that the dead will live. There will be a national restoration (this is similar to Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the dry bones and is not a reference to individual resurrection."

- Bodily Resurrection
My Bible's notes view it as referring to a bodily resurrection: "Dead shall live: The resurrection of the righteous dead affirms the hope of eternal life." The Reformation Study Bible says something similar: "The Old Testament expresses faith in the resurrection of the body since death is an invasion of God's created order." (RSB accessed through biblegateway.com.)


Does it really matter which it is? I don't think so because a spiritual resurrection—a born again experience as Jesus called it—is the beginning of what the Bible calls eternal life which includes a physical resurrection: "The future event of finally being raised to glory with Jesus Christ" - Dictionary of Bible Terms.
Let's camp for a bit on the Bible promise that our bodies will be resurrected.
- It is the hope of psalmists

"But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For He shall receive me" - Psalm 49:15.

"You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth" - 71:29.

- Hosea describes release from death in terms of freedom from a kidnapper

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave, I will be your destruction!" - Hosea 13:14.

John recalls Jesus' words about death and resurrection. He said:

- The dead would respond and come alive at His voice:"'Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live'"  - John 5:25. 

- He said said of every one who believes in Him: "I will raise him up at the last day" - John 6:40. 

- Resurrection is promised through belief in Him:"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live' " John 11:25.

Paul describes the coming resurrection in interesting detail:

 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first" - 1 Thessalonians 4:16.

In Revelation, John talks about the extent of this resurrection: 

" The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works" - Revelation 20:13.

What an event to look forward to! No wonder the "Resurrection" listing in the Dictionary of Bible terms includes the topics:"The resurrection as an incentive to godliness and perseverance" and "The resurrection as an incentive to endurance and suffering."

Let's keep this hope—this promise—of resurrection in mind as we ride the waves of life, and especially as we say goodbye to those we love who die in the Lord. How wonderful to know that our earthly goodbyes are not final farewells!

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to cling to Your promise of resurrection through the ups and downs of my earthly life.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 114

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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.

Your new name

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 62:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "You shall be called by a new name

Which the mouth of the Lord will name." Isaiah 62:2

Whenever I read about a new name in the Bible, I think of Donna Smallenberg's painting by that title. In it a beautiful queen looks intently at a glowing white stone with an inscription on it. Smallenberg's inspiration for that painting came from Revelation 2 (Revelation 2:17) and Isaiah 62. She says of her depiction:

"This woman representing the overcoming church in Revelations 2 is given a white stone with a new name written on it. The white stone is symbolic of priestly revelation, the new name reveals her true calling and destiny. Isaiah 62 speaks of her shining like the dawn, of being a crown of beauty in the Lord's hand..."

What was her old name? "Forsaken." "Desolate" - Isaiah 62:4.

Her new name is "Hephzibah"—"My delight is in her," and "Beulah"—"married," and a "Holy People," "The Redeemed of the Lord," "Sought Out," and "A City Not forsaken" - Isaiah 62:4,12.

This new name promise is repeated in Revelation 3:12:

"He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem... And I will write on him My new name."

Neil Anderson, in an appendix to the book The Bondage Breaker lists statements that summarize our identity in Christ—our new names. Below are a few from a much longer list. Let's ponder them today and thank God again for the wonderful thing He did when He sent Jesus to earth to adopt us and make us His own.

• I am a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
• I am a child of God - John 1:12.
• I am a son/daughter of light not of darkness - 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
• I am Christ's friend, chosen and appointed to bear His fruit - John 15:15,16.
• I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ's life - John 15:1,5.
• I am God's workmanship—His handiwork - Ephesians 2:10.
• I am one of God's living stones - 1 Peter 2:5.
• I am a joint heir with Christ - Romans 8:17.
• I am a citizen of heaven - Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:6.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that I am Yours and have a new identity in You. Help me to live true to the names You call me. Amen.

MORE: Our thanks back to God

In the last few days I've been listening to Robin Mark's 2009 Year of Grace CD while cooking dinner. One song I can't hear enough times is his rendition of "Greater the One." As we ponder Jesus' coming to earth as a baby and all His life means for us now (our new names and all the benefits of new life in Him),  this song is the perfect response. Sing along with Robin Mark these words of appreciation and thankfulness to our beautiful Saviour.

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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.

Wineskins of revival

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 9:14-26

TO CHEW ON: " 'Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.' " Matthew 9:16,17

Do you ever hear people pining for the revivals of the old days as they recall a meeting where God met them? Perhaps it was in a Billy Graham Crusade, or in my case a Janz Crusade and Sutera Twins meetings. It seems that God often moves in waves of revival. If we were caught by such a wave and have had a taste, it's left us with a lingering appetite for more.

David Wilkerson was one of the men God used to propel revival in the 1960s and '70s. His book The Cross and the Switchblade, that tells of how God used him to work in the lives of New York's gang members and addicts, became a bestseller. Soon he was holding crusades in cities all around the U.S.

In his biography David Wilkerson: The Cross, the Switchblade and the Man Who Believed his son Gary tells of the ups and downs of Wilkerson's ministry. For years, thousands found Jesus at the meetings he held. But then invitations to speak began to slow, went to a trickle, stopped altogether as crusades lost their appeal.

At such times it's natural to ask, what changed? The temptation is to try to copy what other popular ministries are doing or duplicate the conditions of fruitful times. Wilkerson's team questioned their boss's refusal to go on TV and lack of new books. We may think, if we sang the same songs, accompanied them with accordions instead of guitars and drums, put up a tent instead of using an auditorium, revival would return.


Though I believe Jesus was referring to the big notion of old and new wine here, i.e. the Old Testament Law era versus the new wine era of salvation by grace through faith, I think we can also apply this old and new wineskin principle to the ways God visits succeeding generations.

Let's keep our hearts and eyes open to the new ways God is growing His kingdom that don't look anything like the city-wide crusades, the week-long conferences, or the deeper life meetings of the past. Let's not allow our hankering after the old wineskins of revival delivery blind us to the new wineskin ways that may even now be poised to engulf our generation with a wave of revival.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be alert to the moving of Your Spirit, from whatever wineskin it pours. 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.

Seeking shepherd

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 34:1-15


TO CHEW ON: "For thus says the Lord God, 'Indeed, I Myself will search for My Sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they are scattered on a cloudy and dark day." Ezekiel 34:11-12


I think I have these verses underlined in all the Bibles that I use. It first came to my attention when I read it paraphrased  in the prayer for rebellious and prodigal children in Barbara Billett's book Praying With Fire:

"...I thank You Father in the name of Jesus that You will search for ___ (name of child) and seek him/her out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep. I think You Father in the Name of Jesus for seeking out ___ from where he/she has strayed and You are delivering him/her" - excerpt from "Prayer/Confession for a Rebellious Child," Praying With Fire, p. 62.

It reminds me of the story Jesus Himself told about looking for sheep:

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?

And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! - Luke 15:4-7 NLT.

How comforting to know that God Himself is concerned and goes after our prodigals.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the picture of You as the seeking shepherd. May I be your instrument of seeking and finding as I love and pray my own and others' prodigals back to You. Amen.


MORE: Prodigal stories

"The Power of Two Praying Sisters and a Faithful God"

Stories at Prodigal Child Ministries

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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.

A world that needs to be made new

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 7:17-8:2

TO CHEW ON: “It shall happen in that day,
That wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver,
It shall be for briers and thorns.” Isaiah 7:23

Our reading today is more prophecy of the variety we read yesterday. A quote from The Bible Panorama explains about prophecy and this passage:

“God’s prophecy is often like looking at a range of mountains or a series of clouds, some of which are close and some distant. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish one range or series from another.

(Isaiah 7:10-16 - yesterday’s reading) " Here there are specific prophecies which God gives to Ahaz as a sign. The widest and furthest sweep of prophecy concerns the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as Messiah. He will be born of a virgin, and that is a sign of God sending His Son… Isaiah 7:17-25: "Here the closer prophecies concern the invasion of Judah by other countries. When Judah is invaded and taken into captivity, it will be very hard to survive and earn a living. Previously fruitful occupations and places will become wastelands” - The Bible Panorama - Accessed through Biblegateway.com.

While prophetic passages like Isaiah 7 are hard to understand completely, not to speak of difficult to apply, they do paint a general picture that we readily see is dire. The details of the difficulties prophesied over Judah here bring to mind aspects of God’s ways with mankind through history.

1. “The Lord will whistle for the fly … and for the bee” - Isaiah 7:18.

This reminds us of God’s sovereignty over nature, even in its broken, potentially destructive state. Humankind is also part of that nature (some Bible scholars interpret “fly” and “bee” to refer to invading armies from Africa and the Euphrates).

2. “…thorns… It shall happen in that day / That wherever there could be a thousand vines … / It will become briers and thorns … / You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns” - Isaiah 7:19, 23, 24, 25.

Here we have a harsh reminder of the old curse of the fall spoken to Adam: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; / … Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” - Genesis 3:17,18.

3. “… the Lord will shave with a hired razor… / The head and the hair of the legs, / And will also remove the beard” - Isaiah 7:20.

Shaving hair and plucking the beard were signs of dishonor applied to slaves. They serve as a reminder of our troubled world and how we abuse each other. The plucked beard also recalls a detail Isaiah prophesied about Messiah’s treatment: “I gave My back to those who strike, / And My cheeks to those who pull out the beard” - Isaiah 50:6.

4. “For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land" - Isaiah 7:21,22.

Cottage cheese made from the milk of one cow and two sheep (Isaiah 7:21), plus honey! Not exactly rich fare is it? This speaks of the diet of deprivation.

These reminders of our fallen world give us every reason to celebrate the incarnation of the One who has promised to banish the curse of fallen nature and mankind, and to make all things new -  Isaiah 65:17-25; Revelation 21:1.

PRAYER: Dear Father, when I’m in the thick of this world’s snags, problems, and darkness, I will lift my eyes to the hope of Your promise of renewal. 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 river of God

Bridal Falls - BC, Canada

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 46:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High." Psalm 46:4.

Though there was no actual river flowing through Jerusalem, it seems the city had a subterranean water supply that was the source of various fountains and pools throughout the city (K. R. Dick Iverson - study notes on Psalms, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 723).

That unseen river makes a wonderful symbol of the hidden life of God for believers then and still today. All three members of the Godhead have a part in that flow.

God the Father: He begs the wayward to come back to Him as their life-giver - "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water" - Jeremiah 2:13.

God the Son: After a chapter in which the prophet Zechariah foresees Jesus' death (specifically Zechariah 12:10) he says: "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness" - Zechariah 13:1.

God the Holy Spirit: Jesus' offer of life-giving water to the Samaritan woman:
"'…but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life'" - John 14:4,

This is elaborated on later as the fountain of the Holy Spirit:
 "'He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified" - John 7;38,39.

What a picture of God's refreshing supply of life for us.
1. We leave our own stale cisterns of self-help and self-determination and turn to God.

2. We are cleansed from sin in the fountain of Jesus' blood:

"There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Immanuel's veins
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains" - from the hymn by William Cowper.

3. We now live this new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Its evidence is joy (Acts 13:52; 1 Thessalonians 1:6).

I ask you, have we taken advantage of this cleansing river? Is it refreshing and renewing us? Is living water flowing from our lives?

PRAYER: Thank You for this beautiful picture of life in and with You. May streams of living water flow from my life today. Amen. 

MORE: "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood"

 

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

Cisterns or fountains?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 2:1-13

TO CHEW ON: "For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters and hewn themselves cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

This passage speaks of where we find our satisfaction. Actually it's more than satisfaction because it speaks of finding water. That's something we not only like to drink but we must have for life. While a human body can survive up to five weeks without food, it can only survive days (three to four) without water.

Given a choice, wouldn't we rather drink water from a sparkling fountain that flows fresh and in an endless supply than from a cistern? Such man-made water storage systems contain water that is stagnant. Over time the water is used up and needs to be replenished.

Here Jeremiah contrasts the two water sources as a way to describe where the people are getting their spiritual needs met. His word picture prompts me to ask, where do I go to get my spiritual needs met? To cisterns of my own making?

Is my work a cistern? Is my family? Are my friendships?

Perhaps one way to find out is by taking all the stuff that fills us up—the ability to work and find pleasure in it, our enjoyment of relationships, the pleasures of the sensory world—and imagining them absent. Would we still have something?

And how do we keep the good, legitimate things in life from becoming cisterns?  Perhaps one way is to drink long and deep from the living water at the beginning of each day. Then with our bellies full we won't be craving the other kind.

PRAYER: Dear God, I think of all the things I enjoy -- potential cisterns. Help me to make them secondary to finding my most vital satisfaction in You. May my satisfaction from the living fountain make the enjoyment of everyday things keener. 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.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

The work of God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Colossians 1:15-29

TO CHEW ON: "Him (Christ) we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." Colossians 1:28-29

When the goal is in mind and the focus is clear we may surprise even ourselves with how single-purposed we can be. Hours spent designing those house plans, writing that book, preparing for that talk just melt away as we strive toward the goal we see so clearly.

Yesterday we looked at the part of Colossians 1 where Paul prayed that the Christians in Colosse would know God's will. That's like conceptualizing the goal. Today we can see what can happen when that knowledge is energized not only by our own desire to see it happen, but by the very working of God in us.

Paul's goal is to get the news, that eternal life is available through Jesus, out to "every man." But he doesn't do this in his own strength. He is energized by "His (Jesus') working which works in me mightily" (vs. 29).

This Christ-in-me working accomplishes more than just energizing the spread of the gospel. It has the potential to impact all of life as Jack Hayford explains in a sidebar article in my Bible:

"'In Christ' is the expression Paul most frequently uses to designate the new life potential through the gospel. The Messiah (Christ) being King, the term clearly places the believer in the circle of all that is represented and contained in the King, His salvation conquest, and His personal rule.


The essential truth is that the Savior-King has come, and in Him the rule of God has altered the limits sin has heretofore placed on individuals. People no longer need be ruled by their carnality (flesh) or controlled by evil (the Devil)" - Jack Hayford, "Terminology of the Kingdom," New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1673 (emphasis added).

May we all cooperate with "His working which works in me mightily" to flesh  this out into purposeful, victorious living.

PRAYER: Dear God, please give me a fresh picture of Your will for me, my neighbours and my world. Help me to find my place in accomplishing it as You work in me (mightily too, please). Amen.

MORE: Different roles
I'd be the first to admit I'm no evangelist. That's probably why Paul's passion for spreading the Gospel makes me feel guilty. However, I can get excited about other jobs that are part of kingdom work - like being a "waterer." I take inspiration from passages like 1 Corinthians 3:5-9:

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  For we are God’s fellow workers…"

What do you consider your role in God's work?

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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.

Heaven - a fabled or real destination?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 65:17-66:6

TO CHEW ON: "For behold I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." Isaiah 65:17

I used to subscribe to "A Word A Day" a five times per week article that focused on interesting words. At one point the featured words were all names of what writer Anu Garg called "fabled destinations, places that exist only in our collective imagination." He included the Land of Oz, Shangri-la, the Garden of Eden, utopia and cockaigne. On reading today's passage, I think the "new heaven and new earth" the prophet describes would fit right in. Only, as people of faith, we resist the implication that this is a "fabled destination" existing only in imagination. Instead, we believe that the description is of someplace real, and that someday we will actually experience its delights.

Let's take a minute to note them:

1. New heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17). A brand new creation? That's what it sounds like.

2. It will be a place where regrets and bad memories don't come to mind (Isaiaj 65:17).

3. There will be an abundance of joy ("the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying" Isaiah 65:18,19).

4. There will be longevity (Isaiah 65:20).

5. There will be productive, satisfying work (Isaiah 65:21,22).

6. Families will be blessed (Isaiah 65:23).

7. God's responsiveness will not be hindered (Isaiah 65:24).

8. Even members of the animal kingdom that now prey on each other will coexist in peace (Isaiah 65:25).

When will these things happen? A footnote in my Bible says, "These conditions will likely begin during the Millennium (Revelation 20:4-6)."

With our feet firmly planted on earth and our lungs full of the oxygen of here and now, it's easy to be cynical when reading such a description. It does all sound like someone's hopeful imagination gone wild. Until we look our mortality square in the face. As Joni Eareckson Tada says in her book Heaven:

"We really don't believe it's all going to end, do we? If God hadn't told us differently, we'd all think this parade of life would go on forever.

"But it will end. This life is not forever, nor is it the best life that will ever be. The fact is that believers are headed for heaven. It is reality. And what we do here on earth has a direct bearing on how we will live there. Heaven may be as near as next year, or next week; so it makes good sense to spend some time here on earth thinking candid thoughts about that marvelous future reserved for us." p. 15

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for these glimpses of Your future for me. Help me to live with their reality in mind. Amen.


MORE:  Victor Hugo at 80+

"When Victor Hugo was past eighty years of age he gave expression to his religious faith in these sublime sentences:

'I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down. The new shoots are livelier than ever. I am rising toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. The earth gives me its generous sap, but Heaven lights me with its unknown worlds.


'You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple."

Quoted in Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman (May 31st 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.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

God's answer

"The Empty Tomb"
 Illustration from a book by Martin Luther.

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 22:16-31

TO CHEW ON: "You have answered Me." Psalm 22:21b

This psalm pivots at verse 21. There the speaker (prophetically Jesus, Messiah) comes to the triumphant conclusion "You have answered Me."

Up to that point He has dwelt on the dreadful things that would and did happen as His life spiraled toward death. Today's reading includes the howls of the suggestible crowed insisting Barabbas go free and Jesus die, His pierced hands and feet, the gawking scorn of onlookers, and the dice game for His robe. And then He proclaims, "You have answered Me."

But He died. So we ask,  how did God answer Him?

The answer came three days later. As explained by the writer of my Bible's Psalm footnotes: "The resurrection of Jesus was an answer to His prayer and to the agonizing prayer of every sin-laden human soul"-  K.R. "Dick" Iverson, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 702.

That last phrase snags my attention: "...every sin-laden human soul." That includes me. It prompts me to ask: How does Christ's resurrection impact me—and you?

Wayne Grudem devotes an entire chapter to the resurrection and ascension of Jesus in his Systematic Theology. Here are some bits, gleaned from that chapter to answer our question: 

How does Jesus' resurrection impact us?

1. We are made spiritually alive.

"When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life .... When we become Christians our bodies remain as they were .... But in our spirits we are made alive with new resurrection power."

2. The penalty for our sin is paid.

"When Christ was raised from the dead, it was God's declaration of approval of Christ's work of redemption .... There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid for."

3. There will be resurrection bodies for us.

"In calling Christ the 'first fruits' (1 Corinthians 15:20) Paul uses a metaphor from agriculture to indicate we will be like Christ .... Christ as the 'first fruits' shows what our resurrection bodies will be like when, in God's final 'harvest' he raises us from the dead and brings us into his presence" - quotes from Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pp. 614-616.

The rest of Psalm 22 sparkles with the joy of this resurrection answer. Praise God, we can join in Messiah's celebration!

PRAYER: Dear God, "My praise shall be of You in the great assembly .... All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations." Amen (quoting Psalm 22:25, 27-28)

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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.