Archive for June, 2010

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GOD IS GOOD

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Day 109

“No good thing does He withhold from
those who walk uprightly”
Psalm 84:11

When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God said, “I Myself will make all my goodness pass before you” [Exodus 34:5]. The goodness of God is the overall summation of His nature and character. It is who He is. When you want to know about the glory of God, it is seen in His glorious nature and character.

If you understand the goodness of God, you understand there is nothing that is good apart from God. Jesus declared “There is only One who is good” [Matthew 19-16-17]. No man is good. Only God. And God is the source of everything that is good. You and I are His children today because of His goodness. He sent the good news to us that brought the message of salvation. We deserved death, He gave us life.

God’s goodness reaches every part of our life. He withholds no good thing from us – He gives us grace and glory. And more – He causes all things to work together for good to those who love God [Romans 8:28]. Do you understand the breadth and depth of that verse? There is nothing in our lives that cannot be turned to the good. We need and must see God through His goodness to understand Him. If we don’t, we will view life, and God, from an earthly and carnal understanding, missing His goodness and blessings.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good”
Psalm 34:8

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THE BLIND SEE

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Day 108

“And he called out, saying,
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”
Luke 18:38

His name was Bartimaeus. He was blind. Instead of wallowing in his handicap, he chose to undertake a daily trip into Jericho and position himself at the one of the busiest sections for begging. He earned income for living by this means. It appears Bartimaeus was no slacker!

Bartimaeus was sitting by the road begging, as he had done every day. Nothing different. But, this day he heard a large crowd passing by and asked what was going on. They told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And, without warning, he started calling out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The ones leading the crowd didn’t like that and told him to stop and be quiet. Instead of obeying them, he yelled louder to Jesus, crying out for Him to have mercy on him. Jesus stopped, questioned him and healed him of his blindness. That day, Bartimaeus became a follower of Jesus, glorifying God.

There is a lesson here; Bartimaeus was an unusual person. In spite of his handicap, he worked for a living. He showed up every day. He didn’t give up on life. And he had hope. Yes, he was ready to go on and when the opportunity presented itself, he seized it. How did he know about Jesus? He must have heard the stories. So, when Jesus came, he jumped up and yelled with all his might – save me – have mercy on me. When we cry out, He hears us and draws near.

“Ask, and it shall be given to you;
seek, and you shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened to you”
Matthew 7:7

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DIVINE APPOINTMENT

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Day 107

“Today I must stay at your house”
Luke 19:5

Zaccheus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. He was very rich and successful, but considered selfish and wicked by his people. He was not a popular man. This was because tax collectors were considered traitors. And, he got rich by collecting more than was justly due in taxes from the people.

Zaccheus probably heard about Jesus from all the local talk. The healings, raising people from the dead, teachings and other activities were rapidly becoming known by many in the area. And Jesus was coming to town. He wanted to see Him. What Zaccheus didn’t know was that he was being guided by divine providence. After all, he was curious. Who was this fascinating person? He was an important public official and he wanted to see Him. So, Zaccheus made his plans to go see Jesus when He came to town. Or, so he thought.

“The mind of man plans the way, but the Lord directs his steps” [Proverbs 16:9]. Yes, Zaccheus made his plans, went to where Jesus was, but had to climb a tree to see Him. It was God’s purpose for Zaccheus to do this. There, in the tree, he was visible to everyone, and there the voice of His God spoke to him – “Today I must stay at your house.” You see, Zaccheus’ was chosen by God before the foundation of the world. His name was written in the Lamb’s book of Life. He had a divine appointment.

“And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly”

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SEEK AND EXPECT

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Day 106

“The Lord is good to those who hopefully and expectantly
wait for Him, to those who seek Him inquire of and
for Him, and require Him by right of necessity
and on the authority of God’s Word”
Lamentations 3:25 (Amp)

Over and over the Lord says to us, “Seek to know Me and expect to receive.” Too often, we seek to know, but never expect to find out. The answer comes and we miss it. The whole thing flies right past our mind set. We never recognize we have missed a piece of the puzzle we’ve been searching to find. But, our God is very practical. He gives us answers in practical, everyday events.

We should pray and ask the Lord to show us where He is in all circumstances that come up in our life. Ask Him to teach us how to recognize His hand in our lives. He is a gracious Father and desires for us to know His gentleness. Otherwise, we are blind without His light. We cannot get past our own reasoning and emotions. God uses creative persuasion in our life. We can be soft and pliable in His hands, or we can resist and suffer loss. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness for a two week trip! It’s our choice.

We’ll find His goodness when we expect to see Him. His goodness will bring joy and His perfect work will be accomplished in us. If you want to see the goodness of the Lord, expect it! He is before you, behind you, all around you and has laid His hand upon you.

“My soul, wait thou only upon God;
for my expectation is from Him”
Psalm 62:5

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HE GIVES STRENGTH AND POWER

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Day 105

“He gives power to the weak, And to those who
have no might He increases strength”
Isaiah 40:29

Self-strength; Self-reliance; and, Self-sufficiency.

Isn’t this our way? It is one of the greatest pitfalls of our nature. There is a funny thing about all our self-strength, reliance and sufficiency; our bookstores have hundreds of titles on ways to solve loneliness, overweight, lack of self-esteem, and every other conceivable human weakness. So, if self-strength, reliance and sufficiency don’t work well for you, there are plenty of authors wanting to help you! Sadly it is not just the worldly books; visit a Christian bookstore and you see the same thing with a religious twist.

God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” [Isaiah 55:8]. Fallen man believes in self-strength. God’s way is in His strength, but it only works in those who are humble and know they are weak and lack true strength. Godly strength comes only in weakness – “God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” [1 Corinthians 1:27].

How do we walk in His strength? It is “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” [vs 31]. What a gracious God – He is our strength. He gives us power. He equips us. He cares for us.

“My grace is sufficient for you;
for My strength is made perfect in weakness”
2 Corinthians 12:9

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GOD’S PEOPLE

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

Day 104

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery”
Romans 11:25a

God’s plan was and is to have a people who are his. This was his plan from the beginning and it didn’t change because Adam and Eve broke fellowship through disobedience. Through Abraham he established a race to be His own. He loved His people, nurtured them and continually sent leaders to help them. He set them free when they got into bondage. He delivered them from their enemies. He gave them their own land. But the worse happened; he sent His only Son and they killed Him.

Did He reject them? No. Not only did He not reject them, but He has prepared them for another day. And here is the amazing revelation of our Father God’s nature – today the Jews are enemies of the gospel, but because He elected them, they are loved by God and will be saved! We were once disobedient and now have received mercy. And God will have mercy on them as He has on us.

It defies our understanding to fathom the depths of our God and His mercy. It goes counter to how we see things. Yet, this is the goodness of God. His love has no boundaries. And Paul says, “how unsearchable His judgements.”

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Romans 11:36

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OUR TRUE FREEDOM

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Day 103

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free”
Galatians 5:1

Freedom is a wonderful experience. It is highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, the meaning today is more focused on individual rights over others. People talk a lot about freedom, usually meaning they are free to do what they want, when they want, and how they want. In reality, this freedom is not a true freedom; it is bondage to the nature of sin. The subtlety of this freedom is that is directly opposed to God and His kingdom.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. This freedom is a deliverance from the power of sin, accusing conscience, wrath of God and the tyranny of Satan. It is also a freedom from fear and self-works. But, wait! It’s more than deliverance – it is the gaining of walking and living in the Spirit of Christ with access to the Father. There is a joy from delighting and pleasing the Father. It is a freedom PLUS.

Who is the true free person? Is it not the one blessed of God? He has given us grace, mercy and comfort. True freedom brings us liberty from death and imparts God’s blessings on us. We become His and He dwells in us. His grace gives us favor. His mercy is what permits us, with all our human sinfulness, flawed characters and idiosyncrasies, to live in freedom, not fearing being lost. It covers us – it is our Mercy Seat. And in all this He comforts us as a mother comforts her child [Isaiah 66:13], and as a father has compassion on his children [Psalm 103:13].

“So if the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed”
John 8:36

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HE BLESSES US

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Day 102

“Blessed is the man You choose, and bring
near You, to dwell in Your courts”
Psalm 65:4

Have you ever thought about this? We are ‘blessed’ by God! Usually we are blessing God, but this is the reverse. It is very prevalent in the word. It was the foundational teaching of Jesus when He cited “Blessed are the . . . ” and cited the many instances of how we become ‘blessed’ in Him. Yes, He has chosen us to be His children and we are ‘blessed.’

What does this mean? Blessedness is to be characterized by the quality of God. We are conformed to Him. God indwells us and because of that we have God’s nature in us and the kingdom of God within. Think about this – He dwells in us. This is what blessed is about – to be fully satisfied. This is what God has done for us, His children.

O, how great a salvation we have. We do not need to seek satisfaction from any outside source. There is nothing in the circumstances of life that can bring us satisfaction. It is Christ within that satisfies us. And it is progressive. Blessedness will grow in us as we come to the fullness of Christ. As we grow up in Him it will become deeper and deeper. It is for you today. Now.

“You are blessed . . . for My sake”
verse 11

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LIKE HIM

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Day 101

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to
be conformed to the likeness of His Son”
Romans 8:29

Do you know that you are to be conformed to the likeness of Christ Jesus? Christ’s humility in becoming one of us as a servant and becoming the redemptive sacrifice has purchased our salvation and prepared us to be like Him. His love was so immense towards us that He endured the cross and counted it all joy to redeem us [Hebrews 12:2].

Our verse goes on to tell us, “that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Do you realize what this statement means? It is extraordinary! Our glorious Lord and Savior does not consider Himself apart from those whom He came to save. This is emphasized by another verse that says, “Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers” [Hebrews 2:11].

Our being transformed is God’s work. He conforms us to His likeness. Paul tells us that in beholding the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” [2 Corinthians 3:18]. Every day we are increasingly becoming more and more like Him! That’s what salvation is all about. We’ve been redeemed to be part of His family, to share in His divinity and to be like Him.

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body
according to the working whereby He
is able to subdue all things unto Himself”
Philippians 3:21

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GOD’S WAY

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Day 100

“Christ Jesus . . . made Himself nothing”

Philippians 2:3-8

Have you ever noticed how much we are occupied with ourselves and our ‘rights?’ Our ‘rights’ come to forefront and become stronger when we lose our sense of who we are in Christ. Sometimes the local body of Christ suffers from this syndrome because of living in clicks, divisions and traditions. A local culture rules in place of Christ. A church only becomes loving when the body lays down their lives to serve others.

Paul said that believers would make his joy complete if they were like-minded, have the same love and were of one spirit and purpose.  He declared we were to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility “consider others better than yourselves.”  What a command!  It goes to the heart of who we are in Christ, but unfortunately we want a comfort zone and our life in the body is ‘attending’ church and doing a ‘few good works. Truly laying down our lives can get in the way big time!

God knew this.  He knows our nature.  He doesn’t ask us to do anything we are unable to do.  He became one of us, lived as us, and practiced the very things He asks to do in the word.  But there is more – He was God, but made Himself nothing! He took the nature of a servant!  He humbled Himself to a low place and submitted – became obedient – to death.  This was to show us how to do it.  And now that same Holy Spirit that dwelled in Him dwells in you and me.  What power to be humble!  What power to honor others!  This is your right – eternal love through humility.

“But we have the mind of Christ”

1 Corinthians 2:16

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