What’s For Dinner?
29 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Joe Stowell Tags: Abraham, Book of Genesis, Christianity, God, Isaac, Jesu, Religion and Spirituality, Sacrifice
“It came to pass . . . that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Genesis 22:1“
I can hardly imagine inviting special friends over for dinner and then throwing a few leftovers into the microwave to serve up to them. But if I were to do that, it would speak volumes about how I really feel about them.
Giving God the leftovers of our lives speaks volumes about His true worth to us. When God asked Abraham to give Isaac back to Him as an act of worship, Genesis 22:1 calls it a test. A test to see if there was anything in his life that he treasured more than God.
It’s no different for us. There are times when God requires something really important to get His work done. He’ll ask us to give up our natural instincts to seek revenge so that we can communicate His forgiving love by forgiving our enemies. He may call us to sacrifice portions of our time or money or comforts to advance His cause. Or He may require us to allow our sons and daughters to go to a far-off land to tell others about His saving love. The way we respond to what He requires says volumes about how we really feel about Him.
Anyone can offer the leftovers. Only those who love God more than anything else will serve up the very best for Him.
“Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I hear the blessed Savior call; How can I make a lesser sacrifice When Jesus gave His all? —Ackley
No sacrifice we make is too great for the One who sacrificed His all.
http://getmorestrength.org/daily/whats-for-dinner/
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Tozer Devotional-In the World But Not of It
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, Church, God, holyspirit, Human body, Religion and Spirituality
In the World But Not of It
The Church lives in a hostile world. Within and around her are enemies that not only could destroy her, but are meant to and will unless she resists force with yet greater force. The Christian would collapse from sheer external pressure were there not within him a counterpressure sufficiently great to prevent it. The power of the Holy Spirit is, therefore, not optional but necessary. Without it the children of God simply cannot live the life of heaven on earth. The hindrances are too many and too effective. A Church is a living organism and is subject to attack from such enemies as prey on living things. Yet the figure of the human body to stand for the Church is not adequate, for the life of the body is nonintelligent, whereas the Church is composed of moral beings having intelligence to recognize their enemies and a will to enable them to resist. The human body can fight its enemies even while it is asleep, but the Church cannot. She must be awake and determined or she cannot win.
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The Good or The Best?
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Oswald Chambers Tags: Abraham, Abram, Book of Genesis, Christianity, Faith, God, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality
If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9
Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” (Genesis 17:1).
http://utmost.org/the-good-or-the-best/
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Tozer Devotional-That Bent to Backsliding
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Asia, Christ, God, Jesu, John 21, Laodicean Church, Religion and Spirituality, Sin
That Bent to Backsliding
Someday the church can relax her guard, call her watchmen down from the wall and live in safety and peace; but not yet, not yet. All that is good in the world stands as a target for all that is evil and manages to stay alive only by constant watchfulness and the providential protection of Almighty God. As a man or a nation may be in deepest trouble when unaware of any trouble at all and in gravest danger when ignorant that any danger exists, so the church may be in greatest peril by not recognizing the presence of peril or the source from which it comes. The church at Laodicea has stood for nineteen hundred years as a serious warning to the whole church of Christ to be most watchful when no enemy is in sight and to remain poor in spirit when earthly wealth increases, yet we appear to have learned nothing from her. We expound the seven letters to the churches of Asia and then return to our own company to live like the Laodicean church. There is in us a bent to backsliding that is all but impossible to cure.
Beauty as a Signpost to God, Part 2 by Mark D. Roberts
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in The High Calling Tags: Arecaceae, Christianity, Ezekiel, God, N.T. Wright, Reflection (physics), Religion and Spirituality, Worship
Above the entrance, from the interior to the exterior of the temple, and on every interior and exterior wall, there were carved winged creatures and palm trees. The palm trees were positioned between the winged creatures, and each winged creature had two faces.
The fact that we can perceive things as beautiful, I believe, points to the existence of a God who loves beauty and created us in his own image. I talked about this in yesterday’s reflection. Yet beauty also calls us to God as it inspires in us a yearning for the author of beauty.
Many people who love natural beauty almost seem to worship nature itself. For them, the natural world is all there is to beauty. Christians, however, think differently of the glory of creation. As N. T. Wright explains in Simply Christian, “The Christian tradition has said, and indeed sung, that the glory belongs to God the creator. It is his voice we hear echoing off the crags, murmuring in the sunset. It is his power we feel in the crashing of the waves and the roar of the lion. It is his beauty we see reflected in a thousand faces and forms” (p. 45).
Thus, when I am overwhelmed by the glory of a sunset, I am not just experiencing a human response to a natural phenomenon. I am also hearing the voice of God speaking to my heart, calling me to know him, to enjoy him, and to delight in his beauty.
Worshiping something beautiful, whether it is natural or made by human beings, is idolatry. Yet, when I allow the beauty of this world to become a signpost to God, then I am drawn to worship the one true God, the creator of all things, the source of beauty who is himself beautiful.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How has the beauty of this world drawn your heart to worship God? What helps you not to worship the beautiful thing, but rather to worship the God who is the author of beauty?
Prayer: For the Beauty of the Earth
For the beauty of the earth For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the beauty of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony Linking sense to sound and sight.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.
Amen.
“For the Beauty of the Earth,” by Elliott S. Pierpoint. Public Domain
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/beauty-signpost-god-part-2
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Coverups Stink
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Our Daily Bread Tags: Bathsheba, Christianity, Cover-up, David, Deodorant, God, King David, Religion and Spirituality
The smell at an overflowing garbage landfill site became a growing public concern. So workers installed high-pressured deodorant guns to counteract the smell. The cannons could spray several gallons of fragrance a minute over a distance of up to 50 yards across the mounds of putrefying garbage. However, no matter how many gallons of deodorant are sprayed to mask the odorous rubbish, the fragrance will serve only as a coverup until the source of the stench is removed.
King David tried a coverup as well. After his adultery with Bathsheba, he attempted to use silence, deceit, and piety to mask his moral failures (2 Sam. 11–12). In Psalm 32 he talks about experiencing the intense convicting hand of God when he remained silent (vv.3-4). Unable to withstand the conviction any longer, David uncovered his sin by acknowledging, confessing, and repenting of it (v.5). He no longer needed to cover it because God forgave him.
It’s futile to try to hide our sin. The stench of our disobedience will seep through whatever we use to try to cover it. Let’s acknowledge to God the rubbish in our hearts and experience the fresh cleansing of His grace and forgiveness.
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Tozer Devotional-Setting Sights on the Highest Goals
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christianity, God, Jesu, Lord, Religion and Spirituality, Satan, Temptation
Setting Sights on the Highest Goals
“Thou art to know that thy soul is the center, habitation, and kingdom of God,” says Miguel de Molinos. “That therefore, to the end the sovereign King may rest on that throne, thou oughtest to take pains to keep thy soul pure, quiet, void and peaceable; pure from guilt and defects; quiet from fears; void of affections, desires and thoughts; and peaceable in temptation and tribulation. Thou oughtest always then to keep thine heart in peace, that thou mayest keep pure that temple of God, and with a right and pure intention thou art to work, pray, obey, and suffer, without being in the least disturbed, whatever it pleases the Lord to send unto thee.” To enjoy this growing knowledge of God will require that we go beyond the goals so casually set by modern evangelicals. We must fix our hearts on God and purposefully aim to rise above the dead level and average of current Christianity. If we do this Satan will surely tempt us by accusing us of spiritual pride and our friends will warn us to beware of being “holier than thou.” But as the land of promise had to be taken by storm against the determined opposition of the enemy, so we must capture new spiritual heights over the sour and violent protests of the devil. As we move farther up into the knowledge of Christ we open new areas of our beings to attack, but what of it? Remember that spiritual complacency is more deadly than anything the devil can bring against us in our upward struggle. If we sit still to escape temptation, then we are being tempted worse than before and gaining nothing by it. “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount . . . Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land” (Deut. 1:6, 8).
Our Careful Unbelief
23 May 2012 1 Comment
in Oswald Chambers Tags: Christian, Christianity, Evangelism, God, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, Jesu, Religion and Spirituality
. . . do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on —Matthew 6:25
“. . . do not worry about your life . . . .” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— “the cares of this world” (MatthewMatthew 13:22). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when I cannot see”— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.
The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
http://utmost.org/our-careful-unbelief/
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Shake it Out, Baby!
22 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Holy Land Moments Tags: Bible, Christianity, God, Hebrew language, Israelites, Jerusalem, Nehemiah, Religion and Spirituality
“I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, ‘In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!’ At this the whole assembly said, ‘Amen,’ and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.” —Nehemiah 5:13
“It was an act of God . . .”
Often uttered in hushed, apologetic tones, these words evoke images of destruction wrought by the forces of nature – a tornado, or a wildfire. Indeed, the modern mind conceives of divine punishment in almost entirely catastrophic terms. One imagines the fiery fate of Sodom and Gomorrah – an exclamation point at the end of a harsh, divine admonishment.
In light of such preconceived notions, Nehemiah’s metaphorical illustration of the threat of God’s wrath seems inaccurate, even clumsy. In exhorting his countrymen to cease oppressing the destitute among them, Nehemiah characterizes the act of divine retribution as akin to shaking out a dirty garment. Of all the analogies Nehemiah might have selected, why on earth did he opt for this one? If Nehemiah had at his disposal fire, brimstone, plague or famine, why choose the rather mundane act of shaking out one’s clothing of dust or crumbs?
Perhaps the answer lies in a closer look at Nehemiah’s metaphor. When, generally, do we shake out a piece of clothing? Just prior to throwing it away? Of course not! The only reason we shake out the dirt and dust is to clear our clothing of clutter that has built up over time, so that we can wear it and use it again. In other words, the act of shaking out an item – in Hebrew, “ni’ur” – represents the initial step of preparation to make use of it once more.
Likewise, when God chastises His people, His wrath may be terrible to behold, but it is hardly final. On the contrary, when we misbehave, God wishes to help us repent, to help erase our sins and begin from scratch. The ills we suffer grant us an opportunity to start fresh – to serve God once again. Just as a tablecloth at the end of a meal – soiled and spent – may be rendered good as new through the process of ni’ur, so too, Nehemiah reminds us, does mankind benefit even from divine punishment.
Our task then is to examine any ill fortune that befalls us and ask ourselves: Has God deemed it necessary to “shake us out”? And if He has, how might we ensure that we make the most of our being good as new?
http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/shake-it-out-baby
Tozer Devotional-Christ Our Mediator
22 May 2012 1 Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, Evangelism, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Religion and Spirituality
Christ Our Mediator
How two wills set in opposition to each other, and both free, could be harmonized was God’s problem and His alone; and with infinite wisdom and power He solved it through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Because Christ is God and man He can properly represent each before the other. He is the Daysman who can stand between the alienated man and the offended God and lay His hand upon them both. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5) . All this is such a familiar part of evangelical theology that it may safely be assumed that the majority of my readers know it already. That is, they know it theoretically, but the experiential aspect of the truth is not so well known. Indeed large numbers of supposedly sound Christian believers know nothing at all about personal communion with God; and there lies one of the greatest weaknesses of present-day Christianity.
