A wisp of an idea A thought A fragile word Fortified by others A phrase That’s almost heard
Strengthened into Sentence shapes With sense And sayings too Spreading meaning Sharing, feeling Forming something new
The battle to communicate A skirmish for each line To tame the mind Leave noise behind Create a page that’s true
With purpose and conviction Bare boldness and desire To speak into the ages Filled with Holy Spirit fire Transformed by painful edits Refined revision and research Help me, Lord, skillfully scribe To edify Your church.
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19).
Edification is the spiritual building up of one another. Let’s do it.
There’s nothing much better than being greeted by a youngster who’s running joyfully into your open arms. This is one of the delights of being a grandparent. For some kiddos, it’s a natural response. Others need a little more coaxing. But once they experience the thrill of this loving interaction, you’d better be ready next time Jr. arrives at your front door or you at his.
Scripture is scattered with references to God’s arms.
God made Himself a nation “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deuteronomy 4:34).
“[H]is right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Psalm 98:1).
The LORD spoke, “With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please” (Jeremiah 27:5).
The LORD is portrayed as a shepherd who “gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (Isaiah 40:11).
In the New Testament, we find Jesus gathering the children in His arms and blessing them. (Mark 10:16)
But one of the most beautiful illustrations of all is Jesus’ parable of the prodigal or rebellious son. When the son realized his mistakes, he decided to humbly return to his father. Jesus described their meeting. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).
Note that this time, it was not the child who was running. It was the father.
Imagine that, you and the Father . . . and know that the heavenly Father is near whenever you choose to come to or return to Him. His love for you never wavers and you are never out of His reach when you reach for Him.
I took my car in for an oil change. Soon, I was given the paperwork and keys and pointed to my vehicle. It wasn’t until I arrived home that I realized the oil had not been changed. Apparently, the guy only considered the mileage, missing the fact that the car had not been serviced in a year!
When we examine the lives of Bible heroes, we also find incompetence. Sure, many accomplished great feats or were faithful in certain circumstances, but they also had their share of failures. Abraham, Jacob, Job, David, Gideon, Elijah, and Esther. The list goes on and on.
When it comes to living for Jesus, we are all incompetent. Even the apostle Paul wrote, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” A few verses later, Paul concludes, “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15, 22-25)
Paul’s summary is clear, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).
Thank You, Jesus, for being perfectly competent and sinless, for surrendering to torture and death on a cross so that we could be seen as competent in the Father’s eyes.
Currently, our pastors are doing a series on the 23rd Psalm. One of the assignments given was to rewrite the psalm ‘in your own words.’ People came up with all kinds of versions based on their experiences and how God’s Word spoke to them. I encourage you to give it a try. If you do, I have no doubt you will be blessed.
Here are a few things to consider:
How has God met your needs?
How does He provide, protect, and present Himself faithful to you?
How has He intervened?
When and where has He made you lie down?
Have you allowed the Lord to restore your soul?
Have you chosen Him as your Shepherd? If so, are you following His lead?
Here is my rendition:
I choose Yahweh as the Lord of my life. He meets all my needs. Past, present, and future. He provided a way for my soul to be restored So that my relationship with Him is intimate and personal. He gives good guidance that brings Him glory.
When I experience dark, difficult days, He is right beside me so I need not fear. I can be at peace because He protects me. He blesses me beyond measure in unimaginable ways. He has chosen me. I will live in His love and in His Presence forever!
“Help, LORD, for no faithful one remains; the loyal have disappeared from the human race. They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.”
Who hasn’t felt like that lately?! Even though the tirade sounds typical for today, those words were penned by King David about 3000 years ago. They are the opening verses in Psalm 12 which closes with a similar message. “The wicked prowl all around, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race (Psalm 12:8).
While this Psalm is bookended with verses of despair, let’s see what lies between. Verse 3 contains David’s prayerful plea that the lies and falsehood would cease even though the wicked have no regard for God (verse 4).
God makes a bold entrance in verse 5 as He hears the cries of the needy and steps in to provide and protect.
Next, we find a stark contrast to the words of the wicked. “The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times” (Psalm 12:6). The metaphor portrays the words of the LORD as thorough and complete, flawless perfection.
In verse 7, David injects the ingredient we all need, hope. “You, LORD, will guard us; you will protect us from this generation forever.”
The wicked are among us. They do what they do.
So, let’s do what David did.
Acknowledge there are wicked among us who lie and try to deceive.
Pray regularly for evil to be defeated.
Know that God hears and answers the prayers of the righteous.
Be familiar with and study God’s Word.
Remain faithful to and hopeful in the one, true God.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a pregnancy glow is real. “Greater blood volume brings more blood to vessels, resulting in skin that looks flushed. Changes in hormone levels might also cause the skin glands on the face to secrete more oil (sebum), which can make skin look slightly shinier.”
Trivia: Do you know what man in the Old Testament glowed so glaringly that he had to wear a veil? If you said Moses ~ BINGO! Exodus 34 describes how his face shone after talking with God and bringing the commandments down from Mt. Sinai. Moses’ supernatural glow was the result of being in the presence of God!
Scripture teaches that believers should also reflect God’s glory. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Through personal times with the Lord, applying godly principles from His Word, and allowing Him to work in our lives, we become more Christ-like, reflecting His character and responding more like Him. This gradual renovation is the work of the Holy Spirit and transformation transpires as we surrender to Him.
Let’s look in the mirror and examine our heart. Whose ‘image’ are we reflecting? Those we admire on social media or on the big screen? A Hollywood diva or famous athlete? Musician or political personality? Impatient, rude, name-calling bystanders caught on the evening news?
Instead, may we strive to reflect the One who should influence us the most, the LORD.
It was such an unexpected blessing recently when we received a list of household and classroom items needed by a church in Africa. My ‘mission’ was to scavenge each closet, cabinet, and cranny to locate those objects camouflaged in our house. To us, those things were extras, but for others, they met desperate needs.
I soon felt euphoric as I walked around the house. Sorted shelves, weeded drawers, and cleared spaces made my soul sing.
Hmm, could this concept apply to de-cluttering our spiritual lives as well?
What email subscriptions, social media distractions, phone apps, etc. are sucking time away from what we should focus on? What ‘garbage’ needs discarded for good, for our good? What unhealthy habits need a hefty (and final) heave-ho? Do priorities need reordered, waste trimmed, and clutter cleaned out?
James, the half-brother of Jesus, challenged believers to “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). Yes, even believers need to regularly recalibrate and assess. Becoming Christ-like is a process. It’s a lifelong journey, a purification progression that melts away impurities to leave pure gold!
May our prayer be “Create in me a pure [clean] heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Everyone loves a good mystery, whether we are hearing it, reading it, or watching it painstakingly unfold on the big (or small) screen. As a kid, sifting through and narrowing down the suspects, rooms, and weapons in a Clue game was always intriguing.
But, did you know that before Christ came to earth, “the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to [us], searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow”? Peter noted that “Even the angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Paul eluded to these secrets as well writing, “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations” (Colossians 1:26) and “the mystery hidden for long ages past” (Romans 16:25).
Praise God that now those mysteries have been disclosed! The ‘who’ is Jesus, the Son of God. The ‘place’ is Jerusalem where Jesus paid for the sins of the world and rose from the dead. The ‘time’ of His death and resurrection was 30AD, and we can read about the ‘circumstances’ in the four gospels.
We have been blessed to have all this information available 24/7 at our fingertips. It does not need to remain a mystery. It has all been spelled out. What angels and prophets longed to understand has been revealed to us, and not to just a chosen few. The good news of salvation is for all people. And ‘all’ means all, no mystery there.
According to Webster, ‘reconcile’ means to make friendly again, to settle (a quarrel, etc.) or to make compatible or content. An ‘ambassador’ is an authorized representative or messenger.
As believers, we have experienced the gift of being reconciled to God. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection and our belief in that good news, we have a friendly and loving relationship with God. Our debt has been settled. Jesus’s death paid the price for our sins. We can come confidently into the presence of God without guilt or shame because God sees us holy through His Son, Jesus.
Once we are reconciled to God, we take on a new role or assignment, one of a reconciler. Paul explained to the believers in Corinth, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” and “he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
We have both a ministry and a message, a ministry to show God’s love to others and a message that shares the idea that all can become righteous because of what Jesus did. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
Now that good news should not remain our secret! May we boldly go forth as ambassadors and encourage others to be reconciled to God.
Recently, we stood atop Arizona’s Mogollon Rim. Before us was a spectacular view of pine-covered mountains and valleys. The smells and sounds were a far cry from the city surroundings we’d left behind.
That view, along with late night stargazing, is just a sampling of God’s handiwork. But, believe it or not, the creation of you as a human being is far superior. Only people were created to share God’s image, made in His likeness and reflecting His nature (Genesis 1:26).
Take a look in a mirror. Then, like David, speak these words to your Creator Father God: “Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day” (Psalm 139:13-16).
God created you, different from all others, yet one of His own. He has given personality, talents, and abilities unique to you that no one else can duplicate. God knows you intimately, your strengths and weakness, and He loves you.
But He’s not finished. The Apostle Paul explained, “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears” (Philippians 1:6).
Your challenge today is to allow the Creator to continue ‘working’ in you, surrendering to the Master as He works on His masterpiece.
Pointing the Way ~ by Arrow 