Lord of All!

Our Savior's Preeminence

"Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He existed before creation began, for it was through Him that everything was made, whether spiritual or material, seen or unseen. Through Him, and for Him, also, were created power and dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, every single thing was created through, and for, Him. He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation. And now He is the head of the body which is the Church. Life from nothing began through Him, and life from the dead began through Him, and He is, therefore, justly called Lord of all. It was in Him that the full nature of God chose to live, and through Him God planned to reconcile in His own person, as it were, everything on earth and everything in Heaven by virtue of the sacrifice of the cross." (Phillips)

Lord of all!!!

Encouraging Words

Some encouraging words from a man who had no earthly reason to be encouraging:

"Though He slay me, I will hope in Him."

'Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another."

"But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

He is the immovable anchor of our guaranteed hope.
Imagine! With your eyes you will see Him, and He will "clothe" you with an incorruptible, immortal body.
To be His gold and be "spent" by Him, you must be refined."

Paul--who knew a little about being refined, eh?--reminds us: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!" Always.

Love Connection

Love on an earthly level is directly dependent on a person's love for God. I can only love as Christ loves me if I understand being loved unconditionally. I can love holy and purely when I understand holy and pure love. The person who understands God's love--and is growing deeper in His love for God--will himself, as the Spirit gains more and more control of His life, love others as God loves him. The person who is struggling with his understanding of how much God loves him, will struggle to love others as God loves. The one who loves God will reflect God's love. His love will be accepting because he knows that he is accepted in the Beloved. His love will be patient because he knows God's patient love for him. His love will be unconditional and faithful because he basks in the unconditional, faithful love of God. His love will be instantaneously forgiving because he knows the full and ready forgiveness of his Lord. His love, and his ability to love, will deepen and deepen as his understanding of the infinite, eternal love of God deepens and deepens as well.
So, if some of you reading this are anxious to find that someone special, be patient. Look for the man or woman deeply in love with their Savior. The person you marry will be able to love you only as deeply as he or she loves Him. If someone reading this is struggling with love in a marriage, it is your love for Christ and your understanding of His love for you that is the issue. Christ never falls out of love with you, you fall out of love with Him through willful disobedience--and it is reflected in your ability to love as He loves in your earthly relationships.
We love Him because he first loved us--that's the love of grace and mercy. We love others that they might experience and know in a visible, tangible way, His love. And if you want to experience such love, find the man or woman who understands such love. And if you have already made the commitment to love someone that way, do it. Don't love as Judas "loved."

Take Comfort

In Isaiah 40 God through His prophet tells His people that they can--and should--find their comfort in Him. And then He tells them why:

"I AM the God of forgiveness--the God who forgives the unworthy; the God who forgives your sin, your iniquity, and your transgressions. The God who forgives you for everything.
I AM the God of activity--tireless, never weary of doing good for My people, always at work exercising My sovereign will.
I AM the God of glory--all the nations of the world will one day recognize My presence; they and their leaders are to Me, at the height of their power, no more significant than a drop in the bucket--and even that is an exaggeration. I do not tremble at their arrogance. I laugh in scorn.
I AM the God of faithfulness--My Word, every word of it, can be trusted completely--every jot and tittle, every promise.
I AM the God who communicates with man; the God of good news--good news to be shouted from the mountaintops.
I AM the God of power--your Captain--yet, I exercise My omnipotence through gentleness, through rewarding My children in the here and now.
I AM the God of love who shepherds My people, meeting their every need, leading them every day, scattering the wolves, in the darkness of their nights guarding the entrance to the fold with My very presence.
I AM the God of majesty--I measure the immeasurable.
I AM the God of wisdom--infinite and inscrutable wisdom--I answer to no one; all must--and will--answer to Me.
I AM the Holy God--there is none like Me; "to whom then will you liken God?" is the rhetorical question of the ages.
I AM the God of creation--the stars that man cannot even begin to count, I know by name--I named them all. I tend to them all.
I AM the God of renewal--I delight in strengthening those who wait in confidence on Me; I delight in strengthening you--and My supply of strength is limitless."

Yes, He is the God who cares. He is your God, this God who calls out to His people--shouts out to His people--"Take comfort in Who I AM. Do not wallow in the hideous lie of self-pity."

I would be found, always, "leaning on the Everlasting Arms." "Safe and secure from all alarms." Comforted in all my tribulations.

The Weapon

Why is it that we believe that we have any chance of winning the spiritual battle against spiritual enemies when we spend so little time wielding the spiritual weapon of prayer? And there isn't a moment in any day in the heat of the battle that we cannot wield it! "Pray without ceasing" is not a suggestion. It's the key to daily victorious living.

Decisions

Our lives are full of decision-making. Anf those times require us to deal with certain questions. We need to decide what to do. And often we struggle with when to do something, how to do it ((How many people have been turned away from God's grace and love by a Christian doing the right thing the wrong way?), and, of course, why are we making that decision--what are our motivations? If only we could rely on the advice of Yogi Berra: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
We should first consider a couple of preliminaries. If we haven't developed good decision making skills in the "small" things, we'll struggle mightily with the "big" things. If I have not made a "habit" of applying God's wisdom to all my decisions, the crisis times are dreadful. In addition, I must always remember that I am making the decision that pleases Him--not anyone else. My decision may please others, but it may also anger and upset others. Faith requires that I do what is right in His eyes--so it's always done lovingly--and leave the consequences to His perfect wisdom. It also requires that I have a heart of gratitude in the midst of the consequences knowing that He works all things for the praise and glory of His name. And the good of His people--corporately and individually. I can always come up with a human reason for doing what I want to do. If they ever taught a course on rationalization, I'd ace it hands down. But I must rely on His wisdom and direction--not my own.

Thus, the first question must always be "is this decision right or wrong biblically?" I must always do the right thing--no exceptions. Yet, as long as I am not making a decision that the Bible declares to be sinful, I have the freedom to make that decision. What I must do is delight in Him and then, He promises to direct my path--to keep me off the path of thorns. Yes, He promises! I must acknowledge His hand in the decision, see Him at work in my circumstances, and follow. He desires to delight in my desires.

I've always been one of those folks who goes until He shuts the door. (And then pouts awhile.) And He has always led me to the open door of His choosing in His time. Such a ricocheting from closed door to closed door has led me to where I am today--teaching lovely young Christians a little bit of English, and I pray, the loveliness of a walk with Jesus on a daily basis. I do think we need to add a verse to that little chorus "God is so good." The new verse should say, "God is so patient."

And the motivation for the decision, not just the decision itself, must be tested against the teaching of God's Word. It is all too easy to build with hay and wood instead of gold and precious stones. We must make decisions based firmly on the prayer, "not my will, but Thine." And then not feel guilty when He gives us the desires of our heart, but enjoy them thankfully.

Finally, and I'm not saying this to encourage you to not seek God's will, but I rejoice in the fact that His love has taken my disobedience, my wrong motivations, my wrong methodology and used even those decisions to glorify His name and do good. He has always loved me enough to break my pride, wound my heart, and then send me to where He wants me wiser and gentler, and more loving and patient with others, than I was before in my selfishness.

Decisions to make? Pray for insight. Critique all decisions and the motivations for making those decisions, large or small, using God's Word as the only standard for evaluation. Knock on the doors. If they don't open, don't pout for too long, look for the door He's opening. Then, when you come to the fork in the road, take it. He will go down it with you whichever path you take. And He will bring His patient love and grace with Him. And if it's the wrong road, He'll use it to reaffirm the right road--and to get you back on it--broken but more useful. The one answer you can be sure of is, "I will never leave you nor forsake you. Even when you are faithless, I will be faithful. You cannot escape my love."

Choose wisely--it's so less painful. Rest in His love. Delight in Him. The path leads Home. Even the detours. Always.

God's Heart

One thing is undeniably true: God has a heart for the poor--both in terms of how we interact with them on a personal level and how we help them meet their needs. Solomon tells us that to not have God's heart for the poor is to taunt Him. Sound like a good idea to you: to taunt God? Other places in Scripture tell us that to not visibly demonstrate God's heart for the poor is to blaspheme His name--to put His testimony that He is love up to ridicule and shame before a watching world. Sound like being a good witness to you? Paul tells us that we are to use our excess resources to help the working poor meet their needs, that those who are financially blessed should be eager to use their blessing to be generous, to be on the alert for opportunities to share their earthly wealth because only by doing so will they be able to grasp fully the real richness and meaning of life. James, as I've mentioned before, tells us that we should be dedicated to helping the widows and orphans in their need. Paul also adds that if a church has widows that have unmet needs that that church is pagan not Christian. And, I believe the same holds true for single moms. Am I and the church I attend committed to the upholding of the name of Christ and the glory of His gracious, loving character? Only to the degree to which we have God's heart for the poor.