Meditation: June 28

“The ordinary and disreputable people who heard John, by being baptized by him into the kingdom, are the clearest evidence.” Luke 7:29 (MSG)

When ordinary and common people are awakened to the message, the clearest evidence is presented. It is not the theologians or religious experts who will readily embrace the truth. They have to work their way through too many intellectual arguments before their hearts are finally penetrated. Not that we should close our minds and blindly feel our way into faith. But there is a place deep within the soul that can identify with the Truth and serve as the cause for rejoicing. The void is filled there. What has been missing is finally placed in the deep hole that nothing else was able to fill. Ordinary people are more aware of their need than those who are self-confident, pious, and proud. They need everything while the proud need nothing. They seek out a better and more fulfilling life while most aristocrats only need an addendum to what they have already received. There will be a major movement among the ordinary people and those who were hopeless. They will see the Light sought after but never realized. Their response will be genuine because they have nowhere else to turn. Yes, Christ is for losers. Unless we lose our lives, we will never find eternal life. Otherwise we will be embracing a false security plunging rather than rising thinking we have arrived.

Meditation: June 24

“Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to treat them as family.” Hebrews 2:11 (MSG)

We are members of the family of God and the household of faith. Regardless as to when we entered in or whether the member is born or adopted into the family, there is a place reserved for each one. Jesus saved us from the wrath of God. We were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Not only were estranged from the covenant of promise, we had no desire to be otherwise. Jesus saved us from a path even before we possessed the sense or the strength to seek any other path. We sought any option other than the path that led to life. It was the common origin of sin that blinded us to the love of God expressed through His Son. Little wonder why we made the choices that we made then. Our actions were expressions of our family of origin. But God rescued us by adopting us into His family. Now our reorientation is adapt to the character of the One from which we were reborn. It is our passion to proudly reflect the same qualities from which we came. Since we are now treated as family, we wish to display the attributes of the new and not the old. We are now akin to Him and He treats us that way. What a privilege!

Meditation: June 23

“This perverse way of life will be like a towering, badly built wall that slowly, slowly tilts and shifts.” Isaiah 30:13 (MSG)

It is not the beauty nor the height of the towering structure erected. What matters most is that it is built according to the specifications required for endurance. The life that endures is the life rooted and grounded in the Word of God. Its architecture may not be as impressive as the hastily constructed and massive structures with greater eye appeal. These are lives built upon lies that eventually erode at its foundation. Its character will eventually betray its impressive beauty and slowly but surely, the light of truth will expose the perversity of its ways. Christ had no beauty that we should desire Him. Only those whose hearts gravitated in the direction of the Father with true love were able to recognize Him. The same is true in our day. Most would be impressed but deceived by eye appeal and blind to the things that really matter. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear, and your hearts for it understands the value of the only message that can permanently and eternally change the course of one’s life. Pray that your eyes remain single and not distracted by the scenery all around. None can see the cracks in the walls moving with such haste. Only when we consider the end of a thing are we enlightened to understand that all that glitters is not gold. But gold is tested with fire. It endures when all else fails.

Meditation: June 20

“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder)” 2 Peter 3:1

Our minds are purified as the result of hearing a pure word. The clutter of a misguided conscience and the pollutants of compromised values are removed and replaced with an understanding of absolutes that can withstand the scrutiny of contemporary questioning. A pure mind is to be treasured above all things. It means that the mind has processed what the heart has embraced. Then one is able to give a reason for the hope that is in them. They can defend the faith and withstand the scrutiny of error. Now that we can receive words of wisdom, we are not to entertain thoughts and ideas that can lead to moral failure. Our minds must remain pure in order for us to receive from God instructions for daily living. There are many things to be added to what we currently know. These are the building blocks that contribute to our becoming a spiritual habitation. They cause us to further set our minds on the things above and not be distracted by things around us and beneath us. We are reminded as to who we are in Christ and with Christ. He is our example and our guide. I write these things to re-mind you of these things. When we rewind, we remember what otherwise would be forgotten. We are on a journey, a mission of hope. We are encouraged through the right message to make it to the end.

 

Meditation: June 17

“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matt 16:19

The keys unlock the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables because it had not been given to them to know the mysteries of His kingdom, but it was given to His disciples. They had submitted to Him and had committed to fully follow Him. Along their journey they were graced by the Holy Spirit to receive the revelation from the Father that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. This truth unlocked the mystery to which they were to enter in. Experiencing Christ is having access bringing down to earth the blessings contained in heaven. As we grow in our knowledge of Christ, not merely our knowledge of created things, we will discover that all is subject to what we are learning. He has preeminence over all things. They maintain their consistency by and through Him alone. A glimpse of Christ is insufficient for the journey ahead of us. We must maintain our focus exclusively on Him if we are to participate in kingdom work.  

Meditation: June 13

“but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ. —“ Ephesians 4:15

The alternative to flowing with the wind and being influenced by the culture is hearing that we might do what the Word says. It was Paul’s passion to speak only what the Lord had to say. Even though the message is a challenge to current culture, it is the expression of a higher and deeper dimension of love. It is spoken in love when the desire of the heart of the messenger is to see those he has been called to address grow into developing the character of Christ. Often the growth of the hearers may excel beyond the level of the speaker, but he should not be jealous of his spiritual children. Instead, he should encourage them to take what they have received beyond his level of understanding for the Word alive within the hearer increases as seed to produce a great harvest. Ministers should not waste time addressing every other subject rather than God’s Truth. There is no growth is these side issues. Christ is the answer to every problem but He can only be known through faithful ministers. We are obligated to counter the movements that prevail against the soul of the wayward. Then they have a course set before them leading them to life.

Meditation: June 11

“Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” Psalm 90:16-17

To see with our eyes what God is doing is a blessing beyond measure. God allows His servants to see where He is in the midst of confusion and apparent hopelessness. He is there working His plan even when all appears to be still or falling apart all around us. Not alone does His servants see His works, they are used by the Lord to participate in what He is doing. His works are established through His servants as evidence that He is in fact the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. He seeks those who would fully avail themselves to Him. Why should our lives be filled with clutter that works against His plan? Our greatest joy can be found in pleasing Him through reflecting His will on earth as it is in heaven. Oh that Christ might be seen today through those who earnestly and exclusively seek Him as the only stability in these uncertain times.

Meditation: June 9

“It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.  He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

The grace of God has been freely given to us but it is not cheap. Love requires sacrifice. And the more we love the greater the sacrifice. Since God is able to see the depth of our sinful state, only He would be able to convey to us what we needed in order to be set free. The naïve may think that a moderate adjustment is sufficient to stop the free-fall to destruction. But who independent of God is able to know the affect of even apparent innocent acts upon the character?  This is the environment in which all were raised. No one knows any other life than this. But God knew of our need for help. And He supplied it before we had the sense to desire it. Jesus Christ, God’s Son redeemed us with His blood while we were yet sinners. Now all must apply what has been appropriated for us if any is ever to benefit from such great a sacrifice.

Meditation: June 8

Col 2:2-4 “I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. (3) All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! (4) I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.” (MSG)

The knowledge of God connects as a woven tapestry of love. Each part finds its significance in the whole thus touching every aspect of each life. The problem lies in one trying to understand and find answers to the influx of life’s questions apart from the Truth. It is there and has always existed, but that aspect of Christ yet to be known contains what is presently needed. Do not lose Christ yet to be known contains what is presently needed. Do not lose your focus on Him. When you do, you are out of focus. Other things may appear as more than they are. They are but smoking mirrors, tricks of the enemy to allure you away from your primary purpose. The further you travel down that road the more confused you will become. Wisdom is embedded in the mysteries of Christ and nowhere else. Know this and you will be wise in your pursuit of wisdom.

Meditation: June 6

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Eph 4:7

The Lord has dispensed to each member of the Body of Christ a measure of grace. We have been enabled to function as a whole but yet dependent on every part doing its share. It is from the wholeness of the Body of Christ the witness of Jesus is made known to the world. A fragment may have an effect to a degree, but the full effect can only be experienced when we come together as a whole. Coming together and sharing together as one is the prayer of Jesus Christ. The enemy’s attempts to divide the Body may have delayed the witness but can never destroy the witness. There will be a people equipped for service with understanding of the times, and a clearer knowledge of purpose in the last days. They will not hoard their gifts as exclusive to their party, but see the whole as being greater than the sum of all its parts. It is through the synergized efforts of the Church that the world will know that Christ has come down from the Father. Then the love of God can be shed abroad in our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit impacting the world in areas where the need is the greatest.