Meditation: December 17

“But what did you go out to see?” Matthew 11:8

The search for significance will lead many out of their familiar environment. They believe that there has to be something out there that has a greater value and can add meaning to life. Many have abandoned family and home, while others have walked away from their employment because of this restlessness within themselves to see something or to experience something more than what had grown familiar. Jesus confronted the Pharisees and Priests who went into the wilderness in order to hear a message from a non-conformist who challenged the very core of their being. Even though they met a prophet with a prophetic word of preparation, their opinions of him did not lead them to the right action. Many are impressed but remain unchanged. Our pursuits in life must lead us to a wilderness journey of conviction and uncertainty, convicting us of sin and turn us to righteousness.  It is the uprooting of the old that will make room for the new. Without this radical change occurring, many will change the scenery of their lives but never the core of their being. Significance and true peace can only come from Jesus Christ. His message prepares the heart to receive Him.

Meditation: December 16

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” Isaiah 7:11

God extended an invitation to an evil king to request a sign. It was His challenge to reveal degrees of His authority either in heaven, the earth, or under the earth. The offer to the king was to choose for himself the means for which God would make His presence known. It would change the course of history and provide for those who would receive it a new destiny. It would be for him personally to empower him to govern in righteousness and peace. If any lacks wisdom, ask God. He condescends to our level. A wicked and perverse generation seeks after a sign in unbelief. They place the burden of proof upon God’s shoulders with a predisposed view what is real or not. God still allows Himself to be questioned by the unbelieving world with a willingness to provide evidence of the truth in contrast to error of her ways. Even though the king rejected the offer, Jesus came into the world as the sign and a wonder to the world. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Meditation: November 9

“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” Proverbs 28:26

 A change of heart must take place before the heart can be fully trusted. It is too easily influenced by external forces. It can be manipulated by infatuations, deceived by insinuations, and deeply distressed by insecurities and fears. Wisdom is made available but it rests beyond the limits of what may currently dwell within. God must give us a new heart that beats with the rhythm of His own. Only the heart in sync with His can be trusted. He guides it to the path of righteousness, a wise course leading to life. The light of His love delivers us from certain death. When we surrender our stouthearted souls to His warm and tender care, we can be guided in a new direction of peace leading to eternal life.

Meditation: April 7

“ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1Thessalonians 5:9-10). 

The love of God has been directed towards all mankind, but not all know the depth of His love or the greatness of His power. He alone has the power to save us from the judgment that is measured against all ungodliness. He is angry at all things that may interfere with the peace of His beloved. We are saved from sin, but we are also saved from the wrath to come. God will eliminate all things that work against His divine plan, that is, the evil works of darkness. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners to provide a way of escape from His wrath. Love cannot be expressed without hatred being measured against the enemy of love. It is the opposite side of the same. He will ultimately make all things new. Adversarial things and competing values will soon pass away for Jesus died to abolish sin. It has already been judged through His awesome act of love. Now we can anticipate a life together and forever with Him whereas even death cannot hinder or alter His plan. 

Meditation: November 15

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   1 Thessalonians 5:23

What God began in you required your dedication to His cause. He saw you struggling in your own strength to make life make sense. When your attempts to hold things together began to falter and your goals for the future began to crumble, He took your broken pieces of your failures and fallen world and replaced them with a new and living way. He wanted to sanctify you. He wanted the whole of you to be given over to the whole of Him. When He is given your whole spirit, He gives it new life. When He is given your soul, He lifts your countenance with a lively hope. When He is given your body, He uses it as seed for a glorious, resurrected body fit for eternity.  He says to you now, “let Me have your life. Only when it is set apart for My exclusive use will it ever experience the peace that your so desperately pursue.”

Meditation: April 4

“And He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ’This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me’ “(Luke 22:19). 

The typology of the Old Testament symbolized the sufferings and death of the Messiah. He kept the ceremonial laws in order to illustrate what He had come to fulfill. At the end of His earthly ministry, the Bread of Life took bread from the table from which He and His disciples were to dine. Before they ate their last meal together prior to His death, He broke the bread and fed it to them from His own hands. His sufferings would be a shared experience. His would be immediate and theirs would be ultimate. Yet they would have the same power to withstand the pressure and remain in faith because of the sameness of Spirit. 

Your body can bear under any pressure as long as you remain in faith. It is His life residing in you as a believer in Christ Jesus. The sacraments of bread and wine represented His Body and Blood. We are corporately the Body of Christ on the earth. As we share with Him in His experience we share with one another. His focus was not merely upon Himself, but He was looking at this day. He was seeing us together sharing this moment in fellowship, communing in remembrance of the sacrifice made on our behalf affording us the privilege of being one together with Him. 

Meditation: April 1

“Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees got on him. ’Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some hard evidence that God is in this. How about a miracle?’ ” (Matthew 12:38). 

Those who appear before men as authorities in relation to God’s order seldom recognize the fact that He refuses to restrict Himself to their expectations. Formulas and theorems of success do not work. He will withhold from them what they expected, but show forth the unexpected. These few that approached Him thought that He would be anxious to validate Himself before such an impressive crowd. But Jesus had nothing to prove. He was as sure of Himself then as He was when Satan tempted Him on the pinnacle of the Temple requesting Him to show off His divine powers. When we are asked to prove ourselves to be what we have been called by God to be, we must first recognize who it is that requires of us evidence. If not God by way of His Spirit, a prophetic word is sufficient. We live by what God has said and it serves as the basis for all He is now saying. If not by the Word of God, we become performance oriented. We must live by the Word and allow the Word to be given full expression through us. But never should we hide behind our credentials of education to prove our pedigree nor miracles to prove our power before men. It is God who wills and performs His work in and through us. 

May 2018 Article: “El Shaddai”

The names of God were revealed to individuals based upon their most current need. He revealed to Moses that He is the “I Am.” Then He made it even clearer that He is “I Am that I Am.” As new challenges would arise, He proved Himself to be sufficient to meet every need. As El Shaddai, He is God Almighty; Warrior or Destroyer; God of the Wilderness or Mountain. But the name that expresses His ability to nurture and meet needs is Enough or Sufficient; The Breasted One. We see attributes of God displayed through nature.  Man (male and female) was made in His image and after His likeness.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:34-35) The hen (female) gathers and protects her offspring from invaders. She is willing to lay her own life down for her brood. Even before the eggs are hatched, she stands guard and the eggs can only be taken by force, facing her hottest wrath. Jesus came to earth to give full expression to the heart of God on earth.  So much can be learned from His example of both motherhood and fatherhood. The basic role of a father is to provide, guide, and protect. This is the father’s, primary, but not exclusive, role in the family. The mother’s role is to nurture, feed, and encourage. Alhough she may wear many other hats, she will not neglect these key duties from infancy to adulthood. What both parents have derives from what is contained with God as the “I Am.” The love that we received from our mothers originated from our God. Even those who would extend themselves as mothers, not necessarily from birthing but from loving and caring, are manifesting the character of God through what they share with others. 

It is God’s desire to reveal Himself through His Son Jesus Christ and for Jesus to reveal Himself through His Church. The mothers in the Church serve a vital role, particularly for those whose mothers are no longer alive. No one outgrows their need for nurture. As we grow older, those who were once nurtured become our nurturers. Those who we once protected become our protectors. It is as if God reverses the roles and allows the children of aging parents to give back what they had received as children. It is an honor to express love when there is nothing expected in return. This is the attitude and actions of El Shaddai. He revealed His love to the children of Israel in spite of their rebellion and hardness of heart. He showed us what unconditional love was all about. Children cannot care for themselves but are cared for as they learn how to give and receive care and love. The mother’s breasts are filled with milk containing all the nutrients needed for the child to develop. The baby does not have to learn how to suck, but instinctively is drawn to the breast as to receive the blessing contained within them similarly as we are drawn to Christ.  When the mom’s breasts are full, the infant is hungry and mom needs to “express” or give forth her nurture. She is in pain unless she is able to give to her child what he or she needs. How marvelous is God’s creation of womanhood! Even after the child has grown, her greatest pain is not being able to give her child what is needed. She would be willing to do without herself in order to meet the needs of her children. God so loved us that He gave up His Only Begotten Son in order to meet our deepest need for redemption. He guards and protects His investment in us as a mother hen watches over her brood. He is El Shaddai, the God who is more than Enough, to supply our every need according to His riches in glory. Mothers help us to understand this truth and the provisions connected to it. May we appreciate God’s gift of motherhood as we worship the El Shaddai who sufficiently feeds us daily, so that we should never be left wanting for what we desperately need. 

Meditation: June 22

“From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?” Job 28:20

The pursuit of wisdom occurs in many places. It is sought in the majestic halls of education. It is pursued among the politicians who ponder over laws which prove over time to be no more than an experiment in balancing the scales of justice. Wisdom appears to be such a fleeting and ethereal thing that many are left on their own in their attempts to define it. Their eloquence and artistic usage of words is often the disguise used to camouflage what is lacking when true wisdom is lacking. The impressive psychobabble of self impressed individuals with self-interests often become standard among the misguided sheep who find themselves following after leaders who are not being led themselves. There is a place where wisdom can be found. It is found in the reverential fear of the Lord. It is when individuals no longer allow themselves to be governed by the whims of men, but consider the Lord before any decision is made. It is imparted to surrendered and humble hearts. Those who remain teachable oftentimes corrected so that the path of righteousness is maintained. Then the Holy Spirit will reveal what otherwise would remain unknown. What God is doing will become sensible for understanding provides peace to the soul.

Meditation: June 21

“Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting — begging! — that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.” Jude 3

It is worth everything to guard and protect what has been entrusted to our stewardship. Out of all the subjects of interest and arguments to defend, our common faith must remain paramount. Jesus prayed that we may become one as He and the Father are one. The unity that He has ordained is the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. This is only possible when we are able to see Him as He is. Oh how urgent this pursuit must be in these days of compromise and declension! We cannot afford to join the company of unbelieving who have failed by allowing distractions to capture their hearts and minds. There is a need for true conversions. Not merely a step in a supposedly positive direction but rather, transformation of the heart and soul. This is why Jesus died on the cross. Not for us to feel good about ourselves but to love Him with our whole hearts. As Jesus was raised from the dead, pray that this message might be restored among the deceived who have embraced the subtle lie of the enemy. There is only One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism. Revival is being restored from the many to the One.