Meditation: November 5

“I, God, will begin by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David’s family and the leaders in Jerusalem won’t overshadow the ordinary people in Judah.” Zechariah 12:7 (MSG)

God will raise the common people who trust in Him to a degree of prominence alongside of royalty. God’s love will know no boundaries when He is exalted above all. It will be a day of triumph where all will celebrate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The restoration of dignity will occur among the least which are often abandoned and forsaken. Efforts of protest will not be sufficient because many important factors may not be given proper consideration. When Jesus said, the poor you will have with you always,” He was not ignoring the responsibility we must have in the area of benevolence to them. But rather, He made it known that the opportunity to bless them will always be available to us. At that time there was something more important than benevolence because the sacrifice was being prepared for death and burial. When the Lord is honored, He will restore the order that must be established among all of humanity. Even David in all of his prominence would not remain exclusive; Solomon in all of his glory for a greater than Solomon is now here. In our pursuits for a place in this world where our lives will count for something, it will gain its greatest degree of significance when we glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Meditation: October 28

“But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27

The miracle of salvation is the greatest of all the miraculous wonders of God. None of our efforts are sufficient enough to reach the height of such a grand and glorious precipice. It is often cheapened in mind and thought as being attainable without any sacrifice of present goals and ambitions. Even some would think that it is unnecessary to be achieved because it to them is as much a part of every person as their body. But sin had dealt its deadly wound upon the soul. None are intrinsically righteous and all were at one time rebellious. And the consequence of the fallen soul is eternal death. The grace of God reaches down from heaven to touch the lifeless to revive him. None can be saved, yet what is impossible to man is made possible by God because of Jesus Christ. Each promised impossibility is fulfilled when we put of trust entirely in Him. He does what He alone is able to do when we realize how dependent we are in a world of challenges that require the One who majors in the impossible.

Meditation: October 9

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world…” but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36

Jesus is the King over all the earth, but His authority does not come from among the earth. The political parties and their divides are not the determinants of His allegiance. Nor is He limited and controlled by the popularity polls of a shifting societal opinion. His rule is exclusive to what heaven has ordered and demands. God knows the outcome of every decision that appear to be right but often lack the stability and character to even last beyond even one election year. He allows us to take wild guesses in our attempts to move things forward and afterwards await our request to eventually ask Him what He has always known. His kingdom is not of this world but our references are too often worldly. When we come to understand that the true answers and resolve to our most perplexing questions and problems lie beyond this world, we will begin with Him and end with Him. His kingdom comes to invade our own kingdoms. He superimposes over what we had once established when we yield to Him. Otherwise, all that opposes must be dismantled and be replaced with what He originally had in mind.

Meditation: October 3

“for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Isaiah 66:8

The travailing of the soul, the sound produced out of excruciating pain is the prelude to birthing. God will allow us to reach our breaking point when it appears as if all is lost, and He has totally abandoned us. Then there is the breaking of dawn. A new day breaks forth on the horizon. What He had shown us prophetically confirmed within our souls is brought forth. God is going to do a new thing. He will reveal Himself as He is. No longer must people guess and speculate regarding Him. The divisive opinions of those who mislead will be exposed and opposed. God’s Word and Power will triumph and none will be able to withstand it. Travail is also the intercessory prayer for the lost. When we see the conditions of the world and if our heart is not broken over it, we are not feeling with the Lord what He is feeling. He wept over Jerusalem. We must receive the Spirit of lamentation as we witness all that is happening in our day. He will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness once we are able to weep with Him. Children will be born into the kingdom of God. It will be more than a decision to join a Church or any institution. Salvation will come to our houses when repentance and the prayer of intercession have come to our souls.

Meditation: September 27

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14

The Apostle Paul uses the language of an athlete competing for the ultimate prize. The intermediate victories are not be become the level in which he was to settle, but his eyes were upon something much greater. They may be used as a means to lead him there, but ultimate prize was the fulfillment of the upward call. This has more to do with becoming someone than getting something. He qualified to enter in to the competition of becoming all that God had called him to become. And out of his becoming, he was enabled by the Holy Spirit to do all that God had called him to do. We too have been called by Almighty God to a standard of spiritual excellence. It is a standard of living out and giving a full and clear expression of the life of Jesus Christ upon the earth. The world is in desperate need of knowing Christ and He can only be known through His Church. He was aware of his imperfections and areas where improvements were needed. But also open for God to reveal to him any blind spots that he at that point was not able to see. His was a matter of progressing in Christ towards the ultimate goal that was before him. To be found in Him, not having his own righteousness or self-justification of deeds, but totally yielded to Christ. We must set this as our goal as well. He has called us to reach up in order that we may reach out and touch the world with His love and power. This can only happen when it is all of Him and none of us.

Meditation: September 25

If the Lord can see everything in the world of the dead, He can see in our hearts.” Proverbs 15:11 (CEV)

God examines the inner-workings of the hearts of men. He is able to observe every secret thought and the development of the mindset of men. It is not just the immediate thought or idea that He directs His attention to. He looks at all that contributed to the formation of the thought long before it is given expression. This text expresses His gaze into the dark mysteries of the world of the dead. He has full knowledge of every detail existing there. Even the underworld of demons and devils all of the mysteries of hell, God knows. If death itself cannot shroud the degree of knowledge fully known by Him, then it should be clear to all that He knows the hearts or the inner life or the secret life of men or human beings. “How then can we hide our thoughts from God?” (TEV)

The Psalmist requested divine introspection from God; “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.” Psalm 26:2 He did not trust his own judgments, but requested that God would show him what He sees in regards to the inner-workings of his heart. We need God to show us what we are incapable of seeing within ourselves. Only then will the Holy Spirit be allowed to free us from the vice grip of sins that in the past appeared justifiable. Then we can be cleansed of secret sins.

Meditation: September 20

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.“ Psalm 119:105

In a dark place, all things seem to be the same. No distinction can be made between a man and a mannequin if both stand together. Things that are false and counterfeit appear to be more perfect than things that are real in dim light. They are painted with beauty and are a piece of art, but are lifeless idols. Without the light of the Word of God, we would naturally gravitate in the direction of that appear to be real, but is only real and beautiful to the spiritually blind. Our senses once ruled us and every decision was made on the basis of our perception of reality. The darkness was not just before us, but the darkness was in us as well. Then the light of the Word invaded our world, and all things changed!  We were able to see the nature of all things and the danger that lay ahead by following the path of the blind. The very Word that changed us was also there to guide us. We have been changed in order to discern the difference between the real and the artificial, that which blesses from things that curse our souls; things that are harmful from things that are hurtful. We are on a different course requiring constant illumination of the path and assistance in order to keep walking straight. When the God’s Word determines the daily choice of our lives, we are not walking alone or following the crowd on the path of destruction. We are walking with Jesus in the Light as He is in the Light!

Meditation: September 19

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.” James 1:17

The words “good” and “perfect” are given deeper meanings when God is speaking. He does not restrict Himself to our definitions of these terms. There is a goodness that transcends all efforts on our part and remains good even when what man is able to produce turns sour and withers away. The reason that God’s goodness is so special is because it is perfect goodness. There is no separation between the good and the perfect gift of God. The gift is good because it is perfect and it is perfect because it is good. He then sends it to us from His holy habitation. It comes from the Throne of God where He rules and reigns without the slightest hint of sin and confusion. Heaven is a perfect place, therefore perfect gifts can come from there. The gift reaches us with His signature on it. Not only does He sign it, but He remains attached to His gift. Not that the gift has not been given to us but as a man’s gift makes room for him, God’s gifts cannot be received without Him being attached to it. If the gift is to remain good and perfect the One that is both good and perfect must be constantly engaged in its use. If we manage what He has given us without Him, we corrupt it and it is misdirected towards some evil means. He extends Himself to us and to the world through giving us what is of Him and in Him. As we receive the gifts of God, may our hearts be open to all that He is and has for us.

Meditation: September 12

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.” 2 Timothy 4:3

Teachers are instructors that mold the character of those who subject themselves as students to learn. The world is being fashioned by teachers. There are men and women who take what they have come to know and feed others who are eager to learn. There is not a shortage of teachers. But the problem Paul was addressing was that there would be a number of people whose hearts remain unchanged. They will seek to be instructed in matters of choice rather than in truth. Their level of toleration of God’s Word would be on the decline.  Yet their appetites for instructions in how to fend off any doctrine that would equip them in the ways of God would increase. They will gather to themselves instructors who would help them build up defenses against what God would have them to know. An intellectual argument and one’s ability to defend his position often can become the callous over the soul. It is when the heart is tender that God’s Word can penetrate it thus drawing the wayward unto Himself. Itching ears suggests a hunger for what one wishes to hear. The challenge is lacking when one is anxious to be prematurely affirmed. It feels good to the soul but is destructive to the spirit. We need teachers who will teach us in the ways of God. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth will only work within those who have reached the point of wanting nothing other than the will of the Lord done on earth as it is in heaven.

Meditation: August 31

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (10) and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power”. Colossians 2:9-10

Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher who announced the death of God placed his emphasis on the strength of the human personality. “Relinquishing the belief in God opens the way for human creative abilities to fully develop.” “The Christian, he wrote, “would no longer stand in the way, so human beings might stop turning their eyes towards a supernatural realm and begin to acknowledge the value of this world.” His idea was that “will power is the essence of reality”.

Today, the death of the God which is expressed through a shift in values is proclaimed even while using religious language.  Asserting oneself and accentuating the positive while eliminating the negative supposedly have freed individuals from the bondage of their past. There is a super-human being on the scene that can control the activities of their god and create their own destinies. “If it is to be, it is up to me” has become the motto for daily living. God is about developing the human personality in ways far beyond the wildest dreams of Nietzsche. He thought it was possible to find one’s life while Jesus is about one losing his life that he might find it in Him. The aggression of egotistical behavior contributes to the destruction of the human race rather than the development of society. People are too busy trying to get for themselves what they want rather than having a true concern for God’s agenda and glorifying Him by giving Him what He requires. Listen more carefully to the message of this age or this world system, even in religious circles and you will hear this opposing gospel message seeping into the very center of what is being proclaimed. Only God can complete man and we are complete only in Him. He reigns over the things contributing to the conditions of man’s fragmentation. No one can rescue himself. All are in need of help. All are in need of God who is yet alive and well!