Meditation: July 7

 “How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight!” Job 26:3 (NET)

God’s advice to those who are void of wisdom can be translated as those who lack the ability to plan ahead. Those who lack foresight to make plans for the future are advised by God in things only known to Him. Forward thinking is the key to spiritual progress. Our sights must be set on things above as we journey from here to there. Each situation and every message must be weighed on the basis of their spiritual content. Are we growing in grace and the knowledge of God, or becoming content in our current state? The Holy Spirit guides us beyond the level of wisdom known to the world to insights revealed to us from heaven. Only then will we feel the sense of estrangement in an environment that is not our home and seek those things pertaining to life in the Spirit. Sound advice is required in order to have good success. Spiritual things are compared with the spiritual once we have been made aware of God’s Presence and humbly submit to His will as knowing nothing on our own.

Meditation: April 10

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44

The Father does a work by way of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are responsive to His love. None can take the credit for the saving of even one soul. We do our part, but must wait on God to arrest the hearts and wills of those who would otherwise be eternally lost. Our prayer must be a constant ascension of incense, the aroma of our passion and desire to experience an environment where the deepest need within each heart may be realized. Our petitioning His Throne will set the atmosphere for the Divine will of God to be given expression that can reap much greater benefit than the striving of individuals and groups of people who think that their efforts can save the world. We are powerless without Him. Not His work in conjunction to our efforts, but rather His work through us as His initiative and not our own. God alone can do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or even think. So why should we ever think that our persuasion is sufficient to cause a sinner to be a saint? No, we wish to participate with Him as we trust Him with our whole lives. Then He will draw those to the remedy of what they have been made to know as their deepest need. As Jesus is lifted up on the cross as crucified, people will see that the sin debt they have been made aware of has been paid in full! But why should any wish to take advantage of His great provision unless they first know that their need is great?

Meditation: December 13

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

Divine guidance is the most precious possession of any being. To be equipped for great effectiveness is important, but to be directed towards the very thing for which one is appointed is of much more value. There are many who are equipped but misguided. They squander away their lives rather than using what God had made available to complete them. His intention is to show us the path of life. When we see the Kingdom of God, we will desire to enter in. He will then guide us on the path that we have been enabled to see. What greater joy can be experienced than this? When we know that our path leads to the fullness of life and that more abundantly! Only God is able to give us what we so desperately need. He has given us His Son. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Through having faith in His precious Word, we see what would otherwise have been missing in our search for significance. May all be led on this path to a greater purpose.

Meditation: July 7

 “How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight!” Job 26:3 (NET)

God’s advice to those who are void of wisdom can be translated as those who lack the ability to plan ahead. Those who lack foresight to make plans for the future are advised by God in things only known to Him. Forward thinking is the key to spiritual progress. Our sights must be set on things above as we journey from here to there. Each situation and every message must be weighed on the basis of their spiritual content. Are we growing in grace and the knowledge of God, or becoming content in our current state? The Holy Spirit guides us beyond the level of wisdom known to the world to insights revealed to us from heaven. Only then will we feel the sense of estrangement in an environment that is not our home and seek those things pertaining to life in the Spirit. Sound advice is required in order to have good success. Spiritual things are compared with the spiritual once we have been made aware of God’s Presence and humbly submit to His will as knowing nothing on our own.

April 2015 Article: “The Beauty of Jesus’ Life”

Isaiah 53:2 “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

What appeals to the natural man? Certainly it is not pain and suffering, nor is it a person who appears as a failure for going against the grains of society. One who appeared as a maverick in His times, but who seemed to deserve everything that happened to Him. Life is all too often judged by events isolated from its ultimate purpose. The question generally asked is, “what shall I do” rather than “why shall I do it.” Beauty is the development of a person—the blossoming of a flower from an apparent seedling into a radiant bouquet. When it possesses the potential to reproduce after its own kind, it becomes all the more glorious. Likewise, Jesus was despised and rejected in His own time and among His own people. Their perception of His life did not measure up to their expectations of instant gratification. Therefore, it should not be strange to us that in our time, the appearance of beauty with its fading glory has more appeal than the time tested truth which to most has become passé.

Rather than just reading the story of the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, have you ever asked the question, why was He crucified? He died because He did not fit into the mood and trends of a society that was bent on opposing the value of God’s creation. His lack of flexibility set Him on a collision course with humanity, inclusive of rulers and religious leaders who interpreted life differently than what He was sent to introduce to them. He did not say, “I am come that you might understand how to enhance your lifestyles and become successful in your endeavors.” He said, “I Am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.” First life had to be attained before it could be lived. Those who opposed the law of God were the living dead who existed in their trespasses and sins. They were completely separated from the life of God. It was impossible for them to know their purpose because they were incapable of knowing the purpose for life itself.

Life is too precious to waste. Some people live their entire lives never knowing why they were ever born. The tragedy of pride is the opinion that you can never be wrong. Life then comprises of attempts to protect one’s own perception and transform their lie into a truth. It is only at the end of life that they discover that lies are not transformable. The truth then testifies against them that their lives were meaningless. The offense of the original sin of Adam develops into the corrupting factor that governs the lives of every individual, void of the knowledge of God, has created a culture of death. But His life is the antidote to man’s self-destruction. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:4. His life was given as a substitute for what we deserved. Yet, the very God whose wrath is directed against sin and rebellion was viewed as a means of self-justification and judgment against His supposed error.

The beauty of the life of Jesus is what blossomed in the lives of those who He lived His life through. Even though the culture crucified Him as it does today, He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent His Spirit down from heaven to earth, and now reveals Himself for the rebuilding of broken lives without purpose and void of hope. You are reading this message because His desire is to give you His life and live in you. Yes, He died by the hands of an angry mob reflecting the attitude and disposition of His times. But He rose from the dead to live forever and give eternal life to you.