TRUST = RIGHTEOUSNESS

Scripture: Deuteronomy 1:32-36

“In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: "Not a man of this EVIL generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly."

Observation:

These people were not Sodom & Gomorra. They were not involved n “gross” sin - in the way we would define it. They were not involved in sexual perversions, they were not committing murder, nor were they stealing.

What was their sin that made them evil in God’s sight? They did not trust Him. After a history of God’s goodness, miracles, protection, etc., they could still not trust God.

Sometimes you can figure out the character of God by a study in opposites. If it is true that a lack of trust is so huge that it is defined by God as EVIL, then it must be true that trust in God would be defined as RIGHTEOUSNESS. In fact, the Bible said that Abraham’s belief/trust in God was credited to Him as righteousness.

Application:

I wonder how many times I was less than righteous before God - what promises have I dismissed, what commandments I reasoned away, what trouble did I borrow, where have I expected the worst, instead of trusting God to be good to me?

I want to live a righteous life so I must live a life of hope, faith, belief, and trust in God. Anything else relates more to my flesh (evil) than my spirit (the part of me that connects to God). “Without faith it’s impossible to please the Lord your God.”

Prayer:

Father, Thank you that I have a history that is marked by your goodness. Through all the “impossible” situations you have shown yourself strong and good. The lines in my life have fallen for me in good places. Help my history with you empower my future by building my trust in you. In Jesus name, AMEN!

The Peculiar Feel Of Faith

Scripture: Mark 5:27-34

“When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’

‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, “Who touched me?'”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’”

Observation:

The question the disciples had was a good question. Hundreds of people were pressing in to get a glimpse of the miracles and the “miracle man”. How could Jesus even ask such a question? “Who touched me?” It would have been easier to answer, “Who hasn’t touched me?” This was no ordinary touch - it was the touch peculiar to faith.

Hundreds pressed in with a desire, a need, a hope, or a curiosity, but the touch that was identifiable, the touch that Jesus could pick out of the crowd was the touch of faith. It had a peculiar feel. “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.”

Application:

I wonder how many people press in with a desire, a need, a hope or a curiosity in these days? Maybe millions of people pressing into church, or nature, a book, or even a prayer. Curious to see if God is real, and if He is will He help me. I am positive that God responds to all of those motivations. He will take any opportunity to, any type of seeking, to make himself known to man. However, there is something about our faith that grabs the attention and heart of God.

I don’t want to be curious about God, I want to be confident. I want to know that “If I just touch God I will be healed.” “If I spend time in prayer my day will get better, my problems will be taken care of, my future will be secure, my struggles will be doable.” “If I call on Jesus, He will help me.” I want God to recognize that peculiar feel of faith in me.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for this day that you have made. It is a good day and my life is blessed. The lines have fallen for me in good places. Help me to have faith today for the days tasks and my life’s ambitions. Help me to believe in you with all faith. May you feel that peculiar feel of faith from my life today. In Jesus Name: Amen!

Mighty People Know Their Source

Scripture: Psalm 29:1-2

“Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.”

Observation:

For the first time, I’ve read this and noticed that the one’s who are attributing to the Lord are the mighty. It’s not the weak, the incapable, tht inept, etc.. We are all mighty in one one way or the other - some of us are mighty in our ability to organize, others in their ability to negotiate, some in their ability to befriend, other are mighty in their physical strength, and others in their financial strength.

Application:

God has called us to no only acknowledge His ability to do what we can’t, but to acknowledge that He is even mighteir than we are in the areas that we excell in. He’s called us to complete dependency upon Him. He’s called us to worship Him on the basis that He is bigger and even better. He is mightier!

The cool thing is this acknowledgement doesn’t result in deflated person. As God is glorified in every area of our lives we become grateful people. Grateful that in all of His greatness, in all of His splendor, He has been good to us. He has made us mighty if only in an area of lives. As we walk in His greatness instead of ours, somehow we live an exalted life.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to always live my life under your greatness. There is great protection, provision, and promise their. My might is limited but your has no end. Help me to live the limitless life that I have promised to me in Christ. You are strong - let your strength be shown in my life. In Jesus name - AMEN!

A Transformed Life

SCRIPTURE: Mark 3:20-21

“Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind.”

Observation:

Can you imagine the thoughts that are going thru Jesus’ family’s minds. Jesus is causing a scene in the neighborhood. He’s provoking their spiritual leaders to anger, he’s drawing lots of attention from the people they do life and business with. “What are they gonna think of us?” “What questions are we gonna have to answer?” “How embarrassing!”

This is not the Jesus they had known and grown up with. Mary knew the promise of God, but not necessarily the step-by-step plan. His brothers knew He was a little different - He was a good kid and had become a good man, a little strange in the sense that he didn’t seem interested in women, always seemed to be right, didn’t fight back with them, never wanted to join in the trouble, etc - but overall He was normal. But the Jesus they had grown up with had not yet been to the desert, been filled with the Holy Spirit, or baptized by John the Baptist.

This Jesus was flying in the face of an entire political, religious, and cultural system. This Jesus was shaking things up, and the entire family would be be suspect. This type of judgement, scrutiny, and attention would only be worth it if what He was standing for was true. At this point they are not sure.

Application:

I think of those who begin their new life in Christ whose family has thought the same of them “He/She is out of his/her mind.” As they give their life to Christ and their lives begin to transform - their values, purpose, attitudes, behaviors, and talk, begin to change - those whom they do life and business with begin to say “This isn’t the person that I know and love.”

Bitter-sweet! Bitter because relational strain is difficult. Bitter because some will never understand. Sweet because this is evidence that your life has truly been impacted by Jesus. Sweet because some will eventually understand and desire the same life that you have chosen. A life in Christ filled with all the fruitfulness that the Holy Spirit has to offer: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Prayer:

Father thank you for the great transformation that has taken place in my life. Let me continue to experience it in all of its fullness. Help me to resemble you more and more! Let my life speak life those I do life and business with. In Jesus name. AMEN!

As We Trust In Him

by: jc

SCRIPTURE: Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

OBSERVATION:

The words “as you trust in Him” seemed to pop off the page today. We long to be happy and to have peace in our lives. Oh, to have a worry free day! Oh, to have a day that is marked with JOY! Even when it’s not Christmas.

I think what God is saying to me by highlighting those words is that Joy does not come from a lack of situations that are upsetting and peace does not appear with the disappearance of worrisome circumstances.

My thoughts are drawn this direction because of the word “TRUST”. If every thing is great, where does trust fit? You have to trust when circumstances offer opportunities for negative results. You have to trust when things have gone from good to bad and possess the potential to go from bad to worse.

As we TRUST Him God fills our lives with ALL joy and peace. As this happens our lives OVERFLOW with hope as the Holy Spirit works it into our lives.

APPLICATION:

Hope, joy, and peace, are not connected to the natural/physical world. They are attributes that are connected to our spirits - they supernatural/spiritual. If I am going to possess those attributes then I can’t look to find them in circumstances. Furthermore, they can't be learned by my physical mind. These attributes are imparted to us by God as we learn to TRUST Him.

We learn to trust God by allowing the Holy Spirit to work hope into our lives. We do this by intentionally setting our hearts and minds on what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us.

The intentional part is the practice of spiritual disciplines - Reading scripture, praying, meditating, fellowship, serving God’s church, sharing our faith with others, etc.... Once again God showed me that the greatest miracles, both in quantity and quality, take place in us rather than in our circumstances.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for your overwhelming love. What an awesome miracle that you have performed in us by filling us with your peace and joy. These are attributes that you possess. You are never rattled or sour. Thank you that you impart your image, your attributes, in us. God please help me to trust you more so that I may become more like you. In Jesus name I ask, AMEN!

Calling God To Mind

SCRIPTURE: LAMENTATIONS 3:19-26

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

OBSERVATION:

I just had a conversation with my kids about how tough it is to get yucky and negative thoughts out of our mind. It may be a reoccuring nightmare or just negative thoughts, maybe it’s bad memories or the hard time your are currently facing, whether it is based on reality or simply “borrowing trouble” these thoughts are difficult to overcome. Impossible without God in our lives.

I am convinced that most if not all of our battles in life are first won in our minds. We choose to press in or to retreat in our minds. We find hope or lose it in our minds. We remember God’s promises or ignore them in our minds.

APPLICATION:

Winning the battle is not forgetting our struggle or never feeling downcast. It is calling to mind the person of God - the loving, compassionate, faithful, good, and saving God who is enough. It is speaking His character to ourselves in the midst of our struggle. It is waiting on Him. It is giving your spirit a voice not just your mind and your emotions.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for your mercies which are new every morning. Help me to not simply mentally rehearse my circumstances, but to call to mind who you are and who you have been to me. Help me to propheticly speak your person and presence into my circumstances and life. You are good and faithful Lord, thank you for this reminder this morning. If ever I needed it it is now. In Jesus’s name - AMEN!

VALUE COMES FROM THE GIVER, NOT THE GIFT

SCRIPTURE: Ezekial 16:13-16

“‘You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.

‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur.’”

OBSERVATION:

It is an amazing thing how this happens - not to mention how often this happens. Ezekial is painting a picture of the relationship between God and His people. God finds us, or we approach God, beaten up by circumnstances and life. God cleans us up, heals our wounds, place value in us, gifts us with abilities and influence. We get so wrapped up and consumed with the gift that we ignore the giver. We become deceived and belive that it is the gifts that impart value rather than the giver of the gift confirming the value he has given us thru gifting us.

APPLICATION:

God makes all things beautiful in His time - yes, even us. When I see beauty in my life I want it to cause me to trust in God and not in myself. I want it to inspire praise and worship to the one who gives me value and gifted me beauty (character, influence, family, finances, etc.). I don’t want to trust in the beauty but in the one who makes me beautiful.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you that you are doing a thing of beauty in my life. You have gifted me with health and relationships. You have given me a purpose and the talents to walk that purpose out. You have blessed me with so much. I remember who I am with and without you. I choose to give remain in you, the One who makes me beautiful and established my worth. Thank you for all the things you have done and all the you have poured into my life. In Jesus Name, AMEN!