JACKS DAILY DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
(Proverbs 18:22) "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord."
If you’re over sixty, chances are you grew up in an era where you didn’t know too many divorced couples and the subject was taboo.
But in todays society your children are growing up in a world where divorce is common and marriages fail every day.
If you don’t want yours to be one of them, start practicing these next three principles.
1) Learn to show your love.
Psychologist William James said, “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
If we don’t feel appreciated at home, there’s a good chance we won’t feel appreciated at all, because generally speaking, the world doesn’t fulfill that desire.
The best thing you can do for your spouse and your children is appreciate them and love them... not based on their performance, but simply because they’re yours.
(2) Pay attention.
Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame, said, “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
And that works both ways.
A successful marriage is one that can go from crisis to crisis and keep getting stronger.
“Commitment”, not emotion, is what carries you through.
If you only intend to stay married as long as you “feel” like you’re in love, you might as well quit now.
Like anything worthwhile, a good marriage requires constant attention, respect for each other, and “continued cultivation”.
Never forget that in your “courting days”, your partner was attracted to you because you “courted” each other, you pursued each other, you preferred each other, you held/viewed each other with respect and honor.
You each became a “priority” to each other.
Never let go of that, and if you have, then start again with renewed determination and purpose to pay attention to each other!
(3) Protect your time together.
One of the great devices that the “enemy” of our soul, (satan), uses to destroy our lives is that of “busyness”.
Husbands are working two jobs to pay the bills, and in most cases that means that the wife is working a job some where as well.
When they get home one has to deliver the kids to baseball practice, while the other has to be at the church or at some community event as a volunteer.
The family is split running in different directions and when the day is done they all fall into bed exhausted from the day’s efforts and it all starts over again the next morning.
Running here, running there.
Busy, busy, busy with out any quality time together to encourage one another, to delight your selves in one another, to enjoy one another, to work out “issues”.
Before long you’ve both become strangers and your marriage suffers as a result of it.
If you feel like you ought to be at work, or at some event or some other place when you’re with your family or your spouse, then something’s wrong.
Wake up and realize that there is a problem to be addressed, worked out and overcome.
Never ever feel like your family, or time together with them is a problem or an inconvenience.
They are your priority! They are you first focus! They are more important than any thing else in the world.
It’s time to call a “family conference”, and agree on the need to spend time together and how you can “accomplish it together”, despite the demands placed upon all of you.
God gave you your marriage and your family to be a “haven of rest” for all of you.
A place where you can come in from the cold winds of the worlds adversity and busyness, to rest and find encouragement, comfort, love and respect from and for one another.
To fulfill the emotional needs we all have, that can only be filled by those that we love and whom love us.
If you prioritize and protect those times, your marriage will thrive.
And you will find and obtain “favor” with God.
(Proverbs 18:22) "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord."
Good Day!
(Luke 15:2) “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them’.”
As I wrote yesterday, parables are stories with a specific meaning or message wrapped into or woven into the story.
I am continuing with more insights we can learn from the “Parable of The Prodigal Son”.
In yesterdays study we also saw the Fathers “amazing love” patience and willingness to indulge us even though we don’t deserve it.
Having been brought to such a low state, the bible tells us the prodigal son “came to his senses”, recalling how his righteous father treated even his hired servants better than they way he was living in his poverty and hunger… "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!" (Luke 15:17)
He thus says to himself, I will return to my father and say three things:
(a) "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (v. 18),
(b) "I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (v. 19a),
(c) "Treat me as one of your hired servants" (v. 19b).
Even being treated as one of his father's hired servants would be better than the treatment he is receiving in the gentile world.
So what do the actions of the prodigal son teach us?
They teach us how our own “misuse of freedom” can snare us and destroy us.
If we are bent on walking away from Gods offer of mercy, forgiveness and deliverance from the penalty of sin and separation from Him… going our own way, doing our own thing, then know that things will go badly for us.
(Proverbs 16:25) “There is a way that seems right unto a man but it is the way of death”
(1st Peter 5:8) tells us the chances we are taking with that attitude and we will be humiliated and destroyed in the uncaring world. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.
The farther we get from the Father's loving care, the worse off we will be, and our best course is to return to God and his forgiveness.
So what was the fathers response to his wayward son?
When the prodigal son returns to his father, something significant happens.
The Bible says, while his son “was still a far ways off in the distance”, the father sees him coming, has compassion upon him, runs to him, hugs him, and kisses him.
This tells me that the Father was continually looking for his sons return.
He hadn’t written him off!
Every morning of every day, when the father got out of bed he was expecting his sons return and would stand at the door looking down the road for a glimpse of his son returning home.
This is a beautiful look at what the real love… the “agape love” and forgiveness of God our heavenly Father looks like.
This is far from the “humiliating reunion” that the son might expect based on his previous audacious and insulting treatment of his father!
The returning son must have been astonished but as he walks up to his father he begins to recite his pre-scripted speech to his father, and he manages to get the first two parts of it out.
He says:
(a) "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (v. 21a),
(b) "I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (v. 21b).
But before he can say the third part… before he can ask to be treated merely as a servant… the father interrupts things and takes them in a very different direction.
Rather than treating his younger son as a mere servant, he turns to the actual servants and orders a celebration.
So then, what do the actions of the father teach us?
The first lesson is that the father will not treat a son as a hired servant.
The younger son is still a son!
As a result, his return is something to be celebrated!
He is to wear a fancy robe, a fancy ring, new shoes!
There is to be a fancy feast for everyone, there is to be music and dancing!
Why?
Because "This my son was dead, and is alive again"… "He was lost, and now is found."
This shows us God's reaction when we return from being lost in sin.
He doesn't begrudge us what we have done. He doesn't take us back reluctantly.
Like the father in the parable, he welcomes us, takes us back joyously!
But this is not all there is to the story . . .
There is usually at least one major lesson per parable for each major figure in it, and now we come to the lesson that the older brother can teach us.
The older brother has remained in the shadows of this story until now.
Until now he was relatively un-heard of.
He hadn’t demanded his inheritance.
He stayed faithful to his father. He stayed faithful to the task at hand.
He was busy being about his fathers business, working the family farm, being content to follow in his fathers footsteps even staying obedient to the fathers will.
And now he is angry.
Why should his younger, wasteful, sinful brother receive such a reception by their father?
The older brother is so angry that he refuses to go inside and join the party.
Naturally, his father hears about it and comes to talk to him.
When that happens, we discover that he's not just angry with his brother, but the older son is angry with his father, too.
He points out that he has never disobeyed his father's commands but that his father has never given him a kid (a young goat) so that he could slaughter it and have a party with his friends.
In contrast the younger brother has "devoured the fathers estate, living with harlots" wasting a third of the father's estate…
But when he comes back, now "the fatted calf" that is, the best, most tender and delicious animal, specially raised to be so… is killed and made a celebration for the younger sons return home.
The older brother sees this difference in treatment as a manifest injustice toward him and is angry with his father because of it.
As we will see, he even seems to be worrying about his own security in the family since the father is showing such seeming favoritism to the younger son.
So what is the fathers response to his oldest son?
The father tells the older son three things.
First, he tells him: "Son, you are always with me."
This seems to be a reassurance to the elder son that he has not lost his rightful place in the family, his place is secure his inheritance is secure.
Second, he tells him: "and all that is mine is yours."
This is because the division of property had already taken place.
The younger soon took his third, so the two-thirds that remain will go entirely to the older son.
This means that the current celebration does not represent a threat to the older brother or his inheritance.
Instead, it is a celebration of joy occasioned by the return of the son.
Thus the father thirdly tells him… "It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, but he is alive, he was lost, and is found.”
So what are the spiritual lessons here for us?
From this parable we can draw a number of spiritual lessons:
We can be a genuine son of the Father who is spiritually "alive" yet dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
Lost in that we “lose” the protection, the covering, the shelter of our Heavenly Father (91:1-16)
We become as sheep defenseless before the wolves! (Matthew 10:16)
We can turn our backs on our heavenly Father and leave him of our own free will. (Ephesians 1:4-5)
The deception of sin is still a reality even thought we have been born again into the family of God (Romans 7:11)
Mortal sin rebellion, selfishness, self willfulness, will inevitably land us in a far worse state than we can begin to imagine! (Proverbs 16:18)
But that is not the end of the story!
We can, at any time, return to the Father and be accepted by Him with great joy.
In fact, he is ready and eager to accept us back and forgive us, no matter what we've done.
Christians who have never fallen should not resent those who come back (Luke 15:10)
They should share in their Father's joy.
Their own place is secure and their heavenly reward is not threatened.
God loves them (you and I) just as much as He loves those who come back through a dramatic conversion.
When they come to their “senses” as did the prodigal son! (Luke 15:17)
These three stories are given to us by Jesus as his own direct message of Gods unfailing love for each of us.
(Luke 4:18-19)
I don’t know where you are within the examples of these three parables, but I do know you can find a reflection of each of us with in them.
Jesus wants you to know that you are his very own sheep, like the lost coin you are very valuable to him and he will welcome you home with no strings attached.
Please, just come home!
Good Day!
(Luke 15:2) “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”
Over the last week I’ve been looking at several verses of scripture that revolve around three different parables or stories that Jesus shared with His followers.
Parables are stories with a specific meaning or message wrapped or woven into the story.
These three parables that Jesus told, beginning with “the importance of the lost sheep” (Luke 15:3), “the loss of a valuable coin” (Luke 15:8) and the parable of “the prodigal or lost son” Luke 15:11)
All have to do with the “importance of people” in the eyes of the Saviour… and how important or necessary it is, that we be involve in His quest to welcome save and set at liberty, the lost in our society.
We’ve already looked at the parable of the lost sheep, and the lost coin, today lets look at the story of the “prodigal son”.
The word "prodigal" is not a familiar word in our culture and its meaning may be a but mysterious to us.
Almost the only time we ever hear it, is in the title of this parable.
It's basic meaning is "wasteful".
It indicates the quality of a person who is irresponsible with money…who wastes it by spending with reckless abandon.
Jesus' parables are all based on “real-life situations”… though they often veer off from the expected course of events in surprising ways.
Those surprises teach us valuable lessons.
We’ve already looked at the parable of the lost sheep, and the lost coin, today lets look at the story of the “prodigal son”.
The word "prodigal" is not a familiar word in our culture and its meaning may be a but mysterious to us.
Almost the only time we ever hear it, is in the title of this parable.
It's basic meaning is "wasteful".
It indicates the quality of a person who is irresponsible with money…who wastes it by spending with reckless abandon.
Jesus' parables are all based on “real-life situations”… though they often veer off from the expected course of events in surprising ways.
Those surprises teach us valuable lessons.
Here, Jesus relates the situation of a father who has two sons… one of whom can't wait for his inheritance.
In Jewish society, there were laws regarding how inheritances were typically divided.
The oldest brother got a double share (Deuteronomy 21:17), while the siblings or brothers got only a single share.
When there were two brothers as in this parable/story… the older brother would get 2/3rds of the estate, and the younger brother would get 1/3rd.
In this parable, (Luke 15:12) the younger son demands from his father "the share of property that falls to me"
That means he is asking for the 1/3rd of the father's possessions that he would ordinarily get when the father dies.
Think about that.
He's asking his father to give him 1/3rd of everything that he owns right now… before the father is dead… when his father would still have use for these possessions.
This is a truly astonishing request, and it would have been even more astonishing in the ancient world.
In a society that highly reverenced parents, it would have been equivalent to saying: "Father, I can't wait for you to die. Give me 1/3rd of everything you have right now".
Despite the breathtaking and insulting audacity of the younger son's request… the father concedes and grants it!
I find this absolutely amazing!
There are several underlying spiritual truths we can glean from this parable or story that Jesus is relaying to humanity both then and now…
And that is the fathers willingness to comply and to meet His sons request even though it is unorthodox, selfish, and out of character… the father because of his great love for his son… wants to give what he can to his son.
It is an example or “sneak peak” as it were of “the amazing love” and patience that our Heavenly Father has towards each of us.
He gives,,, even though we don’t deserve it.
(Psalm 103:10) “He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve”
Jesus talked about this in (Luke 11:10-13) when He said "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?…
So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”…
This reflects the amazing indulgence that God shows toward us.
Even when we are acting as selfishly as the prodigal son, God indulges us.
He yields what is His, and allows us to misuse it out of respect for the freedom that He has given us.
But He (God) knows that the misuse of our freedom, will have no better results than it did with the prodigal son's misuse of his freedom… and God trusts that we will learn our lesson and come back to Him.
After the younger son gets 1/3rd of his father's estate, he takes everything he has and goes "into a far off country, and there he squandered his property in loose living" (Luke 15:13).
In context this means that he abandoned the Holy Land, the Promised Land, the Land of Plenty… to voluntarily take up residence in a gentile “pagan” country… where he could live loosely, carelessly… living life as he saw fit to live out in his own eyes, without being censured by fellow Jews living all around him.
He wanted to do his own thing…
But eventually the bible says he squandered all that he had until there was nothing left… and soon hard times came.
If he had not spent what he had on loose living (partying, drinking, the pleasures of the flesh, sexual gratification)… he would have had the money he needed to weather the hard times, but he didn't.
Thus he was reduced to a state of starvation and had to subject himself to the humiliation of feeding pigs… which to his Jewish heritage was the lowest of lows.
His friends had all forsaken him now that the money had dried up.
So broke was he, nobody would give him anything to eat, he was starving, and in his desperation we find him on his knees willing to eat the pigs' slop.
Having been brought to such a low state, he recalled how his righteous father treated even his hired servants better than this… "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!" (Luke 15:17)
He thus plans to return to his father and say three things…
(a) "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (Luke 15:18)
(b) "I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:19)
(c) "Treat me as one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:19)
Even being treated as one of his father's hired servants would be better than the treatment he is receiving in the gentile world.
Here is the lesson we are to learn from this story!
(John 3:16) says For God so loved the world that He gave…
He gave us His Son so that we could be free from the ravages, the bondage, the mastery, the judgment and the penalty of sin…
He gives the hope of eternal life… He meets our every need… provision, protection and power to be more than conquerors in this life.
Our Heavenly Father loves us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine…
But if we are bent on doing things our own way, doing our own thing, God will not forcibly stop us...
He lets us do our own thing… do that which we think is right in our own eyes… even though He knows it will go badly for us.
The farther we get from the Father's loving care, the worse off we will be, and our best course is to return to God and His forgiveness.
The bible says in (1st Corinthians 2:9) “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man… all the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”.
Tomorrow we will look further… at this amazing story of the Fathers love for you and I.
Good Day!
This reflects the amazing indulgence that God shows toward us.
Even when we are acting as selfishly as the prodigal son, God indulges us.
He yields what is His, and allows us to misuse it out of respect for the freedom that He has given us.
But He (God) knows that the misuse of our freedom, will have no better results than it did with the prodigal son's misuse of his freedom… and God trusts that we will learn our lesson and come back to Him.
After the younger son gets 1/3rd of his father's estate, he takes everything he has and goes "into a far off country, and there he squandered his property in loose living" (Luke 15:13).
In context this means that he abandoned the Holy Land, the Promised Land, the Land of Plenty… to voluntarily take up residence in a gentile “pagan” country… where he could live loosely, carelessly… living life as he saw fit to live out in his own eyes, without being censured by fellow Jews living all around him.
He wanted to do his own thing…
But eventually the bible says he squandered all that he had until there was nothing left… and soon hard times came.
If he had not spent what he had on loose living (partying, drinking, the pleasures of the flesh, sexual gratification)… he would have had the money he needed to weather the hard times, but he didn't.
Thus he was reduced to a state of starvation and had to subject himself to the humiliation of feeding pigs… which to his Jewish heritage was the lowest of lows.
His friends had all forsaken him now that the money had dried up.
So broke was he, nobody would give him anything to eat, he was starving, and in his desperation we find him on his knees willing to eat the pigs' slop.
Having been brought to such a low state, he recalled how his righteous father treated even his hired servants better than this… "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!" (Luke 15:17)
He thus plans to return to his father and say three things…
(a) "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (Luke 15:18)
(b) "I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Luke 15:19)
(c) "Treat me as one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:19)
Even being treated as one of his father's hired servants would be better than the treatment he is receiving in the gentile world.
Here is the lesson we are to learn from this story!
(John 3:16) says For God so loved the world that He gave…
He gave us His Son so that we could be free from the ravages, the bondage, the mastery, the judgment and the penalty of sin…
He gives the hope of eternal life… He meets our every need… provision, protection and power to be more than conquerors in this life.
Our Heavenly Father loves us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine…
But if we are bent on doing things our own way, doing our own thing, God will not forcibly stop us...
He lets us do our own thing… do that which we think is right in our own eyes… even though He knows it will go badly for us.
The farther we get from the Father's loving care, the worse off we will be, and our best course is to return to God and His forgiveness.
The bible says in (1st Corinthians 2:9) “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man… all the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”.
Tomorrow we will look further… at this amazing story of the Fathers love for you and I.
Good Day!
In (Matthew 18: 10-14), “If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off”
Jesus taught His disciples a simple story to illustrate a spiritual truth.
Jesus taught about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, and one of the flock wondered off by itself.
The sheep was lost… and the word “lost” as used here is the same word that means “perish” in the original Greek writings.
In other words, the sheep was in peril, in great danger, headed for destruction, because it had left the safely of shepherd’s flock.
A shepherd knows all of his sheep and is concerned about the condition of every one of them.
He decides to go after that sheep and save it, because it went astray!
God knows whether people are saved or lost, he knows the condition of every lost soul and devised a plan to do something about it.
He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for their sins so they wouldn’t have to be punished.
By coming to earth as a human being, Jesus died on a cross to reconcile us to a Holy God, because we were spiritually separated from Him due to our sinful nature inherited from our natural parents whom inherited a sinful nature from their ancestors as well, all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
That lost sheep in this story may have wandered away from the shepherd, but because the shepherd is a “good shepherd” who loves and cares about His sheep, He went looking for it.
Another shepherd might have counted the 99 and decided it wouldn’t be worth his trouble, and the time it would cost him to go after just one dumb sheep.
But Jesus is not like that.
He is the “The Good Shepherd”, who came to this world to give His life because He cares about us the sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 103) (Psalm 95:7) Ezekiel 34:31))
The shepherd in this story didn’t stop until His mission had been completed and the sheep had been found!
The final words that Jesus cried out from the cross when He was crucified was “It is finished”!
The price or the penalty for sin was paid… judgment for sin was carried out and fully accomplished.
Sin was defeated… never more to have the strength to imprison mankind in its grip and mastery any longer.
The Good Shepherd perfectly fulfilled His mission, and all those who believe in what He did for them by shedding His sinless blood are saved, and guaranteed a home in Heaven.
The sheep that was lost was now found, saved because of what “The Good Shepherd” did for it.
The word “saved” means “to rescue from all harm.”
That’s what Jesus, “The Good Shepherd”, did for all of us delivering us from the penalty and power of sin.
By believing that fact, God declares us righteous… meaning just as if we had never sinned at all… which gives us the legal right to make us fit to enter a holy heaven.
That one lone sheep in this story may have been dumb enough to have wandered away from the flock, but getting it home was the responsibility of “The Good Shepherd” who owned it.
When “The Good Shepherd” found that sheep, he saved it and brought it home where it belongs.
Jesus said in (John 10:28), “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish… no one will snatch them out of my hand”.
True believers in Christ are described by Jesus as sheep… the Lord’s sheep are saved by God’s gift of undeserved grace.
(Ephesians 2:8) says “For by grace are ye saves through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”
That faith, that trust… is what “secures” eternal salvation for "the lost soul" the lost sheep.
(Psalm 79:13) "But we your people, the sheep of your pasture",
(1st Peter 2:25) "For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd".
Jesus said He came into this world to “seek and to save that which is lost.”
The Bible makes it clear that “the angels in heaven rejoice” over every lost soul/sinner who comes to faith belief and trust in Jesus. (Luke 15:10)
That faith, that trust, is what “secures” eternal salvation for their lost soul.
Because of that new spiritual rebirth, our relationship with Christ restores fellowship between a Holy God and lost sinners.
So my question to you today is, “have you believed”, in the finished work of Christ on your behalf”?
Are you in a relationship with the Good Shepherd?
Or are you still lost?
I did not ask you if you go to church?
I did not ask you if you are a good person?
I asked you, “are you in a relationship with Jesus Christ”?
If so, then you are saved!
But only if you come to the one who can help you, and who died for you to take away your sins.
(Romans 10:13) “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”!
His name is Jesus Christ.
Good Day!
(Luke 15:8) “What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it?
This story that Jesus has told his followers is one of a series of three parables… the lost sheep… the lost piece of silver… and the prodigal son, which all teach of the Lord's love and care for all of us.
They teach us that not one human being ever gets beyond the Savior's care.
All three of these parables illustrate first of all, the infinite love and mercy of God.
But within this story is a clear and evident challenge not so readily apparent, with a message applicable to us all… for as the Lord took on our humanity, whatever is true of Him in the highest degree is also true of us in the lowest.
If the Lord came as He said, "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10),
His command to us also is "seek and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7)
In the parable of the lost piece of silver we have the picture of a woman seeking for a treasure which she once had… but which she has lost.
She knows that it is in the house somewhere, and she knows too… that if she searches diligently she will find it.
Silver in the Word represents truth or beliefs.
Belief in a good and wise God in heaven… and eternal life in heaven with that wise and good God after death is very real to us when we are taught it in childhood.
But as we grow older, doubts often come to mind.
We get so busy making a living and raising a family using our God given gifts to take control of our lives… that we tend to exclude God from the decisions we make and soon we lose the “childlike awareness” of His presence, and the faith in Him we once had appears to be lost.
One says, "I wish I could believe, but I cannot."
Though the desire is there, it has been lost in the maze of worldly ambition and business of taking care of business.
In this light we should all from time to time ask ourselves, "Have I lost anything of value that I once possessed?
Have I lost that condition of childlike faith and confidence in my Heavenly Father which I once had?"
This “confidence” in the wisdom and love of God was no less real because we were too young to express it.
It was a “state of faith”… the quality of which was unknown to ourselves at the time… the confident trust of a child.
Many will say that we have "grown out of it."
But in reality… no, we have not!
Like the woman in our parable or story we simply have mislaid it… lost it for a time.
But the Lord wishes that we find it again.
He says: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3)
He is referring to having the faith of a child, or “childlike” faith and trust!
We “misplace” truth only when we do not practice it.
The ten pieces of silver that Jesus mentions at the beginning of His story represent all the truths necessary for our spiritual life and development.
One of these is the truth that all knowledge of God and of spiritual things is “a gift from God” and not from any ability in ourselves to discover it.
When we look out upon the world and see the foolish things that men do trusting in themselves, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the rivalries and discord… we ought to have little confidence in our own wisdom.
The bible teaches us that “there is a way which seems right unto a man, but it is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25)
We may accumulate many treasures, but there is still one which is represented in the parable by the piece of silver which was lost.
That is the full and perfect belief and trust, familiar to early childhood, that is fortunately still enjoyed by some adults also.
The lost coin is still in the house.
God, in His infinite wisdom, has so ordered it that nothing which we have once attained, is ever completely destroyed.
The state of “childhood trust” and faith in Him, remains somewhere within us.
That’s why (Proverbs 22:6) teaches “train up a child in the way he should go when he is young, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.”
We may have lost sight of it, but it is not lost.
It is still there lying hidden deep in the soul,
It is still in the house, and it is to the Divine purpose of God that we attain that state again in a fuller degree.
So the Lord commands, "Seek, and ye shall find."
And our parable tells us just what to do to find it.
First light a candle and sweep the house.
The house is our mind or soul… in which are all our treasures.
Our mind is a dwelling place in which we manage and store many things, and also lose many things.
The candle that lights our search is truth from the Lord. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet" (Psalm 119:105).
From Him proceeds all truth, “He is the light of the world”.
The little child in Sunday School learning the first lessons of the Lord's commandments and precepts, is lighting a candle sufficient to illuminate his or her little mental home.
The wisest scholar in the universe, in learning “the deeper truths of the Word” is but lighting a candle obtained from Him who is “the light of the world”.
The lesson of this parable to each one of us is simply this… when once we have been thoroughly convinced of any “truth”, let us immediately make use of that knowledge to get rid of whatever is foolish, false, or wrong in our own hearts and minds.
If we do this, we shall regain or make room for “the lost treasure”.
We must have “the will”, “the desire” to attain regeneration or rebirth.
“Seeking diligently, that’s where we find this wonderful relationship of faith that God offers each of us.
Good Day!
(Psalm 103:5) “Who satisfies your mouth with good things... so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”
I don’t know of any one that is living life under the extreme challenges of today… that does not look for a rest or more strength to deal with those challenges.
From the dads trying to support and take care of or provide for their families… to the stay at home moms dealing with babies that demand so much of their attention… to the seniors of our society facing uncertain retirement and continued existence despite the many physical hurdles they are facing as their bodies grow more weary and tired as age creeps up upon them…
All of us long for more strength to deal with the pressures of life!
The Bible is an “Eastern” book that was written many years ago by people raised in the Middle East.
As such, there are many customs and idioms that are not familiar to the “Western” mind.
In understanding the scriptures it is important for us to understand the culture, but it doesn’t mean that we should necessarily “follow” that culture.
Rather, it is in the understanding of the Eastern culture that we gain light and understanding about many things in the Bible.
In the fifth verse of (Psalm 103), God promises “to satisfy us with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle”.
In order to understand this verse of scripture, let’s first consider the eagle.
It is both interesting as well as noteworthy that eagles are mentioned and used as a comparison numerous times in the Bible.
The eagle like other comparisons, is mentioned in places where its characteristics help make a point concerning Gods care and concern for you and I.
Understanding some characteristics of eagles helps us to understand those comparisons.
For instance, (Deuteronomy Chapter 32) refers to God as an eagle, fluttering over the young, spreading out His wings, and then bearing them up or carrying them on His wings.
In (Exodus 19:4) God reminds Moses that “He bore the nation of Israel on eagle’s wings”.
In other words, He carried the nation on His wings… in the strength of His hands.
That is quite a picture of God’s great power, care and concern which is there for all of us to find safety in.
There are numerous comparisons in the Bible using the eagle.
One such case is Psalm 103, where it talks about “our youth being renewed” as an eagle is renewed.
How is the youth of an eagle renewed?
I have read of different methods that different types of eagles have to shed their old feathers.
Eagles… as do all birds go thru a molting process where as their old feathers have to be preened, cared for, and renewed .
Once he has his new feathers, he can fly again, and the whole process is compared to its youth being renewed.
The book of Isaiah says “those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength… they shall mount up with wings as eagles… they shall run and not be weary… and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31)
Our “youth,” or specifically, our spiritual walk with God, can be renewed, as we shed the old, and take on the new!
There are a number of verses in the New Testament that refer to
“putting off the old”, and putting on the new.
(Ephesians 4:22- 25) “That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts… and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
That you put on the new man, which God has created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore put away lying… speak every man truth with his neighbor… for we are members one of another”.
We are to “put off the old man and put on the new man”.
Just like the eagle cannot get new feathers until he gets rid of his old feathers thru the “molting process”, we too must put off, cast down, or lay aside the old and then put on the new.
We must make a conscious mental effort to put off the actions of the old nature.
We determine mentally that those old things will “no longer” be a part of our lives.
And then we “purpose” to replace them with what the Bible declares to be part of our new nature.
For example, in Ephesians it says “to put away lying and speak every man truth with his neighbor”.
Lying is part of the old nature.
Speaking the truth is a characteristic of the new nature.
So we can mentally determine to put away lying… we can shed those old feathers.
And in it’s place we make a conscious mental decision to speak the truth… developing new feathers.
In doing so, we can then walk with God unencumbered by the old.
As we shed the old feathers and put on the new in their place, we are renewed.
We can walk with Him and not faint.
We can run with Him and not be weary.
We can be renewed and mount up with wings as do the eagles.
This is the exhortation of Gods word for each of us.
We don’t have to live with our lives being governed oppressed and dictated to by the old nature of sin.
We can over come… we can be more than conquerors… you don’t have to live “the same old same old”
(Hebrews 12:1) “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses… let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us… and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
With Gods help you can fly like an eagle, you can be “a new creation “in Christ!
The question remains though,
Do you want to?
Good Day!
(1st John 4:18) “Perfect love drives out fear”
According to psychiatric statistics, there are approximately 2,000 classified fears or phobias that exist and have been catalogued.
What’s interesting is that psychiatrists say we are born with only two innate ones… the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.
That means that the other 1998 fears that plague humanity are learned.
This seems inconceivable I know… but I don’t argue with folks that are smarter than me.
But more importantly, if these fears are learned fears, then that means we can unlearn every other fear.
The majority of our lives are shaped, for better or worse, by a handful of experiences.
These defining experiences can plant a seed of confidence or a seed of uncertainty, a seed of hope or a seed of vulnerability, a seed of faith or a seed of fear.
John expresses the end goal of our relationship with God… “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1st John 4:18)
The words “perfect love”, do not describe our love for God, but rather God’s unconditional, unearned, unfailing love for us.
(John 3:16) “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that we might be saved”
(Ephesians 2:8) “for by grace we are saved thru faith and that not of our selves but it is the gift of God”
The goal of love is fearlessness!
As we grow in a love relationship with God, we unlearn the fears that paralyze us and neutralize us spiritually.
That is the essence of faith.
Faith is the process of unlearning our “irrational” fears.
The only God-ordained fear, is the fear of God.
And if we fear… as in love, honour, reverence, and respect God… we don’t have to fear anyone or anything else.
Unlearning our fears is really a process of learning to trust God more and more.
One of the greatest promises God has given to us in scripture is this…
(Hebrews 13:5-6 ) “He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
So we may boldly say… The Lord is my helper… I will not fear.
What can man to do me?”
In (2nd Timothy 1:7) Paul writes to the early church of his day saying… “for God has not given us spirit of fear…but of love, power and a sound mind”.
Its time to unlearn the fears that we have been indoctrinated with from the enemy of our soul and the world around us… and in turn cleave to the confidence and faith in God that drives out fear.
To overcome fear… through faith in God… consider the following principles.
Put your confidence in God instead of relying on your own strength.
Trust in God for His guidance.
(2nd Corinthians 3:4-5) tells us “Such confidence we have through Christ before God.
The Bible reassures believers that they are not alone in their fears.
For instance (Isaiah 41:10) states… “Do not fear for I am with you… do not be dismayed for I am your God… I will strengthen you and I will surely help you”
Biblical examples of Gods promise are found in the accounts of David and Goliath.
Scripture exemplifies how faith can conquer fear.
David’s confidence in God enabled him to face the giant with out fear, demonstrating that faith can also dispel anxiety and uncertainty!
Developing faith takes daily discipline, prayer, and a relationship with Christ that goes beyond a church service once a week.
Engaging in regular prayer and meditation… feeding on scriptures that reinforce the promises of God… can help you filter out fear and align it with God truth.
Developing that faith takes daily discipline, prayer, and a relationship with Christ.
Engaging in regular prayer meditation and the reading of Gods word can help filter out fear and align it with God’s truth.
By integrating these principles into your life… you can cultivate a deeper confidence and faith that drives out fear.
“Gods perfect love for you casts out all fear” (1st John 4:18)
Good Day