Tag Archives: blessings

December 14

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Colossians 

I grew up singing and loving A.B. Simpson hymns. Yes, I know the melodies are often difficult to sing and, as a church organist, I also know chord progressions are tricky. But Dr. Simpson packed so much truth into those hymns.

One of those hymns is based on Colossians 1:27 where Paul is once again writing about the mystery that had been kept hidden for ages. The inclusion of Gentiles into what had been a Jewish religion was accomplished because of Jesus. And because Jesus lives, he lives inside believers of every nationality.

Do you believe Jesus is able to do that? Paul identifies Jesus as God in the flesh. Look at the first chapter of Colossians and meet Jesus. In 2:9 Paul tells us “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”. Yes, Jesus is God and in 3:4 Paul calls Christ “your life”. Not just a part of my life. My life, my existence, my everything.

Here is what Dr. Simpson wrote in his hymn, “Christ in Me”:

This is my wonderful story – Christ to my heart has come;
Jesus, the King of glory, Finds in my heart a home.

I am so glad I received Him, Jesus, my heart’s dear King;
I who so often have grieved Him, All to His feet would bring.

Now in His bosom confiding, This my glad song shall be:
I am in Jesus abiding. Jesus abides in me.

Christ in me, Christ in me. Christ in me – Oh, wonderful story.
Christ in me, Christ in me. Christ in me, the hope of glory.

I am so grateful that the God of Creation lives in me. My prayer is that as one of his chosen, I will clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (3:12) I will forgive as the Lord forgave me. (3:13) And over all, put on love. (3:14)

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”. (3:17)

October 5

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Mark 3:1-19; Matthew 12:9-21, 4:23-50; Luke 6:6-16

I am so glad God inspired Matthew to record Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. There is something for us in every sentence. Do you want to be blessed by God? Jesus tells us how.

Be humble, meek, merciful, hunger for righteousness. Be a peacemaker. And rejoice when you are persecuted for Jesus’ sake. God blesses his children with all we need… comfort, mercy, eternal life.

Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Do you realize your value? As God’s children we have the privilege of representing him and pointing lost souls to the Savior. Nothing is more important in this life time. And nothing more precious to our Lord.

Although Jesus was very careful to hide his true identity to the masses, he began to explain his ministry here in Matthew 5:17-20. God gave the law to Moses centuries before and Jesus wants us to know that law is still in effect. The bar was set and remains too high for us to reach. Holiness is still God’s standard and his demand. But Jesus explains that it is his job to fulfill all the requirements of the law for you and me. 

You see, he can reach the bar!

And what he is going to do will enable us to stand before God with a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. We will be able to wear Jesus’ righteousness.

Dear one, as we read Jesus’ words, know that they were said with you in mind. Let Jesus speak to you as we revisit the Sermon on the Mount. Let him share his heart with each of us. And may we be encouraged in our walk with the Savior.

September 27

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Joel 3; Malachi 1-4

We come to the end of the Old Testament today. And Malachi is setting the stage for Jesus’ ministry. He has a lot to say about that but I want to share something from just 3:10.

When my parents were raising five daughters in the 50’s times here tough. My dad was a hard worker but he was not a good businessman. He and mom spent nearly everything they had to buy a bulldozer, backhoe, dump truck and flat bed trailer so Dad could start his own excavating business. He was a ditch digger! He dug footers and basements and leveled land for building sites. He was good at it and he loved the work.

He was not good, however, at pressing people for payments when the money due him didn’t come. 

We girls knew there wasn’t a lot of money but we were protected from the extent of it. We didn’t see Mom’s tears as she served the fourth Campbell Soup dinner of the week. We didn’t notice when Mom and Dad skipped a meal. And we never saw the pile of bills that wasn’t getting paid.

Somewhere during that difficult time Mom was convicted about tithing. She argued with God for a while saying, how could she drop a tenth of almost nothing into the plate when her girls didn’t have enough to eat. But God continued to impress on her to be faithful with what she had and, because she was the keeper of the money and the writer of checks in our family, she quietly began to tithe.

Now I know some of you may want to hear about an anonymous check that came in the mail or a rich relative’s fortune being left to us in a will. That didn’t happen but I will tell you what did.

Dad lost his business.

That’s right. Dad had to sell his equipment. But because he had shown himself to be a good worker in the building trades, a man who owned a plumbing company and had an opening at that very moment, offered Dad the chance to work with him and learn the plumbing trade. Dad studied plumbing and found, not only was he good at it – he liked the work, too! And… he didn’t have the pressures that come with being the company owner. And… he got paid every week.. And… he had regular work hours and was able to be at home with us evenings. And… he didn’t work on the weekends.

And… the bills started to get paid. Slowly, Mom was able to write the checks that needed to be written every month. It didn’t happen over night. But it happened to the point that eventually she even opened a savings account! 

It wasn’t a dramatic answer to prayer and it didn’t happen like Mom and Dad might have planned. But what did happen was better for Dad and our family. God asked Mom to be faithful with what she had. And God proved he meant what he said when he said:

… see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

We were never rich according to the world’s standards . But we were and are a family rich in blessings from God who is true to his Word. Be faithful with a little and God will be faithful with what he has!

Do you tithe? You need to. And not because you want God to pour out a financial windfall on you. You need to because it demonstrates to you and to God your commitment to him and your trust in him. Do you take God at his Word? Prove it.

 

August 22

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Lamentation 3-4

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not.
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hands have provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Who doesn’t love that old hymn? If you get the chance, why don’t you look it up and read all the verses sometime? The language is dated, but the truth is for today.

The writer of Lamentations kind of sang this hymn in the midst of his sorrow. He looked around and saw the devastation and suffering, he felt the sting of God’s correction.

But in 3:22-24 he states that God is good and God is all he needs. There is hope in these words and if you continue to read you will see even more hope.

God doesn’t like to see his children suffer. In verses 40-42 the writer gets to the heart of it. The truth is, Israel sinned and is experiencing the consequences. Repent, the writer says. Return to the Lord.

If you are experiencing the consequences of sin in your life I would say the same to you. Repent. Return to the Lord. You will receive so much more than you ever imagined:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

August 20

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Jeremiah 52; Psalms 74, 79, 85

If you don’t read anything else today I hope you’ll take a few minutes and at least read Psalm 85. It really spoke to me today and I’m feeling pretty loved right now. This Psalm was written after the fall of Jerusalem and the capture of over 4,000 Jews. The city and the temple are destroyed. These psalmists are crying out to God to come to their rescue. And I understand that.

But the first three verses of Psalm 85 remind us that God has been faithful since the beginning. He forgives sin and turns from anger when his people repent.

Verses 4-7 contain a plea that God will once again restore his people, that there would be a revival and God would once again grant his salvation. Sounds like a prayer for 2013 to me.

God’s conditions are there in verses 8&9. We need to listen to God, not return to our former way of life, and we need to fear him “that his glory may dwell in us.” God wants to bless us. He misses us when we aren’t walking with him. May we listen and obey and enjoy the blessings that result.

Verses 10-13 thrill me. It’s a picture of our loving Father and his obedient children when love and faithfulness meet together. We the faithful look up and God pours his righteousness down on us. He gives us what is good so that we can produce fruit. And he prepares the way for us. How amazing is that?

I don’t know about you but having read this psalm today I am feeling loved. Yes, I need to keep up my end of the bargain by being obedient. But my heavenly Father lavishes me with blessings beyond imagination when I do. His love. His righteousness. His goodness and Presence, hope, strength… shall I go on?

Is your heart right with God? I pray that it is. And if it is, let him love you today. Look to him and allow him to pour out his blessings on you.

Just take a minute and enjoy it.

 

July 17

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Isaiah 40-42

Years ago my niece Kelly, who was about six or seven at the time, was spending a weekend with me. We got a phone call from her mom telling us our childhood pastor had had a heart attack and asked us to pray for him. I remember praying with Kelly that God would protect Rev. Allen and heal him, that God would give him strength.

When we were done praying, my niece asked me about Isaiah 40:31. Didn’t Rev. Allen hope in The Lord and didn’t God promise that those who do wouldn’t get weary or faint? She didn’t understand how our pastor could be sick.

I remember telling her that God doesn’t lie so that verse must not be talking about physical health, because believers get sick and die just like non-believers. We talked about spiritual strength, the strength to get us through the physical hard times. We talked about never giving up on what – on Who – we know is true.

I told her Paul talked about running a race. Not a physical race but a race doing God’s will. I said Isaiah promises that God will give us the ability to do it, to run that race and not grow weary.

Once again I want to encourage us to not waste time trying to figure out which verses are to be interpreted materially and which are spiritual. God is painting a picture of his plan for your heart, for your life here in 2013. And the picture is pretty incredible with him right in the middle.

Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you for your promises. I thank you for your promise to give us what we need for the tasks you ask us to do. May we put our hope in you and not grow weary while we share you with those who need to hear the good news of Jesus.

July 16

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2 Kings 18:3-7a, 20:20,21; 2 Chronicles 29:2, 32:32-33; Isaiah 24:1-27:13

So much of Isaiah’s prophecy is about rejoicing and praise. It’s not all gloom and doom. In fact, it’s very much a picture of what happens when a soul comes to Christ. Listen to these words of encouragement:

25:8 The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all their faces; he will remove the disgrace to his people from all the earth.

25:9 Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is The Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.

26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

26:4 Trust in The Lord forever, for The Lord, The Lord, is the Rock eternal.

26:12 Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

I guess I believe we miss out on something if we try to fit Old Testament prophecy into a material futuristic box. I am reminded that our God is a personal, never-changing God who speaks in words, through nature and history, through the lives of people since the beginning of time.

The Bible is relative for today. Let’s be sensitive to what it has for us here in 2013. Let’s not miss out on the blessings that were meant for us today!

July 14

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Isaiah 33:1-37:13

There is a lot going on in these chapters of Isaiah. The story of Hezekiah is retold. The prophet stresses again that disobeying God leads to disaster.

But I want to share just two verses today. Simply put, this is my prayer for all of us today:

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high:
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of The Lord is the key to this treasure.
Isaiah 33:5&6

AMEN.

May Jesus be your sure foundation today.

July 10

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Psalms 75, 76, 77, 80

Have you ever had a bad day? I mean a really, really bad day – or week – or year when nothing goes right, when your heart is broken, when you lose hope?

The writer of the 77th Psalm was in distress. His soul refused to be comforted. He cried out to God in anguish. He groaned. He was too troubled to speak.

But he didn’t allow himself to stay there. Look at 77:5:

“I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.”

Then in 11&12 he says:

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.”

Then he goes on to do just that.

Satan would have us live defeated. Let’s not give him even one minute. I think the psalmist had the right idea. Instead of dwelling on all the reasons you have to be distressed, try thinking about all the ways you are blessed. Starting with Jesus’ work on the cross on your behalf. Consider the ways you have seen God work in your life instead of continuing to agonize over whatever is troubling you.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to hurt when bad things happen. Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died. I’m just suggesting with the psalmist that counting your blessings goes a long way to defeating Satan’s attempt to steal your joy.

Father in Heaven, some of us are hurting. Some of us have reason to be distressed and downhearted. We give you our grief, our fears, our anguish. Help us to praise you, to remember how blessed we are in spite of what is troubling us. Help us not to dwell on the problems we face, but to look upon you our Savior, our Healer, our Shepherd, our King, our Friend, Almighty God who has the power to help us through the darkest days and who promises to go with us every step of the way. May we who go to you with broken hearts, know the strength that comes from you and the joy that comes from praising you.

June 23

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2 Chronicles 24:17-27, 25:1-10; 2 Kings 2:17-18, 4:1-44, 13:4-11, 8:1-6, 12:19-21, 14:1-6

Amaziah wanted to do the right thing. He prepared the men of Judah for battle and even paid a hundred thousand Israeli soldiers to fight with them. It cost the king about 4 tons of silver, but with the extra troops Amaziah felt Judah was unstoppable.

But God sent word to Amaziah to send the Israelite soldiers home. The nation of Israel was still disobeying God and God could not go with them into battle. In fact, even if they fought courageously God would overthrow Judah for uniting with Israel.

Amaziah said – what about all my silver? And the man of God told him, “God can give you much more than that.”

Paul warns us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14) for the same reason Amaziah was warned to separate himself from Israel’s army. It’s one thing to befriend an unsaved person with the intent of leading him to the Lord. It’s another to join forces with non-believers and find yourself compromising to do so.

Remember God can’t tolerate sin and if you hitch your wagon to a sinner God won’t bless you. And if you find yourself worried about what you’ve invested in the relationship, remember the words of the man of God in 2 Chronicles 25:9. 

The Lord can give you so much more than that.