Tag Archives: God

September 2; True To His Word

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Daniel 4:1-37, 7:1-28; 2 Kings 25:27-30; Jeremiah 52:31-34

It wasn’t like he hadn’t been warned. God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream, and the interpretation to Daniel. In essence, God told the king to repent. And if he refused to repent, he would lose everything.

Nebuchadnezzar didn’t repent. He was prideful and self-satisfied, and he liked it that way.

Now here’s what spoke to me this morning. God gave the king a whole year to repent. I’m thinking the man must have thought about what Daniel had told him during those twelve months. He’d already seen proof of God’s power before, so it wasn’t like he could just blow it off.

But a year after his dream, Nebuchadnezzar lost everything because he didn’t heed God’s warning. He lost his kingdom, his wealth, and his sanity. God was true to His Word.

The truth is, God is always throwing out warnings to people. We hear the urgency in His voice as we read His Word. We see His fury in a storm. We witness his tenderness and mercy in the face of a new born baby, and in the face of a new born Christian.

And God is patient. He will continue to work to get our attention, to demonstrate that He alone is worthy of worship. Do not take Him lightly.

Daniel had told Nebuchadnezzar that eventually the king would bow down to God. And after seven years of living like a wild animal, Nebuchadnezzar did just that.

God will be worshiped by you, too. Philippians 2:10-11 tells us ,”that one day, at the name of Jesus, EVERY knee will bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and EVERY tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

One day you will know God is True, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He was trying to get you to love Him all your life. I pray you will come to that belief during this lifetime, before you look into His eyes for the first time. I pray that when you do bend your knee on that day in acknowledgment of the truth and glory of God, you will do it out of a heart that has been redeemed by Jesus’ blood, and not out of a heart that refused to accept him while you had a chance.

Please heed God’s warnings. He is true to His Word.

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Another hurricane, another evacuation from this island. Please continue to pray for all who are in the path of Dorian. We thank you.

August 10; Mind-Blowing

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Ezekiel 1-4

Have you ever wanted to see God? The Old Testament tells us a person could not look God in the face and live. He is that Holy, that awesome, truly mind-blowing. Once in a while though, God gives us a peek. Once in a while God cracks open the door with the “Do Not Enter” sign, and shows us a glimpse of Himself.

Like here in Ezekiel’s vision. Now, I’m not going to try to draw a picture of four living creatures with multiple faces and wings, because that is not what God looks like. It is, however, who God wants us to see. It’s what God wants us to know about Himself.

I see a force that reveals God in nature, a power so incredible that the sun doesn’t rise without God raising it, animals and birds don’t even move unless He moves.  I see a fire burning so brightly we can’t get close. We are all subject to the One in Ezekiel’s vision.

And this is what thrills me about this awesome, untouchable God: Ezekiel “saw a hand stretched out to (him)” (2:9). In that hand was a scroll that Ezekiel was instructed to eat. Do you see what I see?

Scripture makes it plain that we cannot even hope to approach God. We can never go to Him. He is too holy, too powerful, too awesome. So He comes to us!

He comes to us in the form of Scripture, that scroll Ezekiel ate, the Bible you hold in your hand. God is in there and He wants you to know Him through His own words. He doesn’t want you to just read it. He wants you to ingest it, devour it, make it a part of you.

He comes to us in the human person of Jesus, His Son. God experienced life on earth, not so He could understand what it was like to be human, but so humans could be assured He’s always understood us. Jesus came, died, and rose again so that “Do Not Enter” sign could be removed once and for all who accept what Jesus did for them.

Ezekiel’s response to seeing this vision was to fall on his face in worship. He sat for seven days afterward, “overwhelmed.” And that’s what I want my response to be, too.

When faced with the reality of who God truly is, I can only fall on my face before Him and cry, “Holy! Holy! Holy!” I am unworthy to stand in His Presence. But look at what God does when Ezekiel was facedown in the dirt:

As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. (2:2)

Wow. Just, Wow!

This holy, untouchable God wants to be touched. We can’t reach up to Him, but He reaches down to us, and lifts us up to Himself. It’s not an out-of-body experience. It’s an out-of-self experience. The Spirit of God comes into me and raises me to great heights that I cannot hope to reach without Him.

To think that the God of the Universe, the Creator God, Holy, Holy Holy, reaches down to me to lift me up, that He wants me to be with Him, that He loves me, died for me. And one day, I will look straight into His face without fear, because I have received what He Himself bought for me.

Mind-blowing.

 

July 24; What You Believe About God

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Zephaniah 1-3; 2 Chronicles 34:4-7; Jeremiah 1:1-19

Last night our Bible study centered around the creation account in Genesis 1. What you believe about this first chapter in the Bible will determine what you believe about God. It’s that important. Do you believe Him or not? Did He speak the universe, our world into existence, or did He give us some clues in His Word, expecting us to figure out the truth?

Our teacher also discussed the subtle, and the overt attacks on the only thing created in God’s image: you! Satan hates God, and in turn, anything that reminds Him of God. And you, my friend, are the image of God staring Satan in the face. That snake would love nothing more than to take you down with him.

You, and your children. Don’t think your kids aren’t under attack. Whether it’s the friendly guide at the museum during the class outing who mentions in passing that the earth is millions of years old, as though that were fact, or the reading teacher who assigns “A Tale of Two Daddies: (which Goodreads touts as “sweet, simple, charismatic, and realistic… a kid-friendly book…), or a cartoon on TV that portrays characters as witches, gay, disobedient, smarter than the grown-up, all of which are attacks on the image of God. Please don’t blow off the seriousness of the attacks. Kids are learning.

Now, we Christians can wring our hands and worry about the direction this world is going. Or we can do what God has us here to do: speak up! It’s not enough to live a good life, to love everybody (which in our world too often implies acceptance, tolerance, live-and-let-live).

It’s not enough to give food to the hungry and expect them to figure out simply from your act of kindness that Jesus died to save them. Friend, you’d better be talking about the Truth. How will they know unless they are told? (Romans 10:14)

This world is on a downhill spiral. The forces of evil will tell you that’s a good thing, that we’ve become enlightened, freed from the constraints of religion, the masters of our own universes, powerful, worthy, good. But if you believe God, you can’t believe the evil.

God tells us there will be hell to pay:

I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdom and to pour out my wrath on them – all my fierce anger. the whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger. (3:8b)

God tells us His judgment is coming. But no one has to die. If you believe the Bible, you know Jesus already did that. We need only to repent of sin, and accept His forgiveness. We might know that, but our loved ones need to know that, too. They need to be told. And maybe more than once.

Here is what is important: God has told us this world is not going to last forever. Jesus is coming back, and life as we know it will end. For those who don’t know Him it will be worse than anything Hollywood can put on a screen.

However, concerning those who believe God, who are His children through the blood of Jesus, He says:

On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (3:16-17)

Don’t you want to experience that instead of the outpouring of God’s wrath? Don’t you want that for your children, too? Look around, there are people you love, people whom God loves, who need to hear the truth.

What do you believe about God? What you believe about God has everything to do with what you are going to do today.

 

 

 

July 18; Who Is God?

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Isaiah 43-46

Some days you just have to let God speak for Himself.

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” (43:10-11)

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (43:25)

“I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” (44:6b)

This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…” (44:24)

For this is what the Lord says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (45:18)

“Even to your old age, and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (46:4)

“Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (46:8-9)

I bear witness: God is who He says He is. The Bible tells me that. And He has shown Himself to be true in my life. There is no other god. None.

These are only a few verses I read today that declare the identity of God. I hope you’ll read all that He has to say about Himself, and His relationship to you. Listen to His heart.

I love God, who tells me not to fear, that He is with me, that He saves me. And He never fails.

How can such a great, awesome, powerful God be so personal? Because HE IS!

July 12; Until I Get It

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Isaiah 10:5-12:6, 28:1-29

Once again God, through Isaiah, is telling us we need to fear Him, that His judgments are just and His hand is heavy, consequences swift and devastating. As I was reading His warnings today, I found myself thinking, “Really? Again? You’ve already made Yourself pretty clear about this a dozen times already. How many times do we have to hear how fearsome You are?”

“Until you get it,” He seemed to answer.

I recently read a great article about the OMG world we live in. I wish I had saved it so I could share it with you. I looked for it this morning, but I can’t find it. The author points out many ways our view of God has become so casual, our respect of Him and His Name has become almost unrecognizable. Do we get it that God’s Name is so holy that the ancient Jews, and some Jews even today, won’t even say His Name? I wonder if we think God’s holiness has waned over time.

I’ve heard some Christians use that Name as a punctuation mark. I’ve even heard some people use the precious name of Jesus behind the vulgar F word. Oh, someone has decided to disguise the Name using the letters OMG, and some people will tell you it doesn’t really stand for “Oh My God.”

Smoke screen.

Who do we think God is?

So I will continue to read God’s warnings. I’ll continue to let Him reveal Himself as a Holy, Righteous, Awesome, God to be feared…

until I get it.

June 28; We Are The World

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Hosea 4-5; 2 Kings 14:24-29, 15:8-12,13-16; Jonah

The book of Jonah is really two stories in one. The first is about our God who loves the world. It’s about a God who does not want anyone dying without Him, who wants all people everywhere to be saved, even those we might think are unworthy or beyond hope. It’s a story about our amazing God who goes to great lengths to draw all of us to Him, a story about God who forgives the sin of anyone who repents.

The second story is about our God who loves me. You. Jonah. Every one of His children. It’s about a God who doesn’t ignore our sins, who doesn’t throw a blanket of forgiveness over us once we come to Him. It’s about our loving God who patiently reveals our sins to us, so that we can repent and have fellowship with Him restored. We might try to run from God, to try to do something “Christian” even though we know He’s asking us to do something else. We might sleep while we should be praying. We might pout, or complain. But God is there, whispering truth in our ears, patiently waiting for each of us to swallow our pride, and run into His open arms.

The book of Jonah is about God who loves the world, and who loves individuals like you and me. Every time I think of John 3:16 I know I can substitute my name in there. Yes, it’s true that God so loved the world. But it is also true that God so loved Connie that He gave His Son Jesus to die in my place.

God so loved the world… and we are the world!

March 31; Choose Today

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Joshua 22-24

Most of us would probably say we are Christians. People who are not Christians will very often agree there is a God, or at least a higher power out there somewhere. Even those who say there is no God have something in common with the rest of us:

We all worship.

It might be self, or a job, or a philosophy, education, reputation, relationships, or something else. We all worship, serve, give honor to, adore, bow to someone or something. Worship is in our DNA.

Joshua challenges us to define our worship here in these chapters today. Choose today who you will serve. I am reminded of Matthew’s statement that a man can’t serve two masters. (Matthew 6) He’ll end up loving one and hating the other, or at least obeying one over the other, I know he was talking about money. But can’t we exchange “mammon” for anything else that would have the potential of taking the place of God?

I am also reminded that God will often describe himself as a jealous God. He will not accept second place, ever. He will not share the honor that is due him.

So after giving this some thought, here is what I choose:

I choose the Holy, all-powerful, eternal God of the Bible. I choose His Son Jesus Christ. I reject the politically correct god of our modern day. I reject the tolerant, love-god that many have fashioned for themselves. I choose the One True God over myself, my family, over the approval of the world.

Joshua said, even if you reject God you need to define what it is you worship. You might be surprised.

As for me, I will serve the Lord.

 

January 23; You Know It

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Genesis 27:1-28:9; 36:1-43; I Chronicles 1:35-54

This is a familiar story. Jacob dresses up like Esau and steals his brother’s blessing. I’ve heard it, read it, even taught it many times. But something hit me today as I read, in light of the unrest in our nation.

Isaac wanted to believe the man before him was Esau. Every sense he had told him it was not, but he wanted it to be. He was blind, but his ears heard Jacob’s voice. He heard Jacob’s voice, but his will told him it was Esau’s. His touch felt animal skin, but he wanted it to be Esau’s arm. He tasted goat, but wanted it to be wild game. And when he smelled his son’s clothes, he made himself believe it had to be Esau. Everything in him knew this was not Esau, but he wanted it to be, so it was.

I know there are some people who want a god of their making, or who don’t want there to be any god at all. I know there are some who want to redefine sin, or eliminate the idea of sin completely. I know there are people who want to believe a baby isn’t a baby until it breathes oxygen outside the womb, or that the sex of a person is a choice and has nothing to do with DNA. I know there are those who want to believe they are good, and strong, and powerful in and of themselves. And there are some who want to believe everyone goes to a better place when they die.

But, my friend, wanting it doesn’t make it true. And I honestly believe even the strongest proponents of these lies know down deep, they are wrong. The problem is, they don’t want to look that deep into their souls.

Isaac didn’t. If he had acknowledged what was right in front of him instead of going with what he wanted to be right in front of him, Jacob would not have stolen the blessing.

The insanity in our world isn’t based on truth. It’s based on want, and determination. It’s based on lies.

And I think you know it.

January 16; No, Sir

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Job finally gets what he’s been asking. God speaks! But it wasn’t at all what Job expected. Instead of answers, Job got questions thrown at him.

I was not raised in the south. So when I moved down here, I had to get used to being called, “Ma’am.” Most southern children are taught to address all adults with a respectful, Ma’am, or Sir. I like it.

Today, as I read God’s words to Job, I pictured a stern, yet loving parent addressing his son caught in the act of showing off, or maybe of throwing a temper tantrum. What was there to say when Job’s heavenly parent asked those questions? I could think of only one response:

No, Sir.

No, Sir.

No Sir.

The Bible doesn’t tell us God’s tone of voice. Was He angry? Was He frustrated, or offended? Today when I read His Words I heard a tenderness, a daddy telling his know-it-all son that he doesn’t really know everything he thinks he knows. God let the Truth convict Job.

Do you think you have God figured out, or that you are self-sufficient and don’t need Him? Let Him ask you the same questions He asked Job. I’m pretty sure your truthful response will only be:

No, Sir.

January 15; The Man Upstairs

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Job 35-37

People who know about God may think like Elihu. In fact, most false religions in the world have gods like the one Elihu describes.

Do you know people who refer to God as, “the man upstairs?” There are some who picture God on a cushy throne, wine glass in hand, feet up and eyes closed, with no thought of his creation, no involvement in the lives of his people. In a sense, it’s convenient to believe in a god like that. What does he care how I live my life?

Some people might think of God as a big old bully, sitting up there in heaven with lightning bolts in his fists, hurling them at helpless people like a villain in a video game. “Take that, human!”

Nature does declare God’s power. But Jesus reveals a different side of God; the softer side, the side that loves and cares for people, the side of God that rubbed shoulders with the least of us, and called us His friends. Jesus told us God not only sees every sparrow out there, not only counts every hair on our heads, He wants to gather us up like a chicken gathers her chicks to protect us.

The truth, contrary to what Elihu would have you believe, is that you DO matter to God. He DOES answer when you call out to Him, and He DOES listen to your pleas. Not only that, but if we are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, we can have an intimate relationship with this great God of ours. That means everything to Him.

Do you know this personal, great God of ours? He’s not at all like “the man upstairs.” He is here, right now, and He wants you to know Him.