Category: Teaching Topics

After He had sent them away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. Matt. 14:23

One of the gravest mistakes I can make today is to judge things by how I perceive them. How things are now mean nothing as to how things will be.

I’m not speaking of actions and consequences. God did say that if we reap sin, or righteousness, we will reap the same. But I’m talking about the obedient walk of a disciple and the many times he can believe that things are declining, even failing. If he is following Jesus, ‘failure’ is not how heaven defines his journey.

I have been surprised by the number of times scripture says that Jesus withdrew from the crowd to go and pray. He did this when he was fatigued but also withdrew after a profound time of discouragement. Did Jesus, at any time, believe that His mission was failing? No, He never succumbed to the lies that He was failing. Perception could not be built on any or segment of time single day. Though the crowds rejected him, a few did not and the ‘few’ were the point of His mission.

I can see things deteriorate around me. Church, family, ministry, friendships, even a marriage. I can say that it is in obvious decline but I can not safely say that ‘it is finished.’ What was ‘finished’ was the work of salvation and redemption. As long as I live today, there is still time for faith. There is still time for prayer. There is still time for firm belief in eternal truths.

‘The few’ are still the point of His mission.  If there is despair, I speak into it with enduring words of hope. If there is warfare, I speak into the battle with reminders of ultimate victory. God’s mathematics defies perception. A few hundred of his people defeated hundreds of thousands of enemies. The proportions were always ludicrous and God’s enemies risked everything on false perceptions. They didn’t know God.

The kingdom and God’s promises are where we plant our feet.

This is the day where I affirm, yet again, “Lord, I believe.” What You started, You will complete. Amen

And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Luke 22:43

In the fire, personal strength can fail completely. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s frightening. I’ve coped with things long-term and thought I was doing well but one small disappointment sent me over the edge. Vitality was far from me. Those who might have had the capacity to understand were either not around or were taken up with other things.

Jesus knows those moments. In the darkest hour of His life, His disciples succumbed to weariness and fell asleep after He told them He needed them. He found Himself alone, all night long, even though love was not too far away. Scripture doesn’t say if Jesus specifically asked for His Father to send angels to tend to Him. But regardless, God took care of His Son. He saw His condition. He heard His cries. God was proactive to provide just what Jesus needed to regain strength.

God was invested in the life of His Son. He is also invested in His other children. That same care is promised to each of us. Though people love us deeply, they have limits. They are taken up with things that need their attention. They have their own griefs and challenges.  No matter who it is, their ability to love and give us what we need is intermittent. Oh, but God’s love never fails. He’s never distracted and short on attention. He’s never depleted and short on power. Every moment of the day, He bends low to watch our lives and discern our needs.

Who is it that is unavailable to you today? Know that God is near and full of promises. Who is it that has already failed you? God stands in the gap to more than compensate. In your Garden of Gethsemane, despair is never the last word.

May this never be in my vocabulary. “There is no one to help me.” Amen

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. John 17:22

God came to earth the first time ‘in Christ’. He came to earth the second time ‘in the Spirit’. The first time, glory was resident in a baby. The second time, glory was in the Spirit as He arrived at Pentecost. The first time, the earth saw perfect unity as God and Jesus lived as one person. The second time, earth saw unity as God took up residence in each of His children and they allowed Him to live through them in dazzling color.
Jesus’ prayer in today’s scripture, said just before His arrest, was prophetic of the unity that happens when the Holy Spirit lives in me. The indwelling of the Spirit is meant to be a take-over but not of the hostile kind. Though the Spirit moves in with all the essence and attributes of God (because He is God), the visibility of oneness is bold, or faint, depending on whether I allow Him to have all of me. His glory is either brilliant, or dulled, by how willing I am to die to self and live by the Spirit.

Jesus was completely one with His Father and that is what I love and admire about Him. He never did His own thing. At all times, God‘s character, God’s glory, and God’s agenda was being lived out through the life of His Son. It was not snuffed out by a renegade ‘Son’ who took detours and turned a blind eye to the promptings of His Father. At all times, He was keenly listening for instruction.  But when the noise was too loud to discern the right way to go, He withdrew to a place where stillness could reveal the whispers of an engaged Father.

Am I going to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer today? Will I live as one with the Spirit? Will His glory be seen in me? Kingdom potential is magnificent if He is not restrained. My own flesh must step out of the way.

And I will, by Your grace. Amen

 

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” John 17:22

Several years ago, Saudi Arabia and Israel flirted with making an alliance. The reason? They shared a mutual concern over a common enemy ~ Iran. These two nations were strange bedfellows, and under any other circumstances, they would have been adversaries. There was no way their temporary alliance could be strong.

The same is true of personal connections. Friendships, even marriages, are pursued for similar reasons. Two people come together because they are against the same things. Their bond is, likewise, fragile. Common values are missing. Unity in the things that really matter is absent, and well-founded unity is what creates strong fibers between people.

This matter of unity was so important that Jesus prayed about it the night He was betrayed. This was His ‘goodbye prayer’ before leaving His disciples. He asked God to help them experience the kind of unity that He and His Father enjoyed. When hard times hit them in the days ahead, Jesus knew that only spiritual unity would keep the early church strong.

I have had many soulish friendships over the course of my life. We would often recount all the things we shared in common. They were good things, but it took maturity to realize they weren’t deep things. Our fellowship was only as deep as our passions, and without Jesus at the center, we were just playmates.

I’ve gotten to know a lot of people who married for reasons other than spiritual kinship. Things were fine until life tested their values. They discovered that they were worlds apart in what they deemed most important. Unity was impossible as long as only one of them was passionate about Jesus. The fiber of their marriage eroded until God intervened by saving faith for the unbelieving spouse.

So, it is good to put each of our relationships to the test. Upon what is our unity based? How deep does it go? What issues would put us at odds? What things are we most passionate about, and are we unified? If Jesus is not at the center of our shared affections, we can expect the stability the likes of a Saudi/Israeli treaty.

As I remember Your words, “Let them be one as we are one”…I celebrate and I also lament. Strengthen the bonds of my holy alliances. Expose all unholy affiliations and show me how to pray for change. Don’t let me lose my voice to keep the peace. It is false peace, Lord. Amen

Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  Psalm 78:5

Children grew up faster in the first century. Jesus knew, prior to school age, what living under the boot of the Roman Empire meant for his neighbors and the people of Nazareth. Evidence of oppression was everywhere. During the time of His childhood, Caesar Augustus, just for the pure pleasure of flexing his power, sent a mounted army into the temple to slaughter 3,000 Jews at the time of the Passover. (An event recorded by historians.) The Jewish people also had to pass crucifixion scenes lining the road in and out of Jerusalem. Parents taught their children early about God and eternal life. Evil was prevalent so faith was necessary.

In my generation, it was possible to raise children in an overly protective bubble. Many children never went to a funeral; they never encountered a deceased relative. Small communities were usually church going communities. People rarely locked their homes as civility ruled and trust in mankind was possible. While this was wonderful on the one hand, it also produced a generation of people who lived for ‘the now’. There was no urgency to provide spiritual instruction. Need for God was numbed out by peace and contentment.

But “Leave It To Beaver” has long passed. Our world has deteriorated into chaos and evil. Children can’t be protected from the news. Attempting to keep them in a protective bubble is impossible once they approach Kindergarten. While we grieve for their loss of innocence, we are also presented with an opportunity to show them what hope in Jesus looks like. We can model how to live in the promises of God. When scripture is life-saving for adults, children will embrace it as life-saving. Prayer will no longer be perfunctory at mealtimes. It will be a way of life as families look to the heavens together for the grace to live and the hope to endure.

I remember that Josiah, a righteous King, was raised in violent times. His father was the wicked King Amnon. Horrific scenes of child sacrifice were commonplace and Baal worship prevailed. Amnon made Josiah and his other sons pass through fire, practice magic, learn divination skills, and thought nothing of shedding innocent blood in great quantity in front of his children. In spite of this, when Josiah inherited the throne, he turned to the God of his fathers and walked righteously. He was not scarred for life. He did not embrace wickedness though it was modeled exclusively for him as a young boy.

God has chosen these times in which to raise our children and grandchildren. He who calls a people unto Himself makes a way for them to hear His voice. He cups His hands around their spirits and preserves their ability to understand and treasure righteousness instead of evil. Hope is alive and God can be trusted with our little ones.

Though your children walk through the fire, we will not be consumed. Amen

This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me.  Psalm 119:50 

I saw a quote earlier. “Your past is not God’s future for you.”  Many would argue that. They say that so much of what they have suffered continues to visit them over and over again. They continue to get sick. They continue to sustain disappointments. They continue to get fooled by people. They continue to face losses. They continue to work with challenging financial parameters. They experience life as a cruel cycle and the abundant life seems nothing but a dangling carrot.

This fallen world will continue to be fallen until Jesus comes or I die and step into His presence. My ultimate future will look nothing like my past or my present. Praise God! But until then, my circumstances here will continue to be challenging, if not cyclical. Life will continue to present set after set of problem solving exercises, but in the midst of that reality, the kingdom is also here now with respect to my internal world.

How am I to regard my life when painful things keep repeating themselves? I have to remember that from the outside, things are often the same. But the inside is to be in the process of continual change. Here’s an example. When my mother died, I was thirty years old. I did not have a strong connection to God. I had no idea how to draw close to Him to weather the trauma. I floundered, grew depressed and inconsolable, and my faith suffered for another decade. Much further down the road, my father died of cancer. My relationship with God was alive. Scripture had driven my root system deeper into the person of Jesus. I knew how to live in hope, draw strength from my Savior, and put scripture into practice. Everything was different even though cancer had once again re-appeared in my life in the death of a parent.  Same circumstances. Different internal world.

My past is not my future. Right now, my internal world can resemble eternity with Jesus.  In Christ, God has made it possible for my soul to live in paradise.

You walk with me and talk with me. You tell me I am your own. That changes today entirely no matter how ongoing my affliction. Amen

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Was it difficult for Joseph and Mary to give Jesus a normal upbringing? Was he just one of the villager’s children? Scripture doesn’t say but as Michael Card encourages believers to read the Word with their God-given imaginations, we can wonder. In this one account from Luke, Jesus goes to the temple when He is twelve, asks a few questions, offers some insights in response, and the scholars are amazed.

How do you hide the Light of the world in a dark and oppressive Roman society? In Nazareth, there very well could have been stories among the villagers about Jesus. Though His first public miracle was at the wedding at Cana, did things happen earlier that could only have been explained by the word ‘miracle’? We’re not told but I find it interesting that Mary turned to Jesus at the wedding and casually asked if He would do something about the fact that the wine had run out.

This child, Jesus, was also divine. He was also the One who spoke the world into existence. How could His words have been common, even as One Incarnate? As He saw the broken world around Him, wouldn’t He have addressed it on more than one occasion? Surely He would have seen parents, brothers, and extended family members get sick. Surely there would have been demonic manifestations near Him in everyday life. I wonder if the presence of God, resident in Christ, caused cataclysmic reactions at various points in His childhood. It could be that God Himself veiled the eyes of those around the Christ child to protect His identity until it was time for Him to begin His ministry. But surely something extraordinary happened in the temple when Jesus was twelve. This we know ~ His divinity was on display that day.

What does all of this mean for us? When God gives a gift, there is no indication that it should be used indiscriminately. When God entrusts His disciple with spiritual abilities, they should remain inoperative until God says it’s time to use them. Thirty years of age is a long time for Jesus to wait to be released into public ministry. In God’s wisdom, there were thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry.

You and I may be aware of spiritual gifts that lie in waiting. We strain to exercise them and second-guess God’s wisdom of how long we must wait for the door of our calling to be opened. Could it be that God raises up a disciple for forty-five or fifty years before commissioning him/her to realize their usefulness? Could there be a lifetime of preparation for a few short years of ministry?  Could destiny follow decades of obscurity? In God’s economy, yes. John the Baptist was a flash of Light but never, according to Jesus, did anyone burn brighter.

Oh, the mystery of Your ways. For every place that I wait for You, I submit to Your wisdom and timetable. Amen

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