May 10

John 6:28-29

Then they asked him "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this:  to believe in the one he has sent."

As I read this passage I found myself going back and remembering many traditions I grew up with.  These traditions were passed on through generations, mostly by story telling.  Much like the game telephone, I'm sure they got lost in translation, but they were traditions none the less.  Keeping this mind, I realized that the religious Jews of Jesus' day had more than just the Law of Moses to keep; they also had centuries of customs, traditions, and rabbinical commandments to observe.  The only religion they knew was one of works, and so of course they wondered what new works might be required by the teachings of Jesus. They didn't understand that the relationship they searched for between themselves and God had nothing to do with works.  Perhaps the same is true for us. As busy as we get during our day, there is still no "work" we can do except live out of a relationship of being completely yielded to God with complete trust that we are in His will and are living out the purpose He has for us while we spend time here. -- that is all He requires. As we do this, the Holy Spirit guides us into the paths of God's plan for us so that He can do His works through us.  This is where the Pharisees missed the connection.  Perhaps they misinterpreted the Genesis 15:6 scripture that was fulfilled in James 2:23 that said it was because Abraham believed the Lord that it was credited to him as righteousness. Everything hinges on our believing.  In my quiet time this morning, God put on my heart the word "faith".  My prayer today is that we all have eyes that see and ears that hear, and that we go through our day knowing there is nothing more we can do to please God our Father, except believe and trust in His Son Jesus.


Randi

May 8th blog

Juggling with the truth

How important is truth?  How important is it to speak truth?  What about when the truth is hard to speak because you know it will be hard for the one listening to hear?  What about when the truth is hard to speak because you know that the one listen will not see the truth but only you, the one speaking, and possibly lash out at you (when they will see you as judging them rather than sharing the truth)? What about when the truth spoken reveals not just the lies, wrongs, or misgivings of another but also speaks to your shortcomings and failures?  Truth is vital to a Christ centered life but it isn't always an easy thing to hold onto.

Eli is an example of what happens when we let truth go unspoken for too long and when we don't live it wholeheartedly for ourselves.  His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were living in direct disobedience to the truth of God's word.  They were using their position for their glory and gain and not for the Lord.  Eli was obviously not only aware of his sons disobedient deeds but was partaking in the gluttony of their actions as well (1 Samuel 2:29 "Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people?")  Eli made a feeble attempt to speak truth to his sons but it was without success and without determination.  Eli seemed to have had the passive mentality of "I tried" and washed his hands of any part he felt he had in making sure that the truth of God's word was held up (both in his sons lives as well as his own).  He was juggling the truth with his desires and interests and when the Lord confronted him the only thing left before Eli to hold onto was the convicting truth and therefore the consequences of choosing to not live by that truth.

In stark contrast we have Samuel, the young boy, who had to proclaim difficult truth to his mentor, Eli, that the consequence's of his family's sin and the passive attitude held toward that sin was now going to be paid in full.  After this difficult declaration of truth by Samuel, we read in chapter 3 verse 19 "The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground."   I love this verse.  None of the words of God spoken to Samuel, none of the truths revealed, were ever dropped.  They weren't juggled carelessly but held responsibly.  God is faithful to keep his promises, to hold them up, both the blessings and the curses, but he also gave Samuel the strength and ability to carry those truths, to share those truths, to speak boldly those truths as a benefit to any who would listen as well as a guide for his own life.  I'm sure Samuel had moments when his bold life of truth seeking and speaking kept people and their sins away from him.  Despite how people may have seen Samuel, despite what people thought of his truth living life Samuel remained faithful to God, faithful to his word, and obedient to the truth and willing to speak whatever truth God revealed needed to be spoken.

I find myself at the dividing line between Eli and Samuel.  I have sitting on my kitchen table in front of me God's word, his truths spelled out clearly before me to live out in my life and to proclaim to others in love.  Yet I realize that I can often take a passive seat like Eli and juggle the truth with my fears and with my limited understanding of a situation.  When I do this I am letting other factors hinder me from letting the truth of God be poured out in either my actions or words for the benefit of others.  "What will they think if I speak this truth of God?"  "Will they call me a hypocrite?"  "Will they lash out and tell me I am judging them rather than being able to see that it is not I but the Lord who spoke this truth?"  "Will they even really listen to me, so should I even bother?"  "I don't really want them to think I am some holier then thou person if I act this way."  "I don't really know what is going on in their lives that makes them speak or act the way they do so maybe I should just mind my own business." These are some of the thoughts that I can find myself juggling with when the Lord is calling me to speak his truth into the life of someone else.  What it comes down to is that I value my reputation and my comfort in the world more then I value my calling to be salt and light, to be a witness of the truth, to be an obedient child of God for the benefit of others.

Now, do not get me wrong.  I don't believe God wants us to pick up his word, go outside, and start beating people over the head with the truth.  Eli had a relationship with his sons and it was through that relationship that God wanted him to speak truth and to live truth in their sight.  Samuel had a relationship with the people of Israel as a prophet, priest and judge.  It was through that relationship that God wanted him to live out truth and to speak it forth.  It is through relationships that we can cultivate an environment that gives us opportunity to speak truth and sometimes, I think more importantly, to live out the truth of God's words.  But here is the things with living out the truth of God, at some point we need share why we live the way we choose.  We need to allow our actions to be a springboard to sharing, verbally, the truth.  That does not mean that it will always be accepted with open arms and ready hearts and that is ok because I am called to live for the Lord and in obedience to him.  I am called to seek him and to let him lead me into the opportunities for he knows the hearts of others and he knows the work going on inside them.  I am not here to look around and determine in my own understand who needs to hear what truth and when.  I am called to live in obedient leading and let the Lord move in me and guide me.  It is for the blessing and benefit of those listening that I live a life of obedience to the truth and that I speak it when God places the opportunity before me.

I desire to live on the side of Samuel with whom the Lord was with and I want the truths of God firmly held in my hands and to proclaim them in my life so that others may be drawn to the light of truth and be rescued from whatever may be hindering them.  I want to put aside my fears, my pride, my comforts, and my understandings and let the Lord teach me, guide me, and use my life to be a vessel of truth.  I want to live a life of blessing for others.  I want to be a truth seeker, truth speaker, and truth life liver.

So my prayer is this, that I would:  Daily seek the Lord and his truth.  Daily ask the Lord to guide my heart, mind and life.  Daily to recognize and confess my sins to him who is faithful to forgive them.  Daily seek ways to cultivate the relationships in my life.  Daily inquire of the Lord and how he would use me in the lives of those around me.  Daily seek the strength of the Lord to be able to live and carry the truths of God's word in my heart and my mind.  I want to be a vessel of hope, obedience and truth. 

May 6: Ruth and Boaz - a true love story

Ruth 2:1-4:22

John 4:43-54

Psalm 105:16-36

Proverbs 14:26-27

The story of Ruth and Boaz is a love story - not so much in the modern sense, but in the truest sense.  Ruth is a widow; she does not appear to be a woman of means; we know not whether she was attractive.  By today's standards, there appears to be nothing to recommend her, other than her loyalty to one who has nothing to offer in return.  

Boaz hears of this loyalty; as she gathers the leavings of the laborers harvesting Boaz's field, he welcomes her, he offers her his protection and provision, and he even instructs the laborers to be less diligent in their efforts, in order to leave more for Ruth.  And while, according to God's custom, Boaz is not first in line to "redeem" Ruth - to take her into his home as his wife - he is undeterred; when the first in line to redeem Ruth proves unwilling to risk his own estate by marrying Ruth, Boaz accepts the risk and takes her in.   They are married, and they have a son, whom they call Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse, in turn the father of David.

I said earlier it was a love story in the truest sense.  What I meant by that was this: it wasn't just about Boaz and Ruth; it was about the two of them and God.  In all they did and in all their interaction, Ruth and Boaz obeyed the customs and norms the Lord had established for Israel.  Ruth was a foreigner, yet when Naomi instructed her in what to do, she neither challenged nor questioned; she obeyed.  And God blessed them.

The world teaches us something very different about relationships and love.  In so many ways, it tries to get us to believe it is all about us, about what we want; about gratification and indulgence.  The other only exists to provide that; and God?  Well He doesn't factor in at all.  Are divorce rates, the rates of single parenthood, and the consequences of all that any surprise then?

The truth is, marriage is difficult.  It is difficult because selflessness is at the very least difficult and, in fact, darn near impossible.  Impossible, that is, on our own strength.  Thankfully, we have Boaz's and Ruth's example - we can choose to live NOT according to our own fallible ways, doomed to failure, and instead live according to His commands, and enjoy His strength and support, and His blessing.

May 5

John 4

Every day our lives are walking billboards to the world. Every day we are carrying a message to the world.  This message is proclaimed by our body language, our words, our attitudes, how we spend our time and resources, how we treat people, and  by what makes us smile or cry; on purpose or by accident, for better or for worse, everyone is carrying a message.

The sobering reality is that many times the message we think we are proclaiming is not the actual message people are hearing.   

Designer Cliff Dickens has created unique ads for companies.  He says that his ads carry their actual message.

Trader Joe: a poor man's Whole Foods. (Kathie and I love shopping there!!)

Starbucks: we serve you decafe if you are rude.

Hallmark: when you care enough to give a card mass-produced by a corporation.

Old Spice: smell like grandpa. (nailed this one)

WebMD: convince yourself you have a terminal illness.

Harley Davidson: here for you during your mid-life crisis.

Victoria Secret: lowering a woman's self-esteem since 1977.

The point is, everyone is carrying a message and it may not be the one you want to project.

In John 4 we have a woman whose message impacted a whole town.  Believing the message that Jesus could quench the thirst of her eternal soul, between verses 26 and 27, she became a Christ follower. Her first response was to drop her water jar and go back into town and share the "message" that had changed her. When we make Jesus our Lord, Savior and Thirst Quencher, it changes everything in our lives. It is never business as usual after Jesus comes in.

Since we have such a wonderful message to proclaim, that Jesus is still the thirst quencher, the challenge for us is to make sure that gospel message is being lived out in every aspect of our lives.

--

"Multiplying leaders to change the world"

Thursday, May 4

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017

"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."

‭‭John‬ ‭3:31-36‬ ‭NIV‬‬

http://bible.com/111/jhn.3.31-36.niv

This passage reminds us that each Christ-follower may find eternal life in the Son.  The apostle John notes the same in 1 John 5:11-13, explaining that we may have confidence that, if we have the Son, we have life.  Jesus Himself elaborates on this life and explains that He desires that it be "abundant" in John 10:10.

In John 14:6, Jesus describes Himself as the "way, the truth, and the life."  In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis indicated that we should desire that Christ become our way; that His truth come alive; and that His life would become our very breath.  Paul describes this life as being crucified with Christ, that we would no longer live to ourselves alone but to His honor and glory. (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6)

Have you experienced the fullness of Jesus's life in you?  Perhaps you could dialogue with our Father about experiencing greater abundance and finding complete joy in knowing Christ and sharing His love with others.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing life to us through Your perfect obedience and sacrifice on our behalf.  Form us into Your image and make our joy complete as we follow You.  We love You and look to You today as the way, the truth, and the life.  In Your holy Name, amen.

"Knowing You":  https://g.co/kgs/fLEYkE

May 3

Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1

In those days Israel had no king

A king is a sovereign ruler, usually over a land or a group of people, or both.  In chess, the king is the most important piece in the game.  Lose the king, you lose the game. So what happens when there is no king over the land?  Better yet, what happens when you have crowned yourself king or lord in this game we call life?  I found it interesting that "in those days Israel had no king" was used three times as a lead sentence.  Must be an important point.  We see in our reading how without a king idolatry began in the family of Micah.  That spread to the tribe of the Danites.  We start to see that furnishing ourselves with our own gods brings about spiritual confusion and leads to everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.  Let's just touch on that a second and look back on a few biblical examples of what happened when things were done according to what was right in someone's own eyes.  It seemed right in the eyes of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, even though God said it was wrong.  It also seemed right in the eyes of Jacob to sell Joseph to slavery, even though God said it was wrong.  David thought it was right to commit adultery and murder, even though God said it was wrong. Maybe someone is reading this who needs to have a King over their lives because like the Israelites, there are other gods in the way, or it seems right to do life through your own eyes.  The good news is that King Jesus left His throne in heaven, came and taught us how to live, and gives us an opportunity to make Him King and Lord over our lives.  In doing this, all the mistakes we've made when we thought "it was right in our eyes", get covered in the blood poured out at Calvary.  There is a King.  His name is Jesus.  He is Sovereign and the most important piece in the game.  He loves us, and when we allow Him to Lord over our lives, we walk in His victory and win at this game called life.

Randi

May 1st blog

"Then Monoah prayed to the LORD: 'O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.' "  Judges 13:8



Monoah and his wife were childless and the angel of the Lord told them that they would have a baby who would have a special calling.  In their excitement this husband and wife could have just rejoiced, praised God, and started dreaming about all the things they would get to do as new parents.  They could have missed the fact that God wanted to use this new life for a God glorifying, kingdom saving (and building) purpose. 

I love that upon the news of a promised child Manoah's first response was to pray.  He saw his inadequacies and he understood how God works through the lives of others and so he did not want to assume that the success of building this child up rested on his human shoulders.  He prayed, he sought and ask the Lord to teach him how to be a father and to know how this little person needed to be raised in order to be all that God intended him to be.

The lessons I can learn as a parent from this are very obvious to me and something I need to seek every day.  But for some reason God had this verse strike my heart deeply in a very different way.  This is not just a prayer that I need to pray as a mother in knowing how to be there for my children, to raise them up.  This is something God wants me to pray concerning all the people he puts in my life.  I am a part of a great small group, I help work with the youth, I have neighbors I want to build relationships with, I have friendships, I have family members, I have people that God has put into my life for a reason and I need to be praying that God will help show me, teach me how to be there, for each of the them uniquely.  What are their needs (as God sees them) and how can I build them up according to those needs (Ephesians 4:29)?  What are the burdens of others and how can I be there to help carry those burdens with them (Galatians 6:2)?  How do I live with others being like mined, with the same love and spirit, and with humility that allows me to value them and their interests above myself and my own (Philippians 2:2-4)?  How do I bear with others (Romans 15:1)?  How do I show kindness, a tender-heart and how do I forgive especially when I feel a right to my hurt, anger or pain (Ephesians 4:31-32)?  How do I speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15)?

Teach me Lord, I beg you, to teach me how to be a friend that loves at all times (Proverbs 17:17), how to be a sister in Christ to every person I meet, to be a Godly example to my neighbors and friends, to be a Christ like role model for the youth, to live as a supportive daughter, sister, mother, wife, aunt to my family, and to be your hands, feet and voice that administers help and healing to all those you place in life.

Why do I need this to be my prayer?  Because God has a compassionate heart, a gracious and merciful spirit, an unhindered love, and a gentle hand for his creation, for those he has placed in my life as well as for myself.  He wants for others exactly what he wants for me.  He knows and sees the heart of each of us and he is calling us to seek him so that we can learn to see others and be there for others the way he sees them and the way he is there for them.  We are special to the Lord and he has a plan and purpose for each of us and like Manoah I want desperately, so very desperately to be a woman of God who is all I am able and need to be for the benefit of those around me.  If the lord has placed people in my life I want to be humble and let the lord teach me how to be all that God desires me to be.  And just as God faithfully answered Manoah I know that if I make this my daily prayer, my hearts cry,  the Lord will be faithful to answer and empower me to be all he has called me to be and to do all he has called me to do.