A Living Sacrifice +

Repay no one evil for evil. Commend what is honest in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore,

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:17-21 Modern English Version (MEV)

For years, we have heard 'present your bodies a living sacrifice' - have we ever stopped to ponder that phrase? In reality, more than half the time we don't want to sacrifice our place in the line of traffic to let a truck pull in front of us on the road! So, how many of us would present ourselves to be sacrificed? 

"You want me to what?!? Feed him when he's hungry? Give him a drink when he's thirsty? I'd rather You give me the shovel so I can bury him in those coals of fire!"

A living sacrifice knows what it's facing and chooses to follow Christ's example in spite of the circumstances or the danger that awaits. Yes, Christ's example. As the writer of Hebrews declares, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame...  

So, how many of us would present ourselves to be sacrificed? 

Jesus did. He became our Living Sacrifice. We are to be like Him and lay our lives down [willingly] as a living sacrifice. 

Prayer:

Father,

           Open our eyes and hearts to see and know the Truth of Your Word this night. Accept our bodies as a living sacrifice to You and to Your will. May they be pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Holy to the Lord +

They made the plate, the sacred emblem, out of pure gold and engraved on it, like an inscription on a seal: holy to the Lord.

Exodus 39:30 NLT

I'm in Exodus for the Old Testament portion of my reading today. It's all about the exact measurements of the moving tabernacle and the amazingly incredible craftsmanship where "They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut strands to be worked into the blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen—the work of skilled hands." (Exodus 39:3). Think about THAT for a moment - if only from a crafter's point of view! 

Anyway, in this 39th chapter, this particular phrase jumped out at me - holy to the Lord. (It was for the turban that Aaron would wear when serving his duties as priest in the tabernacle.) And immediately, I thought of the verse found in 1st Peter, You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. The preceding verses explain that these priests are those who obey God's Word. 

So then, we who obey God's Word are royal priests, God's very own possession. As such, we are called to be holy to the Lord. The question then is two-fold. Are we serving God in this capacity and are we living our lives as holy to the Lord?

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for calling us to be Your own possession. Make us ever mindful of learning to live holy as You are holy, only by Your mercy and Your grace. We want to live Holy to You, Lord, so that we can show others Your goodness. Help us, O God! In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen

* True Love

The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

And you are included among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:3-6 NLT

Ah, yes - Valentine's Day! A superior example of extraordinary marketing ability! Now, lest you think I'm a cynic, I want to hasten to assure you that I believe in love because I believe in God! And I wholeheartedly believe in till-death-do-us-part love. I've witnessed it too many times in life to not believe it. I just don't buy into the world's version of happily-ever-after.

Life is hard, folks. Sometimes, you're not happy, but love is not about the flitting, fleeting feelings. Love is a committed choice. God is love and He chose His love for us over what He originally wanted to do - which was kill us all for the miserable, idol-worshiping ingrates that we can be. How happy do you think Jesus was about being beaten beyond recognition and dying on a cross? He was not happy about that! Have you read about His time in the Garden of Gethsemane? It was not happy that put Jesus on the Cross. It was true love.

There is One who loves us enough to die for us. He's already done it. And someday, our Prince will come - AGAIN! As soon as He's done building our homes in glory and God, our Father says, 'Go get them.' Then we'll know true happily ever after.

Prayer:

Father,

I pray for the scales to be ripped off so people can see what true love is. Help us to know the vast difference between happy and true love. Open our eyes to the Truth of Your Word. Reveal Yourself in it as we read to know You more. To know You better. To learn of love at its finest. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Transformers

So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.
Romans 12:1-2 Common English Bible

When Transformers first came out (the toys, not the movies), my son was little and he thought they were the best thing ever! He wanted to be one. He was enthralled with the idea of becoming something totally different, large and powerful. 

Most everyone has something they want to change about themselves, but we can't just press a release button and unleash a large and powerful difference. However, God has been transforming life and lives since the very beginning. We don't have to be conformed to this world - we CAN be different! We CAN be transformed by the renewing of our minds (through the Word of God). And that, my friend, is HUGE and powerful! 

Prayer:

Father,
          Only You can make a new creation from a lost soul in a dying world. We thank You for loving us enough to want to do so, and for making the eternal difference in our lives, so that we can make an eternal difference in the lives of those around us. Teach us, Father, Your perfect will, so that we will know what is good and pleasing and mature. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* No Vacancy

“When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.

“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren't hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”
Matthew 12:43-45 The Message

We work hard to clean up our act so we can get right with God. And by sheer will, we might be able to do it, but can we sustain it? That's what this passage is about.

For instance, we've all known someone (or have been that someone) who quit using, or quit drinking, or lost lots of weight, only to start using, drinking or bingeing all over again. That's what happens when we try to do it in our own strength. We need the Eternal God to provide not only salvation, but also eternal, everlasting change and transformation in our lives. We may be spotlessly clean, but we are vacant when we do it ourselves.

We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Greek, 'filled' actually interprets to be 'furnished'. If we are filled/furnished by the Holy Spirit, there is not going to be room for any evil to come back into our lives. God posts the "No Vacancy" sign when He comes to dwell in us. Praise His Holy Name!

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for the provision You have made through Your Son - that when Christ sets us free, we are free indeed. Fill us, Father, with Your Holy Spirit, and guard our hearts and minds. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* The Remedy

The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.
2nd Timothy 3:16-17 The Living Bible

If every Bible sitting collecting dust is ever picked up and dusted off at the same time, it will create the greatest dust storm ever known to mankind!

We say we want to change. We say we want to be 'better'. We say we want things to be different. So, how do we go about it? We do Facebook. We watch YouTube. Consult dozens of other websites, our friends. We pray, pray, pray, or more aptly, make our requests known to God, but without thanksgiving or taking the time to listen for an answer. We rarely pick up the one Book that has every answer for every situation every time.

Let's remedy that. Find it, blow off the dust and dive right in. The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. 

Prayer:

Father,
         Your Word is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Birth in us a great desire for Your Word. It is the remedy for everything that's wrong in our lives. Divide us from everything that keeps us from You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Common Sense

I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength, kings reign in power, and rulers make just laws. I love all who love me. Those who search for me shall surely find me. 
Proverbs 8:14-17 The Living Bible

There are all kinds of anecdotes floating through cyberspace about common sense and the lack thereof. More and more, it seems there is less and less of it. This morning, when I read this passage, I finally understood. 

It's in seeking the Lord and His wisdom that we receive common sense. If they're not seeking, they're not finding, and they're definitely not receiving. There is a huge difference between asking for something and actively seeking it. However, they don't know where to look unless we point them to Christ.

Mark 16:15-16 TLB reads, And then he told them, “You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Those who believe and are baptized will be saved. But those who refuse to believe will be condemned.  It's on us to tell them. That's just using the common sense God gave us.

Prayer:

Father,
         We ask for divine appointments to do exactly that. Give us wisdom to know what to say and the common sense to say it. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

In God We Trust +

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24 NLT

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
1st Timothy 6:10

The American currency is inscribed with "In God We Trust" - is it true? Or is our trust in the currency itself? 

If - as a Christian in covenant with God through our tithe and offering - we lost everything we owned today, how would we respond or react?

Heart check. Do we truly trust in God or are we trusting in our paycheck, our savings account, our retirement fund?

To find the answer is really quite simple: What do we fear losing the most? 

Prayer:

Father,
          You are our Jehovah-Jireh. Everything we have is because You have provided it for us. Even in the darkest of times, Father, You never abandon Your own. And we give You all praise and glory and honor in Jesus' Name. Amen

* Praise as One

- indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying:

“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever,”

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

2nd Chronicles 5:13-14 NKJV

Oh, that our hearts would become one in purpose to praise and thank our God, glorifying His Name till His presence filled the house! Oh, Saints, that we would acknowledge everything we have is only by His mercy and grace - everything we've accomplished is only what He's allowed and empowered us to do. Everyone we love - ours to hold only because He gave them to us. Let us lift our hearts and voices as one to thank and praise our Lord - for He IS good, and His mercy endures forever!

Prayer:

Father, 

          We pray as David prayed, Blessed are you, God of Israel, our father from of old and forever. To you, O God, belong the greatness and the might, the glory, the victory, the majesty, the splendor; Yes! Everything in heaven, everything on earth; the kingdom all yours! You've raised yourself high over all. Riches and glory come from you, you’re ruler over all; You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand to build up and strengthen all. And here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you, praising your splendid Name. Amen

* FULLY Occupy

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
1st Peter 4:12-13 NLT

Verse 12 in The Message Bible reads, Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.

Why is it that's the first thing we do? God doesn't care. He's not watching out for me. He could stop this if He's really God. If I may be so bold… I am reminded of Joseph’s life story. None of it seemed fair. None of it seemed right. Surrounded and afflicted by drama and deceit. Had God forsaken him? Left him in prison to rot? No. But he WAS in prison for years!

As hard as it is for us to see and understand with our finite mind, God DOES have a plan. And He promises that it is for our good. We just don’t always understand. When you have prayed – begged God - and God has not released you from where you are, then you must trust Him and FULLY occupy the place where God has you until He says, ‘Go!’

FULLY occupy is the operative phrase. Re-engage your heart and the passion God gave you to help others. Don’t just show up for work every day. Check your heart. Make sure you have not allowed it to harden in those areas that have experienced hurt and betrayal.

Forgive. Forgive. Forgive.

In doing so, you (and those who have sinned against you) can be healed and set free and then God can FULLY occupy your heart.

Prayer:

Father,
           Forgive us as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Forgive us for our false indictments. Open our eyes and our hearts to see Your Truth in the middle of the trials. Work in us the Christ-like character You desire to see in us. We want to know You in Your fullness. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Get It On

Come before His presence with singing!

Psalm 100:2b KJV

As a follower of Christ, where would you most want to be at any time, but especially when life is hard? In His presence, right? Wrapped up in His arms, yes? Held close to His chest?

Our Promise for Today tells us to come before His presence with singing. And in a previous Psalm, it assures us that God inhabits the praises of His people. So there's never a reason not to praise our God.

When we're happy and doing well, we, His people, naturally want to thank and praise Him. It's in the tough times that we struggle with it...and yet that is the very time we need Him the most. Isaiah 61:3 tells us Christ comes to give us a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And don't worry, God knows your size. So, let's get it on!

From "The Desert Song" by Hillsong
"All of my life - In every season, You are still God! I have a reason to sing! I have a reason to worship."

Prayer:

Father,
          We come to You washed in the Blood of the Lamb and singing Your praises. We want and need more of You, Lord! More of Your resident presence in our lives. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Reduce or Reproduce

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Mark 4:18-19 NKJV

During winter, when the weather warms up even for just a day or two, I want to be outside. Recently, I got out and cut the dead wood and parasitic weeds and stalks from the fence and surrounding areas. I didn't do it last year, so this year was twice as much work.

Our Christian walk can be just like that. We've got the dead wood and old roots from the winters of our lives, and instead of plucking them out and preparing the soil of our hearts, we leave them... and nothing new grows, except weeds that choke out whatever good seed might have produced.

And I can't find one Scripture that tells me that God wants us to be unfruitful. It's not in His plan. Everything was created to produce and reproduce after its own kind. We are to reproduce in others, what God has produced in us - be it peace, love, joy, deliverance from anger, longsuffering, compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness...

Do not let the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word. The Truth is unless we find the time - MAKE the time - to tend to the seed, we will be reduced to being unfruitful. Our choice...reduce or reproduce?

Prayer:

Father,
            Forgive us for not being good stewards of what You have produced in us. Teach us, Lord, to plant better seed in order to bring You a better harvest. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* + Weeping with Those

Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].
Romans 12:15 The Amplified Bible

The line was long. It seemed like it wasn't moving forward at all and yet it never seemed to stop moving while we stood there in place. And when two left, three came to take their place. Too many people to count because the line wove in and out of rooms and spaces. And at times, wrapped itself around itself in the form of hugs and holding on to each other. A young man's life over too soon. Weeping with those who weep. Sharing each other's grief. 

We are to bear one another's burdens and God said that because this burden is too heavy to carry alone. Love bears all things. In that room was young love and old love and even forgotten love, but all of it came flooding to the top to comfort a loved one, to comfort a friend, to provide strength for each other, even to those friends of a friend or cousin.

Only God can work that miracle. Sad beyond our own endurance, but held together by His peace that passes understanding and His love and mercy poured out for all.  It was very simply amazing.

Prayer:

Father,
         Thank You for pouring out Your peace this evening. Thank You for Your strength flowing through and Your amazing love. I pray, Father, that You will be with the Raymundo family tonight and all their extended family and friends. Help us continue to have Your Heart of understanding and compassion and to reach out at Your gentle urging. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Getting Into Shape

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
Romans 8:29 The Message Bible

Can you believe it's February already? January is over and so are most of the commitments to the resolutions we might have made at the beginning of the year. You know - eating healthfully, getting into shape. I tell people I am in shape. It's true - round is a shape...

In all honesty, I am making better choices when it comes to what I put in my body, but more important to me (and to God) is what I put in my heart. What do I need to do to shape my life along the same lines as the life of Christ? Just as in physical exercise, when we become disciplined in it, we will see results. How genuinely and consistently do I exercise the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Am I seeing results? Are those around me benefiting from the results?

Is God being glorified by the results? 

If we're not getting the results we want or need, we have to go back to the plan - God's plan. He has given us His Son as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is the original and intended shape of our lives. We need to daily commit to getting into shape.

Prayer:

Father,
         Help us to reach past the desires of our flesh to the prize that is set before us in You. We want to attain the shape You have fashioned for us in Christ. Give us the courage to correct our choices by the conviction of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' Name we pray.  Amen