May 30, 2015                                        PERFECT  PEACE

Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trust in you.”

John 14:27: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, not let it be fearful.”

God our Father knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows that there is no lasting, or perfect peace other than the peace that comes from Him. For certain, in the day in which we live there are many things that would rob us of our peace. Experiencing the peace of God is not automatic-there are some conditions on our part. If we are to live in the peace of God, our minds must be “stayed on Him” as seen in the verse above. One of the benefits of being a believer is that, among many other things, we get a new mind that enables to live with our minds “stayed on Him”. However, it is possible for a believer not to live in his renewed state either because he does not understand his new identity or he simply chooses to walk according to his own desires. We have two options-live in our newness or not live in our newness.  The fact that we have options is seen in Colossians 3:15: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.” God has graced us with the ability of “letting” His peace have the rule in our life. The new mind that we have been given automatically views everything from God’s perspective, enabling us to live in the peace of God. There is a connection between having our mind stayed on Him and trusting Him. Everyone has their trust in something or someone. When we truly have our trust in God-when we trust Him for our life day by day- we will find our minds stayed on Him.  When we come to understand that in and of ourselves we don’t have a clue as to how to live life, but we come to know that He is the only source of life with meaning and purpose, we naturally trust Him and we keep the focus of our mind stayed on Him. The circumstances of life afford us the opportunity of choosing where to set the focus of our mind and we are instructed in Colossians 3:2: “Set you mind on the things above, not on things that are on the earth.” We can thank God that no matter what difficulties we may face, we can have the peace of God. The peace that we have from God is not something we earn but it is a gift to us from God-we just have to receive the gift. When we find that we do not have God’s peace, let us be quick to examine ourselves and see where our trust lies. When our trust is in Him, we have His peace.

Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 26, 2015                                      REJOICING  OVER  YOU

Romans 16:17-20: “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent is what is evil, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

You have probably had the occasion to meet those who are divisive, who cause dissensions and who hinder those who desire to follow the teachings of scripture. They would draw our attention away from the gospel and cause us to miss the intended impact of the gospel. The ones who are divisive may not on the surface appear to be enemies of the gospel, but indeed they are just that and they use “smooth and flattering speech” to deceive others. Some of what they say may sound right and logical and may sound appealing. Just as one example, some would say that the church building is the “temple of God”, but the scriptures make it clear that we are the temple of God. This teaching tends to cause one to think that what happens at the “church” is the big deal, but in reality, we are the dwelling place of God 24/7 and what is going on in us is the issue. The corporate meetings of the church are crucial because it is there that we get equipped, encouraged, express our gifting’s, and hear the word of God proclaimed; so not being a part of the local expression of the body (the church) is non-optional according to scripture.  Also, there are numbers of self- proclaimed “ministers” or “evangelist” on television that divert the attention of many from the truth. It is not uncommon to hear television “ministers” make the promise that if you send a financial gift, you would receive a “blessing from God”. God does like a cheerful giver and He does bless when we give at His direction. Paul makes it clear that we are to turn away from those who teach what is contrary to the gospel. We live in a day when we desperately need to hear and understand the pure gospel as presented by the writers of the New Testament. Even in Paul’s day, there were those presenting messages that were in contradiction to the gospel. As we read the writings of Paul we see his great passion for the gospel and that it would not be altered or misrepresented in any way. The more we begin to understand the New Covenant, the more aware we are of teachings that are not in keeping with the New Covenant. When we know what is true, it’s easy to recognize what is false or counterfeit.  The  New Testament was written by men who were inspired by God and when we read and study the New Testament, we are gaining understanding about the kingdom of God and in it we are instructed how to live life on planet earth. The fact that the word of God is inspired by God is the very reason that it is not to be altered or misrepresented in any way. The word of God is THE truth on which everything else is to be built and we are to adjust our lives to the word of God-not adjust the word to fit our preferences.  May we be people that search out the scriptures and may the gospel that Jesus ushered in be our sure and steadfast guide and the template with which we judge everything and may we be quick to recognize and reject any teaching that is contrary to scripture. Let our obedience to the teachings of scripture be known by many and may our obedience bring honor to Him.

1 John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone into the world.”

2 Timothy 4:3: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.”

Blessings,

Buddy

PS: We hear others say that “everyone interprets the Bible differently” and that may be true, but not necessarily in keeping with God’s desire. A comment by Peter Parris puts this line of thought in the right perspective when he said: “The Bible contradicts itself-but only in our mind.”

May 23, 2015                                                LOCAL  MISSIONARIES

2 Corinthians 5:18-21: “Now all of these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Acts 1:8: “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

When we hear that someone is a missionary, we normally think of someone in “full time ministry” serving in a foreign country or involved in some particular national or state mission organization. This limited view or definition of what it means to be a missionary has been a dis-service to the Christian community. Clearly, the scriptures teach that each and every believer is called to be a missionary in the truest since of the word. In very simple terms, a missionary is one who demonstrates and tells the good news of the Gospel. We have been given the Holy Spirit and it is the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us and to those around us. Jesus did not say that we should be witnesses; He said that “you shall be My witnesses”-and that includes us. Because we now live in a kingdom of light-and we are light-all aspects of our lives are to reflect His kingdom. We are not missionaries because we may do occasional mission activity; we are missionaries “full time” because of who we are-people who have been made new who represent another kingdom.   The new life that we have been given is in and of itself a witness to those who live in darkness. Just the other day, an elderly neighbor needed something done that she could not do, and God prompted me to do what was needed. I was busy on my own chores, but when I put my shores aside and took care of the neighbor-it really felt great and I was probably blessed more than the neighbor. I’m sure you have had similar experiences. Over the last several days, I have thought about how we place a lot of emphasis on foreign missions and on mission organizations on a national level—but how about the fellow down the street, the lady who works at the grocery store, the neighbor next door, the banker, the school teacher, the homeless person we see walking down the street-who are the missionaries to them? The answer to that question is quite obvious. Perhaps the main point to all of this is whether are not the life we live is in keeping with our new nature-who we really are-or are we living our lives according to our own dictates. It is possible to be a Christian and yet not live in our new identity due to the fact that we don’t yet understand our new identity, or for some reason we just choose to live according to our old self. The good news is that being a witness, or being a missionary, is a by-product of knowing who we are in Christ-it’s natural to reflect our Father. Our part is to be sensitive to what the Spirit of God is saying to us and then act on what He says. When it’s in our heart to know Him and to follow Him, then we will be effective ambassadors for Him. So, let us begin to see ourselves as full time missionaries, as witnesses, serving the area in which we live. If we understand who we are-then just let us be ourselves-that is, our new self!

1 Peter 3:15: “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who ask you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

Mathew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 19, 2015                                          FINDING  FAVOR   (Part 2)

Psalms 5:12: “For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O Lord, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.”

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

As said in the last blog, it is clear that the focus and desire of our heart is an important link to receiving the favor of God. In 2 Chronicles 16:9 we saw that God is actively looking for those “whose heart is completely His.”  Since the focus and desire of our heart is critical, one might ask how we get our heart in the right place- a great question. Does one just let the heart set its own focus, or does he determine the focus of his heart? I believe that the heart should be subject to the Spirit of God that lives in each believer. This is a big issue that must be addressed because if our heart is not continually being kept in tune with the Spirit, then we live according to what feels good or feels right, and actually we live life out of control-subject to our emotions which may or may not be in accordance to the Spirit. One may spend years trying to get his or her heart right only to end in defeat and frustration. It may sound strange, but as sincere as we may be, we can’t get the focus of our heart on God by our own effort.  We can read the bible cover to cover; we can pray all day; and we can be at church every time the door is open and still find that our heart is not completely His. So, is there any hope for us in getting our heart in the right place?  There is a truth that sets us free; a truth that liberates us; a truth that changes everything; and it is the truth that God is our Father.  God gives us a new heart and with this new heart, we can begin to understand the relationship we have with our true Father-the Creator of everything. As believers, we belonged to, and were know by God long before our physical birth. Jesus came to redeem us back to our Father and Jesus made it clear that He and we have the same Father. When we come to understand the nature of our Father-His absolute power and authority in the universe and His unending great love for us- there is nothing to fear and we can spend all of our days searching out just how awesome our Father is and we can then live in peace. When we discover God for who He is, we will find that our heart is drawn to Him just as a child’s heart his drawn to his earthly father or mother. We can come to a place where our heart is completely His and that is what pleases Him. God delights in our trusting Him and longing for Him. One blessing of having the favor of God is that we know He is with us everywhere we go-all the time- and we can actually enjoy being friends with God (John 15:15). In the verse above, we see that God blesses the righteous man. Our righteousness comes from God and the righteousness that comes from God produces in us a desire to express His righteousness in the way we live. In 1 John 4:17 we read: “By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because as He is, so also are we in this world” and in 1 John 2:5-6 we read: “but whoever keeps His word, in Him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” These verses make it clear that we can now live our lives in such a manner that our life is a reflection of God! Wow!  To repeat: when our heart belongs to God and we understand that He desires a relationship with us, we will find that everything else fails in comparison to knowing Him. This does not mean we will be perfect or that we will never face trials, but it does mean that our heart belongs to Him and He will “direct our steps” and will confirm our direction and He will correct us when needed. Human effort is not sufficient! We start by asking God to reveal deep within our spirit that He is OUR FATHER. As we are asking God for this revelation, we are to be reading and meditating on the scriptures and we are to follow what the scriptures teach. Choose to speak the truth of scripture regardless how you may “feel” and choose to obey what the Spirit says to you. Remember that God is looking for those whose heart belongs to Him. The favor of God is a by-product of our heart being completely His and His experiencing  God’s favor causes us to be humble in spirit because we know that in and of ourselves, we do not deserve the favor of God.

Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love Me; and those who diligently seek Me will find me.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 16, 2015                                         FINDING  FAVOR    (Part One)

Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

Hebrews 11:5: “By faith Enoc was taken up so that he should not see death, AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

2 Chronicles 16:9a: “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

In one sense, everybody experiences the goodness and favor of God in many ways. For one example, we read in the scriptures that God sends the rain on the just and on the unjust. Just the fact that a person is alive and breathing is a result of God’s blessings. In recent weeks, I have been pondering the idea of finding favor with God and whether or not all Christians enjoy the same “level” or degree of God’s favor.  Throughout scripture we find those certain individuals who found favor with God. For sure, you might say that all believers are “favored” with salvation. One definition of favor is “demonstrated delight,” and God’s favor can be described as “tangible evidence that a person has the approval of the Lord.” My underlying question and food for thought is this: is there something that causes or moves God to extend His favor on an individual in a greater way than normal, and if so, what is the reason? It seems that the key ingredient that brings the favor of God is the focus and desire of our heart.  As we see in 2 Chronicles 16:9; God is looking for “those whose heart is completely His” so that He may strongly support them. In Hebrews we learned that Enoc was taken up by God because he was pleasing to God. It is also clear that having God’s favor does not mean an absence of trials and difficulty. Noah, Daniel, Mary and others were favored of God but they had various struggles and difficulties just as others do. While I think it is good to desire God’s favor, I don’t think that our goal should be that of gaining God’s favor. If gaining His favor is our goal, we can easily slip into a “works mentality” where we may find ourselves taking credit for having His favor.  As mentioned above, when the deepest desire of our heart- our underlying motivation-is that of knowing God and then walking in His ways, we are good candidates of God’s favor. We must remember that God is sovereign and that “we are the clay and He is the potter” and God does whatever He chooses and our part is to bow before Him. I invite you to explore with me what the scriptures teach about the favor of God- I believe that every believer would like to experience daily the favor of God. Join me in my next blog as we continue to seek out the truth concerning the favor of God.

Psalms 90:17: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”

Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increases in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 12, 2015                                               FORGETTING

Philippians 3:12-14:  “Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ  Jesus. Brethren, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

If there is anything difficult to do in our own strength, it is that of forgetting what lies behind-particular our failures and bad decisions. Most, if not all, have to deal with some fallout from mistakes of the past and if not careful, we will live with a sense of regret -“I wish I had done that, or not have done that.” The cold-hard fact is that we can’t turn back the clock and do things differently and we can’t live today while focused on past successes or failures. It is possible, and it is helpful, to learn from our past experiences in life, but we must not keep our focus on the past. Someone said: “Do not let the past define the future”- so true.  It is a trick of the enemy to use the past to defeat us, but as children of God, we are instructed to look forward. What are we to be looking for in the future? God has specific plans for each us, and we are to be focused how we can know and fulfill the plans He has for us. Paul chose to “press” on. There are times that we will have to “press” on just as Paul did because we will face obstacles that would cause us to lose our focus.  As we see in this same chapter, Paul had no greater passion than to know God and the power of His resurrection. The more we come to know God and the power of the resurrection, our own successes and failures of the past fade in comparison. What we once thought so important, no longer holds sway over our life. God is all about newness and new beginnings. If it is our desire to know Him, God will begin to change us from the inside out-a change that draws our attention and focus to Him. Actually, there is no genuine satisfaction to be experienced outside of the satisfaction that comes from knowing Him. Once our focused is turned to Him, we will discover that we can spend our lifetime discovering more and more of just how awesome He is. God has “laid hold” of each of us, and now it is our opportunity to day-by-day discover the plans and purposes He has for us. We find purpose and fulfillment in life when we pursue the plans God has for us.

Philippians 3:8-11: “More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 6, 2015                                             INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  LIFE

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

You have probably heard it said before that “the Bible is an instruction book on life.” Indeed, the Bible-the word of God-is the ultimate owners’ manual and it is a huge mistake to attempt to live life on your own-apart from the “manual”. I know the frustration of assembling a product without referring to the manual only to discover that it was assembled the wrong way. Life is much more than a toy or a product to be assembled; life is super complex to say the least. It is actually prideful to think that we can live life on our own. God- the master designer- created us and only He knows how life was designed to be lived. God does indeed hold the keys to life. It sounds rather simple, and it is simple; but we can embrace the word of God as instruction for living. How blessed one would be if he or she chose to- commit to-to live out-to do-to accept the word of God as their manual to follow. For example, the word tells us to love our neighbor-so let us love our neighbor and in 1 Corinthians 13 the love we are to have is defined.  Again, so simple; but just do what the bible instructs whether we “feel” like it or not. The bible gives insights and instruction for every area of life including relationships, finances, marriage, child rearing, work ethic, beliefs, government, education and more. The word of God is not just a book of rules to follow; and keeping the word of God is not possible in our own strength. God has given believers the Holy Spirit to live and abide in us and the Holy Spirit enables us to understand the scriptures and He gives us the power to live out what the scriptures teach. There are only two kingdoms-the kingdom of this world, which is the kingdom of darkness, and the kingdom of God which is the kingdom of light. As believers, we have been transferred to the kingdom of God and the bible introduces us to His kingdom and it describes life in His kingdom. Life in His kingdom is a radical departure from life in the kingdom of this world. For example, the world is about “getting” whereas the kingdom of God is about giving and blessing others. In His kingdom, we find life when we die to ourselves. In His kingdom, we trust God-not our own strength or ability. In His kingdom, God gives us all we need to be complete and content in life. In His kingdom, our security comes as a result of knowing Him as our Father. In His kingdom we can through prayer see situations change. Because we are in His kingdom, we now have eternal life and we will never be separated from Him. In His kingdom, we have been made overcomers in this life. The point is; the bible is not just a book-it is the introduction to His kingdom. We are blessed above all people to have been called to live in His kingdom here on planet earth. It is not possible to be kingdom minded and earthly minded at the same time-the two are in opposition. We do get involved with daily affairs of life in the world, but we do so with a kingdom of God mind-set and we bring His perspective to the nitty-gritty of life. We are light in a dark world and we represent hope, faith and love to those who do not know God. We actually live a super-natural life! As believers, let us make the choice by His power to fully obey what He has said in His word-let us express His kingdom in every facet of our lives. May we not debate His word, but obey His word.

Psalms 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.”

Blessings,

Buddy

May 4, 2016                                     A  NEED  TO  ENDURE

Hebrews 10:36-7: “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised. For yet in a little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

To have a mind-set of endurance is a calling for every believer. For sure, we face various trials and challenges that will wear us down unless we maintain an attitude of endurance that comes from the strength of the Lord. My experience is that there is always some temptation or some situation that would pull us away from the Lord if we do not endure. In James 1:12 we read: “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” As believers, we are not exempt from problems-whether they be in the area of finance, relationship, sickness, death, job related, political-or you name it. No matter what difficulty we face, God has a will for us in that situation. Our focus is to know and then to do God’s will in any given situation. It is freeing for us to realize that we do not have to always know why things happen as they do, but to simply do the will of God. God allows and God uses the things that come our way in life. (It is true that we can bring on some unpleasant circumstances by making wrong choices-but even so, God can use it for His ultimate good-and our good as well.) We are not called to endure just for the sake of enduring; but there is a great reward for those who endure. When we do the will of God in times of difficulty-when we endure- we will receive all the promises of God. The idea of enduring is tied to His coming back-“in a little while”. Endurance is also tied too faith. If we have faith-if we believe He is coming back soon-then we have every reason to endure. Because He is coming back, doing His will now is paramount. If there is one clear teaching in scripture, it is that God is pleased when He sees His people living in faith. It is also interesting to know that God has a soul, and God finds no pleasure in those who “shrink back”-those who do not endure to the end. God is not some distant being somewhere “out there”; but a living God who cares for His own, who has a soul, who is loving, who reveals His heart  to us, and who is coming back to redeem those who have faith in Him. Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

So, no matter how difficult the situation you face may be and when things are not as you hoped for; continue enduring so that you may receive the blessings of God that come to those who endure to the end. Let your faith be the determining factor in how you live-how you respond to the events in life.

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

 

Blessings,

Buddy