John 4:9-14 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
This morning I was meditating on gifts.
A gift is a wonderful thing. But a gift is never as straightforward as it seems. Gift giving is to build relationships.
Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about the gift God wanted her to have. That gift would meet the deepest needs of her life. And it would spring up within her to provide for the needs of others.
But notice he said to her "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
Surrounded gifts of God in creation, living in the gift of God of her own body and confronted with the ultimate gift God would give to the world - his son Jesus, she did not know the gift of God.
Jesus says that if she did know the gift of God and who he was she would ask......
James 4:2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
We often seek to gain things through wrong means that God has already desired to give us. But we don't ask becouase we do not recognize His generosity.
How true is this?
Think about what I just said....
When we consider our lives, everything is a gift from God. EVERYTHING.
All that we have, everyone who cares for us, every internal blessing, our bodies, minds and spirit, even the very air we breathe all are gifts from God.
Surrounded by the continual evidence of God's wonderful heart of giving we are to become intimately aquainted (know) with the Gift of God.
I see that when we really comprehend the generosity of God we are confident to ask Him for the things we desire from Him and most of all we live lives of gratitude for eveything He does give us...... everything.
And like Jesus told the woman at the well that gratitude springs up as a well of living water bringing us personal refreshing but alos bring others as well.
When I am in the presence of a grateful person everything about them blesses me. When I am in the presence of a person, who through their lack of understanding of the precious gifts we are given, is full of unthankfulness I feel extremely sad.
The difference is not what we are given. The difference is our attitude about it.
Entitlement produces dissatisfaction which in turns breeds poverty. Gratitude for everything produces a positive heart no matter what happens. And that positive heart is rich towards God and is always provided for.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Every Place the Sole of Your Foot Trods
Joshua 1:1-9 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, 2 "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. 4 "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
Today as I was meditating on the wonderful promise God made Joshua I asked the Lord to tell me the secret to the promise.
Today we speak to people as if none of the promises God makes are conditional. I find that we set people up for a devastating impact with reality when we do this.
The promises of God are sometimes unconditional but most of them bear a "IF / THEN" clause.
I say this as often as I can without being irritating - with all the "IF / THEN" promises, if we do our part God will do His part. If we do not do our part God cannot do His part since He cannot lie.
So I was asking this morning what was the secret that Joshua discovered to have such a wonderful promise given to him?
You see I want to see the world transformed. I want God to give me and everyone who belongs to Him every place the soles of our feet trod. That is such an amazing promise. I know that it is God's will.
He has us pray it every day:
Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Someone might tell me I cannot say God asks us to pray this every day..... and technically that is true - if you are not eating! Jesus continues:
11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'
The passion of every believer's heart is to be for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth. That is not just a prayer for the return of Jesus. It is a prayer that the will of God will be done on Earth today through our taking the rightful dominion of the Earth for God through the demonstration of His Will through us.
This was what was being told to Joshua. He was establishing a theocratic nation led, provided for, protected by and having the presence of the God who created the universe.
Joshua was establishing the Kingdom of God in Israel.
The promise was not just made to Joshua but to the nation as a whole:
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. 25 "No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
I believe the demonstration of earthly Kingdom principles in the Old Testament is to give us insight into Heavenly Kingdom principles.
Like Joshua, we are establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.
We are to be taking ground where ever we are. It is to be a never ceasing recapturing of the Earth for God wherever our feet go.
So how do we do it?
Of course we can't do it alone and that is the wonderful truth that Joshua was privileged to know.
He knew that God was the one that was taking the ground. All he did was walk around!
But to say that as if everyone who claims God in their lives has the reality of the promise being fulfilled in their lives is false.
Some of us have given ground away that we should have inhabited.
Some of us have given ground to the world.
Some of us have even given ground to the devil.
So what did Joshua do to see the ground God intended for him to take be taken?
As the Father was sharing His heart with me this morning I heard the simple secret:
"Joshua stayed with me so I could stay with him."
Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Joshua knew the secret of continually abiding in the presence of God. As he stayed with God, God stayed with Him. And when God stays with us all that He does is with us as well.
John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Today as I was meditating on the wonderful promise God made Joshua I asked the Lord to tell me the secret to the promise.
Today we speak to people as if none of the promises God makes are conditional. I find that we set people up for a devastating impact with reality when we do this.
The promises of God are sometimes unconditional but most of them bear a "IF / THEN" clause.
I say this as often as I can without being irritating - with all the "IF / THEN" promises, if we do our part God will do His part. If we do not do our part God cannot do His part since He cannot lie.
So I was asking this morning what was the secret that Joshua discovered to have such a wonderful promise given to him?
You see I want to see the world transformed. I want God to give me and everyone who belongs to Him every place the soles of our feet trod. That is such an amazing promise. I know that it is God's will.
He has us pray it every day:
Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Someone might tell me I cannot say God asks us to pray this every day..... and technically that is true - if you are not eating! Jesus continues:
11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'
The passion of every believer's heart is to be for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth. That is not just a prayer for the return of Jesus. It is a prayer that the will of God will be done on Earth today through our taking the rightful dominion of the Earth for God through the demonstration of His Will through us.
This was what was being told to Joshua. He was establishing a theocratic nation led, provided for, protected by and having the presence of the God who created the universe.
Joshua was establishing the Kingdom of God in Israel.
The promise was not just made to Joshua but to the nation as a whole:
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. 25 "No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
I believe the demonstration of earthly Kingdom principles in the Old Testament is to give us insight into Heavenly Kingdom principles.
Like Joshua, we are establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.
We are to be taking ground where ever we are. It is to be a never ceasing recapturing of the Earth for God wherever our feet go.
So how do we do it?
Of course we can't do it alone and that is the wonderful truth that Joshua was privileged to know.
He knew that God was the one that was taking the ground. All he did was walk around!
But to say that as if everyone who claims God in their lives has the reality of the promise being fulfilled in their lives is false.
Some of us have given ground away that we should have inhabited.
Some of us have given ground to the world.
Some of us have even given ground to the devil.
So what did Joshua do to see the ground God intended for him to take be taken?
As the Father was sharing His heart with me this morning I heard the simple secret:
"Joshua stayed with me so I could stay with him."
Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Joshua knew the secret of continually abiding in the presence of God. As he stayed with God, God stayed with Him. And when God stays with us all that He does is with us as well.
John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Be Faithful
2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
This morning I felt such a passion filling my heart to walk in a faithful way with the Lord.
I have been so very busy since Carie went to Holland for three weeks. It is so easy for life to be reduced to do this.... do that..... must get that done....
As I was pondering my heart's desire to please my heavenly Father the thought echoed through my mind, "You are not to be faithful to a task you are to be faithful to me."
To be faithful is more than to do what we say. Keeping our promises is a part of faithfulness but not the whole thing by far.
Faithfulness involves a heart of commitment to the one we are faithful to.
In marriage faithfulness is never only having one person we share intimacy with. I doubt if it is possible to be faithful in our hearts if we only understand it to be that.
Again, faithfulness includes being intimate with only one but it is far more than that. Like the thoughts spoken to my heart today, faithfulness is to a person not an activity.
This is why we see that some "type A" people who can be extremely task oriented and can carry out projects to their completion are not always faithful. They see it as something they do rather than someone they are. I know this well having thought that way myself.
This means they can also see a relationship as expendable if it stands in the way of the goal of the project they are called to be faithful to.
What I am going to say next may sound heretical but hear the heart.
Some activities need to be done in a partial way if doing them fully harms a relationship.
I have found this out the hard way.
In the first years of our marriage, as a young pastor, I believed faithfulness to God was something I did. I pastored a church. I "knew" this was my primary call. I thought I was to do whatever it took to be "faithful" to this call. I equated it with my faithfulness to God.
I was a disaster waiting to happen. Armed with all the scriptures on faithfulness, I could counter anyone who felt my commitment to the "church" was harming my family, my friends and most of all me.
I did not know the difference between faithfulness to a task and faithfulness to a person.
Faithfulness to a person means our activites are always conditional to the needs of the relationship. When an activity begins to steal away the life of our relationships - especially with God - the activity needs to be put aside in favor of the relationship.
I remember well the day when my beloved, who I love more than life itself, told me that she was no longer able to bear the life we lived. There was a lot about that communication that I did not have a clue she was feeling even though she had told me in countless ways. She never told me she would leave me but she did say that she had lost all the joy in our relationship that she had once known. She told me that her heart was not wanting to feel the way she did but that I had so left her for my "call" that she felt like she was little more than someone to do all that a wife does.
It was like I had been hit by a truck. I must admit that I felt a great deal of self-pity about the whole issue. I was trying so hard to meet all the expectations of being faithful to God, my wife, my children, my friends and my church. But the problem was I was being faithful to a task not a person. Like Martha I got it wrong.....
I told my wife I would do whatever it took to get our lives back on a right path. I told her I was quiting pastoral ministry and would never go back without her fully being in support and my being accountable to her in it.
We spent a wonderful year with my moving out of anything that separated us. That year's lesson on faithfulness saved our marriage. God completely restored our relationship better than ever and now we walk together in all that we do for God, listening to each other as far as the boundaries and limits, finding them together in God.
I learned that we can be as unfaithful to our spouse with a job, a hobby, our own family, our friends.... and for parents especially, our children. (Years later we walked through a similar situation as I was in with my work with her and our children.....) as you can be with a lover.
You can be the same with God.
We can even (perhaps especially) be unfaithful to God with our ministry......
Faithfulness is to a relationship not a task. Marriage is a relationship not a task. Following Jesus is a relationship not a task.
So today when I talk about faithfulness to God it is hardly ever in the context of doing. The doing part is spending time together. It is delighting in God's presence. So this morning when I was meditating on being faithful to Him my passion was not based in a list of things to do for Him. It was to continue to find delight in our relationship. To never lose the precious place where I hear Him speak to me the thoughts of His heart.
I want to be faithful to God not just the work He has for me to do.
Luke 10:39-43 She (Martha) had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
This morning I felt such a passion filling my heart to walk in a faithful way with the Lord.
I have been so very busy since Carie went to Holland for three weeks. It is so easy for life to be reduced to do this.... do that..... must get that done....
As I was pondering my heart's desire to please my heavenly Father the thought echoed through my mind, "You are not to be faithful to a task you are to be faithful to me."
To be faithful is more than to do what we say. Keeping our promises is a part of faithfulness but not the whole thing by far.
Faithfulness involves a heart of commitment to the one we are faithful to.
In marriage faithfulness is never only having one person we share intimacy with. I doubt if it is possible to be faithful in our hearts if we only understand it to be that.
Again, faithfulness includes being intimate with only one but it is far more than that. Like the thoughts spoken to my heart today, faithfulness is to a person not an activity.
This is why we see that some "type A" people who can be extremely task oriented and can carry out projects to their completion are not always faithful. They see it as something they do rather than someone they are. I know this well having thought that way myself.
This means they can also see a relationship as expendable if it stands in the way of the goal of the project they are called to be faithful to.
What I am going to say next may sound heretical but hear the heart.
Some activities need to be done in a partial way if doing them fully harms a relationship.
I have found this out the hard way.
In the first years of our marriage, as a young pastor, I believed faithfulness to God was something I did. I pastored a church. I "knew" this was my primary call. I thought I was to do whatever it took to be "faithful" to this call. I equated it with my faithfulness to God.
I was a disaster waiting to happen. Armed with all the scriptures on faithfulness, I could counter anyone who felt my commitment to the "church" was harming my family, my friends and most of all me.
I did not know the difference between faithfulness to a task and faithfulness to a person.
Faithfulness to a person means our activites are always conditional to the needs of the relationship. When an activity begins to steal away the life of our relationships - especially with God - the activity needs to be put aside in favor of the relationship.
I remember well the day when my beloved, who I love more than life itself, told me that she was no longer able to bear the life we lived. There was a lot about that communication that I did not have a clue she was feeling even though she had told me in countless ways. She never told me she would leave me but she did say that she had lost all the joy in our relationship that she had once known. She told me that her heart was not wanting to feel the way she did but that I had so left her for my "call" that she felt like she was little more than someone to do all that a wife does.
It was like I had been hit by a truck. I must admit that I felt a great deal of self-pity about the whole issue. I was trying so hard to meet all the expectations of being faithful to God, my wife, my children, my friends and my church. But the problem was I was being faithful to a task not a person. Like Martha I got it wrong.....
I told my wife I would do whatever it took to get our lives back on a right path. I told her I was quiting pastoral ministry and would never go back without her fully being in support and my being accountable to her in it.
We spent a wonderful year with my moving out of anything that separated us. That year's lesson on faithfulness saved our marriage. God completely restored our relationship better than ever and now we walk together in all that we do for God, listening to each other as far as the boundaries and limits, finding them together in God.
I learned that we can be as unfaithful to our spouse with a job, a hobby, our own family, our friends.... and for parents especially, our children. (Years later we walked through a similar situation as I was in with my work with her and our children.....) as you can be with a lover.
You can be the same with God.
We can even (perhaps especially) be unfaithful to God with our ministry......
Faithfulness is to a relationship not a task. Marriage is a relationship not a task. Following Jesus is a relationship not a task.
So today when I talk about faithfulness to God it is hardly ever in the context of doing. The doing part is spending time together. It is delighting in God's presence. So this morning when I was meditating on being faithful to Him my passion was not based in a list of things to do for Him. It was to continue to find delight in our relationship. To never lose the precious place where I hear Him speak to me the thoughts of His heart.
I want to be faithful to God not just the work He has for me to do.
Luke 10:39-43 She (Martha) had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Thursday, May 13, 2010
A link to a fuller teaching on Entering into God's Rest
If you want a fuller Biblical understanding of entering into God's rest you can go to my teaching website here:
I publish longer teachings there as I try to keep this site for shorter devotional posts.
Blessings,
Leonard
Natural Miracles
Isaiah 38:9-21 9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 said,
"In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 "I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15 "What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 "O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 "For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20 "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
I have seen supernatural miracles that have come from my seeking God. My sweetheart is alive today as a result of a supernatural miracle God did for her by giving me a word about her having a tubal pregnancy. I have been close with those who have witnessed a consistent pattern of miracles in their lives. I believe in the supernatural work of God. One of my best friends prayed for a girl who was born blind and she saw perfectly.
I knew many people who were healed when Oral Roberts laid hands on them.
I was in several services where God used Kathryn Kulman to heal many including me.
What I am saying here does not downplay the reality of God's supernatural work.
I have also seen that placing an emphasis on the supernatural can diminish the wonder of God working through natural means.
I have seen people die as a result of coming to believe that the only way God works is supernaturally.
A pastoral couple we knew were preaching this and as a result their congregation abandoned any kind of medical care. They let one woman hemorrhage to death in child birth. They kept her dead body hidden for three days believe God would raise her from the dead. They were eventually charged and convicted for a felony offense. Others in their congregation allowed for their children to suffer with all kinds of problems that could have been avoided. This was not the only group that we have seen that have followed this thought that God's only work is in the supernatural realm.
The story of Hezekiah gives a wonderful example of the interplay of the supernatural and natural workings of God. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings to God in the Bible. He got very sick with some kind of a skin lesion. He summoned Isaiah the prophet for help. Isaiah told him he would die.
Hezekiah cried out to God and God told Isaiah to go back and tell him he was going to live after all. Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would live. He requested that the sun's shadow would go backward on a set of stairs that seemed to have acted like a sun clock. God did this supernatural miracle for him. Then we see that the actual healing involved Isaiah making a medicinal substance and placing it on the boil which brought about his healing.
That was very much what happened for me with Carie. God told me she had a tubal pregnancy when she first got sick with what she thought was the flu. We did not even know she was pregnant at the time. He told me it again when she passed out in our home four days later He said it again after the doctor did an ultra sound and determined, so he thought, that she was pregnant and the baby was in the proper place.
When they could not stabilize her and she was near death I again heard Jesus say, "She has a tubal pregnancy." I again told the doctor and because I did he did another kind of test with a machine that gave a better picture.
Four hours later he came out of the operating room with the wonderful news that she was going to live and that she had bled internally for four days losing over half her blood from a tubal pregnancy.
The word was supernatural. The operation to save her life was natural. Both worked together to save her life.
We need to understand that however God chooses to work we are to be thankful and thrilled that He helps us.
We do not need to limit God in any way. That is the essence of the third temptation of Jesus - Testing God.
Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
We know Jesus could supernaturally provide food for us as he did with the feeding of the five thousand with a few loaves and fish.
We know Jesus could turn water into wine like he did at the wedding by the sea of Galilee.
But in most cases he uses the natural means to provide these things.
THEY ARE NO LESS FROM GOD THAN IF HE HAD MADE THEM APPEAR BEFORE US SUPERNATURALLY.
This is the most important point. God is fully in every natural provision. It is His gift as much as the supernatural.
A few months ago the men at our men's meeting prayed for me about my sleep. I have spent most of my life sleep deprived. It has made for wonderful quiet times over the years. I have not complained about it but it has been hard at times to fulfill all that I need to when I was so tired.
A few days after they prayed I had a compression fracture of my spine that had no apparent cause. I was running and ended up in severe pain. I had fallen off my roof many years ago and broke my back then as well. Because I was younger they did not think to do a bone density test. This time they did and found that I have severe osteoporosis. The doctor commented that I had the bones of a seventy year old man. She put me on a high dose of vitamin D and calcium.
Because I had severe allergies and asthma as a child, I spent most of my time indoors since when I went out and played in the grass or walked in the forest I got very ill. I grew to dislike even being outside. As a result my exposure to the sun has been very limited. I have been vitamin D deprived for most of my life, thus my problem with osteoporosis.
But the thing that I could most give thanks to God for my spinal fracture was after three or four days of taking the vitamin D I started to sleep through the whole night. I now live in a state of feeling rested all the time. Vitamin D deficiency is a cause of sleep deprivation.
I know that God answered my and my friend's prayers for a restoration of my sleep. He did it through very natural means but I know it was His gift to me.
How important that we pray. How important we believe. How important that we look for the answers to come - not only supernaturally - but in the natural realm.
George Washington Carver is one of my greatest heroes. He was a slave freed at the end of the civil war. He was enthralled with agriculture. His story is amazing and I can't share it all here. What I was thinking of today as I was meditating on the this I am putting down here is that God used him to feed the freed slaves in one of the darkest periods of their history.
He spent his days in what he called "God's Little Workshop" asking for God to show him how to help his fellow former slaves to be able to grow enough food on their substandard, small plots of land.
God did just that. He gave him wonderful insights which he often said came as impressions he knew were from God. But he also gained many from observation and trial and error. He was a scientist in every way but one who believed God spoke through the creation and supernaturally.
As a result of his work all agricultural science benefitted. Those who followed his principles prospered. Every time you eat peanut butter you are partaking of the wisdom God gave him since he was the one how found that this little plant that no one used was highly nutritious especially when made into a paste.
God has given us the natural world as a gift of His love. Every aspect of it is meant to be taken as such. We need to be looking constantly for Him to show us His natural miracles.
"In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 "I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15 "What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 "O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 "For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20 "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
I have seen supernatural miracles that have come from my seeking God. My sweetheart is alive today as a result of a supernatural miracle God did for her by giving me a word about her having a tubal pregnancy. I have been close with those who have witnessed a consistent pattern of miracles in their lives. I believe in the supernatural work of God. One of my best friends prayed for a girl who was born blind and she saw perfectly.
I knew many people who were healed when Oral Roberts laid hands on them.
I was in several services where God used Kathryn Kulman to heal many including me.
What I am saying here does not downplay the reality of God's supernatural work.
I have also seen that placing an emphasis on the supernatural can diminish the wonder of God working through natural means.
I have seen people die as a result of coming to believe that the only way God works is supernaturally.
A pastoral couple we knew were preaching this and as a result their congregation abandoned any kind of medical care. They let one woman hemorrhage to death in child birth. They kept her dead body hidden for three days believe God would raise her from the dead. They were eventually charged and convicted for a felony offense. Others in their congregation allowed for their children to suffer with all kinds of problems that could have been avoided. This was not the only group that we have seen that have followed this thought that God's only work is in the supernatural realm.
The story of Hezekiah gives a wonderful example of the interplay of the supernatural and natural workings of God. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings to God in the Bible. He got very sick with some kind of a skin lesion. He summoned Isaiah the prophet for help. Isaiah told him he would die.
Hezekiah cried out to God and God told Isaiah to go back and tell him he was going to live after all. Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would live. He requested that the sun's shadow would go backward on a set of stairs that seemed to have acted like a sun clock. God did this supernatural miracle for him. Then we see that the actual healing involved Isaiah making a medicinal substance and placing it on the boil which brought about his healing.
That was very much what happened for me with Carie. God told me she had a tubal pregnancy when she first got sick with what she thought was the flu. We did not even know she was pregnant at the time. He told me it again when she passed out in our home four days later He said it again after the doctor did an ultra sound and determined, so he thought, that she was pregnant and the baby was in the proper place.
When they could not stabilize her and she was near death I again heard Jesus say, "She has a tubal pregnancy." I again told the doctor and because I did he did another kind of test with a machine that gave a better picture.
Four hours later he came out of the operating room with the wonderful news that she was going to live and that she had bled internally for four days losing over half her blood from a tubal pregnancy.
The word was supernatural. The operation to save her life was natural. Both worked together to save her life.
We need to understand that however God chooses to work we are to be thankful and thrilled that He helps us.
We do not need to limit God in any way. That is the essence of the third temptation of Jesus - Testing God.
Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
We know Jesus could supernaturally provide food for us as he did with the feeding of the five thousand with a few loaves and fish.
We know Jesus could turn water into wine like he did at the wedding by the sea of Galilee.
But in most cases he uses the natural means to provide these things.
THEY ARE NO LESS FROM GOD THAN IF HE HAD MADE THEM APPEAR BEFORE US SUPERNATURALLY.
This is the most important point. God is fully in every natural provision. It is His gift as much as the supernatural.
A few months ago the men at our men's meeting prayed for me about my sleep. I have spent most of my life sleep deprived. It has made for wonderful quiet times over the years. I have not complained about it but it has been hard at times to fulfill all that I need to when I was so tired.
A few days after they prayed I had a compression fracture of my spine that had no apparent cause. I was running and ended up in severe pain. I had fallen off my roof many years ago and broke my back then as well. Because I was younger they did not think to do a bone density test. This time they did and found that I have severe osteoporosis. The doctor commented that I had the bones of a seventy year old man. She put me on a high dose of vitamin D and calcium.
Because I had severe allergies and asthma as a child, I spent most of my time indoors since when I went out and played in the grass or walked in the forest I got very ill. I grew to dislike even being outside. As a result my exposure to the sun has been very limited. I have been vitamin D deprived for most of my life, thus my problem with osteoporosis.
But the thing that I could most give thanks to God for my spinal fracture was after three or four days of taking the vitamin D I started to sleep through the whole night. I now live in a state of feeling rested all the time. Vitamin D deficiency is a cause of sleep deprivation.
I know that God answered my and my friend's prayers for a restoration of my sleep. He did it through very natural means but I know it was His gift to me.
How important that we pray. How important we believe. How important that we look for the answers to come - not only supernaturally - but in the natural realm.
George Washington Carver is one of my greatest heroes. He was a slave freed at the end of the civil war. He was enthralled with agriculture. His story is amazing and I can't share it all here. What I was thinking of today as I was meditating on the this I am putting down here is that God used him to feed the freed slaves in one of the darkest periods of their history.
He spent his days in what he called "God's Little Workshop" asking for God to show him how to help his fellow former slaves to be able to grow enough food on their substandard, small plots of land.
God did just that. He gave him wonderful insights which he often said came as impressions he knew were from God. But he also gained many from observation and trial and error. He was a scientist in every way but one who believed God spoke through the creation and supernaturally.
As a result of his work all agricultural science benefitted. Those who followed his principles prospered. Every time you eat peanut butter you are partaking of the wisdom God gave him since he was the one how found that this little plant that no one used was highly nutritious especially when made into a paste.
God has given us the natural world as a gift of His love. Every aspect of it is meant to be taken as such. We need to be looking constantly for Him to show us His natural miracles.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
I will give you rest
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
This morning Jesus said, "I will give you rest." We had a wonderful conversation about what that actually means.
The first thing I see is that he gives rest to those who need it. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. The two elements of indication that we are in need of rest are being weary and heavy-laden.
Weariness is being in a state of exhustion. The Hebrew word for weary is yagea and means exhaustion from unending labor, gasping for breath or fainting. The Greek word used in Matthew is kopiao and means the same as the Hebrew word but includes being in pain from hard labor. It is applied both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
When we are in a state of exhaustion we are very vulnerable. It is the time our enemy will seek to harm us.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.
I find that when I am in a state of exhaustion I have the greatest temptation to discouragement. The whole world can seem to be a place of unending demands for more. I tend to be especially prone to not knowing when to stop.
I have often told others that I learned well to work until I fell over. It was what was required in my late childhood and early teens. We lived in absolute poverty. After my father left mom worked at two jobs. I took care of my little brother and as soon as I could I was working as well. There was no social safety net and if you did not work you did not eat. In many cases if you did not work you did not live. There was not much place for rest.
As a result I understand a little of what it means to be weary physically from work. But I find that physical weariness to be relatively easy to bear in comparison to emotional or spiritual weariness. At the end of an exhausting day of work I find there can be a sweet sense of accomplishment. The wearisome days clouded by continual discouragement and defeat are the ones that wear on the soul to the place of raw pain.
No matter what kind of weariness plaugues our life Jesus uses it to draw us to himself. He is the source of refreshing! "Come unto me and I will give you rest," he says. And he never fails.
When I consciously come into his presence by simply remembering he is there, calling out to him instead of sighing, or getting on my knees and seeking him I always find a calming of my soul and a renewal of my strength. He is the source of rest. He himself is the rest.
I find it interesting that he does not take away labor. Instead he takes it up. "Take my yoke up you" Imagine when you are completely unable to bear a single minute more of labor someone telling you to put a yoke on! What sense would that make? But that is exactly how we find rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
I believe we find in this passage the secret. The one who has found rest has ceased from "his own works."
Jesus says that we are to work alongside of him. A yoke joins two animals to work together. Who benefits when we are in a team with the most powerful being in the universe? Who gains resources when you are working intimately with the one who created everything?
I have my little ones help me fix my cars. I did it with my grandson about two weeks ago. I had him hold the socket wrench when we were taking off a bolt. I told him he had to be very strong to get it off. I said it was so tight that we needed to work together to remove it. So I held the socket wrench with him. I let him put a lot of effort into the work so that he would feel that sense of accomplishment when the bolt came off. But I made sure it came off by adding my strength to what would have been an impossible task for him. The delight on his face when the bolt came off was wonderful. I told him how very strong he was. He beamed with the confidence that he was. One day he will take off bolts by himself. One day he will fix his own cars perhaps even after I am no longer around to cheer him on. But he will have learned to love doing so by holding the wrench together with his papa.
That is as simple as it really is with us and Jesus. We get into the yoke with Him. We do our part and he does his - and we find rest.
This morning Jesus said, "I will give you rest." We had a wonderful conversation about what that actually means.
The first thing I see is that he gives rest to those who need it. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. The two elements of indication that we are in need of rest are being weary and heavy-laden.
Weariness is being in a state of exhustion. The Hebrew word for weary is yagea and means exhaustion from unending labor, gasping for breath or fainting. The Greek word used in Matthew is kopiao and means the same as the Hebrew word but includes being in pain from hard labor. It is applied both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
When we are in a state of exhaustion we are very vulnerable. It is the time our enemy will seek to harm us.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.
I find that when I am in a state of exhaustion I have the greatest temptation to discouragement. The whole world can seem to be a place of unending demands for more. I tend to be especially prone to not knowing when to stop.
I have often told others that I learned well to work until I fell over. It was what was required in my late childhood and early teens. We lived in absolute poverty. After my father left mom worked at two jobs. I took care of my little brother and as soon as I could I was working as well. There was no social safety net and if you did not work you did not eat. In many cases if you did not work you did not live. There was not much place for rest.
As a result I understand a little of what it means to be weary physically from work. But I find that physical weariness to be relatively easy to bear in comparison to emotional or spiritual weariness. At the end of an exhausting day of work I find there can be a sweet sense of accomplishment. The wearisome days clouded by continual discouragement and defeat are the ones that wear on the soul to the place of raw pain.
No matter what kind of weariness plaugues our life Jesus uses it to draw us to himself. He is the source of refreshing! "Come unto me and I will give you rest," he says. And he never fails.
When I consciously come into his presence by simply remembering he is there, calling out to him instead of sighing, or getting on my knees and seeking him I always find a calming of my soul and a renewal of my strength. He is the source of rest. He himself is the rest.
I find it interesting that he does not take away labor. Instead he takes it up. "Take my yoke up you" Imagine when you are completely unable to bear a single minute more of labor someone telling you to put a yoke on! What sense would that make? But that is exactly how we find rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
I believe we find in this passage the secret. The one who has found rest has ceased from "his own works."
Jesus says that we are to work alongside of him. A yoke joins two animals to work together. Who benefits when we are in a team with the most powerful being in the universe? Who gains resources when you are working intimately with the one who created everything?
I have my little ones help me fix my cars. I did it with my grandson about two weeks ago. I had him hold the socket wrench when we were taking off a bolt. I told him he had to be very strong to get it off. I said it was so tight that we needed to work together to remove it. So I held the socket wrench with him. I let him put a lot of effort into the work so that he would feel that sense of accomplishment when the bolt came off. But I made sure it came off by adding my strength to what would have been an impossible task for him. The delight on his face when the bolt came off was wonderful. I told him how very strong he was. He beamed with the confidence that he was. One day he will take off bolts by himself. One day he will fix his own cars perhaps even after I am no longer around to cheer him on. But he will have learned to love doing so by holding the wrench together with his papa.
That is as simple as it really is with us and Jesus. We get into the yoke with Him. We do our part and he does his - and we find rest.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"
This morning as I was listening for Jesus to speak I heard him say something he has said many times. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
This is one of the most preciou promises to me personally that he has made.
Before I came to know the reality of the Lord's care I was overtaken by a deep loneliness. I now understand it was what I now called the God shaped hole in my being. But then it felt like I was disconnected from everything in the universe. Rejection was not far from my reality at all times and, like so many of us do, I fought rejection with rejection.
Then Jesus came and revealed himself to me. That was when I was seventeen years old. While I have needed much assurance of his continuing presence in my life, accounting for why he has to tell me so often that he will never leave or forsake me, I found in him the connection to everyone else.
Until we know we are secure in the love of God we are restless. The ancient Anglican prayer "Oh Lord, our hearts are restless till we find our rest in Thee" is accurate beyond description. While many, like I did, put on a face of confidence, I have not found a person yet who does not struggle with belonging at some point in their lives. To find that place of belonging many are willing to sacrifice their very identity. But it can only be found in God.
When it is found in God it is like a spring of fresh water flowing from our innermost being. It washes away the daily poison of rejection that we face from others but mostly from ourselves. It gives us a place where we can simply be. A place where we have no need to impress, fear, or perform for value.
His promise to stay is a place of serene rest.
I often say that only one can walk with us across the final valley of our lives. When our bodies no longer support our life here no one we love here can take that last journey with us.But if we have let him take his desired place in our hearts, Jesus will be there to take our hand and walk us accross the valley of the shaddow of death.
If that is true of that day how much more true is it of today. As we entered into the day we can know that we have one who walks with us without fail. He will never leave our side. He will never reject us. He will stay at every moment. We have nothing to fear, nothing to prove and nothing to perform to gain his attention.
He is with us forever.
This morning as I was listening for Jesus to speak I heard him say something he has said many times. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
This is one of the most preciou promises to me personally that he has made.
Before I came to know the reality of the Lord's care I was overtaken by a deep loneliness. I now understand it was what I now called the God shaped hole in my being. But then it felt like I was disconnected from everything in the universe. Rejection was not far from my reality at all times and, like so many of us do, I fought rejection with rejection.
Then Jesus came and revealed himself to me. That was when I was seventeen years old. While I have needed much assurance of his continuing presence in my life, accounting for why he has to tell me so often that he will never leave or forsake me, I found in him the connection to everyone else.
Until we know we are secure in the love of God we are restless. The ancient Anglican prayer "Oh Lord, our hearts are restless till we find our rest in Thee" is accurate beyond description. While many, like I did, put on a face of confidence, I have not found a person yet who does not struggle with belonging at some point in their lives. To find that place of belonging many are willing to sacrifice their very identity. But it can only be found in God.
When it is found in God it is like a spring of fresh water flowing from our innermost being. It washes away the daily poison of rejection that we face from others but mostly from ourselves. It gives us a place where we can simply be. A place where we have no need to impress, fear, or perform for value.
His promise to stay is a place of serene rest.
I often say that only one can walk with us across the final valley of our lives. When our bodies no longer support our life here no one we love here can take that last journey with us.But if we have let him take his desired place in our hearts, Jesus will be there to take our hand and walk us accross the valley of the shaddow of death.
If that is true of that day how much more true is it of today. As we entered into the day we can know that we have one who walks with us without fail. He will never leave our side. He will never reject us. He will stay at every moment. We have nothing to fear, nothing to prove and nothing to perform to gain his attention.
He is with us forever.
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