Category Archives: Christian life

GOD’S WORKS AND WAYS

Christian life, ,

GOD’S WORKS AND WAYS

‭Psalms‬ ‭103:7‬ ‭NLT‬
[7] He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.

[7] “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:” NIV

Have you noticed how God differentiated between Moses and Israel when He revealed Himself to them? God gave His people ample evidence of His character through the care He gave them throughout their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land… but they never got it. They failed to connect His works with His ways. Whenever a crisis (test) arose, they forgot everything they had experienced, and sank into misery and complaining.

Moses, on the other hand, slowly gathered titbits of God’s ways as the journey progressed until he formed a faith-picture of God that carried him through many trials.

‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:27‬ ‭NLT‬
[27] “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.”

To the discerning, God’s works lead to an increasing understanding of God’s ways. Faith in God grows as we learn more of His character through His deeds, producing a confidence in God that weathers storms and crises, steadfastly trusting God until our trust
is vindicated.

How tragic that many of God’s people never get past God’s works. They go from one test to another, sometimes the same test, over and over. When the trial hits, they sink back into their insecurity and unbelief. Their faith wobbles and shakes. They go into emotional meltdown until the test is over. Then they fly high on their testimony of God’s goodness… until the next test. Then it’s “another lap around the mountain”, never learning the secret of steadfast faith in an unchanging God.

David understood this principle… God’s works lead us to know God’s ways… and so he prayed,

‭Psalms‬ ‭86:11‬ ‭NLT‬
[11] “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.”

The only way we can grow in grace and in the knowledge (can also be translated as “wisdom”) of the Lord Jesus is to seek understanding of His character by the way He deals with us in every situation.

We learn that He is holy by the hardships and discipline we experience when we have wandered away from His Word. We learn that He is good when He answers our prayers and meets our needs. We learn that He is faithful by His unceasing love and presence in our lives.

As we build an understanding of God’s ways through the ups and downs of life, so we grow in confidence and trust in an unchanging, faithful, and reliable Father. When the big crises hit, we are able to stand firm and unshakeable because we know the God who promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you!”

Such faith in a faithful God helps us to live by the truth of His Word, responding to Him by applying that truth to our everyday lives. In turn, we honour, respect, and fear Him because He is utterly worthy of our trust.

Now, that’s a recipe for a fruitful life!

WHERE IS GOD?

Christian life, ,

An insignificant incident happened that answered this question for me.

I think of Job in his tragic and painful circumstances. He searched for God but couldn’t find Him. He cried out to God but his cries were unanswered.
His friends accused him of secret sin which he vehemently denied. He wasn’t interested in theological or philosophical answers to his dilemma. He wanted God, and God was strangely silent, even absent in his time of need.

‭Job‬ ‭23:3‬ ‭NLT‬
[3] “If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his court….
[8] I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. [9] I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed.”

Sometimes, we need God in huge crises and sometimes we call on Him in small but irksome situations. Sometimes God seems farther away than the outer limits of the universe and sometimes He feels very near.

My little need was infinitessimally small compared with other people’s experiences but… the answer that came made a huge impression on me.

I had been shopping for weekly requirements which included shopping for an elderly friend. It’s my practice to put all the till slips into a plastic sleeve to reconcile my bank statement with my spending tracker when I got home. I also needed the till slips to claim a refund for my friend’s weekly needs.

Came the time to do the reconciliation, my little plastic packet of till slips was nowhere to be found. I searched all the places it could have been in my home but it was missing. I looked outside to see whether I had dropped it on my way in but…nothing.

I whispered a prayer to the Lord and, instantly, I had a clear impression in my mind, not words, just a thought. “Look in the dustbin.” I had disposed of some trash from my car on my way inside. Did I perhaps throw it into the bin with the trash?

Then the penny dropped. I knew it was there before I even before lifted the dustbin lid! Fortunately, the dustbin bag had just been renewed – it was almost empty. All I did was open the dustbin, move a few items, and there it was!

I was overwhelmed with the intimacy of that moment. Yes, the Holy Spirit was so near, in fact, right within me. He heard my thought-prayer and back came a thought-answer, as insignificant as my need happened to be.

Why did the Holy Spirit answer me? It was not that He answered me that matters. It’s the reason He answered me that is so special. He cares! It mattered to Him that I needed those till slips. Really? Yes, God is so intimately involved in our lives that He cares about the smallest details that affect us.

Where is God? Out there in the universe somewhere? No, He is wherever you want Him to be. He is nearer than you breath or as far away as you have pushed Him. He will never intrude if you shut Him out.
You take the initiative.

‭James‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NLT‬
[8 “Come close to God, and God will come close to you…. ”

David’s meditation in Psalm 139 produced an awareness of God’s nearness and tender care of His child that overwhelmed him. What captured David’s heart was God’s infinite love in blessing, guiding and supporting him through all of life’s doings regardless of his failing fallen humanness.

So it is with us. God know us deeply, intimately, thoroughly, yet He accompanies and supervises every detail of our lives, intervening to meet every need and adjust our direction so that we will arrive at last at our desired destination – His presence forever.

He has planned and recorded every day before we live it. His thoughts about us are inestimably innumerable. We can never count them or get to the end of them.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:17‭-‬18‬ ‭NLT‬‬
[17] “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! [18] I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

So, let’s just throw ourselves on Him where we are safe.

ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Christian life, ,

Recently, I listened to a pastor, on a video clip, explain the reason for the first verse in Genesis 1. Why does the Bible start with the record of the way God brought order to a chaotic planet? Not only did He create the earth but He also prepared it for human habitation.

He lit up the planet to expose the chaos then, step by step, He restored functionality on every level. He made plants and animals and, when everything He made was “good”, functional, He fashioned a human pair to set the process of inhabiting the earth in motion under His authority.

All the details of this process point to one fact,

‭Psalms‬ ‭24:1‬ ‭NLT‬
[1] “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

Ownership! And… ownership means accountability. However much people hate, deny, and run from accountability, they can never escape the fact that everyone is answerable to God for what they do and the way they live.

The Bible is adamant that everyone must stand before God.

‭Romans‬ ‭14:11‭-‬12‬ ‭NLT‬
[11] “For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’” [12] Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.”

‭Hebrews‬ ‭9:27‬ ‭NLT‬
[27] “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment..”

‭Revelation‬ ‭20:11‭-‬12‬ ‭NLT‬
[11] “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. [12] I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.”

It was Adam, the first man, who chose to reject accountability to God and strike out on his own but… his decision did not automatically cancel God’s ownership of the human race yet to come. It only heightened the guilt of all who deny their answerability to the God who made them.

On what grounds then, does God judge every person who either submits to or denies their accountability to God?

God’s right to judge is enhanced by His solution to man’s rebellion.

‭John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NLT‬
[16] “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

By paying the debt for every person’s rebellion, the incarnate Son of God, Jesus, gives everyone who believes in Him, i.e., submits unconditionally to His supreme authority, a new beginning. Their disposition is transformed from rebel to son. They recognise and accept their accountability, live by His instructions, fix their gaze in Him, and move in the direction of eternal life.

Those who reject God’s solution and continue to express their rebellion by living in purposeful contradiction to God’s instructions, must accept the consequences.

‭John‬ ‭3:18‭-‬20‬ ‭NLT‬
[18] “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [19] And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. [20] All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.”

The only sin for which people will be judged is their refusal to accept accountability to Jesus, who is their judge because He paid their debt.

‭Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭17:24‭-‬26‬ ‭NLT‬
[24] “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, [25] and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. [26] From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries….
[30] “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. [31] For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

There is a day coming when every person will stand before Jesus, the Judge, and give an account of his/her accountability. No excuse will acquit the guilty.

The standard of God’s Word will be the measure by which people will be judged and that standard is clear and inescapable.

‭Psalms‬ ‭119:130‬ ‭NIV‬
[130] “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

‭1 John‬ ‭5:11‭-‬12‬ ‭NLT‬
[11]”And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

Everyone must answer the same question,

Matthew‬ ‭16:15‬ ‭NLT‬
[15].. “But who do you say I am?”

PSALM 46

Christian life

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and our strength,

A tested help in trouble;

We need not fear, though earth explodes

And blows up like a bubble!

Let oceans roar, let mountains fall,

Our hearts will never quiver

For through the city of our God

There runs a joyful river.

That city is God’s dwelling place;

It stands unmoved forever,

Though chaos rips the world apart,

God’s city’s shaken never.

He’ll not withhold His proffered help —

The nations rage in anger,

But, when God speaks, earth bows the knee;

It can withstand no longer.

All human kingdoms fall in ruins,

For God, heaven’s great Commander

Has come to earth to rescue us;

Come, bow in awe and wonder.

His works are awesome, come and see

How kingdoms shake and totter;

He causes wars to cease on earth

Destroying every rotter!

Be quiet!  Know that I am God!

I call to every nation

To honour me in all the earth,

Each part of my creation.

Commander of the heavenly hosts,

Our God is always for us

To rescue us Jehovah comes.

Come join the mighty chorus.

PSALM 24

Christian life, ,

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God their Savior.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.,
7 Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in 10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty —
he is the King of glory.

Psalm 24

The earth belongs to God, ‘tis yours by right,

For you created earth and sky and sea:

You pushed away the oceans by your might

That islands, continents and lands might be.

Who may ascend the hill of this great God,

Before His holy presence fearless stand

To tell Him He is worshipped and adored?

The people who are clean of heart and hand.

God’s throne is open to the trusting heart,

To those who hate and spurn dishonesty;

From lying lips have set themselves apart –

God’s gift of righteousness to them is free.

To such as these God opens up the way

To enter into fellowship with Him;

They’ll share His heart, He’ll never say them nay:

Their love, their faith, their hope will never dim.

Swing wide, O ancient gates, receive your God

And let the King of Glory enter in:

Who is this King of Glory?  He is Lord.

Victorious in battle is our King!

Come, open up your gates, your voices raise;

Exalt our mighty King of Glory now:

Join with the heavenly host in joyous praise;

Before His throne in awe and wonder bow.