Monthly Archives: November 2013

Glimpses Of The Great God – Day One

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BEYOND OURSELVES

….into a new way of living

 GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT GOD

DAY ONE

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,

the priest of Midian,

and he led his flock to the far side of the desert

and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There the angel of God appeared to him

in flames of fire from within a bush.

Moses saw that, though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look,

God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said.

“Take off your sandals,

for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob…”

At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:1-6

What do you think Moses felt when he was confronted with this strange sight and when he heard the voice of God speaking to him?  Read this Scripture passage through aloud two or three times and allow yourself to feel what Moses felt.  Put yourself in Moses’ place and listen to the voice of God speaking to you.  What is He saying to you?  Allow yourself to soak in the awesomeness of this moment.  You are actually, now, in the presence of the living God.  He loves you and wants to speak to you.  Give yourself time to listen and keep a record of what you think He is saying to you.   As you work through all the Scriptures you will be reading this month, God will be revealing Himself to you again and again.

 

 

 

Speak To Your Storm!

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SPEAK TO YOUR STORM!

“One day He and His disciples got in a boat. ‘Let’s cross the lake,’ He said. And off they went. It was smooth sailing, and He fell asleep. A terrific storm came up suddenly on the lake. Water poured in, and they were about to capsize. They woke Jesus: ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’ Getting to His feet, He told the wind, ‘Silence!’ and waves, ‘Quiet down!’ They did it. The lake became smooth as glass.

“Then He said to His disciples, ‘Why can’t you trust me?’ They were in absolute awe, staggered and stammering, “Who is this, anyway? He calls out to the winds and sea, and they do what He tells them!” Luke 8:22-25 (The Message).

So many interpretations to this story! Some think that this was a demonically inspired storm sent to drown Jesus and His men because they were on a mission to set a demon-possessed man free. Perhaps! But why not a perfectly natural phenomenon that happened all the time because of the geography of the region? Could it be that this storm was regulated and perfectly timed by the Father to expose what was in the hearts of the disciples?

So many lessons in this story! The way we understand it depends on perspective.

From the disciples’ perspective, they were in terrible danger. Jesus was asleep and out of the picture and, if He didn’t wake up, they were finished. They screamed out in terror, not really believing that He could do anything, but needing Him to be aware of what was going on anyway. They were victims of the circumstances and they were powerless to change them. Fear drove out all their confidence in Jesus and paralysed their sane thinking. They had not yet learned to use the power of the Word to save the day.

 

Jesus, on the other hand, was perfectly at rest, fast asleep, storm or no storm! He had been given a commission to go to the other side of the lake. There was someone there who needed Him and the storm was no deterrent. No doubt He was acting in obedience to the Father. Whatever stood in His way would be brushed aside as of no consequence.

Unlike His disciples, Jesus was never controlled by circumstances. If circumstances were the controlling factor, His life would have been a roller coaster ride and who knows where it would have ended? He was in intimate contact with His Father and took His instructions from Him. Like Peter, when Jesus invited him to walk on the water, Jesus walked on the Word of God. His perspective was always the kingdom of God, God’s rule, God’s instructions and God’s way.

Jesus also used circumstances to reveal His Father’s power and glory. Whatever obstacles stood in the way of restoring wholeness in any situation, Jesus spoke, the obstacle was removed and those present caught another glimpse of the true nature of the Father.

The death of Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, was one such incident. Jesus was not fazed when He received the news of Lazarus’ illness. “When He heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.'” John 11:4 (NIV).

God’s Word is powerful, not matter from whose mouth it is spoken. The disciples eventually learned this lesson. The book of Acts is full of incidents where the power of the spoken Word of God changed situations for them. Disease, demons and even death fled when they spoke to them, just as Jesus had done when He was with them in the flesh.

How sad that so many of us believers don’t really believe this. We rehearse our woes and even pray them to God instead of confidently speaking out what God has spoken. Jesus’ rebuke is equally true of many of us, ‘Why don’t you trust me?’ Jesus is Lord over all things, even wind and weather.

Speak to your storm! It must obey.

The Family Redefined

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THE FAMILY REDEFINED

“His mother and brothers showed up but couldn’t get through to Him because of the crowd. He was given the message, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to see you.’ He replied, ‘My mother and brothers are the ones who hear and do God’s Word. Obedience is thicker than blood.'” Luke 8:19-21 (The Message).

Jesus’ relationship with His human family was unique. No other family on earth had a sibling who was both God and man. Mary knew that, but she still had difficulty in realising that, once He had left her home, she had not more claim to Him. He still acknowledged her as His earthly mother — at the cross He placed her in John’s care — but He embraced a much bigger and closer family than His blood family.

It must have been difficult for Mary to cut the ties of motherhood with Him and make the transition from Jesus, her son to Jesus, her Lord. At some time during her son’s public ministry or perhaps after the resurrection she must have finally made the transition. She was among the one hundred and twenty worshippers who were gathered together on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and the church was born.

Like many Jewish families, Jesus was the first of a large number of siblings. He had four brothers, according to the mention of their names, and at least two sisters, perhaps more, although unnamed but, to His brothers He was just Jesus, their eldest brother and Mary’s firstborn and heir. They resented Him. They neither recognised Him as the Messiah nor even treated him with respect until after the resurrection.

His brothers had been skeptical and positively rude to Him. On one occasion, before the Feast of Tabernacles, they taunted Him. “‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.” John 7:3, 4 (NIV).

Jesus was not fazed by their cruel taunts, but He must have been saddened by their unbelief. Yet it must have been difficult for them to realise that their own brother was the Son of God. It took the horrifying and shocking events of His crucifixion and resurrection to shake their skepticism and bring them to faith in Him as Messiah and Lord.

Other gospel writers reveal the reason for His family’s coming on this occasion. Things had hotted up so much around him — His popularity with the crowd on the one hand, and His conflict with the religious leaders on the other — that they thought they needed to rescue Him because He had lost it! But He made is clear that He was very sane. Some of those who followed Him were learning and forging a loyalty with Him that ran much deeper than human family bonds and they needed to understand that.

Was Jesus implying that there is no such thing as second-generation faith? Every person has to believe and take responsibility for his or her own connection to Him. Each one who hears and responds in obedience to the Word of God becomes a part of the family of God and lives under His rule.

Perhaps this is also an answer to the “once saved, always saved” question. We have to move away from the idea that “salvation” is a passport that we carry to give us access to heaven when we die. That is far from the Biblical concept of salvation. It is the process by which we are being restored to “shalom” — wholeness — so that we can fit in in God’s kingdom where there is no imperfection of any kind.

Those who think that salvation is a passport that they will produce at the pearly gates may get a shock when they are told, ‘I never knew you.” To be saved, in Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John 3, is to receive the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit to enter  the kingdom of God, to submit to His rule and obey His Word so that He can transform us into true sons and daughters.

Have you done that?

Keep It Circulating

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KEEP IT CIRCULATING

“‘No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We’re not keeping secrets; we’re telling them. We’re not hiding things; we’re bringing everything out into the open. So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.'” Luke 8:16-18 (The Message).

Come on, Jesus! What are you getting at?

He had a lot to say about the Pharisees who paraded their “righteousness” for the crowd’s approval. Yet He told His disciples not to cover up their light but to display it. What are you supposed to do, to let people see how generous you are, or hide you good deed so that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing?

The answer is “Yes”. It all depends on motive. The scribes and Pharisees used their “generosity” to show how religious they were. They wanted people to admire them for their rigid obedience to the Law, but it was all on the outside. Inside they were greedy, stingy and crooked. They used every opportunity to make money out of the common people.

Jesus exposed their sickness when He threw the merchants and money changers out of the temple. They were using the Passover to extort money from the worshippers through crooked deals. The unsuspecting people were being charged exorbitant rates to exchange their ordinary money into temple money to buy their lambs for the sacrifice. Those who brought their own lambs had to surrender them because they had “blemishes”, which were promptly sold to the next family as “unblemished”.

Their so-called generosity was nothing but window-dressing and a cover-up for their evil hearts. It’s no wonder Jesus ruthlessly exposed their hypocrisy. He wanted the people to see them for what they were and not be taken in by their unashamed falseness,

But that does not cancel out the outcome of true generosity. On another occasion Jesus urged His disciples to let their light shine before men. This is the ultimate purpose for which we were created. Like the moon, we are to shine with the reflected light of the Son.

When Jesus shines His light into our hearts, transforming us from selfish and self-centred people into those who focus on serving and meeting the needs of others, we reveal to the world around us in earthly terms, what the heart of our God is like. He is kind and generous to all, even those who would not give Him the time of the day. The creation is a reflection of His generosity and so should we be.

God’s gifts to us, including our knowledge of Him, are intended to be stewarded, not hoarded. Every time we hoard what God intends for us to share, we are like the person who switches on a light and then covers it with a blanket so that it serves no purpose. No sane thinking person would do that, and yet we treat God’s gifts like that. It makes no sense, does it?

In God’s way of doing things, the more we give away the more we make room to receive more. The more we hoard the poorer we become inside. God’s resources are meant to be circulated. Water remains fresh when it flows. A stagnant pool becomes undrinkable because all kinds of unsavoury creatures breed in it.

With the right motive, we can draw attention to God’s glory and not our own. It all depends on whether God’s light is in our hearts or not. If He “who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 4:6 – has shone in our hearts, then the motive of our shining will be to reflect the glory back on Him.

The Seed Will Grow!

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THE SEED WILL GROW!

 “His disciples asked, ‘Why did you tell this story?’ He said, ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom — you know how it works. There are others who need stories. But even with stories, some of them aren’t going to get it:

Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,

Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

“This story is about some of those people. The seed is the Word of God. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word, but no sooner do they hear it than the devil snatches it from them so they won’t believe and be saved.

“The seeds in the gravel are those who hear with enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm doesn’t go very deep. It’s only another fad, and the moment there’s trouble it’s gone.

“And the seed that fell in the weeds — well, these are the ones who hear, but then the seed is crowded out and nothing comes of it as they worry about tomorrow, making money and having fun.

“But the seed in good earth — these are the good hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.'” Luke 8:9-15 (The Message).

When Jesus gives the explanation, the story is quite easy to understand. Just as it happens in nature, so it happens in people. There are different responses to the same message, and different outcomes.

Even among His own disciples there were different responses, although He was with them all the time and they watched and listened to the same teaching and the same demonstrations of the way the kingdom worked.

Take Judas, for example. How could a man who had been in close contact with Him for more than three years, turn on Him and sell His out to the Jewish hierarchy? What did he see but not see? What did he hear but not hear? Surely it was a matter of interpretation as well as expectation.

Why did Judas respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow Him? After the first flush of excitement, what was he expecting from this association? Did he have political aspirations, coupled perhaps with hopes of huge financial gain that made him stick with Jesus until he could see that there was nothing in it for him? Was he like the soil that was choked with weeds and had no place for the Word to take root?

Perhaps Judas had grown up in poverty and saw his opportunity to escape the cycle of need and want when he joined the group. Is that why he stole money from the common purse — just because he had access to more money than he had even seen in his life? Perhaps he came from a wealthy home and he just loved money. He loved to feel the weight of it in his bag, and to know that he always had resources to buy anything he wanted.

What about the other disciples? Jesus’ Word didn’t seem to make much impression on them, especially when the chips were down. They also had what we call “selective hearing”! There were certain things they chose not to hear at the time, especially when Jesus spoke about the cross. It took the terrible events of His arrest and death to open their eyes and ears to what He had been telling them for a long time.

But Jesus didn’t give up on them because He knew that the potential for growth and fruitfulness lay in the seed and when the time and the soil were right, the seed would germinate and grow. And so it did.

It’s like that in our lives too. We may be deaf to what God is saying to us, but He doesn’t give up because there will come a time when the hardness and resistance are removed and we become sensitive to what He is saying. He sometimes has to use drastic means to break up the soil, but He will do it so that we can become fruitful for Him.