Making Hard Times Count

31727357914_d47893af4e_z (2) — Photo by Michelle Pearson

Making Hard Times Count

Has anyone else gone through a hard time in their life? I see those hands, I’m sure we all have. If your hand isn’t up, you’re either under 8 years old, or you’re not being truthful with yourself. I know I’ve had my share of them; financial, physical, emotional, you name it. When I was 8 years old my grandmother committed suicide, when I was in my 30’s my brother committed suicide, my dad died at 64 of brain cancer, when my kids were in high school we lost everything…and I mean everything, and just last May, I lost my only remaining brother to a car accident. But, I know that everyone reading this has been through similar hard times. Check out this video Francis Chan “Balance Beam”.

The question isn’t, “Have we been through hard times?” The real question is what do we do about it and how do we handle it? The first thing we must remember is this, the hard times don’t have to last. Let me give an example; You lose your job. Being without a job is hard, but it doesn’t have to last. If you put all your energy into job hunting, I’m talking about making job hunting your job, you will find a new job, quickly. But if you go home saying woe is me, my life is over, and just sit on your butt for weeks on end, that hard time will last and get worse as bills start to pile up.

Here’s the kicker. Everybody…I mean everybody, whether they are a Christ follower or not, goes through hard times. So, what this means is, if you are not going through hard times now, brace for it, they are coming. The problem is, so many churches out there are teaching that, if you follow Christ, your life will be a bed of roses. Oh yeah? Check out the life of Christ Himself, or His disciples. None of them had easy lives! In fact, Christ told us that we will have hard times, but as Christ followers, we can overcome them. John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” I love that last line, “take heart, because I have overcome the world”. You see, there’s nothing to worry about if we trust in Him. 1 Peter 5:7 “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” He not only cares about you, He sings over you with joy, Zephaniah 3:17 ^17 “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

I know what you are thinking right now. I didn’t title this, “How to Cope with Hard Times”, I titled it “Making Hard Times Count.” So, how can we make them count? I’m glad you asked.

Matthew 11:28-30 “²⁸Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.²⁹Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” For us city folk, a yoke isn’t talking about the yellow an eggs. A yoke is that big wooden thing they put on the necks of oxen or workhorses. A yoke is a burden, they are awkward and heavy and rub you the wrong way. So, what Christ is saying here is, if you are tired and carrying a heavy burden, give it to Him. But, notice He doesn’t say that you won’t have a burden, He just says that His burden is light. Even though we will still have a burden, He will teach us and we will find rest in Him.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” The second point is, when those hard times come, just remember, God’s Got This! He has a plan for your life, and it’s to give you a future and a hope, so we need to look at these hard times as temporary and learn from them. Ask yourself, how does this hard time fit into God’s plan for my life? What is He trying to teach me? And, then…Grow.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8 ⁷“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. ⁸They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” The Bible often compares us to trees planted by a river, and that’s such a great analogy. When we trust in the Lord, we are like a tree planted by a river. What does it mean to trust in the Lord: Psalm 1:1-3 tells us, “¹Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. ²But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. ³They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” So, to trust in the Lord, we need to first, think about who we are hanging around with. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends with non-Christians, Christ Himself was, but who do we look to for advice, who influences us? Secondly, we must delight in God’s word and meditate on it all the time. We all give our time and energy to what, or who, we are passionate about. As Christ followers, we get passionate about God and His word.

Psalms 9:9-10 “⁹The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. ¹⁰Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.” When those hard times come, run to Christ. He alone is our shelter and our refuge, and He does not abandon those who seek Him. Matthew 7:7-8 ⁷“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Notice it says, “Keep on seeking, and you will find.” We must seek Him with all our heart. Again, we need to be passionate about Him.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” That’s it…don’t be afraid, don’t be discouraged. I love that the Bible tells us not to be afraid 365 times, one for every day of the year. I said it before, I’ll say it again, God’s Got This!

So, how can we make hard times count?

Know that God loves you and cares about you.
Remember, God’s Got This!
Trust in the Lord.
Keep on seeking Him.
Make Him your hope and confidence.
Hide under His shelter.
Delight in the Lord.
Know that hard times are temporary.
Let Christ teach you.
Be like a tree planted by His water.
Rest in Him.
Know that God has a plan for your life and He already knows the end of the story.
Know that, when you pray, He is listening.
Be Passionate about Christ.
Grow!

December 7, 2017 0

Names of God – Jesus

Names of God – Jesus

I realize I said that El Shaddai would be the last Name of God that I was going to write about, but I would be remiss in leaving out this name. “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11.

I grew up singing a very simple, yet profound, chorus by Bill Gaither called There’s Something About That Name, it goes:

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

There’s just something about that name

Master, Savior, Jesus

Like the fragrance after the rain

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

Let all heaven and earth proclaim

Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away

But there’s something about that name.”

Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior”, and as we learned before, Jehovah means I Am, so the name Jesus actually means, “I Am the Savior”. One of the first things we must realize is that His name isn’t Jesus Christ…Christ isn’t His last name. Jesus is His name, and Christ, meaning Messiah, is his title. Technically, He should be called Jesus, the Christ. The name of Jesus is only used in the New Testament, and yet, it is used 1,477 times, while His title, Christ, is used another 537 times. I don’t want to bore you with numbers, I just want you to realize that His name and title are used over 2,000 times in 27 books, that’s an average of almost 75 times per book.

I urge all of you to read Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ. In this book Lee, a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, interviews experts from the fields of science, philosophy, and history about the evidence for Christ. I love this book because it’s full of facts that, first of all, prove that Jesus wasn’t some made up deity, but that He really existed, and secondly it shows Him as the Christ.

But, back to the name. When Mary conceived Him, the angel told Joseph, “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21. Going back to that first passage I mentioned. Notice that it says that God gave Him a name that was above every name. Okay, I’m going to say this one more time. All religions do NOT lead to the same place. We are not all on different roads to the same God. God gave Jesus a name that was above every other name! His name is above Buddha, His name is above Mohamed, and it goes on to say, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Did you get that? Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord…EVERY…that includes Buddha and Mohamed, and every other false god there ever was will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that will glorify God the Father. Acts 4:12 tells us, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” There is no other name that will save you! Romans 10:9 tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;” And, then it goes on to say in verse 13, “for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” Salvation only comes through Christ. The world wants us to be all-inclusive, but the truth remains that those other religions will not save your soul.

In today’s society, people keep saying that Christians aren’t tolerant of other religions, but the problem is that they have redefined tolerance. If I tolerate another religion, that means I agree to disagree and go on with my life, it does not mean that I give validity to their belief…that’s lunacy. If I say that all religions are right, then I have just nullified the death of Christ. In fact, Galatians 2:21 says, “I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.” So, other religions aside, even if I try to get to heaven by keeping God’s law, I have nullified the death of Christ. Hebrews 10:29 puts it this way, “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be one of those people. I don’t want to insult and disdain the Holy Spirit. You see, God loves us so much, that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for us. Jesus, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, died in our place, and to give validity to other religions is a great insult. You see, Buddha did not die for me, Mohamed did not die for me, in fact, Mary did not die for me! Jesus, the Christ…the Messiah was the only one worthy to die for me. He was God in the flesh, He came to earth and lived a sinless life, then He died on the cross. He was the perfect sacrifice. But wait, it doesn’t end there. Three days later, He overcame death and the grave. He rose from the dead and was seen by hundreds of people. This is what I’m trying to say, there is only one name given under heaven, by which we MUST be saved…Jesus!

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s just something about that name.

December 5, 2017 0

Names of God – El Shaddai

Names of God – El Shaddai

If you are as old as I am, and grew up in the church, you probably remember a song by Amy Grant titled, El Shaddai. This song actually uses several of the Hebrew names of God. Names like; El Elyon and Adonai, which we have already looked at, but I want to look at the title name today. The name El Shaddai is another of my favorites, it means Almighty, and Most Powerful, and The Lord is More Than Enough. That’s sort of a “drop the mic” kind of name, isn’t it?

So far, we have looked at 16 names of God, and we’ve only scratched the surface. Originally, I didn’t have this one as the last on the list, but I decided to make it that because it just sums the rest of them up. I mean, think about all the names we have looked at. Names that mean The Lord is My Provider, My Banner, My Healer, etc. But, this name ties them all together…The Lord is More Than Enough.

Once again, we see a name of God that brings us back to the fact that we have no need to fear. He is our Provider, He is our Healer, He is Peace, He is our Shepherd, He is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and He is More Than Enough. This name just brings it all together and wraps it up in a neat package. Are you afraid? God is more than enough to calm your fears. Are you tempted? God is more than enough to deliver you from that temptation. Are you distraught? God is more than enough to comfort you.

We first see this name in Genesis 49 in Jacob’s last words to his sons. When he is talking about Joseph in verses 24 and 25 he says, “²⁴But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. ²⁵May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.” In these two verses, Jacob uses several of the names of God, names like El Elyon, Jehovah Ra’ah, even one we didn’t look at, Eben Yisra’el, the Stone of Isreal, and El Shaddai. Notice he ends his list with, El Shaddai, here it is translated, The Almighty. Every one of these names is good, and every one is true, but this one just sums them all up.

We see examples of this all throughout Scriptures. Like in, 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” Here we see that Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, is El Shaddai, more than enough. Again, we see it in, Philippians 4:7 “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” In this one we see Jehovah Shalom, The Lord is Peace, is El Shaddai, more than enough. Also in, Hebrews 13:5 “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So, He is Jehovah Ra’ah, our Shepherd, who is El Shaddai, More Than Enough.

He is Jehovah, the Great I Am, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, He is the All-Powerful, Almighty God…The one true God. This is something that you will see me repeating over and over in my writings, because it is so important, especially in today’s world. The fact is that all paths do NOT lead to the same God. We do NOT all worship the same God. As we have seen, we worship El Qanna, a jealous God, and He refuses to be shared with other gods. Jesus said, John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” The Bible also tells us in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.” I know this is a polarizing subject in today’s society of all-inclusiveness, but I can’t bury the truth. Buddhist’s do not worship the one true God, neither do Hindu’s, nor Shinto’s, nor Muslim’s. This is displayed all throughout Scripture. We see it in Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, 6:4, 32:39, 2 Samuel 7:22, 1 Kings 8:60, 2 Kings 5:15, 19:15, 1 Chronicles 17:20, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 18:31, 86:10, Isaiah 37:16, 20, 43:10, 11, 4:6, 8, 45:21, 46:9, Hosea 13:4, Joel 2:27, Zechariah 14:9, and in the New Testament in Mark 12:29-34, John 17:3, Romans 3:30, 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Galatians 3:20, Ephesians 4:6, 1 Timothy 1:17, 2:5, and James 2:19, to name a few.

Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t harbor any animosity toward anyone for what they believe. You can be wrong, and not be a bad person. I have friends from other beliefs, I have friends who are, according to the Bible, living in sin. I don’t hate them for this. In fact, it makes me love and care for them that much more, because they just need God. They need to experience Jehovah Shammah and Jehovah Jireh. They need to be healed by Jehovah Rapha and comforted by Jehovah Ra’ah. They need to know that El Olam is always there for them and that El Shaddai is all they will ever need.

So, please, take these names of God to heart, and then take Him to the world. Don’t be stopped by political correctness, just trust God for the strength and boldness you need. Remember that 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.” We must always be ready! So, if you don’t know what that hope is, get into His word and find out for yourself. Let’s show the world who our God really is.

November 28, 2017 1

Names of God – Adonai

Names of God – Adonai

The name Adonai means, Lord and Master. Just as in the name Elohim, Adonai is the plural tense with a first-person singular pronoun, once again demonstrating the Trinity. Now, there are those who don’t believe in the Trinity because the word is never used in the Bible. While it is true that the word trinity is never used, the Trinity itself is very clearly portrayed. There are many examples other than the use of plural tenses to refer to one God. There is also Christ’s own words where He said in John 10:30, “The Father and I are one.” Notice He didn’t say the Father and I are like one, or the Father and I are similar, He said we are one. Another example is the name Jehovah, which means “I Am”. When God was talking to Moses through the burning bush, He told Moses to tell Pharaoh that I Am has sent you. All throughout the Bible God the Father refers to Himself as “I Am”, and then Jesus said in John 8:58, “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!’” See there? He didn’t say I was, He said I Am. He was revealing Himself as God. What he said was before Abraham was, Jehovah!

I could go on, but this isn’t a blog on the Trinity, it’s on the name Adonai, and as I said it means Lord and Master. David used it in the 110^th Psalm when he said in verse 1, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.’” If you look at this verse in the original Hebrew, it says, “Jehovah said to Adonai”. Adonai is translated “My Lord”.

God is our Lord, He is our Master. There are so many who claim the name of Christ but don’t make Him their master. I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you, but you can’t do that. He is an all or nothing kind of God. Remember the name we recently looked at, El Qanna? It means that He is a jealous God. The last thing that Jesus said to His disciples before ascending to heaven, what we call the Great Commission, was Matthew 28:18-20, “¹⁸Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” First, He says, go make disciples. A disciple is one who imitates the one they are following. The Pharisees had disciples, and their job was to follow that Pharisee around and imitate everything he did. God doesn’t tell us to make congregations, He doesn’t tell us to make religious people, He tells us to make imitators of Himself. The name Christian means “Christ-like”. I have a friend, Joshua Hackworth, who said in one of his blogs several years ago that he calls himself a Christ follower, not a Christian because that’s for you to decide. That’s so true if we are living as Christians, then others should recognize us as such. Actually, it’s somewhat arrogant for us to call ourselves Christians. When we do that, we are telling others that we are Christ-like. But, if He is our Lord and Master, we will be following His examples. The other thing this passage says is that we are to teach these new disciples to follow everything that Christ has taught us. Notice He didn’t say to teach them the 10 commandments or to teach them the Lord’s Prayer, He said to teach them the commandments that He has taught us. And, what was the greatest of those commandments? Matthew 22:34-40 ³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. ³⁵One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” ³⁷Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Love God, and Love Each Other…it’s that simple!

The Bible makes it very clear that we are not saved by our works, Ephesians 2:8-9 “⁸God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” But, we are saved for good works, Matthew 5:14-16 ¹⁴“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” As with everything, our good works are there to glorify our Father…our Lord and Master. Our Adonai.

If you call yourself a Christian but haven’t made Him your master yet, stop what you are doing and take care of that right now. Go back and read my blog titled “Doulos”. Many of the books of the New Testament started out by saying: Paul, or Peter, or James, or Luke, a doulos of my Lord Jesus Christ. A doulos is a bondservant or a servant by choice. Ask yourself, am I a doulos, or do I try to be my own master?

November 21, 2017 0

Names of God – El Qanna

Names of God – El Qanna

Exodus 34:14 says this, “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.” El Qanna means Jealous God…thus, His very name is Jealous. I know what you are probably thinking, isn’t jealousy a bad thing? It can be, but God is jealous of our time with Him, He is jealous of our worship. I am not a “jealous man” because I can trust my wife, but if my wife were to start giving her affections to another man…watch out.

All throughout the Bible, God refers to us as His bride, Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthian Church, 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.” If you are a Christ follower, you are the bride of Christ, and he is jealous of our praise, our affection, and our worship.

There is a great worship song. I first heard it performed by David Crowder, but it was written by John Mark McMillan. This song is called, “How He Loves”, and it says:

And He is jealous for me,
Love’s like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

He loves us so much, that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for us. Think about this for a minute. First, Christ left Heaven to come to earth as a man, that alone was a huge sacrifice. But, then He lived a life, literally as a homeless man, and ministered to people, many of which rejected everything He said. After that, He was beaten beyond recognition and hung on a cross to die. His body was then buried in a borrowed tomb, then on the third day, He overcame death and the grave by rising from the dead. He did that for you and me, so we must praise Him.

In Deuteronomy 5:9 God told the Israelites, “You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.” Many of you may be thinking, but I don’t worship other gods like they did back then. Don’t you? We often think of other gods being Buddha or some other idol, but what about money, or your career, or your house, car, or other worldly possessions? Do we spend more time with God than we do with our homes, or cars, or friends, or jobs, or even our TVs? The truth is that we all have things that we put before God, and He is jealous of them. He deserves our attention, and He demands our attention.

We’ve all heard people say, “It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship.” Sometimes those clichés lose their punch, but it is so true. God does not want religion, He does not care about organ music, or stained-glass windows, or any of that garbage, all He cares about is a relationship with His Church…His Bride.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Every time that religion is mentioned in the New Testament, except for one verse, it is mentioned in a negative light. The people that Jesus had problems with were the religious people, not the “sinners”, and Paul kept talking about how he left the religion of his fathers to follow Christ. The one time that religion is mentioned in a positive light is in James 1:27, where it says, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” So, what God sees as pure religion is helping widows and orphans, and keeping yourself pure. That’s it! Pure religion is glorifying God!

God’s love for us is unspeakable. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is the last verse in the book of John. The whole book is talking about all that Jesus did for us out of His love for us. It talks about His baptism at the beginning of His ministry, it talks about His ministry and how He was rejected by the religious people. In chapter 17 it recounts His prayer for us just before He went to the cross. It goes on to talk about His betrayal and crucifixion, His resurrection and ascent to heaven, and then it ends by saying, John 21:25 “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” Stop for just a minute and think about what this verse is saying. Look around at the room you are in and think about how many books it would take to fill that room. My office is small, about 12’X12’ with 8’ ceilings, so it’s about 1,152 cubic feet. That means that, if each book was about 1 cubic foot, it would take almost 1,200 books to fill this little office. But, to write down all the things that Jesus did for us out of love, the world couldn’t contain the books…wow! What a humbling thought! He loves me that much.

Let’s all, purpose in our hearts to love God as much as He loved us. I won’t write it all here, but stop for a minute and read 1 John chapter 4, starting at verse 7, and fall in love with God. You may think you already love God, and you probably do, but do you love Him like He loves you? Probably not, I know I don’t.

November 16, 2017 0

Names of God – El Elyon

Names of God – El Elyon

The Most High God! In Old Testament times, as it still is today, people had many gods. But, most of the pagans recognized that the God of the Hebrews was more powerful than their gods, they feared the God of the Hebrews, because He is the Most High God. In fact, even Satan himself recognized this fact. Isaiah recounts Satan’s fall from Heaven, and in Isaiah chapter 14 Satan gives 5 “I Will” statements, the last of which is, Isaiah 14:14 “I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.” You see…even Satan himself had to admit that God is the El Elyon…the God Most High.

We find the first reference to this in Genesis 14:18-20, “¹⁸And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. ¹⁹Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. ²⁰And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.’” Many scholars believe Melchizedek to be an early appearance of Christ, and I agree. You see, Melchizedek is only mentioned after this in Psalm 110, where God the Father is speaking to God the Son and says, Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.’”

The only other time we see him mentioned is in Hebrews chapter 7, where the writer goes into more detail on Melchizedek. First, we see in verse 2 that his name means “King of Justice”, and he is the King of Salem. Salem, or Shalom, means peace, so he is the King of Peace. The writer goes on to say, in verse 3, “There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors—no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God.” And it goes on to talk about how Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.

So, what does it all mean? Okay, so He’s the Most High God, what does that mean to me? I could take you through the Bible and show you in Daniel 4 where King Nebuchadnezzar met El Elyon, or in Numbers 24 where Balaam met El Elyon, but we need to know just what that means to us. What this all means, is that, no matter what happens, He is in control. Look at Jeremiah 29:11-13, “¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” The Most High God has a plan for my life! That’s amazing!

Allow me to give an example from my own life. This isn’t an easy task because there are so many that I had to sit here and decide which one to share. You see, from the day I proposed marriage to Michelle, on Christmas Eve 1983, we decided to follow God no matter what that meant. On our wedding announcement was Psalm 48:14, “For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die”, the song we often sang was a song by Dr. David Livingston called, “Lord Send Me Anywhere”…and He did. Michelle and I have moved more times than I can count and have lived in 7 different states and it was all because El Elyon had control of our lives and we trusted Him. Years ago, there was a popular bumper sticker that read, “God is my co-pilot.” The problem is that isn’t good enough. God must be your pilot…you are nothing more than a passenger along for the ride.

This particular time happened in January of 2007. Our youngest son, Caleb, had expressed interest in acting, so Michelle had entered him in an acting competition the previous summer and he was accepted to go to their competition in Orlando, FL, we were living in Ohio at the time. So, we made that our family vacation and took him to Orlando. While we were there one of the judges, a Hollywood agent, signed Caleb on the spot and told us that we needed to get him out to LA. On the way back to Ohio, we prayed about it. We told the Lord that, if He wanted us in LA, then He needed to make it very clear. At that time, I was serving as a youth pastor in a small church that couldn’t pay me, so I had a management job at an insurance claim office. When we got home from vacation, my first day back to work I was called into the boss’s office. He informed me that my position didn’t exist anymore, handed me a severance check, and showed me to the door.

Some of you are probably thinking, “does God really send people to LA?” I know that’s what my father-in-law asked. Here’s the thing though, as a direct result of us moving to LA in 2007, Caleb now owns a movie and TV production company. He doesn’t make “Christian films”, he just makes films with good messages and uses his business to witness to actors, directors, grips, and anyone he can on set. Caleb believes that, if he can be a conduit for God to change Hollywood, they can change the world.

You see, God had a plan for us, He had a plan for Caleb, and He has a plan for you. He truly is the Most High God. He is orchestrating all of this and He already knows the outcome. Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;” Remember, He is the Alpha and the Omega…the beginning and the end, The Most High God.

November 9, 2017 0

Names of God – Jehovah Mekoddishkem

Names of God – Jehovah Mekoddishkem

This name of God is only found twice in the entire Bible, and they are both in Exodus chapter 31. This name means The Lord Who Sanctifies You, or The Lord Who Makes You Holy. But, like some of the other names we have looked at, although it only appears twice as a name of God, it is illustrated throughout Scripture.

So, what does it mean to be sanctified, or holy? I mean, we hear these words a lot, especially holy. We hear about how God is holy, the Holy Bible and, of course, songs like Holy, Holy, Holy. But, did you know that you are supposed to be holy just like God is holy? So, what does that look like? The Hebrew word for sanctify or holy is Qadash and it means, to be set apart. We, as Christ-followers, are called to be set apart. The apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “¹⁵But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” Notice he says, “For the Scriptures say,” he is quoting Old Testament Scripture here; specifically Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, and 20:7. Then, he goes on, just a little later in the same letter to say, 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” Let’s look at what this verse is saying. First, he says we are a chosen people. I’ve said it before. The Bible often refers to us as being adopted, and that means we were chosen. We weren’t thrust upon God, we weren’t an accident…He chose us! The next thing it says is that we are royal priests. David Guzik had this to say about that phrase, “The offices of royalty and priesthood were jealously separated in Israel, but Jesus, who is our King and Priest, has brought them together for His people.” So, in Christ, we are both royalty, and priests. After that he says that we are a holy, or a set apart, nation. As believers, we must be set apart from the world. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” See what it says? “Let God transform you…by changing the way you think.” Don’t be like the world, be transformed, be a holy nation! But Peter wasn’t finished there, he went on to say that we are to be God’s very own possession. The KJV says, “a peculiar people”. So, don’t be like the world…be peculiar, be set apart, be God’s very own possession. Peter ends that verse by saying, as a result of being these things, we can show others the goodness of God, because He has called us out of the darkness they are in and into His perfect light.

How do we do this? How can we be set apart? Well, the first thing we need must do is, we must die to ourselves. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” Singer-songwriter, Joshua S. Porter of the band, Showbread, changed his name to Josh Dies to remind himself that he must die to himself daily. That’s what we must do, not change our names, but remind ourselves that we are nothing without Christ, and die to our sinful nature.

Once we are holy and set apart, and in His perfect light, we must show the world that light. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He said this, Matthew 5:14-16 ¹⁴“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” We are the light of the world! So many people today that claim the name of Christ think they are the judges of the world, and that their job is to stand on a street corner and hold signs to condemn people of their sins. News Flash, sinners will sin! It’s not our job to point that out, it’s our job to be a light. Once we have shined God’s light, His light will expose their sins. Look at the Parable of the Great Feast in Luke 14. After he was rejected by the first people he invited, he sent his servants out to bring in the homeless and outcasts. Read that account carefully, did he say to clean them up and then bring them in? No, he said, ²¹“The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²²After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ ²³So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. ²⁴For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

So, keep in mind that our job is to be holy like He is holy and to be salt and light to the world. Earnest Humphries, the pastor I grew up under, used to always say, “Your life may be the only Bible that some will ever open.” If you proclaim the name of Christ, the world will be watching. So stop judging and start shining!

November 7, 2017 0

Names of God – Jehovah Sabaoth

Names of God – Jehovah Sabaoth

This one is, by far, one of my favorite of the names of God. But, it didn’t become my favorite until about 10 years ago. You see I grew up reading the KJV which translates it as “the Lord of hosts”. Now, that isn’t a wrong translation, but in today’s language, it didn’t really mean anything to me. Then, one day I read it in the NLT which translates it as “the Lord of Heaven’s armies”, or “the Lord of angel armies” and that changed everything.

We find this name used 269 times in the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments and this name is important because it, once again, speaks of God’s protection…He is the Lord of Heaven’s armies. Let’s look at just what that means. There is an old hymn that says, “He could have called Ten Thousand Angels.” That is a lot, but it isn’t quite accurate. You see, this song was taken from Matthew 26:53, which says, “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” So, how many are twelve legions? One legion is equal to six thousand troops, so twelve legions are 72,000 troops. Each troop was roughly a horseman and 10 footmen, that’s 792,000 angels. So, when Jesus told His disciples that His Father would have sent twelve legions of angels, what He was saying was that He would send more angels than they could count. In fact, there are far more angels than that in Heaven. According to Revelations 5:11, there are: “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.” Now, this translation from the NASB is the most accurate. The KJV translates it as ten thousand times ten thousand, but the Hebrew word that was translated here as myriads is the Hebrew word “Murias” which is where we get the word myriad. Murias is translated as, “an innumerable multitude, an unlimited number.” You know, when we were kids we used to say, “infinity times infinity”? Well, that’s what myriads and myriads means. This is Heaven’s armies! So, what exactly are you afraid of? There is a great worship song by Chris Tomlin titled, “Whom Shall I Fear” and the chorus says:

“Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side”

The God of Angel Armies is always by my side…isn’t that an awesome thought? Have you noticed a common theme in many of these names of God? Jehovah Shalom, The Lord is Peace; Jehovah Ra’ah, The Lord is my Shepherd; Jehovah Sabaoth, The Lord of Angel Armies; they are all talking about His protection of His children. He is the Lord of Peace, so we can have perfect peace and contentment. He is our Shepherd, so we can lie down in those green pastures and feast before our enemies because He is watching over us. And, He is the commander in chief of Heaven’s armies…again, God’s got this!

We often think that God’s got too much to do to worry about my little, insignificant problems. Don’t you think it matters to God when you are cheated out of something? Check out James 5:4, “For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” He’s listening to your cries, and He’s there for you.

We are His adopted children, He chose us. Malachi 3:17 says, “’They will be my people,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.” Here’s the thing, none of us deserve His favored. I hear people everywhere, both Christian and non-Christian, saying, “You deserve this,” “You’re worth it”. We deserve nothing but punishment, but through His grace and mercy, He has forgiven those of us who have asked for it. My wife wrote this on Facebook recently, and I couldn’t agree more, “So many Christians have gotten on the bandwagon of telling themselves and others “you are worthy”. Where does the Word of God say so? The Bible does point out over and over our unworthiness, though, in order to highlight God’s love and grace – His UN-merited favor. So, please, don’t tell me I am worthy … I know I am unworthy… but, I also know that Christ is worthy and that His Gift has made me worthy … nothing else … And, that I am loved.

When one focuses on whether they are worthy or not, they are not focusing on God, His love, His Mercy, and His grace … the story we are here to tell. Not to tell others they are worthy! In fact, we can never have this gift unless we admit our sin and unworthiness, and give ourselves to Him to live in exchange for His Gift of Grace.” Romans 3:23 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Amen!

Here’s the beauty of all of this. I don’t have to be worthy! People who believe in works-based salvation are constantly living under the stress of being good enough. They think, “what if I sin right before I die?” The Bible makes it very clear that salvation has nothing to do with how good we are. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “⁸God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” So, don’t try to be worthy, just live every day to glorify the one who set you free.

Know this, although you are not worthy, you are loved. You are loved by Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Heavens Armies…therefore, whom shall I fear?

November 2, 2017 0

Names of God – Jehovah Ra’ah

Names of God – Jehovah Ra’ah

If you grew up in church, pretty much any denomination, you memorized the 23^rd Psalm at some point in your life. It starts out, Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” The Hebrew word for “The Lord is my shepherd” is “Jehovah Ra’ah”.

So, what does it mean to be our shepherd? I mean, all throughout the Bible, it refers to Christ as our shepherd. Why does He call Himself our shepherd? Let’s start by looking at this short psalm that talks about how He is our shepherd, and what that looks like.

The first thing he says in this verse is, “I have all that I need.” This doesn’t mean that Christ will give us everything we want, it means that, when we have the good shepherd, He is all we need. When you have a good shepherd you have food, you have shelter, you have protection. But most of all, we have Him, and that’s truly all that we need.

The very next verse says, Psalm 23:2 “He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.” So, the first thing it says is that our Shepherd keeps us safe and makes sure we have food and water. Being in an open meadow, the shepherd can watch for any predators that might be coming. So, the meadow provides a place where He can protect us, as well as an ample source of food and water. When you have the good shepherd, you have rest.

He goes on to say, Psalm 23:3 “He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” He renews my strength… Isaiah 40:31 “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Also, in Galatians 6:9 it says, “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Our shepherd gives us that strength…that perseverance to keep going so that in the end, we can receive the blessing from Him. This verse goes on to say that He guides us along the right paths, which brings honor to Him. Let’s not forget that our only purpose is to glorify Him, Isaiah 43:7 “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.” So, He guides us for His glory. Michelle and I claimed Psalm 48:14 as our wedding verse, “For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die.” And He has, through more moves than I care to count in seven different states, and He has been our guide every step of the way. Let me tell you, whoever says the Christian life is boring, has never tried it. When you have the good shepherd, you have strength.

Then he says, Psalm 23:4, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” Because the Lord is our shepherd, we don’t have to fear anything. Everywhere you look today you see the No Fear gear. It’s on clothes and on car windows. But, as Christ followers, we truly have nothing to fear, because His rod and staff protect and comfort us. In fact, the Bible tells us not to fear 365 times, I think that’s something we need to listen to. When you have the good shepherd, you have true peace, as we saw in the last post, Jehovah Shalom.

The next verse says Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” This first part is another picture of His protection. We can feel so safe with our shepherd, that we can sit down and feast, even when surrounded by our enemy. David Guzik said this about this passage, “David gives a beautiful picture: “table” suggests bounty; “prepare” suggests foresight and care; “before me” suggests the personal connection.” He is our shepherd. A shepherd cares for and loves his sheep…it is personal! He then says, “You anoint my head with oil.” In the Bible, the anointing of oil is always a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so the shepherd gives us the Holy Spirit. He ends this verse by saying, “My cup overflows with blessings.” When you have the good shepherd, you are blessed beyond comprehension. In Ephesians 1:3 says, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” The good shepherd blesses us with EVERY SPIRITUAL blessing in the heavenly realms! And, spiritual blessings are always better than physical blessings. Charles Spurgeon said this, “Our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings; they are more than we deserve. But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value.”

The last verse in this passage says, Psalm 23:6 “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” Okay, check this out. He says that “Surely” …not maybe…goodness and unfailing love, that love we talked about in the blog titled “A More Perfect Way”, will pursue me. Did you get that? He’s not saying you’ll stumble upon it, he’s not saying you’ll find it, he’s saying that His goodness and Agape love will pursue you…wow! The last thing he says is, “and I will live in the house of the Lord forever”. This isn’t talking about when we get to heaven. Forever starts now! When you are with the good shepherd, you are in the house of the Lord, no matter where you are. When you have the good shepherd, you have goodness, you have unfailing love, and you have a home.

October 31, 2017 1

Names of God – Jehovah Shalom

Names of God – Jehovah Shalom

Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace. Most of us had a good idea of what this name meant when we saw it. We all know that the Hebrew word, shalom, means peace, but it goes so much further than that. In fact, the Jewish people use this word, shalom, to say hello and goodbye.

As soon as we hear the word peace, most of us automatically think of the peace sign, holding up two fingers, peace demonstrations. But, the word shalom conveys muc7h more than that. It means complete peace, a feeling of contentment, being whole, being complete, it puts across a wish of well-being and harmony. The definition of shalom in the Strong’s Concordance is, “7965 Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb Shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full. In modern Hebrew, the obviously related word Shelem means to pay for, and Shulam means to be fully paid.”

I know this is starting with a lot of facts, but I wanted to dispel any preconceived notions of what peace is before we get started. The name Jehovah Shalom is only used once in the Bible, but the picture of the God of peace is throughout. Gideon used this name when he built an altar after the angel appeared to him in Ophrah, Judges 6:24 “And Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.”

We’ve seen the definition of Shalom, so what exactly does Jehovah Shalom imply? First, notice that Jehovah Shalom does not mean the Lord brings peace, it doesn’t mean the Lord gives peace, it means the Lord IS peace. The Lord is the very embodiment of peace, and when the Holy Spirit lives in you, you have perfect peace living in you. You have contentment, completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, and the absence of agitation or discord, living in you. In fact, in John 14:16 Jesus told His disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” Christ was talking about giving us the Holy Spirit in this verse, and the word He used here that is translated as “advocate” is the Greek word “Parakletos” which also means, comforter, encourager, or counselor. So, what all of this is saying is, when you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you are complete.

We find the word peace 362 times in the Bible, that’s almost one time for every day of the year. We see it used by the angels when they were announcing the birth of the Christ, in Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” We see over and over throughout the gospels Jesus telling people, after He heals them, to go in peace. On Christ’s “Triumphant Entry” into Jerusalem, just before He was crucified, He said this about the city, Luke 19:42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.” You see, the way to peace is only through Christ. He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Okay, I’m going to be controversial again. People today, even some who claim the name of Christ, say we are all worshiping the same God. That is not the truth. The problem is that we have redefined what “tolerance” means. Tolerance does not mean to give validity to everything others believe, that is lunacy. Tolerance means to tolerate what others believe, even if it is wrong. We can’t hate people for having other beliefs, in fact, the Bible tells us to love them and pray for them. But, we have a responsibility to share the truth with them, and that truth is that Christ is the ONLY way to the Father and the ONLY way to true peace…because “They don’t know where to find peace.” Romans 3:17.

Peace is a gift from God. Jesus said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” In John chapter 16, Christ is telling us about the work the Holy Spirit will do in our lives. He starts telling His disciples how He will be leaving them, but that their sadness will be turned to joy when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Then He ends it all in verse 33 by saying, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” We can have true peace in Christ. Notice again, He doesn’t say that our lives will be easy, He says that we will have many trials and sorrows in this world, but He doesn’t end with that, He says “But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” There’s that perfect peace. We can rest assured that, as my son, Caleb likes to say, “God’s got this.”

I won’t go over every verse on peace, but I encourage you to do a study on the subject, keeping in mind the true meaning of the word. The world today is searching for peace. The problem is they are looking in all the wrong places. They think they will find peace by redefining tolerance, they think they will find peace by marching and demonstrating, they think they will find peace by seeking the pleasures the world offers. But, we have the truth. We have true peace and the only source of it.

If you are a Christ follower, it is your duty, both to God and your fellow man, to bring them true peace. If they reject it, that’s on them. Ezekiel 33:7-9 ⁷“Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. ⁸If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. ⁹But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.” So, as Christ said right before He ascended to heaven, go and make disciples.

October 27, 2017 0

Tag: One Body