I like dark chocolate

I have always disliked dark chocolate. Perhaps it's because I've spent so much of my life preferring sweet foods or the fact I distinctly remember sneaking into the family larder and sneaking some baking chocolate - regardless, I've never liked the dark stuff.

But I've heard good things about dark chocolate. How eating some measure of it can be a good health choice. How it comes it a huge variety - and in fact, more of the world's high-end chocolates are often measured in degrees of cocoa present.

In other words, the darker the chocolate is, the better it is for you. Working with this perspective as well as the assumption that appreciating dark chocolate is, much like coffee and alcohol, an acquired taste, I realized that this could be a kind of spiritual model.

This got me to thinking about how God's grace is like dark chocolate; it is multi-layered, has textures, aspects, flavors, and elements that only exist to those who have the proper palette; it is better for you than what you might select of your own nature; and there are many who encourage you to appreciate it's depth and amazing character.

And this led me to realizing that without God, we wouldn't understand His grace. It's something we forget - that we need God to understand, perceive, appreciate, recognize, or even miss God. When we lose sight of this, we lose something precious.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

One of the things I find most fascinating is that He functions outside of time.

This is implied by the fact He has stated He is the "I AM". You can't very well be an unchanging being if you're buffeted about by time.

And so today I intentionally recognize that God designed this day. And gave it to us.

Imagine the world's most gifted artist crafting a masterpiece with you in mind.
Imagine the world's most gifted artist doing so and offering you it free of charge.
Now, imagine that happening EVERY SINGLE DAY.

How can we be but perpetually amazed at His grace, mercy, and joy.

So I have an assignment for you:

Spend the day in actual amazement.
See every aspect of the day as designed especially for you.
And give thanks for it all.

... leaves you kinda speechless to speak on anything else.

Framed by grace

There is a concept that I will mention - one that will not be new to you. The idea is simple: Certain pieces of information, when known, fundamentally change you.

The existence and nature of Jesus was one such piece of information. The introduction of Jesus into a person's paradigm necessarily changes that person. Jesus is such a large figure, cutting such a deep swathe in what things fundamentally mean that one will inevitably have some form of a relationship with Christ Jesus, even if one does not wish it.

Likewise, the ability to become someone else is a gift from God - imagine if you were constructed in such a way that learning something fundamentally alien to your current paradigm necessarily was never able to be absorbed ... that there was a point where any information sufficiently alien would NEVER be understood ... that you would be unable to even store, let alone glean and harvest that information, in any way. It is a blessing, a form of grace, which we ARE able to learn and adapt to information outside of our functional paradigm. Without this basic ability, we would never have learned to walk, to speak, to listen, to reason, or any number of things. In the same way that learning to read redefines a person's universe, an individual's universe has a way of being defined by those events and concepts that have the potential to reshape that individual.

The key is identifying them.

But in whatever shape you find yourself in - recognition of them should come, for a believer, with a moment of thankfulness - for your creator has blessed you with the ability to grow as new information comes into your awareness - and the desire to seek out these paradigm re-defining concepts. For without them, there would be no true learning. And with them, the only limit to our ability to truly honor God is the grace we claim in His name and the relationship we hold with Him.

Hyper-challenge:

Actively open yourself up to the potential for YOUR next paradigm-explosion by praying to God that He reveal one piece of information that will simultaneously draw you close to Him, change the way you understand the world you live in, and give you a profound depth of joy and gratitude that He is real.

God save the king II

2 Samuel 16:16

And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.

It is interesting that scripture now tells of Hushai speaking "God save the king, God save the king". The last point in scripture that held that phrase were the Israelites saying the same about Saul. The one speaking it is Hushai. From 2 Sam 15:34 we have evidence of just how old Hushai is - for David reigned over 40 years, and Hushai was David's father's servant. I assume this meant David's biological father - regardless, Hushai is likely at least 60 years of age, and has seen Saul in action. He knows what kind of king Saul turned out to be, and so we see, from Hushai's lips, what kind of king Absalom is, in Hushai's eyes. Someone possibly chosen by the Lord, but someone who needs to be saved by the Lord, because they are making poor choices. And this is the beginning of Absalom's fall as well.

Not that David wanted Absalom to die. David had fought wars prior; he knew the ins and outs of how to wage conflict. He even knew he had done wrong early on - in 2 Sam 16:5, we have one of the local's cursing David. His people are ready to jump up and defend him, and David speaks plainly, indicating that if the Lord wishes him to be cursed, then cursed he shall be. It may even be that the Lord will "requite" him good for it. Regardless, David knows enough about God that he knows he messed up. It is hard not to stare it in the face when your own son tries to take the throne from you without your consent. Further confirmation that David did not hate Absalom can be found 2 Sam 19, where the reigning king of Israel weeps over his son.

So I bring you back to the phrase "God save the king". Akin to Shakespeare's "me think you protesteth too much", the phrase (in practice) seems to imply, not that the speaker is seeking God's presence, but more that there is an implied "us from" between the 'save' and the 'the'. Which brings me to today's ...

CALL TO ACTION

What do YOU say about others that you only mean in a half-hearted way?

Do you greet people with a friendly wave, not because you earnestly wish their well-being - but because it is good manners?

Do you involve God in your interactions with people explicitly, expecting Him to provide guidance in the mundane as well as profound events in your life?

Do you find yourself dealing too harshly (or not harshly enough) with people to take your time and energy?

Today's call to action is simple:

I . Pray before you speak.

Before you speak any phrase today, give a silent prayer to God that the words out of your lips are His words and hold His intent

Before you share an opinion, describe something, talk shop, speak at a meeting, or engage in discourse of any kind, pray.

Before you open your mouth at all today, each time, pray to God for His wisdom.

II . Pray before you think.

Pray immediately after hearing anything

Pray immediately after seeing anything

Pray immediately after drinking anything

Pray immediately after eating anything

Pray immediately after walking anywhere

Even if you cannot do it all day, try doing it for an hour. Or maybe four.

You should feel foolish initially. Pray through that.

You should feel over-busy a little after that. Pray through that as well.

In a short while, you should have a little more faith. Pray a praise of thanksgiving.

Do it for as long as you can. Track the changes and witness the results with a fellow believer.

Faithfulness - is what He wants from us

Today I speak of faithfulness. It is not a hard topic to understand. It is a hard topic to choose, consistently. Put to other words, it is hard to be faithful in faithfulness.

One reason is the necessity of being attentive. In the latter years of David's reign, the people's loyalty to David were taken away by a man who was extremely attractive named Absalom. We have David's lagging attentiveness (which eventually led toward the people being drawn away from him). Likewise, we have the children of Israel not being attentive to follow after the Lord's anointed. In a very real sense, we see a model of how Satan likely tried usurping the throne of Christ. On earth, the plan worked a great deal better than in heaven. Regardless, the short and long-term results were to glorify God.

Another reason is the necessity of being steadfast. When Jesus was at the height of his popularity he was approached by thugs directed by a prior disciple and, through a kiss, Jesus was betrayed to the earthly powers-that-be. Jesus had the authority to pull any number of angels to change the events that lay before him. But Jesus was faithful in the execution of his duties, even to His own death. Again, we see the results of faith-based action resulting in God being glorified.

A third reason is the necessity of accountability. When the ten virgins were made aware of the approaching bride-groom, they rushed to meet him. Half had enough oil to sustain themselves. The other half missed the boat. If all ten had been accountable to one another, there would have been ten wives for the groom. Instead, five virgins missed out on what they had likely spent their lives in preparation. Again, we see the reality of faith-based decision making evidencing God's glory, as well as the awareness that choosing the path of steadfast faithfulness realizing the reward set aside for faithful believers.

The simplest approach to resolving the tendency toward faithlessness is captured in many points in scripture. From Revelation's note that those who are faithful to the last (receiving nearly every reward) to the same captured in the psalms (for example, where it suggests the love of the law is exemplified by meditating on it all day - every day).

There are two aspects to faithfulness - the daily and the hourly

• Hourly

• - Over-arching focus on the immediate
  

• Are you being faithful to the responsibilities of your house, your job, your spouse, your family, your vehicles?

• Is your heart focused on the faithful execution of your duties?

• Is there any duty or responsibility you take for granted?

• Is it possible, your mind wanders while in the faithful execution of those duties?

• Daily

• - Over-arching focus on accomplishing God's goals

• Are you mindful of what God has given you to accomplish?

• Are you working, daily, on your goals?

• Are you seeing measureable increases in faith over time?

• Are you evidencing the fruit of the spirit?

CALL TO ACTION

Spend half an hour today in prayer, talking to God, asking him to convey to you in what manner you should be faithful in today.

Ask Him to help plan you day in such a way that you take care of your responsibilities AND resolution of faithfulness.

Ask Him also to reveal to you your next big AND little step, to be mindful of both.

Discover someone in your life to whom you can be accountable to and charge them to be accountable to you as well.

You may note that it will bear the most fruit to find a person who already loves God.

Develop a Godly relationship of accountability with this person.

How clean are your feet?

Foot-washing hearkens back to a time when physical contact was something different. In Jerusalem, at the time of Jesus, leprosy was common, as was the possibility of being stoned. We're talking old-testament times. In addition, hygiene, although not a concept explicitly discussed, is implicitly included in Solomon's laws, and the result is that physical contact held the association and perception of a great many more dangers than we're likely familiar with but a greater degree of intimacy than we're familiar with. If a simple hug could convey friendliness, acceptance, a neutral and affectionate greeting, and a loving thought, how much more would a foot washing?

In addition, the concept of general cleanliness in the Jerusalem in question was markedly distinct from what we would call normal in our "modern-day American" way. Private access to running water was probably only realized by a few wealthy people - and then likely not for washing but for aesthetic pleasure. Regardless, there were public pools, separate for each gender, where people could be baptized or engage in holy rituals, and so the concept of cleanliness as something that is sought after was more sacred to the people of Jerusalem than it is today. Thus, to complement the intensity physical contact had, we have the Jerusalem of Jesus' day reflecting a greater conscientiousness toward cleanliness - certainly a greater association with spirituality than is often given credence today.

Third, one of the keynotes of Jesus’ presence was that of service. Classism is something we as Americans often take for granted as not being a significant factor in decisions. True, there is an implicit classism created by the presence or lack of resources, but the actual reality of classism was something intrinsic to Israel society, not because of resources, but because of social more - thus it was often unheard of that individuals would cross those social morasses between mores to interact, let alone SERVE one another. This is one of the reasons that Jesus' message was so profound - it implied that your profession didn't define your life, that people should be encouraged to function with one another (instead of within their caste), and that opportunities for service were something to be sought instead of avoided.

Additionally, we are called, as believers, to associate certain body parts with certain spiritual girding. In particular, the feet are intended to be shod with the preparation of the gospel. Certainly a simple enough metaphor - being founded and grounded in the WORD certainly provides appropriate fodder with which to grow in an edifying way and also protects those very same feet from stumbling when one interacts with the numerous obstacles that seek out the believer's life. How much more, when we consider the above three points, does being shod with the preparation of the gospel lend applicability?

Thus, the washing of feet wasn't just a ritual that we might observe as anachronistic event, observable on the outside but with no real relevance to today's "modern-day American" lifestyle, but has direct and literal repercussions to how we might consciously consider our own actions, at the very least as they concern interaction with others, the necessity of personal dedication to holiness and sacredness, and the responsibility to seek servitude, not its own sake, but as a means of glorifying God.
And it has a direct line of action to today's ...

CALL TO ACTION!

• Wash a loved one's feet
  
  Find someone you respect as a believer and ask them to set aside time to provide an opportunity to wash their feet
  
  Prior to the washing, convey what washing feet means for you
  
  During the washing, be mindful of Jesus' command to wash one another's feet


• Have that same loved one wash your feet
  
  Ask the same person if they've ever considered what importance having spiritually and physically clean mean
  
  Ask them to wash your feet, being mindful of Jesus' command to wash one another's feet


• Shod your feet
  
  Dedicate your life in a renewed way to cleansing your feet
  
  Dedicate time daily to read and consider scripture
  
  time daily to build on your relationship with God

A praying people equally yoke their nation

In the thirty-first chapter of first Samuel, many things happen, not the least of which is that Saul commits suicide. It certainly wasn't something you knew was going to happen, but Saul had been increasingly unstable, never really wanted to be king in the first place, and when the fire became too hot, instead of calling out to the Lord, he ran to death. Note Saul's focus in the fourth verse - Saul is not afraid of failing his kingdom, he is not afraid of death - he is afraid of what the Philistines will do to him; in particular, he's afraid of being abused by the Philistines. Soon, after Saul has revealed his fear of being abused by the Philistines, Saul asked his armor-bearer to kill him. Refusing to do so, Saul kills himself.

I am quite certain that on this day Samuel wept. Saul was the king that Samuel had selected, at God's choosing, to lead Israel. Saul, over-and-over, had shown himself to be exactly the type of king Samuel had warned about. Therefore, Samuel likely was relieved that Israel was finally free of Saul - but I believe Samuel wanted Saul to succeed. Samuel, early on, was supportive of Saul, offering him a feast before he was ever king to signify that he was going to be chosen. Soon after Saul was made king, there was another conflict and Saul's true colors shown through where, not waiting for Samuel to arrive, Saul gave the sacrifice in what he thought was the appropriate time.

That was the beginning of the end, for through a series of events Saul no longer acted kingly and lost the kingdom. Later, when David was a thorn in Saul's side (due to Saul's pride and fear), Samuel was also involved. David had been running from Saul and finally wound up running to Samuel. When Saul heard, he sent messengers to claim David. Three times. All three times the messengers stopped their mission and began to prophecy. Eventually even Saul showed up and he too prophesied. What bitter-sweet joy for Samuel to be around David and Saul, both men that God had chosen through him to rise up as kings, both men who had the potential to be great, but only David who truly loved the Lord.

I believe, of the few people who likely wept at the passing of the king, Samuel was high on the list. I believe he prayed for Saul every day of his life, at the very least to turn from his wicked ways, though maybe not for a regaining of the kingship. For that matter, because Jonathan and Saul died the same day, Samuel had double reason to be sorrowful - and yet David was under the Lord's protection and would soon be made king.

Call to action

It is very easy to dislike one's king, president, or ruler. Clearly they are in a position of authority, and that often is a reason alone to dislike someone. This distaste for authority comes from original sin in the Garden of Eden - for it was that same impetus that drew Adam away from God. Another reason to dislike a ruler is if they are unjust - and this is more in line with how God would have our hearts align. And it is here that I implore you to act.

Pray for your leaders

Most people in the world, including you who read these words, are under at least two people's authority. Even if you don't recognize that authority, it is still over you, and it deserves some respect and consideration. First and foremost is God, and second might be a father, a president, an older sibling, and sometimes even a spouse.

Regardless, of the count, those people were placed over you for a reason. God was placed over you to guide and protect you, keep you hearkening to Him, and eventually direct your soul to heaven. You have a great deal of free will about which direction to choose and nearly none about the results of that direction. It is a blessing that there is a significant delay between choice of direction and realization of this direction - that delay gives us all time to veer toward God's intended path.

Your second (and others) are placed above you for various reasons. Sometimes it is to teach you humility, patience, or love. Sometimes it is to bring your heart in-line with God's will. Regardless, those other people who have authority over your life will often be inconvenient to you in one way or the other.

My call to action, for you, is to genuinely pray for those in authority over you. Pray the Lord's prayer, honoring God and letting Him know that you truly honor him. Pray for the others that have authority over you, offing your intercessory prayer to support their needs for wisdom, strength of character, determination to complete goals that become harder as day press on, and satisfaction in doing the job God has for them. Pray that you also will respect and honor those in authority over you. And pray that the will of the people around you are focused on honoring those in authority over them as well.

One amazing benefit of these prayers is that it creates an environment for the whole nation you are a part of to be of one mind and one heart - to be equally yoked. Imagine how potent, focused, and edifying a nation would be if every heart in that nation were aligned with God's will for their lives!

On sacred cows

In the sixth chapter of the first book of Samuel, the Israelites have been spiritually wounded: the ark of the covenant of the Lord is with the Philistines.

The Philistines, wishing to be rid of this object of faith, are warned to proper sacrifice by their priests and diviners, and so have a new cart built, pulled by two "milch kine", and then associate the activities of the kine with whether the plagues that had beset them were "really" from the God of the Israelites, instead of some freak occurrence.

When I first read this passage, I assumed that "milch kine" meant "milk cow" and I still believe that holds. And I realized that cows, though never worshipped, have always had a special, subservient role in scripture.

Cows (kine) are mentioned far more rarely than sheep - this may be to dietary restrictions (maybe it’s harder to feed a cow than a sheep), expense (maybe cows are more expensive), or exclusivity (maybe cows are ONLY useful as a source of meat and milk, whereas sheep have both AND can be sheared). Regardless, cows are never given as much camera time as sheep.

Indeed, according to scripture you can milk camels (ref: Gen 32) too, which again reduces the need for cows.

So I imagine having cows were a luxury - for it was not until Noah that meat was even a part of a faithful Jew's diet, so the idea of raising an animal for meat might have been a kind of material excess, thus cows would be predominantly used for milking. And what with sheep and camels available, cows may have been seen as an extravagance.
The only indication we have that cows had any worth were three fold.

1. In Deuteronomy, when God is listing some of the blessings of being faithful, he singles out cows and sheep as being increased as a result.
   
   There is no reason to mention this if cows are worthless - indeed, they are mentioned before the sheep, suggesting they are of more value than the sheep.


2. From the above verse in first Samuel, we have the Philistines being told to send two milch kine as part of the sacrifice.
   
   The priests and diviners had a word of knowledge of some kind about what to include in the sacrifice - having golden remembrances to the plagues must have been humbling by itself, but having to include the cows must have been another level of which I'm not aware.


3. Throughout scripture, believers are compared to sheep numerous times, but are also told that the first shall be last, the humble shall be raised, etc.
   
   Perhaps this comparison holds with livestock as well - maybe sheep are considered less desirable than cows in some material or spiritual sense. For example, we never hear of kine’s legs being broken to ensure it stays with the rest of the kine.

Thus, I believe that, though we should not revere cows as particularly spiritual, certainly not raising them to a level of worship, I believe that there are corresponding aspects of kine and sheep present in our lives.

Call to action - let’s love our cows!

Many of us take for granted certain things. We take for granted we are fallen sinners, deserve far less than the daily grace we're given, focusing on the negative, recurring messiness of being alive and involved in the abominable state of perpetual sinfulness that is only resolved through repentance, grace, and mercy.

I challenge you to be mindful today of those things which are good.

Today's focus can be on the miraculous aspects of your walk. What daily grace are you experiencing that you have so abundantly you daily forget to be thankful for it?

• Name two things that used to be a struggle for you but that God has given you grace to deal with autonomously.
  
  Example: anger


• Name two things that you have never had to struggle with because you were not given a particular weakness.
  
  Example: addiction


• Name two things that you unconsciously take for granted.
  
  Example: running water


• Name two things that you have an abundance of which you can freely offer to others.
  
  Example: time, thankfulness, grace, hope, or food


• Name two things that you have that others around you have not always had.
  
  Example: peace, joy, hope, faith

After you have your list of ten cows, own them.

Give active, dedicated praise to God for providing them to you!

Encourage others to give thanks to their own 'for-granteds'!

Be a blessing by finding someone else who has at least four or five in common with you and give simultaneous praise to God!

Spend today asking God for increased wisdom about those things for which you can be thankful.

Let none fall

In third chapter of the first book of Samuel, Samuel is first visited by God. Now it was an expected thing to readers of this testament - he had been prayed over, been offered (by his mother!) for the purpose, and had been growing in acceptance, presumably because he was prudent - all signs that God's hand was in his life. If I may, I would like to draw your attention to the nineteenth verse, where it says "And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground."

Consider this - several things are happening in this single verse.

"Samuel grew ...."

It does not say he is aging, or maturing, or gaining knowledge, so we do not, at first clause, know in what manner he is growing. Likely, though it refers to all three - this is validated in the following verse, where it indicates he was established to be a prophet of the Lord. This likely was a blow to Eli, but Eli had been prepared to some degree, and God had already told Eli some of what was soon to happen, and this was complemented by what God told Samuel - in particular, that no matter the sacrifice or offering, Eli's house would not be cleansed of the sin that he and his sons had engaged in.

"... the LORD was with him ..."

This is amazing in and of itself, and in this day and age would be considered an immense blessing. During the time of the writing, it was far more rare - the word of the Lord was precious in those days. Consider a world where the Holy Bible, the anointed Word of the Lord, was not a collected work, not in a single tome, but still split asunder. Consider how amazing it is that anyone would fear the Lord without the infrastructure we normally associate with Godly families and the church. Then consider that God was with Samuel while he was growing up. Samuel must have had miracles follow him, and likely prepared him to be the prophet for the Lord that he soon would be.

"... [Samuel] did let none of his words fall to the ground."

It is this part of the verse that struck me, something that hit me home, and something that I note for all of us. How many of you who read these words have been prophesied over, have had a word of knowledge about the future in any way, or (at the very least) have had an inkling from God how your life will unfold? Have you put any active thoughts into it? Samuel did. Samuel put into action and realization the guidance God was giving him. We do not know exactly what he did, but we know that Samuel was growing, that the Lord was with him, and that Samuel let none of his words fall to the ground. Would you have been that faithful?

Call to action:

Spend some time in prayer, whether by reading scripture or silent reverie or whatever God has called you to in that regard, and seek God's guidance on some matter. It may come from the Bible, it may come from a license plate, it may come from some accidental utterance on behalf of a co-worker.

Listen for God. He will take as long as He needs to and will speak. This part of it is often more difficult than any other, as it calls for an active inactivity - to be seeking God's voice without doing anything to achieve the connection. Now you can inhibit your connection, but the point here is that you are trusting God to provide the means and connection, but being open for its establishment.

Keep Him in your heart. There will be a point where you have some awareness that God has spoken to you. It also often comes with some guidance, or at least a word of knowledge. If you do not have peace, go back a step and listen for God again. He can and does work miracles, so how He will handle that is up to Him. I have experienced Him not talking for a few seconds or minutes, waiting to see if I were faithful, sometimes hours as well. Regardless, wait upon God.

If you DO have peace about this word of knowledge, this connection with God, then act on it. Store it in your heart. Plan on it coming to pass and let none of the words of the Lord fall to the ground.

May your life never be the same.

The pursuit of happiness

The Bible has a few instances of happy.

In Genesis, Leah called herself happy, chiefly because "the daughters" will call her blessed - I don't know who she is referring to, but this period in Genesis has Leah trying to give birth so that she can gain the love of Jacob. The word happy doesn't show up in Genesis again, nor in scripture, until Deuteronomy, where Israel is considered happy because it is under the protection of the Lord. Then it pops its head up in 1st Kings and 1st Chronicles, where we are told that men and servants alike (basically everyone) are happy to hear wisdom - this was said by the visiting Queen of Sheba to Solomon, so we can draw the reasonable inference that there is joy in hearing true, Godly wisdom. Later, in Job, we have someone happy because they are being corrected by God.

In Psalms we have multiple occurrences

• We are happy if they have many children, specifically children of a man's youth
• We are happy if we can eat the labor of our hands
• We are happy if we destroy the daughter of Babylon (rewarding her as she has done)
• We are happy if we destroy the daughter of Babylon (dashing her little ones on the rocks - children or works?)
• We are happy if God is our Lord
• We are happy if our hope is in the Lord our God.

In Proverbs we have a few as well

• We are happy if we find wisdom and/or understanding
• We are happy if we retain wisdom
• We are happy if we have mercy on the poor
• We are happy if we trust in the Lord, especially when it comes to His wisdom
• We are happy if we always fear, which is to say are always guarding against the wicked, mischief, and hearkens
• We are happy if we keep God's law.

In Jeremiah, we are unhappy if we deal treacherously with God. In Malachi, we are CALLED happy if we are proud. From John, if you listen to God's wisdom and act on it, you'll be happy. From Acts, we learn that we can be happy in answering for our actions, to even a king, if we are serving Christ. From Romans, we are told that we'll be happy if we don't condemn ourselves for something that is allowed - though I'm not certain if its God allowing it or us.

In James, we are told that happiness comes from enduring. In Peter we learn that happiness comes from suffering for righteousness' sake. And In 1st Peter, you'll be happy, and KNOW that the spirit of glory, and of God, rest upon you, if you are reproached for the name of Christ.

Today's call to action - be happy!

Define what exact event or state will cause you to call yourself happy

• Are you happy because others will speak highly of you?
• Are you happy because you hear wisdom?
• Are you happy in response to the popular definition of the word?
• Are you happy because you have destroyed a daughter of Babylon?

Then, align the results of that with God's will

• Does it match well?
  Do you have consistent cause to be happy because you are aligned with God?


• Does it match poorly?
  Do you find yourself rarely happy?


• Does it match unevenly?
  Are you not certain if you're ever happy?

In the end, your goal is to have peace about the method by which your happiness is defined. Remember that lasting happiness comes from being an over-comer, hearkening to God throughout your whole life. And that can only come through seeking the first love, that of the Kingdom of God.

Son of Manoah, child of God

In Judges we have many, many events - in particular I should like to look at Samson. Samson was a powerful, violent man - born to Judea in a time when the Philistines were ruling them.

His parents were believers - Samson's mom was approached by an angel of God and immediately went to Manoah (husband/father) who did not act out of any kind of disbelief, but instead straight to God, entreating Him to "let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us". How many in the scriptures were this forthright in their dealings with God? Where would we be today if Adam had been this reverential?

When Manoah finally saw the angel himself, his first response is for clarification and guidance. After hearing the same thing from the angel as from his wife, thus verifying it was in fact from God, Manoah immediately wants to treat the angel as an honored guest. The angel indicated that he won't break bread with them, and if they give a burnt offering, to give it to God. Manoah offers a baby goat for a meat offering upon a rock and the angel "did wondrously" - how many in scripture have seen an angel do anything except sing, kill, or counsel? To see an angel do wonderously must be amazing indeed. Also note that Samson's mother is never mentioned by name.

Samson's whole life was anointed. We know that he was a Nazarite from the womb, which is something special too - Nazarites were a special sub-class of Judah and were holy unto the Lord. And we know that early in Samson's training that the Spirit of the Lord moved Samson. Note the distinction, the Spirit didn't move upon Samson, as it had so many times, but MOVED Samson. This suggests to me that Samson's very character was shaped by God - something that is amazing.

In the fourteenth chapter of Judges, we have Samson choosing a woman from the enemy camp, because "she pleased him well". We know that Samson was a Nazarite, as well as from the camp of Judah, so we must assume his virtue was intact, so this likely related to some ability to dance, to speak well, or possibly she had some other talent that was plainly obvious. Or it might have just meant she was physically stunning. Regardless, Samson picked out his potential mate, and did a very respectful thing - he went to his father for the choosing. Later, we can see how physically powerful Samson is, so he could clearly have gone and taken a wife. It is a measure of respect that Samson went to his father and mother and asked them for this daughter of the Philistines. Their response is to ask him why he couldn't take for himself a wife of the children of Judah, and instead Samson is still focused on this particular Philistine. Clearly she had an effect upon him. Likewise, they were unaware that Samson's choosing was of the Lord (although they should have known - God's Spirit had guided Samson from his youth).

To compliment this, we have Samson, after asking his father for the Philistine daughter's hand in marriage, off killing a lion. Nearby were his parents (because all three of them went to the vineyards of Timnath - v5), he killed the lion with his bare hands, and didn't tell his parents. And then, after again being charmed by this young woman from the enemy camp, Samson finds honey in the carcass of the lion he killed earlier. Honey! Then, not telling his parents where he got the honey, he brought some to his parents and they three shared in the honey from this rather interesting source. I claim it as a subtle miracle that the honey didn't smell like dead lion.

The purpose of the lion was soon revealed as a means of revealing the character of Samson's family in law - for whatever reason they agreed to a wager where the prize was thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothing. Given that Samson's family had already given a sacrifice earlier, and placed it on a ROCK, we can assume that nobody was particularly wealthy, so thirty sheets and thirty changes of clothing would have been a rather expensive prize. The Philistines agree to the wager, based upon the resolution of a riddle, likely thinking that this poor child of Judah wouldn't know anything they hadn't already heard. But God had prepared Samson with the riddle of the lion, and the end result of the riddle was for the Philistines to entice his new wife for the purpose of getting the answer. When they were able to answer the riddle Samson new that the only way they could have gotten it was through his wife ("his heifer" - v18), and went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men, likely related to the men who challenged him at his wedding feast, at which time they took his wife. I guess they figured he wouldn't notice.

Sometime later (we don't know how much later, but it was during the wheat harvest) Samson went to visit his wife, who had been given to Samson's "companion" by her father (Again, note the lack of name, in particular, of Samson's wife). We don't even know the gender of the companion, and because the Philistines were not exactly God's people, it could have been anyone. Again we don't have a name. I will, for the sake of time, assume Samson's friend was a Philistine man and that Samson's father in law felt more comfortable with his daughter marrying a fellow Philistine than some randy, destructive son of Judah. So we have Samson going to visit his wife, not having access, and likely out of anger burning their corn. Clearly the Philistines are not a fan of popcorn, as their response to what Samson did was to burn Samson's wife and he father.

The children of Judah are a little confused at this point and so approach Samson, asking him about the details. Samson merely replies that he's returning action for action. Their response is to bind Samson and to take him to the Philistines, but God is still watching, and so breaks the cords tying his hands and kills a thousand men. With a jawbone. It is of interest in noting that it defines the bone as being a new jawbone of a donkey. Why it being new, and its association with a donkey, I am not certain - although there are shades of Baalim here, certainly, where the same animal that tried to stop Baalim is here being used to stop his brothers.

After killing 1000 men with a cleansed remainder of some dead animal's skeleton, he gets hungry, so God makes another few miracles - He provides water from the jaw [possibly the very jawbone that Samson had used to kill the men] and was given to judge his people for twenty years.

Samson may have had some of the wisdom of Solomon, because sometime during the time he was judge, and had been judge for over twenty years, he sought after a strange woman, this time a harlot from Gaza. And after spending the night with her, while those around him were plotting to kill him, he took the gates of the city, and the posts (possibly about which the door was set) and carried them up to the top of a hill. It is an easy thing to visualize and hard to consider - a man, possibly not taller than any you know, walking up a hill carrying half a ton of wood. Or it might have been heavier or made of some other substance. Regardless, they men lying in wait didn't even try to kill him at this point.

Then, again with the wisdom of Solomon, Samson sought after a third strange woman, from the valley of Sorek, named Delilah. And much like his first wife, Delilah enticed him to reveal the answer to a riddle. Samson must not have recognized the deceit in Delilah, for after a period of time (Samson's soul was vexed to death), and Samson, having seen these very same men attack him, went to go as before ... and thus his Samson's pride in his own strength was revealed. Samson as delivered to the Philistines who put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza (which God had prepared by taking out the old pillars and door, via Samson himself), bound him with fetters of brass, and had him grind in the prison house. And thus Samson was humbled.

After the Philistines had enslaved Samson for some period of time, and there were about 3000 Lords and Ladies of the Philistines making merry, they called for Samson to mock him. Samson was led, by a small boy, to the pillars upon which the house was supported. And it was these pillars through which God moved one last time in Samson's life. And with this one final stroke, Samson killed more people with his death than he had ever killed while he was alive. And one wonders if the small boy who helped Samson survived or mayhap made it to heaven.

Call to action:

Wherein layeth thy strength?

Everyone has a last thing they rely upon. Find yours today. Spend some time in prayer asking God to reveal what you have relied upon when the going has gotten tough. Samson relied upon his strength. The Philistines relied upon Dagon (their god) and the opportunity to bribe and scheme their way out of problems. Even the children of Judah relied upon appeasement. But each of these only reveal our character and our idols. So what do YOU rely upon?

Here are some example questions to help guide you:

• What do you do when you have a driving need for something but can't have it?
  Do you eat?
  Do you pray?
  Do you offer up the drive to the Lord?
  Do you give up on it?


• What do you do when you are in the middle of a car accident, the car is flipping head over heels, and nothing makes sense?
  Do you pray?
  Do you grip the seat in fear?
  Do you cry and shut down?


• What do you do when the paycheck doesn't show up, the rent check doesn't clear, or the accident happens?
  Do you pray?
  

I challenge you to find a single last resort for all your troubles.

I wanna be addicted to God

One of the hardest things in the world is to confront an addiction.

We might have to confront it because it is harming the lives of those that love us or possibly because it is slowly eroding our ability to objectively perceive reality. We might have to confront it because our livelihood requires us to evaluate the situation and sometimes we have to confront it because of lack of resources.

Regardless why you might confront a personal addiction, there will be a spiritual component. The reason is simple: I believe addictions are spiritual in nature. I believe it is why some people are able to kick a habit five minutes after trying and why some people can't kick a habit, not really kick it, even if they've tried a dozen times.

But there is hope - there is hope as long as you breathe - as long as you are reading these words!

Your first recourse should be God. If this is the first day of your efforts to indulge in quitting, pray! You will find solace all throughout the Bible, for scripture speaks about being free from bondage in many forms, and addiction is certainly a type of bondage. My personal favorite is II Timothy 1:7.

Your second recourse should be friends. Find a loving support group that will support your choice and perspective. If all your friends still engage in the activity or addiction, spending time around them without your first recourse will be damaging, often destroying any progress you've made. Likewise, spend less time doing those things that trigger you. If you need to drink soda when you eat pizza, it would be foolish to eat pizza during this stage. If you need to drink alcohol during an intense sports program, don't watch sports. Whatever is a source of temptation to you is unique to YOU ... but be aware that although the particular addiction and triggers might be unique, the reality of temptation is not - we are all tempted. It is your responsibility to do your best not to be around temptation at the beginning.

Your third recourse should be God. Yes, this is the same as the first. But many people, once they've spent some serious time cleaning up their lives, forget their first recourse, and it is one that should stay with you. Often the root cause of the use of the addictive substance, whether coffee or cigarettes or other, much harder chemicals, will evidence after you've abandoned the usage of the drug. It is during this area in your healing that you are the most susceptible to return to you old path, simply because you feel as if you can "handle" it. During this time, keeping up a steady diet of prayer will help you maintain.

Later ... there will be a point, when you have enough discipline and self-control to remember what it was like to be forced, through the need, to engage in the addiction. Some of you will continue fighting it your whole lives if you forget your first and third recourses, and some of you will have finished fighting after a few months or years and will be fully recovered. When you begin to really think of the addiction in the third person, as in "I used to" or "Back then" or that kind of phrasing, you should engage in your fourth recourse: prayer. Pray to God that you will have the strength to continue fighting. Pray that you won't be unduly tempted. Pray that you will find joy in the struggle. And pray that you can be a lesson to others.

Finally, share.

Visit churches and witness to them.

Visit community centers and prepare a speech sharing your experiences.

Visit your old friends and share how your life has changed.

Visit your supportive friends and take them out to lunch by way of thanks.

Today's call to action:

Pray about your addictions. Most of us on this planet have an addiction, usually many. The obvious additions are comfortable to notice, and they're based on foodstuffs: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, and the like. The less-than-obvious addictions are rarely comfortable to notice, and they are often associated with food too: pride, vanity, laziness, and anger are a short list. But pray that God will reveal your addictions to you, then ...

Pray for resolution and removal of those addictions. As above, I believe addictions are predominantly spiritual in nature, thus I ask that you pray for a deliverance from those addictions. Set aside time in your day to speak with God and tell Him you would like to be free of addiction but will need His help, and then stop speaking and allow God to fill you with His love and answer your need.

Pray for guidance on how to stay clean. Most addictions leave a residue, a gentle reminder they were there. Sometimes it is a smell, sometimes its a physical coating of their prior substance, but all of them are disconcerting and disgusting. So your next step should be to get rid of that residue. Consider getting some sort of inner-body cleanser, as well as spending some serious time around believers - those who are closest to the Lord, as they will often be supportive in a way you weren't aware.

A country in crisis

A country in crisis? Ours!

Our country is in the middle of a crisis.

I suppose that is no surprise - countries are necessarily in the midst of a crisis at every turn. The only way for that NOT to be true is if the country was founded on some non-violent and non-reactionary principle and, other than Solomon, each of the countries in modern history have reflected their very violent past. So we might, with some sort of apathetic personal calm, walk through the day with a pulsating 'awareness' of the judgment our nation is under, but no personal need to address it, no driving force to speak or act on it - certainly no drive to bring others into the fray, to generate a call to action.

Instead we are left, with growing abortion rates, growing suicide rates, an acknowledge lack of spiritual leadership in the high-office(s) of our nation, and no apparent resolution to any of it in sight. We live, daily with an awareness that things aren't right, nor balanced, and we are taught, and teach one another, that our tool for this is prayer. Because, if you're a believing Christian (or to put it another way, if you believe in the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that only way is through the Christ who is Jesus, and that the only possible source of hope is Jesus) then you have SEEN prayer changes yourself, change lives, help you become a better man/woman, and have seen God change you personally, change the organizations you’re a part of, act on your behalf (through the wisdom of Christ) to intercede on millions of lives of others.

You have seen people saved who you didn't think could be saved but prayed for anyway (because you had faith for it).

You have seen lives changed when you didn't think there was a way (and there wasn't, but God can do anything).

You have been touched by a testimony or eighty, given by someone who was clearly on the wrong track, but God renewed them.

You have seen God give back the years the locusts have eaten.

You are a walking miracle observer, a source of hope in a world of hurt, you have the potential to be a beacon to millions of lives through daily prayer, and you touch everyone's lives that you meet daily, even if you aren't aware of it.

So why do I target you, dear believer, who I dare not call Christian because the word has been defiled to mean whatever the listener thinks it should mean? Because unlike the gross majority of people on the planet, YOU can make a change.

Not because of how you die or where you were born,
not because of what you harvest or reap,
not because of who you have healed or who has hurt you or who you've hurt,
not because of how well you dance,
not because of when you laugh, or the people you weep for,
not because of what you've built,
nor when you've embraced someone who needed it,
not because of when you've been a part of a group,
nor when you've loved or hated anyone,
and especially not because of any kind of war you've personally fought in.

You can make a change, by faith, through prayer.

You may be thinking "I do pray" or "What do you mean, I pray xx hours a day" or even "Yes, God has been speaking to me about that and I have already started to do better".

If you can read this, you can pray more.

You can pray to begin the day.

You can pray to end or 'cap off' the day.

You can pray before meals.

You can pray before driving.

You can pray before eating, before shopping, before exercising, before working, before dressing, and before grooming.

However, if that is all you're doing, it isn't enough.

You need to pray in private, yes - this is a gift we can freely give to God ... a kind of sacrifice of praise or possibly a sacrifice of time.

You can also pray as part of a group.

If you have family, set aside time to pray communally.

If you have friends, set aside time to pray communally, if non-local, pray simultaneously on the same topics.

If you have believing acquaintances, set aside opportunities to pray together and do so communally.

If you have a pastor, visit your pastor regularly and pray with him or her or them.

If you have church elders, meet with THEM and visit them regularly.

We are a country under judgment - and the only way to stem the tide, as well as ensure our foci are all edifying foci, are to bring our sights aligned with God's will.

My call to action is simple:

Engage in an intentional sacrifice of worshipful praise.

Sing songs of thankfulness.

Write your own hymns and psalms, declaring your love for God.

Above all, approach God in spirit and in truth.

focused humility

In the twenty second chapter of Luke we have an event that has touched the lives of many, many believers, is honored and celebrated weekly by millions, and represents one of the essential messages of Jesus' life: the last supper. Let me draw your attention to some of the things that happened there.

We have Jesus with His trusted twelve, including the betrayer. How often have you broken bread with someone who you know will break your trust, forgiving him even before he breaks you trust, knowing that he will?

We have Jesus indicating the meal was symbolically associated with the passover - in fact He's been so focused on it that 'with desire He has desired' to eat the passover with His disciples. How often have you been so focused on something that your very desire is not just for the event in question, but your desire is focused on the desire for the event itself? Or to phrase it another way, how often have you given a goal so much thought that you've put into planning the planning for the planning itself?

We have Jesus NOT drinking from the cup that he passes around. He fasts from drinking it "until it [the suffering/death of Jesus] be fulfilled in the kingdom of God". He passes the cup around, tells the twelve to divide it amongst themselves, and then reiterates that he won't drink the wine "until the kingdom of God shall come".

We have Jesus giving thanks for the bread, breaking it, and also passing it around the table, followed by instructions to do the same in remembrance of Him.
We have Jesus associating the cup (of wine, presumably) after supper with the New Testament. This is the cup mentioned in the twenty sixth chapter of Matthew, which Jesus also said to drink in remembrance of Him.

It is humbling to realize that some parts of that wine and that bread must needs be around in the world right now. At the very least, his twelve disciples were alive after Jesus died, returned, and left, so they "passed" the wine and bread and some of those molecules that touched the body of Jesus must necessarily be SOMEWHERE.

Another humbling note is that God prays. It is one thing to consider that Jesus prayed regularly and earnestly - it is quite another to realize that He was real and prayed to His father, just like we all do. How amazing is it that our king prayed for us? How amazing is it that He has no pride, no arrogance, all wisdom, and can be an edifying influence on us, even while residing in Heaven and our hearts? God is real and has waited all of our lives to answer his prayers with prayers of our own.

Yes, our king is humble - one of the more amazing of the miracles that comprised Jesus' life.

Call to action:

Ask for God to quicken awareness all the ways your life has been directly influenced by the attributes of God, as well as revealing that what you can do to emulate those qualities.

Use humility as means to doing daily work toward hearing God daily.

Sibling to the prodigal son

The parable of the wayward son (also known as the parable of the prodigal son) is one most reviewers of scripture are familiar with, wherein a young man has a single sibling, tells his father he wishes all that is his due, leaves the farm for the greener side of the fence, has his eyes opened to the true nature of the world, and returns home, aware of how good he had it and how loved he was.

Let me, instead, point your eyes to the other offspring, our not-front-stage-other-main character. Here is a child who was faithful to father, who stayed at home, who worked the land and did the chores bidden of them, and was sitting in the home to which the prodigal son returned. And this is the same child that felt unappreciated when the father broke into song and dance at the arrival of his younger child. I believe this relationship between siblings is comparable to the relationship men have with women, in particular the difference in responsibilities and authorities between first-born sons and first-born daughters.

I believe that men are called, and should be trained, to be an edifying version of the prodigal son - to be as ready to be in the world (but not of the world) as possible, then strike out. They should be trained to lead in a productive manner, one of the most difficult lessons known to anyone, and to do so with grace. Through that training they gain a practical awareness of just how unbalanced and wicked the world is, and through those trials discover the character traits their father trained them up in, and when they return 'home', it is the home they built for the purpose of marriage. Thus, a newly married man can come home in a way far more profoundly than a single man can. So we have men as iterations of the prodigal son.

I believe that women are called, and should be trained, to be an edifying version of the older sibling - to be as ready to serve in the home as possible, then married out. They should be trained to wait in a productive manner, one of the most difficult lessons known to anyone, and to do so with grace. Through that training they gain a practical awareness of how unbalanced and wicked the world is from the protective confines of the home, and through the efforts at home discover the character traits their mother trained them up in, and when their prodigal son returns home, it is the home built for the purpose of marriage. Thus, a newly married woman can be home in a way far more profoundly than a single woman. So we have women as iterations of the faithful sibling.

There are dangers for each gender, though - the predominant danger of each is to identify too well with the other gender's roles.

I believe men can be led astray by being trained (through false modeling or poor personal habits) into believing that the path they should travel is that of the woman's - where staying at home is the most effective use of their talents. You see many examples of this in popular culture, whether it’s the stay-at-home thirty year olds (who have become a kind of American parable) or the professional gamer who "works" out of parent's basement. The result is a land that cries out for a leader and gets instead someone who visits the skirt and soups of his mother, has been trained to follow when he should be leading, and often will be responsive to events instead instigators. In this way spiritual death can enter the body of Jesus.

I believe women can be led astray by being trained (through false modeling or poor personal habits) into believing that the path they should travel is that of the man's - where leaving home is the most effective use of their talents. You see examples of this too in popular culture, whether its women who leave home to get away from abusive parents or women who leave home because they don't feel loved (sometimes motivated by latching onto some random boy the girl fell in love with). The result is a land that cries out for a healer and steadfast proponent of faithful support and instead gets a rebel who yearns to run free. In this way spiritual death can enter the body of Jesus.

Today's call to action:

Recognize what role you should be playing

One of the most effective ways to inhibit the body of Jesus Christ is if members of that body don't seek God's guidance as to what they should be doing in their various stations. The result is often members that don't work together as effectively as they might, who are easily irritable, who don't have the peace that passes understanding, and into whose relationship strife can easily work itself.

Your challenge is simple:

Pray to God to reveal your daily bread

If we remember from Revelation that John was given a scroll to eat, the result of which was him absorbing some biblical principles and events literally, and we come to that table knowing that bread is assumed to be a food-stuff, we can extend that to understand that today's 'daily bread' can be something other than food - it can be those aspects of scripture we are called to understand and absorb, it can be that aspect of our walk we are finally called to understand, and it can be that aspect of our day that we are finally called to act upon.

So pray to have revealed what God has for you today and remember don't hesitate - go boldly before that throne of grace!

Minimize waning fellowship

The second chapter of Judges speaks about the children of Israel doing a two-step, engaging a double-minded relationship with God. There are clearly two phases in this relationship - forsake and retake.

In the forsake step, the children of Israel seek after other gods. Sometimes they are serving Baal and Astaroth, sometimes they are serving Baalim and the groves, but the scripture is clear - the children of Israel have left off serving God. God is not pleased with their decision to do so and punishes the children of Israel, mostly by taking away His protection ..., which always results in some form of oppression.

In the retake step, the children of Israel repent, realizing they still need Him, and seek after God. It does not include motive and such, but because it tends to follow some form of oppression, I would argue those seasons of seeking after God necessarily draw from that oppression. In addition, some time after their season of repentance, the children of Israel fall away again.

Anyone familiar with scripture should recognize this waxing and waning of the fellowship of the children of Israel with God.

Anyone familiar with people anywhere should recognize this waxing and waning of the fellowship of people anywhere with God.

It may even be why everyone loves an underdog - it reinforces our faith that when we are down, God will rise and provide aid, provided we seek after Him with a heart drawn to Him.

The point I should like to draw out here is simply this: our lives are full of daily opportunities to experience this same wave of fellowship with God. How often is it that that fellowship is waxing due to a wise decision on our part, followed by a season of waning due to a foolish decision?

I believe the goal of a believer, one who would fellowship with Christ, is to seek to cause the waxing season to be maximized and the waning season to be minimized. To recognize that both periods are inevitable for us, but they can be addressed and wisely considered.

Therefore, my call to action is: Minimize waning fellowship!

Document when you feel least close to God

There are few of us who do not feel inconsistent connectivity to God. This does not mean we ARE far from Him (for he does not leave us nor forsake us) but we can often FEEL that way. Record those periods when you feel less close to God and see if you can associate them with other events, thoughts, or situations. It is possible that those are periods where God calls you to seek His face or they might be periods of attack where your only resolution might be to claim 2 Timothy 1:7 and hold fast to God's presence.

Read scripture daily

Scripture says, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17) - and it is through scripture that we are girded from all sorts of mischief. Thus, one way we can reduce (or eliminate in large part) the destruction wrought by the arrows of sin and vice are simply to go to scripture. Pray before reading, seeking God's peace, and the delving into scripture will reap rewards and you will draw closer to Him. Likewise, your walk with Jesus will be greatly magnified and you will find the period of waning to be a great deal shorter.

Seek after God's heart

Take a moment today and ask God what you should be focusing on. Do not expect Him to answer in the next five minutes or hour, but consider that He wants to guide you and He will never forsake you, so it will be easier than you expect. But following the asking comes the hard part - the waiting. Often our faith is most tested between the requesting and the manifesting. If you find that praying for something rarely (if ever) provides the results that expect, seek God's counsel! This can take the form of other believers, delving into scripture, praying and fasting, or just simply daily prayer. In short, if an event could offer an opportunity to take away your faith, God will always provide a way to draw closer to Him through it.

Keeping the faith

One of the tenets of the faithful is sustainability. It is not enough to have acted in some particularly spiritual, particularly sacrificial way, nor is it enough to have retained and reinforced a paradigm of service - for when your works have caught up with you, as your age, so will you eventually wither and die. So clearly, the key to sustainability, as well as the opportunity to be counted faithful, require us to endorse a more permanently lasting endeavors.

Such an endeavor can be raising children - and I realize that a large part of raising children is to optimize the likelihood they will seek after the Lord's heart. Indeed, if we look to a person's heart as reflecting the teachings of that person's parents, their grandparents, and so on, we get a picture of the kind of framework God has always worked in, and where our part comes in.

This is appropriate to consider because it is one of the greatest trials any of us will ever face -

• Can you maintain for decades?


• Can you maintain long enough to teach others what you believe?


• Can you maintain long enough to be a resource of wisdom?


• Can you maintain in a position long enough to be of use to God?

I believe it is this point God is getting at when He wants us to focus on life eternal, when He has us seeking first the kingdom of God, when He has us being rewarded because were faithful to the end.

Our model for the best a people can expect, to my mind, has always been the children of Israel. I have always seen them as having the best of the best and the worst of the worst. Certainly not perfect, but they run the gamut of attributes.

In the first chapter of Judges you see the children of Israel have just started to really take on the promised land. They've already had their various lands allotted to them and they are flushing out locals - but not enough. And we can see the same thing in our own lives.

God called the children of Israel to get rid of all the locals - predominantly to stop them from worshipping false Gods; but, in city after city, they leave a little here, a little there, the result being that God finally sends an angel to confront them about it. They repent, certainly, but the damage is done - and within a generation, following the death of Joshua, the children of Israel had already forgotten God.

Will YOU forget God?

My call to action - sustain:

• Find a promise
  
  Spend ten minutes today in quiet solitude, asking God about a promise you've made. It doesn't matter how big or small, but ask Him to reveal a promise you've intended to keep but have forgotten about, one that you haven't forgotten but haven't gotten around to acting, or maybe one that you actually promised to keep but have set aside due to concerns of the day.


• Plan a promise
  
  You see how easy it is to forget promises to yourself, promises to others, and promises to God - the resolution is to PLAN on keeping the promise. Set aside some time today and plan out HOW to keep the promise.
  
  If you've promised to pray more, set aside time during the day to do so, while also making provision to not be distracted.
  
  If you've promised to eat better, find a way to remind yourself at every meal, as well as before each meal, so that during the meal itself you're not two spoonfuls away from completion and then realize you had forgotten completely.
  
  If you've promised to sleep better, plan it out that way, better organizing your responsibilities and resources so that it is POSSIBLE to sleep better.


• Keep a promise
  
  Record your exploits and share it with someone you trust and to whom you can be accountable. If you promised to exercise every day, keep a record of how much you jog, bike, hike, or how many push-ups you do, and share in your joys and defeats with that person. Also remember that YOU picked the person, so if they offer advice, and after prayer it seems wise, do your best to accommodate that advice.

The parable of temptation

It is almost a parable that Jesus was tempted ... and used that temptation to do His work. I believe he was tempted in direct proportion to how much He walked with God ... and since He sinned never, He thus prayed without ceasing, and was tempted perpetually. As we all are, in point of fact. Please allow me to draw your attention to the twentieth chapter of Luke, where Jesus was tempted twice to answer people who tried to trick him by his words with something other than grace and wisdom.

The first were the chief priests and scribes, asking him from where he got His authority. This was a big thing, because Jesus taught and spake as one with authority, something they didn't have, and so His presence in the temple, as well as his speaking, were evidence of their hypocrisy. Few people enjoy having their faces rubbed in their own hypocrisy - how much more the spiritual leaders of a people? These were people who had studied scripture, knew the words and thoughts of God that had been recorded, and were abusing that privileged knowledge for their own material gain, social influence, and worldly authority. And so Jesus, in addition to being all these things to these tainted leaders, was also a reminder that they were likely also lying to themselves, something that few people enjoy having their attention drawn toward. But Jesus' task was certainly not to appease people but to draw them closer to God. The people at this time were worshiping the laws of God and not the spirit.

The second happened soon after, when the same people who had approached Him before essayed him by way of spy, sending forth someone who appeared as a layman, for the purpose of again distorting His message and intending to catch Jesus by the words of His mouth. Again, I am quite certain Jesus was tempted to abuse the position of authority He had been given - instead he offered the same thing he did to priests and scribes before - a metaphor. This second metaphor was telling because it, even more than the first, led His listeners to His point - He wasn't there to pick on the priests and scribes any more than He was there to take their power away. Yes, both of these things were likely to come to pass, but His motive was simply to clean up the path that the children of Israel had muddied so badly, and to give hope to a people who had been faithfully believing would come.

The reality is that Jesus' approach could so often be justice - wherein

• Those of us who are abusing the stations we have been given
• Those of us who state we love the Lord but don't live it 100%
• Those of us who don't trust Him in the slightest and actually hate Him

SHOULD BE STONED or CRUCIFIED

For that is what justice demands and requires.

Jesus, instead, often doles out mercy like it were candy, aware that some will truly appreciate the temporary nature of its gifting and fundamentally seek after His heart anew when we realize how precious that candy truly is. He said as much when he mentioned seeds falling on fallow soil, rocks, or briars.

Jesus granted mercy to the priests and scribes when He did not bring forth justice when they questioned His authority. He granted mercy to the spies too when he only made mention of the coin, instead of again using the opportunity He held to judge both the spies and the priests.

And Jesus, daily, offers us mercy, not for us to take for granted, but to give us one more opportunity, one more inch of rope, one more life-line, one more second-chance, one more swing at the ball, and I used to think these second chances were there to give us one more day to clean it all up, to newly hearken.

I was wrong.

These are things that need to done - this is true.

The second chances are there for us to realize that, no matter how many times we get up, we can fall every single time. To stop trusting ourselves, our own sufficiency, and to give up trying again to do it all right, and

GIVE THE DRIVER'S SEAT TO GOD

So my call to action today is:

• Take a decision you need to make today and give it to God. It doesn't matter how important it is to you, as this is a beginning decision; the only requirement is that the result must matter to you.


• Take this decision and give it to God to decide, and pray about it. Every free moment, every time you’re in the bathroom, or walking around, or doing something that doesn't need your full attention, thank Him for guiding you, and wait upon the Lord to provide the answer.


• After you've given the decision to Him, any time an indecisive thought about it comes up, give it to God too.

In God's timing, the answer will arise. The method might be personal assurance that a specific direction is the way to go, or it might be a license plate, or it could also be a random telephone call - the Lord works in a myriad of mysterious ways, and whatever way is open to Him will be the way He chooses - often one that you personally will appreciate.

The point here is simple - most of us don't seek God's counsel sufficiently ... and most of us have aspects to our lives that are on the perpetual brink of collapse. Let God's wisdom eliminate those brinks and bring us more in line with His will for our lives!

By the way - The real challenge isn't to do this just today, but every day - trusting Him will lead to increased faith, which will bear more fruit.

Do you want to be in that number?

In Like 19, we have the parable of the pounds - wherein a certain nobleman gives ten servants a pound each, leaves for a time, and returns to investigate his servants. Three servants are shown, one has turned his pound into ten, one has turned his pound into five, and one has turned his pound into one - has in fact hidden the pound away out of fear. Each servant was rewarded based upon what they were able to do with their respective pound, the first being given ten cities to be over, the second being given five, and the third was given none, and the first was told to take away the pound that the third had been given.

I have always understood it to mean that we must be a faithful steward of the resources under our control. I was tying it into the parable of the talents, as well as the parable of the 10 virgins - each of which have spoken to me about being mindful of our responsibilities and being prepared to ready instead of just being ready.

I took another at the parable of the pounds - there were TEN servants, each given a pound, and only three showed up when the nobleman came back. I always discounted this as Jesus being efficient, as the ten-five-one were effectively three "edifying" ways of responding to their shared commission. This never satisfied me, and I never saw why until today - what about the other seven? What did the other seven do and what did the nobleman say to them?

I believe this is actually revealed in Luke 19 as well and they are alluded to in versus 14 and 27 - his citizens hated him (14) and he calls that his enemies (which he defines as those which would not that he should reign over them be brought hither to be slain). There are, then, FOUR categories.

• The faithful, who when given a single pound are able to do much with it, and are given much in return.


• The seekers, who when given a single pound bear fruit - they are not as focused on the will of God but are still doing mighty things.


• The believers, who when given a single pound bear no fruit, focus only on the manifestation, and not the will of God.


• The others, who when given a single pound bear no fruit, lose or waste the fruit they have, and are called to be slain.

By proportion, this is a 70% attrition rate, and if we see these as representatives of the human population, this equates to:

• 70% not accepting the gospel of Christ at all, and are actually hateful toward Jesus


• 10% accepting the gospel of Christ and, through distraction, bear no fruit


• 10% accept the gospel, do some good works, and are blessed for it


• 10% accept the gospel, daily die to self, and claim the greatest blessing

So today’s call to action is simple:

1. Ask yourself which you number yourself among. Pray and be as objective as possible.


2. Ask yourself which number you wish to be among. Also pray and be objective.
   Clearly, as a believer, we are called to be among the top 10% of believers, but we have a wide proportion available - and God's grace is great.


3. Pray for a change of heart to line up more literally, fully, explicitly, and abundantly with God's will for your life so that can be a perpetual witness of God's love AND so that you can be among the number to claim those ten pounds!

Glaring Assurance

In Luke, Chapter 15, we have the headstrong son, the one who had broken his father’s heart and left, as one dead, to travel the world to seek his fortune. We have him coming back, in all humility, because he saw more clearly after losing much of his pride, and realizing how his father loved him. Likewise, we have the other son, the one who had never left, not recognizing he was taking for granted the very things the first son had only now begun to appreciate.

It is a hard lesson to learn, one that cannot be easily captured on paper:

YOU DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT YOU TAKE FOR GRANTED.

Few will truly hearken to those words without having lost (and sometimes regained) a treasured resource. Yet we are all called to believe the reality of this - that we can claim the resources of God's grace, God's mercy, God's hope, God's love, if we but realize that our lives are particularly empty without them.

It never appears that way at first - for we are under and individuated share delusion that our way is superior. Over and over we make this claim, sometimes softly, sometimes loudly, but always with the foreknowledge that SOMEHOW we are "really" plugged into what is REALLY going on and our take is best. We do this with the primary things (like breathing, thinking, eating, and driving) and secondary things (like buying groceries, writing notes, telling jokes, and calling on friends).

But where does this glaring assurance come from?

Where did we learn that we knew how best to decide things, to connect the dots, to derive best practices?

We certainly can't claim to have been trained by completely reliable models - how many of us fashion our lives after people who make NO mistakes?

We also cannot claim that we are only responsible to God - for although it is true that we ARE responsible to God, part of that accountability is (I believe) expressed through effective and Godly stewardship of those in our charge. Likewise, we see over and over that scripture consistently reveals that wisdom is found in the counsel of others.

Again, I ask: where does this glaring assurance come from?

I believe we are taught it, just as surely as we are taught anything else, by whom we focus on. Thus, the fruit we bear is in direct proportion to our election to focus on Jesus.

My call to action is this:

Ask yourself the last time you had the most assurance that you were hearkening to God. It is likely immediately following when you were under the most spiritual attack and occasionally comes when you are particularly humble - regardless, you have had SOME time when you felt like your actions, thoughts, or heart were particularly aligned with Jesus.

Find out what about that time defined your relationship with God differently than now.

• Was your faith simpler?
  
  Go back to first principles and study scripture, really delving into what the Word says, through prayer and humility, not what you think it says or what someone else tells you it means.


• Was your walk more pure?
  
  Earnestly seek out that sin which is most glaringly separating you from God and give it to Him - He would love for you to trust Him. By doing so, He can build your faith.


• Was your sight more focused?
  
  Look at your hour - your day - your week - your month ... however you judge how well you've spent your time. How much of that time was earnestly defined by a literal and simple seeking of God's heart?

The day you come back to Him is the day you too will be His prodigal child.