Do I?

I hear this song by Kari Jobe this morning and it made me think...

Your kindness leads me to repentance
Your goodness draws me to Your side
Your mercy calls me to be like You
Your favor is my delight
Everyday I've awaken my praise and poured out a song from
my heart
You are good, You are good
You are good and Your mercy is forever...

Does the knowledge His ever faithful kindness towards me lead me to my knees in repentance?
Does the experience of His ever present goodness draw me like a magnet to Him?
Does His mercy to me cause me show that mercy to others around me?
Is His favor like food and water to my soul... essential for life not just an added bonus?
Do I have a song to pour out of my heart to Him? Or do I have to think up things to say?

What effect does the character of God have on my life? Any at all? Or do I simply know that's how He is and then go my merry way? Do I stare into the depths of Him long enough to realize what I'm seeing? And when I come away, am I different because of what I saw? Do I want to be different?

Yes. I want to be shaken up, broken down, terrified, loved, chastised, made new, instructed, lifted up, and amazed when I have an encounter with the Holy and Living God. I want to bleed with the effort of changing to be like Him. Like a runner increasing his lung capacity, I want to increase my need for Him. Like a dolphin needs water to survive, I want to need Him for my very existence.

As the deer pants for water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God...

Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar

A couple of weeks ago I saw a video clip on YouTube of a young man named Nick Vujicic. This 29 year-old Australian man was born without arms and without legs. He has overcome huge obstacles and now has his own worldwide ministry. I encourage you to go to his website Lifewithoutlimbs.org.
In his testimony, Nick referenced a verse in John 9. The man born blind asks Jesus to heal him and Jesus' disciples ask Him who sinned that caused the man to be blind, the man's parents or the man himself. Jesus replies in verse 3, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned but that the works of God should be revealed in him." I had to think about that for a minute. Here was a man that had been blind all his life. We know he was an adult (vs. 21) but that could be anywhere after 13 years old. So for at least 13 years, probably more, this man had been looked down upon, pitied, mocked, had people assume the worst about him, and was a beggar by the time that Jesus met him. God allowed him to experience all that suffering and hurt for the one moment when Jesus came to him and revealed the power of God in Himself.
If you think about it, that could answer a whole lot of "why?" questions. That man didn't know when he was a five-year-old child who couldn't play like other children that God would use him and his blindness as a powerful display of His love.
The same with us. We don't always get to know why right away. We may never know why God chose to give us a limitation or difficulty, or why He allowed certain circumstances in our lives. But I think the answer can be found in John 9:3.
I think that's why God allows scars, be they physical, emotional, or mental. In our day and age of perfection, nobody wants scars because it means there is or was an imperfection, a blemish, a flaw. But no one is perfect and everyone has flaws. Paul writes in Galatians 6:17, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." I know he was speaking of the physical marks he had as a result of persecution but I think we can apply it to ourselves even if we have never suffered in that way.
If you have a scar, you bear in your body the mark of the Lord Jesus.
God loves you. He created you.
Your scar, whatever it may be, is God's mark of ownership on you.
You might not find out why you have your scar or limitation until you get to heaven but God wants to use you to reveal Himself to the world in a special way.
Will you let Him?

There was a man in the land of Uz...

If you ever want to be completely overwhelmed by God, blown away by His awesomeness, brought to your knees in reverence, or made to rest in His eternity-bearing arms, read the book of Job.
I know, I know. When you hear the name Job you immediately think if the poor man on the ash heap being tormented by Satan, surrounded by friends who do him very little good and a wife who's like vinegar on his sores.
All that is true in a sense. But there's a lot more to the book of Job than that.

The first interesting thing about Job is his name. It means "hated." The Hebrew word that is used, "lyowb", comes from a root word which means, "to be hostile to, to treat as an enemy." It interested me that God would show great and terrible power to and speak in person with a man that He named "Hated." But as I studied more, I saw it became a significant part of the story. God wasn't the one who hated Job, Satan was. God wasn't Job's enemy, Satan was. But why? Why did Satan hate Job more than any other person alive? One reason could be because God Himself commended Job saying, "there is none like him in all the earth."

What sort of man would God say that of? Who was this Job who drew such praise from Almighty God? There is a brief but powerful character description in the first few verses of the Book of Job.

The first word is (in the old King James Version), perfect. Some versions say blameless. The Hebrew word means, "complete, wholesome; a quiet ordinary sort of person," from a root word that means, "to be completed; to be consumed; to be completely crossed over." Hmmm. That's exactly what we as Christians are supposed to be like. Completed in Christ; no more need for the things of the world. Consumed with Him; no room for ourselves. Completely crossed over to the side of the Cross; no fence-sitting for Kingdom warriors.

The second characteristic is upright. In Hebrew it means, "correct, just, straightforward," from the root word that means, "to make right; to make straight." It reminds me of Hebrews 12:12 "...make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." In Matthew, Jesus calls us to follow Him on the straight and narrow path of Godliness. Walking a straight way indicates a destination and a firmness of purpose that will not allow you to deviate or compromise.

The next one is he feared God. I've always struggled with this concept of fearing the One we call Father. As with many things in the Christian life, there seems to be a contradiction-- there is not. As it has been explained to me, to fear God is to reverence Him; "to be held in awe," as the Hebrew says. In theory it's comparatively simple but in practice, much more difficult. Because the character of God is so varied so must be our responses to Him. He is our Father Who loves us as His children. He is our Judge Who condemns us for our sin. He is our Creator Who knows every little thing about us. He is the High King of Heaven, the Ruler of all universes and as such we should fear Him in reverent awe. But just as I am a sister, daughter, friend, aunt, niece, etc., and I never cease to be one when I'm the other, so God never ceases in His other functions when He is revealing Himself to us in a certain way. The appropriate response to such a God should be awe and reverence.

The last characteristic God chose to have written about Job is that he shunned evil. Or "eschewed," as it says in the old King James. :) This Hebrew word means, "to depart, remove, dispose, reject." Job didn't just disapprove of evil or turn a blind eye to it, he actively opposed it. There is so much permissiveness on the part of Christians today. Political correctness and tolerance have worked their way into the Church so that what was sin is now called a "wrong choice." Too often I find myself on tottering on that gray line of permissiveness. But in God's eyes, sin is sin and it's ugly and horrible and He could strike us dead on the spot because of it. We as Christians are to hate sin as God does and actively reject and remove evil from our lives.

The consistency of the Bible is beautiful and holds me in awe of our God. Those few words in the Book of Job are exactly what the entire New Testament is about... just expanded... a lot. But it's the same message. From the same God.

The season leading up to Easter is one of my favorite times of year. The story of Easter, the story of the redemption of mankind from the slavery of sin, is heartbreaking and beautiful. I love to read the accounts in the Gospels of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; they are horrible but captivating. God's supremacy is so evident and the depravity of the human race so tragically portrayed. But I found an account of the Passion of Chtist in different, and quite unexpected, place.
Psalm 116:12-13.
"What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD."
That's what my English New King James Bible says.
But here's what the Hebrew says:
"How shall I (return, repent) to Yehovah for all His grace to me? I will (bear, take, endure, forgive) the cup of (Yeshua) and (be named, call myself) by the (reputation, glory, The Name) of Yehovah."
When Salvation, Yeshua, Jesus, served the wine and bread to His disciples, He gave them His cup to drink and said, "Whenever you drink this, remember Me." He died the next day and went to Hell to do battle for our release. When He walked from the grave alive and the final act for His passion on earth was complete, He had opened the previously closed door to the Throne Room of His Father. He, the Firstborn, initiated the adoption process for us so that we could be called by the Name of Almighty God, the Father of us all.
We did nothing to deserve this.
We beat Him, the Creator.
We spit on Him, the Sustainer of Life.
We despised Him, the Lover of our souls.
We mocked Him, King of heaven's armies.
We forsook Him, Covenant-Keeper.
We killed Him, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God.
Yet.... thank God, there is a "yet." Yet He did not forsake us, but kept His promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Joel, Malachi, and renewed the covenant with Himself by Himself. Just as with Abraham when He swore by Himself because He could swear by nothing greater, so also in the New Covenant with His own blood as the seal.
So when you call yourself a Christian, you are partaking of the cup of suffering and glory of which Yeshua partook and allowing yourself to be named by the reputation and glory of El Elyon, God Most High.
That's what being a Christian means.
That's what redemption is.
That's what Easter is about.

I was listening to a sermon yesterday and the pastor was reading from Isaiah 6:1-9. In these verses the prophet Isaiah is describing a vision he had of God enthroned in heaven. I can sense Isaiah's struggle to put into human terms what the glory and majesty of the Most High King was like.
Verses 3 and 4 says, speaking of the antiphonal seraphim, "And one cried to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who had cried out, and the house was filled with smoke."
The pastor pointed out that, in Hebrew, when something is stated more than once, it adds weight or importance to the statement.
God isn't just holy.
He isn't just completely holy.
He is absolutely completely holy.
Holiness is a word, and concept, that people use almost flippantly today. The word is used to add emphasis to an exclamation or to denote anything as religious.
God is neither of those.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the definition as this: exalted and worthy of complete devotion, as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.
Wow! That doesn't sound like anyone I've ever met!
But it does sound like God.
God's holiness isn't just a lack of evil or an absence of anything impure, though that would be amazing enough. God's holiness is the opposite of that. He IS everything that is pure and true and good and righteous and lovely. James says, "...there is no variation or shadow of turning." Psalm 40:10 speaks of God's faithfulness, salvation, compassion, and truth. He is the source of His own holiness and needs no outside affirmation.
When the seraphim proclaimed God's holiness throughout all of heaven, the very structure was shaken and smoke billowed all around Isaiah. He suddenly saw himself for what he really was- filthy. Isaiah is one of the most famous prophets in the entire Bible, the one through whom came many of the prophecies about the Messiah, and he called himself filthy in the presence of God's holiness.
What do you call yourself when you're in God's holy presence? Do you hand Him your report card of good deeds and long prayers, tax-deductible donations, and impeccable church attendance? Or do you recognize that you are made of dust and instead proclaim the holiness of the One Who gives you breath?
When I finally began to grasp what God's holiness is like, it made the sacrifice of Jesus all the more precious to me. The God Who is holiness put on humanity to save me from myself. That is love I cannot comprehend. The mixture of love and holiness is a perfect balance. Though God loves us as a father and wants to have a personal relationship with us as His children, we must never forget that the One we call Father is also a consuming fire of holiness.

As the world continues it's downward spiral and becomes increasingly evil, I've noticed that the response of many people, Christians included, is fear and worry. Though End Times prophecies and Rapture predictions have been around since the days of the Early Church, they seem to be very numerous these days, and perhaps rightfully so. After all, we are closer to the End of Time now than we were yesterday!
But I'm not here to tell you my timeline for the end of the world as we know it. I am here to tell you something I've learned about how we as Christians should conduct ourselves in times of fear and uncertainty.
The rapture of the Bride of Christ is coming but it's not up to us when it comes, only that we're ready when it does come.
Live like the Rapture could happen tomorrow.
You won't die and have time for a deathbed speech or have a funeral where people remember all the nice, good things you've done. You'll just be here one minute, going about your life and the next second... you'll be in the Presence of God. No time to make up with someone you've held a grudge against for years; no will to donate your money to a worthy cause; no time to do what you always meant to do. Just you and God and your life as it is. Is your life rapture-ready?
Living rapture-ready also takes away any fear you might have over what will happen to you or your family during the End Times. Reading Revelation, Daniel, parts of Ezekiel, and other places in Bible about the end of time- there's some pretty intense stuff there. But read it carefully. Who orchestrates it all? Who plans it all? Who decides when/who/how/why/how long?
God.
Yes, God.
This is not something too big for Him to handle. This is not something He's worried about it going the way He wants it to. He isn't waiting in trepidation for the day of the antichrist.
He already has it all planned out.
From the first to the last, He has planned out the events of history just the way He wanted them.
Whether the Rapture happens in our lifetime or not, God calls us to be vigilant against evil and to prepare for the Day of the Lord.
We in the 21st century stand on the shoulders of thousands of years worth of Godly men and women who impacted their cultures and give us guidance along our journeys of faith. There could yet be thousands of years more. What are you doing to build up the next generation? Whose shoulders will they stand on? Perhaps in their lifetime the end will come and they will be faced with things you can't imagine. How are you helping them prepare for their role?
Zecheriah says, "Let your hands be strong, you who have been hearing in these days." Don't let fear of the future rob you of the strength that God gives. "Who by worrying can add one cubit to his life?" asks Jesus. No matter if you live during the tumult of the End of Time or in relative peace and security, you are still priceless in the sight of God. In fact, the only thing that was costly enough to purchase you, was the blood of His very own Son.
So let your hands be strong in these days. The patriarchs and the prophets died in faith, not having received the promise- the Messiah. Yet they foresaw His coming and believed. We have the promise- the Messiah. He has come and we have obtained through His blood eternal life. The part of the promise yet to be fulfilled is that which will take place at the end of all time. So we too, seeing that day approach, rejoice with joy inexpressible.
"Now unto Him Who is able..."

Captive

"Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope..." (Zech. 9:12) What is prisoner of hope?? To be a prisoner means you are held captive. Not always unwillingly, though that's what most people think of first. Some people are willingly held captive to their circumstances saying, "It's just the way things are." Others are held captive to their emotions, unwilling to step outside of them to gain a new perspective. Still others are held captive by expectations, either of their own making or by those put upon them by someone else.
Captivity is usually thought of as something negative while hope is a positive thing. How then can you be negatively positive?
I Peter 1 has the answer. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."
That verse is laden with amazing, beautiful truths.
"...who according to His abundant mercy..." God our Father is never done with us. His mercy is new every morning and His compassion is unending. His mercy is the foundation of our hope.
"...has begotten us again..." Our Creator designed us in His image to bring glory to Himself. By our sin we corrupted our glorious design and now seek our own glory. But, through the Lamb slain since the foundation of the world, we are given a new identity as sons and daughters of God.
"...to a living hope..." To me, that is one the most beautiful phrases in the Bible. A living hope does not die. A living hope has been in eternity past and will be in eternity future. A living hope does not wither when the hot winds of persecution and trial blow. A living hope infuses energy into a weary soul. A living hope is a constant reminder that this beautiful world is only a shadow of the splendor that is to come.
"...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." The resurrection of our Savior is the source of our hope. Jesus is alive! He passed through the very depths of Hell in the blackness of our sin and returned victoriously to His Father in the heights of Heaven. And He will return when the appointed days have been completed. He has gone but He will return. Our bodies He will redeem from the corruption of death and our souls He will restore to the original purpose for which they were created: To glorify Himself.
When I take a long look into the hope that Jesus has made available to me... I am captivated. The longings of my soul- to belong, to have peace, to see an end of pain and suffering, to see with my very own, brand-new kingdom eyes, the face of my God- are fulfilled in the Person who inhabits this living hope Peter speaks of. The glorious beauty of that promise causes me to willingly bind myself to the source of that hope, Jesus Christ. I am kept, by the power of God, in the stronghold of faith and am willingly held captive to the hope for which Jesus died.
I become a prisoner of hope.