Jun 5, 2023
After the mountaintop experience of the transfiguration, Jesus came down the mountain and was immediately met by a man who was in trouble (see Matthew 17:1-21).
I often have to gently let new believers know that they may be feeling on top of the world, only to get home and be assailed by unwanted thoughts or doubts about their salvation. Many times when we have enjoyed a tremendous spiritual victory, Satan is just around the corner. You go on a wonderful Christian retreat and experience the movement of the Holy Spirit, only to come home to a problem or a disaster.
Jesus came down the mountain and was met not only by a troubled father but by the demons of hell. Jesus responded, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me” (Mark 9:19, NKJV).When you first read this verse, you assume Jesus is talking to the father. However, he could be addressing the disciples or the religious leaders who were in the crowd as well. They had all failed to help the father and his son.
There’s a type of religion in the world that has no bearing on what God is able to do. It can talk about God, just as the disciples at the bottom of the mountain could do; but without faith and the power of God, it cannot make a difference in somebody’s life. The sad reality is that you can have religion and mountaintop experiences, but if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, it will get you nowhere! You’ll come to the bottom of the mountain, and an attack will knock your feet out from under you.
When we know Jesus personally, we will find that prayer is our lifeline; it’s our method of communication and our vehicle to hear from God as well. If we ignore prayer, we will find our relationship with Christ subpar, a weakened and listless faith that does not bear fruit or transform the world around us. Prayer, combined with the Word of God, is what draws us close to the Lord and builds our faith. This is how James could later write, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).
May 23, 2023
It’s often hard to do things we don’t want to do without motivation or accountability. Always going it alone without support and encouragement means all the motivation has to come from the inside. It also means there is no one around to keep us accountable. When I can’t keep up with my grandchildren, it’s usually because I’ve been allowing myself extra slices of pizza and chocolate cake. If I’m alone and feel a bad attitude coming on, I only affect myself. On the other hand, it will catch on like a virus and will have to be addressed as soon as I connect with other people.
Jesus knew the value of the buddy system. Throughout his ministry, he taught the foundational truths of spending time with God and embracing other people. He built his church on a core group of followers, many of whom were his friends and loved ones who knew him well. As he walked, worked, and ate with them, he instilled in them the importance of living in community.
We all know what it’s like to begin something new, or even to make just a few changes in our lives, without encouragement. It’s hard. Sometimes we need the feedback and support of other people to give us the confidence and motivation to keep going. A member of our staff recently ran a 100-mile marathon in the high country here in Colorado. The run lasted all day and through the night. Around midnight, a friend and fellow runner who is also on staff joined him for a couple of hours to encourage him and help him finish the race (which he did). Now that’s a buddy!
The apostle Paul spoke of this in his letter to the Romans. “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:1-2, ESV). In other words, “Build each other up! Reach out, both to help and to be helped.”
There is solace and strength in community. We are healthier in every way when we know we are not alone.
May 19, 2023
The paralyzed man in Mark chapter two was forgiven by God, but he was still captive to his affliction. He was relieved of all his sins but still impotent. He knew Christ as a relief but not as a resource!
It is not enough to be forgiven. Christ’s part is to clear us before God, but our part is to get up and walk! We must go beyond relief from sins into the freedom of his resources.
“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Mark 2:9-11).
That man did not get up on his own strength; Christ imparted his strength to him. Without Christ, we can do nothing. We can overcome only through his strength and the power of the Holy Spirit!
Christ was saying to this man, “I am going to make you an example of my power over sin. Where you were the weakest, you will become the strongest. The thing that made you a prisoner, you will pick up and carry. You will overcome the very thing that held you down.”
We must live in the full power and victory of a life free from the bondage of sin. We all know our weakness, places where we are vulnerable. Satan tells us that we will always be weak at that point, and one day be overcome by it. Not so! By his glorious power, God can make us strongest at our weakest point. That is what the scripture means when it says that his strength is made perfect in our weakness.
What hinders you? An obstinate sin, a weakness, an unresolved inner controversy? Whatever it is, it must go. You can no longer be chained to a bed of failure. It is all accomplished by faith in God’s promises. The Lord wants to get you up out of that bed! He will give you all the power you need to overcome and walk in total deliverance.
May 17, 2023
“They shall utter the memory of your great goodness, and shall sing of your righteousness” (Psalm 145:7 NKJV).
We cannot deny God’s call to praise him in all his excellencies, but we are especially called to praise him for his goodness.
Note that the Psalmist insisted on an abundance of praise in memory of the Father’s goodness; they sang the Hebrew for abundant utterances, “to gush out like water rushing from a fountain.”
In Psalm 107:8-9, David wrote, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
This truth of praising God for his past goodness struck a chord in my heart, and I have been moved to do as David did. We are called upon to celebrate his goodness.
David examines the beauty of this goodness. Notice that God is inclined to use mercy because he sympathizes with our affliction and miseries; mercy is his default sentiment toward us. David borrowed from Exodus 34:6, where God spoke to Moses: “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.’”
Beloved, look back over the past and remember how good the Lord has been to you. Remember his compassions that have never failed to bring you through. I am finding pleasure in praising God for all things but especially for his goodness. I rejoice not only for past goodness but for those I see daily all around me.
Are you feeling “less than” today? Do you feel like mercy and grace are not for you, out of your reach? Take heart! God loves you. He stands next to you, ready to pour out his infinite blessings upon you.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).
May 15, 2023
Jesus didn’t mess around when he talked about fear. His core message was “I, not your fear, am in control.”
Are fear and anxiety part of our God-given makeup? Oddly, yes. Fear alerts us to danger, and anxiety is our physical response to those alerts. Life from birth to grave is filled with such moments. While on earth Jesus felt the anxiety of those to whom he ministered. His words about fear were designed to not only calm them but also to help them grow in their spiritual walk.
We are all plagued by fear at one time or another. In my younger years, most of my life decisions were in some way tied to my fears. Yes, I wanted to please God, but it was my own expectations and standards for success that I focused on. I was driven by a mighty fear of failure that threatened at times to consume me.
Your fears may be about a relationship, money or illness. You might suffer from depression, or maybe you just carry around a general anxiety about the state of the world. No matter the battle, Jesus invites us to view life through his divine lens. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, ESV).
Peace and freedom from fear come only when we disconnect our hearts and minds from the values of the world. This is a conscious, deliberate act. It is interrupting the endless stream of harassing thoughts to say, “Lord, give me your perspective, right here, right now. Help me to let go and see that it is all in your control. I will worship you, not my fears.”
Being attentive to what lies beneath our fears clues us in to what matters to us, and therefore what needs adjusting. “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” says the song. Do you believe it? Or are you mired in needless worry and fear?
It is when we seek the face of God our creator, when we turn our attention fully to him, that we find rest and safety. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).
May 15, 2023
Hopefully, you know a little bit about Peter from the gospels. He was kind of ahead of the curve when it came to bragging and arguing about who was the greatest with the other disciples. Obviously, he didn’t get what Christ was about in the beginning, but we’re all a work in progress.
Christ eventually made Peter into this excellent apostle and man of God. Peter preached the first sermon of the Christian era. Did you know that God anointed him so much that when he preached thousands came to faith during that first sermon? When you think about it, he was a very unlikely person to even be preaching in the first place. If less than two months before, you had denied the Lord three times, said you didn’t know him and even cursed the third time, would anyone pick you to be the first preacher of the new Christian era? Probably not.
God who is rich in mercy, though, chose Peter and chose each one of us. God delights in showing mercy. Peter was the trophy of his grace, and boy did he know it. He wrote to the early church, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2, ESV).
Notice that this grace and peace comes through knowing, walking with and becoming more intimate with God and Jesus Christ. We don’t just want head knowledge about God. The people who knew scripture best in Jesus’ day were the ones who crucified him. We need heart knowledge of God. We’re called to fellowship with the Lord. As we do, there’s more grace and peace available for us.
Notice that this opening to Peter’s letter is more like a prayer. It’s not who he is yet. It’s not who’s writing to yet either. It’s a greeting that has a prayer for the future built into it. It’s a prayer we can all say. “Oh Lord, help us to know you better and better this year. As we do that, give us grace and peace in abundance!” As we open our Bibles, let’s pray, “Lord, I don’t want to just understand you intellectually. Reveal yourself to me through these scriptures. Reveal yourself to the eyes of my heart. Give me a deeper understanding of who you really are.”
