God Is With Us

A few days ago I wrote in our Bible Journal about the Pharisees and Sadducees wanting to see a sign from Jesus that He was who He said He was. They believed the sky could predict the weather, but they doubted that Jesus was really the Messiah. Sometimes we are the same. We just want a physical sign that God is real and among us.

In today’s reading Exodus 40, we see the physical sign that God provided to the Israelites. In this final chapter of Exodus, Moses and the Israelites are putting the finishing touches on the tabernacle. It is like when you move and finally have the boxes unloaded and everything organized. You can finally decide where that special decoration, plant, or pillow fit best. Moses had direct instructions on where to place every item in the tent. Once everything was in its place a cloud covered the tent of meeting.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40:34-35

The cloud was a visible sign that God was with them. The cloud was the presence of God in their midst. The cloud would tell the Israelites when to move and when to stay put.

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would se out; but if the club did not lift, they did not set out=until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
Exodus 40:36-38

Sometimes I would like to see a physical manifestation of God. Can you imagine seeing an actual fire in a cloud? The news stations would be all over that! But, if we constantly had visible signs of God we would not need faith. We have to look for signs of God in our daily life.

Where do we see Him show up in our experiences?
Where do we see Him show up in our daily interactions with others?            Where do we see Him show up in our Bible reading?
And where do we see Him show up in our worship.
We have to be looking and expecting Him to show up.

We now have the presence of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit is now how we experience the glory of God. We have to be looking for the Holy Spirit to show up. God’s presence is always with us, will you look for Him today?

Red Skies

Growing up I had the opportunity to do some sailing. My dad had a love for sailing and many of our family vacations involved sailing for a week at a time. I have so many memories of being in a very small space with all 5 of us living on a 30 foot sailboat. One memory that popped to mind when I read through my assigned text for today was what my Dad would say every night as the sun was setting on the water…

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning.”

This is a saying that is actually rooted in today’s reading, Matthew 16:1-12. Jesus actually references the above saying…

He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning,’Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
Matthew 16:2-3

The people of Jesus’s day knew how to read the skies, they believed that the color of the sky would predict the weather. But Jesus points out here that even though they believed in the color of the sky predicting the weather, they couldn’t read the signs of the times.

The Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a sign from heaven. Jesus had been performing miracles and signs for days. He had just fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. Even if the Pharisees and Sadducees were not present to witness Jesus’ miracles, surely they had heard of them. They were “testing” Jesus. He calls them “hypocrites” as they can discern the sky and predict the weather, but they cannot observe the signs of the times.

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
Matthew 16:4

What does it mean to discern the signs of the times? Do we notice what is going on around us? Do we see people turning to Jesus or drifting away? Jesus tells them that they will only be given the sign of Jonah. Jesus saw Jonah as a symbol of the Messiah whom He himself claimed to be. In Matthew 12:38-40 he explains how Jonah is a sign.

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:38-40

Jesus is referring to his coming death and resurrection. Are we like the Pharisees and Sadducees and putting Jesus to the test? Or do we believe what He says and the miracles He performed? He gives us the choice. We have a choice to follow Him and survive the storms of life, because we know that the red sky in the morning may bring severe storms.  Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days so that we may have life and have it abundantly.

 

Faith Hope Love

Faith – Hope – Love
We have probably heard many lessons about having faith, hope and love. They are very important to the Christian journey. In our reading today, 1 Thessalonians, Paul gives us great insight on how faith, hope and love all work together to help us press on in our walk with Jesus.

For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love motivates you to serve others, and how unrelenting is your hope-filled patience in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3

Paul is writing to the young church at Thessalonica. In this verse Paul makes three distinctions:
1)  how to put your faith into practice
2)  how love motivates you to serve and
3)  how unrelenting is your hope-filled patience.

The first distinction that Paul makes is how to put your faith into practice. Where you put your faith determines what you do. If God is the focus of your life than that will show in what we do with your time.

The second connection that Paul makes is how love motivates us to serve. How much do you love Jesus? Love is what motivates us in the direction of our faith. If we truly love Jesus than that motivates us to serve Him through serving others.

The third point that Paul makes is how unrelenting is your hope-filled patience. According to Merriam-Webster, unrelenting means 1-“not softening or yielding in determination: hard, stern and 2- not letting up or weakening in vigor or pase: constant.”  This refers to how we are to live out our life. We have to push on with endurance to the end, even in the most difficult times. How do you continue to push on when life is hard? Paul tells us that it is through hope.

The word hope in the Bible means a “joyful and confident expectation”. What we hope for is what we expect to happen. You have to have the right kind of hope to endure hard things. Hope is what keeps us going when the going gets tough.

Paul gives the church at Thessolonica a commendation of these three things. He praises them for putting their faith into practice, for letting their love motivate them to serve, and for having unrelenting hope-filled patience.

Could Paul give that same praise to you and I? Do I put my faith into practice daily? Do I let my love for Jesus motivate me to serve those around me? And, do I have unrelenting hope-filled patience as I endure daily hardships?

I must daily be in God’s Word to renew my mind and deepen my love for Him. My love for Him is what will motivate me to keep my faith, hope and love at the center of my life.

Shine like Stars

On July 12, 2022 we got to witness the first ever color scientific images and spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The image (above) reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. It shows landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars from a nearby star-forming region called NGC 3325 in the Carina Nebula (NASA news, July 12, 2022).

I am not an avid star watcher, although I have used the app on my phone to do some star-gazing. It is amazing what technology can find and discover these days. Back in the days of the Bible stars were used for navigation. The movements and patterns of the stars showed direction. When people travelled they studied and watched the stars carefully to find their way.

In our reading today, Philippians 2, Paul tells the Philippians to “shine like stars.”

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

Philippians 2:14-15

The phrase “shine like stars” is more accurately translated as “appearing as luminaries.” Paul wanted the Philippians to be luminaries or light-bearers in the world and be a witness for Jesus Christ.

If Paul thought the world of his time was “crooked and twisted”, how much more is our world “crooked and twisted” today? Every time I turn on the news I am reminded just how dark our world is. The light of Christ can shine brightly through us to all the world.

We can be a light by obeying the words of Paul, “do everything without grumbling or arguing.” It is so easy to find something to complain or argue about these days, but God asks us to simply not do it. This is such a good reminder as I catch myself complaining about how hot it is today.

If we know Jesus, we are called to live differently than worldly people around us. We are called to be a light to those around us. Do people around you notice something different in us through our actions? Our light can lead other people to Jesus.

The James Webb telescope is so powerful it can see stars that have never been seen before. God calls us to “shine like stars” in the midst of the dark world we live in.

Life is Hard, but God is Good

How has your day been? Your week? Your month? Odds are that you have faced a trial or two. Maybe it was a quick argument or a small fender-bender. Or, maybe you or someone you love is facing a difficult health or personal circumstances. The reality is, this is life. Life is hard. No where will we find a promise that our life is supposed to be easy. In fact, we read in God’s Word that we will have trouble.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

As we go through these troubles in our life, it is easy to lose focus. The enemy wants nothing more than to get in our thoughts and feelings and tell us lies about what we are experiencing. The enemy is waiting for any moment that he can jump in on our struggles. He makes us think that we haven’t handled a situation right, that we are not good enough, that we could have done more. He never stops whispering in our ear that we are never going to measure up.

But!!!! If we know Jesus, we are none of the lies that the enemy wants us to believe about ourselves.

In our reading today, Ephesians 1, Paul reminds the church of Ephesus, and us, who we are in Christ.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has Poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
Ephesians 1:3-7

Did you read that and realize that we already have everything we need through Christ. I find that when I make scripture personal I relate to it on a different level. Do this. Read the above verses again and exchange the underlined word with your name, I, and me. This is written for you. When you insert your name, you really understand what God has done for you!

God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing.
You are Holy and without fault in the eyes of God .
You are adopted as His child.
You are beloved and accepted by his son Jesus.
In Jesus, you are redeemed and your sins are forgiven!

We are not defined by the thoughts that drift into our mind from the enemy. We are not defined by how we are handling a certain situation or by our past.

We are defined by God. Our identity in Chris is our true worth. It is easy to get wrapped up in our circumstances, especially when they are hard. Take a moment to read the scripture above and remember who you truly are… A child of the one true God!

Keep the Faith

Do you think Abraham realized when he was living, approximately 4000 years ago, that he would leave a legacy of faith? We have the opportunity to pick up our Bible and read all about his faith and how he lived it out. Because he had faith, we get to learn from him and have our faith strengthened.

Hebrews 11:1-21 covers the stories of some of the best faith keepers in the Old Testament. When we read the stories of these faithful people we get to see faith in action and learn what real faith is.

Here is a list of the faith keepers in our reading today:
*Abel
*Enoch
*Noah
*Abraham
*Issac
*Jacob
*Sarah

So, what is faith?

Faith is responsive. All of the faith keepers above obeyed what God told them to do. Abraham for instance left all that he had, not knowing even where he was going.

Faith is persistent. None of the above faith keepers ever gave up. They exercised their faith knowing that God would be true to his word.

Faith is dependent. “For without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) All of these faith keepers were dependent on God to see them through their days. Their hard days, the days they struggled, and especially on the days they wanted to give up.

These faith keepers were commended by God for keeping their faith.  According to Dictionary.com, the word commended means 1) to present, mention, or praise as worthy of confidence, notice, kindness, etc,:  recommend 2) to entrust; give in charge; deliver with confidence and 3) to cite or name with approval or special praise.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:16

I long for the commendation of God. Just as we read he gave to the faith keepers (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and Sarah), this same promise is made to us if we keep our faith focused on God. To receive the praise of God we must keep the faith. We must be responsive, persistent and dependent to God.

Discipline

Oh how I remember the times I had to discipline my children because of a wrong they did. If you are a parent you honestly understand that it sometimes hurts us more than it does the child who did wrong. My children are now young adults so it is very rare that  I have to do any correcting, but now they face their own consequences of sin. Just as I face my consequences for sins in my own life.

Sin has consequences and causes trouble in our lives. God’s response to sin is like a parent’s response to a misbehaving child. God loves us more than a parent loves a child. God hates sin because when we choose it, it separates us from Him and destroys what is good in our lives.

I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.
Jeremiah 30:11

We read in Jeremiah chapter 30 of the people of Israel. They were broken and hopeless because they insisted on doing things there own way. But thankfully, that is not the end of the story.

God loves us way too much to let us stay separated from Him. He corrects us, just as a parent corrects a child. The discipline causes us to grow because, through it we learn to trust God and not ourselves.

I am so thankful that we have Jesus. He paid the price for our sins so we can be reunited with God. Durning the time of Jeremiah, the Israelites had no idea the Jesus was coming to pay the price.

Thank You God for loving us so much and sending your son to die for us.

Rain

“That corn is going to be hip-high by the 4th of July!”

That is the statement my daughter made as we drove by the cornfield on our way to town this morning. And she is right, the corn is already knee-high. The rains a few weeks ago and now the high heat must be great growing weather for the corn.

The farmers rely on the benefits of the rain. Most do not have massive sprinkling systems to cover their crops. And even if they did, water from a well or water treatment plant will never be as perfect as the rain that falls from the heavens above.

There are a few reasons why rainwater is best (yes, I had to do a little research:).

1 – Rainwater is 100% soft water. It is free of salts, minerals, treatment chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
2 – Rainwater is slightly acidic. I don’t pretend to understand all the science stuff, but by God’s design rainwater is the exact ph range for anything that grows in the ground.
3 – Rainwater contains nitrates which are an important macronutrient for plants to thrive.

Isaiah 55 tells us that God’s word is just as irresistible and effective as the rain is for plants.

The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the fame and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Isaiah 55:10-11 (NLT)

We need God’s Word, straight from the Bible, no substitutes. It is like using tap water on your plants, it keeps the plants alive and growing, but never flourishing. There are so many places to read about God’s word…social media, magazines, pamphlets, books, even this Bible Journal which we write every week. But there is no true replacement for God’s Word.

When we feel run down, burnt out, or just plain tired, we need to run to God’s Word for rejuvenation. Just like the rain brings a dry, brown, crinkly plant back to life. The Word gives us what we need to continue through our day.

Just like the plants and fields need rain from heaven, we need God’s word daily. If we go too many days without being in the Bible, we may feel dry and unfruitful. But all it takes is cracking that book open and reading a few verses. God’s word is alive and will reach into your heart if you let it.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Hebrews 4:12

Share the Word

Today in Acts 8:26-40 we learn two things:

1-God has positioned each of us here for this moment.
2-God meets us where we are.

Philip was sent to meet with a man who was a high-ranking official in the Ethiopian government. This Ethiopian man had come to Jerusalem to worship. So God sent Philip to him to help him understand what he was reading in the book of Isaiah.

The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man relied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
Acts 8:29-31

Philip listened to the Holy Spirit and followed through. Something that I could definitely improve on.  He walked to the man’s carriage and shared the good news. Through Philip, God met this man where he was and brought him to where he needed to be. Philip was able to take the passage the man was reading and point to his need to be rescued. He was able to tell how Jesus perfectly filled that role for him, died and rose from the dead to conquer his sins and bring him to eternal life.

God does the same for you and me, he meets us where we are.

We need constant reminders that God meets us right where we are and that He has taken care of our sin.

God sends people into our lives, just as he sent Philip to stand by a carriage and interpret what the man was reading. God sends people into our lives with spiritual needs that must be met. He sends people in our families, in our jobs, in our neighborhoods who need to have someone explain to them what God has done. He often meets people where they are through you and me. You and I get to share God’s truths with those around us.

Be Bold-Speak Up

Do you recall a time you had to stand up in front of many important people and give a speech?  I remember giving a few speeches in college, where I researched my  information and then practiced it so many times I had it memorized.  I probably did not come across very convincing since I gave the speeches only because I had to for a grade.  

I recall a time probably 20 years ago when I gave my testimony to a group of women.  I was nervous and I am sure I stumbled over my words, but I knew that God would use my words and speak to the women I was speaking to.  I was filled with the Holy Spirit who helped me tell of God’s love and redemption in my life.  

Today we read of Stephen, the first martyr, in Acts 7:23-43.  Stephen was a man who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit.  He was full of grace.  He was doing miracles.  He was a man who was living out his faith and doing it with boldness.

Because of who Stephen was and his boldness performing signs and wonders, he grew great opposition from the Synagogue leaders, the Sanhedrin.  The Sanhedrin began to create false witnesses who claimed that Stephen had blasphemed God.  Because of this, Stephen had to stand before the court and give a long speech of Moses in the Old Testament and how it related to Jesus’work through his death and resurrection.  

Stephen could have turned away from these people, but he chose to stand in front of them in his faith and speek boldly to them.  He did not choose to turn from his faith or take the easy way out.  The Holy Spirit filled him with courage and wisdom to speak to the Sanhedrin.  Stephen did not know what the outcome would be, but he boldly proclaimed the Word of God.  

We have the same choice in our daily life.  We can stay “safe” and not say what we feel God prompting us to say to another.  Or, we can boldly profess Who Jesus is, what He has done in our lives, and tell of the Promise of Heaven.  

Be Bold-Speak Up