Author: BJ Armstrong

Good Morning!

How do you start your day?  Clicking through emails and scrolling headlines brings on the pressures of life.  What a mess! How will you respond, what will you do?   As I sit in self-pity, anger, and anxiety, I hear the voice of God.  “Hey, remember me?”  He asks.  I do.  In those moments, I remember that God is our helper.  He is in control of all situations.  In fact, I can use him. Surely, he will provide me with the strategies that I need to navigate this day.  So, that’s my prayer and off I go.
Why do I do this?  I tell myself it is responsible.  I should be informed.  It also seems strategic.  When I know what I am in for, I can plan better.  I can shape my activities to create the best possible outcome.
If you sense that something is wrong with this method, you are right.  In fact, our lives will be entirely different if our days start like David’s in Psalm 104.   Rather than finding ways to use God in his life, he determines who God is.  For example, when was the last time you thought about God as creator?
God is not just the creator.  He is also the orchestrator.  He brings all of creation together, in harmony, so that it acts in concert.  Each piece works together, for Him.  For His purposes and for His glory.
How about provider?  God provides for us in the way that we most commonly think – he gives us food and shelter, but there is more.  He gives us places to sing.  Just as he does for the bird with the branches of the trees (v12).
 Because of who He is, I will sing,  I will praise my God with every breath. I will think of Him and His ways.  I will please Him only.  I rejoice in Him.
Let’s go start the day.

Healed, Or Whole?

It is possible to be healed, but not saved. The first comes as a request. “Jesus, have mercy on me!” It’s not an outrageous request. there are many times we beg for God’s mercy. In high school, it might have been before a big test. Today, it’s everything from an unexpected tax bill to health issues. All are valid reasons to ask for mercy. The amazing thing is that God wants to help us.  Just like the 10-lepers.
In Luke 11, we see 10 lepers begging for Jesus’ mercy. They did nothing more than believe, if even for a moment, that Jesus could heal them. They believed enough to follow Jesus’ instruction to go and see the priest.  As they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. 10 miracles. Unfortunately, not every miracle results in salvation. Only one leper was able to procure that.
How did it happen? “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done.” (Luke 17:15-16) In short, the man said, “thank you.” That’s it.
What do you need to go back and praise Jesus for today?

The Beginning of the End

Revelation 1

Many people struggle with the book of Revelation.  We complain about the imagery presented as we struggle to convert symbology to reality.  Our attempts are futile.  Rather than gaining assurance, we get fear.  Maybe, it is time that we approach this book differently.  Let’s leave our preconceptions and, more importantly, ourselves behind.  I discovered this as I read through Revelation 1. When I began, my focus was on one thing; myself.    Simply put, I begin worrying about my future.  What will the end-times mean for me?  This inward focus inhibits my ability to see the real message John presents.  Thankfully, God is faithful.  His word exposes my error and helps me correct it (Hebrews 4:12).  Today, as I read Revelation 1, I am reminded that:

    • God is in charge.  He gave Jesus the revelation to bring to us.  He commands angels and sits on a throne.
    • Because he loves us, He freed us from our sins by the blood of Jesus (v6)
    • He is the alpha and omega (v8). He existed before time began and will continue after it ends.

So what does the book of Revelation bring us?  A clear picture of who we are who God is.  Nothing else matters.  In fact, everything in this world will cease.  It will no longer exist.  Except for God.  He will continue.  He will rule and he will love us.  Forever and always.  That is enough for me.  Is that enough for you?

Tough Talk

Prophets in the Bible talk a lot about doom and destruction.  Micah included.  As I read through the first half of chapter two, I am convicted of my own sin.  How much time do I spend, as Micah says, “devising evil plans?”  The word evil is aggressive, so truthfully answering that question requires a little more digging into what evil is.  The Bible has much to say about it.  Consider these:
  • Psalms 10:7 (ESV) His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression, under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
  • Ephesians 4:29 (ESV) Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
  • Matthew 15:18-20 (ESV) what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person.
  • Ecclesiastes 5:10 (ESV) He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
  • Proverbs 25:2-3 (NLT) It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them.  No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth or all that goes on in the king’s mind!
  • Luke 12:15 (NLT) “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
  • Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT) When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.
These few verses are very revealing.  Evil is everywhere. Including our hearts and minds.  Micah warns us, again, of the harsh consequences that accompany them.  It is in this harsh conversation that I find myself wanting and needing a savior.
Thankfully, the calling of the prophets was not to forecast doom and destruction.  Instead, they are announcing hope and salvation.  God will gather the faithful, he says in verse 12.  Even better, he reminds us that God can break us free.  He will send “the breaker.”  The Breaker, he says, will go before us and make a new way (v13).
Of course, we know who “the Breaker” is.  He is Jesus.  The one who goes before us.  The one who pays the price and breaks us free from the bondage of sin.

Return to Me

The CDC tells me that my lifespan just decreased. As of today, I am expected to live 78.8 years. That’s 1.2 years fewer than it was before COVID. I just turned 52. You do the math.
I don’t like that news. Surely, there is something I can do to change it. Yes, of course, there is. You know just as well as I do. Reduce stress, sleep more, eat a balanced diet, avoid sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, then exercise at least 3 days per week and stay active the other four. Yes, that list sounds exhausting. That is precisely why the average is 78.8. It explains that most of us will refuse to make the changes necessary to live longer and better lives.
It’s relatively easy to track our physical life averages. But, what about our spiritual lives? What opportunities do we find to improve or strengthen our souls? This is what Amos is talking about today in chapter four. Five times, in this short passage, we are reminded of the opportunities we missed. Five times, Amos reminds the Israelites, that the Lord attempted to get their attention.
It seems crazy to me. Our physical bodies are trying to get our attention, yet we do little or nothing to improve them just as God is trying to get our attention. He is trying to complete us. He wants us to be whole. He wants us to be with him for eternity. That can only happen one way. “Return to me,” he asks us. It’s that simple.

Sick and Hopeless

Isaiah 33

How do you respond to distress and hopelessness? Many cower, shrinking in fear. For others, depression and despondency take over. When Israel’s hope was gone, when they’d been turned into slaves with nothing to live for, they did the same. That’s when the prophet, Isaiah, steps in.
Isaiah cries out for them.  How does he do it?  He prays.  This is not your ordinary prayer.  He did not sit quietly with folded hands and closed eyes.  Instead, he spoke with passion.  I picture him pacing the room, stomping and screaming.  This prayer was about making noise.  He was calling upon God for attention.
Working a room, in passionate prayer is tough.  Isaiah’s face was red and sweat gathered on his brow.  Tears filled his eyes, but he would not be overcome by emotion.  This was a desperate cry.  He wanted help, yes, but it’s more than that.  Isaiah needed God to show up.  He knew God’s promises.  He knew that when God stands up, nothing can stand in his way.  Nothing can defeat him.  No enemy, no ruler, no mountain is bigger than He.  God will conquer all.  He and he alone will free us.
What made Isaiah special?  He was willing to rely on God. His response was dictated by his faith.  How do you respond to repression and lack of hope?  Prayer.  That’s it. He didn’t push for everyone to go out and fight. He didn’t work to energize and motivate these hopeless people. He prayed. He didn’t tell them to pray, he prayed for them. He interceded with what he knew to be true.
Prayer is all that is required.  Through it, we achieve the victory that God has promised.  Like the Israelites, we will no longer say, “we are sick and hopeless, for the Lord will forgive.” (v24)

More Than Anything

There’s a song that I hear on the radio and the lyrics always capture my mind. The chorus goes like this:
Help me want the Healer
More than the healing
Help me want the Savior
More than the saving
Help me want the Giver
More than the giving
Oh, help me want You, Jesus
More than anything
What do I like about it? It reminds me that I am confused. That I take the good things of this world and use them for my own purposes. It’s true of everything. Consider the list of things that Solomon provides today in Ecclesiastes 2. Each of them, he acquired in excess. But, it didn’t work. In the end, they amounted to nothing. Meaningless, he says.
This is what I like about Natalie Grant’s song More Than Anything. She gets it right. More than anything, she exclaims, I want the Savior, the Healer, The Giver. Give me Jesus. Solomon figured that out too. Verse 25 says it perfectly, “For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him.”

Sweeter Than Honey

I want to experience God the way David did in Psalm 19. Take a closer look noticing the metaphors and imagery he uses to describe God. These are not simple thoughts of how great God is, but elaborate descriptions of God’s character. This is not David being creative. These descriptions come from experience. God showed up in David’s life and David was careful to pay attention. Now, when writing the words, he is simply drawing from what he knows to be true.
As David establishes who God is, something profound happens. He becomes deeply reverent. That’s why he moves into the second part of the poem exclaiming that he wants God more than any other thing, Even gold! At that moment, David becomes keenly aware of his humanness. He is humbled. What Does that mean? Andrew Murray describes it this way, “[Humility] is not something which we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.” That last phrase really says it. When we develop reverence which produces humility, “we make way for God to be all.” We see David committing to exactly that in this Psalm.
Despite this amazing Psalm, David is not the best example of humility in the Bible. Jesus is. Consider Philippians 2:6-9. “Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
If you have strayed, as David did, there is one way to find your way back on the right path. Do like David did and describe the character of God.

I Am Sorry

I got married at the ripe old age of 24. Those early years of marriage were very formative. More than anything, I learned that my life is no longer my own. In other words, the commitment of marriage requires that I make choices with two people in mind, not just myself. Of course, there were many times that I did not meet that expectation. Failure to do so led to conflict. I learned quickly that I could settle the conflict with three words. You know them too. “I am sorry.” That phrase pretty much settles the conflict. They work until it happens again. At that moment, saying “I am sorry” is a false promise.
Jennifer is a patient woman. She tolerated my errant behavior and even accept my apologies. But, she quickly understood that my apology was a tactic to end the argument, rather than a sincere desire to change my behavior.  She called me out. “Being sorry,” she said, “means that you will never do it again.” Ouch.
She may not have known it at the time, but her words mimic Jesus. When it comes to forgiveness, Jesus instructs us to rebuke the sins of other believers. Meaning that we are to let them know where their behavior is not consistent with their commitment. “If,” he continues,” there is repentance, “forgive.” This process continues, as long as there is repentance.
My previous behavior has me questioning the process. How many times have I told Jesus that “I am sorry,” with no intention of changing my behavior? I fear that much of the time, I am simply trying to end the conflict. Those three words are hollow. When they are, they do not produce the justification, salvation, and forgiveness that I need. Justification comes only with a full sense of guilt, according to PT Forsyth. In fact, “you cannot get a full, justifying faith without a full sense and confession of guilt.”
Guilt, therefore, is the catalyst for change.  Now, when we experience guilt, we have two options.  If not confronted, it becomes a source of shame and embarrassment.  But that is not its design.  Instead,  Jesus wants our repentance.  When we present ourselves to him humbled and guilty, he listens.  More importantly, he forgives.  Even, he says, “if I wrong him seven times a day.”

Be Vigilant

I was listening in Bible study when the speaker made an interesting comment. He said, “Satan doesn’t want to waste his time on me.” Let me explain. This was a man of faith. Deep faith. His love for Jesus was evident in his action and his character. He worked hard to follow, faithfully. So, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Why would Satan waste his time?
This comment becomes interesting to me as I read today’s scripture. To start, we hear Jesus reminding his listeners to be ready. Being ready means being vigilant. After all, he says, “if you fall asleep while guarding your house, you might get robbed.” Jesus, of course, was talking about his return. We want to be ready. We want to be found faithful. That makes sense to me. At least it does until we get to verse 41. When Peter asks “are you telling this parable for us, or everyone?”
Peter’s question is a curious one. As a faithful follower, he is thinking “yada, yada, yada, I’ve heard this before, get on with the real lesson.” But, he is willing to endure it so that some others might be influenced. I mean, Peter is a faithful follower. He’s thinking that he has nothing to worry about. Just like my teacher.  But, the warning is real.
In typical Jesus fashion, the answer to Peter’s question is carved into a story. Even so, the answer is clear. More, not less, is demanded from Jesus’ faithful servants. We are the example. We have not been saved so that our lives can go well. We have been saved to serve. This service, when acted on faithfully, will result in opportunities for our own glorification. That is, we may begin to believe that we ourselves are responsible for the position that we have achieved. This is a precarious moment. This is what Jesus is warning about.
Jesus knew the deep faith of Peter. He also knew where Peter was vulnerable. The answer is a warning.  A reminder that Satan lurks around every corner. Things like pride, envy, and drunkenness are waiting to capture us. There is no time to waste.
So, just like Peter, we are to be vigilant, and constantly on watch to avoid danger.  The direct answer to Peter’s question in verse 41 – who is this for? – is Yes, Peter.  it is for you.  And, it is for me.  It is for you too.