WORRY VS. MEDITATION

Scripture talks about meditating on God’s Word. The psalmist says that godly persons meditate on the Word “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). How much is that?

You may feel that meditation is something only monks and mystics can do. So let me ask you, do you know how to worry? If you can worry, you can meditate. To meditate merely means to think about something over and over. Let it simmer in your mind. Reflect on it from different angles until it becomes part of you…

A friend recently sent me a card that read, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NIV)

When I think about that single statement, I am reminded that…

• GOD is the source of all hope.
• He is even now seeking to fill my body with not just joy and peace, but ALL joy and peace.
• His desire is that I should not just contain hope, but OVERFLOW with hope.
• This process is dependent not on my power, but the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT at work in me.

My mind is having different thoughts than it would be if I were [doomscrolling social media.] With my mind fixed on God, I am ready [for whatever lies ahead today.]  

-- Adapted from John Ortberg in “If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat”

#6319

A COLONY OF HEAVEN

“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.”  (Philippians 1:27 NLT)

Paul exhorts the church at Philippi to live as a colony of heaven. The ancient city of Philippi, filled with retired Roman soldiers from the imperial capital, trying hard to be a little Rome far from Rome, knew what it was to be a colony of a great city.

So Paul appealed to the church there to do the same -- to live as a colony of heaven. That’s a timely word for the church today. We live under the reign of a different king -- Jesus the Lord. Our ultimate allegiance is to a different kingdom -- the kingdom of heaven. We are ultimately bound by the laws of our true homeland. In the meantime, we must represent that land well until the Lord comes again and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we bless others in the name of Christ, may we catch a glimpse of a better land and a more lasting kingdom. By the grace of God and the Spirit’s power, may they be wooed through our lives and our corporate witness into joining us on our journey. 

-- Donald W. Sweeting and George Sweeting in “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half” 

#6162

THE SPIRIT AT PENTECOST – Part 2 of 2

Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” (Acts 1:8a NIV)

Pentecost is about power, the coming of the Spirit to empower the church to fulfill its purpose and calling.

The Book of Acts is the story of this power in the lives of the disciples and the new church. Peter is an example of the power of the Spirit in a life. He was the one who denied Jesus in the crisis moment of his life. But following Pentecost, we meet a new Peter, one who preaches boldly and performs miracles in the name of Jesus. When told to quit preaching and teaching in Jesus’ name, Peter responded with great courage and fearlessness: “I must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29 paraphrased). He had received the gift of power… The purpose of the church is to equip us with the power to face the struggles of life.

That Greek word for spirit, pneuma (meaning “air” or “breath”), is the root word from which we get pneumatic tires -- tires filled with air. The significant thing for me is that this reminds us that things filled with air consistently bounce up when thrown down, or, if in water, float, not able to be kept under, but always rising to the surface. This is also true of [people] filled with the Holy Spirit, the pneuma. They cannot be held down, they have the power to continually and consistently bounce up and rise again. Pentecost is the gift of power, the power to be a witness and the power to face the struggles of life. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!” 

#6131

THE SPIRIT AT PENTECOST – Part 1 of 2

Jesus said to His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.”  (Acts 2:1-6 NIV)

Before ascending to the Father, the Risen Christ promised His disciples that He would be with them always through the gift of the Holy Spirit. He promised that they would receive power when the Spirit came upon them, and He charged them to be His witnesses beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and out to the ends of the earth. And on the day of Pentecost it happened! It was a sudden, powerful and dramatic event that defied description. They could only say it was like the sound of a mighty, rushing wind, and there was the appearance of tongues of fire and harmonious, understandable, and incredible communication. The Spirit of God had come upon them and they had become the church of Jesus Christ. They and the world would never be the same again! They had received the gift of the Spirit. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!” 

#6130

 

TWELVE ORDINARY MEN – Part 4 of 4

“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”  (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NLT)

God’s favorite instruments are nobodies, so that no one can boast before God. In other words, God chooses whom He chooses in order that He might receive the glory. He chooses weak instruments so that no one will attribute the power to human instruments rather than to God, who wields those instruments. Such a strategy is unacceptable to those whose whole pursuit in life is aimed toward the goal of human glory…

[The apostles] were not like that. They certainly struggled with pride and arrogance like every fallen human being. But the driving passion of their lives became the glory of Christ. And it was that passion, subjected to the influence of the Holy Spirit -- not any innate skill or human talent -- that explains why they left such an indelible impact on the world.

-- Excerpts from “Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness and What He Wants to Do with You” by John MacArthur

#6087

GOD’S COMFORT

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV)

God provides comfort in many ways, but the Greek word for comfort in this particular passage is paraklesis (pronounced: par-ak-lay-sis). Which relates to the word paraclete or “one who comes alongside to help.” This word is also used as a name for the Holy Spirit. Paul, the writer of this letter to the Corinthians, was specifically talking about how God comforted him by helping him – providing him strength, boldness, and courage through the many trials he faced in his ministry.

The Holy Spirit helps all believers in the same way He helped Paul – strengthening us through the trials we face in our own lives. But God’s comfort doesn’t stop there. We who have been comforted by God’s great mercy are able to comfort others who are suffering and facing difficult situations. 

– Lauren Ibach in “The Bible in a Year: A Reading Plan Focusing on God’s Character”

#6038

BACK TO BIBLICAL BASICS – Part 2 of 2

The great C. H. Spurgeon, a preacher who reached out and grabbed the guts of the people of his day, once said that the Christian bloodline ought to be a Bibline. [Spiritual leadership] entails mastery of this Bibline bloodline. Novelist Joyce Carol Oates writes of a character’s grandmother: “We are linked together by blood, and blood is memory without language.” Christians are linked together by the blood memory of the Bibline that circulates through the body of Christ.

There is nothing more exciting in life than to find your sense of direction. Why is it that when we open God’s Word we expect to be bored? It is theologically incorrect to talk of making the Word “come alive.” It already is. We’re the ones who have tried to kill it. We’ve sucked the blood right out of the Bibline. We’ve drained it dry with boredom, banality, and mediocrity.

“Breathe on Me, Breath of God” is a song the soul should sing every time one opens the Scriptures. To study and learn the Scriptures is to inhale the energies of the Spirit. We inhale the breath of God. We exhale the breath of life: biblical stories. Through modulating exhaled breath, humans fashion stories, stories to build lives upon. When the stories of Scripture become “our” stories, when biblical images and metaphors become “our” images and metaphors, when we structure “our” lives around the cornerstone Jesus story, a new architecture for our souls is constructed.

In his first letter, Peter wrote to the scattered church about this cornerstone: “As you come to Him, the living Stone -- rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him -- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.’ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.”  (1 Peter 2:4-7a NIV) 

-- Leonard Sweet in “Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today’s Fluid Culture”

#5995

KINGDOM PROMISES: LIKE SHEEP AMONG WOLVES

Jesus said, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” (Matthew 10:16 NIV)

The church is always at its best when it goes into the world humbly, like sheep among wolves. Ironically, a few centuries after Jesus, when the church did get some political and financial power, it lost much of its spiritual power. One Christ follower, John Chrysostom, was reflecting on this verse about being sent by Jesus like sheep among wolves and how the concept was getting lost as the church gained power. He said, “Let us then be ashamed, who do the contrary, who set out like wolves upon our enemies. For so long as we are sheep, we conquer… But if we become wolves, we are worsted, for help of our Shepherd departs from us: for He feeds not wolves, but sheep.” 

-- John Ortberg in “All the Places to Go: How Will You Know?”

#5978

IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING

“And in the same way -- by our faith -- the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don’t even know what we should pray for nor how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words.”  (Romans 8:26 TLB)

In solitude, we come to know the Spirit who has already been given to us. The pains and struggles we encounter in our solitude thus become the way to hope, because our hope is not based on something that will happen after our sufferings are over, but on the real presence of God’s healing Spirit in the midst of these sufferings. 

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen in “Making All Things New”

#5784

GOD USES HIS SPIRIT TO CHANGE US

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.”  (Romans 8:9-10 NLT)

When we commit ourselves to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives to empower and direct us. The Spirit of God gives us new strength and vitality and the desire and power to do what is right. As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him…

God’s number one purpose in your life is to make you like Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make the child of God more like the Son of God. And what is Jesus like? His life on earth embodied the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

-- Rick Warren in “God’s Power to Change Your Life”

#5776

THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”  (Acts 2:38 NRSV)

To repent is to change your mind about the way you have been living. It is to decide to stop following the way of sin and to start following the way of Jesus. When the decision to repent is coupled with trusting faith in Jesus, the result is conversion. William Barclay writes, “When repentance comes, something happens for the future. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Even if we repent, how are we to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again? There comes into our lives the power which is not our power, the power of the Holy Spirit, and in that power we can win the battles we never thought to win, and resist things which by ourselves we would have been powerless to resist. In the moment of true repentance we are liberated from the estrangement and the fear of the past, and we are equipped to face the battles of the future.” 

-- Richard Peace in “Learning to Love God”

#5775

THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them… . Peter… addressed the crowd… ‘This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says,   I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”’”  (Excerpts from Acts 2:1-21 NIV)

The permanent, personal presence of the Holy Spirit with us is the unique blessing of the new covenant. The Israelites had seen the Spirit work amongst them from time to time, but even the most famous Israelites had not experienced the Spirit’s presence the same way as we do. Like everything else we must start from the gospel in order to understand the gift of the Spirit. Jesus has given the Spirit equally and fully to all His children….

Pentecost marked the creation of the new people of God. It confirmed the new covenant. From this perspective we gain fresh insight into the ministry of the Spirit. He directs the people’s attention to their covenant Lord. He makes the people into a new tabernacle/temple, God’s dwelling place. Through the Spirit the people are drawn together in unity and they receive gifts necessary for their life together and their role in the world.   

-- Mark Strom in “The Symphony of the Scriptures: Making Sense of the Bible’s Many Themes”

#5613

THE EMPOWERING SPIRIT – Part 1

In the history of human endeavors, there is a natural progression from “man” to “movement” to “monument.” A charismatic individual typically comes on the scene, mobilizes others to join him, and achieves great things. When the leader dies or leaves, his followers continue for a while in his spirit. But the movement generally lacks the founder’s dynamism and eventually loses momentum. Subsequently, it either fails outright or becomes only a monument to its former, departed glory. Man, movement, monument.

Christianity did not follow the “man-movement-monument” scenario. Jesus’ charisma cannot be denied. But when He died, He died alone. And after He rose from the dead, He had to appear to His disciples repeatedly to convince them that He was truly risen from the dead (Acts 1:3). He had to explain to them again that His kingdom was far different from the one they imagined. Even when He made His dramatic exit to heaven they stood staring into the sky (Acts 1:11)…

Prior to His departure Jesus told His disciples, “In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit… you will receive power and will tell people about Me everywhere” (Acts 1:5,8). This power of the “Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead” (Romans 8:11) imparted to them supernatural power that made them compelling witnesses for Christ. 

-- Stuart Briscoe in the “Daily Study Bible for Men”

#5610

AN INWARD PRESENCE AND POWER

Jesus said to the Apostles, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere -- in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8 NLT)

It was something more than a glorified Jesus Christ in the heavens in which [the Apostles] believed.  In the beginning, John the Baptist had taught his disciples to expect from Christ the baptism -- not of water only, as in his baptism -- but of the Spirit.  Before His death, Jesus had sought to fill His disciples' minds with the expectation of this gift...  And that Spirit had come in sensible power upon them some ten days after Jesus disappeared for the last time from their eyes...  And this Spirit was the Spirit of God, but also, and therefore, the Spirit of Jesus.  Jesus was not then merely a past example, or a remote Lord, but an inward presence and power.  A mere example in past history becomes in experience a feebler and feebler power...  But the example of Jesus was something much more than a memory.  For He who had taught them in the past how to live was alive in the heavenly places and was working within them by His Spirit. 

-- Charles Gore (1853-1932)

#5609

A FRESH START FOR THE NEW YEAR

"Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new”. (2 Corinthians 5:17, The Message).

[Renovation] takes solid work, requires real change in behavior, and sometimes the recognition that failing will be part of the journey. A fascinating and convicting book is “Renovation of the Heart” by Dallas Willard. It’s one to put on your reading list – and recognize that you might be reading one chapter over and over and over. He spends some interesting time thinking about the role of the will and the relation to the Holy Spirit in this “renovation”, in becoming “new creatures”.

The key to this renovation, however, as opposed to the fad of New Year’s resolutions, is that spiritual fresh starts are based in a power that is not our own power. In fact, we have to give up our “own power” in order to be effective, and that makes all the difference.

So looking at that verse again, we can be assured that when we unite with the Messiah, when we are reborn in Christ, when the Holy Spirit becomes part of our hearts and minds… we have a true chance at a fresh start. 

-- Lt. Colonel Carol Seiler, the Salvation Army

#5507   

SURRENDER BRINGS POWER

“Before the Lord we bow,
The God who reigns above,
And rules the world below,
Boundless in power and love;
Our thanks we bring
In joy and praise,
Our hearts we raise
To heaven's high King.”  (Francis Scott Key)

When we are contrite, when we are submitting, we kneel, expressing with our bodies what is in our hearts. When a subject comes before his king, what does he do to humble himself? He kneels to acknowledge that he is in the presence of his master. When a believer in any religion comes to pray to his God, what does he do? He kneels to acknowledge that he is in the presence of his master. When a man asks a woman to become his wife, what does he do? He gets down on one knee to acknowledge… well, you get the idea.

Bent low in surrender. Jesus understood that if you want to experience victory, you must start in surrender. Surrender brings power, and the need to surrender is deeply tied to Jesus’ offer of living in the flow of the Spirit. You receive power through the act of surrender that you cannot obtain any other way; you receive freedom through submission that you will otherwise never know. 

-- Adapted from John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You”

#5458

OFFERING WARMTH AND LIGHT

Jesus said, “Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”  (John 15:4 NIV))

We who want to witness to the presence of God's Spirit in the world need to tend to the fire within with utmost care. It is not so strange that many… have become burnt-out…, people in whom the fire of God's Spirit died and from whom not much more comes forth than their own… ideas and feelings. It is as if we are not sure that God's Spirit can touch the hearts of people; we have to help Him out, with many words, convince others of His power. But it is precisely that wordy unbelief that quenches the fire.

Our first and foremost task is faithfully to care for the inward fire so that when it is really needed it can offer warmth and light to lost travelers. 

-- Henri J.M. Nouwen in “The Way of the Heart”, adapted

#5388

THE SPIRIT OF PENTECOST

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”  (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)

Too many churches have become mausoleums for the dead rather than coliseums of praise for a living God. They have lost the spirit of Pentecost! They have lost their enthusiasm. They have lost their joy for Jesus and find themselves suffering from what William Willimon calls “Institutional and spiritual Dry Rot.” If the Church is to survive the next millennium it must recapture some of the praise and enthusiasm it had two millennia ago. 

-- Carlyle Fielding

#5370

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8 NIV)

We are God’s people. We are not in the Secret Service; we are in the Spirit’s Service. Touched by the Spirit we can think more clearly; feel more deeply; speak more truthfully; love more extravagantly; serve more creatively; give more lavishly; live more fully.

James A. Harnish [wondered], “Where do you find the power to hang in there in this world? Where do you find the power to keep going? Where do you find the power to continue to believe in love in a world that is filled with hate? Where do you find the power to continue to work for peace in a world that is addicted to violence? Where do you find the power to continue to believe in good in a world that is filled with so much suffering and pain? Where do you find the power to continue to believe that ultimately God’s Kingdom will come and God’s will, as revealed in Jesus, will be done in all of the creation? Where do you find the power to be a disciple of Jesus in this world?”

The power comes from the Spirit of God, indwelling and empowering us. 

-- Leonard Sweet in “A Cup of Coffee at the Soul Cafe”

#5369

REVERENCE AND AWE

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”  (Proverbs 9:10 NIV)

“Fear GOD.” Reverence might be a better word. Awe. The Bible isn’t interested in whether we believe in God or not. It assumes that everyone more or less does. What it is interested in is the response we have to Him: Will we let God be as He is, majestic and holy, vast and wondrous, or will we always be trying to whittle Him down to the size of our small minds, insist on confining Him within the boundaries we are comfortable with, refuse to think of Him other than in images that are convenient to our lifestyle? But then we are not dealing with the God of creation and the Christ of the cross [and the Spirit of Pentecost], but with a dime-store reproduction of something made in our image, usually for commercial reasons.

-- Eugene H. Peterson in “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society”

#5335