PURITY OF THE WORD

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Psalm 119:105

I don’t know if you have ever had a chance to watch the show, 7th Street Theater, but it has become one of those shows that I try to catch as often as possible. The basic concept behind the show is group of theatre actors who work on sketches throughout the week to perform at their Friday night performance. Mixed in with the performance rehearsals are practical life and Bible lessons. It was an episode I watched about a year back that really spoke to me, though.
The performance was set to show the importance of reading the Bible. In one sketch, the performer was playing a coach whose starting quarterback had just gotten injured. He was about to send in the backup quarterback only to learn that the backup had not been reading the playbook. With one injured QB, and another not knowing the plays, the coach was left to forfeit the remainder of the game. The connection was made in showing how God’s Word is the playbook. If we, the team, are not familiar with the plays, how can we expect to be put in the game? How can we expect to win? We must read His word daily.
Another one of the sketches was centered around Psalm 119:105. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” As the group was heading out for lunch, they turned out the light and headed out the door. However, they could not lock the door because they had forgotten the keys inside the building. One of the actors went in but couldn’t see his way around. He called out for one the other actors to flip on the lights, but for some reason the light wouldn’t come on. Maybe it was a burnt bulb or a connection problem, but it pointed out another truth concerning God’s word. Without knowing what God’s word says, we are walking around blind, in the dark. God’s word is more than a flashlight. It is a floodlight. It lights the path we are to take, guiding us, directing us, correcting us even. So for us to push this light to the side because we are ‘too busy’ or ‘not in the mood’ only places us back in the dark.
As I prepare to close today, I want to share with you not only one of the other sketches that caught my attention, but something God has been sharing with me recently. I have for sometime been dealing with a pestering emotion. It wears me out daily. A few nights back I was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, praying that God would help me. I asked specifically how I was to overcome this issue. The response I heard seemed too simple. “Read My word. If you want victory, then read My word.”
I could write out for you all the reasons and benefits as to why we should dive into God’s word, but something tells me you already know this. But what struck me hardest in watching this episode was the final sketch. The minister introduced the missionary to speak, giving him the pulpit and as much time as he needed. This missionary arose, went to stand at the pulpit, read his text and then sat down. Perplexed, the pastor again introduced him a second time, but the missionary stayed seated. A third time he was introduced, and this time he again got up and came before the church. His words hit me. “The purity of God’s word doesn’t need my commentary, or anyone else’s. Yet too many times we look to the pastor to explain God’s word instead of going to God Himself.”
I have been writing these devotionals for years now, but I fear that maybe I have become a replacement to some of you for what only God should be. In hearing God speak to me about reading His word, I was convicted. I spend more time listening to others talk about God than I do reading God’s word myself. And there is nothing wrong with ministers or television evangelists; please don’t read that wrong. But if they are becoming our god, then we are in error. The Israelites did everything through Moses when they came out of Egypt, when all along God wanted a personal relationship with each one of them. Have we become the same? Have we been spending more time getting our answers through Moses than through God? Perhaps we need to get back into God’s word, read it for ourselves, question it for ourselves, and find the purity of God’s word again for ourselves.

HUNGRY EYES

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
II Timothy 3:16-17

Following my divorce in 2008, I found myself once again entering the world of dating. I would like to say that the first person I dated in this five year time frame was the one I am married to now, but that would be a lie. The truth is I dated about a handful of ladies, and crushed on about twice as many. A few of them stick out, though. There was the one date where we walked around a shopping center talking about religion for three hours. When that date was done I walked away convinced that I was on the right track with God, and her, well not so much. There was also the one who I met at Starbucks, took ten minutes to decide what she wanted to drink, only to come up with water, and then wrote me a nasty email about how I needed to commit right away to a relationship. Sorry, but she scared me.
One other bad date sticks out, the one in which I laugh every time I think back on it. At the time I was keeping a devotional blog and she stumbled upon it. Seeing I lived close by her, she reached out to me. We emailed back and forth a few times before I decided I would meet a fan of my writings. I pulled up to our meeting spot, an ice cream shop, and found her waiting for me there. We ate our ice cream, shared stories, and walked around the strip mall for an hour or two. The date itself was pleasant, but there was one glitch. The whole time I felt just like the M&M and pretzel being stared at by the creepy hungry eyes guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OnEe-dauE). Personally the feeling of being craved by her spooked me. However, the desire to crave God’s word, and have hungry eyes for the Bible, excites me. And rightfully so. If we had any idea just how much God’s word can transform us, can restore us, and can recreate us, we may all walk around with hungry eyes.
In II Timothy 3:16-17 we read that God’s word can be useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training, therefore allowing us to be fully equipped for every good work. With it we are equipped; without it we are empty handed. Yet let us look at little more in depth at these key words. The God-breathed Word is ‘useful’. This word useful is the Greek word OPHELIMOS, meaning to be helpful, serviceable, or beneficial. If there is anything out there that is going to help me in life, I want it! God’s Word is helpful for ‘teaching’. In the Greek this is the word DIDASKALIA, meaning instruction or education. God’s Word is helpful for ‘rebuking’, which is the Greek word ELEGCHOS. The definition of this word is cross-examining, testing, or proving. God’s Word is helpful for ‘correcting’. The Greek word used here is EPANORTHOSIS, which is defined as straightening up again, or being rectified. Lastly we read that God’s Word is helpful for ‘training’, the Greek word PAIDEIA, meaning a rearing, like the rearing of a child, or the taking of disciplinary actions.
God’s Word, the standard of our lives and what we should be craving, is helpful for instructing us, cross-examining us, straightening us up again, and rearing us. These items sound harsh, but are they not the same steps that we as parents put in place when we give our words to our children. We want our words to serve as our parenting standard because we love our children. When they are obeyed they prove safety. When they neglected, our words become the tool once more that sets the course for the child to follow. Words, both God’s Words to us and our words to our children, are there to ‘equip’, to EXARTIDZO, to complete the one learning, so that he may enter into all that is good. If we have hungry eyes for God’s Word, and daily have God’s Word in us, then we are being transformed into His likeness, and being prepared for the tests that will come at us.
So where are your eyes, and what are they hungry for? Are they craving God’s Word? Or are they craving the world? Oh that I pray we will have a hunger for God that surpasses any temptation, any cheap thrill, any ‘monumental’ side show, and crave Him like never before.

HOW DOES HE TASTE?

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 34:8

As this year has been progressing, I have felt myself becoming a little more hungry. Now perhaps this hunger I feel could be suppressed by eating an extra snack or two during the day, but something about this hunger seems a little deeper. The food I am eating doesn’t seem to feel me up. Sure, the chocolate is still rich, the chips still salty, and the Mexican food still spicy. But something is missing. I am still craving something.
Being a bit of a bookworm and also a fan of research, I often find myself digging in Scripture for what the Bible really says. When I read the Bible, I normally read it with the intention of looking up words in the Hebrew or Greek so as to get a solid understanding of that word. It was recently that I once more came across Psalm 34:8, which reads, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” With a desire to see just what David was saying, I decided to study the words ‘taste’ and ‘see’.
Taste – TA’AM – to taste, eat, perceive
See – RA’AH – to see, look at, inspect, consider
In looking at just these first two words we see David encouraging us to eat of the Lord, and inspect the Lord. Why? Because as the phrase continues, he wants us to perceive just how good, how pleasant, how excellent (TOWB in the Hebrew) the Lord really is.
When I decided to go to college I chose a school in Oklahoma. I wasn’t trying to get away from my family, it just so happened that this school is where I felt God calling me to attend. But beings that my family was not abundant in finances, I was not able to attend a college weekend and explore the campus. Instead, the knowledge I had of the school was based on what I read in pamphlets, heard from current and past students, and saw on the school’s daily prayer show. When I finally arrived at the school, there was so much more to be experienced. The buildings were bigger than I had pictured in my mind. The campus itself was bigger. The student life was abundant with clubs and organizations I had not even fathomed. And as I walked the sidewalks between the classes, dorms, cafeteria, chapel, and library, I began to take in for myself the fullness of this place. I began to see then how both my imagination and the reports of others failed in comparison. In this case, what I saw was becoming my knowledge of the school instead of the knowledge of someone else.
I can attest this same concept in some ways to the birth of my children. While my children were both in the womb, I did not know them fully. I knew I was having a child, but with both we did not know the gender till the actual delivery. With both there was that feeling of excitement in the air. But the details were not known. Would the baby be a boy or girl? Would the baby have brown hair, blonde hair, or no hair? Would the child be colic, or would the child be one to rarely fuss? As long as the child was in the womb, these questions could not be answered. I could only wonder. However, once the birth happened I was then able to begin to know the child for myself. And this is what God is wanting of us – to know Him for ourselves.
I am reminded of Moses also. Moses became the channel of communication between God and the people. But this was never supposed to have been. In Exodus 20:18-19 we read, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’” God wanted a relationship with His people, to talk directly with them, but they refused a relationship with Him. Instead, their whole experience in the desert was based on Moses’ relationship with God as opposed to their own personal relationship. While they may have been hungry and thirsty to get out of Egypt, they did not appear to be hungry and thirsty enough to seek God for themselves.
I am pretty sure that this hunger that I have been puzzled with isn’t as related to food as I may have first thought. In fact, I do not think it is food related at all. What I have been craving is not chocolate, chips, or Mexican food, but rather God. My spirit has been craving something deeper, something that last more than just a few minutes on the lips and a lifetime on the hips. And perhaps this is the same craving you have been having. It is easy to fill our bodies with food because we know we need to. Yet we must not neglect our spirits. Our spirits too are hungry, craving the flavors of God. So then we must ask of ourselves, are we desirous to taste and see just how good God really is?

TEST ME

"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'"
Malachi 3:10

I must admit, I am puzzeled. Something has come up that has me stumped as I question the giving of tithe and offering. Honestly I must admit I do not have it all figured out. I know that we are to give a tenth of all that we earn, and I am disappointed that the average giving of the church is so poor. But the offering is more so the part that has me asking questions. Perhaps as I explain where I am at in my current thought patterns you may be able to relate with me. So then, let me jump right in with where I am in my perplexed mindset.
I am not sure that you have ever noticed this, but Malachi 3:10 is the only place in the entire Bible where we are encouraged to test the Lord. It is here that God speaks through His prophet to the people then and also us now, challenging us to over-give Him. It reads as follows. "'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'" I struggle with two ideas in this challenge. How can I give of a right heart and how can I give free from worry?
As you may recall from earlier devotionals, I am a graduate of Oral Roberts University. By no means am I disappointed in my Alma Matter, and if given the choice I would go again. But as such, I grew up hearing the many teachings on seed faith by Oral himself, as well as a host of others in various positions within the school. It is in this teaching that we give unto God a seed and He will return unto us a harvest. Now this is right, both in practical life and in theology. If I plant a corn seed, I will reap a corn stalk. If I plant a financial seed into God's Kingdom, I will reap a spiritual harvest. However, this same idea can still be corrupt. My biggest challenge has been giving in obedience to God as opposed to just wanting something. For instance, let us say I want a new car. My warped and selfish mindset in seed faith giving has me trapped in thinking that if I give God a $100 offering, He will bless me with $1000, since He returns a hundred fold. I find myself thinking multiples in my head what my return will be a then give according to the math as opposed to in simple obedience. It is no wonder so much of my giving has been in vain. True, Malachi does say that God will throw open His floodgates and pour out a blessing, but my testing is not with a right attitude.
The other part I struggle with is worry. While I want to live off 10% and give the other 90% in tithes and offerings, I do not. That has been my prayer since 1999; that God will bless me so abundantly that I will not be able to contain it and will be able to give it away without it affecting the way I live. It's those first few steps that stop me, though. Sometimes I feel like I have buyer's remorse concerning giving. I hear God prompt me to give $20 as an offering, above my tithe, and as soon as I release it in the basket I feel have just done something wrong. I question if it was God's voice, question if I gave in relation to my math, and question how I am going to get by without that $20 incase an emergency comes up. Instead of trusting God will reward me for my obedience I worry that I will fall into debt.
Recently I was reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan, and he began to mention this passage in Malachi 3. Then he made a comment that I found hard to swallow, yet encouraged to consider. "If you really want to experience God's supernatural provision, then do as He says. Test Him. Give more than you can manage, and see how He responds." The idea first brings panic and worry back to my mind. Can I truly live without that other $20? Truth be told, I will probably use it to eat out; that's probably my big emergency. But I want to begin to live past that. I want to put God to the test. He invites us to. So I leave you then to consider this thought and perhaps pray that same prayer that I am now praying.
"God, You say to test You and see if You will not open the floodgates of heaven with blessing. I must admit that not every offering I have given has been given of right heart. But I want it to be going forward. God I pray that You would help change my attitude in giving so that I would give of a pure and right heart. Help me give in obedience instead of giving to see what I can get back. And help me to give free from worry, knowing that You will take care of me as opposed to living in the fear and worry that prevents me from obeying Your leading. Amen."

AN IRONIC RELATIONSHIP

“’Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’”
Jeremiah 1:5

Irony is defined as the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of a literal meaning. The essential feature of irony has to do with the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action of expression and the context in which it occurs. (Just then I sounded smart). Irony, however, is also able to take on a variety of types, ranging from comic irony, to Socratic irony, to dramatic irony, all based simply on the conversation and the way in which it is delivered. An example of irony that may be easy to identify was spoken years ago by William Zinsser who said, “It is a fitting irony that under Richard Nixon, launder became a dirty word.” While I chuckle at that comment, there is another ironic statement I read recently that did not make me laugh.
I have begun to realize that God is all about relationships. In a way, I knew this, but something about it is becoming clearer still. The Bible is a non-fiction story about a God who wants relationship. He first had that with Adam and Eve, then later with Abraham, then Moses, then the many believers in Him that followed. And now, you and I get to make that same choice of whether we will follow after God and have relationship with Him, or deny Him. For our eternal sake, I do pray we make the choice to follow after Him.
But in reading this verse in Jeremiah 1:5, I cannot help but ask myself a few questions. To set the stage, God has just called Jeremiah to be a prophet. Now although Jeremiah was just catching wind of this, God had already made this choice and given this blessing to him years before. Before people began doing ultrasounds and photos of the baby inside the womb, God was already taking snapshots of the baby, and calling forth His mission for that child’s life. So here, when the time was right, God spoke forth to Jeremiah exactly who he was called to be. In fact, even when Jeremiah questioned the calling in relation to his age, God said, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Jer 1:9).
I read this portion and I do not see God as forcing Jeremiah to do this task because I know that God allows us all to practice freewill. But on the flipside, I also believe that God has a destiny for each one of us. Whether we chose to walk in it or not, well that is the freewill I was talking about. In this case, Jeremiah embraced the destiny God had for him. To Jeremiah it was clear; God spoke audibly and said he would be a prophet. Yet when God talks to you, is it as clear? Some may answer yes and know exactly what they are called to, and others may say no and still be searching. Despite which one you are, there is one commonality between Jeremiah, you, and me. We all need to stay in relationship with Him.
We are helpless without God, and He knows it. That is why He made a way to retrieve the relationship with us that at one time had been cut off by sin. But read these words penned by Francis Chan, and tell me they do not describe us. “The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.” First, is this not an illustration of irony? Yet more important, is this not true of us? How can we have a relationship with God, something desperately needed, if our actions say to God we could care less? God doesn’t need us but He wants us. We need God, but we hardly even step out toward Him. This is an ironic relationship, one I see in my own life at times. God has called me to a relationship with Him, and called me out with a mission, yet I still struggle in meeting up with Him, blaming it on a busy schedule knowing full well I’ll spend many hours doing something that is not eternal. I’m not trying to get you down, but trying to get you to think. As much as we need God, are we seeking Him?

GROWN UP CONTEMPLATION

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:2

As I was driving into work a few days back I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Are you what you wanted to be when you grew up?” Seeing this caused me to think a minute and I was able to answer both yes and no. I do feel that as God had placed ministry in my heart at a young age, He has moved me into a fraction of what He has called me to. Therefore I can say, “Yes, I am what I wanted to be.” But then in another way, I know God has not fully released me yet into full time ministry, so to that I answer, “No, I am not what I wanted to be.” But as I continued my drive into work I was reminded of a song by Switchfoot, titled, “This is Your Life”. The song challenges one to contemplate life, asking if you are who you want to be. What you have before you is based on a series of events that have happened either by choice or force, but how you have handled those choices determines where you are now. So then, even in light of those choices, are you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
I spend quite a deal of time reading and listening to audio books, always giving myself the chance to be taught and stimulated in my thinking. I remember reading a book of John Bevere’s where he writes, “What we do not confront will not change.” In thinking on this bumper sticker and this quote together, I cannot help but wonder if there is a connection. How many times do we fail to become all that God has called us to be simply because we do not confront things that need to be changed? How often is our true calling held from us simply because we are purposefully making wrong decisions? I have no room to speak, because to some extent I feel my lack of being in full time ministry is based on God’s timing, but also based on decisions I made in being addicted to something that prevented me from being exactly where God wanted me. My inability to confront sin earlier prevented me from a change earlier. Now while God still can redeem the time, and is, I must do my part in constantly confronting sin and temptation, and all attacks of the enemy, with the Word of God.
This thought, then, brings me to Romans 12:2. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” It is in this verse that Paul warns us to stop conforming to the pattern of sin that this world offers, and urges us to stand up and confront it, just as John Bevere wrote of. We cannot be transformed into the full design that God has for us until we stop allowing ourselves to be conformed into an image that does not fully reflect God. So then, we cannot be what we wanted to be when we grew up if in the process we do not confront what needs to be changed.
For me, my confrontation moment came when I stood up against my addiction. It wasn’t until that moment that the line was drawn in the sand and I refused to cross over or let my addiction cross over it. I came to a point personally where I had had enough. I was tired of being knocked down, tired of seeing my God given dreams be fulfilled by someone else, and tired of giving any more space to the enemy. Not until that point of ceasing the conformation of evil and confronting what needed to be changed was I able to find a new life. As I continue to make my stand, God continues to transform me once again into the man He has called me to, and continues to put me where He wants me to be. Am I who I wanted to be when I grew up? By making this stance I move closer to that person, just as you too are able to move closer. Let us confront what needs to be changed.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

“So [Elijah] did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.”
I Kings 17:5

Have you ever found yourself in the right place and at the right time? Maybe you were standing in line one day and became the lucky one hundredth customer, therefore receiving the prize of a year’s supply of free product. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient of a parking spot near the front on a day when the parking lot was overly full and you were sure you would have to walk from the back. Or maybe you just so happened to be walking and found a $10 bill on the floor. Whatever it was, and wherever you were, at that exact moment you just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. For many who experience this, it could just be luck. Yet for others it may come as a result of listening to God’s voice and being obedient, no matter how crazy it may sound.
When the army of Israel marched on Jericho under Joshua’s command, the order to march once for six days, quietly, may have seemed a little bazaar. Yet they just so happened to be in the right place at the right time on day seven, following God’s orders, when they received the victory over the city. And the same is true of Gideon. Taking an army of only three hundred, and being told to stand still, they obeyed God and also received His blessing for being in the right place at the right time. In both these instances, and so many more found in the Bible, obedience to God paid off. This should serve as a reminder to us to obey God.
Even though I understand the concept of obeying God and the pay off for doing so, I was once again enlightened recently as my daughter and I read our morning devotional. We read the account of Elijah as he was fed by the ravens in I Kings 17:1-9. The account starts out with Elijah going before King Ahab and declaring that God was going to shut off the skies, allowing no rain or dew to be found for the next few years. From here, God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Ravine. In obedience, Elijah went. The ravine served to quench Elijah’s thirst, but what about his hunger? God had this taken care of also as He provided ravens to come twice daily with bread and meat for the prophet. When the ravine dried up due to the lack of rain as prophesied, God spoke to Elijah again and commanded him to go to Zarephath.
In reading this account, the obvious details are remembered as I think back to the display of this story on the flannel board in Sunday School. But God showed me something deeper last night. How many times do we move out and expect God to bless our move as opposed to waiting on Him to tell us where to move? We read in I Kings 17:5 that Elijah did what the LORD had told him. Elijah went to the Kerith Ravine. He didn’t go to another city and expect God to still take care of him but rather went to the exact place God told him to go. This begs the question of whether or not God would have still taken care of him had he gone to another ravine, another city, or another hiding place apart from God’s direction. The blessing of food and water that God told Elijah about was waiting for him at this exact spot. It wasn’t at another place.
So bluntly, let me ask you. Are you where God has told you to be? Are you at His commanded Kerith Ravine, or are you at another ravine still waiting for this promise to come to pass? The blessing comes when we are in the right place at the right time. So are you? And deeper still, are you obeying His voice regardless of how crazy His request may sound? I am asking myself these same questions more and more recently, and maybe for good reason. I too have heard God’s voice in the past and refused to obey, yet sit around wondering why I am not seeing His hand of blessing. Is it really any wonder why, now? Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us that God places before us the decision of life and death. Life comes in obedience to His ways while death comes as a result of our disobedience. Which one we choose is in our hands. Which then will we choose?