God in my stormy life

As I was waiting for Jean at the table after breakfast, my eyes fell on Ps.42. In reading vs 5-7, I was encouraged by the truth in vs 8,"But each day the Lord pours out his unfailing love upon me..." This reminds me that faith is in the present tense -now, not yesterday nor tomorrow.

I found a note on my desk I had written earlier...Love is emotion and life style. Jesus said we either love the Father or love the world. I just saw more clearly the outworking of the love of the Father in James ch1.Try reading it in NLT and see the difference in a committed lover of the Father and a Pharisaical Christian. I want to move closer to loving the Father because of His great love to us.

God our Father

With so much unforgiveness around us, I’m reminded of our Father’s work of reconciliation. One clear verse about this is Colossians 1:20b – “…and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (NLT)

I’m impressed with the scope of God’s plan of salvation through Christ. Our Father initiated it in reconciling us to Himself by adopting us as His dear children. This makes us joint heirs with Christ and brothers to Jesus because we now have the same Father as Jesus. The Father’s work of reconciliation has tremendous benefits for us. One of them is being at peace with Him:

Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s (Father’s) sight by faith, we have peace with God (Father) because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (NLT)

I find this wonderful truth in the Lord’s Supper as seen in:

1 Corinthians 11:25 – “…This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.”(NLT) This new covenant between our Father and us is eternal. How blessed we are in this! The new covenant is the result of His marvelous reconciliation of us through Christ.

The more we appreciate God’s reconciliation the more we’ll be able to forgive others totally. Col.3:13b – “…Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (NLT)

These are good daily reminders for us in walking with God.

We can make Jesus famous by making Him Center of our hearts, Center of our families, Center of our church gatherings, and Center of our daily lives.

Consider the name given to Jesus at His birth – Immanuel meaning, “God is with us”(Matt 1:23). John 3:16 declares that God the Father sent Jesus His only Son to give Him as the sacrifice for our sins so that He could live with us – here and forever.

After listening one day to a lot of news about Canadian and world politics, I got tired of it; so that evening I sat down to read Jeremiah to focus instead on God’s Kingdom politics. My eyes became glued on two verses in chapter 23. Here we see God’s description of a false prophet. How would you describe the very nature of a false prophet? ______. Here is God’s description of such in verse 18: “Has any of these prophets been in the LORD’S presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?” And verse 22: “If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words, and they would have turned my people from their evil ways and deeds.”

How can we as God’s servants receive His direction if we don’t spend time in His presence? How can we as individual followers of Jesus or as groups in local church meetings or in missions planning and strategizing hear “what He is really saying?” Do we care “enough to listen” to Him?

It is thus that we can practice Christmas, the presence of Christ, Emmanuel, each day. He is to be the Center of our lives in our love, thoughts, values, traditions, and actions. In midst of challenges and struggles may we experience Christmas as “the joy of the Lord is our strength”

Life - A School in Walking with God

Our life on this earth is a school in walking with God.

He has given us the tool for this – The Bible “Such things are written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” (Romans 15:4 NLT);

He has given us the means for this – the Holy Spirit “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” (Gal 5:25 NLT);

He has given us the focus for this – Jesus “…clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 13:14 NLT)

All this, so that we might get to know our Father “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.” (Eph 1:3,4 NLT).

What a privilege thus to walk with God!

Keys of Kingdom of Heaven

After Jesus had questioned the disciples as to His identity, He gave an astounding affirmation to Peter’s answer and an astounding statement regarding the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” (Matt.16:17-19 NLT)

The church had not yet been formed, so Peter could be taken as a token of the church, then future. Since Peter received the information from the Father, the keys must be figurative of the Gospel of Jesus. Peter was given the keys to preach the Good News to the Jews, and later to the Gentiles. Jesus, by His authority, commissioned all of His followers to preach the Gospel to the world.

Peter makes a comment about this in 1 Peter 2:9 NLT: “…you are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God...”

This truth gives me greater boldness in sharing the Gospel of Jesus by looking for and anticipating opportunities.

The Father's Covenant

“I am the way, the truth and the life…” John 14:6a NLT

Jesus is the essence of these three absolutes. Consider the first one – “I am the way.” There is no other way to the Father than through Jesus.

Since the Father is holy, no sin can be in His presence. His love, though, provided the way for us to relate to Him in holiness. He sent Jesus and made Him sin for us and poured out His wrath upon His Son. The result? We can be healed – saved – by Jesus’ stripes! By dying on the cross, He paid the penalty that was due us, and He was raised so that we could become just before God.

Therefore Jesus commanded us to remember Him, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood.” Thus when we drink of this cup, it is a symbol of that agreement and of Jesus’ being the only way to the Father.
What a marvel! What a mystery! “…since we have been made right in God’s (the Father’s) sight by faith, we have peace with God (the Father) because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (Romans 5:1 NLT)