The Danger of Discontent

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium.  The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.   (Numbers 11:7-8)

When I read this, particularly the last line about the taste of the manna (funny, how this devotional fell right on the heels of the last one about the blessing of flavorless food!), I was struck by how yummy it actually sounded: the taste of pastry prepared with oil.  There is no doubt I am a donut/pastry/any-type-of-bread-and-I'll-eat-it type of woman, but I don't think that was the core of why this morsel sounded so delectable...or should I say...heavenly.  I think the answer is found in another scripture from God's Living Word:

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.  I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.   (Psalm 84:10)

But before explaining the connection between these two scriptures (and maybe some of you can see it already), let's take a look at the reaction of the Israelites to having to consume this food sent to them directly from God:

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?    We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”  (Numbers 11:4-6)

Wow.  God Himself was giving them this manna (John 6:30-32), yet His people protested.  In fact, not only did they complain, but they also essentially compared the care of God to the treatment they had received from their slave drivers in Egypt...with God being found deficient...defective...the One who didn't know what He was doing!  Ouch. 

 

But God ALWAYS knows EXACTLY what He is doing...and although it may hurt sometimes....He ALWAYS wants to use it for our good.  If we can remain in a place of contentment (Philippians 4:11-12), and continue to trust Him, somehow the blessings will flow.  BUT if we yield to our own cravings...and trust their reality more than God...this will almost always lead to discontent... 

 

Which brings us to two critical, life-giving (or taking, as the case may be) principles: 

1.  If we can be lured, whether by the world (television ads, movies, songs...), our flesh's cravings (like those of the Israelites above, 1 John 2:15-17), or satan himself (he enticed the first humans to question God's Plan) into being DISCONTENT in our circumstances, we can then be pulled onto a path that can potentially (most likely) lead to mistrusting God.  Now there is a discontent that God can actually use to encourage or prod a person to make a change, but that transformation is always so that the person will become aligned with or remain in His Will...come closer in relationship with Him.  The discontent about which I am speaking is that itchy, gnawing, uncomfortable, at times overwhelming sense that life just isn't right (according to our perception or how we think it should be)...that there is "something (or someone) better" for us out there...and that we have to find "it"...we must find it...or we can't possibly be at peace...can't rest.  And what usually follows?  Well, in order to relieve ourselves from that "discomfort of discontent," we will almost inevitably attempt to come up with a "more perfect" (more perfect?) plan than what God is providing at the time.  It may work for a while...but if we're blessed...it won't work, or at least not for very long:   

 

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside...anything from God to us, including what might seem like a plain piece of bread, will always supremely surpass anything that we may perceive to look, sound, smell, taste, or feel better to our senses, our thoughts, or our emotions.  Discontent will try to convince us otherwise, which will only lead to further discontent.  And the second point:

2.  Like the last devotional about lack of taste related, If we place pleasing our senses (and add to that the often misplaced cravings of our hearts: Jeremiah 17:9) above seeking after and following God, then here too we will most likely end up in that rotten state of discontent.  Why?  Because sensual indulgence and self-gratification were never, ever, EVER meant to satisfy us more than or replace the filling up that comes from knowing and being united with God-through-His-Son-Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:18).   Never.  But when we fall or are dragged into the belief that the former can satisfy us more completely than the latter; once again, discontent will inevitably result quite simply because nothing or no one can delight us more than God Himself! 

 

So what were a few of the results for the Israelites when they tried to create a "more perfect" plan than God's?  See for yourself:

 

(So you want meat...?  Numbers 11:16-20):  "...But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.  So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves of Craving), because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving."  (Numbers 11:33-34)

 

(God's manna plan - communicated through Moses - versus man's manna plan):  "And Moses said, 'Let no one leave any of it (the manna) until morning.'  Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses.  But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank..."   (Exodus 16:19-20; parentheses mine)

 

Worms...stench...plague...death...Adam and Eve were at perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3) in the Garden of Eden...until satan lured Eve into fixing her gaze on the ONE THING that God would not allow them to have (and this for their own good: Genesis 3:1-6) = discontent.  The Israelites were absolutely thrilled with and in awe of God as He broke them free from bondage (Exodus 14:29-15:13)...until their stomachs got the best of them (Exodus 16:2-3; 1 Corinthians 6:13; Philippians 3:18-19) and they started focusing on them more than on Him = discontent.  We are dragged every day by our flesh's cravings, the world's messages, and satan's deceptions (2 Corinthians 11:14) into thinking that everyone but God knows best, and so constantly end up in that terrible state = discontent.   Which almost always leads us into even greater upheaval when we try to find that contentment in any person, place, or thing other than an ever-intensifying relationship with the One, True God...

 

Therefore say to the children of Israel: "I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians (I will bring you out from your burden of trying to find contentment and peace), I will rescue you from their (that) bondage, and I will redeem you (I will bring you back to Me, Who will fill you to the full) with an outstretched arm and with great judgments."  (Exodus 6:6; parentheses mine)

 

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  (John 17:3)

 

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.  I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.   (Psalm 84:10)

This is eternal - and completely fulfilling - life... 

 

In His Love,  

Terri   

 

* This idea of discontent was inspired by a study from "Today in the Word" (September 2014), a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.

** PLEASE read the scriptures included in the text.  It will be so much more gratifying(!), and will reveal that much more the Truth of God and His Word.

*** For those of you who are really hardy (or who have some time later to do this), I have attached a devotional from way back in 2009 I was inspired to write that addresses and supports this same topic.  I pray you will take a read.   God bless you!

 

*******************************************************************************

From  7/19/09

 

 "They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert...

...And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul."  (Psalm 106:13-15)

Wow.  This verse from the Psalms I believe alludes to when the Israelites had been set free from their bondage in Egypt (often paralleled with our bondage to Sin.  Numbers 11:16-20, 31-34; Romans 6:5-7), but commenced to complaining about their conditions in the wilderness.  "Where's the meat?!" (and leeks and onions), they demanded of Moses (and God): "We want meat!  And by the way, why did you free us, anyway?!  Stuff was much better back in Egypt....!"  Their bodies had been freed, but their hearts were still craving what their flesh desired: meat; the "old wine" (Luke 5:39); "Egypt," where (didn't they remember?!) they had been slaves....and badly mistreated ones at that. 

But guess what?  God gave them their desires, even though what He had to offer them was so, so, so much better.  BUT...being the gracious and wonderful God that He is, along with satisfying the desires of their flesh, He also gave them leanness of soul...made sure that even though the quail (meat) was so profuse, and certainly filled their bellies (even said it would overflow out of their nostrils! - Numbers 11:20), that it would not satisfy the emptiness that resided in their hearts and souls.

So why in the world is that gracious?  Because God, I AM, our Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God and Lion of Judah was and is the only One Who is supposed to bring to us the fulfillment that now we consistently seek from other things; and even though those things may seem to bring temporary gratification, when all is said and done (when the lights go out at night, as they say - or something like that), they do not, and were never meant to, truly FILL us with Life:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men..."  (John 1:1-4)

Only the Living Word, Jesus Himself, now risen to bring that Life, can fill us like we are meant to be.  Even when our flesh craves the things of this world (the list is exhaustive: recognition, approval from men, wealth, sexual immorality, revenge, misplaced sympathy, material items, relationships, etc., etc., etc.), if we lust after and pursue those things, then God will be gracious if He sends with it a leanness of soul.  Because then maybe, we'll recognize and feel the pain of that emptiness, continue searching, and end up in the arms (or BACK in the arms) of our First Love and filler of our souls and spirits.

"...Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity..." (Jeremiah 29:12-14)

"...I have come that they may have life (Zoe), and that they may have it more abundantly."  (John 10:10)

*"Zoe" and the two other types of "life" mentioned in the New Testament ("psuche" and "bios"/"biotikos") are very different from one another.  In sum, "psuche" is the life consistently mentioned that we should lay down (as Yeshua did) (e.g., Mark 8:35; Matthew 20:28); "bios" (or "biotikos") was that "life" that involves just our daily affairs, and which actually causes worries and is burdensome (e.g., Luke 8:14, 21:34).  Yeshua obviously did not come to give us abundance in those.  He even said about the "bios" (life):

"Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does life consist of his possessions."  (Luke 12:15)

The "life" of which Jesus came to give us abundantly was essentially His Life.  Here is how it is described in one resource:
 

1. of the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the hypostatic "logos" and to Christ in whom the "logos" put on human nature.
2. life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.  (www.studylight.org; Interlinear Bible section)

 

THIS is that Life which satisfies completely (even to overflowing! - John 7:38).  And thank God He will allow leanness of soul...an emptiness...when we pursue anything else to attempt to have take the place that only He was meant to fill.

"In Your Presence is FULNESS of joy..."  (Psalm 16:11)

Praise His Wonderful and Glorious Name.

In HIS Love, 
Terri

Don't Taste...and See - January 25, 2015

"Oh, TASTE and see that the Lord is good..."  (Psalm 34:8)

There are actually several devotionals-worth of writing in this verse.  One is that the more we truly feed on (John 6:53-57) and taste God and His Reality, the more we are able to (spiritually) see Him...literally experience His Amazing Presence.  But that devotional is for another time perhaps.

The one that I want to share with you now actually came through the experience of losing the ability to taste - food that is - and the incredible lesson this temporary deprivation provided about the critical nature of serving God alone.  So in a way, the scripture verse on which this writing is based could actually be...

 

Don't taste...and see that the Lord is good!

Who wants to not be able to enjoy the flavor of food (and drink)?  Certainly not me!  And probably, I would assume, not many of you.  And guess what?  God must not have wanted us to go tasteless or flavorless either: He did give us taste buds, right?  And I like to think that when God created the Garden of Eden, and placed fruits and vegetables in it for man to eat (Genesis 1:11-12, 29), that these were more succulent and mouth-watering than any morsels we could ever imagine now. 

But like so many other things, food and drink (and their tastiness, and for what we use them) often become more important than God, making them a rival to God...making them A god... and this was never meant to be (1 Corinthians 10:31).  There are so many competing forces that distract us from truly seeking God (Jeremiah 29:13).  One of these is that due to the sin nature, we have become enslaved (Romans 6) to self-gratification (1 John 2:15-17), which so often involves the need...the craving...that one or more of our five senses be indulged.  It no longer is a treat to see a beautiful sunrise; we have to surround ourselves with eye-pleasing items that must be periodically replaced because they lose their optical "flavor."  We complain if what we hear does not make us feel good in one way or another.  And I know in my own life (especially when I am under stress and wanting something...anything to take away the edge...), if something I am eating (or drinking) does not taste just so, I am beyond disappointed.  Let's face it, whether the flavor of something satisfies our senses (or not) can in fact all-too-often-and-quickly become a god; a god, however, that serves us.  If we are sensually pleased, we keep and praise it; if not, we throw it out.  We quickly move from appreciation to whether or not we are being gratified. 

So here is where the lesson of the "flavorless food" comes in.  Last night I had to eat.  My body was telling me I needed nutrition.  I was feeling a little shaky.  But I couldn't TASTE anything!  I didn't want to eat if my taste buds couldn't be satisfied!  I ate anyway.  And I actually found myself thanking God for tasteless food.  Why?  Not only because I realized that He was helping sustain my physical body by providing the meal; but more so because I found that He was using the lack of flavor in the food to cause me to focus more on HIM...on His "flavor"...on His Presence.  As I chewed the tasteless food and thanked Him for the nutrition it was providing, I actually found myself appreciating the food more because I wasn't so focused on how much the flavor was pleasing me or not, but more on that He was the Provider of it.  This whole experience also helped me to understand more deeply the concept of fasting: although I may not have been depriving myself of food, I was being "treated" to a "flavor fast," which caused me to be less focused on whether I was being sensually pleased and therefore more free to be focused on, filled, and gratified by God.  Through the lack of the flavor of the food (and having to surrender my "need" to have my taste buds satisfied), He revealed the supremacy of the savor of Himself:

TASTE and see that THE LORD is good...

 

Interestingly, the loss of taste lasted only until the next day: long enough for me to have this experience...and to be able to share it with you.  May the lesson linger, though, that "tasting" God is so much more important and satisfying than whether the eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, or sensory nerves are being gratified.  He does want them to be pleased; but always so that through the pleasure we receive, we can taste and see...Him. 

 

In His Love,

Terri

 

SUFFERING

"...that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  (1 Corinthians 11:23-24)

"When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him... "  (Luke 24:30-31)

 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me..." (Psalm 23:4)

"And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."   (Luke 22:44)  

"...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings..."   (Philippians 3:10)

It seems from the above scriptures, there is something very significant about suffering.  

Of course in this world...and often even in the church...suffering is avoided, downplayed, and even used - what a travesty - as evidence that one does not have enough faith.

That is not what is being told us in these scriptures. 

As the two Emmaus travelers were leaving Jerusalem, where Jesus had just been severely mocked, beaten, and then brutally crucified on the cross for OUR Sin...so that WE could have a relationship with God again (Romans 5:10)...they talked (Luke 24:13-34).  They talked and walked.  And as they walked toward Emmaus, the risen Jesus joined them.  But they did not recognize Him.  They could not see that it was Him. 

They did not see Him in the walking and talking.  (verses 13-16)

They did not see Him in the instruction Jesus spoke to them.  (verses 25-27)

They did not recognize Him through the informal invitation to their home.  (verses 28-29)

It wasn't until he broke the bread...symbolic of the agony He went through on the cross...a representation of unimaginable suffering...that they saw Him...that they recognized Him...that they knew Him. 

There's something about suffering that can bring us into a deeper fellowship with Jesus. 

Granted we can certainly see Him "on the mountaintops"...during the free flowing times.  Several of the disciples sure did - in ALL His glory - when they followed him up a literal mountain:

 

"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here...'"  (Matthew 17:1-4)

Unfortunately, the radiance reflected from Jesus experienced while being with him during the good times - those that are less challenging and more defined by light-heartedness and laughter - can suddenly become a potent, all-consuming light that blinds us into thinking that it is the person or the experience which is bringing us the fulfillment (2 Corinthians 11:14)...that is casting the glow of glory...thus pulling us ever-so-subtly from the true Source, Jesus, to focus on the "good times," which were never meant to be that which completely satisfies (Hebrews 12:2).  To be enjoyed by us, yes.  To be thankful for, definitely.  To fulfill us absolutely?  Positively and absolutely: no (Deuteronomy 5:6-8). 

In the harder times - those situations that rip at our minds (hmmm, sounds like what happened to Jesus's flesh when he was being flogged with spiked whips), tear at our hearts, and/or cause us to feel like we are dying (hmmm, like on a cross...?) - it is much more difficult to be deceived into praising and "worshiping" the external circumstances.  Oh, we can be tricked into thinking other wrong things, such as that we are being unjustly punished or that God has abandoned us, but very rarely will someone look to his or her suffering and say, "YOU are what I worship, YOU are what completes me, YOU are my god...".  Instead, other options arise.  For those who have not yet known Jesus (and still for many of us who do: I'm speaking for myself!), there is avoidance of the suffering, downplaying it, escaping from it (goodness knows there are many ways to do that these days), cursing it, complaining about it (BINGO for me!)...and the list goes on.  But for the two men on the road to Emmaus, and for countless Christians today, theirs is a glorious alternative:

In the midst of their suffering (or for the two on the road, through a symbol of suffering), they recognize Jesus...they truly "know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings...".  And if it means anything to any lover-of-words and their original meanings (StudyLight.org): the original word (transliterated) for "recognize" ("epiginosko": Luke 24:31) and "know" ("ginosko": Philippians 3:10) both contain or are comprised of the Greek word "ginosko," which means to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, and is even referred to as the Jewish idiom for intercourse between a man and a woman: something that was meant to be an amazing supernatural union between a husband and wife, and which is also a representation-of-love between Jesus the Messiah and His Bride, the Human Church (Ephesians 5:25-32).   How far we have fallen...

 

Those men on the road to Emmaus were not given the opportunity to recognize Jesus...to have their eyes opened to Who He Was (and still Is) until He broke the bread...which is what He did prior to His crucifixion... which was a symbol of His own suffering. 

 

Jesus can be known more deeply and intimately in our own suffering...if we let Him open our eyes to Him in it. 

 

One more thing: how wonderful that even before considering above the relationship between husband and wife...Christ and His Bride... an amazing example of a real follower of Jesus, someone who had come to recognize (epiginosko) and truly know (ginosko) Jesus, and her response to impending, intense suffering came to mind.  Please indulge yourselves (and me) by reading this one last thing:      

"One of our workers in the Underground Church was a young girl.  The Communist police discovered that she secretly spread Gospels and taught children about Christ.  They decided to arrest her.  But to make the arrest as agonizing and painful as they could, they decided to delay her arrest a few weeks, until the day she was to be married.  On her wedding day, the girl was dressed as a bride - the most wonderful, joyous day in a girl's life!  Suddenly, the door burst open and the secret police rushed in.

When the bride saw the secret police, she held out her arms toward them to be handcuffed.  They roughly put the manacles on her wrists.  She looked toward her beloved, then kissed the chains and said, 'I thank my heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented to me on my marriage day.  I thank Him that I am worthy to suffer for Him.'  She was dragged off, with weeping Christians and a weeping bridegroom left behind.  They knew what happens to young Christian girls in the hands of Communist guards..." (Tortured for Christ, pp. 40-41). 

...yet she knew that her suffering for Truth was because Truth Himself (John 14:6) suffered at the hands of those who did not yet recognize Him as God in the flesh (John 1:14), come down to restore the broken relationship with Him (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)...and she knew, because of that restoration, the One Who would be with her - intimately -  in the midst of the torture...

...she KNEW...

Jesus can certainly be seen, by those who have been given eyes to see (and ears to hear: Isaiah 29:18-19; Matthew 15:31; Mark 4:8-10) in the glad and happy times.  But in the midst of pain and suffering, if we surrender our natural desire to avoid...downplay... escape...curse...and complain about it to Him, He can use it as an opportunity for fellowship, and a way to share in a deeper understanding of that through which He walked on behalf of the Father...for our sakes.  ...who for the joy set before Him endured the cross... (Hebrews 12:2).  Yes, we can see His glow in the good times; but both naturally and supernaturally, light shines even brighter in the darkness. 

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light...  (Ephesians 5:8)

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison... (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

(And for a multitude of examples of those in "real time" who knew Jesus clearly in their suffering, please, please bless yourselves with a free copy of Reverend Richard Wurmbrand's Tortured for Christ on this link - middle of the page).

May I now be empowered to live what I write...and may you who claim to know Jesus be enabled to do the same in the midst of your own suffering.  God bless you.

In His Love,  
Terri

 

Crossing from Death to Life

"God did not come to make bad people good; God came to make dead people alive..." 

This was a quote I heard yesterday on a radio show called "Let My People Think" hosted by Ravi Zacharias (www.rzim.org).  I couldn't help BUT think: How true, how true, how incredibly and awesomely true this is...

There are many who are totally lost right now who do not even give a second (or first) thought to God's Presence NOW; and as part of that Reality, to why He even bothered to MANifest as a man who lived and died as we do, minus the horrid disease of sin coursing through his holy blood.  And probably even more amazingly: why the supernatural rising from the dead?  Why?  But for those who don't think that these questions (and answers) are relevant or critical to their lives: they are sorely and tragically and FATALLY mistaken.  The fact that God did not come to make bad people good, but dead people alive applies...to...us...all. 

God did not come to make bad people good...

Although one result of being made spiritually alive is that behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives may gradually seem to be becoming kinder, gentler, and more in line with moral and ethical truths (Galatians 5:22-23; although the standard for these and other Jesus-like qualities are plummeting even as I type), that was not the reason Jesus came.  Even Jesus Himself, the One Who was tempted time and again but never turned His eyes or heart away from God (John 5:19-20), rebuked those who referred to Him as "good":  As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone." (Mark 10:17-18)  So if even Jesus would not accept this description, why would it be thought that God's purpose was to make us the very thing that even the Son of God would not consider Himself: "good"?  This has become a misconception that has caused many problems amongst Believers and non-Believers alike: for those who have actually received the New Life imparted by the Holy Spirit (second part of quote), the idea that perhaps they should now be "good" (but find themselves still struggling with "the bad" within: even the devoted Apostle Paul cried out about that!  Romans 7:18-19, 24-25) leaves them trying too hard to put on a face, perhaps feeling defeated, and looking more and more on themselves and how they appear than on the shining Face of God.  For those who are currently rejecting God's offer of a New Spiritual and Eternal Life, they, in their mortality, can look on Believers and shout "Hypocrites!" when they see the still-existing "bad behaviors," thus giving them that much more excuse to continue in their deadness. 

 

But... 

 

God did not come to make bad people good...

...God came to make dead people alive!

Remember Pinocchio?  I always love referring to this!  (Plus I have a special relative who happens to love the story of Pinocchio...).  Pinocchio was a wooden puppet...dead in essence one could say...and quite mischievous!  But then due to his sacrificial love for and rescue of his maker, Geppetto, he is transformed into a Real Live human...given Real Life instead of dead wood inside.  THAT is what God came to do: although it was by HIS sacrificial love for US that we have been rescued from being dead, rotting "wood" (Job 13:28; Ephesians 4:22) and given a Life that is promised to become increasingly beautiful (2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 1 John 3:2 - by HIS beauty) and is ultimately Eternal (truly living in His Presence: in heaven AND here too).  Wow, that's a big difference from thinking that God came just to polish us up some. 

Dead wood can never be polished; it must be replaced. 

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.  (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Oh if only EVERYONE COULD HEAR AND UNDERSTAND THIS!!!  Oh if only I could truly "hear" and digest and live in this Reality all of the time!!!  THIS IS GOD TALKING!  And although there are many beautiful analogies throughout His Word that describe the process of making dead people alive (scales falling from eyes, the blind can see, circumcision of the heart, a second birth), this PROMISE right here is what reveals outright what God intends to and actually does through the Life of His Son Jesus (once believed and received by someone).  This is no metaphor here for being made a good person...this is an offered action on God's part to be given the chance to be made an ALIVE person: yes, one who more and more DESIRES the good, LOVES the good, and who is ultimately given the ability to TRULY and SELFLESSLY carry out the good...but TRULY ALIVE...not just dead and "good."

One can disbelieve, but that does not make it untrue.  We are all born dead (Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:11-15).  Kicking a little and screaming, yes; but spiritually dead.  Bob Dylan sings it correctly when he exclaims:

I was blinded by the devil
Born already ruined
Stone-cold dead
As I stepped out of the womb

By His grace I have been touched
By His word I have been healed
By His hand I have been delivered
By His spirit I Have been sealed...

I've been saved
By the blood of the lamb  ("Saved" from the album Saved, 1980)

To say God came in human form to live, die, but then be brought back to life simply to make us good people is so underestimating, minimizing, and actually tragic that it almost defies belief...but this IS what many think...if they think about it at all....

 

...No, God came to make spiritually dead people (which is all of us) alive.  In fact, He came to do the very thing that HE did thousands of years ago: He came so that we may ourselves emerge from the tomb of our dead, rotting natural selves ("wood") into New Life - His Resurrected Life-in-us: one that is defined by Perfect Love, Perfect Justice, and Perfect Truth...and that is Eternal and Forever with Him. 

 

"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes...Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."  (John 5: 21, 24)

 

Jesus was raised from the dead so that now we can be too. 

 

In His Wonderful, Transformative, and Life-Giving Name,

Terri

 

Man of the Tombs

(PLEASE hear this song which essentially describes all that was shared above; and, in one way or another, applies to us all)

IN our selves, but not OF our selves...

"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."  (John 17:14-16)

Four times during this portion of Jesus's prayer to the Father just prior to His crucifixion, Jesus makes the supernatural distinction between Himself and His followers, and the world: They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Today, many who are disciples of the risen Jesus have either heard or probably used the phrase themselves of being "IN the world, but not OF it." 

So briefly, what does it mean to be IN something but not OF it; in this case, the world?  Please share your thoughts,  but what this means to me is that one may be existing within a particular environment or  in certain surroundings but not bear the same characteristics of those surroundings...not share the same overarching philosophies of that environment...not walk in the same "way" of that world.  

Soooooo...based on that definition, it occurred to me that as Believers, we can, should, and need to also apply that saying to ourselves:

We are IN our selves, but not OF our selves...

One of the biggest tragedies that occurred when Adam and Eve chose to listen to satan rather than believe God's care for them (Genesis 3:1-6) was an ushering into the world of yes, Sin, but as a result of Sin the unleashed "terror" of being imprisoned by self-focus:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  (Genesis 3:7)

Can you even imagine?!  Prior to them being made aware of their nakedness, and thus their vulnerability, Adam and Eve probably walked in a way that we will never know (apart from a supernatural release - Isaiah 61:1): without that ongoing, gnawing, yet automatic "pull" toward self-knowledge, self-gratification, self-preservation...

Yet once our eyes are opened (a second time!) to the Reality of Jesus and the Truth that He can and will send His Spirit to live within us (Galatians 4:6), we have the opportunity to begin being set free from the prison of self-focus; that is, being OF our selves.  If you'll bear with me a few moments longer, please let me explain using God's Word, how we CAN in fact be IN our selves but not OF our selves this side of heaven.  

We are IN ourselves:

We are still fragile creatures, flesh and bone -- that is the individual "environment" or "surroundings" which we inhabit...

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 
(2 Corinthians 4:7)

I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh...  (2 Corinthians 10:2)

whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.   (James 4:14)

This "earthen vessel," this "flesh" that we inhabit, is but a vapor and is a fragile bundle of desires, feelings, emotions, thoughts, and resulting actions.  Without Jesus living within, not only do we live IN this package, but we bear the characteristics of it...succumb to whatever philosophies happen to sound good to "it"...and walk primarily in a direction based on the "guidance" of those thoughts, feelings, and emotions...we are both IN and OF our selves.  In fact, due to being of one's self as well as in it we in essence are prisoners of that self; and like Adam and Eve, our eyes are automatically directed first and foremost to that self. 

but not OF ourselves:

For those who have received Jesus, we no longer have to bear the characteristics of that fallen flesh, that creature who responds so easily to cravings, emotions, desires and the like...some good and others not so.  For there is now One Who is living within us Who has "adopted" our environment and intends to do some house cleaning to it!  And this so that we can soon bear the likeness of Him...He Who was and is totally surrendered and selfless (1 John 3:2-3, 16). 

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.   (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.   (Galatians 2:20)

 

For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.  (2 Corinthians 3:4)

 

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.   (2 Corinthians 4:16)

That inner man is "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27) and is He of Whom we can now be "of" -- bearing His characteristics (e.g., Galatians 5:22-23); believing in the ULTIMATE Truth which is the Reality of His Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:6, 14-16; Matthew 22:32; John 17:3); and walking in His most excellent way, which brings us closer and closer to Perfect Love (1 Corinthians 13).  Satan wants us to focus on what/who we are IN ourselves - the part that is wasting away, sometimes losing heart, the fragile vessel that is affected by feelings, emotions, and circumstances.  But now, because of the Holy Spirit within, we can slowly have our eyes turned to the One we are now OF: the One Whose Life is being renewed within us daily, the One whose strength compensates for that fragile vessel's weakness, and the One Whose Power and Love have been given to those who believe.  It is this same One, Jesus the Messiah, by His Holy Spirit, Who reminds us:  

 

You are OF GOD, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world...  (1 John 4:4)

May we BELIEVE this Truth and LOOK TO AND LIVE AS the One Whom we are now OF.  

(And man, do I pray this for myself too...)

In His Precious and Mighty Name,
Terri

Glory to the Reality of Jesus!

Hello.  Oh what a luxury it is to be able to read God's Living Word and to be able to worship and "hear" Him and "feel" His Presence in the midst of it all!  We need to NEVER be deceived that ANYTHING else can nourish us as we need to be nourished other than by God's Holy Spirit - His Eternal Flame - let all else upon which we "try" to feed ourselves become like chaff or straw so that we can be brought to that necessary place of hunger for that which ONLY God can give...

 

"Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

 

“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

 

“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
Will be pleasant to the Lord...
(Malachi 3:1-4)

 

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:...  (Matthew 1:1)

 

Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and precedes Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, which lays out the arrival of our Messiah on earth.  And oh what a smooth flow it is from one to the other. 

In Malachi chapter 3 (above), God so clearly announces His intentions to send His Son, our necessary sacrifice and Savior, to rescue us from our hearts turning from our Creator, our God. 

Prior to chapter 3, God laments about and severely rebukes the priests, those who were specially appointed to represent Him to the people.  To speak His Truth to them....(Malachi 2:1-2, 7-9).

No doubt, there are worse-than-critical problems in the institution called "the church" these days: that which, under the leadership of elders and deacons, is supposed to likewise be a place where congregants can come and feed on the Word of God...to truly hear from God Himself...to be set free by His Words of Truth (John 8:31-32).  We have come a far cry from the time when David spoke about how he delighted in the law of God (Psalm 119:174) and how the Truth flowing from God's Word enabled one to truly hear (Romans 10:17) and to be freed from the lies and deceptions of this world and of the enemy, satan (1 John 2:15-17; John 8:43-45; Acts 9:17-18).  We are receiving, overall, what Bob Dylan would call a "Watered Down Love" when those who claim to be spokespersons for God become captivated by the world and lured by satan and offer a message not of Truth, but what congregants' (fleshy and old-natured) itching ears want to hear...which amounts to nothing at best, poison to our souls at worst (2 Timothy 4:2-4). 

 

But this is a whole other story...or devotional...and one that is thankfully coming out more and more through solid Christian sources who both see and know the need for us to hear the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing BUT the Truth. 

 

Yet I believe that the anger expressed by God in Malachi extends to all of His Creation (not just the leaders in the church) for choosing to or allowing ourselves to be deceived into worshiping - giving our lives to - everything and everyone else but Him (Matthew 16:25-26)...the One Who Loves us with a love greater than we could ever understand (John 15:13), and Who would...and did...die for us...(Romans 5:8).

 

...which is right where the beginning of Malachi chapter 3 comes in! 

 

The "Messenger of the covenant (promise)"...the "He" who "is coming"...is the Son of God, Jesus, Himself!  Sent not just to die for the whole world and then to just leave it just like that, but to rise again in order to be able to come live within (by His Spirit) those off of whose eyes the scales fall and as a result are able to see their need for a refining of their hearts...a purging of the yuck within...a need for a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27).  And who realize that anything we think we have on our own merits to offer God is really like "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) compared to His Holiness and Beauty...and that we somehow need a "new righteousness" as well...one that can come only from and through and in Jesus...(Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21):

 

For He is like a refiner's fire

And like launderer's soap.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi, (He will purify us...)

And purge them as gold and silver, (He will purge us...)

That they may offer to the Lord

An offering in righteousness.

 

"Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem

Will be pleasant to the Lord...

 

Then we can be reunited with and bask in the Glory and Love of God...

 

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

 

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

 

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 

(Colossians 1:18-22)

 

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:... 

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 

 

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

 

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

 

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  (John 1:1-13)

 

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God...

 

There is no other way...

 

“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;
He will purify the sons of Levi,
And purge them as gold and silver,
That they may offer to the Lord
An offering in righteousness.

 

 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me..."

(John 14:6)

 

"I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

 

"...except through Me..."

 

In His Eternal and Glorious Love, 

Terri