Who Am I?

I don’t typically write poems, however God inspired this one:

¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? (2 Samuel 7:18, ESV), 

Who Am I?

I don't think the question came by chance,

the first look was a glance.

A sinner I am with many faults,

It was that easy in my thoughts.

You wanted me to ponder further more,

not just a glance but a whole life to restore.

The time had come for that long walk,

deep down memory lane where we could talk.

I confess I really didn't want to go,

but You insisted I must know.

Many unsettled memories of way back when

started to bring the horror only You could mend.

Another layer of guilt and shame,

my insecurity continued to take the blame.

It was the place I did not want to be,

but You showed me it was deeper than I could see.

All those sins I thought were lost

You reminded me Jesus bought with a cost.

It was all those thoughts of way back when

that brings me now to know who I am.

The child you delight in,

that is where we'll begin,

Rescued by Your hand of grace,

so that one day I'll see you face to face.

Renee Fanning 2009

A Matter of Heart

⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰ he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand’ (Luke 8:9-10, ESV).   

Perhaps gardening or farming may not get our attention, however it certainly would have gotten their attention.  In the verses right before, Jesus tells a parable about seed and four types of soil to the crowd.  A parable is a story with a meaning.  At the end of it, Jesus calls out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8).   

In Luke 8:9, we see the disciples asking Jesus what the parable meant.  Jesus responds letting them know He will give them the secrets, but others would be blinded from seeing and hear without understanding, hence the reason He spoke in parables.  The disciples were open and receptive. They wanted to know what the parable meant, but the others didn’t and unfortunately they would leave without understanding.  Interestingly enough, Jesus said, it has been given them to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. Honestly looking back over those previous verses, prior Jesus’ explanation, I wouldn’t have thought it was a secret to the kingdom of God.  Good thing the disciples asked and Jesus answered.  Not just for them, but for us who want to have ears to hear.  As Jesus continues to explain…

¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11, ESV).

The seed is the word of God. As Jesus continues, we will see that the soil represents the heart of man.  Depending upon the conditions of the heart will make a difference of how the word of God is received.  Jesus gives us four different scenarios in his explanation. 

¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved (Luke 8:12, ESV).

The first one would definitely classify as unbelievers. The truth is many unbelievers may cognitively know scripture, however Satan keeps it from reaching their heart and therefore they don’t believe. The Apostle Paul also says, In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).  The influence of Satan keeps them from believing and being saved. 

¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away (Luke 8:13, ESV).

The second one has a burst but nothing to keep it grounded.  Therefore, they fall away when testing comes. I have seen people attend Christian Conferences and in the excitement of the moment they go down for an altar call, but as soon as they returned home they fall right back into the same old life style.  They didn’t get plugged into a church, read the Bible, or pray.  Having no foundation they soon fall away.

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature (Luke 8:14, ESV).

Third are the ones who focus on worldly pleasures.  The desires of the world take over which in return bears no fruit.  Immediately I think of poison ivy.  Have you ever seen a tree overtaken by poison ivy?  From a distance it looks great because the green leaves of the vine have covered it, but underneath the tree is dying or dead already.  The vine has choked the life right out of it.  I think it’s the same with worldly desires, they may start small, but left un-kept before we know it they begin to take over. 

¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience (Luke 8:15, ESV).

The fourth hears the Word, they hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and with patience it bears fruit.  For a plant to produce good fruit it needs to grow in ideal conditions.  The soil would have been cultivated, cleared of rocks, and weeded of thorns/vines that would choke the plant out.  Even so, it takes time for a plant to grow and bear fruit. 

Friends, the same is true for us.  Walking our journey of faith is a process, and sometimes a slow one at that.  There is a great work to be done in our lives, cultivating our hearts, and preparing us to bear fruit.  As a kid, I had a painted picture of a little girl (a gift from my godmother) that hung on my bedroom wall.  It read, “Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet.”

Lord, You know exactly where each of us are right now before You.  Would You do Your work in each of us, the work only You can do Lord.  I pray against the influence and the lies of Satan in our lives.  I pray Satan would release his grip, so we would be free to know and do Your will in our lives.  I pray for the internal sifting and the weeding in each of our hearts of the things that keep us from developing strong roots in our faith.  Maybe it’s areas of sin to address, maybe disobedience, or maybe chasing after our own desires.  As You cultivate our hearts, things will be sifted and weeded, would you give us the strength and patience as You prepare us.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

  

Verse for Today

Before the blog ever existed, I used to type a "verse for today" and email it out to some family and friends.  Yesterday's post reminded me of this one.  I found the pictures so I added them.  The original date was 9/1/2008. 

Verse: 

They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them-- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them. Psalm 106:19-23 

Personal Thought:

It was over 10 years later, God reminded me of that day. The day I forgot about. The day I thought I’d never forget. It was early spring and a slight drizzle, about 7 AM and I was driving to work. I lost control of the car. As it went spinning, I watched my life flash before my eyes, all I remember saying (maybe screaming) is , “OH Dear LORD, please not yet!”. It must have been shock, because after the car went airborne and landed on it’s roof, I didn’t even hear it crash. I only remember looking up and seeing the passenger door open. That door! It annoyed me all the time, it never shut right. At that moment I just remember thanking God I was alive and the door was open, it was the only way to crawl out of the car. One scratch on the top of my head. I know….I know…how could I forget? The hum drum of life on earth got in the way and I had forgotten, it’s a miracle I’m alive! How could I forget the day my LORD heard my cry and spared my life? 

Now, before you all think I’m completely crazy because I forgot about the miracle, go with me on this one: It’s more than 5, maybe 10 or more years later and God reminds us of the day He touched our hearts and we cried out to Him. Yet isn’t it weird how life gets in the way? Our busy schedules, family, and friends! The annoyances of things like passenger car doors that don’t shut right! Have we forgotten that day? That day He spared our life for all eternity? Am I the only one God needs to remind? 

Prayer: 

Dear Lord Father. Lord I pray my friends and family are not like me, or like the Israelites who exchanged their Glory, and they do not lose sight of that day. The day they cried out and You saved them for all eternity. Lord sometimes the busyness of life gets in the way of our focus, it gets in the way of remembering our miracle. Lord, Jesus stood in the breach before You to keep Your wrath from destroying us. For you did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess 5:9) Oh Lord THANK YOU! We cried out and You answered. Lord forgive us, IF we have forgotten, and remind us. You Lord have spared our lives! In our Savior Jesus’ name, Amen.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

¹ Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. ² And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. ³ Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. ⁴ And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. ⁵ And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. ⁶ And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. ⁷ Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. ⁸ With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed (Numbers 12:1-9, ESV). 

You know those moments when all of sudden your upset or angry about something.  It just springs up and usually comes out at someone else, often our spouse.  They stand there looking at you like something is growing out of your head (maybe horns), because they have no idea what just happened or what you are even talking about.  The poor person is standing there clueless, as they try to figure out what’s going on and might even attempt to ask, but it’s no help and usually makes matters worse in the moment.  We even know they can’t read our mind, but do we feel bad for them?  No, absolutely not!  That is, until we actually figure out the root of why we are upset.

Yeah sounds like Miriam and Aaron had a little of this going on.  The scripture starts with them being angry with Moses because of his wife, when in reality that’s not the issue at all.  They are upset because he is the man God placed in charge.  The Lord heard them and calls them out on it.  All three were called out to an emergency meeting at the tent.

The three of them go out and the Lord comes down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance, calling Miriam and Aaron forward.  The Lord reminds Miriam and Aaron that Moses was His faithful servant and not just any servant at that.

Moses was a meek, a humble man.  He spoke directly to God at the burning bush.  Moses was the man God called to deliver the people out of Egypt, to tell them I AM sent you  (Exodus 3).  Moses was given powerful signs and wonders by God, his staff turned into a snake, his hand turned leprous and healed in front of Pharaoh.  God multiplied the signs and wonders through Moses with the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 7-14).  Moses was allowed to see God’s glory pass by while He covered him (Exodus 33).  

Little did they realize speaking against Moses was speaking against God, and the position He had placed him.  The Lord did not take lightly at all.  The fact that they weren’t afraid to speak against Moses angered the Lord.  So much so, when He departed and the cloud was removed and Miriam found herself leprous.  Moses cried out to God to heal her and she was healed.  However, as per the Leviticus Law, she was still shut out of the camp for seven days (Leviticus 14). 

As a faithful servant of God, Moses spoke of the greater Prophet to come, Jesus Christ.

³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers’ (Acts 7:37, ESV).

Moses’ experience with God stood apart from the other prophets, and  he exemplified Christ to the people.  God called Moses to deliver His people from bondage; he dealt with rejection from his own people; and through Moses God performed many signs and wonders.  On more than one occasion we see Moses stand in the gap in prayer, for the people who rebelled against God, so that God would turn his wrath away.

Jesus came to speak the words of the Father and to deliver His people from bondage.  He was rejected by his own, performed many signs and wonders, took on the wrath of God once and for all and settled it at the cross.  Yet for those who rebel against Him, one day they will have to face God’s anger.  He will not take lightly those who speak against His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Lord, You do not take lightly when people speak against Your anointed.  Most importantly You will not take lightly speaking and rebelling against Your Son Jesus. We pray for those who do, for our unsaved family and friends, for those who deny you. Would you draw them near to You and bring them home from their rebellious living.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

He has risen…

He has risen indeed!  I know right now you may thinking, I’ve lost it and I’ve got the wrong holiday, it’s Christmas not Easter!  Yes I know!  Christmas is only 25 days away and I haven’t even begun my shopping!  I’m fully aware.  However, recently we started to study through the book of James for high school youth group.  As you may have noticed my last post was from the book of James, today’s post will also be, and good chance more to come.  So for today,  

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1, ESV)…

James identifies himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In his book, he challenges us to put into practice what we say we believe, to live our faith out loud. Realize he is not talking about behavior modification, rather an internal work that brings life change, being transformed from the inside out, which then causes our behavior and actions to follow.  First it’s a work in us, and then it’s a work through us.

However, he wasn’t always, I mean about being a servant of God and Jesus, he wasn’t at first.  We know him to be the half brother of Jesus, and John 7:5 tells us this, ⁵ For not even his brothers believed in him (John 7:5). 

He grew up with Jesus his whole life and didn’t believe, but there came a day everything changed.  From unbeliever to a servant, so what happened in between? 

³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.⁶ Then he  appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:3-7, ESV). 

The Apostle Paul gives us the details of what happened, Jesus, the risen Christ had appeared to him.  Nothing like a visit from the Risen Christ to change things! 

Honestly, like James, I was a Christian for many years before I had encountered an experience with God that began to change things.  I always thought the book of Acts was like the old Vegas commercial, “What happened in Act stayed in Acts.”  But then one day some things started to change.  Anyone who knows me knows, I am not a morning person at all.  However, back in 2008, I would wake up, wide awake around 3:30 – 4:00 in the morning.  It was time orchestrated by God Himself, quality alone time with God for prayer and scripture reading.  It was then that Scripture suddenly began to jump off the pages and became alive to me (Hebrews 4:12).  I started to become aware that I was hearing from God, but was still unsure if it was Him.  As I was struggling to believe if it was actually the voice of God or not, one day he sent someone to confirm what I was hearing.  I had never met this man, he had come to preach and speak at our church.  Well afterword I had a chance to talk to him and wouldn’t you know, he told me the very things I thought I had been hearing from God.  The things I doubted to believe.  I left church that day feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, and also feeling like God just totally told on me to him!  Something he would have never known except by God! 

How about you?  Have you ever had an experience with God that changed your whole relationship with Him?  Sometimes we need a little revelation of the Risen Christ in our lives. 

Lord, this is the season we remember You.  You came to be God with us and to dwell among us. We may know of the signs and wonders You performed and the people You healed through the pages of scripture.  We may know that You conquered the cross and ascended back to the Father and Your promise to send a Helper, the Holy Spirit to dwell with us and in us.

Lord if we’re honest there may be times we don’t feel like You are with us, maybe even times we have doubted who You are, maybe we still do.  Lord we don’t want to only know about You, we want to know You personally, an internal work that only You can do!

Would You come now and reveal Yourself to us.  Maybe a sense of Your love to wash over us, a reminder of hope because we feel like there’s none left, confirmation of a word from You, strength in our time of weakness, or _______.  Holy Spirit would You come and meet us where we need.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

The Tough Times

¹ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance ⁴ Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:1-4, NIV 1984).

Honestly, I don’t know about you, but pure joy is not usually my first thought that comes to mind when trials show up.  Actually most trials are painful and difficult and my response is more like, when is it going to end!!  None-the-less, James says to consider it pure joy.

The author identifies himself as James.  Most scholars consider James to be the half brother of Jesus. Through the use of so many imperatives (expressing commands), James challenges his readers to continue to grow in their faith, so that they may be mature and complete and proving their faith by their actions.  We can almost sense a feeling of urgency as he jumps right in with an imperative in verse 2. 

 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds… (James 1:2). 

Interestingly enough, he says when you face trials, not if but when.  The church at that time had scattered at this point, and they were facing persecution for their faith.  James was letting them know facing trials was inevitable.  Even Jesus said this when he warned them of the future to come, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me”  (Matthew 24:9, NIV).  And that was exactly what was happening.  They were scattered and facing persecution for their faith.  We have to remember that scripture can’t mean something different to us today then it did to them back then.  Knowing exactly what they were going through at that time helps us to better understand so that now we can glean a better meaning for James’ sense of urgency in his letter.

He’s not making light of the conditions they were in by any means. James knew when the pressure was on, their faith would be tested, and their actions would follow what they truly believed.  He knew the trials they were facing would either prove their faith or lack there of.  In that moment they were facing the ultimate test of their faith and their lives may have even depended on it.  James is boldly encouraging them (and us) to stay strong and persevere through the trials. 

Why, because the testing of faith has a purpose.  It develops perseverance, and perseverance brings a finishing work, becoming mature and complete, not lacking anything.  Perseverance in trials matures our faith and strengthens our character to live our faith in action.  Of course we know true completion will not come until Jesus returns, however His perfecting work begins here and now in our daily lives and situations.

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2, NIV 1984).  

Jesus set the example.  For the joy set before Him: He endured the ultimate trial, the cross, taking our punishment upon Himself, and conquered it.  He is the author and perfecter of our faith in all circumstances.   Even today as we face trials and persecution often they are hard and difficult.  The joy comes because of the outcome, which is His perfecting work in our lives. 

Jesus, thank You for the joy set before You, for enduring the cross, scorning it’s shame, and taking our place.  Give us the strength to stay strong and persevere when the trials, persecution, and various tests come into our lives.  Although it’s hard in the moment, You are at work perfecting us and maturing our faith.  May we consider the joy knowing You are molding us into Your completed masterpiece in Christ Jesus.