Hebrews 11:16 – “Without faith, man cannot please God: for he who comes near to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.”

As we begin today, I feel compelled to declare, “What a Difference a Day Makes!” Today is a new day with new opportunities, victories, and revelations.  The blessings of God are new every morning, every afternoon, and every evening.  The flow of God’s Love never ceases.  He IS and IS a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Sometimes, when I read passages like that in Hebrews 11:6, I ask, “What about those who do not?”  I do not want to be one who does not diligently seek God.  I do not want to be one who does not believe in the Is-ness of God.  I want to believe, and I do believe!

God IS!  That is a powerful thought that is all-encompassing.  He IS! 

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God IS Faithful. 
• 1 John 1:5 tells us that God is light and there is no darkness in Him. 
• 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is not slow in keeping His promises and is patient with us. 
• Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God, which is God, is ALIVE. 
• James 1:17 tells us that God is the giver of good gifts.
•  John 4:24 tells us that God is Spirit. 
• Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a human being and has no capacity to lie or fail. 
• Psalm 116:5 tells us that God is gracious, righteous, and full of compassion.
• Psalm 84:11-12 tells us that God is our sun and shield. 
• Job 12:7-10 tells us, “In His hands is the life of every creature.”

GOD IS!  He is with us and has promised never to forsake us.  Tragically, we sometimes envision Him as over there, up there, or out there rather than being here and in us!  We are IN Christ, and Christ is IN us, and He Never Ever Changes! 

My prayer today is, “LORD, enlighten our hearts to believe in the presence of God!  Help us to see what You are doing and hear what You are saying.  Help us to have a renewed deposit of awareness of the IS-NESS of God and walk in the confidence, assurance, hope, and power of Your Presence.” 

We do not serve an abstract but The Living God!   God is with us All the Time!  He knows everything in our lives: our hearts, minds, and hands. He desires to guide us and has promised to do just that.  He wants to protect us and has promised to do just that.  The Father wants us to have the Kingdom and be anointed and empowered to do the works of Jesus and the greater works He planned. 

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, and Jesus identified that the prophecy was about Him.  He has given us the authority and power to operate in His Name.  Therefore, if He is IN us and we are One with Him, then this prophecy also applies to us.

We must allow it to become part of our consciousness that The Spirit of the LORD is on me and you, BECAUSE…  Because?  Yes, because He has anointed us to proclaim the Good News to the poor.  He has sent us to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.  He has sent us to bring recovery of sight to the blind.  He has empowered and anointed us to set the oppressed free.  He has anointed us to proclaim the Ultimate and Total Victory of the Cross.

Jesus sent the disciples out with power and authority.  He confirmed that this is for all who believe and will obey.  We are to bring the sick to His healing, the dead to life, the lepers to cleansing, and those possessed and demonized to liberty.

Mark 16:15-18 – “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my Name, they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Wow!  It is time to believe in the “ISNESS” of God and, rather than preach and testify of theory, become Doers of the Word.  If God is the same past, present, and future, Why Not Now?  We have a world to win, and the world is not interested in our theories about God; they want to see the Living God Living in Us! 

God Is, God, Does, God Can, and God Will.   We need to ask the Father to help each of us see Him as the Living God and the Present God.  We need Him to enable us to see ourselves as He sees us, not as the devil says we are, nor as the world says we are, nor even as we think we are, but as He sees us!   We need Him to clothe us with the Holy Spirit and free us from limited thinking and defeatism. 

Although some live in pessimism, some in optimism, some in what they call realism, and others in fatalism, I challenge you to make the choice to in GOD-ISISM.  Our God IS!  Our God Lives!  Our God Reigns!  Our God is The Living God!  Shake yourself, put off the old thinking, put on the new view of God, and live as if He is telling the truth because He is!

Make this day a day of rejoicing and victory in total surrender to the LORD!

John 13:12-17 – “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?  13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.  14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.  16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” NKJV

For a long time, I have had a bad taste in my mouth for the clerical hierarchy that exists in the church.  Oh, I believe that there is a “first among equals” and that there is a “Moses” or a “point man” for each local congregation, but lording it over people is not the biblical way.  Jesus demonstrated that truth in this passage and gave us an example of “True Leadership,” which comes through serving. 

Too often, I have seen people who wanted to be served rather than being willing to serve.  I have seen those who felt it was beneath them to get their hands dirty with a menial task (so to speak) because of their position or place.  I have cleaned toilets in the church while serving as the “senior pastor,” and it did not bother me to do so.  It was not always because it was expected, but sometimes because it was needed or just because I chose to do so to demonstrate that I was willing to serve. 

I have put on my nail apron and worked alongside others on a church workday or helping some needy family in the community. I thought nothing about it and never felt nor allowed it to diminish my ability to speak authoritatively as the need presented itself on a biblical matter.

It has long been my contention and conviction that if a person cannot follow, they are not qualified to lead.  They should not be allowed to occupy a leadership position regardless of so-called credentials or qualifications.  In my years of ministerial leadership, I almost always chose the person with a servant’s heart over someone with seemingly more impressive qualifications who did not exhibit that same spirit and attitude. 

We do not need a hierarchy. We need a community of people joined together in Jesus Christ, functioning according to God’s “gifts and callings” upon their lives.  I have taken the follower’s role even when the lead man when I recognized a gift operational in a person’s life that fit the situation and made them more qualified than I. 

Allowing people to function in the talents and abilities that God has given them is far more efficient than trying to be Moses “pre-Jethro.”  Study and you will know what I mean.  Moses was trying to be the Sole Leader of the entire nation, and his father-in-law gave him wisdom that could only come from God and experience that gave us an example of what the local church should look like.

If you find yourself in a leadership position, be willing to serve; if you are not in a leadership position and have a desire to lead, be willing to and actually serve.  If you do so with a cheerful heart, God will promote you to whatever position and place He deems is where you need to be and serve. 

After all, it is His Church, and we are members of His Body!  He chooses what part we play and when we play it; one role is not more important than another.  The physical body needs all its parts to be a fully functioning and complete unit, and so does the Body of Christ.

May God be with you as you serve Him and others!  Blessings!

2 Kings 5:9-14 – “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”  NKJV

This account of Naaman, the Syrian Commander, is one of several in the Bible that reflects ‘unrealistic’ or ‘unfulfilled expectations’ and the problem therein.  Naaman had leprosy, which was a virtual sentence of death.  His wife had a slave girl from Israel, and she said to her Master’s wife, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria!  For he would heal him of his leprosy.”  Naaman’s wife relayed the information to Naaman, and he, in turn, to his master.  The story begins with a letter sent to the king of Israel to heal Naaman. 

Imagine, if you will, receiving a directive from a powerful enemy to do something you were not capable of doing.  How would you view it?  He considered it a provocation to war and was distraught.  Elisha heard of the King of Israel’s hysteria and directed that Naaman had been sent to him.  Naaman followed the king’s directive, and his entourage proceeded to Elisha’s house; the problem opened in a major way and revealed the “Problem of Human Expectations.”

Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan and dip himself seven times.  Naaman was furious, for he considered it an insult for someone of his stature to be instructed to do this.  He expected pomp and ceremony with Elisha standing before the great general, waving his hands over the leprosy and healing him in a dramatic fashion that fit what he considered worthy of someone of his stature. 

He left furious, and one of his servants took his life in his own hands and approached Naaman, asking if Elisha had instructed him to do something great, difficult, or monumental, would he not have attempted it?  As a result, Naaman realized he had nothing to lose and obeyed.  The result was a complete cleansing of leprosy and a restoration of his flesh.

Had he allowed his ‘unrealistic’ and/or ‘unfulfilled expectations’ to rule, he would have died in Syria a Leper!  I wonder how often we fix in our minds how things should be and proceed to reject everything that does not fit that image and fulfill that expectation.  Could it be that we fail to receive answers to our prayers because we ‘predetermine’ how we expect things to be, and when they do not satisfy those expectations, we reject all else? 

Isaiah 55:9 reminds us that God’s ways are higher than ours, and when we attempt to subrogate our ways over God’s ways, we are doomed to the realm of ‘unfulfilled expectations.’  I see it in relationships, businesses, churches, and spiritually that ‘unrealized, unfulfilled and unreasonable expectations’ bring disappointment and failure.  We do not have to live at that address, for we can subject our expectations to God’s will and ways and allow the Holy Spirit to birth the purposes of God in us. 

Demanding that others meet our expectations can and often is both unrealistic and a catalyst to difficulty.  I am human.  You are human.  We are flawed vessels, and to expect perfection from flawed vessels is unrealistic. 

We need to be like the Naaman who went down into the Jordan, not the Naaman who drove off in a huff, wounded because his expectations were not satisfied.  I am learning more daily how Paul could say that he was content wherever he found himself.  His expectations were God, not his preconceived ideas of how things should be.

God bless you as you go through this day!

Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” 

A song comes to mind, “What Am I Living For,” and the questions the singer asks are: “What Am I Living for if not for you?”  It then declares that nobody else will do. The object of affection is the total focus and desire.  I ask that regarding our spiritual lives.  What are we living for if not for Christ?  What are we long for if not for Christ?  If anything else will do, I suggest that our lives come up short of the prize God has set before us.

Steven J. Cole wrote in a blog post in 2013 asking my question and related a story from English history and lore. 

A young man came to W.E. Gladstone when he was Prime Minister of England and said, “Mr. Gladstone, I would appreciate your giving me a few minutes in which I might lay before you my plans for the future.  I would like to study law.” 

“Yes,” said the great statesman, “and then what?”  “Then, sir, I would like to gain entrance to the Bar of England.” “Yes, young man, and what then?”  “Then, sir, I hope to have a place in Parliament, in the House of Lords.”  “Yes, young man, what then?” pressed Gladstone.  “Then I hope to do great things for Britain.” 

“Yes, young man, and what then?”  “Then, sir, I hope to retire and take life easy.”  “Yes, young man, and what then?” he tenaciously asked.  “Well, then, Mr. Gladstone, I suppose I will die.”  “Yes, young man, and what then?”  The young man hesitated and then said, “I never thought any further than that, sir.”  Looking at the young man sternly and steadily, Gladstone said, “Young man, you are a fool.  Go home and think life through!”  (Told by Leonard Griffith, this is Living [Abingdon Press], pp. 48, 49.)

What are we living for?  How much thought have you given to your life?  The past, present, future, and eternity must be brought into focus.  Paul addresses this issue in the text above, saying, “To live is Christ…”  I am living to Live Christ!  I am living to Manifest Christ!  I am living to be an Epistle known and read among men!  My focus is Christ!  My hope is Christ!  My life is Christ!  For in Him I live and move and have being!

• If I am living primarily for me, my focus is wrong. 
• If I am living primarily to have financial success, my focus is wrong. 
• If I am living to advance a particular cause, my focus is wrong. 

Jesus instructed us in Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” If I have God first in my life and actively and diligently seek Him, He will care for all else in my life.  I am Living to Live Christ!

I do not want to be remembered for my activism, speaking or writing, or accomplishments in life (whatever they might be).  I want to be remembered for Living Christ!  I want to be remembered as one who manifested and demonstrated Christ in my words and deeds.  I do not care if anyone remembers my name so long as they remember the Christ of and in my life.

May God be with you as you go through your day!  I encourage you to begin Living Christ!  Blessings!

Mark 16:15-18 – “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  16 ” He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.  17 “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  

I have never understood limiting the Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent God of all creation, but many do, and I have.  Sometimes, we limit Him through our errant theological beliefs and by our actions.  Most of us would say, “All things are possible with God.”  If all things are possible, why are so many things, in our minds, not probable when it comes to God and His power?

I have been told that God no longer heals today because we have doctors, science, and medicine and that the miracles of healing were only to help establish the fledgling church in the 1^st century.  Where does it say that in the Bible? 

Some quote the verse about tongues passing away and omit the rest of the quotation that ‘knowledge’ also passes away.  If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why do we not expect Him to perform His works in our present day?  Yes, we have science, doctors, technology, and many modern advancements, but He created us and has the power to touch all the dimensions of our lives, does He not?

Sometimes we pray, ‘If it be Thy will,’ and too often, that is a prayer of faithlessness rather than submission to His will.  It is often a prayer with no expectation.  Of course, anything must be in His will to be realized.  I readily acknowledge that and do not mind that addendum to a prayer if it is submission but charged with faith and expectation. 

I am not trying to be critical, and I know I am treading on thin ice with some, but I suggest that along with that addendum, we might add, “Unless it is not your will, I will eagerly await the answer with expectation.”  I have had people say, “Well, we can only pray,” and hear others asking, “Has it come to that?” as if prayer were a last resort in a hopeless cause.

We do not get everything we ask for, but that should not stop us from asking and seeking, for God is God, and He always will be God.  Hebrews tells us that a Better Covenant was established on Better Promises, and the Old Covenant was not too shabby!

May God bless you as you go through your day and provide whatever you need from Him!  Blessings!

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 – “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 ” You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” 

Deuteronomy 11:18-22 – “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 ” You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 ” You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.” 

It was a sad day in history when we turned the responsibility of teaching our children over to the government or the state.  Initially, the Bible was part of their public education, but not today.  It has been said that America is no longer a Christian nation, and that may well be true.  Most still profess a belief in the existence of God, but do they seek to serve Him?

Parents and grandparents are responsible for teaching the children the principles of life and the Word of God.  It is not the responsibility of the public school or even Sunday school.  It should be a natural part of family life. 

We need to turn off the television, set aside our smartphones, log off the computers, and develop relationships that use actual language and face-to-face experiences with each other and our children.  Biblically, we are directed to allow God’s word to be impressed upon our hearts to the degree we talk of them as a family at all key times of the day.

No wonder the Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  I did not say browbeat them; I said TRAIN him.  Demonstrate the importance and respect of the Word in your life and instill in them the core principles and values taught in God’s Word. 

Children are our responsibility. Let us do the right thing by them.  

God bless you as you go through your day.  Blessings be upon you!

John 6:11 – “Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.”

Deuteronomy 8:10 – “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.”

The custom in biblical Middle Eastern times was that people, without fail, gave thanks before eating and usually gave thanks after the meal.  It was initially done to recognize God’s provision and express gratitude.  Like so many things, it evolved into a religious or societal ritual, as is often the case today!  I know of many who would never dream of eating a meal without ‘saying grace.’

In those days, those at the table would repeat the host’s words as he gave thanks.  If a prophet were present, he would be expected to take the lead in the prayer and bless the food, giving thanks as is described in 1 Samuel 9:13 – “…he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat.”  It was customary, but initially, it was far more than custom and a true recognition of God’s provision and their gratitude.

When Jesus fed the 5,000, we read that “after Jesus had given thanks, the food was distributed…”  In the feeding of the 4,000, Matthew is careful to include the fact that Jesus gave thanks before anyone ate.  The Jews were incredibly conscious of the fact that all they had comes from God and willingly expressed their gratitude.  Sadly, for many then and now, it is nothing more than a religious or societal ritual, not a genuine expression of gratitude.

They also customarily gave thanks at the end of the meal, as is reflected in Deuteronomy 8:10 – “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD….”  Gratitude demands acknowledgment of not only the provision but the provider.  I would suggest that if you ‘say grace’ and pray over your meal without really giving thought or having true gratitude in your heart; it is more of an insult to God than an act He will receive and recognize with blessing.

Therefore, make your words be true expressions of the gratitude of your heart and always remember that all we are and have has its source in God.  In Him, we live and move and have our being.  

Blessings upon you as you go through your day!

Exodus 20:16 – “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” NASB

1 Timothy 5:13 – “Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.”  NIV

Years ago, I had a lady in the church I was serving as pastor who always asked, “Do you have any news?”  She would preface what she was going to share with, “Have you heard the news?”  I asked her once if she considered what she was doing ‘gossip,’ she said, “Oh no, pastor, I’m just sharing the latest news, not gossiping for that would be wrong.”   

I could never convince her that they were the same thing.  She longed to hear any tidbit, documented or undocumented, and would then share it with whomever she could find who would listen.

Gossip is a very destructive weapon that the devil uses to drive wedges and damage people in their testimony.  I recall hearing something once about a fellow minister that, if true, would be so damaging to his reputation that it would impact untold numbers of people.  What I heard is not important, nor his name; the fact that I listened to it is. 

As I pondered what I had heard, the Holy Spirit brought conviction to my heart, and I sensed the Lord speaking to me, saying, “Why did you allow that gossip to be spoken into your hearing?”  I began to weep, for I had listened and, without realizing it, formed an opinion regarding this brother without any real documentation or evidence. 

It was wrong!  I was wrong!   The gossip was a malicious lie, as was later proven.  Yet had I repeated that gossip, I would have been furthering the harm brought to an innocent brother.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit arrested me before I participated in an activity I have long loathed – Gossip.

When people come to me with tidbits about someone, I usually ask, “Have you gone to that individual to discuss this?”  If the answer is no, I stop them and ask that they not continue gossip but rather suggest they take it to prayer and approach the person in question with that little morsel they are ‘sharing.’ 

Some have become quite angry with me, calling me ‘self-righteous’ or worse, because I did not want to participate in gossip regarding another.  However, I must ask, “Would you want someone spreading gossip about you?”  Consider that point when you are tempted to share ‘news,’ as that little lady called it. 

Gil LeBreton, a sportswriter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, wrote a piece regarding the Texas Ranger’s manager Ron Washington’s resignation a few years prior and used an illustration from a movie that speaks to what I am talking about.  It was excellent, and I am sharing it here. 

In the Academy Award-nominated movie Doubt, there is a memorable scene in which the accused priest, Father Flynn, delivers a powerful sermon to the congregation.

The priest, brilliantly played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, tells the story of a woman who “was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew.” Seized later with guilt, the woman went to a Catholic confessional and asked her parish priest if she had done anything wrong. “Yes,” said the priest. “You have borne false witness against your neighbor. You’ve played fast and loose with his reputation and should be heartily ashamed.” 

As her penance, the priest instructed the woman to go to her roof and gut a pillow with a knife, a scene classically depicted in the movie.  And what did she see? The priest asked.   “Feathers,” the woman answered. “Feathers everywhere.”  “Now, I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out into the wind,” the priest instructed.

The woman protested. “It can’t be done.”  I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.”  “And that,” the movie’s Father Flynn said, abruptly ending the sermon, “is gossip!”

That is a fantastic illustration of the damage and futility of trying to retrieve harmful words spoken about another.  It is Impossible!  The damage is done even if we go to them in repentance, begging forgiveness; we will Never retrieve all the words or find where they have been carried.  Therefore, the biblical policy is Do Not Gossip!

Blessings as you go through your day!