Proverbs 11:3-6 – “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. 4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.”  NKJV 

We know from the comprehensive teaching of Scripture that we reap what we sow or as some would say it, “What goes around comes around” or “Your chickens will come home to roost.”  I fully believe that God is watching over His children and is fully aware of what is happening in our lives.  The Bible says, “The rain falls on the just and unjust alike” revealing that sometimes there is not instant judgment or sentencing for wrong.  However, in God’s time the chickens will come home to roost.

Notice what the writer declares in this short passage:

• Integrity vs. Perversity.

Integrity guides and becomes a lamp for the feet and a light on our pathway.  During the course of an hour, day, week, month or year walking in integrity may not deliver us from difficulty at that moment but it is leading us to that place of liberty and victory.  On the other hand while perversity may not receive instant judgment and sentencing it is laying the ground for destruction.

• Material Things vs. Righteousness.

If we place our confidence in material things we will be let down and ultimately disappointed for in the Day of Wrath possessions or wealth will not deliver us and cannot spare our lives.  Righteousness on the other hand can and will bring us to LIFE.

• Success vs. Failure.

Righteousness in heart will guide one to success in life and in the spiritual realm whereas wickedness of heart will bring about ultimate failure and shame.  Instead of  striving for success and trying to grab the brass ring it is better to strive for righteousness and seek first the kingdom of God who is righteousness and in so doing be promoted to success.

• Fidelity vs. Lasciviousness.

Walking in righteousness of the heart will keep one in fidelity whereas following the lusts of the heart will lead one into lasciviousness and ensnare in the trap of lust.  That does not have to be speaking of sexual impropriety but lust can and does target many things in life.  I recall once in Israel the tour guide advised us to remove things from view as we departed the bus saying, “What they eye cannot see the heart will not lust after.”  If our eye is on Christ we do not see things that entice our hearts in a lustful manner.  We see with the eyes of righteousness and that produces fidelity of heart and raise us to victory.

            God bless you as you go through your day!

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  NKJV

Someone read the title and text and asked, “What?”  As they wondered how this text matched the title.  Let me clarify.  We continually hear people say, “Just do the right thing” and that is good but which is better, “Doing the right thing or Being the right thing?”  I would submit that if we ARE the right thing we will DO the right thing but we might DO the right thing and still not BE the right thing.  Thus my title question:  “Which is better?”

I do not know who wrote this:

Not merely in the words you say,
Not only in your deeds confessed,
But in the most unconscious way 

Not merely in the words you say,
Not only in your deeds confessed,
But in the most unconscious way

Is Christ expressed?

Is it a beatific smile?
A holy light upon your brow?
Oh no! I felt his presence
When you laughed just now. 

To me, ’twas not the truth you taught,
To you so clear, to me still dim,
But when you came you brought
A sense of him. 

And from your eyes he beckons me
And from your heart his love is shed,
Till I lose sight of you and see
The Christ instead.

            We have all encountered people we knew instantly were different. There was an aura about them that made them stand out in a crowd.  They didn’t have to say anything but you sensed something about their spirit that was drawing and remarkable.  They are those of which I speak when I ask about “being the right thing”.  They do not have to debate what to do for it flows from within and out of their rightness they act.  It is not the outward expression or demonstration from which righteousness flows it is from righteousness that the outward expression or demonstration flows.  If we ARE the right thing or person we will DO the right thing.  Whenever I hear people say, “Just do the right thing this always comes to mind.”    I desire to BE right and if I AM right then I will DO right.  

            May the Lord bless you richly is my prayer!

John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  NKJV

We have come to another Memorial Day in America and 2015 finds names added to the list of those whom we should remember.  Each year there are more Americans who have given their all in defense of Freedom and pursuit of that often illusive dream.  We have been fortunate in this nation to not have been invaded by a foreign enemy although we have experienced acts of terror on our shores.  Our land has not been ravaged with the hostilities of war like many nations although there are signs that trouble is brewing and that is troubling.

Jesus’ statement in John 15 was clearly calling attention to His willingness to go to the Cross for mankind and called them and us His friends.  His declaration that there can be no greater demonstration of love than laying down one’s life for another is particularly impactful on this day.  From the time of the Revolutionary War to the present American’s have sacrificed all to obtain and preserve freedom.  In America we have lived relatively free of oppression for a long time and the system of government instituted by our Founding Fathers has served us well.  Freedom is wonderful but never free!

Jesus’ act on the Cross was the purchase price of FREEDOM of a different kind.  In laying down His life for us he opened the door to Spiritual Freedom that would enable man to truly live.  We had been under the dominion of the realm of darkness and now access to the kingdom of light was open through His sacrifice.  His sacrifice placed before us two paths or gates through which all must enter.  One leads to destruction and the other to life.  One places almost no demands or restrictions whereas the other is a much narrower pathway that requires discipline and willing surrender of lordship of our lives.  We surrender being the master of our own fate and the captain of our souls to Him and become followers of His Way rather than that of the flesh and self.  One path leads to true Freedom the other to bondage.  Yet, bondage seems to be the path the flesh most desires.

Today we should REMEMBER:

• Remember What Those in Times of War Sacrificed For Freedom.

Throughout history brave patriotic souls have made the ultimate sacrifice so that others could be free and enjoy the fruits of liberty.  We should all pause, remember and give thanks for what they did.  Without their sacrifice we would not have the Freedoms we have today.

• Remember The Cross.

Without the Cross there is no Crown.  Without the shedding of blood there is no redemption and Jesus willingly laid down His life so that you and I could enter into LIFE that is TRUE FREEDOM spiritually.

Yes this should be a day of remembering not just a day off work, day of sales for shoppers or picnics.  We should take time to REMEMBER and in our remembering we should express GRATITUDE and THANKSGIVING.  We are the beneficiaries of incredible sacrifices made so that we could enjoy LIFE more Abundant and FREEDOM naturally and spiritually!

            God bless you as you go through this day!

John 1:16-18 – “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”  NKJV

The NASB translates it, “…has explained Him.”  The word used is ‘exegeomai’ which means to ‘rehearse’ or ‘unfold’.  It is REVELATION!  Jesus is the revelation of God and through Him, His life, His teaching, His deeds we see the heart and character of God.  He came in bodily form as a man so that He could reconcile man to God.  He came in the Fullness of God and extended His grace to us and if we have accepted Him we have received that grace.

The Law touched the mind and regulated the actions whereas Jesus touches the heart and mind and transforms the thoughts which results in a change of character, attitude and actions.  If you are one that must have a specific set of rules to follow and need a check list to evaluate your progress and position Christianity is probably not for you.  Christianity is not a set of rules it is LIFE.  It is not modifying behavior it is becoming transformed within at the core of one’s being.  It is not doing the right thing it is being the right thing.

The Law, we are told, was a schoolmaster to bring us to grace.  The Law exposed our flaws, depravity and the impossibility of man keeping the commandments of God in his own power or strength.  Grace revealed the pathway to transformation where someone greater than ourselves could come into our hearts and manifest His righteousness through us.  The Law required manufactured obedience or willpower. Grace requires transformation as a result of faith.  One touches the head only the other touches the heart.  One cleans up the exterior the other cleanses the interior.

Jesus came to ‘seek and to save’ that which was lost and that which was lost was us.  He came to ‘give abundant life’ and that life is available to us not by following a set of rules and regulations but through a transformed heart.  That is what the ‘new birth’ really is all about.  It is the transformation of the me that is me.   As we are transformed or become ‘new creations’ through the grace of God we are changed on the inside and that inward change manifests itself visibly.  I recall when I was became a Christian I went to work and although I wanted to tell everyone what had happened I felt checked to simply state that I had received Christ.  I had a person come to me after a few days and said, “Roy, your Christianity is showing.”  They witnessed a change in me that was a greater witness than anything I could have or even desired to say.  Actions truly did speak louder than words!

It is Christ in us that is the Hope of Glory.  It is the manifestation of Him that people are moved by not simply by our inspirational words or oratorical abilities.  That is not to diminish witnessing with words but to emphasize that words not backed up by actions become nothing more than ‘rain on a tin roof’.  I do not want to be a clanging cymbal or tinkling brass.  I want my life to impact others so when I speak my words carry power and influence.

God is revealed in each of us daily.  Some have said, “The only Bible some will read is you.  Therefore, what is the gospel according to your life?”  That is something I always try to keep in the forefront of my mind.

            God bless you richly as you go through this day!

John 1:1-5 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”  NKJV

In the beginning was or existed THE LOGOS.  I realize that in translating from the Greek to English the translators felt the need to find a means of explaining the meaning and chose the word ‘WORD’.  He is more than a ‘word’ and the Logos identifies the completeness of His person and being.  This is descriptive of the reality that Jesus is the full embodiment of everything God and He is more than a word, teaching, theory, concept, idea or revelation.  He is GOD and all that embodies and entails.

He is eternally existent although through the divine miracle of the Immaculate Conception he was born to a woman and walked among us as flesh and yet as God.  John recognized his COMPLETENESS and chose the word Logos for that reason.  He is not the ‘written word’ as excluding the ‘spoken word’ or ‘personal word’ He is GOD – The Logos.  He is the spring from which life flows, wisdom is emanated, hope springs eternal and redemption becomes reality.

He is creator.  He is life.  He is light.  He is God and being God He is THE LOGOS or the full embodiment and revelation of God.  I make no attempt to explain the Godhead and any attempt to do so in this public forum would probably degenerate into a debate over that matter.  I simply wish to call to the forefront of our thinking that Jesus is THE LOGOS, the full expression of God.  He is not, as some argue, just a great prophet – He is GOD!  He is not, as some would argue, somehow lesser than the Father – He is GOD!  He is THE LOGOS that opted to become the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  He is THE LOGOS that opted to become man’s substitute and bear the penalty of sin so that you and I could have LIFE. 

This One is the One described in John 3:16 who came as an expression of the incredible unmerited, undeserved and unconditional Love of God for His mankind.  He is the One who now makes intercession before the Throne of Heaven for us.  He is the One who has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for us and has promised to return for us so that we can spend eternity together.  He is GOD – The Logos!

As THE LOGOS He is the means of revelation of God’s way and will.  He is the thought of God expressed in human form with human words and deeds.  He is the declaration of God coming in a form that we can relate and as Hebrews declares, “He was tempted in all points like we yet without sin.”  (Hebrews 4:15).  He is more than a ‘word’ for He is the Ultimate Word – THE LOGOS or GOD!

             When you and I receive the LOGOS into our hearts and out of that Life He brings the Holy Spirit speaks a particular word to us we receive the Rhema of the Logos and upon that ‘word’ we can anchor our faith for it is not simply in something spoken but the GOD who spoke.  I would suggest that it is far more important to our spiritual development to receive GOD – the Logos than to scour the countryside to get ‘a word’.  I am not diminishing the benefit of ‘hearing’ a word from God but I am lifting up the importance of having Him who, is THE WORD reigning in our hearts.  The former will have a much lesser impact and value without the latter.  Remember the words of Jesus:  “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”  

            May the Lord bless you richly is my prayer and fill you to overflowing with His Life!

Colossians 2:11-15 – “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”  NKJV

If we were to ever truly understand what Jesus accomplished at the Cross, Resurrection and Ascension we would be incredibly bold and faith filled in our walk, word and work.  We were outside looking in but as a result of His sacrificial death on the Cross, subsequent resurrection and ascension to the Right Hand of the Throne of God we can be saved.  We have been translated from the kingdom, dominion and domain of darkness into the Kingdom of God.  We become members of the Body of Christ and ‘as He is so are we in this world.’  (1 John 4:17)

The apostle unveils a truth that we dare not miss or lessen its importance that Jesus DISARMED principalities and powers and made a PUBLIC SPECTACLE of them TRIUMPHING over them.  I have often questioned why we, the children of God, exhibit a fear of the devil and so many spend time worrying about what the devil is or might do to them.  He should be worrying about what we, as the children of God, are going to do to him and his kingdom.

I find the language here fascinating and wish to highlight a few things for your consideration:

• He DISARMED principalities and powers.

Disarmed goes hand in hand with the directive of Christ to the disciples that they had POWER over all the AUTHORITY of the devil.  We are told that the weapons of our warfare are MIGHTY THROUGH GOD to the pulling down of strongholds.  We are informed that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the church and gates, in Scripture, usually refer to authority or seats of authority.   Jesus has DISARMED the devil.  If that is true then the devil’s strongest weapons are FEAR and INTIMIDATION.  His success depends on our complicity with his deception.  The Bible clearly declares that we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Christ.  If that is true then we are the ones putting ten thousand to flight not being put to flight.  We are to be the head not the tail.  We are to be the victors not the victims.  Our enemy has been DISARMED by our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

• He made a PUBLIC SPECTACLE of them.

At the Cross it appeared that the devil had succeeded in putting Jesus to open shame, the shame of dying the death of a criminal.  Had the Cross resulted solely in the death of Jesus it would have been a public victory for the devil but He didn’t stay dead.  He ROSE FROM THE DEAD and manifested Himself publicly at His ascension thereby making a PUBLIC SPECTACLE of the devil and all who were pawns of Lucifer.  He made them a laughing stock by rising from the dead and ascending to His rightful place at the Right Hand of the Father making intercession for His children.

• He TRIUMPHED over them.

The Triumph in Roman times was significant for it was the parade and ceremony in which a conquering general would parade the spoils of the conquered as well as the conquered generals and peoples led forth in chains for a public show.  The Victorious General was voted a TRIUMPH by the Senate and given honor and goods.  We are told we are ‘seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ and ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus.’  If it is Christ in us the hope of glory then His triumph is our triumph and His victory our victory.  He has given us HIS AUTHORITY over the POWER of the enemy.

Beloved let us begin acting like a conqueror and refuse to be relegated to a lesser life spiritually.  What He did He did for us and has invited us to share in His Triumph!

            God bless you as you go through your day!

Exodus 3:11-14 – “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  NKJV

“Who Am I?” was the question Moses asked at the burning bush when God instructed him to deliver the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage.  One the one hand it is a valid and good question borne out of a sense of inadequacy and humility.  One the other it is inappropriate and smacks of being nothing more than an excuse to justify a lack of desire to obey.  Moses had been groomed for high ranking purposes in Pharaoh’s house but the pull of His heart and the plan of God caused him to become an outcast and outlaw in Egypt.  His self-esteem had been brought down a few pegs on the board of human ego and in many ways it appears he saw himself a failure not a future or potential leader of a nation of a few million people.

I have asked that question before and found the Lord to be faithful in His call and provision.  I have encountered people who should have asked the question out of humility but engaged in self-promotion to the point of becoming odorous.  When God opens a new chapter in my life laying revealing a purpose and call my heart tends to ask, “Who Am I?” that you would want me to do this.  I am not trying to be falsely humble or self-effacing for I have always battled a certain amount of pride and ego and self-confidence but when encountering the Lord my natural tendency is to fall on my face and ask, “Who Am I?”

The response of the Lord to Moses is incredibly encouraging or should be.  God said, “I will be with you.”  That should have been enough but it wasn’t.  Moses pressed further offering another objection saying, in effect, “Well God when I get to Egypt and tell them the God of your fathers sent me they are going to want further confirmation and ask, ‘Okay, what is His name?'”  God said, “Tell them I AM WHO I AM.” 

The Who Am I just came face to face with the I AM and in the years to follow the revelation of God’s person, presence and character would become so ingrained in the heart of Moses that He lived and breathed I AM.  His Who Am I became I Can because of Whose I Am and that should be our view of the objective as well as the obstacle before us.  We are more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ and we are children of the Most High God therefore I AM WHO I AM lives in us and works His will through us.  Therefore, if God is for us who can be against us or what difference does it make who is against us for they cannot prevail?

May the Lord be with you as you move from victory to victory today and every day of your life!

Genesis 2:7 – “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”   NKJV

The only thing that differentiates man from animals, trees and rocks is the ‘breath of life’ that God breathed into him making him a “living soul”.  That and that alone gives man significance and purpose.  It is what makes man a living creature with an immortal spiritual soul.  God infused Himself into Adam at creation and in doing so identified that our physical bodies should not be the focus of man but our spirits and souls.

Some are so captivated by the human body and/or their human bodies they spend fortunes tweaking them, honing them, nurturing them and idolizing them while omitting the most important.  The Bible’s declaration that we are made in the Image and Likeness of God has caused many to declare that God looks like mankind.  However, the Jesus declared in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  Therefore, I would suggest that the image and likeness refers more to the spirit and soul in man than the physical frame that houses the soul.

The part of us that is eternal is the part that truly relates to God.  The Bible tells us that our bodies are the temple of God and therefore not unimportant just not the most important.  I would suggest that since these bodies are the house in which our spirits live it is important to properly maintain the body.  If we spent as much time developing our souls as we do to caring for our physical bodies we would be spiritual dynamos and this world would be experience an incredible revival, renewal and restoration.

The Breath of Life or that which causes to live was given from God to Adam bringing into existence a creation that could fellowship with the creator.  God gave Adam responsibility and accountability thus allowing Him the privilege to make life choices.  His instructions regarding the Tree of Knowledge was given before Eve was created and he must shoulder a significant portion of the blame for their failure to follow God’s instructions.

Man was created to Live Forever and would have, in the flesh, were it not for the Fall of Man in the Garden.  Our physical bodies are a medical and scientific marvel still being understood by humans.  This body has the ability and capacity to heal itself if it is given the proper nutrients, fuel, care, exercise and attention.  The decay of the body through aging is the result of the Fall of Man in the Garden not because God intended us to wither away.  Physically we are nothing more than a “lump of clay” but when that dirt houses the Eternal Spirit that connects us to God it is a marvel.

I saw a report that declared the human body could be worth up to $45 million if you combined the value of bone marrow, DNA, organs and components.  That same report then took the chemical value of the human body and calculated it as coming in at a whopping $160.04 in chemical compound amounts and values.  As a living entity it is almost priceless but when you take the individual chemical components it is relatively insignificant in value.  So it is not the “Lump of Clay” that makes it valuable it is the Life that is in it that makes us valued.  We are valuable to God because His breath is in us and He gave His Son to redeem us.  We have been deemed by God as worth the Blood of Jesus and that makes us priceless.

May the Lord bless you as you go through your day!

2 Peter 2:4-11 – “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8(for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) —  9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.”  NKJV

In these modern times I have heard a number of nationally known ministers promote the doctrine of Christian Universalism where there is NO JUDGMENT.  I have not been able to square that with the written word of God and unless I can I must reject it as heretical and false.  When I come to passages such as the one above I find it crystal clear the attitude God has regarding sin and if God regards sin so how must we regard it?

We know from Scripture that one-third of the angelic creation rebelled against God being deceived by Lucifer the son of the morning known today as the devil.  If you consider that the angels SEE God and KNOW the reality, beauty, holiness, and power of God and we see it in our spirits by faith you should be concerned.  They see it firsthand without the veil and they succumbed to deception.  That is a frightening thought.  James tells us that God DID NOT SPARE THEM from Judgment.

We know the depravity of man in Noah’s day became so vile and corrupt that God rejected all but Noah and his family.  He judged the world and delivered Noah and his family to give mankind a second chance.  We know the vileness of Sodom and Gomorrah with their sinfulness and perversion and God reduced those cities to ashes in Judgment but spared Lot and his family who rejected the perversion.  Today there is an insistence that the same type of perversion is normal and even a desire to make God the culprit for the condition in which those who practice those deeds find themselves.

James informs us that God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to bring judgment to individuals and even entire societies for wickedness.  He identifies that an especially repulsive condition to God is the ‘lust of the flesh’, ‘presumptuousness’ and ‘self-will.’  Conditions that are becoming more and more prevalent in today’s world and even in the world of Christendom.  We are seeing a world in which there is an overriding desire of many to become ‘a law unto themselves’ and not under any authority.  It is one thing to decry wicked rulers and another to throw off all restraint and do whatever one wants without regard to the moral, civil, social or spiritual.

In our present world we are competing with Sodom and Gomorrah and the world of Noah in the rejection of God and His principles.  We are rapidly becoming a world driven by the exaltation of self.  I wonder how long the patience of God will spare us similar judgment.  No, I do not wonder for He has detailed and declared in His world the state of the world and the ultimate conclusion of all things.  Judgment is coming for a wicked world as is deliverance for a righteous people.  The coming shaking and harvest is upon us and it is time to lift up your hearts to the Lord.  It is time for us to reaffirm our commitment to Him and determine in our hearts that having done all to stand we will stand.

            God bless you as you go through this day in the Lord!