Jeremiah 2:13 – “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns That can hold no water.”  NASU

I had a person justify their failure to do something by declaring that he did nothing.  I know that sounds nonsensical but he argued that his omission was okay because he was not guilty of committing a overtly wrongful act.  He failed to remember the words of scripture in James 4:17 that knowing to do good and not doing it (omission) is sin.  Just because you do not commit one of the classically identified actions we have deemed sin does not mean that we have not failed via our omission. The one does not justify the other.

Jeremiah declares that the people had committed two evils.  They had forsaken God’s fountain of living water and hewn for themselves cisterns.  He identified the problem that flesh cannot provide the spiritual nourishment for it is a broken cistern.  I am reminded of the words of our Lord when He stood and declared in John 7 that if we believe on Him there would be an artesian well springing up from within us that would become a river flowing out from us.

There is a significant difference between a ‘free flowing well’ and a ‘cistern’.  A cistern was hewn out of solid stone.  Its purpose was to hold water that had been poured into it.  That water would become warm and stale because it had no flow; whereas a well was dug and lined with rocks and the water flowed into it.  Initially the well gives off little water and thus the reason to pump water out for as the water is pumped out the veins through which the stream flows is cleared and more water flows in.  In our lives we find that as we come to Christ we have tapped into the ever flowing stream that fills our wells and never runs dry.

If we want God to guide us we have to ask for, embrace and desire it.  I have encountered people who appear genuinely fearful of submitting to God’s guidance.  The main reason is their want to maintain control.  Imagine, if you will, having a wild child teenage son who had been getting into trouble frequently, demanding a car, more money and freedom.  Then suddenly one day he comes to you and says, “Dad/Mom, I’ve been thinking a lot lately.  You know I used to think I knew everything about life and what I was going to do, but I am beginning to realize that I am still just a kid.  You’ve been around a lot longer than me and I’ve begun to realize that what you want for me is best. Therefore, from now on I want you to guide, direct and show me the right way and I’ll do my best to obey.”   You would not send him to his room saying, “You’re grounded for six months.”  You’d be in shock and deliriously happy.  Many seem to think that is exactly what God is going to do if we submit to Him totally.

Philippians 2:13 – “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.”

Philippians 4:13 – “I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives in me.”  (Phillips).

God will guide all who will submit to His guidance.  It is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.   God bless you as you go through this day!

Isaiah 35:8 – ”And a highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called the Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed; the wayfaring men, yes the simple ones and fools, shall not err in it and lose their way.”  Amplified

Through the years I have been asked many times about Divine guidance.  Most of the questions came from hungry hearts wanting to know the will and plan of God for their lives.  Some were looking for an easy formula they could apply and others were almost in despair tormented by fear of failing God.  Divine guidance is real and God has made provisions for us to experience it.  I find wonderful comfort in the words of our Lord in John 16:13-15 – “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.  15 “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”  He promised the person of the Holy Spirit to walk with us, in us, through us and teach us so we could know.

Our lives have a distinct purpose(s) in God’s Eternal Plan and He does not desire it to be a ‘hit’ and ‘miss’ proposition.  That leads to error and promotes selfishness and self-centeredness.  Unfortunately we sometimes use words so familiar we lose sight of their true meaning.  The term ‘saved’ is used to identify those who have accepted Christ and ‘sinners’ all the rest.  That is true yet sometimes the oversimplification can open the door for error and that is unfortunate.

Please understand, I am in no way diminishing the essentialness of accepting Jesus as our personal savior but if we take the word sin and understand it as ‘missing the mark’ it opens a door of discovery.  If we are saying that a person who has accepted Christ is ‘hitting the bull’s eye’ and ‘fulfilling God’s purpose’ then a brief reexamination of terminology might be in order.

Acceptance of Jesus as Redeemer is the basic requirement for all who desire to know God.  I must ask, ‘Is it possible to be saved and still miss the mark as to God’s purposes and plan for our lives?’  I am not trying to start an argument only to open the door for thought.  Let me give an illustration as to what I am talking about:

A father on the way home from work decides to take his little boy to the ice cream parlor for a treat.  When he arrives home he finds the lad in the back yard playing in the mud.  The father did not change his mind about the ice cream parlor; he brought the little boy inside, gave him a bath, put clean clothes on him and says, “Son we are going to the ice cream parlor for a treat.”  The little boy being a good fundamentalist said, “But daddy I don’t want to go.  I want to stay here by the bathtub and tell everyone how dirty I was and how good you’ve been to me.”  The father says, “Son, you do not understand WHY I cleaned you up.  I want you to go with me.”

Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:9 – “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and plan…”  Jesus found us in the mud, cleaned us and redeemed us so that we could live for and with Him.  Tragically some thank God genuinely for their salvation, but continue to live in the same way following their own desires, ideas, guidance and initiative.  God’s purpose is to save us from sin and unto His eternal purpose.  I am reminded of the story of the little boy who fell out of bed and when his father came to check on him he asked what happened.  The little boy said, “Well I guess I stayed to close to the edge where I got in.”   Move away from the edge and press into God.

            God bless you as you go through this day!

Psalms 19:1-6 – “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world.  In them He has placed a tent for the sun, 5 which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.  6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.”  NASU

I, personally, do not understand how anyone can look at the heavens and not believe in creation but millions ascribe to that point of  view.  I find it more than a little amazing that all the supposed coincidences took place situating our universe and planet so perfectly.  When I look up at the stars I see their endlessness and the question comes to mind, “How did they get there if not for God?”  When I think of the temperature of the sun and our distance from it knowing that if we were closer or further away we would freeze or burn up.  The fact that our little orb rotates around the sun every 365 days is significant because if it were faster or slower we would not have the atmosphere that is necessary for us to survive.  This little planet upon which we live is 75% ocean and if it were more our annual rainfall would cause the planet to be flooded and if less it would be a parched desert.  All that just happened?  How can you ask me to believe that?

To go further the average temperature of the earth’s surface depends on a number of factors and among them the distance from the sun and the tilt of the rotational axis.  The earth is tilted 23 ½ degrees relative to the perpendicular of its plane of orbit. That tilt gives us the four seasons.  If there were no tilt there would be no seasons and that would cause issues on many fronts.  Equally amazing is our atmosphere composed of four vital gasses.  Nitrogen which makes up about 78%, Oxygen which comprises 21%, Argon less than 1% and Carbon Dioxide which is .03%.  That just happened?  Do you seriously want me to believe that random chance produced that mixture which is perfect for us?  The average ocean temperature is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  The colder polar and warmer equatorial regions are that way by design.  The ocean currents are caused by the earth’s rotation and serve the purpose of circulating seawater to prevent the equatorial seas from becoming too hot and the polar seas from totally frozen all the time.

The Psalmist said, “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker” Psalm 95:4-6.   Oh how wonderful and marvelous God’s works.

The heavens declare God’s glory and serve as a constant reminder that this great design has a designer and He is still on the throne.  Astronomer Fred Hoyle wrote the famous passage:  “A junkyard contains all the bits and pieces of a Boeing 747, dismembered and in disarray. A whirlwind happens to blow through the yard.  What is the chance that after its passage a fully assembled 747, ready to fly, will be found standing there?  So small as to be negligible, even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole Universe.” (p.19)

I believe in God.  I believe God. I have experienced God.  Therefore, I am settled in my faith that IN THE BEGINNING GOD….    May God bless you as you go through your day!

Hosea 10:12 – “Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness;  Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.”  NASU

There is a Law or Principle that is repeated often in the Bible in many different shapes and forms.  It is the “Law of Sowing and Reaping”.  Most of us, most of the time do not consider what is currently happening in our lives connected to our sowing in the past.  Now before you misunderstand, I am not saying that an attack or disease that is in your life is your fault.  It could be as with Job, the devil brought things against him that, were not a harvest of his sowing.  However, it is never a bad idea to examine what we have sown and where appropriate take the step of repentance and begin sowing for a better harvest.

Moving beyond that, this is a principle we should follow in our lives regularly and religiously.  Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  In Hosea 8:7 we find, “…sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”   Then in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”  Here in Hosea 10 the picture is clear that if we make God first and seek His righteousness in our lives walking, living, working, and being righteous we will reap kindness.  He tells us to break up the ‘fallow ground’ of our hearts.  Fallow ground is ground which has once been tilled, but which now lays waste, and needs to be broken up and mellowed, before it is it is ready to receive grain.  

We need to continue to prepare the ground of our hearts that was plowed at redemption and make it ready for the seed we are to sow.  As we do that in righteousness and sow in righteousness planting seeds for harvest we are to do it UNTIL the Lord rains, righteousness on us.  What a picture?  You want to see a miracle in your life, here is a process and principle that will prepare you for the miracle working hand of God to move mightily in your life.

Too often people want a miracle from God but without any change in their lives.  They have sown to the wind and want the Lord to stand in the boat of their lives and rebuke the winds and waves without any action on their part.  The message here is not sow to the wind and reap kindness or God’s miracle.  No, it is sow with a view of righteousness.  It is prepare your heart for the seed. It is seek the Lord UNTIL He comes and rain righteousness on you.  It is ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness’.  It is allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us so that we walk in righteousness sowing seeds in righteousness and then the latter rain of the Spirit comes, producing life and the miracle desired.

            May the Lord bless you richly on this day as you walk in Him!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  NKJV

Truly there are several thoughts that come to mind as I read this passage but I will attempt to focus on a singular thought (if that is possible for me).  If you have a Bible, take it in your hand and hold it before your eyes.  You are holding a MIRACLE BOOK!  I believe that completely and believe that the Bible is THE LOGOS OF GOD!  I would suggest there are three particular miracles that distinguish it from any other book ever written and defend it from ordinariness.

• The Miracle of INSPIRATION.

The Bible came into being as the Holy Spirit moved on the hearts of chosen men and produced a ‘Divine Revelation’ for mankind.  I believe this book to be divine from beginning to end.  It reveals the ‘mind’ of God, offers the ‘pathway’ to salvation and ‘reveals’ the plan of God for man for time and eternity.  It is Divine by INITIATION.

• The Miracle of PRESERVATION.

By that I am speaking of the work of the Spirit of God on the hearts, minds and hands of the translators as well as upon the Scripture text itself to perpetuate and protect the message.  Translation could be described as perilous waters difficult to navigate.  The same Holy Spirit that breathed the original inspiration carefully guards the message. He works to preserve and protect it.  It is Divine by CONTINUATION.

• The Miracle of ILLUMINATION.

The Holy Spirit works upon the hearts, minds and lives of the preacher, teacher and student of the Word and helps them to mine the spiritual nuggets of truth from its pages and volumes.  It is the LIVING WORD, God breathed and touches the heart with the ‘inner meaning’ of those precious words.  The Holy Spirit takes it and as it is applied to lives there is amazing and miraculous transformation.  It moves from the head to the heart and the individual life is forever changed.  It is Divine by COMMUNICATION.

So that Bible you hold in your hand is a MIRACLE BOOK.  The Holy Spirit continues to ‘guard’ His word.  God’s disposition toward His word is described in Jeremiah 1:12 – “I will hasten (watch over) My Word to perform it.”  The world considers the claims of the Bible as ludicrous, myths and foolishness and they exercise their reason and intellect to solve the problems of mankind and the world continues to fall apart at the seams.  Man’s way does not work!  The Bible is reliable.  It presents the history of man from a Divine perspective and proposes the management of man’s affairs under God’s plan of a Divine Economy that is present and eternal.

The scripture (all of it) is given by INSPIRATION and is profitable and enables us to be ready for whatever life brings our way.  Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread (natural food) alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4).  We also read that the word of God is, “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12). 

I would urge each one to begin, continue or renew their hunger for the Word of God and make the Bible a daily part of your spiritual diet.  May God be with you as you go through your day!  Blessings.

Luke 12:34 – “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  NKJV

This is also found in Matthew 6:21 and conveys a very important truth.  If something is valuable to us it will have a significant place in our hearts and lives.  I have had my motor jump-started many times in my life and today the thing that most drives me is a desire to be ‘right with God’.  The prayer of David is always on my mind when he cried out in Psalm 51:10 where he cried out for God to ‘create’ in him a clean heart, ‘renew’ in him a steadfast or right spirit, ‘allow’ God’s presence to always be realized and to ‘maintain’ a constancy with the Holy Spirit.

Fluff does not excite me in any area of life.  As one friend likes to say, I don’t want to be all foam and no beer.  I know I’m not supposed to use alcohol references in spiritual devotionals but you get the point.  I want my life to be ‘substance’ not ‘semblance’.   When I see hungry hearts desiring to know more of God, His purposes and His word my motor is revved up and the engine begins to whine as the RPM’s climb higher and higher.

Numbers alone do not excite me for most Rock Concerts have large crowds as do most sporting events and even political rallies.  What gets me going is when two or three are gathered together in the Name of the Lord and His presence is there.  I am far less concerned with the reaction of people when I or anyone preaches I am interested in the lasting effects of that word in their daily lives.  As one brother said, “You may jump pews on Sunday but if you live like the devil on Monday it meant nothing.” 

If the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner is brought to Christ how much more should we get excited when God moves on hearts for we have tasted His forgiveness!  God has deposited some incredible treasures in my life and those treasures hold my heart powerfully.  The treasure of family is beyond description.  Watching my children become adults and seeing the hand of God visibly displayed in their lives pumps me up.  Watching our grandchildren’s development spiritually excites my heart.  The love of family and the bond it provides is one of the most powerful and motivating things I have ever experienced in life.  Yet, even more than family my adoption into the Family of God is the most significant event of my life!  A gift I did not deserve providing a joy I cannot contain is part and parcel of this life that began with the New Birth.

What gets my motor running?  It is seeing the hand of God touch a wounded, lonely and hungry heart.  It is seeing a life transformed by the love, blood and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is watching peace settle over a trouble countenance as the Holy Spirit quiets all fears and communicates God’s love and forgiveness to a life.  Fluff and stuff does not even turn over the engine but God moves me!

            May the Lord be with you as you go through your day!

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”  NKJV

Jeremiah had a word from God in which he was told that his message and ministry would be to pluck up, break down, destroy, overthrow, build and plant.  The last part is only possible after the first part become reality in the natural and spiritual.  We cannot ‘fill the house’ until the house is ’emptied.’  The problem is too often we either will not acknowledge a problem or do not see one.  We need our emotional, physical and spiritual houses cleared but that is not the final chapter it is only the beginning.

Jesus addressed this in Luke 11 when He talked about the unclean spirit that has been evicted and how it continues to wander and decides to go back to IT’S HOUSE.  That should be informative and disturbing that the unclean spirits would consider us their house.  That spirit returns and find the house clean and emptied but not filled and goes finding seven spirits worse than itself and returns.  Think about that.  The house has been cleansed but not filled opening a door for the old way to return.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:23 that we are to be ‘renewed in the spirit of our minds.’  Romans 12:2 instructs us that we are to reject being conformed to the world but transformed to God by the ‘renewing of our minds.’  Proverbs 23:7 tells us that it is ‘as a man thinks within his heart that he is or becomes.’  If we are to fill the house and keep it full we must begin the process of regaining the truth as it is in Jesus.  I would encourage you to read Ephesians 4:11-13 and focus on UNITY OF THE FAITH.   That is not talking about doctrinal sameness.  If you will go back to vv. 4-6 you will see the basis of unity.  This is far more than a system of doctrine it is discerning and determining the purpose of God.  It is hearing God and obeying.  If we could somehow understand faith to be hearing God and obeying we would be light years ahead.

In Ephesians 4:13b we are told to come to the ‘knowledge’ of Jesus to a mature man and in Colossians 10 we are instructed to put on the ‘new self’ who is continually being renewed to the true knowledge according to the image of God.  Later in that chapter we read that the result is we will no longer be children tossed about by the winds of doctrine.  The objective is to have the peace of God rule our hearts as ONE BODY.

I know some may have a problem with this statement but much of the battle is in our minds and the need is to ‘renew our minds’.  Peter identified this in 1 Peter 1:13 telling us to ‘gird up the loins of our minds…’  In the description of putting on the whole armor of God what is the first piece put on?  “Gird your loins with truth.”  The Belt both keeps out and hold in it is offensive and defensive.  In those days they had long free flowing robes and if everything was not tied together with a belt their garment would become entangles so they needed the belt.  We need to be set free and then we need to be able to keep in those things that are helpful so the loins of our minds need to be girded up.

Peter tells us to gird up the loins of our minds for action.  The belt of truth in the Greek is ‘reality.’  It is the truth as it is in Jesus not circumstance, feelings and emotions.  Loins of the mind?  Intellectual facts are not the problem it is the passions, feelings, emotions and imaginations that go with those intellectual facts that present the problem.  So I suggest the ‘loins of your mind’ are your imaginations.  No wonder we are told to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

The Imagination has at least three components:  The Visual (What you see), the Audio (What you hear) and the Feelings.  So whether you see pictures, hear words or have feelings you need to link them to present experiences in order to get to the root and be free.  So, gird up your minds for action by releasing the past, be sober in spirit and set your hope completely upon the grace that has come to you as a revelation of Jesus Christ.   The spirit of the mind is Christ in you the hope of glory.

God wants to fill your house with Himself and allow you to be so full of Him that you manifest Him in all that you do.  May God be with you as you go through your day victoriously!

2 Corinthians 4:1-2 – “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”  NKJV

This is a subject that has long been on my radar and one that I could not possibly do justice to in a brief devotional but let’s hit the high points in an attempt to motivate you to study it further and more deeply.  I am always looking for anything that will help me see ‘imprisoned souls’ freed.  Most of those living in deep spiritual bondage have a root in ‘shame’.

In Genesis 2 as we consider God’s creation of man we find a most interesting statement regarding them – “They were not ashamed”.  In the very next chapter we find Adam and Eve hiding because of ‘shame’.  They were created unashamed but quickly learned shame and shame always brings fear.  One of the possible reasons is shame carries the prison of fear of exposure.  Shame is totally unable to be transparent and lives in fear.  I believe the first portion of 1 Corinthians 4 is a powerful remedy for the prison of shame.

Paul says, “We have renounced the ‘hidden things of shame’.”  Do not most try to ‘hide’ their shame?  Shame is virtually always ‘hopeless’.  So, if we have renounced the hidden things refuse to walk in craftiness or misapplying the Word of God in deceit and deception then and only then can we walk in the manifestation of truth.  I have no doubt there are more but I want to highlight three types of shame and either in this or the next devotional focusing on the third.  I want us to consider HOW and WHY we walk in shame of any kind, the consequences and the remedy.  I truly believe that ‘shame’ is at the root of the sin problem for at the root of shame is ‘unbelief.’

THE FIRST KIND OF SHAME – – Healthy.

This shame identifies to our hearts our limitations and understanding that we are not God but responsible to Him.  It is a ‘healthy guilt’.  It reveals our humanness and fallen nature and need of the work of Christ on the Cross.  This kind of shame is easily dealt with.  Romans 10:11 – “Whoever believes on Jesus will not be put to shame.”  Isaiah tells us that Messiah ‘endured the shame’.  Therefore, the guilt of sin is or can be dealt with at the Cross.  This is the opposite of ‘shamelessness’ where one has no sense of guilt or awareness of sin and therefore no godly sorrow.

THE SECOND KIND OF SHAME – – That Which We Cause To Others.

This can be, and often is, by words spoken or putting others in embarrassing situations, etc.  It may be incredibly subtle and may even be done well intentioned.  Ministers have long ‘shamed’ their children trying to move them to righteousness.  I knew a minister who repeatedly told his children, “If you ever get into drugs, alcohol, pregnant, I will leave the church and the ministry immediately even if I have to dig ditches.”  That is shame!   People shame others with jokes.  Proverbs 26:19 identifies that it is a sin if we do it then say, “I was just joking.”  There is a place for humor but not bringing shame.  This is also easily dealt with through repentance and confession of our sin.

THE THIRD KIND OF SHAME – – Unhealthy, Devastating, Destructive.

It is the kind of shame that was ‘given to us’ that was ‘not about us’.  The first kind of shame we take to the Cross and the result of our sins.  The second we take to the Cross and go to those shamed in repentance but this type does not say, “You made a mistake it says YOU ARE a mistake.”  I have heard parents tell their children, “you are worthless and will never amount to anything.”  I cringe when I hear that for that is this kind of SHAME and is birthed in the pit of hell.

I want to dig into this a bit deeper so I will hit the pause button and come back tomorrow with a little more on this type of shame.  God bless you richly is my desire and prayer!