He Lives…he really does

9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.

When I gave my life to Christ, I began a journey with him that allows me to get up next to his heart.  He places His Spirit in my life.  We get to journey together.  Therefore it should not surprise me when I get to looking a lot like my Father and acting like him as well.  It really is an overflow of the relationship…to judge fairly, show mercy and be kind to one another.  It isn’t a list of things to do…but when you do them it shouldn’t surprise you that they are on a list in scripture somewhere.

He really does expect to change how I live life – How I love the Lord, Others, and myself.

Oh to see him alive in my relationships today!

41″Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

The Lyrics to an old hymn struck me as I read this passage

1. Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
   Oh, what words I hear Him say!
   Happy place! so near, so precious!
   May it find me there each day;
   Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
   I would look upon the past;
   For His love has been so gracious,
   It has won my heart at last.
2. Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
   Where can mortal be more blest?
   There I lay my sins and sorrows,
   And, when weary, find sweet rest;
   Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
   There I love to weep and pray;
   While I from His fullness gather
   Grace and comfort every day.
3. Bless me, O my Savior, bless me,
   As *I sit low at Thy feet; [*I’m waiting]
   Oh, look down in love upon me,
   Let me see Thy face so sweet;
   Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus,
   Keep me holy as He is;
   May I prove I’ve been with Jesus,
   Who is all my righteousness.

Oh, to be only anxious about a single thing today.  Walking in the church house should provide me a proper place of relief for the only focus of my own life this morning.  He should be my only focus.  I know me and on Sunday’s it seems that I have a lot of tables to set and things to take care of.  He is in the house.  He is present.  I pray that I do not miss the joy of being with HIM!

It’s all about HIM!

¹⁰ And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.

He gave them power to heal, cast out demons, and all sort of supernatural endowments that would allow them to be used of God in the ministry of people.  They went out and were used of God in a mighty way.  Once they returned, how brilliant was it to take them privately to a place where they could get away from the crowd and get the whole event in proper perspective.  They got away.  It was a deserted place…a place just opposite from where they had spent their life for the past little while.

It doesn’t take long to begin to believe in your own stuff.  Owning what only God can give and do is tacky to say the least but I find if I am not careful it is easy to believe that “I” did that or it was something that I planned or it was generated by my own wisdom.  How sad.  Only God can do this kind of thing.  They would have not had the gifts nor the power to get the work done had he not given it to them.  So before it got to be a problem he carried them off to a private place and got it all in perspective.

I am depending on God to do a great work tomorrow at church as we journey with the Father through this whole concept of prayer.  Our instructions will be to pray for everyone…people we like and people we may not find it so easy to like…pray for our friends and our enemies.  I ask God to help us as we gather together so that he does a great work in our midst.  There are so many hurting people in our church.  There are people who need to take what they are facing and take it to the Lord.  We are taught to pray.  We are taught to pray for everyone.

I am reminded again – I am so thankful to be a part of what HE is up to in this world.  It takes my breath away to think that he has that kind of confidence in me.  How he loves me.   It’s not about me or us but about HIM!  Oh, how I want to see HIM move among us!

Have you prayed about it?

¹² One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³ At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

What would it have been like to have been one of the disciples gathered around when Jesus said to them that he would be back in the morning.  He needed to pray and he would disappear by going up into the mountains to pray.  Then at times he would pray all night.  I would love to be privy to one of those conversations…if there was conversation to them at all.  Was it communion in silence?  What did he say?  What did he hear?  What were the contents of the communion between the Father and the Son?  A dozen was what was needed.  There were more than a dozen in line for potential selection.  Can you imagine the conversation that God and Jesus had about each person?  Could you possibly hear Jesus and God talk about what they saw in each person?  I would love to have been there to hear it.

He checked it all out with God before he moved forward…that is for sure.  He came back and had a list of 12 on his heart.  He and the Father had talked it all out.  Or at least Jesus got quiet enough until he was  confident that the selections were consistent with the heart and big plan of God.  I know we as a church will spend some time in the near future selecting the men that will be our new deacons.  To prayerfully talk to God about the potential selections is a process one cannot “hurry”.  I am glad that we take the time to interview each candidate, review their commitment to the faith, observe their commitment to the local body of Christ, discover their ability to lead at home and in the church.  I am reminded this morning that it is powerfully important to insure that these names are gathered before the Father and a concerted effort be made to insure that the ones presented are the ones that are in the middle of God’s will and those who will work out his purpose as deacons in our church.

Whether it is choosing deacons or meeting with a member today, my heart should bathe each thing in prayer before I take the time to deal with each issue.  I have to fight the tendency to jump into it talking it over with the “Three” who know best.  Praise be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Thank you Jesus, for sending the Holy Spirit to live in us and to be our school teacher and one who goes along side us to guide us.  Help me, today, to choose to bathe what I do in prayer.

Rev. 19 – “We Win!

Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This job of mine is never boring.  You deal with real interesting things every day.  There are a lot of things you can say about what I do, but you can rest assured that it is never boring.  I got a phone call the other day from my Associate Pastor at the church telling me that he had been asked to do the funeral service for a young woman who had been murdered.  It was sad.  He had been so faithful to pray for and minister to the family and to the young lady.  It seems that she was in the wrong place at the right time and was murdered along with another young man and left in a ditch to die.  I remember several years ago another dad who was smitten as he learned of his son’s death in a similar manner – young people being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I think of another woman and her husband who spends a good time every two years doing what they can to keep the man who murdered and raped her daughter in jail.  Those are just three that have affected our own church family.

Behind the scenes the enemy of God and his hordes of hellish armies fight against the Hosts of Heaven.  Today I was reminded again that the battle one of these days will be forever over.  Hell will fill the Lake of Fire and we will finally be free from the influence of evil.

Until then, I will continue to pray and trust God through it all.  It is a new day.  One that has a great deal of potential.

Watchman!

⁷So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

Ezekiel was asked by God to be the watchman over the house of Israel.  Judgment was coming and his job was to see it coming and warn the people.  At least they will not be surprised when it comes.  Can one man make that kind of difference for an entire nation?  Can one Ezekiel-like individual make that kind of impact on the lives of so many people in the church?  Can a family benefit with the “watchman” standing watch over their home?  Is there some kind of public trust put on my own life to be a man of prayer?  Could my wife, children, church, community and nation be depending on me to “watch” for the enemy?  Could it be possible that I am in a war that finds need for me to stand watch?  Is the picture bigger than I want to admit?  Is it my responsibility to be keenly aware when the enemy is moving and to be watching for where he is attacking next?  Is it my job to give warning to the body at large when I see it happening?  Is there some kind of personal trust that God has on my life to equip me to watch and see and do the people of God over whom I pastor have the solid expectation that I am watching over their souls faithfully?  There is unbelievable consequences in how I complete the tasks of my office!

Next week I am going to preach on the watchman and some one willing to step up and stand in the gap.  I am going to share how gaps in the wall let the good out and the bad in.  I am reminded again this morning of that great work of prayer.  Praying and preaching the Word of God – two powerful tasks that are mine today.  And it does make a difference even in the light of such indifference on the part of the people.  Mine is the task of preaching and praying – not making the people change.  I am reminded that Ezekiel warned them and the people chose not to listen to the warning.

One person can make a difference.  There is a war.  When I gave my life to Christ I was commissioned to be a watchman and given the awesome responsibility to pray.  That is the battle field.

I am reminded!  Thanks!

Some pretty good company in there!

Daniel was a “one of a kind” guy!  God allows him to see things that are hidden to some.  We simply have the record of what he had the chance to see!

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Three Hebrew young men who made up their minds to be Godly in a world where godliness was not at a premium and  find themselves in a “hot spot” walking around the fire with Jesus.  It’s what you can’t see that is really vital here.  There are times when I think that the battle in life is not between Washington DC and Iraq or N. Korea or China.  NOT!  There is a battle going on behind the curtain in the spiritual world, and our earthly struggles simply mirror the real battle going on.  Listen to what Abraham Kuyper states:    if once the curtain were pulled back, and the spiritual world behind it came to view, it would expose to our spiritual vision a struggle so intense, so convulsive, sweeping everything within its range, that the fiercest battle ever fought on earth would seem, by comparison, a mere game. Not here, but up there – that is where the real conflict is waged. Our earthly struggle drones in its backlash.

I see the battles day in and day out.  I see couples that struggle with their marriages and I can see the enemy trying his best to slam God’s best.  I see the spiritual forces of darkness swarming over Washington DC and see our country struggling reflecting the impact of that struggle.  A war is raging.  I see young people who are consistently following the empty  promises of this sex crazed media hyped world we live in and the battle rages.  The enemy is trying to get us to bow to the gods of this world.  The list could go on!

What is needed today in my own life is a renewed commitment to simply stand up in solid commitment to walk out my faith in my daily life.  It is a life of serious attention…one where faith and spiritual things cause me to care about what is going on in places where the eye cannot see but the spirit can.  A. W. Tozer has a comment that stopped me in my tracks…

The Bible was written in tear and to tears it will yield its best treasures. God has noting to say to the frivolous man. It was to Moses, a trembling man that God spoke on the mount, and that same man later saved the nation when he threw himself before God with the offer to have himself blotted out of God’s book for Israel’s sake. Daniel’s long season of fasting and prayer brought Gabriel from heaven to tell him the secret of the centuries. When the beloved John wept much because no one could be found worthy to open the seven-sealed book, one of the elders comforted him with the joyful news that the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed. A. W. Tozer “God Tells the Man Who Cares”  an Essay!

Daniel tells the story of three young men who were giants in their walking with God.  They made up their minds that they would live according to a standard of God.  They were not frivolous about it – it was serious business to these men.  Their seriousness from earthly terms was leading them to the end of their lives.  Instead they were able to see the curtains of the other world pulled back and they got a chance to do what few have been able to do and that is walk around the fire with the Son of God.  It is a historical event and it did happen in time.  But I am reminded this morning that the battle is not out here where I live but a spiritual battle that is trying to thward the work of God in history.  I am compelled by being a child of God to wake up to that reality.  When I signed up for the draft in God’s military he openned up the curtain and gave me a chance to see where the battle is located.  I am called to the battle, given the clothing to wear (Eph. 6) and am allowed to join in the battle through prayer.  It is God’s power at work and I am encouraged to be like Daniel and those three Hebrew boys – to live a righteous life.  It is interesting to me the direct connection between righteous living and a powerful prayer life.   Last of all I am reminded that I am never alone.  The Son of God walks around in the fire and the Angels of God are around me.  I have never been more comforted by the forces of Glory.

It ain’t for the sissy!  It ain’t for those who want to profess the name but not possess the name and the determination to walk our relationship with Christ out in our daily life. It might cost you a trip into a major fire!   I am glad because of the blood of Christ and his resurrection that I am able to know with confidence that I, too, can walk through my fires with the Son of God!  But hey, there is some great company in there!

Pretty Dress on a Ugly Woman!

⁹ He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings^[g] in the city.

“Now, son, she is as pretty as she CAN be…if she could be prettier she would!”  I will never forget the first time I heard that phrase.  What a way to say that someone is ugly without saying that outright.  What was that line I heard at a preacher’s meeting once…”I have never seen an ugly bride…however, I have seen one or two that come mighty close…”

I thought I had heard them all…

Wednesday, July 05, 2006
By MARLA A. GOLDBERG
mgoldberg@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD – Arranged marriages are an ancient tradition in India, but when a Belchertown family went there to meet a bride-to-be and judged her too ugly for the groom, they chose a 21st-century solution. They called the wedding off, and the groom’s father is now suing for damages.

Vijai B. Pandey, 60, filed a lawsuit in Hampden Superior Court last month against friends who tried to arrange a marriage between his son Pranjul K. and their niece. The Pandeys, after spending money on long-distance calls and airfare, found her much too homely.

When the Pandeys saw the bride in New Delhi last August, they were “extremely shocked to find … she was ugly … with protruded bad teeth, and couldn’t speak English to hold a conversation,” Vijai Pandey stated in the lawsuit. The woman’s complexion was also cited for the broken engagement.

It ended up in a lawsuit for @200,000.00 in damages.  Now go figure!

God’s “special people” are so ugly and their lives so messed up that he sends a nation to come and destroy them.  Babylonian captivity is a great classroom for the survivors of the invasion.  Maybe they will learn there.  However, it is as if God allows a heathen nation to come and destroy the lovely place where they have lived together.  I almost shivered as I read about how they tore the temple down and took the valued precious metals.  They lit the thing up and let the flames destroy it completely.  WOW!

He, God, values the heart.  Always has.  Always does.  He looks at the heart of the matter and is not so much consumed in the building that we meet in than he is the condition of the hearts that meet in the building.  My skinned crawled when I read about how they destroyed the house of meeting until I remembered that the value of the house is equal to the condition of the hearts of those who dwell in the building.  Character matters.

The fact that God had had enough causes me deep respect for what He says and what He is about.  I am reminded that it was his House and His people.  His special people had gotten awfully ugly and they were now gone.  A beautiful dress (temple) is of no use when the bride is gone.  A beautiful dress can never hide the ugly nature of the one wearing it.  If there is no bride then there is no need for a dress.

I am also reminded that externals are of no value if the internal nature is so ugly.  And God let a heathen tear it down because his people didn’t have enough sense to keep it clean.

God sued the nation of Israel for being too ugly.  He won the lawsuit.

IF you love me – OBEY!

¹⁰ Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.

Maybe this piece of advice fell on my heart after reading two chapters in Ezekiel and watching a whole nation face the certain judgment of God.  A whole nation never got it…granted there was a remnant who “got it” and lived consistent to the faith,  however, most did not get it and were on line ready to face God’s wrath.

Reverence?  I still remember Nelson Price (I believe) say that the greatest part of worship is to 1.  Remember that He is God, 2.  Remember I am not God, and then 3. Spend most of our time trying to get that in the right order and keep it in perspective.  I walked there again this morning.  His was are always perfect even though the options of the world and the guidance of the enemy are completely opposite of God’s gracious guidance.

Obey?  Like that lady said about prayer, “Has it come to that?”  Obey him?  Certainly that is the key and it was even elevated when Jesus said that those who do the commandments are the ones that love God.  I am good at talking a great game and I hang with a great group who love to posture and convince ourselves that we have “done enough”…when the ultimate expression of our love for the Father is to obey him.

Jay told us Monday at staff meeting that one of the men speaking in the Promise Keepers meeting shared that “what you lust after you use…you will serve what you love.”  I guess that is another way of saying that if you love the Father, I will obey (serve) him.

God, thank you for the reminder this morning!

These are They….

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore,
“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
¹⁶Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

No matter what beliefs are held regarding the events that are ahead of us in Salvation History, and doing my best not to get caught up in the quagmire of a lengthy eschatological discussion,  I was reminded this morning that the only claim to fame that we have have is the blood of Jesus Christ.  I stand there in the presence of God notwithstanding the tribulation, testings, and all the character of what I have walked through and someone asks me “Crooks, where did you get that robe of righteousness you are wearing?”  I will joyfully say to my friend that the only clothing I have is what was given to me by the Lord Jesus as he washed me white in the blood of the Lamb of God.

I was humbled again this morning to be reminded that that this life is not my home.  I am not an “earth dweller”.  I am a pilgrim.  I am a stranger here.  I look for a future where I can take this old tent down and trade it for a wonderful permanent place that the Lord God has prepared for me in glory.  This tent dwelling is a privilege.  I am sent on one assignment after another by the one journeying through this life with us.  I have hooked my heart to the fact that one of these days I will be called to give up my “tent life” and all the “assignments” down here and will be welcomed home to dwell with HIM forever,

Praise God!  The Blood of Jesus IS my only plea.  “Nothing in my hand I bring…simply to the cross I cling!”

And when you hover over the mass gathered there you will be able to say with confidence that all who are gathered that “…these are they who have come out of great tribulations and they are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb…”  I will be there!

Look what you’ve done with the lovely things…

¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

Ezekiel again!  God is speaking to the nation of Israel.  He reminds them of how much he has fallen in love with them.   He describes his love for in the most intimate terms possible.  God cherishes these people or else he would heave them into outer darkness.  He made a commitment to Abraham that will stand the course of time.

As I read this verse I was reminded to think of what God has given me that in my own human way of thinking would be a gift of God and review how I may have taken what he has given me as a lovely thing and used it the wrong way.  It will be a healthy process.  What could he do if he had my eyes to see myself, my family, those at the church house, the world of people the way he views it all.  What could he do if I would give him my mind?  What would happen if he genuinely had the chance to renew my mind with His word and thoughts?  What would happen if he had my mouth to speak only His words, words of encouragement and affirmation to people who will be hurting today instead of using them for my own gain and deceptive purposes?  What could he do with my hands if I would but simply give them to him…he say to me “look what you have done with the lovely things I have given to you”.  What have I done with the talents, time and treasure He has given me?  Have I simply used it for my own personal gratification?  My own happiness?  My own selfish ends?

Jason (my son) and I were having a conversation yesterday and I was reminded of the great ministry God has given to the company for whom Jason works.  It is amazing to watch how God puts the right people at the right place to do the right thing.  He is being so faithful to his current assignment at Erickson.  I am proud of him and so thankful to God that Jason is using the “lovely thing” that God gave him.  He is an accountant.  He is a good accountant and is in a department where 5 or 6 people have to do the work of 15 due to the economic times.  I am thankful for his faithfulness at the place where God put him.  I intend to do that today where I work.

There are days when I have to face the fact that I am not as perfect as my daughter thinks I am.  I have the same struggle that so many other people have.  I have a tendency to take what God gave me as a gift and talents and use them for my own selfish ends.   It seems that even I can get in touch with my own sinful side from time to time.  And then I would have the nerve to point my finger at anyone else?  God help me to use the lovely things that God has given to me to glorify Him.

Worthy is the Lamb!

12In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Ms. Anderson instant messaged me on Facebook a bit ago and asked me what my verse was for the day.  May I say “thanks” to my young friend for a reminder to spend a moment listening to God tonight from the Word of God.  I am excited that the youth in our church are following the same process that I am following (supposedly each day – and yes, I was reminded tonight that I am sufferably human and find myself needing to be reminded that I focus on the Word of God each day).

Ezekiel!  You have to be kidding.  I am excited that the Youth are willing to journey with Ezekiel and John through two of the most visual books in the bible, two books that are filled with warning and the judgment of God.  Congrats to all of you who read each day.   What a journey it is!  People have no excuse for they have been really warned by God before judgment fell.  What a preacher, this Ezekiel is.  He is told to act out his sermons as he preaches them.  God is never boring in the way he presents the message given to him by God.

There is a big longing to find someone worthy to open the book in Revelation 5.  They found one worthy and it is the Son of God.  I am grateful that Jesus Christ paid the price necessary so that He would be able to fulfill all of our salvation for us.

My heart joins those in heaven who say -

¹²In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”