JULY 6, 2017

“What is success? It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace” 
― Paulo Coelho

JOB 31-34

35(“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!

I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;

let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

36Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,

I would put it on like a crown.

37I would give him an account of my every step;

I would present it to him as to a ruler.)—

38“if my land cries out against me

and all its furrows are wet with tears,

39if I have devoured its yield without payment

or broken the spirit of its tenants,

40then let briers come up instead of wheat

and stinkweed instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.(31:35-40)

ACTS 13

38“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

JOURNAL 

Justification and forgiveness comes as a gift to anyone who will accept it. It no longer depends on good works, or good standing, or birthrite. It is simply acceptance of this love, which then means accepting a life devoted to love and forgiveness. 

This does not mean that riches and power will result. On the contrary it is the acceptance of a difficult path...yet that difficult path promises to lead to joy and life eternal. It is a hope in the Kingdom of God...eternal. 

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.^a

PROVERBS 3:5-6

JULY 4, 2017

“If you have money, power, and status today, it is due to the century and place in which you were born, to your talents and capacities and health, none of which you earned. In short, all your resources are in the end the gift of God.” 
― Timothy J. Keller

JOB 29-30

 26Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, then came darkness.

27The churning inside me never stops;

days of suffering confront me.

28I go about blackened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29I have become a brother of jackals,

a companion of owls.

30My skin grows black and peels;

my body burns with fever.

31My lyre is tuned to mourning,

and my pipe to the sound of wailing.(30:26-31)

ACTS 12

Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.

21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.

JOURNAL 

Suffering and fortune really seem to have not preference on who they visit. Job is a righteous man while Herod is full of himself and seeks to be worshipped. Part of the lesson from Job is that righteousness does not guarantee immediate success, just as evil does not guarantee immediate punishment. 

Righteousness is really its own reward. God blesses in ways that the world cannot understand. For there is a peace in knowing God, knowing his spirit and experiencing his love. This is his kingdom come...God is the greatest gift and his gift of life is a gift which should never be taken for granted. If you have been born and have taken a breath on this earth then you are blessed. Too often I fall victim to comparisons and thereby miss the blessings right in front of me. 

Today, we celebrate something that for many seemed impossible. To win independence from  what at that time was considered the most powerful country and military in the world, was a ridiculous dream. “The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in. January 14, 1776.”  - George Washington.  Yet it happened and 241 years later we are continuing to celebrate this unlikely reality. 

15Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous,

do not plunder their dwelling place;

16for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,

but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

PROVERBS 24:15-16

JULY 3, 2017

“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invicible host against difficulties.” 
― Helen Keller

“Remember, results aren't the criteria for success — it's the effort made for achievement that is most important.” 
― John Wooden, Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life

JOB 26-28

20Where then does wisdom come from?

Where does understanding dwell?

21It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,

concealed even from the birds in the sky.

22Destruction^b and Death say,

“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”

23God understands the way to it

and he alone knows where it dwells,

24for he views the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25When he established the force of the wind

and measured out the waters,

26when he made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunderstorm,

27then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;

he confirmed it and tested it.

28And he said to the human race,

“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding.”(26:20-28)

ACTS 11

15“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with^a water, but you will be baptized with^b the Holy Spirit.’ 17So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

18When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

JOURNAL 

Job is again confronted with the reality that all is from God...even the unpleasant, even the suffering. Job does not know the interaction between God and Satan but the reality is that God allows it. God allows death, destruction, pain, suffering and hardship. to remain true in faith and action is to have wisdom, for it is to fear and honor God even when I am not "rewarded" for it.

This is the test of love and the test of true devotion. Do I do so even when it causes me suffering, even when it doesn't give me what I desire? That is the true test...just as love for a child or another is proved when the love remains even though it hurts to love. Even when the love is not reciprocated. To be devoted to God, even when things do not go your way is the true test of faith. 

 Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10

JULY 2, 2017

“You become what you think about” 
― Napoleon Hill

JOB 21-25

13“But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?

He does whatever he pleases.

14He carries out his decree against me,

and many such plans he still has in store.

15That is why I am terrified before him;

when I think of all this, I fear him.

16God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.(23:13-16)

ACTS 10

34Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues^b and praising God.

Then Peter said, 47“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

JOURNAL 

Job is overcome with the shere permanence and power of God. God's ways and plans are completely out of man's control. Peter's sermon to the gentiles...God is the God of all, as creator and author of all of life there is no favoritism. 

This really speaks to the obvious reality that my life is really a brief stay in the grand play of life. To not surrender to God, or to resist him is completely foolish and arrogant. When I really process this it is somewhat terrifying, yet also comforting. The fate of the world is not on me...it's not my place to judge or control. Rather to surrender and obey, to walk the path that is set before me, to choose the way of obedience even though hard, even though painful. Not doing so is to resist God...to delude myself with false notions of my own power. 

4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

5Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone—

7while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels^a shouted for joy?

JOB 38:4-7

JUNE 30, 2017

“Success has always been the greatest liar - and the "work" itself is a success; the great statesman, the conqueror, the discoverer is disguised by his creations, often beyond recognition; the "work," whether of the artist or the philosopher, invents the man who has created it, who is supposed to have create it; "great men," as they are venerated, are subsequent pieces of wretched minor fiction” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

JOB 19-20

13“He has alienated my family from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14My relatives have gone away;

my closest friends have forgotten me.

15My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;

they look on me as on a stranger.

16I summon my servant, but he does not answer,

though I beg him with my own mouth.

17My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am loathsome to my own family.

18Even the little boys scorn me;

when I appear, they ridicule me.

19All my intimate friends detest me;

those I love have turned against me.

20I am nothing but skin and bones;

I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.^a(19:13-20)

ACTS 9:23-43

23After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,^a but they tried to kill him. 30When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

JOURNAL 

Paul now embraces this new path without hesitation or reservation. He plunges right in and doesn't bother with public opinion and what people would think. He has made a 180 degree shift to the point that people are having a difficult time with the shift. 

Paul has one purpose and one purpose only. He appears to have no backup plan and is intent on preaching the gospel without reservation wherever God sends him.  His life is now being threatened but that does not deter him. He is a man on a mission from God. He has said goodbye to the past and is leaving the future to God. His focus is solely, squarely on the day and moment in which he is living.

This is to be the life of the believer. Sold out to God's mission and purposes. Ignoring what is socially acceptable and just plowing the path that God calls me to plow. No matter the danger or the pain or the suffering. Dive in and let God deal with the results. 

The 23 Psalm seems to say it best...

1The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

4Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,^a

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6Surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

PSALM 23