JUNE 7, 2021

 

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” 
― Thomas Merton

2 CHRONICLES 23-25

17After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. 18They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came on Judah and Jerusalem. 19Although the Lord sent prophets to the people to bring them back to him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen.

20Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’ ”

21But they plotted against him, and by order of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”(24:17-22)

JOHN 16:16-33

25“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

29Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

31“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

33“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

JOURNAL 

You see it time and time again in the Bible. A king will serve God and seek to obey him and then he will have success and abandon his pursuit of God. It happens over and over and over and I see it in this world and I also see it in myself. 

Why stop? Why not seek God in obedience every moment of my life? I believe it goes back to a deep core issue of trust. I doubt God, I doubt myself, I doubt my own place in this world. This was the core issue of trust in the garden...the serpent presented the idea that Adam and Eve were not all that they should be...that somehow they were lacking. That sense of doubt, shame, distrust is what we embrace when we believe that God somehow made a mistake when he made us. We listen to the world instead of God. We seek affirmation from things and others and everything but God. In seeking that affirmation we seek things that we are not...therefore we affirm our doubts and surrender to the world rather than God. 

Life is lived in the here and now, it is meant to be lived within the confines of God's love and direction. Doing so affirms the person that God created me to be, it affirms the here and now and that is where my focus is to reside. 

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

JUNE 6, 2021

 

“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien

2 CHRONICLES 20-22

15He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”(20:15-17)

JOHN 16:1-15

 7But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

JOURNAL 

Looking back at my journal entry from last year it really is amazing how quickly things have recovered...from the Covid lockdown to the riots. Now I'm watching college baseball and you would never guess what was going on this time last year. Yet still there are the naysayers on both sides in social media that would have everyone believe that the end of life as we know it is just around the corner. That however is the nature of this world and humans in general. The extremism has been going on for centuries and the reality is that life...especially in this country is so much better than anyone could have ever imagined 200 years ago.

The thing that really helps me is to read scripture, for it puts so many things into perspective. To think of all the horrible leaders, terror and injustices that existed during the time scripture was written helps me to see just how gracious God has been. It helps me to see that wringing my hands and giving in to anxiety circumstances that are out of my control is true foolishness. God has seen humanity through times that were 1,000 times worse than any present "crisis". He's still the same God and he still gives the same remedy to any of our problems...Love and seek him with all my heart and then love my neighbor as myself. That's it...nothing more really needs to be added. 

My charge is to live life in obedience to the spirit of God. To seek it always, to surrender to it in all things. God's word over and over speaks to the imperative that we are to surrender our lives in obedience to God and in obedience to the spirit he sends us. To not...is to follow our own way which can and ultimately will result in actions that do not honor God and as a result destroy us.

For ultimately the battle is his...not my own. I just get to be a small, miniscule part of it.

 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:8

JUNE 5, 2021

 “We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.” 

― C. JoyBell C. 

2 CHRONICLES 17-19

3The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals 4but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. 5The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. 6His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.(17:3-6)

JOHN 15

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^a so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17This is my command: Love each other.

JOURNAL 

Jehoshaphat trusted God and was obedient to him...yet he still got caught up with Ahab. His slip in judgement cost Ahab his life as well as almost taking his own. 

God promises great things for those who remain in him and trust him and live their lives connected to him in obedience. The challenge is to trust that no matter what a day reveals, or what problems appear, trust that a life committed to God in devotion to him will not fail. God will provide the ways and means to live successfully in serving him.

The scripture is not telling me to stay safe and content in worldly ways. It is telling me to stay safe and content in obedience to God. In doing so I will be pushed out of the nest, I will be challenged to live my faith out, climbing mountains, overcoming adversity and winning the moments I face each and every day. This is the adventure of  life and it is the only thing that will bring true joy. 

 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9

JUNE 4, 2021

 “The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” 

― Theodore Roosevelt

2 CHRONICLES 13-16

7At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8Were not the Cushites^b and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen^c ? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”(16:7-9)

JOHN 14

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really know me, you will know^b my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15“If you love me, keep my commands. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^c in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” 

JOURNAL 

Input equals output...While Asa was seeking God and obeying him...he was successful at all the things that God wanted him to do. He was blessed and was in step with God. However once he stopped seeking God...everything fell apart. Jesus basically tells the disciples the same thing and promises that if we would seek him then we will get both he and God with the spirit living within us. 

As a result we have nothing to fear and can face any task or any problem. The problem often happens when we define success by means that are other than simply following God. The problem happens when goals and dreams and their ultimate achievement become more important than relationship and obedience.  It can lead to fear, and ultimately shrinking back and not fully giving our best. Because our best often is not good enough, to meet the world's definition or expectations of success. All I have to do is look at Jesus' life to realize that the world's definition is often contrary to God's. 

Therefore the most important action I can take is to tackle the day with God in my heart and trust that whatever the outcome, God will make it good. My best will be good enough, no matter if it doesn't measure up in the world's opinion. Giving my best is my ultimate form of worship. But the key is to truly give my best...

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 

2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-8

JUNE 3, 2021

 “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” 

― Will Rogers

2 CHRONICLES 10-12

  8But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”10The young men who had grown up with him replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

JOHN 13:18-38

 34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

JOURNAL 

The path of Christ is one of humility, love and amazing power. That power never seeks it's own redemption but trusts redemption to God. Rehoboam sought the path that would glorify him...Jesus sought the path that would glorify God.

It's so obvious and easy to see the mistakes that others make. Sitting in the comfort of my home, reading about other people's misfortune and especially those in the Bible. I am not only in a completely different world than what they lived, but also thousands of years removed from their lives. I have no clue as to the complexity and difficulty of their circumstances. Reality is that it's just as true for the people I come across each day, I cannot walk in their shoes, so passing judgement is really pretty foolish. 

What I can do though is realize that by honestly looking at my own heart and life, I can see the same arrogance of Rehoboam and Peter lodged in my own heart. It happens when I assume, pass judgement and seek my own path instead of God's. It happens when I wake up and plow into the day without first acknowledging God and seeking his direction. It happens when I allow fears and frustrations to discolor my focus on the moments right in front of me. It happens when I let the end goal distract me from the life and opportunties that exist today, right here, right now.

Father forgive me for my arrogance, blindness and stupidity. Help me to see the glory of your love and the amazing life that exists today.

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

 ~ PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4