NOVEMBER 23, 2021

 “Your words, thoughts, intentions and actions today are your best hope, comfort, building blocks and insurance for tomorrow. But it is now alone that is guaranteed – tomorrow is a dream, a maybe a potential gift.” 

― Rasheed Ogunlaru

EZEKIEL 29-31

15Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. For I will diminish Egypt so that it will never again rule over the nations. 16Egypt will never again be an object of trust for the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity in turning to the Egyptians. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.” (29:15-16) 

JAMES 5

10Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

JOURNAL 

The other morning I noticed several workers pulling up to one of the unfinished houses. As they got out of the truck I couldn't help but notice their sense of joy and energy. In that moment God spoke clearly to tell me that this is a picture of obedience and joy. This is often what God wants of me, to be grateful for the day and the work I have before me. I can honestly say that most of my life has been lived in pursuit of rewards rather than in the joy of doing my job. Way too often I fantasize about the day when I can go on vacation or buy something "cool" or experience the rewards of success. I have missed so many moments and the joy of those moments because I was lost in the fantasy of "one day".   

In many ways so much of the message of the Bible is about learning to be humble and to accept that we are not God. The verses in Ezekiel and James are affirmation that God is the only God and our lives can vanish in an instant. Just as the great kingdom of Egypt was brought down, our lives are just a vapor. Our importance is nothing outside of our connection to God. Likewise our joy is ultimately only found in living day to day in obedience to God. In essence, I will only find true joy in being and doing what God created me to be and do.  

God loves each of us and has given us the amazing gift of life to be used in the time that we have on this earth. To live it arrogantly apart from a relationship with him will only bring misery and destruction. Live in the now...live in this moment. Do not waste time worrying or fantasizing about what tomorrow will bring. For the more I am focused on loving God and loving others today, then I will experience joy and the love and spirit of God in all that I do. 

Father, today is what I have, this moment is all you've given. To venture away from this mindset is to unhinge my heart and mind from you. This is the lesson...this is the message...so simple yet so rare in this world.

19My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

JAMES 5:19-20

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

  “The true definition of mental illness is when the majority of your time is spent in the past or future, but rarely living in the realism of NOW.” 

― Shannon L. Alder

EZEKIEL 27-28

25“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’ ”(28:25-26) 

JAMES 4

13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

JOURNAL 

God has really convicted me of how often I spend my days in the past and present. I have written about this and had devotions on it and talked about it...but really this conviction has not transformed my present moment. I assume tomorrow...and that assumption keeps me from making the best of today. Clearly I miss the mark when I don't embrace the wonder of today and live it fully...wringing out every last drop of opportunity to make an impact in the lives of those I love. This is my duty, this is my calling. To make it anything more is somewhat arrogant. I can plan for tomorrow...but to count on it as my happiness or as my source for joy is allowing the plans and hopes to take the place of God. 

Live and soak in each moment in the presence of God fully focused on what I am doing and the people I am with. This is where in the past I have allowed my mind and heart to run away from the moment with distractions of thoughts or emotions. It is not that these thoughts or emotions are wrong, in fact they serve me greatly, they are the source of my memories, my ability to solve problems, my ability to plan etc. However if they keep me or distract me from making the most of today and the present moment then they hurt rather than help. 

The bottom line is that today is a great day, full of great moments, ones that I will never get back, make the most of it, don't wait to love, engage and live it to the fullest!

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you.

JAMES 4:7-8

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

  "Cause if you never leave home, never let go

  You'll never make it to the great unknown till you Keep your eyes open, my love

So show me your fire, show me your heart

You know I'll never let you fall apart if you

Keep your eyes open, my love..."

-NEEDTOBREATHE

EZEKIEL 24-26

19“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you, 20then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place^c in the land of the living. 21I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (26:19-21) 

JAMES 3

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

JOURNAL 

Today is a new day. It is pure, unlived and full of possibilities. Today is a gift, yet what will determine my actions and responses to the circumstances that unfold? If my reactions are based on hurts from the past, worry over the future, selfish ambition etc. Then my "wisdom" is flawed...James says that kind of "wisdom" is evil. Yet if I receive my wisdom from God, if my direction and responses are rooted in heaven, then I will reap a "harvest of righteousness". 

That is why the Bible is key to living a life that reflects God's love. It is important to remember that when these words were written the world was in a very dire predicament. Christians were being tortured and killed just for sport, political influence of believers was laughable and yet God wasn't wringing his hands or raining down fire and brimstone. It is important to remember because these are the words we are to live by regardless of our circumstances. Whether in goods times or bad, wealth or poverty, sickness or health...

When I really reflect on these verses in James the message could not be more clear.  16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Isn't that the purpose anyway...to "reap righteousness"...to have my life and my responses reflect the love of God? It is often so clear when I read, reflect and write. It is only when my thoughts turn inward, when fear and the noise of the world move my focus away from God and Christ that I lose this wisdom...I lose this peace. Father I pray that my focus stays on you, and your power and love. Keep my eyes open and rooted in you. Let my life today be a light rather than another source of panic, hatred and fear. 

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

HEBREWS 12:1-3

NOVEMBER 20, 2021

 “Sever the ties to your comfort zone.

Stretch yourself to see the wonders for you beyond the horizons. 
Get up on your tiptoes
Reach up to the Lord
Great things await only those who see and believe. 
It's only them that can receive.” 
― Manuela George-Izunwa

EZEKIEL 22-23

35“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.” (23:35) 

JAMES 2

5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”^a you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”^b also said, “You shall not murder.”^c If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

JOURNAL 

This chapter in James is so rich...in this section we are commanded to remember that we are all sinners and just as God has been merciful to us we are to show mercy and that mercy is far better than judgement.

Also in these verses it is clear that wealth is not the measuring stick of righteousness but actually the opposite. Yet I know in my own heart that there is a preference to gravitate to the wealthy rather than the poor. The reason for this is simply self-preservation and seeking worldly security instead of God. 

What would the Christian faith be like if we honored the poor more than the wealthy? These are challenging thoughts because they go to very core of my own prejudices, fears and insecurities. Yet they also challenge me to seek God more than man...and to err on the side of action rather than passivity.

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

NOVEMBER 19, 2021

 “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means.” 

― Brennan Manning

EZEKIEL 20-21

 22But I withheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. (20:22) 

JAMES 1

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^a whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

9Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

12Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

JOURNAL 

It is frustrating reading through Ezekiel and actually a lot of the old testament. Especially the stories of the Israelite's rebellion against God and then being punished for that rebellion. Over and over and over again. 

It is not so much their behavior but rather their heart. It is their ungratefulness, lack of reverence, lack of relationship etc. They don't trust nor do they really seem to care about anything other than immediate gratification. It is frustrating because if I'm honest...it exposes my own rebellion, my own sin. This exposure is necessary though to reveal and remind me that I am no different and am just as likely to fall away. 

Juxtaposing that with James affirms that God does command his followers to live in the moment..but to live in the moment in obedience. Not the kind of bitter, dutiful obedience that too often I attribute to this word, but rather the honest, raw obedience that is characterized more as vulnerability and authenticity. The kind that is free to admit struggle, heartache and disappointment while seeking God for his love and answers. The kind that is willing to step into the pit of others in love and empathy. The kind that finds joy in the simplest of moments and never wastes an opportunity to thank God for the gift of another day and another moment on this earth.  

This, to me, is one of the reasons James is filled with verses about doing and putting into practice the aspects of faith. It is the here and now that affirms the crux of faith...It doesn't matter whether rich or poor, sick or healthy, success or failure...what matters is the heart, which in the end is ALL that really matters. 

 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

JAMES 1:17-18