Devotions for God’s Family – 1

Galatians 3:23 (ESV): Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

For the matter of clarity, for you and me, there was no “before faith came.”

You see, for us there has never been a time when we even could have approached God based upon the merits of following the law like the Israelites did up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once, Jesus raised from the dead, there is no possibility for any person on earth to approach God through the law. That system has been stripped from the earth.

Like asbestos shingles on houses, it protected them from the immediate weather, but the long term exposure was deadly. The law is exactly like that, it covered and killed at the same time.

Hebrews 10:4 (ESV): For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Actually, those under the law, were killed by their own sin, the heaviness of the law was too much to handle – and yet, it was the only way except for a perfect sacrifice to come along (Jesus).

Hebrews 10:1 (ESV): For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Once Jesus rose from the dead the law became obsolete, no longer available as a way to approach God and know Him. (However, this doesn’t stop people from trying)

Asbestos shingles were taken off the shelves in stores. You can’t buy them because no one makes them. They are completely out of production. God does not even accept a person or group of people who appeal to Him based on what they do for Him as a means to justify a relationship with Him.

Jesus, God’s Son, paid the price and that is the only sacrifice that God accepts, nothing else will do for God.

Hebrews 10:9–10 (ESV): He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Jesus is the only shingle on the shelf. There are no other options. This is the pressure point of faith. The phrase “once for all” in the prior verse, tells us that our faith has to be cast to one act, one person, one event in one moment in time.

You don’t embrace a system of beliefs, or agree to a religion. You don’t sign a church covenant or commit to tithing to be a christian. Our faith is cast, all that we have or nothing at all (not what faith you think you should have, but what you have at the moment of revelation of your need for salvation) onto the act of Jesus, to the person of Jesus who in love, laid down His life for you. He became the sacrifice for your sin.

Faith always has two sides. What you see and what you don’t see. If you saw it all, you wouldn’t need faith. If you didn’t see any of it, you wouldn’t know you needed to ask in faith.

We see the front side of God, Jesus. We see what He did and we hear what God says that it means. We feel the burden of our sin and we have to choose a path that will bring us meaning and purpose in light of our sinful predicament. We hear the Words of God and by faith we believe.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV): For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The blind side of faith has in it a thousand questions—

Is it all true?

What will heaven be like?

Is God really Good?

Are His promises true?

Does God truly accept me?

Am I really saved?

Am I good enough?

Do I know Him enough?

Will He cast me away?

What about the really bad things I have done?

Spiritual maturity formed in pursuing God answers these questions. But let no one tell you otherwise, there is a blind side of faith – that is why it is called faith. There was a heaviness of the law that sat upon people in the Old Covenant and there is a heaviness in the new. Not in performing to get something, but in living out what you believe God has already done.

In the Old Covenant, saints lived out their faith to get something from God. In the New Covenant we live out our faith because we have already received it. In the old, obedience is key, in the new, it is love.

Old Covenant: Lord, by faith I hold to the promise that you made in Your Word that if I obey Your Word, You will accept me and forgive me for my sin. (Obsolete)

New Covenant: Jesus, You gave Your life for me, I accept Your gift of salvation for my sin and I commit to obeying Your Word all of my days because I choose to love you. (Present and active)   

Faith compels a person to live fully as though the blind side of faith is exposed. That which you can’t see, by faith we pull it into the front view and declare it seeable.

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV): Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Jesus, thank You for the great expression of the Father’s love that You are. Father, we see You in Jesus. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus into the world to save the world from sin, once for all. Thank You that the Old Covenant is removed and in its place is an amazing opportunity to know You and be fully known by You. Thank You for the Word of God that teaches us much about the blind side of faith. That which we can’t see at first, but we can receive from You in Your Word more understanding if we will love You and commit our ways to you. Thank You for grace that holds all of us in our measure of grace and faith. Amen

Devotions for God’s Family – 2

Galatians 3:23 (ESV): Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Christianity requires X-ray vision. We see through things. Like TSA – they see right through your luggage into what’s on the inside.

You often think about how God can see right through you, did you know that He wants you to see right through Him?

Faith can be likened to some sort of spiritual X-ray vision. Did you know that God wants you to have X-ray vision? He wants you to see right through Him. He has nothing to hide. As-a-matter-fact, faith is your x-ray goggles. As a matter of truth, He is hoping that you will look through him, because He has a lot to reveal that you won’t see looking with your senses, gotta have your faith x-ray vision.

We have been talking about two sides of faith recently. And in reality there is two sides of God, one side you see and one you don’t.

1 John 3:2 (ESV): Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Or, we will see all of Him. We will see what we couldn’t see – that faith allowed us to see.

Here is another Bible authors thought on the issue –

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV): For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Faith allows us to see into God further and further. Again, let me say, He wants to be seen and known by You. He is not hiding. You might think He is – He isn’t hiding. We think He is hiding because He can’t be seen, heard, or understood by physical means.

John 4:23–24 (ESV): But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Physical senses respond and react to God, but can’t interact with God. Did you catch that? God is spirit, He is not a physical being like you and I. We interact with God in our spirits. Faith is the avenue through which You can see and know God. (X-ray goggles – seeing into God)

Eyes: can only see physical material

Ears: can only hear physical things

Nose: can only smell physical things

Mouth: can only taste physical things

Touch: can only feel physical things

Our spirits were made by God so we can know and fellowship with God. Our minds were made to help us navigate this world, helping us make good decisions, we can exert our wills, using our minds to do so, we engage a spiritual God, with our spirits.    

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV): And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Can you see the use of both mind and spirit in this passage?)

Maybe this verse makes more sense, when we understand that faith is the only way that you can pursue God. Because God is spirit, we pursue Him spiritually.

In Hebrews 11:6, the writer is telling us point blank that you have to have spiritual x-ray goggles to interact with God. If you approach God with your physical senses only, it won’t work.

Oh, don’t get me wrong – He hears your voice. But a conversation between you and Him happens in your spirit by faith, not your ears. Anyone who says it does, doesn’t understand quite yet what God says about Himself in His Word.

In singing and praying the Apostle Paul used both mind and spirit. He even draws a distinction between the two, he says…

1 Corinthians 14:15 (ESV): What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

The Apostle is trying to help us all understand that there is more than simply the 5 senses in pursuing God.

Pastor, how then do I engage God?

Think of your physical senses as the car to get you to an encounter with God. Your spirit senses and accepts the presence of God. Mastering your physical senses is important, because to know God is to head for that encounter with Him. Faith is the only way. Let me remind you of a verse I shared earlier, listen to the words again – think about the car analogy.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Some make the mistake of driving around in the car and forgetting about the encounter. Studying, doing productive things, helping others… content with the senses they miss the spiritual connection with God. I believe God calls this spirit and truth encounter with Him, worship.

John 9:38 (ESV): He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Do you see the encounter with God?

Lord, today help each of us to value and prioritize our spirits. Lord, would You speak to us in our spirits today? You made us with physical senses and so often we just run headstrong with our senses leading us. Lord Your word says that our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak. Help us Lord. Thank You for grace and for faith as we are held strong in the arms of love, Your arms. We praise you today holy Lord. Thank You for all that You have done for us, especially those things that we don’t understand and can’t sense with our physicality.

Devotions for God’s Family – 3

“God and I were talking about you this morning and you wouldn’t believe what He told me about you. I can’t tell you right now – I will after what is going to happen.”

Immediately, upon reading something like this we take a step back and become wary of the one who has the information. Is this person a poser or does this person in their faith have an inside track with God?

Do I need to rush in or run away? Because people are put into this quandary, most sensible people don’t even think about approaching others with this sort of talk, because it does not honor others much at all.

We must be so careful how we speak to others about our relationship with God. Even the words that we use must be tempered and sifted through love and grace.

“Friend, how can I pray for you? I have been praying for you, and I believe that God’s best is coming – that’s how I am praying for you.”   

That’s why we must be very careful when we say things like, “Well, God told me….” Actually, you heard Him in your spirit. Or, “I heard God say…” Did you really hear Him say something to you audibly? Do you actually want people to think you hear God audibly?

John 5:37 (ESV): And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen…”

This passage again helps us understand that God is spirit. Jesus came in the flesh, lived amongst us, showed us the Father in Himself. He and the Father are One. John 17 is a fabulous read on this topic.

When we get in the habit of saying that we heard directly from God or that we saw God with our physical eyes – you are on dangerous ground on so many levels. I believe God speaks, I believe God gives dreams and visions. All of these will be by faith. All of the gifts exist today – and God reveals Himself 100% of the time in His Word to us, the Bible. Any manifestation experienced by physical means today will always be patterned after the Word of God if it is legit.

Sometimes people go to the other end of the continuum and say that there are no manifestations of the power of God today – they say that you can only read about them as historical reference to the past works of Jesus in the Bible. I do not believe this. I believe that the power of God is active today in demonstrating God’s love for people.

Whatever place you land on the continuum of God speaking to you audibly or believing that God doesn’t speak except for what you read in the Bible, think of our topic of faith and grace like this – What percent of God, the Bible, and His methods in our world do you think you know and understand?

100%… Really?    1%… Maybe   50%… Doubtful

Let’s embellish for the sake of our understanding, let’s say you know 99% of everything about God and His ways in the world.

I have a question for you oh wise one. What is inside of that 1% that you don’t know?

Whatever you believe, do us all a favor and don’t lord it over us. Assume you are a student and not a teacher unless you have been asked to be a teacher for a specific purpose. There is nothing worse than a teacher who can’t learn. They are like a tide that doesn’t ebb, that usually indicates a flood. Floods do not help anyone.

We are all students and we hold tight to faith. We all walk in God’s grace, and we can agree that there are nonnegotiable aspects of our faith in Jesus and His message. But so often we raise a banner in the negotiable aspects of our faith and declare them nonnegotiable. We break fellowship with others and even judge them because we have declared negotiables as nonnegotiable.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are fruit of the Spirit.                 

John 20:28–29 (ESV): Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

If someone ever says to you that they heard God say, or they saw Him with their eyes, you who haven’t, actually have a blessing spoken over you by Jesus. And in most cases that I have investigated, people say those kind of things to bring more emphasis on what they are about to tell you – they want to be more believable. Or maybe they want you to be impacted by how close God is to them. (You notice I didn’t say how close they are to God, think about that.)

Trust the words of Jesus that I just pointed to in the scripture and don’t be worried by those who seem to have more with God than you do.

If you will pursue God by faith, trusting that He wants you to know that He is pursuing you, no guess work there, you will do great. He loves you and is pursuing you.

Lord, thank You that you have made us all a little different – You are the same, I am grateful for this. Lord, help us to be careful of how we portray you to others. Lord, we need more gentleness and understanding. Please give us all teachable spirits, so that we can learn. Lord, there isn’t a single person who has ever walked this earth that could afford to stop learning. God, You are far above man – You are unapproachable light, except by faith. Thank You for who You are. Jesus, You have made our spiritual life possible through Your wonderful gift of salvation. Today we again receive from You, Thank You!

Devotions for God’s Family – 4

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

How amazing! How exciting! Say thank you to the Father this morning for His remarkable kindness and love. He has made you into His family. You are family to the God of the universe! By His own decision, His choice – He chose You.

His great desire, deep desire was that you would not feel the pain of your sin. Nor would you bear the weight of responsibility for your sin either. Not only does God through Jesus remove the power and potential of sin from you forever, that is only half of it.

We are born again and in the immediacy of our salvation the bubbling brook of hope begins to gurgle up for the rest of our lives. From the depth of our souls, our spirits resonate with the hope of heaven. Our physical eyes see the world and all that is in it, but our spiritual eyes are set on Heaven.

Do you feel it? I hope you do. It’s what makes sense of senseless things we face in this world…our hope of heaven.

Hebrews 6:19-20 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus, our priest who didn’t sacrifice an animal for us – He sacrificed Himself. In His own power, the power of God, He was raised from the dead. In that power we have a living hope, not a dead one. Do you believe it? Declare with your own mouth today, let it come from your heart today, Jesus is alive!

Take time today to dream a little, maybe use that amazing imagination that God gave you and think of Jesus in glory. What will He look like when we live there? Do you see Him with dirty feet and a cotton robe? Not so my friend.  

Revelation 1:12-16  Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

That is our God, our Savior, our older Brother who by His Father’s desire, has made a way for us to be adopted into His family and when we are there with Him, we will be as pure as He is. Because He has poured out Himself completely to wash us clean. And when Jesus washes it, trust me, it is clean!

Praise God!

Lord, we rejoice by faith today in what will be. We haven’t tasted it or seen it yet. Your Word is clear on that. We wait patiently by faith for that day, that promised day when we will see You and then in seeing You, we will become like You. Thank You for that promise and the promise that we will never be distanced from You after that day. I praise You today for Your tender mercies and kindness through Jesus, who made a way for us! Praise Your name!

Devotions for God’s Family – 5

1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Now, let’s look at the rest of the passage, because it keeps getting better. We are going to be changed when we see Jesus. Imagine what He looks like, imagine what we will look like? Some of you need a little dose of that now…. Hahaha.

Well, that’s our hope. And faith in God, what He has already said about what hasn’t happened yet is what undergirds our hope. Living our lives based upon a promise, trusting in an inheritance that we only see reflections of today.

Ok, our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for us. There is a well swept closet, no small closet like I have now. I can’t even turn around in mine, what about you – do you have a walk-in closet? You have a closet in heaven, a big one with all your basic trainee stuff. All that you will be given on that day won’t be made from things of this world. It will be a new material.

Imperishable: When I was in Israel some years ago, Karen and I went to the plateau of Masada. There we saw the home that Herod made for himself after a group of a thousand or so revolters committed suicide rather than fall into his hands. We had to take a cable car up to the plateau and when you step out of the cable car you find yourself standing 1400ft off the ground on a see-through plexiglass walkway. I felt like I just had thanksgiving at Taco Bell.

Why did my body react that way? Because I became keenly aware of how perishable I am. One day we won’t feel queasy anymore, because it won’t be possible for us to die. Some think that we won’t die because God is going to keep us away from cliffs forever. No friend, you can jump off cliffs if you want to, you won’t fall to your death, drown, get sick, run out of air – you will not be protected, you will be imperishable.

Undefiled: In heaven we have waiting for us an existence that is undefiled. It will be untouched by sin. Years ago, I was counseling a couple through a difficult spot in their marriage. The husband had an affair, repented and they both were on the road to recovery, they were doing great, thank the Lord.

One of the requests of the wife, because the husband had invited the mistress into their home on one occasion, was that all of the bedroom furniture, clothes, and even the bedroom itself would be torn down and destroyed and a new bedroom built on the house. The husband obliged the request and they both started afresh. In heaven, there will be no defilement. Nothing carried from this world to the next. No one will walk around as the person on earth who did this or that.

If Adolf Hitler ever did in that bunker commit his life to Jesus, not one thing he ever did on earth will be on him as he walks the streets of heaven. Nor will anyone there look at him and think, “Why is he here?” That happens on earth because our world is defiled. In heaven, nothing defiled can enter, so nothing will ever be remembered, or raised as a question. If it is from this earth and found in heaven, it has to pass through the blood of Jesus where it is scoured, washed, and made pure.

Get this trough your head – there, you will be perfect – not one thought of what you did in this life will have a place there. The blood of Jesus is mighty in its power to clean and transform. Do you believe it?   

Hebrews 9:14 “…how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Unfading: Recently Karen and I were laughing at a short quip from a Christian comedian who was telling the women she was speaking to that no matter what you look like today, there is coming a day when all of you are going to swell up like a dead fish. This is true of both men and women, right?

Our beauty fades, and what used to not even be a thought, becomes our arch enemy – gravity. I never realized that I would be dragging things behind me as we get older, mostly body parts. Standing in front of a mirror in horror, I yell for Karen and ask her, “Honey when did that start to happen?” And she says, “Oh, about 10 years ago.” “Why didn’t you tell me!?” “And what would you do about it?” “That’s it, no more mirrors in the house!”

Heaven is a place where we will fade no more. Health, vitality, wholeness, power, passion, productivity, effectiveness, nothing will fade. We will be sustained by the unfading power of God’s presence and love.

2 Corinthians 3:10-11 “Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.”

Permanent glory, permanent.

Oh Lord, our hearts yearn for the new. Even now we feel the weight of life and wonder how long God are you going to wait to make things new? We are so blessed in this life, but what will be one day, will be more than we can imagine. Your kindness to us will be sung afresh on that day. Today we sing because you sustain us, on that day Lord, we will know the fullness of our salvation and on that day, we will sing a new song, just as Your Word tells us so.      

Psalm 144:9 “I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you…”

Blessings

Pastor D