August 8, 2015
Paul called himself a “steward of God’s mysteries” (1 Cor. 4:1). A steward is a manager who serves on behalf of the owner. Managers in business are judged by their success. But Paul said that stewards of God are judged by their faithfulness. In God’s Kingdom, faithfulness is success. It’s not how much or how many you have, but what you do with what you have. The world teaches us to want more and to keep raising the bar for success. Yet, the Lord asks us what we have done with what we already have. The Lord is looking to find one that is faithful.
August 7, 2015
Paul compared witnessing with planting. The one who sows and waters is the witness and the seed is the gospel. Yet, the seed comes from God and only He can make it grow. This removes both the pressure of success and the temptation to take credit. As the late Bill Bright used to say, “Success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share the message of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God.”
August 6, 2015
The “natural” person is one who has not been born again spiritually. They are unregenerate and already dead in their sins. That is to say, they are spiritually dead. And so, they are dead to the things of the Spirit. Their spiritual deadness accounts for their spiritual deafness and blindness. Only being raised to new life will open their ears and eyes to understand spiritual things. No amount of argument or persuasion will wake the dead. Only the saving power of God’s gospel of grace received through faith will bring them to life.
August 5, 2015
King Cyrus of Persia enabled the Jews who had been captured by the Babylonian king to return to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of their temple. Persia (modern day Iran) overthrew Babylon (modern day Iraq) and showed favor to the Jews by not only allowing their return, but also giving back whatever temple implements that had been stolen and offering aid in its rebuilding. This Jewish return from exile was prophesied by Jeremiah.
I was recently reminded of this history by an Iranian named Reza that I met at a London coffee shop. When he suggested that I visit his country, I told him that I didn’t want to end up in an Iranian jail. “No!” he insisted. “We love Americans. It’s the politics, the mullahs that stir up trouble between us. Remember, we were Persians before we became Muslims. We were the ones who helped the Jews return to Jerusalem. Ninety-nine percent of Iranians love Americans!” I was surprised by his distinction of identity based on being Persian more than Muslim, and by his declaration that Iranians love Americans. I suppose the Jews were surprised by Cyrus’s favor too. It reminds me that things are not always as they seem and that God is still at work in this world and that one Day all prophecies will be fulfilled in Christ.
August 4, 2015
Among our phobias, fear of the unknown, or of something that overpowers or overcomes us, or of our own death are prominent. David said that God was his “light” (exposing the unknown), his “strength” (empowering and supplying his need) and his salvation (saving him from death). In this way God gave him faith in the place of fear. What do you fear today? Replace your fears with faith. Look to a specific character trait of the Lord and choose to focus on Him rather than living in fear.
August 3, 2015
Josiah became king when he was eight years old. His father and his grandfather before him were wicked and idolatrous kings, but he decided to seek the Lord. He made his decision to follow God while “he was still young,” and the Lord blessed him and the Kingdom of Judah all the days of his life. Like Josiah, my father died when I was eight. In my grief and despair I sought the Lord and He saved me. I walked the aisle in a church in Wayne, Michigan that we attended while staying for a time with my mother’s sister. I went forward at the church’s special children’s service and received Christ as Savior and Lord. Some might think that a child aged eight is too young. But like Josiah, I have also known God’s blessing on my life and that of my family. Seek the Lord while you are still young and encourage your children and grandchildren to do the same.
August 2, 2015
In Paul’s closing remarks to the church in Rome, he shared his prayer that the Lord allow him to visit them. He prayed that he might come to them with joy so that both might be mutually refreshed. There is an encouragement that refreshes us when we fellowship with other believers in the joy of the Lord. We have had this prayer answered as we visited our brothers and sisters in London this past week. It had been our heart’s desire for some time to visit and know this mutual refreshment. And God finally made it possible. Do you know this fellowship that refreshes?
August 1, 2015
Today’s constant prayer: Show me, teach me, lead me… I’m waiting. Not passively, but actively. Not without moving, but as I move today, being fully present looking for You, O Lord.
July 31, 2015
One can have ears and eyes, yet still be deaf and blind. The Lord has made both the physical and the spiritual ability to hear. Both are grace. The physical all understand, but few recognize the spiritual. The first offers wisdom of the physical world, the second makes one receptive to the gospel and believing. One is not the other. Only God makes the “hearing ear” and the “seeing eye.” This was God’s calling to Paul and to us: “I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18-19).
July 30, 2015
Spiritual and gospel urgency. Spiritual urgency, because we must put off sin and any hindrance that belongs to the flesh, so that we might finish the race of life well. Gospel urgency, because “time is running out” on those who haven’t heard and received the Good News that we are called to announce. Are you living with a sense of spiritual and gospel urgency?