Bible Nook

Our part of the country has been deluged with rain for the past few weeks. It reminded me of a time a few years ago when our area received an enormous amount of rain. At one point during those weeks the storms reached a level of intensity with high winds and cloud formations. As usual with this kind of weather, I collected our emergency items and placed them in the downstairs closet while the girls watched the weather out of the front window.

As I gathered the last of my items, my four year old turned and looked at me with a huge smile on her face and said, "Hey Mama, God is so great. I like it when He makes it rain really hard." When I asked her why, she said, "Because, we might get to play together in the closet."

The phrase, "Childlike faith" came to mind. My daughter had faith that because God made this storm, it was not a problem and He was doing it so we could play in the closet. She knows that when we go into the closet during a storm there is a potential that we may lose a portion, if not all, of our home. However, she was focused on the positive instead of the negative side of the problem.

This is what God wants of believers. He wants the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the positive side of every circumstance we encounter in life. God wants us to see His power, His grace, and His love. He wants us to see the possibilities brought about by adversity. The possibilities of bringing others to Christ and the opportunity to grow spiritually in our relationship with Him.

We cannot see all of these things if we are obsessed with the problem. Problems too often have a way of blocking our view of God. They become so large we feel we can no longer take our eyes off of it and so we don't see God standing there ready to deliver us.

As we face the storms of life, instead of seeing the damage they might cause, we should look to see what God is trying to do with us. As you see a problem looming over you, remember that you are privileged by God to have another chance to glorify Him. Even though they may not seem like it, life and the problems on this earth are temporary and, eventually, our short lives as mortals will be evaluated in heaven. How your childlike faith kept you from fear and worry and, rather, allowed God to deal with all those problems to His glory will yield part of your everlasting gold, silver, and precious stones.

Your Way, Their Way, God's Way

The Word of God is full of many absolutes. So many, "you shall do this, you shall not do that," which are easy to follow. However, the Bible does not give us application of the plenitude of doctrines found within its pages. But yet, so many people judge fellow believers on whether or not they are properly applying the Word of God to their lives.

The absolutes of God were intended to be applied to everyone's lives, the same way, no matter what. There is no margin for error with the absolutes. However, the divine principles of how we incorporate the word of God into our lives have been left up to us through the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit. No two believers in the same exact situation will necessarily have the exact same application of doctrine nor the exact same outcome.

God has different plans for our lives and different lessons for each of us to learn. Some of us are strong in one area and weak in another. While someone else is just the opposite. And God can use the same circumstance to teach both of us the lessons we need to learn.

Sometimes it's hard not to look at a situation we've been through before and say, "Well I did such and such and it was the right thing to do, so you must do it too." You are probably correct that it was the right thing to do, for you and at that time. But it could be devastating for the other person to do it that same way, especially if God has other plans and lessons for this believer.

This does not mean we should avoid giving spiritual advice and encouragement to fellow believers. However, we should never use our own application of the Word of the God as judgment against another believer whatever they choose to do. God may have a different path for them to follow and we should also remember that if they are wrong, it is between them and God, and not us.

In the book of Acts, Paul is warned several times by believers with prophetical gifts not to go to Jerusalem, but he is determined. Even though the believers telling him not to go know DIRECTLY FROM GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT that Paul is wrong, they do not judge him, but instead escort him along his way. He was wrong, but he recovered in prison and wrote several of the books of the Bible while incarcerated. Allow people the freedom to fail, because without the freedom to fail, there is no freedom. And, in addition, once they have failed allow them the freedom and privacy to recover.

Forgiveness, Letting Go, and Moving On

Recent events in my life and in the news have reminded me of the very important principles of forgiving others and letting go of the festering sins that eat away at our souls. There are reasons that the Apostles Paul and Peter touched on this subject in almost all of their writings. It is because these sins not only destroy the individual, they also easily attack the lives of those around them.

Peter learned about forgiveness straight from Jesus Christ. When he approached our Savior and asked, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" the Lord answered, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

Jesus Christ wants us to continually forgive others – no matter their trespasses. This is because God the Father has forgiven ALL of us of ALL our transgressions against HIM. If we have received the greatest of all forgiveness for the greatest of all iniquities; why should we not be more than willing to extend forgiveness to those who transgress against us?

Forgiveness includes being able to let go of the offence and to move on. Saying we forgive someone but then holding it over them, or constantly grinding over it in our minds, means that we have not truly forgiven. This can lead to bitterness, resentment, and eventually to more overt manifestations such as gossiping, maligning, and maybe even physical harm.

We are beseeched to forgive others and to extend grace to all in order that glory may be brought to Jesus Christ. If we are unforgiving and holding grudges, we reveal to those who watch us, that we neither believe in nor express the grace of God nor do we feel God competent enough to handle the situation according to His wisdom, His power, and His justice.

The family of God is supposed to be helping and encouraging each other not making others look like the worst person alive. How are unbelievers to comprehend the matchless grace and love of our Father if His own children cannot practice it toward each other?

The next time someone errs against you in any way, remember that we are to forgive “Seventy times seven” and that we are to

“…be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

I Peter 3:8,9

Is it Live or is it Memorex?

Many years ago, Memorex cassette tapes had a commercial with the catch phrase "Is it live or is it Memorex?" The point being that their recording quality and playback sound were so good that you could not distinguish it from the real thing, unless of course, you were the one running the cassette.

A similar question could be asked of a believer. Are we real, or are we just a copy? Are we living our spiritual life or are we simply acting out our spiritual life?

The answer to this question lies in our attitude and motivation. Is the Fruit of the Spirit being shown with love and grace in our soul or are we acting out love and grace with bitterness, resentment and ambivalence?

As Paul says in I Corinthians 13:1, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."

What we do in our actions means absolutely nothing to God if our souls do not have the corresponding attitude. How many times have we offered money to someone who was destitute only to judge how they would spend the money. Or, out of obligation invited someone to dinner with a smile on our face only hoping they wouldn't accept? Good things in themselves, but with wrong motivation.

Those who watch see all the wonderful things we do. They think that we are wonderful Christians. But God, who sees all, knows the attitudes and motivations of our soul. He doesn't care that we gave hundreds of dollars to the poor. He sees only that we did it out of obligation or with judgment attached. Instead of gold, silver, and precious stones our production will be consumed by fire as wood, hay, and stubble.

Take a step back and look at your own spiritual life. Are you live, or are you Memorex?

The Reality of God's Love

The definition of 'love' in the dictionary is, "An intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties." It is easy to see this in God loving believers because He loves us as part of His family.

"...but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him" (Rom. 8:15-17).

However, the dictionary definition of love does not cover everything about God's love. It misses out on two very important aspects of divine love: God's love is both eternal and unconditional.

In human relationships love is born and dies sometimes in as little as a few weeks. Parents and children, siblings, husbands and wives, friends; all can stop loving. People "fall" in and out of love all the time. In contrast, God's love toward the believer never dies no matter what the believer does. People think, "God has loved me so far, but now I've done something that really offended God so He won't love me anymore." What they fail to realize is that God, through His Omniscience, knew the believer's failure eons before the universe was created--God was not surprised. He loved that believer before, during(!), and after the failure. God's love is an eternal flame that never even flickers. His love is guaranteed to be there for us, day and night into forever.

The other important attribute of divine love is that God's love is unconditional. Unconditional is defined as, "...without conditions or limitations; absolute." There is nothing we can do to lose it, nor is there any condition to which we must hold in order to keep it. He does not hate us as we hate others when they have hurt us. He does not withhold His love because He is disappointed in our choices. God's love for us has no bounds--no bounds in time, magnitude, or expression. Our imaginations cannot fully grasp what "boundless love" is. God can only show us what we cannot imagine as He pours out to us every day His gracious blessings, compassion, guidance and even discipline.

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:37-39).

If we would take the time to learn and understand even a small percentage of this eternal and unconditional love, how much stronger could our spiritual lives, and more importantly, our faith in Him, be?

Christian Characteristics or Personality?

Picture a person who has the Mona Lisa smile, serene manner, and an aura of tranquility about them. What you have just pictured is how many people expect the believer to act and look. It's called "The Christian Personality." This includes a vacant, non-confrontational demeanor, also, speaking softly and gazing skyward from time to time for the more "spiritually advanced." But is there really such a thing as "The Christian Personality?"

Something to keep in mind is that whatever the non-believer (spiritually dead) can do cannot be spiritual. The non-believer can efface himself with the best of Christians, but he is no more spiritual than a rock. Satan, if he appeared in public would appear oh, so spiritual; how else could he have convinced 1/3rd of the angels of God to follow him against their Creator? The problem comes from people confusing the characteristics of a believer with the personality of a believer. Characteristics for the family of God are to be the same: faith, obedience, humility, kindness, gentleness, graciousness, et al. These characteristics show through in our personality, but they are not our personality. How else do we explain Jesus, in righteous indignation, trashing the tables of the money-changers in front of the temple? Onlookers would see Him and say, "Oh my, he's not a spiritual person. Someone needs to teach him about turning the other cheek and praying for his enemies!"

Even Pastors encounter the personality problem. The apostle Paul, one of the greatest teachers of all time, was a short, bald, ugly fellow with a grating voice. Yet, many would see someone who was more attractive or more charismatic and say, "Well, Paul is okay, but this other guy is truly chosen by God to teach me." Another problem is that many people do their job behind the scenes. Other people will never see what they do and so, erroneously, conclude that that person must not be very spiritual. Many believers exhibit their spirituality in different ways. One may do so with words while the other does it with actions. Neither is wrong, they are both exhibiting their Christian characteristics through their own personalities.

It's easy to get distracted by looking at other "spiritual" people and wishing to be more like them personality-wise, but this may not fit with God's plan for your life. God designed each individual with distinct personality traits and His plan works through them. He gave us these traits or allowed them to be developed through circumstances of life. Each Christian's unique personality is created so that it can be used in service for God.

God does not want cookie-cutter believers. He wants believers who will develop true Christian characteristics and use their own personality to glorify Him and reveal Him to others.

A Lending Hand

My great grandfather was a lumberjack who felled trees in Maine for a living. He did it every day, by himself, no matter how tired or how ill he became. He refused to accept help from fellow lumberjacks as this was an insult to his pride. His pride cost him his life, eventually -- he died from working himself to death.

Unfortunately, this is what some believers do in their spiritual lives. They want to prove they can handle every situation, solve every problem, and fight every demon, all by themselves. They want to show the world what they can do and how they don't need anybody else.

God didn't design the believer's life this way. The scriptures are full of passages regarding Christians seeking out, uplifting, encouraging, and edifying fellow believers. If God had intended for us to do every single thing in our spiritual life alone, these passages would have been about seclusion and exclusion. Even Jesus Christ, in His humanity, relied on the provisions of others to support His ministry and relied on God the Holy Spirit to empower Him instead of Him relying on His own deity. If deity can rely on outside help, what shame could there possibly be for corrupt mortals to graciously accept something outside of ourselves.

There are times in our lives when we need the support of our Christian friends and their spiritual gifts. We need their prayer, help, and encouragement. Hiding away in our own little world saying we don't need help is a slap in the face to those who are led to help you, the Holy Spirit who gave these people their spiritual gifts just for such purposes, and even to God, our Father, who has provided these people in our lives.

God provided our Christian family as one of His many means of support. The support we need to get through the really tough times, when we need a true friend who will listen and edify or when we need someone to help with simple household chores and babysitting because of illness.

Receiving the assistance of our godly friends is a sign of our own grace, humility, and capacity. It's by grace that we can accept the gift of true Christian friends from God; and humility that we understand the need for the other person to be of assistance and that it's not all about us. Remember Satan, the original "individual," who decided he needed no one else's help claimed boldly, "I will...."

Being able to accept help is as important as being able to give it.

Fighting the Good Fight

When Paul knew he was going to die, he said, "I have fought the good fight." He knew Jesus Christ intimately and, having confidence, not fear, he knew that shortly he would be face to face with his Savior. He also knew that he would be receiving a great crown from God.

Imagine some great hero of yours going through some terrible sacrifice to save your life. Now imagine that you had a chance to get to know and love this person, and then someone gave you $1 billion just because you spent time with your beloved hero. This is the believer's situation in regard to Jesus Christ.

Even without our salvation, the deity of God is so powerful, righteous, and awesome that we would still fall down and worship Him. Just the fact that God has revealed Himself to us is a privilege. Then God starts sweetening the deal and lets us develop a personal relationship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ--our hero who sacrificed Himself to save us.

When a believer perseveres in his relation with Christ during his life, through the ups and the downs, God rewards him above and beyond the wonderful privilege of knowing Him. He knows the sacrifices that have been made, the spiritual lows and the efforts to eek out just one more hour of faith waiting for deliverance by God while all around seems hopeless.

God wants to show how proud He is that the believer was able to remain on course through all the distractions of life and glorify God to the end. For the believer to be able to fight the despair, frustration, and suffering and to constantly make God a priority.

For those who "fight the good fight" God has reserved the Crown of Life. This Crown is the $1 billion prize that God gives us for spending time with our hero. No matter how bad circumstances become, no matter how badly the world wants to trip you up and make you fail, and no matter how hard Satan and his demons try, the only person who can prevent you from getting the Crown of Life that God has set aside for you is you. Persevere and God's promised reward is yours!

A Mirror of our Relationship with God

Events and circumstances in the lives of our friends and family, even strangers, have repercussions for us. These influences can be positive or negative depending on how you handle them. As a Christian, our response to these circumstances reveals how we see our relationship with the Lord.

When the believer has a good attitude in his relationship with Christ, he exhibits enthusiasm, happiness, and interest in the good fortune of others. Furthermore, a good relationship with Christ yields grace, love, and encouragement to others in need.

The interaction of a believer with others is always a mirror of our love for God:

"We love because He first loved us. If anyone says 'I love God,' yet he hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (I John 4:19-21)

If we are compassionate, kind, attentive, helpful, and involved, then we copy our attitude from God in the way He deals with us. If we judge, gossip, or malign other believers or their circumstances; if we make ourselves unavailable when they need help, or if we are envious of the good things in their lives, then we are not loving God.

There is an old adage which says, "Actions speak louder than words." This is true in the reflection of our relationship with God. If we truly see God as loving, gracious, and compassionate then we will in turn show this to others. If we see Him only as a judge, an accountant, or a vindictive person, then our decisions will show us as Pharisees passing by those in need instead of as the Good Samaritan helping even his natural enemies. The decisions we make regarding others reveals what we think about God. Next time you want a person you don't like to suffer, "because they deserve it," think about the way God's grace stepped in while He looked at sinful man who deserved to spend forever burning in a Lake of Fire.

Fair Does Not Mean Equal

As part of human nature, it is so easy to compare our lives with Old Bob down the street. Bob is a Christian the same as you; maybe not even as devout as you. He seems to have a really good life. His wife loves him, he has a great job and recently won a new truck in a contest. And here you sit, you're burning the candles at both ends, your job is overly stressful and your second car just died. Where is the fairness in all of this?

It's so hard to understand why God, the one who loves us and provides for us, would give Bob more than He gives us. But, God is FAIR. According to the dictionary, "fair" means free from favoritism or bias, i.e. impartial.

Notice that the definition of fair did not say 'equal'. Giving each and every believer the same exact sufferings and blessings in life would not be beneficial to everyone. Why? Because we all have different personalities and need spiritual growth in different areas. Some people shine through when they get under a lot of pressure, others shine through the every day hum drum, while yet others shine under great prosperity. God doesn't give things to people just because He likes them more than someone else. That would not be just, it would be showing favoritism. God, in His own integrity, cannot do this.

Instead of looking to see what Bob down the street has been given and challenging God about it, we need to believe that what God has done in our lives is based on His perfect fairness and knowing that He cannot make a mistake. Can our situation draw us closer to Him (if we're not too busy complaining about what everyone else has)? Can we glorify Him under our current circumstances? Can we see His love and provision? If we can say yes to any of these, then He has been fair and righteous to us and we should be thanking Him for it. If we cannot say yes then we need to gain a better understanding of God and His word so that we can see Him working in our lives.

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ.” (I Thessalonians 5:18)

The True Guest

If Christ came to my door today He would find crayon marks on the carpet, toys strewn about and only one item on my To Do list checked off. But if He came, He would not be here to inspect my home. He would be here to sit down, have a cup of coffee and talk--chat like the old friends we are.

Metaphorically speaking, Jesus Christ wishes to come into every believer's home, everyday, and have this time. He doesn't care what your house looks like. He is there for you, not for your house. He wants to share your life with you, the good and the bad, the successes and the mistakes.

Christ doesn't want you to open the door and then say, "Oh, wait a minute, I can't talk to you right now. The place is a wreck." He doesn't want to hear reasons why He shouldn't be there. Jesus Christ just wants to come in and fellowship with you, not your messes. He wants to know that anytime He knocks on that door, you will be comfortable enough with Him to say, "Come right in" and not miss out on the chance to be with Him.

Christ wants to sit and hear all the details about your life, in your own words. And then, like any friend, He wants to be heard too. He wants you to listen as He explains that He's involved in your life in ways you could not even begin to imagine. Listen as He tells you that He was once a man in this world full of pressures and troubles and that He sympathizes with what you are going through. But He provides more than sympathy, listen to His encouragement and solutions. And most of all, He wants you to know that He is with you, every second of every day, anytime you want to have a chat.

So the next time Christ knocks, don't make Him wait at the door. Invite Him in to sit and chat with you about the incredible influence He has on your life. Then you will remember why He's the best friend you'll ever have!

God as our Father

God is the supreme being, the One who planned, created and provided all things for all people for all time. But He is so much more than this to the believer. He is God the Father. A father is one who provides, leads, disciplines and nurtures his child. And although earthly fathers can fall short of this definition, our heavenly Father does not.

Our heavenly Father "beget" us twice. Once physically, by allowing us to be born into the world with a human soul. And the second time, spiritually when He brought us into His family at the point of salvation. As the perfect father, He knows exactly what we need and He provides it abundantly. When we cry, He doesn't have to guess why and He knows how best to comfort us. He has made provision for each and every one of our needs; even needs of which we are not even aware.

As the perfect Father, He leads us in the paths of righteousness. He gives us His instructions and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us discern. When we stray, He disciplines us, just as a good father should, not maliciously or just for the sake of hurting us, but from the true desire to encourage us to do better.

The most intimate part of our relationship with our heavenly father, is through His love. Even though God the Father has a bazillion children, He knows each one intimately as if each believer was His only child. He loves us as no human father could. His love is seen everyday in our lives. We can see His love in His excellent provisions. We can see it in the wonderful blessings He bestows. We can also see it when He extends His hand to lift us up when we falter.

As our Father, He does not want us to fail, but wills His best for us. With His perfect provision, guidance, discipline and love for us, we may choose to follow His guiding so that when we stand in the presence of heavenly glory, our Father may speak of us with pride--we have pleased our Father!!

Glorification of God

What is glory? The dictionary defines glory as “Great honor, praise, or distinction; Adoration, praise and thanksgiving offered in worship.” How do we give honor, praise and distinction to God?

We give God glory by what we think, say and do. Every word uttered, every fleeting thought, every tiny action is either glorifying God or it’s not. God is not glorified if we do a right thing, but have a wrong attitude.

Glorification not only shows God what we think of Him; but, it also shows others who God is and what He can do in a person’s life. Our glorification of God is to be a witness to His grace, love and divine plan. This is the way it was designed to work. We praise and honor Him in our lives by how we live and this brings distinction to Him so that others may see.

As we go through each day, meeting new people, doing new things, dealing with frustrating problems, or remaining in status quo, our souls should always endeavor that all we do is for God’s honor, glory and distinction.

Bible Links

E-sword

Gospel Ministries