November 30, 2024 -- Deuteronomy 32:16-21 -- A heart check and spiritual health inventory

16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
Deuteronomy 29:16-21 ESV
 
When Israel was set free from her slavery in Egypt and brough to the Promised Land, those forty years of wandering in the wilderness were both instruction and warning. Instruction because God rescued His people. He gave them food. In the dry places He gave them water. He protected them from their enemies (though they were a slave nation and not an army and the people whose lands they passed through had well-equipped soldiers and armies). He proved Himself faithful. He proved Himself to be patient with His people. He proved He Who started the good work of salvation would see it to completion, being them to the Promised Land. That is instruction.
 
The warning. People will become bitter. It is possible an Israelite, or a family, or a tribe, or even the whole nation would resent all the Egyptians who were freed with Israel. I grew up in a predominantly Dutch community in the 1960’s. That’s just 20 years after World War II. In that community were men and women who’d experienced hardships and terrors perpetrated by the Germans and those Dutch people hated, with a white-hot rage, anyone or anything German. It was a bitter root that they carried and passed on to their children. The LORD warned His people against bitterness. He warned them they’d have to avoid the traps of the cultures, peoples and false gods around them. It is a vital warning today. How many Christians have statues of Buddha, or observe Halloween toying with sin, rather than devoting themselves completely to the Living God? How many Christians are bitter, and giving themselves excuses to be bitter, as if they had just cause for it. They don’t. The torrents of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ wash away any claims or rights you have to bitterness.
 
Believers are called to examine their hearts each and every day. Where there are steps leading the believer to wander from God, that must be recognized and immediately repented of, confessed and the hardened heart softened by the Spirit of God. Bitterness is poison easily ingested. Against governments and policies. Against fellow Christians. Against preachers. Against neighbours. Against spouses or former spouses. Parents against children. Citizens against foreigners. Against former friends. Against those who seem to be doing well while you struggle. The list goes on and on.
 
Believers who examine their hearts daily, carefully inspecting their actions and attitudes, in view of Who Jesus Is and how in Him the Father rescued them from the kingdom of darkness and brought them into the light of Christ, will learn to hate evil. They will realize how even a tiny bit of evil lodged in them will be a portal for the poison of bitterness to take hold and allow ever more toxins to flow in. This threatens their whole existence as believers.
 
When you find bitterness, confess it. When you encounter wells of anger against others, bring it to Jesus and ask that He Who healed you from all your sins and brought you, purified, to the Father, will enable you to love others so that your words and attitudes will make you a soul-winner for Jesus. Where find bitterness, know this, you will have to dig at it, pull it out. It is a regular, daily task until every trace of its root is gone.
 
This is more than you can do alone. Jesus commanded: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44). Such obedience to Jesus Christ destroys the root of bitterness. Such prayers are the spiritual battle which will win the world to our Savior. Such prayer and action will result in personal victories, where someone you were deeply bitter against, becomes once again, a human, not a caricature. This is the hard work and the heart work of the Gospel of Jesus.
 
Father in heaven it is amazing that You love me. Thank You for the work of Your Spirit Who has applied the salvation of Jesus to my heart and mind, attitudes and life. Patient Father, by Your Spirit, tend the garden of my heart so that all bitterness, malice, envy and spite will be rooted out and removed allowing that the seeds of the Gospel will have good soil to grow fuller, broader, and deeper into every area of life. Where I have been nurturing bitterness and hatred towards others, expose that to me. Show my sin to me as the ugly, perverse and nasty pustules of poison it really is. Then, drained and emptied, restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Fill me with the love, hope, and faith of accompany new life in Christ. Renew a right spirit within me. Help me to teach sinners the way of salvation so that the good work You began in me will be brought to completion at the day of Christ. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/px-eU1QjQiU?si=9WFEh4H2odi9Ktto Psalm 51 (Wisdom in the Secret Place)
 

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November 29, 2024 -- Luke 5:27-32 -- Daily Heart Check

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:27-32 ESV
 
Levi was a collector of taxes for the Roman Government. He was ripping off his own, Jewish, people, who were oppressed by the Romans. He was making himself rich off the misery of others. He was hated by the Jewish people for his collusion with the enemy. Why was he prepared to rip off his people? Maybe he wanted to be rich. Maybe he resented the Jewish religious leadership who were themselves colluding with the Romans so that they could keep their power—like dogs on a lease. They should have put their full trust in the Lord, Who is above every power and lifts nations or casts them to the ground. But I digress. Whatever led him to sin against God, his nation and even against his own heritage was changed the moment he met Jesus.
 
Look what happened. Jesus saw Levi. It is more than a glance. It is a penetrating look that sees the sin, sees the heart and like a physician knows the sickness in his bones. Notice it is Jesus Who goes to Levi, not the other way around. Then Jesus simply commanded, “Follow Me”. The beauty of this picture is found in the verb form, Levi leaving everything, rose and followed Him. There was no hesitation. He was instantly cured of the vices that gripped his heart and motivated his betrayal of his nation and the Living God.
 
Look at the sign of repentance and the full acceptance of Jesus which the passage reveals. Levi hosts a big banquet for other tax collectors. He is sharing his new-found faith. He has access to those sinners in a way no others could. Jesus is the honoured guest, He is present as the highlight of Levi’s new life. He has broken all ties with his past job and any possibility of returning to it. His life is now utterly in the hands of his Lord.
 
Dear fellow believers, following Jesus requires believers to commit to working with God to make a daily inspection of their character—that is Step 4 in the Overcomers workbook. What you are doing and how you are acting is an outflow of whatever it is that your believe about yourself. If you think you are not worthy of Jesus’s forgiveness and love, then instead of truly, deeply, honestly following Him, you will ultimately take a different road. When you daily inspect your heart, your motives, and the reasons you do whatever wrong or sinful things you do, will uncover the places in your mind and heart that need the healing of Jesus.

• Angry bullies will continue to bully because they don’t really believe Jesus’s words that the meek inherit the earth.

• Addicts will say Jesus is all that anyone needs, but their return to addictive behaviors shows the heart’s true devotion.

• Those abused in childhood will not think themselves valued or loved and in turn will not be capable of accepting the love Jesus brings.

• Gossips insecure will spill secrets thinking this is the way to valued, as bringers of information. Their words, like choice morsels of food, go deep into others and show them to be unreliable and unworthy. Only in Jesus will a man or a woman know their true worth.

Why make this deep, candid inspection of your character? So that anything, no matter how small it might be, will not divert you from following Jesus. Think of a small pebble in your shoe. If you do not immediately remove it, while you walk you will be placing your foot in certain ways so that the pebble will be dislodged from either the ball of your foot or the heel. But the fact is, you will be accommodating the pebble, not walking in step with Jesus.
 
Jesus compares Himself to an earthly physician. No matter how embarrassed you might be about your condition or what part of your body hurts, you must tell your doctor. There is no other way to get the help you need than to let the doctor know the worst about your condition. So it is with Jesus. Let Him know the worst, the most broken, the most painful area of your life. He is the Great Physician—He Who made you, knows how to heal you. No wonder Levi enthusiastically followed Jesus—he found healing.
 
An important note added to this, as your life changes, you will find new areas of need and hurt which require Jesus’s healing touch. Teenagers need Jesus’s healing as they navigate the bewildering world of growth, hormones, and peer pressures. Working people and then retiring people will find their need for Jesus’s healing ministrations to be unique because the circumstances of their life are now new, and those new routines will uncover new areas of need.
 
 
Jesus, I’ve walked with the pebble of sin in my shoe for so long. It is almost a companion and a game to keep it in a place where stepping will not bring pain to my foot, and pain to the knees and hips then my whole body as I continuously adjust to it. As You healed Levi, so blessed Jesus, heal us. And, as You heal me, I pray to You, please, continually remove the pebbles of sin that keep me from walking with You. Spirit of God, help me to trust Jesus enough to bring to Him the worst about my condition. Father in heaven, thank You for the promise that while we were yet sinners, You demonstrated Your love for us in this, You crushed Your Son Jesus to be full, the final, the Only-Ever-Needed sacrifice for sin. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/ohxSXsVgV-A?si=_cBy4Ng4YASe46Nr What Wondrous Love Is This?
 

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November 27, 2024 -- Psalm 139:23-24 -- Fearless inspection of mind and heart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
 
As many of you know, this series of devotions follows the Twelve Steps as they are laid out in OVERCOMERS Freedom From Life Controlling Issues, Canadian Bible Society, 2022. Today’s material moves to Step 4 which is “I commit to working with God to make a daily inspection of my character”. Why is such a daily inspection of your character necessary? Well, what you think and what you believe become what you do. If your thinking is corrupt, then your believing and acting become corrupt.
 
Contrary to what the world says, that people are either basically good, the Bible shows that believers who are being made new in Jesus Christ must constantly fight the old sinful patterns and inclinations of the mind. The Bible teaches that people have a sin-nature that warps their thoughts and acting. The world also teaches, perhaps just more information is needed, and people will act more kindly and justly. This is easily disproven as well. How often in the past week did you know, I mean your conscience knew and your impulses knew the right you should do, and you didn’t do it? You are educated, but you are not acting according to that level of education. That is not the problem.
 
John Piper noted the Bible has many phrases which describe the human mind. Careful, these are not complimentary. Look at the list he has compiled, our minds are:

• confused (Deuteronomy 28:20)

• anxious, closed (Job 17:3–4)

• evil, restless (Ecclesiastes 2:21–23)

• rash, deluded (Leviticus 5:4; Isaiah 32:4 NIV)

• a troubled mind (2 Kings 6:11)

• a depraved mind (1 Timothy 6:5)

• a sinful mind (Romans 8:7 NIV)

• a dull mind (2 Corinthians 3:14 NIV)

• a blinded mind (2 Corinthians 4:4)

• a corrupt mind (2 Timothy 3:8)

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-battle-for-your-mind, Oct 1, 2010
 
It would be easy to add to that list, but the point is made. Our minds are a tangle of rebellion, lingering evil, against which the sanctifying power of God must be brought to bear. Believers must examine their thoughts and their motives and their intentions and their character. It requires the penetrating, powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. We are too lazy, too self-satisfied, too dull and blinded to truly know the sinful artifices of our mind which warp our actions.
 
Before you get too discouraged and leave off from this whole process understand a few, critical points. In Psalm 139 it is God Who made His people. It is God Who initiates the process of purification from sinful person to sanctified person. He knows the wickedness of the human heart. The warped mind, the rebellious mind, the corrupt mind, the sin He is dealing with in each person according to his or her need. It is gratifying to know that a sanctified person is one who, in the grip of Jesus’s grace is a forgiven sinner who is empowered by the Holy Spirit to make the necessary changes in his mind, attitude, heart, life and actions which accord with the will and purposes of God. It is a life-long process that confirms the necessity of God’s work in one’s life and affirms the patient graciousness of God in each person’s life.
 
Be prepared. This is a very difficult step. The transformation the Father brings through Jesus Christ will be Spirit-powered, and it is surgery that goes to the exact places of wounds, misunderstandings, fears, so that as such are exposed by the Spirit they can be healed, conquered and transformed by the Father’s love.
 
Be prepared and act. I can’t remember who said this, but it rings true, “Many Christians are more aware of the state of their investments than they are of their attitudes and mind”. Yet, our investments and bank statements are, in view of eternity, insignificant when compared with the investments we are called to make right now in our daily walk with Jesus Christ.
 
God the Father, the Lamp of the Spirit’s searching light is nearing my heart, and I confess I am not prepared for what will be exposed. There are many sins I’ve justified. There are many things I’ve been holding on to defiantly, knowing they are not pleasing in Your sight. Jesus promised that He is approachable and kind so that all Who turn to Him will find rest for their souls. To get this rest, I am beginning to understand I need the surgical precision of Your search light to expose and excise all that is lined up in me which opposes You. Father in heaven, hold me in the merciful, loving grip of Your grace as You work out the salvation of Jesus Christ in every area of my heart, mind, soul and life. Faithful Father let the Spirit both cleanse and heal and put the steel in my spine that is needed so that I will give my faith the work-out it needs in order that my life will continue to be led in the way everlasting. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/-44GH3NhdIA?si=vAwgK6XiY_ttgGe3 I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 26, 2024 -- John 15:4-5 -- Connected to Jesus, the True Vine

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5 ESV
 
At verse 1, prior to today’s text, readers are informed the Father in heaven is the vinedresser. At His decree people are drawn from the stick pile, dead and lifeless, and are grafted into Jesus, the True Vine. In the Old Testament the people of God were supposed to be the vine of God, His planting and all connected to them would live. For the most part they failed in this and wanted to hoard God’s blessings for themselves excluding all others.
 
When a branch is made alive in Christ, it can’t help but bear fruit. Buds swell and burst open. Flowers open and will yield fruit. The point is that those who belong to Jesus will bear fruit. There will be evidence of this life in you. How can you tell God is working in you?
 

• You are intrigued by other Christians, and you want to spend time with them.

• You are hungry for the Bible and have questions about it.

• You go to chapel or church services.

• You see others who are struggling, and you invite them to church or chapel.

• You share what you have and what you know.

• You find you genuinely care about the people around you.

• You begin to hate your sins, more and more.

• You find old hurts and bitterness are losing their grip on you.

• Your addictions and life controlling issues, sins one by one, are becoming hateful to you. Old strongholds of sin are emptied of meaning.

 
It is the Spirit of God Who is working in you, Who brings the change. The Spirit brings, every moment and every day, the life-giving nutrients that result from being connected closely with Jesus. Because the life of Jesus flows in your spiritual veins, you will bear fruit which is like the life and character of Jesus.
 
Be honest, there are days when this is exciting. It is true. It is obvious to all. There are days when it is barely noticeable. Think of winter. When the vine endures hardship and bitter winds and penetrating cold. During the winter the vine is not dead. It is preparing for a new season of growth. God the Father, the vinedresser, will in the appropriate season prune every branch so that it will be even more fruitful the next year. The branches of the vine rest in winter. In the way, painful as it might be, each branch is prepared for a new season of life, of growth and of fruitfulness. If you are in a winter season of your faith hold on. More importantly, know that God is holding on to you. He Who grafted you into Jesus, the True Vine, knows what He’s doing. He can keep you alive and close to Himself. He will heal the places of hurt. He sees the fruitfulness of the next season and is strengthening you to receive it.
 
Thank You, Father in heaven, for Your loving patience in grafting men, women and children into Jesus. To be honest, if You did not hold us in place, there’d be many times we’d try to pull ourselves out, try to generate our own growth and try to be fruitful apart from You. It is foolish. Thank You for the Holy Spirit living in all believers Who anchors us in the love of Jesus, Who closely connects us to Him so that the life and fruitfulness of Jesus becomes more and more evident in us. When it seems there is no growth in us at all, help us to rest in Jesus, staying connected to Him in the full confidence that winter will soon pass. Revive in us the confidence that Spring, and new life and new growth will find us rested in Jesus and strengthened by the Spirit and ready for all that You have planned for us. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/EMvfX-ajxA4?si=0mP8qM9O6jELkkgj My Soul Find Rest
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 25, 2024 -- Mark 5:17-20 -- Healed and Directed by the Captain of Salvation

17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Mark 5:17-20 ESV
 
The man, once possessed by a legion of demons (note this fact: a Roman legion consisted of 6,000 men!), is healed; his healer Jesus is about to leave. The people who’d bound and chained the one possessed, rather than rejoicing in this man’s healing, are begging Jesus to leave. The healed man wants to go with Jesus—but he is told to stay and witness to Jesus’s mercy in his life.
 
This is an incredible story. How hard-hearted the people appear. Until you realize the healed man used to roam around the graveyard, yelling, scaring people. He'd cut himself, freely bleeding. Before he’d gone off to live on his own, people had tried to help. He was a danger to himself and to others, so they tied him up. He escaped. They put him in chains. He broke them. He escaped. People were afraid. He was afraid. Jesus comes and heals the man, the question is: would he stay healed? The answer is alluded to, the man goes into the region of the Decapolis, the 10 cities, and proclaims what Jesus did for him. People marvel. They are amazed at his testimony of healing. He goes to people who’d chained him. He goes to people who mocked him. He goes to people who rejected him. He goes to family that had given up on him. They can’t refute the fact he really is healed. They might want to. Who knows if there'd hadn't been times of quiet, deceptive days where the demonic forces were not fierce, only to suddenly erupt again. And again. Again.
 
What is the point. When you experience the healing of God, healing like the hold of addictions being broken, healing like that of life-controlling issues finally subdued, healing like having hardened sins broken and your life takes a completely different direction, count on this—you will encounter people who are afraid of you. They’ll remember what you were like and based on that doubt if a really lasting change has taken place. There’ve heard so many, oh so many past promised. Broken. So many false starts. Crashed and burned.
 
What makes this time different? It is the love of Jesus Christ and the Spirit-given humility to own up to failures and to confess them and walk once again in obedience to Jesus. Christians who are in Jesus Christ are Overcomers who struggle with addictions, sins, and other life-controlling issues, but have now intentionally submitted their lives to the care of God as He guides them. The healing is awesome. However, remaining submitted to God is difficult to do because God will often guide His children back to the very places where the people who once knew them now will see them as changed and made-whole.
 
In Hebrews 2:10 Jesus is called the Captain of Salvation. He sees the entire battlefield. He knows the strengths of the enemy and the vulnerabilities. He sends His Overcomers, the soldiers who have experienced His healing, into battle for His Name’s sake. In the thick of battle, no foot soldier (at least not a wise one) stands up and says, “Um, Captain, I have a better strategy”. (Humanly speaking we Christians try that all the time, but you know in military terms, that is a non-starter!) So, like the healed demoniac, we trust the Captain of our Salvation to command us and bring us to the place where we will be most effective in His campaign to work all things to His plan and purpose.

It is easy enough to forget this life is a great battlefield between the demonic forces. A battlefield where the pressures of a world that institutionalizes sin push hard against you. Even your heart is a battlefield, fighting the natural tendency to sin rather than serve; fighting against the constantly renewed decision to submit your life to will of God as He guides you.
 
 Trust the Captain of Salvation, Jesus, that He Who began the healing work in your life will bring it to completion. Part of the healing work might be, like the it was for the man from whom the demons were cast out, to go to the very people who wounded you and fortified by the Holy Spirit, show yourself cleansed and in your right mind. Some will still reject you. But many hearing and seeing your testimony will be awed by the greatness of God and with you believe.
 
 
O LORD GOD, of infinite mercy, we beseech Thee to look in compassion upon our country now involved in war. Pardon our offences, our pride and arrogance, our self-sufficiency and forgetfulness of Thee. Give wisdom to our counsellors, skill to our officers, courage and endurance to our sailor, soldiers, and airmen, and all who guard our shores. Look in mercy on those immediately exposed to peril, to conflict, sickness, and death. Be with the dying; give to them true repentance and unfeigned trust in Thee; and in the Day of Judgment, good Lord, deliver them. Finally, we beseech Thee to remove in Thy good providence all causes and occasions of war; to dispose our hearts and the hearts of our enemies to moderation; and of Thy great goodness, to restore peace among the nations; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
A PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR, Divine Service Book For The Armed Forces, 1950, page 30
 
https://youtu.be/mSzm7rEkmEU?si=ga3sKZxtrokaWToA Here I am, Lord
 

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November 24, 2024 -- Psalm 139:1 - 5 -- Putting unworthy thoughts to death and raising up new life affirming ones

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Psalm 139:1-5 ESV
 
Thinking about what you think about is called metacognition. The constant narrative that is running around in your brain, random thoughts, patterns of thought, and trained impulses to sin are not fixed or permanent. Look at the words of the Psalm. Recognize the confidence the writer has that the LORD knows his thoughts. Even the worst tangles of his thoughts are known to his God. In fact, before a word is on the tongue of this believer, the God Who knows him intimately already knows the thoughts behind the words and behind that the stain of original sin which prompted it.
 
Why mention this? Doesn’t it just increase my shame and the unbearable weight of all the sin that burdens me? No. Verse 5 teaches us that the LORD hems the psalm-prayer in. What does that mean? When a seamstress shortens the legs of pants, she turns up the cuff and hems it in. So also, God turns up our thoughts. He surrounds them. He isolates them so that the believer can confess them to Jesus Christ, learning to hate them more and more.
 
God our Father lays His hand on His people. Not too long ago I was in prison teaching a bible study and one young man in our group, who’d been struggling, suddenly burst into tears. He had been on parole, but he breached, he broke all his promises to the judge and the Parole Officers, and he was hauled back inside. There will be no more chance at parole for quite some time. The reality of it broke him and he did something unusual, he wept, shoulders heaving, in front of others. That is a sign of weakness and it can make you vulnerable to bullying and abuse when you’re incarcerated. I put my hand on his shoulder. It is a sign of comfort. It is a sign that he is not alone, though I know the bad he has done, he is in the right place, learning about God and His forgiveness. (BTW, the men in that group, prompted I believe by both their faith in Jesus and the strength of the Spirit, did not mock him or insult him.)
 
That is what it means when you read you “lay your hand on me”. God our Father, by His Spirit’s presence knowing the absolute worst about us—knowing us far more intimately even than we know ourselves because He is God, He can discern all the tumbling, jumbled mixed thoughts that pinball through our brains—still He lays His Fatherly hand on us. He knows the need we have for the Savior to rescue us from shame, guilt, sin, and to cleanse us from the stain of original sin (the sin nature that we inherited as descendants of Adam and Eve who chose to rebel against God). God lays His hand on you and on me, comforting us.
 
When we decide to submit our lives to the care of God as He guides us, a big part of that submission is examining our thought lives. What do you think about when you’re thinking about nothing at all? What are you planning? What are you afraid of? What are you scheming? What are you not even aware of that rocket through your brain? You submit it to God. He discerns your thoughts and by His Spirit He is teaching you to submit them to Jesus. When we recognize the thoughts which are against God, instructing us in evil, we take such thoughts captive and present them to Jesus (II Corinthians 10:5) so that He will defeat them.
 
I don’t know about you, but when dark secrets are about to be exposed, or I need to confess what is going on, I am more likely to run than I am to stand in place and humbly bare my soul. He hems us in. Gently, in His knowing, warm embrace of love, like a parent holding a child lovingly and firmly so that a deeply embedded splinter can be removed without the child squirming away and running from this painful moment. Yes, like that, so tenderly does He lay His hand on you and me.
When the thoughts are exposed. They can be addressed. When they are addressed, believers can replace the thoughts of evil, of life-controlling issues, of past shame, of guilt (fill in the blanks of all the ricocheting thoughts which fill your head). Replace the thoughts I have with what?

• Memorize the word of God, it will be your go-to.

• Sing hymns and spiritual songs and psalms. Funny isn’t it, how the songs of the world infiltrate your brain and often the lyrics are wicked and just add to the library of bad thoughts.

• Read the Bible.

• Journal your thoughts, thus exposing the extent to which you are still captive to old ways and so dedicate yourself to the change God is bringing to you.

• Pray. Ask God to cleanse your thoughts so that the strong, majesty of Jesus, the Hero and Captain of your salvation, will fill your thought life.

Patient, Loving Father, thank You for the tender compassion You show us as Your children. As more and more of my thought life is exposed to You, sweep away all that is evil, unjust, cruel; in summary, clear out anything that is displeasing to You. By Your Spirit re-train my thoughts until they being fixed on Jesus will be transformed and healed. It is a big ask. I hardly even understand the full extent of what I need here, as the psalmist experienced it, so I am praying lay Your hand on me and help me. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/a91_3VYRiZo?si=FRqzjofsW5rZvdc0 “Fill Thou My Life”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 22, 2024 -- Hebrews 5:7-8 -- Submitted to Jesus, Guided by the Spirit

While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.
Hebrews 5:7-8 ESV
 
Jesus is the Savior of ruined, broken sinners precisely because He too was fully human. Now, those of you who know something about the Bible might inwardly protest, but it was rigged, He is fully God as well. Yes, He is fully God and He is fully, perfectly human. It was not rigged. In His humanity, He was born, lived, suffered, rejoiced; basically, He experienced the range of human emotions and experiences, joys and trials that are common to all people.
 
You might think, why turn to Jesus? How can He help me? He knows hurt. He knows rejection. He offered prayers and pleadings with loud cries and tears to God. In the Old Testament book Isaiah, which foretold of the coming of Jesus and His life, it is stated “it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10 ESV). He is called “the Suffering Servant”. The point is that Jesus will endure more than any other human past, present, or future ever could. He, in complete reliance on the Holy Spirit, withstood every temptation and suffering and trial and rejection and pain and taunt and betrayal, and put His confidence in the Father. Every time. Always.
 
When you and I decide to submit our lives to the care of God as he guides us, we are not putting ourselves into the hands of some distant, cold, unfeeling deity. No way! We cry out to Jesus. Jesus Who knows how hard it is to be human and how much one must rely on the Holy Spirit. He never once failed at anything. But He walked among people who constantly failed, who were in dire need of a Savior, and as He was confirmed in obedience through what He suffered, He also grew in compassion and love for the people He had come to save. Think of the loneliness He must have experienced as the only, truly holy person. No one could understand Him, all would be confronted with His goodness and their own sinfulness would be all the more fully exposed. The Father’s decision to save sinners (His decision made before anything was created or existed) was Jesus’s purpose in coming to this planet. He would identify with people, intimately coming to know the weaknesses of being human. At the cross He became the sacrifice to which all the Old Testament pointed: the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.
 
When we submit our thoughts and actions, our plans and goals to God, He guides us by His Spirit so that we will be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to walk in the pathway of Jesus. When we endure suffering for His Name’s sake, this new life is confirmed in us. When we fail and are by His tender kindness renewed in the Father’s love, we grow in our dedication to Him. When we see how others around us fail, we are tempted to be brutal in our response to them but united to Jesus, we know perfectly well the weakness of our own human flesh. And, submitting ourselves to our Father, we pray for those who betray us, for those who seem to be our enemies, that we will more fully know and that they will come to know the power of Jesus, Who in His humanity, perfectly followed every command of His Father.
 
Father in heaven, You are glorious in majesty and profoundly patient in Your dealings with us, wayward and inconsistent people. We are rebellious. We fail. We sin. Thank You for Jesus, Who knows the weakness of humanity and simultaneously the strength of the Spirit. Send the Spirit to evermore fully live in us so that we will both be fully submitted to You and also follow the Word by which You guide us. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/9zGbdg1YCYY?si=vDo5qSrZnPPmABTo “Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 21, 2024 -- Philippians 2:3 --Wrapped Securely in Love

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3 ESV
 
Selfish ambition can be translated “electioneering”. Doesn’t that put a right spin on things in today’s politically fractured world?! Conceit means empty pride. The irascible, World War II era Prime Minister of Great Britain once said of an opponent, “He is a humble man with much to be humble about”. Ouch. We live in a world of one-upmanship.
 
Believers know that is not how Jesus lived. Paul, who wrote this letter to the Philippians, will call on people to be humble in all their dealings towards others. Jesus, the only man, Who from conception to death, was perfect in all His ways. Jesus is the one man among all who ever lived, Who had the right to be proud of Himself, instead, He counted others better than Himself. He poured out His life in service to God, even as the people around Him rejected Him, mocked Him, persecuted Him, betrayed Him and ultimately killed Him.
 
He was not a chump. He was not misguided. So, how could He live that way? His heart, soul and mind were firmly fixed on the Father in heaven. His whole life’s focus was bringing glory to God and delighting in Him forever. When believers submit their lives to the care of God as He guides them, they will not be comparing themselves with others. Their life’s focus will be to please the audience of One, the Father in heaven. The believer’s on-going source of joy is to know the LORD Who emptied heaven of the great treasure, so that in Jesus Christ your hostility against the Father would be torn down, and then He gave the Spirit to secure you in His love.
 
When you read the Bible and are so secure, so wrapped in the blanket of the Father’s love, it is made easy to love others. The sneering of others cannot harm you, because you have love that is unstoppable. The success of others does not bother you, because you know the Father’s infinite love is overflowing rushing into every part of your life. The life of those who are achieving more doesn’t bother you because you are loved by the Father and content in who He made you to be. You are concerned about the lives of those who are suffering because His love motivates you to welcome others to the warmth of His great embrace.
 
In view of the fact that you are so totally loved, so securely embraced by the Father’s salvific love, you can then

• hold up others as urgently in need of the Father’s love.

• You can humbly serve them because God’s great love is the lack in their lives which leads them in their own torment and twisted lives to be your enemy, or your tormenter, or your rival, or from your before-Jesus-past -life victim, or your victimizer.

• Live securely in the fact that when God’s justice was poured out on Jesus, your sins are wholly forgiven, and God’s love is what remains, you are aware that others have the need you had, the need to know their sins and all the sins committed against them are plunged beneath the healing flood of Jesus’s blood.

• As forgiven people knowing God will judge the living and the dead at the end of time, and His punishment will last through-out eternity against all who don’t embrace Him now, you will want people to stop hurting in the way you were hurting. You want people to know a forgiveness so vast, so incomprehensible, that you are secure enough to love them, your worst enemy, doing so even if it costs you your comfort, your possessions, your freedom or your life, because you have every comfort in Jesus. Your greatest treasure is being Jesus’s own beloved possession, your great freedom is not found in things, but in the Person of Jesus, your life however long or short it is finds great meaning in Jesus Who has already now given you life eternal.

• Being so loved, you pray for others with a dedicated fervor because have to holy desire that they would not, even a minute longer than necessary, be cold and unloved. That is too terrible to contemplate when the warmth of God’s love is so readily available.

 When we stop comparing ourselves with others, but instead live our lives based on the unending, unfathomable treasure of knowing Jesus, then we can reach out to others from this foundation of security. We don’t need to compare ourselves to them. We who were formerly starved for love and acted out of electioneering, hollow pride, are now filled to overflowing with the endless supply of Jesus’s unbreakable love, the result is we can reach out to others in love. As once we were starved for Divine love but are now endlessly satisfied in love that the Spirit supplies from the wells of Jesus’s salvation unto the glory of the Father, we urgently call out, kindly invite, and patiently lead to Jesus every now love-starved person we meet.
 
Father in heaven, by the dynamic presence of Your Spirit living in me, help me to be so wrapped in the security of Jesus’s love that all my insecurity and all my empty pride are continually driven out of me. As one who is so richly, widely, securely and deeply wrapped in the saving love of Jesus Christ move me to reach out to others in love. Help me to count others as superior to myself in their urgent need for the life-saving love of Jesus. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/u99cIiV2AHQ?si=Zxue1RCuuWEvCB_a Philippians 2:1-11
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 20, 2024 -- James 1:19 to 25 -- Where practice really does make perfect

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James 1:19-25 ESV
 
Let me ask you a question. Do you read the Bible, delight in God’s promises for you, and then, having read it, go and do whatever you want to do defying what you’ve just been instructed to do? You might be a bit offended by the very question. It is the same issue James is pressing against you today. He is commanding people not just to hear the word, but to do what it says.

Notice that believers are supposed to hire dumpster bins and toss out filthiness and wickedness. Pause here for a second. Ask yourself, “What are the things which interfere with my walk with God and keep me from enjoying to the full the righteousness that is mine in Christ?” It might be your anger. It could be the fact you gossip (what you say is true, but it is not helpful, or you speak it with the intention of ruining the reputation of others, or you want to make yourself look good at the expense of others). Filthiness and wickedness are shorthand to describe the “a” to “z” of all sinfulness. No doubt there is a lot of heart-cleaning that needs to happen so that your life is open to the implanted word.
 
What happens when the word of God is planted in you? The word is a life-filled, tenacious seed that will grow if given the least little bit of space in your heart and mind. If you find your bible reading times dull and the commands of God too demanding, it could very well be you are glancing at the bible like some people look in the mirror. Quick check before going out the door, and then never giving your appearance a thought again until you get home. But those who have the word implanted in them, who read and expect the Spirit of God to bring germination to the word so that it accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent out will

• be prepared for the word to convict them of wrong doing.

• The word will encourage the broken-hearted.

• The word will direct holy living.

• The word will guide the steps of a man so that he will be compelled to act as Jesus, His Master and Teacher, teaches him.

• The word will put steel in the spine of the man who suffers so that he can face all that the world can throw at him because God, Who loves him and lives in him, is greater.

• The word will show you the beauty of Jesus Christ so that old sins and patterns of behavior are revealed as rotting garbage that needs to be carried out.

 
Some of you know I really enjoy dad jokes. One of them goes something like this, “I’m not going back to my doctor because all he does is practice medicine.” Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, intentionally submit themselves to Jesus and practice what He teaches. His words bring blessedness into the life of the believer. We practice what He teaches to so that we will become perfect in Him. Believers hear and put into practice what He says and by doing that spread the blessedness of Jesus to all whom we meet.
 
Father in heaven, I need all the help Your Spirit can give me to remove all the garbage that has accumulated in my heart and mind. Bless me, my Savior, so that cleared and constantly being cleansed, my heart and mind will practice the word You implanted in me. Bring me to the place where the more I practice Your perfect law the greater will be fragrance of blessed freedom that You bring into my life and through me into the life the people You intend to bless. Amen.
 
 
https://youtu.be/DV-V4xZMQx0?si=oKyxcKZh7UPV9mK- “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 19, 2024 -- Amos 5:7 -- The forgiveness of Jesus lived out loud in believers

O you who turn justice to wormwood
    and cast down righteousness to the earth!
Amos 5:7 ESV
 
Perhaps it is important to start with an explanation of wormwood. The simplest way to approach it is to know that is can also be translated as “bitter fruit”. In his teaching on victim culture and how to overcome it, Michael Ramsey notes that many people pursue justice with bitterness. The result is when justice is achieved, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of all who see it. He accurately notes how many vengeance movies end with the victim rising and winning the day, the opponent is dead, and the now victorious victim says, “I thought I’d feel better”. When you pursue justice with bitterness, and justice is achieved, that justice is bitter to you and the people all around you.
 
Followers of Jesus Christ, when a man or a woman chooses to yield all of life to the care of God as He guides that person that person will be prepared to forgive as deeply and truly as Jesus taught believers to forgive. Consider this example. Two men, formerly the best of friends, have a falling out. One is so angry; his anger becomes resentment and rage. He rehearses and retells the story of all that was done to him until his soul is a hardened wall nearly impenetrable. By a wonderful act of grace, a friend of both the men convinces them to be reconciled. He helps break down the dividing wall of hostility and the men become civil towards one another. The man who’d rehearsed his resentment and rage may be reconciled, but he is still raging. Justice has become wormwood.
 
When believers forgive, as Jesus commanded His followers to forgive, there are a few things that happen.
 

• First of all, forgiveness means that the love of Jesus and His work at the cross is in view. Believers in Jesus Christ know forgiveness came at the cost of the great treasure of heaven, the Person of Jesus. Forgiveness is never cheap or easy. All real, deep, true forgiveness is only possible because of Jesus’s sacrifice at the cross.

• Second, as much as a sinner is forgiven by Jesus’s reconciling work, so much does that believer then long to express forgiveness to others. Love, the Father’s love expressed in Jesus, is ultimately the only motivation of reconciliation.

• Third, if the love of Christ and His mercy is in view when pursuing justice, then when justice is achieved, what is left is the love of the Father, mediated through the work of Jesus, and such lovingkindness descending from above is kept in place by the Holy Spirit Who resides in believers. Believers do not, after reconciliation, fall back into old, bitterness and wormwood, because the justice of God has been achieved through the love of Jesus and the Spirit of God keeps that deep and profound love ever in view. That is why believers sing Psalms and hymns of praise, to be reminded forgiveness is never cheap.

• Finally, forgiveness does not mean the consequences of sin are forgotten. When King David sinned against Uriah by sleeping with his wife and then killing Uriah, the LORD forgave David. But the child of David and Bathsheba’s illicit union died. Furthermore, as a direct consequence of his action, David introduced rebellion into his household and for the next part of his reign had to deal with sons who followed in the steps of his waywardness.

 
Ah, fellow believers who seek to walk in Jesus’s way of self-denial and cross-bearing, fix your eyes on Jesus Christ Who is the Pioneer and Perfector of all true believing. His Spirit will lead you deeper and farther into the immeasurable love of the reconciling love of Jesus so that all your desire is to be more fully known by and more fully know Him. In that quest, justice will never be bitter fruit, but in justice the fruit of the Spirit (which as Galatians 5:22-23a teaches is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).
 
Living so fully in the way of Jesus Christ will draw others to you, who wonder, how can you be so happy in Jesus when there is injustice all around you, or even when poisonous injustice is aimed at you? What a glorious opportunity for evangelism the Spirit presents to you. It is deep, true and authentic answering of genuine questions so that hearts which had been filled with wormwood now seek a cleansing which no earthly cure except Jesus could ever provide.
 
Father in heaven thank You for the riches of heaven given in Jesus so that wicked rebellious people are by Him brought reconciled and forgiveness to You. Father, I know the rebellious raging boiling of bitter fruit of wicked unforgiveness that wants to take control of my heart. I confess only Your Spirit can take that overheating pot off the stove and in its place bring the soothing fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Even as I pray this, it is impossible for me to achieve it. I submit myself to You, completely, unreservedly, so that the healing which the Spirit brings in Jesus is what I can receive as the real costly gift of the Father’s forgiveness. Then, as one forgiven, I will be strengthened to forgive and walk in the fullness of life God has ordained for me, so that what is flowing from me and overflowing from the life of others who believe will be the peace of Christ reaching to the four corners of the earth. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/Tu2uA6U4Fxg?si=xmTzHEp369ciOXX1 And Can It Be?
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 18, 2024 -- Matthew 5:43-35 -- Loving your enemies. Seriously?!

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:43-45 ESV
 
No way. Impossible you say. This is too hard. It is hard enough to love people who are like us how can we possibly love someone who is cruel, relentlessly mean or is trying to publicly humiliate us? Dear fellow Christian, begin with the fact that you once were hostile to God, enemies to Him in your mind, your heart and constantly proved this by your actions. What did God do? He proved Himself greater than your rebellion, hostility and venomous heart. He reconciled you to Himself through the work of Jesus Christ at the cross.
 
When you realize you were an enemy to God and in His great love and persistent patience He did not leave you in your vile hatred of Himself, but in Jesus overcame your hostility and your sin and your guilt, so that by the Spirit’s power you rise to new life and you can in Jesus overcome that human desire to return evil for evil. Ah, but now you are a new creation. God has taken hold of you. In love He calls you His beloved son and dearest daughter. As such, you have the greatest power in the universe to help you overcome evil with good.
 
As many of you will recognize, I am following the 90 days of the “Overcomers” material. Overcomers is a Bible-based 12-step recovery program. Today’s devotion tracks with Day 24, Loving my enemies. I often think Christians who fill the pews week after week would do well to have a hard look at themselves and put into practice the Biblical principles that are contained in this material. It is too easy to say we are Christians, but not to live out our Christian faith in a tangible, obvious and real way. Loving our enemies is a clear sign that a believer is submitting his life to the care of God has He guides him (Step 3).
 
Notice what today’s text adds. Not only are you to love your enemies, but you are also to pray for those who persecute you. Praying for someone is a clear sign that you are trusting God to work His mighty power in the life of that other person. Praying for someone is an act of love; it shows you are matching your helplessness to His All-Powerfulness. He can work in you that very thing you couldn’t accomplish on your own: loving your enemies.
 
Finally, the text notes “so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven”. First off, in Jesus’s day, sons inherited property, the eldest received a double portion of the inheritance. Second, as believers we are adopted by the Father through Jesus Christ, and that means we are co-inheritors with Him. What Jesus has received as the Perfect One, Who loved His enemies and prayed for them, that is the inheritance and blessedness to be given to all who walk in His ways. Finally, when we love in such a radical way, we prove ourselves by our actions to be the children of God. The expression of such holy living confirms to us and confirms to the people around us that it is true, by God’s power in us, we are completely new. The old, bitter, sinful self is done away with, and we are so confident in God’s love toward us and His power in us, we are able to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
 
Father in heaven, thank You for the great privilege of calling You Father. As one adopted through the work of Jesus Christ, I freely confess I love to be called Your child, but I am struggling to see how I could possibly love the people who are mean, consistently ignorant, or worse, those who are persecuting me. By Your Spirit’s power, let the words of Jesus sink deep into my soul. Change my attitude and reform my behavior so that, in conformity with Jesus, through Whom I have this new life, I will like Him love my enemies and become a prayer warrior towards those who persecute me. I need Your help for this, now, and through-out the day. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/__voVCEZo3w?si=wQQwS4VSqeCCJnZt “Teach Me Thy Way O Lord”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 16, 2024 -- Matthew 22:36-38 -- Loved enough to love others

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:36-38 ESV

No doubt you know these verses quite well. Which one of these two commandments is easier? Is it easier to love God Whom you haven’t seen except by the eyes of faith, or is it easier to love your neighbour? There is a deeper issue that this text points to as well. Your love for the Lord your God requires the realisation that your heart is supposed to be a polished mirror, reflecting back to Him His great, ceaseless love for you. As you know you are loved, made strong enough by the Spirit’s presence in your heart to know you are deeply loved, so much then will you be able to reflect love from your heart to your Father in heaven.
 
Do you truly love yourself? Do you love your neighbour? Here’s an easy test. Imagine you have a dark secret hidden away in your heart, one that embarrasses you. What are the chances that you’d post your own secret about yourself on social media? What are the chances you’d spread it around your social circle? Nil. Nada. No way! You don’t spread gossip about yourself because you love yourself and you want to protect your reputation. Ah, now you see what it means to love your neighbour. You guard her reputation. You care for his feelings. You put a stop to the rumours going on about them.
 
That aboundingly rich love of God which has changed your heart towards Him also changes your heart towards others so that embraced by His love, you will see others with new eyes. You would not harm your own reputation nor gossip about yourself. Your neighbour’s good and his reputation is now as dear to you as your own good and reputation therefore, in view of Who God Is and His love for you and His love for your neighbour you carefully guard him as much as you guard yourself.
 
Step Three in the life of the Overcomer is this: “I decide to submit my life to the care of God as He guides me”. One side of that submission to His care is the daily renewing of oneself in God’s great love. Day 23 of the Overcomers Workbook has this title “Accepting God’s Love” (Overcomers Workbook, Canadian Bible Society, 2022 page 56). You can measure the extent to which a man or a woman or a child knows himself to be loved by God by the confidence he has in God and the kindness with which he treats others. One loved by God, aware that his life is drenched in the love of God, will lead a life that overflows in love and kindness to others.
 
Former addicts, and all those who were in the stranglehold of life-controlling sins, know the sweet power of God’s rescue and release. It is His love which broke the stranglehold of the Devil’s power and blew up and did away with our own warped devotion to the very things that were killing us. As those self-aware enough to realize these things, we are patient, kind, loving towards those who know God’s love and equally important we are patient, kind, and loving to those who are still struggling in the ways in which we used to struggle. Seeing their helplessness, and remembering our own, we long to bless them in exactly the same way in which we ourselves have been blessed. That is what it looks like to accept God’s love and in turn reflect it to others. We are just shining His love, the riches of it which we have received and to whomever we look the radiance of Jesus’s love for us spills out.
 
Father in heaven, I confess I am greedy for Your love to be poured out on me. More of it, gracious God, pour out more. At the same time, ashamed, I have to admit I’d rather horde Your love than pour it out generously to others in my life. Sure, maybe people who already love me or are in my close circle of friends, but to liberally cascade Your love over the life of others who are still bound in the enemy’s power, I admit it is too hard for me. Spirit of God, break down the dividing walls of hostility that deaden my heart; open me up to receive the healing downpour of God’s love so that from the vast reservoir of Jesus’s love which You have opened up in me, I will then easily, freely, and generously love others. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/4-GM9w6IA2M?si=OR836shpRRIV4MeJ How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 15, 2024 -- Ephesians 3:13-19 -- Can God really, I mean truly, love me?

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:13-19 ESV
 
Look at what is being balanced here. At verse 13 Paul asks the Ephesians, the people receiving this letter of encouragement, not to be discouraged or lose hope because of what he is suffering for them. On the other side of the balance  he is pointing out to them the weight of God’s incredible, unstoppable love.
 
 It is easy to lose heart, that is, to give up, when we’re following Jesus. One reason is when we suffer, and we begin to think of all our sins, how bad they are, and the how bad we are. Then the next step is so easy, we ask the question why would God ever love me? There is nothing worthy in me for His love to latch onto. I graphically and painfully know all my own failures, and there are lots of them I’ve even forgotten. Now more loudly and persistently the nagging question rages how could God ever love me?
 
Paul’s prayer found here in today’s text is quoted lots of times in the Christian community because believers realize he modeled in this prayer the need struggling Christians have for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is stronger than fears, stronger than guilt, stronger than doubts, stronger than any power which would cause the believer to fall away from the love of God. Paul modeled a prayer which asked that believers be strengthened by the Holy Spirit so they can understand a spiritual truth which is not available to human reason alone.
 
God’s love is anchored in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. I don’t have to try and hang on to God’s love like a man who’s fallen and is holding onto the edge of a cliff with fingers that are losing their grip and slipping. God’s love for you and for me is rock-solid, firm in the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. Your faith may be stronger some days but weak and weaker many more days, but dearly loved children of the Father it is not the strength of your faith that wins the day. It is Him in Whom you have placed your faith Who wins the day.  Jesus is All-Mighty in power. His Spirit is the Person living in You Who is the conduit of Jesus power. God’s love is yours in Christ and it is deep, true and real.
 
The fact is, the Father in heaven knows the absolute worst there is to know about you and knew unless His love was set on you in Christ, you’d be lost to the darkness of the Devil’s clutches and headed for hell. The fact is the Father provided the universe’s ultimate power to bring you to Himself: that accomplished work of Jesus. He sealed Jesus’s power in you by the Holy Spirit. You are loved.
 
Now, on dark days and times when you wonder can God love me? Look to this text and preach it to your soul by reading it over and over again. You are God’s and there is no power in heaven, on earth, in the oceans or out there in the furthest reaches of the unknown cosmos that can snatch you away from there. Be assured of His love. And so assured, pray to Him with thanks. Sing hymns and songs and psalms to God, not because He needs it, but because these are the means by which God will drive the assurance of His love deeper into your heart, farther into your mind and thus warm your soul which easily grows cold with unwarranted fears.
 
Prayer
 
Father in heaven, You already know the rebellious sinfulness of my heart and the traumas that resulted from the waves of sin and louder than these is the testimony of Your word is that You love me. It is almost too hard to take hold on and really believe. In the roller coaster ride of my faith, lead me in the Truth that Your love is not based on me, but on the accomplished work of Jesus. As You’ve promised, seal that love in me by Your Spirit. On my strongest days, let me sing praises to You and bless You. On my weakest days, hold me in the embrace of Your love until the storms of doubt and the waves of shame lose their power. Every day, add to my faith, my hope and my love, bit by bit, so that I will respond to Your love with greater assurance and confidence. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/a91_3VYRiZo?si=-4EgrvYcub6gPx-S Fill Thou My Life
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 14, 2024 -- Psalm 23:4 -- What does God think of you?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 ESV
 
Believers willingly, intentionally submit their lives to God and look to Him to direct them in His loving care. No doubt you know Psalm 23 very well. The soaring, opening statements of being led to still waters and invited to bed down in the abundance represented by green pastures are soothing to the soul. Interesting, the Good Shepherd does not leave His sheep in the place of ease. He will lead them.
 
The valley of the shadow of death is the place where the follower of Jesus Christ denies his old sins and temptations and addictions. It is death to self. It is death to the tyranny of heart and mind and yielded obedience to the wisdom of the Shepherd Who has already provided so many good, soul-restoring things. Walking with Him through the valley of the shadow of death promises He has still more in store for you. Follow where He leads.
 
The valley of the shadow of death is the place of instruction. When someone is lost, or in crisis, or experiencing confusion and there is a reliable leader nearby, he will gladly cling to that experienced leader for instruction and rescue.
 
The valley of the shadow of death is the place where the light of the Shepherd shines most brightly. He Who is the Light of the World pierces the darkness of failure and brokenness and leads His people in victory. It is like the forty years in the wilderness when Israel was going through the wilderness in their Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. You read of the many, oh so many, times when they sinned. Murmured. Complained. If they’d have only looked up they’d have seen His fiery pillar of cloud at night leading them.
 
The valley of the shadow of death is where believers find deepest community. Rich communion with the Good Shepherd and deep, true blessedness in the company of others who cling to Him as well. Prayers become sweeter when shared with fellow pilgrims who know their urgent need for the Living God.
 
What does God think of you? He loves you so perfectly, so truly that He sent His Son from heaven to rescue you from the Egypt of your sins. He provided the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for you. He directs you, by day and by night. His Spirit makes the beauty of the Word so vibrantly real that self-doubt and the pressures of the world and the wiles of the devil are exposed as mere shadows before His mighty, tender, power.
 
Father in heaven, thank You for the Good Shepherd, Whose presence is life and peace. Thank You for the Holy Spirit Who lifts our eyes from circumstances and troubles so that we can instead see Him Who is the Light of Life. Thank You, Father, for the people You have placed in our lives who, in Jesus’ Name, walk with us through the storms of life, assuring us of Your goodness and love. Amen.

https://youtu.be/OoojA0cLPWY?si=Z5XvstW0er_jO24Z Psalm 23 Shane and Shane
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 12, 2024 -- Psalm 34:14 -- What are you chasing after?

Turn away from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:14 ESV
 
Funny, how when you are flying you can peek over the shoulder of the man in the seat in front of you and catch a glimpse of his little TV screen. I went from Moncton to Kansas City yesterday, lots of flying time and lots of fragmented TV from the screens around me. There is one guy, glued to his set. Whatever movie the guy was watching was an action flick. I could just see bits and pieces of it, but whenever I happened to glance over, and of course have no sound, it is jarring and disconnected, there were car chases etc. The dramatic ending was something big blowing up and the hero of the movie stoically walking away from the inferno and blasts while debris falling all around him. I thought of that as I read this text this morning.
 
For many of us our entertainment is violent. There is a celebration of evil. Murder mysteries. Video games. Horror flicks. Music that is inappropriate and the words, whoa now, if you really stopped and considered them, you’d be embarrassed by them in polite company. Even around not so polite company you’d realize how vile they are.
 
David, the psalm-writer, had put himself into a right, proper mess. He’d gone to a foreign king for help and realized he’d put himself into the hands of a wicked man. He’d blown up his life and he’d inappropriately trusted in people rather than in God. Isn’t that like so many people in our world who blow up their lives?  Adultery. Children by different dads. The necessary intervention of Child Protective Services. Abuse. Gossip. Abusers. Malice. Addictions. Inwardly cheering over the failures of others. The list is endless.
 
The point of this Psalm is that God brings order out of chaos. When David realized his wrongdoing and escaped, he turned to God Who is his boast and help. As Christians, it is our duty and our purpose to walk with people who have blown up their lives. (I mean, what other result could there be but destruction and chaos and infernos when we think we are in charge of our lives and then act on our impulses and feelings and wobbly moral codes?)
 
Believers meet with those who are standing in the post-destruction ruin of their lives and bring the good word and work of Jesus. Believers help such folks find peace. Peace with God the Compassionate One. This peace comes through the reconciling work of Jesus. Peace within their own hearts, conquering the realization that their mess is of their own making and the only rescue possible will have to be divine—the All-Mighty Power of the LORD—so that true healing and reconstruction can begin. Peace with other people. Where sin reigned, there will be a trail of brokenness and malice and twisted, smoldering lives. The peace of Christ will rule on the heart of believers and that peace is meant to be extended, shared, so that the reign of Christ overturns the works of the Devil. It is possible. It is why believers preach the Gospel.
 
Pursue it. I don’t know about you, but I easily, all too easily, give up. I am easily overwhelmed by the messes I can make in my life—let alone be confronted with the epic disasters of the people around me. But isn’t that why Jesus came to this earth? We were utterly, are completely, will be astoundingly unable to fix our lives. We don’t even know where to begin. But God, rich in mercy, gave His Son Jesus to destroy the work of the Devil and the wickedness of the world, and the warped nature in us that always led us astray.
 
Jesus is the Rescue Story. His Spirit draws us away from evil, so that we confess it, know what it is and learn to hate it. The Spirit plants the Word deep in us so that we can recognize the traps of the Deceiver and the wiles of the world. The Spirit applies the reconciling peace of Jesus into the most tender, ruined, destroyed places of our lives and out of the wreckage forges a new life beyond our present ability to understand.
 
Ah, fellow believer, do not give up. Today, seek the peace of Jesus Christ, pursue it in your own life and the Father in heaven will bring to you others who can identify with you, are drawn to you and your circumstances and will wonder, “Can I have that sort of transformation in my life?” Oh yes you can! It is the free gift of God.
 
Prayer
 
The Bible proves You are the LORD Who delivers people out of all their afflictions and troubles. You redeem the life of Your servants. In fact, Jesus taught that You no longer call us servants, but friends, and then sons and daughters, adopted by God! Precious Jesus rescue me from all my fears, sins, and failures. Spirit of God as the peace of Christ takes hold of me and I am strengthened to do good and pursue God, then make me aware of those You bring into my life who are themselves in need of Jesus’s rescue. I pray that last bit with some fear, knowing how small and weak I really am—for this to happen You really have to be all my strength and hope all day and every day. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/6WtV1XtqsW0?si=pD-PY-i6TqVmExIS Chain Breaker — Zach Williams
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 11, 2024 -- Matthew 5:2-12 -- Guided by God

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:2-12 ESV
 
Does your life really matter? How you answer that question is huge. It has implications for every area of your life. There are radical secularists, the prophets of today, who teach you are merely evolved pond scum. You are here by chance. You are the result of random evolution. When you die there is nothing. Those who follow Jesus know this to be a hideous lie, straight from hell, meant to keep you from fulfilling your purpose. Jesus declared those who know Him to be blessed. It is not something they earned. This blessed condition springs from knowing Him and results in the believer fulfilling the purposes for which he or she was created.
 
The humble, or poor in spirit, are blessed because their ego and pride do not get in the way of fully receiving the Kingdom of God.
 
The ones who mourn over their sinful condition and hate the many ways in which their every intention of doing good keeps getting thwarted and they find themselves in so many messes. They’ll be comforted because in the confession of their sinful condition the help of heaven is wedded to their weakness. Their sins are forgiven. They rise to follow Jesus.
 
The meek are the ones who though they have strength to do so, do not use their words or their abilities to manipulate others or try to get their own way. The meek submit their will to the care of God and willingly offer the use all their talents, gifts and abilities to bring glory to Him Who rescued them from the power of darkness and brought them into the Kingdom of Christ our Lord.
 
When you belong to Jesus, you’ll find your desires change. Your interests are purified. Your hobbies are used to bless others. You are hungering to live a way radically different from how you lived before. Your desires can only be fulfilled in knowing Jesus more fully and more perfectly and well, just knowing Him more.
 
As you read through these beatitudes (that is just a fancy way of saying the lists of blessed’s) you’ll realize you have been made into a new creation in Christ—the old desires and sinful lusts and hidden agendas are being exposed as fraudulent ways of living which hijacked any chance you had at a fulfilled life. The more you empty yourself of old lusts, old desires, addictions and life-controlling issues, the more of you is available to walk in the blessedness which Christ has in store for you. The Holy Spirit, living in you, is bringing you more fully into faith-filled obedience to Jesus.
 
It is hard work, actively, daily subduing the impulses of your past life. The fact that you recognize lingering disobedience in yourself, and impulses that are out-of-alignment with God’s design for you are signs that the Holy Spirit is taking charge of your life. What is exposed to the light of Christ can be disposed by the Spirit’s work in you. The Spirit’s goal is to work cooperatively with you to bring every area of your heart, your mind, your actions and your attitudes into submission to Jesus so that, with the Psalmist, you can declare, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places (Psalm 16:5-6). Staying within the bounds of God’s plan and design for me is the place of greatest blessedness. There will be trials and hardships, but all of this will be used like hammer blows in a forge to shape more perfectly for the purposes God has for you.
 
Prayer
 
In the back of my mind there is the niggling question “do I really matter”? It is crowded out by the thought that perhaps God is busy with other people, but I am not a high priority to Him. Thank You, Father in heaven, for the words of this passage which show me the many ways in which You bless Your people in Jesus Christ. Thank You for the Spirit Who is working in me and aiding me to expose the places where the deeds of darkness linger so that these words, attitudes, and actions can be disposed of. Thank You for this new life which is mind in Christ. Thank You that my life matters to You and I am precious in Your sight. Thank You for the people who will be influenced by my life, exposed to the work of the Redeemer in my life, someone who they know. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/z-yJ3xMVUDI?si=nVFWDOrLr1ga8sd_ Whate’er My God Ordains
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 10., 2024 -- Ephesians 2:1-6 -- Raised to new life, not zombie life, but real life in Christ

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…
Ephesians 2:1-6 ESV
 
One of the strange quirks of ministry is how often I am exposed to dead bodies. Family have requested me to be present as a much-loved member of the family was dying. For about fifteen years I was a police chaplain and I’d be privileged to go on ride-alongs. There were a couple of times when a 911 call came in and the officer I was accompanying was required to go to a place where a body was found.
 
There is something so strange that happens when a living, breathing person becomes a corpse. When the animation of life is suddenly gone, there are so many changes that take place. It is obvious one who is dead can not be revived. Why focus on this? Because before God took hold of us, we were dead in the putrefying work of sin. We were utterly unable to do anything for ourselves. I love that disjunctive word “but”. As you read along the description of death, but God (Who is infinitely strong, merciful and great in love) would not leave His child in the grip of death. It is the love of the Father for His chosen people which raises them from death to life.
 
Can God love me? This passage answers with a resounding YES! God has shown you His immeasurable love in Christ, raising you from death—not like in zombie movies or like a Frankenstein monster kind of life. When the Father raised you from death to life He broke the stranglehold of sin. Though sin may remain, it doesn’t reign anymore. He Who raised you up in Christ will also continually vivify you by His Spirit. He made you alive, so that you can fulfill the holy purposes for which He created you.
 
Why mention this? You are loved. That is the reason believers go to church as well. In exuberant thanksgiving to God, it is our ardent desire to praise God and bless Him for bringing us from death to life in Christ. When a saint sins, it is powerful to confess that sin and know, from the tip of your toes to the very top of your head know, that God is not done with you yet. He is making you holy, all of you, holy. You can state it this way, He is working in you so that you will one day be wholly holy. It won’t happen in this lifetime, but when Jesus returns, or when you lay down your mortal remains at death you will immediately, in the twinkling of an eye, find yourself with the saints around the throne worshiping Jesus. Confirming the love of God, which is greater than your doubts, greater than your past, greater than the sinfulness which still lingers and occasionally leads you astray (but only as far as the restraining grace will allow).
 
Saints sings hymns and sing Psalms (putting to music the 150 Psalms of the Bible) and spiritual songs because the Truth of the Father’s love given to us in Christ and guarded in us by the Holy Spirit must work itself deep into our soul, crowding out the lies of the Devil. You want to sing. You want to express such love divine. Since He raised you from death to life, you desire to use your life to bless Him and thank Him and as you contemplate Him in song, grow in love toward Him, the soul’s reward and the heart’s joy.
 
Father in heaven Who is like You? There is none and nothing in all the universe comparable to You. You are compassionate, rich in mercy and steadfast in Your great love. Thank You for the life You give us in Jesus Christ. Thank You for the Spirit Who is leading us in all Truth. When I falter in my confidence, lead me to confess my sins and turn from them. Let Your Spirit’s voice drown out my fears and insecurities and remind me that I am deeply loved, in Your love that is steady, true and never-ending. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/EMvfX-ajxA4?si=tKcNG3Vxm0zSQaFz My Soul Finds Rest (Psalm 62)
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 9, 2024 -- II Thessalonians 2:13-17 -- Drawn to Jesus, like iron to a magnet

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
II Thessalonians 2:13-17 ESV
 
Secrets. Think about all the secrets you had to keep while you were welded to sin and chained to life-controlling behaviors. You’d lie about how you spent money. You’d lie about how you spent your time. You’d lie about liking people to manipulate them into giving you what you wanted. You’d lie to yourself. All the while your own selfish desires, directed by the Devil and the world were crushing the life out of you. How do you break this pattern?
 
Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy were together as Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians. First, when you submit your life to the care of God, you find yourself in true, deep, honest community. That is modeled by the fact these three men were together. It is exemplified in the fact that they know the Thessalonians so well they can write directly, addressing their strengths and failures. They write to strengthen what is good and to expose what is yet sinful.
 
The lies that once ruled you must be exposed. What is exposed can be deposed. Christian friends, who themselves know the power of old sins and wayward lusts, will not let you fall back into old patterns and habits. They know the power of sin…thanks be to God, they know the greatest power Who is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
 
Second, believers are “firstfruit”. The Thessalonians were among the first believers. Their example inspired others to believe. As you note in the blessing at the end of today’s passage, the grace of God established them in every good work and word. When you believe, your life becomes a powerful influence for good in the life of others.
 
The late theologian John Gerstner noted that being a Christian is like being a magnet for Jesus. Those who God the Father appointed for eternal life in Jesus Christ are like iron. When you, who know Jesus, pass by those who do not yet believe, you’ll see that by Spirit’s power in you, you pull them to Jesus, just like a magnet pulls up iron. God has appointed such persons for life, and God has appointed you to be the means through which He saves them. It is privilege and joy for all involved and brings glory to God. Be prepared for the fact there will be people in your life as well who are not pulled up from worldliness toward Jesus. They are hardened against God and refuse the Gospel.
 
Finally, look for opportunities to serve God. In your addictions and guided by the stranglehold of former sins, you looked for opportunities to indulge yourself. Now, as a new creation in Jesus Christ, look for opportunities to express your new life in Christ by blessing, helping and serving the people He has placed in your life. Interestingly, the more you serve, the more God uses you to build up the body of Christ. The more you serve, the more you’ll be confirmed as His beloved daughter or son. What a glorious, magnificent God we serve. Blessed be His Name, now and forevermore.
 
Father in heaven, it is hard to really see myself as I am, a person attracted as iron to a magnet, drawn to Jesus. I confess even as I am drawn to Him, I still look behind me to old paths and wicked ways. By Your Spirit working in me, open my eyes to see the ways in which I can bless the people You have placed in my life, thereby drawing them to Jesus and simultaneously confirming the good work of salvation which You are bringing into full effect in every area of my life. Father in heaven, send Your Spirit in ever greater measure to increase my love for Jesus, so that I see Him as the Rock of my salvation and the anchor of my soul. Thank You, gracious God, for the people You’ve placed in my life who have by their actions and care towards me, made Jesus real to me Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/a91_3VYRiZo?si=QLtV9aSULaLWXPtV “Fill Thou My Life”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 7, 2024 -- I Timothy 1:18-20 -- What do you really believe about yourself? Now who are you in Jesus?

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I Timothy 1:18-20 ESV
 
Dear family in the Lord Jesus Christ, off and on through these regular devotions we have been walking the path of the Overcomer’s 12 steps. This is material I teach in one Federal Prison and one Provincial Jail. The 12-Step material is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the original material was Bible-based. Overcomers has adapted the steps so that they do, once again, reflect a Christian-based recovery. Those who do not have problems with alcohol, or drugs, things usually linked with 12-step programs do, still, have life-controlling issues, or sins. It can be gluttony. Or anger. Gossip. Sexually motivated sins. The fact is, Christians must, daily, struggle against their sin nature. 
 
Step One
I admit I am powerless over the issue controlling my life.
 
Step Two
I acknowledge my belief that God, the source of all power, restores me on my journey to freedom from addictions and life-controlling issues.
 
Step Three
I decide to submit my life to the care of God as he guides me.
 
That third step is today’s focus. On Day 20 of the Overcomer’s Workbook, the student reads
     What we do is always rooted in what we believe. When we are
     stuck in a pattern of doing things that harm us, it is because of
     how we think about ourselves, our actions, and our worth. If
     you believe you are not worthy of safety or that you deserve the
     pain you are experiencing, you will not be as motivated to find
     a way out of your circumstances.
Overcomers Workbook, Day 20, page 49
 
Look at the dynamite of Scripture. It explodes all your false beliefs about yourself and then reveals who you are in Christ. Timothy had prophesies spoken over him. You have the eternal decree of God—from before the creation of the world, God chose you in the Beloved, Jesus. You are precious, chosen of God.
 
God has given you the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of this new life. You do not have to go back to the old sins, the former patterns of wickedness. You are not captive in Satan’s prison, you are now alive in Christ and have a freedom that is new to you, wonderful, and kept for you in heaven. This fact is sure because Jesus, the Captain of your Salvation, is seated at the Father’s right hand, praying for you. He is guarding your new life in the throne-room of power, where the Devil can never snatch you from the embrace of the Father.
 
On the basis, not of your success or failure in walking with God, but on the basis of Jesus’s perfect life, His sinlessness, so that He is the accepted sacrifice before God, the One that atones for all your sins—past, present, and future—you have confidence to rethink who you are. You are not defeated. You are no longer in the domain of darkness, the Father has through Jesus, brought you out of the darkness and placed you in the Kingdom of the Son He loves. He Who is mighty has the power, the will and the love necessary to guard you in your new life.
 
You fight your battles by praising God. Sounds weird, right? The weapons of our warfare are not ordinary, human tools. But as we sing to God, blessing and praising Him, our minds are conformed to the newness of life that is ours in Christ. As we pray to God, the Spirit, Who guards this deposit of new-life-in-Christ within us, engages our attention, our mind, our action and our soul so that we turn away from sin and towards Jesus. By the way, that is why I almost always link a Christian hymn or song to these devotions. To encourage you to explore your walk with God through music. Learning these hymns and spiritual songs displaces the all-too-influential blather of the worldly music that is currently infesting your mind and the more you listen the more it is corrupting your soul.
 
Holding faith means you examine your words, your thoughts, the actions you are about to undertake and ask yourself, is this what a soldier of Jesus would do? I am a soldier in Jesus’s army. If what I am doing is wrong, ask yourself “Why would I fight for the Devil, who hates me and seeks to destroy my life?” The wily old Devil holds up shiny charms to distract you and hisses out lying promises to get you to collude with him. Every single time he speaks, he lies. According to Jesus, lies are his native language. So, holding onto your faith, you expose the lies of Satan that have long deceived you so that you are heart, soul, mind, and body serving Jesus.
 
Be warned. There are many all around you, people who seemed to be faithful and true, who make a shipwreck of their faith. In Timothy’s day there was the example of Hymenaeus and Alexander. No doubt you can think of people who seemed to be doing fine, acted like those who are members of the family of God, and then one day went rogue and started firing against their own side. How do you know you are not, like them, about to go rogue? Well, you hate your sin. You feel convicted when you commit them. You experience shame before God and want to be cleansed.
 
Today, tear down the lies that would hold you captive. You have decided to submit your life to the care of God as He guides you. Then let Him guide you. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Stay close to Christian friends who keep you accountable. Change the music you are listening to and get connected with some good, Christian music that burrows deep into your soul so that you are motivated to find a way out of your circumstances through the overcoming victory that is already yours through Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfector of your faith.
 
God, all too often I can’t seem to lift my eyes to You. I know I’ve failed. Again. I confess to You, I have failed too many times to count. Jesus, You promised You are a doctor for those in need. Like a doctor You have been sent by the compassion of the Father to minister His healing to those who are sick of heart, mind and soul. Jesus, heal me. Spirit, lead me from the ruins of my past and the smoldering wreck I make of my life and bring me to the fortress of Jesus’s redeeming grace. Lead me my whole life through. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/QPX5tt480Q8?si=5zqCKtgtrBhxKI1D “Lead Me, Guide Me”
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

November 6, 2024 -- Psalm 37:3-5 -- All In for Jesus!

 Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LOD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
trust in him and he will act.
Psalm 37:3-5 ESV
 
There are three commands piled up one after another here. The first is to trust in the LORD. When sinners turn from their sins and find Jesus to be their Rescue and Salvation, there is such relief. Inevitably, it is short lived because they are familiar with wicked habits and dishonest thinking to be renewed in this glorious salvation requires the believer to disentangle himself from old ways of thinking. It is a daily decision, responding to the imperative here as you preach to your heart and declare: “today, I will trust You, the Living God, Who saves me”.
 
The second command is that odd, hard to explain phrase, delight yourself in the LORD. In the past your addictions and sins led you down sinful paths where you’d secretly indulge in something you knew was destructive, but like a moth to a porchlight, you threw yourself against that light, damaging yourself more and more with each clash against the glass casing. Now, knowing the LORD is wholesome, the source of all good, in fact He alone is what your heart truly desires. How often have you stood in front of the open door of the fridge, having overindulged in sweets and snacks, feeling full, but still needing something. Protein. Nourishment. The foods didn’t satisfy, and your body is telling you ‘you need something different’. When the believer delights himself in the LORD, all his past overindulgences are proven to be empty calories, useless treks towards emptiness and shame. Ah, but God, Who is infinite, Who is greater than all your imaginings, He Who made you knows you were made to know Him, love Him, and in worship find all your satisfaction in Him alone. Delighting in Him brings you in line with the purpose of your creation.
 
Speaking your delight to God, praising Him and singing to Him, doesn’t stroke God’s ego or like some puny, Greek god, maintain his existence. Or, like all those silly Santa stories, there is something like a “believe-o-meter” out there which when tipping higher gives him greater power. What stuff and nonsense. No. God the Glorious, Compassionate One, is always, perfectly in community as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He needs nothing. However, people made in His image, are complete when salvation joy of the heart is expressed to Him. Delighting in God, confirms Him to your souls as the Deliverer from the strongholds of death, the Resurrection and the Life, Who alone is can satiate your heart, mind and soul.

As you trust in Him and daily decide to make Him all your delight you will find it easier and easier to recommit your way to Him. It is a decision you make at every temptation, “I have decided to follow Jesus, I will not engage this temptation but will now again recommit my way to Him”. What a glorious promised is appended to that, “He will act”. The hook in the temptations will be exposed. The ugly conclusion of your sins will be evident. God will act so that you can not help but walk in purity and joy—the result of obeying commands to trust in Him, to delight yourself in Him and continually recommit your way to Him means He will act in ways that are obvious to you. (For He is always acting for your good, His hand of mercy and kindness have always been drawing you closer to Himself).
 
Trust leads to delight. Delight leads to commitment. Seeing God act as you commit yourself to Him leads to deeper trust. He is healing you. He is teaching you a whole new way of living. Ah, submit your life to the care of God and know He will guide you in all truth, all delight and make committing yourself to Him all the more reasonable and evermore intensely desirable.
 
Oh God, salvation and righteousness are found in You alone! You are the stronghold of Your people in bad times, and You are the resort of eternal pleasures here and now and forevermore. Triune God, help us so that what we are in Christ will blossom and our trust in You will fill every decision. Spirit, clarify our vision so that it is obvious it is only in full, willing obedience to God, and in Him only, one finds the fountain of life and the river of delights. Jesus, You poured Yourself out, unstintingly, Your whole life, suffering, and death bringing glorify to God and You opened the way for believers to be called sons and daughters of God. Help us to start fresh every day, every time it is necessary, to commit ourselves to You alone, by the Power of Your Spirit living in us, and this to the glory of the Father. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/mtUVJiDsFvQ?si=biK31qWOZqVfU_-k Sing Hallelujah to the LORD
 

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.