My Sheep Hear My Voice

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27)

What a precious promise from the Word of God! And yet, I think it's something we struggle with. We're so afraid of hearing amiss, making a mistake, or hearing the wrong voice that we can become afraid. The truth is that the Holy Spirit dwells in the people of God. We should be able to hear God's voice. We're not going to hear perfectly. We'll make some mistakes. I don't always hear everything my wife tries to tell me either but that doesn't negate the fact that she does talk to me.

Jesus said "My sheep hear my voice." Take Him at His word. Fear of not hearing or hearing amiss is a huge hindrance. If you are unsure that it is God speaking you will stay paralyzed. God can deal better with you when you are willing to try, even if you fail. What good does it do God to speak to you if you will never act on it? Believe today, by faith, that you can hear His voice! Jesus said we do!

Renew Your Mind

Many years ago when I worked in a lab we had something called an eyewash station. Its purpose is pretty obvious -- if you splashed something toxic in your eyes you could run to the eyewash station and wash out your eyes.

We live in a pretty toxic world these days. We take in a lot of input that is poisonous to our minds. Television, radio, the internet, books and magazines, and the people around us will all throw ideas and opinions our way that are contrary to the Word of God. While we can be careful about what we watch, read or listen to it is impossible to be completely insulated. Nor do we need to be.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)

The Word of God is like our eyewash station. The more we feed on it the more it changes us and renews our minds as we meditate on it and do it. The Word of God washes out the poison that the world lays on us. We will frequently face attitudes and actions that are contrary to what God has said. From the local gossip who works to get you to participate with them to your favorite TV show that tells you to look out for number one we are constantly presented with ideas and attitudes that the enemy will use to poison our thinking.

The antidote is God's Word. A few years ago I leaned a pretty cool trick about latex paint spills on carpet. It then really helped me when I turned over a gallon of paint on my own carpet. First you use some cardboard to scrape up as much paint as possible and put it back in the can but then comes the key part. Don't let the paint dry out. It helps if you have a wet vac. Keep pouring water and vacuuming it up. Keep on washing it. It takes a little time but it works. You cannot tell where I spilled the paint.

That's what we should do with God's Word. We must keep on washing our minds. It's not a one time thing. It's a life long necessity.

Come Together Right Now Over Me

"I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Psalm 122:1)

Church ought to be something we look forward to -- not a religious rite we have to fulfill. The author of Hebrews (10:25) exhorts believers to not forsake assembling together. It is such a joy to come together with the body of Christ to worship and share the word and minister to one another. It is such a precious privilege that we can freely exercise in this country. So many believers around the world must meet in secret.

The Beatles had a hit called "Come together". One key line in that song is "Come together right now over me." That's what God calls us to in assembling together. Come together over Him. We come together to worship Him and to encourage one another. Everything we do and say should be to His glory.

This ought to be a place where we can lay down our agendas. Sadly, in dealing with fallen humanity it is often not but we just have to play through it. There are no perfect churches -- only assemblies of imperfect people who are seeking after God to varying degrees.

The assembly ought to be a place where we can freely give and share our lives with one other. The strong can help the weak. The healed can help the sick. The uplifted can help the discouraged. The prosperous can help the poverty stricken. Those who are full of the Word can help those who need understanding and wisdom.

What a marvelous opportunity!

See you there.

Abundance

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly." (John 10:10)

There is plenty of stress out there to go around but, thankfully, there are plenty of wonderful promises from the Word of God to go around too. What is abundant life? Too often, I think we tend to think about this in terms of money but there is so much more. Money won't buy you peace. An awful lot of rich people have lived and died in abject misery. That doesn't make money bad either -- it's the love of money that becomes the problem. Money is just a tool.

I think true abundance is really found in our relationship with Him. In knowing, walking and trusting. True abundance is found in a heart that is at peace and able to rest. Hebrews 4:9 tells us that "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Peace is listed as a fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5. Life is too short to spend it stressed out and yet, that's what so many of us do.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1) NIV

By Him and for Him

"For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
(Colossians 1:16)

At times in my life I've run into folks who didn't believe in the trinity and didn't believe that Jesus Christ was God incarnate come in the flesh. Usually using specious logic they try to convince me of the rightness of their position. Invariably I show them the first chapter of John and then bring them to the first chapter of Colossians. It's usually at Colossians that they give up the argument and (I guess) move on to someone else.

This is actually one of my favorite verses. It gives us a glimpse into the pre-incarnate Christ and His connection with creation. Jesus existed with God eternally before He ever came as a baby in a manger. The act of humility in coming to earth and laying His life down for us and bearing the sin of all mankind was an incredible act of love.

What kind of God does such a thing?

Not the capricious gods of Greece and Rome or Germanic mythology.

Not an accounting Allah who would always watch the scales.

Not pagan tribal gods who demanded human sacrifice to be appeased.

Just the real one. The one who loves His creation so much that He would personally redeem them.

It's amazing to me how He has done so much for us and yet our hearts are hardened to the point where people actually hate the notion of Jesus. People are surely blinded by the god of this world (2nd Co. 4:4).

Blessed Assurance

Music-wise I'm more of a praise and worship/contemporary/rock kind of guy but I do love the words to some old standards. Fanny Crosby's "Blessed Assurance" is a song that touches my heart. As I was sitting here on the computer I just got through listening to a version on a Vineyard CD. Good stuff.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
I'm born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
It's praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)

Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
I'm filled with God's goodness, I'm lost in His love.
(Refrain)

Fanny Crosby was blinded as an infant after developing a cold and subsequent eye infection and then receiving poor treatment. She never let her blindness get in her way. She was a prolific songwriter, wrote poetry and was a preacher and speaker.

Her writing often reminds me of the goal of this life in Christ. "I'm filled with God's goodness, I'm lost in His love." Lost in His love. What a concept.I enjoy the study of theology and the Word of God but it can be sometimes a problem where we think that's what God wants of us when what He really wants is our hearts and lives. Studying theology and the Word is awesome but not the end. The outworking of the process is to know God. To walk with Him. To live in Him and live a life for His glory.

If we were truly lost in His love we would sure look a lot different.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Happy 4th of July!

Independence day is a great time to remember how blessed we are to live in the United States of America. America, with all its flaws and issues, is still a light to the world. Without the United States the world would have sunk into totalitarianism a long time ago. We too easily forget that freedom isn't free and that there are real bad guys out there in the world who would conquer us if they could.

Regardless of revisionist history this great nation was founded by men who believed in the God of the Bible. This belief gave them an understanding of human nature that most people just do not have today. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the human heart is wicked and deceitful. Jesus came to change that but we are deceived if we think that mankind's nature, apart from God, is to do good. The history of humanity, including today, leads us to inevitably conclude that the heart of man is to rule over and subjugate his fellow man. The United States has been an instrument for good in a dark world.

As a nation we have struggled to live up to our ideals but it was the wisdom of the Founders that created a platform for us to wrestle with our faults and change where needed. I believe that wisdom came from God.

Have a great 4th!

God bless America.

May America bless God!