Look at this verse:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. – Luke 14:27

What are we to make of that? Those are pretty strong words? What of the ABCs of salvation? Accept Christ into your heart. Believe in the name of Jesus. Confess your sins. Where is Hate your family in the ABCs?

Now, before we go further I want to state up front – as I have in previous episodes that I am not advocating salvation by works. You and I can do nothing to make our sinful souls and mortal bodies worthy of heaven. Only by relying on the virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ may we find eternal life. I am simply telling you the old 20th century teaching of “Freely Given, Freely Received” is wrong. There is a cost to you and I if we wish to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

What is that cost? That’s not for me to say. It is different for each and every believer. Yet, Jesus tells us to plan for it. In the next breath, immediately telling us we need to hate our family to be worthy of following Him, he tells us to count the cost.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him… Luke 14:28-29.

He uses another analogy as well:

…what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

So, let me lay out what serve learned so far. There is a cost to salvation, a great cost it would seem, a tremendous cost. But we don’t know what it is up front because it may be different for every believer. Yet, Jesus warns His followers to be prepared to pay for it. To count the costs before following Him. What are we missing?

Maybe, we may hope, there is a difference between simply finding salvation and following Christ? In other words, I just want to be counted in for the part of the plan where I go to heaven, but I don’t want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, not if it means such a high price to pay. I’m sorry… I don’t see that option in the Bible.

Jesus told the lame man whom he found in the Temple, “Go and sin no more.” He told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” He told the rich man, “sell everything you own and give it to the poor.” He told the scribe, essentially, “Give up your cushy bed in your luxurious home.” What is he telling you?

What does it cost you to follow Christ? He tells us the answer in Luke. 14:27 reads:

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

What does the cross represent? It represents death. The cost of flirting Christ is your life. Don’t believe it? Jump down to the end of that chapter and read verse 33:

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

What price are you willing to pay, and why would we? We’ll look at those questions yet this week on Christian Holiness Daily.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

Source

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

Acts 10:9-23,34-35 NKJV

The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.  Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.  In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.  And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”  This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate.  And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there.

While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you.  Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, “Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?”

And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.”  Then he invited them in and lodged them.

On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him…

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

One Minute Prayer

Father, teach us that you are no respecter of persons, but that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 82:3-4 NKJV

Defend the poor and fatherless;

Do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Deliver the poor and needy;

Free them from the hand of the wicked.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 14:31 ESV

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,

but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

One Minute Devotion

I grew frustrated with a mission, where I volunteered. The mission was sponsored by a large, rich church, one of the largest. It reached many poor and homeless. It fed them, provided childcare, and church services.

I became aggravated when a lady in the sponsoring church said that she was glad “those people” had a church of their own, because they smelled! I never volunteered again.

The fact is, attitudes like that are unavoidable. They are natural. Had I talked to the homeless at the mission, I would have found similar opinions of parishioners in their sponsoring church.

I was wrong to judge the folks in the sponsoring church. Christ calls us to lend a hand to the poor and to share the Good News with them. We are not told how to accomplish this mission. We are called to do it.

I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

John 4:13-26 NKJV

Jesus answered and said to [the Samaritan Woman], “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?  Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

One Minute Prayer

Father, help us to reach out to the outcasts. Remind us that you died for sinners, the homeless, the poor, prisoners, and the sick.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 63:1-5

O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirsts for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You.

Thus I will bless You while I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 25:25

Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country..

One Minute Devotion

Comedian Mark Lowry understands this: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Mt. 9:12). He jokes that we should “Throw the doors open and let them in” –  the outsiders. He has a point.

In the Mark. 22:1-14 The king commands, “Go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.” Christ says it is our job to beat the bushes and bring them to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

Jesus has a table spread Where the saints of God are fed, He invites His chosen people, “Come and dine”

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

Acts 2:37-47 NASB

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 116:1-2 NASB

I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 17:22

A joyful heart is good medicine,

But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

One Minute Devotion

For most of the last 20 years, my motto has been, Live Life Desperately. Let me explain:

The day after Thanksgiving in 1997, I stood in my office watching a terrific rain when a firetruck flew by, sirens blaring. Seconds later, an ambulance and several police cars followed. I remember saying a prayer for the situation, whatever it was. My boss shortly took me to his car. “Your wife has been in an accident,” he said as we drove the same way as the firetruck.

Kathy had been on her way to work when an oncoming car lost control and slid sideways into her car. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

I began to pray desperately. I prayed non-stop. For days, I spent my every waking moment begging God for her life.

Seven surgeries and a pacemaker later, she was discharged to rehab. A year after that, she was again walking. Twenty years later, she is in pain daily, but she is alive and walking.

It took years for our family to recover. We eventually did. It took as many years to realize that, during the desperate and sad times that followed, I was drawn closer to Christ than I had ever been before. I have since practiced praying continuously. When I forget, I simply remember that there was a time that I didn’t have to be reminded to pray. I prayed because I was desperate.

Oh, fragile man that I am, though my eyes may be blinded to the evil that surrounds me, am I not always desperate for God’s guidance? Live Life Desperately!

This is my daily bread

this is my daily bread

your very word spoken to me

And I’m, I’m desperate for you

And I’m, I’m lost without you…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

2 Samuel 12:1-7 NKJV

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

One Minute Prayer

Father, teach us the importance of confessing our sins.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 51 NKJV

Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 28:13 NIV

He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

One Minute Devotion

A 12-step program Kathy and I led was full of love. We learned to love God and one another. We supported one another, and confessed our sins and shortcomings to one another. That little group that met on Tuesday nights became a true church. Confession was key, both to growing closer to Christ and growing closer to one another.

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

Luke 4:1-13 NKJV

​            Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,’

and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

One Minute Prayer

Father, teach us to absolutely rely on You, that we will resist when temptation.

One Minute Praise

Isaiah 12:1-2 ESV

You will say in that day:

“I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me,

Your anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid;

For the Lord God is my strength and my song, And he has become my salvation.”

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 22:17-19 NIV

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

That your trust may be in the Lord, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

One Minute Devotion

I drove fifty miles daily from home to work, to school and back. I gave God that journey daily. He, in turn, made the drive joyous.

One day, though, traffic came to a standstill. I spied a fast-moving 18-wheeler in my mirror. I had no doubt that it would plow right into me.

Oddly, I didn’t panic. I told Christ that my life was in His hands. I was resigned to die if that is what God wanted. I said a prayer for Kathy and our kids. I intended to lie across the seat, but before I could move, the semi ran up over my trunk and through the rear window, up against my seat

When I read Luke 4, I realize that Christ was fully man and fully God. He was able to resist temptation because of His relationship with His Father. Abraham in Genesis 22 had faith to offer up his son as a burnt offering because of his long relationship with God.

Rarely does a man exhibit a solitary act of great faith. Faith comes from daily reliance on God in the small things. Faith is the result of intimately knowing God’s heart, trusting Him Whom we know, and obeying what He has taught us. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Source

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

Acts 16:16-29 NIV

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

One Minute Prayer

Father, we pray for faith in all circumstances. Lord, we believe; help us in our disbelief.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 37:5-6 NIV

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

your vindication like the noonday sun.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 28:26 NIV

Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.

One Minute Devotion

Lesson for parents: never give a BB gun to kids at Christmas if the weather is too nasty to use it outdoors. That was the case when I was seven. My brother David got a new Daisy BB Gun for Christmas, and I was the only indoor target at which to aim. What’s worse, is that I was a willing target. The gun was unloaded. He removed all the BBs and shot it towards the floor a few times. Sure enough, the gun was empty.

So, I posed on the far side of the bedroom like a duck in a shooting gallery. On the third shot, a BB that had been stuck in the barrel dislodged and shattered my glasses into my left eye. After a trip to the ER and several follow-up visits, they at last removed from my eye all the glass.

I trusted David. I still would. He would never hurt me. Likewise, I have faith in God, for I am confident that whatever circumstances, blessings or suffering, it will be for the furtherance of His Kingdom, or to glorify His name, or to perfect my love.

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

 – 1 Chronicles 16:11

Previous Memory Verses

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. –

One Minute Bible

Jeremiah 36:31-36 NKJV

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—  not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Thus says the Lord,

Who gives the sun for a light by day,

The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,

Who disturbs the sea,

And its waves roar

(The Lord of hosts is His name):

If those ordinances depart

From before Me, says the Lord,

Then the seed of Israel shall also cease

From being a nation before Me forever.”

One Minute Prayer

Father, give us the strength to remember the Covenant you’ve written in our hearts. Forgive us the times when we have ignored it. Remember our sins no more.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 13:5-6 NKJV

But I have trusted in Your mercy;

My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1,2,5 NKJV

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

One Minute Devotion

When I was four years old, I could see the mountains from our back yard in California. I was convinced that, if I tried, I could touch them when I swung high on my swing set. I never touched the mountains, of course.

Many people feel the same way about Christian holiness. Like the mountains a few miles away from the home of my childhood, holiness can be seen. One can swing toward it. One can reach for it. But one can never grasp it. We find ourselves chained in place, and end up swinging back from the mountaintop in endless cycles of gain and loss.

This is a sad misconception of Christian holiness. Holiness is the heart of the relationship between a Christian and the Lord. It is God’s will for us that we be sanctified (1 Thess 4:3). God commands us to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16). He would not ask us to be holy if it were not possible.

Salvation writes the New Covenant on our hearts. Absolute surrender to God allows Him to work the grace of Sanctification in our hearts and mind, and imbues us with the power to live holy (as He has commanded).

I eventually tried to jump off the swing, in effort to fling myself to the mountain. I landed with a thud just a few feet away, scraping my knees and hands.

If one wants to grasp holiness, then one must let go of the chains that tether us, and trust Jesus. For only one who flings himself into the arms of God will know His holiness. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

One Minute Bible

Matthew 26:1-16 KJV

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.   Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.   But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.   But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?   For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.   When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.   For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.   For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.   Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.   And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

One Minute Prayer

Father, teach us the lessons of this passage: to lavish you worship without consideration of cost, for you have sent Jesus to us just as you did to Simon the Leper, to sup with us in spite of our frailties.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 145:14-19 KJV

The Lord upholdeth all that fall,

and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest thine hand,

and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 3:9 NKJV

Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine

One Minute Devotion

Joe looked like he could take care of himself, but when life choices put him in prison for a year, he was scared to death. He had no doubt that he must return to God of his youth. He prayed desperately for God to intervene.

In little ways, God showed Joe that He heard his prayers. Joe’s counselor and case manager were Christians, as were some of the guard. He was put in a cell block where he met other Christians with whom he could pray. He found caring chaplains who cared about the condition of his heart. Joe heard God’s voice in nearly every step of the year-long journey.

Joe attended every chapel service offered. On Sundays, he sat in both the Protestant and Catholic services. On Mondays, he went to a Gideon meeting. Tuesdays, he attended a “holy-roller” service. Wednesdays, a simple Bible Study. Thursdays, a singspiration. Joe learned to pray without ceasing, and grew nearer to God than he thought possible. He went to prison a lost sheep, and got out a lamb recognizing his master’s voice. There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse 

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

One Minute Bible

– Matthew 6:1-15

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

One Minute Prayer

Father, it is human nature to put ourselves, our needs, our wants, our selfishness, in the center of prayer. Father, give us strength to set our selfishness aside while we pray.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 27:7-11

Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”

Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper.

Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 9:6

Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

One Minute Devotion

I was sick. I had not seen a doctor, and my cancer diagnosis was still in my future, but I knew was sick. That was not all. Because of recent actions, my family had lost all faith in me. All this was going though my mind as I stood in line to be prayed for by an evangelist.

The all black choir swayed to the music of an electronic organ, guitars, and sax. The line of seekers snaked around pews and into the foyer. Everyone wanted prayer. The pastor dabbed his fingers with oil, said a prayer, and sent seekers on their way. 10 seconds each; that’s all it took.

He looked me in the eye and smiled. He didn’t know me, but his heart did. “I pray for the health of my family: physically, psychologically, emotionally, and financially,” I said aloud. It was all I knew to pray. If you only had time for one short, desperate prayer, what would it be? That is why we learn The Lord’s Prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse: – Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

One Minute Bible

John 3:1-21

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”  Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

One Minute Prayer

Father, search my heart daily.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 51:10-13

Create in me a clean heart, O God;

and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence;

and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;

and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

One Minute Devotion

Dr. Christiaan Barnard, the doctor who performed the first heart transplant was threatened by with charges of murder. As you likely know, the new heart must come from a living person; it must be beating when removed from the donor body.

The donor, of course, was brain dead; prosecutors never carried out their threats. The sad fact is that to transplant a heart, the donor must die, and the recipient, must also undergo a type of death. He or she is put on life support while the old heart is stopped and removed, and the new heart is put in.

There can be no rebirth – no new heart – without death. To be born anew in the image of Christ, we must be willing to die. Christ was willing. He laid down His life that we may receive His heart. Change my heart O God…

Source

One Minute Memory Verse: – Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

One Minute Bible

Matthew 25:34-46 NIV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.    All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.    He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink

When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?   When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

One Minute Prayer

Father, teach us to love others as you love them.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 37:23-28 NIV

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.

Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.

For the Lord loves the just

and will not forsake his faithful ones.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV

Open your mouth for the mute,

for the rights of all who are destitute.

Open your mouth, judge righteously,

defend the rights of the poor and needy.

One Minute Devotion

I was an Adult Student at Mid America Nazarene College, carrying a full load, working two jobs, and raising three children. It was Christmas, and Kathy and I had no idea how we would buy presents for our kids. One thing we did have, however, was food.

We loaded all three kids in the car and delivered bags of groceries to a fellow adult student. He and his wife and kids had no more than we did.

We quietly set the bags of food in front of their door, knocked, and ran away. We felt good; we had helped. When we got home, we thanked God for His goodness. The next day, my adviser called me into his office and gave me boxes of toys for our kids. God is good… All the time.

Source

One Minute Memory Verse: – Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

One Minute Bible

2 Samuel 24:15-25 ESV

So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.  And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded.  And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.  And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.”

Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.  All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”  But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.  And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

One Minute Prayer

Father, give us a heart at peace with you.

One Minute Praise

– Psalm 40:5-8

Many, Lord my God,

are the wonders you have done,

the things you planned for us.

None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—

but my ears you have opened—

burnt offerings and sin offering you did not require.

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—

it is written about me in the scroll.

I desire to do your will, my God;

your law is within my heart.”

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 14:29-30 NIV

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

One Minute Devotion

Here is a great story I heard once: I took a friend home when his truck broke down. He had had an awful day. Not only was his truck broken down, but he had broken an expensive power tool, and he had broken his toe. He was full of anxiety.

On the way into the house, he paused under an oak, reached out and touched the tips of a low-hanging branch.

“That’s my Trouble Tree,” he said when I asked. “I don’t take troubles home with me. I leave them at the cross, My Trouble Tree is a symbol of the cross of Christ. Funny thing is, when I go out the next morning, those troubles are not near as big as they were the night before.”

Source

One Minute Memory Verse: – Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

One Minute Bible

Acts 12:1-16 CEB

About that time King Herod began to harass some who belonged to the church. He had James, John’s brother, killed with a sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter as well. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. He put Peter in prison, handing him over to four squads of soldiers, sixteen in all, who guarded him. He planned to charge him publicly after the Passover. While Peter was held in prison, the church offered earnest prayer to God for him.

The night before Herod was going to bring Peter’s case forward, Peter was asleep between two soldiers and bound with two chains, with soldiers guarding the prison entrance. Suddenly an angel from the Lord appeared and a light shone in the prison cell. After nudging Peter on his side to awaken him, the angel raised him up and said, “Quick! Get up!” The chains fell from his wrists. The angel continued, “Get dressed. Put on your sandals.” Peter did as he was told. The angel said, “Put on your coat and follow me.”

Following the angel, Peter left the prison. However, he didn’t realize the angel had actually done all this. He thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself. After leaving the prison, they proceeded the length of one street, when abruptly the angel was gone.

At that, Peter came to his senses and remarked, “Now I’m certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod and from everything the Jewish people expected.” Realizing this, he made his way to Mary’s house. (Mary was John’s mother; he was also known as Mark.) Many believers had gathered there and were praying. When Peter knocked at the outer gate, a female servant named Rhoda went to answer. She was so overcome with joy when she recognized Peter’s voice that she didn’t open the gate. Instead, she ran back in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.

“You’ve lost your mind!” they responded. She stuck by her story with such determination that they began to say, “It must be his guardian angel.” Meanwhile, Peter remained outside, knocking at the gate. They finally opened the gate and saw him there, and they were astounded.

One Minute Prayer

Father, we pray that you give us the focus and singular purpose to say that all we want in life is to dwell in your house.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 27:4

One thing I ask from the Lord,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

and to seek him in his temple.

One Minute Wisdom

Isaiah 40:30-31

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

One Minute Devotion

Mac had served most of a 35-year sentence for drug charges in federal prison. He suffered diabetes and kidney failure. He would die alone in prison unless the warden granted compassionate parole. Although he was dying, Mac wheeled his chair to chapel and sang Victory in Jesus at every opportunity. Volunteers from a half dozen different prison Bible study groups prayed for Mac to be released so he could die surrounded by family. Their prayers were answered when Mac was discharged to a halfway house two weeks before he died. O Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever… He sought me and bought me…

Source

Scripture Focus: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

My mother was widowed when I was six. We moved into my grandpa’s house and my mom went to work managing the Highway Café in Branson, my grandfather’s restaurant. She worked all the time, including Sunday mornings. My sister, then, took us to church. The church we attended was a little Assembly of God Church that had been constructed on one corner of our farm, quite a change from the Nazarene Church that we had attended before our family moved to Missouri.

Gary, the pastor of that AG church, ran it with an n iron-fist. He presided over the church, controlled the purse, supervised the board, and was proud and haughty in the pulpit. He was full of pride.

The first thing I noticed in reading the intimate words of Frank Laubach was his lack of

pride; he was an incredibly humble man.

A Place for Pride?

Frank Laubach writes, “To be able to look backward and say, “This, this has been the finest year of my life” – that is glorious! But anticipation! To be able to look ahead and say, “The present year can and shall be better!” – that is more glorious! If we said such things about our achievements, we would be consummate egotists. But if we are speaking of God’s kindness, and we speak truly, we are but 

grateful. And this is what I do witness. I have done nothing but open windows – God has done all the rest.

11. How have you opened windows for others?
12.   IS there a proper place for pride?

Why?

But why do I constantly harp upon this inner experience? Because I feel convinced that for me and for you who read there lie ahead undiscovered continents of spiritual living compared with which we are infants in arms

What?

Hour-by-Hour, Minute-by-Minute Fixing of My Mind on God.

So, 1930 is just around the corner, and the students at Union College in Manilla, along with college president Frank Laubach, are talking about resolutions. Laubach decides that one of his resolutions will be to continue with a new discipline that he had begun in the previous year. The discipline is simply this: to try to stay focused or fixed upon God.

“It is a will act. I compel my mind to open straight out toward God. I wait and listen with determined sensitiveness. I fix my attention there, and sometimes it requires a long time early in the morning to attain that mental state. I determine not to get out of bed until that mind set, that concentration upon God, is settled. It also requires

determination to keep it there, for I feel as though the words and thoughts of others near me were constantly exerting a drag backward or sidewise. But for the most part recently I have not lost sight of this purpose for long and have soon come back to it. After a while, perhaps, it will become a habit, and the sense of effort will grow less.

It is “more than surrender,” he writes. “In awhile, perhaps, it will become a habit, and the sense of effort will grow less.”

Note that this is not a type of meditation. This is no eastern philosophy or New Age mysticism. One does not repeat a mantra, nor clear the mind of all thought, nor allow thoughts to come and go This is focusing on our Lord Jesus.

“It’s more than surrender; I had that before. More than listening to God. I tried that before. I cannot find the word…” It is “PRACTICING HIS PRESENCE.”

13. What are the danger of clearing your mind, or following “wherever your thoughts take you,” as in meditation?
14. How does one fix his mind on God?
15. Even before Laubach judged his efforts to be successful, he said that things that the world values no longer make a difference to him, because “they would all be forgotten in athousand years.” What were some of the things he listed? ____________________________

    _________________________________________________

    Come, Let Us Reason:

    1. “I must pursue this voyage of discovery in quest of God’s will. I must because the world needs me to do it.”

     

    1. “I must plunge into mighty experiments in intercessory prayer, to test my hypothesis that God needs my help to do his will for others, and that my prayer releases his power. I must be his channel, for the world needs me.”

     

    1. “I must confront these Moros with a divine love which will speak Christ to them though I never use his name. They must see God in me, and I must see God in them. Not to change the name of their religion, but to take their hand and say, ‘Come, let us look for God.’”

     

    16. What Laubach says above could sound vain to those who have not read his entire work. Do you think he was vain when he twice says, “The world needs me to do it,” or was he simply expressing the burden God had laid on his heart in the best way he knew how?

The most wonderful discovery that has ever come to me is that I do not have to wait until some future time for the glorious hour. I need not sing, “Oh that will be glory for me -” and wait for any grave. This hour can be heaven. Any hour for anybody can be as rich as God! – Frank Laubach

You must awaken hunger there, for until they hunger they cannot be fed.” – Frank Laubach

17. Did the world indeed need him to plunge in to a closer relationship with Christ?  

18. Who are the Moros in your life? Those who may frighten you, whom you may even dislike… whom you may hate, but whom God has called you to minister?

The Lesson

1. Why make this journey of discovery of God’s will? Is it because you need such a change in your life? Is it because God draws you closer? Is it because the world needs you to?
   1. Step one: you must figure out why God has led you to this journey.
2. I have never understood why God calls us to pray… yet, He does. I have been awakened in the night with heavy burdens for friends, family, even acquaintances, and been compelled to pray. God is all-powerful, and certainly doesn’t need us to pray. He does, however want us to pray.

“Truly, I tell you, whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you: loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” –  Matthew 18:18 KJV

1. God has a plan for you. It may not be as large as teaching half the population of a certain community to read. It may not be founding an international not-for-profit organization, but He has a plan for you.
2. Why has God led you into this journey? Why worry about your walk with God now?

20. Why does God want us to pray?

Fill my mind with Thy mind to the last crevice. Catch me up in Thine arms and make this hour as terribly glorious as any human being ever lived, if Thou wilt. – Frank Laubach

21. What is God’s will for your life?
22. Is there a difference between God’s will for you and His plan for you?
23. If so, then what is God’s plan for your life?
24. 24.       I’ll ask the question that Laubach asks himself: “Howfully can you surrender (to God) and not be afraid? ________________________________________________________

     

    25. Have you been like Peter? Have you faltered? Do you hesitate to begin this journey because you think it won’t last? ________________________________________________________________________

     

    I shall just live this

    hour on until it is full, then step into the next hour. Neither tomorrow

    matters, nor yesterday. Every now is an eternity if it is full of God.

     

     

    What Does the Bible Say?

    Does the Bible indicate that such an intimate relationship with Jesus is even possible? Can we spend our every waking moment with Him? Or, do we just waste our time trying? If it is possible, is it only for those who are called to special ministry? Are we vain to even attempt it? Does Christ expect or want such a relationship with us? Let’s see what the Bible says about the practicing the presence of God, if anything:

    The Garden of Eden: After man fell, God was walking  in the Garden in the cool of the day. Adam recognized the sound of God’s footsteps and hid from Him. This tells us that God regularly spent time in the Garden with man, else Adam would not have recognized His presence. God’s perfect plan was to

    1. live with us, in a perfect setting, on earth. That is still his ideal for us.

     

    Isaiah tells us that he dwells in the high places and in the low places to be present with the lowly and contrite. (57:15)

     

    2. Psalm 139:7 tells us that we live in His presence whether or not we like it.

     

    3. Acts 17:28 indicates that we live, move and exist in Him.

     

    4. Jeremiah 29:13 promises us that, if we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him.

     

    5. God abides in us and His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). Is that possible unless we dedicate to Him our every breath?

     

    6. John 15:7-9 begs us to abide in Christ’s love.

     

    7. Jesus promises that He is with us always, even until the end of the earth (Matthew 28:20)

     

    8. Verses that remind us to pray continuously:

     

    1. Romans 12:12
    2. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
    3. Philippians 4:6
    4. Ephesians 6:18
    5. Colossians 4:2
    6. Luke 18:1-8
       2. So, we are to pray continuously, but what about such intimacy with Christ? Is that expected of us?
          1. Romans 8:10
          2. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
          3. Galatians 2:20
          4. Ephesians 3:17
          5. Colossians 1:27

        

        

       Just as Jesus did only what He saw the father do, may we only do what we see the Son do.

       So, my answer to my two questions to date would be

       1. “Can it be done all the time?” Hardly.

       2: “Does the effort help?” Tremendously. Nothing I have ever found proves

       such a tonic to mind and body – Frank Laubach

I tried to keep God in mind in the second person.” – Frank Laubach

I must talk about God, or I cannot keep him in my mind. I must give Him away in order to have Him.” – Frank Laubach

Source

One Minute Memory Verse: – Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Last week’s memory verse:

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 

One Minute Bible Philippians 4:4-19

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

One Minute Prayer

Father, as we learn to turn our attention to you in all things, at all times, and in every situation, teach us not to be anxious. Give us peace.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 12:25

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down,

But a good word makes it glad.

One Minute Devotion

For decades, Lloyd Colbaugh edited Pentecostal Evangel Magazine, but his passion and calling were in ministering to the incarcerated. For more than thirty years, Lloyd and his wife Nita led song services and prayer at the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, MO. Countless inmates there gave their hearts to Christ under Lloyd’s tutelage. Ask any one of them and they will tell you that they remember three things about Lloyd: his ear-to-ear grin, his faithful prayers for them, and his non-judgmental attitude, reflecting the fact that God is no respecter of persons.

I will always remember holding hands with inmates and other volunteers, as Lloyd led us in singing the Lord’s Prayer after prayer meeting.

Our Father… Who art in…

Source

The Five-Minute Quest

One Minute Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19  –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

Romans 8:26-31

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And He Who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those he justified, He also glorified.

³¹What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

One Minute Prayer

Father, I want to pray more. I want to be ever-mindful of Your presence. It is my heart’s desire to be as close to you as possible while on this world. But, I don’t always know how to pray. I yield to Your Spirit when that is the case. Intercede for me, Lord, with groans that my words cannot express. According to Thy will and in Jesus’ name.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 63

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Those who want to kill me will be destroyed;
they will go down to the depths of the earth.
 They will be given over to the sword
and become food for jackals.

 But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God will glory in him,
while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 15:1-3

A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

One Minute Devotional 

Paul is wordy in his writings, and sometimes talks in circles. A good example of that is the end of Romans 7 where he uses half a chapter to say that sin can be an overwhelming struggle. This section in Romans 8 (above) he does the same thing. In verses 29 and 30 he rambles on about “predestination” and such that he can sidetrack the reader. When he wrote the book of Philippians about 5 years later, he said the same thing much more succinctly: “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (1:6 NKJV).

Source

The Five-Minute Quest

One Minute Memory Verse: 1Thessalonians 5:16-19  –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NKJV

¹⁶ Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

One Minute Prayer

Lord, I believe that I am a new creation. Old things indeed have passed away, and all things have been made new. I understand, too, that I have it within me to turn my back on you, and return to the path to destruction, and I don’t want to do that. You, the Second Adam, the God-man who had never, ever sinned… You became sin so that I could become righteous. If you, my Living and Loving God, do not work through me, the only work I am capable of is sin. Keep me from all sin, I beg.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 1 NKJV

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverb 6:20-23 NKJV

My son, keep your father’s command,
And do not forsake the law of your mother.
Bind them continually upon your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
When you roam, they^[b] will lead you;
When you sleep, they will keep you;
And when you awake, they will speak with you.
For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

One Minute Devotion

There is more doubt than ever in holiness churches about the nature of holiness. It may be grasped only through a “second work of grace (the first work of grace being salvation). Many Christians in holiness denominations, however, deny that second work of grace – commonly known as sanctification – and claim that we are only fooling ourselves if we believe God can make us holy one minute before we join him in Eternity. We must strive to live a holy life, but we must be realistic, they claim, and accept the fact that we will never achieve holiness.

Holiness is in fact both a second work of Grace and a discipline. We can no more make ourselves holy than we can save ourselves from hell. When Brother Lawrence sins, he reminds God that it is his nature to sin, and that unless God prevent him, he can do nothing but sin. It is God who makes us holy, not ourselves.

Yet here is the rub: we have been given the guidance and comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have been given the complete Word of God that contains all that is necessary to lead us to eternal life and to live a holy life. We have been given “so great a salvation” (according to the writers of the Epistle of Hebrews) that we dare not neglect it and drift away. Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God. Make I be like you

Source

The Five-Minute Quest- 8 Jan 18

One Minute Memory Verse: 1Thessalonians 5:16-19  –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

John 3:22-30

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

One Minute Prayer

Lord, be so much greater in my life, and let me be so much less that when I meet someone, they will see only Jesus. When I speak, let me speak only the Truth. When I act, let it be with the hands of the Lord.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 145:1-3

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 3:5-8 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

One Minute Devotional

In the classic sci-fi show, Star Trek: The Original Series, one particular episode tells the story of a being who had lived its life in a state of energy. This bodiless mass of living energy finds refuge in a human body, where it makes the comment that it feels isolated, in solitude, lonely. So alone. It’s true. We are solitary beings, alone, even lonely.

That loneliness often compels us to sin. It may rear its ugly head in many ways. Loneliness may lead to pride, infidelity, pleasure-seeking, overspending, envy, or even worse.

God’s perfect plan for the world was not for us live out our lives in solitude. Genesis indicates that His plan was to share our earthly existence. He seems to have made the Garden of Eden His throne room and there spent the cool of the day walking and talking with man.

Man was also made to find a partner. In the movie, Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise tells Renee Zellweger, “You complete me.” That is exactly the way God designed us. No man and no woman are in and of themselves complete.

Still there is a more spiritual aspect to our lives, and here it is: when God drove man from the Garden of Eden, and hid it from mankind, He already had a plan in place to resume an even more intimate relationship with his creation. He would personally take up residence in the hearts of all who would accept Him.

As Christians, God lives in our heart. Now, let’s give him the rest of us, our body, our mind, our emotions, our occupations, our entertainment, our all. Let us become less, that He may be seen more. All to Jesus I surrender; all to Him I freely give.

Source

The Five-Minute Quest

One Minute Memory Verse: 1Thessalonians 5:16-19  –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

Romans 12:9-13 ESV

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

One Minute Prayer

Lord, give me zeal for your presence. Make me fervent in spirit. Give me sight so that I may rejoice in hope and patient in tribulation. Teach me to pray.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 84 ESV

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God. Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 3:19-22 ESV

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
 by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.

My son, do not lose sight of these—
keep sound wisdom and discretion,
and they will be life for your soul
and adornment for your neck.

One Minute Devotional

Sunday, the Lord’s Day; a day of rest. How often we forget that. Church duties wear us out. For most Christians, Sunday is not restful, and it is not the Lord’s. In the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, she tells that her Pa would compel her to sit in a chair for hours after dinner recite and rehearse the words of the Sunday morning lessons. How about this Sunday, we just curl up on our Daddy’s lap and comfort in the strength of His “Everlasting Arms.”

Source

The Five-Minute Quest 

One Minute Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19  –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

1 Peter 3:1-7 NIV

Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way of the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

One Minute Prayer

Lord, rid me of anything that hinders my relationship with you, even if I don’t fully understand the hinderance, and even if I may not fully agree. Teach me obedience that I may grow in your grace.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 34:14-22 NIV

Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

And his ears are attentive to their cry;

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them.;

He delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

       and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A righteous man may have many troubles,

But the Lord delivers him from them all;

He protects all his bones.

not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked;

the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The Lord redeems His servants;

No one will be condemned who takes refuge in Him.

One Minute Wisdom

Proverbs 18:10-12 ESV

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;

they imagine it is an unscalable wall.

Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud,

but humility comes before honor.

One Minute Devotional 

One rarely hears the passage from Peter (above) preached from a pulpit. If it is mentioned at all in Christian discussion, it is justified as a cultural reference that was made before Christians were enlightened; it doesn’t really – they say – apply to twenty-first century Christians.

The purpose of this study is not to give you a list of rights and wrongs, and if I told you, “Yes it applies today” or “No, it doesn’t apply,” it would take away the emphasis from the point I would like to make. Here, Peter is warning families to treat each other with respect. Isn’t it awful that we often treat strangers and acquaintances with more dignity than we do our spouses and children?

The reason Peter warns husbands and wives about their behavior catches my attention. The reason we are to treat one another with love and respect is so that we maintain a witness to those who love us and so that we don’t hinder our relationship with God. I am so thankful for my spouse and my children. And, for the family of God. I am glad to be a part of the family of God, washed in His fountain, cleansed by His blood…

Source

Jan 5

The Five-Minute Quest 

One Minute Memory Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19  NIV –

Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit.

One Minute Bible

Luke 18:1-8 ESV

¹And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

One Minute Prayer

Lord, teach me persistence in prayer.

One Minute Praise

Psalm 27:1-6 ESV

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

  Five Minutes in My Prayer Closet

Jan 5, continued

  One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

One Minute Wisdom

Job 2:11-13 ESV

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him, they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

One Minute Devotional

Job’s three friends did not always give him good advice. At times, they seemed as much the antagonist as Satan in this story. In the passage above, though, his friends displayed great wisdom in their silence. Sometimes, nothing helpful can be said. Sometimes, it is just enough to know that a friend is present.

The same can be said of God. At times, especially in times of distress, it is just enough to enter His presence and sit silently. Even in times of great joy, it is sometimes enough just to bask in the presence of God, our daddy.

The key to living in God’s presence is remembering that we do not have to enter into it (His presence). He lives in us. He is always present, even when you don’t “feel” Him, even if we don’t “want” Him present.

There is great comfort in His presence. I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses. And, the voice I hear… is His alone.

Source

WEEK ONE

REJOICE ALWAYS, PRAY WITHOUT
CEASING, GIVE THANKS IN ALL
THINGS; FOR THIS IS WILL OF GOD
Paul urges us to pray continuously – pray without
ceasing – yet 21st century society trains us to
concentrate for 140 characters, or short sound
bites. So how do we learn to pray continuously
and grow closer to God?

Types of Christian Growth

• Paul: you are a Paul if you have studied hard and devoted your entire life to Christ without falter.
• John Mark: if you jumped eagerly from the starting blocks, ran hard and fast, but have since been told you were lacking. You may have even been asked to take time away to reflect on your life, then you
  are a John Mark.
• Timothy: if you earnestly follow Christ, but possess doubts or express a certain lack of confidence in your abilities, then you are a Timothy.
• Lydia: if you are a soul-winner, church-builder, or quiet unpresumuous leader you are a Lydia.
• Peter: if your life has been a teeter trotter, up and down up and down, and often falling to the ground… if you only learn the hard way, then you are a Peter.
• Corinthian: If you are Christian in name, but your life is little or no different from those who don’t even claim to be Christian, then you are a Corinthian.
• Judas… If you have betrayed Christ, you are a Judas.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and
disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what
is good for each other and for everyone else.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this
is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not quench the Spirit.

-1 Thessalonians 5:14-19

Why We Need to Grow

Most of our readers are mature Christians, or so it seems. You read this blog because you wish to continue to grow in Christ.  Some of us, I fear, have reached the point in our walk with Christ where we feel we have “arrived.” We have no more to learn, no growing to do. We await only that moment when we will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye whether through death or rapture. Worse yet, a few of us may believe that, while we may be able to grow more,
there is no point, for there is nothing we can accomplish for God.

Q&A About Growth
1. Do you ever feel that have not grown in your spiritual walk with Christ?

2. Do you ever feel like you have grown as much as possible while on this earth?

3. Have you ever known someone who believes they have “arrived?”

4. Which of these is the biggest obstacle to continued spiritual growth in your walk with Jesus?

A. Lack of time

B. Lack of prayer closet

C. Someone in my life who is an obstacle

D. Lack of motivation

E. I just don’t know how to grow more

F. I don’t need to grow

G. Other:

Brother Lawrence

It is enough for me to pick up a straw from the ground for the love of God.
Crisis and Salvation

A pastor I know is a rare bird. I’ve known him since he was 12. He grew up a Christian and has known since a young man what God would have him do. He has never faltered, never stumbled. Most of us, though, must face a crisis before we are saved. Most must face a second crisis before finding sanctification. We often hit a crisis before major life changes.

A few, like me, must face many crises in our maturing process. We are like Peter, ashamed of our falling away, and, in the end, we are better off for our experiences (although I never wish to repeat many of mine). Brother Lawrence hit a crisis in his life and, in the four hundred years since, generations of people have benefited because of it.

The World to Which Brother Lawrence was Born

Because he was born into an impoverished family, Nicholas Herman (later known as Brother Lawrence) left home younger than he might have. He joined the army where he would be fed and paid, and perhaps earn enough to send money home to his mother. The place was France. The year, about 1625.

1625: John Smyth had only recently begun the movement that would lead to the first Baptists. Virginia had just become a British colony. King James had just passed away.

The Soldier
Not much is known of Brother Lawrence’s service in the army, but given his age and location we can surmise that he served King Louis XIII and likely fought the Huguenots in Southern France. From his writings, we understand that war had a profound affect on his life. He immensely regretted causing harm to others, and that was the crises that eventually drive him to Christ; “it wasn’t, characteristically, a supernatural vision, but a supernatural clarity into a common sight” (Christianity Today. “Brother Lawrence: Practitioner of God’s Presence.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/innertravelers/brother-lawrence.html. 2017. Accessed 23 May 2017).

Gradually Nicholas came to realize that to please God and to properly deal with his regret, he must close himself off from the world and concentrate on growing close to the One who saved his soul. He joined a Carmelite Community as a lay brother and spent the remainder of his long life as a menial laborer, washing dishes and cobbling shoes.

Frank C. Laubach

Prayer at its highest is a two-way conversation-and for me the most important part is listening to God’s replies.

Filling the Need
Many people were more capable than of revolutionizing the world through the  development of the desktop computer, if they had only recognized the need and focused solely on filling that need. Only 4 people did so: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Likewise, Christians cannot see or focus on the needs around them.

Frank Charles Laubach felt called to preach the Gospel and was assigned by his church to be a missionary in the Philippines. From 1915-1930 he allowed God to build His church through him on the island of Mindanao. The mission grew quickly, compelling him to build a Christian college, Union College in Manila. Laubach served as its president. When his term was up in 1930, he was 46 years old and could have left the Philippines and taken a comfortable job as a college president or lecturer in the U.S. He didn’t. God showed him another need.

The Need Seen by Frank Laubach
Laubach could not shake the fact that, despite all the good he had done in the Philippines, his work was not yet complete. Before the end of 1930, he had returned to Mindanao and moved into a Muslim Moros village.

The Teacher
Laubach didn’t try to convert the Muslims with sermons or confrontation. He lived among them, and demonstrated Christ’s love. He soon realized yet another need.

First, Laubach had identified the need of a mission, then, of a college, then he made intimate contact with the Muslim population of 90,000. Now, God revealed the need at the heart of the matter: the Mohammedans could never learn the Gospel because they could not read the Bible. They were illiterate.

At the age of 71, Laubach finally left the Philippines. He had taught half of the 90,000 Muslims in Mindanao how to read (Renovaré. “Living each moment with a sense of God’s Presence: Frank Laubach. 3 Feb 2016. https://renovare.org/articles/livingeach-
moment-with-a-sense-of-gods-presence-frank-laubach Accessed 2 Jun 2017).

Still, he did not retire. In the U.S., there was a significant number of adults who could not read. In 1955, he founded Laubach Literacy which to this day has helped teach 150,000 people a year to read. It now teaches people in 34 nations worldwide.

There is no defeat unless one loses God, and then all is defeat, though it
be housed in castles and buried in fortunes.

What Lessons?

5. One can find, even in this brief introduction into the lives of these two Christian mystics, many lessons to apply to our lives. What lessons can you see already?

6. Have you ever done something, like Brother Lawrence, that you so horribly regretted that your remorse compelled you to alter your entire life?

7. Do you see value and growth from crisis within your own life?

8. The Nazarene Church was birthed in a revival that emphasized a crisis experience in the lives of individual seekers. The embers that caused the fire in which it was forged were the hot coals that remained of a series of national crises stretching back to the Civil War. Are we better off not emphasizing the Crisis Experience?

9. Is one ever too old to stop growing or too old to be of use to God?

10. Can one ever grow so close to God that there is no longer a need to grow closer to Him?

We really seldom do anybody much good excepting as we share the deepest experiences
of our souls… We need to struggle for more richness of soul.” – Frank C. Laubach

General Discussion

What Classic Christian works have you read?

What Christian writers have influenced you most?

Besides Thessalonians, where else does the Bible speak of praying continuously?

How do the words “without ceasing,” “continually,” and “continuously” differ?

What are some of your favorite prayers of the Bible?

Source

God appears to the young King Solomon and says, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

God is no magic genie that we should ask anything of Him, but, in this case, He does exactly that: He offers Solomon his heart’s desire. 

You and I could probably not be trusted with such a wish, but Solomon had learned well from watching the failures of his father. He does not ask for wealth, or power, or love. He knows that riches may lead to evil, and excessive power could lead to abuse. Lust leads to infidelity, and sometimes to death. Instead, he asks for wisdom. 

If we look back to 1 Chronicles 22:12, we read that David had prayed that God would grant Solomon wisdom and understanding. In chapter 1 of 2 Chronicles, God answers David’s prayer and grants great wisdom to King Solomon. 

Much of Solomon’s wisdom was eventually recorded in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs. One proverb that catches my attention is 15:29, which reads, 

The Lord is far from the wicked,

But He hears the prayer of the righteous.

– NKJV

I wonder what Solomon thinking when he wrote that proverb? Did he think of that prayer, the prayer of his father, asking God to give Solomon wisdom? Was David perhaps the righteous man Solomon thought of when sharing that piece of wisdom?

If you’ve stayed with me to this point, you may see a paradox here. In one paragraph I suggest that Solomon learned from his father’s failures, and in another I propose that David was the model for the righteous man praying. 

This is really no paradox. Both may be true. You see, there exists no truly righteous man but Jesus Christ. Not David, not Solomon, not Peter, not Paul; none are righteous. With a broken heart and true repentance, David sought forgiveness for his sins. By faith, he learned to trust in God, and by faith, through the sacrifice of the Son of God, he was found righteous in God’s sight. In the same way, you and I, through faith in Jesus Christ, can be counted righteous in God’s eyes. 

It took David most of his life to develop the faith necessary to live a holy life. I can relate. I’m not there yet, but I am finally headed that direction. 

By the way, James refers to Solomon’s proverb, and his thoughts contain sound advice for the Christian journey:

…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

– James 5:16 NIV

FEAR NOT, for God hears the prayers of the righteous. 

Source

Do you remember your first love? Is the romance as strong now as it was then?

Do you remember when you fell in love with the Savior? When you accepted Him as Lord and King of your life? Is your love and excitement for your God as strong now as it was then?

If not, rekindle that relationship with Jesus. Do it now. Start by fasting and prayer. Dedicate mealtime as God time, and instead of eating, talk to God. Heed the warning given in Revelation; return to your first love. 

Source

The purpose of the book of Joel is to call the people of Israel to repentance. In chapter 2, he pairs repentance with fasting. If you sit in a typical Protestant church in 21st century America, though, and one will rarely hear a sermon on repentance, and may never hear a message on fasting. 

In our first lesson on fasting, we learned that a fast that pleases God includes charitable actions towards the needy. In the second lesson we learned that a fast was not simply a desperate petition before God, but also a way to grow close to God. In this post we learn that the repentant can and, perhaps, should fast.  

I wrote yesterday that God knows our needs before we ask. He doesn’t need us to fast to call attention to those needs. He also knows the heart of a repentant sinner. If that is the case, then why fast? God knows our hearts and minds better than we do. 

It is the same for prayer. In Luke 18, Christ tells the parable (vv 1-8) of a widow who begged a judge persistently until she received an agreeable answer to her petition. Why would an all-knowing God expect us to be so persistent in prayer? Why is it that God asks sinners to repent? Why would He pair repentance with fasting? Why would He relate fasting with charity?

Am I making it too complicated? Maybe we should just leave it at this: we should simply skip a few meals, lose a pound or two and go away feeling good about ourselves. Sure… do that if you want to continue to live a shallow life. 

If you want to grow to be more like Christ, then follow along. Christ’s example to us is two-fold. His actions can be cast in two extremely broad categories. One, He perfectly obeyed the will of His Father. Two, He was the perfect servant of others. 

If you, like me, wish to be more like Christ, then spend time in prayer and fasting. Fasting when we have sinned, teaches us true heartfelt repentance, which, in turn, teaches us to obey God. Fasting when we have a dire need, brings us closer to God, which in turn leads us to more perfectly obey God. Pairing our fasts with charitable acts leads us to more readily serve our brothers and sisters. Prayer and fasting makes us more Christ-like. 

Do I need to prove my need to God? No. Do I need to prove my repentance to God? No. Do I need to grow ever closer in my love and obedience to God? Yes. And I can start through proper biblical prayer and fasting. 

Source

One of the most difficult of Christ’s parables is found Luke 19, the Parable of the Minas (also spelled maneh. A maneh of gold was worth more than 102 pounds.). Basically, an incredibly wealthy ruler is called away. Before he departs, he calls his servants and gives them each a portion of his wealth to invest on his behalf.

Those who generated a profit were rewarded accordingly. The one who sat on the money instead of investing it was stripped of all he possessed.

What’s the point of the story? It’s found in verse 13. Occupy until I come.

When my kids were growing up, any time they complained they were bored, my wife would give them a chore to do, just to keep them occupied and out of her hair. My mother would tell me to find something to occupy my time. Both these are good examples of how we have distorted the true meaning of the word occupy. It originally meant something quite different.

The word occupy was originally a military term. It still is. An occupying army is one that has taken its objective, captured territory, and digs in. It is entrenched… literally. It’s always ready to defend its position, always in full armor, and always ready to go on the offensive at a moment’s notice. It works hard to keep and expand its territory.

The NKJV doesn’t use the word occupy, but instead reads “do business until I come.” This is more accurate. This is the intention of the speaker in the parable.

The parable is supposed to teach us two obvious things. First, we have but one life and we should use it to diligently work for our Master. Secondly, we do that work because our reward in heaven will be proportionate with our devotion to Him.

To say that Christ intended that we draw parallels from the military meaning of the word occupy, as we noted above, would be a distortion of Scripture, but it is interesting to note that an analysis of the word is not in conflict with the portrayal of a Christian as a soldier in the Army of The Kingdom of Heaven. This is perhaps why the word was used by early translators of the Bible.

An old hymn makes my point better than I ever could…

O land of rest, for thee I sigh!

When will the moment come

When I shall lay my armor by

And dwell in peace at home?
We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

And we’ll be gathered home.

– Elizabeth K. Mills

Source

The point is a valid one: we need to reach out and touch people. We’ve always had outerunrivaled in  society. Victims of contagious diseases, the homeless, the mentally ill, the aged, the jobless, the working poor… are all left behind in post-Christian America. 

There were no untouchables in Jesus’s mind. He ate dinner with folks considered the dregs of society. He made disciples of tax collectors. His best friends were crude fishermen. He accepted praise and offerings of women of ill repute. He asked assistance of a woman who had had several husbands and carried on affairs. He touched a leper. 

If we want to live like Jesus… If we want to be Christ-like… If we want to reach the lost, then we too need to reach out and touch those that may seem untouchable. We need to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, shelter the homeless, find help for the mentally ill, spend quality time with the aged, minister to widows and orphans, and visit the imprisoned. 

We need to offer a tender, loving touch to the untouchables. 

Source

It is true that while Jesus was on the cross, He thought about you and me. This is evidence in His prayer for forgiveness of those who crucified Him. My point is that, sometimes, our worship begins to focus on ourselves instead of the great love God expresses towards us in the person of Jesus Christ. At some point, it becomes prideful, and self-centered.

The Word of God consistently calls us to a life of self-denial, and not self-love. Very little is written in the Bible about boosting the ego of Christians, but much is said about avoiding self-love. Instead of loving ourselves, we are to love God, praise God, worship God, and obey God.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.       

  -2 Timothy 3:2-5

So, how is it that sinful man would ever want to deny himself or herself in order to worship God? There is no human explanation. I can only say that when one hears and comprehends the Word of God, and one experiences the love and acceptance of God, the natural response is to deny self, and instead focus on God. Take a look at the Zacchaeus, tax collector. Here is his response to hearing the loving and accepting words of Christ:

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

He didn’t have to be told to deny himself. His self-denial was in response to repentance, offered in the realization that he was but a filthy sinner staring at a pure and holy God. That should be our response, too. We deny ourselves so that we may fill our hearts with His Spirit, and our minds with His Word.

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The movie predates me, having been made about thirty years before I remember watching it on television. Before I watched it on my console color TV, an entire generation had been thrilled at the movie theaters, their imaginations whisked away by a twister from the bleak, black and white plains of Kansas to the Land of Oz, so rich and full of color. As a child, I thought that Oz must represent heaven and Kansas must represent our life before salvation. The journey was, to me, our Christian walk. I know now that neither the author nor the producers held such beliefs.

As a Christian, though, I often feel a lot like Dorothy must have felt. At once I am intrigued and dismayed on my daily journey to meet Christ. Daily, I encounter obstacles, my own version of flying monkeys and witches on broomsticks.

My fellow travelers are often frightened, display no courage, and little sense, and far too often rely on me for their strength. Yet, I am no stronger than they.

And, many times there is a fork in the road, in my proverbial Yellow Brick Road, and I have no idea which way to turn. Will one way lead me to danger? Will I fall asleep, or become distracted?

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Following Christ in a daily journey requires much time spent in prayer, much time spent studying His word, and much time simply trusting Him, walking in faith, so that we may be strong enough to fight against daily challenges. We must love Him enough not to become distracted by the things we see in our journey.

It is, though, a much more rewarding journey – and one full of more fun – if we take travel companions along with us. So, rely on Christ, and find  both a mentor and a protege. Find a Christian who is much more mature than you, and make a true friend of him or her. Find a younger, less mature Christian, and make a true friend of him or her. It will make your journey much more exciting.

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Why did Judas betray Christ? Did he have a choice or was he predestined to betray our Savior? While the Bible doesn’t tell us the answers to these questions, it does lend some insights. Judas was fixated on money; he loved it. He was the treasurer for Jesus and the Twelve. He kept the books, paid the bills, and made sure that funds were disbursed fairly… or that’s what he should’ve done as treasurer. He was so obsessed with money that he became a thief. So obsessed was he that he gave unwanted advice on other people’s money.

To understand why Judas betrayed Jesus, you must remember back to when Jesus and the Twelve are eating dinner at the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha is serving and Mary is worshiping at the feet of Jesus. She opens a canister of perfume made of pure nard, an essential oil derived of a Himalayan flower, and pours it on the feet of Jesus. She then rubs it in with her hair. This is not the first time something of this nature had happened to Jesus, and was surely not the first time Judas had witnessed such a thing. A woman of ill repute had once wiped away her tears from the feet of Jesus using her hair.

Foot washing was a common custom in Israel, and was usually performed by the lowest of servants. That Mary did this for Jesus was a symbol of complete obedience to the Savior, to acknowledge that he was Lord, and she was but a bond (willing) slave.

Judas, however, objected to this extravagant display off devotion, even though he had no real say in the matter. The oil was Mary’s, and if anyone had a right to object, it would have been Martha, who was not shy about objecting to her sister’s actions. Lazarus might have been right to object to Mary’s use of such fine oil. Yet, with the love and affection that the siblings shared for their Lord, objecting to the four washing never crossed their mind. Judas, though, had no right to object to the use of the bard, and should not have voiced an opinion. Remember, this was not his nard. The oil had not been purchased with money from the treasury. 

The nard was, we can only presume, purchased by Mary, a personal extravagance, at the cost of nearly a year’s wages (300 denarii, or about 300 times the average daily wage of a common worker). Think about the money you make in a year’s time and imagine spending that on essential oils. Now imagine giving it to Christ as an act of worship.

Judas, according to John 12:6, had grown used to dipping into the treasury whenever he liked; he used it as his personal bank. He suggested that the oil should be sold and the revenues used to help the poor. Christ, though, knew that what he really meant was that the oil should be sold and the funds put into the coffers so that Judas could steal from them.

“Let her be,” said Jesus. “That she may have this to anoint my body when I die. The poor you will always have with you. But you will not always have me.”

Something about this whole discussion burned inside Judas. He grew resentful. He had never fit in, not in his mind. He was a Judean. The others were Galileans. He had hoped for a revolution, and had secured a position that would leave him in authority after the revolution. He would be a great man. Remembering the words of Jesus, he thought, no he will not be those who are like a child who will be great. It will be those who are like a fox. A place in the Kingdom… He wondered…

Jesus, thought Judas, had never acknowledged that he would have a place in His Kingdom. He seemed to favor the others, the fishermen, the Galilean. Now, He reprimanded him in front of the others. In front of the women. “The poor you will always have.” Of course, we will, Rabbi, with your friends wasting such wealth. He shook his head in disbelief that Jesus actually took the side of this woman over his own treasurer. Does Jesus not realize that He would be nothing without his money management skills? Judas seethed.

So, why was Judas this way? Why did he go on to betray Christ just a short time later. This seems to have been the thing that pushed him over the edge. But, was it really? Was his betrayal a singlular decision or a succession of growing sins? Was he a backslidden believer or had he ever really believed? 

The other disciples are recorded in the Gospels making bold statements about the nature of Christ as Lord, God, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. But Judas calls him Rabbi, or teacher. Nothing more. When the writers of the Gospels record the names of the Twelve, they begin with Peter, James, and John, the three that were closest to our Lord, and end with Judas. He is listed last because he betrayed Christ, but he may never have had a deep personal relationship with Christ. It is likely that he never believed in Christ as Messiah.

Like the Rich Young Ruler, Judas loved money more than Christ, and this led to sin, after sin, after sin. At last, he could live no longer with the guilt and pain of living a double life, and he was turned over to the lust of sin. Before long, he grew hardened to his sin. He no longer felt that his theft, resentment, and jealousy were wrong. His actions were not sin, not in his mind. He had justified it as a natural reaction to the way he had been treated. Jesus should count himself lucky that Judas didn’t abandon him. Without him to manage his affairs, Jesus would be another John, subsisting on locusts and honey, starving in the wilderness. Outwardly, Judas was one of the Twelve. Inwardly, he had grown cold and heartless. He would betray Christ for a “handsome price,” thirty pieces of silver.

Did Judas have a choice? Could he have NOT betrayed Jesus? God knew from the foundation of the earth that Judas would betray Jesus. The act was predicted with great specificity in the Old Testament (Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12-13). Yet, God is a just God. The decision to betray Christ was solely Judas’s. Though God had, foreknowledge, He did not predestine Judas to be the Son of Perdition. Though God knew that Judas would not repent, the choice was Judas’s. He could have repented all the way up until the night of the Last Supper

His betrayal was the culmination of a chain of sins that had begun many years prior in the life of Judas Iscariot. How do I know this? His sins are alluded to in the account of Mary and Martha, when John (in chapter 6) calls him a thief, but I also know this because, while one may fall from devoted disciple to denier in one day, one does not go from devoted disciple of the Christ to betrayer in a moment of time. Judas’s course was long and deliberate, filled with many twists and turns and full of festering sins. He could have repented at any point along that journey. 

The Last Supper, as we have come to call it, was when Judas once and for all settled upon his decision to betray Jesus. Once Judas determined to never repent from this course of betrayal, Satan entered into him.   

Each and every sinner takes a similar course if they do not repent. Paul, in Romans 1, tells us that that God’s true nature is plain for us to see. Even His invisible qualities, His eternal power, His divine nature, are obvious to mankind. We cannot say that we don not know right from wrong. God makes it very clear what is right and what is wrong. We have no excuse. Yet, many of us choose to ignore the obvious and keep sinning.

Because we keep sinning, we spiral out of control.  Paul says that our thinking becomes futile (incapable of producing useful results!) and our hearts grow dark. Our desires grow perverse, and – at last – we reach the point, like Judas, that God turns us over to Satan. Paul puts it this way, God gives us over “to our shameful lusts.”

It doesn’t end there, though. Finally, God turns us over to a mind of total depravity (debase, immoral, unprincipled), or as the King James puts it, He turns us over to a reprobate mind (unprincipled, wicked, shameless). Paul defines the person with the depraved mind as one who is “doing what ought not be done.” Just as guilty, he says, are those who may not practice such depravity, but who approve of it.

It is a downward spiral, sin; sin leads to shame, which leads to hiding or running from God, which leads to more sin. That sin, in turn leads to more shame and more hiding from God until, at last,no shame remains. Our reprobate minds grow dull, and our depraved hearts grow dark. We are turned over to our sinful lusts. The reprobate mind no longer hears the voice of our consciences. Our depraved heart no longer hear God’s voice calling us to repentance. Once we have grown grow totally depraved, what is morally wrong seems right. What is right no longer matters. Rare is the man or woman who, at this point, yields to God’s voice and repents. 

In addition to the affects of unrepentant sin on our hearts and minds, sin has natural consequences. Gluttony, as example, can lead to obesity and a myriad of health problems. Drinking to excess can lead to liver disease. Promiscuity can lead to STD, AIDS, and ruin relationships. 

God wants us to repent. He doesn’t enjoy watching us destroy our lives. He is a good Father, who has told his children what’s right, set the perfect example of what is right, and hopes that one day, we will wake up, and decide to give up sins, and repent.

Is there a return from such a state of depravity? Rare though it may be, no man or woman who draws a breath is beyond God’s reach. Could Judas have repented? Yes. Did he? Only he and God know. He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the Temple. He  felt full of remorse, but his reprobate mind perversely told him that his only way out was to end his own life. Did God speak to him as he drew his last breath, calling him to repent and be saved? Surely. He is a merciful God. Did Judas repent and believe? The Bible is silent on that matter. 

Judas spent three years of his life pretending to be a close and devoted follower of Jesus Christ. Few could have told the difference between his faith and the faith of Peter. Both failed the test, but Peter repented, asked forgiveness and then fully trusted upon the love and strength of God. He persevered only by surrendering to Christ’s love. Judas felt remorse and surrendered to his reprobate minds and did not persevere. 

If you still draw breath, it is not too late to repent from your sins and fully trust in Christ’s love. 

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By Steve Hager

Preface

I cannot imagine it; the times, the culture, the language, the customs, they are all foreign to me. Yet, I try. It is the last night of Jesus’s life. The man pulling the strings of the chief priest ushers Christ from one place to another, from one trial to the next, in search of a death sentence. Jesus has been abandoned; his disciples fled. Peter, one of the three men closest to Jesus, hovers at a distance, in the shadows, on edge, watching, and listening. Just hours before, he had picked up a sword to fight on behalf of Jesus. Now, he cowers. Perhaps, he stays close to watch and pray for Jesus, or, perhaps, he hopes that Jesus will see him and draw comfort from the fact that he has not been totally abandoned. Perhaps, Peter stays on the edge of the proceedings so that he may be forewarned if the authorities go searching for the disciples.

Peter had promised that he would not flee. Since Peter had met Jesus, the rabbi had spoken of the possibility of his arrest and death. Since the beginning, Peter and the others had simply discounted such talk. Jesus was worried for nothing, they thought, at least at first. Later, when thousands thronged to see Jesus, the disciples were emboldened. If they come to arrest him, they thought, then the people will rebel; mobs will come to his defense. We will lead a revolution.

Yet, as he hid in the shadows, the words of Jesus resonated in his mind. His teachings seemed contradictory. Jesus said his would be a spiritual kingdom. Yet, he had given him the metaphorical keys to the kingdom. He had said that they would sit as judges over the Kingdom of Israel, but how can one judge a spiritual kingdom? Peter was confused.

I imagine not only the confusion in Peter’s mind, but the things going through the mind of Christ. It is hard to fathom how Christ is fully God and – at the same time – fully man. As God, he knew the path that lay ahead of him. As man, he was wary of that path. As God, he knew that he must endure the torture, the beating that would take him to death’s door. He knew that the Roman soldiers would drive spikes through his wrists and through his feet. He knew that he would suffocate and die, and that a soldier would drive a spear between his ribs to assure he was dead.  He knew that this was necessary for the salvation of the world; the sacrifice of God’s perfect Son was the only sacrifice that was sufficient. He knew this that day, when the cock crowed. He knew it before he spoke the world into existence.

He knew also the pain that he was to endure. Jesus had surely witnessed many crucifixions in his lifetime. It was a common site in the Roman Empire. It was a part of their lore, their history, and their society. Public torture and public execution had been a part of life since well before Jesus’s birth. One wonders how many times in his life, he had seen a crucifixion and cringed at the sight, knowing that someday it would be him. He knew the Romans had perfected that form of execution, had made it a science. They knew just how much pain and bodily damage they could inflict in their beatings, exactly where to place the nails in the wrists, and how high to hang the cross. No wonder Christ prayed, “Take this cup from me.”

To many Christians, it is borderline heresy to speak of the human part of Jesus. To wonder what was in his heart and mind is to many to delve in the realm of the sacrilegious. It is the human side of Christ, though, that gives us hope. To know that one man, even just one, lived a life without sin and that gives us hope that we, too, can be delivered from sin. To know that he went to the cross willingly, in spite of his dread, proves to us how much he loves us.

Yet, we are told little about the inner life of Christ. He wrote no part of the Bible himself. Only once does the Bible speak of him writing, and we are not told what he wrote. The writers of the Gospels give us little insight into his thoughts, and only tell us what Jesus was thinking when it is in the interest of clarifying his actions.

As example, we are told twice that Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple, but his motives were only partly revealed. We know that he was upset because they had made his house a “den of thieves.” We have to dig deeper to learn his full motives. The former chief priest, Annas, had set up an while in office, but even after he had relinquished his title, he still held power. He had arranged with the Roman government for his son-in-law to become chief priest. Other family members and close associates held other offices, and each were corrupt. The entire system was corrupt, and Annas had gotten very rich by taking a cut of all the action. So greedy was he that he had set up merchants selling sacrificial animals within the Court of the Gentiles, the section of the temple that God had commanded to be reserved as a place of worship for God-fearing Gentiles.

Jesus had witnessed the menagerie. He had seen the animals in their cages, the piles of dung, and the puddles of blood, and the stench. Oh, such a stench. It wasn’t just about the temple space, though. The misused space was representative of a deeper sin. God’s children were to be a shining light to the entire world, but the world was no longer welcomed into God’s house. Christ knew this, and that is why he drove the moneychangers out of the temple.

How does it help us to examine more closely the mind of Christ? We are told to be like him. The more we know about him, the more we can imitate him. More than that, we are not only told to be like Christ, we are told to renew our minds, to take on the mind of Christ. We are told to imitate him in every way. Paul speaks of this frequently. In Romans 12, he tells us to transform our lives through the renewing of our minds.

Discovering the heart of Christ is a little easier than the quest for the mind of Christ. His heart is an open book. He is driven by love and compassion. He is driven by devotion to his father. He talks very little of laws and rules and regulations, and, in fact, he is often accused of breaking the laws. Instead, tells us that if we love God and each other enough that we will naturally uphold the real laws of God. On closer examination, we learn that what we traditionally call the Lord’s Prayer is not his prayer at all. It is a model prayer for his disciples. Instead, the prayer of our Lord is that we love one another, become unified, and love God with all our hearts.

In our quest to discover the heart and mind of Christ we learn that we cannot renew our own heart and minds without paying attention to our bodies as well, for our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit. We also learn that we are powerless to change, at least we are powerless to make true and permanent change. We learn that without Christ, we are nothing, and only with him and through him do we find our true worth. Our worth, we discover, is infinite. We are worth so much, that God sent His own Son to die for us. Can you imagine that? I cannot.

We learn that living a holy life is somewhat of a paradox. The more we try to be holy, the more we realize that we never can. The more we struggle with it, the weaker we get. The closer we draw to Christ, the more sin is revealed. We are to surrender absolutely, and we are to be disciplined. We are to love sinners, and hate sin. We are to be a part of a pure and holy spiritual kingdom in a putrid sin-filled physical world. We are to be weak, so that Christ may give us strength. And, yes, we must die that we may truly live.

A warning, though, if you plan to be a part of this quest, the quest to discover the heart and mind of Jesus Christ, you must ask the Holy Spirit to go on this journey with you.

PART I

THE HEART OF CHRIST

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses

–C. Austin Miles

Chapter One

Hiding from God

How can Christ love me? I am so unworthy of His love. Yet, as He faced trial after trial – five or six in total – I was in His heart. Me. And, you. As He offered His back to those who beat Him, did He think of you, and say to Himself, “It is for you that I take this beating”? As they pummeled Him and ripped His beard from His face, was your sin upon His heart? Christ’s heart is full of love, compassion, and obedience.

“But, why? Why me?” You and I are so unworthy. We can never make recompense for our sins. We have all heard a preacher say that when Christ took our sin upon Himself, God turned His head away. Christ cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Why would God love you and I so much that He sent His Son to die? Why would Christ endure something so painful that God could not watch?

No one is worthy to be loved by God; this is true. Yet, this misses the point. We are worthy because God wanted us to be worthy. It hurt God more to watch his creation – you and me – live in bondage to sin and ultimately face eternal damnation than to watch His Son die on the cross. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJV). Because Christ took upon Himself our sins, because He died as the sacrifice for our sins, because He conquered death, God has declared us worthy of His love. Only because of His sacrifice, are we – sinful humans – able to enter into the presence of a perfect and holy God.

Sin has always confounded me. One of the first Bible stories I learned as a child in Sunday school was the account of Adam and Eve. It was not the creation story that stuck out in my four-year-old mind, as wondrous as it is. It was not the beautiful garden portrayed in flannel-graph cutouts that I found significant, rather it was Adam and Eve hiding from God after eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is what seized my four-year-old mind. I could not understand why they would hide, for I did not yet understand good and evil. Even at that tender age, though, the thought of walking hand-in-hand with God in the Garden of Eden was irresistible. Why would they hide? I would not have hidden from God. Yet, Adam and Eve did.

The wonder of creation is not the creation itself. It is what happened sometime prior to creation. Before a single star burned, and before a single planet spun on its axis, an all-knowing God created the universe with the full knowledge that that He would have to pay the ultimate price for our sins. Yet, He did.

With a single breath, He spoke the Word that created all matter. Countless millions of galaxies spun forth in a single explosion. At that instant, time began. Were it possible to go back, even a nanosecond we would learn that He considered our faces, and our names, and our sins as He spoke the words, “Let there be light.”

We don’t know how long Adam lived before God created Eve, and we don’t know how long the two managed to live before giving in to temptation, but it does seem that God had a habit of joining them for a walk in the garden in the cool of the day[1]. This is God’s perfect world. This is a picture of heaven. This is a picture of God’s ideal relationship with man. Food was abundant. Eden was a beautiful garden with an endless variety of trees, including fruit trees. Four springs watered the garden. There were no thorny, prickly plants or weeds. The animals were tame and friendly. Adam and Eve were innocent, and knew no sin. Daily, God would visit with His creation.

What conversations they had! While we are not told what they talked about, it is reasonable to assume that they did. What would you ask God if He knocked on your door one morning and said, “Let’s go walk”? The questions you and I would ask are quite different from the questions that Adam and Eve would have asked. Remember, they knew no sin.

I imagine that Adam may have asked God why He had created mankind. Why do leopards have spots and tigers have stripes? Why do stars twinkle or bees buzz? Where does God go when He’s not in the garden? Why did God create the universe by speaking, but hand-fashioned man and woman from dust?

What did God ask Adam and Eve? I imagine God – the embodiment of pure love – simply listened, like a parent who needs nothing of his children but to spend time with them; being in their presence is enough.

When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they sacrificed that intimate relationship with Him. They would be banned from the garden. They would labor with sweat and blood for their food. Childbearing would be painful. Hatred and murder would visit pain upon their home. Because of their, they would die. The loss of that intimate walk with God in the cool of the day, though, was perhaps the worst. That sin causes a separation between man and God is perhaps the worst punishment one can imagine.

God, too, must have been heartbroken. He was a parent who, for the good of His child, was forced to mete out punishment that was as painful to Him as it was to the child. No longer would He relate to his son and daughter as innocent children. Their eyes were opened, and He must use a firm hand or they would remain rebellious and be permanently lost.

I imagine God weeping at the original sin. No longer would He be able to walk in the garden in the cool of the day with His children. The intimately conversations with Adam and Eve were lost. No longer would the lions lay down with the lambs. Thistles and thorns and weeds would grow and destroy his edenic world. The garden would be hidden.  Sin would fester, grow, and propagate in the hearts of his children. God was heartbroken.

Christ’s heart was broken, too, when Peter denied Him. Why did Christ tell Peter ahead of time that he would deny him three times before the cock crowed? Of course, it was the prediction was a wondrous sign, but there is more. On a personal level – within the context of the close personal friendship between Christ and one of His closest friends – Christ was telling Peter that he knew his heart. As He was being beaten, his heart was concerned with Peter. When Christ was fully submitted to the Will of the Father, His heart was ministering to Peter in one of his weakest moments. He looked deep into the shadows and found Peter and shined His light upon the heart of the man to whom He had given the keys of the Kingdom. Wherever there is sin, God offers forgiveness. Wherever there is repentance, Christ offers the ransom. God sees us in our failures and shortcomings, but does not look on us with judgement, but with pity and mercy. Judgment comes only to those who refuse to repent.

When one takes a close look at Adam and Eve’s sin, or at Peter’s denial of Christ, it was they who hid themselves from God. Peter hid in the shadows of the portico, and then retreated into the courtyard, and finally fled. Adam and Eve hid beneath the trees. If one takes a look at the life of David, one finds that after he sinned with Bathsheba and orchestrated the death of her husband, Uriah, he went into denial, affectively hiding from God. Mankind was imbued with shame so that we would turn back to God, not so that we would turn our backs on God.

Denial is indeed a way of hiding from God. If one takes a close look at the story of David and Bathsheba, many weeks or months passes in the matter of just a few paragraphs. David had many opportunities to repent. Yet it took months for him to repent, and it took confrontation from one of his closest advisers. We learn in 2 Samuel 12:1 that the Lord sent Nathan to confront David. That God sent him is an act of love. Nathan represented God looking for David under the trees.  David’s denial, his hiding, had affected his prayer life, his worship of God, and the entire Kingdom of Israel. Where are the psalms that David wrote between this sin and his repentance? They do not exist; one cannot properly worship God when living with unrepented sin. Sin and shame separates us from God.

We cannot hide from God, not really. He knows where we are and what we do. God did not let David hide for long. God never allows us to stray without calling us to repent. He is the father, standing in the front door, looking for his prodigal son to return home. He calls us to repent, and He calls us with love in His voice. He calls us softly and tenderly. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Mt. 11:28-29 KJV).

Yes, in Adam and Eve’s case, and in David’s case, there were consequences for their sin. A good father disciplines his children. Even in the punishment, though, we see mercy. Adam and Eve had been promised that they would die the day they eat of the fruit. Though death began to work in them that day, and though it can be said they suffered spiritual death that day, they did not die a physical death for many more years. During that time, they were guided through repentance, sacrifice, and spiritual growth, learning to relate to God in a new way.

David’s judgement as pronounced by Nathan included the promise that David would not die as punishment. Perhaps he would have rather died than to see the child die, but God chose to bring the child immediately home. David was allowed to repent, grow, and learn the mercies of God.

Repentance is a complete turnaround, a willingness to change. God never offers forgiveness unless accompanied by a willingness to change. Salvation is free and easy, but it requires repentance. To some, this seems sacrilegious, and they will not accept that repentance is mandatory. I may have just lost many of my readers. Yet, a complete change of heart is necessary for forgiveness. We must be willing to change.

Yet, God would not be a loving God if He did not ask us to change. What kind of a dad would allow a child who had discovered matches and burnt her fingers continue to play with matches? What kind of a life guard would allow a child to continue to swim in the adult pool after falling in and nearly drowning? Christ’s heart is full of love, and He loves us so much that he compels us to change.

God called David a “man after My own heart.” Yes, this is the same David who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover up his sin. Yes, the same David who acted like he had done no wrong, and pretended that things were normal, who hid from God for months. That God called him a man after His heart can only be attributed to the fact that David was truly repentant. True repentance leads to an ever deeper relationship with God. An ever-deepening relationship with God leads to a heart that thirsts for righteousness. This is the heart that was David’s. It is such a thirst for the things of God that led God to call him a man after his heart. And, it would not have been possible had David not repented.

Think of Psalms – and what they would lack – had David not repented of his sin of adultery and murder. Had he never repented, we may never have known the 32^nd Psalm, the 3^rd Psalm, or the 63^rd Psalm. Without a doubt, we never have read the beautiful words of the 51^st Psalm had David never repented of that sin.

The 51^st Psalm, was written as a plea for God’s forgiveness after he had repented, and it is a guideline for us as we repent a seek forgiveness.

Psalm 51New King James Version (NKJV)

A Prayer of Repentance

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,^[a]
And blameless when You judge.

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

⁹ Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
¹⁶ For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

Chapter Two

Easy Peasy

When I was growing up, the first Bible verse I learned was John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” That’s easy. This is all one has to do to be saved, believe in Jesus Christ. There is no other stipulation. Anyone who believes will be saved. Paul reiterates this in Romans 10:13.

I do not believe that in order to be saved, one has to live a life without sin. You don’t have to be a perfect Christian to be saved. That is impossible. If that were possible, there would be no need for Jesus in our lives, for we could save ourselves. I do believe, however, that repentance is integral to true belief in Jesus Christ. Godly contrition and a desire to change is a natural result of acknowledging your sins. Contrition and the conviction of the Holy Spirit compels the new believer to commit to live like Jesus and that is a commitment to change.

There is a disturbing trend in churches that still teach that one must be born again. It is not a new trend; it actually can be traced back to the late 18^th Century, but it continues to this day. It is this: that one can be saved without repentance. It is usually taught like this, which is the way I learned it as a child:

• A – Acknowledge that you are a sinner.
• B – Believe in the name of Jesus Christ with all your heart.
• C – Confess your sins and you are saved.

This makes salvation easy to understand. This is perfectly acceptable and biblically sound so far as it goes. Without a call to repentance, though, it lacks substance. Many people latch onto this “easy-believism” and never acknowledge their sin, and ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and end up remaining in a life of sin and bondage. Are they really saved if they do not repent? That is not for me to judge, but we will take a look at what the Bible says about it.

Easy-believism does have one thing right: Salvation is as easy as ABC. Billy Graham preached to more people than any man in the history of the world. He filled stadiums that held tens of thousands of people and broadcasted those rallies live to millions more the world over. When you have but one chance to reach lost souls, you want to make the Gospel of Christ as easy to comprehend as a pre-school child’s phonics lesson. So, he broke down the Gospel into terms so easy that even a preschooler could understand:

• God loves you and has a plan for you.
• We are all sinners and separated from God.
• God sent His son to die for you.
• Ask forgiveness and turn from your sins.

Billy Graham taught salvation the right way. One must repent, or turn from sin. That is how Christ taught it. Mark 2:17 reads, “When Jesus heard it, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.’” Later, Jesus sends out the twelve apostles to preach “that people should repent” (Mark 6:12 NKJV).

Repentance is the hardest thing about salvation, and not the least controversial. As the rooster crows, and the mob plucks His beard, perhaps Jesus remembers that He had forewarned His disciples of this. Just days earlier, Jesus told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again[2].”

He knew then that they didn’t comprehend His looming death. This was the third time that He had told them directly that he would be mocked, beaten, and put to death. And this was the third time that He had told them that He would rise again from the grave. How could they not understand? How could they, though? They are fallible humans who too easily deny that which is too painful to face.

That day – the day that He foretold of His death for the third time – had been one full of lessons that the disciples struggled to comprehend, lessons about denial, and admitting the truth. Jesus had been teaching on the Kingdom of God that day, and – even at that time, just days before Christ would sacrifice His life for the salvation of the world – many of His disciples still thought of the Kingdom as a one that was physical. They envisioned a grand palace, and a throne, and even debated as to which of them would be the greatest in the Kingdom. In their minds, they would be great leaders, generals of the armies of Jesus, wise judges hearing cases and handing down rulings. Of all his disciples, Jesus thought, perhaps only John, the youngest, has an inkling of understanding about the nature of His kingdom.

Perhaps John’s youth is the very reason that he has a better understanding of this matter. He smiled with brotherly affection at John as he finished a parable. “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

That’s easy enough, He thought. Still, sometimes concepts must be illustrated. To drill home the lesson on humbling one’s self, He turned to a cluster of families who stood nearby, listening to Him teach. Jesus smiled at the parents with such a welcoming smile that many of them were compelled to take Him their children for a blessing.

Before they could approach, His disciples cut them off. How dare they bring children to a man of such importance. Don’t they know this is the future King? The Christ?

Jesus nearly cried. They just don’t get it. “Stop,” he called to his disciples. And, here was the illustration that would drive home his lesson on becoming humble. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.[3]”

Do you get it, now? Did the disciples finally understand that, compared to everything they knew, His Kingdom would seem to be upside down? Did they yet understand that the world in which they lived had been corrupted, turned completely upside down by the prince of this world, Satan? Did they finally realize that He would right things? Those who wish to lead will serve. Those who wish to be exalted must humble themselves. Those who wish to be wise must seem to the world to be foolish. Those who wish to be rich must become poor. The poor may become rich by storing up their treasures in Heaven.

They still didn’t get it. Little children are helpless, totally dependent upon their fathers to provide. They desperately need to be loved and nourished, both physically and emotionally. The soak up everything, displaying an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. They are not too proud to admit that they need to learn, and eagerly ask every comprehensible (and many incomprehensible) questions about every subject matter imaginable. They find every topic of interest. They want to spend every waking moment with their fathers and wish only to cuddle with their parents at night.

Little children are not afraid to admit when they are wrong, and wish to learn what is right. Once confronted about misbehavior, they take correction and apply it to their lives and then eagerly move on to the next life lesson. Some might say that they naively have no fear, but Christ knew that they had no fear because they trust their fathers.

The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. The humble, those who confess their sins, those who acknowledge that without God, they are nothing. Those who trust in their Father and eagerly soak up every minute they can spend with Him. These are the children of God.

Now, let’s demonstrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is not, thought Jesus as He saw a rich young man approaching. Perhaps He had watched this man for many days, even years. He knew the young man, as He knew everyone. He was rich, which was obvious by his clothes. That he was not humble, was obvious to Jesus as He looked into the man’s heart.

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Eternal life, Kingdom of God, the terms were, to Jesus, synonymous.

Christ answered by confronting the rich man about what Jesus saw in the man’s heart. “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” Jesus sincerely hoped that the man would draw meaning from those words. Jesus was indeed good, and of all the men who had walked the face of the earth since the creation of time, and of all the men who ever would walk the earth, He alone deserves to be called “Good Teacher.” Jesus did not shrug off that title, rather he was telling the young man that he, in spite of his riches and in spite of his attitude, he was not a good man.

It didn’t sink in. So, He would give the rich man food for thought. Do you really think you are good? Let’s see. “You know the commandments,” said Jesus. “‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

Jesus knew the man would be able to proclaim innocence in the matter of these commandments. These are the biggies. Christ didn’t mention the others. Was God truly the man’s only god, or was money his idol. Was he covetous? Greedy? Did he worship material things? Outwardly, this was a fine, morally upstanding citizen. Were you able to ask anyone who knew the man, and they would have likely told you that this man deserved to go to heaven. If anyone makes it to heaven, then this guy does.

Jesus knew the truth.

The man replied, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” He should have continued, humbled himself before Jesus, and said, “But I am a sinner. I covet after things. Money is my god, but after listening to you, I now know that you are the Christ, and I will give up everything – if necessary – to serve you. I am nothing, but all that I am I give to you.”

The man would never say that, Jesus knew. He would never even admit his sins, much less repent of them. To prove that point, Jesus thought, if you are so good, then prove it. “You still lack one thing,” Jesus said. The one thing that he lacked was to humble himself, or to confess and repent. “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Had the rich young man been really paying attention to what Jesus had to say, then perhaps he would have learned a lesson from the parable of the widow who pestered the judge until he gave in to her wishes. Perhaps he should have said, “Yes, I will do whatever it takes to be a part of your kingdom. Perhaps he should have followed Jesus.

The lesson that is usually drawn from the story of the Rich Young Ruler is that, though it is nearly impossible for a rich man to humble himself, it is just a difficult for many poor people to do the same. While this is true, it is not a complete lesson. The lesson here is that one must come to the end of oneself. The widow didn’t give up because she couldn’t. That judge was her only hope. The tax collector hung his head and beat his chest because he had fully realized that he was a desperate sinner; he had hit rock bottom.

What a shocking message this was! Not just to the rich man who went away sad, but to Peter, James and John. To all the disciples. The parents of the children whom Jesus blessed must have been shocked as well. The masses who listened to Jesus thought that if this man, this good man, this rich man, this man with a position of power in the community, if he could not obtain a place in the Kingdom of God, then no one could.

“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Here is the key to repentance. It was impossible for the rich young man, though a good man, to do anything that would be deserving of eternal life. It was impossible for the tax collector to do anything to lift himself up from his desperate position and become worthy of eternal life. Yet, of the two, the tax collector was the only one who repented. And, so God – seeing that he had repented – reached down to him and took him by the hand, and said, I will give you the strength to change your ways. And, that is the key to holiness.

Always eager to remind Jesus of their value to his kingdom, which they still perceived as an earthly domain, Peter chose to speak out for the twelve disciples. “We have left all we had to follow you!”

Christ promised his disciples an eternal reward in the “age to come,” in His Kingdom. Then, He explained again how His Kingdom would come about. He “took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’

“The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.”

They didn’t yet understand, but His torture, death, and resurrection were an essential part of our salvation. Only later would they realize that every single man and woman are as helpless to save themselves as the Rich Young Ruler.  The only thing that we can do is to repent of our sins and allow Jesus to rescue us from sin and death. Without His sacrificial death, we are eternally damned. Without His victory, we are eternally bound to sin and shame. Salvation is free, but it to grasp it, we must also release our sins.

[1] God walking in the Garden is considered by many to be the first appearance in the Bible of a Theophany, God appearing to man. Some theologians consider this to be a Christophany, the person of Jesus Christ appearing on earth before His immaculate conception.

[2] Luke 8:31-33 NIV

[3] Luke 18:16-17

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