Walking With Jesus

Are You Qualified?

“See how I used him to display My power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.” (Isaiah 55:4-5 NLT)

Is it fair to say there are things for which we’re qualified and things we’re not? I can run a pretty good sweeper, swiffer floors, wash dishes and cars, but I’m a lousy auto mechanic, electrician, or plumber. I can speak to people about Jesus, even lead them to a prayer of confession, but I make a really bad Savior and Lord.

In the passage above Isaiah is essentially saying that God doesn’t have favorites. What He did for King David, He’ll do for anyone willing to submit to His authority and follow His directives. How much more can we seek His power and strength to live godly lives now that we have forgiveness and new life through Christ our King!

So, what is it that qualifies us for such a life of love and devotion? Do we work hard? Sacrifice? Say long, laborious prayers? Volunteer to serve many hours? Give large sums of money? Lead nations to Jesus? While any or all of those things are admirable and I’m sure the Lord would be quite pleased with us if we did them with the right attitude, none of those things can qualify us to be Lord of our own life.

The late Tim Keller reminds us: “You are under-qualified for the job of master and commander of your own life.” It’s ironic in many ways that as we surrender our lives to the Lord, we quickly conclude we can now rule our own life. What a joke! We couldn’t rule our life BEFORE coming to Christ, how can we possibly conclude we’re now qualified AFTER yielding our lives to HIS Lordship?

Having said that, our submission to the Lord’s authority in our lives now qualifies us for many other very useful tasks as His servant. And, ironically, He gives us authority to command demons and take control of other evil inspired activities, especially those in our own lives. Are we qualified to live above the power of sin in our life? Absolutely! Can we live a holy life to His honor and fame? Without question! Can we witness to His power and strength to save, heal, empower to serve, equip for sacred duty, call and preserve? There’s no doubt!

Where we must allow the Lord to draw the proverbial line is when we step over the boundary of our own life. Where the Lord qualifies and enables us to make great strides in our growth in Him, sometimes there’s a thin line between what He’s done and is doing in our lives and what He’s done and is doing in someone else’s life.

Because the Lord may have delivered me from alcohol, drugs, pornography, lust, pride, anger and a lot of other ungodly and sinful things, doesn’t qualify me to demand others to respond to God’s activity in their lives just like He did in mine. My dad was able to turn from cigarettes and alcohol without great effort with the Lord’s help, but my poor mom struggled for years to be rid of those vices.

We praise God for how He works in our lives, but just as some people can do double back flips with ease, that’s not happening for me. Similarly, some people, by God’s grace, can walk away from habitual sin with seeming ease, while others suffer and struggle for years. We’re never qualified to be anyone’s judge, only our Master Jesus is qualified for that. Let’s leave Lordship to Jesus. Let’s be content with being His slaves and love Him and each other well.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

How to Get to the Heart of the Problem

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV)

*On this first of the month Pastor Rick Warren has given us a message that will nourish our soul in today’s message that I pray will bless, challenge, and refresh us. Enjoy! Blessings, Ed

I love to garden, and as any gardener knows, you’re always battling weeds. When I want to get rid of weeds, I don’t just go out and cut them off with pruning shears. I pull them out by the root. If I just cut off the weed itself—the symptom—it’s going to grow right back.

It’s the same with the world’s problems. People have tried many approaches to solving them. But too often, only the symptoms get addressed and not the underlying cause—because if the root is still there, the problems will keep growing back.

No man-made approach addresses the root cause—the heart—of the problems in our world. Even when it’s a good or noble approach, they’re never enough. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV).

You could try an educational approach, but it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem. You can be educated, but it doesn’t change your character.

The economic approach doesn’t get to the heart. Money doesn’t solve all our problems. If it did, the wealthiest people in the world would be problem-free, and that’s just not true.

The psychological approach doesn’t get to the heart. Yes, it’s helpful and can make people feel better, but we were created for more than a life free from stress and anxiety. We were created for a purpose.

The sociological approach doesn’t get to the heart. Throughout history, well-meaning people have worked to change the social structures of society. But we can see how little people have really changed, even in the 21st century.

The biological approach thinks every problem can be solved by a pill or a procedure, and the technological approach says innovation is our salvation. Each one has an important role in advancing society. But none of them get to the root cause of all the problems on the planet.

If there’s going to be any real, long-term change, it has to start in the heart. That’s how God works—through transforming lives from the inside out.

God specializes in changing prejudiced people into loving people and hateful people into kind people and self-centered people into unselfish people. No law will ever teach people how to love. Only God can do that. Transformation starts in the heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV).

The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. We’re not going to see any lasting change in society until there is lasting change in our hearts.

How’s your heart doing? Before you can help anyone else with their problems, you’ve got to let God work in you first. When your heart is in the right place with him, that’s when you’re able to point others to the only real solution that gets to the root of all of our problems—to Jesus, the One who can actually change hearts.

Talk It Over

When you read or listen to the news, how do you respond as a believer?
What do you think is the most effective way to show people how Jesus has changed your heart?
Do you think it’s your responsibility as a Christian to have a positive impact on the world? Where do you think God wants you to start today?

If you’re ready to give your heart to Jesus, then pray this prayer:
“Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and making it possible for me to spend eternity with you. I confess I don’t deserve it. I have sinned against you and lived according to my own selfish desires, and I ask for your forgiveness. Thank you for sending Jesus to pay for my sins by dying in my place.

“Jesus, today I accept you as my Lord and Savior. Thank you for releasing me from judgment and making me acceptable to God. Thank you for offering me a fresh start and for giving me eternal life with you. Most of all, thank you for loving me. Jesus, I submit my life to you from this day forward. Amen.”

If you just prayed to accept Jesus, please email me at Rick@PastorRick.com and let me know about it. I’d like to send you some free materials to help you start your journey with Jesus.

How Good Are You at Listening to Your Spouse? (Part II)

*This is part 2 of a 2-part series by Janel Breitensten (Family Life) It’s well worth the read. If you’ve ever had communication issues (like with your spouse, co-worker, family member, neighbor, other) these articles are for you (and me, of course) Prepare to take notes. Blessings, Ed 😊

Listening is a form of loving. It’s a gift, really, of being fully there to receive a person.

Words tether us to each other. They are, in many ways (but not all), our relationship, the cord between us.

Authors John and Stasi Eldredge note in Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul:

“The gift of presence is a rare and beautiful gift. To come―unguarded, undistracted―and be fully present, fully engaged with whoever we are with at that moment. When we offer our unguarded presence, we live like Jesus.”

So what’s one way, through listening, that you could move into being fully present?

Reminder on how to use this inventory: With each number, see if it’s a strength, weakness, or neither. Then, select 1-2 weaknesses from this list (and 1-2 from yesterday’s) you’d like to improve. (We’ll specialize these for listening to your spouse, but they apply to all relationships.)

You refrain from finishing your spouse’s sentences.
You ask for clarification when you don’t understand what your spouse means.
You don’t feel the need to prove yourself as wise or helpful.
Rather than planning your responses, you try to set those aside in your head and focus on what’s being said.
Your spouse is noticeably comforted after you spend time listening to them.
Your advice is highly individualized to your spouse, reflecting back what you’ve heard them say and steering clear of pat answers and cliches.
You have time in your schedule to listen to your spouse (and friends, children, etc.).
Before offering advice, you offer compassion and understanding: “I am so sorry. That sounds incredibly hard.”
You share your own circumstances that relate, but are careful not to refocus the conversation on you, or to indicate your circumstances were worse/harder.
You think of your spouse’s experience after you’ve left the conversation, internalizing their struggle. They’re on your heart, so you pray for them, too.
More than a problem being fixed, you prioritize that your spouse feels heard, received, and understood.

Would you like to improve your communication? Read on for four tips.

THE GOOD STUFF: Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19)

ACTION POINTS: Write down your 1-2 points for change, and pray that God will create these from the inside out in your heart. Then tell your spouse about them for some accountability. Bonus: Have your spouse take this inventory evaluating you as a listener.

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I want these in my inbox daily!

How Good Are You at Listening to Your Spouse? (Part I)

*This 2-part series by Janel Breitenstein (Family Life) is well worth the read. If you’ve ever had communication issues (like with your spouse, co-worker, family member, neighbor, other) these articles are for you (and me, of course) Prepare to take notes. Blessings, Ed 😊

Anyone else feel like listening is a dying art form?

We carry our lives tucked deep within us. We long for somebody (anybody!) to simply have the occasion to ask for and absorb what’s on our minds, what makes up our lives.

But communication in our world happens at the speed of light. We feel more “connected” after a 140-character tweet. Few of us possess the time or the training to receive the stories of those around us.

Unfortunately, this means people are withering around us even in our own homes. Even in our own marriages.

This art form takes practice. Time. The ability to love someone like we love ourselves.

So we’ve created a brief inventory to help you uncover strengths and weaknesses of your personal listening style.

Again, it’s an art form. So expect to need a lot of practice! But don’t let that stand in the way of you taking a few definitive steps to loving better through listening.

Especially with your spouse.

Answering honestly, ask yourself if each statement below is a strength, weakness, or neither. Then, select 1-2 weaknesses from this inventory (and 1-2 from tomorrow’s) you’d like to improve. (We’ll specialize these for listening to your spouse, but they apply to all relationships.)

People come away from talking to you possessing a better understanding of themselves.
You wait a few seconds after your spouse has stopped talking to see if they have more to say.
You practice “reflective listening,” using words like, “So I hear you saying that you’re …”
You’re comfortable with abstaining from advice at times, to simply be with someone in their grief. (Think of what Job’s friends didn’t do.)
You ask questions that cause your spouse to explore what he or she hasn’t before.
Your spouse frequently responds to you, “That’s a good question” but it’s okay with you if you’re not the person with all the good questions.
You refrain from interrupting.
You’re comfortable with not having an answer for some of life’s unfixables.

You use facial expressions that are receptive: soft eyes, nodding, eye contact.
You pray silently for your husband or wife while listening, and ask God for wisdom in responding.

Click here for three communication tips based on wisdom gained from years (and years) of trial and error.

THE GOOD STUFF: A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. … If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. (Proverbs 18:2,13)

ACTION POINTS: Got your 1-2 points for change? Write them down. Because speech overflows from our hearts (Matthew 12:34), pray that God will reveal the heart issues beneath your listening issues. Bonus: Have your spouse take this inventory evaluating you as a listener.

I want these in my inbox daily!

Superstars

“O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of Your strength, silencing Your enemies and all who oppose You. When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place – what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that You should care for them?” (Psalm 8:1-4 NLT)

What comes to mind when you think of a “superstar?” A general definition of a superstar today is: A superstar is someone who is extremely talented, has great public appeal, and can command a high salary.

It’s just the way we think as human beings. Think of the brightest “star” in Hollywood today and think about where they’ll be in 30 – 40 years, if they’re still living. We sell our souls for the world’s acclaim only to end up spent, miserable, wanting.

These are individuals who are recognized for their exceptional talent and influence in their respective domains, but who rarely think of God or give Him credit for their abilities, preferring rather to take all the credit themselves. Charlie Kirk was a “superstar” in my mind, and I would pray his legacy lives on, challenging and changing the lives of millions of people young and old to see and serve the Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord.

But think, too, of literal stars. The biggest star in the universe (that we know of), UY Scuti is a variable hypergiant with a radius around 1,700 times larger than the radius of the sun. To put that in perspective, the volume of almost 5 billion suns could fit inside a sphere the size of UY Scuti. Our sun is enormous — more than a million Earths could fit inside of it. But on a stellar scale, it could be swallowed up by about half of all stars observed so far — especially stars like UY Scuti.

Does that blow your mind? And the verse above says the Lord created those massive stars with His fingers! Wouldn’t it be fun if the Lord enabled us to visit stars like this when we have our new, heavenly body? Yet, on the other hand, our awe of our heavenly Father will likely so captivate us, we may not have any desire to do anything but sit transfixed by His majesty for centuries.

Pondering all the Lord has created, recognizing how small and insignificant we are as human beings, it amplifies the cry of the Psalmist as he considers why the Lord would even take notice of us. But, when you go back to the creation story you realize we were the “crown jewel” of all He created. After having created everything else, He decided to create human beings, “in His own image!”

As massive and intimidating as other aspects of God’s creation can be, we, as mankind, were created to share God’s heart, to feel His love, to hear His voice, to walk with Him as His beloved children. How flippantly we brush off and ignore the gift of God’s only Son, sacrificed for our redemption, but what a joy and delight when we embrace and cherish the realization that He died for ME! He died for YOU!

While the thought of exploring the vastness of God’s creation appeals to me, the greatest joy I can imagine is sitting at my Savior’s feet, basking in His majesty, and cherishing my time with Him. Listening to His voice, seeking to grasp the privilege of being forgiven, redeemed, and counted among those chosen by Him to live with Him throughout all eternity.

Talk about feeling like a superstar! There’s no earthly possession or position that could ever compare!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Living Water?

“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, ‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, “Rivers of living water will flow from His heart.” (When He said, ‘living water,’ He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him.)” (John 7:37-39a NLT)

One vital factor when considering the issue of living water is that it’s always active, never stagnant. Living water flows in and through, it’s not looking for a place to be stored, but to be actively enjoyed and shared with others who are thirsty.

In an entry from Days of Heaven upon Earth I recently read: “Some of us are troubled, wondering why the Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us. The problem is that we have plenty coming in but we are not giving out to others. If you will give the blessing you have received, planning your life around greater service and being a blessing to those around you, then you will quickly find that the Holy Spirit is with you. He will bestow blessings to you for service, giving you all He can trust you to give away to others.”

So, the question then becomes, are we seeking to be vessels through whom the Spirit can flow or simply holding tanks where the Spirit is stored? Remember when Jesus asked His three closest friends to stay awake, when His heart was breaking and His spirit was being stretched, yet He found them sleeping He said: “Couldn’t you watch with Me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

The clear implication to me is that before we can be channels of living water to others, we must bask in the pleasures of the Living Water’s presence ourselves. Waiting before the Lord, pondering His goodness, beauty, majesty, and glory, drinking deeply of His enriching, invigorating presence equips and prepares us to share His life and love with others.

Jesus is also clear in helping us understand our flesh gets in the way. As a human being, what we most long to have is something that satisfies our longings and sustains our fleshly desires, which, of course, run contrary to the Spirit’s desires in us. The only way to effectively fight against the desires of the flesh is to persistently and intentionally seek the presence and power of the Spirit.

Living water flows from the Savior’s life evidenced in and through a life that’s fully devoted and surrendered to His desires. Unlike the sleepy disciples, we have to want to please the Lord more than satisfy the deep longings of our own life. Like the disciples, we want to “sleep” rather than be alert and actively invested in sharing the Savior’s life with others.

The more we think about, pray about, live about the Savior, the easier it becomes to be awake to His holy water alive and flowing in and through our lives. We’re so prone to collecting and hoarding the Spirit we struggle with understanding how vital it is to let Him not only flow into us, but out of us. Worshipping with others and restricting ourselves to audiences with only those who know and love Him can be as dams to the flow of our life in His love and grace.

The Spirit’s presence is given to allow Him free rein, not only to dwell within us, but to flow through us to others who so desperately need Him in our spheres of influence. Please be aware and alert to how vitally important it is to be sensitive to His presence in you when you’re in the presence of those who have yet to “drink” of the water of life.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Radical Beholder

“Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.” (Psalm 17:15 NLT)

King David was a radical beholder of the Lord. Day and night, morning and evening his thoughts were on His Sovereign Lord and Leader of his life. Perhaps that’s the major reason the Lord said of David that he was a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). In Acts 13:22 the Bible says: “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.”

How descriptive is God’s observation of David, of His observation of you? Of me? What does that look like; what might that mean? According to Scripture, it not only means to be a diligent seeker of God through prayer, but through life. Praying often and well is vital to our having a strong walk with the Lord, but prayer in and of itself isn’t enough, we must also be diligent doers of His will.

Prayer is our lifeline. It’s through the medium of prayer we hear God’s voice, but we also must hear His holy heart. It’s His voice that informs, but it’s His heart that motivates us to respond in obedience to His directives. I can know God’s will in my mind, but until His will is activated with the rest of my body, His will won’t be accomplished, and I won’t have obeyed the directives of His heart.

We can be radical listeners without being radical beholders, radical followers, radical obey-ers! What made David a man after God’s own heart wasn’t His heart for God alone, but his radical determination to obey God and to walk before God as His humble servant.

That would be impressive regardless of who David was, but to remember that he was a king, a ruler of a nation of God’s people, is what makes His radical stance before God impressive. Few in their lifetime attain such status before men, yet, fewer still attain such radical status before God.

Do you long to be a person after God’s own heart? Someone whose sole purpose for existence is to please, honor, love, and serve God well? Someone whose soul longs for oneness and intimacy with your Father and with His only Son? If you want to be a person after God’s own heart, it begins by being a radical beholder of your Master, Lord, and Savior. But how?

First, by shifting our focus from ourselves to the Lord. If we’re honest we must recognize that a very high percentage of our thoughts focus on ourselves – our health, our wellbeing, our schedules, our social circles, our families, our jobs, our social networks and on and on. Our lives center and focus on the big “I”! We’re what matters and too often God is an afterthought if any thought at all. But that must change!

To be a person after God’s own heart we must intentionally prioritize God’s preeminence in our thoughts and actions throughout our days. Is He preeminent in your thoughts? When you’re working, relaxing, playing, interacting with others? Whatever you’re doing is He on your mind, is He the center and focus of your heart?

To be a radical beholder of our Savior and best Friend takes intentional action and discipline. It won’t happen unless and until we intend for it to happen. We must establish disciplines in our life that will help us to focus on Him during every waking moment. If He’s not vital in our thinking He will never be vital in our living.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

All In?

“It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings…They were calling out to each other, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!’” (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3 NLT)

It’s difficult for us to imagine what Isaiah was feeling in those moments. Only a small percentage of God’s followers are privileged to experience such personal audiences with the God of Creation. Perhaps Peter, James, and John could relate when Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and they were visited by Elijah and Moses. (Mark 9:2-4)

In my mind’s eye I see Isaiah still, engrossed by the beauty of the presence of the Lord, listening intently, captivated by God’s voice. While we may not experience visions of God as Isaiah did, we nonetheless have opportunities to sit in God’s presence, worship and listen to His voice. There are things that this unique experience taught Isaiah and I believe can teach us.

In verse 5 we’re told: “Then I said, ‘Its’ all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’” Worship invites us not only to gain a clearer vision of God, but a more accurate vision of ourselves. Unless we see our wretchedness in the presence of the Lord, we’ll not understand our need to have complete dependence upon Him.

If our attitude is: “I’ve got this Christianity thing! I’m a good person and I’m living right. What else could I possibly need?” then we’ll likely never come to terms with our own depravity, wretchedness, ugliness, and lostness in comparison to our holy, righteous, and perfect Savior. Seeing God accurately, enables us to see ourselves more clearly, but it also creates in us a hunger to serve, to be used of God.

In the following verses in chapter 6 we see God removing Isaiah’s guilt, then calling him into service. That’s a picture of what should happen in each of our lives. We have a moment when we finally begin to see God more clearly, we recognize what a mess we are, seek His forgiveness, are baptized as a public testimony to what the Lord is doing in our lives, then we’re called to service.

What might that look like for you and me? It essentially means, as I’ve said before, putting our “YES” on the table. That simply means we take a blank sheet of paper, write “YES!” in big bold letters and put our signature at the bottom. What does that mean? It means whatever the Lord says to do, our answer is “YES!” We don’t need to know the specific assignment, all we need to know is the Lord is calling us, and He will equip us.

In some ways it’s like marriage. We stand at the altar pledging to one another our lifelong devotion and we don’t have a clue what that’s going to look like. All we have is our love for one another and we’re hopeful that will be enough. But based on current statistics, it’s not enough for about 4 in 10 couples who give up and give in to divorce. It’s hard to know how that compares with how many begin their walk with God, but fall away.

All I know is if we’ll take the time and make the effort to go “all in,” get a clear vision of the Lord, see ourselves in proper perspective, yield our life and allegiance to Him and follow Him as He leads, we’ll find He’s more than adequate to meet our every need and use us in ways we haven’t imagined He could.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Marriage and the Gospel

“Jesus replied, ‘Marriage is for people here on earth. But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.’” (Luke 20:34 NLT)

There are things about marriage that are wonderful, enjoyable, and endearing, but there are parts of marriage that are hard, discouraging, and can be debilitating. We tend not to give the hard parts much credence when our hormones are raging, and our heart is beating with “love” for this “perfect” human being the Lord has put into our life.

As the years unfold, we begin to see more clearly, not only how imperfect we are, but how unlike the person we married is in comparison to how we envisioned they would be. Isn’t that very much like what we see when we compare how we viewed our life when we started our walk with the Lord and how we see things after having been His child for many years?

There’s no question, the Lord certainly got the short end of the proverbial “stick.” We might have been tempted to believe the Lord got quite a prize when He got us, but time and spiritual maturity reveal a more complete picture and enable us to see ourselves in a much more accurate way.

Tim Keller wrote: “The gospel helps us to understand marriage and marriage helps us to understand the gospel.” That sounds very reasonable, but how so? What is it about marriage that enables us to see the Gospel more clearly and vice versa?

In marriage our focus is so much on ourselves, we miss a lot about the person we “love” because we’re so focused on how they’ll meet our needs. We don’t want to think about how we’ll need to change and adapt to this other person’s wants and desires. It’s not unlike that when we first come to Christ.

Forgiveness of sins and eternal life, what’s not to love about that? Then we start hearing words like self-lessness, self-discipline, obedience, submission, authority and we realize in order to be a child of God we’re going to have to do more than say a prayer, we’re going to have to commit everything we are to everything He is, learn to hear His voice and walk in obedience to His directives. It’s a lifelong process that grows richer and deeper the longer we walk with Him.

But how is this even possible? Because it’s the activity of the Lord in and through us as we grow in Him. Matt Capps gives us insight when he writes: “Religion says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.” Marriage is the perfect context in which to allow the Lord to grow us up in Him.

To the extent we, as husband and wife, yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, to that extent we’ll grow in our likeness of Him, thus growing closer to one another. When we are unequally yoked, as the Bible describes in 2 Corinthians 6:14, we create a barrier that will prevent a couple from true intimacy, not only with the Lord, but with each other.

This principle can also be seen in individuals and couples with nominal commitments to the Lord and/or to each other. Satan is a master in dividing our heart in our love of the Lord and in our marital allegiance and bringing misery to those who aren’t equal in their love and devotion to the Lord or to each other.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Master or Mastered?

“But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’” (Matthew 4:4 NLT)

As a believer in the God of the Bible it should be the aim of all of us to walk humbly and faithfully before our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. “But how?” is often the cry of our heart. The two primary ways of learning the ways of the Lord are to become avid readers and learners of God’s Word, the Bible, and, secondly, to become earnest seekers of His still, small voice.

Reading the Bible is easy, but hearing God’s voice as He speaks to us through His Word takes time and practice. In the verse above Jesus gives us a glimpse into what we need. We need sustenance for our physical bodies, but we draw spiritual nourishment from the words of God.

The clear implication of Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of His day and to us is to view the words of the Bible as words directly from the mouth of God, but that’s not all. God speaks in many ways beyond the words of Scripture. Granted, that is the primary way, but He also speaks to us through circumstances, through other godly people, through experiences we have that may be unique to us, and, as we grow more tuned to His voice, He speaks directly to us through our spirit. In many ways He speaks as a parent to a child.

My experience has been that what He speaks to us personally will always be verified through His written word. He will never say anything to us that contradicts or is in violation of what He has taught us through His holy Word, the Bible. Which begs the question: What does His Word say? Of course, that’s the purpose of becoming a student of His words but reading the Bible once through doesn’t constitute a thorough knowledge and understanding of all He has said.

As D. A. Carson has so insightfully written: “The aim is never to become a master of the Word, but to be mastered by it.” How does that happen? By continually reading, thoroughly studying, and carefully applying what we’re learning in Scripture. Having read the Bible through many times over the years, I find it interesting that I can read a familiar verse as if I’m seeing it for the first time.

Often our life’s circumstances will dictate a closer look, a deeper meaning, and a more personal application. God’s words are never static, lacking in movement or action. They are, on the other hand, very dynamic, moving, and vary in impact. God’s words demand movement, often from where we’re stuck in any given moment, to where He’s calling us to go and be.

Our various applications of God’s Words will never change their original meaning but can expand that meaning as the Lord shows us specific ways He would have us see, understand, and respond to what He’s saying to us in this moment. Being mastered by God’s words implies a strong devotion to and a willingness to be submissive to God’s authority as revealed through His holy Word.

God’s words should always take precedence over our own words (i.e. what our “heart” is telling us). As God spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” To master God’s Word is to be mastered by it’s Author.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊