Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.  Psalm 139:7-8

We are more like Jonah that we care to admit.  We see injustice.  We pray for resolution.  Then God, in his wisdom, sends us over to the enemy with a message of love, mercy, and grace so the Truth they really seek is heard.  “But God, they will not hear your words, much less repent and obey you!  Why bother with them”?  “Lord, Don’t make us do that, say that, or be nice to those who mock us for our faith,” we respond with whiney defiance due to fear, anger or both. 

Like Jonah, we feel like running away from it all to avoid the confrontation, resulting persecutions, or other offensive behaviors.  “You don’t understand, God, how hateful humans can be!”  But then again, I was once lost and you brought me back. So maybe God does know.  Just ask Jesus!

Jonah 2, The Message

At the Bottom of the Sea

^1-9 Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish.

He prayed:

“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
    He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’
    You heard my cry.
You threw me into ocean’s depths,
    into a watery grave,
With ocean waves, ocean breakers
    crashing over me.
I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
    thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
    on your Holy Temple.’
Ocean gripped me by the throat.
    The ancient Abyss grabbed me and held tight.
My head was all tangled in seaweed
    at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.
I was as far down as a body can go,
    and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—
Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
    O God, my God!
When my life was slipping away,
    I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
    made it all the way to your Holy Temple.

Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
    walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God,
    calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
    Salvation belongs to God!”

¹⁰ Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God told Jonah to preach to the Assyrians in Nineveh. Jonah knew that if he preached to them, they would have an opportunity to avoid God’s wrath. Jonah hoped to see these enemies punished by God, so he ran away.  Jonah did not WANT to deliver God’s message to those he hated and feared.

Jonah teaches us the truth of running away from God—it cannot be done!  God’s dominion extends everywhere. And no matter how far you run, God loves you and wants to bring you back.  We disobey, but God has ways of bringing us back.  Why?  Because of His relentless, unending, unshakeable, unconditional love for each one of us.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Romans 8:35 NIV

Consider what has been done for us.  Jesus was tormented, whipped with metal chords, mocked, beaten, and then nailed to a cross.  The cross was then put in place on a hill for all to see to humiliate the perpetrator (the Roman way) although Jesus never sinned or did anything wrong.  But Jesus became sin by taking all our sins with him to that cross so that our sins could be removed from us—free from punishment and humiliation.  He paid our debt off in full! 

But that’s not all!  Jesus then went done to the depths of hell for us, victoriously defeated the enemy called death, came back to life by rising again on that third day—just as He said He would.  This is love.  Jesus never argued with God, telling His Father that we did not deserve it.  Instead, Jesus obeyed God and we who believe are set free.

Yes, this act of obedience by Jesus proved the full extent of God’s love by taking on the sins of the world then, now and for all the sins to come.  Paid in full.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Paul, stopped by Jesus, saved by grace on the road to Damascus, before persecuting new believers is Christ, had this to say about the love of God; 

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:31-39, NLT  (Emphasis mine)

Obviously, God’s love was very personal to Paul, who experienced the love of Jesus quite dramatically!  See the book of Acts for Paul’s life transforming story—all because of the relentless love of God!

So back to Jonah…God loved Jonah.  He made a way for Jonah to be kept safe until Jonah realized who loved him most with further realization that he must obey God even when he doesn’t “feel” like it is worth the effort.  In the wait, God protected him.  In the wait, God changed his heart.  In the wait, Jonah declared once more that God was his God and that he knew what He was doing.  In the wait, Jonah worshiped God.  In the wait, Jonah loved God back. 

“Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do! Salvation belongs to God!”

Then God spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah on the seashore.

Jonah is brought back to God by God in an incredible way.  After three days, Jonah is ready to obey the One who loves him most and best!

Lord,

We run from you in all kinds of ways.  We procrastinate telling someone of your salvation as we wonder if they will hear and accept.  I have learned that it is you who picks the person, time, and place and we must obey quickly before the opportunity passes us by.  Thank you for speaking Truth to my heart today.  Help me to love like you love. 

In Jesus Name, Amen

Run to God, not away from God! 

And we’re singing…Glorious Day!

I was buried beneath my shame
Who could carry that kind of weight
It was my tomb
Till I met You

I was breathing but not alive
All my failures I tried to hide
It was my tomb
Till I met You

You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day

Now Your mercy has saved my soul
Now Your freedom is all I know
The old made new
Jesus, when I met You

You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day

I needed rescue
My sin was heavy
But chains break at the weight of Your glory
I needed shelter
I was an orphan
Now You call me a citizen of heaven
When I was broken
You were my healing
Your love is the air that I’m breathing
I have a future
My eyes are open

You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day
You called my name
And I ran out of that grave
Out of the darkness
Into Your glorious day!

“You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
   but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.”  Psalm 139:2-12

Years ago, exhausted from the ministry of church as well as directing a youth camp, Randy and I loaded up kids and camping gear to get away from it all.  We just wanted to rest and be with our own kids for a while.  We loaded up the camper, hoping to find a place away from people.  We arrived a campsite and thanked God because no one else was camping on either side of us.  We made our beds for the night and got all cozy. Our kids had already fallen asleep.   We were about to doze off ourselves when we heard people moving into the campsite next to us in the dark of night.  We looked out our camper windows to see an enthusiastic youth group piling out of vehicles ready to rock and roll for God around a campfire. 

So, no, there is no getting away, hiding, or being without God.  Fortunately, the group was not obnoxious.  That last song sung was Kumbaya—Come by here.  Randy and I giggled at the irony and humor of our God as we drifted off to sleep.  We were so tired; nothing was going to keep us from rest.  God knew that. 

We now come to a whale of a story about a reluctant prophet, a man who tried to get away from what God was asking him to be and do.  But, get this—even in his running away attempt, men who steered the ship in a storm are introduced to God.  They end up falling on their knees, praying, repenting and then worshiping the very God who Jonah was trying to get away from!  Do you see the irony in this alone?  If God asks you to be and do what He created you to be and do; He will provide a way (beyond our wildest thinking) to get it done.  And that’s not all!  God will bring people to see Him for who He really is in the process! 

Did Jonah know the words to Psalm 139 and did he repeat them as he was thrown overboard; “I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence! —adding, not even if I am swallowed by a whale and end up residing in its belly, you are there!”

Jonah 1, The Message

Running Away from God

 ^1-2 One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: “Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.”

³ But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God. He went down to the port of Joppa and found a ship headed for Tarshish. He paid the fare and went on board, joining those going to Tarshish—as far away from God as he could get.

^4-6 But God sent a huge storm at sea, the waves towering.

The ship was about to break into pieces. The sailors were terrified. They called out in desperation to their gods. They threw everything they were carrying overboard to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to take a nap. He was sound asleep. The captain came to him and said, “What’s this? Sleeping! Get up! Pray to your god! Maybe your god will see we’re in trouble and rescue us.”

⁷ Then the sailors said to one another, “Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s draw straws to identify the culprit on this ship who’s responsible for this disaster.”

So they drew straws. Jonah got the short straw.

⁸ Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?”

⁹ He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.”

¹⁰ At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God.

¹¹ They said to him, “What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control.

¹² Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.”

¹³ But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.

¹⁴ Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.”

¹⁵ They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down.

¹⁶ The sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshiped God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.

¹⁷ Then God assigned a huge fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the fish’s belly three days and nights.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jonah had every right to run (he thought). Why should he go to that stinking city? He hated the place. Why should he warn the Ninevites about God’s judgment? After how they had treated his people, they deserved to be wiped out. The last thing Jonah wanted was for his enemies to receive God’s blessing.

So he ran . . . as fast and as far as he could away from what God wanted him to do.

But God had other plans.  There’s more to the story; but for now thank God for what He is doing in our lives right now.

We can be so difficult.

But God can be so patient.

The book of Jonah is more than a fascinating account of one man’s futile attempt to run away from God. It is a story of God’s love for even the most unlovable, despicable people we can imagine—and of our responsibility to tell them the Good News.

And God?  God can do, did and does some pretty amazing things in just three days—like saving the world through Jesus Christ, His son, who on the third day defeated death and ran out that grave where men thought they had him forever bound. 

There is no place where we can go that God is not there.  I praise God for that knowledge and of His knowing me better than I know myself and loving me anyway.

Lord,

Thank you for fresh insight into this story of redemption and obedience of Jonah who finally ran to you instead of away from you.  We find ourselves doing the same at times. Thank you for time to realize who you are, time to mull over what you are asking of us, then the energy to run to you knowing that you never left us.  Help us to trust and obey for there’s truly no other way to be happy (like the song says) and joyful in you, but to trust and obey.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“It takes the entire Bible to read any part of the Bible.  Even the brief walk-on appearance of Obadiah has its place.  No one, whether in or out of the Bible, is without significance.   It was Obadiah’s assignment to give voice to God’s word of judgment against Edom.

Back in the early stages of the biblical narrative, we are told the story of the twins Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25-36).  They came out of the womb fighting.  Jacob was ancestor to the people of Israel, Esau ancestor to the people of Edom.  The two neighboring peoples, Israel mostly to the west of the Jordan River and Dead Sea and Edom to the southwest, never did get along.  They had a long history of war and rivalry.  When Israel was taken into exile—first the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721BC—Edom stood across the fence and watched, glad to see her old relative get beat up.

At first reading, this brief but intense prophecy of Obadiah, targeted at Edom, is a broadside indictment of Edom’s cruel injustice to God’s chosen people.  Edom is the villain and God’s covenant people the victim.

But the last line of the prophecy takes a giant step out of the centuries of hate and rivalry and invective.  Israel, so often a victim of Edomite aggression through the centuries, is suddenly revealed to be saved from the injustices of the past and taking up a position of rule over their ancient enemies the Edomites.  But instead of doing to others what had been done to them and continuing the cycle of violence that they had been caught in, they are presented as taking over the reins of government and administering God’s justice justly.  They find themselves in a new context—God’s Kingdom—and realize that they have a new vocation—to represent God’s rule.  It is not much (one verse out of twenty-one), but it is a glimmer (it is the final verse!).

On the Day of Judgment, dark retaliation and invective do not get the last word.  Only the first rays of the light of justice appear here. But these rays will eventually add up to the kingdom of light, in which all nations will be judged justly from the eternal throne in heaven.”  –Eugene Peterson, Introduction of Obadiah, The Message

Obadiah 1, The Message

Your World Will Collapse

¹ Obadiah’s Message to Edom
    from God, the Master.
We got the news straight from God
    by a special messenger sent out to the godless nations:

“On your feet, prepare for battle;
    get ready to make war on Edom!

* * *

^2-4 “Listen to this, Edom:
    I’m turning you to a no-account,
    the runt of the godless nations, despised.
You thought you were so great,
    perched high among the rocks, king of the mountain,
Thinking to yourself,
    ‘Nobody can get to me! Nobody can touch me!’
Think again. Even if, like an eagle,
    you hang out on a high cliff-face,
Even if you build your nest in the stars,
    I’ll bring you down to earth.”
        God’s sure Word.

^5-14 “If thieves crept up on you,
    they’d rob you blind—isn’t that so?
If they mugged you on the streets at night,
    they’d pick you clean—isn’t that so?
Oh, they’ll take Esau apart, piece by piece,
    empty his purse and pockets.
All your old partners will drive you to the edge.
    Your old friends will lie to your face.
Your old drinking buddies will stab you in the back.
    Your world will collapse. You won’t know what hit you.
So don’t be surprised”—it’s God’s sure Word!—
    “when I wipe out all sages from Edom
    and rid the Esau mountains of its famous wise men.
Your great heroes will desert you, Teman.
    There’ll be nobody left in Esau’s mountains.
Because of the murderous history compiled
    against your brother Jacob,
You will be looked down on by everyone.
    You’ll lose your place in history.
On that day you stood there and didn’t do anything.
    Strangers took your brother’s army into exile.

Godless foreigners invaded and pillaged Jerusalem.
    You stood there and watched.
    You were as bad as they were.
You shouldn’t have gloated over your brother
    when he was down-and-out.
You shouldn’t have laughed and joked at Judah’s sons
    when they were facedown in the mud.
You shouldn’t have talked so big
    when everything was so bad.
You shouldn’t have taken advantage of my people
    when their lives had fallen apart.
You of all people should not have been amused
    by their troubles, their wrecked nation.
You shouldn’t have taken the shirt off their back
    when they were knocked flat, defenseless.
And you shouldn’t have stood waiting at the outskirts
    and cut off refugees,
And traitorously turned in helpless survivors
    who had lost everything.

* * *

^15-18 “God’s Judgment Day is near
    for all the godless nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
    What you did will boomerang back
    and hit your own head.
Just as you partied on my holy mountain,
    all the godless nations will drink God’s wrath.
They’ll drink and drink and drink—
    they’ll drink themselves to death.
But not so on Mount Zion—there’s respite there!
    a safe and holy place!
The family of Jacob will take back their possessions
    from those who took them from them.
That’s when the family of Jacob will catch fire,
    the family of Joseph become fierce flame,
    while the family of Esau will be straw.
Esau will go up in flames,
    nothing left of Esau but a pile of ashes.”
        God said it, and it is so.

* * *

^19-21 People from the south will take over the Esau mountains;
    people from the foothills will overrun the Philistines.
They’ll take the farms of Ephraim and Samaria,
    and Benjamin will take Gilead.
Earlier, Israelite exiles will come back
    and take Canaanite land to the north at Zarephath.
Jerusalem exiles from the far northwest in Sepharad
    will come back and take the cities in the south.
The remnant of the saved in Mount Zion
    will go into the mountains of Esau
And rule justly and fairly,
    a rule that honors God’s kingdom.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

• What we dish out will boomerang back on us causing the same pain and humility. 
• Be careful what’s on the menu of our discussions and resulting behaviors.  It’s is too easy to talk about the demise of others who have fallen when you are in pain fighting your own sins and injustices.
• Don’t take advantage of people when their lives are falling apart.  They need love, help and encouragement, not judgement and instruction at that point.  “I told you so…” is not helpful.  Most people beat up themselves before you get there.
• Don’t stand by and watch bullies take out your enemy.  Stand up for what God says is right and helpful.

God saves the remnant of His family, His Chosen.  God’s children, the Jews, weren’t the best of children. They were stubborn, rebellious, and forgetful. Over the years God dished out the discipline and correction. But through all the stresses and strains, God’s love for his children was stubborn.

Edom, a powerful nation, enjoyed picking on Israel. Here in Obadiah, we see God rising to the defense of his children. He says, in effect, “Mess with them and you mess with me.”  Obadiah is a small book with a huge message. God cares for his children.

Stand up for and with those trying to follow Jesus.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  We all need each other.  We are all significant in God’s Kingdom.  Just ask Him, He will tell you the Truth of His relentless love for us. 

I have read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation quite a few times now and this I understand clearly:  God just wants us to love Him back and trust Him with our lives!

Lord,

Thank you for your Word that reminds us of your love, mercy and grace.  I repent of talking out of line when a brother falls to sin.  I pray for salvation and help for that brother right now.  Continue to transform my thinking that changes my ways of behaving.

In Jesus Name, Amen

You are fighting with siblings, mocking each other, playing pranks that cross the line, while you get close to annihilating each other as kids growing up in any given household.  Who steps in and lays down the law?  Who cares enough to stop the madness so you won’t kill each other?  Who proclaims the message to cease the destruction and chaos with consequences that will happen if you do not?  It is probably the parents, teachers, or grandparents—the ones in authority over you who love and care for us most.  It grieves parents when their kids do not get along and want to hurt each other. 

When kids question the resulting discipline, they ask why?  What do parents say?  “Because I said so.”  That meant the discussion is over.  The whiny and weak excuses for disobedience are no longer heard.  It’s a judgement call.

It’s also breaks the heart of our Father God when we fight with our brothers and sisters.  God stands ready with blessings of growing in His character with heaping amounts of His love to all who call on Him for help and correction with guidance with direction.  Refusing to stop our destructive habits will soon destroy us and those around us. So, God will step in to correct the situation because there is always someone praying for help who sees, believes, and is affected by the evil.  When God does step in with discipline, administered with love, mercy and grace, we should not question when God says, “Because I said so.”  God’s decree.

Amos 9, The Message

Israel Thrown into a Sieve

^1-4 I saw my Master standing beside the altar at the shrine. He said:

“Hit the tops of the shrine’s pillars,
    make the floor shake.
The roof’s about to fall on the heads of the people,
    and whoever’s still alive, I’ll kill.
No one will get away,
    no runaways will make it.
If they dig their way down into the underworld,
    I’ll find them and bring them up.
If they climb to the stars,
    I’ll find them and bring them down.
If they hide out at the top of Mount Carmel,
    I’ll find them and bring them back.
If they dive to the bottom of the ocean,
    I’ll send Dragon to swallow them up.
If they’re captured alive by their enemies,
    I’ll send Sword to kill them.
I’ve made up my mind
    to hurt them, not help them.”

^5-6 My Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    touches the earth, a mere touch, and it trembles.
    The whole world goes into mourning.
Earth swells like the Nile at flood stage;
    then the water subsides, like the great Nile of Egypt.
God builds his palace—towers soaring high in the skies,
    foundations set on the rock-firm earth.
He calls ocean waters and they come,
    then he ladles them out on the earth.
        God, your God, does all this.

* * *

^7-8 “Do you Israelites think you’re any better than the far-off Cushites?” God’s Decree.

“Am I not involved with all nations? Didn’t I bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Qir? But you can be sure that I, God, the Master, have my eye on the Kingdom of Sin. I’m going to wipe it off the face of the earth. Still, I won’t totally destroy the family of Jacob.” God’s Decree.

^9-10 “I’m still giving the orders around here. I’m throwing Israel into a sieve among all the nations and shaking them good, shaking out all the sin, all the sinners. No real grain will be lost, but all the sinners will be sifted out and thrown away, the people who say, ‘Nothing bad will ever happen in our lifetime. It won’t even come close.’

Blessings Like Wine Pouring off the Mountains

^11-12 “But also on that Judgment Day I will restore David’s house that has fallen to pieces. I’ll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. David’s people will be strong again and seize what’s left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment.” God’s Decree. He will do this.

^13-15 “Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” God’s Decree.

“Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:

    “They’ll rebuild their ruined cities.
    They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
    They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.
    And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land.
    They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.”

God, your God, says so.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This final chapter of the book shares four affirmations from the heart of the Lord—three of which deal with judgment and the fourth with mercy.

• They couldn’t hide from God on the highest mountain or in the depths of the sea (see Psalm 139:7–12).  We cannot hide from God. 
• Amos reminded the people of the greatness of the God they thought they were worshiping.
• He is the God of creation, who can melt the earth with a touch and make the land rise and fall like the swelling of the River of Egypt. He controls the heavens, the earth, and the seas, and no one can stay His hand.
• God is always the God of mercy, who will keep His covenant with Abraham and his descendants and not destroy the nation. The nations would be sifted, and the sinners punished, but not one of His true worshipers would be lost. God always watches over the believing remnant so that they might fulfill His will on the earth.

One day, God will restore, repair, and rebuild the dynasty of David and establish the kingdom He promised. When Jesus Christ comes again, the breach between Israel and Judah will be healed, and there will be one nation submitted to one king. God will bless the land and the people, and His people shall live in peace and security. It will be a time of peace and prosperity to the glory of the Lord.

Because Jesus carried all the sins of the world to the cross and crucified them there, we who believe that He did and repent of our sins in His Name are saved.  We are redeemed.  All that was broken is refreshed and restored to a new life with Him.

God will restore what is broken when we turn from evil and call on Him for help.  There is no one so broken that God cannot restore. There is nothing that God cannot do.

Because God said so!  God’s decree.

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul, repairing what was broken, while restoring the joy and peace of your salvation at work in me daily.  Thank you teaching me.  Thank you for guidance, correction, comfort, affirmation, encouragement and reminders of your love, mercy and grace because of your Holy Spirit living in me.  I’m not where I want to be but I’m closer to you than before.  Thank you for your love, patience, mercy and grace for me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

There will always be givers and takers “where two or more are gathered”.  It “comes natural” to some to think that you must give them what they want or think they need.  It also “comes natural” to some to give without thinking what they will receive in return.  A true giver expects nothing in return, they just give because it is the right thing to do if someone is in need.  It is also Biblical to give when someone is in need.  Jesus went beyond The Law in His message on the mountain to all people listening, extending the meaning of giving, loving, and relating to each other as believers in God:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Matthew 5:38-42, NIV

Amos declared why the end was coming. The reason was simple: Israel had broken God’s law and failed to live by His covenant. The first tablet of the law (Ten Commandments given to Moses) speaks to our relationship to God (Exodus 20:3–11) and the second tablet to our relationship to others (Exodus 20:12–17), and Israel had rebelled against both. They did not love God, and they did not love their neighbors

When asked by a learned scholar of The Law… “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:37-40, NIV

I stop, pause, and ask myself, Am I a giver or a taker? 

Amos 8, The Message

You Who Give Little and Take Much

My Master God showed me this vision: A bowl of fresh fruit.

² He said, “What do you see, Amos?”

I said, “A bowl of fresh, ripe fruit.”

God said, “Right. So, I’m calling it quits with my people Israel. I’m no longer acting as if everything is just fine.”

³ “The royal singers will wail when it happens.”
    My Master God said so.
“Corpses will be strewn here, there, and everywhere.
    Hush!”

^4-6 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
    you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
    so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
    when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
    and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
    and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.

^7-8 God swears against the arrogance of Jacob:
    “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”
God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations,
    dissolve the whole world into tears.
God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises,
    flooding houses and lands,
And then recedes,
    leaving behind a sea of mud.

^9-10 “On Judgment Day, watch out!”
    These are the words of God, my Master.
“I’ll turn off the sun at noon.
    In the middle of the day the earth will go black.
I’ll turn your parties into funerals
    and make every song you sing a dirge.
Everyone will walk around in rags,
    with sunken eyes and bald heads.
Think of the worst that could happen
    —your only son, say, murdered.
That’s a hint of Judgment Day
    —that and much more.

^11-12 “Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!”
    These are the words of my Master God.
“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.
    It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.
People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
    roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,
    hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it.

^13-14 “On Judgment Day,
    lovely young girls will faint of Word-thirst,
    robust young men will faint of God-thirst,
Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center,
    saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’
    and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-sheba bless you!’
Their lives will fall to pieces.
    They’ll never put it together again.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Are we givers or takers?  We can be both! It depends on who you believe and base your life upon.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  We take from God what is offered to us—Eternal life by believing in what Jesus did for us—removed our sins!

When redemption and reconciliation to God is settled, our giving and taking character is changed by God’s Holy Spirit working in us and through us.  We discover that when we really believe what Jesus did for us; we want to be more like Jesus.  We have help doing that—the power of His Holy Spirit!  We begin to see ourselves giving more and taking less.  We want others to know Him, too, so we give testimony to what He is doing in us.  We think less of self and more of Jesus so we take on a new nature, leaving the old selfish take gene of our old nature behind. 

It takes time for this transformation to happen (like all our lives) but it happens!  Day by day, step by step, we respond differently to others.  We love more.  We give more from a place of “cheerfully, joyous giving” as described by Paul to the Corinthian church…”The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

We take from a loving, generous Father in Heaven who calls us His children and provides all we need.  So, it becomes “natural” to be like Him in love and generosity to others.  We must not refuse our brothers and sisters in need, Jesus tells us.  Being joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we must respond as He would!  Jesus taught us how to love and God loves us when we get along and help each other.

While Jesus pressed the point of giving and loving, He had enemies who angrily disagreed and said so.  We learn from Jesus how to deal with those who oppose our new life as well.  We see what Jesus did not do. He did not retaliate. He did not bite back. He did not say, “I’ll get you!” He left the judging to God. He did not take on the task of seeking revenge. He demanded no apology. He hired no bounty hunters and sent out no posse of rag tag disciples.

If ever a person deserved a shot at revenge, Jesus did. But he didn’t take it. Instead he died for them. How could he do it? I don’t know. But I do know that, all of a sudden, my wounds seem very painless. My grudges and hard feelings are suddenly childish.

When someone challenges your integrity, disregards your opinion, takes more from you than you have and ignores your work to grow in Christ, how do you respond? Do you lose your temper, hold a grudge, or put the person down? Next time you face criticism, consider how Jesus carefully chose his words and used Scripture to answer his opponents.  Yes, we learn from Jesus every day if we dive in to who He is and what He did.  Follow Jesus—Take from Him what He has to give…His wisdom.

Amos describes a famine that would be a lack of not only literal food but also of spiritual nourishment.  Warren Wiersbe comments are worth our consideration:

“What a tragedy to have plenty of religion but no word from the Lord! Note the striking similarity in the contemporary world with its proliferation of religions and spirituality without truth or substance. That means no light in the darkness, no nourishment for the soul, no direction for making decisions, no protection from the lies of the enemy. The people in Amos’s day as well as ours stagger like drunks from place to place, always hoping to find food and drink for their bodies and spiritual sustenance for their souls.”

Take what God has to offer.  Give the Good News to those who are still wandering and staggering in the dark seeking the Light.

Oh Lord,

You are teaching us so much about how to live for you through your prophets of old.  You are also teaching us the consequences of what it is like if we do not follow you, taking from the world whatever it has to offer selfishly.  Lord, I’m yours.  Continue to grow your character traits in me so I will bear the Holy Fruits of your loving Spirit.

In Jesus Name, Amen

We will not always make friends by speaking Truth—Words that God says to say through us.  Even those in our family who say they love us will raise eyebrows when you stand for what God says in His Word as the way to please God with our lives. “What credentials do you have to speak to us this way” is the retort.  “Who are you to say anything about right living when you have sinned yourself?”  Like the blind man who was healed by Jesus; “I don’t know how He did it, all I know is once I was blind and now I see”.

It seems Amos has the same problem.  God has given Amos, the shepherd farmer a message along with a vision of what will happen to the “house of Jacob”, Israel, if they do not turn back to God.  Amos has the courage to beg for his ancestry’s deliverance and God says he will spare them if they will turn back to Him.  But they do not.   Amos is confronted with a high priest official who does not want the “bad news” to be heard and works to squash the Truth.  But God takes care of Amos.  God’s truth is heard and administered just as He said.  As the for Truth-Squasher, Amaziah…Well, he died homeless. 

It seems Jesus, the Person of Truth, “the Word made flesh”, went through the same challenges as He told the Truth of God to those in charge of God’s Temple work.  So, we when speak Jesus, we will experience the same challenges.  People want to remain the same, doing the same, without thought for tomorrow.  But tomorrow will come and many will not be ready.

Amos 7, The Message

To Die Homeless and Friendless

^1-2 God, my Master, showed me this vision: He was preparing a locust swarm. The first cutting, which went to the king, was complete, and the second crop was just sprouting. The locusts ate everything green. Not even a blade of grass was left.

I called out, “God, my Master! Excuse me, but what’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

³ God gave in.

“It won’t happen,” he said.

* * *

⁴ God showed me this vision: Oh! God, my Master God was calling up a firestorm. It burned up the ocean. Then it burned up the Promised Land.

⁵ I said, “God, my Master! Hold it—please! What’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

⁶ God gave in.

“All right, this won’t happen either,” God, my Master, said.

* * *

⁷ God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.

^8-9 God said to me, “What do you see, Amos?”

I said, “A plumb line.”

Then my Master said, “Look what I’ve done. I’ve hung a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I’ve spared them for the last time. This is it!

    “Isaac’s sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed,
    Israel’s unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces.
    I’m raising my sword against the royal family of Jeroboam.”

¹⁰ Amaziah, priest at the shrine at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel:

“Amos is plotting to get rid of you; and he’s doing it as an insider, working from within Israel. His talk will destroy the country. He’s got to be silenced. Do you know what Amos is saying?

¹¹     ‘Jeroboam will be killed.
    Israel is headed for exile.’”

^12-13 Then Amaziah confronted Amos: “Seer, be on your way! Get out of here and go back to Judah where you came from! Hang out there. Do your preaching there. But no more preaching at Bethel! Don’t show your face here again. This is the king’s chapel. This is a royal shrine.”

^14-15 But Amos stood up to Amaziah: “I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel.’

^16-17 “So listen to God’s Word. You tell me, ‘Don’t preach to Israel. Don’t say anything against the family of Isaac.’ But here’s what God is telling you:

    Your wife will become a whore in town.
    Your children will get killed.
    Your land will be auctioned off.
    You will die homeless and friendless.
    And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far from home.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Amos saw God’s coming judgments on Israel through five visions. After each vision, he prayed that God would be merciful.

God sent his prophet Amos to warn the people of Israel to repent of their sins. God gives us these examples to teach us that he hates sin. And he promised a Savior who would save us from our sins—Jesus!

When Jesus breathed his last breath on earth, Matthew tells us the NOON day sky grew dark as night!  It covered the entire earth where Jesus hung on that cross for our sins.  “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land” (Matthew 27:45)  This is a supernatural darkness. Not a casual gathering of clouds or a brief eclipse of the sun. This is a three-hour blanket of blackness.

Of course, the sky is dark; people are killing the light of the world.

Because of all the sins of the world (yours and mine) placed upon his shoulders, God turned his back from His Son because God cannot be where sin is.  God and sin cannot occupy the same space.  The Savior no one understands pierces the darkness with heaven’s loneliest question: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46 NCV).

In this hour Jesus is anything but righteous. But his mistakes aren’t his own. “Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right” (1Peter 2:24 NCV).

Christ carried all our sins in his body.

Take a moment and meditate on the truth that Jesus carried your sins in his body that day when he died a horrible death on the cross—abandoned by God because of our sin. Thank him for his astonishing love.

Then on that Third Day, Christ arose!  He went to hell and back again for us, defeated death, removed our sins forever, and lives today.  God, Son and Holy Spirit back together again and forever! This victorious act of love, mercy, and grace opens the doors of heaven to all who believe, call on His Name, and repent of their sins! 

Our Hope has risen and we will live forever with Him.  Hope gives us a reason to get up every morning and praise the One and Only who set us free!  THIS is the Truth. 

AND Jesus is coming back…How do you feel about that?  Ready or not, here He comes!

And I’m singing my prayer today…by Keith Green…There is a Redeemer…

… There is a redeemer
Jesus, God’s own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Holy One

… Jesus my redeemer
Name above all names
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Oh, for sinners slain

… Thank you, oh my father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
‘Til the work on Earth is done

… When I stand in Glory
I will see His face
And there I’ll serve my King forever
In that Holy Place

… Thank you, oh my father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
‘Til the work on Earth is done…

Thank you, dear Jesus, Amen!

Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King.
Soon and very soon,
We are going to see the King,
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
We are going to see the King!

(By Andrea Crouch)

When a child is headed for the outlet with fork in his hand, we shout stop, “Don’t do it, that will hurt you!”  But they look at you with stubborn, determined eyes, turn around and do it anyway.  With quickened hands, the deed is done.  The hurtful, shocking burn is felt by the perpetrator.  You are hurt by watching them get hurt.  Maybe the lights go out from the electric shock, tripping the safety switch.  Now the deed has affected more that the one who did it.  Dangerous deeds like this one sometimes leads to death—all because of doing something that would hurt them just to see what would happen or to just be in control.  So, how’s that working for us?

God is telling his people that what they are doing is definitely not right.  God is detailed in his descriptions of what “living only for today while grabbing all you can for yourself” looks like and where it will lead.  He tells them of the hurt, pain and agony that will follow their actions.  What they are doing hurts themselves and all those around them.  But His people have turned their face away from Him, with that same stubborn look in their eyes that a toddler gets when disobeying their parents.  Do we do that?

God says, “It’s time to wake up!”  Look around, get off your arrogant pedestal of pride!  “You are headed for disaster!”

Amos 6, The Message

Those Who Live Only for Today

^1-2 Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
    who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re at the top of the heap,
    voted the number-one best place to live.
Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal.
    Take a look at Calneh.
Go and visit Great Hamath.
    Look in on Gath of the Philistines.
Doesn’t that take you off your high horse?
    Compared to them, you’re not much, are you?

^3-6 Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster!
    Catastrophe is just around the corner!
Woe to those who live in luxury
    and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
    indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
    who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain!
    those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
    about their country going to ruin.

⁷ But here’s what’s really coming:
    a forced march into exile.
They’ll leave the country whining,
    a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.

You’ve Made a Shambles of Justice

⁸ God, the Master, has sworn, and solemnly stands by his Word.
    The God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:

“I hate the arrogance of Jacob.
    I have nothing but contempt for his forts.
I’m about to hand over the city
    and everyone in it.”

^9-10 Ten men are in a house, all dead. A relative comes and gets the bodies to prepare them for a decent burial. He discovers a survivor huddled in a closet and asks, “Are there any more?” The answer: “Not a soul. But hush! God must not be mentioned in this desecrated place.”

¹¹ Note well: God issues the orders.
    He’ll knock large houses to smithereens.
    He’ll smash little houses to bits.

^12-13 Do you hold a horse race in a field of rocks?
    Do you plow the sea with oxen?
You’d cripple the horses
    and drown the oxen.
And yet you’ve made a shambles of justice,
    a bloated corpse of righteousness,
Bragging of your trivial pursuits,
    beating up on the weak and crowing, “Look what I’ve done!”

¹⁴ “Enjoy it while you can, you Israelites.
    I’ve got a pagan army on the move against you”
    —this is your God speaking, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
“And they’ll make hash of you,
    from one end of the country to the other.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

No one likes to be confronted with resulting discipline.  But it is we who have made discipline a “bad word”.  Discipline is a time of learning, growing and discovering that God cares enough, to come close to us, bringing us back to Him if we allow our hearts on the inside to be changed.  Coming closer to the Teacher who loves us most for compassion words of course corrections, along with His power and wisdom that will save our lives forever, is a great thing. 

We shouldn’t turn our backs on discipline for it is a time when we are closest to God!

We change our lives by changing our hearts!  I know we do not like being disciplined. Yet, it is often through this discomfort of being awakened and confronted that we return to the right path. (Recalculating, rerouting…) 

Let’s make our lives easier. How? Repent of our sins before God must bring discipline. If we are being disciplined, correct the wrong and the attitude quickly.  And know this about God…He immediately forgives AND forgets!  You won’t be reminded of your past sins but encouraged to live life to the full with Him again!

Stop looking for love in all the wrong places.  The shock and awe for a moment does not compare with a love that last forever!

Lord,

How many times do head for the “outlets” of danger and you beckon us back to your protection?  Too many for me personally to count!  Thank you for your discipline that transforms my thinking and resulting behaviors.  I’m not there yet, I have not arrived, but you are always there to teach me and put me back on the right path.  Thank you, Lord!  I ask for your wisdom, insight and understanding that goes so far beyond human reasoning, so that I might know you more and live for you by Your Spirit living in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

… Lord I come, I confess
Bowing here, I find my rest
Without You, I fall apart
You’re the one that guides my heart

… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour, I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

Are we all show, no go when it comes to helping people find and follow Jesus? 

… Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are, Lord, I am free
Holiness is Christ in me

… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour, I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

Do we represent ourselves as being “Christ-like” only when necessary but avoid the “likeness” when it gets hard or gets in our way of what we have established as a way of life?

… So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on You
Jesus, You’re my hope and stay

… Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour, I need You
My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You
You’re my one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

Do we say a hearty yes to Jesus in corporate worship in a great show of oneness, but in real life brush away the command to love each other as Jesus loves us and continue to walk in our own way that is more convenient?

… My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You…

Israel has fallen and she can’t get up.  God’s people are all show, no go—with no substantial foundation to stand on or hold them up in faith and following God.  Arrogance and pride, ignoring God, falling for idols and perverted behaviors are not legs to stand on when it comes to serving God with all that is in them. 

Do we fall into these traits?  Yes.  “So, seek God and live! You don’t want to end up with nothing to show for your life…” Amos tells God’s people.

Amos 5, The Message

All Show, No Substance

Listen to this, family of Israel,
    this Message I’m sending in bold print, this tragic warning:

² “Virgin Israel has fallen flat on her face.
    She’ll never stand up again.
She’s been left where she’s fallen.
    No one offers to help her up.”

³ This is the Message, God’s Word:

“The city that marches out with a thousand
    will end up with a hundred.
The city that marches out with a hundred
    will end up with ten. Oh, family of Israel!”

^4-5 God’s Message to the family of Israel:

“Seek me and live.
    Don’t fool around at those shrines of Bethel,
Don’t waste time taking trips to Gilgal,
    and don’t bother going down to Beer-sheba.
Gilgal is here today and gone tomorrow
    and Bethel is all show, no substance.”

⁶ So seek God and live! You don’t want to end up
    with nothing to show for your life
But a pile of ashes, a house burned to the ground.
    For God will send just such a fire,
    and the firefighters will show up too late.

Raw Truth Is Never Popular

^7-9 Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar

 and stomp righteousness into the mud.
Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos
    star-flung with constellations by God,
A world God wakes up each morning
    and puts to bed each night.
God dips water from the ocean
    and gives the land a drink.
    God, God-revealed, does all this.
And he can destroy it as easily as make it.
    He can turn this vast wonder into total waste.

^10-12 People hate this kind of talk.
    Raw truth is never popular.
But here it is, bluntly spoken:
    Because you run roughshod over the poor
    and take the bread right out of their mouths,
You’re never going to move into
    the luxury homes you have built.
You’re never going to drink wine
    from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted.
I know precisely the extent of your violations,
    the enormity of your sins. Appalling!
You bully right-living people,
    taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they’re down.

¹³ Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic.
    Decent people throw up their hands.
Protest and rebuke are useless,
    a waste of breath.

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil—
    and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
    and maybe it will happen.

¹⁵ Hate evil and love good,
    then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    will notice your remnant and be gracious.

^16-17 Now again, my Master’s Message, God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Go out into the streets and lament loudly!
    Fill the malls and shops with cries of doom!
Weep loudly, ‘Not me! Not us, Not now!’
    Empty offices, stores, factories, workplaces.
Enlist everyone in the general lament.
    I want to hear it loud and clear when I make my visit.”
        God’s Decree.

Time to Face Hard Reality, Not Fantasy

^18-20 Woe to all of you who want God’s Judgment Day!
    Why would you want to see God, want him to come?
When God comes, it will be bad news before it’s good news,
    the worst of times, not the best of times.
Here’s what it’s like: A man runs from a lion
    right into the jaws of a bear.
A woman goes home after a hard day’s work
    and is raped by a neighbor.
At God’s coming we face hard reality, not fantasy—
    a black cloud with no silver lining.

^21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.
    I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
    your pretentious slogans and goals.

I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
    your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
    When was the last time you sang to me?

Do you know what I want?
    I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
    That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

^25-27 “Didn’t you, dear family of Israel, worship me faithfully for forty years in the wilderness, bringing the sacrifices and offerings I commanded? How is it you’ve stooped to dragging gimcrack statues of your so-called rulers around, hauling the cheap images of all your star-gods here and there? Since you like them so much, you can take them with you when I drive you into exile beyond Damascus.” God’s Message, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

It begins with the awareness of who is living life around you.  Realize the life does not revolve around you and your busyness as validation for your importance and significance.  Our lives revolve around Jesus.  This can begin with merely opening a door for someone else.  Wait, what?!?

The Etiquette (or Selfless Kindness) of the Open Door:

When you approach a door that pulls open, reach out to open it then, continuing to hold the door open, stand aside so the person you’re with may enter. When you approach a door that pushes open, go on through as you hold the door, standing aside as you continue to hold it so others may enter. 

Yep, that’s how it works.  Baby steps, friends, baby steps…

Step two is looking a person in the eyes with the love of Christ in your heart.

Step three:  Show the love Jesus has given to you by calling you by name and simply introducing yourself.  Ask them for their name.  Use their name in an encouraging sentence or comment so you won’t forget.  There are more steps but we will stop here with baby steps to get us started.

I have a story that will bring tears to your eyes… “The Door Guy”

Holding a door open for someone else is a polite gesture that often goes unnoticed. But for a boy named Josh, opening doors for others became an act of courage that changed his whole life.

Josh’s story has been taking the internet by storm: After being bullied at his high school, he changed schools to try to make a fresh start. At his new school he wanted to find a way to distinguish himself from the other kids. He decided to start by opening doors for his classmates and offering a greeting to every person as they passed.  Josh’s small act of kindness has transformed his life and his future,

See the whole story here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIHtuKc3Gjg

So, taking this story to heart, I talked to a young couple after church service.  They are  about to have their second child next month.  Randy and I have been there, done that, having three kids of our own “back in the day.”  The mom’s eyes lit up when I told her how I made faces at their adorable two-year-old in church last week.  The dad smiled when we told him how his recent testimony and baptism touched our hearts. 

Two minutes of encouraging kindness—even as you walk out the door of your church– can lift hearts.  We aren’t the only ones in the room.  We aren’t the only ones living life in our world outside the building we call church.  Be the church inside AND outside the building.  We all struggle to remain close to Jesus.  All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  But we are redeemed and called to show Jesus to others.

More instruction of how to be like Jesus to others is found throughout the Bible, but a clearly concise “list” of behaviors can be found in Romans 12, one of my favorite places to go for help.  Here are a few snapshots of the whole picture:

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.” 

“…it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”

“If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.”

“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.”

Our response? Look for opportunities to say a kind word.  Like Josh found out, kindness is revolutionary and life-changing.  Mm, and so was Jesus!  Be like Jesus!

Oh God, how we need You
You’re our one defense, our righteousness
Oh God, how we need You…

Lord,

Helps us to love like you love us—without conditions.  Our response is to believe, truly believe that you are who you say you are so we can be who you created us to be in you.  Help us to walk humbly with you as we help others know you, too, through acts of generous kindness.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

I don’t know about you but the minute I decide to go on a diet for my health and wellbeing, my mind immediately tells me to eat all things NOT healthy and not on the diet.  I notice and I am drawn to all the fast food commercials who tempt me, causing the cravings to grow stronger.  I can almost taste the fries and hear the sugary beverage poured into a clear glass so I can see it even better!  What a disappointment to receive nothing close to what is represented on the commercial at the establishment, but I eat it anyway!  I want all that I do not need.  I want that burger and fries along with that tall glass of soda pop!  But will that satisfy my hunger and thirst?

I’ve been a yo-yo dieter all my life. This is what I have learned. The more I cave into the cravings of unhealthy foods, the more and more my body demands them.  The more I think about the unhealthy foods, the more I crave them and the more I eat them.  It is an unending cycle that eventually causes bad habits, grumpy attitudes, and a sluggish life style.  We can blame no one but ourselves.  I hunger and thirst for everything that satisfies for a moment but hurts me eventually.  How about you?  I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who struggles with this human lack of control.

It is apparent that God’s people have decided to go on a starvation diet…a diet that excludes God from their lives.  Yikes!  Read on…

Amos 4, The Message

You Never Got Hungry for God

“Listen to this, you cows of Bashan
    grazing on the slopes of Samaria.
You women! Mean to the poor,
    cruel to the down-and-out!
Indolent and pampered, you demand of your husbands,
    ‘Bring us a tall, cool drink!’

^2-3 “This is serious—I, God, have sworn by my holiness!
    Be well warned: Judgment Day is coming!
They’re going to rope you up and haul you off,
    keep the stragglers in line with cattle prods.
They’ll drag you through the ruined city walls,
    forcing you out single file,
And kick you to kingdom come.”
    God’s Decree.

^4-5 “Come along to Bethel and sin!
    And then to Gilgal and sin some more!
Bring your sacrifices for morning worship.
    Every third day bring your tithe.
Burn pure sacrifices—thank offerings.
    Speak up—announce freewill offerings!
That’s the sort of religious show
    you Israelites just love.”
        God’s Decree.

⁶ “You know, don’t you, that I’m the One
    who emptied your pantries and cleaned out your cupboards,
Who left you hungry and standing in bread lines?
    But you never got hungry for me. You continued to ignore me.”
        God’s Decree.

^7-8 “Yes, and I’m the One who stopped the rains
    three months short of harvest.
I’d make it rain on one village
    but not on another.
I’d make it rain on one field
    but not on another—and that one would dry up.
People would stagger from village to village
    crazed for water and never quenching their thirst.
But you never got thirsty for me.
    You ignored me.”
        God’s Decree.

⁹ “I hit your crops with disease
    and withered your orchards and gardens.
Locusts devoured your olive and fig trees,
    but you continued to ignore me.”
        God’s Decree.

¹⁰ “I revisited you with the old Egyptian plagues,
    killed your choice young men and prize horses.
The stink of rot in your camps was so strong
    that you held your noses—
But you didn’t notice me.
    You continued to ignore me.”
        God’s Decree.

¹¹ “I hit you with earthquake and fire,
    left you devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick
    snatched from the flames.
But you never looked my way.
    You continued to ignore me.”
        God’s Decree.

¹² “All this I have done to you, Israel,
    and this is why I have done it.
Time’s up, O Israel!
    Prepare to meet your God!”

¹³ Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker!
    He laid out the whole plot before Adam.
He brings everything out of nothing,
    like dawn out of darkness.
He strides across the alpine ridges.
    His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND

We learn from Amos that to go on a diet that excludes God from every part of our lives leads to trouble, lack of protection, and bad attitudes.  Selfishness leads the way that causes us to want more and more of all that we do not need but we grab it anyway no matter who it hurts.  If we stay on this diet without God in our lives, we eventually will not hunger or thirst for Him at all.  Self becomes our manager and guide.  Evil comes in to take over what we think we are controlling and leads us to all kinds perverted activities.  This “diet” will lead to death eventually. 

I’m reminded of what Paul says is healthier for us in Ephesians 4…Read this entire letter of what God told Paul to write to us—it is a great “diet” for our spiritual health!  Here is a snapshot;

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”  Ephesians 4:15-16, NLT

And who is the Truth?  Jesus.  Jesus changes everything.  Jesus is the One and Only who will quench our hunger and thirst forever, making us healthy and whole.

Jesus describes Himself…

• I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
• I am the Light of the World (John 8:12)
• I am the Door (John 10:9)
• I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)
• I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
• I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
• I am the Vine (John 15:1,5)

AND to those who believe in Jesus, we will never thirst again…

“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.’  John 7:37-38

Hunger and thirst for God and we will always be filled—forever!  Best “diet” ever!

Lord,

When I hunger and thirst for you, you provide.  My cravings for you grow stronger as I seek you and are filled in ways that I never knew to be possible.  You are amazing.  You fill us and provide all that we need in loving ways.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Teacher, teacher, will there be a test?”  This was indicator of study.  As a former public school teacher, I know that if I told my students that there would be no spelling test for the words I gave them to learn, they would not bother to study.  There is no learning where there is no test to hold students accountable for learning what is taught to help them grow and mature.

Imagine putting the spelling words on the board, then turning around to face students to tell them, “See these words?  They are important for you to learn.  Study them, memorize how to spell them, use them in a sentence, practice using them so they will become a part of you.  But there will be no test, I will never hold you accountable to see if you learned these words.”  Mmm….

Amos 3, The Message

The Lion Has Roared

Listen to this, Israel. God is calling you to account—and I mean all of you, everyone connected with the family that he delivered out of Egypt. Listen!

² “Out of all the families on earth,
    I picked you.
Therefore, because of your special calling,
    I’m holding you responsible for all your sins.”

^3-7 Do two people walk hand in hand
    if they aren’t going to the same place?
Does a lion roar in the forest
    if there’s no carcass to devour?
Does a young lion growl with pleasure
    if he hasn’t caught his supper?
Does a bird fall to the ground
    if it hasn’t been hit with a stone?
Does a trap spring shut
    if nothing trips it?
When the alarm goes off in the city,
    aren’t people alarmed?
And when disaster strikes the city,
    doesn’t God stand behind it?
The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing
    without first telling his prophets the whole story.

⁸ The lion has roared—
    who isn’t frightened?
God has spoken—
    what prophet can keep quiet?

* * *

^9-11 Announce to the forts of Assyria,
    announce to the forts of Egypt—
Tell them, “Gather on the Samaritan mountains, take a good, hard look:
    what a snake pit of brutality and terror!
They can’t—or won’t—do one thing right.” God said so.
    “They stockpile violence and blight.
Therefore”—this is God’s Word—“an enemy will surround the country.
    He’ll strip you of your power and plunder your forts.”

¹² God’s Message:

“In the same way that a shepherd
    trying to save a lamb from a lion
Manages to recover
    just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear,
So will little be saved of the Israelites
    who live in Samaria—
A couple of old chairs at most,
    the broken leg of a table.

^13-15 “Listen and bring witness against Jacob’s family”—
    this is God’s Word, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
“Note well! The day I make Israel pay for its sins,
    pay for the sin-altars of worship at Bethel,
The horned altars will all be dehorned
    and scattered around.
I’ll tear down the winter palace,
    smash the summer palace—all your fancy buildings.
The luxury homes will be demolished,
    all those pretentious houses.”
        God’s Decree.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Will the students do what the teacher says if the teacher never holds them accountable for what they have learned?  Most students perform for the teacher, doing it for the teacher, without thinking this information will be good for them to know.  A few will have the self-motivated tenacity to learn and see the benefit but most think, “If the teacher doesn’t care enough to confront me and hold me accountable then why should I care?”

God cares.  God holds us accountable for our thoughts and actions.  He sent Jesus, His Son, to care enough to confront sin as he sought the lost to save them.  God cares enough to confront us when we refuse to learn, practice what He teaches, as we disconnect ourselves from the most important relationship we can have with God.  God also knows we need to be helped, encouraged, and rescued.  When God calls us to account like He did His people, He follows up with a plan to deliver us.

Look at verse 10!  What a terrible indictment: “They can’t—or won’t—do one thing right.” They were so bound by their greed and idolatry that they found doing what was right virtually impossible. Like many people today, they were addicted to affluence. They didn’t care that others lacked the necessities of life so long as they themselves enjoyed luxuries.  God cared enough to hold them accountable and confront their behaviors that were hurting others!

Be grateful we have a God who cares enough to confront, encourage, guide us through the deep waters, hide us in the cleft of His hand, teach and hold us accountable for His teaching of how to live and walk with Him in a loving relationship. 

God loves us enough to confront us when we are headed toward a crash of consciousness with resulting behaviors unbecoming a child of God.  He helps us to avoid hurting ourselves and others by guiding us back on the path less traveled with Him at our side.  Yes, God holds us accountable with His compassionate testing as we grow and mature in His love for Him and for others.  There is no one like our God.

I am grateful for The One who loves me most of all as the One who holds me accountable.  To God be the glory!

Thank you, Lord! 

Thank you for teaching us, coming alongside us, guiding us back on the path of what is right in your eyes, while leading to the Way everlasting with you.  You are indeed our Solid Rock on which we stand amazed at your glory!  You are Life.  You are Love.  Help me to hear your voice above all other voices in this world with courage to follow you.

In Jesus Name, Amen