Set Before His Mirror

2 Corinthians 4:7

New King James Version

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

For meditation

 Yesterday was the Lord’s Day, and many attended anointed church services. Preachers labored to bring out the pure word of God, and we loved it. So, can we take a moment to ask how it changed our lives? Did we have a proper perspective of ourselves in the mirror of His word that came to us? Did we allow the light of God to “shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4: 6)?

When we take the time to look at ourselves from the perspective of the word of God, what we see must humble us. We see our sinfulness beside His holiness, which demands confession and repentance. God’s word penetrates our hearts to reveal our attitudes and intentions—it lays the intentions and motives of our hearts bare before Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews4:12-13). 

Isaiah saw the Lord in His regal setting and cried out in brokenness. He cried out that he lamented his ruin, for, in his sinful state, he had seen the glory of the King, the Lord Almighty (Is. 6:5). 

Isn’t that humbling? No one sees the glory of God and remains the same, yet we forget He dwells in His word to reveal His glory to us, as we come every day expecting to meet Him in intimate fellowship in His word. 

His word is our standard of living. We miss the mark. We deny ourselves the transforming power of the word of God when we do not engage Him in it. The word of God renews our minds and reveals His will to us for a closer walk with Him (Rm. 12:2).

The word of God helps to avoid a distorted view of ourselves, especially when we move in the grace-gifts. As James warns, we must be careful not to walk away from the mirror of His Word and quickly forget what it revealed to us about ourselves (Jas. 1:24). 

We profit by thinking of ourselves with sober judgment (Rm. 12:3) when we access ourselves by the standard of His word to grow by it. And here, it is helpful to remind ourselves that we’re mere jars of clay containing God’s precious gifts (2 Cor. 4:6-7). None of them, including life, is our own—it is pure grace.

May we, therefore, remember that every time we engage God in His word, He reveals who we are and how we look before His watchful eyes. This grace of introspection is excellent at keeping us in step with our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb, 12:1-2). 

So, let this sobering thought humble you before the Holy One, who has endowed you with this gracious treasure beyond human imagination, to build you up and empower you for His glory.

Shalom.

Under His Wings

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1 Samuel 25:31

New International Version

 And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.

For Your 

Was Abigail an opportunist—a gold digger, as some call her—for pleading to David to remember her when he came into his kingdom (1 Samuel 25:31)?

The beautiful woman needed someone to deliver her from her marriage to Nabal, a wealthy but senseless man. She was a woman hopelessly attempting to rescue her husband from his foolishness and self-destructive tendencies, and it was silently crushing her. 

The never-ending regret for the day she said yes to Nabal. The wet pillows, the anguished heart, the travail of prayers, and the cry for relief filled the throne of grace daily. Where was God? 

Does it strike a chord with you?

How many of us have experienced such moments in life? How many still suffer through their crucible and endure tears of regret and shame? It is grace, my friend. Grace has kept you to this point, and grace will see you through. 

Paul needed to know this truth through his thorn experience (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). His pain was excruciating, but relief had become a mirage despite his earnest pleas to God. All Paul heard from God was:

 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (9).

God does not show favoritism in His responses to His children’s prayers. It is all about His will for us and His ultimate purpose and glory in our lives. Abigail may have prayed for who knows when until God showed up.

Her moment was when she intercepted the murderous march of David and his men towards her home (1 Samuel 25:20-22). God had prepared a place for her in the life of David, the next king of Israel. That was all she needed—a place of relief and comfort under the shadow of the future king of Israel, and she maximized the opportunity it presented to her (1 Samuel 25:23-31). No wonder David is a type of Christ the King under whose wings the wearied soul finds safety and rest (Psalm 91:1-2). 

So do not worry if you are experiencing an unpleasant situation now. God knows your sorrow and anguished soul. He has prepared your deliverance and refuge in Christ Jesus. 

You are no fool for running to take cover under the umbrella of King Jesus. It is about life eternal, and He is the only source of it (John 3:16). Just as Abigail heard about the fury of David and sought refuge and redemption under the future king, hear the coming wrath of God on this godless and wicked world (Romans 1:18-20) and run to Jesus for refuge (10:9-10). God will rescue you and bring you into the kingdom of the Son He loves—Christ Jesus our Lord (Col. 1:12-13).

Give glory to Him this morning! Amen.

Shalom

Why This Favor

Ruth 2:10

New International Version

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

For Encouragement

Have you sincerely stood before the mirror and asked yourself why God elected you as one of His beloved children for eternity (Ephesians 1:4-10)? You, of all people!

Maybe you are one of those who think you were not as bad as the worst person on your block growing up, so God did not find it difficult to notice you. Good riddance, my friend, but stop and carefully read Ephesians 2:1-10; then come back with your report. But before my Savior, Jesus Christ, I am like Ruth before Boaz—bowed down with my face to the ground, and only one question to ask:

Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner (Ruth 2:10)?

Mephibosheth asked a similar question before King David when the king poured his favor on the son of his late friend, Jonathan, who was lame in both feet.

Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

In today’s text, Ruth did not know how God worked with His people to restore and bless them. She did not know that God had led and guided her into the field of the guardian-redeemer of their family (v.3; 3:12). Her mindset was that of a foreigner and a Moabite whose people God had excluded from the assembly of His people, Israel (Deut. 23:3-4). She did not belong where she stood and expected no pleasantry from anybody. Only some left-over grain from anybody’s field would satisfy her indulgence and that of her aged mother-in-law.

However, as providence had it, grace stared her in the face with the kindness of God and worked through Boaz to bless her. Favor had located her in the grainfield of Boaz, and she wanted to know why (2:10). That is your story and mine in the Redemption Story of God—saved by grace alone.

Have you asked the Lord that question before? Why He chose you, who were once a Gentile by birth and called uncircumcised. You were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and a foreigner to the covenants of the promise. You had no hope and without God in the world, but now you have received His redeeming grace (Eph. 2:11-13). Do you care to know why He offered His best to save you (6-8)?

It is humbling and draws gratitude from the heart. It defines how we handle ourselves in this grace walk with Christ. We take nothing for granted but are thankful and submitted to His service, regardless of circumstances.

May the Lord help us all set down our pride and prostrate every day before He who sits enthroned in heaven and rules over all creation, seen and invisible (1:20-21).Then, in awe, ask why you have found such favor before Christ, your Redeemer and King.

Amen!

Joy At Midnight

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Acts 16:25

New International Version

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

For Meditation

It was midnight. The sky was beautiful, and the half-moon in radiant glow hung over the skyline above the trees in my neighbor’s house. I looked for my phone to snap a picture of it, but I couldn’t find it.

Every time I faced it, as I prayer-walked around our house, my heart lifted a song of praise to our God, who painted such beautiful skies with His unequaled skillful hand. Its wonder lightened my heart to pray with joy and sing His praises. 

As I sat down to write this message, I could imagine David in the open fields with his family sheep under a splendid midnight sky, with the moon and the stars jumping at him as he sang Psalm 19 and worshipped the Lord.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Psa. 19:1). 

David and I could sing and praise the Lord because we stood outside in the open night and marveled at the beauty and majesty of His creation. We were unrestricted nor confined, but that was not the case for Paul and Silas (Acts 16:13-34).

Those two firebrands sang and praised the Lord at midnight when they had suffered injustice of the worst kind and got thrown into a cold dungeon with their feet in the stocks. How could they sing to the Lord in such a condition? Why should they praise the God whose work had sent them into that terrible situation? Where was Jesus when the owners of the girl they delivered by the authority of His Name seized them and had them stripped and flogged in the marketplace?

They should be angry at God, not singing and praising Him. Yet, they did just that at midnight in that cold Philippian jail. How could they do it, and how can we do the same? I believe the answer lies in the attitude of the apostles to suffering. 

Consider when the authorities persecuted the apostles for preaching Christ in Acts 5:17-42. They sat in prison, released by an angel, rearrested, flogged, threatened, and warned not to speak in the Name of Jesus again. 

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus] (41). 

Counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name of Jesus! That is the winning attitude of the believer.

It overflows the heart with joy and incites a hopeful encouragement to steadfastness in our walk with the Lord.  

I believe the same attitude flooded the hearts of Paul and Silas at midnight in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:41). They rejoiced and praised the Lord at midnight because God had counted them worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ.

Can we also have the same attitude as we walk with Jesus in this wicked world?

When we determine to stand for His Name, we will suffer persecution (2 Tim 3:12). In our suffering we can rejoice and praise the Lord, knowing He has counted us worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus. Amen!

Look Up to Him for Life

Isaiah 53:7

New King James Version

 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.

For Meditation

Heaven’s glory became the scum of the earth, as His creation became the object of His love. Through oppression and affliction, He came to redeem His own. Powerful and majestic in creation, authoritative in speech. He spoke, and everything came to be. In Gethsemane, Jesus asked His captors a question, and they fell on their backs. Legions of heaven’s army stood ready for their call to duty, but love clipped their wings, and their swords remained in their sheaths. At His command, one of them could have destroyed His captors. Yet, not a word proceeded from His mouth—evidence of the power of His love.

John, who baptized people in River Jordan, called Him “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The religious leaders, however, called Him demon-possessed and said He healed people by the prince of demons. The signs they demanded stood before them every time Jesus lectured the crowds, healed the sick, delivered the oppressed, or raised the dead. Nevertheless, they refused to acknowledge Him as their long-awaited Messiah; yet, wonder of wonders, willingly, Jesus went to the slaughter. As a sheep before its shearers, He did not open His mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

He exemplified submission and humility to instruct our walk. As the Passover drew near, the Paschal Lamb was ready for the perfect sacrifice to end all sacrifices for sin. God prefigured Him in Isaac on Moriah, the mountain of the Lord, where He provided the lamb in his place (Genesis 22:14). So, on Jesus’s back, the Father laid the cruel wood—the cross of Calvary.

Up the road to Golgotha, Christ stumbled along with thorns for a crown and a blood-drenched body to offer. The valley echoed the hammer’s pride as they nailed Him to the cross. With three spikes, the soldiers pierced His hands and feet, each to mark Him for eternity.

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

The hour came for the victory cry. “It is finished” (John 19:30)

 With that, He bowed His head, His body sagged, and He gave up His spirit. The pertinent question for us all is why He did it. Why did Christ die for us who hated Him so much? O, that we could hear the prophet Isaiah today:

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53: 5).

Wandering soul, look up to Him who died on the cross and rose in victory, and you will receive life for your soul (Mark 16:6). Then come, join the redeemed, His rescued children from the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13-14) in singing His praises.

Sing His praises therefore you, His redeemed, and let His light shine through you to reveal the beauty of His love—love so divine.

Celebrate the Goodness of God

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Psalm 136:1-3

New King James Version

Thanksgiving to God for His Enduring Mercy

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:

For Meditation

Aren’t you blessed this morning?

• You are breathing.
• You can move your limbs.
• You can hear your favorite music.
• You can taste and enjoy your food with pleasure.
• You have an excellent health report; if you don’t, you have the extraordinary Physician on your case—Dr. Jesus.
• You still have a bank account, regardless of the balance. The bank still recognizes you as a treasured client.
• Your children and grandchildren have surrounded you at the meal table.

Above all, you can look forward with optimism and certainty to glory—the day heaven will open to receive you.

Why don’t you shout for joy to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and let the world hear your testimony?

So, why don’t you praise the Lord this morning and thank Him for all His goodness and mercies He has favored you with every day?

And don’t forget to touch someone with your joy today, and make their day a blessing from the Lord, too.

As Paul says:

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:18-20).

Shalom

All I Have and Desire

Psalm 73:25

New International Version (NIV)

Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

For Meditation

What does a person know until they come to their wits end (Dan. 4:33-34; Lk. 15:17-20)? Can they accept their bankruptcy until they face inevitable death (1 Tim. 6:7)?

No one can know God until they confront their depravity and need for Jesus. He is the incarnate God through whom any may come to the Father (Jn. 14:6-9). Heaven has no meaning apart from Him. For, what is heaven without Christ?

Angels will not satisfy. Neither will Abraham, Moses, David, Peter or Paul. None will suffice but Christ alone. The streets of gold and pearly gates in heaven are nothing without Him. 

Wretched souls that we are! Nothing has completely satisfied our inner cravings, and nothing would apart from Christ. Consider this emptiness after each accomplishment. A planned holiday trip with your best friend is no fun anymore, should that friend fail to show up. In much the same way, the believer cannot desire anything in this world apart from the manifest presence of their best friend – Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Asaph’s expression of joy at his victory after a near defeat in the battle of the mind expresses it all (Ps. 73:2-26). Standing in that jubilant posture, he declared:

 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you (25).

Is that your joy this morning?

I pray that the scripture, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), will mean more to you today. For, heaven is nothing without Jesus, and earth is miserable without His daily presence.

May you declare with joy:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Ps. 73:26); for all I have, and desire is Him; and may this draw you closer to Jesus, your Sovereign Lord and Savior, now and forever, amen!

Shalom

Let’s Get Off His Seat

Hebrews 3:3 

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

For Meditation

As a retired pastor, I see a lot of missteps pastors take, which leads them down the slippery road of pride and lofty living. It is an avoidable condition only if we can respect the sovereignty and holiness of God.

The church has too many lords and kings, if not gods. Members of the clergy have raised themselves above the Lord of the church in diverse ways. We have usurped the seat of Christ and assumed preeminence among the congregation. We claim we are exalting Christ in our services when, in reality, it has always been about us. Many have started well but lost it to the sweet and subtle flow of glamor, recognition, power, and authority over a clinging congregation. Gradually, and as the membership grows, pastors do everything to match their expectations. They have standards and quotas to meet, so they add more pressure to their already high-pressurized hearts.

The pastor must give the congregation what they valued in the world before coming to the Lord to make them feel comfortable. That’s the way to keep the affluent and maintain the cash flow. The richer the church becomes, the harder it tries to maintain these standards, which comes with lots of compromises and rationalization of the word.

We have forgotten that the building is never greater than its builder, just as Moses is not greater than Jesus, the Creator of all things (Hebrews 3:1-6). He is the builder of His house—His body, the church – to which we belong as members. 

Therefore, Christ alone deserves our worship. He alone deserves our attention and obedience—not any pastor, prophet, or apostle, no matter how masterly God uses them. 

O that they may know—those pastors who have raised themselves as kings and lords to receive worship from the congregation God has raised them to lead!

O, that they may know—those members who have exalted their leaders above the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, and have made the words of those human leaders their authority!

O, that we may know – no matter how blessed or divinely favored, that His seat is not ours.

Only if everyone will know that Jesus is the only Lord and Sovereign King to be worshipped and adored. 

Only then will they be wise and any of us humbled.

As the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah:

I am the Lord; that is my name!

    I will not give my glory to anyone else, 

Nor share my praise with carved idols (Isa. 42:8).

So, the Psalmist says:

Now then, you kings, act wisely!

    Be warned, you rulers of the earth! (Psalm 2:10).

I am humbled.,

He Alone Deserves Our Worship

Revelation 4:9-11

New King James Version

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

For Meditation

I screamed, NO! Not in the house of God, the church! 

No earthly king should sit in the church as on his throne, in full royal regalia, surrounded by his elders and linguists, ushered into the sanctuary amidst horn blowers and special people serenading him. The church sanctuary is a sacred house of God—sacred not because of mortar and bricks or any item put in it for His worship—but sacred because of the presence of our sovereign Lord in and among His people. Every activity in the church must be worshipful of only One King and Lord, Jesus Messiah. Period!

But there came an earthly king on this day to give thanks to the King of kings and Lord of lords in recognition of his birthday, which was well-intentioned and laudable. However, he should have known his place before the Lord – NOTHING! So, like all of us, he should have come humbled in every way, not in the exalted state in which he came and sat and acted. 

The sad part was how the priests stood there mesmerized and in worshipful mode. The question is, do we know the Lord of the church and His Otherness? If we do, where is the uniqueness of His honor? What happened to His exalted position that demands our prostration before Him?

So, today, let us peek into the heavenly temple and see how the Lord sits enthroned and worshipped by the twenty-four elders, four living creatures, and the angelic host (Rev 4:1-11). Observe what the Spirit revealed to the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos and cry over the way we have made the worship of God so ordinary as if the grace He has lavished on His redeemed has stripped Him of His Holiness as the only One deserving of our worship and honor (6-11).   

No one must receive the honor in the house of God like this earthly king received if the church acknowledges Jesus as the only sovereign King and Lord, who alone deserves our worship and praise. 

Everybody who comes to His sanctuary must lay their human accolades down and prostrate before Him, acknowledging His holiness and Lordship. We should fall down before Him as the twenty-four elders do before His throne in heaven—if not physically, in our hearts. Those who have “crowns” must lay them down before Him and cry out and say:

 “You are worthy, O Lord,

To receive glory and honor and power;

For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Let us give to our King Eternal, proper worship, undefiled by human pride. That must include presidents, kings, chief executives, the rich and poor, and particularly, pastors and priests, and what have you.

Shalom