Tag: faith

Christmas Mom

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*For my own mom, born on Christmas Day: Annie D. Holland 1934-1990 Rest in Jesus.*

CHRISTMAS MOM

19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Beyond her song, Mary is silent, watchful, fearful, hearing words spoken about her son, her miracle child, who would change the world. Strange men smelling of sheep and the outdoors surround you and look at your baby with reverence, love and awe.

Day after day as she gathered with the women, did the older ones shun her, and the younger ones mock her? Did the men sadly shake their heads that she was allowed to remain among the people? Save for her visit to Elizabeth, we’re not really told what Mary went through, save the long journey to Bethlehem with a full belly, riding on the lumpy, hard back of a hairy animal for miles across desert country, before the frantic journey to Africa.

She endured with faithful obedience all that God said would happen. A woman of integrity, she did not turn from the path once she said, “Let it happen to me as You have said.” Indeed, her soul magnified the Lord to the point of singing…

Did she not sing “G-d exalts the humble’? She remained steadfast so that whatever they did or said didn’t cause her faith to break. She had seen the angel, and knew what G-d had told her.

And it was enough.

This Christmas, in our homes, may the bond between the blessed Mothers and their precious Children deepen in love, strengthen over time, grow in trust, and rejoice in gratitude for having one another, pondering in their hearts the wonder of it all.

Merry Christmas, Children of G-d.

Christmas Witness

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CHRISTMAS WITNESS (Luke 2:17-18) Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

A group of unschooled men on fire with a holy message should sound like a familiar bell to our ears. Walking the streets of Bethlehem, they spread the message: Emmanuel.

At the doors of the inns where the people slept, waking the highborn and the low, with fervent, reverent whispers, with excited gestures, with joyous shouts, they spread it throughout the length and breadth of their travels, throughout the night. Whatever silence there had been was now filled with something better: Emmanuel

And all those who heard wondered that these men, not prone to talk of things fantastic, not subject to flights of fancy, walked among them with something so important to them that they could not keep silent, speaking to them of visions and angels and heavenly praise, followed by directions to where a living prophecy fulfilled lay in a manger: Emmanuel

This Christmas, let us not keep silent in the face of those who would say “Stop speaking in this Name!”  Time grows short, and there are those who would yet marvel that our own hearts burn with a holy witness, though we’ve seen Him not.  Emmanuel (G-d with us)

Amen

Christmas Signs

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CHRISTMAS SIGN: Luke 2:12

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

God tailored the sign given to the recipients of the news. Not for the shepherds the subtlety of a Star in the east, but an angel in their midst. The shepherds received a Savior; the Magi were told of a King. The shepherds’ message was given in a startling fashion so that there would be no misunderstanding of the event that had taken place.

The Magi had been studying the star and plotting to follow it long before.

How fitting they bought gold, so that a carpenter could afford to flee to Egypt.

And frankincense, a kingly scent to overpower the smell of livestock.

And myrrh, a burial spice, prophetic in its symbolism, as was the oil of anointing at Bethany.

Shepherds were not welcome in places such as palaces and temples, so access would be given them by placing the newborn King someplace where they too could see and worship.

But the city of David was the city where the pinnacle of King David’s line was born. The Magi would be welcome there, and treated as the royalty they were. And when they arrived under the guidance of the star they worshiped Jesus, not his parents.

Of the thousands of babies born that night to swell the ranks of the census, this one was in a special place, a place where typically no human baby would ever be placed, a container to feed cattle and sheep.

A synonym for manger is “crib.”

Later He would come to say, ‘He who eats my body…’

The signs that point the way to Him are still being revealed to those who would walk the path to see and worship, and those who would look for the signs G-d has promised He would set in the heavens.

May the knowledge that your King is accessible to you, and that you may partake of Him, bring you comfort and joy.

Amen.

Christmas Child

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CHRISTMAS CHILD

“For there is born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Children are born of their mothers, into their families, not to groups of people.

Christ, already being begotten of God, had to be in a sense born again Himself through the body of Mary, thereby becoming in His earthly body like the people He came to redeem.

Unlike Adam, made fully formed as a man, Jesus went through a cycle of growth:

He understood what it was to be under parental authority, to learn at the feet of the rabbis (and later amazed them).

He knew what it was to work, play, and interact with siblings who think you’re strange.

He understood temptation to seize power, hunger, thirst, scorching heat, and freezing cold when He was in the desert, so much so that at the end of His testing the angels came to tend Him.

He understood grief, weeping at the death of Lazarus.

He marveled at the centurion’s proclamation of faith.

He understood frustration, trying to get the Pharisees to open their eyes.

He understood obedience in the face of fear in the Gethsemane Gardens.

He understood what it is to die.

But this night, He is a baby, sleeping in his mother’s arms, under His earthly father’s protection, given to us by the Father of all, and we celebrate His delivery not only to Mary, but to us, and for us.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

“For unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.” Isaiah 9:6

May His Holy Presence be newly born in your homes and among your families this Christmas.

Amen.

 

Devotional 40: Who Touched Me?

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Text: Luke 8:40-48

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him[a] said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”[b]

46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer;[c] your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

As Jesus’ popularity grew, the crowds increased and became pretty much the order of the day wherever He went. Their reasons for gathering were as varied as their problems, their needs, and their motives for wanting to see Him.

What encourages most about these stories where he travels among large crowds is that there are those who are there because of two things: their faith in His claim, and their desire to get to Him for their need.

Some spoke with Him, others were brought to Him, and still others were afraid to approach His presence. We have such a story here, often sermonized through the years from various perspectives, but what’s truly remarkable about this story to me is what Jesus said after having His clothing touched:

“Who touched Me?”

He’d lain hands on many people, and restored their sight, their health, their right minds, even their departed spirits, but this touch was so special, so lost amid the large number of people, so random in that there was no crying out to Him, that even He had to ask who it was that touched Him.

Imagine a need so great, so full of longing, so full of the desire to be released from pain that you’d be willing to risk the wrath of a divine being by personally touching them. Imagine your faith so strong in that divine being that you’d be willing to touch just their clothing on the off chance that such a seemingly foolish gesture would make you well.

We’re not told how old this woman is, only that she had her condition for twelve years, one that in the culture was shameful and unclean. It likely brought her a great deal of ridicule, and caused no end of embarrassment. Yet, she knew that if her life was going to change by believing on Jesus, this would be her opportunity to change it.

We read in verse 46 Jesus’ reply to Peter:

46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

As with so many miracles, faith is the key that makes the power work. It won’t do so in cases of doubt or faithlessness. It can’t. So great was her faith, and so desperate was her desire that when she did touch His clothing, power He had not deliberately dispensed went out of Him, and in such an amount that He felt it leave.

And as before with the blind man’s cry that made Jesus stand still, so too did this.

Not knowing how Jesus would react, she tried to hide, but in verse 47 we read:

47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

Interesting that in the midst of the press of a large crowd she was suddenly ‘no longer hidden.’ We are admonished that it is we who must press through our own personal crowds to get to Him. It need not be a crowd of people. It could be a crowd of idols we’ve set up around us, a crowd of past failures that tell us to be quiet, when we need to shout out all the more. Perhaps it’s a crowd of deeds and words from the past that tell us not to trouble Him, for He is royalty, and we are rags.

But He never turns away those who earnestly seek Him, who persist in spite of their current circumstances.

Jesus always responded to faith and usually called forward the petitioner. Such was the case here, but so commanding is His presence that she grew afraid, fell to her knees, and confessed what she’d done and gave her testimony as to what happened.

Jesus graciously blesses her in front of crowd:

48 Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Her faithful boldness has not only been approved, but given the royal seal, and her restoration is now spiritual as well as physical, so that we have her story even to this day.

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus,

I confess that I don’t seek Your attention, for though I profess to follow and serve, there are times I don’t carry myself as a servant of all, but as a pompous man entitled and deserving of the service of others.

There are times I think my meager, half-hearted service does You honor, when it is You who has called me to serve those in need of You, to be salt and light, to be the city on the hilltop, to shout from the roof what You whisper to me in my far too infrequent prayer time.

My need of You is greater than I know, and I would press through to touch the hem of your garment, the strap of your sandal, the soles of Your feet if I were truly conscious of how small a part of my life I’ve made You. I would turn away in defeat, shouted down. I would kiss Your cheek in a moonlit garden while the servants of Hell took you in my place, count my silver, and spend it on raucous living that leads to death.

I wonder then, if You’d look for me, and leave the ninety-nine to find me still, lead me beside still waters,  restore my soul, and put me back in my right mind with the joy of my salvation.

My issue of blood is that I need Yours to cover me, that I would be mindful of my rebellious backsliding into sins that held me in a grip long ago, before the Spirit revealed You to me. I would stay connected at all times, in all things if I had strength to crucify my flesh by taking up my cross.

I would not be conveniently obedient as King Saul was, but I know that I don’t possess King David’s desire to pursue capturing Your heart. I would be mindful of counting the cost of following You, and throw the silver of betrayal into the dust.

Help me press through, Lord. Hear my cry. Stand still, turn and call to Me so that I would not be hidden from You, and I will know Your voice and follow.

Once again, let me touch the hem of Your garment, that Your power is shared with me, making me whole again.

In Your Holy Name I ask it.

Amen.

 

 

 

Devotional 36: Show Us the Father

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John 14:8-14

8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

If ever there was proof of the spiritual disconnect between man and G-d, Philip’s request of Jesus to show them the Father manifest is it. He’d seen Jesus’ ministry up close, and indeed, had moved in power on his own under Christ’s authority, and yet his words seemed to echo that of the Pharisees in their constant demands for proof and credentials that Jesus was who He claimed.  In John 8: 57-58 we read:

57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”

58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 

 

Jesus often rebuked the Apostles for their lack of faith and their uncomprehending of His mission, yet He chose by and large unlearned and ‘average’ men; they were of no great account or consequence in Galilee save that they walked with Jesus.

So then, what differentiated them from other average men? Jesus saw that they could be reached, and would respond, and His preparation, sowing, and ministering to them took as much of His time as ministering to the sick, the possessed, and the dead.

He saw that Philip upon His departure, they would indeed be obedient and change the world, carrying the sword He brought that would cleave households in two, as it does to this day.

Yet Philip, it seems, captures Him off guard right after Thomas demonstrates another kind of misunderstanding regarding the way to Heaven and to the presence of G-d.

“Lord,” Philip says, “show us…. ”

Jesus effectively replies that basically that’s all He’s been doing, and how could Philip not know that.

Nicodemus, the secret believer among the Pharisees, knew it:

This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from G-d as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2)

This too is a revelatory statement; Nicodemus would have heard what the Pharisees were saying about Jesus when He wasn’t around. They agreed on His teachings and signs as being from G-d, yet constantly banded together to discredit Him, until He turned their questions on their heads, and made them fearful of His authority, though He lacked what they thought were the required credentials.

The multitudes followed Him because they saw, and their needs were immediate, and possibly for the most part, their motives were immediate gratification, as in the lepers He cleaned, but only one returned to thank Him.

But there were others who came to receive the Word, a word of hope and encouragement, of long-suffering love, of the forgiveness of sins for the repentant, and the promise of eternal life when earthly life was done, renewed and transformed, even glorified, and praising G-d forever.

And Philip, in earthly failing such as we all have, says “show.”

Jesus responds by telling him that He speaks what the Father gives, and the Father works through Him to perform His will in miracles as well as His word, that we might see that He is a good G-d through the works of the Son: the healing of the sick, the restoration of the dead, and the sowing of the Good News as a covenant act of grace unmerited.

And Philip, at the angel’s command, sees a chariot driver in the desert, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, changes a nation…

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus, since I first received You, I find that I am repentant, yet still sinful. Your apostle who was once your enemy advises us the fight is lifelong, and we go on doing what we don’t want, mixed with what You would have us do. That is lukewarm, and You have said in no uncertain terms You would spew that out.

Help our unbelief while there is yet time.

I, for one, am relieved the Father is long-suffering, and that He sent You to redeem my wretchedness, and turn it into righteousness. In my weariness of trials, I anticipate the easy yoke, yet You say persecution comes.

And I must choose, consciously, and daily, whom I will serve. It is to our shame that our humanness thinks to please everyone, that You wink at our rebellion, that You only love those of us who’ve professed our faith in You, but if You and the Father are One, and He is in You, we are admonished that to evangelize, lest the souls of the lost be on our heads, for the Father says He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Help transform and transport us as well, Lord, and help us to see You in each other, and know that You and the Father are indeed One. We believe on Your word, and in the signs and wonders You perform, for our own salvation, and the imparting of the Father’s Spirit to us was in itself a miracle to us, the hour we first believed.

And let us go into all the world, and open Your Word to the hungry chariot drivers.

I ask it in Your Name, knowing by faith You will grant it to us, as You have said.

Amen

Devotional 34: Sifted Like Wheat

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Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial: Luke 22: 31-32

31 And the Lord said,[a] “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost for His Highest that when Peter rebuked Jesus, it was because he thought he knew where his testing would come, but it came in a place he didn’t expect, and he wept bitterly because he failed so miserably.

Indeed, all of the Apostles swore loyalty, but when the hour came, they fled. We see our Lord sorrowful that they would not even stay up to pray for Him, as they were heavy with food and drink, coupled with doubt and not comprehending the things that Jesus said would occur.

But as I often write, Peter is perhaps the most relatable disciple, because his walk with Christ is as intense, volatile, and prone to error as our own. Jesus, in fact, implies it is Satan who speaks through Peter as the hour approaches, and Jesus rebukes not Peter, but the tempting spirit speaking through him. “This will surely not happen to You.”

It was Jesus’ own hope that the Father pass the cup of sin and gall to find a sweeter way, but He set aside His glory and desire to be spared to obey the Father.

We’re not told when Satan asked to sift Peter, to really see what he was made of, as he sifted Job. But just as God was certain in Job’s steadfastness despite his laments, Christ was equally sure of Peter’s shakiness despite his claims of steadfastness. We see in verse 32 that in fact that He already knows what Peter will do, just as he knew what Judas would do. Peter would deny Christ before men, to the point of cursing those in the crowd who insisted they’d seen him with Jesus.

It is the ultimate act of love in what Jesus not only says to Peter, but to us in our most wretched state in the lifelong war between flesh and soul,

“When you have returned to Me…”

This is a statement we are to cling to, for our Savior tells us that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before the Father. This is why the Word admonishes to seek Him while He may yet be found. No one is redeemed faithless and unrepentant from the grave.

“When you have returned to Me…”  The lost sheep is never banned from the flock, because those who follow know His voice. There is no place else to go, as we find so often in our wanderings to other temples and idols, for He alone has the words of life and truth.

As the Father grants the prayers of the Son, there is yet time for Peter to receive the keys to Heaven, and so Jesus prays not only for his return, but commands him to strengthen his brothers.

Satan has planted his tares, and will sift the saints in the last days, but it is Christ and His angels who will reap the last harvest, and there will be nothing left to glean. As John the Baptist tells us,

 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3).

Our Lord would not have His most tempestuous, impetuous disciple be chaff; As the angel said to Mary, “Go and tell the disciples, and Peter…” (Mark 16:7)

As Peter’s denial was threefold, so was his path to restoration, as the Lord asked him three times after the Resurrection:

“Peter, do you love me more than these?”  (John 12:15)

We answer, as he did, in all our failings: “Lord, You know that I love You.”

Therefore I pray:

My Lord and Savior, my heart is grieved that Your inquiry should so pierce my heart, because I have done in deed that which made You have to ask. Under the covenant of grace, I would see myself returned and restored to you, and redeemed spotless again in the Father’s eyes.

I would have my own spirit rejoicing again in Your presence, my place in the Kingdom of Heaven assured, my crown still bright, my works unconsumed as wood, hay, stubble, or chaff, my divine work finished, and my earthly connections to those You gave me intact.

I would not be cast into the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing my teeth.

Like the holy Psalmist in whom the Father was pleased, let me be tested and tried to see if there is any wicked way in me, and give me a clean heart and an upright spirit. Help me to remember, and know, that in You my salvation is assured, my return to You certain. Strengthen my love for You and establish it unshakable in the bleakest of circumstances and the most wicked of persecutions.

And use my trials, O Lord, to help me to strengthen my brothers and sisters, that they may return to You also.

In Your Holy Name, and by the Power of the Spirit of the Living God, I ask it.

Amen.

Devotional 33: I Was No Prophet

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Amos 7:10-16

 Amaziah’s Complaint

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said:

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From their own land.’”

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos:

“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
13 But never again prophesy at Bethel,
For it is the king’s sanctuary,
And it is the royal residence.”

14 Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:

“I was no prophet,
Nor was I a son of a prophet,
But I was a sheepbreeder[a]
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
15 Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock,
And the Lord said to me,
‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
16 Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord:
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
And do not spout against the house of Isaac.’

The one thing I love about the Father is his consistency.

Time and again he pulls from the rag pile and sends out the most unlikely people to do the work he requires, knowing they will obey, telling them not to be afraid, shoring them up with the power of the Holy Spirit and righteous indignation.

Amos is about as unlikely a prophet as they come, but we know he’s a prophet of G-d, because the prophets of G-d never failed to get the attention of kings and rulers, from Moses to Micah.

The reactions of said kings and rulers also seldom deviated, usually prompted by their right-hand men. In the case of Amos, it’s Amaziah, used to the intrigues of court and dealing with men of wealth, power and influence, as well as having the king’s ear.

He summarily dismisses, banishes and threatens Amos in the same breath, and cites the fact that the prophet stands in the king’s sanctuary and residence.

But as read in Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and those who dwell therein.”

Amos, being obedient to the Father’s call despite his lack of clerical credentials, answers Amaziah with even more boldness, after reciting his credentials as a sheepherder and caretaker of fruit. By all measures of earthly success, but for the call of G-d on his life, he would have died in obscurity as a simple sheepherder and fruit picker, perhaps well-liked by his employer and fellow servants, but otherwise unknown to the world today.

“I was no prophet,
Nor was I a son of a prophet,
But I was a sheepbreeder[a]
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
15 Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock,
And the Lord said to me,
‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

As believers, at some point we’ve heard the Call, and suddenly found ourselves at a fork in the road that says ‘Obey’ and ‘Disobey.’ We read only of the prophets who answered the call (Jonah refused to go to Nineveh because he knew G-d would forgive them, but it was not because he doubted what G-d said).

It’s a frightening thing, and I myself have experienced it. Nothing as earth-shattering as the overrunning of a nation by a powerful enemy, but I’ve told people they had positions, and things they were looking for would be in certain places, and they’ve come to pass.

I don’t count myself a prophet by any means, but I knew when I heard from the Lord; there was a certainty that what I was saying was not coming from a place of emotion, or trying to do good in the flesh, or to impress anyone. It was simply: “Tell them____”. and I obeyed.

G-d sends out His Word, and says it will not return void:  Jonah gave the shortest sermon in recorded history, and a whole nation repented, sparing itself. But the people of Nineveh did not pass down the legacy, and eventually it was destroyed.

As the saying goes, “G-d has no grandchildren.”

In this day and age of relativism, modernism, feminism, atheism, sexual immorality and gender identity confusion, would you be obedient if the Father said, “Go into their midst and prophesy?” Would you be willing to suffer the consequences, and possibly see the fruit, as Jonah did, or would you quail at the challenge to your credentials among the learned clergy. The Pharisees were always asking Jesus, another man of humble, dubious beginnings who seemingly had no other credentials, and didn’t even practice his trade of carpentry, “By whose authority do you do these things?”

You’re in good company.

Prophesy in faith, not in yourself, but in He who sent you.

Psalm 81:10  “If you open your mouth, I will fill it.”

He did it for Moses, and Amos, and He’ll do it for you. For us.

Amaziah was appalled that this commoner spoke so rashly, and probably felt justified in thinking Amos would quail in fear when Amaziah told him where he was, but G-d responded with a harsh punishment for Amaziah instead.

Yes, we are commanded to come boldly before the throne with the torn veil, but we are also called to go out from it just as boldly, speaking Truth in love

Therefore I pray:

Let my feet hasten to where You would have me go, Father, but it will have to be You. Like Jonah, I don’t understand unconditional love and forgiveness. Nineveh staked prophets out in the unrelenting desert sun, and was known as city of every vice, and yet, the words of Your prophet changed a nation.

So too, Amos, the shepherd and fruit attendant, who spoke against King Jeroboam, who’d become a tyrant.  He also spoke against those cities who aided the vice and turned a blind to it in the name of profit.

Whatever the words you’d have me speak, whether to change a nation or a single heart, fill me with Your words, Your power, and increase my faith, that I might obey and speak boldly.

Let me not boast of that which you gave me to say, as if I did a grand thing in my own strength. I know where my help comes from.

I would be a fisher of men, and a seed-planter, and a sheaf-bringer, or a shepherd, or a fruit attendant. As Your most learned apostle said, “I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.” (1st Cor: 9:22), taking the same fire and zeal he used to persecute the church to advance it.

Help us to know, that we too, must suffer for your Name, and to count the cost, take up our crosses, and follow.

In the Name of Your Holy Son, and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, I ask it.

Amen.

Devotional 32: Let Them Grow Together…

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Matthew 13:24-30

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

This parable is often not preached, in deference to the one about the Sower and the seed, which is the Word, but I found myself drawn to this for a few years now, especially as the times upon us now continue to unfold in seemingly unchecked aggression, fighting for rights, and strife along racial and economic lines.

I am reminded of the admonition to take the lowly place, so that we may come up higher when called by the host, instead of taking the high and lofty place, and lose it to someone of greater stature. Jesus said the least in the kingdom of Heaven was greater than His cousin and herald, John the Baptist. As Christians act like Pharisees, and compromise with the world (me included), and don’t practice grace and judging righteously, speaking Truth in love, and loving one another even inside the Way, we must walk in faith while watching, praying, and making disciples of ALL nations, not just the ones who look like us. We must be, as Jesus said, wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

What draws me to this parable is that:

1- the landowner’s property had to be big, if an enemy was able to get in and sow weeds undetected (figuratively speaking).

2- the plants looked enough alike that weeding them before the harvest would’ve culled the good along with the bad.

3- the good crops are utilized, protected by the barn, and used by the landowner for the good of others, feeding them on that which is whole and good.

4- the tares are to be destroyed, consumed by fire, and made to disappear.

But here’s the main thrust of it: They looked so enough alike as they grew that the servants would not be able to tell them apart.

There are former Christians who have left the faith for various reasons. John says they were not of the faith or they would have remained.

John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

There are new believers entering the faith:

Luke 23:39-43

39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ,[j] save Yourself and us.”

40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord,[k] remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

I would be among the sheaves of joy, going into the Kingdom, forever protected, forever sinless, forever useful, forever praising God and serving Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I pray:

King Jesus, remember me indeed, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom.

I bless Your holy Name above all names that took my wretchedness into your dying body, and purged me of fault before the Father, that I might be with you, on that day, resurrected in Paradise.

Help me then, Lord, to store up my treasures in Heaven, where thieves don’t break in and steal. Strengthen my desire to be ever like You, and less like me. Cover the filthy rags of my self-serving righteousness in Your spotless blood, and save me from the fires waiting for the unfruitful and purposeless, and the outer darkness of the rebellious and faithless, in the time of Harvest.

Do not blot my name from the Book of Life, that I may eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden, and live forever with You as my Savior, Brother, Master, Lord and King.

I ask it in Your Name, in faith believing.

Amen.

Devotional 30: Depart from Me, for I am a Sinful Man…

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Luke 5: 1-8

 

5 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it,he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

 

That night the fish proved smarter than men, for they weren’t where the disciples were fishing in the cold water, all night long.

Tired, discouraged, with nothing to show for their efforts, and feeling like failures in their own calling, they then sit patiently while Jesus teaches the people from the boat, because it’s too crowded on the shore.

We are not told when Jesus finished speaking to the crowd, but now he’s about to reward their patience in spectacular fashion.

But now comes the test not only of faith, but fortitude: Put out into deep water…

   Surely they’re thinking, what does the son of a poor carpenter know of the sea?

But Jesus had never claimed to be the son of a poor carpenter.

“,,,and let down the nets for a catch.” A twofold command.

The large, heavy nets they just finished washing and setting aside, they now have to take back with them, and go into deep water. It took longer to get to the deep water, was more turbulent and prone to currents, and harder to control the boat.

And Peter, who had to listen to Jesus sermon to the people for who knew how long, was now tired, and his answer, like the command, is twofold. He testifies to what they’ve done in their own strength, that they’ve toiled all night and caught nothing, but then he submits to the Lord’s will: “Nevertheless, at Your word, I will let down the net.”

So when Peter hears and obeys the Word of the Lord, the nets are not only filled for one boat, but two.

Peter, James and John are astounded, but it is Peter the passionate who sees and knows this is the Father at work in through the Son.

“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

How like the centurion Peter is in this moment. Lord, I am not worthy to receive you under my roof, only say the word…

Peter is speaking from his heart, and while Jesus is concerned with the heats of mankind, He in fact came to redeem the souls back to their Creator.

Evil knows good, and will use it, trick it, and corrupt it if possible.

But evil fears holiness, and can’t abide in its presence.

Our Lord says the world hates Him because He testifies to it that its works are evil, because the prince of this world walks it, and ravages those who would hear and obey the Word of the Lord.

He makes us weary in worldly pursuits, and we testify to the Lord of them: I’ve worked hard all night, all these years, all this time, and have nothing to show for it.”

And it’s there some give up and turn away, while others yet say, “Nevertheless, at Your word, I will…”

Which one will you be?

if the latter, welcome then, to the army of God. Get ready to fight the current in deep water, and by faith our Lord promises there will be no way to prepare for the overflow that will be the honoring of your faith and obedience in Him, the Living Word.

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus, I am grateful that it’s I who must obey you, and not the other way around, for I would tell you to depart from this sinful pod of flesh. It would be a foolish request, for then I would die unclean, unjustified, unrighteous, and not reconciled to the Father, and my soul condemned.

I can’t deny the wide road to Babylon is smooth and pleasant, and the city itself, like the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, is pleasing to the eye, and indulges the senses. I cast a disparaging eye to the narrow road to the kingdom of G-d and eternal life, full of bloody thorns of martyrs and saints, with a narrow gate lost in the fog of the hilltop.

But I am grateful that when I say, “Depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man,” looking toward Babylon with anticipation, and I, not You, move away, You endure the heartbreak again, and watch me go, but wait for me to come back to myself, and return to Your open arms, receiving me again with rejoicing, and walking with me once more.

Thank You for blessing me in the midst of my rebellious obedience that testifies to my own strength first, but ultimately, nevertheless submits to You.

May it ever be so, and in Your Holy Name I ask it.

Amen.