At Peace With God

Romans 4 ends with us being credited righteousness based on our faith (not works) in Jesus Christ. Romans 5 picks up right from there - "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Observation #1 - We have PEACE with God! In spite of everything we've done, and everything we will do in the future, we have PEACE with God! It doesn't mean, of course, that I don't need to continually come to the Lord and repent and be cleaned up. And it doesn't mean that I've arrived or that I'm fine the way I am. It just means that in this moment, I am not condemned by my sins - past, present, or future. I am at peace with God which frees me up to follow after Him with all of my heart, mind, and life and that I do not have to walk on eggshells, wondering if I'm still saved, or if He's mad at me. We are at peace - perfect - lasting - unexplainable peace.

Observation #2 - We have stepped into His grace (state of God's favor). We stand firm in this grace and are now able to experience and enjoy the glory of God. Which means, that before we had placed our faith in Jesus, we were not and would not ever be able to truly experience or enjoy the glory of God (because of sin - but now we are at peace with God). This is another step in forming a relationship with God - learning to enjoy Him - not just fear, reverence and sit in awe of Him (although these are good and important also).

Observation #3 - Being at peace with God and standing in His grace draws us forward into life with Him where we learn to exult and triumph in our tribulations (troubles and sufferings) BECAUSE we know that tribulation brings about perseverance which brings character which brings hope - and that hope will not disappoint us because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts.

God has made us at peace with Him and brought us into His grace. Now, through His grace we walk through times of suffering, filled with difficulties that will bring about perseverance, which leads to character and ultimately ends with filling us with hope that will never disappoint because of the love of God that is poured into our hearts. I could never do this justice by trying to explain what I think, but I'll try anyways - its almost written as though grace is the gateway to tribulations and sufferings. At least its the natural progression and yet we look at it like its the most unnatural thing in the world. As soon as life gets hard, we question what we've done wrong - instead of what we're doing right. We look at it as punishment instead of looking to see what God is refining in us. We're not perfect to start out - that's why He saved us in the first place. Now, He is making us His very own - and our very best. I don't want to fight against what He is trying to do in me. I want to persevere. I want proven character. I want to be filled with hope no matter what the circumstance and I want to have the love of God poured out in my life so that it overflows onto every person that I come in contact with. Praise the Lord because this is the exact path that He has each of us on. We are not brought into right standing with God to go about our lives and know we have a safety net in place. We are brought into right standing with God so that we can approach Him boldly, so that we can know Him on a deep and intimate level and so that we can be changed to be the very best that we could ever possibly be and so much better than we could ever possibly imagine!

complain complain complain.....

I heard a message recently on complaining - Numbers 11. A lot of the points were really good, but I had a couple of thoughts to add.

The message in a nutshell was this: Complaining displeases God. Not only does it displease God, but it spreads (quickly) from person to person and infects you like a disease. Its true. In this story in particular, a couple of people complained, it spread to the rest of the camp so that everyone complained, and ended with even the leadership turning to God and complaining. God's anger was kindled against the complaining in the camp - but not against Moses' complaining. I found that interesting. As I thought about the difference between the people's complaining, and Moses' complaining, what I saw was that Moses took his complaints straight to God. He didn't mull it over with the people around him, he didn't go and vent, or ask for prayer. He just took his complaint straight to God. It doesn't mean that it was good for him to complain - ultimately it should be our goal to trust the Lord so much in any situation that nothing will move us to ever complain because we know that God is in control - however, we are human and shouldn't be ridiculous to think that that is some easy task that we can just pick up and follow through on. The point is that Moses had the type of relationship with God where he could pour out anything to the Lord (this is, by the way, the same type of relationship that we should put into practice). Dump it out on God - He can take it. Not only can He take it, but only He can remove it. When we complain to others we infect them with our sin - we literally pass it along. When we complain to God, He is able to show us the true state of ourselves, siphon it out, and replace the void with His Holy Spirit, giving us the power to move forward in Him.

My prayer for myself is that I will form better habits to 'make everything a prayer request.' There is no reason to hide any part of yourself from God. Bring it all to Him - Let him weed out the crap - and restore the broken parts - ultimately to bring you that much closer to Him. Praise God!!! For He is indeed so good!!!

Romans 4 - Faith

Romans 4 focuses on the difference between the ideas of being justified by works and justified by faith. Paul gives a pretty simple explanation to begin with - "Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." Just to make sure you understand..... When you go to work, you are a paid a certain amount of money. Your employer owes it to you once you have completed the work. Paul is saying that it is the same with our salvation - we have not (can not) work so that our salvation is owed to us - we must believe, because God is giving it to us as a gift (this is why we cannot be prideful - we haven't done anything for it).

Citing the example of Abraham, Paul points out that righteousness was extended to Abraham through faith before he had any 'works' to claim. The specific example used is circumcision. Abraham was credited righteousness before he was circumcised - not after or as a result of his circumcision. Quick side-note here.... every translation that I have states that righteousness was credited to Abraham. It makes me think of a credit card and how it works - A company extends you credit - they essentially give you money to spend and because they have given this money to you, you now work to pay it back. So, the idea is that God has given us His righteousness - ultimately we owe Him our lives (not that He is expecting repayment because He isn't). The point is that our 'works' should be motivated because of the righteousness He has given us - not to receive righteousness from Him. So often I get it backwards. I work because I should - because its expected, not because God loved me enough to send His Son to die for me. The change in perspective opens me up to be merciful and gracious toward everyone I come across.

Moving on....

Here is what really got my attention in this chapter. Still using the example of Abraham, Paul says, "In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken. "So shall your descendants be." Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. YET with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully assured that what God had promised He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness." The way I would have read the story in Genesis would be to say that Abraham didn't trust God to fulfill His promise, but this clearly states that isn't true. What I think is beautiful is that we have the ability to question God - so say, "I do not have any idea at all how You are going to pull this out" and that that does not negate your faith. We don't need to understand. We just need to believe that God is able to do what He has promised - And He Always Is!!!! This is what makes my relationship with God so real and tangible - I don't need to put on act and come to Him on my best behavior, flattering Him with foolish words. I need to come exactly as I am - angry, thankful, in awe, frustrated, hurt, excited, etc. etc. etc. Talk it out - give it to Him - if I feel ungrateful, give that up too. He is the only one that can draw these thoughts and feelings out and replace them with the filling of His Holy Spirit.

So that's it - Trust God - Believe in Him - not to obtain righteousness, but because He has already given it to You - And know, always know that He is able to perform what He has promised!!!!

Righteouness vs. Unrighteousness

Paul, in Romans 1:16 - 19 says,



"For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them."



There are two groups of people described here - the RIGHTEOUS, who live by faith and the UNRIGHTEOUS, who suppress the truth of God. Ultimately, Paul is referring to the difference between believers and those who have rejected the gospel, but really it can be broken down in our own lives as Christians. How much of my life is lived by faith and how much of my life is lived by suppressing the truth that God has made available to me?



Once you give your life to Jesus, you are made a new person - born again - but the old sinful man still resides inside you. Now there is a battle - until you die and the sinful man is finally stripped from you once and for all (praise the Lord; I cannot wait to be done with this body of sin). So, the new man lives by faith - as we follow the "righteousness of God that is revealed from faith to faith." The amplified Bible says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith..." That's where we want to live - in the midst of faith. Our 'righteousness' began with faith when we accepted Jesus' sacrifice for our sin and as we walk in that righteousness (through faith) we are lead into a life that brings more faith (as we draw near to God and He reveals Himself to us one step at a time).



The opposite of walking in this faith is to suppress the truth that God has revealed to us and pushing forward in our flesh. Romans 1 goes on to describe what happens to the person that suppresses the truth of God. Verse 23 says, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever." The result is that God gave the people over to a depraved mind, "to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

In the context of Romans 1, these verses are (I believe) distinguishing between people who accept the truth of God that He has revealed to them and give their lives to Him and people who have rejected the truth of God that He has made available to them and turned their backs on him. However, I also believe that there are lessons here for the Christian - for me anyway - Am I seeking out truth from God or am I looking to suppress His truth and create my own? The result is either living from faith to faith, continually growing and drawing closer to God as you begin to know Him better, or going the other way and bringing carnal behaviors into your life (and often the church) like strife, gossip, deceit, malice, arrogance and being unmerciful.

The encouragement is then to seek out the truth of God - even when its hard, even when its uncomfortable. The price you pay for suppressing the truth of God is never worth it.

As Iron Sharpens Iron, So One Man Sharpens Another

Romans 1:11-12

"For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine."





Here, Paul shares his heart with the believers in Rome - He longs to see them, and this is why - to impart some spiritual gift to them so that they can stand firm in their faith and be well established. He clarifies what he really means by saying that I may be encouraged together with you, each by the other's faith. That is how our faith should operate - to encourage each other. How encouraging are you to be around? What is your conversation when surrounded by other believers? Do you talk about what God has done? What He is doing? How He is teaching you? Or is your conversation no different from that in the world?



I recently spent a couple of hours talking to a friend of mine and upon leaving her home, all I could think about was how much more I wanted to know Jesus. What an impact to have on people!! This is the effect that I would like to have on people. I want my relationship with Jesus to be so full that it overflows into the lives of everyone I come in contact with, so that when they walk away from me their desire has grown to know Him more.

At the end of 2009 my hope is to look back over the year and see that I have become a completely different person - can you imagine the changes if you run towards the Lord with ALL your heart, with ALL your mind, and with ALL your strength for an entire year? Its like training vigorously for anything athletic - a year of solid training would make such vast improvements that you wouldn't even recognize yourself! That is what I long for spiritually. One of the first steps then, is to re-examine my faith, and observe how it functions. What do I use it for? Do I use it to comfort other people? To encourage and be encouraged in turn? Do I do what I can to cause it to grow? Exercise it?

Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." I have had friends that sharpen me and friends that cause me to be dull and I know that I have had friends that I sharpen and friends that I have caused to become dull - Lord forgive me.

So from this point, right now, I pray Jesus, that You would cause me to be a sharpening tool. Make me mindful of every word before spoken and every thought before action taken. Make me a tool that sharpens the people around me and help me to have the wisdom to surround myself with people that will sharpen me.

Peter and Judas

Usually I write about something that I've learned or at least am learning from my time with the Lord. Today is a little bit different - today I'm writing about something I would like to learn and understand, but at the moment I have no real, definite insight into. Peter and Judas. I'm sure that this has been studied and written about, so perhaps I just need to do some digging, but there is something special about studying just the Bible - without a commentary - and relying on the Lord to speak (not that commentarys are bad or not useful - every gifted Pastor that I know and respect uses them).

Jesus announces at the last supper that one of his disciples will betray him, that all will abandon him, and that Peter will deny him - 3 times before the night is out. As the night progresses, everything that Jesus prophesied came true. Judas betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders, the disciples turn and ran, and Peter denied Jesus vehemently 3 seperate times that same night. Peter, realizing what he had done immediately after the 3rd denial, went out and wept bitterly.

Judas is found in a similar yet completely different situation. Judas has betrayed Jesus. He saw Jesus being condemned by the leaders and he felt remorse. He knew that he had sinned by betraying the innocent and he went straight to the leaders to return the money he had taken. He threw it into the temple, went away, and hanged himself.

What a terrible story! Two men in very similar situations with very different outcomes. Why? I wish that we had more details into the inner workings of their hearts. I wish we could see what the real difference was between them. I imagine that Peter although bitterly ashamed had some type of hope down in his soul - he never hit the level of despair that Judas seemed to. The gospel of Mark singles Peter out after Jesus's resurrection - the angel appears to the women at the tomb and says, "Go and tell the disciples and Peter." There still needed to be that time of reconciliation between Peter and Jesus. Peter's life had been changed by his exposure to Jesus. At the moment of his denials he had stepped back, given into the flesh, and reacted out of fear - but He had been changed nonetheless. Judas, it would seem, was never changed by his encounters with Jesus. It seems like he went along with him, and when it appeared that his greatest advancement could come from betraying Jesus, that was the way he turned. The realization of what he had done did not come until later. Perhaps his eyes were opened at that moment to everything he had missed along the way - I don't know. I know that he was overcome by his guilt and because he had not a shred of hope he did what he could to escape it - he killed himself. Its sad.

As a lesson I guess its best to examine your heart to see why it is that You follow Jesus. To get something? To advance? To know him? To be changed by him? Motives are difficult to sort through and often times there are hidden agendas that will not be revealed until God chooses to show them to you. Its best to seek the Lord now - to ask Him what is in your heart - to ask Him to fix what is in your heart - repent now, while you can - and place your hope continually in Him.

The Betrayal of Jesus

I'm coming to the end of Matthew in my morning times. There are only 2 chapters left. Most of Jesus' teaching has been done, most of his life has been lived - He and the disciples are eating the passover meal and Jesus announces that one of them will betray Him and all of them will turn their backs on Him. They, of course, cannot believe this and immediately ask Jesus if he was talking about them in particular - "is it me, Lord?" "Surely you're not talking about me!" etc. etc... Jesus lets it go, but not until He is spoken point blank to Peter "Before the rooster crows you will deny knowing me 3 times." Peter cannot picture himself denying Jesus so He swears to go even to death with his Lord. The problem I see with Peter in this particular instance (and several others) is that he is focused on the flesh. Jesus goes to pray and tells a few of his disciples - including Peter - to watch and pray in order that they might not fall into temptation, but when Jesus returns to check on them, they are all asleep! There was no preparation - no getting their minds focused on God - no strengthening of their communication with the Father - just sleep. After returning twice, Jesus wakes them and tells them its time. Judas brings a mob to take Jesus away and betrays him with a kiss. The mob seize Jesus and Peter, trying -in the flesh- to be good to his word, steps forward and chops off the ear of the High Priest's servant. Jesus repairs the ear, tells Peter to put away his sword, and that these things must happen. Jesus, because He has spent the entire night in communication with his Father, verifying the Father's will and purpose, is prepared for what lies ahead. Peter, living in the flesh, fresh from a nap, out of sync with God's will, steps up to arm himself and Jesus the only way he knows how - in the flesh. Jesus puts a stop to it, and because Peter sees that his only weapon has been removed, he turns and runs away. I imagine he was ashamed at not being able to defend Jesus, he was probably angry, probably hurt, and definitely frustrated - He didn't understand.

The key in this story for me, is being connected to the Father. Jesus was desperate to spend time with God - to understand His will, to be prepared for whatever was coming, to be 100% with the Spirit of God. Now, if Jesus, being God Himself, was desperate to spend that quite time alone with God in order to carry out God's will, shouldn't I, be even more desperate to spend time alone with God? Instead, I am often in the place of the disciples - too tired - unmotivated - busy - to take the time to communicate with God, to align myself with His perfect will. The result is that I get up and go out to face my day in the flesh - wielding weapons of the flesh - and end up making a mess of things. Jesus says to the disciples in 26:41 "keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." That's the key - keep watching - keep praying - and You will not enter into temptation. I was told that K.P. Yohannan said once that its difficult to sin when you are in constant communication with the Father. Lord help me - prepare me - keep me.

What a waste?

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as he reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, "Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me or burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her."

I'm not sure how much I really understand of this story. Right before this Jesus tells his disciples that "after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion." The next verse is about the elders and the chief priests plotting to take Jesus away in secret right after passover. Then, we are here at Simon's home, witnessing the scene with this woman and her alabaster vial of expensive perfume. Did she hear Jesus telling the disciples he would be crucified? Did she hear of the plot to take Jesus after Passover? Was it something that God had revealed to her in the depths of her heart? She must have had an inkling of some sort - from the disciples reaction, we see that it was not a common day practice. Perhaps they had become too legalistic at the moment to see the beauty and necessity of her sacrifice. For me it comes down to cherishing the time that I have with Jesus as this woman did. She had a moment to spend with him where she could pour out all she had into worship of Him and she took advantage of it. That is how I want to live my life - taking full advantage of every moment I am presented to have in intimacy with Jesus. I do not want to become legalistic with my time, my money, my anything - I want to be always ready to enter into a moment with my Lord - to worship Him.

The Practical Side of being Righteous

We cannot make ourselves to be righteous through any kind of 'work'. We are saved and made righteous in God's eyes through the 'work' of Jesus alone - through his death. However, there is a very real and very tangible, practical part of righteousness. It brings to my mind the discussion James has in the second chapter of his letter concerning faith and works. He says, in a mock discussion, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." It is not the works that save, but they are the proof that the faith is real. The order and motivation are what is important - the faith must come first and because of the faith, works will naturally follow.

Back to Matthew 25. Jesus is discussing the judgement and he compares it to a shepherd separating the goats from the sheep. He sets them on either side of Him and looks to the sheep and says (starting in verse 34) "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me." The sheep in this story question the shepherd saying, "When did we do all of that?" To which Jesus replies, "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

So, the question for me is really, 'how do I treat the people I come in contact with?' Am I kind? Do I reach out to help people with their physical needs? Do I over-spiritualize things? Do I under-spiritualize things? My problem is more the latter. Often I only go into spiritual details with people in the church. I want to be balanced - the same person all the time - meeting spiritual needs and physical needs of people that I come across.

I just want to be better. I want to improve constantly. I don't want to settle for less than the very best that God has for me. I don't want to miss opportunities. I want to grow.

Is Every Day Too Much?

Whether you can tell from reading these posts or not, they are generally a bit time consuming to write and they require a lot of thought. I would love to take the time each morning to share what I am learning as I read through the Bible. It really might be too big of a goal, but we'll see.

Here we are at the start of a new year. I have been challenged to ask God for a verse for 2009. What I received in response was an entire parable:

Matthew 25:14-30

"For it (the kingdom of heaven) is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey."
"Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. in the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money."
"Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, 'Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, 'Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.' But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.' For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

I guess that one of the first things that really jumped out at me this time is that the master gave what was his to his servants to use for himself. Does that make sense? Its like he gave them a job to do while he was gone. 'take this money of mine, and go make more money for me.' It was never about the servants. So, I see that in my life, what I have is not about me. Its about Jesus who has given it to me. More than that, its about what I'm doing with what He has given me for Him and His benefit. It really changes the entire perspective on life. Its not about what I do with my money that is best for me - its about what I do with the money He has given me that is best for HIM!!! Its totally different. This is not just about money, and not just about talents. Its about EVERYTHING. Everything that I have and everything that I am is on loan to me from Jesus - it is on loan for one purpose - for him. He has loaned me life so that I can make something out of it for Him. Really, it places much more responsibility on my shoulders. If something belongs to someone else then I am much more apt to take better care of it than if it belongs to me. There is a certain respect for other people's things when you are borrowing them. My prayer in response to this is that I will always be mindful that EVERYTHING I have and am is on loan from Jesus Christ. I pray that I will cherish what He has given me and always take the utmost care with it.

The second thing that really jumped out at me as I was reading this story again this morning is that the servants where to go out an add to what they were given. They were to take what they were given originally and use that to get more. So, for me anyways - God has given me many different things - a Christian family - base knowledge of Truth and the Bible - love for music - etc. etc. the list continues on. It is up to me, to take the things that He has given me and to use them to add to them. Does that make sense? Hopefully to help it make more sense..... God has given me a foundation in right and wrong. I have a Christian family, I have been raised in Christian churches that teach the truth. However, it is up to me to take that foundation and build on it, applying truth to my life and seeking after more, or I can tuck that bit of truth away and never use it or apply it and eventually lose it altogether. The bottom line is that I do not want to look at what I have been given, say, "God is good" and then set it away never to be used again. I want to look at my life, recognize what God has given me and use it to its fullest potential in order to gain things that He hasn't just handed me (like the fruits of the spirit and other things that come from using what God has given me). I do not want to settle for less - I do not want to be lazy - I do not ever want to say, "that's just the way I am." I want to continually push forward and excel in every single area of my life - I want to grow; I want to be challenged; I want to change.

So, as the parable that God has given me for 2009, I pray that this year will be a year to take everything that God has given me and increase it. I want to move forward in every single area - areas where I have been lazy and disorganized - my house - my music - my serving in the church - my serving outside of the church. I want to pour every ounce of myself into increasing what God has given me. Then I want to look back at the end of this year to see all that God has accomplished through and inside of me and I want to praise Him. I want Him to be glorified in everything. I want to show my appreciation for what He is given me by increasing the value and handing it back to Him to make his kingdom just that much richer.