Sorry no post today. Am incapacitated by a severe vertigo attack. Prayers appreciated.
The Gift of Sight
The Gift of Sight
Psalm 146:8 “…the LORD gives sight to the blind….”
[Praise you, Lord, that this is true both physically and spiritually. Spiritual sight is by far the more important one, for if we can see spiritual Truth now, even though our physical eyes are blind, we will see physically in heaven.
Praise you that your desire is to take away the natural veil over each person’s eyes (2 Cor. 3:13-16), to allow them to see the spiritual reality of being sinners, of being under condemnation and of standing before you, the Righteous One, without hope of relief from their own efforts.
Then you give them the bright dawn of hope in your provision of pardon and release, of cleansing and transformation so they can become your beloved children! That’s really eye-opening truth!
I love John’s comment about this in 1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE!”]
“the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,”
[You, Lord, in your tender love, reach out to all those who are depressed, discouraged and disheartened by the burdens by life as Satan, along with sin and its consequences, beat them up, beat them down, bring them low.
But you, Lord Jesus, offer them hope, grace, love, forgiveness, encouragement, guidance, strength, and protection. You offer–but they have to accept. Sadly, many continue to choose being bowed down because they refuse to bow before you, preferring bondage to your marvelous message of mercy and love.]
“the LORD loves the righteous.”
[You love the world and all in it (John 3:16). And you especially love the righteous, those who have accepted your offer of pardon, who then receive the righteousness of Christ, imputed through your mercy and grace.
You delight in your children–stubborn and rebellious as we often are. You see us standing in Christ, sinless, forgiven, pure and complete. Your vision of what we are going to be is what fills your thoughts; your great love for us never ceases as you move us towards maturity in Christ.
So, in the midst of the turmoil of life, in you we can rest, because of your rich, ever-flowing love. And out of that love we can serve you and others, needing nothing in the line of recognition or acclaim, for what we have in your love is enough.
May we delight your heart today, Lord Jesus, in faith, obedience and praise, shining the light of your love to all those around us who are frozen in the grip of sin.]
The Gifts of God
The Gift of Freedom
Psalm 146:7b “The LORD sets prisoners free….”
[Right from the beginning of our lives we are all imprisoned by sin in the web of Satan, where everyone is ensnared in his sticky strands of lies, fear and violence. Just being born into a broken and twisted world results in quirks and knots in our personalities that bring problems, difficulties and oppression.
Then our upbringing and family culture with fallen parents instill further dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and desires into us. And our culture’s worldview, with its unhealthy internalized values of materialism, selfishness and pride lock us into destructive feelings, desires and goals.
All these lead us to emotional pitfalls, to accepting false answers to the great human thirst for love and approval, for significance and security, for fulfillment and belonging. These wrong answers then produce fear: fear of man, fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of pain, loss and hurt. Satan uses all of these to oppress, control, and in the end, he wants to crush us like the car in the picture below, killing all he can.
But You, Lord Jesus, have made a way out of this prison of oppression, opening the door to the cell of hopelessness. You have called us to step out of the darkness of fear into the light of your Love, into the rich and warm relationship with you where our fears can be washed away in the river of your forgiveness and goodness, your grace and glory. You don’t want to crush us, but to transform us and make us new like the second car below.
Through your great work and sacrifice, you provided all we thirst for: in you we belong, in you we have competence, in you we have significance, security, acceptance and approval.
In you there is the certainty of your shepherding us through every dark valley of life into the wonder of your everlasting dwelling in Heaven. You have provided all that is needed for us to follow you in freedom: Your “divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life…” (2 Pet. 1:3).
You, Lord Jesus, are the great Deliverer, the mighty Shepherd, the everlasting King. Because of your goodness you are worthy of endless honor, praise and exaltation; you are worthy of all obedience, glory and thanksgiving.
I praise you for your constant, deep, compassionate and lovely presence in my life, guiding me every step of the way; convicting me of the next sin so I can be set free from it; drawing me on to greater surrender; protecting me from my own foolishness; guiding and empowering me to live more and more worthy of you.
So, I lift you up, praise your Name and exalt your Word above all things. Use me today to bring honor to your gracious and glorious Name by giving thanks in all things.
The Gift of Beauty
The Gift of Beauty
Praise the LORD, for another sunny day with pleasant weather and a beautiful countryside: rich, warm morning sunshine streaming over the hills, casting long, deep shadows from the trees and buildings, bringing out every dip and rise in the land.
The trees are silver with dew, the river is clothed in shimmering wreathes of fog, flowers are peeking out from bushes, gardens and graveyards, the birds are joyfully flitting about and singing in the new day’s light.
You, O Lord God, are a lover of beauty, and are so gracious to share this visual feast with us, a breakfast for the eyes, a refreshment to the soul.
I praise you for your marvelous creativity, making all so practical and yet so beautiful. You could have made everything black and white, ugly and efficient—but you have chosen to clothe usefulness in gracefulness, practicality in loveliness. You cover fruit trees with fragrant and colorful blossoms; you make water sparkling and pure; you give the hills and trees many shades of green.
Praise you that you do the same in our lives, making food festive, procreation pleasurable, worship wonderful.
You are yourself beautiful, O Lord.
You are lovely in goodness, graciousness and gloriousness.
You are righteous, pure, positive and just.
You are kind, compassionate, forgiving and long suffering.
You are present, protecting, seeing and caring.
You uphold all who are bowed down.
You deliver from the oppressor.
You heal the broken-hearted.
You guide the lost and save the sinner.
You are:
The God of goodness,
The Lord of eternity,
The Shepherd of salvation,
The Father of faithfulness.
Therefore, you are worthy of worship, praise, glory and honor. I bow before you now in awe, praising you in gratefulness; I rise up in your joy to exalt you in thankfulness and obedience. May you be glorified today in my thoughts and actions, words and reactions, O great and mighty, lovely and lavish Lord Jesus!
Conference Blues
That summer of 2008 we had responsibility for organizing three big conferences. One was for all those members in our group who were working with Hindus. The second was a leadership training conference for our leaders from all over the world. The third was the annual conference for our folks in Turkey. All three were to be held in the same hotel in late July and would overlap with one another.
I began work on finding a hotel more than a year in advance, and soon, through a Christian travel agent, found one at a good price. We signed the contract and everything looked like it was ready.
However, in early July, the month the conferences were scheduled, the travel agent called and said that they were having trouble with the hotel, should we switch to another place?
Finding an available hotel in high tourist season to take three large groups was unlikely. It was a certainty that the prices would be considerably higher and beside all that, all of our people had been given the address of this hotel and some had already left on long trips, expecting to stay there at the end of their travel. A change at such a late date just didn’t seem feasible.
The travel agent and I decided to check out the hotel ourselves, making the nine hour drive during the night, arriving in time for breakfast.
What we saw did not look good. The boiled eggs still had chicken manure on the shells; although the plates had been washed, many still had the remains of grease and food from the previous night’s meal on them. The water in the swimming pool was murky. The place in general did not look clean.
We talked with the owner and he assured us it would be in better shape when we came for the conferences, so we decided to stick with it.
The day before the conference was to start, Barbara and I took a bus down to the hotel. This particular bus did not allow cell phones to be used, but at rest stops I kept getting calls from people arriving at the airport who could not find the drivers assigned to pick them up and transport them to the hotel.
I felt really bad about this, but could do nothing. Fortunately these early arrivers were experienced and godly types who eventually found their own way to the hotel.
When we arrived, the hotel was, if anything, worse than before. It was supposedly a three star hotel, but had, in my opinion, become a “no star” hotel.
I found some of the employees who would work with me and in two days we were able to move it up at least two stars. The dishwasher got fixed, the food improved, the pool got cleaned, air conditioners were repaired and extra beds were found.
We bought fans for the meeting rooms as the promised air conditioning was woefully inadequate, and did what was necessary to clean things up, including buying air fresheners.
At one point I had to go down to the laundry room myself and find sheets and pillows for some of our arrivals, and for several days I worked until 1 or 2 am to get everyone settled.
The difficulty with the transportation company not finding the incoming attendees at the airport continued. There was obviously some spiritual warfare involved.
In one case, I sent one of our Hindu workers, an Indian himself, to meet someone he knew. He is quite dark, so he stood out in the crowd, and also held a sign, but still he and the new arrival did not find each other. Similar incidences happened a number of times.
All my work to make the hotel more habitable took place while the leadership training conference was going on. In addition to this work I was expected to attend this conference and also was scheduled to do some of the teaching.
I was glad that after all the effort of making improvements in the hotel’s initial condition, that everything seemed to be going more smoothly. I had no idea that events were soon going to take us on a drastic turn for the worse.
At the end of the first conference, some attendees left and others arrived for the next two conferences.
The difficulties with transportation continued. In addition, we found out that the hotel had overbooked and some of our people had no place to stay, so we put them up temporarily in nearby hotels.
On Friday evening, two days into the simultaneous running of the second and third conferences, the hotel owner called me to his office.
“Your travel agent owes me money from a different deal and you will either pay the agent’s bill, or we will put you out on the street!” he said with a smile—but the intensity of his demand was clear from the sweat beads on his forehead.
I felt the heat of anger rising in my chest. After all that I’d done for the hotel to make these conferences a success, this threat was the opposite of what I wanted to hear. I managed, however, to keep my voice calm. “What my travel agent does with you in another deal has nothing to do with our conferences,” I said, “You have to work this out with him.”
The hotel owner frowned, sweat glistening on his forehead, “No, either you pay his bill to me, or I’ll put you out. I have my own bills to pay and I need that money now!” It was obvious that he was under great pressure and speaking out of fear.
I called my travel agent. He confirmed that he hadn’t paid his bill for other customers, explaining that it was because of all the complaints that he’d had from those he had sent there.
His plan was to send a commission down to prove that the hotel was not up to three star standards and hoped that their findings would free him from his contract. “Just sit tight and nothing will happen,” he said.
Several of our leaders met with me. We prayed about it and talked more with the hotel owner. He wouldn’t budge an inch on his demand and got even more angry and belligerent.
It seems that he had already passed along the postdated check he had from the travel agent, and if that check bounced, he would be in big trouble. There was probably some mafia connection mixed in, a common factor in this business. That would certainly explain the fear he had which, in turn, displayed itself as anger towards us.
We were caught in the middle. God was our only hope and we turned to him. We’ll tell you the outcome next week.
The Gift of Supply
The Gift of Supply
Praise be to you, Lord, for your great and gracious heart. Praise you that you look down and see every single person on this earth, all at the same time, and that you are aware of each one’s needs, motives, desires, suffering, rebellion and anger.
I praise you that you work in the life of each–believer or not–to supply their needs in an ever-flowing river of good: “… your Father in heaven…causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45).
You bring each one help on every level: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psa. 34:18).
And most importantly you offer the opportunity for all to enter your Kingdom: “when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world [everyone] of sin, righteousness, and judgment…” (John 16:8-10) and “…whosoever believes should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16b).
Psalm 146:7 “He upholds the cause of the oppressed…”
[You, Heavenly Father, with the resurrection of Jesus, went right to the core of the issue and provided the most important of our needs: an escape from the three foundational sources of oppression: Satan, sin and self. All other oppression we experience flows out of these.
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for paying the price of great, deep, profound, excruciating suffering to provide the only possible way out from this oppression. Praise you that daily you give grace, guidance and goodness to your children in the midst of every oppression so we can let go of what is temporary, hold on to what is eternal and rise above whatever difficulties come to us. .]
“and [He] gives food to the hungry.”
[You are the One who provides our daily bread. You give enough to live on and you give us the freedom to share this with others, the privilege of being the conduit to supply their needs. Help us not to squander your supply or withhold from others the abundance you constantly give. We praise you that you are wonderfully generous and give freely, fully to all. May we do so, too.]
Help us to recognize the marvelous supply you give us every day in the unending stream of gifts, including wisdom, protection, help and guidance, which you pour into our lives. Help us to live in the light of your love today and to bring honor to you in all we do.
The Gift of Faithfulness
Psalm 146:6b “The Lord who remains faithful forever.”
[You, Lord, are the persistent God of Hope, forever pouring joy and peace into our lives as we trust in you (Rom. 15:13)–so that our lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that we may live lives worthy of you.
For this I praise you, Lord Jesus, I exalt you, heavenly Father, I honor you, Holy Spirit, for your consistent, continual commitment to Truth, to Righteousness, to your Promises and, most importantly, to your rich and beautiful Character.
In the garden of Eden you promised a Savior who would crush Satan’s head. You prepared the way for His coming, choosing Abraham, protecting him and his off-spring through many years of danger, oppression and difficulty. Through Joseph you saved Judah from whence came the Christ.
And at the right time you arrived, Lord Jesus: in weakness and vulnerability, a helpless babe born to inexperienced parents in a dirty and sickness-filled society where infant mortality rate was high and enemies abounded.
You lived among sin-warped people, in evil systems, under oppression by Rome and rejection by your own. You willingly suffered unjust condemnation, torture, death and seeming defeat that you might save all who were willing to come into your shelter of faithful forgiveness and family, of love and new life.
You are the ultimate in faithfulness and therefore we can trust you fully each day to carry us through whatever will come, granting us opportunity to work with you in your plans and to give you honor by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in each difficulty, disappointment and discouragement.
Help us to take up your out-poured grace, Lord Jesus, to live in the light of your love and to rest in the fact of your faithfulness, so you may be honored today before all human beings around us.
Psalm 11:7b
Psalm 11:7b “His countenance beholds the upright.”
[You, Lord, in your love and goodness, consistently look after us, your children–we who now stand in the righteousness of Christ. You are aware of every event that comes to us, you filter out what is truly evil and harmful, and you have equipped us to deal with whatever you allow into our lives.
You have qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light! You are carrying us forward on to glory, honor and praise as we respond to your direction in faith! Your love is wonderful, rich, pure and powerful, and it is a great privilege to live in it!]
Psalm 146:5 “Blessed is the man whose help is the God of Jacob”
[You work with us, as you worked with that rebellious rascal Jacob. You are patient and persistent, providing consequences to bring us up short, penetrating our lives at the right time with conviction and wisdom, and pointing us the way to full surrender],
“[Blessed is the man] whose hope is the Lord his God”
[Jacob kept calling you, “the God of my father” rather than his own God. It took a whole lifetime of self-imposed suffering, fear and loss before Jacob, on his death bed, finally bowed before you and worshiped you as “my God,” making you his personal hope. May we not wait so long to surrender! ]
Psalm 146:6 “[Blessed is the man whose hope is the] maker of heaven”
[You made both the throne room of Heaven where you dwell, and the great expanses of space where all the starry hosts dwell: zillions of stars (and you know the name of every one!) placed in trillions of galaxies, spread across billions of light years of space]
“and [maker of] earth, the sea and all that is in them”
[You spoke the earth into existence with its mountains and valleys, rivers and streams, the seas with all their great expanse. And you created the astounding myriad of plants and animals, ranging from the single-celled, up through insects, cats and dogs, to elephants, walrus and whales–plus the unseen spiritual creatures around us.]
You, Lord God, are amazing and awesome: powerful and creative, wise and all-knowing, all-seeing and all-present–the Creator, the Victor, our Savior and King.
From you alone comes real, sure, enduring hope, giving us the great certainty of having salvation from sin, a surplus of significance and security, and the assurance of a sinless eternity with you. We can know that all which comes to us in this life will be for your glory, our good and the outworking of your triumph over evil.
To you be glory, honor and praise forever: may you be lifted up, esteemed and exalted today, in my life, in my motives, in my thoughts, words and actions.]
Psalm 11:5b-7
Psalm 11:5b “But the wicked and the one who loves violence, His [God’s] soul hates.”
[Here is one of those seeming paradoxes of the Bible: God loves all yet hates the wicked. Here are three possible understandings among several, all of them true:
–He hates what they do, but loves them as His creatures;
–He loves them, but when they refuse to come under His protection by surrendering to Christ, they fall under His hatred for sin;
–or here He is speaking of Satan and his hoard of demons.
The certainty is that, in God’s character there are no contradictions: He hates sin and will punish it, yet found a way (an extremely expensive one) to redeem sinners within this context.
Psalm 11:6 “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.”
[As part of your plan to eliminate evil, you, Lord God, will in your justice punish rebellious evil doers–those who refuse your gracious forgiveness and instead love violence, those who hate what is good, those who refuse to believe you and accept Truth.
This is what you did in Sodom and Gomorrah, what you did in Canaan to those who rejected you, and what you will do to all those who refuse your offer of goodness and grace. There can be no justice without the punishment of evil.]
Psalm 11:7 “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;”
[Praise you, Lord God, that in you there is no evil, no darkness, no sin, no wrong doing. You are righteous and love what is right. You cannot be corrupted and corrupt no one. You cannot be tempted and you tempt no one. Instead, you call all to righteousness.
When we believe your Word, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. Then we get to grow in righteousness as we walk in obedience to what we know to be true:
–loving your Word by reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on it;
–listening to and obeying the conviction of the Spirit, that most often comes through the Word;
— working by and through prayer, living the truth that without you we can do nothing;
–participating in fellowship, knowing that in your church we will learn to give and receive, help and be helped; we will both enjoy and be irritated by others, repent and forgive, love as Christ loves us.
Help us to be faithful in participating in your righteousness, Lord, living worthy of you, as sons and daughters of the Most High King, the Creator and Sustainer of all. May our central and deepest goal today be to glorify, honor and please you.]
Psalm 11:3-5
Yesterday ended with a dissatisfying taste, an emptiness which I tried at first to banish with reading and popcorn. But then you, Lord, led me in the right path, reminding me to praise you for it, as this emptiness was a reminder that my soul finds rest in you alone—and the right response is to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Therefore I praise you now, Lord Jesus, for this emptiness that reminds me of the wonder and stability of knowing you, of being a child of the eternal living, God. You give us all we need for life and godliness and I can praise you for both the pleasant and the painful.
As it says in Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”
[When everything seems to fall apart, we can look away to you, Lord God, the only sure foundation in all of existence. We can rejoice in your character, rest in your love, live in your wisdom. The instability of the world only serves to highlight the surety of your character: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever!]
Psalm 11:4-5 “The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven;”
[You are ever ruling, ever awake, ever alert. Nothing escapes your notice and you always act in inexorable power at exactly the right time. You rule wisely, wonderfully, willfully. You are moving events to the great conclusion of history, sweeping as many as are willing into your Kingdom and taking us with you, while giving those who aren’t willing multiple opportunities as well.]
“His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous,”
[You watch every person, you test each one, giving opportunities for belief to the not-yet-sons. And to your children, who have been granted the righteousness of Christ, you give tests that are possibilities to grow, to give you glory and to display grace.
Ah, Lord, help us to remember that difficulties, disappointments, danger and discouragement are tests, each one an opportunity to take up your grace, rise up in praise and defeat the enemy on his own ground.
Help us to follow you on the path that you have laid out for us. May we not fail in these tests but cooperate with you and join you for your glory! Help us today to live in the light of your lavish love, trusting in your great and glorious goodness in each trial, fulfilling the purpose of our lives by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in all.]
