Following Directions

In Genesis chapter 13 we see that God had blessed both Abram and Lot. There possessions were so great that the land could no longer support all their livestock, so Abram decided to divide the land into two areas one to the right (north) and one to the left (south).
Genesis 13:8-13
So, Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So, Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
So, Lot chose to go east, not south or north. Abram gave Lot the right to chose but instead Lot decided that neither direction was the best and looked toward the plains of the Jordan. Lot looked and saw the things of this world and went in that direction. First pitching his tent near Sodom and as we read later moved in to Sodom and lived in their city. As we read in Genesis nineteen only Lot and his two daughters were saved when God destroyed Sodom. He lost everything but his two daughters. And then his daughters decided that they would preserve their father’s family line and gave him two sons, Moab and Ben-Ammi (the father of the Ammonites).
So be careful about going out on your own direction. It may be a slow drift, but once you set off in the wrong direction the harder it is to turn back. The key is to follow the direction God provides. In Genesis fourteen Lot could have returned to Abram, but instead returned to Sodom. Keeping God first in our lives is key to living a blameless life before God. Once your desires become focus on the things of this world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life you and you do not realize that these are from the world and not from God; than your works will perish just as Lot’s did. Peter called Lot a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless who was rescued by God.
This happens to all who are truly a child of God, but who walks not in his ways. So, when we are forced to go in a new direction go forward in the path the Lord directs you instead of going into the direction that pleases the flesh, as Lot. It is the Lord who opens and closes doors, so pray and seek his will before you enter the next door that opens or closes for you.

In II Timothy 4:6-8 Paul writes these words to Timothy as he is on trial before Caesar’s court.
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
As I read these words that Paul writes to Timothy about his coming departure from this life, I realized that Paul must have known that the Lord’s return to the earth was not going to happen before his death. Last night as I was reading I Thessalonians 5:13-18 as Paul was writing to the Thessalonians about the Second Coming of Christ, I wondered why we as Christians don’t talk about His return in our everyday conversions. Yes, I am getting older, but unlike Paul my death is not interment. I am still looking for the Lord’s return. Just turn your eyes to the major events of the world especially those in the Middle East and ask yourself the question “where is this Coming he promised?”. Peter answers this question in II Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief”.
Peter’s warning to us then is to look forward to this Coming and make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him.

Matthew 1:18-24

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
During this Christmas time I thought about Joseph and in the role, he played in Jesus life. The thoughts that must have went through his mind when he learned the young lady he was engaged to marry was with child. We can read about how loving he must have been to protect her even when he must have felt he had been betrayed. This is against human nature; however, we see in Joseph (before the dream) a man who does not want to cause harm to Mary but quietly wants to get out of a bad situation. After the dream Joseph had the peace to take Mary as his wife. Oh, the faith that Joseph must have had to trust in a dream, but it was more than a dream because he acted upon it and made it happen.
God had a purpose for Joseph and that was to be the man who would raise Jesus. We are not told much about Joseph, but God chose him. So, at this Christmas time look to Joseph as an example to serve the Lord, quietly and behind the scene. Be the one who provides daily support to those around us. As in Joseph’s example, we need not find a purpose for our life, but just be prepare for when God choses that purpose for us we are ready. For it was God guiding Joseph in dreams in the early part of Jesus’s childhood. God spoke to them or to Joseph through dreams on when and where to move to escape Herod (Matthew 2:12,19,22). Be faithful in the small purpose that God has given you in this life.

Promises

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son on David, the son of Abraham.
Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
We are given the genealogy of Christ in Matthew chapter one and Luke chapter three. Matthew chapter one probably is the genealogy of Joseph and Luke chapter three that of Christ through Mary’s line. The difference is that Joseph lines is traced from Abraham to David and through David’s son Solomon, and Mary’s line is trace from Adam to David and then from David’s son Nathan. God kept his promise to Adam, Abraham, and to David. He also kept his promise that Jeremiah made to Jehoiakim and Jechoniah that their descendants would not sit on the throne of David.
Promise:
Genesis 3:14, 15
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Genesis 12 1-3
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curse thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
II Samuel 7:14-17
He shall build a house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

Jeremiah 22:24-30
As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fears, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. Thus, saith the LORD, write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
God kept His promises to these four men through the birth of Christ. However, as we enter this Christmas season, we must look at one more promise found in John 3:10-21. This promise was given to everyone who believes in Christ to receive the gift of God (eternal life). This is one promise that no one should turn down, but many do. This is the Christmas message.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Philippians 3:7

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ”

In Philippians chapter three Paul describes his heritage, training, and the great achievement he had as a Pharisee. They were remarkable, and yet he counts them loss for the knowledge of Christ. Paul had to unlearn the former way of life which is not an easy task. One of the reasons I believe that Paul spend three years of his early ministry in Arabia was to take all his early training and apply the new understanding of Christ to his training. It was probably in these three years that God through his spirit opened the old testament scriptures to Paul to an understanding that changed his walk forever.

It is amazing once we truly seek God and began our journey with Christ as our Lord and Savior how many of our past beliefs just fade away. As we grow in Christ the things of this world are not as important as they once were. Our focus becomes on the things of heaven and presenting the gospel to these of a lost world that does not know Christ. To Paul his past was counted as lost because he found the gift of eternal life. Sometimes we like Paul must get away and let the Holy Spirit works through the scriptures to get us to go in a new direction.

So that Men are without Excuse

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what is made, so that men are without excuse.

A story was told of a man who life’s purpose was to seek after truth but after he found it, he turned away and followed his our heart. This is the story of the men that Paul describes in Romans chapter one.  Paul’s purpose was to present the gospel of God to all, but not all believe.  As we go forth on our journey in this life, we must realize that all men and women will be without excuse on the day of judgment.  We must present the simple truth of the gospel as Paul writes in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

What happens to those that reject the gospel? Their life becomes their own, they become the one who controls every aspect of their life. They become wise in their own eyes, but their hearts become darken and they become fools before God.  God then gives them over to the sinful desires of their hearts.  To me this means God steps out of their life.

Another story was told of a man who life’s purpose was to seek after truth, and when he found it, he realized his sinful nature. But he also found the way of salvation from God.  He could now be made righteous by placing his faith in Jesus Christ.  This was why we live a daily lifestyle that reflects Christ in us as our hope in glory.

There is only two ways. As in Psalm chapter one there is the way of the Righteous or the way of the wicked.  Which story will reflect your life?  The choose is yours.

Set apart from Birth

Paul in Galatians 1:15-17 states “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.” Paul realized that his life was always in God’s hands.  Just as God had chosen the parents of John the Baptist and of Jesus, he also placed Paul in the family in which he would get all the training he needed for the purpose of preaching Christ to the Gentiles.

As I study Paul’s writings, I realized that his one true passion was to preach the gospel of Christ. And when this gospel is presented and believed not only is eternal life guarantee, but a change also takes place in the new believer’s life.  As I study the scriptures it is amazing how God prepares individuals for His purpose. The way of God is beyond our understanding in how He works in His creation.  As Paul realized that his life was always in God’s hand, we as believers must also believe the same.

As we make our journey in this life, we can touch so many lives. Is the presentation of the gospel our one true passion? Is our true focus serving the Lord? Is today a wonderful, beautiful, outstanding day that the Lord has given you no matter the situations around you? God’s message for the world is found in John 3:16 and His patient in this world is not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). Do we reflect the gospel of Christ in our daily walk to others

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7).

This Thanksgiving may the people around me see the real purpose of walking in the way of God. Here in Philippians Paul gives the Philippians the true meaning of living in God’s way and the gift of the peace of God which passeth all understanding. This is the peace that enables all who processes it to weather all the storms of life that comes their way. This peace is easy to achieve and yet so difficult for the us as Christians to achieve in our lives.
Why is this peace so difficult to achieve? Could it be that the human heart does not like passing over the controls of their life to any one including God. Paul knew from his own life how important it was to turn the controls of life over to God. For it was on his way to Damascus to rid the synagogues of the people following this new way that Paul came face to face with Christ. Yes, Paul thought he was doing this task God’s way, and yet he had no peace about it. When Christ confront him, Paul heard these words “I am Jesus whom you persecute it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”. How many times do we go about our religious ways and yet leave out Christ? Check your heart and mind. Do we have the peace of God that passes all understanding in both our hearts and minds?
This Damascus road experience was an important day in Paul’s life. It was the day he learned that the controls of his life had to be turned over to Christ. From this point on the direction of Paul’s life changed. This happens when Christ takes over our life. Let the Spirit of God use the Word of God to guide your life and give you the peace that passes al understanding today. As the great hymn of the faith states “Just trust and obey for there no other way to be happy in Jesus then to trust and obey”.

Thank you for the last 150 days.  The journey of the last one hundred and fifty days was the result of trying to get a handle on understanding how God works in an individual life.  I guess one of most difficult issues that a Christian faces in his or her life is grasping the truth that the God of the Universe can also be a God that can work daily in our individual life.  Christians understand how God worked in shaping David, yet by studying David we can also apply (the way) as portray in Psalm one to our own lives.  Let’s look at David’s life.

As I look at David’s life, I will start out by considering three verse:
Act 13:22
“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”
I Samuel 16:7
“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
I Kings 15:5
“For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”

This was God’s statements about David’s life from the beginning to after his death. Yet as we study David’s life, we can point to several mistakes that he made and yet God view that only in the case of Uriah the Hittite had he failed to keep the Lord’s commands. I love I Kings 15:5 for it gives me the comfort that it is God the Righteous Judge that will be the one who passes judgement on us after our death. As I have spent the last 150 days studying one Psalm a day, I have learned a lot about David’s life and character. I realized that man looks at my outward appearance and actions, but God knows my heart. David reveals this truth in Psalm 139: 1-6
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
As I search for other views on I King 15:5 many other views point out all the mistakes and sins that were in David’s life. Some have difficulty with this verse, however I believe that it points to David’s life as a life that was lived according to God’s way. There were times in David’s life that the presence of God may have seen to be far away, but look at verses 7-12 of Psalm 139:
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

David had a longing for God. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
Is this the longing you have for Him?
As I leave the book of Psalms behind and start on another journey, I pray that I might also have a heart like David a man after God’s own heart.

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

As you read this psalm, I hope you will stop and realized that everything in your world is not “All about Me”. However, as you look at this psalm you will see that we are to praise the Lord. As you look at these verses you will get the picture of a modern church service:

• Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet
• praise him with the harp and lyre
• praise him with tambourine and dancing
• praise him with the strings and flute
• praise him with the clash of cymbals
• praise him with resounding cymbals
• Let everything that has breath praise the LORD

Why Praise God?

       For his acts of power

For his surpassing greatness

What is this surpassing greatness? Paul answers this in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worked all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,– in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

As I finish another reading of the Psalms and Proverbs today, I realize that this month is almost over another month is almost upon me. This month I seasoned my daily readings with the daily devotional by Charles Swindoll title Wisdom for the Way. I found this devotional at the Goodwill store where I buy some of my books. On the inside cover I discovered these words “For Lindsey From the Craig’s May 2001”. The subtitle of this devotional is Wise Words for Busy People. How this book came from the Craig’s to Lindsey and then to me is a mystery, but as I look to the surpassing greatness of God, I realize how God can use a book to influence a person.

On page 62 of this devotional Charles Swindoll starts off the reading by writing “The only way we can come to terms with reality-is by trusting God, regardless.” As I continue to read this devotional, I noticed there were only two paragraphs. The first paragraph centered the words I and me. It is a matter of if I am trusting him, or if I do or don’t allow God in my world as I face each and every issue in my daily routine. The second paragraph centers on the word we. We can’t wait for conditions to be perfect, instead we must go on trusting. This gift of the Craig’s to give Lindsey a treasure to help her along the way is an example of their trusting God to work in her life. Sometimes it might appear that we have fail, however because of the surpassing greatness of God their gift might produce fruit elsewhere. As this simple devotional starts with an individual, the end result because of the surpassing greatness of God will be a group result.

Verse six “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” forces the reader to one conclusion and that is we are to praise the Lord. The journey that begins with the first breathe that a child takes at birth to the last breath we take before we pass from this life to eternity must include the process of praising the Lord.