June 22, 2008
Esther 4:3 NASB
And in each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
The story of Esther is one of those Bible stories that can have a lot of different and great insights drawn out of it. A rule in studying Scripture is that while there is only one interpretation there can be many applications. You may have heard many preachers give their opinion on this Old Testament story. Well, here’s my two cents about it.
This story takes place after the Jews were allowed to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and the temple as recorded in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. However, not all of the Jews went back to the land of their forefathers, instead many of them decided to stay in Persia even though they had the freedom to go home. As the story unfolds we are introduced to the young and beautiful Esther, a woman of Jewish descent. Esther finds herself becoming Queen in a series of events that anyone could not explain without mentioning God’s sovereignty. We are then introduced to a character known as Haman who was the king’s right hand man. When Mordecai, Esther’s older cousin, refuses to worship Haman, Haman becomes enraged and convinces the king to annihilate all the Jews on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of the year. It is at this point where we get to the verse posted above where the Jews are all of the sudden an enemy of the state which leads to a lot of fasting, weeping, and wailing. As the story continues, God’s sovereignty is proven as the Jewish Queen Esther is able to plead for her people which results in the king’s decision to hang Haman and allow the Jews to defend themselves when the thirteenth day of the twelfth month came around.
The usual moral of the story is to always trust God and to never lose sight of the fact that all things are under His control. This is a great lesson that has been taught by many, including myself, but as I mentioned before, I do have another application that I think is pretty important. I explained before that the Jews were supposed to be at home in Jerusalem. But many of them decided to stay in the land in which they were once slaves. They were comfortable living there. What’s the point of going back to a place that was destroyed by their enemies over 70 years ago? They were probably doing very well in their new home and saw no reason to leave. Then, all of a sudden, there comes this decree that everyone was to pick up their weapons and annihilate the Jewish people. This was their wake up call…
Have you ever heard the sage advice to new parents that say they should put their infants to sleep with all kinds of noise around them? This is done so that when the baby falls asleep he or she won’t be easily disturbed by a television being on or a late night phone call. I believe that a lot of Christians are like babies that have been rocked to sleep with all the noise of this world around them. A lot of us get comfortable in our lives and it takes a pretty strong wake up call before we find ourselves pleading at the feet of our Savior. Just like the Jews got comfortable in the land of their captors, so we get comfortable in a world that’s supposed to hate us.
As a result of living this way, many of us put God on a shelf until we need Him for the big stuff. We wait until someone gets cancer, or a family member dies, or a hurricane hits and devastates everything it touches. We react by asking God why and throwing our hands in the air. We fall on our knees and cry out to Him to be our strength in times of dire need. Beloved, this should not be happening. Our God did not send His Son into this world to be violated by His own creation so that we can have a safety net when things get rough. A lot of times we admit that God is supposed to be number one in our lives, but this is a standing that is inadequate for the God we serve. God is more than number one; He’s supposed to be everything. He is the very source of every good thing we have and without Him we have nothing; we have no meaning, no purpose, and no existence. He defines all that we are, whether we are husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, children, brothers, and sisters. He is everything. It’s time for me and some of you, to take Him off the shelf and to realize that He is more than we allow Him to be.
Glory and praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth.
RJT
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Thanks and God Bless!
May 28, 2008
Romans 8:23-25 NASB
And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
This passage in the book of Romans has been one of the most important and influencing portions of Scripture I have ever come across. In most Bibles you will find chapter headings that say “Deliverance from Bondage” or “Our Victory in Christ”. There are so many reasons as to why we forget or lose sight of the true power of the message of truth commonly referred to as the gospel. Maybe it’s because we hear it so much that it becomes more of a story about God than a message from Him with incredible power and purpose.
Earlier in this passage, Paul talks about the sufferings us as believers go through during this time we have on earth. He says that these sufferings are not even worthy to be compared to the future glory we have in Christ Jesus. All of us go through various kinds of suffering at various kinds of levels. There’s no need to compare lists and experiences to figure out who has suffered more. I know that I have gone through some very painful things in the past but there is always someone who has gone through worse. The important thing to consider is why we suffer in the first place. According to this passage, we suffer or groan within ourselves because of what we know is coming to us. Those of us, who have come to know the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, know that we have promises that come along with the gift of salvation. Included in these promises is our adoption as sons into the family of God and the future redemption of our physical bodies. Paul better explains this in 1 Corinthians 15 when he teaches us the principle of being raised in an imperishable or incorruptible body. This will take place when the Lord Jesus calls those who have believed in Him that are physically dead and those who are still alive, to Himself (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Because we know that these things will take place, among many others, when we suffer in this world we are actually groaning for the hope we have to become reality. All the pain, the scars, and the emotional turmoil are painful for us because we know there is a day coming when none of these things will even exist. We know that the Lord will reign and He will wipe away our tears for the very last time. It is because our hope that we suffer because we know there is much better waiting for us and it is because of our hope that we persevere through the suffering because that better day is coming sooner than most of us realize.
The best example for this concept is found in Hebrews 12:1-3 when we read about our Lord Jesus and the suffering He endured on the cross. He left the glory of heaven and all the greatness of being God, so that He could suffer and endure the cruelest of man’s devices of death. Why did He do so? He did it for the joy that was set before Him and in the same way we have a hope set before us. Whatever it is you are going through, it is nothing compared to what He went through for your sake. In His suffering we have a future glory we can look to and hope for with great perseverance. We have deliverance from the bondage of sin because we have victory through Christ. When we start living with this truth as our reality there will be nothing the evil one can do to deter us from living in a manner that is worthy of our calling.
Glory and praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth.
RJT
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Thanks and God Bless!
May 20, 2008
James 1:6-8 NASB
But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Many of us struggle with decisions. With the world we live in we find a plethora of choices and alternatives for the basic of needs. The next time you go into a restaurant, make a note of all the choices the server gives you before they put your order in. I remember once how a cousin of mine came in from Dubai and how annoyed he got when the waitress went down her list of choices for the entrée he had ordered. Where he is from what you see on the menu is what you get.
When pondering this passage the word “unstable” is what stuck out to me the most. Sometimes our inabilities to make decisions are because there are so many good alternatives to chose from and other times we find ourselves in a struggle for what we want because we just do not know what it is we want. Earlier in this passage James says that if anyone lacks any wisdom, they should ask God and He will give it to them. Then he continues to write about how it is necessary to be stable, undoubting, and single-minded in order to receive anything from the Lord.
In a recent class the concept of mental stability was accepted as absolutely vital in completing a degree in college. In order to have mental stability, you must have a vision and you must focus on that vision. My vision has been to help people that have gone through similar painful circumstances in life. I can see myself counseling people through the pain they are experiencing by bringing them to the feet of our Lord Jesus. With this vision in mind I focus on what it is I want and I have stability in my thinking. I used to want to play baseball, own a company, go into construction management…and the list goes on. But now I have a stable mind without any doubts and with a single purpose.
This simple example is what I believe James is telling us we need to have as followers of the Lord Jesus. We have to be careful about letting every little thing in this world create in us doubts that result in us being tossed like the surf of the sea by the wind. Each of us has a special calling in this world by our Creator. The ultimate purpose of this calling is to reflect the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus, to be light and salt to a dark and lost world. Satan loves it when we are unstable in our ways because he knows it is the best way to keep us from accomplishing the will of the Father. We need to remember that God has given us a vision of the future. In this vision we see our Lord Jesus exalted before an innumerable number of people from every tribe, nation, and tongue. We see that in this future there is no crying, no pain, no suffering, and best of all, no more physical separation from our God and King. Can you see this vision with me? Can you focus on this vision and make your mind become stable, without any doubt and with a single purpose? By doing this your purpose and calling in this world will become clear and instead of being rendered useless by the evil one, you will find yourself living a life that glorifies God in all ways. As Paul says in Colossians, set your mind on things above…
Glory and praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth.
RJT
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Thanks and God Bless!
April 16, 2008
Matthew 18:32-35 NASB
Then summoning him, his lord said to him, “You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?” And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.
Forgiveness is one of the most important principles that underlie the Christian faith. As a believer, this principle of forgiveness is one of the first things you must come to terms with. When we sin we commit an act that violates the nature of God which offends Him deeply. If you lie it’s a sin because God is truth. If you murder you are violating the fact that God is life. As a result of our sin we fall under His judgment which is eternal separation from His Holy presence. But God in His rich love and mercy sent His Son the Lord Jesus to die on a cross as payment for the great debt we owe to God for our offense towards Him. So we can find forgiveness based on the work of Christ which is a manifestation of God’s love towards us.
Scripture tells us that when God forgives He remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more (Hebrews 10:17). This is a standard that all of us continually fail to meet when it comes to forgiving those who have offended us. When Scripture says that God forgets, it’s not referring to the same forgetfulness that plagues mankind as a whole. It’s not like forgetting where our keys are or what our PIN number is. Those are marks of an imperfect mind. Instead what Scripture is telling us is that God CHOOSES to forget. He CHOOSES to look past our mistakes and offense towards Him. We come no where near this standard of forgiveness. Oftentimes we tell someone we forgive them and then a couple months later when we get hurt again, we bring up the past and use it as ammunition in verbal warfare.
Above is a portion from Matthew that is the conclusion of a parable that the Lord uses to teach us what the principle of forgiveness entails. In it we learn that we are to forgive as God forgives and we are to do so because God has forgiven us. Now it can be extremely difficult to do so which is why we must rely on the Holy Spirit to enable us to do what God requires. Just like salvation starts with the CHOICE to believe, so forgiveness starts with a CHOICE to obey. The Holy Spirit then gets to work by moving through our choices.
I hope you noticed the line about the unforgiving and wicked slave being handed over to the tormentors. When we fail to forgive we ultimately punish ourselves. In 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 we learn that when we fail to forgive we leave ourselves open to satan and his schemes. In Hebrews 12:15 we learn that a root of bitterness can spring up inside of us and cause trouble which in turn defiles us. As someone who has failed to forgive fully on a few occasions, I will testify to the fact that bitterness is a scheme that satan loves to use because of it’s blinding effects on the believer. We end up angry, upset, and unresponsive to the love of God because we fail to love others. That is a path in which your joy will be stolen and you will find yourself outside of the will of God.
Take a minute to think of at least one person you know you must forgive. Choose to forgive this person, just as God has forgiven you, and allow the Holy Spirit to take care of everything else. You will be blessed upon making this decision.
Glory and praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth.
RJT
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Thanks and God Bless!!
July 14, 2007
And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." Mark 7:20-23 NASB
At the beginning of Mark chapter 7, the Lord is approached by the Pharisees about the unclean hands the disciples were eating with. According to the Pharisees and their tradition the disciples were defiling themselves. The Lord immediately responds with a lesson on tradition versus the Word of God and He makes known the true source of defilement, the heart of man.
According to the Pharisees and their tradition, the source of defilement came from outside of the body. They believed that when unclean foods entered the body, that person becomes defiled in the eyes of God and must be cleansed of this defilement. Now where would they get such an idea? Well, from the Word of God. In Leviticus 11 you will see a list of animals the LORD God of Israel had instructed the Jews not to touch or eat. So it seems they have a just point before the Lord Jesus...right?
Well the Lord makes an interesting point in verses 14-19. You will even notice that Mark puts in parenthesis that the Lord declared all foods to be clean. How did He do this? By distinguishing between the stomach and the heart. He says that whatever enters the man from the outside can not defile because it enters the stomach and is then eliminated. It does not enter the heart. The stomach is reduced to that physical organ which serves its practical service of digestion for the human body. The heart is lifted beyond a physical organ to that place within our souls that every human being can identify with. That place within ourselves that we feel...things like love, pain, delight, and agony. That place in our soul that is the seat of every moral decision we make...and what God calls deceitful and desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9)
In the verses above, the Lord is clarifying His point and declares the true source of defilement to be the heart of man. It's what comes out of us, not into us that makes us unclean before God. When I struggle with lust its easy to blame the things outside of me as the problem. But now I realize that that lustful thing came from inside of me...from MY heart! How can this be so? How can this heart desire to serve God in any and every way possible, yet also be the source of disgusting and evil thoughts? Well the truth is while we don't need to guard what goes into our stomachs, we do need to be careful about what goes into our hearts. What we put into our hearts will eventually come out and either defile us before God or glorify His name. How do we fight this? By focusing on the good and not the bad.
The usual approach is to walk around with our fingers in the shape of a cross to anything we might consider evil. We tippy-toe around, trying not to get our feet dirty. This isn't the way to go beloved. In Psalms 119:11 we read "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." This is what we should be able to declare before our Holy Creator. That we have hidden His Word in our hearts, removing all source of defilement simply because there's no room for it!! We need to stop blaming outside influences and look deep into our hearts and be honest about the way we walk on this earth.
I want to make one important note about this subject of the heart. Ezekiel 36:26 reads as follows "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." At the moment of salvation, believers are given a new heart. One that is made of flesh or simply put, one that is ALIVE. Because of what God has done we are able to have hearts that reflect His perfect and good nature. He has given us the power through the Holy Spirit to do so (as well as the grace and mercy for when we mess up). The unbeliever is lost in this subject of the heart because his heart is a heart of stone, which means it is DEAD. It can not be changed by anyone but God.
I think more of us need to pay attention to what's coming out of our hearts and stop getting distracted by trying to keep everything out. Then we will realize what it is that is defiling us from within and also realize that the only way to fix it is to replace it with that which is true, honorable, right, pure, and lovely (Philippians 4:8). Focusing on Him is ALWAYS better than focusing on yourself.
Glory to the Creator of heaven and earth
RJT
April 16, 2007
"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done, And Thy thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with Thee; If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count." Psalm 40:5 (NASB)
I know I have been sharing thoughts from Job, but I read this verse on Saturday night and it has been on my heart since then. Job will have to wait...(that's a joke)
The first part of the verse is a praise to God about His many wonders or works that He has done. David says at the end of the verse that they would be too numerous to count. I can fully attest to what David is saying. God has done so many wondrous things in my life. All of us who know God through the Lord Jesus can testify to the fact that what God has done, is doing, and will do, is wonderful and leaves us in awe of His love towards us.
Although this thought is a great one, it wasn't the one that has been on my heart since Saturday night. What really got to me was the phrase "And Thy thoughts toward us." David adds God's thoughts towards us to the wonders which God has done for us. I realized that I often marvel at God's actions in my life. But I've never really thought about what it meant to be thought about by God.
Isn't it always nice to hear someone say that you are "very highly thought about" by an individual or even a group of people? Or when someone you love lets you know that they have been thinking about you. It's nice to hear these things because it makes us feel special. Someone actually cares enough to have YOU on THEIR mind. I don't know about you but I know that most of my day is spent thinking about myself. What do I have to do or What am I going to eat? Most people are this way. We don't usually take the time to think of others unless they owe us money. When we do think of someone it's always someone we love and are very close to.
Now imagine God. Sitting on His throne above and paying attention to every detail in this world. In the midst of the war in Iraq, the turmoil in Jerusalem, hunger and disease in Africa, and the ravings of Rosie O' Donnell on the View, He thinks of YOU. He thinks of ME. On top of that, His thoughts towards US are too numerous to count. Just to be thought of by Him warms my heart. It shows how much we mean to Him. How much He loves us. It's those thoughts about us that then causes Him to act. This is why He sent His Son. His thoughts were toward a lost and sinful people. His thoughts were thoughts of love and forgiveness. He acted on those thoughts and we gained a relatioship with Him. Amazing right? May our thoughts be on Him and may our actions be for Him, just as He is for us.
Glory and Praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth
RJT
April 9, 2007
"Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!' But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips." Job 2:7-10 NASB
At this point in the story Job has already lost all of his oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels. As well as his seven sons and three daughters. Remember that Satan was trying to prove to God that Job would curse him as soon as he lost his earthly possessions. But he didn't. Then Satan said that if God afflicted Job himself, he would surely curse God. But as we just read above, he again refuses to do so.
Job's response to his wife's criticism is very much familiar to believers and followers of the Lord Jesus. We are often taught that in the midst of affliction we are to persevere in our faith and stand firm on the promises of God. People will remind us of scriptures like Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, and Philippians 4:13. Those verses remind us of God's promises to us, through the work of His Son and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And so when we struggle with adversity we read these things and are greatly comforted.
But what about Job? He didn't have any Bible verses to comfort him. He didn't have prayer meetings, prayer chains, elders, pastors, or Joel Osteen to turn to. Yet his answer is one of profound wisdom and unshakable faith. "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity." Who says that? Why didn't he curse God and die? He didn't do so because He knew who His God is. He knew who His God is because He had a REAL relationship with him. God was more than a pick me up. He was more than someone to turn to in times of trouble. He was the very one who gave Job life! And Job lived his life in Him!
Sometimes I look down on my relationship with the Father. I too am guilty of seeking Him in the midst of troubles and neglecting Him when everything's honky dory. Troubles come and I read those great verses of comfort, pray to God, ask for forgiveness or help, then continue moving on while putting God and His Bible in my back pocket till I need Him again. Why do I do that? Why do we do that?
The Lord Jesus did more than just make a way for our sins to be forgiven. He made the way to have a true, unhindered relationship with the Father. Just like He does. Everyday should be a day where we see His beauty. Everyday should be a day where we find rest in Him. Sure God is the God of comfort. He is always there for us. But that's not all He's there for. He is the one who has given us a new life. A life to LIVE in Him. What does it mean to live in Him?
"But flee from these things you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith: take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the confession in the presence of many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NASB)
To live in Him is to PURSUE these things. Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. We are to go after these things because they are things the Lord Jesus did on this earth. Verses like this throughout the New Testament are passages that describe His perfect qualities. To live like the Lord Jesus is to live or abide IN Him. (John 15) Then we can have the relationship with the Father we were meant to have. God then becomes more than a crutch to lean on. He becomes the legs we walk with, the hands we work with, the mind we think with, and the heart we beat with. The great thing about all this is that we CAN NOT do it on our own. We NEED the Holy Spirit. Good thing He dwells in us. God is wise, isn't He?
Glory and Praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth
RJT
April 5, 2007
" There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil." Job 1:1-NASB
I have been reading through the book of Job the last couple of months and have found myself thoroughly enjoying what I use to think was confusing and almost impossible to understand without the aid of a commentary. In past readings of Job I have often skimmed through the different dialogues that are found throughout the book between Job and his friends. Now I find myself, with the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit, with a better understanding of what's actually being said in those dialogues. But in both the past and present this first verse has always stood out to me like a colored person walking the halls of my favorite little Bible school in Iowa.
There were four things that distinguished Job from the rest of the men in Uz, as well as the rest of the world. Satan later accuses God of spoiling Job with riches and a large family. In his eyes this was the only reason Job is blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. I often ponder as to what my descriptions would be in a similar verse. It doesn't take too long to realize that it would be nothing like Job's. I am convinced that before a holy God, I could never be found blameless or upright. My day to day life is hardly one that lies on the straight and narrow. When it comes to fearing God and turning away from evil (which go hand in hand) I again find myself short of God's standard.
If I were left to these thoughts alone, I'd have reason to jump off a bridge in bitter disappointment of myself and my failures to please the living God. But the Holy Spirit calms my grieving soul without fail or delay and takes me to this verse here in Colossians 2:13-14 which reads "And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He (the Lord Jesus) made you alive together with Him (the Lord Jesus), having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He (the Lord Jesus) has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (NASB)
Soon after reading this I realize that the Lord Jesus has made me blameless and upright before the Father. No matter what I have done or what I will do, I will FOREVER be accepted by the Father because He has accepted the work of His Son. I also realize that my fear or respect of the Father grows and I am strengthened in my desire to turn away from evil. There is a hard battle to fight when it comes to turning from evil day after day after day. I have resolved to persevere, not on my own strength, but by the grace and mercy of God the Father and by the knowledge that I am accepted by Him already and that victory is mine through Christ Jesus. One day I will sin no more, but until that day I will run the race and finish the course in a way that is pleasing to HIM.
Glory and Praise be to Him who created the heavens and the earth.
RJT
