Everyone wants to be noticed. Pretty much everybody desires to be seen as special, even extraordinary. That kind of ambition can get in the way of the Christian walk, however. If there is to be any glory gained from living our lives, its important to recognize that all the credit goes eventually to the One who made us and gifted us.
Prepare now to yield your spirit to the Spirit in whom all true glory resides.
SATURDAY, April 12
Psalm 130:1-6
From the depths of my despair I call to you, Lord.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord;
listen to my call for help! (1-2, GNT)
If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
and that’s why you’re worshiped.
I pray to God—my life a prayer—
and wait for what he’ll say and do.
My life’s on the line before God. (3-5, MSG)
My soul waits for the Lord to break into the world
more than night watchmen expect the break of day. (6, VOICE)
So many lines from this passage call out to me .... from every translation! Forgiveness is your habit - My life a prayer - Wait for the Lord to break into the world! Great words! Words of hope, grace, and anticipation. Perhaps words of challenge. Mike Angell, today's d365.org writer, pens "Our culture's sense of control sometimes prevents us from knowing how to rely on God." Our technology keeps us 'wired' to current conditions. We have a cultural mindset to manipulate our environment to our desires. We've lost the patient ability to simply trust God, to wait for God's redemptive power, to allow God to 'break into the world'. We've lost living a life of prayer with the constant connection to God as a daily lifestyle. The prayer of Psalm 130 is perhaps still prayed, but only in dire emergencies!
The glorified God of Easter resurrection is coming. The transformed world awaits. Let us open our hearts and souls and be ready for God to break into our world.
FRIDAY, April 11 Spirit-Alive!
Romans 8:11 MSG
It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
The physical body is just a cardboard box to hold our organs and bones together. It really is nothing important in the long run. Physical beauty? Unimportant. Athletic prowess? Doesn't matter. What counts? The Spirit-Alive within. An 8 month pregnant woman usually isn't feeling at the peak of her physical beauty. But don't we often comment on the 'glow' of her face, the 'life-beauty' pulsing from within her? We all have that special radiance when the God-Spirit pours forth from our tired and worn physical selves. We are alive in Christ! We glorify God when we respond in proclamation, service, and praise.
Every day God is whispering love and grace into us. How am I allowing that whisper to radiate to those around me? How am I sharing that Spirit-Light? Do my actions glorify the God who lives in me?
THURSDAY, April 10 Stink!
John 11:38-45 VOICE (This is a new translation of the Bible I just came across from Thomas Nelson publishers.)
Then Jesus, who was intensely troubled by all of this, approached the tomb—a small cave covered by a massive stone.
Jesus: Remove the stone.
Martha: Lord, he has been dead four days; the stench will be unbearable.
Jesus: Remember, I told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.
They removed the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes toward heaven.
Jesus: Father, I am grateful that You have heard Me. I know that You are always listening, but I proclaim it loudly so that everyone here will believe You have sent Me.
After these words, He called out in a thunderous voice.
Jesus: Lazarus, come out!
Then, the man who was dead walked out of his tomb bound from head to toe in a burial shroud.
Jesus: Untie him, and let him go.
As a result, many of the Jews who had come with Mary saw what happened and believed in Him.We all have a Lazarus within us; that part of our life that stinks! The part for which we are ashamed, the log in our eye, the separation we have made with God. For some the gap is wider, the smell worse, the STINK more profound.
But Jesus brings us out. Out of the darkness, out into the light. We aren't always sure where we are going (but it has to smell better than a tomb!) Faith calls us forth; faith to enter into that new life of God's love and light.
Shroud stench to Light-Love. What a difference belief can make. The decision should be easy between stink and perfume. Why do we fight it so much? Why are we too proud to let go?
(Apology...using a previous scribble again today with a little different message!)
WEDNESDAY, April 9 Tears
John 11:32-37 CEB
When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus began to cry. The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Lord, if you had been here....
God where are you?
I've prayed and prayed
Asking for your intercession.
Beseeching your healing.
If you had only answered my prayers!
Why aren't you listening??
How often are these our prayers?
Our angry frustration for God's
apparent lack of action?
We are blinded to the tear that fall
from God's loving eyes..
As the Almighty weeps with us
And holds us tightly in love and
compassion.
It isn't the strength of our prayers
That controls God's intercession.
It isn't God lack of concern or interest.
We lack the vision to see beyond
the immediate.
To understand the glory the tears will ultimately bring
If we continue to pray,
If we hold fast to the God-relationship
That will bring us comfort and strength
In the midst of tears.
TUESDAY, April 8 I Am Life
John 11:17, 21-27 MSG
When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. .....
Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”
Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”
Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”
“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
I really like the way The Message puts this: I am the Life.. Right NOW! You don't have to wait. Do what I do. Be what I am. Act as I act. That is the life you can live RIGHT NOW!
Do we live as if we believe it? Jesus ties the afterlife and the living life together - resurrection and life. We can't just wait for the glory at the end. We can glorify God and live the glory now, IF we live as Jesus lived. Powerful words. Am I up to them?
MONDAY, April 7
John 11:7-13 CEB
[Jesus] said to his disciples, “Let’s return to Judea again.”
8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. 10 But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them.”
11 He continued, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up.”
12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get well.” 13 They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus’ death.
When will the disciples learn how unpredictable Jesus is? They warn him about the danger of Judea. He responds with a question about the hours in a day! And then says, he is going to wake Lazarus up! That's all! It doesn't make sense! Especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus seems to talk another language at times! (Is this a translation issue??? I think not!)
Jesus knows the dangers of going to Jerusalem. Jesus knows the dangers of living his life. Yet he persists in fulfilling his purpose in God. Are we willing to make that same sacrifice for God's glory? Are there people in Baker City 'sleeping' that are waiting to be stirred to new life? Who is stumbling in the darkness that I can help? Am I willing to take the risk?
SUNDAY, April 6
John 11:1, 3-6 MSG
A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. ........ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very much is sick.”
4 When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.”
5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days.
What is wrong with this picture? A beloved friend is gravely ill. This is two thousands years ago. The sisters didn't just pick up a cell phone and give Jesus a ring. They 'sent word' - where WAS Jesus? How long did it take to contact him? And Jesus' response? Basically a 'No hurry. If he is dying, it'll make me look REALLY good, so let wait a few days.' Jesus comes across as almost callous! Not 'Jesusy' at all. Is he procrastinating? What does Lazarus think about his role in this drama? He is a pawn! Jesus had to be aware of the severity of the illness or he wouldn't have made the strange statements in verse 4.
Yet verse 4 holds the key to the passage: God's glory. This event will ultimately be an opportunity to gkorify God. Credit will be granted where it is due in the long run.
Do I delay in meeting the needs of those around me? Do I give God the glory for those actions I do take, for the gifts I have been given that allow me to take action? A song is running through my head...."To God Be the Glory, Great Things He Hath Done!"
BENEDICTION BLESSINGS..... (D365.org - Mike Angell)
We all fall short of the glory of God.
But being a follower of Jesus means taking the risk
That the resurrection-informed life is the better way.
But being a follower of Jesus means taking the risk
That the resurrection-informed life is the better way.
Take the risk that your prayers might be powerful,
That love may in fact be the strongest thing of all,
Worth giving all you have that it might be known.
That love may in fact be the strongest thing of all,
Worth giving all you have that it might be known.
The glory of God will light your way.
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