Psalm 23:1

I did not sleep well last night.  I finally got up at 4:30 this morning. Do you ever have that experience? I suspect that is common to all of us at some time or other.  Anyway I started thinking about Psalm 23 and only got to verse 1.  It says "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."  Words are important so let's examine these words.

"The Lord...".  The Psalmist identifies whom he is writing about.  It is THE Lord, that is singular, not one of many but the only Lord.  If He is the only Lord, He must be  the Supreme Being, and if so, and I believe  that is true, then He must be all powerful, knows everything about me, and can do anything He wants.  Wow!  Since He is the Lord, He is the Ruler and My relationship to Him is one of servant hood or slave.  That takes away the idea of "let's make a deal".  It is now subjection and my response to Him is "Yes, Lord", which brings in the whole idea of worship.  He alone is worthy of worship and I bow before Him and rejoice.

The next word is "is", not was, not shall be but is.  Always has been, is now, and always shall be.  That is a comforting thought.  I don't have to worry or wonder who will come after Him, but I know this is constant, He is and always will be The Lord.  Now I can concentrate on serving and worshipping Him.  Glory.

"The Lord is my...."  This word shows ownership.  I believe it declares I own Him as my Lord.  It also could mean He owns me and the next word indicates both are true.

The Lord is my shepherd.  What is a shepherd?  It is a caretaker, one who takes responsibility for another, in this case for me!  He is my protector, I need not fear others, He surrounds me with His love, His power.  Nothing and no one can get at me without His permission.  Note Job's experience.  His hedge of protection is perfect.  He is also my provider, He meets all of my needs.  The Shepherd loves those of whom He is their Shepherd.  I can rest in Him, and so I claim Him as my Shepherd."

The last phrase, "I shall not want", indicates His care for me is complete.  No worries, no fuss, no frustrations so long as I rest in His shepherding. 

 Lord deliver me from straying from your care for me by trying to solve the situations I face by my poor wisdom, understanding and power.  Your care for me is your responsibility and my responsibility is to submit to you and rest in you and all that you are.

Keep Looking Up for He cares for you.

Ron

No Condemnation

John 8:11  :Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more."

John 8:3-11 gives us the account of the woman taken in adultery and dragged and condemned before Jesus as he taught in the temple.  I have had to wonder if this particular act of adultery was planned by the ones who brought her to Jesus because the stated purpose of bringing her before Him was to find something with which to accuse Him. 

This is a serious accusation and there is no record of the woman denying it.  And it is true that Moses in the law demanded that such should be stoned.  The curious thing though, is that the law said that both the man and the woman were to be stoned.  Where is the man, for she cannot do the "very act" all by herself.  Oh how we bring condemnation to ourselves when we try to use Scripture to fulfill our own agenda. 

When told what Moses in the law said, and asked, "but what sayest thou?", Jesus did not answer them  but stooped down and began writing on the ground.  They kept egging Him on, what do you have to say about this?  He stood up and said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." and stooped down and continued writing on the ground.  Scripture does not record what He wrote, but I have wondered did He list a catalog of sins, did He write the Ten Commandments - the moral law, did He describe the Holiness of God, did He write of forgiveness, did He write the two greatest commandments of all - to love?  Maybe somehow the law of Moses did its work, because the accusers left beginning with the oldest until they were all gone and not one threw a stone.

One thing the Scribes and Pharisees did right was to bring her to Jesus.  It is not our responsibility to bring condemnation, but to bring people to Jesus, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  John 3:17-21 says Jesus came not to condemn but to forgive.  We were already condemned.  All who stood before Jesus that day were condemned, but only one received the available forgiveness.  Jesus asked the woman, hath no man condemned thee?  She responded, "No man, Lord".  Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." 

May we be a forgiving people and not condemning.  What a glorious thought that Jesus is waiting and desiring to forgive us.

Keep looking up for He loves us.

Ron

Cashless Society

Isaiah 55:1   "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

God instituted a cashless transaction a long time ago and it is voluntary.  You don't have to take part in it.  In the beginning God planted and garden and placed Adam and Eve in it, gave them responsibilities to care for it, provided for their needs, and came down and communed with them in the cool of the day.  You probably know the story, they rebelled against God and were cast out of the garden - big change!  Eventually money (which varied from culture to culture as to what was used) became the medium of exchange for services and goods.

Satan is a copy cat.  He also wants a cashless system (society).  He has been working to bring it about for some time now.  Generally people don't accept a big change all at once, thus we have the "boil a frog in cold water" concept.  There was barter, coin, paper money, checks, wire transfer, credit cards, debit cards, paid cards, touchless transactions, and more.  All this leading up to the "mark of the beast" which will be required of everyone.  In other words is not voluntary.  Revelation 13:17 says, "And that no man might buy or sell, saving he that had the mark, or the name of the beast or the number of his name."Governments of nations have been working toward this for some time now, and this coronavirus "epidemic" forced on us in being used to promote the cashless society.

However we need not be fearful in this (can we say "exciting"?) times.  Satan has been upstaged and God is accomplishing His purposes.

Thinking again of God's cashless transactions, Jesus said in Matthew 11:28  "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  How's that, trading worry, fretfullness, concerns, labor for REST!  Yes the day the Lord Jesus Christ returns for His Bride is closer that it has ever been before.  The day of our Redemption draweth nigh!

Keep looking up!

Ron

What is Coming out of Your Mouth?

Psalm 19:14  "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."

This verse was part of my morning reading the other day and was an excellent reminder.  This is the desire of my heart; that my life be pleasing and acceptable to God.  The question is, how do I assure that my speech and heart meditations are such that God can and will accept them?

I have heard and probably you have also a criticism of a teaching method, all you have to do is memorize what they told you and spit it back out to them on the test.  Well, if you do that with Scripture, you have made an excellent start at what is acceptable to God.  When we memorize Scripture and meditate on it, we are learning God's thoughts and passion.  It results in a fellowship communication with Him that is more than a gimme, gimme prayer.  It is a heart to heart communication, resulting a deepening desire to know Him more.

It then spills over into communing with Him about everyday life.  The line between sacred and secular life is blurred and all of life is sacred.

This evening my wife had Christmas hymns and carols playing on the radio.  This also feeds and nourishes the soul.

Keep looking up and commune with your Creator/Redeemer.

Ron

When Does Love Begin?

Romans 5:8  "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Do your ever think of yourself as a sinner?  Oh, I know we mentally acknowledge that we are sinners but does the reality of what that means ever hit us?  Subconsciously we look around us and compare ourselves to those we consider "bad" people and come away feeling rather smug.  God is holy, pure, in Him is no shadow or darkness.  His pureness is so pure that we cannot really comprehend it.  Saul on his journey to Damascus experienced that pureness, which resulted in his falling to earth and becoming blind.  God in His holiness cannot look on sin.  Yes, He is aware of it, knows our sins, but He cannot look on it in the sense of accepting any of it or excusing it.  Any sin is a total affront to Him and is diametrically opposed to Him. 

This great  and holy God loved us (loves us) and sent His Son in a human body to pay the price for our sin, even though He was perfectly sinless.  You know what?   He did this when we hated Him.  Love doesn't wait until someone is worthy of love to love.  Verse six intimates that when we incapable of loving, God loved us.  "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

It would do us (me anyway) good to dwell on the above and let the reality of the truth of my sinfulness, of God's pure holiness, and His unfailing love for me in my helplessness sink deep into my soul.  That is one of greatest things that would deepen my fervency of love and devotion to God. 

What is the practical outworking of that?  The apostle Paul said that he was the chiefest of sinners and he hazarded his physical life in order to tell others of the love of God.  It would change our relationships, our motivation, our view of other people.  It would be the love of God in us loving where we could not of ourselves love.  It is the power of God flowing through us to those around us exalting and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

How thankful I am that God loved/loves me and brought me to Himself.  He loves you too!

Keep looking up!

Ron

Personal Accountability

John 21:22  "Jesus saith unto him, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee:  follow thou me.'"

The other day a truck came into our shop with these words "God is Good, don't follow me, follow Christ" written in white letters on black mudflaps.  Good advise, but wait, what does the Apostle Paul say?  "Follow me as I follow Christ."  There are those who follow us and we need to leave a path that leads them to Jesus.

The above verse is set in the context of Jesus having asked Peter three times "Do you love me?" and his exasperated answer.  Jesus then indicates by what kind of death Peter will glorify God and ends with "Follow me".  Is that an invitation or command?  Sort of sounds like a command from LORD to slave.  Here it is the LORD going before, leading, not sending Peter out on his own.  He is the best leader there is!

Peter, who has now had an indication of his future, looks around him, sees John, and asks "What about him?"  Now that is a perfectly human response common to all of us.  What is he going to do, where is she going to go, how come I have to bear the heavier burden, etc, etc, you may add your own questions.

In essence Jesus responds to Peter with, it is really none of your business.  Your responsibility is to follow me.  We really have a full time job/responsibility making sure that we are following Jesus.  We can't do that and make sure everyone or anyone else is following Jesus.  Yes, in making sure we are following Jesus He may lead us to helping others follow Him too.

In the same line of thought, Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, "But let a man examine himself..." in relation to communion.  God is so good!

We are each, individually, personally  accountable to God for our own self, to follow Him.  Jesus says to us as well as to Peter, "Follow thou me"!

It is hard to break into the story of Jesus instructing Peter to follow him, but at least start at verse 15 and be encouraged.  The questioning by Jesus to Peter relates to the three times Peter denied Jesus after His arrest.

Until next time, Keep Looking Up!

Ron

Life's Tough Times

John 17:26  "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it:  that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

This is the end of what is called Jesus' high priestly prayer.  It amazes me that Jesus knowing what is to happen to Him in the next few hours is able to talk of His Father's love for Him.

We face tough times in our lives, whether it be health issues, financial reverses, family rejection, despondency, social rejection, persecution for the name of Jesus, or you fill in the blank.  It is easy in these times to wonder where God is.  Does He know or even care?  Yes, He does and He has a plan for each of our lives and desires to fulfill it even though it includes the difficulties of strained relationships or other hardships of life.  And more of the dross will be removed for having surrendered to Him in taking us through these times.

Yet, what Jesus says in this verse is even more fantastic.  He prays that "the love wherewith thou hast loved me 'may be in them....'".  The love that God possesses is a complete, all encompassing, nothing lacking love.  It is a love that is able to love when there is nothing given in return.  It is a love that loves when hated, rejected, cursed or ignored.  It is a love that is bigger than we are and Jesus prays that it will be in us!  Thus it is possible to love God and others when life's challenges come our way.

Yes, God loved Jesus and sent Him to the cross.  What a powerful demonstration of the love between the Father and the Son that has been given to us.  Let us allow Him to demonstrate that love through us to those around us.

God loves you,and you and I can love others too!

Keep looking up!

Ron

Jesus, the God Man

John 1:19-21
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body."

Actually there are a number of topics that come to mind in reading these three verses. One would be our tendency to focus on material things. Jesus had just cleansed the temple and that upset the Jews and in these verses their focus was on the physical temple building.

But why did or could Jesus say "in three days I will raise it up"? We, or at least I, have a tendency to think of the physical here also. Death of the physical body seems so final. But Jesus recognized that his person wasn't his body but his spirit. The body may die but the spirit lives on. Because he was/is God he didn't need someone else to bring his body back to life three days later, he could and would do it. His body was merely the temple in which he was residing.

What an encouragement this is to us. Our body is not who we are, but is where we now dwell. When death comes to this body, we vacate it and live on. Yes, our body will some day be resurrected if we should die before the return of the LORD, but we will not resurrect it, Jesus our creator/redeemer will. This mortal body will be changed into an immortal one that will be able to live in heaven for eternity. Glory!

Yes, Jesus was/is God who lived in a body subject to the same limitations and death to which we are subject. John 4:6 tells us that he was "wearied with his journey". We also read that he "hungered". We know that he "suffered and died". We also know that the testimony of his life and the testimony of God by voice from heaven and the testimony of those who lived during his life time and many other testimonies prove that he is "VERY GOD".

Be encouraged and "Keep Looking Up"!

Ron

Storms in Life

Mark 4:37-39
"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."

Perhaps I should have included more of the scripture than I did. The entire chapter gives a fuller background to the above quoted scripture. However, note that in the midst of the storm, the Master is asleep in the ship on a pillow. He's at peace! The disciples are contending with the storm, rowing or bailing out the water, or whatever else they thought might help. Eventually they wake Him and ask, "Carest thou not that we perish?"

A week ago today we had a wind storm that blew over or broke at least twelve trees next to our house. We were not home to observe this event. Yes, there are storms that are weather or natural phenomenon related that we may experience. That is not what is on my heart this evening.

There are storms that occur in our personal lives, many of which are unannounced. I'm sure that some we bring on ourselves also.

We may face financial reverses, health issues, relationship struggles, loss of a loved one in death or maybe a wayward relative or some other troubling or terrifying storm. It is our tendency to try to work our way through the fog of these storms in our lives and grow frustrated and irritable because we are not able to calm the storm.

The disciples eventually went to Jesus. That is exactly what He wants us to do today in the midst our storms. He is not a magic genie that we order around for our own purposes, but He is the One who is able to meet us in our need and provide the answer to our dilemma.

Matthew records for us Jesus extending an invitation, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is often thought of as an invitation to lost sinners to come to repentance and life in Christ. This is true, but it is also an invitation to the redeemed to come to rest in Him in the midst of their storms in life.

Let us do as the disciples did and come to Jesus. Even though their question indicates doubt on their part as to His care, they asked, he answered and then asked them two probing questions. His responding to us always has as its ultimate goal of increasing our faith. Yes, even in our doubts and questions come to Jesus and allow Him to minister to our needs.

And Keep Looking Up!

Ron

Wise Men (people)

Matthew 2:11, 12 "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way."

Wonderful scripture -- all scripture is wonderful for it is a Wonderful God who inspire men to write the exact words He wanted for us.

There are eight verbs in the above scripture that stand out; come, saw, fell down, worshipped opened, presented, warned, departed. These are verbs that describe the encounter of the wise men from the east with Jesus. Let's see how these verbs affect our lives with Him.

For the purpose of this post, I may change the form of the verb or exchange for another verb or phrase.

1. Came: The wise men from the east saw His star in the east and came to find Him. Jesus has given a great invitation to all, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". What will I do with such an invitation, ignore it, despise it, or receive it and come? The wise men at great expense and effort came!

2. Saw: The wise men with their physical eyes saw the physical form of Jesus with Mary his mother and his physical surroundings. They were led of God to the exact place where He was. We also are led of the Holy Spirit to come to Jesus and He gives us spiritual eyes to see Him as He is; Redeemer, Saviour, Lord, King, Counsellor, Friend, etc. What do I do with what I see?

3. Fell down: The wise men fell down before Him, an action acknowledging His superiority over them. They were in the presence of the Holy God. May I also fall on my face before Him, acknowledging His supremacy.

4. Worshipped: The wise men did to Him what only He should receive -- worshipped Him. Jesus the second member of the triune God deserves my worship (the entire Godhead is to be worhipped). In Isaiah, God says, I am God and beside me there is none else. May my whole life be an expression of worship to Him, not just Sunday morning.

5. Opened: The wise men opened their treasures. They did not open someone else's treasures, it was theirs. This verb and the next rather go together.

6. Presented: They having opened their treasures presented to Him gifts. Costly gifts fit for a King. I, too, must present to Him gifts but what can I give Him? I can't come into His physical presence. The Bible says my "righteousnesses" are as filthy rags - hardly fit for a king. All my money is not sufficient. My talents and wisdom and understanding fall short. The only thing I have is my heart. My heart is what He wants. He then cleanses it and perfects it for Himself. When I give Him my heart, I give Him my all, my everything.

7. Warned: God warned them in a dream. They heard him. I give Him my heart and now He desires to commune with me, to direct, encourage, instruct, reprove, rebuke, and bless me. Will I listen for and to His voice? Do I value His presence and fellowhip?

8. Departed another way: The wise men met the Lord Jesus and their life was changed: they departed into their own country another way. When we meet Jesus there is a transformation that takes place in our lives and we return to our responsibilities in this earthly life differently. Our outlook on life is different, our purpose, goals, attitudes are changed to reflect the Blessed Lord who has changed us.

My, what a wonderful passage of scripture, what a Wonderful Jesus to serve.

Keep looking up for He did come once and He is coming again!

Ron

Times of Need

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Perhaps there is a better way to approach this verse because there is so much in it and that precedes it. However, my thought today is those times of need we experience in our lives. I don't think I'm that much different from the rest of humanity, in that so often I don't recognize I have a need or else I'm determined to meet it with my own resources. They are inadequate! The probability is that this is a description of your experience also.

This verse is an invitation to the believer. Come. Come boldly. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Obtain mercy. Find grace to help in your time of need.

Earlier in the book we witness the Person of Jesus, the Power of Jesus, the Passion of Jesus, and the Position of Jesus. He is the One Who invites us into the throne room of His Father and to receive His fullness for our need.

Perhaps the main emphasis is on spiritual needs for it speaks of entering into his rest. But God in His mercy and grace can also meet us in our emotional, physical and temporal needs. I think we do ourselves and God a disfavor when we divide our lives into (1) spiritual life, and (2) secular life. After all, we are Christians seven days a week and God wants our fellowship with Him and our service to Him all seven days.

We may be at a crossroads time of life needing to make a major decision, or may need encouragement, instruction or correction. There is always room for wisdom.

So keep looking up for the God of mercy and grace is waiting for us to come to Him boldly in our time of need.

Ron

In the Night Seasons

Ps. 16:7 "...my reins also instruct me in the night seasons."

There are those times during the night that sleep is somewhere around the corner or maybe in the next room. The question then is what to do?

A friend's posting on her Xanga (on which I couldn't figure out how to make a comment) about just such an occasion has prompted this posting. She has resigned herself to counting sheep when she can't sleep.

Name the sheep. While you're counting the sheep, give them names, then pray for that individual. I'm particularly thinking of believers at this point. Pray that they would enjoy all the blessing of the fullness of the glory of God. (Put my name on one of those sheep!)

Worship the Shepherd. Pray His Word back to Him. His Holy Spirit inspired men of old to write about Him and gave them the very words to write. Psalm 23 is the sheep's Psalm to the Shepherd. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. In other words He will provide everything I need, etc. Psalm 103 is blessing the Lord. Vs. 1, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Verse 2 says, "...and forget not all his benefits." Then the major portion of the Psalm tells many of the benefits.

Name the lost. Pray for an unsaved acquaintance by name. Pray that he would receive the Lord Jesus and experience the enjoyment of the fullness of His glory. Ask that when he becomes a believer he would do great damage to the kingdom Satan.

These are just some suggestions for night time prayer. You will have others.

Now, enjoy those night time events.

Look up for your remption draweth nigh.

Ron

Change

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."

Change. A word that brings excitement and anticipation.

Change. A word that brings trepidation, fear, anxiety and "What if" questions.

The other day I was reading The Cross and the Switchblade, by David Wilkerson and the concept of change came to me. There is a lot of change in our world, but some basics don't change, such as the need to eat, communicate and travel. Some aspects of these basics change such as what we eat, how often we eat, the methods of communication and travel. Do you and I welcome and accept change, do we look forward to change?

Yes, there are a lot of changes and it seems the older we get the more resistant we are to change.

I have had a lot of changes in my life, the most notable being the change from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Imagine the excitement and at the same time the trepidation in another change, the change from singlehood to plurality (marriage).

In the midst of all this change there is a constant - God! He doesn't change. He doesn't need to change. Yea, indeed He can't change! For if He were to change, then He wouldn't be perfect, complete and All in All.

It seems that part of the resistance to change is that we are comfortable with the familiar, and the unknown scares us perhaps more than just a little. I'm not referring to change for the sake of change. That is not a good enough reason to change.

When I resist change, when I'm content with my life as it is now, I'm really saying "I've arrived" even though I may not verbalize it. There is only One who has arrived and doesn't change - God!

God is interested in making changes in me to conform me to image of His dear Son. Another passage of Scripture says from glory to glory He's changing me.

It's easy to be content with our life and one day blends into the next, but the Spirit of God is nudging us to surrender in another area of our life, to a deeper walk with God, to step out of our comfort zone and trust Him yet another aspect of our life. Maybe He's developing compassion and mercy for the lost and hurting. The Sunday School superintendent has asked you to teach a class and you turned him down, there is an inner prompting to invite the neighbors in for a meal.

Have you considered going on a missionary trip to some other culture? The possibility exists that it would change your outlook on life, the lost, or even worship.

I wonder how often I compartmentalize God, that is put Him in a box and say, "You can only do things these certain ways".

May I be so in tune with God that I cooperate with Him in the changes He is making in my life.

I believe the greatest change of all is still in the future when this mortal will put on immortality and I will be ushered into the throne room of God.

Look up for your Redemption draweth nigh.

Ron

On Child Raising

Nehemiah 6:3 "...I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down...."

Nehemiah was released by the king and led of God to leave the captivity at Shushan, return to Jersalem and rebuild its walls. His enemy, instigated by God's enemy, invited him to come away from the work and dialogue. Nehemiah saw through his guise and sent word back, "Nothing doing, I can't leave this great work and come down to you".

So it is concerning child rearing. God has commissioned parents with a great work in nurturing, teaching, training, guiding and encouraging the children He has given them. AND THERE ARE MANY ENEMIES.

Genesis 1:28 the first mention was repeated in Genesis 9:1 to Noah and his sons, "...Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." In other words, have children!

The responsibility doesn't stop with having children. Now we must teach, train, nurture and all that goes with it. Abraham had this testimony from God, Genesis 18:19 "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment...." Deuteronomy 6 says, "...And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children....". And finally Eph 6:4, "...fathers...bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And now a few thoughts concering the enemies. Some of the enemies are evil and bold. It is easy to recognize them and counter them. Such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs, premarrital relations, movies and so on. Many are not so evident and even pose as good. Some of these can be things such as work. We fathers can become so involved with providing for the family that it becomes more than "providing" and consumes our passion and our time, crowding out the resposibilities with the family. Others may be "Well, So and So does it.", and the activity, action, idea is okayed based on that reasoning, rather than does it exalt Jesus Christ? does it strengthen my walk/relationship with Jesus? what does Scripture have to say about it?

Yes, this is a great work, child rearing, and I cannot come down to dialogue with the enemy.

Years ago a man was asked about his vocation. He responded, I am raising boys, and I cobble shoes to pay the bills.

God's love is great, Glory to His Name!

Ron