2 Corinthians 4:16 KJV For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. The only thing better than new is re-new. New all over again. You know how you check out books from the library? You bring the whole pile back - yours, your children's, and the one you found under the seat in your car. The librarian is checking them in, then boom! One is missing. You thought you had it but no, it's gone. You honestly thought you had it but you don't want to get hit with fines. So out nowhere but the goodness of God, the librarian speaks up and says,"No worries. I'll just go ahead and renew it, so you can find it!" You know that feeling? That's what 2 Corinthians 4:16 is about! It's not that Christians don't get tired. Hey, if anybody's gonna be running out of gas in this world it's the people trying to run from it! By the grace of God we are coming out of Babylon and into the marvelous Light of God through Jesus Christ! But hey, it's a race. It is a journey. So don't run in old shoes! Don't run on yesterday's victories or from yesterday's defeat. The heart surrendered to God through Christ, is made new all over again - daily! Remember, our standing with God is eternally set through the sacrifice of His Son and our Savior - Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:14 KJV Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you) and all He asks is that we believe it - that's justification! But your growth, your walk, your closeness to God, that's changing daily. Yea, moment-by-moment, because God's closeness is changing you! That's sanctification. Let's accept the new. Expect the new! If you have surrendered your life to God through Christ, you serve the Creator and have overcome the Copier who can't create. If you haven't made that choice, fall forward and into the new that God offers. And no matter where we are in the race or what's happened before, don't limit your perception of the future as an unknown, but as the possibility or the space of the new. Even, the re-new!
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Revelation 4:11 KJV Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. I can't say how grateful I am for the truth of the creation, a Creator, and having had the chance to learn it. Thank you Father for Christian parents & Christian education! But Revelation 4 takes meaning of Creation to a while new level - we weren't just made by God, we were made for God. Just one verse unwraps the whole mystery of the great WHY of life - "Why am I here?!?!" We get tripped by the Enemy to struggle to grasp or hold on to the Biblical HOW of life. COLOSSIANS 1:12,16 KJV clearly says "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: [16] For by Him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:" We were made by God our Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, on the 6th literal day of the seven days of creation (See GENESIS 1-2 for more). If we can't rest on the truth of the HOW of life, it makes it virtually impossible to rise in the WHY if life. We were made for God! That makes every other why of life, every other purpose of life, a fraud. You weren't made to fail. You weren't made to make money. You weren't made to hurt. You weren't made to work then die. You weren't made to be lost. We were made to be the prime source of God's joy. We were made to please God! YOU are the gift to give to the God Who has everything! We are intimate masterpieces to not just reflect the image of God, but to eternally receive the image of God, which is His love without measure! The why of life is just as much a reality as the how of life. May the intellectual truth of the facts of life rest in our minds, in order to prep our hearts for "the why of love?" The question that will take an eternity for God to fully explain and for us to understand, but we can believe it TODAY! Psalm 148:5 KJV Let them praise the name of the Lord : for He commanded, and they were created. This Psalm is incredibly informative and motivating! It drives us to worship by right-sizing the LORD God in the context of Creator. Not a, but The. It wrecks the mythology of a mother nature by affirming the source of every natural phenomenon, both earthly and heavenly, as a manifestation of God's power and His authority. While God is the Who of all this, the how is laid out in verse 5 where "...He commanded, and they were created." And there it is: When the Creator commands, those commandments create! How often do we see the commands of God as a positive reality? Why do we normally see them as a restrictive force? Limiting or binding? They no doubt serve to protect. But maybe the lawless one, Satan, the enemy of the Lawgiver, only wants us to see the law in this respect. And as a result, his disastrous temptations to "do as thou wilt as the whole of the law" appear liberating and even logical, while they lead to the most extreme and ultimate limit - death. Now commands in and of themselves don't actually create. Go outside and command that a new car appear in your driveway...let me know how that works out. It's not just command or even force of will, but the power within the one who commands that brings that word to pass (or fail). It is the command of God, the Creator, that not just leads to life, but creates life! The actual blueprint for our existence is "a thus saith the LORD." The Genesis account begins with what happens when God speaks, while the rest of the Bible records what happens when we obey or ignore what He says. If we view the commandments of God; yea, the Words of God, as a positive force, then so is obedience to those commands. Our following becomes the extension of His flowing! It goes from thinking "do this, and I'll let you live" to "do this, and you are living!" The shortest distance between two points is always a straight line. Perhaps the shortest distance to new life is walking in God's Word...God's will. Matthew 5:23-24 KJV Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; [24] Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Complaining to other people about problems you have with a person, is like complaining to the plumber about the zookeeper in the cafeteria. It doesn't make a whole lotta sense! This is true for any relationship, particularly the closer the relationship. That is why Jesus framed it in the context of a brother-to-brother connection. But this wisdom is especially true in a marriage - the closest of all relationships in the eyes of our Creator. Now to be honest, it does feel good to gripe about the sour grapes someone may be dishing us. But that pleasure is to the flesh, not the spirit. Venting, posting, or calling to someone else might get it off your chest, but it won't get it out of your heart. "...First be reconciled..." Reconciliation is a spiritual transaction and it is exactly what the Master, the Great Reconciler, is prescribing. This process starts in a surrendered, sanctified heart that may at the same time be a hurt or broken heart. Reconciliation doesn't start in a feeling to be had, but in a decision to obey; a decision to love. The raw material to begin is divine and not human. Because the only way to truly love people is to first love the God Who made them. After making the decision to reconcile, Jesus directs us "...to thy brother...." This is usually the hardest part because of the giant disclaimer that just because we tell someone that they offended us doesn't guarantee that they will change. Remember, that is God's job (more on that in a bit). But it is a necessary step in your search for personal peace where there may not be corporate peace. So take the first step "to thy brother" with these simple 3 points in mind:
Tara and I have practiced this over 22 years of marriage. Please note how I say practice because that is what it takes. Remember that as Christians, justification/salvation is the perfect license from God through Jesus Christ that we practice in sanctification with one another. So don't expect perfect where we are supposed to be practicing. Find your perfection in Christ and your practice will follow! Calmly but clearly tell your brother what they have done. Let them know how what they do makes you feel. Now share with them what you would like them to do. Anybody interested in building a bridge will hear this and respond with change. If they don't, you know that right now the work may be limited to creating a safe island, but even that can be done in peace. The work that God does in each heart is as individual as the timetable in which He does it. This is why giving the other person to God, no matter what, is the intercessory power of reconciliation! Regardless their response, putting them in God's hands allows Him to work on them while freeing us to move forward; even to return to the altar and "come and offer thy gift." Telling them where we stand, knowing where they stand, and liberating me from standing still and complaining. We keep living as long as God keeps loving. Psalm 34:4 KJV I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. God always hears. Being everwhere and knowing all things, He cannot not hear. And to all He hears, He answers. Because God is agape love, He cannot 1 answer, anymore than He cannot not hear. Psalm 34 is "a Psalm of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed." Whether you a king, psalmist, called, or direct ancestor of Christ, we all get afraid. So to the Christian, the question is not should we fear, but what should we do when we are afraid? The testimony of Psalm 34:4 is that we should seek the LORD even in our fear! I dare say, especially in our fear. When a scared man sought the LORD, the LORD heard him. By stating what God did, David is also sharing what God not do! The LORD did not ignore him. The LORD did not condemn him. The LORD did not shame him. The LORD did not call him out. The LORD did not just hear him. Rather, The LORD Jehovah heard and delivered him! He listened and moved. The God who is Love, agape love, has empathy and action on behalf of a scared man who would be king. It's not just deliverence from the failures of sin that God offers through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, but He gifts us freedom from the very fear of it. No looking over our shoulder because in Christ there is no looking back. No looking down because in Christ there is no hanging our head in shame. Only hanging our hopes (and fears) on the One who hears and delivers from fears - whatever and whomever they are! ...we follow! Psalm 32:8 KJV "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye." We have a Good Shepherd Who has vowed by His own blood to lead us. The good in God won't let Him just point in the direction or throw out the bone of His will and yell "go get it!" He both tells and teaches. Jesus didn't just tell the disciples in Mark 3 who they were, He told them then spent years teaching them as they spent years learning. Since we are His disciples today, remember, just like a map tells you where to go, we do the choosing to follow it. After we know to "go west on Maple Street", we don't stand repeating out loud "west on Maple, west on Maple, west on Maple". But we, moment by moment, mile after mile, as we walk, drive, pedal, turn, jump, stop and go, are saying "west on Maple" by going west on Maple. Obedience is the choice to follow. The Good Shepherd is better than show & tell; or point and preach. He tells & teaches! Otherwise we'd never have a license to move. Our wrong turns and accidents may delay, but they don't delete the route. As He says at the end of verse 8, "I will guide thee with Mine eye", to be guided by the eyes of God is to be guarded by the hands of God. Rather than learning then going, He understands that we learn as we go. So go as God tells and teaches, and you won't go alone! Of all the Gospels of Jesus, Mark is the leanest but it doesn't make it the weakest (because there are no weak Gospels). It gets right to the point and boom - the first chapter has the Son of God baptized, in and out of the wilderness, and by verse 16, He is preaching! More accurately, He's getting to work. So look who shows out as soon as Jesus shows up...
Mark 1:23-24 KJV - "23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." Note it...when Jesus shows up, Satan shows out. Consequently, what Jesus primarily deals with is summed up in verse 34... "And He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him." - Mark 1:34 KJV Devils and disease seem to have a vital connection. The diseases were the symptoms of the presence of the enemy and his demons. By the absence of the LORD (which was actually our distance from God because of sin), all the fallen angels were empowered to perpetuate "dis-ease" of the bodies, minds, and hearts of the people. That's why when Jesus shows up, healing of the body and the heart also have a vital connection. People who get faith can also get forgiven. People who get fit can also get free. On every level, when Jesus is present and accepted, He has the power to change not a part of the life, but life itself. How else could He possibly offer eternal life if He can't make a dent on daily life? Today, Jesus wants to show up in our lives by His Spirit..." "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty." - 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV Better than when He walked into a synangogue in Caperaum, let's let Him walk into our hearts today. So what if the devils show out for a moment! As long as Jesus shows up, HE WILL shut them down! Forgetting is yet another consequence of our fallen nature as a result of sin. An unfortunate but common hardware failure that can impact some more than others. But the spirit of forgetfulness is a much deeper matter because it's not something occasional; but rather, a trend. This is a pattern of neglect that is not so much in the mind as it is in the heart because it's rooted in a lack of belief; a failure of faith in who God is. I'm not talking about not believing if He exists or if He is indeed the Most High. But believing in who He is in His character; even, in His heart.
If I don't believe in who God is in His character, how can I believe in what He says? If I don't believe in what He says in His Word to Israel, how can I believe in what He says to me individually? In short, not reading ultimately comes from not believing which leads to not needing. I'm not sure what the weather is like where you are today, but let's pretend that today it is NOT raining and not even forecasted to rain. You don't see any clouds, the sky is clear, and the sunbeams are blasting. So if I were to come your way and ask you why you don't have an umbrella, you would probably simply reply, "because I don't need one." When the Word becomes an afterthought, it's because we don't believe we need it. It's not a matter of questioning it's existence or power, any more than not having an umbrella doesn't mean I don't believe in rain, storms, or the Weather Channel. But when God becomes an afterthought, it's a sign we have gotten to a place where we don't think that we need Him. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary [food]. - Job 23:12 KJV Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. - Jeremiah 15:16 KJV As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: - 1 Peter 2:2 KJV Please don't leave this thought just focusing on how much you do or don't read the Bible. You will leave either proud of how much you do or discouraged about how much you don't. What we really need is the LORD Himself to reveal to us is how much do we see our need for Him. If you know how much you need Him, you will always take time to read Him! "Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill."
Yesterday Faith, Jai'el, and I went to the zoo. While recovering from the heat at the polar bear exhibit, birds dotted and walked all around us. They were so close, we thought we could touch them. But sure enough, right when my hand got about an inch away, they would bounce and dart into flight. Did God put that fear into the bird to protect it? In a post-sin world I would say so. Even with our good intentions, He knew that in our excitement we would probably injure or crush this incredibly fascinating, but fragile, creature. The fragility of the bird is a product of the same physiology that allows it to be light enough and strong enough to fly. You could argue that its weakness is its greatest strength. The same can be seen in hope. It is as strong as it is fragile. Hope is not just a weak but holy "whatever." Hope is a voluntary disarmement of the power of self to invest in the One who is all power. Therefore, the Christian's hope is actually a gift of strength. Joel 3:16 KJV The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 1 Peter 1:3 KJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, Psalm 31:24 KJV — Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD. Our Father in Heaven promises to be our hope AND our strength. That means He is able to be our willing and our doing! The scale of the power of this hope is equated to the power by which The Father raised His Son Jesus Christ from the dead! As we hope in God we will be strengthened, and even revived. Family, choose God by choosing hope! In Him, through Christ, and on His word, we can do something better than holding a bird in our hands, and that's to fly like one in our hearts! - Chris Bailey III Even in an age of instant cake mix and cakes in a cup, how many of us want to celebrate life's milestones with a cake made in a microwave? Wedding cakes don't make you any more married, but they speak to the special place of the occasion. The more time and effort put into the cake, the more valuable it is to the wedding party. Could hope work (or wait) the same way?
Hoping usually means waiting... Psalm 39:7 KJV — And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee. We cannot deny the wait element in the hope process. We usually associate hope as the power that keeps us moving. But more often than not, Scripture reveals hope as the power that also keeps us still. Psalm 130:5 KJV — I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. Being still is a learned behavior. Just ask any early elementary teacher or VBS volunteer. As such, it's a strength that is not just a matter of doing nothing, but is willing to wait and let the LORD God Almighty do the working, and for Him to do it in His own time. The clock of hope in the believer is not an aimless stopwatch, but more like a timer set to the movements of God's all-loving heart and all-powerful hand. So keep waiting! Lamentations 3:26 KJV — It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. Stop. Look around your office. Check on your desk. By your bed. What's on your fridge in the kitchen? Probably, a memo. I know we may not know it by that name. We usually call it by the now universal title - a Post-It Note. But call it what you will, what's written on it is more than a reminder, a good thought, or a recipe. On a much deeper level it is a measure of accountability.
It makes what is an idea, reality. Turning thoughts into action. That's why God, the One who is hope, and the One in whom His believers hope, wrote who He is on paper. Because what our Creator says is the extension of who He is. Therefore, what He says is impossible to not be done. That's why His believers hope in His Word! This truth is taught repeatedly in the longest Psalm of all... Psalm 119:49 KJV — ZAIN. Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope. Psalm 119:81 KJV — CAPH. My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word. Psalm 119:114 KJV Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in Thy word. Psalm 119:116 KJV Uphold me according unto Thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. It's one thing to believe in what our Heavenly Father can do (which is anything). But it's a whole different matter to believe in what He said He would do (which is exactly what He said). Read and stand on God's Word as evidence to a fact, and watch or be willing to wait for hope to turn into happening! - Chris Bailey III It's a foggy morning on the banks of the Ohio River today. But the sun has a clarity and definition that you couldn't possibly see if there were no clouds. Hope often works the same way. It's not just the visibility, but the reality, that is it's strength. It's where we place our hope that makes it false, or fierce. The Bible teaches us that the believer's hope is in God!
Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD [there is] mercy, and with Him [is] plenteous redemption. (Psalm 130:7 KJV) Notice how it specified "let Israel." We often talk about the burdens of the narrow way, but a blessing of being a believer, a true Israelite, is that we identify with God beyond an affiliation, all the way to a trust. For in Thee, O LORD, do I hope: Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. (Psalm 38:15 KJV) Like a lantern holding a flame, we choose to let the Lord our God be the resting place for what we look for before we even find it. So... Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. (Jeremiah 17:7 KJV) Do you see it? It's not just that we hope in the LORD, but the LORD IS our hope! Our anticipation, our our optimism, our it's gonna' be alright, is in God because He is the One who gives us hope in the first place! - Chris Bailey III |
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April 2024
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