Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Not my performance but the Lord's!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Romans 7:6,

 

"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."

 

There always seems to be confusion over the issue of law-keeping by Christians. We find the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17. As those laws that were set apart by being inscribed by God himself in stone and kept in the ark, the discussion normally surrounds these. Various denominations teach different things on the issue and there is much disagreement.

 

Some teach we are to keep the law but with some "fudging". Notably, and that by the Seventh Day Adventists and others, the fourth of the ten, keeping the Sabbath, is a source of contention. While everyone pretty much agrees with the importance of keeping the laws on murder, theft, lying, idolatry, etc. Some like to think they are observing the Sabbath by substituting the first day of the week for the seventh and then keeping it in a way the law never envisioned. Although I disagree with the Seventh Day Adventists, I nevertheless find them more honest and consistent than many of the others.

 

Lip service is usually paid to the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me" and then is almost universally ignored by everyone. Of course, here is the ugly truth of the matter: I don't know about you, but while I may not be a murderer, I find I am unable to keep the law as a whole anyway. As James says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." James 2:10. As I see how Jesus Christ explained the law in the sermon on the mount, there is no way I keep the law. If my acceptance by God and if any love and mercy I receive from him is based on my performance relative to the law, I am toast!

 

Surprisingly, the Scriptures are not silent on law-keeping for those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith. I say "surprisingly" because the Scriptures are clear on it where we seem to be befuddled. As an issue for those who preached the gospel from the beginnings of the church, especially Paul, whose mission was to those who were Gentiles and not familiar with the Jewish law given by God to Moses, it had to be dealt with it. Very simply, Paul says, "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Galatians 3:25. For those today who wish to argue with Paul, they have created a delicate distinction in the law by categorizing some of it as "ceremonial" and some as "moral". That way, when Paul tells us things like, "you are not under law, but under grace", Romans 6:14, they can still keep the "moral" law and feel good about it.

 

A struggle for them, however, is found in this passage of Romans 7:6. When Paul says, "we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code", he makes clear what he his talking about by using the tenth of the Ten Commandments as his example. So, if we are not "under the law" as believers, what was the purpose for God giving it in the first place? Going back to Galatians 3, we read, "the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Verses 24 and 25. All are under the law to show us we need the Savior, because none of us will ever be able to keep the law. We embrace the Savior, Jesus Christ in faith if we wish to be saved from God's judgment. Here is where our righteous standing with God comes. As members of God's family, we no longer need to be shown we need salvation and now, as Paul says, we serve in the "new way" of the Spirit and not in the "old way" of the law, the "written code".

 

Does this mean we can do anything we want, since we are not under the law? Precisely! And in that freedom we manifest whether we belong to God or not by the things we think, do and say. John wrote his first letter focused on just this very thing. If we belong to God, we are led by the Holy Spirit who dwells within and reflects his presence in our lives. "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." 1 John 1:6-7.

 

I might add, John does mention there may be times when we fail ourselves, God and others. At those times he says, "if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. How thankful I am to hear those words!

 

Unlike those who feel they need to maintain God's love and acceptance for themselves through their performance relative to the law, I can only say how grateful I am that God has expressed his lavish grace to me by freely giving me my right standing with him through my trust and faith in his Son. God's love for me and his acceptance of me is not based on my performance but on the horrific suffering of his Son to pay the price for my sins for me.

 

How wonderful is that ?!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Consider the kindness and sternness of God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Romans 11:22,

 

"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God..."

 

I am reminded that if I ever developed a two dimensional perspective of God, then I have created God in my own image. Our God is anything but two dimensional! Statements like, "I don't see God this way, he is that way", or "I believe in the God of the New Testament, a God of love", may betray an incomplete and limited view in a perspective of God.

 

Certainly God is love. John tell us that directly. "God is love." He tells us that twice in his first letter, 4:8 and 16. Just as certainly, God is our God of judgment. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world...' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...'" Matthew 25:34 and 41. Love and judgment.

 

I also find many other aspects of God's character on display in the Scriptures. I see them in his sense of humor, as when he mocks the Israelites as they worship idols, where God notes the idols have to be nailed down to keep them from falling off the mantle. I also see an aspect of God's broken heart when his people stray from him, like a loving husband is broken-hearted over a wayward wife as he tells Hosea to pursue his wife, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." Hosea 3:1.

 

God reveals many aspects of what he is like in the pages of Scripture and they are all fascinating to me to explore and discover. But consistently, God wants us to know that there are two aspects of his nature we need to be very clear on: his love, mercy and kindness on the one hand, and his judgment on the other.

 

When he revealed himself to Moses, he told him, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7. Both mercy and judgment. Also we see in Jeremiah 9:24, "'...let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." Both kindness and justice.

 

A word to those who take concern for their welfare: "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God..."

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: God's great mercy!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 2:13,

 

"Mercy triumphs over judgment!"

 

It seems to me that the instinct for self-preservation is built into the very fabric of life, all of life. One reason suicide is so bewildering is that this basic instinct is violated or overcome at times by a sense of desperation, whether due to discouragement, depression or whatever. So intense is this instinct, that death, something we are all bound for, is perhaps the greatest terror for many. We do not want to give up our lives to an event we really know very little of. We certainly can't imagine giving up something we are dependent upon, intimate with and is the very vehicle we relate to this life through: our bodies. And, having given up our body to the grave, what of that which remains? How does our conscious existence continue... does it continue? How does that happen if we are disembodied?

 

Short of death, that instinct for self-preservation is found in efforts we make to preserve whatever it is we have garnered in this life. We certainly do not wish to loose that which we have worked hard for. And certainly, none of us want to fade into obscurity or become inconsequential. Good health, financial stability, good friends, the tools for succeeding in life, all these become a part of our lives we seek to preserve... and yet, all of these are the very things we sense as hanging in the balance as we make our way through this life. In the back of our minds is that lingering reality that one day, all of us in this life will go to the grave alone and leave all these things behind.

 

Here is an excruciatingly depressing thought from the wisest man that ever lived, "A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?" Ecclesiastes 6:3-6. He follows this up with the thought, "For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?" Verse 12.

 

Morbid and depressing, yet this is exactly what life holds. We live this life in a world struggling under the full weight of God's judgment for just a short time and then leave it all behind. The basic instinct built into our lives for self-preservation struggles to even acknowledge this reality, let alone embrace it. After all, how would one cope if a man's day is filled with this basic instinct in full combat with an acknowledgment that it will one day be crushed to nothing? Where does one turn for solace and relief? Where does man go for hope in such a hopeless state of things? The mercy of God!

 

It is in this very darkness of the judgment and death of this life that we find the glorious light of God's mercy that shines so brightly. I am reminded of Isaiah 9:2, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." This great piercing light is the expression of God's great mercy in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

 

It is through Jesus Christ that God's mercy triumphs over his judgment! From James' perspective, our ability to express mercy manifests we have experience God's mercy ourselves, and his mercy triumphs over judgment! It is in Jesus Christ that eternal life is found. It is in him that we have a bright and exciting future where the concern for self-preservation becomes a long lost nightmare from a world we have been delivered from. Fulfillment of all we were designed for in life, not in death, becomes ours as we enter into the resurrection. Here is the true measure of God's great mercy: we deserve eternal death for sin, but in his wonderful love he has made a way for us, a way into his family through Jesus Christ!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Listening, trusting and acting on what the Lord says.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 5:17-18,

 

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

 

Why did the Lord answer Elijah's prayers? James tells us, The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16b. Our standing of righteousness before God, that is, our "rightness" before him, our "fitness" to approach him in prayer causes our prayers to be powerful and effective because God is powerful and effective.

 

When Elijah confronted Ahab with the news of a drought, we are told some things about Elijah. When he said there would be "neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word" 1 Kings 17:1, we find he was not acting on his own. In verse 2 we are told, "the word of the Lord came to Elijah". I understand this to mean that as a prophet, the Lord spoke directly to Elijah with some things he had to say and wanted to do. To this day I still marvel at the fact that God  speaks to mankind at all. "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4.

 

We are told that Elijah listened to the Lord and "did what the Lord told him." 1 Kings 17:5. When the Lord told him to go somewhere, he went, verses 8-10. We see the same thing in 1 Kings 18:1-2. Elijah not only believed what the Lord told him, but he trusted and acted on what the Lord told him and ordered his life by it. Here is observed the truth James gives in James 2:22 about Abraham, "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  

 

In 1 Kings 17 we read of the miraculous feeding of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath and her son. As we read of her son's death, we see Elijah trusting, turning to God and calling out to him to spare the son. There we read "The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived."

 

Listening to the Lord, trusting in him, and acting on what he says are all marks of "the righteous man", the man of faith, as demonstrated by Elijah, the man James points to as one whose prayers were answered. My "take-away" on this is I need to be in the Scriptures, trust in what God says there and do what he says if I have a desire to see the Lord respond to those things I bring before him.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Tomorrow: what we don't know; what we do know.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 4:14,

 

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow."

 

In observing the presumption of some of his readers, expressed in an arrogance, James points out that they don't have a clue as to what might happen on the very next day, let alone further out into the future. How could they assume anything, given their lives are "a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Life here is tenuous at best and a person ought not conduct their affairs as if they know what lies ahead.

 

As I think of these things, it does occur to me that in spite of us not knowing what tomorrow brings from the perspective of this life, there are a number of things we do know about tomorrow. Of great importance, I know that our God is a loving, kind and merciful God. He was in the days Scripture was written, he is now and he will be tomorrow, "we know and rely on the love God has for us." 1 John 4:16. "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

 

As those who have embrace him in faith, we know that tomorrow will bring God's best intentions for us as the objects of his love, "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28. We know this because God's intention for us is that he will be taking us through a process that irons out the wrinkles in our character and nature, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." Romans 8:29.

 

We know for certain that the future holds for us an inheritance from God himself, the very inheritance that our heavenly Father gives to his Son, Jesus Christ, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ..." Romans 8:16-17.

 

We also know that this inheritance includes the fact that we will live our lives for an eternity, experiencing God's very best for us right in his presence! "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:3-4.

 

Although we do not know what this life here, what Solomon calls "life under the sun" holds for tomorrow, there are many things we do know that lays ahead for us. Plenty to muse upon here!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Made in the Image of God!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 3:9,

 

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness."

 

As James talks about the challenges we have with the sinful things that come out of our mouths, he points to the unseemliness of praising God in one moment and then in another cursing men made in his image, his "likeness". It just isn't fitting. If we really love God, if we really fear God, if we reverence the things that are his, how is it we can possibly treat with contempt those he has made in his own image? It just isn't fitting: "My brothers, this should not be." Verse 10.

 

The recognition that mankind is made in the image of God carries many implications. One is the notable grounds for capital punishment for murder. In a great paradox we read, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." Genesis 9:6. In that passage God said, "And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man." Verse 5. This is in recognition of the pattern after which mankind was made, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:26-27.

 

As I think of what it means to have been created, designed in God's own image, thoughts come to my mind. We have a measure of intelligence, certainly not on the order of God's intelligence, but nevertheless, we do possess some. Hand in hand, we have the capacity for wisdom, a whole other matter. There seems to be precious little of that found in the world today. We have emotions, just as God has, along with passions and desires, just as God has. Ours, of course have been horribly corrupted through our rebellion against him.

 

God is also a communicator, he has a sense of humor, he makes his own decisions and he is very creative. We, likewise have been given capacity for all of these by God when he designed us.

 

What is important about these things to me is that they form a basis for our ability to be able to relate to God. On the one hand, he is the Creator, he is God, he has a divine nature. His character and nature is of perfection, pristine in all of his majestic qualities and splendor. We share in none of these things. On the other hand, God created us to have a relationship with him. He loves us, John 3:16, and intends to spend eternity with us in his very presence, Revelation 21:3. Because of this, his original intent for man in the garden of Eden will be fulfilled through his program of redemption which rescues us from his judgment and takes us through a process that will ultimately remove all vestige of sin and rebellion from us. Those who have embraced him in faith will all be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, Romans 8:29. Having been made in God's likeness makes these things possible.

 

Thinking of the implications of being created in God's image and his intentions for us are certainly grounds for some "fascinating ruminating!"

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating in the Word of God: Our Great Inheritance!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 2:5,

 

"Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

 

James speaks of the inheritance that will be ours in the resurrection. We will all share in the kingdom he has promised to "those who love him" as an inheritance. It is my belief that the psalmist was speaking beyond earthly Israel when he said, "Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise." Psalm 106:4-5.

 

In Psalm 106 the psalmist confesses the sins of the nation, "We have sinned, even as our fathers did..." verse 6. After observing the history of Israel with her interaction with God, her rebellion against him, her suffering, her calling out to God, his mercy and great love expressed in relieving Israel's suffering, and their return to sin, he calls out to God, "Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise." Verse 47.

 

This is the cry of all mankind. If not today, then when the end comes. We have sinned as our fathers have and now find ourselves in the jaws of God's judgment. As we cry out to him we look for salvation in our desperate need. For those of us who have embraced our loving God in faith, we will find an inheritance awaiting us!

 

In the beginning of this psalm it is observed we should give thanks to the Lord, "for he is good; his love endures forever." Verse 1. This is because at the end of this psalm we are exhorted, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, 'Amen!' Praise the Lord." From "everlasting to everlasting"! This speaks to me of the infinite nature of the inheritance that will be ours in the resurrection. The goodness and love of the Lord will endure forever as expressed in the eternal nature of the inheritance he has for those of us who are his!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Ruminating on the Word of God: Humilty Versus Pride, God's Boundless Grace!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 4:6,

 

"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'"

 

In this verse James quotes Proverbs 3:34. That passages says,

 

"The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked,
   but he blesses the home of the righteous. 
He mocks proud mockers
   but gives grace to the humble. 
The wise inherit honor,
   but fools he holds up to shame." Proverbs 3:33-35.

 

This is a recurring theme of Proverbs, our wonderful book of wisdom. All who are wise heed the admonitions within its pages and the issue of humility versus pride has a prominent role. Here are a few of the many verses on the issue:

 

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
   but with humility comes wisdom." Proverbs 11:2.

 

"The Lord tears down the proud man's house
   but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact." Proverbs 15:25.

 

"The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
   Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished." Proverbs 16:5.

 

"Pride goes before destruction,
   a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18.

 

"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,
   but humility comes before honor." Proverbs 18:12.

 

"Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
   the lamp of the wicked, are sin!" Proverbs 21:4.

 

"Humility and the fear of the Lord 
   bring wealth and honor and life." Proverbs 22:4.

 

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the admonitions given in Proverbs concerning the issue of pride versus humility, but this sample certainly points to the importance and emphasis placed on the issue. Not surprisingly, James aligns himself with the wisdom found in the book of Proverbs.

 

This issue of pride versus humility, while certainly a challenge lived out on a daily basis, makes perfect sense to me. As I stand before a righteous and holy God who is perfect in every aspect of his nature, I am "horribly humbled" as one who is wholly unworthy of anything from my Creator. I guess this might be a bit of what we we see in Isaiah's horror of himself when he found himself confronted with a vision of God on his heavenly throne. The overwhelming sense of "other-ness", his sinfulness was excruciatingly painful to him, such that he exclaimed, "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" Isaiah 6:5. Thoughtful reflection of the Lord in his glory should reduce any man to humility! This is where God's grace comes in and the part that I really struggle understanding.

 

As James observes from Proverbs, God gives grace to the humble. That we should hold such a place in God's heart that he would express his grace toward us is something I struggle  to understand. It is not just that he chooses to bless us - us, a people who come from those who have set themselves to be God's enemies, who have rejected him and embraced a lifestyle of sin in opposition to him... it is that he "lavishes" his boundless grace from his wonderful heart of love for us! How do I understand this?!

 

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 1:7-8. "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32.

 

This wonderful grace of God that expresses his boundless heart of love for mankind is something that transcends my ability to grasp and understand. All I can do is simply accept it, embrace it, take great joy in it and celebrate it! Our God is a God of love!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worshipful Ruminating: The peril of a one-night-stand with God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 1:2-3,

 

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

 

Our faith gets tested. The purpose of which, James says here, is to develop within us maturity and completeness, verse 5. Surely, another aspect of this testing is to see what our faith is made of. Peter speaks to this when he says, "These [all kinds of trials] have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:7.

 

Later in his letter, James lets us know that not just any kind of faith will do. God is looking within us for the kind of faith that impacts our thoughts, words and actions. Later he asks, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" James 2:14. There he illustrates the faith God is looking for using Abraham and Rahab as examples. He says of Abraham, "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend." James 2:22-23. James summarizes by saying, "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." James 2:24.

 

James also speaks of the kind of faith that is tenacious. It persists. It isn't the kind that is on again and off again. Of this kind of faith, James says a man is like "a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind... a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:6-7. I suspect this is the capricious kind of faith Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:1-23 as he spoke of the kinds of soils the sower sowed his seed in as a metaphor for the hearts of those who are exposed to the gospel message. He says, "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away." Matthew 13:20-21. This is precisely the kind of faith of which James asks, "Can such faith save him?"

 

As the writer of Hebrews tells us, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace... land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned." Hebrews 6:4-8.

 

To answer James' rhetorical question, faith that does not impact our lives, faith that is fickle is the kind that cannot save a man. He says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." James 2:26.

 

On the other hand, the kind faith in our Lord that impacts what we think, do and say, faith that is not here today and gone tomorrow is the very kind that does save the man. How much of this kind of faith does it take? Listen to Jesus, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 20.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worshipful Ruminating: Our astonishing riches in the resurrection!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 5:1-3,

 

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days."

 

I suspect we could view anyone who has riches as "rich people". I feel I have been blessed in many ways, and I suspect that there have been and are many who would look at my lifestyle as one of a rich person, say, someone from Haiti. I certainly don't feel that way.

 

 I consider myself as something of an average joe who enjoys what he has and doesn't really pine for much else. But the reality is that I have been blessed in many ways. James throws a caution my way relative to that when he speaks of the fleeting nature of possessions in this passage. Not only are we here for a short time, but our "stuff" is very temporary as well.

 

In thinking of these things, I can't help but think in terms of James admonition to the poor in James 1:9, "The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position." It is not that there will simply be a tremendous blessing for all who enter into the resurrection of life as far as "stuff" goes, but our lives will be incredibly blessed in so many ways!

 

We will live our lives for an eternity in God's very presence. That thought is a difficult one to wrap my mind around. Our Creator, the One who designed us, who brought us into existence, gave us life, will be in our very presence! We will finally be able to approach him with all the questions we might have about anything and everything. I read in Revelation 21:3-4, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

 

We will also live among people who not only are no longer energized by a sinful nature, but are filled with and reflect all of the wonderful qualities of God. The fruit of the Spirit will be ours in an abundance in our relationships with one another. Things like, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23, What would it be like to find this in all we came upon as we walk down the street? As Paul tell us in Romans 8:29, "those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." And, John tells us in 1 John 3:2, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." This will be true for all of us!

 

My thoughts also drift toward the inheritance that will be ours. It is the very inheritance that Jesus Christ receives from our Heavenly Father, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ..." Romans 8:17. I can't begin to think of what all this might mean, but it certainly is enticing to think about. We receive this inheritance because God determined beforehand to give it to us, "he [God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will..." Ephesians 1:5. There Paul uses language like "lavished on us", riches of God's grace", "his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves", etc.

 

In John 14:2-3 Jesus tells us, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

 

Jesus also told his followers, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." Matthew 19:28-30.

 

Musing on what will be ours in the resurrection is something that has to be fascinating no matter how much we have been blessed with the fleeting riches in this life!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worshipful Ruminating: Eternal life - free through faith!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 2:20-22,

 

"You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did."

 

As James points to the kind of faith God looks for in all of us, using Abraham as an example, he says that Abraham's faith was made complete by what he did. In Genesis 22:1-19 we read of the account of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac on one of the mountains of Moriah. What did Abraham do? "Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey..." and proceeded to do what God told him. Abraham was a man of faith and became the patriarch of all who place their faith in God, see Romans 4:11-12.

 

Did God become indebted to Abraham for what he did? When God credited Abraham's faith as righteousness, Genesis 15:6, did God owe it to him? Did Abraham's faith in any way set him apart as having earned anything? No, faith is not like that. As we discover what faith is all about in the pages of Scripture we discover that faith does not make one man better than the next, it does not make a man "more good" than any other man. What it does do is bring us salvation from God. This salvation was earned by Jesus Christ hanging on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. This salvation was made possible by God our Father visiting his judgment, our punishment, upon the Son of his precious love. God sent his Son to save the world. Faith is not a "work" and doesn't "earn" us anything. Our relationship with God came at a very heavy price, a price paid entirely by Jesus Christ.

 

I am reminded of what Paul had to say about this in Romans 4:1-6, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Abraham didn't do anything that made him a better man than any other. He didn't do anything that warranted God owing him salvation. Yet, because of God's wonderful grace, Abraham received salvation because he trusted in God. Abraham's actions manifested the faith James speaks of in James 2:20-22. His demonstration of faith through his actions "completed" his posture of faith in God. His faith was undeniable.

 

Some misunderstand that faith somehow brings us merit as a better person than another and so we are rewarded with salvation. Not so. Faith does bring us salvation, not because it earns us salvation, but because God determined in ages past that he would bestow his salvation, his righteousness upon all who trust in him. Salvation is by faith and faith alone.

 

What grips my heart in all of this is that God has made salvation free to us, precisely because it is by faith. "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace..." Romans 4:16a. God offers us salvation, given freely to all if they but embrace him in faith. It is free to me but cost dearly, a cost shouldered by my wonderful and loving Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worshipful Ruminating: God's agenda and judgment.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 1:14-15,

"After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

 

Sin brings death. We are told in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. In the account of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden God told Adam, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:16-17. In speaking of the sinful, in Revelation 21:8, the One seated on the throne told John, "the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." The sinful will all enter into eternal death.

 

Sin brings death!

 

Why is it that sin gives birth to death? In Psalm 33:8-11 we read, "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." From this passage I learn that although I may have my own agenda and my own desires, the Lord has his. The creation he brought about exists to fulfill his plans and purposes! (How many times have I found myself living in such a way as if it were the other way around, that God exists to help me accomplish my desires, my agenda?)

 

We were created out of God's own purposes. When what he has created does not fulfill his purposes, he destroys it. This is evidenced in the account of Noah's flood. In Genesis 6:5 we read, "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." As a result, he destroyed the world through the flood. In Genesis 11 we read of people who pursued an agenda not in line with the Lord's. They said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:4. There, rather than destroying the people, God destroyed their purposes. He scattered them over the face of the earth, confusing their language. How many countless nations and empires have found their fate in the judgment of God for pursuing that which is not God's agenda!

 

As we see in Psalm 33, the Lord has his own purposes. Creation exists to fulfill those purposes and when it fails to do so, the Lord does something different. In Jeremiah 18:3-4, we read, "I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."

 

What is so wonderful about our God is that he provides opportunity for us to regain a position back within his purposes. We read further in the Jeremiah passage, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned." Jeremiah 18:7-8. God's plan of redemption is just that. Where we all deserve to be tossed into the ash heap of his judgment, God has made a way for us all to escape our place in his judgment and be reinstated within that which is his purpose and agenda. All he asks is that we trust in him...

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worshipful Ruminating: Presuming upon God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in James 4:14-16,

 

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil."

 

God has made many promises. Promises he will be certain to keep. In Acts 1:4 Jesus spoke of the coming Holy Spirit the Father had promised his followers. In Acts 2:30 Peter spoke of the promise God had made to David, that one of his descendants would sit on his throne: Jesus Christ. Paul speaks of the gospel God had promised in Romans 1:2. In Galatians 3:16, 29, Paul speaks of the promises God made to Abraham, an inheritance that would come through Jesus Christ, an inheritance that is ours by the same faith Abraham had. Paul refers to eternal life as God's promise in Titus 1:2.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 we are promised our Lord will return for us, that we will be raised from the dead and meet the Lord in the clouds to be with him for eternity. Many promises and all entirely certain.

 

There are many things God has not promised: God has not promised us long lives here. God has not promised we will all be financially well off. God has not promised we will not get sick, that we will not die. God has not promised to answer all our prayers the way we want him to. He hasn't promised we will get that college education, that job or promotion, he hasn't promised that house, that spouse, that our children will all do well and that our dog won't die.

 

And yet, all too often, I presume upon God. I find myself assuming God will do this or that, and sometimes without even recognizing my dependence upon him, just like the ones James addresses in his letter here. I find for myself in this passage that a reverence for God and a recognition of my dependence upon him is always in order.

 

God has blessed me with so much in his promises to me! However, I find James admonition here to not presume upon God an important and appropriate outlook!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: God makes his own choices - and he doesn't check in with me first!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 1:18,

 

"He [God] chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

 

James tells us God decided to give us new birth through "the word of truth", the gospel. He tell us here it was God's choice, out of his own will, his decision, that is, his "election", to confront us with "the word of truth" to the end that all who embrace Jesus Christ through the gospel message will be given the new birth Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in John 3:3. This is why the Scriptures speak of those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith as the "chosen ones" or the "elect". God has chosen for himself all who will embrace him in faith. Romans 8:33; Romans 11:7. In Ephesians 1:11-14 Paul tells us we were included with those who have been "chosen", verse 11, "when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory."

 

The Scriptures clearly teach us that the new birth, being "born again", "regeneration" comes as a result of our faith through the gospel message, not the other way around. On this point, Paul puts it this way, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17.

 

God makes his own choices. As Creator, as the God of all that exists, it is his prerogative. Paul makes this point in Romans 9:10-12, "Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.'" God makes his own choices and doesn't consult with me for my good ideas on anything - what a startling discovery that is for me!

 

God's prerogative in making is own choices, his election, couldn't be any clearer than what Paul says in Romans 9:21, "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" From the human race that God, the "Potter" created, all who will embrace him in faith will be adopted into his family. All others will enter into his judgment at the end of the age. This is the choice, or the "election" God has made.

 

I like to think God thinks my way. I have a propensity to assume I know how things are. What a struggle it is to leave my own thoughts behind as I enter into the Scriptures. Oh, just ask me, I'll tell you what I think God has done or is doing, what his will is, what he has decided. How often I have had to hang my head and confess, "well, I guess I was wrong about that!"

 

If nothing else, from what James has to say, that God has chosen to give us new birth through the "word of truth", I note James doesn't tell me God will take the matter under the advisement of Trevor Fisk. God's choices are his prerogative, and a prerogative I note in many places in the Scriptures he exercises, all on his own, without any help from me.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: It doesn't get any more exciting than this!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 1:9-11a,

 

"The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed."

 

This morning, as I am reminded of the temporary nature of our fortunes in this life, this passage causes me to think of what we know about the life ahead of us in the resurrection. All who embrace Jesus Christ in faith in this life will share in the fullness of God's kingdom in the next. Here James reminds us that whatever it is we may or may not have in this life will not be a reflection of our fortunes for the eternity that will be ours in the resurrection.

 

Whether we find ourselves in "humble circumstances" or rich in this life, it is only fleeting as we are like wild flowers that wither away under the sun. Later in this letter, James reminds us we are a "mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14. The Sons of Korah tell us, "For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish." Psalm 49:10-12.

 

Unlike the temporal perspective of this life, life in the resurrection is certain and eternal. John tells us we don't know exactly what we will be, but whatever it is, it is like Jesus Christ as seen in his resurrection. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2. Paul speaks of the eternal nature of the instant change that will take place when we are resurrected, "We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'" 1 Corinthians 15:51-54.

 

Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 15 that our bodies will be of a different nature in the resurrection, "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Verses 42-44.

 

As I consider what the Scriptures have to say about the resurrection I can't help but muse. My own feelings are that what we see in creation today is reflective of the order of things that God does create. After all, he created it. It is observed sometimes that we will probably inhabit bodies for all eternity that reflect the biological prime of what God created for us in this life. If I die an old man with crippling arthritis, I might likely be raised in a body that reflects that of a perfectly heatlhy twenty-something year old.

 

Obviously, life in the resurrection will be lived in an environment absent of both sin and its consequences. No longer will we be subject to an environment struggling under the heavy weight of God's judgment for the sins of mankind. Likewise, we will be living in community with folks no longer driven by sinful desires. All things will be new. Additionally, unlike today, we will be living in God's very presence! "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:3-4

 

We know that what will be ours in the resurrection will be all the Son of God, Jesus Christ, inherits from God our Father. We are told, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." Romans 8:16-17. This is pretty exciting stuff to say the least! In looking forward to the resurrection, David speaks of the wonder of our existence with God when he says, "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Psalm 16:11.

 

I don't know about you, but as I consider that, relatively speaking, these things lie just around the corner for all of us who have embraced Jesus Christ as our Savior, I can't help but get very excited about it!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: In the midst of defeat... here comes the Lord!

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 1:1,

 

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings."

 

During the New Testament times the nation of Israel was occupied by Rome. Israel, while having its primary presence in Palestine, was scattered throughout the Roman Empire, as James addresses his letter to the Jews, "scattered among the nations". Although, due to the faith of Abraham, Israel was God's chosen people, they had become a people vanquished and dominated by others. As we read the accounts of Israel's history in the Old Testament, we find that it was through the sinfulness of Israel as a nation that brought about this turn of events.

 

James is an early letter within the church, a letter written by whom I believe was the Lord's own half-brother, James the Just. He appears to have led the early church in its infancy as we see in passages such as Acts 15 and other places. This same James now addresses his letter to "the twelve tribes scattered among the nations". We call this scattering of Jews the "Diaspora". This dispersion of Jews reflects the horrific consequences of any nation who turns its back on God and embraces the sinful imaginations of the world. How Israel had fallen from its lofty position! At one time Israel commanded the fear and respect of all who came to know her. Through her God had turned superpower Egypt inside out, through her the pagan nations of Palestine were vanquished as she was established in the land. She was rich and powerful. During the time of Solomon the nations of the world paid homage, sent envoys and sought to insure Israel's favor.

 

But just look at her at the time of the birth of the church! Ruled by Roman authorities, vanquished by foreign powers over the years, scattered among the nations! And yet... look what God is doing in the midst of generations of loss and defeat! Here is what grips my heart this morning. When all looks lost, when everything points to doom and gloom, out of the ashes of defeat and despair arises the Lord in piercing light: a fledgling new infant, the church! The entire world will never be the same again!

 

Jesus Christ came to the nation of Israel when the time was right. Although, to her great loss in rejecting the Lord - which assured continued decline for the nation, the world itself would never be the same. Jesus Christ came and brought a message of hope from despair. He brought light when it was dark. He brought victory where there was only defeat! Jesus Christ came and gave his life on behalf of the lives of many! When, for generations, things looked dark and gloomy,

 

"The people walking in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death 
   a light has dawned. 
You have enlarged the nation
   and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
   as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
   when dividing the plunder...

 

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
Of the increase of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
   will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:2-3, 6-7. 

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: Powerful and effective prayer.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 5:16b,

 

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

 

Prayer that is powerful and effective is powerful and effective because our God is powerful and effective. Whatever it is the Lord desires to carry out will happen. I am reminded of Isaiah 55:10-11, "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

 

In my mind, what makes the prayer of a righteous man powerful and effective is his standing with God. When he asks, God tells us he is moved to act. I suspect there are some who feel they can attain a certain spirituality that provides them special abilities. Nothing could be further from the truth. A righteous man, that is, man of faith, has a special relationship with God who at times will act on his behalf.

 

James uses Elijah as an example of a man of faith asking God for certain things. As we read of the account of Elijah that James refers to, we find God responding to that which Elijah asked for in 1 Kings 17 and 18. In these accounts we read, "The Lord heard Elijah's cry..." 1 Kings 17:22. In these chapters we read of the drought Elijah asked for, of the widow of Zarephath, whose son was brought back to life, of Obadiah, and, possibly one of the most dramatic of all events that we are given account of in the Old Testament, Elijah's humiliation of the Baal and Asherah priests on Mount Carmel.

 

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." A righteous man becomes that way because he embraces God in faith. He gains a righteous standing apart from anything he may do. "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." A righteous standing before God comes not as a result of our efforts and does not enable us to do "powerful and effective" things on our own. What our faith brings is a righteous standing with God and he is powerful and effective. Therein lies the power and effectiveness of the prayer of a righteous man: God acting on his behalf.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: A friend of God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 2:22-24,

 

"You see that his [Abraham's] faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."

 

Here in this passage, James uses Abraham, and later Rahab, as folks who exhibited the kind of faith God is looking for when he considers who will enter into his family, his kingdom. God has extended his invitation to all men and James is driving the point here that the kind of faith God looks for in people when they are confronted with the gospel is the kind that leads to action. If I say I have faith, yet fail to demonstrate it in my thoughts, words and actions, it won't be the kind of faith that will get me anywhere with God.

 

Abraham did get somewhere with God. He was a man of faith and his faith was manifested in his actions, what he did. James quotes Genesis 15:6 where we are told Abraham was credited with righteousness in his account before God. Righteousness is that standing with God where we are acceptable and embraced by him. It is the very standing before God that is required if we are to have any connection with God and be accepted into his family in the resurrection. What I marvel at is that Abraham was called "God's friend"!

 

Of all the folks on planet earth, God found that Abraham demonstrated in his life the faith he is looking for in people. The Scriptures are careful to point out that Abraham was not a perfect man. Indeed, we have accounts provided where Abraham was found to be devious and deceitful at times, Genesis 12:10-20 and Genesis 20:1-18.

 

We find in the life of Abraham the kind of faith God looks for in us. We also discover that faith does not make us perfect, Abraham wasn't and we are not either. However, Abraham was called "God's friend", James tells us. That tells me a lot about God.

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 5:15,

 

"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."

 

Every once in a while I turn on religious programming while watching TV. I wonder about myself sometimes as the experience is usually painful to me. The greatest source of my pain comes from seeing the Lord I love so much misrepresented or represented in a reprehensible way. Something, I'm sure, many of us feel from time to time. One way in which this happens is by those who claim to have great abilities given them from the Lord. Just send in your faith-promise pledge of $$$ and you can be healed! "We will pray for you, for your finances!" It is all done for your good... for God's good. They have the connection with God you don't and they have the ability to do things you can't. How did they get this from God? Why is there always a money connection to it all?

 

I find the account of Peter and John instructive here. In Acts, chapter 3, I read of a true miraculous healing that took place through Peter and John. A crippled man begged money from them as they were on the way to the temple. Peter and John, of course, had to walk, as they couldn't afford the Mercedes Benz our TV evangelists of today have. Peter told him they were broke, "silver or gold I do not have", verse 6. Then Peter took him by the hand, helped him up, completely healed! "What I have, I give you.". Through Peter the man was healed, "in the name of the Lord."

 

Peter and John were immediately thronged by astonished people. What Peter told the crowd is what I find instructive. He said, "Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" After speaking of the rejection of Jesus Christ by the people, Peter said, "It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see." Peter pointed out it wasn't anything within them that the healing took place. It was faith in the Lord. It was not about Peter or John. It is not about TV evangelists, it is not about me. It is about the Lord that the miraculous takes place. And, it takes place due to faith in him as we pray!

 

The Lord did the healing, not Peter or John. The Lord responded to the expression of faith and healed the man. If healing requires the involvement of some TV evangelist driving a Mercedes Benz with a diamond the size of a doorknob on his finger, then salvation can not come about without his involvement either. No, it is the Lord who saves, it is the Lord who may bring healing if he so chooses. It is the simple faith of those who embrace God that brings about either.

 

Here is my fascination in all of this: that my God, the Creator of all that exists, has within his heart the compassion and kindness to consider the heartfelt concerns of us all. Unlike the crowd in Acts 3, the astonishment for me is not that a healing took place. It is that our God so loves us and holds such a place in our hearts that when we ask for those things that concern us, if we approach him in faith, he hears us! And to think that he would actually subordinate his judgment, the consequences of mankind's sin and rebellion against him, to his love for us in Jesus Christ is something to really be astonished at!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: Rambling thoughts on God, faith and healing.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 5:13-16,

 

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

 

James has said much about faith in this letter. James informs us that faith gets tested, James 1:3. It is this testing which leads to maturity in our walk with the Lord. He has said that only those of faith will receive anything from God, as in the pursuit of wisdom, James 1:5-7. James tells us God has chosen those who are of faith, James 2:5, to inherit the kingdom he has promised. He has defined the kind of faith that God is looking for when he offers his invitation of salvation, James 2:14-26. There he tells us God is looking for the kind that leads to action, as with Abraham and Rahab. "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.", verse 18.

 

Here in James 5:13-16, James tells us that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick well. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." I used to think that if I could only pray with enough faith, I could persuade God to heal anyone. It had appeared to me that this is exactly what James was saying. There are many other passages in the Scriptures that appear to support that thought: The Lord told the woman who had an issue of bleeding for twelve years, "your faith has healed you.", when she was healed by touching his cloak. Matthew 9:22. Jesus told blind Bartimaeus, "Go... your faith has healed you.", Mark tells us, "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road." Mark 10:52. There are many examples in Scripture of faith having an impact on someone being healed by God, as well as relief from demon possession and other things. Paul speaks of gifts of healing from the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:9.

 

My further reading of the Scriptures, however, brought some maturity to my thinking. Where at first I was convinced that the prayer of a man of faith could always bring healing from God, I read of Paul's advice to Timothy, who had been suffering from stomach ailments, "frequent Illnesses". Paul told Timothy, "use a little wine". Why didn't Paul just pray for Timothy to bring healing to him? Why the medicinal advice? Then I read of Epaphroditus, a man the church in Philippi had sent to help Paul during his imprisonment, Philippians 2:19-30. He had become sick in his service to Paul, even to the point of death. Paul says God intervened, "had mercy on him". However, the event led Paul into such an anxious state that he hurriedly sent him back home. What was the source of Paul's anxiety? Epaphroditus had risked his life in his service to Paul on behalf of the church in Philippi. Clearly, Paul was anxious because he couldn't know the outcome of Epaphroditus' illness. If it was guaranteed that the prayer of a man of faith will always bring healing, Paul would have had no cause for anxiety.

 

From a very practical point of view, I know of no one, who has not otherwise met their death, who has not eventually succumbed to an illness. All die. If guaranteed healing was something God has committed himself to in behalf of those of faith, then either no one has had faith or the presumption upon God is unwarranted.

 

I have had to adjust my understanding from what I started with. Apparently, healing is not a guaranteed task that God performs every time when we ask him in faith. In the kindness of his glorious grace, God may grant healing, and, based on what James tells us here in his letter, a healing that would not otherwise occur were a faithful person not to pray. Often, it is the prayer of a faithful person that brings God's miraculous intervention of healing when it does occurs. But for us to presume upon God that he will automatically and always do the things we ask, even when we feel we have the appropriate level of faith, is the exact kind of presumption that James speaks against James 4:13-15:

 

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

 

The truth is that it is God's will we all die. There will be a few who will not experience death at the time of the Lord's coming, and of course, Enoch and Elijah didn't experience death. But generally speaking, even for those who have been received by God into his family, it is his will we die. If a violent end, as in an accident or whatever doesn't take us, illness eventually will. The prayer of a person of faith may postpone death or alleviate suffering, but in every case of miraculous healing, it is always subject to God's will. Never should we assume it is not our time God has decided to take us. And, as in the case of Job, who knows? God may be up to something we are not anticipating...

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Today's Worship: Enemies: God and the world.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 4:4,

 

"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

 

Here is a bold statement. One of the many wonderful things I love about Scripture is that it speaks the truth without concern for "political correctness" or bruising the sensitivities of anyone. Scripture speaks truth in boldness and lets the pieces fall where they may. Here James informs, I note he doesn't suggest or imply or suppose, that if we want to get into sync with the world, move with what moves the world, pursue what the world pursues... in his words, "chooses to be a friend of the world", we become God's enemy.

 

I am reminded of the "flip side" of this. Jesus told his disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:18-19. John tells us in 1 John 3:13, "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you."

 

It is apparent to me that there is a choice here and the choice is to embrace the world which brings God as our enemy or embrace God which will brings the world's hatred of us. The world hates God. Psalm 2:1-3 asks a great question, "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.'" Thus, the world falls under God's judgment - becomes an enemy of God.

 

The world chafes and struggles with the reality that God is our omnipotent Creator and seeks to displace him in its rebellion against him. The psalm goes on to provide God's response to the futile fussing of the world, "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'"

 

The reality is that God loves the world in spite of its hatred of him. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17.

 

God loves the world. The world hates God. If we chose to be a friend of the world we join the righteous judgment it has earned and become God's enemy. If we choose God we become an enemy of the world. We have a choice: Whose friend to we want to be? Whose enemy do we want to be?

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com