Spiritual Food

I intend to add a new message here, at least once a week.

These short articles are aimed at Christians, that is, persons who have accepted Jesus and what he did for them on the cross.  If you haven't done that, or you're not sure, check out the "Seeker's page." It will help you undestand the most personal and central theme of the Bible. See the "Seeker's page" button, above.

Other pages are totally open for you to use, promoting prayer for the Unreached Peoples.  Those pages are not covered by this following statement. 

All rights are reserved on material on this present page. 

You do have permission to send articles to friends, but not for publication. 

If you use an article for publication, the article must be accompanied by this statement:  "Reprinted with permission from:  www.prayforup.com   a website promoting congregational prayer for the 10,000 Unreached Peoples, 40% of the world's population."

But please ask me, Don, for the permission.

A prayer based on Psalm 33:18-21
January 4, 2009

 
Lord, I'm glad your eyes are on me constantly. I fear you, for your power is beyond anything I can understand. I know you are watching out for me for I am one of those who hope in your unfailing love. You deliver me from every threat. You will feed me, even if famine overtakes the land.

I wait for you. My hope is in you. I know you will never fail me. I take every action you suggest or command. You are my help and my shield of protection against the enemy.

Lord, my heart rejoices in you, for your love is unconditional. My performance is imperfect, but your love is steadfast.

I trust in your holy name.

 

Why worship?
December 17, 2008

Everyone worships. The reason is, we need something to give ourselves to, some thing or some one.
Of course some worship “the almighty dollar.” Many center their lives on their jobs, their work. Some are totally focused on their spouses or their families. Lots of people have an all-consuming hobby that has taken their hearts so completely they will hurt their families in order to devote themselves to their hobby.
Many have discovered, much to their joy, that God made them for himself, so they center their lives on him. Not that they do not stumble, but their walk is aimed at appreciating God and honoring him.
These have found they no longer worry about things. Their hearts are at peace because they know God is committed to them, to hold them by their right hand (Ps.73:23-26). They know he will guide them. And that afterwards he will take them into glory.
This is a deal no man can find in any other pursuit. Every other purpose for our lives will fail us, sooner or later.
Centering your life on God is worshiping him. We cannot truly say we worship God if our lives are actually centered on, or anchored into, something else.
Where is this written in the Scriptures? All over the book! John’s gospel has Jesus saying, over and over, but always in different words, if we trust him (fully) he gives us his gift of eternal life. “Trusting Jesus completely” is another way of saying, “centering your life on God.”
Strangely, we need each other to remind us of this important truth. It’s the central message of the Bible, but we slip out of awareness of it over the slightest distraction.
According to Pastor Rick Warren, this is why we go to church. “You need a church family” says Rick, “to help you center your life around God through worship.”
There’s the main thing. And the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.
Worship, centering on God, will take us out of the realm of worry and place us happily in the awareness of peace and joy, even the conscious presence of God.
Simple! But not easy. We need repeatedly to bring our hearts and minds around to the center, God himself!

Rick Warren on church and worship.
December 12, 2008

Here's something you may not know about worship. It's in a sermon by Pastor Rick Warren. Do Americans attend church as much as they attend sports events?  How can you tell if you're not worshiping God, and if you are?

 

Here's how to find the entire sermon, but you may need to print out the following five steps:

• First, click the link, ["Click here"... at the end of these instructions] but not until after you've read these instructions.
• Next, click on the picture of Pastor Rick Warren.
• Then, scroll down about four inches to the beginning of the sermon: "Why You Need a Church Family."
• When you have read down to the horizontal line, click the numeral "2" just below that line, to view the second segment of the pastor's sermon. By clicking the next numeral at the end of each segment, you can read the entire sermon.
• Now, Click here for Pastor Rick's interesting sermon .
   Enjoy...
    Don.    

Connecting with God
December 5, 2008

How do you handle the frustration? You are “in Christ,” as Paul tells us we are. Jesus has revealed the Father to you. Yet when you turn your spiritual eyes toward the Lord, to spend quality time with him, he seems not only distant, but not there at all!

Here are some thoughts you might consider, so you can better realize God is real, he is everywhere, he is interested in everything that concerns you, and wants to spend time with you! The considerations listed below will build up your faith so you can experience God’s presence.

1. Your desire to “meet with God” is interesting. It results from the fact that he made Adam, Eve and you in his image. It’s part of your nature to want to “see” him. He created you for this. He wants to manifest himself to you. He fashioned you so you would be able to respond to him. So your desire to be with him is from him, and he desires to relate to you. He wants you.

2. When Adam and Eve sinned, they put a twist into their own, and your, intellectual and emotional structure that made it difficult for you to get beyond that twist and into the Presence. Before their fall Adam and Eve did not have that problem. They walked with God in the garden.

3. God wants you to grow. You gain spiritual strength as you fight through obstacles that would prevent you from worshiping him. Bottom line: God is helping you enjoy him more. He is not trying to discourage you.

4. Some of the early writers referred to an experience of the presence of God that touched our emotions, calling it “consolation.” They warned us not to build our spiritual lives on it because it often seems to hide itself from us.

There is a “knowing” God is present that does not excite the soul, but satisfies it well nevertheless. It is a faith oriented knowing. We simply know God is present because he says so, without feeling the hilarious joy of it emotionally. We grab hold of our selves and force ourselves to hold to the fact of God’s presence, accepting it as absolutely true no matter how we feel about it.

With faith oriented knowing, we can dance if we want to. Whereas when we sense God’s presence emotionally, we almost “have to” dance!

Interestingly, if we do decide to dance, our emotions often follow, resulting in hilarious joy.

How to deal with the after-Christmas "blahs"
even though they're weeks away yet.
November 29, 2008

May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. Ps. 63:3.

Yes! Begin with Scripture. Jesus said we need to assimilate him (Jn.6:27-59). Ingest his Word. Memorize the above verse as a sort of cleanser that will drown the "blahs" and leave you soaring far above the pettiness and emptiness of materialism and worldliness.

Here's how the amplified renders that verse: Let them (the righteous) be in high spirits and glory before God, yes, let them (jubilantly) rejoice!

If you're feeling down because things are dull or disappointing, you can change that! Believe it. It's true for those who have received the gift of Jesus own righteousness, his eternal life. Simply command yourself to be glad and rejoice before God.

King David encouraged himself in the Lord. And so must we. Regardless of how we're feeling, the fact is, God is our Rock! Jesus has saved us! The joy of the Lord is our strength!

Let me exhort you, then. Get "into" this. Speak aloud to the Lord. Thank him aloud for three things.  Mention some details of what he did, praising him for his wonderful love.

You will be rejoicing before you finish!

Take this path of recovery now, if Thanksgiving Day left you with some ugly emotional aftermath. But come back to it again after Christmas. As time goes on, we remember more and more the beautiful details of our childhood. This makes the disappointing aspects of our grumpiness more poignant, and our feelings can hurt... until we acknowledge before God, the utterly magnificent aspects of what we have in Jesus!

Next week, I hope to give you a list of verses that will bring those magnificent aspects into the forefront of your thinking.

Have you wondered why Jesus was so adamant about "eating" and "drinking" his glorious self, taking him into our spirit, into our very self? It's not for his glory only, but for our sanity, for our joy, our "soaring," our abundance of life!

Live with a flourish!
November 27, 2008

You are doing that if you are born again and seeking after God. If you don’t experience it enough, it might be related to how deeply you absorb the Word of God!
Psalm 52:8. But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

We like the idea of being like a tree, especially an olive tree. We like to think God has caused us to become like one!
They send their roots down into solid ground. They go for the water. This is symbolic of what we want to be. We want to get our spiritual grounding from the reliable Word of God. The water (the Holy Spirit) is there in abundance. We do persist in digging down for it, with some passion, though not for long periods of time, perhaps.

But an olive tree! Olives are especially meaningful. Olive oil signifies the Holy Spirit. Olives garnish our salads and add nutritional value. The Holy Spirit brings out the spiritual nourishment of the Word of God for our souls, giving us added joy and strength.

My soul will be fed as with the richest of foods. Therefore my lips will glorify you!

It’s so easy to feel dejected over one thing or another. If we are not lifted out of ourselves we will find ourselves descending into hopelessness, self-pity and rejection. It’s unusual for God to use us for his purposes and his glory while we’re in that condition.

I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. This is what the Christian walk is all about! Without faith it is impossible to please God.

The one way to find security on earth, the way to assure yourself you are deep into God, is to renew your trust in him frequently. That’s where the joy is! So tell God frequently, your trust is in him. You are not trusting in people, though you love people, but you are relying on him to do what he says he will do in his Word.

Renew your trust in God by meditating on passages of Scripture that you find especially nourishing.

There’s nothing wrong with your benefiting from the Word through another person. God feeds me much to meditate on from books by Tozer, “Eldredge and Willard. Preachers help us. We thank God for them!

Heaven will be a magnificent continuation, or completion, of what we experience here when we live in the attitude of heart, the mindset we call trust.

Verses that help us…
Flourish like an olive tree!

Memorize at least some of these. Of course, your needs differ some from everyone else’s.
Below, I give a brief description of each selection.

Eph.1:13,14. We are his possession, to the praise of his glory.
Ps.16:5-11. God has arranged for an abundant life for each of us.
Ps.84:10-12. A spectacular description of God’s wondrous blessings for us who love him.

Ps.63:1-8. How satisfying is God’s love for us! Of course we want to bless him!

Col.3:1-4. This is how we stay close to him, and why.

Ps.73:23-26. He will take us to be with him forever!

One or two of these selections will restore your sanity after a tough day, making it easy for you to relax and enjoy his presence. Or to fall asleep in his loving arms.

The Lord is our life!
October 13, 2008

When we study who God is, it affects us profoundly. Our way of thinking about him changes.

Realizing his sovereignty over all of his creation, and his unlimited power, we might tend to think we should keep out his way, and not bother him with our small concerns… and compared with his greatness, our concerns are all small, very small.

On the other hand, we might react to him very differently. We might decide all we want is to be with him, to be praising him, to be worshiping him, thrusting ourselves upon him, trusting him with our every concern, big or small.

Of course this second one is the reaction God intends for us who know him. We are fully aware he is our Father, our benefactor, the one who changes us into a closer image of himself. He sent his only Son to reveal the Father to us more completely, and to give his life for us, to save us from eternal loss.

Imagine the apostle John coming to our neighborhood. Would he not be amazed at our preoccupation with the trappings of modern-day life? He would probably sit us down and convince us we would be far more joyful if we were far more involved in God and the things of God.

Perhaps he would try to get some of us to become “John the Baptists,” prophets who would exhort the rest of us to grow deeper into spiritual things. They would continually cry out to us to know God better, and then they would return to their prayer closets to worship their eternal Lover, the One and only God Almighty.

The prophets were in fact close to the Lord in that way. They did perceive spiritual realities as the only eternal values, and the only “things” worth holding onto. God was their “life.”

De.30:19,20   Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In the New Testament Jesus tells us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Paul tells us the same: When Jesus who is your life appears, you also will appear with him in glory (Col.3:4).

Does this mean we are on a wrong path? Each of us should occasionally ask himself if he is over- evaluating the peripheral aspects of life, giving inadequate time and focus to the eternal.

One thing is certain about the Church in America… in my opinion. We need more focus on the Church’s number-two priority (second to worship): the eternal salvation of the Unreached Peoples!

There is an opportunity for a ministry for you on this website! Click on: "Your Options," at the top of every page.  For more information, email me:
don@prayforup.com
God could use you and me to change something that has remained unchanged for 2000 years, the plight of 40% of the world’s population… more than two billion lost souls!
 

October 7, 2008

I felt the Lord wanted to speak these...

Words to encourage you:

Loved One,

You delight me when you bow your heart before me. You open your soul to my influence.

I can shape you then. I can transform your inner person. I can imbed deep within your being the attitudes of my own heart. I can lift you to higher levels of willingness to be renewed.

This brings a diminishing of those desires , those traces of personality, those lines of character that are unlike mine, and a firming-up of those qualities that please me.

You trust me most when you open yourself to me in worship. You surrender to me. You honor me. You glorify me. You accept what I do with you, in you, and through you.

You delight in me... and I in you!

In your presence
is fullness of joy!
See Ps.16:11          September 30, 2008  
  

Father,   

I leap now into your presence to be with you, to be aware of you.

I see your splendor, impossible to see. I know you. You who are impossible to know completely. You don’t need me. You are self-sufficient.
You are real. You were, when nothing else existed. Your realness needs no explanation. Your magnificence brings a warmth to my soul, causing my heart to sing contentedly, in your wondrous presence.

You do not force me to admire you. I am drawn into that with a gentle touch of your tenderness. I worship you, not because I see that I should, but because I am satisfied only when I do. I glorify you in my mind and heart, and the result is I am changed. I worship you and I become whole, balanced. I cherish you and I benefit wonderfully.

Everything about you that my spirit has come to know creates for me a sweet aroma that seems to surround you. It actually affects me. Nothing about me can affect you in any way, except to add to your external glory, but everything I learn about you changes me deeply, and, I pray, forever.

You have caused him [David] to be blessed and a blessing eternally. You filled him with the joy of being in your presence. (Psalm 21:6. paraphrase)





What’s it like to have …
No limits?
September 17, 2008

Hindus are surely entitled to our sympathy, and our sincere prayers. They have many problems, and they can turn only to gods made of stone, or clay, or wood. Some worship elements of nature such as animals and water.

Our God is infinite. He’s the only one who is limitless! This reality is very reassuring for us when we find we are in a situation where we can only rely on God to save us, because we have no power to save ourselves.

Not so for the Hindu, the Buddhist, the atheist. We can add, the Muslim, but we keep in mind, the Muslim does believe God is one, and the Creator of the universe! This sounds like Yahweh, Father God.

However, Allah is too different in his words, his apparent attitudes, and his personality, to be confused with the all-loving God of the Bible.

God is timeless. He sees now, the beginning of time, and the end. He is not rushed. He already has at hand the creative idea he will put into action for every need that will arise.

And so, we relax in his arms. We can with assurance wait for his intervention. It will not be a moment late, or just a mite lacking in power.

There are countless angels waiting for his gesture. They are ready to help us. They will know exactly what to do. They will never fail in wisdom, because he will direct them.

For the unbeliever, time is the worst of all his enemies. Time is the one thing that will defeat him in the end. When his time runs out he’s left with nothing. All his treasures will belong to another. All his pleasures will cease. He will then enter an eternal death that is the worst state for any soul, a living death without God, suffering which he himself has chosen. It will be the extension of the Christless life he chose on earth.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (Jn.17:3

We really do want to get the gospel to the Unreached Peoples of the earth who are presently isolated from that message!

Sin is the product of man in his disobedience to God. It is finite. It is limited in its dominance and its power. But God’s mercy is boundless, limited only by God’s will regarding its distribution.

When we pray that God’s mercy extend to the Unreached Peoples, we are asking God to save them in his mercy, his grace, his creativity.

We can intercede, so that the knowledge of the Savior will reach to the lost, through a sovereign work of God, like dreams and visions. Through the hearts and lips of missionaries whom we direct with our prayer into those harvest fields most needing the gospel!
God intends and wills that all be saved. There is no limit to his love. Like his mercy, his love is not a part of himself, or something he possesses. Love is who God is!

We are operating within the realm of that love when we pray. In several Psalms, the Holy Spirit has us commanding the Unreached Peoples to believe and to worship God. [Ps.96:1-9; 98:4-6; Ps.100; Ps.117] We are actually ordering the salvation of Unreached Peoples.

We do that when we pray:
Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name [among the 10,000 Unreached Peoples]. Thy kingdom come [among those tribes who have not heard]. Thy will [that they enter the kingdom] be done!

An amazing picture of God and us!
Ephesians 5:29-33 [NIV]
September 9, 2008

After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

John Eldredge expresses our utter amazement well, when he puts these verses alongside portions of the Song of Solomon that tell in more vivid details of the intimacy God is seeking with us, his Bride. Here is a brief summary. Eldredge treats this so much better, along with other delightful matters of the heart, in his book, “The Journey of Desire.”

The human desire to have someone as your lifetime partner in marriage is from God. It is holy. It emanates from God’s nature as lover. In creating us, he implanted a desire to relate to others. This desire is itself within the nature of God. In God there is, and always has been, a passionate desire for intimacy. The three Divine Persons have it, each Person with each of the others. God made us so each Person can have intimacy with us, and us with him.

All of this is part of the truth: God made us in his image.

God wanted to have children, so he created us with the desire for intimacy.

This desire is gratified to a delightful degree in marriage. Our deeper gratification is in God, here and now, as we fellowship with him. Eternity has even more for us!

Humans typically misunderstand this desire, and go searching for satisfaction in wrong places. We are determined to arrange our lives so we will be happy. Not knowing what we really need, we seek “things,” instead of seeking God. Our Father pursues us, withholding things that would hurt us, and drawing us to himself where we will find profound joy.

The astounding truth is: the wonderful intimacy we discover in marriage is God’s picture, intended to show us what he is offering to us, his Bride, if we will accept him into our lives, and seek him with all our hearts.

If you’re single, God wants this same relationship with you. The “picture” may not be as clear for you as it is for one who has experienced the intimacy of marriage. But your Father’s desire for you is just as passionate.

We will see, understand and enjoy this intimacy more and more deeply, forever in heaven.

The Life!
September 6, 2008

Jesus had been speaking to the crowd who loved to listen to his wonderful teachings. Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Jesus said to him, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

We learn in John 14:6, Jesus is our life! He himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life! And on another occasion, I am the resurrection and the life!

How totally inaccurate it is to say or to think, “My job is my life.” Or, “My ministry is my life.”
Paul wrote, When Jesus, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory! (Col.3:4)
This is worth meditating about. We do well to accept it, in a very absolute sense, because it is far deeper than beautiful poetry. It is, or it must become, the truth we live by.

If we have given our heart to the Lord, there is no place else to “hang our hat.” Everything else will disappoint us.

The world tells us to live for ourselves. “Look out for number one.” But those who walk by that principle soon find they are not satisfied.

Our institutions of higher learning have abandoned any declaration of conduct as right or wrong. This causes students to follow a “Me first!” lifestyle. The result is our youth ar sund into a quagmire of self-indulgence and self-hatred.

But for us and our households, we have decided our life is Jesus. Following him, loving him, glorifying him, enjoying the fact that we belong to him, that we bear his seal of ownership, that we consider the interests of others,… this is our life. Thank God!

God knows how to enrich our lives, making them truly abundant. Jesus came to give us such lives. He himself is our life!




He alone is holy!
September 3, 2008

He alone is holy, and worthy. He deserves the glory, Jesus alone. How majestic is his name in all the earth!

We love the fact that he is here, as close to us as the air we inhale! We are astounded that he knows us, and everything about us, perfectly. We know him, too, but only in a very limited way.

How beautiful he is! Perfect in all his ways. He doesn’t just meet the standard of perfect goodness, he is the standard. Only he is perfect.

It’s wonderful how he derives glory for himself from his dealings with us. We know he does everything he does for the perfect reason, that is, for his glory. He cannot act for any reason but the perfect reason, the glory of God.

And yet, everything he does benefits his worshipers.

We realize that when we try to do something to glorify him, it benefits us, usually immediately. For example, when we worship him with all our heart, we feel great! Especially when we use scriptural body motions like raising our hands in the air, or dancing before him.

Worship implies a total surrendering of ourselves. This trust pleases him, but it also rejuvenates us. It makes us feel safe in his arms.

Somehow, it causes us to feel effective. We feel we have accomplished something important. We feel we are important. We are people who can bring joy to the heart of almighty God!

He has made us for most exalted purposes: for himself, and for his glory!

To comment on anything on this website, click the "Blog" button at the top of this page, or email me. Don.

The Wondrous
Excellence of God

September 1, 2008


Jb.37:23. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

Ps.8:1. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Is.12:5. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.

Is.28:29. …the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.

Ex.15:11. "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD ? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders.


Humankind naturally have moments of lucidity when we hunger after God. Often it happens to the unsaved when they become alert to the fact that in this life, other humans disappoint us. These hungry souls would love to believe in a kingdom ruled by a beneficent monarch who constantly loves and cares for his subjects. They love stories about “Camelot.”

For the saved ones, the hunger could occur anytime, for our hearts are more in-tune with the Holy Spirit. It’s easy for him to give us desires for more of God in our lives.

We benefit from Scriptures like those quoted above. They feed that hunger. They reassure us of things we know about God, but wonder if they are too good to be true.

There is no room for doubt, for the believer, that God invites us into, and constantly empowers us for, genuine and soul-stirring worship.

He even welcomes the unsaved who sincerely call on him in their hunger, or in distress over some crisis. He will show himself powerful on such occasions.

Many believers experience little of gripping, intimate worship. They find it in some churches, but never at home, at work, or waiting for a bus.

If you know him, you have ready access to him, much like the children of the ruler of any powerful nation. You may think it is as impossible as flying off the earth and into the sky. But the simple fact is, we believers can all “soar” into worship.

The unsaved are keenly aware of their unworthiness. No one is worthy of anything from God. He gives freely because of his unconditional love. God’s priority for the unbeliever is to draw him into the kingdom, into a trust relationship. As believing humans, already reborn into his kingdom, we are accepted because of what Jesus did. We know our good works are not good enough to save us. [Our good works will be rewarded in heaven.]

Jesus proclaims several times in the first half of the Book of John, this astounding message: If you believe in me, I give you eternal life, life in the kingdom.

Once we believe in him, trusting him and all he says, we have that gift, eternal life. We have access. We can soar. That is, we can leap into his presence and worship him, appreciating not only what he has done, but who he is!

Worship is the natural consequence of knowing him.

While it seems like “leaping into his presence,” it is really merely becoming aware that he is here… everywhere, and letting your heart dance with delight in the contemplation of his glorious natue. "Do I not fill the heaven and the earth?"

I suggest we leap into his presence often in worship. Spiritually speaking, it’s good exercise! Yet it requires no effort, no struggle, no strife. But it does require us to focus. Some call it “centering” on God.

Someone has said, the greatest act of faith is to be in the presence of God without talking to him. He knows what you need, so just trust him.

“What about dancing?” you ask. You have heard, some people dance in church, physically. They are radical. Isn’t there such a thing as going too far?

I say, by all means, go ahead and dance! Why not? There’s a lot to celebrate. Celebrate his goodness. His loving kindness is better than life! But not in a church where it is not done. Otherwise we would distract our more somber brethren from their less exuberant but sincere focus on the Father.

If it’s acceptable to cheer at a football game, it’s okay to dance before the Lord! David did, and he even told his indignant wife, he wasn’t going to change that!

I’ll tell you what I think, for whatever it’s worth. I think God is always dancing. He rejoices over us with singing, according to Zephaniah. 

Zephaniah 3:17 (King James Version)
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing

God is active. He’s always working on our behalf. He looked at what he had made and he saw that it was good. Are you sure he didn’t dance?

I will pretend to know him more intimately than I really do, and I will boldly make this statement: God dances all the time! (See Zep.3:17, above)
"Rejoice" means to spin around with violent emotion.

Let’s talk further about it when we meet in heaven. Meanwhile, deep within our souls, let us cling to him. His right hand upholds us! (See Ps.63:8).

We need to talk about worship. If you don’t worship God, you will find dancing before him an empty ritual. Come to think of it, if you do worship, you don’t need anyone to tell you to dance. You’re already dancing, at least on the inside.

.

 The Life!
August 27, 2008

Jesus had been speaking to the crowd of people who loved to listen to his wonderful teachings. Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
 
Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Jesus said to him, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

We learn in John 14:6, Jesus himself is our life! He himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life! And on another occasion, I am the resurrection and the life!

How totally inaccurate it is to say or to think, “My life is my job.” Or, “My life is my ministry.”
Paul wrote, When Jesus, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory! (Col.3:4)

This is worth meditating about. We do well to accept it, in a very absolute sense, because it is far deeper than beautiful poetry. It is, or it must become, the truth we live by. If we have given our heart to the Lord, there is no place else to “hang our hat.” Everything else will disappoint us.
The world tells us to live for ourselves. “Look out for number one.” But those who walk by that principle soon find they are not satisfied.

Our institutions of higher learning have abandoned any declaration of conduct as right or wrong. This causes students to follow a “Me first!” lifestyle. The result is, our youth are sunk into a quagmire of self-indulgence and self-hatred.

But for us and our households, we have decided our life is Jesus. Following him, loving him, glorifying him, enjoying the fact that we belong to him, that we bear his seal of ownership, that we consider the interests of others,… this is our life. Thank God!

God knows how to enrich our lives, making them truly abundant. Jesus came to give us such lives. He himself is our life!

Oh! He loves us!
8/23/08

Good people without God can rely on others for their sense of worth. But it’s a house of cards! The esteem collapses when people, even close family, come to know or believe something negative about the unbeliever.

How different the picture is for the believer, if he knows the Word of God. His significance comes from the Ultimate Source, Truth himself. Not “truth” with a small “t,” not changeable truth that can be falsehood when we awaken next morning to discover our earthly philosophy has just been disavowed by its founder. Our Source is absolute Truth!

If we understand why God created us, and how he desires to relate to us, we know who we are. We are his possession, sealed with his seal of ownership, the Holy Spirit.

We are his children, his friends, his dearly beloved. In John chapter 17 we can find over a dozen things Jesus says about us that clearly show how God esteems those who are connected to him by faith, who are related to him by grace.

God’s esteem is based on what Jesus imparted to us, which he won for us on the cross. It is nothing less than eternal life, the very life of God himself! We can never lose that life, for it is eternal. We can wane in our realization and appreciation for that life, by neglecting the things of the Spirit of God, but we can never lose that life.

Elsewhere, God actually uses metaphors from the love relationship of a man and his wife to show us how he esteems us, how he desires our hearts, our willing affection.

When the Holy Spirit wants to speak to men about how to love their wives in Ephesians 5:25-33 he says, “the two will become one flesh” (v.31). This is the ultimate expression of intimate union. Then God immediately says, “This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church” (v.32)

When we steep ourselves in the Word, especially parts of the Word where God speaks about his relationship with the believer whose heart is centered on him, we are overwhelmed. How could so magnificent a Person (or better, a Trinity of Persons) look upon man with such awe-inspiring descriptions, such superlative word pictures? How could God be so in love with mere men and women?

God responds to us when we surrender our hearts fully to him, when we allow ourselves to relate to him like a smitten lover. God truly is taken with us, each one of us, as our hearts melt before him, looking upon him with our spiritual eyes, and “seeing” his strength, his loveliness, his beauty, his holiness, his infinite power, his magnificent glory, and the grace and delight of his kingdom.

He [the Lord] will joy over thee with singing! Zeph.3:17.
I [the Lord] have loved you with an everlasting love. Jer.31:3.
I am my beloved’s [the Lord’s] and he is mine. His banner over me is love. Song 2:16,4.
For thou hast created all things… for thy pleasure. Rev.4:11 kjv.

God says to us, “I know you cannot earn relationship with me as my very own son, daughter, my prized possession. Just trust me fully, and I will give you that relationship as a gift. I’ll cleanse your heart, making it white as snow. When you fall, admit you are wrong and I will forgive you. I will be the center of your heart and life, and you will be with me now and forever.”

Some say, “I cannot trust God to do that for me. I’ve been too rotten!”

The Scripture says, in so many words, “Because I am so rotten, the only way I could have eternal life is as a gift. I could never deserve it!”

If you understand and accept what you have read here, you know God is the only source of genuine self-esteem. His view of us is not an opinion. It is rock-solid, eternal fact! We can relax about how others see us. It’s irrelevant.

God’s wonderful covenant is called “grace!” Unmerited favor! We don’t deserve his esteem. We cannot earn it. When we admit this and embrace what Jesus did for us, salvation is his gift to us.
Let’s thank him. Enthusiastically, and often!

Let’s enjoy his freedom! The freedom of loving God, though we can never be worthy. Let’s enjoy this grace. But above all, lets worship the Lover. Let’s walk with him. Let’s center our lives upon him with much joy, and focus on him.

He is worthy!

  An amazing picture of God and us!
August 1, 2008

Ephesians 5:29-33 [NIV]
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

John Eldredge expresses our utter amazement well, when he puts these verses alongside portions of the Song of Solomon that tell in more vivid details of the intimacy God is seeking with us, his Bride. Here is a brief summary. Eldredge treats this so much better, along with other delightful matters of the heart, in his book, “The Journey of Desire.”

The human desire to have someone as your lifetime partner in marriage is from God. It is holy. It emanates from God’s nature as lover. In creating us, he implanted a desire to relate to others. This desire is itself within the nature of God. In God there is, and always has been, a passionate desire for intimacy. The three Divine Persons have it, each Person with each of the others. God made us so each Person can have intimacy with us, and us with him.

All of this is part of the truth: God made us in his image.

God wanted to have children, so he created us with the desire for intimacy.

This desire is gratified to a delightful degree in marriage. Our deeper gratification is in God, here and now, as we fellowship with him. Eternity has even more for us!

Humans typically misunderstand this desire, and go searching for satisfaction in wrong places. We are determined to arrange our lives so we will be happy. Not knowing what we really need, we seek “things,” instead of seeking God. Our Father pursues us, withholding things that would hurt us, and drawing us to himself where we will find profound joy.

The astounding truth is: the wonderful intimacy we discover in marriage is God’s picture, intended to show us what he is offering to us, his Bride, if we will accept him into our lives, and seek him with all our hearts.

If you’re single, God wants this same relationship with you. The “picture” may not be as clear for you as it is for one who has experienced the intimacy of marriage. But your Father’s desire for you is just as passionate.

We will see, understand and enjoy this intimacy more and more deeply, forever in heaven.

Worship God Most High!

July 11, 2008

How do I worship you?

Why do I worship you?

I praise you for what you have done. You saved us. You gave my beautiful Love to me, such an incredible gift! You gave us our boys. How magnificent! And our grandchildren. How spectacular, how splendid beyond words!

You are magnificent beyond my understanding. Beyond my wildest dreams. There is no one in heaven or on earth like you!

You are from everlasting to everlasting. I cannot understand that! You know me perfectly. You know everything completely, every detail about every ingredient of your wondrous creation!

You love us unconditionally! No one else can do that. I cannot lose your love. You never change. Your perfections are eternal. Because I have given my heart to you, I am secure in your arms. Surely your love is the most unfathomable, the most unimaginable of all your attributes!

And you are self-sufficient, needing no one and nothing. Yet you freely chose to create me because you wanted me for your own possession. You have sealed me with your seal of ownership, the Holy Spirit, your eternal self!

You have declared yourself my “portion.” My joy overwhelms me. You are mine. It is not enough to satisfy your love that I belong to you completely, such a benefit to me. No! You give yourself to me as well!

All the idols men cherish combined cannot total the tiniest fraction of the glorious Wonder you are!

What can I say but “Thank you”? My limitations cause me to fall on my knees before you and, in the silence of pondering all this, allow me only to say again, “Thank you, O God of my heart, God who is my portion forever!”

Why churches do not pray for
the Unreached Peoples.
June 9, 2008

When Jesus had ascended into heaven, and after the Holy Spirit descended upon the one hundred twenty in the upper room, the Church burst into life with magnificent energy.

They understood well that their lives were all about God and about being his worshipers, his love slaves.  They were thrilled to know they were God’s possession, sealed for his ownership. That seal was the Holy Spirit of God!  With all this and more going for them, they told others about the Lord with great enthusiasm.

They were excited in the knowledge: God lived in them. He was their glory and the lifter of their head. He held them by their right hand. They were honored that God trusted them to bring others into the kingdom.

Over time, their energy for reaching all the Gentile people groups waned. Gradually, over the centuries, as the gospel spread, Unreached Peoples were farther and farther geographically removed from the awareness of the flourishing Church. Pastors became more focused on showing their followers how great it is to have God’s wonderful blessings in their lives.

At some point in time, pastors became more and more convinced that, as they focused on helping people change their self-destructive attitudes into attitudes that contributed to their joy, peace and love, the bigger their church attendance became.

Eventually, worshipers who felt the call of God to go to the Unreached Peoples began to form groups called mission associations or societies. Now, most of our mission frontline work is accomplished by effective mission organizations, parachurch organizations. “Para” means “coming alongside.”  The mission orgs came alongside the churches, taking up the Church's responsibility for the Unreached Peoples.

Many churches take offerings for missionaries. Very few churches send missionaries because they have no arrangements for keeping such missionaries accountable. This is generally left to the mission organizations whose purpose is to reach the Unreached Peoples.

This is how it came about that the people in the pews do not know much about frontier missions. Believers love missionaries and give generously to their work and their personal support.
Even if your church has an active missions agenda, chances are, few if any in your church know that 2.4 billion individuals in 10,000 people groups have little or no gospel penetration. Probably few of them know, 90% of all missionaries go where there are already many missionaries. Only 10% go where there are no believers.

The result is, believers generally are not praying for the salvation of those billions beyond our present reach.  If there is a group of believers who pray for specific people groups in your church, yours is a very exceptional church. Very few churches pray together on Sunday morning that the Unreached Peoples be reached with the gospel.

Pray with genuine desire that his name be hallowed, that his kingdom come, that his will (salvation) be done, among an entire Unreached People.  You might not find it easy to convince your pastor he should lead the congregation in prayer for them, but you yourself can make it part of your own personal prayer life!

I'm convinced this is what God is waiting for.  He gave us the task of reaching them.  He will undertake to sweep around our efforts if enough of us ask him to.

If you’d like to get involved, even if only for a short time, let me know: don@prayforup.com.

God Cares.
A message for believers.
June 7, 2008
NOTE:  If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, he cares for you and is knocking at the door of your heart.  If you open to him, he will come into your heart and live with you!  He died for you.  You were created with free will so you could choose him.  Click on the "Seeker's page" button for more about this.
 

In today’s world people are very busy. They fill their lives with all kinds of activities, trying to satisfy the emptiness they feel inside. Even Christians sometimes use business or busyness to try to find a “cure” for the loneliness they sometimes feel.

We all have times when we feel lonely. At these times we are vulnerable to the lies of the enemy of our souls. Sometimes we go searching for solutions in the wrong places

The Bible tells us Satan comes to rob, to kill and to destroy. We need to be aware of his devices.
When we feel lonely he will try to plant his lies in our mind. Because you have placed your faith in Jesus, trusting him for your salvation, admitting you cannot save yourself, Jesus gave you the gift of eternal life.  Satan hates that and tries to get you to doubt that you really belong to God and that he cares for you deeply.

I want us to look at that lie and then see what the truth is, according to the Word Of God.  Satan’s lies always contradict, or at least twist, what God says.

This is probably Satan's favorite lie: “You’re alone and no one really cares about you”.

Now, you may feel at times that you are alone, but the truth is you’re not. You are never alone. Hebrews 13:5-6 says God will never leave us nor forsake us. Psalm 73:23 has the psalmist Asaph singing to the Lord: I am always with you.

In Acts, Paul explains to the Aeropagus, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

His presence is always with us. We’ve given our lives to him . We are grafted into His family. He has anointed us and placed his seal of ownership on us, the Holy Spirit.

We can counteract lies with the truth. When we feel lonely we can take the word of God and use it against the enemy and encourage ourselves. We can declare, “I am not alone. God is present with me!”

Take a deep breath. Let it out. Now you could not see the air that you breathed but nevertheless you believed it was there when you took that breath. God is that close to us. Even closer if that’s possible. Like the air, he is invisible to our physical eyes, but we know He is not a liar. He is always with us.

We are never alone!

God is better than we think.
May 20, 2008

Better than we can even imagine.

Some who don’t know God will tell you, “God isn’t that good! You’ll see. He’ll get you for what you did. As if God’s nature is less loving, lower on the scale of loving kindness, than we think. We all know God is greater than we can imagine. His attributes are not in the human average range. And we may think they are in the excellent range. That’s a nice thought, but it isn’t adequate. God is not only excellent, he is far beyond anything we can experience or imagine.

So, when we speak of the love of God as being overwhelming, we are not exaggerating. God is higher in every aspect of his being, than anyone’s highest idea of what he is like.

He is not looking for opportunities to punish you. Jesus paid it all.

You cannot spoil his plan for you, if your heart is right. He overrides your mistakes and gets you back on track.

If you've given yourself to the Lord, your heart is right . It’s not wicked. That description is for the unregenerate heart. Mary Magdalene’s tears and foot-washing were acceptable because her heart was transformed. Her heart was good now.

People might see you with all your shortcomings. Don’t look to people for your sense of approval, your sense of purpose, of significance. God sees you as you will become. And because your heart is right, he is rejoicing over you with singing (Zeph.3:17). Your importance is firmly established in the heart of God!

One certain man on drugs was about to take his own life. He had lost respect for himself. He felt he was a total failure. He was “high,” and disheveled. He looked like a mess. He decided to go into a church. The usher brought him to the front row, reserved for staff.

He couldn’t remember anything he heard, but he could not forget the feelin

In his gospel, John records Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in plain terms about many things that offended them. One went something like this. “How can you believe, when you value what men think of you as more important than what God thinks of you?”

We know the Pharisees, by enlarge, did not believe in him. They couldn’t! They were too concerned about their image! They wanted the praise of men. They were willing to go on living without God’s approval!

I remember when I first became serious about worship in church? It was embarrassing to lift my hands higher than a few inches. Even while singing phrases like, “I lift my hands unto thy name.”

Why the embarrassment? Because, well, what would people think?
I didn’t want people to think I was fanatical.

But one day, I decided I no longer care what anyone thought. I lifted my hands in worship of the great and only God of all creation! And when I did, something happened deep within me. I’ve always thought it was just a very liberating experience. It was. But judging by the words of Jesus, it was at that moment, I began to live life more deeply. By deciding I would worship God freely and openly no matter what the cost, I began to believe on a level, a depth, I had never experienced before!

With the unbelieving Pharisees, Jesus revealed the fact that their pride, their seeking honor from men, was an obstacle to belief. Surely for us who believe, that desire for man’s approval would be an obstacle to a deeper belief, a full acceptance of Jesus as Lord.

Pride can keep us from a total commitment to worshiping God no matter what anyone would think or say about it. The most profound joy comes when we abandon our pride and focus on the One who alone is holy, who alone is worthy. God himself deserves the glory.

Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Ex.15:11.