Let’s talk about TREASURE

People with money in the stock market have experienced big losses in recent weeks.  The best investors think long-term. I am far from being a financial wizard, but I understand that I cannot allow every downturn make me change my investments.  If the portfolio is diverse and includes solid companies, as an investor I must be willing to stick with the the up’s and down’s over the long term.

Serving Jesus Christ must be viewed as a long-term investment! If that sounds selfish to you, please keep reading. Moses knew the end of his life was approaching, so he called the elders of Israel together to review the Law for Israel. His words are recorded in the final chapters of Deuteronomy. He says –  "If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world." (Deuteronomy 28:1, The Message)  "All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe." (Deuteronomy 28:10, The Message) 
 

Christians love and revere the Lord God accepting His merciful grace and goodness. As we invite the Holy Spirit to lead us, He cause us to experience that “life to the full”  that Jesus said He came to provide for those who follow Him.

Did I hear you object? Did you say,  “But, I know Christians who are suffering. I know people who really love the Lord who are going through very tough times.” And, so do I! So, is God’s promise true or not? 

It is but the blessings we enjoy are like the investing in the stock market– they are realized over the long term!  We cannot walk with the Lord one week and then say, “Where’s the blessings?”  The godly are part of a world where evil people do things that cause suffering for the godly and ungodly alike. Godly people suffer along with the rest of the world in times of war, when pandemic causes economic chaos, and when family members forsake the Lord and drag their sin home. 

But, Jesus points out that  “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." (Matthew 7:23-25, NIV)  Those who stay faithfully close to the Lord through it all are blessed with a security that reaches into eternity.

A word of caution here -  we must not to begin to believe that we can manage God by doing all the “right stuff” so that He is obligated to produce the life for us that we think we deserve.  It is a religious trap to think that it is our goodness that makes God bless us. It is such a subtle deception; and the Devil delights in letting us wander into that place.  When we think, “it’s all about me” we make the wonderful life of those who are graciously godly into an ugly parody, increasingly absorbed with trivial matters. Over time we create a long list of rules that hides the beauty of the grace of God from us and in us!  Knowing the peace of God, the assurance of salvation, the hope of eternal life grows in us as we keep step with the Spirit. A life of love, filled with forgiveness, that seeks peace sows seeds that bring us a harvest of things far more valuable than the trinkets money can buy.

Disciple, love Jesus!
Invest yourself in Him, pursue Him.
Don’t fixate on the up’s and down’s of life.  Only God knows why the trials and joys of each day are allowed to come our way. Invest in Him for the long-term.

Here’s a word from the Word. May it be both a caution and encouragement for you today.

"Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest.
The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!— harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds!

But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith." (Galatians 6:7-10, The Message)

Are you investing your life wisely, laying up treasure in Heaven that is beyond loss?

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How I Need You

Every day in Your hands

You were there before time began

Sovereign one I rest in Your plan

From the depths to the dawn

You are there Your promise is strong

I will trust with all that I am

Jesus Jesus oh how I need You

You stay the same

You are good in Your ways

Jesus Jesus oh how I need You

You are enough

All my trust is in You Lord

You fashioned me formed my heart

Search my soul and know every thought

Love so great but never too far

And through the storm You're the calm

And every war You've already won

Life secure in Your loving arms

You are powerful God above it all

I believe in You I believe in You

You do miracles the impossible

I believe in You I believe in You

Bethany Phillips | Chris Griffin | Micah Massey | Nicole McLean

© 2018 Highlands Creative Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

Let’s talk about being GODLY

Many of us are ready to get back to ‘normal,’ aren’t we?  Thousands took the streets in Michigan yesterday to express their desire to get the world moving again. The enforced isolation is not ‘natural’ causing us to feel disconnected. We are not always all that comfortable being left alone with our thoughts, are we? The routines of life can carry us from day to day, helping us to avoid much reflection. When it all slows down or even stops, we become aware of inner pain, of unresolved conflict, of unanswered questions, perhaps even of the gaps in our soul that were not so evident four weeks ago.

This pause in life, while pleasant for no one, could become a time of renewal, IF we are willing to change our inner dialogue. Instead of longing for what was are you courageous enough to ask the Lord to “give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you?”  Are you ready for Him to “remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh?” (Ezekiel 36:26) 

Before we say “Do it, Lord,” we need to understand that rich and deep intimacy with God, the Spirit, comes with a price. The process involves letting go of the familiar, even the things we always assumed to be true, so that we can take hold of the eternal riches.

Jesus, in that Sermon found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, talks about the life God desires for us. I have read that passage many times, nodding my head as if I agree, but honesty with myself demands that I admit that I sometimes regard His words as impractical or out of touch with life as I know it.  My heart holds a hidden arrogance, disguised as self-sufficiency or wisdom. But, this last month; jarring and dislocating for me, has let me see glimpses of a heart that is often resistant to the radical call of discipleship. What about you, Christian?

Let’s take a look at just three verses from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Here He offers us a prescription for healing. He sees the desperation of an empty soul, the disillusioned heart, the life that has not found meaning beyond food, fun, and comfort and invites us to let Him lead into a new place.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less.

That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”

Matthew 5:3-5 MSG

Really, Lord?
There is a state of joy to be found in utter desperation?
You’re telling me that I can find contented peace when things and people I deeply love are lost to me? 

If we read His words superficially, not allowing them to get into our heart and head, they sound ‘nice,’ spiritual, churchy. But, Jesus is not uttering platitudes. He is inviting us to leave the old way of life that is focused almost exclusively on things we can touch, see, hold, smell, and taste to find a reality in God, Who is found only through faith. I am not really all that sure that is the life most of us want because we have so little appetite for God. Jesus spoke that when He counseled the Laodiceans. "You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. And also buy white garments so you will not be shamed by your nakedness. And buy ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I am the one who corrects and disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference." (Revelation 3:17-19, NLT)

Are you ready to accept Christ’s invitation to grow? Or, in all honesty, are His words without meaning to you? It is just fine to admit that. In fact, that confession may well open the door to discovery. God’s truth is not ‘figured out’ like a math problem, it is received as the Spirit reveals the truth. We pray, “Lord, open my mind to truth. Put a willing and teachable attitude in me I can join you in the school of wisdom.”  And, He promises that when we ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be filled.’

Our word from the Word is a starting point. Meditate prayerfully in this and invite the Lord to start to do a ‘new thing’ in you. "But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets. No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." (1 Corinthians 2:10-12, NLT)

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Way Maker

You are here moving in our midst

I worship You I worship You

You are here working in this place

I worship You I worship You

(You are) Way Maker
Miracle Worker
Promise Keeper

Light in the darkness

my God that is who You are

You are here touching ev'ry heart

I worship You I worship You

You are here healing ev'ry heart

I worship You I worship You

You are here turning lives around

I worship You I worship You

You are here mending ev'ry heart

I worship You yeah I worship You Lord

That is who You are

That is who You are

That is who You are

That is who You are

Even when I don't see it You're working

Even when I don't feel it You're working

You never stop You never stop working

You never stop You never stop working

Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu

© 2016 Integrity Music Europe (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music [DC Cook]))

CCLI License # 810055

Let’s talk about how we PRAY

Our world has been hit with a tsunami that brings sickness, death, loneliness, financial stress, and disruption of relationships. Who among us does not deal with waves of anxiety?  This flood of difficulties threatens to flatten the life we once knew and what will come is all but impossible to discern. I have said it many times. Fear and anger are next-door neighbors in our emotions. 

As fear grows, we are tempted to adopt an angry defensive posture, without even realizing what is happening to us.  We may find ourselves blowing up at our spouse, having a hard time remaining focused on a task, looking for somebody to blame for the problems, attacking an institution, even questioning the goodness of God! Though we do not realize it in the moment, our defensiveness is cutting off from the source of comfort, denying us access to the peace of God and the wisdom of the Spirit.

So, we must PRAY, not as an emotional overflow, but with our mind. Even if we ‘feel’ as though our words are bouncing off the ceiling we need to open up to God, the Spirit in prayer! We are taught to "Pray without ceasing!"  (1 Thess. 5:17)  We must not only pray when we feel like it, or when ‘there is nothing left to do but pray.’ 

We must choose to keep the lines of communication open with God all of the time.  God does not ask us just to pray nice prayers, or short prayers, or long prayers, or eloquent prayers;  but He does want us to keep listening and talking to Him.  When two persons stop talking, when they fall into silence, it is never good. IF we let fear and anger keep us from prayer, we are hurting ourselves.

As Christians, faith takes the lead and causes us to “pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel." (Philippians 4:6-7, CEV)

How can we pray all of the time?

Use the words of another!  

When words fail me, I turn to the Psalms or a borrow a song. I cannot tell you how many times I have used Jesus’ model prayer recently, murmuring “Our Father who is in heaven, holy is Your name … Your kingdom come.”  In the evening, I often sit quietly with songs of worship playing that become my prayer.

    

Let others pray with you and for you!

A friend texts me a prayer on my behalf and it releases peace in me. I join with others who pray and my faith is made stronger. James teaches us "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed." (James 5:16, The Message)

Pray simply!   
Prayer need not be complex to be effective. Forget striving for eloquence. Talk with the Lord. Even the name of Jesus, whispered to Him reverently, again and again, is a prayer.

Let the Spirit lead!
If you do not know what to say, listen. Prayer includes hearing and speaking. How I love this promise - "The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will." (Romans 8:26-27, NLT)

Prayer is our lifeblood as Believers. The enemy of God and good desires nothing more than to get us so wrapped in angst or anger that we forget to pray.

So, “Pray without ceasing!”

Here’s the word from the Word.
"But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. 
Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. 
For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were." (Psalm 39:12, NIV)

"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book." (Psalm 56:8, NLT)

"I will fulfill my vows to you, O God, and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping.

So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light." (Psalm 56:12-13, NLT)

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Sweet Hour Of Prayer

Sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer

That calls me from a world of care

And bids me at my Father's throne

Make all my wants and wishes known

In seasons of distress and grief

My soul has often found relief

And oft escaped the tempter's snare

By thy return sweet hour of prayer

Sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer

The joys I feel the bliss I share

Of those whose anxious spirits burn

With strong desires for thy return

With such I hasten to the place

Where God my Savior shows His face

And gladly take my station there

And wait for thee sweet hour of prayer

Sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer

Thy wings shall my petition bear

To Him whose truth and faithfulness

Engage the waiting soul to bless

And since He bids me seek His face

Believe His Word and trust His grace

I'll cast on Him my ev'ry care

And wait for thee sweet hour of prayer

William Batchelder Bradbury | William W. Walford

© Words: Public Domain