A Tried Stone

“But the Master, God, has something to say to this:

   ”Watch closely. I’m laying a foundation in Zion,
   a solid granite foundation, squared and true.
And this is the meaning of the stone:
   a trusting life won’t topple.
I’ll make justice the measuring stick
   and righteousness the plumb line for the building.
A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies,
   and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.”  Isaiah 28:16

I don’t know much about the logistics of building a skyscraper, but God is telling us something very important in this scripture. There is a need to be tried in order to lay a firm foundation from which to build something that will stand.   It even seems a little strange of the Lord.  Surely, our heavenly Father knew the Son, knew His every capacity and power.  Yet the Lord was an example of being tried just as we have need of being tried.  He leaves us an example of how to walk in His steps. Trusting Him during that trying and testing.   Now isn’t it pure mockery and blasphemy, that our Lord would be rejected by some builders?  Instead, He, the Master Builder, needs to try us and chisel us until we fit in the exact place which He has prepared just for us.

The Light of Israel

“And the light of Israel. shall be for a fire, and His Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.”  Isaiah 10:7

Jesus is the Light of Israel.  He is also the light of life and the “light to lighten the world.”  The “Light of Israel” is to burn and consume those things that are useless in our lives…the unlovely…the unpleasant.  All we have to do is to bring them into the Light of His presence and they will be consumed.  All we have to do is to submit our lives to that wondrous light and ask Him to consume all that are briers and thorns and in exchange we are changed by the flame of the Light of Israel.

The Prince of Peace

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

He who proclaimed to loyal hearts, “My peace I leave with you.  My peace I give unto you.  Not as the world gives give I unto you,” is rightly called The Prince of Peace.  He is the one that brought peace to earth and was rejected of men, and waits still to be crowned on earth.  But even before that royal day arrives, He gives a peace that passes all understanding to every trusting heart.  Have you received that peace?  If not that can change.  Today, humbly, in faith,  accept the peace He offers no matter what the circumstance.  He will not leave you without His peace and His comfort.

Wonderful

“For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given…His name shall be called …Wonderful.”  Isaiah 9:6

 

Jesus is the “same yesterday, today and forever,” and men who think Him commonplace or at most only an unusual man, will some time stand ashamed and confounded as they hear that prophecy fulfilled, “His name shall be called Wonderful.”  Today, as tomorrow, He is working just wonderful works as when He created the heavens and the earth.  His wondrous grace, His wonderful omnipotence, is for His child that needs Him and who trusts Him, even today…wonderful.   Attempt great things for God and expect great things from Him and you will begin even now to say, His name is WONDERFUL!

 

The Mighty God

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The Mighty God.”  Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)

Have we doubted His might and feared in the day some foe was near?  Good news!  His name is “The Mighty God.”  So we declare today that doubt and fear have no place in a believer’s heart and mind.  Scripture reminds us, “You have made both heaven and earth.  There is nothing too hard for you.”  Lord we bow and worship our Mighty God.  Our prayer is that you show your power in us!  Amen.

Counsellor

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…Counsellor.”  Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)

Not often is He called “COUNSELLOR” now.  Even God’s saints continuously ask of men instead of God.  “How may I find the will of God?’  Conference after conference is held both by the world and the church to find by human wisdom some better plan for earthly government, or for the church, or for the welfare of our earthly life and walk with God.  But, how rarely do we bow together or alone to seek that heavenly wisdom, that Divine counsel, which alone will enable us to find our way out of the mazes in which we wander.  When shall His name be joyfully and triumphantly proclaimed as “counsellor” by His people?  By you and me?  Today, inquire of Him alone…the great Counsellor.

The Everlasting Father

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…The everlasting Father.”  Isaiah 9:6

 

Who has not mourned a father’s death and felt the loss of his transient power and even helpfulness?  The child that was born in Bethlehem, who gave His life for yours. is not alone your Savior and your King, but “His name shall be called THE EVERLASTING FATHER.”  In His everlasting love and within His everlasting arms, and even within His Father’s heart who loves and comforts you…His child…you find safety, rest and peace that is everlasting.

A Great Light

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.”  Isaiah 9:2

It is the people that once walked in darkness who are able to see the greatness of the light.  It is the soul which finds that it is lost that seeks the Lord.  Have you seen the LIGHT?  The beloved apostle John said, “That which we have seen, we declare to you, and this is the message that we declare to you that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.”

May our prayer be this Christmas season be “Lord, let my life and lips tell out the story of the Light that my eyes have seen.  Amen.”

 

Even when I was…

Even when I was a child I loved to sit at my elders’ knee and hear the stories of their youth. There was something magical and determined about that generation. They had survived the Great Depression, the horror and sacrifice of WWII. They had toiled, lived without, worked together against all odds and took courage in the Lord’s provision and overcame sometimes insurmountable obstacles to their day to day existence and even their faith. There was much to learn from them then and now.

It was like that for the Israelites as they passed over into the Promised Land. Something supernatural was happening in their lives. When you read in the book of Judges 5:13-15, the angel of the Lord appeared to them at Gilgal and promised them victory over their enemies. The angel has come to Bokim to reveal another message from God or Yahweh. We could take a lesson from their journey today.

As the Israelites enter the Promised Land, they are colliding with idol worshippers. The Israelites of course worshipped God/Yahweh. For the Israelites, Yahweh is the holiest name for God. It was so holy that it was never spoken aloud by them. In fact, scholars tell us that the name translated means: I am the one…I am what I am…my name is the fact that I exist. With that backdrop, the angel reveals himself at Bokim (Judges 2) and says that God is there to remind them that His covenant with them has not changed. God declares that when He brought them out of the slavery of Egypt, He made a covenant with them. That covenant was to give them the land that He had sworn to them. They in turn, would agree to not make any covenants with the peoples in the land. They were to worship Him only and further they would agree to break down the altars of these idol worshippers false gods.

We find out at Bokim, simply put, the Israelites had not kept their part of the covenant. Because they were not serving Yahweh only, there would be consequences to those choices. The good news was that God would remain in covenant with them. But, they would have to drive out their enemies without a secure victory AND these foreign false gods would continue to be a snare to the Israelites. At this declaration, they began to weep and repent. Upon hearing the dire consequences from the angel of God, it changed the Israelites and they returned to the God/Yahweh and served Him throughout the life of Joshua, their leader.

It is there in Judges 2, that Joshua, the great warrior and leader of their military, has succumbed to death at age 110. He had been able to lead the Israelites in victory after victory as they sought to subdue the occupants of the land God has promised to them. The land is occupied by the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Phoenicians or Sidonites and the Hivities, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites and the Jebusites. Yet, the whole generation of Israelites that know God and worshipped Him and knew the great works He had performed on behalf of the Israelites in bringing them out of bondage from Egypt have all died.

So it has basically taken two generations to complete the disintegration of a nation and their religious beliefs. God’s chosen people have now lived together with the enemies of their original beliefs and adopted the cultural and religious beliefs of those in whom they have been in relationship. Remember, the Canaanites were Baal worshippers. Baal was the sun god. The Canaanites believed Baal was the source and communicator of physical life. They credited him as generating reproductive powers of nature from his well being. Because Baal was not omnipresent, couldn’t be everywhere at the same time, they were constantly seeking what would make him feel well at these various Baal god sites throughout the land. The goddess, Asherah, was the female moon god. Her symbol was the evergreen tree or a wooden pole. These Asherah worshippers believed that she cast her moonlight and influenced nature and put up Asherah poles throughout the land for worship sites. The Canaanites focused on nature believing that the only way to survive and prosper was to identify the gods responsible for each phenomenon in nature and create a divine presence of activity by following some form of ritual. These rituals were human acts of mythological scope but were performed by a wizard-like priest at these various Baal sites.

Right in the vortex of this confusion and chaos are the children of God who are in great distress themselves. Even though they, the Israelites, have adopted the beliefs of those around them, they no longer know who God/Yahweh is to them.

Can you believe it? These are the children of the great generation of those who saw God perform miracle after miracle on their behalf…bringing them out of the bondage of Egypt…providing for them during the years in the desert…have now found they cannot thrive or survive on the spiritual power of their grandparents or parents. This precious generation has slipped into this state because of being lukewarm, complacency and distant to the generations before them. The traditions of relationship with a living, covenant making God are unknown to them. They no longer are told about the exploits of God on their grandfathers’ behalf during the time in Egypt and the desert. None of that exists. No more feasts… no more altars of sacrifice to God. Now, they have no power to challenge their enemies. They have found out in the most difficult way that no corrupt people can presume upon the grace of God indefinitely.

But here it is, the incredible faithfulness of God to His people. His faithfulness to His covenant with them has led God to allow His people to be turned over to the hands of their enemies by their own choices. Yet, covenant faithfulness would not allow God to abandon His own children. God had already proven Himself in covenant relationship with His people long ago. But, they had to learn that they could not ignore the covenant principals that had passed from one generation to the next …now lost to them.

That principal was… if they were to live and try to serve two gods they would eventually make choices. They would make choices to please other people…maybe become more politically correct…blend in…not make waves…maybe be tolerant of people, places and things that diluted what they knew to be true.

This is why we have to tell this generation and the next and the next. How the Lord has brought us through. How He has performed miracle after miracle. How we can trust Him. We have experienced Him. The God who is- the I am- the one-the I am what I am. We cannot rely on our own voice. We must hear the voice of God in dependence upon Him.

It is not irrelevant. Don’t believe that the things of God are irrelevant. Please listen. This much I know to be true, the same I am is here today. He is here to provide all the power you need to live a Christ- like life. It’s truth. It’s liberty. It’s deliverance from things that have been putting pressure on you. It’s release from the enemy that has you believing you are bound. We who know His grace are charged to tell the next generation and those who have yet to believe… how He loves them. How He has placed dreams in their hearts too big for human hands. How He has plans for them…ones to prosper them beyond what they can imagine or think.

But God, the God that makes a covenant relationship with us, a relationship of faithfulness…even when we are not…grace filled…even when we don’t deserve it…of mercy when we deserve justice…of love for us…even when we are tested just like the Israelites and we sin and fail…over and over and over again….God’s still a covenant making God…not a covenant breaking God. That he desires the same for each of us. That He has made an everlasting covenant a new covenant of the way of the cross with us. That now, there is no power on earth that can separate us from the love of God.

We are compelled. We must cause them to remember and believe…NOW!

Seeking You!

What would you do if you KNEW you had only a week or so to live?  We have all heard of it…the Bucket List. What would your list include?  Would you stay close to family and friends?  Keep working if you could?  Stay in prayer and have your pastor close by you?  If you read in John 11: 1-57, we see Jesus’ continuing commitment to the purposes and plans that called Him to be God in the flesh walking among us.

As we read there is no doubt, God is an intruder!  He encroaches, presumes, invades and infringes.  He crashes the party… tears aside the curtains…throws open the locked doors.  He hits the light switch in dark rooms.  He pulls the fire alarm in stuffy sacrosanct hallways.

Even in the beginning, He intruded primeval chaos and brought forth light, beauty, order and life. He presumed upon a middle aged man in the town of Ur, and brought forth a nation. He trespassed on the cozy security of the Canaanites, smug behind their high walls of stone. He advanced upon the lofty chambers of kings with feisty, finger wagging prophets who called down judgment.

Remember when He was the unwelcome guest at Belshazzar’s feast, writing doom on the wall while revelers gagged on their wine. In the greatest invasion of all, God intruded the womb of a virgin.  He stormed satan’s kingdom on Christmas night in Bethlehem. As He grew in stature and wisdom, He talked out of turn in Judah and Galilee with words that “no man spoke before”.  He crashed the temple courtyards, overturning tables and kicking commerce out the door with a strong arm and a whip of cords.

 God overstepped the realm of death itself, stealing its banner and crushing its lord.

And in the most High place of the temple, He audaciously tore the veil from top to bottom.  And in the end, He will once again intervene in history, judging the nations, banishing sin and death, and setting His throne upon earth even as He rules heaven.

 God is a glorious intruder in our life, our thoughts, our pain, sorrow and brokenness.

Don’t forget Jesus’ friends, Mary and Martha, sisters to Lazarus, they found that out personally. What could have been a moment of sorrow and brokenness for them and their family became the crossroads to the resurrection and eternal life. Lazarus came to know that The Spirit of the Lord even invades our very being.  His Spirit can and does take up residence in our bodies.  He IS the resurrection and the Life!!!

His word is a razor-edged sword, piercing the complacency and dividing our soul and our spirit. He boldly intrudes into our sin, calling it what it is, challenging us to leave it behind. What can we do but marvel in speechless wonder at our powerful and almighty God, who incidentally, has the right to intrude?  After all can an owner of the house really intrude when He sets His foot inside His own door? Can a king be tabbed as interfering when He visits His subjects of His own realm?  Can a craftsman be thought a trespasser when he puts a sharp knife to His own stick of wood?

 God as an intruder?  From His perspective, never…

From our point of view, it happens all the time whether He encroaches with a gentle, still small voice or a sudden devastating judgment. That’s what the Bible is really all about.  It is God’s word to us to help us to understand that as you are seeking God:

 He is already seeking you. As you reach out to Him, He is already reaching out to you.

God cares enough to step into our lives and sometimes when we least expect it. He is not tucked away in some far part of the universe…uncaring…unfeeling…unthinking…and uninvolved.

 Even with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, his dear friends, He knew when to intrude.

And that is just what He did.  He intruded into their beliefs.  He intruded into their circumstances and what they thought was happening in the natural. He put everything on the line with them.  Did they really believe he was the Messiah?  They believed He could have changed the outcome of Lazarus’ life and subsequent death.  But was the supernatural about to intrude into their lives?   Count on this, God wants intimacy with you more than you want intimacy with Him.

Thank the Lord that He does intrude into our lives. God is monitoring your thoughts, your concerns, your anxieties and the deep down fears no one else knows but you. He is not passive in your life. He is active in your life.  That’s what Mary and Martha and Lazarus were just about to find out in verses 40-42 as Jesus calls out for Lazarus to live again. The sufferings we encounter in this life are meant to help us partake of Christ.  We are like Martha forced to our knees and driven to lean upon His grace.  It is then…and it seems only then…can God impart His Son’s character to us.

We are made like Him.  From that time until the crucifixion and maybe after that Mary, Martha and especially Lazarus are in a special group. They, like Jesus, are hunted down by the Jewish authorities.  Lazarus is the biggest threat of them all. A dead man walking is quite a testimony, you would agree. He became intimately connected to the man that created God-signs…Jesus!

So in His final days on earth and right now, Jesus was intruding.  He was throwing science back into confusion.  Rocking religious authorities by canceling and challenging old beliefs and giving us more!

So it is the invader is here now?  Whether you acknowledge His hand on you or not today, I challenge you to invite Him into your thoughts, your plans and concerns, as He says in the book of Revelation chapter 3 verse 20…

I will come in.