REPENTANCE, REVIVAL & RENEWAL

Success is deceptive.  Popularity is deceptive.  Crowds are deceptive.  Looking at the ministry of Jesus while on earth, from his birth in a stable to his death on a cross, it would not appear successful according to worldly standards.  He was popular when he performed signs and wonders but when he demanded difficult things like sacrifice and dying to oneself, people turned away and left him.  Large crowds welcomed him to Jerusalem, shouting “Hosanna”; a week later that same crowd gathered and shouted “Crucify him”.  Only two of his disciples stood watch with his mother when he was dying.  His disciples that carried out his ministry were also imprisoned and killed, except for John who was exiled.  Not the characteristics of a successful ministry at all. 

Yet more than two thousand years later there are followers of this man living their lives for him in every corner of the world.  His success was is not demonstrated in successful churches or even in Christianity, a religion named after him.  His success is in the individual hearts of those who receive him and believe in his name; who love him and walk with him in every day life, doing what he did and practicing what he taught; ordinary people in ordinary time; so one special living in a world of special no ones.  Simple people, who see the sacred in everyday moments and events, not deceived by the big and flashy things that the world offers.

I hear the churches calling for revival, waiting for that big event to stir people up and relight the fire in their hearts.  I have experienced those events and they are exciting…for a while.  But then things return to normal and life goes on; the fire dies down and we look forward to the next revival, the next event, the next show of God’s mighty work.  My hope no longer lies in that pattern.

I want stability, consistency, and sustainability in my every day walk with God.  Following Jesus I have found that daily delight of His Presence that keeps me in a constant state of repentance, revival, and renewal.

         

“Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the

           gall.  My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

           But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.  The steadfast

            Love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;

            They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness, O Lord.”

Lamentations 3:19-23

Stunning signs and wonders occur every day, everywhere around me, that cause an inner revival and renewal in my soul daily.  From sun rise to sun set God’s creation reveals God and His eternal power to me, if I take the time to see it.  Life is upheld by His hand moment by moment; in the nest of baby cardinals in the tree outside my window; in the garden of fruits and vegetables growing tall and plentiful in my back yard; in the rain that falls; in the sun that shines.  It is all there revealing His Presence and reviving my soul.  These are the gifts given to me; to the one who often fails; to the one who wanders away occasionally; to the one who gets caught up in the me, myself, and I way too often.  Time after time my cry is, “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.”   AND HE IS!

            REPENTANCE IS THE THRESHOLD TO GOD’S PRESENCE

As I look back over my life

At the afflictions

At my wanderings

The wormwood and the gall

I used to see it as a pile of garbage

Worthless and wasteful

Useless and rotting decay.

In the eyes of the world I was nothing.

But in the eyes of God, my Father

 I was everything

In the eyes of God

I was wandering, not worthless

I was lost, not a loser

I needed help

I needed life

And He sent His Son.

In my repentance I have His Presence

In His Presence I am revived

In my revival I am renewed

In my renewal I have new eyes.

As I look back over my life

I see a compost pile

Turning the worthless and wasteful

The useless and rotting decay

Into a humble heart

Into a sacred soul

As I see that in me

May I see that in others.

BOUNDARY REMOVED

“The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from the top to bottom.”

Matthew 27:51

When God looks down upon His creation He is a lot less divisive than we human beings are.  He doesn’t see the artificial boundaries we have constructed; He doesn’t see the many religions and denominations we have developed.  He sees two divisions of people; those who received and believe in the name of the Word that became flesh and dwelt among them, and those who reject Him.

God sent His Son into the world to save it, to take away the sin of the world.

That sin is separation from God, that comes from disbelieve and disobedience to the rule and authority of God over His creation.  This resulted in a boundary being made between God and the people He created in His own image, to be the bearers of that image.  God created with a plan in mind but humans thought they could do better.  The boundary was made.

Throughout history God has been working to remove the boundary and restore the relationship.  God sent His Son into the world to do just that.

Those who received and believed in his name were given the right to be born again as child of God, born of God Himself, not of blood, the will of the flesh, nor the will of man.  Born again and given life, the true light that enlightens one, and the fullness of grace.  At Jesus’ death n the cross the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and free access to the holy of holies was given to everyone who chose to receive it.

BEYOND PROSPERIOUS

“Do not love the world or the things in the world…

The world is passing away along with its desires,

But whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

I John 2:15-17

The truth that God so loved the world that He gave His Son, who taught people not to love the world, would tell me there are two different meanings of world being spoken of.  The world that God created in the beginning and the world we have made.  All that God created and breathed His breath upon was good, very good.  All that man made will pass away; it has no substance.  It may be bog and flashy; it may look to be successful and productive; but it isn’t sustainable. Whatever is not of God’s Word and God’s will is doomed to disappear.  This makes me think twice about those who preach “Prosperity”, earthly rewards, and favor from God and man.

Jesus grew in favor with God and man.  He had nothing; no home, no successful ministry, no ritzy wardrobe, not even a grave of his own to be buried in.  Yet he was favored by God.  Those who followed Jesus as his disciples were favored, blessed, and remembered to this day.  But they lived meager lives, were cursed and killed, or in John’s case exiled.  They certainly were not successful or prosperous by today’s worldly standards.

God loves His children and will give only His best; He promises to give the desires of our hearts.  This makes for the potential of a very prosperous life.  But for me, something else is at work here.  I find that my desires change the more time I spend in God’s Presence.  They grow very simple, into one thing…being with Him in His Presence.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus;

Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of his glory and grace.”

DON'T KNOW IT ALL...BE IT ALL

“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.  Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks for a reason for your hope; but do it with gentleness and reverence.

I Peter 3:15-17

There are many voices in this world today telling others what to do, especially in the area of religion.  Unfortunately many of those voices are condemning, judgmental, mean spirited, nasty, and pushy.  I don’t respond to

Those kinds of voices no matter how much of what they are saying is true.  I don’t see that example being set by Jesus so why do I see it and hear it coming from people who claim to follow him?   God’s love brings forth repentance, not pushiness and hatred.

Jesus spoke out of who he was; that’s what gave him the authority to speak.  It wasn’t that he “knew it all”; he “was it all”.  Before I can speak God’s words I must BE His words.  God is love, so it figures that God’s words that I speak would be filled with gentleness and reverence.  Anything else is unacceptable.  Jesus didn’t back down from the truth when he spoke; but his Truth was filled with love, gentleness, and reverence.  People who needed to hear what he had to say listened to him because of how he said what he said; even if it was a word of correction and conviction.  Transformation occurred because of his words and that is what God desires in the hearts of all people.

I am called to BE light and salt.  Then I have the authority to answer when I am asked about the hope that lives within me.  When I answer in gentleness and reverence, I will be heard.

SET YOUR HOPE FULLY ON JESUS

“Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

I Peter 1:13

I am one of those people who learned her lessons the hard way.  I think that is because I always had to find out for myself whether or not things that were told to me were true.  I don’t think that is necessarily a bad trait; it’s just that I carried it a bit too far at times.  One thing I will say; when I learned things the hard way, I truly learned my lesson.

I thought about this as I read the scripture verse above.  I can identify with Peter in many ways.  Deep down he was a good guy, but he got himself into trouble a lot by being a bit too sure of himself and speaking out of that sureness.  In Matthew 14:28-33 he boldly stepped out of the boat he was in when he saw Jesus walking on the water.  He had no qualms about it until he looked around and saw the wind that was coming up hard and creating strong waves that could take him under in a heartbeat.  Then he became afraid.  Fortunately Jesus rescued him.  But he did learn an important lesson.  Keep his eyes on Jesus, not the surrounding circumstances, and he would do well. That is what he was eventually teaching others as he wrote his letters

It is a lesson I need to learn again and again.  The more I do it the better I get at it.  It is important in these days to be good at it.  There are a lot of waves surrounding me that are ready to pull me under in a heartbeat.  I need to be aware but my focus is not to be on the waves, but on Jesus, the one who is Master over them. 

GOD WINS

“The way of the wicked will perish.”

Psalm 1:6

As I look at the news today it is easy to fall into despair.  The world is being stirred up on every level; spiritually, physically, and emotionally.  It feels like I am at the beginning of a storm, as the dark clouds block the sun and it gets darker by the moment.  A storm is brewing to be sure and a battle is beginning to rage that will affect all life as we know it.

This is not the first time; we’ve been here before, many times in many generations.  Unfortunately we did not learn the lessons we could have and should have, se we keep repeating the process. 

There is nothing of mankind that can be trusted; all of man’s ways have fallen short and have crumbled; only God’s ways will stand the test of time. 

But that truth has been told to us since the beginning of time.  Some choose to believe that; some choose to deny that.  Eventually that will be exposed as the root of all our problems here on earth; individually, as a society, nationally, and worldly. 

We are but pawns in this battle that is on the horizon.  This is the battle between God and His number one enemy, Satan.  This is the battle between good and evil that began in the garden and has been spoken of since then.  Evil looks to be prevailing but if one reads the beginning and the end of the Book, one knows that God wins and the way of the wicked will perish.

The beginning of the Book spoke of Jesus’ victory; the end of the Book speaks of Jesus’ victory.  That is where my hope lies in these difficult days.

HIS NAME ALONE IS EXALTED

It is easy to get caught up and overwhelmed by all that is happening in the world today.  I feel like a hamster caught in a cage trying to escape all the commotion, all the arguments, all the hate, all the mean spirited comments being shouted, and all the pain of so many people.  Every day there is something else, usually precipitated by something the day before that continues to add to the darkness that this world is experiencing, and that all too often seeps into my soul.  I keep wanting it to end, but know it won’t; it will only continue to get worse until we all just shut up and recognize who this world really belongs to. 

The trees outside my window know; the momma cardinal that has been sitting in her nest waiting for the eggs to bring forth life knows; all of creation knows except the ones that were meant to take care of all of creation; the human beings that God breathed His life into and created in His own image; the human beings that God gave free will to; the human beings who freely chose to abandon God and preceded to build their own world, in their own way.  That was the last of true freedom and the beginning of the bondage we are still caught in today.

I envy the trees, the momma cardinal, and all the other little creatures of God’s creation.  They are at rest while I am running in a cage trying to escape the commotion and noise.  I need to listen to what they have to say.

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

Praise Him in the heights!

Praise Him all angels;

Praise Him all His hosts!

Praise Him, sun and moon;

Praise Him, all you stars of light!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For He commanded and they were created.

He also established them forever and ever;

He made a decree which shall not pass away.

For His name alone is exalted;

His glory is above the earth and heaven.

BOND SERVANT BY CHOICE

“Jesus made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.”

Philippians 2:5-9

A sense of entitlement keeps me consumed with searching after my rights, what is due to me because I am who I am.  Society creates governments and laws to secure those rights so that people can all get what we want, when we want it, which is always NOW. Societies cry for peace and justice but seem to be willing to compromise Truth to get it.

The concept of sacrifice is extinct as is the concept of repentance.  Many people trust in themselves, believe they are right in their demands and treat those who disagree with contempt.  They build their own towers of Babel, their own Golden Calves, and hew out their own cisterns and reject God, claiming that He is not a necessary part of the equation of our life in this world anymore, now that we have “progressed” past that archaic belief system.

God gave His human creation the right and power to become children by receiving and believing in Hi Son.  But many see themselves as all grown up, not requiring His parenting anymore.  But Jesus says whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. (Luke 18:17)  Children need and do well to listen to their Father.

In our “progressive” state of mind we need to remember that “a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:16).  Many of those who wrote the Scriptures considered themselves bond-servants.  A bond servant (Doulos) was a freed slave who freely became a bond servant by voluntarily re-entering servitude to a master he loved.  He freely served his master and could never be freed again; neither could he be bought nor sold; he served his master until death.

A bond servant had no rights; he freely yielded his rights as a free man to his master.  It was a choice.

When I choose to serve God as part of His kingdom, I give up my rights and choose to be righteous before Him; I give up all and receive everything.  It isn’t a matter of being “progressive” and reaching adulthood.  It’s a matter of being in His Presence, forever as His child.  It is a choice I made and I have never regretted it.