He Knows Me Through and Through

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29)

What a wonderful thing to be known by God! The elders use to pray, “You know us Lord, better than we know ourselves.” His knowledge about me is greater than my comprehension will ever be in this life. God knows us through and through. He meticulously made me for a certain end: “to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Some limit foreknowledge to mere “foresight” or that God knows what will happen before it happens. But God’s foreknowledge is so much more than that. The word speaks of a determinant design. The idea is captured beautifully by David when He says, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” And the extent of God’s intimate innate blueprint of “whom he did foreknow” is stated in Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Another analogy is that of a parent already knowing the things of life that his or her child will discover. He made us for a purpose, and that purpose is to be the elect of God. We’ve been set to that end. In that day, one’s knowledge of self will catch up with His knowledge as Paul says, “But then shall I know even as also I am known.”

The knowledge of who I am, and what God intended as He created me, is something I discover as I live and yet I can never discover what He has not known.  Again, the Psalmist is abundantly clear, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Our personality, proclivities, passions, placement, etc. were all aimed by God for our redemption.

Taking the Fear out of Fear

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverb 1:7)

I find it interesting how some Christian teachers attempt to dumb down the word “fear” as it relates to God. Often we are told this use of the word “fear” does not mean to terrify or scare; rather, it means to reverence or respect, as if any of these words are antonyms; they are actually synonyms. The closest ideal to God in this life is our dad. This is one reason God is called The Father. A child, rightly so, does respect his or her dad; however, the fact is when a father is doing a good job, there are some things his children will not do because they are afraid of incurring dad’s chastening. Sometimes taking the right course is fostered by avoiding the painful strap of correction. Ironically the book of Proverbs is written by a father to his son, laying out the principles of human nature and their behavioral causes and consequential effects. The effects of unrighteous behavior are meant to be a terror to us. If we would be honest with ourselves, at some point in life each of us did right, not because it was right, but we were just downright scared to do wrong. That fear preserved us until we came to understand why right is right and wrong is wrong.

Yuri Solomon (Devotion 101313)

Mental Medicine

 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. (Heb 12:3)

A student endures many years of college because of a mental focus to acquire adequate credentials. A mother endures painful childbearing because it ends in joyful expectations. An athlete endures a rigorous course of discipline because he considers it the cost of victory. Physical exhaustion is temporary and can be overcome with a good night’s sleep or perhaps a week of vacation; however, mental exhaustion is a horse of a different color. It is the result of a misfocus and consequently bad expectations. When people disappoint, plans fail, and Christian living brings painful affliction, we are not only given Jesus’ exhortation but His example to consider. He said unequivocally, hardship in the Christian life is certain. Moreover this sinless and perfect man suffered unduly and unjustly, trotting out the path before us. Endurance is not as much physicality as it is mentality. The Hebrew writer says mental rest and relaxation immediately occurs when we consider Him. What a paradox, one can labor and rest simultaneously if Jesus is on your mind. Whether preventative or cure for spiritual burnout: consider Him! For then your affliction affirms your destiny, your suffering soothes your conscious, and your pain prospers your spirit.

Yuri Solomon - Devotion 100813

Let patience have her perfect work

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (James 1:3-4)

We often overlook the fact that temptation and patience are opposites. Temptation is demanding immediate gratification of a desire; patience is but to except God’s delay. Yet temptation is set as a handmaid to the godly mind identifying the need for patience in the tempted area. Paul says on another occasion, "the resisting of temptation builds character". It is no different than weight-lifting or resistance training as an athlete. The heavy lifting of maintaining a Christ-like disposition creates spiritual muscle. Temptation masquerades as a short-cut to a legitimate desire. The answer to temptation is patience. A little patience will beget more patience for a greater blessing. Yet patience is not waiting in a vacuum; rather, it is preoccupied with both theology and prayer; that is, studying God’s ways and acquiring His wisdom. For what God desires to give you in all things is Himself and that through patience. Realize there are no short-cuts and let patience have her perfect work.

Yuri Solomon - Devotional 100713

From Suspension to Resolve

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations (1Peter 1:6) 

It is human nature to evade avoidable suffering; and rightly so I should say. Yet it remains a fool’s quest to avoid what is inevitable, and folly to not prepare as much as possible.  Jesus insists that suffering is in the pathway of every Christian. However, we often find ourselves in suspension about suffering rather than resolve. Our minds are fixated on immediate deliverance and not so much on God’s will and purpose. Peter later in this chapter said, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end”. In other words, mentally accept where you are, and prepare to endure the journey in such a time. One may ask? And Peter gives four mental resolves about the believer’s suffering:  it’s a temporary situation; it’s a necessary path, it’s tough to endure, and it’s tempting to give up. When one comes to this expectation of those times of Christian hardship, it adds a confidence in the will of God, a view to suffering’s end, an awareness of the challenges, and a strength to persevere. A suspension is to leave hanging, in limbo, unsure, unresolved, but to resolve is to place it firmly on the ground: “This is what I have to do.” After much prayer and anguish Jesus resolved, “Not my will but your will be done”.

They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be their God

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Herein is the ultimate definition of heaven, a perfect relationship, mutual in character on both ends. Heaven is less a place than it is the presence of a person: God, Himself. Heretofore we were absolutely God's people, yet there is that sense in which God was not absolutely our God.  In our immaturity, we still harbored alternative gods. The first commandment, thou shall have no other God before me, is violated again and again before we are glorified. But at that time sanctification will give way to glory, and we will know even as we are known: actuated, actualized, not positional but practical, not merely credited righteousness but personal righteousness. Matthew Henry describes the new human capacity, “and then He will fully answer the character of the relation on His part, as they [humans] shall do on their part.” For the first time in our relationship with God, without ambiguity or abstraction, without sin’s interruption, in both mind and body, He shall be our God.

-Yuri Solomon 100313

The Daniel Discipline iii

Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. (Daniel 3:19)

God wants to put your faith on display for others to see how much you fear Him and love Him. Fire in the bible often is indicative of one’s faith being judged. Did you study the word, pray, fast, attend church and take advantage of opportunity to strengthen your faith by using it while you had a chance? God never sends us any challenges, which He did not first send us opportunity to prepare for.

Paul states that we move from faith to faith (Romans 1:17) and glory to glory (2Co 3:18). Each faith level is only completed after having stood a testing of your faith and passing it by trusting God in matters that opposed your faith. In other words, no one can see faith in your heart; it can only be seen by what you do in test and trial.

Here, these three young Hebrew boys (around the age of 14 years old) had resist eating the king’s meat in chapter 1, overcame the king’s madness in chapter 2, and now would not bow to the king's music in chapter 3. Here, they are not only met with a fiery challenge to their faith, but the furnace is heated seven times hotter than normal. Their faith is tested to the 7^th power. The number “7” is the number of perfection, maturity, or completion, indicating that their faith was tested to its fullest extent. And what further extent is there when you are faced with death because you live for Jesus? How did these children stand? They determined that the outcome was ASSURED by God’s promises, regardless of the king's determination. God would either deliver them from the fire or through the fire to heaven. The ultimate goal was only AGREEMENT with God's word, will, way, and work. Thus their course was ABSOLUTE: "We will never serve thy gods!"

Yet as Christians, we could never have known the fullness of Christ without the cross. Jesus had His own fiery furnace experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. He says, “Father, I know you are able to make this bitter cup pass from me, but if not, not my will but thy will be done.” And God did not deliver Him. He went on to the cross so that humanity could see all the vigor, vitality, and virtue that adorned His love for God the Father. The cross squeezed out of Him every drop of the saving beauty that calls us to worship Him, like a wine press squeezes the juice out of the grape. John says, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

A young lady told me “Pastor I really want God to use me!” I said to her “You must be talking about use on your terms rather than His; because, every time the enemy’s music plays, you dance; every time the enemy voices a threat, you’re bending and bowing. Sweetheart, just don’t bow at standing time and God will be using you.” The old hymnologist wrote,

Stand up, Stand up for Jesus
Ye soldiers of the cross
Lift high His royal banner
It must not suffer loss
From victory unto victory
His army shall He lead
Till every foe is vanquished
And Christ is Lord indeed

Faith is not easy. Obedience rarely feels good in the moment. Your friends may not like it. Your family may not understand it. But if your faith in God never takes you out of your comfort zone, you don’t have any faith. Crosses always come before crowns, and crowns always come after crosses.

Supplication in Prayer

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (1Jn 5:14-15)

There are four aspects to devotional prayer. Someone created an acrostic that is very helpful in remembering all four aspects: A.C.T.S. "A" stands for "adoration"; "C" stands for "confession"; "T" stands for "thanksgiving," and "S" stands for "supplication."

When considering prayer "supplication" is what usually come to mind. Supplication is to humbly entreat or petition God. The paradox of partition in prayer is that He already knows what you will ask for, what you need, what He will and will not give you before you ask. Simply put, prayer is not about informing God about anything. As Jesus said, “your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him.” So the question this raises is obvious: Why pray? Why go through this ritual? Beyond simple OBEDIENCE to God, beyond the PRIVILEGE of speaking to your heavenly Father and creator God of the universe, and beyond the fact that our prayers are a UTILITY in God’s plan and program, the ironic thing about supplication is that it is not about God being informed about you but about you being informed about God. In partitioning God the believer experiences the mind of God.

Prayer is not designed to change God’s mind; prayer is designed to bring the believer in line with God’s mind. John is clear on what we can be confident of God doing. Every believer has the right and privilege to finish his partition in confidence of what God’s immediate and present will is; because, he or she is experiencing it. The idea here is that having made one’s request known to God, the believer is to be satisfied in having done so, signified by his or her acceptance of what God has allowed in that moment. The answer may indeed be a yes, no, or not yet; however, the believer’s present position is God’s present prescription.

Should one continue to ask in repetition? The answer is yes without a doubt. Jesus said keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. In the first recorded prayer in the bible Abraham prayed again and again until his heart was satisfied. Paul prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh be removed until God’s “no” soothed his heart as sufficient grace. Even Jesus, our greatest example of how to pray, prayed repeatedly in the Garden of Gethsemane until his human will to live was subdued by God’s will for him to die. That is the very point: fervent, effectual prayer brings us into concert with God’s will and yet quenches our desires with the satisfaction of His pleasure. It does not matter whether God grants one’s request or quenches one’s desire; both results in personal edification and His glory, which is the only proper goal of prayer.

Certainly this raises questions concerning verses that assert ideas such as, “He will give you the desires of your heart” or “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” or “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them,” just to note a few. However, one only needs to observe such verses a bit closer to see the circular reasoning built into the statements. For instance, the “desires of your heart” is granted based on your delighting yourself in Him. The word “delight” is a term of passion or of the “heart”. Thus your heart’s desire is Him, and He promises to give you Him, which is in fact everything one needs. Or again, Jesus prefaces “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” with “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you.” So what words are you using to ask? HIS WORDS! – Because those are the words that are in you and you are in Him or bound in and by parameters as Christ: doing nothing of your self but only what pleases the Father. Even, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” is prefaced with “Have faith in God.” Obviously, this means “confidence” in God’s word, will, way, and work as the only proper context for our partition.

So these very statements, which are frequently hi-jacked as liberties to pursue our own will and pleasure, are really severe limitations on what God will and will not grant us. This is more wonderful than we can perceive. Paradoxically, this really is an infinite and eternal freedom. One might ask illustratively, is a train freer off its track or on its track. Free from its track, a train is both destructive and it self destroyed. However, on its track, it is free to function at its optimum. So it is with the believer praying in God’s will. As Paul put it, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man makes much available to the believer.” Much should not be understood as quantity but quality, which may or may not include quantity. God knows our heart and Jesus said one of the most merciful and gracious things I’ve ever heard about prayer, “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” That is to say God will NEVER EVER give His children that which is useless (a stone) or harmful (a serpent). This idea here is literally, that God protects us from ourselves; because, we often ask for stones and serpents unknowingly. That is asking for things we don’t need or will be detrimental to us. Paul put it this way in another text, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” Isn’t it wonderful to know that prayer is safe, contrary to the false notions that God may give you something you should not have asked for. God not only gives us the privilege of prayer but the power of His protection in spite of our own propensities to make poor request.

Jesus does warn “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:7.) We should look carefully at the warning; it is not about repetitious prayers, but repetitious words in a prayer. These words are vain and meaningless. WHY? They are vain and meaningless because the heathen thinks such will cause God to hear him. So the problem is not even the repetitious words themselves, but the false assumption about what the repetitious words will achieve. The bible, itself, is not void of repetitious prayers or repetitious words in prayer. The error is the assumption that one can manipulate God into doing what you want Him to do.

Our prayer requests never moves God, it just moves us to knowledge of God's will for us.

Confession in Prayer

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9.)

There are four aspects to devotional prayer. Someone created an acrostic that is very helpful in remembering all four aspects: A.C.T.S. "A" stands for "adoration"; "C" stands for "confession"; "T" stands for "thanksgiving," and "S" stands for "supplication."

Intimacy is not only marked by the togetherness of fellowship but by the openness of fellowship, and therein forgiveness is dealt out and cleansing is carried out by God. Through confession in prayer the believer realizes the cleansing of God. It is made obvious by confession of sins that a person's heart is contrite, his or her intents are pure, and that he or she is working to put off all manner of bitterness, anger and malice; it would be dishonorable to do anything other than to forgive and restore one who is broken and shamed at his own failings. And what a word of guarantee found in John’s characterization of God: “He is faithful and just.”

Honesty about one's self, sins, struggles and solicitations is the very spindle of the prayer wheel. Jesus says, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." He wants us to be all the way in secret from men, so we can be all the way open with God.

An old preacher was teaching a child to pray. After the child silently prayed for himself, the preacher asked him "Did you tell God everything?" He responded "Yes! I told God everything I wanted to tell him." The first surprise of secret prayer is the difficulty of specific and honest confession to God. The Second surprise of secret prayer is the stuff in your life that you are somewhat reluctant to ask God to take. Yes, you will find that there are some things that are even hard to tell God about you and some places in your life that you still wish to hold onto and keep God out of. The fact is pride even accompanies us into our secret prayer closet.

It is interesting that in Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well; he does not let her know what he knows until she confesses it. Our carnality makes it difficult to perceive the reality of God's omniscience. Obeying Him through confession allows us to experience His omniscience through divine confirmation. We must learn to be honest with the one we can never be dishonest with anyway, to own up to what He already knows about us, quit hiding among the trees, cease running from his presence, stop fearing his voice, take off the fig leaves, take off the front, take off the fraud, remove the mask, kill the cover up, and live naked and unashamed before Him.

John indicates that the admission of our sins always results in the righteous forgiveness and cleansing of all unrighteousness in accordance with the promise and character of God as his goal for the Christian is not destruction but deliverance, not condemnation but compassion, not to forsake us but to forgive us.

The old maxim says "Open confession is good for the soul." The sentiment of this verse is that fellowship is fostered through honest and open confession of sins as sin. Such confessional honesty is found resident in specifics, not generalities. You did not sin generally but specifically. One must walk the stairs of confession of his or her realized sins to the purifying presence and cleansing power of almighty God. Through confessional prayer God does all of the heavy lifting for you.

It is My Meditation All the Day

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Psalm 119:97

What's on your mind the most? If it's not God's word, whatever it may be, it is in the way and place of God's word.

I, myself, have been deficient in my understanding of the concept of "meditation," not wrong, but not comprehensive. I've said in the past that meditation is constantly pondering the application of the word of God, and it is certainly that too! That was far, but not far enough. I have since come to understand that "meditation" is the totality of one's contemplation of the word of God including: study, prayer, confession, fasting, fellowship, & ministry. Meditation on the word of God is Christianity. Every one of the other 6 fore mentioned major concepts fall under or within the context of meditation. In other words, meditation is the capital enterprise in the devotional life of the Christian in concept and in practice.

Meditation in eastern mysticism is to empty one's mind to become one with his experience of all things, but meditation in Christianity is to fill your mind with the word of God to interpret all things you experience. Meditation is to never let the word of God leave your mind. Psalm 1 states it, "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa 1:2). His word does not leave me, in calmness, in confusion, in calamity, or in controversy. Meditation means no matter the circumstances I abide/dwell/keep His precepts in my words, thoughts and deeds; the outward results are that I keep His peace, possess His power, speak His praise.

When God's peace, power, and praise leave your character or continence, it is a result of failing to meditate on His word. When your mouth can't help cursing, when your mind can't find contentment, when your madness won't let you control yourself, when you are so messed up that you can't be consoled and calm, it is a result of failing to meditate on His word.

Meditation means to keep God's word on your mind. The CONTENT of "meditation" is to EXPRESS INEXPRESSIBLE (O how), EMOTION FOR GOD'S WORD (love I thy law) which ENGULFS ONE'S WHOLE LIFE (it is my meditation all the day).

You cannot maintain what you are not passionate about. You can fail to be excited about something that is benefiting you because you don't perceive its benefit. However, you cannot be excited about something you don't perceive is benefiting you. This passion comes from God's word at work in your life perpetuating an ever-increasing love for His word. Spurgeon put it this way, "The psalmist meditated in God's word because he loved it, and then loved it the more because he meditated in it." I will state it again in the most succinct way that I believe it can be stated: Meditation on the word of God is Christianity.

THE VIRTUEOUS WOMAN Pt III - Her Value (Prov. 31:23-27)

A person will never maintain what they do not value. It’s funny how many women today try to front like they cook, clean, and comb hair, while trying to get a man, but they don’t seem to understand what it took to get his attention is what it takes to keep his attention. Yet women often value being praise but they don’t value praise worthy stuff. This woman was not only taught what to be, she was taught what to do; this woman was not only taught what to do, she was taught what was important. We’ve looked at her virtues: valuable, trustworthy, helpful, industrious, resourceful, and nurturing; we’ve looked at her vigilance: prudent, reserved, thorough, productive, charitable, protective, and elegant. Her vigilance flows from her virtues, and her virtue flows from her values. This woman valued what God says is valuable: Her husband’s adornment (v23), tasteful (v24), progressive (v25), discrete (v26), and a homemaker (v27.) Her values are a means of help to her husband.

Supportive: If the husband is nobody and nothing then the wife is nobody and nothing; because, he wares her as his adornment everywhere he goes. If he is nobody to you (respectable), then he will be nobody to others. If he is nobody to you, he will be nobody to your children. The indication in the passage is that her husband is known at the gate or as a community authority, because of her contribution to his life. Whatever a man may be, his wife aught to make him all the more improved in it.

Tasteful: She likes nice things. Not merely self-adornments, but her taste is wholesome (home, husband, and kids.) Every man longs to say when others come to his home and experiences its beautiful sights and sounds, its wonderful aromas and taste, and its touch and feel, my wife does this. The home is the outward symbol of what a woman does inwardly for her husband. If the home is a mess and a wreck, it exposes the fact that she has little help for him if any.

Progressive: The old saying goes, behind every good man is a woman telling him what to do. It is often the woman that truly keeps a man moving forward, reminding a man of what he said and what he is supposed to be doing to accomplish his vision. She wants to get there as much, if not more than he does; because, she is a benefactor of his blessings promised by God in his vision.

Discrete: A woman makes her home, her family, with her mouth, the way she carries herself, and how she interacts with others. Most of the time nobody knows what’s going on in the four walls of your home until the wife is telling it. Yet this woman is careful not to kill the character of her husband nor her home with words.

Homemaker: Women are naturally concerned about what people think, yet today’s woman doesn’t seem to understand that her family is her true beautification. She should not be primarily known for her career but her home. Who her family is and how they look, and how she cares for her husband and children tells it all.

THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN - Part 1: Her Virtue

Proverb 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

In a time where women are taking their queue from the world and that in stark opposition to God’s word, Christians need to proclaim His truths clearer, louder, and more frequently. A true woman is what God’s says she is and nothing more or less. She is the helper to her husband, a compliment to his life, and his most valuable possession. This has less to do with who her husband is, than it has to do with what God made her to be. This kind of woman is no accident; somebody has prepared her for a husband.

This passage has been aptly deemed by classical Christianity, “The Virtuous Woman” or “A Good Woman.” It is a proverb written by a mother to her son, describing a woman like herself as the kind of woman he should marry. Today, many women are told the opposite of what the bible affirms as true, good, and right before God. They are told that they should not have to live up to their husband’s mother’s standards; they are told that they are not their husband’s possession; they are told that they have a right to their own life, vision, and goals; they are told they have as much say-so in the direction of the family unit as does their husband. Yet how wrong and anti-biblical is such talk.

This passage, though speaking much about a type of woman is centered on a man. It is warning to a man. It is instruction to a man. It adorns a woman in beautiful character for a man. It describes a woman at optimal function that is valuable to a man. It describes a woman as having endured vigorous preparation for a man. Paul affirms this in the New Testament, "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man (1 Corinthian 11:8-9). The goodness of this woman is a product of understanding, accepting, and remaining in her God-ordained purpose. In verses 10-15 she is found having 5 traits in the eyes of her husband: 1) supremely valuable – she is his most treasured possession, 2) absolutely trustworthy – she acts in the context of his intention and pleasure, 3) extremely helpful – she makes him a better man directly and indirectly, 4) capable and skillful – she is able to produce things of value good for her family and others, 5) Resourceful and thrifty – she is frugal, not at all wasteful or destructive, and 6) Nurturing – she works to optimize the family in all areas.

In short, the virtuous woman has been prepared to be a wife to her husband, a mother to her children, and a model woman for other women.

Rejoicing the Heart

The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart (Psalm 19:8)

Everybody wants to find true happiness. Yet we are prone to do that which does not result in our happiness. The biblical formula to true happiness is “Freedom in Christ + Faithfulness to God + Fulfillment of Purpose = Happiness.”

“Statues” refers to God's Spirit, His standards, His character. The joy here is a result of knowing God and pleasing Him according to that knowledge. I'm convinced that it is no co-incident that his statues precede his commandments in the next clause. One can never properly perceive His commandments without knowing his statues.

We assume that God’s way cannot possibly result in our happiness. How can turning the other cheek result in happiness? How can giving up your cloak to the same person who took your coat make you happy? How can going two miles for the person who makes you go one mile, loving your enemies, praying for those who despitefully misuse you, returning good for evil. How can these values bring about true happiness?

Today it is erroneously taught that the return on righteousness is health and wealth in this life. Yet this is so contrary to the life of Christ, His Apostles, and New Testament saints. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Those saints seemed to go along rejoicing all the way.

The psalmist says righteousness brings happiness; it rejoices the heart. The end of a righteous act is always and without fail vindication and justification by God. Right will always win, but not always immediately. …And that’s our problem. We want the return on righteousness to be micro waved, faxed, emailed… However, this is not how the economy of God works. Doing right is a seed sown. Paul says, “Be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Why is there a danger of fainting? The return requires temperance and patience. The martyred souls under the altar cried out, “How long Lord?” God did answer them, not by instantly avenging them, but by supplying them with white robes. That is, by granting their names to be great and noised about among the surviving saints as sure and faithful men and women of God. This seems to be saying, be happy in doing right for righteousness sake for now, knowing you are free from judgment, pleasing to God, having fulfilled your purpose. No righteousness will not rejoice the flesh immediately, yet knowing that even fleshly resolve is certainly on the way can and will rejoice the heart.

Making Wise the Simple

The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalms 19:7b)

Unquestionable, yet it calls our understanding into question. In Christianity, there is no such thing as a wise testimony. Light is simple; darkness is complex, winding, twisting and elusive.

And darkness cannot comprehend light; the natural cannot receive the spiritual; belief cannot cohabitate with unbelief. So where men are exalted and God is minimized, His testimonies only confound, confused bewilder and baffle. It is pearls before swine and the holy before dogs.

People cannot accept the testimony God changed my life; because, it does not fit. They cannot embrace the testimony God healed me; because, it does not fit. They will not hear that prayer made a difference; because, it does not fit. It does not fit into the little box of human wisdom. It defies mere horizontal logic based in laboratory data.

Yet the Psalmist says it is “sure”. That is sound, certain, lasting, and real. And that is the only test of the Lord’s testimonies. Gamaliel said it plainly, “For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it” In great humility, he resolved to let men be men and God be God.

Paul put it plainly, God is passed finding out. He is passed exploration and discovery. He is passed experimentation and empirical observation. He is subject to no law, no principle, and no standard; for He’s the author of every righteous law, every true principle, and every lofty standard.

To comprehend God is to be God. The assumption that one has comprehended God is the highest position of arrogant ignorance. And that is it: we were converted from wise to simple. What we thought took hard work only took faith. What we thought demanded ambition only demanded patience. What we thought took knowing the world only took knowing Him. When we thought our testimony would be the complexities of what we did ultimately became the simplicity of what God did. The songwriter captures the essence of the simple testimony when he wrote…

Yes, God is real
Real in my soul
Yes, God is real
For He has washed
And made me whole
His love for me
Is like pure gold
Yes, God is real
For I can feel
Him in my soul

Converting the Soul

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul (Psalms 19:7)

The Psalmist declares the law of the Lord to be complete, sufficient and adequate, converting the soul. It is perfect to manifest one’s guilt. It is perfect to bring one face to face with the ultimate Judge. It is perfect to shut one’s prideful boast. It is perfect to turn one against his existential error. It is perfect to bring one to the end of himself.

Everyone who runs into the law is not converted but there is no one converted that did not run into the law. No one comes to Christ on the upbeat; to the contrary, the sinner comes abused, broken, confused, degraded, and empty from the consequences of sin. And those consequences are the hand of God executing His law. What law? The soul that sins shall surely die. What law? The wages of sin is death. Who killed the man who jumps off the building, it is God: God’s own judicial determination in the unmovable law of gravity. And it is the same God that orders the consequential turmoil, trauma, or tragedy that is essential to every conversion.

Conversion means to be freed from ideas or doubts that bound one to a false course – to repent. Unconverted Peter asserted at the Mount of Olives, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” Yet only hours later, warming at the fire, the consequential denial of Peter’s presumptuous arrogance broke him. Why – Because god has a certain law for pride. Paul employs it when instructing Timothy, “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.”

There are those who would say that the law is done away with. They would say it is grace today not law. What an error! For if there is no law there can be no grace. O but moreover, if there is no law there is no God. For God is the law; He is himself the standard; He is holiness itself. Thus the law is immutable, immovable, and irresistible. The law was not created the law was revealed. And what is revealed “is always”; and the only thing that “is always” is God. John states it aptly, “ …And the word was God.”

And the story of every Christian is that he ran into God’s law. God would not let us be comfortable in our sin. He would not let us find peace or contentment. Law penalized our sin until we came to the end of it. Law freed us from what we love when its pain was manifest beyond our desire for the wrong itself. …And we were freed, freed from thinking the bad is good; freed from believing that such death is life; freed to hear God’s voice; freed to receive the gospel; freed to know His love; freed to know his mercy and grace. Elsewhere the Psalmist says, “The entrance of thy words giveth light.” The hymnologist, said “I once was blind but now I see.”

When We Remembered Zion

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. (Psalm 137:1)

Their disobedience had brought them to Babylon. The river is indicative here of Babylon’s best. They were in the most plenteous, pleasant, pristine, productive place Babylon had to offer. The Babylonian’s first methodical philosophy was not oppression but one of impression. They sought to woo their captives into service. But when you belong to God, you can never feel comfortable in the world. You may ride in the best Bentley… You may live in the palatial Fifth Avenue Penthouse… You may party with a president and a princess… But the world’s prosperity cannot compare to being blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. All of the world’s blissful places cannot replace the peace of God that passes all understanding. All of the world’s recognitions and accolades cannot measure up to one “Well done thy good and faithful servant”.

While in Zion, they worshiped the gods of Babylon: Baal and Ashtoreth… They demoralized their own priesthood… They persecuted and kill the prophets… Jeremiah prophesied, “I see a boiling pot tilted to the north”… In other words, the Babylonians are coming for us… and God’s going to step back and let them have their way. God gave them all the Babylon they wanted. And they did not like it!

And here they were in Babylon sitting down. “Sitting down” shows inactivity and deep reflection. The flesh fest was over. The fruitless festivities had ended. The stench of sin had reached heaven. And now in exile “they remembered!” As they wept, “they remembered!” Not in Jerusalem, but in Babylon, “they remembered!” Not by the Jordan, but by the Euphrates, “they remembered!” While being offered Babylon’s best, they were contemplating the high cost of their low living.

Saints, if you keep on playing with the world, God will let you have all of the world you want. He will exile you from a place of pleasure to a place of pain. That’s why they are there – Because every now and then, God will turn things upside down; He will put the world on top of the church for a season. He’ll let the sinners dominate the saints for a season. How long is that season? Until He stamps out the mess in you that won’t let Him bless you. How long is that season? – Until you are ready to show forth the praises of Him who has brought you out of darkness into the marvelous light. How long is that season? – Until there is no more you but only Him living in you, living for you, and living through you.

A Setting For A Coming

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:13-14

Seeds of ambiguity have been sown among believers, as to whether Christians should observe the Christmas celebration. Some have gone as far as deeming it a pagan practice, yet a look at history will not affirm this. Christmas has its origin, not in paganism, nor in edicts of Emperor Constantine, but in the church. That's right! The church has always set aside a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. While no one knows the day that Jesus Christ was born, the day of observance was not first December 25th, but January 6th. Some say it was a syncretistic change of date, meant to merge Christian and pagan worship. However, history does not produce the outrage, debate, division, or bloodshed that such a motive would have occasioned. Rather history is more aligned with the idea that, in agreement, the church sought to counter pagan observances by moving the Christmas celebration. This seems clear not only by the absence of resistance, but confirmed by the fact that this was not the only holiday moved as a counter measure to pagan observances.

While history of this sort is very meaningful and one should be careful in either contradicting or abandoning the long standing traditions of the church, there is still a higher authority that sets forth a pattern of celebrating the birth of Christ.

The angels celebrated the birth of Christ, for they sang "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Not only did the angels celebrate the birth of Christ, but the shepherds celebrated the birth of Christ, "And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen." Not only so, but eight days after Jesus was born, there in the temple, Simeon the priest celebrated the birth of Christ saying, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." And after him, a widow who served continually at the temple, the prophetess Anna, she celebrated the birth of Christ, as she gave thanks "and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." About two years later, the wise men arrived at the home of Mary and Joseph and they celebrated the birth of Jesus, "and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." Is this not a pattern of celebrating the birth of Christ to be imitated?

For 400 years God had shut up heaven. Since the prophet Malachi, there was no word, no revelation, no prophet, and no preacher. Isaiah described the conditional context of the advent of the Savior as a drought, dry and unfruitful ground, a land filled with crusting and cracking river beds. And then an emerging greenery came into view, a shoot out of the parched dirt, and the consoling sight of life, the hope of fertility.

This is the setting, circumstance, context, background of Christmas. The setting for the coming of Christ is the extended silence of heaven broken by the heralding voices singing angels. For the one who understands the setting in which the birth of Christ occurs, it not only commands the celebration of Christmas but it demands the celebration of Christmas. Moreover such shallow religion that does not affirm the celebration of Christmas, one may rest assured that it is neither biblical nor Christian.