Tag Archives: Luke

Night is approaching; Christ’s light shines brighter

Posted on December 21, 2015 by | Comments Off on Night is approaching; Christ’s light shines brighter

Night is approachingNight is approaching but many Christians remain confused about what the night actually is. Some will try to equate darkness and night with the trials, tribulations, and temptations we endure as Christians. While it can certainly be said that these are real spiritual storms, in no means are they the same as when Jesus told the disciples, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4). Later, He would expand on this earlier teaching and as recorded in scripture, Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them (John 12:35-36).

A storm may bring darkened skies but storms never last

Night is approaching but it is important to understand it is not the same as a spiritual storm. Spiritual storms are nothing more than a crisis of our faith where we are faced with a temptation, a trial, or maybe even the Lord’s chastisement. I think of the verse in Genesis where God, after delivering Noah and his family through a mighty storm, made this promise: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud (Genesis 9:14). God had made a few promises to Noah that included the storm would pass, He would be there to help them through, and when it was over, He would be there at the end of the flood to welcome them with the promise of the rainbow. As Christians, we are given the same offer when the storms of life come. He offers to see us through the storm, He offers to be there with us in the midst of the storm, and He promises that we have a home in Heaven with Him when our life’s journey is done. Storms always end and the results are we can be closer to the Lord, our faith can be strengthened, and we can rejoice knowing He has given us the victory!

Night is approaching: Encroaching spiritual wickedness

The apostle Paul understood the approaching darkness and wickedness even during his lifetime as he warned the early Christians in Ephesus: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). The phrase, rulers of darkness, really stands out and defines exactly what the darkness is. Within the Old Testament, there are several verses that explain what the darkness is: A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness (Job 10:22), Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it (Job 3:4), He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail (1 Samuel 2:9), and They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course (Psalms 82:5). 

Even Jesus spoke of the darkness: When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). Within the gospel of John, the first paragraph explains the reason that Jesus came to dwell among men. The fifth verse is still applicable today:  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5). John, as led by the Holy Spirit, would later write, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The darkness is not the storms we know as trials, temptations, and other testings of our faith, but of the world lost in its sins and rejection of God. It was the wickedness of mankind that gave room to Satan which influenced the religious leaders of the day to desire to put Jesus to death. It was the darkness of the times and the wickedness in high places that led to the beheading of John the Baptist. The darkness and wickedness continued after the death of Jesus to assure the apostles died remarkably horrible deaths in trying to extinguish the presence of Jesus from the memory of man.  Where a storm is there to increase our faith; darkness creeps in to extinguish all influence of the Lord.

Continued on the next page.

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A good start each day is essential

Posted on December 14, 2015 by | Comments Off on A good start each day is essential

good startWe have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Studies have shown that those people who eat a well-balanced breakfast daily do better quality work, are more able to handle the challenges and stresses of the day, and are in better health. Each day, schools across America give a free balanced breakfast to school-aged children so they can focus on learning rather on their hunger. I began thinking over the weekend of not only daily breakfast time at our family home but about what a balanced spiritual breakfast means for the believer.

After 40 days of fasting, Jesus offers advice for the soul

We’ve all read it in our personal devotions, have heard it taught in Sunday school, and even have heard preachers discuss it from the pulpit – the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan after he had spent 40 days fasting and praying in the wilderness. After being tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread, Jesus rebuked him, And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Luke 4:4). As I began studying this verse, I remembered what I once heard a small-town radio preacher say – if you want to live in this body you have to feed it; if you want eternal life, you must feed the soul. Feeding this body, bread, as Satan tempted Jesus, would only feed the physical body. When we eat, we are only feeding our physical body; this morning I had scrambled eggs, a couple of turkey sausage patties, and two of the small canned biscuits. While it was a filling and very satisfying breakfast it did nothing for my soul. It simply fed the physical body.

A good start of the day must include fellowship with Jesus

David, described by the author of the Book of Acts; I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will (Acts 13:22c), understood the importance of seeking the Lord early in the day. He wrote, O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is (Psalms 63:1). Solomon wrote on a similar theme, I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me (Proverbs 8:17). God is not talking about those that find Him early in life in this context, but those that wake up with a purpose to find and spend time with the Lord in the very first moments of the day. It takes a great effort to roll out of bed, grab your Bible, and begin reading and praying.  It becomes so easy to roll out of bed with a grunt, turn on the coffee pot, eat breakfast, and next thing you know, you’re already out the door for work without even reading one verse or spending time with the Lord in prayer.

When we truly put the Lord at the beginning of our day it does do a few things. Firstly, it allows us to put Jesus first in everything we do. When we do put the Lord first in our morning routine it changes the way we approach our work, our coworkers, and even our family members. It also allows the Lord to see our determination to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I’m reminded of the testimony of Daniel: Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:10). Almost everything I’ve read about Daniel is that he prayed in the morning, evening, and noontime. Even when laws were passed against praying to the Lord, Daniel continued his routine of making the Lord the center of his life. Although we do not know exactly what three times Daniel prayed each day, I do believe that one of the times Daniel prayed was early in the morning before he began his daily routine.

A good start can set the course for the day

I will admit there have been times where I have skipped breakfast in the morning. For whatever reason, I simply didn’t have the time or just forgot to eat. It was those days where it seemed that I was the most distracted and irritable. And there have been times where I made the decision not to read my Bible or spend time in prayer with the Lord before I began my day. Just as skipping breakfast had a real influence of my day, so did skipping my personal, quiet time with the Lord. I have found I am more irritable, I get less work done, and everything seems to bother me. Aches and pains, stiff joints, and even some people, generally speaking, seem to irritate me more. However, when I have spent the time in prayer and personal Bible study in the morning, it is amazing the difference it makes. I can handle challenges and difficulties better, aches and pains seem more tolerable, and I get more done because my attitude towards what needs to be done is better. 

If you’re ready for a real change in your life that will also help your spiritual growth, I would invite you to do a thirty-day challenge – make fellowship with the Lord the first thing you do in the morning. Be ready for Satan to create all kinds of havoc as you begin to adopt a Christ-centered morning routine. Even after you’ve established it, Satan will still try to sabotage your efforts. However, I can tell you from experience that the Lord will honor and richly bless your efforts to become more Christ-focused. 

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Weakened foundations and empty lives (pt 2)

Posted on December 2, 2015 by | Comments Off on Weakened foundations and empty lives (pt 2)

brick-crackEmpty lives and weakened foundations seem to go together. I have seen this each day in the college courses that I teach and have experienced in my own life. When we build our lives around anything other than Jesus nothing within is where it needs to be or in its proper perspective. Having a life without a firm foundation leads to an emptiness that is hard to explain but we’ve all experienced. It wasn’t until 2006 that I began to understand where this emptiness came from and how I actually contributed to its development. 

Empty lives can indicate the absence of Jesus

Even though I thought I was saved in 1988, and as I have shared with the readers of this blog over the last few years, from 1988 until 2006, things that should have brought me joy either didn’t or simply didn’t last long. There were a few verses that began to affect how I saw myself and my relationship with the Lord once I did finally accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. The first, For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4), puts things in perspective. David, the man who God said was after His own heart, was led by the Holy Spirit to write, I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well (Psalms 139:14) which conveys the idea that mankind was created by God and not some accident or development of an evolutionary process.

While I was an undergraduate, I took courses in psychology, anthropology, and sociology which were my declared minors. One of the things that fascinated me about all three of these social sciences was a common facet of our basic nature – mankind has what some consider as a per-programmed need to worship something. Durkheim, a sociologist from the late 19th and early 20th Century, spent much of his life’s work studying various primitive groups and noticed that in the absence of what he considered as “standard religions” (such as Judaism and Christianity), mankind would create a complex faith system to appeal to the spiritual world. As an avid Atheist, Durkheim appealed to the rationality of these alternative religions until he reaffirmed the religion of his childhood, orthodox Judaism. What Durkheim learned was that mankind is a social animal, not just in a physical sense, but in our need to relate to some sort of higher being or power. Not only is this demonstrated throughout the Bible, but we see it in the world around us. 

Paul demonstrates this human need for spiritual fellowship was manifested in God’s efforts to reach down to mankind: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10) and in this verse: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). God understands our basic need to believe in something greater than ourselves and He understands the sins that take hold of us that prevents us from worshiping Him. When we think of the story of Cain and Abel we see the story of all humanity – a choice to worship God as He has prescribed or to attempt to worship God in a false religion we’ve made. Cain’s decision to offer his own style of sacrifice not only resulted in an empty gesture that had no real meaning, but in a rebuke from God and an anger that led to him murdering his own brother.

Empty lives impact everything we do and all that we have

I was asked if it were normal for Christians to have an empty feeling; the answer is yes. One can be a Christian yet have a life that is focused on things other than Jesus. Let me be clear here – those who are without Christ will have an empty life for the simple reason that they are bound to sin and the world. This was a part of the topic of the first part of this two-part series. Christians can have empty lives when anything other than Jesus becomes their focus. It is one of the reasons that Jesus taught his disciples, No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13). When we try to hold onto the things of the world and serve God, not only do we engage in a war between the Holy Spirit that resides in us and the desires and enticements of the world. This is a dangerous place for any Christian to be because the emptiness it brings can easily take root and grow.

Continued on the next page.

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