Archives for October 2019

When Balaam was called to curse Israel, just before the conquest of the Promised Land, around 1500BC, he declared that nothing anyone can do will reverse God’s blessing.

“God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!” Numbers 23:20

This lines up with what Apostle Paul wrote in New Testament times, that if God is on our side there can be no successful challenger.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31

The same thought is supported by the writing of Apostle John, advising that God within us is mightier than all the other forces in our world.

“You are of God little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1John 4:4

These truths give us great comfort and confidence when we confront evil. God is able to bless us with irreversible blessings, because there is no rival to God and nothing can defeat God’s plans and purposes.

We see, back in Isaiah’s prophetic writing, that God promises to do new and wonderful thing for us. Before God makes that promise, however, He reminds us of His mighty power for two key purposes, to make a way where there is no way and to defeat enemies we are unable to defeat.

“This is what the Lord says: he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and soldiers together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick” Isaiah 43:16,17

God reminds Israel that He made a way through the Red Sea, opening the waters. There was no way through the water. The Israelites thought they were doomed. But God made a way where there was no way, straight through the sea that blocked them.

Note also that Israel was about to face its first war. The Children of Israel had been freed from Egyptian slavery by God’s miracle plagues, so they did not have to fight and defeat the Egyptians. Shortly afterward, however, the Egyptian army marched against them. This time the people faced war and were totally ill-equipped to fight. However God killed the Egyptian army, drowning them in the Sea.

What God declared through Isaiah is, “I have something to say, but first I remind you I make possible what is completely impossible. I make a way where there is no way. And I fight for you, conquering enemies you cannot defeat, without you even drawing sword.”

In the light of that amazing reality God then makes His declaration.

“Behold, I am doing something new! Now it erupts; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

God promises new things, based on His track record of doing two impossible things. God opens doors where there is no door; makes a way where there is no way; creates possibilities that are impossible.

And God defeats our enemies without us even having to fight. We don’t have to learn swordsmanship or war strategies. God fights for us.

“The LORD will fight for you; just stand still.” Exodus 14:14

“You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf.” 2Chronicles 20:17

No wonder God’s blessings are irreversible. When God blesses nothing can be done to reverse it.

Does God plan to bless you? The Bible says God’s plans for you are only good.

“The Lord declares, I know my plans for you, to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

God’s plans for you are full of His blessings. God even told His people to invoke blessings on one another by calling on God’s blessings.

“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

Are you in a difficult spot? Are you stuck, with no way out? God has revealed Himself as the miracle working God. God reminded His people that He makes a road through situations where there is no way out. 

God opens doors where there is no door.

So cry out to God to create a way, a door, a road, or a highway through the impassable place you are in. It’s something God can do and God reminds His people that He can do.

And is there an enemy oppressing you? Have you been ‘under it’ for so long you think it is normal to be oppressed? God declares He is the God who deals with enemies, defeating them without you having to draw your sword or fire one arrow.

If God is for you who can possibly be against you?

God within you is greater than all the forces of this world, human or demonic.

When God blesses nothing can reverse it.

God has promised to do new things, to open new possibilities, and to lead you, as a shepherd leads his sheep, to places of peace and blessing.

Cry out to Him who can and will bless you with Irreversible Blessings.

All of God’s laws are bound up in two commands, which we call the greatest commandments.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Both these commands are about ‘love’: loving God and loving our neighbour. That love, however, is not the sentimental, romantic or sexual love which distracts worldly people. It is a commitment of devotion, giving the other priority place.

I like the working definition of God’s kind of love as “wanting the best for someone else, despite the personal cost”. That has nothing to do with lust, sentiment or romance. It is about commitment and focus on the other.

In these two commands are the ‘character qualities’ required in order to live them out.

If we are to love God with all our being, what does that demand of our character?

I suggest that it challenges our Pride. People who rebel against God are exalting themselves against God, as the devil did. The devil rose up and wanted to take God’s place.

“You said in your heart: I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13,14

The Apostle Paul advised against promoting someone who was not well established in the faith, since that would lead them to pride, which is what condemned the devil.

“Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” 1Timothy 3:6

Loving God with all our being requires that we live humbly with our God, not thinking we know better and not pressing for our own way and our own ideas.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is right. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Pride, by our high regard for self, self-reliance, demanding our own way, thinking we know better than God, or can at least do quite well without Him, and our self-focused living, has to die in order for us to fulfil the first and greatest commandment, to love God with all our being.

The key character quality required to fulfil the second greatest commandment is that of selflessness, as opposed to selfishness. The second greatest command requires that we love our neighbour the same way we love ourselves.

This calls for the death of selfishness, since we cannot elevate ourself over others. Instead of ‘looking out for Number One’ we look out for all. We care what is happening to those around us. We notice the one in need, or under oppression, and do what we can to help, just as we would do for ourselves.

We see the hungry and feed them. We see those who have needs and meet those needs. We see the widow and orphan and the powerless and we take care of them.

God reveals the importance of these things when he challenged Israel’s religious people for fasting, but oppressing people at the same time. God said he would reject their fasts, then God explains what He considers to be the more important things to do.

“Is not this the fast I have chosen, to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and remove every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring home the poor and homeless, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6,7

So I see Pride and Selfishness as the two things that have to die in order for us to fulfil the great commandments. In fact we need to have humility and selflessness in order to fulfil any of the law of God.

Yet our culture, the world we live in, promotes personal pride and promotes self-focused living. We are indulged with all manner of goods and technologies and we are encouraged to have things the way we want them. 

At times I notice parents doing this with their very young children, asking what the child wants to eat, for example. I have heard some rather spoiled children lecturing their parents about what they want and how they want it. To my surprise the parents then served that wish as if it was sacred. Yet each of those children has to eventually die to their selfishness in order to please God. So supporting that selfish focus can’t be best for the child in the long run.

The West’s enthusiasm for promoting self-esteem similarly can have the side-effect of fostering things the child will have to die to in order to walk humbly with God.

We are to think soberly about ourselves, and that includes seeing who we are in comparison to God, and deciding to stand humbly before Him, serving others instead of indulging ourselves.

“By God’s grace given to me I say to all among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to, but to think with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has assigned.” Romans 12:3

I challenge you to audit your life and your heart and check how much of your time, money and energy is focused on serving yourself and going your own way. How does that balance with time, money and energy invested in serving God and loving others, sacrificially?

Ponder Paul’s words to the church at Colossae.

“Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved, deep compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering” Colossians 3:12

Dear friends, Pursue Humility and Selflessness, so you can fulfil the laws of God.

In the book of Isaiah the Lord challenges idol worshipers by asking which idol has been able to tell the future. 

“Let the people bring their idols and tell us what is going to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to come in the future, so we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; those who choose you are an abomination.” Isaiah 41:22-24

God knows the future and revealed it through his prophets many times over.

In Isaiah God revealed that a man named Cyrus would come and, although not a God worshipper, would fulfil God’s plans.

“This is what the Lord says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut” Isaiah 45:1

Isaiah prophesied before Israel was taken captive by Babylon, warning the people and promising a glorious future. At the end of that 70 year exile it was King Cyrus who decreed that the Jews could return to their land, a century after Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus being used by God. (See Ezra 1 for the proclamation by Cyrus)

Prophecy confirms to us that God knows the future. God is eternal, not only because He has no end, but because He is outside of time, and exists in all places and all times simultaneously. God knows the future as surely as He knows the present and the past.

We are locked into a time prison where every passing second is truly passed and every future moment is unreachable until it arrives for its fleeting presence. While we can’t escape time, God is able to roam through time in an instant, past, present and future.

That is why it can be said of God that He is the same “yesterday, today and forever”.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

“I am the Lord. I do not change. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6

You are wonderfully safe in God’s hands, because nothing will ever take Him by surprise. He knows every situation and challenge that is yet to surprise you. He knows your reactions in advance and He provides all you need before ever you need it.

You can safely rely on God and God’s Word.

God can also guide you safely through difficult situations, or protect you from dangers that are not obvious yet.

You may be on a path that looks perfect, expecting it to take you where you want to go. But you can’t see the future and you don’t know what changes there will be that will completely turn things around. God knows all of that in advance because God Knows the Future.

There is a story about a Chinese farmer last century whose crop was destroyed by a storm. All his friends consoled him on his bad fortune, but he said the situation may be good or bad. He remained non-committal. He had to plant a different crop and it turned out to be very valuable. His friends congratulated him, but he said his good harvest may turn out good or bad. He remained non-committal.

He bought a tractor with his profits and his friends congratulated him, but he remained non-committal. Then his teenage son had an accident with the tractor and broke his leg. The friends consoled him but again he said, “It may be good. It may be bad.” The communist revolutionary army came through soon after and grabbed every able bodied young man to fight, but the youth with the broken leg was left behind.

That’s just a story and there may be many variations, but it points to the fact that we do not know what is coming around the corner, so we have to trust God in everything.

More than that, we can be led by the Holy Spirit, ignoring our own understanding, and find that our Good Shepherd leads us much better than we could lead ourselves.

The story is told of a Christian businessman (and I have no idea who it was and can’t verify the story) who was interviewed about his amazing success in picking wise investments time and time again. He allegedly showed the interviewer his prayer room, explaining he would not do a deal until he felt God’s approval.

He said he often had to pass up deals he was sure would succeed, because he had no confirmation to go ahead. Other times he would pray about an offer he was keen to reject, only to find God prompting him to invest. So his wonderful success happened despite his own ideas, because he was being led by the Lord, not his own instincts.

God Knows the Future, and He is well able to lead you safely for the rest of your life, if you will only allow Him to do that. So start by committing everything to God, putting aside your own smart ideas and seeking to be led by the Holy Spirit.

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the mature sons of God.” Romans 8:14

Trust God for wonderful outcomes, since God Knows the Future.

I heard recently of a gathering of ministers from various churches, where a minister declared that he trusted the Bible to be the flawless Word of God, effectively written by the hand of God through the instrument of God’s servants over thousands of years.

Some of the other ministers scoffed at his statement and went on the offensive to undermine such confidence in the Bible.

So, let me pose the question. Why do God’s people ever want to attack and undermine God’s Word? Why would people who rely on the Bible as their primary source document feel some need to discredit it?

Of course the world will attack the Bible. They don’t want to believe in God or submit to Him, or receive the things revealed in the Bible. They don’t want to believe in miracles, or spirits, or God seeing all we do and hearing all we say. They don’t want to believe in heaven and hell.

And of course, Satan will attack God’s Word. He did that on his first encounter with man in the Garden of Eden. The devil’s first line of attack when he tempted Eve was to question God’s words.

“The serpent was more devious than any other animal made by the LORD God. He said to the woman, Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Genesis 3:1

The devil went on to accuse God of lying and wanting to deny good things to Adam and Eve.

“You will not surely die, the serpent told her. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4

The World and the Devil are opposed to God’s word, so we should not be surprised when people level all manner of attacks against God’s Word.

Attacks come in many forms, such as scoffing, “You don’t believe the Bible, do you?” And there are intellectual attacks, “Surely you don’t believe such a thing is possible?” Then there are academic attacks, which present as carefully researched facts that should not be disputed.

For the Christian the Bible is a wonderful gift from God. It is revelation of things we would not otherwise know and it reveals the keys for our living and our relationship with God. We have no reason to despise or attack it.

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11

“His delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2

Christians know that the Bible is effective in a wide range of key life experiences.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.” 2Timothy 3:16

Christians also recognise that God, by the Holy Spirit, is the author of the Bible, overseeing what God’s men wrote through the centuries.

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2Peter 1:21

It is my assumption that people who act as if they are offended by God’s Word, or offended by those who hold it in high regard, are actually feeling offended in themselves, afraid of the scorn of man.

If that is the case it is what the Bible calls ‘fear of man’ and the Bible warns that fearing people is a trap.

“The fear of man brings a snare: but whoever puts his trust in the LORD will be safe.” Proverbs 29:25

The World and the Devil are opposed to God and those who worship God. They employ intimidation, scorn, rejection and force to oppose faith in God and faith in God’s Word. When we come under the hold of their defiance we can choose to go along with their ideas. When we do that we are trapped and that trap may be what causes men and women of God to defy God’s Word instead of relying on it and trusting it for all they need.

Once people abandon God’s Word as their reliable foundation they are floundering, without an anchor. They are able to be pushed along by any wind of doctrine or worldly idea. Sadly many Christians drift like that and wonder why Bible truths don’t seem to work for them.

I encourage you to throw off the intimidation you have suffered at the hands of the world and the devil’s taunts. Repent of ever doubting or minimising the Bible as God’s Word to you and ask God to open His word into your heart so you can be transformed by all it offers.

And, as a final word, let me prompt you with the words of Apostle Paul.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

And from now on never be Offended at God’s Word.