Sheep Food

  You say you believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe…and they tremble. (James 2:19) I find myself circling back regularly to the passage in John’s gospel that sparked this blogging journey 5 years ago; and I still continue to draw fresh manna from it, nuggets of truth that continue to amaze me. I say ‘amaze’ because I still shake my head in wonder and even shame a times…as to how and why I never saw so much of this before. It’s found in the 8th chapter, beginning at vs. 31, where we are told that Jesus was talking to “those Jews who believed in Him’. Jews who believed… in, on, or simply ‘Him’ (depending on what translation you read). What does that even mean to you, that they ‘believed Jesus’? That’s when He points out to those who claim to ‘believe Him’…”IF…you abide or continue in My word, you are My disciples in deed.” Please circle ‘if’ in your Bible, if it isn’t already; because that is what ‘disciples’ to- they continue on in His word. Then Jesus ...

  It was another one of those ‘defining moments’ that I mentioned in a post the other day, where I had a significant learning lesson to take in as I was ‘back in school’ learning what it meant to ‘abide in Jesus’. I was about a year and a half in from having that ‘personal awakening’ that I refer to here regularly; so this incident took place five years ago. My family was making their way out to South Carolina to spend some time with my brother and his crew at his lake home, which had been a gathering place for family reunions over the past two decades. I had actually flown out two days earlier to spend some time with my parents who lived close by, but would not be able to venture up to the lake house due to their age and physical limitations. By now, I had already settled in to a pattern of early morning risings to spend time in the word where I’d pour over more scripture. I had begun to fill up countless legal pads with notes, but mostly writing out particular verses that I be...

  I’m not sure how you did with yesterday’s message, the one about the need to ‘examine ourselves’…but after I posted it I could hear an accusatory voice whisper to me “You’re making this too hard on people.” And it wasn’t God speaking to me. I was then reminded of that passage in John 6, where after Jesus had shared some deep truths with those in His audience, we are told that “many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘this is a hard saying, who can accept it’?” (60). These weren’t just peripheral followers waiting for the next miracle of fishes and loaves to fill their bellies either. They were ‘disciples’, or as many folks today would call them: ‘saved folks’. And Jesus knew in Himself that what He was telling them was not being well received (61). But He didn’t modify or dilute or back off from His message so as to appease the disgruntled group who were now second guessing what they had signed on for with this ‘following Jesus’ journey. Jesus was not one to tell pe...

  So you read yesterday’s message and found yourself asking what the condition of your own ‘pump’ was in; and that’s not a bad thing to do. (2 Cor. 13:5) There are probably different ways of having it checked out, but let me share with you a statement I have heard on more than one occasion by people who I would tell you are ‘sincere believers’; and this might be a legitimate ‘marker’ of something being amiss in your own pump (spiritual heart). Over these past six years, this journey I have been on has had multiple markers, or what I would call ‘defining moments’, where tremendous lessons of truth were impressed upon me. I could write a book on those moments alone. But along the way, I’ve had many interesting conversations with multiple believers as I have tried to share with them what happened to me, and what I have come to discover from God’s word. This is the statement I have heard roll off the lips of those individuals: “I believe abiding in Jesus is important, but if I’m bein...

  “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” – God (Heb. 3:10; Ps. 95:10) Who might be ‘they’ He speaks of there? That would be ‘His people’ who often find themselves in unfortunate predicaments due to ‘bad intel’ (Hosea 4:6) There’s an interesting statement recorded in Deut. 2:3, where God told Moses: “You’ve been circling this mountain long enough; it’s time to turn northward.” You know…40 years is a long time to wander in a place that was never intended to be your place of settlement; especially in a land or region that was as inhospitable as the wilderness, the place Moses led God’s people through after their deliverance from the land of Egypt where they had lived as slaves for hundreds of years. If that 'circling the same mountain'... doesn’t describe the walk of many sincere Christians today who have continued to battle with sins (and their consequences) that ‘war against their soul’, I don’t know what does. Years ago, we owned an ’87 GM...

  Allow me to once again to refer to a quote by C.S. Lewis, where he writes: "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our (human) race can fall into when it comes to devils/demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” I do not go about from day to day with my mind affixed on ‘unclean spirits’. Nor is my day consumed with trying to keep a list of rules and commands in order to ‘not sin’. Abiding in Jesus is not like walking down a sidewalk as you try to avoid stepping on a crack (not wanting to break your mother’s back-IYKY). Children of God have been called to ‘abide in Him’, and to walk in His peace, not to mention 'as He walked' (1 John 2:6). Can I tell you how much easier it is to just have your mind set on Him, and things above? (John 15:1-5; Col. 3:2; Luke 1:79; Col. 4:7; Isa. 26:3; Matt. 11:28-30). And ‘if’ you sin…He’ll let you know about it; trust me - You lose that...