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Hope and Disappointment – VOTD.01.23.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 23rd, 2018 | by

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

Last time we looked at the later life of John the Prophet. In Matthew 11:2-6, John is arrested and thrown in prison, which seems really strange to those who believe the successful Christian life is all mountaintop vistas with sugar-gum trees. I mean, here’s John, the one who correctly understands himself to be the frontrunner of Jesus the Messiah. He has been faithful. In fact, even Jesus would say that there is not a greater man born than John…Then he’s thrown in prison…Then he’s executed.

One of the take-aways from the history of the Israelites is that the relationship between Hope and Disappointment. Same in the New Testament and church history: If we don’t want to be disappointed, forget about hope. Disappointment is always rooted in hope deferred or crushed. (Prov 13:12). We can’t be disappointed if we didn’t first hope that something in the first place. And none of us are exempt. Every one of us has had a plan, a dream, a vision of what we want to happen in our lives that doesn’t work out the way we had hoped at some level.

When that happens, disappointment is natural, certainly not sinful. But disappointment can be the tip of a mean-spirited iceberg if we let it. When our shattered dreams and plans erode our confidence… Our confidence in ourselves, our confidence in our ability to hear God correctly, and even in our God, Himself.

“So do not throw away your confidence, for you are destined for a great reward! You need to reveal God’s will and then you receive the promise in full (Heb 10:36,37) God is working a plan in each of our lives, and that plan is a good plan, but it will almost always play out differently than we think it will…maybe differently than we think it should.

So, here are some things we need to do if we were going to thrive (or at least survive) in the sometimes slower-than-we’d-like revelation God’s good, right plan playing out…even in ways that are also sometimes confusing and don’t seem to make sense [and, at times, if we’re really honest, disappoint us]. (more…)

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When Jesus Doesn’t Meet our Expectations – VOTD.01.22.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 22nd, 2018 | by

Now, while John the Baptizer was in prison, he heard about what Christ was doing among the people, so he sent his disciples to ask him this question: “Are you really the one prophesied would come, or should we still wait for another?” “Give John this report,” Jesus said: “‘The blind see again, the crippled walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised back to life, and the poor and broken now hear of the hope of salvation!’ And tell John that the blessing of heaven comes upon those who never lose their faith in me—no matter what happens!” Matt 11:2-6

Today, we know that Jesus was and is the Messiah. Jesus knew that, and John the Prophet knew that, too. However, after John had been imprisoned for many weary months, be began wondering whether Jesus was in fact the promised Messiah after all. Clearly Jesus’ activities didn’t align with John’s idea of what the Messiah’s ministry would be like. And so John sent messengers to Jesus to find out who He was, or perhaps to cajole Jesus into revealing who He was.

Now before we get into this, I want to point out that when John’s faith was under siege…he went to Jesus to get answers. He didn’t wallow in his doubt while he languished in a very unpleasant prison. He went straight to Jesus.

So often, when believers have doubts, we don’t go to Jesus for answers. We get stuck with our questions and our doubts because we don’t take them to Jesus for answers. We may go to friends and Christian books and counselors (and these things are good), but we don’t go to Jesus and examine our doubts in light of Who He is and the revelation we already have of Him.

But moving on, it’s critical to understand how Jesus answered the question about his Messiah-ship. He didn’t just tell the messengers, “Sure I’m the Messiah; John knows that.” Instead He put on a demonstration. In Luke’s account, we read:

“Before He answered (the messengers), Jesus turned to the crowd and healed many of their incurable diseases. His miracle power freed many from their suffering. He restored the gift of sight to the blind, and he drove out demonic spirits from those who were tormented. Only then did Jesus answer the question posed by John’s disciples. ‘Now go back and tell John what you have just seen…’” (7:21,22).

The prophetic message of John was one of repentance; he may have been expecting Jesus to continue on that foundation he had laid. But the message of Jesus was demonstration and declaration of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. (more…)

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Removing the Arrows Life Sticks in Us – VOTD.01.16.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 16th, 2018 | by Wheels of Glory

<same as last time> But this one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. Philippians 3:13-15

Last time we looked at living every day of our lives instead of reacting and existing and wondering where the time went. Today, I want to look at how Paul tells us how he lives every day to the fullest: He does this in 3 thoughts:

1. Forget Yesterday; Don’t Stop
“Forgetting what is behind” – That is hard to do. Yet life is less than what it can be if we keep carrying around all of our yesterdays. Even if our past is stellar, it weighs us down. Paul isn’t telling us to press the ‘Delete’ button on the past from the tablet of our minds (and there’s no ‘Undo’ button in life). He meant that the past is not a place to stop—it’s a place to build upon.

Paul didn’t let his past failures or successes obstruct his present running of God’s race set before him. Like it says in Hebrews 12:1 …let us let go of everything that hinders, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

The literal translation, when it tells us to ‘let go of everything that hinders,’ is “get rid of every arrow tip stuck in us.” The implication is carrying an arrow tip inside, a wound that weighs us down and keeps us from running our race with freedom.

We’ve been in spiritual battles. Let go of the wounds. The race is now. Forget Yesterday.

2. Live Today with Eyes Fixed on Jesus
“This is the day the Lord has made, therefore be glad in it” (Ps 118:24). Live today. It is a gift from the God who loves us. Live it to the fullest. How do we live today? Hebrews tells us that we can “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” by “fixing our eyes on Jesus.”

Only Jesus can give our lives purpose. He is the One who created you and me in the womb. He is the One who birthed us as individuals and we will only find our purpose in Him (Jer 29:7). He is the source of abundant life, and the goal of living.

3. Trust Tomorrow into God’s Hands
Trust Tomorrow – there is victory here. “Take therefore no thought for tomorrow: for tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself” (Matt 6:34). Refuse to worry about tomorrow. Refuse to count on tomorrow. Instead we need to trust our tomorrows to God.
(more…)

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Living Every Day of our Lives – VOTD.01.15.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 15th, 2018 | by

But this one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. Philippians 3:13-15

How many days of 2017 did you and I really live? How many days did we live out, rather than exist through? Or did we wander the corridors of the unchangeable past? How many days did we live within, rather than obsessing over tomorrow’s potential problems?

Or maybe it’s just pace. We can live fully alive, aware, and appreciative of all the moments we are experiencing, or at frantic pace, or glued to our phones, tablets, or TVs?

Don’t get me wrong, we can’t be 100% present all the time. Life in our world doesn’t allow very many people that luxury. But all the same, it’s easy to get distracted and lose days and weeks without coming up for air…without taking a fresh look at living…and we end up reacting rather than living.

Especially in the Christian faith that has historically championed discipline and duty, we can get so spun in on the tasks at hand that we lose track of what really matters. Family, friends…doing things that are rewarding, something fun – something fully today.

The Apostle Paul had found the key to living today. For all the ways he could commend himself, he knew his value was not in his past achievements. For all the ways he could obsess over his past failures, he didn’t do that, either. Considering his bleak future, he could have obsessed on that. And as for his present circumstances, he wrote today’s verses from a miserable jail cell.

Yet Paul seemed to live every day to its fullest. “My heart overflows with joy …” He writes in the following chapter, “for I have learned to be satisfied in any circumstance. I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation …I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:10-13). (more…)

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Hope Does Not Disappoint Us – VOTD.01.09.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 10th, 2018 | by

Now hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God is pouring through our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

We often think of hope as something we want, but we can’t be sure what will really happen. We say, “I hope I will get a new car.” “I hope I’ll be healed of this disease.” “I hope everything works out well in 2018.”

But “hope” in today’s verse is a confident and active expectation of God’s goodness. God gives us a confident expectation of His good in our lives because as His child, He favors each of us. Because Jesus is in you and me, the hope of glory (Col 1:27), we can expect the glory of God to shine into every area of our experiences in life. This includes all the things we ‘hope’ for: our families, our jobs, our ministries, our health and our finances, to name a few.

Today’s verse assures us, “hope does not disappoint us”—we’ll find fulfilment and blessing—“because the love of God is pouring through our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  We may have experienced disappointment in our lives—our hopes dashed and left unfulfilled—but there is a hope that does not disappoint when we are conscious of how much God loves us. It is a hope that springs from the heart of God, who loves each of us individually very much.

Many people think that the Holy Spirit has come to just instruct us…or just to comfort us…or just to give us supernatural power. Each of those things are true. But if we’re to go anywhere in those areas, it’s critical that we understand that the Holy Spirit has come to do all these things through love; because God is Love.

We may be facing a huge disappointment. But if we can say, “Jesus loves me,” we give power to hope. OK, this didn’t go as I wanted it to, but I believe that God is bigger than this setback and He will act on my behalf. The power of believing in and receiving God’s love is that potent. (more…)

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Nothing I Desire But… – VOTD.01.08.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 8th, 2018 | by

(Paul prays that) you will be given the full riches of complete understanding, in order that you may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the riches of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3

Stretching back into the achieves of Christian worship music, there was a song that was hugely popular in its day. It’s one of the early vertical worship songs I ever knew, and it went like this:

  Lord, You are more precious than silver;
  Lord, You are more costly than gold;
  Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds;
  And nothing I desire compares with You. (Lynn DeShazzo-1982)

Playing off of Proverbs 8:10-11, the song compares God to a number of things that are considered of great value—silver, gold, diamonds—Even 2500 years ago, these were seen as valuable in and of themselves. “Choose my instruction instead of silver, my knowledge rather than choice gold, for (God’s) wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with it.”

That song’s popularity was probably, in part, due to the fact that in its day there was little competition for worship songs that spoke adoration directly to God. Something in our souls was crying out to express to Jesus how much we loved and valued Him. He was always doing such great things for us and we simply wanted to tell Him how grateful we were and how wonderful He was.

Which brings up a point: How much do we desire Jesus? Does our desire for Him surpass all other desires? Or does our preoccupation with currently unmet desires overshadow our gratitude and joy for all He’s already done for us? (more…)

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All Things New – VOTD.01.02.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 2nd, 2018 | by Wheels of Glory

And the one who sat on the throne spoke to me and said, “Consider this! I am making everything to be new and fresh.” Revelation 21:5

One of the things that runs through our New Year celebration is Hope. Somehow, starting again gives us hope as we consider all that God has for us in 2018. God promises us that He is continuously making things new for His glory and for our good.

1) God restores us to a right relationship with him through the gift of forgiveness and new life in Jesus. He restores relationships between people. And He even restores days and years that have been lost due to our own sin (Joel 2:25). That’s one of the greatest evidences of the extravagant nature of God’s mercy. Not only does He renew our lives and redeem our future, but He also redeems our past.

In the New Testament, we see Jesus live out a lifestyle of restoration. He restored sight to the blind, the ability to walk to the crippled, hearing to the deaf, and new, clean skin to the diseased (Mk 8:22-26; Matt 9:2-8; Mk 7: 31-37; Lk 5:12-25). In all of these accounts, Jesus didn’t just heal a physical condition. He restored lives, giving hope to broken people. (more…)

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The Old is Gone the New has Arrived – VOTD.01.01.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 1st, 2018 | by Wheels of Glory

His divine power has given to us everything that we need for a godly life, through our knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, through which he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them we may participate in the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world caused by sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3,4

Today we celebrate a new beginning, and that seems to be the theme in today’s verses. Everything we need to reflect God’s true nature has already been given to us (past tense), so we move out in God’s own nature.

Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from Father God—all because he sees us wrapped in Jesus (Eph 1:3). So everything we could ever need for a life of godliness (the goodness of Jesus expressed in and through us), has already been given to us as a gift because He is powerful enough to do it. All this was lavished on us through our experience of knowing Him.

He called each of us by name, inviting us to experience His goodness for ourselves. That’s a new year resolution I think we can all live with: Experience God’s goodness for myself.

Through this amazing expression of God’s glory and goodness he has imparted to us these fantastic promises: 1) participation in Jesus’ own nature; 2) escape from the corruptive influences and desires that drive this world we live in. (more…)

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Clap for Joy – VOTD.12.26.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | December 26th, 2017 | by

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalm 47:1

I hope you had a merry (joyful) Christmas!

Think of a child opening a big brightly-wrapped Christmas present. There’s something inside them that needs to be expressed as they discover what the gift is. You can see it when the young kid claps with glee as they discover the exciting gift inside. That’s the idea behind today’s verse: That spontaneous, joyful response.

Everyone clap your hands, (All people)
Everyone shout to God with loud songs of joy!

It sounds like the Sons of Korah (who wrote this psalm) were familiar with exuberant displays of worship. And part of that exuberant display were loud songs of joy. The biblical concept of clapping to the Lord includes more than keeping time to music. When God’s children drink from the river of His delights (Ps 36:8) or discover the gifts of His grace, we can’t help but respond in joy. (more…)

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We Have Seen His Glory – VOTD.12.25.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | December 25th, 2017 | by

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only. Who came from the Father full of grace and truth. John 1:1,2, 14

We hardly get into John’s Gospel – his attempt to tell a story that is beyond telling (Jn 21:25) – and he explains: “We have seen His glory!” We’ve handled, touched and heard… We encountered the ‘One and Only’…we’ve experienced Jesus.

Everything else John writes is based on that pivotal fact: This is what I’ve experienced. This is my testimony to what I’ve seen; the character of the one I know; “We have seen His glory”.

‘Glory’. Christians often use this biblical word, but we don’t always recognize what it reveals about our God—and the beauty of all He is and does. Moses asked God “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Ex 33:18). We, today, might long for the same opportunity, because the glory of God attracts us, draws us, and compels us to seek more of Him.

The most common Hebrew word for glory is kabod, meaning “heavy in weight.” When you glorify God, you recognize His importance, or the “weight,” of His uniqueness. Beauty, majesty, and splendor are what we’re attributing to God when we glorify Him. You and I are probably more familiar with the Hebrew word ‘shekinah’. That word never appears in the Bible, but the concept certainly does. (more…)

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