Bread

"Then they said, 'Lord, evermore give us this bread always.'  Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread....'"   (From John 6:34, 35)

You can live on bread.  Ezekiel was given a recipe for bread which had everything he needed to sustain him.

Father has given us Bread, everything we need to sustain us.  The world rejects this Bread.  Even in Christendom, the Bread is increasingly being ignored and forgotten.  Whether it be political correctness, or just that the Bread is God-Too-"Up-Close-And-Personal," or the Bread reveals the True Face of God, Jesus is more and more eliminated from Christendom's public witness.  I say, "Christendom," because those who participate in such a trend are not Christian, Followers of Jesus.  They are only of Christendom, i.e., that which has the form, but lack, "the substance which is...Christ."

Those in the text who said, "give us this bread always," reflect the hunger of humanity, a needy humanity which has no substance or subsistence for its existence.  Hunger will lead a person to hatred and violence.  This is the reason we have the world we see before us every day.  Man has chosen his own "bakery" over Heaven's.  Yet the promise and invitation still stands, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Father, in Jesus' Name, "evermore give [me] this Bread."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

You Cannot Just, "Fly Away."

"So I said, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest,'" literally, "settle down." (Psalm 55:6)

It just doesn't work that way.  You may, "fly away," but you will not, "be at rest."  Life will "fly" after you.  David was in big trouble.  He was in hiding from Saul, and had been betrayed as to his location, but Saul was relentless. 

September 11, 2001, showed pleasure-loving-seeking Americans just how relentless could be a nearly 4000 year-old culture, a culture which would later develop a religion to fit its ambition.  September 11, 2001 showed Americans that its insular philosophy of life was very uneducated, naive (I want to say, stupid, sorry) vulnerable.  Americans found out that its unparalleled military might, two vast oceans, a friendly English-speaking nation to the north, and a virtual third nation to our south does not constitute safety ("rest"?).  As I told my children in the 1980s, "Some day the world will come home."  That bright, sunny, September day in 2001---- it did.

The majority of Americans have learned nothing.  They wring their hands, talk of war-weariness, but all the time the majority of the population is as David while his enemy was pursuing him, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest ('settle down')."  There are millions who are saying to those Americans, "Too bad.  We will keep coming until one of us is dead."

1 Peter 1:13 says, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and REST your hope fully ('perfectly, completely, without wavering') upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  Strong's says that the phrase translated, "gird up," means, "brace up (with a view active exertion); a metaphor from girding of the flowing tunic, to prevent its hampering one in active work."

There is no rest in flying away.  There is only rest in Jesus, as in, "Come to Me...and I will give you rest."  Followers of Jesus around the world: Do not let the prevailing "cultural order" in your nation be your prevailing "cultural order."  Read, study, meditate in the "God-Breathed" Word, "looking unto Jesus."  This cannot be said too often, nor can I be reminded too much of this/Him.  "....You will find rest..., only in Jesus Christ, for Jesus Himself is our Rest.  Apart from Jesus, the term "rest" is nothing but emptiness, just has no definition. 

When you and I so live, the "fly away" people just may ask us, "How can you do this?"

Father, in Jesus' Name, I can only "do this" in You.  Thank You for Your Rest.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"You Will Remember The Struggle And Never Do It Again"

"If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!  Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.  No one is fierce enough to rouse it." (Job 41:8-10a, NIV)

The Word of God, Jesus, is speaking here with Job.  You will remember He allowed Job and "the four" to go on and on theologizing about Job's predicament, but alas, all to no avail.  Neither Job nor they (according to the Word of God) had any answers.  They were, in today's vernacular just, "blowing smoke."

Our text is speaking of a huge creature called, "leviathan," a creature with which in those days no one could contend, "No one is fierce enough to rouse it."  It seems as though it was God's way of reminding Job that there are things in this life which no one can do, and no one can understand.  Now there are people who need "heroes," super saints who are all powerful, can get anyone healed, get you out of poverty, solve all marital problems (you know, like Job's "friends").  But I assure them, there are no such creatures.  They might as well stop looking for them and begin, "looking unto Jesus."  I have no doubt this is what the Blessed Trinity was saying to Job-------- and "the four."

You will remember Oswald Chambers' great summation of the Book, "Baffled to fight better."  Bafflement is good from time to time; it's a good humbler.  Someone once said that the reason God told Adam not to take of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was that He wanted Adam to know Who was in charge--- good possibility.  Maybe, "Leviathan," is also for such a reason, a reminder of our need and the Only One Who can keep us when there just seems as though there is no "way out," that any "power" in us is useless in "the fight."  Wesley said that in Glory we will be "lost in wonder, love, and praise," no mention of "lost in" understanding and answered questions, the pursuit of which the entire Book of Job shows the utter futility.  At any rate, the questions any may have now will be forgotten and rendered to absolute insignificance in, "That Day."

Today may be a day when the unanswerable is before you.  The "whys" of life may be overwhelming you.  I look at the American scene, the international scene and see darkness coming over the land, over the whole earth, people wringing their hands, pundits and politicians trying over and over to come up with answers, all the while life seems to mock, "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course." 

Our King and Savior, Jesus Christ, is saying to us today as in Isaiah, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength....Look unto me, and be...saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."  And I need, "none else"! 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I do today.  You are Wonderful Counselor.  Amen.

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* Thank all who have indicated they are praying for Shelly and the baby.  They are doing well, but I ask that you keep praying with us.

* Each day, while in DC, I will be just outside the White House

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Faultfinder"

"Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  Let him who reproves God answer it."  (God to Job in Job 40:2, NASB-- from today's Poetic/Wisdom Books reading)

"Faultfinder," is another word for "blame-finder."  The four "theologians" who sought to put Job straight were experts at this. 

"Faultfinder," is a good description of man.  Adam said to God when questioned as to why he rebelled against the Word of God, "The woman You put here with me...."  Eve's response when questioned was similar, "Wasn't me."  Everyone of us has been plagued by this demon ever since The Fall, "faultfinder."  Look at the world today and I find it difficult to argue with this.  Ray Rice's fiancee hit him, then he hit her.  Woman hit vs. man hit.  He won.  A women's mouth is her greatest weapon against a man.  Man does not discuss, just swings.  Now the "blame game" continues, the pundits, the media, the water cooler philosophers, the "Well, if you ask me," all are the classic, "faultfinder."  How humanists love to fulfill their title, "faultfinder."  If you and I, if the Church, if a nation is to experience any transformation, we will need to get rid of the Divine pronouncement, "faultfinder." (And, no, I don't approve of wife-beating.)

It is difficult for all of us to embrace our sin as our sin, to embrace life's failures as our failures.  Yes, there have been others involved in our history, "the good, the bad, and the ugly."  But our Lord Jesus Christ can do nothing if I am not living in the spirit of repentance, a repentance which embraces, confesses, and intends to walk in obedience to Jesus and His "Law/Word."  When I do, I no longer am a, "faultfinder."  Rather, I am as Job, "Behold, I am of small account and vile!  What shall I answer You?  I lay my hand upon my mouth" (Amplified).  This is Biblical repentance.  One example of this in American Christendom is the continual plague that over half of professing Christians do not vote.  That same "half," however, is dominated by the "spirit" of, "faultfinder."  My experience has been that the, "faultfinder," is usually a do- nothing, who then blames others for the results.

When you and I can honestly say, "Behold, I am of small account and vile!...I lay my hand upon my mouth," then the "stage" is set for God's Mighty Hand of Power to move in our midst, our communities, our nations.  Modern Christendom, with it's version of "I'm okay; you're okay," will never see revival, Biblical transformation.  But a people whose worship, whose service in Jesus Christ and His Church, whose life style before God and man in total obedience to Jesus is, "I lay my hand upon my mouth," is a people who will see what we all say we so desperately want, what August Hermann Francke so eloquently stated in the 17th century, "A life changed, a church revived, a nation reformed, a world evangelized."

Father, in Jesus' Name, deliver me from any, "faultfind[ing]," to fault-remedying.  Amen.
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* Shelly's and the baby's doctor report was good.  Thanks for you continual prayers?  I pray so.
* One week tomorrow I head for DC.  I'm sensing the hour is "here."

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

God's "Delay"

"But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon ('considers') me.  You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God."  (Psalm 40:17)

Okay; there seems to be a dilemma here with David.  He first confesses that he is a, "poor and needy," man; good start.  This is the first "step" in our relationship in Jesus Christ.  It is confession of our weakness, a weakness that to the repentant heart realizes just how needy we are.  This confession not only confesses our inability to navigate life on our own; it also reveals that we are sinners in need of a Savior, Jesus.  "But I am poor and needy."

Then David makes a solid faith confession, "....yet the Lord takes thought and plans for me.  You are my Help and my Deliverer" (Amplified.)  So there we have it:
        1. I am in desperate need.
        2. The Lord Jesus, "considers and plans for me."
        3. The Lord Jesus saves me.

But then David cries, "O my God, do not tarry!"  Wait!  I thought we had this "favor," this, "say to this mountain," thing all settled.  Why then does David say, "....do not tarry"?  Ah, the "unanswered" prayers, the feeling at times of abandonment, even though we hold to our confession, "You are my Help and Deliverer."  Now you and I are also familiar with the scenario.  We have great "answers" to prayers, see miracles, see great provision, experience His "favor."  But then we experience something as David records in Psalm 30:6 & 7, "Now in my prosperity I said, 'I shall never be moved' (Remember those times?).  Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong (still remember?); You hid Your face, and I was troubled" (and that?).  Why didn't God just leave out that last part? 

The "sow-seed-and-everything-will-be-all-right," and the "you-can-d0-anything-and-everything" people do not speak of such things.  There is never any, "You hid Your face, and I was troubled."  But it "happens," doesn't it?  This is when the command to, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus," is an empowering command.  Hebrews 2 says, "You have put all things in subjection under his (i.e., man's) feet....But now we do not yet see all things put under him"--- one of life's paradoxes, one of life's contradictions, one of life's confusions?  Whatever it is, it is again followed by the great assurance and continued reassurance, "But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone." 

It always comes back to this, doesn't it?  A constant reminder that when we don't have an "answer," we have Jesus, constantly, continually.  This continual confession and realization, "....but we see Jesus," causes us to live in His power and will sustain us when cry out, "Do not delay, O my God."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I know your, "delay," is always for my good.  Amen.
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* Please remember to put a note on the fridge to pray for the DC Mission, September 17-21
* Thank you to all who said they are praying for Shelly.  The reports are good.  Please continue to pray.
* I will preaching in the Quest Church, Greensburg, PA., meeting, September 14.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2