Freedom From Regrets

"Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession."  (Psalm 2:8)

I started the book in the late afternoon of a hot July's summer day in 1968.  It was into the dark sky of the following morning before I finished it.  God's Smuggler affected the rest of our lives.  This is the way of our life, a singular event, a singular decision can be a "course changer."  Jesus brings something/someone to you for a purpose.  How we respond determines our life.

How many "course changers" will you and I face in 2015.  I don't know; you don't know; nobody knows, well, of course, except One.  The question is, How many "changes" will be proactive or reactive?  Are you and I going to allow others to determine our 2015, or are we?  Now some may say, "O, no.  No one affects change in my life but God."  No.  We are not automatons.  Forget the theology, "Well, God makes no mistakes."  Of course He does not.  You and I, however, make plenty.  The "God-makes-no-mistakes" cliche is ultimate cop out.  This puts all of our life's decisions upon God, and exempts us from responsibility, the responsibility which man has been given ever since the Garden, "You may eat of all the trees, except this one."  How many times have you and I eaten from the "wrong tree?"

There are things, events which occur in human history which are man's choosing, and there are things which occur which are totally Jesus' doing, "I am the Alpha and the Omega."  Jesus, King of Creation and the Universe, King of nations, "King of kings, and Lord of lords," is The One of Whom the "God-Breathed" Words says in our text, "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance."  Make no mistake; the nations are Jesus Christ's.  While men and nations "play" in the "river" of history and do much destruction to themselves, Jesus is the banks of that river.  Mankind bumps and bangs against the banks, but he cannot get outside the banks.  History, or "His Story" is "headed toward a dramatic climax."  Those who will arrive safely "on the other shore" will be those who have lived, "Thy will be done".

Conscientious obedience, viz., walking circumspectly, will keep us from the "wrong tree," the dangerous and disastrous path of a will other than that of Jesus.  Walking in the Holy Spirit in Him Who alone is, "The Word of God," Jesus, and Our Father keeps us from the regrets of life.  "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," aka, "You will navigate life's river protected from the destructive rocks and shoals." 

2015 is only a designation of our time/space existence.  Followers of Jesus are Children of "the Eternal One."  Don't make "resolutions," don't attempt anything on your own strength and desire based on time/space humanism.  Walk in and, "looking to Jesus," Jesus Who alone, "is my light and my salvation", in Jesus, Who alone is, "the strength of my life."  When this is our "resolution," when this is our determination, our obedience, then 2015 will have no regrets.

Father, in Jesus' Name, "into Your hands," I commit the coming year.  Amen.
********************
We have $1100.00 pledged for our March Mission; still need $3400.00.

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

"I Am Coming Quickly...To Give...According to...Work"

"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with me, to give to every one according to his work."  (Revelation 22:12)

Evangelical/charisma is so concerned with "justification by faith alone" that it has over the generations made very little emphasis on works.  I have had some attacks over the years in pastoral ministry with some of those fanatics, people who are a part of a group which checks the "shibboleth" of their own "tribe."  Such people want the, "My reward," but do not want, "according to...work."

The challenge for us in the coming year is to examine ourselves, "according to [our] work."  Salvation by faith means salvation by obedience, not salvation by, "now repeat after me," or just "declare."  As we close another quarter, close another year in our time/space existence, I pray that you and I give ourselves to the words of Jesus and not our historic "shibboleth."  Our reward, Who is Jesus Christ, is promising us, "I am coming quickly." 

Maybe there is a very real sense in which there is an, "I am coming quickly," now, a "fellowship" in Jesus which we can know now, in this very moment, a fellowship, an intimacy which is to those who live not just by declaring, but by what 1 Thessalonians 1:3 calls, "the work of faith," a faith which is,"according to his work."

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You for Your Words which keep me from me, and keep me in You.  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

"....Go Forth and Skip...."

"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff....But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.  You will tread down the wicked."  (Malachi 4, NASB)

As an amateur historian I do not deny the past, and as a "prophetic" person I do not deny the future.  We do have a past, and we do have a future.  I will not, however, be enslaved by either.  I am a person now of the Eternal One, Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit.  There are occurrences in my past which I regret, and those in my future which could give me serious concern, certainly uncertainty.  But the reality is that regrets of the past and uncertainties of the future do not defeat the "eternal" person, the person who is safe and secure in Jesus Christ.

Our text speaks of who we are and of "What"/Whom we have in Jesus, while also speaking of those whose trust is they their selves.  "....the day is coming...."  This is Biblical Theology; this is the prophetic Word of God from Adam to the close of the Age, a day which is referred to as, "The Day of the Lord"---- and it is fast "approaching."  Those who are proud, on the other hand, who are, "the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff."  They will be consumed in, "the day.., burning like a furnace." 

Rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ, my friend.  Our "future," our eternal reality is, "....You will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall," or, "you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves" NIV), or, "leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture" (TLB).  Have yourself a skipping, frolicking, "leaping with joy," 2015.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for my friend and me that we have a "Your-Kind-of-New Year."  Amen.
******************
Plans are coming together for the March Mission

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

"As He IS, So Are We In This World"

"My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His Holy Name forever and ever."  (Psalm 145:21) 

Two other times in this Psalm David uses the phrase, ".......forever and ever."  It is a phrase of our time/space existence and thinking.  The life which those of us have, "who follow the Lamb wherever He goes," is not really, "forever and ever," nor, "everlasting," in the sense we think of it, viz., ever lasting.  "This is how God loved the world: He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."  The Greek word translated, "everlasting," in The Authorized and many other translations, is literally, "eternal."  It is a whole "different" dimension, "existence."

We are facing a "New Year" in our time/space existence, in our understanding.  But in Jesus Christ our entire life now is, "eternal," no new, no old, no beginning, no ending, no start, no stop, no "come into His presence," no leaving.  When we receive Jesus, we are as Jesus because we are in Jesus and Jesus in us, "Before Abraham was, I am."  In Jesus the same is true of us now.  Not, I was nor shall be, but I am; I am an eternal "resident."

Life in 2015 is not beginning, nor ending, but, "I Am, Who I Am."  In Jesus, in our, "new creation," life, there is no "New Year," nor Old Year, just "Now Year."  Okay, maybe I'm over working it, but I have great peace in knowing that the moment Jesus entered this very body, soul and spirit, I "stepped" into Eternity.  Happy Eternity.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You tell us, "....as He is, so are we in this world."  Amen.

******************
Please say a pray from time to time for our upcoming Mission.

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