Angelic Topics Of Conversation

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 18:10 ESV

"And to which of the angels has he ever said, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?" - Hebrews 1:13-14 ESV

"Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." - Hebrews 13:1-2 ESV

Sometimes I think with humor about these angels that are not visible to us interacting with each other as spectators of our little human dramas and day to day routines. How can we know what they say to each other of if they even look at one another?

We do know this...

"But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ' The Lord rebuke you.' " - Jude 1:9 ESV

But this is not angel to angel interaction. This is an angel to fallen angel exchange. These groups are at odds in their purposes. We read about a future battle here.

"Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven." - Revelation 12:7-8 ESV

Satan will be knocked out of the sky and thrown to the ground. That is another topic to explore but I'm glad that God's angels refuse to pass a blasphemous judgment because if that was their tendency then what would they be saying about us as they follow us as witnesses that protect and serve in invisible ways?

God has never said to an angel, 'Sit at my right hand.' He has only said that to His Son.

"...and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places," - Ephesians 1:19-20 ESV

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," - Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV

Whatever they might say to each other I'm sure it is always in this context. 'These are people who are seated in Heavenly places with Christ.'

As we brush our teeth. As we drive to work. As we think about what we can say to minister Christ to people during the day. As we sit in front of the television or open our Bible. I wonder what they see and hear. Does our Bible glow with life to them? Is the television a blank dead box with no picture and garbled sounds? Do they hear when we say empty sentences and tune in only when the Spirit turns up the volume as we speak redemptively? When are they assigned to us and do they move to another person when we go home to be with Christ? How many of them are there... how many of them can fit on the head of a needle?

We only know what the scripture tells us. No more and no less.

I want to live in the nobility that has been given to me. God forbid that I should have a blasphemous judgment on my lips as a person seated in a privileged position. I want to have grace words and live with reverence and dignity knowing there is a cloud of human and angelic witnesses that surround the stage of time and space.

I want to see Jesus as He Is and live with my face towards the Father. We have this great privileged to go boldly to the throne of grace in our thinking. Angels see the face of the Father even as they guard a child. What about us? What about the men and women who have salvation in Christ? We can live our lives facing that throne also. We do it by faith and how marvelous is that!

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Beware Lest You Be Consumed By One Another

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " - Galatians 5:13-14 ESV

I think of the man who didn't have a father or had a broken father/son relationship that is now faced with the reality of being a father himself. This passage gives us hope that we can transcend what we have experienced.

"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." - Galatians 5:15-18 ESV

I always found this biting and devouring portion interesting. What is this caution about consumption? See that you don't... what?

It basically is saying that we should recognize potential toxic relationships and avoid the pitfalls of these relationship triggers. Notice how it doesn't say avoid toxic people or to surround yourself with people who support you and get rid of anyone else. It says, 'Walk by the Spirit.' if we do then when the button is pushed that would have set us off it doesn't because we have a liberty that transcends the law.

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." - Romans 10:4 ESV

He really is. Otherwise we set rules and hold others to those rules trying to live treating others along the lines we deem important and end up chewing other people up. No one wins when this happens.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." - Romans 8:1-2 ESV

Oh. What a great passage this is. I love it so much. The birds start singing in my heart.

We are free now! We are free to treat others as we wish to be treated. We are able to be the friend we would like to have. The fatherless man has liberty to be a fine father. We can serving by love with attention to the fact that the needs we sense in ourselves are a mirror of all human need.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." - John 14:12-13 ESV

Wow. This is because we are free to walk by the Spirit. These great things happen in light happy places and in dark frozen ones also. We have liberty and walking in it glorifies the Son.

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Hermaphrodites

"And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' " - Genesis 2:22-23 ESV

Men have an XY genetic arrangement and women have a XX arrangement. Interesting considering the Genesis account has God removing part of Adam and forming Eve. What is not often discussed is that today our genetic code has degraded to the point where as many as 1.7% (17 out of 1,000) people are born intersex or hermaphrodites. That means they have qualities of both sexes but are usually (but not always) a XX genetic arrangement. In the past doctors at times decided to 'make' these children girls by a surgical procedure... sometimes without even telling the parents the situation. Just imagine the confusion of growing up thinking you are one thing when your biology is sending contradictory signals.

It is no wonder that people identify themselves in crazy ways. Genetics and environmental influences have muddied the water so much that the lines are blurred and societies are being forced into making strange decisions. It only going to get worse by the way. 1.7% is today's statistic. That number will only grow as population grows in an ever more poisoned and radiated world.

We aren't going back to the garden. That way is barred forever from fallen men.

So while I agree that darkness and deception are factors they are not the only factors. People are confused and I want to love people and show them the identity that they can have in Jesus. If that means building another bathroom or limiting bathrooms so that they have one occupant at a time then so be it. It is a small price to pay.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28 ESV

The identity we have in Christ is not primarily a sexual one. Everyone has a special place. The Bible teaches biblical marriage to be between a one man an one woman and sexual contact is reserved for marriage alone. It is a clear teaching and so it must be our conviction. Love is so much more than sex. We must protect our children from perversion with the clear understanding that our world is changing and they will be exposed to concepts eventually. Will we be kind, loving and firm or backward and intolerant?

In Christ we have liberty and a royal identity. Let's be loving and welcoming to people. Let's teach the Bible as it is written and let God untangle the complexities of each life. He is able. We can't but He can and does if His Son is lifted up in our midst.

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Hope Deferred

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12 ESV

Are people heart sick because they don't have what they want yet or because they don't want what they already have?

I think it's both. If you spend any time with older people they treasure what they had and remember their youth and middle age vividly. It's like those times come into focus for them. Some fictionalize their past, others have deep regrets but there are others that appreciated things in the moment and then look back with appreciation and insight. The stories they tell about what happened to them in the past instruct a younger generation on what is happening in the present.

Yesterday we spoke about Jesus being the embodiment of hope and I'm looking at this verse in Proverbs in that context. I understand what it is like to live in a battle that rarely seems to end and suffer heartbreak after heartbreak. I know what it's like to want something and have that thing postponed again and again until you don't want to want it anymore but you can't change your heart's desire.

'But God...'

He Is what we have (if we have believed in His Son). Do we want Him?

He wants us.

"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17 KJV

We can enter into His love and have a present hope that is not postponed.

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" - Titus 2:13 KJV

Yes He Is coming later but His appearing is also the day of His visitation.

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Matthew 18:20 ESV

People talk about living in the moment and I understand that but that falls short in so many ways because unless that moment is eternal it will turn to dust. Time does that to biological things because of the fall.

Hope is living in the eternal mind of the One who has won the victory over death and Hell. It is a tree of life and trees reproduce in multiplication as they give nourishment.

You may not have what you want but do you want what you have? We are stewards of hope. If we appreciate and take care of what we have God may just give us more to take care of.

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Hope In God

God isn't going to change. God isn't going to die. If we place our hope in God we will have hope until the end. We can have hope for each circumstance and each life we come in contact with. It is a realistic hope because we have a risen Saviour.

I almost don't want to say more... Isn't that good?

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." - Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" - Philippians 2:5 KJV

Jesus had a mind full of hope. He was going to the cross believing that God would make everything alright for the world and for Him also. Jesus was and is hope.

We can believe God. Jesus does believe God... always.

Is your situation dark? Jesus is with you in the situation. Is your neighbor's situation dark? God has you there to participate in hope. He has you, His ambassador, there to be a person who believes.

Deception is an absence of Hope in God. Hope is either gone or it is misplaced.

Today can be a great day because of Jesus. God hears prayers because of Jesus. Miracles happen when Jesus is present.

It is simple... very simple... so simple. We say His name and think about who He is. He died and rose and will never die again. He will never change in His love. He is alpha and omega. When He enters a room hope enters also.

'Jesus'

Say His name. Demons tremble at that name. Heaven sings when they hear it. Healing comes when hope comes.

Thank You God. Thank You. Darkness would have overcome us but You walked in and saved us. Thank You God. Let healing tears of hope come into dark places today. You are our strong tower. We run to You and hide in the comfort of Your strength and wisdom. You are the awesome God. There is healing in Your wings.

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Enter Through The Doorway

Wow. What an interesting morning. I endeavored to study privacy this morning... the good kind of privacy that allows for a covering and the bad kind that allows for corruption and cover ups.

We live in a time of exposure. Private things are made public all the time. Perhaps we long for the days when this wasn't so. We long for a more innocent time. I know I do. At the same time I know there was great behind the scenes corruption happening in those 'good old days' also. People in power did things and there was little accountability. Abuse of power leads to a need to expose. People want to feel safe and they sacrifice privacy to get that safety but the ones who suffer are the innocent ones who need privacy to grow and should be allowed a season of wonder.

"And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley... And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, dig in the wall.' So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, 'Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.' So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.' " - Ezekiel 8:4, 7-12 ESV

This is a great picture of the mind that lacks faith. There is a hole in the wall. Walls are meant to be sealed as support structures. Doors and gates are where we are supposed to enter buildings but the fallen mind has a hole in it's wall.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:4-6 ESV

Israel was not to create graven images but there they are in a fallen person's heart. We all have the potential to have this 'chamber of imagery'. It is born of a faithless attitude.

We wonder why leaders can get so corrupt. They just have the power and resources to do (and justify) what the human heart is prone to do if God is not central in the focus of our minds.

"All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - John 10:8-11 ESV

Jesus is the door. He is the one way we can understand ourselves. Without Him we will all have a secret life built on illusion. That illusion may be mostly dark or it may be mostly light but if there is no door that opens and closes we will dig through the wall and make images. Then exposure will become the next logical step.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV

Jesus is who we need. He is the door. He is the visible representation of an invisible God. He Is the mystery we all crave. In Him we have privacy and purity. We find a friend when we find Him. We stop sneaking and hiding because we can walk upright before God when we walk with Him.

No matter how moral or well meaning a person is they have the potential to develop a chamber of imagery and make decisions from that chamber. A leader must be someone who walks through the door and not the wall.

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Qualities Of Faith

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring." - 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 ESV

The writer saw faith growing in a group as something to be thankful for. It encouraged them. They boasted about it in other places.

"...and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." - Hebrews 10:21-22 ESV

Here it is the full assurance of faith that comes from understanding Jesus' present day ministry of intercession.

"Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?" - James 2:5 ESV

Lastly we have the riches of faith because faith is a living connection to a kingdom that is rich... rich faith because of a rich identity.

These are not things to attain to. This is how faith in Jesus is. It expands in size. It fills a person with assurance because Jesus is still involved. It brings the notions of possessed riches into view because God has a rich kingdom.

'I believe in Jesus. I believe in what He has done. I believe He cares. His kingdom has become my kingdom. I am welcome there. I have a seat with my name on it at His table.'

If we have believed in Him then those statements are true and not just in a historical sense. They are present tense realities.

I spent time at coffee last night and smiled so much that my cheeks began to hurt at the end. At that table we had rich faith and funny stories. We had abundant faith. It was a table where no one was try to be anything. All were accepted and welcome. Jesus was often mentioned. There were questions but there were also answers.

I'll boast in that. I have something wonderful to be a part of. I have a great God. If you have believed in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection then you do also.

Let's be stirred up in faith. What kind of weekend will it be if we are stirred up in faith?

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