The Royal Mind

 "[It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings [is] unsearchable." - Proverbs 25:2-3 KJV

Kings are people just like us... in one sense yes but they are people put in an unique position...

"Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes KINGS and sets up KINGS; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him." - Daniel 2:20-22 ESV

"John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us KINGS and priests to His God and Father, to Him [be] glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." - Revelation 1:4-6 NKJV

Do we have a royal mind? A royal mind is God given. Jesus has The Royal mind.

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

A royal mind has great depth. It does not succumb to fear. It doesn't bow down to anyone but it's God. A royal mind serves. A royal mind washes feet. A royal mind plans ahead. A royal mind takes responsibility and has authority. A royal mind acts decisively.

We don't need dictators but we do need kings. God's Spirit in us creates a capacity for a royal mind to form.

"For precept [must be] upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."" - Isaiah 28:10 NKJV

"Teach me to do Your will, For You [are] my God; Your Spirit [is] good. Lead me in the land of uprightness." - Psalm 143:10 NKJV

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." - John 14:26 NKJV

We can open the King's book and have His mind. What a awesome privilege and responsibility that is.

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Keeping It Simple

 Complexity.... things get so complex that we get overwhelmed... it can look hopeless and paralyzing.

Faith however is simple and simplifying... it is binary... we have it or we don't... i really like the Lord's prayer...

""Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
'Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. '
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" - Matthew 6:9-13 NASB20

Each line flips a switch. Each line is a way to believe and a thing to believe in that shifts the focus and burdens off of us and toward God.

The God who Is
The Holy God
The One who Is going to show up in a powerful organized way
The One who wants things and makes them happen
We ask Him to feed us
We rely on Him to forgive us
We look for His leading and trust in His deliverance

None of that is complicated... it is simple...

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV

Casting cares is a mindset that frees us to do the next thing... our problems won't get solved if we are passive but we can have a clear mind as we walk ahead one step at a time.

"[Nun] Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." - Psalm 119:105 ESV

Today i got a few things done and tomorrow i will do a few more. Some are steps i must take but i will also start and complete a few small things just to feel that simple sense of accomplishment.

"A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore." - Psalm 131:1-3 ESV

Yes and Amen to that.

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Three Kinds of People We Miss

 Galatians 1:4 KJV — "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:"

2 Timothy 4:10 ESV — "For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia."

People 'go' for different reasons but once they do they are absent from our 'present'.

Jesus gave himself in the past to deliver us now. God the Father wanted and wants to sustain us in our present circumstances no matter how hard or easy they are. 

One day we will be the ones who are gone but God will keep those who come under the shadow of His wings... Jesus gave Himself for these and those deliverances.

In that passage in 2 Timothy 4 Paul missed those three... Crescens is never mentioned again... Demas appears to be backslidden... Titus is a leader Paul raised up... none of them are there in his 'present' and he misses all of them.

I can relate.... to me.... Crescens is that person i look for but can't find... the number i have is old and disconnected and no internet search brings them up in a way i can contact them... then there are the Demas people... addicts lost in addiction or people who now hate me for some unknown reason because i stayed where they left or think some dark thing about me.... then there are the Titus people who are moving forward in their call but we aren't making memories together. We will share the stories later.

I miss all three but God Is here and His daily deliverances are here.

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From Imitation To Liberty

 "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." - 1 Corinthians 13:9-11 ESV

This morning i am seeing this passage in a fresh way as i ponder imitation and identity formation.

As children we imitate others... that is how we learn to speak... we see adults doing things and we do things the way we saw them do it, or try to.... identities get formed they can be healthy or very unhealthy depending on what is modeled, accepted and rejected.

"From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."" - Matthew 4:17 ESV

That was John the Baptizer's message... Jesus saw the value of this man and imitated him. Jesus. The perfect man. But then there was a break into manhood.

"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry." - Luke 4:1-2 ESV

Jesus had a 'rite of passage into manhood', a hard thing He had to do Himself, just Him and His heavenly Father... no help from anyone... a victory that propelled Him into manhood and ministry.

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." - 1 Corinthians 13:9-11 ESV

"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."" - John 8:31-32 ESV

I see so many 'identity issues' linked to imitation. People just don't know who God has made them to be or they forget and latch on, in their dissatisfaction, to something in the culture and they parrot those outward behaviors they see.... which is fine if you are a child but must eventually end.

Jesus latched on to His Father in Heaven. He showed us how to do that also. Something we can do at any age.

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' " - John 14:6 ESV

He said this and gave us a book full of red letter words (the words Jesus spoke).

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." - John 16:7 KJV

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:26-27 ESV

The word and the Spirit and people who have come before us and walk in that same Spirit.

"So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing." - 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 KJV

"Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us." - 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 KJV

Liberty is for adults... we can see freedom in others and imitate them but there comes a day, usually though something extremely hard, that can propel us in adulthood. I want that for all who are struggling today.

As we face the challenges of life let do it as adults who have love, joy and peace that passes understanding because we have left the imitation of temporal things behind.

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The Feminine Nature of Wisdom

 Wisdom is is spoken of as a woman in parts of Proverbs and i have been fascinated by that idea. This 'personification' is not actual... but it does reflect an aspect of human nature.

"The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." - Genesis 2:20-22 ESV

Adam was missing something. He was incomplete. This morning i am seeing that rib as language and mathematics. Human things that are descriptive. God is transcendent. He is beyond what he has created but he took something human and made a woman to complete 'him' (humanity). Be His companion.

He gave us what we could never have alone.... wisdom... the rib became a woman... the logos (information) becomes a rhema (logical God breathed illumination).

"Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, do not lose sight of these - keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught." - Proverbs 3:13-26 ESV

Wisdom isn't a person we can meet like in Greek mythology... She is a gift we can treasure and a way we can operate. A companion both men and women can have so we are not alone in this world. Our 'plus one' who comes with us to commune with God and whispers insight into our ears about what she sees in those meetings.

"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man." - Proverbs 8:22-31 ESV

We are made in God's image and wisdom is an impartation He has given us if we want it and woo it and value it. We can be fools. Information can just be a tool for our selfishness but it doesn't have to be... she can make us noble.

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The Prize of the Upward Call

 "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14 ESV

Just thinking about this... the 'prize of the upward call' is IN pressing on not looking back... it is in Christ Jesus who took the blame not in us blaming people (others, ourselves or God) in order to make sense of what happened in the past... the future and upward specifically.... not just outward... the upward call.

Yesterday might not have been what we wanted... the past may seem better than what we have today but we all have this great 'yes and amen' option. The gospel of grace gives us this new and living way.

"As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." - 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 ESV

"The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you." - Joel 2:24-25 ESV 

Let's press forward to what lies ahead together like logs burning brightly stacked together not as lone sputtering smoking branches extinguished and smothered by the wind... not as people looking back pointing fingers at those who seem to be at fault but as people who are in awe of the great God who promises an overflow or blessings in the future.

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What is the best day of the year?

I was at the physical therapist yesterday. It is one of those places where it is mostly just a big horseshoe shaped room and all of us are working and being worked on. One of the supervising physical therapist calls out to another therapists and says, 'Claudine' {FYI. That isn't her name or the name he said} 'Claudine, What is the best day of the year.' and she says something like, 'What? I don't know.' and he repeats the extra loud question. 'Come on... What do you think? What is the best day of the year?' 

She hesitates...

He says, 'Today. Today is... and when tomorrow comes that will be the best day of the year.'

She isn't playing along... she isn't hostile... it isn't that kind of place... it is an upbeat place on purpose but she isn't at his level of Rah! Rah! and is reluctant to pretend she is.

She joking says, 'I though it was my birthday.' and he says 'No. No. It's today.'

So I am laying there with my hip being worked on and it gets me thinking about the whole dynamic... my Pastor used to say, 'Today is the best day of my life.' not all the time or in that Rah! Rah! way but he said it and lived it out and at one point I believed it and said it by faith sometimes.

I started to talk to my physical therapist about what my Pastor used to say and what was being said in the place and how it can be annoying to hear that kind of talk when you are not in that same 'positive confession' mode of 'Today is going to be a great day'. We spoke a bit about that and how if someone said, 'Today is going to be the worst day of my life' that it wouldn't be so annoying and we might have compassion for them.

I miss being more positive. I'm convicted that i must live in a faith statement. Not in a delusional way. Not in a demanding way where I am forcing people to echo it but out loud in a way that draws others into in and gently challenges them.

God is good. Life is a gift. Our words spoken out loud are powerful... not to manifest reality... that is hogwash... we aren't 'gods' but we are clay vessels filled with treasure... our words can reveal that... when we are walking 'with' God that really is the best thing we can do. We can do it today and today really is the 'best day of the year' if our eyes are open to see it. 

I'm praying for some folks... some are living in a manic dream... others are detoxing from drugs.... some are bored... some are old and struggling with a lack of seeming productivity... the range of situations are wide and varied but we can walk with God which is humbling but also uplifting... we realize how little we know and see how marvelous others are... and eyes open to glory and tragedy... and today has great great potential.

So again I'm saying, 'Today is the best day of my life' I'm saying it out loud. Thank you God. Thank you for my Pastor, Dr Stevens, and the other men who have pastored me... thank you that i got to see this lived out... thank you for another day to annoy others with my positivity... hopefully in a humble and gently challenging way.