Preparation Not Punishment

When a coach tells you to run twenty laps is it because he or she is punishing you? No. Good coaches do that because they are training you to be a player with more endurance so the team can have a player with more endurance. 

Hebrews 12:6-7 ESV — "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"

Hard things are not punishment. They are training. It is that way with EVERY child of His... not just you... the twenty laps are not your identity... you are on the team... you are in the family... you are accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6)... you are loved... God boasts about you... He sings over you and laughs with joy.

Jesus got punished for us. God isn't punishing us. He is training us to reign.

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Being With Hurting People

The thought i had that i have today is...

'Be present with those who are in pain.' and just 'Be with people when you are in pain.'

The problem is often that people can amplify or minimize pain that others are having. They 'write it off' or 'focus to much on it'. So people want to withdraw.

Also... hurt people hurt other people. They lash out at times... can we endure that... absorb that.

People grieve
People who were wronged are genuinely hurt

Forgiveness is real and possible... Heaven is real.... hurt is also real.

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." - Isaiah 53:3 KJV

That is Jesus in prophecy.

"But of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.'" - Hebrews 1:8-9 ESV

That is Jesus also but i love how it says, 'of the Son' because we are adopted children in Christ and we can 'love righteousness' and be exalted also. He already is exalted and we can experience that in Him.

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.' " - Matthew 9:9-12 ESV

Jesus loved righteousness and sat with people at the same time.

I practice confrontational evangelism but I'm not that way when it comes to healing... that takes time, kindness, laughter (if possible) and love.

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King David As A Worship Leader

 David as a 'worship leader'...

1 Chronicles 29:10-20 ESV — "Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.” Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king."

Yes. David worshipped God with His words. He sorted through the dirt and garbage of Israel's history and found the gold... the signal not the noise... and gave them that and that created a capacity for the assembly to worship.

We need 'worship leaders'... not people who can just sing skillfully... we need to be led into worship by example.

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The One Who Bought The Pearl

Matthew 13:45-46 ESV — "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Isaiah 53:10 KJV — "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

The cross was the ultimate manifestation of Jesus' heart to 'sell all that He had' to win our lives back. His heart won the Father's heart and His shed Blood satisfied the Father's justice and holiness.

Jesus. Faced with paying the ultimate price... paid it... He did not back down... a second Adam who is a quickening Spirit.

Sin is paid for but will we believe and then be made alive to enjoy the benefits of being alive? If we never believe we stay spiritually dead.

Mark 12:27a ESV — "He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

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

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Jesus' Intercession On The Cross

"Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes INTERCESSION for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:12 ESV

That word 'intercession' is paga (Strong's H6293) in the Hebrew and it is not talking about verbal intercession. It is a physical word (attack, fall upon, parry, collide with).

The cross was Jesus stepping in-between us and God's wrath. It was Him taking our bullet. It was Him jumping into our problem and making it His problem.

"If you MEET your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him." - Exodus 23:4 ESV

It is the same word used here for 'meet'. It is a physical confrontation.

Jesus created (makes) a space for the transgressors (us) to come in contact with God.

An evangelist or missionary is an intercessor. They aren't just saying words they are coming in contact with God and bringing people into contact with Him.

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Shed Blood

 Leviticus 17:11 ESV — "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life."

Pondering Jesus' blood today. A sinless man shed sinless blood.

When a doctor draws blood it serves as a snapshot of what is going on right at that moment. 

We die and our blood dies.

Does a sinless man's blood die or is it frozen forever alive experiencing that horrible cross? Shed at His worst moment with all of our sin 'on' Him.

In a way Jesus is in two places. The life (soul) of the flesh is in His blood but He sits at the right hand of the Father. Did that blood get absorbed into the Earth or was it transported to Heaven?

Either way it is beyond precious.

1 Peter 1:17-19 ESV — "And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

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Season of Betrothal

We are betrothed to Christ. Not married... yet.

Engaged as a group and the marriage will be a 'us' thing also. Not individual... it is a concept presented in the Hebrew but we don't have it in our western culture.

Being engaged has it's own joys and troubles... life is happening but postponed... biblical engagement has no sexual intimacy... not before engagement or during... that is reserved for marriage.... that longing is healthy and once married a bond is formed both emotionally and physically.

The troubles of engagement are real... loneliness... the impending living arrangements may be anticipated but still the old 'life' dies and a new one is about to start filled with unknowns.

A believer lives a life of betrothal. We often say, 'One day things will be different.' and the they will be cause the marriage will happen and everything will be new again.

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." - Revelation 21:5 KJV

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;" - 2 Corinthians 5:14-18 ESV

Internal 'newness' is available to us now. External newness will come later. Hope is available to us now. Fullness of joy later.

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." - Psalm 16:11 ESV

"But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." - 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ESV

Life can often be like a woman longing for her prince charming to arrive... that isn't easy but it is a hardship filled with hope. Jesus is who we are longing for.... we have Him but we long for time when hope turns to daily living in joy unspeakable.

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