2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
Today’s passage is very special, because it is a prayer of praise Jude offers to the Lord. It is special to us, because it reminds us that after enumerating all the advice on how to recognize false teachers and how to respond to their presence, that the Lord truly deserves a prayer of praise. The more I study His word, the clearer to me is the enormous depth of the love He has for us. JUDE 24-25, “To Him Who is able to keep you from falling and to bring you faultless and joyful before His glorious presence-to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and forever and ever! Amen.”
From my work on the prayer chain, I am being privileged to see how God is able to accomplish seemingly impossible things in the lives of others. I already know He is doing that in my own life too. MK 10: 27, “…This is impossible for a man but not for God; everything is possible for God.” Someone I respect once said to me, “if you really want to strengthen your own faith, spend time watching how God is at work in the lives of others.” That person was right on the mark! Let me share some Scriptures that really reveal why God truly deserves our continuing praise and thanks for what He does in our lives. IS 43: 1-2, “Israel, the Lord Who created you says, ‘Do not be afraid-I will save you. I have called you by name-you are mine. When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you.” Now, I know God was addressing this to Israel, but I feel each of us personally could put our name in the position of the first word of this citation, and it would be true. That kind of reassurance that comes to me as an awesome gift from the Abba I love.
PS 27: 1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; I will fear on one. The Lord protects me from all dangers; I will never be afraid.” David wrote this when he was being chased and persecuted by Saul. From our study of the Scriptures, we already know that David enjoyed God’s protection and even trust enough to be a successful king for Israel and part of the royal line of Jesus Christ. David’s faith is a gift from God, which David knew meant that God deserved his praise. PS 91: 1-6, 9-11, “Whoever goes to the Lord for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, can say to Him, ‘You are my Defender and my Protector. You are my God; in You I trust.’ He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. He will cover you with His wings; you will be safe in His care; His faithfulness will protect and defend you. You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight….You have made the Lord your Defender, the Most High your Protector, and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come near your home. God will put His angels in charge of you to protect you wherever you go.”
JN 11: 25-26, should convince us that God deserves our eternal praise like nothing else does. “Jesus said to her [Martha upon promising her that He will raise her brother, Lazarus], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die…’ “ PS 46:1, “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” PS 56: 3-4, “When I am afraid, O Lord Almighty, I put my trust in You. I trust in God and am not afraid; I praise Him for what He has promised. What can a mere human being do to me?” PS 23: 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they protect me.” RO 8: 15, “For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Abba, my Abba!” Yes, Dear Ones, we have a Father Who adores us, guides us, and shows us mercy and compassion. 2 TIM 1: 7, “For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, His Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.”
Rabbi Josef Koehner of Temple Aron Ha-Kodesh, the Messianic Jewish congregation in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl that Jamie and Neil Lash helped found, shared some wonderful insight into how we can approach God with reverence. He used the acronymn, ACTS, to get his message across. A=ask for God’s leadership. C=choose to trust God. T=transformed is what we can be when we allow God to renew our minds. S=small steps are what God takes when He is at work sanctifying us. We need to examine our own lives to see what God has done in them. If we are honest and have opened our hearts to Him, that can be a most remarkable story. Something a man can’t do, but “nothing is impossible for God.” It will bless our lives if we spend time seeing what God is doing in the lives of others around us too. That is why God has put us in congregations of His choosing, so that we can have our faith strengthened and encourage each other in it. As we do this, we will see more and more reasons why God deserves our eternal and continuing praise. Let me close this series of messages by citing REV 1: 17-18, John’s remarkable observation which has profound impact on our lives. “When I saw Him [Christ], I fell down at His feet like a dead man. He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid! I am the alpha and the omega. I am the living One! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead.” Hallelujah!
PRAYER: O Lord, each day that I offer prayers in these devotions, I end them by offering You adoration, worship, trust, loyalty, obedience, honor, glory, thanks, and praise. Anyone reading these prayers might ask me, “Aren’t you being repetitive?” The answer is, “Yes, but it’s what God deserves.” All we have to do is look around us to see the miracles You have performed. While we were still Your enemies, You invited us to come to faith in Your Son, Your only Son Whom You sacrificed on the cross to make our salvation possible. You have cut through the stiff-necked stubbornness of our pride and brought us to the brokenness necessary to open our hearts. Then, You gave us the Holy Spirit to transform us by the renewal of our minds. You have called us to lives of holiness and invited us to join You in Your work. And, when we answered that call, You bathed us with Your protection, provision, love, and blessings. We deserved none of this, but You give it to us anyway. When we have faith and act on it, You stand with us in dealing with whatever challenges we face. Now and forever, Dear Lord, we repeat ourselves without embarrassment: We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, trust, loyalty, obedience, honor, glory, thanks, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
I have prayed hard for God’s direction in what to write about next. He leads me to begin a series of messages on His attributes called “Who is God?” Please pray that I can answer this direction guided by Him and offer you messages to His glory that He will find pleasing. In the meanwhile, take a little time each day to offer Him praise, for I think you will see, He richly deserves it. Peter and I send you our love today and always.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn