God’s Most Successful Setback

 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

Christmas marked the beginning of God’s most successful setback. He has always delighted to show his power through apparent defeat. He makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories.

In the Old Testament, Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, was promised glory and power in his dream (Genesis 37:5–11). But to achieve that victory he had to become a slave in Egypt. And, as if that were not enough, when his conditions improved because of his integrity, he was made worse than a slave: a prisoner.

But it was all planned. Planned by God for his good and the good of his family, and eventually for the good of the whole world! For there in prison he met Pharaoh’s butler, who eventually brought him to Pharaoh, who put him over Egypt. And finally, his dream came true. His brothers bowed before him, and he saved them from starvation. What an unlikely route to glory! 

But that is God’s way — even for his Son. He emptied himself and took the form of a slave. Worse than a slave — a prisoner — and was executed. But like Joseph, he kept his integrity. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9–10).

And this is God’s way for us too. We are promised glory — if we will suffer with him as it says in Romans 8:17. The way up is down. The way forward is backward. The way to success is through divinely appointed setbacks. They will always look and feel like failure.

But if Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christmas it is this: What Satan and sinful men meant for evil, “God meant it for good!” (Genesis 50:20).

You fearful saints fresh courage take

The clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy and will break

In blessings on your head.

Life and Death at Christmas

 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

As I was about to begin this devotional, I received word that Marion Newstrum had just died. Marion and her husband Elmer had been part of our church longer than most of our members had been alive at the time. She was 87. They had been married 64 years.

When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to be strong in the Lord and not give up on life, he said, “He has been a true friend.” I pray that all Christians will be able to say at the end of life, “Christ has been a true friend.” 

Each Advent I mark the anniversary of my mother’s death. She was cut off in her 56th year in a bus accident in Israel. It was December 16, 1974. Those events are incredibly real to me even today. If I allow myself, I can easily come to tears — for example, thinking that my sons never knew her. We buried her the day after Christmas. What a precious Christmas it was!

Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more pointedly than before. Don’t block it out. Let it come. Feel it. What is love for, if not to intensify our affections — both in life and death? But oh, do not be bitter. It is tragically self-destructive to be bitter.

Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal life. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Elmer and Marion had discussed where they would spend their final years. Elmer said, “Marion and I agreed that our final home would be with the Lord.”

Do you feel restless for home? I have family coming home for the holidays. It feels good. I think the bottom-line reason for why it feels good is that they and I are destined in the depths of our being for an ultimate Homecoming. All other homecomings are foretastes. And foretastes are good.

Unless they become substitutes. Oh, don’t let all the sweet things of this season become substitutes of the final, great, all-satisfying Sweetness. Let every loss and every delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven.

Christmas. What is it but this: I came that they may have life? Marion Newstrum, Ruth Piper, and you and I — that we might have Life, now and forever.

Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmas by drinking at the fountain of Forever. It is so near.

SAVED IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 15, 2023.

SUBJECT: SAVED IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8 vs 1.)

READ: John 3 vs 17 - 19:

3:17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

3:18: He who believes on Him is not condemned: but he who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

3:19: And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

INTIMATION:

Jesus was sent by God the Father to redeem mankind from sin. He was made sin with our sin on the cross as our substitute. He was crucified and died for our sins on the cross. Then after He had satisfied the claims of justice, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18 vs 4), He was raised from the dead, justified in spirit, made righteous in spirit, and made alive in spirit. That was a new birth. It was for this reason God said "....You are My Son, Today I have begotten You," (Acts 13 vs 33). And when we confessed Jesus, and accepted His substitutionary work for us in redemption, we were recreated—made “new creation,” and adopted as sons and daughters of God.

When you are in close spiritual and salvational relationship with Christ, you come into a saved covenant relationship with God wherein you are not in a state of condemnation. In this state one is free from the bondage of sin. In Christ one is not directing his life according to the desires of the flesh, but according to the directions of the Spirit. He is not walking according to the pride of meritorious conduct, but according to his submission to the word of God.

God draws men and women to Himself through the medium of preaching and teaching of the word—gospel. In this way He calls them unto salvation without respect of persons. It is the responsibility of each individual to have a willing attitude to come to Jesus. It is God’s part to provide the means that draws one to righteousness, and it is people’s responsibility to have the attitude of being receptive to God’s drawing power. God provided the gospel event in order to draw all people to Him. Individuals must voluntarily respond to the gospel, and thus be drawn to God. 

All those who would obediently turn to Jesus, would partake of the eternal purpose of God through Him. The plan that was in the mind of God before the creation of the world was to bring redeemed sons and daughters into eternal dwelling through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus on the cross. Jesus was in the world in order to bring about this plan. Those who will respond to the grace of God that was revealed through Jesus, would be in possession of Him. 

The Believer is a new specie. He or she has received into his spirit the life and nature of God. The old things have passed away. These old things are spiritual death, his union with Satan, and his sins committed while he was spiritually dead, and in union with Satan. It doesn't matter the kind of sins, they are all remitted. The new creation is the product of God, created in Christ Jesus. The new creation is born from above, born of the Holy Spirit, through the Word, and reconciled with Him.

The moment that we become new creations, we are saved. We are from that moment sons and daughters of God. It would be an abnormal thing if He should recreate us, impart on us His own nature, and leave us under the blighting curse of condemnation, unable to stand in His presence without the sense of guilt and inferiority, hence He made us His own righteousness in Jesus Christ (Second Corinthians 5 vs 21). The righteousness of God means the ability to stand in the God's presence without sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority. God has given us His own righteousness in Christ Jesus so that we can fellowship with Him. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank you so much for the unparalleled privilege of Your adopting me as Your son, an heir, and joint heir with Christ, and giving me Your righteousness in Christ. Give me the grace to harness fully my inheritance in Christ, in the mighty Name of Jesus I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Making It Real for His People

 Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, according to Hebrews 8:6. What does that mean? It means that his blood — the blood of the covenant (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20) — finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us.

It means that God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.

And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.

The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ.

The best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant is in Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace.

So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God.

BEING ALWAYS IN FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY DECEMBER 14, 2023.

SUBJECT: BEING ALWAYS IN FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD!

Memory verse: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6 vs 10.)

READ: Ephesians 6 vs 11; 14 - 18:

6:11: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

6:14: Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

6:15: and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

6:16: above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

6:17: And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

6:18: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being and watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

INTIMATION:

God Himself is the source of all peace and victory. All powers belong to Him, and it is through the things of God—the things we do in fellowship with God, that plugs us into that Source of power. The Christian’s strength is maintained if he remains in fellowship with the Lord who is the source of power against Satan.  If there is anything the devil tries to do, is to keep people out of fellowship with the Lord. Satan knows that once you are connected to the source of divine power, it is finished for Him.

The imperative command of being strong in the Lord places the responsibility for being strong on the shoulders of the Christian. If the Christian does not remain strong, it is not the fault of other brothers or the fault of the Holy Spirit. The responsibility for faithfulness is with free-moral saints who must maintain the spiritual armor of the Lord by which strength is maintained against the wiles of the devil. 

Fellowship with the Lord is what ensures a victorious and peaceful Christian life. Salvation is not based on your fellowship; it is based on the blood of Jesus, and your believe and confession of Christ Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. But without fellowship with the Lord, you will struggle the entire time you are here on this earth as a Christian, even though you will be saved because your name is in the Book of life.

When you fellowship with the Lord, you learn to quickly follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit. However, you should come apart with the Lord in prayer privately, before you come apart publicly. Spend time with God so you can remain stable as you deal with the daily affairs of life. The Christian’s strength is maintained if he or she remains in fellowship with the Lord who is the source of power against Satan.

Do you know what happens when you spend quality time with God? You begin to act like David when he faced the giant Goliath. You begin to take a stand and demand of the enemy, "Who do you think you are to defy the army of the living God?" (First Samuel 17 vs 26.) As soldiers of the Cross, you and I are not supposed to be afraid of our enemy—the devil. Instead, we are to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6 vs 10.)

The devil comes against those who are doing damage to his kingdom, those who are doing something for God. How then do we withstand the devil? By girding on the full armor of God, taking the shield of faith, by which we can quench his fiery darts, and by wielding the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6 vs 14 - 17.) 

But all of that armor, and all of those weapons come from spending time in fellowship with the Lord; “praying always....” (verse 18). Being strong in fellowship with God is praying always, which strengthens you to properly wear the armor.

It does not mean that you will be in a room with God all the time. If you will give twenty or thirty minutes of sleep in the morning in order to get up early and seek His face, God will honor that sacrifice. It you are willing to turn off the television for thirty minutes in the evening and spend some time in fellowship with the Lord, you will be richly rewarded. 

Christians should maintain a life-style that lends itself to prayer. It is through prayer that not only the inward man is strengthened, but also the work of God is called upon by the Christian to function in his life. 

However, God is a Loving Father, He will not require more of you than what you are able to give Him. He is not an ogre out to make you miserable. He knows what you need in order to have that abundant, enjoyable, victorious life, and it doesn't come from methods, but from Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of prayer and supplication without ceasing, that I may be in constant fellowship with You, and be endued with the power of the Holy Spirit to meet my needs in all life’s circumstances, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Final Reality Is Here

 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. . . . They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:1–2, 5) 

We’ve seen it before. But there’s more. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing.

Hebrews 8:1–2, 5 is a kind of summary statement. The point is that the one priest who goes between us and God, and makes us right with God, and prays for us to God is not an ordinary, weak, sinful, dying priest as in the Old Testament days. He is the Son of God — strong, sinless, with an indestructible life.

Not only that, he is not ministering in an earthly tabernacle with all its limitations of place and size while getting worn out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned and torn and stolen. No, Hebrews 8:2 says that Christ is ministering for us in a “true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” This is not the shadow. It’s the real thing in heaven. This is the reality that cast a shadow on Mount Sinai for Moses to copy.

According to Hebrews 8:1, another great thing about the reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. No Old Testament priest could ever say that.

Jesus deals directly with God the Father. He has a place of honor beside God. He is loved and respected infinitely by God. He is constantly with God. This is not shadow-reality like curtains and bowls and tables and candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and pigeons. This is final, ultimate reality: God and his Son interacting in love and holiness for our eternal salvation.

Ultimate reality is the persons of the Godhead in relationship, dealing with each other concerning how their majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness and truth shall be manifest in a redeemed people.

HINDRANCES TO GOD’S COMPANIONSHIP!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 13, 2023.

SUBJECT: HINDRANCES TO GOD’S COMPANIONSHIP!

Memory verse: "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27 vs 4.)

READ: Deuteronomy 31 vs 6; Psalm 23 vs 6; 27 vs 4 - 5: 

Deuteronomy 31:6: Be strong and of a good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He he is the One who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. 

Psalm 23:6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

INTIMATION:

I have a friend who loves to take long walks with me. We talk and laugh and enjoy each other’s company as we stroll along. The exercise is beneficial, and so is the conversation. The Lord is a lot like my friend. He enjoys walking with us as our companion on life’s pathway. And He brings blessing into our lives when we walk closely with Him.

The awareness of God’s presence with us is encouraging and heartwarming. The Bible in James 4 vs 8 promises, ‘Come near to God and He will come near to you.’ 

Even when we are surrounded by family and friends, some problems seem to double in size of their own accord. If we toss and turn in the early morning hours thinking about them, they become ten times as large. But remember, the Bible is full of encouragement. The Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you,” if you walk in companionship with Him. Though it seems the whole world has gone wrong around us, we are not alone — God is with us!

When we walk with the Lord, wherever we go, we cannot step outside the boundaries of God’s love and care. We can have fellowship “with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” wherever we are. All we need to do is trust in God’s loving companionship and walk the path He has placed before us.

One of the hindrances to having God as our constant companion may lie in our desire to be independent. We may submit to Him as Father because we see no other choice. But to invite Him into a closer relationship that culminates into having Him as a constant companion—His being actively involved in every area of our lives, and giving His seal of approval to all we do—is found by many as too intimidating and threatening, apparently because they like their space. 

There are some people who want to be independent and not have others, even God, tell or suggest what they should do. We can be certain if we have any of these tendencies, that the adversary is going to use our weaknesses—our mistrust and self-centeredness—to try to keep us separated from God. 

Sometimes our lives are clustered that we have a hard time letting the Lord have control. David’s greatest desire was to live in God’s presence each day of his life. Sadly, this is not the greatest desire of many who claim to be believers. What do you most desire? Do you look forward to being in the presence of the Lord? 

Go to God in prayer asking Him to bring you back to basics with Him. Ask Him to strip from you anything which is not from Him and which is not absolutely necessary for your relationship with Him. Demand that He adds anything He wish and ask Him to be first in your life. 

If you are sincere in this prayer, you will notice that He will start changing you, taking away your desire for things you do not need right now, or at least giving you the ability to resist their attraction. If God is showing you that there a problem for you in an area, pray something similar to the model of prayer below. Make certain it expresses what you want to say to God:

"Lord, I tend to be independent and want to do things on my own without others interfering, not even You. I know this is wrong, but I will need to give up a lifetime habit of being in control of my life. Help me, Holy Spirit, not only to want to do things Your way, but to have the courage to do whatever You show me to do. Help me submit every area of my life to You. Show me where I have not trusted in You fully and how to resist such doubts from now on. Give me Scripture to counter any enemy attack. Then help me to be happy in releasing all of this to You, in order to keep the enemy from making me feel bitter or resentful. Let me see it as a positive thing. I love You and trust You."

God will begin to fine tune your life in order to strip away small hindrances. These things, even though so insignificant, and may not bother many, are definite barriers to your developing companionship with the Lord. A wise person once said, "When God measures you, He puts the tape around your heart, not your head." So how is your heart doing with God? At the level of having God as your faithful companion, you should have a more intense desire to spend quality time with the Lord both in prayer and in the Word. 

Becoming a companion of the Lord will give you a hunger for the Word, in part, because that is how to get to know God better. Scripture will become an important resource through difficult situations as He leads you to specific promises to claim in each circumstance. Studying His Word will touch your emotions and give you a greater sense of His care and your security in Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, one thing that I desire; that You may be my companion all the days of my life. Give me the grace to be steadfast in my trust in You, to have unhindered fellowship with You, and that I may walk in the light of Your presence all the days of my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!