A Thorny Issue

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19)

Ever been in a church service where an altar call is made at the end and there are many hands raised to admit they are asking Christ into their lives? In the following weeks, there may be only a small percentage who are continuing in the faith. It’s easy to seek easy solutions, but the difficulty is in the difficulty of God’s expectations. Jesus said the way to God is narrow and few there be who find it (Matthew 7:14).  Many see it. Many acknowledge it. But few truly allow it to transform their lives.

There is disagreement among some in Christian leadership of the effectiveness of a convert praying a “sinners’ prayer,” (Romans 10:9-10) or just simply believing in Christ (Acts 16:31). The thinking is saying a prayer, while it gives a person a base-starting point-it, can be an action that can give them the idea, “OK, I squared myself with God, now I can live my life on my own terms.” The individual ignores what Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Both approaches of confession and belief can lead a person into a right relationship with Christ but then obedience to God’s commandments come into the experience. Many in accepting Christ do so for various reasons that can come down to looking for a “quick fix” with no more problems.

God’s word isn’t some kind of magic appeal to be used like a religious painkiller, nor is He some kind of giant genie-in-the-sky who will give us whatever we want whenever we want it. If you’re looking for that then you’re knocking on disappointment’s door. It becomes the path of least resistance, allowing other things and desires to choke out a true spiritual reformation of the heart. The analogy of thorns (GR akantha) not only demonstrates how these things can choke our relationship with Christ but speaks of the sharp points and pains that come with them.

Scripture has never taught following God is some kind of cakewalk. In fact, it teaches just the opposite. Following Jesus Christ is not a life for the fainthearted. While it comes freely from the grace and hand of God, if you commit to it, living it will cost you everything you’ve got, thorns and all. But let me add I have found a life dedicated and submitted to Christ, in spite of the thorns, has been a life of the most satisfying abundance of His loving care. Christ lives it in us (John 10:10, Galatians 2:20). The worth of the sacrifice of service goes far and above the discomfort and gloom of nixing His wonderful offer of grace and peace.

Jesus Himself said in this world you’ll have trouble (pressure, affliction, tribulation)-BUT-in saying so added “Take heart. I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD,” (John 16:33, Emphasis Added). God was with Israel 40 years through the wilderness experience, not around it. God even kept their clothes from wearing out, and their feet from swelling (Deuteronomy 8:4).

What are you looking for, religion or relationship? Those two things are oil and water and will never mix. Religion is man trying to reach God by his own rules. Relation is God reaching out to man in human flesh through His only Begotten and Beloved Son (John 3:16, Luke 9:35 kjv). His strength to persevere in that life is given to those who count the cost and are willing to crush the thorns underfoot, trusting Him to lead with strength and purpose. Jesus said if you love Him, you’ll obey His commandments. Obedience to His commandments is the test, and He doesn’t grade on a curve.

I have always been surprised at how submitting my will to His commands offers true freedom, and the satisfaction that follows. If we love Him, we’ll do all He commands. Following His commandments can keep us from becoming choked on the thorns of disobedience.

Thorns choke, jab, and stab the unwary. Obedience to Him profits and brings blessing. “If you love Me, you’ll do as I command.” Obedience is better than anything we can do or offer (1^st Samuel 15:22). And that, beloved, is the only point Jesus wants us to be touched with.

Ken

As You Have Been Comforted

Praise be to the God and Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God (2^nd Corinthians 1:3-4).

Grace, Peace, and Mercy to you! When I first began doing my devotional thoughts, blogging was in its infancy. In fact, when I began this ministry in 1995 I did it on an email listing. I began it with the focus on encouraging believers, but then also for those who are seriously seeking to live a repentant life and find significance in Christ.

I opened my current devotional blog in 2008. In the intervening years the blogging opportunities have widened, and the internet is now inundated with hundreds of spiritual websites and a searcher can be overwhelmed at the girth of available devotional media content. The amount of information can be mind-boggling and can, at times, lose us in its vastness. One needs to approach these things with a discerning spirit (1st John 4:1, Colossians 2:8)). The best commentary on Scripture is Scripture (Acts 17:11, 2nd Timothy 2:15).

I have been approached with suggestions I publish my thoughts dependent on a monetary exchange. I refuse to do so, as the gospel message is free, and I consider myself a not-for-profit prophet (as one who tells). Any word the LORD shares through His inspiration, He does so gratuitously, and so I wish to do. 

My driving passion is to exhort (encourage or urge), instruct in sound doctrine (Titus 1:9), and to stimulate one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). Understand love and good deeds do not save us. Only Christ's redemptive work can do that (John 14:6). Love and good deeds that comfort and encourage naturally flow from a relationship with Him. Paul wrote that his mission was to preach Christ, and Him crucified (1st Corinthians 1:23). That is revealed through the message of the good news of God’s redemption. That mission is my focused endeavor.

I prayerfully approach each week in study and meditation on what the Holy Spirit has helped me with in understanding and insights into a surer spiritual walk. I sincerely hope and pray all who read these words are encouraged to serve Christ in purity, devotion, love and good works. My fervent prayer is that God receive all the glory, praise and worship He is due. There is nothing in myself in which I can glory. I am an unprofitable servant as I am doing only what was commanded and nothing more (Luke 17:10).

The response is always interesting. As I write and post each Monday, my prayer is the Holy Spirit will bring those to my blog who can benefit from it or remember it at some future date when those thoughts can be an encouragement. One week I had 500 hits and in following weeks 1 or 2. But my prayer rests not in quantity, but the quality of the calling Christ has called me to, and to give help that only the Cross and risen Christ can bring to those who are searching.

Today, let me leave you with the comfort and encouragement of the truth of Scripture I have been comforted with. As always, I have nothing to hide, but encourage all to check these claims and see if what I share is true or it’s just blowing smoke. If smoke, wait for it to clear and move on with your life. Nothing to see, here. But be open-minded. Be sure. Your eternal destiny depends on it.

You are made in the image of the Living God and have a worth that is to die for. And that's why Jesus came the first time-not to judge-but to save us from sin (John 3:16-18, Luke 4:18-19). How greatly loved you are! But don’t take my word for it. Do the claims of Jesus hold water as the God-Man, who is foretold in the ancient writings of the Jewish prophets? He fulfilled over 300 of them, even to the place He would be born (Michah 5:2). Lose your mind figuring how He manipulated that one. There are plenty of historical witnesses who testify of Him, in both amiable and hostile content. John writes that the Word became flesh and lived among us. One who was testified of, seen and touched by them (John 1:14, 1^st John 1:1, 2^nd Peter 1:16-18).

Be encouraged. You can put your total trust in Him right now. He offers rest to weary souls. You’re here to hear it at His preference, not mine. Your being here is no accident. God doesn't work by coincidence. It was my prayer that the one who needed to hear this word would be led here at this moment. It’s time to drop the weapons. It’s time to quit the struggle, for unto us [you] a Child is born. And unto us [you] a Son is given upon whose shoulders will abide an eternal kingdom of righteous rule (Isaiah 9:6).

Rejoice! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). Be built up and encouraged in Christ Jesus! Be comforted, comforting one another with the comfort you have received, and again, I say rejoice in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior!

Ken 

God is Speaking, Are You Listening?

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2^nd Corinthians 4:3-4).

Have you ever wondered why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart then punished him for it? That doesn’t seem very fair of God, you are probably thinking, and you would be right. But it was not God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but Pharaoh that allowed the god of this age to harden it first (Exodus 7:14). God only fortified the king’s choice so that His power and glory might be established over the gods of Egypt. God is not willing that any should perish in their sin, but that all should come to repentance (2^nd Peter 3:9).

I still have close friends, and even family members, who have chosen to ignore the good news of the freedom found in Christ’s redemptive work and are blinded by the god of this age. I have a cousin who refused an obvious call to follow Christ at 16. In refusing he said, “I’ll accept him as Lord when I’m old.” He’ll turn 70 this year and remains steadfast in his refusal. He’s had an additional 50+ years for his heart to harden, and he remains an angry and inflexible old man, still blinded from the healing and freedom only the Son of God could have given him in those years (John 8:36). God is still speaking, but he has ceased listening.

I’m not offering these words to any pharaohs whose hearts have hardened beyond God’s help, but to those of you who might be seriously searching for that freedom that only the Son of God, Christ Jesus, can give. Scripture says to believe in Him and repent. To believe means to accept that He, and He alone, is the ONLY way to God (John 14:6). To repent means to turn to God in obedience (Acts 3:19).

I am speaking to those of you who’ve been mixing a life of anger and bitterness into a heart-hardening rock of resistance. I am also addressing this to believers who are longing to renew and refresh the faith they once experienced. For all, the hour has already come for you to wake from your slumber, because your liberation and restoration is nearer now than when you first believed (Romans 13:11).

Pharaoh chose to harden his heart to the point God could no longer deal with it. God will never violate a person’s free will. All souls are eternal, as they live on after death; some to everlasting peace with God, and some to everlasting separation and contempt. If Pharaoh didn’t know then, he certainly knows now.

This is your time and your year. Christ has paid it all to introduce you to His Heavenly Father into a new and better life. Awake from your slumber, and blindness. See the light of the gospel. If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1^st John 1:9).

Your salvation is indeed nearer than you believed. Why not trust Jesus to give it to you? What have you got to lose?  

God is speaking. Are you listening?

With Love, 

Ken

Awakened to a Dream

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

What will the realities of a new and eternal life be like? Let me clarify we won’t be lying about on clouds strumming harps. The emphasis on eternal life will be-life-not sterile boredom.

 The two main questions I get asked are; “Will we recognize each other in our new bodies?” and “Will there be animals in heaven?” My response to the animals in heaven question is, “Yes, I believe as much as God loves life, there will be masses of animals in heaven and on the New Earth. I’m even expecting to see my beloved pets awaiting me when I arrive, and maybe even some God will throw in for free!” I’ve always held a fondness for elephants.

Anything you can imagine heaven to be like, will be compared to a spark in a hurricane to the powerful Consuming Fire with which God will work for us in future eons. Who but God could have the best intentions in store for us, infinitely greater than anything anyone could imagine? 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” can ever be fully grasped or envisioned-1^st Corinthians 2:9 (ESV). 

What can we expect concerning our new bodies made to last for eternity? A glance at the resurrected Jesus gives us the tinniest insights into what a glorified (immortal) body can do. He was recognized (Matthew 28:9-10), He was not a spirit but was in a solid physical body (Luke 24:39), He ate food (Lk 24:43), materialized and dematerialized at will (John 20:19, Lk 24:31), performed tasks (John 21:9-12) & flew (Acts1:9) and He will do so again when He receives us in the air (1^st Thessalonians 4:17).

These are just a few of His glorified attributes we know of. As Scripture states that with God nothing is impossible, with what I have shared, I see no reason why our new bodies, made for eternity, will not share these same amazing attributes.

Anything you can think of, He will do better. I’m expecting it will be no small feat for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to spend individual one-to-one time with each of us throughout eternity (Revelation 21:4). Wiping our tears away sounds pretty personal in its description.

Eternity with Father, Son and Holy Spirit will constantly amaze us as the ages roll. His insights will continue to astound and delight us. If y’all want to spend eternal ages sitting on a cloud, thumping a harp, have at it. I’ll be exploring the universe! If you’re skeptical, tell me what your eye has seen or your ear has heard differently. This New Year may be the one Saints throughout the millennia have longed to see in the fulfillment of Christ’s final and Second Advent.

Pray, work, occupy until He comes. Then when we see and hear what He has prepared for us, we will roar as a great multitude shouting: “Hallelujah!  Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!”

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20

Ken

The First Pillar of Creation

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the Beast, aka Anti-Christ] whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8

Contemplating the universe can be an awe-inspiring experience when we include in our thoughts the Majesty and fully Perfected Attributes of the one who spoke it into existence. This universal concept is even something youngsters wonder about. I am reminded of the time my then 9-year-old granddaughter asked me out of the blue, “Pepa, what’s outside of the universe?” I thought “And that from a 4th grader!” In my shock I could only say, “God is the only one, honey.” Who else could be there?

This week in my meditations I have remembered how Isaiah and Paul wrote that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, the things God has prepared for those who love Him (Isaiah 64:4, 1^st Corinthians 2:9). He is everywhere-present in His power and understanding and holds all things under His authority. Things within the universe and without-the transcendent-with an ease guided by His word or thought. Isaiah writes of Him: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on scales and the hills in balance? (40:12)

How can a God of that magnitude not be able to move and answer our needs? And all that power is exercised in a Grace that is beyond amazing, raising it to the category of astounding!

The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world revealed an unconditionally loving Father who knowing Adam would fail by his own choice of disobedience (Genesis 3:6), had already set into motion an incredible Plan of Redemption. It was decided it would be His life for ours, even before earth’s first foundational pillar was set (Revelation 13:8).

Our Father in heaven, being unwilling that any should perish (2^nd Peter 3:9), has chosen all to receive a crown of righteousness from His Son. Unfortunately, not all are willing to accept His gracious offer. For those of us who do, His great power, wisdom, and knowledge are tempered in a personal and loving relationship. It is so personal that He knows the number of the hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). And with the billions that pray to Him all at once, He hears you individually and understands your condition and pain fully, as if it were His own. He even intercedes on your behalf to the Father (Romans 8:34). What greater advocate can we have to the Father than a perfect fellow human being who has experienced life in its harshest realities?

To whom else can we go for the words of eternal life? God is not only good, He’s faithful and able to do for us personally. That’s why I continue to call Him a Personal Savior. I wanted to share with you these thoughts on the greatest Majesty, Love, and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ as the New Year approaches. He is in complete control, blocking and hindering the darkness Satan brings on the world. Even though it may not seem so, things are happening that will fulfill His will and plan.

May the God who is in control of all things within Creation, and outside of it, be your Peace in the coming months. We hold fast to His promises looking forward to His Second Appearance when He will make all things new (Revelation 21:1). We have a Joyous future to look forward to. Trust in Him, believe and take heart! David writes in Psalm 32:1, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Creation’s first pillar, laid at the foundation of the world, was the cross, and it was set for you. Your penalty for sin was paid before the world came into being. Rejoice, and praise our Blessed Savior. Jesus Christ!

See you next year!

Ken

Comfort Ye, My People

Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2^nd Corinthians 1:3-4

This holiday Season of Advent & Christmas can be a time of particular emotional stress and difficulty. I endeavor each week to be sensitive to my readers, in being empathetic to their trials while offering the truth of sound Scriptural doctrine (Titus 2:1), offering God’s promises of comfort and hope to His people.

This being the season of the year we remember the First Advent of Emmanuel in the flesh, it can be a great encouragement to weary hearts. That the Father sent Him the first time means there will be a Second Advent with a Redemptive Righteousness and Rule for all Creation (Revelation 21:1).  If our hope lies in His resurrection from the dead, then the promise of His Second Advent remains a true and blessed hope.

Celebration of a certain day and month are not in question. Paul tells us not to judge one another on our choice of festivities (Colossians 2:16). While there is nothing in Scripture that instructs us to celebrate the birth of our Savior, there’s nothing in Scripture that forbids it. What we do celebrate is that the Eternal Godhead deemed an appropriate moment in history to veil His glory in human flesh, to come and live with us and suffer in the reality of our misery. In doing so, proved Himself victorious over Satan, death and despair.

He holds all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). That all includes any conflict you may have going in your life right now or will in the future. In this life it's not a matter of if but when. Remember, He experienced the harshness of humanity firsthand, even to execution on the cross (Philippians 2:8). He completely understands what we are going through and He’s completely faithful to make all things new.

So, with these words, ye, His people take comfort in His grace and hope and comfort one another with them. Celebrate that He experienced the dust of the road, hunger and thirst, rejection, and pain and death. But with it He held the power and authority to raise Himself from the dead (John 2:19-21). He’s not just familiar with it, He willingly became part of it and overcame it! His blessed Second Advent is at hand! That’s news that can make any heart merry.

 

Ken

  

You Can't Beak That

The word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kirith Revine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.” 1^st Kings 17:2 (NIV)

Elijah the Prophet was in big trouble. He had just finished prophesying that God would withhold rain from Israel as judgment for her sins. The king, Ahab, was really angry.

God told Elijah to lay low for a while. He sent him to a secluded spot where He promised to supply his needs. Morning and evening He sent Ravens to bring him food. God used this time of testing to prepare Elijah for greater trials yet to face.

The LORD always leads us into places where He sustains us and trains us. There’s no sin in wondering why we’re going through a trial. But for myself, I’ve found my own comfort and growth was strengthened when I began to ask, “What does God want to teach me, here?” He brought His prophet into the desert and took care of this Orthodox Jew in a very unorthodox way. Elijah’s food was delivered, prepackaged, in a neat beak.

God shows us that in any situation in which we find ourselves, He can meet our every need, even if it means using the wings of ravens to bring Him honor, praise, and worship.

But this was only part of the story. As we read on, we find that when Elijah’s time in the wilderness was done, God didn’t fly him home to live a life for the birds. Instead, He used him in many more ways. When his time on earth was finished, God dispatched a chariot of fire to fly him to Himself (2^nd Kings 2:11).

God is always faithful. Even in the dry and barren wilderness experiences, He seldom works the same way twice. He doesn’t want us to become enamored with routine solutions which we will begin to trust over Him.  

The exciting thing is He’s not limited in what He can do for us or how He accomplishes it. He can use the wings of a 747 or the wings of a raven. Birds of a feather can flock together, to be sure, but the LORD’s ability to meet your needs goes far and away above that. That’s enough to cause a weary heart to take wing! When ravens won’t fit the bill, He will.

Ken