The Lamb That Roared

And one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5 (New American Standard Bible)

There doesn’t seem to be much grandeur in a sheep. I’ve never seen an animal TV program where a sheep stalked prey and I’ve never heard of someone protecting their property with a watchsheep. On the other hand I’ve not heard of anyone pulling a lion’s tail without coming out on the bad end of the deal.

In the Christ of God are both a Lion and a Lamb. The description defies all natural understanding and reason. He is both Sovereign and Sacrifice but it is a notion that is strange in the logical sense yet easily recognized. Beneath the wool of this Lamb ripples the sinewy muscle of a powerful King. He is not a Lion in Sheep’s clothing but a Regent that is one, the other and both. He is a King by His own Being and a Servant by His own will. As a Lion He is powerful enough to keep a chokehold on the throat of Satan yet as a Lamb offers Himself up for the sins of the world satisfying God’s demand for righteousness.

Logic has nothing to do with who we find seated on the Throne. Whether Lion or Lamb He is One and is affirmed of God (Matthew 4:17). The Lion works with ALL power and authority to fulfill His will while the Lamb reconciles us to a loving and concerned God. The Lamb who is a Lion will always be on the Throne and will be worshipped forever for His holiness and redemptive work among us. He has triumphed. Come, let us worship and bow down. Holy is the Lamb that roared.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Flying Lessons

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3 (New American Standard Bible)

Wisdom truly can come from the mouths of children. One evening when my daughter and I took my wife to the airport to catch a flight I heard such wisdom for myself. As my daughter and my three-year-old grandson, Jaren, stood at the window watching my wife’s plane being rolled back from the terminal a little girl next to us had her forehead pressed against the glass. She had tears in her eyes. Obviously someone she loved was moving away with that airplane and she didn’t know whether or not they would ever return to her. As the plane moved back she looked again to her mom who was standing next to her. She gave her a comforting hug and said, “It’s alright, honey.” Jaren was standing next to her. He looked over to her and seeing her tears touched her arm. “It’s OK,’ he said, “the airplane will come back.”

It must have been that way when Jesus was taken up from His disciples into the clouds to be at the right hand of His Father. Before He went away He promised He would return for us. If I am honest with you I have to say I have wondered at times if He really is coming back or did He leave and that’s it? My comfort is set in my faith in His word and the many signs he told us would be happening just before He comes home.

He has not only confirmed my reservation but the reservations of perhaps billions of believers past and present. My faith in Him is my boarding pass and I am convinced He will very soon take me and every other believer to clear, uncrowded and friendlier skies. I got a flying lesson from a two-year-old concerning this very thing. “It’s OK; the airplane will come back.” Jesus said if He went away He would return to us. The parallel is so striking isn’t it? Out of the mouths of children God has perfected wisdom and praise.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Should Old acquaintance be Ignored?

“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 said to you.” John 14:26 (New American Standard Bible)

I know a guy who walked into a room one day and the people’s smiles turned to disappointment. “Oh, it’s just you,” one of them said. Kind of reminds me of how I’ve looked at the Holy Spirit most of my life. Oh, it’s just you Holy Spirit. He’s been on my backburner and pretty much ignored for a lot of years mainly because He is so hard to define. He is addressed not with a particular name but with a title and is expressed in Scripture as Wind, at the most seeming more like an ‘It’ than as the Personal Being He is. At least the Father has a name and a personality while the Son is Deity in human form. That I can identify with.
But to say I have a Holy Wind for a friend leaves most folks with blank stares.

I’m coming to realize how mistaken I’ve been concerning Him. He is a lovely and generous individual at Oneness with the Father and the Son. A Being with definite personality. He is the same holiness, love, justice and being as God the Father and has been at work throughout the Old and New Testament times. Yes, remember in the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit fell mightily on Saul and he prophesied to the group of prophets with him (1st Samuel 10:10)? My entire Christian experience turns on the work of this personal friend. He is the one who works within my soul as a believer with reference to the Scriptures; He indwells and regenerates me on a daily basis, empowers me for life and service and finally is the Reference to teaching me the truth in Jesus Christ. And He is my friend.

Most of all He knows what I need before I ask. He intercedes to the mind of God for me when I pray seeking for the exact thing I need for my life (Romans 8:27). When I’ve found a new friend in the past I’ve wanted to know more about them, who they are, what they enjoy and to strive to make our bond stronger. In the same way the Holy Spirit seeks after me and searches out every detail of my life to empower me, offering with that power a life of hope and reassurance. He is more than just some kind of impersonal ‘essence.’ He is God Himself. Personal, loving, intimate. He is the realest of reality. He is mine and I’m thankful that He sees me as His own and treats me with the highest regard. Should old acquaintance be ignored? Maybe I’ve done that for a time but recalling and reestablishing an old friendship is always so pleasant.

Thank you Holy Spirit that you’ve always been there for me even in the times I didn’t really understand who You are. Holy are you Lord Jehovah.
Ken

Devotions Today at www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Big Burn of 1910

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28, 29 (New American Standard Bible)

One of the greatest fires in U.S. history blazed through areas of Washington State, Idaho and Montana at the beginning of the 20th century. Thousands of people were brought in to fight what would become known as the Big Burn of 1910. During two days in August hurricane force winds blew into northern Idaho and western Montana fanning the flames of lightening strikes into a hellish inferno. In the 48 hours of August 20 & 21 wind and flame consumed 3 million acres of trees and undergrowth. That's about 17 acres per second! By the time the fire was finally extinguished that fall an estimated 8 billion board feet of lumber had been destroyed, enough to fill a freight train 2400 miles long. Contrast that to the Yellowstone fire of 1988 where less than 1 million acres were burned from June to September.

As terribly destructive as fire can be I find it incredible that the U.S. Forestry Service will use a method called a “controlled burn.” This is setting and monitoring a fire to intentionally burn out areas choked with overgrowth. Those who support controlled burns say this method is effective in lessening deadwood and brush that could act as fuel to an uncontrolled blaze while also being effective in controlling weeds, stimulating new tree and plant growth, controlling tree disease and opening new areas for habitation. While the method seems like madness new growth is seen very quickly.

I have personally endured many “controlled burns” in my own life as God in His consuming fire has purged areas of my spirit that were so overgrown that it had become impossible for me to see the forest for the trees. When the fire swept through my life in the form of an awful trial it seemed more than I could bear. But a few months after the fire finished its purging work I was surprised and happy to see new growth appearing within my heart in the form of new clarity of vision, understanding and spiritual strength. At the time the method seemed too hot to bear but the new growth was far better than all the weeds and choking growth the fire took away. Sometimes it did seem like a forest fire similar to the great burn of 1910 had swept through my life. It hurt and all I saw was destruction, wreckage and smoking ruin. I have discovered that God in His consuming fire makes the great burn of 1910 look like a spark in a whirlwind yet His fire is personal and focused enough to know the areas of my life that will benefit from it. I stand in awe and reverence as I realize that His fire has always taken away what has stolen abundant life from me and He has brought up from the ashes new growth that heals and makes me stronger.

Ken

Devotions Today
www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

East is East

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12 (New American Standard Bible)

East is East



I find myself sometimes worrying about sins I have committed in the past. Even after confessing my guilt I have been plagued with doubt that even though God forgave me He still has my tally sheet in front of Him and has some kind of punishment in store for me. If not in this life then He’ll sock it to me in the life to come.

King David, a man who lived some 3,000 years ago had an interesting observation on his own sins. Just one of the many sins of this man was the taking of another man’s wife and the murder of the woman’s husband. God disciplined David but in doing so David realized how merciful God was to him. What he came to realize was a lesson that has tremendous spiritual application for myself when I wonder if God is still keeping score on me. Before Columbus pronounced the world was round David was the original Renaissance Man seeing the earth as a rounded orb and not a pancake. He knew that if one headed north he would eventually cross the North Pole and begin heading south. But he also knew that if one begins to head east he will continue to go east indefinitely never crossing over into a westerly course. When going east one never meets west. He spiritually discerned a spiritual equivalent to this geophysical concept. God had removed his transgressions (plural) as totally as the east is from the west. This is the greatest news for me knowing that my forgiven sins will never come before the Lord again.

I often think of this when I find myself imagining God with a “Ken’s Sins Book” always ready to run his finger through my many pages of transgressions. It’s a comfort for me to know that all my sins are forgiven in Christ because of His powerful work of redemption on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. God has removed them to never set them against me again. My sins are as far removed from me as the east is from the west and because of what Jesus has done He will never associate their guilt with me again. That is forgiveness on the grandest scale. When it comes to God’s forgiveness through His Son east never meets west. I am forgiven forever.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Titanic Frustrations

Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults. Psalm 28:6, 7 (New American Standard Bible)

Titanic Frustrations 

Did you know the great steamship Titanic almost missed its disastrous maiden voyage? As the huge ship was leaving Southampton harbor on the morning of April 10, 1912 its wake caused the mooring cables on the steamship New York to snap with a report like a gunshot. The New York began moving toward Titanic. At that moment the quick work of harbor pilot, George Bowyer and Titanic’s Captain Smith were able to divert disaster allowing the ill-fated ship to continue its doomed voyage. If the New York had rammed the ship Titanic’s maiden voyage would have ended right then and there. The 2,200 passengers aboard the luxury liner would have had to leave the ship and make other plans to get to America. I’m sure there would have been a lot of grumbling from many of them as they disembarked the liner to find other ways to finish their journey. All would have been totally unaware of the disaster that would have awaited them just 108 hours later off the Atlantic Grand Banks.

I've considered all the times I’ve been frustrated in some plan and how quickly I grumbled over the inconvenience of it. But were those frustrations always the work of the devil as I have said and thought so many times in the past? Who knows but that car that rear ended me in 1968 as I was heading to the beach to fish wasn’t God’s way of protecting me from something more dangerous down the road? God’s goodness can work in the unpleasant things as well as the good. Why He does it that way is His business. He knows all things and how to work them to my benefit. Maybe He’ll do it by putting someone in front of my car going a few miles an hour slower, or let me stop at an extra traffic light (or two) or allow me to get that annoying phone call as I am heading out the door to my car to run an errand. Who knows how well things might go if I were running just a minute or so behind my schedule?

I admit it is difficult at times for me to choke down the irritation of having my schedule interrupted. I desire to know Jesus Christ more fully and when those titanic frustrations come at me I ask God to help me say with assurance “Hold it Ken. The Lord really is your strength and your shield. Let your heart trust in Him.” When events occur that interfere with my plans and I come face to face with a titanic frustration, I trust the Holy Spirit to remind me that an unmoored circumstance just may be a loose ship ramming my plans in order to keep me from an appointment with an iceberg.

Holy Spirit help me to listen more and protest less.

Ken

Devotions Today at www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com