June 7 – Free from fear

Taste and see that the Lord is good! How blessed is the one who takes shelter in him! Remain loyal to the Lord, you chosen people of his, for his loyal followers lack nothing! Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.  (Psalm 34:8-10  NET)

This psalm was written by King David after he had pretended to be insane before the King of Gath. David’s plan succeeded when the king declared him harmless and had him released. When his life was at great risk, David was determined to see the deliverance of God.

When he challenges us to “taste and see” that the Lord is good, he has personal experience of what happens when a person does. Basically he is telling us to test God, to act on His promises and experience for ourselves whether or not they will come true. Sadly, most Christians today do not do this. They view faith and God as a club membership, a place where they can go to see friends, where there’s good music, and a funny sermon. The idea of testing God and seeing miraculous results is a foreign idea to them… even though they profess to believe in a God that has always done miracles for His people.

David’s excitement at being protected while in enemy hands made him compare men and women of faith to young lions. Though powerful, natural killers, and considered one of the top predators of God’s creation, they will at times go hungry — but as God’s children we never will. We will lack no good thing.

We all need to view ourselves in a more powerful way… stronger even than young lions.

June 6 – Don’t drag His name through the mud

He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation.   (Psalm 23:3  NET)

When we’re at the end of our rope and have no strength to continue, this promise (and many others like it) should come to mind to strengthen us. If God has allowed us to go through a certain problem it’s because we have the strength and faith to overcome it, as long as we trust in Him. When our strength runs low, He promises to restore it. So we can never complain to God about not having enough strength to overcome the problems that come our way. Even when our feelings tell us that we’re weak, He will supernaturally make us strong.

I believe in complaining with God — like Abraham, Gideon, Hannah, and Jacob — and insisting that His Word come true in our lives when we see that we are living a contradiction. That type of complaint is based on a strong belief in God’s Word and a determination that it come true in our own lives. This is a healthy type of complaint with God. The unhealthy type, implies that God is not holding up His side of the bargain… It’s rebellious and dangerous, and comes from a lack of faith. It can destroy us by taking us farther and farther away from God’s Word. Today’s promise is an unequivocal statement that God will provide us with all the strength we need for our present situation.

He also promises that He will guide us down the right path when we look to Him as our Shepherd. Any shepherd that does not lead his sheep, but leaves them to wander alone and lost, would be an incompetent, lazy shepherd. Jesus is nothing like that kind of Shepherd. We can count on Him to guide us. As long as we live by faith and trust in His voice, we can be sure that we are not heading for a dead end, or for failure. As a good Shepherd, Jesus only leads us to victory.

The most powerful part of this promise is the last phrase: “for the sake of his reputation.” God has to renew our strength and lead us on the right path because His reputation is at stake!!  If He doesn’t take care of those who truly trust in Him, who accept Him as their Shepherd and who take on the role of His sheep, His reputation will be dragged through the mud. Our failed lives would cause Him to lose credibility. His glory would be diminished… and God cannot put up with that. He is a God who insists on His name being glorified, not out of pride, but because it is true and right.  When we glorify Him, we are filled with light and are drawn near to Him.

Why does God promise to keep you strong and make sure you’re on the right path? For the glory of His name. As long as we cooperate, His promise is guaranteed to come true.

June 5 – Hunted down by God

Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days, and I will live in the Lord’s house for the rest of my life.  (Psalm 23:6  NET)

Most people are used to a different translation of this verse, the last of Psalm 23. It’s usually translated “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”, but in fact, the Hebrew word that is translated “follow” in some translations, should be translated as “pursue” or “chase”. Psalm 23 is the only place in the Old Testament where these nouns are linked to this verb. “Pursue” is normally used for something that is done to your enemies, or for an animal going after its prey. To find it linked to goodness and faithfulness is ironic and strange, but purposeful on the Holy Spirit’s part. When someone chooses to see God as his Shepherd, and places himself under His care as a sheep, God is so pleased that He will hunt that person down and bless him with goodness and faithfulness. There is no way that one of God’s children can fail to experience these two great blessings; wherever he is in the world, God will chase him down not to hurt him, but to make his life richer and fuller.

This is an important insight into this well known chapter of the Bible. Though Psalm 23 is read by millions, people hang posters of this psalm on their living room walls, and many have committed this chapter to memory, most Christians do not understand the idea that is portrayed in the last verse. We don’t have to beg for God’s goodness and faithfulness, or talk Him into blessing us — as long as we trust in Him as our Shepherd, His blessings will hunt us down and find us wherever we are in this world. Just like the woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage was healed after touching Jesus’ cloak, even before Jesus spoke to her, or knew she was there, the goodness and faithfulness of God is automatically ours when we adopt Him as our Shepherd.

Do you want God to hunt you down in order to bless you? Then make Him your Shepherd and you become on of His sheep — humble, and obedient.

June 4: A voice shouting in the wilderness

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’”  (Mark 1:2-4  NET)

This is the first promise in the book of Mark, and the only quote of Old Testament Scripture. Mark is not a biography of Jesus’ life because it does not go into detail about His family or career. Instead it concentrates on what He did, the power He had, and the difference He made in people’s lives; Mark does not present a teaching Jesus, but a Jesus of action.

Interestingly, the book is written in the present tense, as if Mark were a reporter and we were his listeners. It comes across as action packed and alive, making us feel that we are there watching Jesus. Mark wants to transform the reader rather than inform him/her, and wants the reader to be convinced of who Jesus is not by Old Testament prophecies or explanations, but by the things he did: deliverance, healing, miracles, and the changed lives of His disciples.

In today’s verse Mark speaks about John the Baptist being a messenger sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for Him. In ancient times, like today, whenever a king would visit a city or country His coming would be announced, and people would respond by repairing roads, fixing up communities, and preparing for the special visit of the king. This was done to make the journey more comfortable for the king, but also to give him the best impression of that city or country. Three authors of Scripture and one prophet proclaimed the coming of the King of kings — Isaiah, Malachi, John the Baptist, and Mark.

If we want more of God in our lives, if we want to see more of God’s power and presence, the prophet Malachi says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” We must prepare the way for Him, and make our paths straight. We have to draw near to Him in our thoughts and actions, in the way we live our lives, and in our decisions. When we put Him first above everything else, we are crying out for His presence using one of the most powerful means possible. As we work at cleaning up our lives and straighten up our behavior so that God will be pleased with us, both our consciences and the Holy Spirit play the role of John the Baptist in our lives today, they prepare us for Jesus and are the voice crying out in the wilderness. When we respond to them in humility and obey, we will be visited and transformed by Him.

We are preparing to start the 40-Day Fast of Jesus on June 10th, less than a week from today. We will voluntarily enter into our own wilderness — depriving ourselves of secular entertainment and information — in order to hear this voice in a better way, and to prepare ourselves for a new phase in our lives. Get ready.

June 3: A cure for that horrible, aching void

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  (2 Timothy 1:7  NKJV)

“It’s tension right in the center of my chest.  I can’t breathe, like there’s an ache that won’t go away no matter how happy I try to pretend to be…”  I’ve heard this a lot, especially here in the United States.  The spirit of fear, anxiety, stress, and dread has made itself such a part of our everyday lives, we’ve learned to live with it and accept it as normal, even though we hate it.  It’s the spirit of fear that causes good people to snap when circumstances overload them with stress.  It’s the iron weight that pulls people down into a pit of depression.  Just willpower alone cannot break us free from it — only the power of God can destroy its hold on us.

God wants us to know without a doubt, that what He has to give us is the polar opposite of fear.  Power.  Love.  A clear, strong, and decisive, sound mind.  When we allow His Spirit to operate in us, our thoughts and perspectives make perfect sense.  Our mind is practical, spiritual, and leads us to success.  We understand our power over evil and over circumstances.  We can freely love ourselves, love God and love each other with no fear of being hurt, because He is in us and we know it.  That is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Spirit of God wants to do in us.

People who feel no need to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit, unknowingly resign themselves to a life of fear.  They don’t see any need for God’s power or love or even a sound mind.  They assume that the horrible aching void in their chest will just go away once they get a raise or once their spouse quits being so annoying, or if they just have a few drinks to dull the pain. If they could see and feel what God’s Spirit is offering them, they would do whatever it took to find it, but unfortunately their dull minds keep them blindly and pridefully stuck. 

How can we help those who are held captive by fear but don’t understand that God has the answer?  We need to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit ourselves, to begin seeking Him, hungering and thirsting for Him as Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount.  Become living examples of the Spirit of power to overcome all obstacles, with no fear of evil, and no fear of the future.  Love to enjoy those around us, to find the good in everything, large or small.  And a sound, intelligent faith that reasons with God, based on His promises.  Nothing can shake a man or woman with the Spirit of God!  

Weigh the options.  Fear, stress, anxiety and dread on one hand, power, love, and a clear mind on the other.  One held captive to the spirit of this world, the other, filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God.  And you say that seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit isn’t for you?  It’s a promise of God for you – choose wisely.  Prepare yourselves for the 40-Day Fast of Jesus coming up in a week.  It’s the perfect time to finally find His Spirit and find your cure.

June 2: Getting answers from God

Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.   (Hebrews 4:16  NET)

Faith is not only being sure of what we hope for, it’s also having the confidence and boldness to approach God and ask for what we need. In the Old Testament, people could not enter the Most Holy Place in the temple, only one priest one time a year could do that. When the Israelites were camping at the base of Mount Sinai they were ordered not to approach the mountain under penalty of death. But everything changed with the Lord Jesus.  Now we’re asked to approach God boldly, believing that He will hear us and answer our prayers. 

When we do not have this confidence, when we’re afraid to approach God and ask for what we need, we’re reverting back to the Old Testament and acting as if the Lord Jesus has done nothing for us. It’s normal to fear approaching important, powerful people when we feel that we are not on the same level of importance, but in the case of God, He asks us to approach Him. If we insist on being afraid to approach, feeling that being that bold would be insulting and wrong, we are being disobedient to God and ignoring His command.

In the original Greek the last phrase of this verse, translated “whenever we need help”, actually means receiving help “in a timely manner”. If we accept God’s challenge and approach Him boldly, we can expect Him to answer us at the right time, exactly when we need it.

June 1: Stomping out temptation

 

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.  (Hebrews 2:17,18  NET)

Jesus’ experience of life on earth was in every respect like ours, except that He was continually in contact with the Father and never sinned in any way — action, thought, or word. Though He was a man and lived in a body just like ours, a body that felt weak, hungry, and tired, He exhibited perfect self-control in every situation. Because of this, His sacrifice on the cross was all-powerful and effective, and He was a High Priest like no other high priest before Him.

Imagine if the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company decided to come and work alongside you for a year, eat what you ate, live in your neighborhood, get paid what you get paid, and drive the same make and year car that you drive, all because he wanted to better understand the situation of his employees and fight for better working conditions… you would be blown away! Though there are CEOs who take interest in their company and in their employees’ welfare, no one has ever gone that far.

But what the Lord Jesus has done for us is light-years beyond this example. He didn’t visit earth for a weekend, a week, or even a month. He lived on earth in a body just like ours for 33 years and went through everything that we go through. In fact He experienced much more pain and suffering than any human that has ever lived. So whenever you’re tempted to feel like God doesn’t care, doesn’t understand, or is unwilling to help — you are way out of line! Jesus knows exactly what we go through. Everything He accomplished, He did by the use of faith, courage, and sacrifice — the same exact tools that we have at our disposal. He loved and forgave His enemies, and offered help to those who were trying to kill Him. Even His own brothers and sisters refused to believe in Him while He was alive on earth.

Because of all this, today’s promise says that He is qualified and ready to help us in our temptations. This means that we need to decide that we can overcome them, that no temptation is too much for us, and that He is continually at our side ready to offer the help we need to overcome. The problems is that many of us listen to the words the devil when he tells us that we can’t overcome. It all comes down to whose voice we listen to. The choice is ours.