Bind the Word of God to our Minds

An Orthodox Jewish man will wear a black leather box strapped to his forehead during morning prayers.  This box, called a Tefillin or phylacteries, contains scrolls of parchment with the word of God written on them.  This is their way of applying God's command in their lives to 'Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.' Deuteronomy 6:8

They do this as an outward sign, but there is also an inward, spiritual significance to this as well.  This binding is important in changing your life and your mind.  In fact, what it signifies is essential in every Christian's life.

What goes on inside your head is hidden.  No one (but God) knows what your mind is thinking.  Our thoughts are where sin begins.  We think about something we know is forbidden and, instead of switching off those thoughts and dwelling on something wholesome and pure, we dwell on that dark thought.  We cradle that sinful thought in our minds until it takes root and we act upon it.  We always seem to think of sex as the evil thoughts we always have in these type of situations, and while they are part of this, they are not the only evil that is found in our hearts and minds.

We envy the car someone has and think about how great it would be to have that car.  We enjoy the gossip we have heard and can't wait to tell others.  We feel angry at someone for what they did to us and we plot our revenge.  We plan how to get out of being caught for something we did by lies and deceit.

How can we change this pattern of thinking?  This little leather box is telling us that things do not have to be this way.  When God speaks of binding the word to your head, he is revealing that your thoughts can be holy and pure.  The secret to a life of holiness is to bind the Word of God to your mind, your thoughts, your thinking.  Your will can only change when the Word of God is bound to your life.

The word bind in Hebrew is 'kashar'.  Kashar means to knit together.  When we bind God's word to our thoughts, we do not just strap them to our heads, but we knit them together.  Our minds should be intertwined with scripture.  The scriptures are to be so united to our thoughts that it is impossible to separate the two.  When our minds are working, the scriptures are filtering out what is good and what is bad.

If your thoughts are following the words of God, your life will follow as well.  If you allow God to change your way of thinking, your life will change.  You will find joy, peace, patience and a life empty of guilt and shame.

Take your Bible, read it, study it and meditate on it. Let your mind soak up the words and heart of God.

Photo Credit: Meditacion en el Muro de los Lamentos, Jerusalen, Israel by Edgardo W. Olivera
  

Jesus is Our Hupogrammos

In ancient Greece, a teacher would take a shallow wooden box filled with wax and write in it.  The student would then place his stylus into the grooves of the teacher's writing and carefully trace them. In this way, the student would learn the proper way to write by using the teacher's model.

This box of wax was called the Hupogrammos, which means underwriter.  It was used to teach a student to copy the teacher and become perfected in the way the teacher would write.  The better the student was in following the teacher, the more perfect he would become.

In 1 Peter 2:21  it is written,  "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."  The word 'example' is actually the word "hupogrammos".  Jesus is our underwriter.  He has etched into this world how we are to live our lives. We are to make the actions of our lives match his life.

The thoughts of Jesus are the hupogrammos by which we are to think.  His love for God and for man are the hupogrammos that we are to emulate in our lives.  The very heart of  Christ is our hupogrammos that our hearts should reproduce exactly as his heart.

We are students whose assignment is to learn of Christ.  Our lessons are given to us by the master himself that we might follow in his footsteps and know him intimately.  Every moment in our lives we have Jesus Christ as our hupogrammos to guide us in the way we are to go.  Jesus is our hupogrammos of life.

Photo Credit: Pre-Apple tablet by Jennifer Krauel 

The Captain and the Seaman Recruit

I have the honor to have served in the U.S. Navy on two destroyers during the Viet Nam war.  My ships were stationed in Hawaii.  It was rough living in Hawaii with all those beaches and bikini-clad girls, but I was willing to make that sacrifice.

On a ship, the highest ranking person is normally the captain.  He has the most authority with everyone else below him and every other rank on the ship must obey his orders.

The lowest possible rank on a ship would be a seaman recruit.  There is no one lower in rank. Anyone could give him an order.  He has no authority over any other person on the ship.  This would be the person who would be given the dirtiest jobs.

But there is a time when that seaman recruit has the same authority as the ship's captain.  If the captain gives that seaman recruit an assignment to be carried out, he has the captain' authority.  When a seaman recruit carries out a directive given to him from the captain, he is doing so as if it was the captain himself.  Every other person on that ship must yield to that lowly seaman recruit so that he can fulfill his assignment.

As Christians, we have a captain who we must yield to in our lives.  God is the one who has the authority to give us orders to carry out.  His missions in our lives are to be followed as if we are that seaman recruit taking orders from the captain.   When the captain says jump, you jump.  When God says jump, you jump.

If God gives you a ministry or a command, you are to carry out that order in His name with His authority.  Anyone who lives inside the will of God follows the directives of God.
 
In the great commission, Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus says "... All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

You are commissioned by Jesus Christ, who has all authority, to bring the gospel to those who do not know him and train them up to become mature Christians able to know and obey the teachings of Christ.  You have the authority of Jesus Christ to carry out this command and every other command of his found in scripture.

Bitterness and Rebellion Gave Birth to Salvation

If you have heard of Jesus, you have almost certainly heard of his mother Mary.  However, she was never called Mary in real life.  Her name was Miryam.  The name Miryam comes from the older sister of Moses, who watched over him while he floated in a basket on the Nile River.  She was the one who ensured that he survived when other young baby boys were being killed.

In Egypt, one of the meanings of the name Miryam is love.  So Jesus was born of Miryam, or you could say, Jesus was born of love.  Love certainly from his mother but also born of the love of the father.  God was the father of Jesus and out of his love for the world, He sent Jesus to us. The name Jesus means salvation.  Out of the love of God, salvation was born.

In Hebrew, the meaning of Miryam is quite different.  It means bitterness and rebellion.  Out of bitterness and rebellion was born salvation.  God takes those who are bitter and rebellious and brings forth salvation to them.  

Look around the world and you will see bitterness towards others everywhere.  Rebellion is the rule rather than the exception.  Solving one source of bitterness in your life will only make room for something else to be bitter about.  The answer to all this is found only in Jesus because salvation is found only in Jesus.

Salvation is more than just eternal life in Heaven forever.  Salvation is also freedom from bitterness. It means instead of rebelling, to be supporting what is good and right.  It is a new life that is abundant, free, joyful and full of peace.  No guilt!  No fear! No emptiness! No hate! Just a life that is worth living.

"...I come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10b

Photo Credit: Violence! [Explored] by Riccardo Cuppini 

Sacrificing Isaac and Jesus

The Akedah is the Hebrew word meaning "binding".  It is the word used when referring to when Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed.  It was a test which sealed God's covenant with Abraham.  This type of covenant, each party had to be willing to do what the other was willing to do.  Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son as a sacrifice, therefore God would have to be willing to sacrifice his beloved son as well.

Abraham took Isaac to the region of Moriah and took his son to a mountain God directed him to. Jesus was taken to the exact same mountain.
Abraham laid the wood on Isaac's shoulders.
Jesus carried the wood up the mountain.
Abraham laid his son upon the wood of sacrifice.
Jesus lay upon the cross.
Abraham bound his son.
Jesus was fixed to the cross by nails.
Abraham lifted up the knife to strike the death blow upon his son but was stopped.
Jesus died on the cross.

Just as Abraham loved his son Isaac, God loved Jesus.  Abraham loved his son but out of his love for God, he was willing to sacrifice him. God loved his son but out of His love for us, he sacrificed him.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

The Bridal Chamber

The Groom and Bride enter the bridal chamber.  This is the first time that they are alone.  It is during this time that they shall have physical union which consummates their wedding.  The groom then informs the shomer (best man) who has been guarding the door, and the wedding party.  They then announce it to everyone who has come to the wedding and the celebration begins.

The festivities go on for seven days.  There is much feasting, dancing and singing.  The celebrating continues for the seven days, but the bride remains in the bedchamber for those seven days.  No one sees her during this time.  When she finally comes out, she is no longer wearing her veil.  This is the first time that anyone sees her face and sees who the bride is.

When Christ comes and takes us away to be with him, we shall at last see him face to face.  There will no longer be a go between.  We will have more than just love letters written to us in the scriptures.  We will not just pray to Jesus, but will be able to speak directly to him and actually hear his voice answering us.  For the first time we will be look into his eyes of love and everything else that exist will all fade away into the background.

Just as the bride was hidden for seven days before she was revealed, (I believe) we shall be hidden from the world for seven years during the tribulation.  Then Christ will return to the earth to save mankind from destruction and the bride shall be revealed to the world.  For the first time the world will see for sure who the righteous ones are.  They shall at last know, without a doubt, that those who followed Christ were correct in what they had been saying.

Today we can not enter into the bridal chamber, but we can enter the prayer closet.  We can get to know our groom by reading his love letters to us.  We can study about who God is and what He desires of us.  We can know him better by spending time alone with him everyday.  He desires to let himself be known to us.  He prizes that time which foreshadows the day we shall be with him face to face.

To read other posts from this series:
Part one  "Purchasing the Bride."
Part two  "Preparing the Bride"
Part three "The Brides Future Home"

Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"

Photo Credit: The First Dance by Will fisher

The Snatching of the Bride

The bride would not know when the groom would come to take her away.  He has not seen her since the covenant of marriage had been made a year ago.  Usually the groom would come at night to take her off with him.  He and his men, with lit torches, would lead a procession of his family and friends to the brides house.

The shomer (best man) would give a shout to the brides house warning her that her groom is coming. Quickly she would have to get ready for his arrival.  When the groom arrived she would be waiting adorned in robes and precious stones.  Her maidens would be standing at her side as the groom and his procession gathered around them.

The bridegroom's men would then lift up the bride and groom on a sedan chair and carry them back to the home of the groom.  The procession would be singing, shouting and dancing.  The brides family and friends would follow behind as if trying to catch up and bring back their kidnapped daughter.

When they arrive at the groom's home, the wedding guest have all assembled.  The wedding celebration would now start and continue for seven days.  Soon after arriving the bride and groom would go into the bridal chamber to be alone for the first time while the shomer would stand guard outside the chamber.

Soon our groom Jesus Christ will come to take us away.  1 Thessalonians 4:16 says that Jesus will descend from Heaven with a shout. He shall come down and take all Christians who follow him back to Heaven as his bride to live with him.

We do not know the day or hour of his coming.  We only know that he will come.  We must be ready to go to him.  There is nothing on this world worth missing out on compared to our groom coming to take us to the home he has prepared especially for us.  We need to gather eternal treasures to adorn ourselves. To learn more of exchanging temporary earthly treasures for eternal Heavenly treasures, click here.

To read other posts from this series:
Part one  "Purchasing the Bride."
Part two  "Preparing the Bride"
Part three "The Brides Future Home"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo Credit: Jewish Hora Chair Dance at Nate & Bekah's Wedding by Zachary Long

The Brides' Future Home

Just as the bride prepares for when she will leave the house she was born into, the groom prepares a house for her to go to.  Her old life, in the house she grew up and lived until now, is past.  The bride no longer will be a part of that house and must have a new place to live.

The groom must prepare for the bride by making a new home built out of love for her.  It is especially built just for her.  He might find out that she has always wanted a shelf to put her most treasured possessions on, and he builds it because of his desire to make her happy.

Jesus said "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14: 2-3  Jesus, our groom, has left and is preparing a place for us. He will come back and take us away to our new home so that we may be with him forever.

What is it like?  We have some descriptions of Heaven in the Bible and how beautiful and awesome it is, but no descriptions of our mansions which Christ is building.  We can only imagine how wonderful the homes Jesus is building for us really are.

It took God 6 days to create everything in the universe.  He has been working almost 2000 years so far on our new homes.  Go ahead and imagine the most wonderful creation of a home ever.  God is going to create a home for you that is far greater, more awesome and magnificent then anything your little mind can fathom.

Jesus' love compels him to do far beyond what we can hope for or imagine.  Our groom will bless us with a place that perfectly fits our desires and hopes.  We will dwell with Jesus forever in the Heavenlies perfectly blessed in all ways.

To read other posts from this series:
Part one  "Purchasing the Bride."
Part two  "Preparing the Bride"
Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo by Vadim Sherbakov on Unsplash

Preparing the Bride

The groom has left the home of the bride.  They are both legally married, but there is a waiting period before they can live together.  The length of time was usually one year.  During that time the bride would still live at her home and get ready for her life as a married woman.

She will still sleep in her own bed,  do the chores she did before, and live the same life she had before this.  Her life is the same, but one thing has changed.  She is now The Bride.  She has a future set before her that she never had before.

 Everything in her life seems the same except for the future she must prepare for.  She must gather her trousseau of clothes, household linens and other belongings she will need as the wife of the groom. She may live in the home of her parents, but she does not belong to that home anymore.  She belongs to her groom.

The price has been paid for us by our groom and while he is away to prepare a place for us we must prepare for our new life with him.  We do not belong in this world anymore.  We belong to the house of God.  We are now part of his family.

While the bride prepared for her future life, the Shomer (best man) would act as the go between between the bride and groom.  Everything she needed to know the Shomer would inform her of and communicate to the groom everything that came from the bride.

The Holy Spirit is our go between with Christ and us.  When we have needs that our groom could help with, the Holy Spirit informs Christ who then comes to us with the answer.  He speaks as the voice of Christ to us.

The word shomer means 'guard'.  The Holy Spirit guards us for the future day when we shall meet our groom Christ Jesus.  He helps make us ready by guarding our purity and guides us to all things righteous.

Today we are the bride preparing for our eternal future with our awesome groom Jesus Christ.  We do not know when he will come for us.  He might come before your next breath.  Are you ready?

To read other post from this series:
Part one "Purchasing the Bride"
Part three "The Brides Future Home"
Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

Purchasing the Bride

Jesus told his disciples "In my father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2  In this verse Jesus is drawing the analogy of Him (the bridegroom) and us (the bride) to the wedding practices of his day.  Over the next five days lets examine the significance of the two. There is so much to this comparison that will surprise and delight you.

The wedding starts with the bridegroom making a trip to the home of the bride.  It doesn't matter how far she may be, he must make this trip.  The bride never makes the trip to the groom.

The groom arrives at the home of the young woman he desires to marry and meets with the father to negotiate the price he must pay to purchase the bride.  Once the price has been paid the marriage convanent is established and the man and woman are then regarded as man and wife.  The woman is now considered holy, separated, exclusive for the groom.

Two thousand years ago the groom (Christ) made that same trip to the home of the bride (us).  He entered into our world after traveling through time and space to reach us.  Jesus then paid the bride price to purchase us when he died on the cross.  His life was the cost to make us his bride.

Those who opened the door of their hearts to him, and accepted the price of his death on the cross to purchase them, are now holy and separate to Christ exclusively.  We no longer are of this house (the world) but rather of the house of God (in Heaven)

To read other post from this series:
Part two "Preparing the Bride:
Part Three "The Brides Future Home"
Part four "The Snatching of the Bride"
Part five "The Bridal Chamber"

Photo by cindy baffour on Unsplash

Landmarks to God

The Hebrew word Mitsvah means command or commandment.  The word 'command' implies a power of force such as a general commanding his troop.  Mitsvah is better understood as a directive given which leads to a goal.

The verb form of mitsvah is the word tsiyon, which means desert or landmark.  The ancient Hebrew people were nomads who traveled the deserts in search of grassy pastures where their flocks could feed.  They would use rivers, mountains, rock outcroppings and various other landmarks to give them direction.  Tsiyon was to direct a person on the journey

The mitsvahs in scriptures are directives which guide us.  They are the landmarks which show us the way we are to go.  Tsiyon can also be translated as Zion, the mountain of God.  Zion is the mountain on which Jerusalem sits and where the Temple was built.  Zion is where the throne of God stood inside the Holy of Holies at the temple.  The true Zion in Heaven is where the throne of God is which we are to keep our eyes on.  Tsiyon is the landmark to God.

God has set out landmarks for us within the commands found in scripture.  Landmarks for how we are to live according to God's will.  Landmarks to God and His will for our lives. Without following the landmarks of God we would be lost in a world of sin, pain, and death.  The commands of God guide us to life now and forever. 

Photo by Rob Bye on Unsplash

Where is God Today?

In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel built the tabernacle where God's presence resided.  A pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day showed that God dwelt with the Hebrews.

The Tabernacle was not much to look at.  It was basically a tent which could be picked up and moved as the Hebrews moved from one location to another.  It contained some priestly furniture including the Ark of the Covenant.  The Mercy Seat on top of the Ark represented the Throne of God.  Once a year the High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificed lamb onto the Mercy Seat.  That small tent was the holiest place on earth, because that is where God resided.

When Solomon became King, he built a temple for God.  That temple was eventually destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. A second temple was then built and it was destroyed by the Romans.  So where does God reside on the earth now?  Not in any gold encrusted building with rich interiors and art works.  Not in a church building, temple, or cathedral.

If you have Jesus as your savior, he has made you his tabernacle. In John 1:14 it says that Jesus came to dwell among us. The word dwell is actually 'tabernacle'.  His earthly body was a walking temple where God lived.

2 Corinthians 6:16  says that we are the temple of the living God.  If you are a believer in Christ and want to see where God lives now, you simply have to look in a mirror.  You are not God, but the Spirit of God now tabernacles within you.

The Hebrew tabernacle was not much to look at, yet God dwelt there.  Now God dwells in a house of flesh which He formed from the dust of the earth.  We are nothing but an earthen vessels containing the most valuable of all riches within.  We are the Tabernacles of God.

Photo Credit: By Ruk7 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Exchanging Earthly Currency for Heavenly

I have visited many countries in my life.  I served in the Navy and visited many ports in the Western Pacific.  For three years I traveled over Europe and a little bit in Africa working for the Government. Every time I went to a new country I had to exchange my dollars for that country's currency.

Someday I am going to be in Heaven and they do not accept United States currency there.  Visa, Discover, Master Card and even American Express are not accepted.  There is nothing from this world which can be used in Heaven.

The only way what I have here on earth will be valuable in Heaven is if I trade it for Heavenly currency.  Before I arrive in Heaven my earthly valuables must already have been exchanged.  My house, car, furniture, food, and all I possess must be given to God in exchange for things of Heavenly value.

We are all going on a journey soon.  We do not know the hour of departure, but it is imminent.  All of what we own in this life will be lost.  It must be exchanged before we leave this world.  What we hold onto will be gone forever, but what we give to God will be exchanged for eternal riches in Heaven.

We are to give all we have in this world to God.  God has called us to be stewards of what He gives to us in this life.  As stewards, all that is in our possession is to be used to promote Heavenly goals.  We are to reach out to others about Christ.  We are to comfort those who weep, and lift up the weak.

"He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he cannot lose."  Jim Elliot

  Photo by Niels Steeman on Unsplash

In His Deaths

Isaiah 53 talks about the suffering Messiah dying for our sins.  Isaiah 53:6 says, "He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;...."  However the word death in Hebrew should actually be translated as "deaths", in the plural.  Because 'his' is in the singular, the word deaths has been translated a singular as well.

Why would God use a singular and a plural word in the same sentence?  It is because his death is so unique and extreme that the singular form of the word could not contain the reality of it.  His death goes beyond anything that had ever happened before.

It also shows that Christ death was not just for him.  His death was the death of all.  Every death of man is contained "in his deaths"   To all who accept the death of Christ as payment for their sins, the old self also died with him on the cross.  It is finished.  The price has been paid and you are free to live a life of blessings with God.

Photo by Cristian Grecu on Unsplash

God Kneels for Man

The Hebrew word barach means to bless, but it also means to kneel.  When we kneel before God, we are blessing Him.  We humble ourselves before God and submit to Him.  We are lowing ourselves so that He may be raised up.

The greatest blessing God gave to man was salvation.  He blessed us by lowering himself from Heavenly glory to earth where he was mocked, tortured and executed.  He submitted himself into the power of man, when man should have been kneeling before Christ.

Christ knelt down in submission so that he could bless us with Heavenly glory.  He set the ultimate model of what it means to kneel down in submission so that others can be blessed.  In light of his blessing us, shouldn't we humbly kneel down before him?  Shouldn't we be blessing God in obedience to Him?

Us kneeling down to bless is not only for God, but for others.  Just as God blessed us, we are to bless others.  We are called upon to humbly serve others just as Christ served you.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

The Sun and the Son

We will be going on a trip soon to visit my wife's family.  As we travel we will see towns, rivers, forest and many changing sights.  The view changes constantly as we travel, but one thing never seems to change.  The sun is always the same.  It might be hidden at times by trees, clouds and for a short time even the earth, but it never changes.  It always is the same size and shape.  We might travel hundreds of miles, but it is still out there shining.

Jesus is like that.  We travel through life with changes in our surroundings.  Our job changes, our friends come and go,  children grow up and people die.  There are times of laughter and times of sorrow.  Everyday is different, but one thing always remains the same.  God.

Almost two thousand years ago Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12  Throughout time kingdoms have risen and fallen.  The earth has changed through floods, earthquakes and volcanoes erupting.  Mankind has spread across the lands and fought wars.  Everything in the world is in flux except for The Son.

God has always been here to help mankind.  God's love has reached out to comfort and save.  Jesus is God in the form of a man.  Fully God and fully man.  He died for all mankind, past, present and future. His light shines for all to see.  Events at times might try to overshadow the Light of Christ, but in the long run they fade away and Christ shines forth.  Everything in this world might collapse and rot away.  Lives might come and go.  There is nothing permanent in this life except for the Light of Christ shining down upon all mankind.  The light shining to show the way to safety and life.

All may change but Him.  He is the sun shining down upon you.  He never changes.  He never stops shining.  He shines with love for you.

Photo by Aleksandr Kozlovskii on Unsplash

Seeing the Truth of Now

Go outside at night and with a clear sky you can see thousands of stars.  What you are looking at is not the present, but the past.  It has taken a long time for the light from those stars to reach you.  You are gazing at what occurred back in ancient history.

Look at the sun and your looking at the past also.  What you see is what occurred about eight minutes ago.  Look at an object near you and again you are not looking at the present, but the past.  What you see is from a small fraction of a second ago, but it is from the past.  You can never look at anything that is present.  The moment you see it, it is already in the past.

Can you ever see Truth?  Truth is what is and if you can not see what is at the present, how can you see the present truth.

You will never see with your eyes what is the truth now, only what was true in the past.  The only way to see what is actually true is by faith.  Truth is not something our senses can perceive.  Truth is only found by faith.

We must live our lives by faith.  Our senses can be fooled and they never tell us what is true at the present.  We have faith that the object we see two feet away, is still there and unchanged.  We have faith that we are driving our cars on the road we see before us.  There is such a short period of time between what was and what we see,  that we have faith that all is unchanged.

The world around us is changing and passing away, but the things of God are eternal and God never changes.  We must live by faith in this life, holding onto the Truth of God.  If we were to discern God only with our senses, we would only see God in the past.  To have faith in God is to perceive the Truth in the now.

Photo by kalyan kumar on Unsplash

I am My Dog

Almost three weeks ago we brought home a Basset Hound puppy.  He is cute, soft, and adorable.  He has the longest ears and huge paws.  I named him Hickory and I love him.  I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Hickory has been teaching me how much God loves me.  One day while I was picking up Hickory's poop I realized that I am just like him.  No, I don't go poop in the yard, but God is patient with me and has to clean up my messes at times.

Just like Hickory, I am stubborn at times.  Basset hounds are known for being stubborn and you need to be more patient with a basset because of it.  God is so patient with me at times I wonder how He can manage to put up with me.  I have time and time again gone against God, and time and time again come back to Him whimpering for forgiveness.

Hickory knows his name now and can sit.  I am teaching him to ring a bell when he needs to go out. Sometimes he needs to go out, but refuses to ring the bell (stubbornness again).  If I am patient I know he will learn and hopefully soon be house broken.

God has lessons for me as well and slowly I am learning.  I think I am house broken now, but I still have a few lessons to learn like: Stay (Don't go off ahead of God's plan)! Beg (be humble)! Heel (Stay beside Christ and walk with Him)! Play dead (die to self)!

Hickory is still a puppy and like most puppies he likes to play and when he plays he bites.  He is slowly learning not to puppy bite and that can be frustrating at times.  I have cuts on my hands where his teeth have playfully drawn blood.  I give a good loud "OUCH!", grit my teeth and pry his teeth from my arm.  I then say through my gritted teeth "No Hickory!  No biting!"  I give him something else to chew while I put on a tourniquet.

Through it all I am learning to be patient.  I look at Hickory and I see past the puppy he is and find a trained basset hound dog which sees me as his best friend.  I see him as completely house broken, never gnaws on me and is obedient.

When God looks at me He sees a mature Man of God.  He is so patient with me now even though I am still a puppy.  I am as much a puppy as my Hickory is, but thankfully I am house broken.

Deeper Teachings About Christ

Do you want to know the deeper things of Christ?  Are you curious about what deep secrets of the Bible might say?  Tired of the mere milk of the Word and want to taste the juicy meat of God's Word?

"Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. And God permitting we will do so." Hebrews 6: 1-3

If you are a young Christian, learning about repentance and faith is God is essential. Being taught about how to go to God for cleansing of sins after you are in Christ, your future with the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment of those who do not know Christ is something every new Christian should know.  What is beyond that which is true meat?

Those deeper lessons are found in discipleship, daily reading of scripture, and many other Christian life lessons that are led by the Holy Spirit.  We are under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.  He will lead us in our education as fast as we let Him.  You are under construction by the Holy Spirit to become a beautiful work of God's art.

But there is one mistake too many of us make.  We leave the things we learned before and seek only after the deeper things.  If you ask any coach of any sport what is the most important thing for players to know, it is the basics.  Without the basics you will never flourish in the advanced lessons.

Know the elementary teachings of Christ and go over them again and again as you learn the deeper things of God.  Do not forsake the foundation which brought you this far.  Strengthen it so that God can build more and more upon it.

Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

The Wrong Hope is Frustrating

Someone posted on Facebook: "To hope is to risk frustration. Therefore, make up your mind to risk frustration.:-Thomas Merton  This got me to thinking about hope.  Hope is a strange word in the scriptures because it does not mean the same thing as how we use it today.

In the Bible it is a sure hope.  When hope is mentioned in scripture it means something will definitely happen in the future and when we hope in that event we can be confident that it will happen.  Today it simply means that we have no idea if it will happen, but we wish it would.

So today's hope can bring frustration, but scriptural hope will never leave you frustrated.  But what about when we pray?  Can we become frustrated when we go to God asking for something and not get it?  When we plead with God for healing, for a loved one to be safe, or for the salvation of a friend and it does not happen, how do we feel?

I have been a Christian for almost 50 years now and I have had a lot of prayers not answered the way I wanted.  If God loves me, why doesn't He answer my prayers as I asked?  It has taken a while for me to realize that God doesn't fulfill all my desires, because He does love me.

I don't get frustrated now when I pray for something and it does not go my way.  My hope is not in any event, but in God.  Before I was selfish, but I am now slowly learning that God's plans go far beyond my desires.

Which do I really want, my ways or God's?  Now when I tell God what I think should happen, my hope is not in that happening, but in God to do the right thing.  If my desire is not met, it is because God has a better idea.  I might become sad, but never frustrated.  My plans need to become secondary to God's plans

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Why is God Worthy of My Love?

Have you ever thought about what makes God so great? I have heard people praying and recognizing so many wonderful and powerful things about God.  Their prayers talk about how powerful God is.  He is the King of the Universe, all-powerful and mighty.  By simply speaking He is able to create all things.  Nothing can exist without Him.

He is also all knowing, even to the point of knowing how many hairs there are on our heads.  He is omnipresent so that we cannot  hide from Him and there is nothing we can do which He would not know about.  There is nothing new to Him.  All our greatest technology is simplistic to Him.  Our greatest minds are as preschoolers compared to His most elementary thoughts.

He owns everything.  Forget about the richest men in the world.  God owns the universe and could make many more universes if He wanted to.  He rules from a city where the foundations are of precious gems, and the streets are of gold.  He has servants whose only desire is to serve Him and they wait patiently around His throne just to hear what His next words are.

He lives outside of time.  He was before time began, and He will be after time ends.  There is nothing which has ever happened where He was not there and had an intricate knowledge of.  He is more wonderful, awesome and powerful then we can even imagine.

All I have said above is true, but I don’t care about all that.  It is not meaningless but it is not what is truly important about God.  You can take all that away and God would still be more wonderful than anything or anyone living.

What makes God worthy of my love?  It is not because of all I have written here.  Those things are simply abilities and states of His status.  The real reason to love God is found in 1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

God loves you so much that He actually gave up all the wonderful and powerful things I mentioned the first part of this post.  Jesus gave up all of Heaven’s riches and glory to be born in a barn and live in a primitive world full of sin, sorrow and death.  He had no power of his own except what The Father sent through Him.  Jesus loved us so much that he gave up everything, including his earthly life so that we can know God and live eternally with Him.

Forget about power and riches.  I want to know Jesus and be with him because of his heart’s love for me.  How can I deny such love?  Even if Heaven and eternal life were not promised to me, I would still have to love Him.

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

The Lesson of the Two Seas

In Israel there are two seas.  To the north is the Sea of Galilee, and to the south is the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is rich with fish and life, while the Dead Sea is empty of life.  There are no fish or vegetation in its waters because of the salt and minerals which prevent life from inhabiting it.

The Sea of Galilee has the freshwater of the Jordan River entering it from the north.  The waters of the Jordan then exit the sea on the south and flow down to the Dead Sea.  The Sea of Galilee doesn't just take in the waters, but it gives what it has received.

The Dead Sea takes and takes, but never gives.  This allow the waters to become saturated with the salts and minerals.  Not passing on what was given to it only brings death.

God gives blessings to us all and what we do with those blessings determines if we will bring forth life to others or only death.  When we do not share the blessing of salvation to others, we leave them to die in their sins.  When we do not share our food with those in need, we show our hearts to be hard, dark and selfishly hording what others need to live.

God gives to us endlessly so that we might give endlessly, just as the Sea of Galilee does.  To take and never give will only make us like the Dead Sea with nothing to show in the end but emptiness.

Photo Credit: The Dead Sea, Israel by tsaiproject