Hezekiah was king of Judah, and he was a good king.  He loved the Lord and served God throughout this life.  He became very sick.  In fact, he was deathly sick, and he cried out to God to save him.  God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and his life was extended 15 years.  During those 15 additional years Hezekiah welcomed and entertained some dignitaries from a small, unknown, far-away nation; Babylon.  Hezekiah showed these dignitaries from Babylon everything in his kingdom, including all the treasures in God’s temple.  After all, this was a small, unknown nation; so he did not see any harm in this.  Isaiah came to the palace as they were leaving and pressed Hezekiah as to who they were and what he had shown them.  He finally relented and admitted he had shown them everything the kingdom had.  Isaiah responded with a word from God, “Hear the word of the LORD: ‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.  ‘Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ (2 Kings 20:16b-18)”

God had just pronounced judgment on Judah and the descendants of Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah, and Hezekiah’s response is that God’s Word is good because it won’t happen in his lifetime.  Wow!  Talk about a selfish attitude.  He is saying that he is alright with any bad things happening, as long as it happens after he is dead.  This is a wrong and selfish attitude.  Maybe it bothers us so much because we sometimes find the same attitude in ourselves?  The Bible says this shouldn’t be the attitude of Christians; we are to be others-centered.  “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.  Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)” This is especially true as a parent.  Hezekiah was just told that he would be leaving death and destruction for his children, and he was ok with it.  As parents we are to leave better things for our children, and grandchildren.  “A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous. (Proverbs 13:22)” We need to examine our heart constantly, and make sure our children, and grand-children, are prepared and equipped for the future.

In HIS grace

How many of us really like confessing our sins and our struggles to someone else? It is probably one of the most uncomfortable things to do as a Christian because we have to be vulnerable in order to do this.  Yet here in James, we are instructed to confess our sins to one another. Understand that this is not so we can be forgiven for our sins (we are only forgiven by the blood of Jesus), but rather this should be done so sin will lose its grip on us.

Sin demands to have us to itself. It loves to isolate us from others so that the only voice we hear is the deceptive voice of that secret sin.  Sin keeps us from sharing our burden with others by telling us, “You can’t tell anyone else about this, do you know what they would think about you? What kind of sick perverted person does that, thinks about that, feels that way? You better keep this to yourself…how embarrassing! No one else struggles with this…and you call yourself a Christian!”

Does this sound familiar to you? I have believed these lies almost my entire walk with Jesus, and even to this day, I still struggle with believing them from time to time. It is in these moments that I recall this verse from James. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Confession breaks the power of that secret sin in our lives. When we confess it, that sin is exposed and it loses its power over us.

At my bachelor party last year, my friend Mikey and I woke up early one morning so we could talk and pray. As we were sharing, I was reminded of this very verse and I shared it with him. We then confessed to one another our sins and struggles, and we prayed together. I realized that morning that there were things I did not want to bring into my marriage, and by confessing them and having Mikey pray for me, the power of that sin was broken and that struggle that I carried with me for so long was exposed. It was no longer me and the sin; it was now Jesus and the sin, and the sin lost big time as Jesus has defeated all sin.

Sin can not only hinder us spiritually, but it can also affect us physically. Many people have struggled with some kind of physical affliction, only to be healed after they confessed that sin to someone and were prayed over.  So it is very important for us to practice this regularly. We need to have 1 or 2 people in our lives that we can be honest with and bare our souls to; people that will not judge us, but that will listen and pray for us so that we might be healed.

“Father, give us the strength and courage to confess those secret sins today.”

Be blessed for He is God!

A brother asked me once, “Do you believe that all of those that follow Buddha, Islam, Mormonism, etc., will go to hell?” We then began to discuss what we thought about the subject, and eventually the question came up, “What about the tribe in (some distant jungle) that has never had the gospel preached to them? Would God send them to hell? He is a God of love after all.”

The first thing we need to understand is that God does not send people to hell, people choose to go to hell by rejecting the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. The second thing we need to understand is that we are not saved by God’s love; we are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ.  The third thing we need to understand is that only one person died for our sins, and that was Jesus Christ.  Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, the Pope…none of those people died for our sins; it was only Jesus Christ that could, and did, die for us; only Jesus can truly say, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 There is only one way to Heaven.

So what about the tribe in the jungle? “The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

What about people that have been born and raised into cults and false religions? “For the wrath of God is revealed (to all men) from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (everyone will know the truth), who suppress the truth (their choice) in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them (known within them), for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen (by everyone), being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (all mankind), because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened (choice they make). Professing to be wise, they became fools, and (willingly) changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man (Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Pope, self, etc)—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness (gave them what they wanted), in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who (willingly) exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 1:18-25

I remember reading an article on Muslims that converted to Christianity. The article stated that 70% of those that converted to Christianity confessed having a physical encounter with Jesus Christ. The point is that God knows what every single person needs in order to reach them.  But with that, everyone must make their own choice.  We will all be “without excuse.”

Does that mean we do not need to evangelize? Not at all. It means we do not save people, God does. However, He allows us to work with Him because it blesses and fulfills and brings us joy. Ours is to go out and share the gospel with the nations, God will do the rest.

“Father, thank You that You are bigger and greater then we can ever imagine. Give us desires today for the nations.”

Be blessed for He is God!

As I approached the last two exams of my professional education, I became overcome with fear and anxiety.  All of the “what if’s” became to play out in my head and I could not help but fear the worst and not graduate.  Then God spoke.  He said, “Write a list of all of the things I have taught you throughout law school.”  I wrote the list.  It was profoundly encouraging to write down everything that God had taken me though, the miracles (to this day I still don’t know how I passed my Property class), and the growth.  God has taken me through every single exam and met every single need, whether spiritual, financial, or even physical.  He has been there.  I have always likened each test to a battle that the Israelites faced when conquering the Promised Land.

I have learned that faith is not the absence of fear, but taking obedient action in the face of fear.  The Israelites were terrified when they first spied out the land.  “So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.” (Numbers 13:32) This bought them 40 more years of wandering in the desert until that generation died off.

When the Israelites returned, Joshua was their leader.  God tells Joshua three times in chapter one to “be strong and courageous”.  They were facing literal giants protected by enormously fortified cities.  No doubt Joshua was afraid at what lied ahead as were the people.  However, they said, “…all that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.”(verses16 and 17) Israel was willing to obey in the face of fear and they took action.

One of the things, I love about the Jews in the Old Testament, is they set up memorial stones at certain places where God did a great work.  When Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land, they placed 12 stones in the Jordan.  “Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ’Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:7) For me, my “memorial stones” are my transcripts from each class showing God enabled me achieve passing grades.

If you are facing fear over a situation, I would encourage you to write a list of everything that God as delivered you from.  Fear is a normal reaction, but it’s what you do with that fear that matters.  God is always with us and has promised to never leave us.  If we step forward in obedience to Him in spite of that fear, He promises to take us the rest of the way.

“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”

Shalom

This is a story that we are familiar with, so it is important that we don’t overlook what it is teaching us because of its familiarity.  We may have been taught things incorrectly.  Many have been taught that Esau was starving.  Most likely he was as starving as our children who dramatically proclaim that they’re “going to die” if they don’t eat soon.

So what is this really all about?  It’s about the birthright.  This is important because the person who had the birthright received both spiritual and material blessings.  There was a material blessing because they received a double inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17).  The spiritual blessing was from this person becoming the head of the household, or the family priest.

We see that Jacob desired to have the blessing, while Esau could care less about it.  Jacob is to be commended for his desire to be the spiritual priest of the family, but he also had some grave problems.  God had promised Rebekah that the elder would serve the younger, which meant that the birthright belonged to Jacob.  There was no reason for him to scheme and work in the “flesh” to receive it.  Jacob was greedy and refused to show any hospitality to his brother; even though hospitality would have been shown to a stranger.  Instead of trusting in God and waiting to see how God would accomplish this, Jacob took matters into his own hands.

Esau, on the other hand, showed that all he cared about was his appetite.  The birthright, or spiritual matters, meant so little to him that he would rather have a full belly than accept any responsibilities from God.  He truly was an example of the flesh.

Due to the underhanded way in which Jacob dealt with Esau, he is often portrayed as the bad guy in this episode.  While it is correct to condemn his lack of faith in God and taking matters (and God’s promises) into his own hands, we must remember that nowhere in Scripture is there one word of condemnation or criticism towards Jacob.  On the other hand, the Bible makes it clear that Esau was wrong here, and we are told that he not only despised his birthright, but that he was a profane man (Hebrews 12:16). While Jacob sought to be the priest of the family, his actions ended up dividing the family instead of bringing them together.  He should have waited to see how God would have overruled Isaac if he insisted on giving the birthright to Esau.

Waiting is not fun, but at times it is necessary.  Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for Isaac to be born.  Isaac and Rebekah waited 20 years for Esau and Jacob to be born.  God used both those times of waiting to teach many important lessons to both couples, and in both instances the couples learned to become people of prayer through their times of waiting.  These lessons helped them grow into more mature Christians, chiseling away their flesh into something God could use.  God is wanting to do the same thing in our own lives when we are waiting for His perfect timing.  Trust God, He always does what He promises.  Wait for Him.

In HIS grace

Elijah confronted evil King Ahab and told him there would be no rain in the land for three years.  God then directed Elijah to go to this little brook, and He miraculously provided food for Elijah during this drought.  But eventually the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.  No longer was this brook providing the needed nourishment for Elijah.

Now the brook Cherith became a form of disappointment for Elijah.  He is faced with a failure, because no longer are his needs being met.  Because of this the brook also became to him a form of humiliation.  Here he has been trusting and following God, and now that has led to failure.  You may have experienced this in your own life.  It may have been a job or a relationship that failed, and you fell flat on your face.  That can be humiliating.  But that can also be exactly where God wants us to be.  Wait a minute you say, God wants me to be humiliated?  Possibly.

We become humiliated when our pride is crushed, broken, or defeated.  That is where God wants us, because when our pride is removed, then God is able to work in us.  Pride is a stumbling block that keeps God away.  In order for God to operate in our lives and make us into the men or women of God that He desires, He must be allowed into our lives.  For that to happen it is often necessary for things to be removed from us so that we are not distracted from seeing God.  For Elijah, this meant the brook had to be removed.  For us, we may need to have a job removed, or a relationship, a loss of money, health, friends, family, reputation, computers, internet, video games, etc.  When these areas that have blocked God are removed from our lives, then we are able to realize that all we truly need is God.  This is God’s ultimate goal for us.

God will remove things from our life so that we are faced with a choice.  Either we realize our need for God and draw closer to Him, or we become angry at Him and walk away from Him.  When we have had all other things removed, then we will have a desire for God alone.  When we have nothing else left, we will have our desire for God; and that is enough to sustain us.  The psalmist Asaph said, “Whom do I have in Heaven but You?  And I desire nothing on earth but You” (Psalm 73:25). God desires us to have this same desire in our own lives.  He is willing to remove things from our life in order to get us to this point.  So when something is removed, don’t get angry about it, but draw closer to God.  Realize that He is everything that you need.

In HIS grace

Joseph was an esteemed member of the Sanhedrin, one of the religious leaders of the nation.  He secretly followed Jesus, and believed that He was the Messiah.  But he did it secretly, because open acknowledgment of this would have cost him his position on the Jewish Supreme Court.  He was prepared for Jesus to establish Himself as their Savior and lead the nation to freedom.  But, now He was dead.

While the world may not have known that he followed Jesus, God did.  God prepared him for this moment.  Seeing Jesus on the cross filled him with passion and courage.  He was not ready to boldly announce his allegiance to Jesus, even though it still could cost him his position, and would most likely also open him to ridicule from both Jew and Romans too; it could cost him both socially and financially.  After all, now he was showing his affection for a condemned criminal by asking for His body in order to bury it.

Joseph was willing to risk his reputation because of his love and respect for Jesus.  Knowing he could lose all that he had, he still made the choice to go and beg Pilate for Jesus’ body.  It is still frightening to risk your reputation.  It can be very difficult to take a stand for Jesus at school, or at work.  When we do, we may lose friends, not be offered advancements or promotions.  People may make fun of us, and even say things about us.  While it is not easy, neither was it easy for Jesus to endure the humiliation, pain and suffering that He did while being whipped, scourged and hung on the cross.  Yet He did it because of His great love for us.  We are not greater than our Lord and Savior, and we will also suffer on this earth for Him.

There is one more thing about Joseph for us to see.  He had not served Jesus in many ways, since his following was secret to all.  But he did what he could, when others were not able to do anything.  Neither the disciples nor the women were able to approach Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.  They did not have access to him, but Joseph did.  Neither the disciples nor the women had the resources to purchase a tomb for Jesus to use, but Joseph did.  He was willing to use his abilities and resources that God had given him by giving them back to Jesus.  What do you have that you can give back to Jesus?

In HIS grace

This is the moment that Jesus died.  Earlier in Mark 15:35, Mark tells us this happened at the 9^th hour; what we would call 3 p.m.  This is significant because that is the time of the evening sacrifice.  At this time each evening the priests would be in the Temple preparing to offer a sacrifice, this is the time that Jesus died.  Since this occurred at the time of the evening sacrifice, this means that many priests would have been on hand to witness this.  For you and I, this signifies something very spectacular.

The veil was used to separate sinful man from a holy God.  The veil was inside the Temple, and was a very thick piece of material; some have suggested it was as much as 18” thick (see Exodus 26:31-33 for more details).  The veil separated the innermost portion of the temple, known as the holy of holies from the inside of the temple.  Behind the veil was the place where the presence of God dwelt; it was also where the Ark of the Covenant was.  Only the High Priest was allowed to enter past the veil, and only then once a year, on the Day of Atonement (or Yom Kippur).  There he would offer special sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people, or the nation.  The moment that Jesus died the veil was torn.  This is great news, because it means that now we have complete access to God.  You and I can come to God at any moment of any day; no longer can only one person come before God on one day of the year.  Now each one of us can come boldly to God at any time.

Because Jesus died, we now have a new way of coming to Him.  The author of Hebrews spoke of this: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:19-20).  We do not have access to God because Jesus lived.  In fact, His life was perfect, which shows us how sinful we really are.  His life kept us from God.  But, through His death we now have total access to God.

Historians tell us that the priests went through the effort and work of sewing the veil back together.  It is important that we don’t make that same mistake.  DO NOT sew the veil back up with legalism, rules, or regulations.  There are no set procedures for us to follow before we can meet with God.  Some say that you must spend time in worship, singing songs of praise, in order to prepare your heart to meet with God.  Now, don’t misunderstand me, praising God is great, wonderful, and important.  But is does not have to be done before we can meet with God.  The way is always open for us to enter in and meet with God.  The veil is torn in two.  Our meeting with God is not dependent upon what we do; it is dependent upon what God did for us.  God tore the veil, and He opened the way for us to meet with Him.  Praise God.

In HIS grace

These are heavy words coming from Habakkuk, but I appreciate his passion.  He cries out to God about all of the injustice that is being committed by Israel.  He says, “You wouldn’t believe the things going on down here Lord!  Do something!”  Well God answers him in chapter 2 by giving him a vision.  Verse 3 says, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.” God then describes some of the things the people were doing and the coming judgment.  The judgment appears to be the Babylonian exile.  Nevertheless, God addresses Habakkuk’s complaint by telling him the time will come, but not yet.  Wait for it.  Essentially, God is showing Israel great mercy by withholding judgment because He desperately wants Israel to repent from their sin.  They won’t, but God is still giving them that chance.

Now, after seeing the vision, Habakkuk writes a psalm in response, which is found in chapter 3.  He begins, “LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” (v.2) He describes the beauty and greatness of God even in judgment.  Habakkuk even describes how he felt when he saw the vision: “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.” (v.16)

He ends by saying, “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.  The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.” (vs.17-19)

Habakkuk was honest before God and I think God appreciated that because He answered him in the vision.  Habakkuk was also a man with a clean conscience.  He knew God’s wrath was coming and that everything would be destroyed yet he knew God would take care of him.  Not only that, but he worshiped Him.  What I love about Habakkuk is his honesty and passion before God, especially in chapter 1.  God wants to know exactly how we are feeling and what is on our mind.  He responds to what is on our mind, and in this case, He gave Habakkuk a vision.  In response, Habakkuk was driven to worship.  Our God is personal and He truly is interested in what is going with us individually.  May we always tell him exactly how we feel.

1 Peter 5:6 and 7, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Shalom

God told Rebekah that the twins inside of her would each become a nation.  These two nations will struggle with each other; it will continue throughout their lives just as it was currently inside her womb.  These twins would be just like the nations that came from them.  Their natures, temperaments and tendencies would be completely different from each other and opposed to each other too.

God told Rebekah that one nation would become stronger than the other, and that it would be the younger son who would rule the older son.  The custom of the day was that the oldest son received the inheritance from the father and was served by his younger siblings.  God prophesied that He does not follow worldly logic or systems.  In fact, in the Messianic lineage, we see younger siblings instead of first-born sons receiving the inheritance; Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, etc.

We must remember that God is sovereign and does not need to conform to or follow the ways of man.  This does not mean that He is capricious in the choices He makes.  God did not choose them by going “eeny-meeny-miney-moe.”  While we cannot know or understand God’s reasoning, we do know that He chose them in the womb.  This means it had nothing to do with works, but by His will.

Through this we also see a living example of the spiritual war that is waged inside our own bodies as believers.  Each of us has two different nations (or natures) inside of us that are warring too.  We were born with the flesh nature, and it is constantly at war with our younger nature, which is spiritual.  The younger is to rule over the older.

How does this happen in our lives?  Whichever nature we feed will grow larger and stronger.  If we feed the flesh, it will take all the nutrients and starve the spiritual.  But, if we feed the spiritual more than the flesh, the spiritual will grow stronger and dominate our lives; making the flesh submit to the spiritual and therefore grow weaker.

I pray that each of us will place more focus on the spiritual aspect of our being than on the physical.  As the apostle Paul reminds us: “walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

In HIS grace