Quiet Time: Hope Springs Eternal

Hope Springs Eternal

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,…     - 1 Peter 1:3-4

Every human hope can be deferred, but one.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the imperishable inheritance of heaven are the Christian’s hope. This hope renews itself daily without the need of perishable proof.

Jesus resurrection is historically well documented and attested to by many first century eye witnesses.  And, this fact gives the Christian confidence that there is a future beyond what he knows and experiences here on earth; therefore, the believer’s hope is unaffected by time space, and matter and supernaturally grows within him the closer He walks with God (1 Peter 1:8).

The bible says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).

Hope springs eternal with Jesus.

Quiet Time: Blessed to Bless

Blessed to Bless

Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. – 1 Peter 3:9

God has blessed me; therefore, I must bless others (Pulpit Commentary)

“Skin for skin”, “an eye for an eye”, and “Don’t get mad-get even” are all well known and well practiced idioms of the day.

(1 Peter 3:9) tells us not to return: apodidontes: to give up, give back, return, restore; evil: kakon: bad, evil for evil or insult: loidorian: abuse, railing for railing. Then it goes on to say we are to give a blessing: eulogountes: to speak well of, to praise the person who insults us.

Why would God command such a realistically implausible and practically impossible response to verbal abuse? It is because He knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to do this. Also it is the fact that His Holy Spirit indwells and empowers the believer to do the seemingly impossible.

Actually, though, in this case, we are told to follow Him in this response because of our future, our inheritance. In other words, this world is where we walk by faith knowing that one day our faith will be sight and we will see Him face to face.

Just in case we think that it really is impossible to accomplish this command, God has given us several examples to follow:

• Joseph could’ve gotten back at his brothers but instead he, “Gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey.” – Genesis 42:25

• David had could’ve killed Saul. Instead he said, “But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go." – 1 Samuel 26:11

• Solomon tells us “Do not say, ‘I'll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you”. – Proverbs 20:22

• Jesus, the ultimate example tells us to, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”. – Luke 6:28.

"If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:17). I think that something happens in our heart when we walk out the word. In that instant we experience a little bit of heaven here on earth. We are blessed by God at that moment so that we can give Him glory.

Be a blessing. (Romans 12:14)

 

 

 

Quiet Time: Wonderful

Wonderful

Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. - Psalm 119:18

Wonderful is a weighty word.

It’s been used to title everything from an iconic Christmas classic  “It’s a Wonderful Life” to a little known song of the 1990s titled “Wonderful” by the band Everclear (actually, check the song out on YouTube, the music video is a bit puerile, but the lyrics are solid) Art Alexakis, the band’s song writer has a sad back story with a good ending, somewhat like the plot from “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

Wonderful: 1. exciting a feeling of wonder; marvelous or strange. 2. Extremely fine; excellent.

I don’t know about you, but if that’s the definition of “wonderful” I think it is a bit of a yawn.  So, I wanted to see what the bible calls “wonderful” and here’s my short list:

Wonderful:

GOD the Father:

Counsel is wonderful (Isaiah 28:29) to be surpassing or extraordinary

Statutes & Laws are wonderful (Psalm 119:129) a wonder

Deeds for mankind; the things He does are wonderful (1 Chronicles 16:12; Psalm 107:15 & 21 ;) a sign; extraordinary

Presence too wonderful to understand (Psalm 139:6) incomprehensible

JESUS:

Deeds for mankind are wonderful (Matthew 21:15; Luke 13:17) moving a person from within; glorious, splendid, distinguished

Is a Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) Extraordinary, hard to be understood, marvelous

In short, God’s counsel through His word, ways, and presence surpass anything humanly reproducible  or explicit. Furthermore, Jesus humanly reproduces and exemplifies God’s word ,, ways, and presence for mankind to see.

Bottom Line: Knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord makes life wonderful regardless of the back story.

Wonderful is found in a person – Jesus.

Song Series: God Is Here

God Is Here

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,
The God who is our salvation.    Selah     – Psalm 68:19

The psalmist, in Psalm 68: 19, places a pause, a fermata if you will at the end of verse 19 to make the singers and the musicians stop and think about what they just sang. Sometimes, I think we need more pauses within our worship services to allow for contemplation of what we’re singing, saying, or listening to in a sermon.   

Too often we fill up every second of the worship gathering with words or music; it’s almost as if we hate silence!?

Try this during your next worship service when something grabs your attention, whether it is a line from a worship song, a scripture reading, or a phrase from the pastor: 

1. Close your eyes and quietly contemplate what God is saying at that moment.  
2. Now, write it down.
3. When you get home, if it wasn’t a scripture reference that caught your attention, but song lyrics or something said, try to locate the scripture text that supports the lyric or phrase and spend at least 15 minutes meditating on it. (Good Resources: biblegateway.com, biblos.com, blueletterbible.com)  
4. Pray the bible verse back to God and ask Him to help you walk it out in the here and now. (Example: God, You are my LORD, thank you for daily bearing my burdens. Jesus, You are the God who is my salvation. It isn’t about what I’ve done but about what You did for me on the cross. Father, help me to live today burden free and to stand firm on what You’ve done for me. Amen.)

When we walk out our faith in Christ practically, we can better sense His presence, and experience the God Who is always with us – God Is Here right now.

Here's Darlene Zscheck explaining the story behind the song "God Is Here"

Here's New Breed singing the song live.