God’s Word in Your Mouth

I have put My words in your mouth,
and covered you in the shadow My hand,
in order to plant the heavens,
to found the earth,
and to say to Zion, “You are My people.”

(Isaiah 51:16 HCSB)

God has put His words in our mouths. Not just in our hearts, so that we may know them, but in our mouths, so that we may speak them. Why? In order to plant the heavens and lay the foundation of earth. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke it all into existence by His words. The author of Hebrews reminds us, “By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

Just as God originally created heaven and earth by His words, He has put His words in our mouths in order to again establish the heavens and give foundation to the earth. For the whole world fell under a curse when Adam rebelled against God, disconnecting from the life of God. Since man was given dominion over the world, when Adam lost the life and the glory of God, the whole world was plunged into darkness and decay. In Jesus Christ, the “Second Adam,” there is not only redemption for mankind, but restoration for all creation. That is why Paul says,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:18-22)

God puts His words in our mouths so that we may be revealed as the “sons of God.” That is why Jesus came: “But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). That is also why God gives us His Spirit: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

What are the words that establish heaven and earth? Every promise of God. As we believe them in our hearts and speak them with mouths, we are bringing divine transformation into the world. In this way we exercise dominion and “subdue” the earth, that is, bring it into line with the purpose of God, which is what God created for us to do (Genesis 1:26-28).

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom, come. Your will, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Whenever we see things on earth that are out of joint with the will of God in heaven, we have the authority to bring it into alignment by the words of our prayer: “Kingdom of God, come here into this place. Will of God, be done in this place just as it is being done in heaven.”

He also taught us this: “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). The grammatical tense of the Greek text actually means that whatever we bind or loose on earth will have already been bound or loosed in heaven. In other words, by what we bind and loose, we are bringing earth into alignment with heaven.

Jesus continued: “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). When we, as disciples of Jesus, come into agreement on earth about something, it will be done for us from heaven — our Father will see to it. Again, it is bringing earth into alignment with heaven.

Praying in this way and with this authority not only establishes heaven and earth, it establishes heaven on earth. For that is God’s plan, for heaven and earth to joined together as one, forever.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

These are the words God puts in our mouths and this is what they are for.

What are the words you are speaking with your mouth? Are they words that establish heaven on earth?

For more about the dynamics of faith and the power of God’s words, see God’s Word in Your Mouth: Changing Your World Through Faith.

The Prayer of Abandonment

Here is that second prayer I was talking about the other day that has helped me to be content that the course of my life is in God’s hands. It is by Charles de Foucauld, also known as Brother Charles of Jesus. He reminds me of Heidi Baker in that he always sought to be “lower still,” to enter the low place of serving others, the ones in front of him.

When I first began praying this prayer years ago, it was with great resignation. Eventually, I found that I began to pray it with great joy and the confidence that my Father is love.

Father, I abandon myself into Your hands.
Do with me what You will.
Whatever You do, I thank You.
I am ready for all,
I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me, and in all Your creatures,
I ask no more than this, O Lord.

Into Your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You with all the love of my heart,
For I love You, Lord, and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into Your hands,
Without reserve and with boundless confidence,
For You are my Father.

The Course of My Life

The course of my life is in Your power. (Psalm 31:15 HCSB)

The NKJV has the more familiar reading, “My times are in Your hand.” However, “the course of my life,” speaks to me more of the trajectory of my life — not just where I am now, but also where I am heading. It is all in the power of God’s hand.

Recently, I received a note from a friend who had a vision of me. She saw me sitting in my usual place at church (maybe I should get around the room more) with a hardbound book in my hand. Then she saw hands take the book and rip out the last quarter of the pages. As she prayed about this vision, she felt that God was saying I had some preconceived ideas about how things will end but that God had a different ending written. She also sensed that there were still more pages to be written and they would be full of unexpected turns that would never have occurred to me in my version of things. But God has them all written and woven into the plan of my life.

Sounds about right. It was only a week earlier that I myself had ripped out a section of pages. I had made the decision to quit pursuing a course I had been following, on and off, for about fifteen years. I had thought it was God’s path for me, but then I came to the unexpected realization that I did not need to take it to completion — I had already received the benefit I needed from it and this course would no longer serve. So I ripped out those pages about where I thought it would take me. It was a hard thing, but the right thing. There has been a little grieving over it, but mostly a pervading peace.

So now, I have a lot of blank pages. I think I know the chapter I am on, but I do not know exactly where, how or when this one ends and the next one begins. And that’s okay. The course of my life is in God’s hands — and His are very good hands.

I feel a little like Abraham, when God came and said, “Get out of your country … to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Abraham probably thought he knew where his life was going, but then God suddenly appeared and changed everything. Abraham’s life now took on new and unexpected — and wonderful — dimensions. The significance of his life became immeasurable.

There are a couple of prayers that are helpful to me at moments like these. I’ll share one of them with you now:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. ~  Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude.

The course of your life is in God’s hands — and they are very good hands.

How Jesus Did the Impossible

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. (John 14:10)

How did Jesus do the many impossible things He did—healing the sick, loosing people from demonic oppression, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead—the many signs and wonders He performed? Jesus tells us: It was the Father who dwelt in Him who did it.

Jesus was in the Father, and the Father was in Jesus. There was a dwelling, an abiding. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus told the disciples about an abode.

In My Father’s house are many mansions;” if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 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 14:2-3)

The Greek word for “mansions” is monay and means “abode.” There are many abodes in the Father’s House, many dwelling places. A lot Christians think Jesus was talking about little houses in heaven, some big, some small, according to how well we have lived here. Actually, though, He was speaking of many abodes in the one house, that of the Father.

Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself.” Again, Christians think He was talking about how He is now busy preparing a place for us, and that when He returns, He will take us there. But I think He had something different in mind; I think He was speaking of what He was about to do on the cross. It was on the cross that He prepared a place for us in the Father, removing the sin that separated us from God. The return He speaks of is not the Second Coming at the end of this present age, but His return from the dead. He went and prepared the place for us, and then He came back and received us to Himself. Paul speaks about the reality of the abiding place we have in the Father’s house:

God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

• Notice where we are seated: In the heavenlies, in Christ, at the right hand of the Father.
• Notice when we are seated there: Now! It is not a future hope but a present reality. It is something God has already done, not something we are waiting for Him to do.

Jesus has prepared a place for us in the Father’s house and God has seated us there. It is now our abode.

Jesus said, “Believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” Jesus was in the Father, but He has now prepared a place for us in the Father, too, and has received us to Himself.

Now consider the second part: “The Father is in Me.” Through faith in Jesus Christ, we now belong in the Father—He is our dwelling place, our abode. But does He also dwell in us? Jesus answers that:

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:23)

The Greek word for “home” here the same word used earlier for “mansion.” In fact, it is the only other time we find this word in the New Testament. When we love Jesus and obey His commands, He and the Father make their abode in us—they are at home in us.

Jesus did the impossible because He abided in the Father and the Father abided in Him. The same is also now true of all who receive the Lord Jesus—we abide in the Father and the Father abides in us.

Now think about what else Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” Jesus did not act out of His own authority, even though He is the eternal Son of God, fully divine as well as fully human. He did not speak His own words, but those of the Father. Therefore the Father was able to do all those impossible works through Him. Jesus says something similar in John 5, where He healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda:

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner … I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent me. (vv. 19, 30)

By Himself, Jesus could do nothing! Even though He was the fully divine Son of God. It was only as He saw what the Father was doing and said what the Father was saying, and doing and saying those same things, that He could do anything. If that was true of Him, how much more must it be true of us?

And now, Jesus calls us to do impossible things, too. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). The same works He did, we will do—and even greater works. Why? Because He was going to the Father. A little while later, He explained that He would be sending the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26) Indeed, He had to go so that He could send the Spirit: “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).

Jesus sent us the Helper—the Holy Spirit. This is important because it was by the Spirit, as well as the Father, that Jesus was able to do all those wonderful, impossible works. That is what Peter preached to Cornelius:

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)

Jesus promised us the same Spirit and the same power: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, an in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Our witness is not only by words but also by works—the evidence of who Jesus is and what He is doing in the world. By this power, the disciples were able to heal the sick, expel demons, perform signs and wonders, and even raise the day, just as Jesus did. We see this in the rest of the book of Acts and throughout Church history (see Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Church for a multitude ofexamples).

Jesus did the impossible because He was in the Father and the Father was in Him; because He did what He saw the Father doing and said what He heard the Father saying; because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. All these belong to us today. Through faith, God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—abides in us and will do the same works through us that were done through Jesus.

Doing the Impossible Things

“Many Christians mistakenly believe that some of Christ’s commands, like the command to love your neighbor as yourself, are possible to observe, while others, like the one to raise the dead, are impossible. The truth is that all of Christ’s commands are impossible to fulfill apart from His grace and supernatural power through the Holy Spirit.” ~ Bill Johnson, Release the Power of Jesus

Lord, help me to do the impossible thing of loving my neighbor as myself so that I may do the impossible thing of raising him from the dead. Amen.

The Light of Heaven, the Fire of Hell

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. (Revelation 21:23).

The light of God is His glory, the expression of His majesty and goodness. It is the light of heaven and earth. Jesus is the light, “the true Light which give light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:8). In Him is life, and the life is the light of men (John 1:4).

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’ (John 8:12)

Though Jesus gives light to everyone who comes into the world, there are those who would rather have darkness.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:19-21)

In the end, though, it is the light that prevails. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5). Indeed, as John says, “The darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). But for those who love the darkness, the light is a torment, and for those who hate God, the glory is agony.

God is light, but He is also a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). I don’t think this is speaking of two different things, but rather, two aspects of the same thing. For those who love God and walk in His ways, the light and the glory are a blessing; but for those who despise God and embrace evil, the light and the glory are a terrible consuming fire.

Everything that belongs to God is gathered in as wheat; everything that does not belong to Him is cast out as chaff for “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age” (Matthew 13:40).

Such expressions are traditionally understood as references to hell, and perhaps that is true. However, they do not speak of literal fire but, I think, of the light of God. Those who love evil are totally unprepared to rejoice in the glory of God. To them, the light of God is a fire of judgment that will not relent. Indeed, it cannot relent, for God cannot cease to be who He is — His glory is eternal.

The light of heaven is the fire of hell. Therefore, be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Where Do You Live?

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together I the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Paul says that we have been made alive together with Christ, raised up with Him and have been seated in the heavenlies in Christ. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, the place of ruling and reigning. That is where we must be seated as well, since we are seated in Christ. Notice that Paul does not speak of this as future hope but as present reality.

So where do we live? In heaven or on earth? Our thinking gets too earthbound. Sure, we dwell bodily on this material planet. But we are called to have the perspective of heaven.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God [and where we are seated as well]. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

We are called to live from out of a different place than the only one we knew before we were born again (John 3:6, literally “born from above”). In Jesus Christ we are new creatures and the situation has totally changed for us (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have been made citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). At the end of the Book, heaven and earth become one. It is not that heaven changes, but earth changes as God's kingdom pervades and the will of God is done on earth as in heaven.

Where do you live? If you know Jesus, you are a citizen of heaven and have been raised up and seated with Him in the heavenlies. That changes everything about your life here on earth. Set your mind on things above. Focus on the perspective of heaven and live from that higher place.

Calling Forth Your Divine Destiny

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. (Romans 4:16-17)

God renamed Abram, calling him Abraham. He added a divine “ha” to his name — think of it as the life-giving breath, even the laughter of God — and that changed everything. The name Abram meant “exalted father,” but what a joke that turned out to be. Abram was seventy-five years old when God first came to him, and he and his wife, Sarai, had been barren all their years. No children, therefore no fatherhood for Abram, and by natural reckoning, it was now too late. But God made him a promise anyway: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great” (Genesis 12:2).

Abram began to cast about for how that might happen. Would it be through his nephew Lot? Or perhaps through his servant Eliezer? Sarai came up with a plan they both thought was pretty clever (not!): Why not go and have a child with Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid — maybe that’s what God had in mind. Nope, none of the above.

God came to him again when Abram was about eighty-seven and renewed the word of promise. He directed Abram’s attention to the stars, numberless in the sky: “So shall your descendents be” (Genesis 15:5). Abram believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness (v. 6). Of course, it was just after that that Sarai came up with her brilliant idea, and Abram, still trying to manufacture the fulfillment for himself, thought it was worth a try. That didn’t work out, though, and Abram was back where he started.

Finally, when Abram was ninety-nine years old, God came to him again. And that’s when it happened. God breathed life into his name (God’s word is creative; that’s how He made the heavens and the earth). “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5). Abraham means “father of multitudes.” God, who calls things that are not as though they were, was now calling the promise into existence.

Father of Multitudes! That was now Abram’s new name. Whenever he introduced himself to others, he would be speaking his destiny, “Hi, I’m Father of Multitudes.” Whenever Sarah, whose name God changed from Sarai, would call him it would be, “Father of Multitudes.” Now the promise would be in his ears and upon his lips. It would continually stir in his heart. In agreement with God, he would be calling those things that are not as though they were. He would be calling forth his divine destiny. And so it came to pass.

That is how faith works. We receive the promise of God, we believe it in our hearts and we speak it forth with our lips. The heart believes and the mouth confesses, that is, speaks in agreement with it (Romans 10:10). Jesus put it this way:

Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:22-23)

Gather up the promises God has given you in His Word, the dreams He has dreamed you in the night, the destiny He has whispered in your ears. Believe them with all your heart and confess them with your mouth. Speak them aloud, even if only to yourself. Call them forth in agreement with God. Let Him breathe life into your spirit and put the divine ha! in your heart. He is giving life to what you thought was dead and speaking forth your divine destiny — all of faith and according to His grace.

Praise, Increase and the Theory of Entanglement

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase.

(Psalm 67:4-5)

In Quantum Physics there is a theory called Entanglement, which says that two particles that have ever been connected are so related to one another that, even if they are separated on opposite sides of the universe, the state of one affects the state of the other. Consider, then, the significance of Genesis 2:7 in the light of that theory: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground.”

The life of man is found in the breath of God. He became of living being when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils (Genesis 2:7). But the body of man is inextricably bound with the material of the universe. That is why, when Adam disconnected from the life of God through his rebellion, it affected the whole planet: “Cursed is the ground for your sake [i.e., because of you] … for out of it you were taken” (Genesis 3:17, 19).

Just as all creation was affected by the fall of man, so all creation finds restoration in the redemption of man.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:19-22)

This brings out the significance of the psalm: “Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase.” When the nations and peoples of the earth release praise to God, it is not just the expression of redeemed humanity, it also brings forth fruitfulness from the dust of the ground with which we are so connected. The earth yields her increase because of our praise.

When we are out of joint with God through rebellion, ingratitude and unbelief, the whole earth is out of joint, too. But when we return to God in faith and praise, divine order is reestablished in the earth because we are so entangled with the stuff of creation. In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom, come. Your will, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

(For some amazing discussion about Entanglement, check out these video clips: Are We All Connected? and Quantum Entanglement and the Power of Intention.)

The Generation of the Righteous

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD.
Who greatly delights in His commandments.
His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.

(Psalm 112:1-2)

The purpose of God in the world reaches out to nations and down through generations. Those who are blessed by the Lord, who delight in His commandments and walk in His ways, leave a great legacy for their children. The blessing we have through faith in Jesus Christ is not just for us, it is for our children — it is their inheritance, if they also will lay hold of it by faith. And it is not just for our children but for all the nations of the earth as our children walk it out in the world.

And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.

(Isaiah 54:2-3)

This is the same blessing God promised Abraham:

I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

(Genesis 12:2-3)

Notice the word “families.” It is a very powerful one because it is through families that God does His best work. It is through the family of Abraham that blessing comes to all the families of the earth. The blessing from in Abraham’s family, from one generation to the next, until it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the cross to deliver us from the curse so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon all, even those not of Abraham’s house (Galatians 3:13-14). Through faith in Jesus Christ, we may now all receive the promise God made in the beginning.

Ever since, the blessing of Abraham has come upon more and more people, family to family, nation to nation, generation after generation. God’s purpose is increasingly being fulfilled until it will one day appear in all its glory. The kingdom of God is coming; the will of God is being done more and more on earth as in heaven.

God is doing it through the influence of fathers, family and inheritance. The Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31). Through faith, this Philippian father became the gateway for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessing of Abraham to come upon his household; they all believed and were baptized.

The older I get, the more I become aware of God’s workings through the generations. I received the inheritance of faith from my fathers, embraced the Lord Jesus for myself and now I leave a legacy for my children and my children’s children — indeed, for all my descendents. My focus has sharpened and I pray daily for my children, claiming the promise for them. My descendants will be mighty in the land and their generations will be blessed. They will inherit that nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. They will be a blessing to many others in fulfillment continual fulfillment of the promise God gave Father Abraham.

Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

How happy are those who live in awe of God, trust in His Word and walk in His ways. This great joy is for all their descendants, too, as many as will take hold of it by faith in Jesus Christ. For the blessing of Abraham has come to their house.

The Time for Pressing In

New year, new opportunities, new challenges (which are really opportunities in disguise). The world is a'twitter about the economy and other things. However, for those who follow after Jesus Christ and seek the kingdom of God and righteousness (His way of doing things), though we are in the world, we are not of it. In Isaiah 54:2-3, we find a different call than the world is hearing.

Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.

It is a call to preparation, to enlargement, to stretching out into the dream God has given you. It is not a time for sparing or holding back your resources but a time for lengthening your tent cords and strengthening your stakes, to expand your vision on all sides. God is giving us an inheritance to live out and a legacy for the next generation that will bless the nations, make the barren places fertile and bring life to the desolate cities.

Ever since Jesus came, the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold it (Matthew 11:12 NIV). Luke’s version says, “Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” (Luke 16:16 NKJV; see A Kingdom Forcefully Advancing).

Now is the time to keep pressing in for the kingdom of God to be fulfilled and His will done on earth as it is in heaven.

Blessings for a New Year

Meditating and Praying Psalm 1 is how I start each new month and, consequently, each new year. It is good news of blessing and bliss (which is the Hebrew word for “blessed” means — literally an exclamation, “O the happinesses!”) for all those who love the Lord and walk in His ways.

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Psalm 1:1-3)

Psalm 112 also seems an appropriate one to pray and believe, considering all that is going on around us. It begins:

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments. (v. 1)

Let us count the ways such a one is blessed:

• His descendants will be mighty on earth (v. 2).
• The generation of the upright will be blessed (v. 2).
• Wealth and riches will be in his house (v. 3).
• And his righteousness endures forever (v. 3).
• Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness (v. 4).
• He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous (v. 4).
• A good man deals graciously and lends (v. 5).
• He will guide his affairs with discretion (v. 5).
• Surely he will never be shaken (v. 6).
• The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance (v. 6).
• He will not be afraid of evil tidings (v. 7).
• His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord (v. 7).
• His heart is established (v. 8).
• He will not be afraid (v. 8).
• He will see his desire upon his enemies (v. 8).
• He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor (v. 9).
• His righteousness endures forever (v. 9).
• His horn will be exalted with honor (v. 9).

For those who know the Lord, there is no reason to fear and every reason to rejoice. This new year holds wonderful things for you. Lay hold of them by faith. Instead of meditating on the dour forecasts of the world, let the promises of God fill your mind, your mouth and your heart.

C. S. Lewis on Calvinism and Free Will

Reading in Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis, a selection from among his many letters, I came across a couple of interesting takes on Calvinism and the question of free will:

On Calvinism. Both the statement that our final destination is already settled and the view that it still may be either Heaven or Hell, seem to me to imply the ultimate reality of Time, which I don't believe in. The controversy is one I can’t join on either side for I think that in the real (Timeless) world it is meaningless. (pp. 117-8)

All that Calvinist question — Free-Will and Predestination, is to my mind undiscussable, insoluble. Of course (say us) if a man repents God will accept him. Ah yes, (say they) but the fact of his repenting shows that God has already moved him to do so. This at any rate leaves us with the fact that in any concrete case the question never arrives as a practical one. But I suspect it is really a meaningless question. The difference between Freedom and Necessity is fairly clear on the bodily level: we know the difference between making our teeth chatter on purpose and just finding them chattering with cold. It begins to be less clear when we talk of human love (leaving out the erotic kind). ‘Do I like him because I choose or because I must?’ — there are cases where this has an answer, but others where it seems to me to mean nothing. When we carry it up to relations between God and Man, has the distinction perhaps become nonsensical? After all, when we are most free, it is only with a freedom God has given us: and when our will is most influenced by Grace, it is still our will. And if what our will does is not ‘voluntary’, and if ‘voluntary’ does not mean ‘free’, what are we talking about? I’d leave it all alone. (p. 186)

That pretty well says where I am on the matter. I wore Calvinism for about 25 years, from a couple of years out of Bible college until a few years back when I hung it back up on the rack because it didn’t fit. It just doesn’t seem to be relevant to anything real. The whole point-counterpoint between Calvinism and Arminianism seems to be trying to answer questions that the Bible does not ask or means to answer.

The discussion often proceeds as if God is bound by time, as we are. But He is the creator of time and as such is not constrained by it. We speak of foreknowledge, as if it is prior knowledge from God’s point of view, as it is from ours. But for God, it is simply knowledge with no “before” or “after” about it. He can know something as it happens — and it all happens for Him in one moment — without that knowledge being the cause of it happening. Knowledge does not equal causality. For example, if you and I were sitting together and you turned to me and said something, I would know what you were saying as you were saying it. But my knowledge of you saying it would not be the cause of you saying it. You would be free to say it or not. Likewise, God’s “foreknowledge” (which to Him is simply knowledge) of what we do, say, think or believe does not require that He be the cause of it.

In His sovereignty God has, for whatever reason, chosen to give us free will. That is a grace. And if He has chosen to influence our will by a further grace to turn to Him, it is still, as Lewis says, our will that does so. If we treat the will as anything other than voluntary and free to do or not do otherwise, then we are really not talking about will but determinism.

After years of batting the question around I have found no significance to it. With Lewis, I suspect it really is a meaningless question, and agree that perhaps the distinction it makes really is nonsensical after all.

Blessings to all my Calvinist friends, as well as my non-Calvinist ones.

Greetings to our friends in Dubai and Singapore.

Happy New Year to all.

Discerning a Heart of Faith

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrew 4:12)

This verse is often quoted out of the blue, as if it were not related to a context. But the word “for” at the beginning of this verse alerts us to the fact that it is connected to the idea of the previous verse: “Be diligent to enter that rest.” The “rest” in view is the rest God has for His people. In the larger context, the author illustrates his point by reminding us that the children of Israel died in the wilderness instead of enjoying the Promised Land, the rest God had prepared for them.

What does this have to do with the Word of God being living and powerful and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart? Everything. Because it has to do with faith. The children of Israel did not enter God’s rest because of their unbelief, even though God had promised He was giving the land to them.

It is not that they were unable to believe. No, they were unwilling to believe. Had they been willing, they would have been able because faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Every promise of God carries with it the faith to believe that promise. The children of Israel heard the promise but they did not give any room for faith to arise in them to believe it. The word of promise tested them and found they had rejected faith.

The Word of God offers us many wonderful promises and gives us the faith to believe. But it also probes us with surgical precision to see whether we will lay hold of that faith. There is no fooling God. He discerns the thoughts and intents of our hearts to see whether we are willing to believe Him.

In the wilderness, God promised the children of Israel that He was giving them the land of Canaan, and that promise tested them: Were they willing to believe God above all else? Would they believe the truth of His Word more than the facts of their current circumstances? More than the giants in the land? More than their own eyes?

As we know, out of all that generation, only Joshua and Caleb choose to believe God. They were not unaware of the circumstances, and they had certainly seen the giants in the land, just as the other spies had. But they understood that the truth of God’s promise was far greater than what they experienced with their senses. As the author of Hebrews tells us, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). The greater reality is not that which can be seen or felt but is apprehended by faith. That is why Paul teaches us, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The same Word of God by which faith comes also discerns our hearts. It cuts through all our rationalizations to reveal whether we are willing to believe the promise of God. Those who are willing enter into His rest.

The Diligence of Faith

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:11)

Be diligent to enter into rest. Sounds like a paradox. As verse 10 said, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works a God did from His.” To enter the rest of God, we must cease from our own works just as God rested from His on the seventh day of creation. Still, there is a diligence to which we must attend. But what is it?

Earlier, the author of Hebrews used the illustration of the children of Israel, who wandered in the wilderness for forty years and did not enter the rest God had for them, the Promised Land. “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:2). Nevertheless, the promise of rest remains, even though “those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:6). Put simply, the disobedience of Israel in the wilderness was their failure to believe the promise of God. They were not diligent to believe God; therefore, they did not enter His rest.

To see how this happened, go back to Numbers 13. The Lord said to Moses, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel” (v. 2). Notice the promise: God was giving the land of Canaan to Israel. Moses believed the word of God and sent out twelve men, one from each of the twelve tribes, on a reconnaissance mission.

Ten came back and reported, “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong … There we saw the giants; and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (vv. 27-28, 33).

The other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, having seen the exact same things the ten had, came back and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (v. 30). The ten answered, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we” (v. 31).

The children of Israel were persuaded by the report of the ten and, in their fear and unbelief, rose up against Moses, Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb exhorted them to be diligent in their faith and believe God.

If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, “a land which flows with milk and honey.” Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them. (Numbers 14:8-9).

Israel persisted in fear and unbelief. Except for Joshua and Caleb, that entire generation never entered the Promised Land but died in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb, however, were privileged to lead the next generation into the land forty years later.

What made the difference? Diligence. Diligence in what? In believing the word of God. The same promise was given to all, but only a few believed. Joshua and Caleb were diligent in faith. The fact that God had promised them the land of Canaan settled the matter for them. Their focus was sustained on God. They saw the same giants the ten had seen but they did not let that, or anything else, distract them from what God had said. Their hearts were lined up with the promise, and when they spoke, their words overflowed from the abundance of their hearts and they spoke in accord with what God had spoken. They were diligent and focused in their faith to believe what God said, so they entered into the rest of God.

Faith is simply believing the Word of God. When we are diligent to believe what He says, we enter into His rest. When we move away from believing His Word, we get back into our own works, our own strength, and end up wandering in the wilderness of fear.

What We Have Tasted

Enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. (Hebrews 6:4-5)

Though the thrust of this verse goes in another direction, it gives us a brief but amazing picture of what it means for us to know Christ.

• We have been enlightened. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). In other words, He reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (John 1:4-9). The Spirit reveals the things of God which would otherwise be unintelligible to us (1 Corinthians 2:9-14). Early Church Fathers saw in this a reference to baptism, the sign of initiation into the truth of the gospel and the body of Christ.
• We have tasted the heavenly gift. To taste is to experience. We experience the heavenly gift. “Gift” means that it is not earned by us or owed to us. It is given freely to us as an act of divine grace and we receive it simply by faith. It is not of this age but of the next. It does not come from earth but from heaven. It is the kingdom of God breaking into the present age, the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Early Church Fathers saw in this a reference to the Eucharist, the Table of the Lord, the continuing sign of Christ’s presence in the world.
• We have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. “Companions” of the Holy Spirit is how the HCSB puts it. This is divine fellowship with the One by whom we cry out joyfully, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). He reveals and works in us everything that belongs or pertains to Jesus (John 16:15). He brings forth in us divine fruits, the character of Christ (Galatians 5:22-23). He gives us manifestations of divine power by which He works miracles among us (1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Galatians 3:5). He ministers to us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of the Father.
• We have tasted the good word of God. This is the message of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, in whom all God’s promises to us are fulfilled in every way. No good thing does He withhold from us who have become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (Psalm 84:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• We have tasted the powers of the age to come. The Greek word for “powers” is dunamis, often translated as “miracles” (for example, 1 Corinthians 12:10 and Galatians 3:5). It is the miracle-working power of God. It is not of this age but of God’s kingdom age now breaking into the world. It is the power of the Holy Spirit by which Jesus healed all who were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38). It is the power Jesus promised His disciples would receive when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). Paul said that God is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Though we live in this present age, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are part of the next. We are not relics of the past but agents of God’s coming kingdom. Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The tense of the Greek verbs speaks of a continuous action. We are not waiting for the kingdom of God to begin — it has begun already! We pray for it to increase until it is present in all its fullness. As John said, “The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

Jesus also taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This has usually been taken to be a request to meet today’s need with today’s substance. But the Greek word for “daily” actually speaks of “the coming day.” What day is that? The day of God’s kingdom fullness, the day when His will is completely done on earth as in heaven.

We have tasted the bread of this present age and it does not sustain. There is no life to it. It is full of darkness and is already passing away. The provision we need is the substance of God’s kingdom, the will of heaven manifest on earth — the bread of that coming day. The prayer is that God give us that bread today. It is a prayer God has been answering ever since Jesus taught us to pray it and will continue to answer until heaven and earth are one.

God gives us that bread today so that we may experience, in this life, the heavenly gift, the good word of God, the powers of the age to come and fellowship with God by His Spirit. Christ gave His body and shed His blood — tasted death for us — that we might taste these things (Hebrews 2:9).

Under His Feet — and Ours

He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

Paul was speaking about the working of God’s mighty power “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21). This is the same power He has at work for us and in us (Ephesians 1:19 and 3:20). And it is the power by which He put all things under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every principality, power, might and dominion, and everything that can be named in this age and the coming one has all been placed under His feet. That is, all things are under His authority and dominion.

Not only that, but God has given Him to be the head over all the Church. Pay close attention to what this means—it’s a real corker. The Church — every believer in the Lord Jesus — is the body of Christ. Christ is the head. All things have been placed under His feet. Where is Christ’s body in relation to His head? It is beneath. Where is His body in relation to His feet? It is above. His body is between His head and His feet. What a silly picture it would be otherwise — I mean, imagine His head sitting on top of His feet and His feet sitting on top of His body.

Now, remember that God has placed all things under Jesus’ feet and do the math: All things are under the feet—the authority of Jesus Christ — and we, the Church, are the body of Christ. That means that everything that is under His feet must be under our feet as well.

Process that for a moment, then consider this: Christ’s body, the Church, is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. He is the one who fills everything with His glory and power. We are full of Him, but we are not merely filled with Him along with everything else He fills. More than that, we are that fullness of Him which fills everything with His glory and power.

It is what God created us for in the beginning when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion” (Genesis 1:26). That fullness and dominion was lost to us when Adam sinned and separated from God, but it is restored to us in Jesus Christ. Now we are full of Him, but also the fullness of Him with which He fills everything else.

Notice carefully that this is not future tense. It is an accomplished work. God has already placed all things under the feet of Jesus. He has already given Him as head over His body, the Church. We are right now the fullness of Christ in everything.

When we try to understand this by our senses, our emotions and our circumstances, it simply does not add up. How can it be true when the world is still such a mess? Yet, God has spoken it so it must be true, because it is the Word of God, which created the world in the beginning (Hebrews 12:3) and sustains it today (Hebrews 1:3). No doubt, the world is out of joint with the Word, and that is because of sin. That’s a fact — but it’s not the truth. Paul tells us the truth in Colossians 1:19-20.

For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

That’s the reality, and all the facts of the world must eventually come into line with the truth of the Word and the blood of the Cross. The substance, the underlying reality of it, is already in place. We are merely waiting for the outworking of it in creation. More importantly, creation is waiting for the outworking of it in us. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). It will happen as we embrace the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ and who He is in us.

This requires a revelation, a divine enlightenment, a realization from God. That is how Paul began the long and weighty sentence that forms Ephesians 1:15-23.

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know …” (Ephesians 1:15-18)

Paul knew it would not be enough for him simply to write down the words. He understood that it requires wisdom and revelation, enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, to help us see and understand this world-changing truth.

My prayer for you, me and all the Church is that God give us Holy Spirit wisdom and revelation to see and understand that all things have truly been placed under the feet of Jesus, and under ours as well, as His body.

Where We Have Come

For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. (Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, for they could not bear what was commanded: And if even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned! And the appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am terrified and trembling.)

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to God who is the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24 HCSB)

What the author of Hebrews writes here is true of every believer in Jesus Christ. We are in an amazing place. Notice that he does not say, “You are going,” as if he is just talking about our destination some day when we die. No, he says, “You have come.” This is about present reality, not future hope. It includes future hope, but the future is breaking into the present. It is now and we are there.

Yeah, it is different from the way we are used to thinking, the way we have been taught by the world and even by religion. We thought it was about us and what we could do, and we were painfully aware that we were very far from measuring up.

That is where we were, but where we have come is very different. It turns out that it’s not about us after all — never was — but about the reality of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done. That changes everything! We are no longer limited to the reality of earth but now free to partake of the reality of heaven. Consider where we have now come:

We have come to Mount Zion. This is in contrast to Mount Sinai, the place where the Law of Moses was given, the law that inevitably led to condemnation (see Romans 7 for Paul’s experience on that). Mount Zion, however, was the place where God chose to dwell and manifest His presence among His people. The author of Hebrews is not speaking of natural geography, though; he is talking about spiritual reality.

We have come to the city of the living God. In the natural, Mount Zion was the city of God, the place of His temple, His habitation. But again, the author is speaking of spiritual reality. He has noted already, in Hebrews 11, that Abraham was seeking “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (v. 10). Indeed, of all the saints of the old covenant, he says, “But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (v. 16). Now we have come to that city and Paul reminds us, “You are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16).

We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. Earthly Jerusalem was situated on Mount Zion and was a type, or shadow, of heavenly Jerusalem. Heavenly Jerusalem speaks of a higher realm and in the Jewish mind represented the hope of a future age. Now we have come to that city and the reality of heaven is breaking into the world. It is just as Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, keep coming! Will of God, keep being done on earth as it in heaven” (that is the sense of the Greek verbs). It is not a singular event but a continuous action, already begun, and will ultimately align earth with the reality of heaven.

We have come to myriads of angels in festive gathering. The angels of God are not gathered together to execute judgment on us but to celebrate Jesus, who endured God’s judgment in our place. It is a joyful convocation, a festival of praise, and Revelation 5:11-12 gives us a glimpse:

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

We have come to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven. “Firstborn” shows that we have a Father, who is God. It speaks of the “double portion” we receive of Him, the very best of inheritances. Paul says that we are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). “Joint heirs” means that everything the Lord Jesus receives from the Father we receive also. As David declared, “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” (Psalm 16:5-6).

Not only are we heirs of God, our names are written on the citizen rolls of heaven. Paul says, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”: (Ephesians 2:19). “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). This citizenship we have received gives us every blessing and benefit heaven has to offer. We can now live out of a higher reality.

We have come to God who is the judge of all. “Judge” speaks of God’s sovereign rule and authority over everyone. He is the one who sets all things right. His judgment on our sin was poured out on the Lord Jesus. As Paul says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5).

We have come to the spirits of righteous people made perfect. This speaks of communion, connection stronger than death, with those who have gone before us and no longer walk this planet. While we are still in the process of reckoning ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, they have been made thoroughly and completely perfect in Christ. “Perfected at last!” is the sense of the text. It is a perfection that could never be achieved under the Law of Moses or by any work of our own, but is received only in Jesus Christ, through faith in Him.

We have come to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant. Jesus is the reason for all our coming, and all the blessing is summed up in the new covenant, of which He is the mediator. “Now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). What could not be accomplished by the old covenant of law, and all our striving, is fulfilled by the Lord Jesus in the new and better covenant.

We have come to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel. This is the heart of the covenant. In the Bible, no covenant was made without the shedding of blood, demonstrating the surety of the promise. In this new covenant of grace Jesus is the sacrifice—He gives us Himself. On the night before He was crucified, He took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). This covenant, and the blood by which in which it was cut, speaks incomparable things for us than any other blood ever could. The blood of Abel cried out for revenge. The blood of Jesus speaks of our redemption, restoration and all the blessing that entails.

In Jesus Christ, we have come to a place we have never been before, a place we could never reach apart from Him and new and better covenant He cut for us in His own blood. Now we have access to heaven, and it is enough to change the earth when His will is done here just as it is there.

Holding on to Confident Rejoicing

Christ [is] a Son over His own house, who house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:6)

The author of Hebrews is writing to a group of people who were up against severe persecution. As Jewish believers in Christ, they were getting it from two sides — from Jewish leaders who had rejected Christ and from the Romans who, oddly enough, view Christians as atheists because they did not worship Caesar and bow to the Roman pantheon. It was tough for them, no question about it.

In the midst of that, the author of Hebrews encourages/exhorts them to hold on to their faith in Jesus the Messiah because He is the Anointed One who fulfills all the promises God has made. Moses was faithful as a servant in the house God was building, and certainly to be greatly honored (Hebrews 3:2, 5). But Jesus is faithful as the Son of the house. The house is all those who believe the promises of God and receive His Anointed Son.

There is a great confidence we can have in that. The Greek work for “confidence” means courage, boldness, outspokenness. It speaks of the right of access we have before God. That is why the author says in the next chapter, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). The Greek word for “boldly” in 4:16 is the same as the word “confidence” in 3:6.

Under Moses, the people of God were afraid to approach God. In Jesus, we can come boldly before God:

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.”And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24)

That is the confidence we have now because of Jesus Christ, the confidence the author of Hebrews encourages us to hold onto. It is that faith which can see us through great difficulty.

The word for “rejoicing” means to glory in, boast in or brag about. It is the same root word Paul uses when he says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). See, this boasting is not about who we are and what we have done — there’s nothing to brag about there and certainly no reason to have confidence. No, the boasting Hebrews speaks of is about Jesus Christ, what He has done for us and the boldness we can now have in Him.

How do we hold on to this confidence and rejoicing and manifest the household of God in turbulent times? There are a number of keys the author of Hebrews gives us which will be of great help to us (you can search these out in the book of Hebrews), but it all comes down to this, found in Hebrews 3:1. “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ.” It is only as we keep our focus on Him that we are able to continue walking in the victory He has won for us. (See The Table of Considering Him)

Yes, things may be getting difficult for you right now, but hold to your confidence and boasting in Jesus Christ and you will make it through.

Don’t Blame God for Calamity

I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the LORD, do all these things.

(Isaiah 45:7)

Though it is not always clear in our English Bibles, there is a difference between what God perpetrates and what He merely permits. Concerning this verse, Walter Kaiser notes that physical calamity in the world is a matter of what God permits.

Thus, according to the Hebrew way of speaking, which ignores secondary causation in a way Western thought would never do, whatever God permits may be directly attributed to him, often without noting that secondary and sinful parties were the immediate causes of the disaster.

The evil spoken of in this text and similar passages (such as Jer 18:11; Lam 3:38 and Amos 3:6) refers to natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil is seen in a volcanic eruption, plague, earthquake and destructive fire. It is God who must allow (and that is the proper term) these calamities to come...

Augustine taught that evil is not a substance. It is, as it were, a byproduct of our freedom, and especially of our sin. The effects of that sin did not fall solely on the world of humans. Its debilitating effects hit the whole natural world as well...

What we can be sure of, however, is the fact that God is never, ever, the originator and author of evil. It would be contrary to his whole nature and being as consistently revealed in Scripture. (Walter C. Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible, p. 306 s.v. Isaiah 45:7, emphasis mine)

God certainly allows many natural calamities to befall people as a consequence of sin in the world but that does not make him the perpetrator or author of those things.

Given the nature of the Hebrew way of speaking, which often blurs the distinction between what is committed by God and what He merely allows, it is a very tricky proposition to build a doctrine on this and similar Scriptures which makes God the executor of calamities in the world. They are not things God does to us, and we can resist them by prayer and faith without violating the sovereignty of God, for God is not the one to blame for them.

God's promise for His people is, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). How much more this is true for us under the New Covenant, in which all the wrath of God toward sin was poured out fully on Jesus Christ at the cross.

God’s plan for you is not calamity but for a future and a hope, and it is found in Jesus Christ.

Blessing Your Grandchildren

But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

(Psalm 103:17-18)

Your relationship with God can be a wonderful blessing to your grandchildren. When you know the Lord and honor Him, you are leaving a legacy that will greatly benefit them if they are willing to receive it.

God knows no generational barrier. He is eternal and His mercy is everlasting. The Hebrew word for “mercy” is hesed, which can also be translated as “steadfast love” and “faithful love.” It speaks of covenant, the commitment the Lord has made to His people to love them forever. It is for you, your children, your grandchildren.

God has always worked through families. When Adam and Eve disconnected from the life of God in the Garden of Eden, He promised them a Seed who would trample the serpent on their behalf and restore them (Genesis 3:15). When the earth was destroyed by the Flood, God made covenant with Noah and all his descendants (Genesis 9:9). God called Abraham out of the house of idolatry and promised him an heir from whom a mighty nation would arise to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). This covenant was confirmed to Isaac, then to Jacob. Jacob prophesied it over his children, especially to Judah. David arose from the line of Judah and received promise from God that his descendant would rule and reign on his throne forever. Generations later, it was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God whose mother was of the house of David.

In the reign of King Jesus, God continues to work through families. When Paul and Silas were jailed at Philippi for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ but were miraculously released by an earthquake, their jailer fell to his knees begging, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31). The jailer’s decision to receive the Lord Jesus brought divine salvation within reach of his household. They all believed and received this great legacy. The Bible records, “And immediately he and all his family were baptized … and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household” (Acts 16:33-34).

Proverbs says that “a good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22). There it is speaking of a physical inheritance, but it is true in the natural because it is first true in the spiritual. Whether we realize it or not, we all leave an inheritance, whether good or bad, to our children and grandchildren. When we walk in the awe of the Lord, to love, trust and serve Him alone, we leave a legacy of divine blessing for them. The word of promise, the message of the gospel, comes very close to them and if they are willing to believe it, they will live in the reality of it.

In the branches of my family tree, I have discovered generations of godly men and women who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. Generations later, here am I, of their house and walking in relationship with the same Jesus in whom they entrusted their lives. From their faith, through the convergence of many family lines, I can trace a path that led me to faith in Jesus at a very early age.

Many people do not have that kind of heritage but the good news of the gospel is that, in Jesus Christ, they can leave that kind of legacy. There was a time when my family lines did not know anything of the grace of God in Christ. But then there were some who heard the message and dared to trust Him — and I have reaped the benefit of their faith. In the same way, you might be the first in your line who has received the Lord Jesus, but it can be a blessing to a thousand generations.

Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Your relationship with God will be a legacy for your children, your grandchildren and generations to come.

No Recession in God’s Provision

The LORD is my Shepherd;
I shall not want.

(Psalm 23:1)

When we look to the Lord our Shepherd, we will not lack or be in want for anything. No recession there.

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who delights greatly in His commandments …
Wealth and riches will be in his house.

(Psalm 112:1, 3)

No recession there, either, when we live in awe of God and delight in His commandments.

The LORD give you increase more and more,
You and your children.

(Psalm 115:14)

God has increase for us, and that is the opposite of recession. That goes for our children, too.

Honor the LORD with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

(Proverbs 3:9-10)

That certainly doesn’t sound like recession. God gives us increase, we honor Him with it. That brings forth even more increase — plenty and abundance.

“Bring all the tithes in the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,
If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for you sakes.”

(Malachi 3:10-11)

Recession is a devourer. When we give God charge of our finances, He rebukes the devourer for our sakes.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Always having all sufficiency in all things, and abundance for every good work. Certainly no recession there.

And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

God has increase, provision and abundance for His people and it is far greater than any recession the world has to offer. So keep giving, sowing, investing and doing what God has called you to do. You will have more than enough.

There is no recession in God’s provision. Never has been, never will be.

The Table of Considering Him

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 3:1)

In Hebrew 3, the author compares the Lord Jesus to Moses. Moses was the “apostle” of the Old Testament. The Law and the pattern for the Tabernacle were given through him. As John notes, “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:14). The Lord Jesus is the Apostle of the New Covenant. Not only the Apostle, but also the High Priest, for as the author of Hebrews later tells us, “He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). Indeed, He is the sacrifice on which that covenant is based, as He declared at the Last Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).

It is this Jesus whom we are called to “consider.” The Greek word speaks of a fixed attention to Him. It is not a passing thought or acknowledgment but a sustained focus. In Him, we are made “holy brethren” (to be holy means to be set apart for God’s will and desire). In Him, we are partakers of the “heavenly calling.” For we were born, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). We belong to Him.

He is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. The Greek noun comes from the verb homologeo, which means to speak the “same word.” It is a word of agreement. In this case, it is about agreeing with God about Jesus Christ. Everything He has promised is fulfilled for us in Christ, who is the mediator of the new and better covenant we have with God.

At the Table of the Lord, we focus all our attention on the Lord Jesus, His body and blood given for us, and with it, all the blessing and promise of God. We confess Him, that He is our Lord, our salvation, our resurrection and our life. In Him, we are made holy and called brothers. In Him, we partake of the heavenly calling, which speaks of divine initiative and living life on a new and higher basis — the reality of heaven becomes ours.

Come to the Table of the Lord and consider, in a sustained and sustaining way, the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess as our own.

Your Identity, Position and Possession in Christ

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

We are very used to leaning on our own understanding, particularly when difficulties arise. It is how the world has discipled us very patiently for so many years. When we do not have a vital relationship with God, it is all we know. But in Jesus Christ, we are called to a new discipleship, to understand and live in a radically different way. It comes out of our new identity, our new position, and our new possession in Him.

Who we are in Jesus Christ.
We are now children of God. We are no longer orphans, for He has not given us “the spirit of bondage again to fear,” but “the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15). As His children, we are made partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

Where we are in Jesus Christ.
We are now seated with Christ in the heavenlies, at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20-21; 2:6), the place of ruling and reigning.

What we have in Jesus Christ.
Jesus has given us the authority of His name:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do , that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)

Jesus has also given us the power of the Holy Spirit, just as He promised the disciples: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). We have been given the testimony of who Jesus is, all His aspects, and why He came. It is not just the testimony of words, but also of power. “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed … in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God” (Romans 15:18-19).

In the uncertainty of these times, do not let your heart be troubled by falling back on your own understanding. You believe in God, believe also in Jesus and who you are, where you are seated and what you have been given in Him.

Pouting and Whining, or Patiently Waiting?

LORD, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too difficult for me.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself
like a little weaned child with its mother;
I am like a little child.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.

(Psalm 133 HCSB)

Weaning is the difference between pouting and whining, and patiently waiting. It is not needing to understand everything or getting involved with things that are beyond us. It is not complaining when things don’t go the way we think they ought.

Weaning is very different. It is about calming and quieting oneself. God will not do it for us; we must do it ourselves—it is part of coming to maturity. It is a matter of faith—trusting God—without which we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6).

In the natural, little children wean away from their mother’s breast. They get less agitated and begin the process of learning patience, trusting that their hunger pangs will be satisfied and their basic needs met.

Many people move past those early forms of weaning; others do not. You can tell them when you see them; they are the ones who whine, complain, mutter and mope about everything. They have not learned patience. The do not calm and quiet themselves. They have not learned how to wean.

Unfortunately, there are even Christians who have not weaned themselves concerning a great many things. They are forever complaining to God. “Well, I don’t understand why God doesn’t do this?” and “Why doesn’t God something about that?” and “How could God let this happen?” They do not exercise self-control. Self-control is in them. It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), who is in them, but they do not yield themselves to the Spirit and allow Him to bring forth that fruit. When they complain, they are not really trusting God (faith is another fruit of the Spirit).

Because they are not quieting and calming themselves by trusting in God, they are full of fear about everything. What they experience with their senses becomes more real to them than the promise and provision of God. They are controlled by their circumstances and full of anxiety. “God has not given us a spirit of fear,” the Bible says, “but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The Greek word for “sound mind” actually means “discipline” or “self-control.” In other words, God has given us the ability to quiet and calm ourselves, to wean ourselves.

David learned how to wean himself from a proud heart and haughty eye. When things didn’t go his way, in fact, when things went seriously against him, he learned how to encourage himself in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6; see How to Encourage Yourself in the LORD for more on this). When the nations were against him, the word he received from the Lord was, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

Having learned the lessons of calming and quieting himself before God, his protector and provider, David gives us this advice: “Put your hope in the LORD, both now and forever.” The Hebrew word for “hope” is not tentative, but certain. It speaks of a positive expectation, even a joyful anticipation. It is a word of faith.

Have you learned to wean yourself, to calm and quiet yourself before the Lord, to be still and know that He is God? Are you pouting and whining about the circumstances of your life, or are you patiently waiting. Put your trust in God. Believe His Word, stand on His promises, expect His goodness to come through for you, both now and forever.

Whatever Happens, Please Remain Seated

God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us … made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Every believer in Jesus Christ has been made alive together with Him, raised up together with Him, and seated together with Him in the heavenlies. Notice carefully that this is not something that has yet to happen; it is an accomplished fact. It is not a future hope, but a present reality.

Where is Jesus seated? Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:20-22. God raised Jesus and seated Him “at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is name, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet.”

Jesus has been seated at the right hand of the Father. It is a throne, a place of ruling and reigning. He is seated far above all principality, power, might and dominion, and every name that can be named. This is a statement about His authority. All has been placed under His feet.

That is where Jesus is seated. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul tells us that we are seated there with Him — in that same place of ruling and reigning! We are not merely “above the fray.” We have authority over it. It is the authority of prayer in the name of Jesus and faith in the Word of God.

We are fully authorized agents of God’s kingdom, given charge by our Lord and High King to pray, “Kingdom of God, come. Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Do not be shaken by the turmoil of these days. You are a representative of the kingdom of God — indeed, of the King Himself. You have the authority to bring things on earth into line with the plan of God and the purpose of heaven, just as Jesus taught us to pray.

Your place is on the throne of heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever happens, please remain seated.

Time to Speak Up for the Voiceless

Speak up for those who have no voice,
for the justice of all who are dispossessed.

Speak up, judge righteously,
and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.

(Proverbs 31:8-9 HCSB)

It is time to “speak up,” to “open your mouth,” as the NKJV puts it, for those who have no voice, for those who are dispossessed, for the oppressed and needy. Today in America, there are none more helpless, oppressed and needy than the millions of preborn infants who are being aborted.

It is time for us to judge righteously and to choose righteous judges — judges who will do what is right.

This election season, the choice before us is quite clear. How morally misguided and confused does one have to be to suppose that a baby would ever be a punishment? The Bible says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD” (Psalm 127:3). To ever view them as anything less is misanthropic.

How morally bankrupt does one have to be to say that it is “above his pay grade” to determine when life begins and then proceed to advocate for the destruction of preborn through abortion? It would be like a hunter who thinks he sees a deer rustling in the woods, but suspects that it could possibly be a human being — and goes ahead and shoots anyway! It is morally irresponsible.

And what can be said for the same man who supports killing an infant who somehow survives and abortion. There is no doubt that life had begun for such a little one and to advocate for his destruction is nothing short of evil.

This candidate does not judge righteously, but evilly, and his legacy will be evil as he selects judges with same morally warped standards.

It is time to stand up and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The slaughter of millions of innocents is quite sufficient cause to vote against one who is so callously for their destruction.

Let your voice be heard.

There is Always a Choice

How happy is the man
who does not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path of sinners,
or join a group of mockers!
Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

(Psalm 1:1-3 HCSB)

We always have a choice about which direction we will go: Whether we will follow the advice of the wicked, take the path of sinners and join the mockers—or instead, delight in the instruction of the Lord and meditate continually on it.

It is the difference between the way of the world and the way of the Word. The world has a wisdom to impart, but it is a way of envy and self-seeking and leads to confusion and every kind of evil (James 3:15-16). It is, in a word, demonic.

But the wisdom of the Word is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and hypocrisy. It is the wisdom that comes from heaven, and is encompassed in the instruction of the Lord. This wisdom will always lead to good results. It says,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct your path.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
and strength to your bones.

(Proverbs 3:5-8)

The one who trusts in the Lord with all his heart and acknowledges Him in all things will be firmly established and well supplied, like a tree planted beside streams of water. He will have abundance in the season of bearing fruit and will prosper in everything he does. However, things will not work out so well for those who follow the way of the world.

The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not survive the judgment,
and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

(Psalm 1:4-6 HCSB)

There is always a choice of which way we will honor, even in this election season. Trust in the Lord and meditate on His instruction. Acknowledge Him with your vote, and He will show you where to cast it. His way is greater than that of either of the candidates, and far more powerful and productive of righteousness and prosperity.