Choose for yourselves this day...

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:15

I am facing something difficult for me right now. We have purchased a new house and are in the process of preparing it to move in. I have no doubt that the Lord directed us to this particular house, as it has everything that we were looking for and the whole purchasing process went very smoothly. The problem I face is not falling in love with the property.

I keep asking myself, “Whom are you going to serve?” I need to remain faithful to my God through this whole process and not become a slave to my desires. My true desire (and prayer every day that I am at the new house working) is that God will use the house as he has planned, for he surely must have a plan. I want this house to be to employed to his glory.

All of this leads me back to where I put my hope. “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” (1 Cor 5:1). I know that Paul was speaking specifically about our bodies in that passage, but it seems to be very applicable to my current state of mind.

Lord, let me be a good steward of that to which you have entrusted me. Keep my hope upon heaven above, not those things which seem to bring pleasure here below. You are my only true joy and hope, my peace. You are the rock on which I stand. Let your service never become undesirable to me. What or who else compares with you? Let me make the choice for you daily.

Darkness

“…even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

Psalm 139:12

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. All those who do evil hate the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

John 3:19-21

Lord – search my heart and find the dark places. Reveal them to me, that I may see them as you see them and despise them as you despise them. Let me not attempt cover or hide the darkness within me, but lay open those places in my heart that your light may shine upon them. Surely I cannot hide the darkness from you, for darkness is as light to you.

Without fear this day I ask that you will show me the darkness within me. I give it over to you. I openly offer to look upon it that I may acknowledge it and expose it to your light. I pray that I might become as transparent to myself as I am to you, recognizing that there is no hiding place within me where you have not searched. Change me, O Lord. Heal me.

"...let the LORD judge the peoples.

Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,

according to my integrity, O Most High."

Psalm 7:8

Amen and Amen

Faith, Hope, Love

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “
1Co 13:13

Most folks who have been Christians for any length of time are familiar with the “Love” passage of 1 Corinthians 13 (Audio). I have known it for many years myself. The scripture above was brought up in our Sunday school class on Sunday in the context of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, but for the first time in my life I looked past the word love and my mind settled at the word hope.

Faith is the basic requirement for being a follower of Christ. As the writer of Hebrews states in Heb 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” If we have no faith that He is, and no faith that he died for the remission of our sin, then we can have no relationship with him. Without faith, there can be no understanding of God.

Faith is the first step to Godliness. Love is the eventual outgrowth of a relationship with Christ by faith. It is the outward sign that we are in Christ. As Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Of the three – faith, hope and love – love shall remain when faith and hope are no longer needed. On that day we shall see the Lord face to face and know him as he knows us (1Co 13:12). Our hope (Rom 8:24) and faith will be fulfilled and therefore no longer needed. Love will remain when these others pass away. Because Love is the final evidence of a heart that is dedicated to God, I believe that the Love we show will be with us for eternity.

But what of hope? As I studied hope out in the scripture, I realized that it is mentioned nearly as often as faith and frequently along with faith and love. I began to wonder what hope brought to a relationship with Christ and realized that the scriptures have much to say about the subject. It is hope that keeps us pressing on when times get tough. Hope is what Jesus has called us to (Eph 1:18, 4:4). It is the hope of eternal life (Tit 1:2,3:7). Hope for the return of Christ (Tit 2:13). Hope in the glory of God (Rom 5:2). Without this hope, we cannot continue in our relationship with Christ. If faith is the beginning of this relationship, then hope is the growth and love is the outgrowth. The do not supersede each other, but continue concurrently, building on one another to complete us.

Where do I put my hope? Is it in my bank account? Do I hope that I will have enough money to buy the toys I want? Do I hope that the next tornado will bypass my house? Do I hope that my health will hold out as I grow older? Or do I hope for the return of Christ? Do I hope for eternal glory in God’s presence?

"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:23-25.

We were awakened this morning by the storm sirens. Not so pleasant an awakening, but I was in good spirits. The storms always seem to remind me of God; that His hand is at work on this earth.


I think about the peoples of West Africa. They are spiritual people – superstitious and believing in a cause and effect relationship in everything. I wonder how they interpret the storms? The rains? The thunder and lighting? Surely they believe that their gods are responsible for every weather event. It seems a shame to me that we have lost this belief. We talk of weather in very scientific terms and matter-of-fact ways. We leave God out of it. After all – we have Doppler radar.

In my daily reading in 1 Samuel Chapter 7 this morning, the Israelites were gathered at Mizpah and Samuel was interceding for them with the Lord. The Philistines came to attack them and the people were frightened but Samuel offered a burnt offering and cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf. The scripture says that the Lord “thundered with a loud thunder against the Philistines” and threw them into a panic. Soon the Philistine army was thoroughly defeated by Israel, and the Israelites lived in peace for many years.

My prayer for the peoples of West Africa is not that they abandon their spirituality, but that they recognize the one true God and worship him in Spirit and Truth. They already recognize the supernatural – I pray that they will come to know ‘Who’ the supernatural is. I pray that they may know the One that sends the rain and the thunder. The One that makes the moon and sun rise in their courses.

My prayer for this nation is that we will once again embrace the spirituality that we have long ago forgotten. We know the one true God already – let us acknowledge him in all our ways. Let us once again recognize and boldly acknowledge that He alone is the One that sends the rain and the thunder. The One that makes the moon and sun rise in their courses.