Tag: Faith

God is For Me

May 21st, 2025

Psalm 118 – what a wonderful song of David. I know you know many songs that have been written from this Psalm. One day in Heaven, the Psalmist himself can sing it for us.

We know songs like, “Forever” and “This is the Day”, “Hosana (blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord)”, and so many others. Today I am thinking of Hezekiah Walker’s song, “God is For Me”.

Psalm 118:4 says, “let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His faithful love endures forever.” That’s a good place to start, then there comes action and understanding for us to experiences.

David knew trouble, he says in v12, “they surrounded me like bees… 13 they pushed me hard to make me fall 14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” It is often only THROUGH it all, that we understand who is IN it all, and is FOR us.

Let me come back to the verse that spoke to me today: this phrase David used elsewhere because Life is Hard. v5 “I called to the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place.” Let me tell you the “spacious place”; the spacious place is faith, truth, and love.

Here is the understanding, I often say, “not all things are good, but God IS good in all things.”

v6 – “the Lord is FOR me” – FOR = Toward

Oh people, if we call to the Lord, take our eyes off the distress, and put them on the Lord… When I look to the Lord, I find he is looking on me, toward me, over me, and what I face. Our adversary, that liar, says God doesn’t car… but The LORD IS FOR ME. and so, I will NOT be afraid… I will recognize then, what can a mere mortal do to me?. David sings this also in Psalm 56:4, 11 – a passage I love, and have written my own song along that verse. David is quoted in Hebrews 13:6 and recalled in Romans 8:31.

When I’m looking at my trouble, my adversary, they might seem large, formidable, but when I look to the Lord, I put them in perspecive, and even if they seem bigger than me, God is Bigger, God is For / toward me.

So, I will not BE afraid. In that understanding, David sings, in Psalm 56:4, “in God, whose word I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

I love the comparative options in Psalm 56:3,4 – WHEN I am afraid, I will trust… 4… in God I trust, I will NOT BE afraid. If fear sunk in, trust God, and in that spacious place, fear, like darkness, is pushed out by light, and if I will trust, sit in that spacious place, then fear’s darkness can’t get in.

In Distress, say, “God is For me” keep singing that – Look to Him – Call to Him – Trust Him – He is God – He is in Control – Victory is Coming.

What is the “worst” a human can do? Take your life? Well, only if God allows, and then Sudden Death = Sudden Glory –

God is FOR me.
Just a Loaf of Barley Bread

April 30th, 2025

In Judges 7, Gideon is being used by God to free the people of Israel from Midianite oppressors. God had cut down his force from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300, but God is getting ready to do something amazing.

v7 – The Lord said to Gideon, ‘I will deliver you with three hundred men…’

v9 – The Lord said, ‘Get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you.’

I love that God knows us, and when he has already made provision he still gives instruction. He told him to go, but knew what Gideon was feeling, so without a pause immediately says,

v10 – But if you are afraid to attack the camp, go down…(to the camp) 11 Listen to what they say, and you will be encouraged to attack the camp

Encouragement to Go and DO as God says, is my whole point today.

So, Gideon goes down, not to attack, but to Listen… You have to see the picture. It’s night, and an army is like a swarm of locusts and their camels innumerable as the sand

He goes down the edge of camp with his servant and v13 says, there was a man telling his friend about a dream… ‘I had a dream: a LOAF OF BARLEY BREAD came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent and it fell. The LOAF turned the tent upside down so it collapsed.‘ v14 His friend says, ‘this is… the sword of Gideon, son of Joash… God has handed the entire camp to him.’

We need to know that God can do ANYTHING, use ANYONE, if we will go and do as he says.

I chased this rabbit a little and Josephus is credited as saying that a loaf of barley bread, “men can hardly eat for its coarseness. Barley was “the poor man’s food and less desirable.”

Now, the Midianites had been watching all year as they planted and raised good wheat, and then would come in with their mass of men, and steal all they had like locusts. So Israel was left only with what the locusts wouldn’t eat or couldn’t carry off. They were left with the hard grain barely, poor people’s food. Josephus even says that Israelites were negatively referred to as “barley eaters”.

Yet a Barley Loaf, was dreamt rolling into the camp and wiping them all out.

My mind then jumped to John 6 when a massive crowd of thousands is following Jesus, and they were hungry. Jesus asks the question of his disciples, v5 “where will we BUY bread so that these people can eat?”. We are immediately told in v6 that he was testing them with this question.

Philip said, two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each to have a little. That’s eight months wages… not enough.

Now you put that with Gideon’s 300 men against a swarm of attackers, and they are just like a poor man’s loaf of barley bread – yet they take down the enemies.

So, Jesus, 1150 years later on the shores of Galilee, wanting to feed thousands in John 6, and good old Andrew, such a practical, “let’s see what we can do” guy, in v9 says ‘there’s a boy here who has Five Barley Loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’

Lord, we have Five Barley Loaves…

Then if you have a “red-letter” bible, Jesus is recorded as saying two things, ‘have the people sit down’… ‘collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.’

In between those two sentences, he took the Barley Loaves and little bait fish, blessed them, and distributed them – as much as they wanted… when they were full

Wow – as an old gospel song used to say, “Little is Much when God is In It”

The simplest, poorest thing we have is powerful when God has it in HIS hands and we give it freely and use as he instructs.

Then I must connect the next day – they all came again looking for Jesus and he says, ‘you come because you ate the loaves… but don’t work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life.

They were filled with poor boys food, touched by Jesus, but now v35 I am the bread of life… comes to men never hungry

He goes on a long explanation, I am the living bread… the one who eats lives forever… and yet that day many turned back and never followed him again. God in Christ IS the Bread We Seek.

We may not think we are much, and we are right. We may be Barley Loaves, but God does Transformative things with “poor man’s bread” if we will believe and come
The Ministry of the Glory

April 22nd, 2025

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 – give it a read first

v18 is where I started in the passage and it is a fantastic “glory climax”, but there is so much wonder in this chapter that sometimes we miss that Paul says, “we… are looking as in a mirror, at the glory of the Lord…”

All of us have sinned and come short of the glory, but when we received Jesus by faith we entered into his glory – Romans 3:24 says we were justified fully by his grace. We received it freely, fully, in justification, while we aren’t experiencing it fully, we ARE being sanctified day by day.

The false god of this age, 2 Corinthians 4:4 blinds us. Yet, Jesus came to give us Life and Light.

Back in 2 Corinthians 3:16, whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. That’s right, whenever and whomever… when we TURN.

The veil gone, we can see, like in a mirror. In Paul’s day the mirror was often metal or bronze, darkly, 1 Corinthians 13:12 says only a reflection… But still, when we look at our face in a mirror – what should we be seeing? Our actions, attitudes, acknowledgements, acceptances, aspirations, changing. Every day we should see the glory of God growing in us; shining more fully like the sun’s glow on the dark predawn horizon, then more light, then a glimmer, then a half sun, and rising from dawn into the sky, through morning until the glory of mid-day.

Are you seeing the image of Christ developing in your life, from glory TO glory? Do you see it? Does it surprise you? Do you see yourself responding in life’s challenges differently today than last year, ten years ago, or maybe a day ago? Paul closes by saying this is from the Lord.

Earlier in this passage he says that just as the beauty of the Old Testament is missing the understanding without the New Revelation; so we are blessed with the Full Revelation, the Incarnation of Jesus. Then the Manifestation is he comes to live in us by his Spirit. Praise God for the Culmination that is yet to come. Yet, along the way, a Transformation is taking place.

Paul, speaking of the Old Covenant says it had been glorious (but) is not glorious now by comparison because of that glory that surpasses it.

So, day by day, looking in the mirror, you should see the glory of Jesus Christ growing as you are being transformed into the Same Image from glory to glory

Oh Yes

I could go on… but just as my hair was all over the place when I looked into the mirror this morning, and my face didn’t reflect the image I wanted, I had work to do… So it is with my Spiritual Journey.

I look into God’s Word, into my heart, to my thoughts and actions, and I must surrender to truth, to the power of the Spirit, and BE as I am BEING transformed.

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 says Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God – I love the way the CSB uses that word “adequacy”. I don’t have anything, but God works in me to make what I have adequate to do what he is doing to transform me.

Oh the Glory – old and new, day to day. If you don’t know Fred Hammond, go search him and “Glory to Glory” – that’s the song ringing in my heart right now.

Go read ALL of 2 Corinthians 3. Meditate and ask God what he is saying to you. Read it again, and then a third time at least read vv16-18. Then do what I often say we should do every day – P.R.A.Y. – Pray, Read, Apply, and say, “Yes”

Look in the Mirror and watch the Glory Grow
Do What God is NOT Hiding – Genesis 18

March 26th, 2025
Has God ever revealed something he wanted to do and you thought, “that’s crazy, never gonna happen, I can’t do it?”

Have you ever felt like God was doing something but he wasn’t revealing it to you?

Well, let’s think outside the box for a minute, but focus on what’s IN the box too.

Abraham had moved to Mamre in Genesis 13 and built an altar to the Lord there. I could stop right there… build a house where the thing known and remembered is that you Worship God There… Yes

But let me move on… Remember God had a promise that he would turn this childless man, too old for children, into a Father of a Nation that would bless History, All Peoples.
Now you flash forward to Genesis 18 and the Lord appears to him, and promises it is time for fulfillment, giving Sarah a son. Now 25 years has passed since the first promise, and Abraham is way too old now.

His wife Sarah overheard the conversation and laughed. And God knows what she has done, and the Lord says, “is anything impossible for God” v14

The Lord is on his way down to Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and about to impart Just Judgement on them. The Lord wonders with his fellow travelers, “should I hide this thing … from Abraham” v17

This passage has always struck me as where I wanted to be. I want to be so aware and sensitive to the Lord’s movement, that if he is going to do something around me and me not know, he’d have to hide it.

The Lord does reveal his plan to Abraham, and laudably, Abraham intercedes for the wicked town. His nephew Lot and family live there. That concern is profound and worth noting, but the bigger thing for me is the relationship with the Lord that was so close. I have been struck by v17 most of my life, desiring to be such a friend of God that I would know when he is moving.

I may sometimes not know why but want to be aware that he is moving and able to engage with the Lord.

So, here’s where I take a sideways thought today. vv16-19 is a Spiritual Conversation between the Lord and the Heavenly Representatives regarding Justice and God’s Purpose for Abraham.

Abraham is chosen, and his offspring could be affected by the sin in the region, so God, who has been patient, must act. We don’t always know what God is doing, but we can be sure it is always Just and always for bigger purposes. He sees the possible ends and is moving toward the desired end.

Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.” – Gen18:18-19 (CSB)

Here is my point today… Does God always reveal everything he is doing and why? NO

Is God always Just and Right? YES

Sometimes we might think God is hiding or is not on the right path…
1. He is always on the right path
2. If he is hiding / silent – DO the Last thing he told you to do. Act on the Revelation you have.
3. It’s ok to ask, to intercede, but don’t get stuck there
God just revealed to them that the promise of a child is finally coming… ACT ON THAT.

“Well that’s crazy! I’m not fit for that task, Lord.”

Well, get ready, get fit. Seek God’s provision for the task, not a task you are fit for. Act on the revelation rather than seeking a different revelation.

Abraham was a great man, but a troubled man. So much of his troubles, lying, deception, would have been more easily dealt with if he trusted the revelation he had.

12:3 I will bless those who bless you… curse those who curse you… all the people of the earth will be blessed through you”

15:1 do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield, your reward will be great

15:5 Look at the sky and count the stars… your offspring will be that numerous. Abram believed and he credited it to him as righteousness

Now in chapter 18 Abraham is struggling to believe because life has made it hard to believe, then we get to chapter 20, and he is fearful again and lied to Abimelech and had to correct the wrongs.

My thought to finish then is if we would spend more time focused on and working on what we DO know, have faith in the revelation we have received, we can then operate without fear of the things we do not know.

There you go, I set that down quickly… Selah – think on these things.
Home or Away… Pleasing

March 18th, 2025
Are you ever displeased with your home / station / circumstances? It’s easy to be affected or effected by a desire for pleasure in our palace.

2 Corinthians 5 begins, “we know if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling, not made by hands, in the heavens“

When I grew up, my father was the pastor of many churches. His ministry meant that I lived in eight places in four states before I was 18 years old. I have been in seven places in the last 42 years, but that has included two states and a foreign country. That’s perhaps much more than most.

We have said, “home is where the Lord says.”

Certainly, when we think about earth and eternity, if we believe what we do, heaven is the place to be. But Look at the comparisons Paul uses:
- Earthly Tent
  - we “live” in – exist, do life
  - we know it will end – be destroyed
  - we make our way
  - we groan
  - we are desiring the heavenly
- Building From God
  - a fixed structure
  - not made with human hands
  - an eternal (aionios = age long) dwelling (oikia = home/house)
The Honest Truth is that sometimes we over focus on either of those. Sometimes we hold too tightly to earth or focus too much on our desire for eternity.

Notice the reminder and clarifier in v5 – We have been given the Holy Spirit, as a down payment. So, what we feel/experience of The Spirit in our lives is but a “foretaste of the divine”.

Because of sin, our destiny was destroyed. Death became our destination. But IN Christ, we are prepared for a new purpose, an eternal purpose. So, v6, we have confidence – always, know (oida)=appreciate / aware that when we are at home – endemeo = to BE at home. That word is though not a passive reality, but is in present active tense. We may not BE home, but we must actively BE AT home. We aren’t in our eternal dwelling, but we choose to be at home away from home.

v7 FOR / because – we need to live “because” or “for” lives… What is the “because”? We walk by faith, not by sight.

We have faith, fed by the Holy Spirit within us, knowing that the fullness of the promise is coming. This world is not my home, but I’m going to be at home, wherever God has placed me for the purpose he gives me.

I have faith in the future, but I live BY faith, FOR faith, IN faith, to the things I am here for.

Certainly, v8, we would prefer to be away from this broken, imperfect body. It’s just a tent, I can camp, but I don’t want to live there. We want to go home to be with the Lord. But “home” is where God says, so today, this moment, every moment…

v9…we make it our aim…

…wait, back up, whether home or away, present or absent…

we make it our aim – fun word there – philotimeomai = have as one’s ambition – My ambition is not to have heaven today… in Christ having heaven will take care of itself… that’s NOT my ambition today. My ambition, in every circumstance, every season, every location is to be pleasing to him
- Know what pleases him
- Know my purpose here
- Know what’s important today
Home or Away – Pleasing – driven by a desire for the Lord’s Approval… that’s the only thing I can control.
Don’t Receive The Grace of God In VAIN – 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

February 25th, 2025

That definer… “in vain” has been in my head the last few weeks. It’s the Greek word, kenon = vain, empty, empty-handed. That’s what Paul says in v1 – don’t receive it empty handed. Doesn’t mean we can EARN it, but we also can’t neglect it.

v2 at an acceptable time, I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Paul is quoting Isaiah 49:8 – “I will answer you in a time of favor and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritance.”

Then Paul says “See, now is the acceptable time… the day of salvation…”

Paul writes this 700 years after Isaiah wrote this promise.

Now – In Jesus – it is “the time” – YAY! So, everything is easy peezy, roses and cupcakes… Right? Nope – The Gospel Work is HARD

v4 As God’s ministers we commend ourselves – sunistemi = “commend, establish, stand near”

What does the servant of God, the minister of salvation by the Gospel “stand near”?

ANYTHING NECESSARY – Look at his list.

…Endurance, affliction, hardship, difficulties – wait… ok… I’ll try… maybe it won’t be too bad

…BEATINGS, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger… WOW… uh…

…purity, knowledge, patience, kindness… in the midst of all of that, this might be the hardest part… HOW?

…By the Holy Spirit, “Sincere love… that word for sincere is anypokritos = without hypocrisy. It should go without saying that when hypocrisy enters the story, true agape goes out the door.

…by the Word of truth, by the power (dynamis) of God. Oh Yes, we need God’s dynamite.

…Through weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left hand. Oh saint, do not make excuse for righteousness in one hand but selfishness in the other.

…through glory and dishonor… slander and good report… regarded as deceivers, yet true

…unknown yet recognized… dying, yet See, we live… disciplined yet not killed

…grieving, yet always (aei=constantly) Rejoicing

…as poor, yet enriching many – ploutizo=making rich. I may be poor, but I can make others rich.

v10 closes as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Point?

When I receive salvation by Grace through faith… I can’t earn it. It is from God, but I don’t come back to the Lord “empty-handed”.

I’m coming full of the reality of what it means to be a servant for the people who need the gospel.
Take a minute and go read 1 Peter 1:6-8 as a companion

By the Grace of God

By the Power of God

For the Kingdom of God… until Kingdom comes… willing to “Stand Near” Hardship and Heartache, Suffering, Slander, or Suffering

“Standing Near” the Slipping Saint, The Sorrowful Sinner, in the Spirit’s Strength.

We come Sanctified and Surrendered as the Savior’s Servant, never empty-handed or “in vain” receiving and proclaiming the grace of God
Then Elijah Became Afraid

February 25th, 2025
The greatest moves of God in our lives can often be followed by the greatest challenges. Why is that? The challenges are often fed by shift in focus and fatigue that follow the great move, and the challenges then can be fueled by fear.

As I was thinking through this, a very real and personal feeling set in, “imposter syndrome”. When God is leading and God is working, while we trust him, he has success. But, we know that it isn’t us and we are fine with that… Yet as the “evil one” comes against us, we know it’s not us, yet he makes accusations, threats, and we are tired. Then we think, “they are going to find out that I’m not good at this.

1 Kings 18 tells the story of Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal under the faulty lead of Ahab and Jezebel in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, after they split with Judah.

Remember, it hadn’t rained in three years as God was correcting them, calling them back to himself, for repentance to result in forgiveness.

18:1 says “go present yourself to Ahab, I will send rain.”

The only thing Elijah was responsible for was the message, and then God does the “God-stuff”.

But in v17 Ahab called Elijah, “the one RUINING Israel.”

Ahab called the false prophets to Mt. Carmel to “show” their power to the people. You know that story I’m sure… the false prophets prayed and did all they could to get Baal to consume their prepared altars of sacrifice. But nothing happened.

Then Elijah prayed, v36, Lord… today let it be known that you are God in ISrael, I am y our servant, and that at your word I have done all these things… 37 Answer me Lord… so that this people will know that YOU, The Lord are God… and have turned their hearts back…

Good Prayer… v38 then the fire fell… 39 the people saw it, fell face down and said, ‘the Lord He is God!’

Elijah had his eyes on God. Elijah was focused on what God wanted – Repentance as a result of this revelation. Elijah did nothing but what God said… and God took care of the “God-stuff”.

Rain came as the people turned to the Lord, but evil attacks and threatens. In spite of all God had done, 1 Kings 19:2 – Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah…

Here is our focus… v3 Then Elijah became afraid and ran for his life from Jezebel into Beersheba

He had shifted his focus, stopped turning to God, was alone, was tired, knew he wasn’t “good enough”, and was perhaps afraid that he was being “found out.”

Go back there to 18:46 … look he ran to Jezreel, which depending on the route was between 17 and 30 miles – I’m a runner and know how long that would take me… and outran Ahab’s chariot. That’s power of God. But now he’s running from the threat, he ran for his life, to Beersheba, that’s 100 miles more. Then he LEAVES his servant behind, he’s completely alone, and he goes “a days journey” into the wilderness. Now he’s hiding.

Well, then he prays… that’s good right? Well, he prays for death! I have had enough! Lord take my life.” Then he went to Sleep.

I’m glad the Lord doesn’t always answer every prayer.

I could spend a long time here, but let me just make some quick observational statements about dealing with this kind of fear.
- You are NOT an imposter, you are a servant. The power is God’s, and so is the outcome
- Keep your eyes and ears on the Lord. If he says “go”, then go. If he says “stay” then stay, and trust him.
- Get Rest and Nourishment
  - An Angel touched him – told him to eat and drink
  - He went back to sleep
  - Then THE Angel of the Lord – that’s JESUS – woke him and had him eat again – Get up and eat for The Journey will be TOO much for you
- Listen to and Follow God – Then on THAT Strength… he walked 40 Days and 40 Nights to Horeb the Mountain of God
Maybe we will look later at what happens next – but With God – Focused ON God, we can DO what God wants… and be ready for whatever is next.
The Kingdom of God is Like This

February 25th, 2025
Mark 4:26-34 – We’ve heard Jesus talk about four kinds of soil – Hard, Rocky, Thorny, and Good. Three of the four produce, but one produced nothing and one produced much fruit.

satan is at work and desires to steal seed before it ever has opportunity to germinate. Distress and persecution thwart growth of willing plants with no roots, they receive with joy, but too many things hinder deeper roots. Worries of this age and the deceitfulness of material things and misplaced desires choke out the seed sown among the thorny, weedy ground. Then there is good ground that produces good fruit. In all cases, there is work to be done that can give life and increase.

Do we see the revelation? Are we willing to do the work? We have to Pay Attention. To the level that we “take heed”, it will be measured out to us 4:24.

As we read this last part, casual reading can give false understanding. This is not teaching lazy husbandry… i.e. toss out the seed and go to bed… don’t do anything until the harvest. No, I don’t think so. But it is teaching us to DO what we know and Trust God for his part.

Certainly over the centuries we have gotten educated on how to prepare and produce more effectively, but we still have to trust the Lord. Yet still, the soil needs to be prepared. Seeds need to be gathered. Seed needs to be scattered on the prepared ground – but it is Still God who makes it sprout, “though (we) don’t know how”. The soil produces a crop by itself, yes, but we can prepare it so there is greater opportunity.
- Sprouts need to be nurtured and understood – “Blade… Head… Full Grain”. We need to know the health, know the development of the sprouts.
- Then “as soon as” (euthus = straightway, early, immediately, just then) Are we paying attention? Are we ready when time is ripe? Are we on time with where the sprout is in the process? “as soon as” means we are in time with the development. When the crop is ready, we don’t have time to wait… it is ripe now.
- Send for the sickle –
All of this long passage is talking about the business of God. We must be IN TUNE, ON TIME, With TOOLS, and TEND to the Master’s Business.

Some scripture referencing use of a sickle are “wrath” passages, refering to how God will one day make final judgment on the wicked who refuse his grace. Yet even those passages speak about the process and the urgency of timing.

Joel 3:13 says swing the sickle because harvest is Ripe… Come trample the Grapes because the winepress is full

The vats overflow because the wickedness is extreme. Yes it’s talking about judgment, but notice the process and timing.

Plant, nurture, trust the Lord, but In Tune, you don’t harvest the “blade”, or the “head”, or even the “full grain” that is not yet mature… but WHEN it’s ripe… swing the sickle

He says, “come”… you can’t stay at the house when the field is full of ripe fruit. When the ripe fruit is gathered, you can’t leave it, it has to be transformed into product. In every stage, if we don’t work at the business of the Master, the product is left unfinished.

Whether we are talking about grapes or wheat… or even sheep… they all have an expected outcome. Are we doing the work?

In TUNE

On Time

With Tools

Tend to the Master’s Business until he comes and says, “well done”.

Might not seem like much up front. He shifts in vv30-32 to talking about a little Mustard seed. It doesn’t seem like much, but it turns into a large plant in the garden. Leave the final size in his hands, do what we are commissioned to do.

Then John reminds us in v34 that Jesus would go into much more detail in private with his disciples. If we will Draw Close to the Lord, Ask the questions, we will hear answers, and prove we are disciples.

Oh the Kingdom Business – Thank you Lord for “foolishly” including us.
What do you do with a Lamp?

February 5th, 2025

Read Mark 4:21-25 – we have been in this chapter for a couple of weeks now. Light, Lamps, and Lampstands are scripture images of importance.

If you haven’t read my last two posts here in Mark 4 – please go back and read them so this all fits together.

In Revelation 1:13 and 20 Jesus is seen walking among the lampstands and those lampstands are identified as the Church.

In Mark 4 Jesus has begun speaking in parables to large crowds to spark interest and to encourage those who wanted to know more to seek him out privately for fuller revelation.

Already in this passage, he has talked about casting seed, and for different kinds of soil encountered by the Sower. We have looked at that and made the observation that 3 of the 4 types of soil produced growth, but only one produced a good crop.

Jesus then explained it in more depth to those who came to him in private conversation seeking deeper truth.

Then he “abruptly” seems to change the metaphor from seeds to a lamp, in v21. is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? – NO he isn’t changing the subject, he is making an observation about the revelation. He is saying, “I’ve taught you something, what will you do with it?” Because in v26 he goes back to talking about the seed and harvest.

The question then is what do we do with light?

In Revelation 1:20 the church is seen as a Lampstand – lychnia. A GOLDEN lampstand, but still just a vessel for display of light. As a church, we have light, but we are not the source of light. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus talks about light, lamp, and lampstand, but let’s not get too far chasing a rabbit.

Jesus is saying, “I’m giving you revelation here about light from the lamp, what will you do with the revelation, will you shine it or ignore it?”

What do we do with light? It’s like when James talks about the Word of God being like a mirror and we need to do something with what we see, or will we walk away and forget? When you wake up in the morning, and look in the mirror, will we comb our hair, or just imagine we look like our best photo on the wall, and go away with bedhead?

The Holy Spirit gives us Light, he Reveals Jesus to us, and his work in the world. We can be lit by the revelation and become light – (Phos) as in Matthew 5, but we are not the source. We are not the Lamp, we are light from the Lamp (lychnos), and we are Lampstands (Lychnia) who just hold up and shine forth the light.

So, with this light about the work of Sower with Seed and the Soils, Jesus asks: “do you bring in a lamp and put it under a basket or under the bed?”

I had to laugh at that image and think, there are some churches where the only fire in then is when they hide the lamp under the bed, catch “on fire” but they are burned up. Their only “fire” is on their tails as they run out. That made me laugh and then made me tear up a bit.

Will we hide the light of revelation here? NO! Let’s take the truth that Christ is revealing… put it on our stand, read, learn, adjust to what we see, and let it SHINE, change us, transform us.

Then v23 – if anyone has ears to hear… let him Listen

v24 – and he said to them PAY ATTENTION to what you hear

Pay Attention is the word blepo = beware, careful, consider – and is in the present active imperative – So Jesus is saying this is IMPORTANT, and needs to be done RIGHT NOW. Young Literal says take heed. NIV – carefully consider

This is important – what is the light being given? Be Careful, Pay Attention and Adjust to it!

If you are outside on a stormy night, in complete darkness, trying to get home, and lightning flashes and in that split second you see you are dangerously close to a Cliff… you need to Take Heed, and Give Care, Pay Attention to your Steps.

If we receive instruction, what will we do with the light?

Then here Jesus speaks of Conditional Results to How we respond to the Light… v24 by the measure you use it will be measured to you. What do we do with the instruction we have will determine the proportion of results. Then v25 whoever has, more will be given, whoever does not have, what he has will be taken.

Well, that doesn’t seem fair. Oh yes, it is. When you put this with the revelation regarding sowing, seeds, and soil, I cannot help but process this in a couple of way. If I have lots of seed, and lots of land, then just cast away and let the 4 soils do whatever they will… BUT… if we have limited land and limited resources, then develop the land you have to it’s fullest and use the resources in the best way possible for harvest.

“Pay Attention”, Jesus says. If we do the most with the light, with the resource, and see the result… God will enlarge our measure of responsibility. But if we hide the light, fail to use the resources, fail to develop the land, then he will invest his resources elsewhere…

And then notice the beginning of v26 and I’ll pick up there next week…

The Kingdom of God is Like This…

Oh my…
The Secret of the Kingdom

January 29th, 2025
Mark 4:11 – Jesus has just told the parable of the Sower, the Seeds, and the Soil… and The Twelve and other serious disciples come to him alone for instruction. They asked and he answered – the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. To whom? It’s given to those who seek it, who come close, who ask for answers.

Why are there “secrets”? The word mysterion – isn’t like a “who done it” mystery, but something that has been hidden and now is revealed. Why hide it? Well, partly because we are “children” and our understanding is limited. Then parents don’t always tell children everything, you stay with what matters and in proper timing can be understood.

The scriptures tell us parts of the story of God and Man, but there is a decidedly Israeli perspective because they were the “chosen” people of God. God was doing something through them, though, for ALL of mankind. In heaven will be an innumerable multitude from EVERY people, but God was using the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to produce the line through which Jesus would come for all, for any who would believe.

Secrets are also mysteries because God so chooses, and he is Sovereign and thus not required to tell, to reveal, everything.

Yet – if we will come, if we will listen, then mysteries can be revealed

The Sower sows a Seed, and we who have come, have understood, want to join in the revelation of the mystery.

Even the awful reality of the cross was advanced because the mystery was hidden. 1 Corinthians 2:7–9 (CSB) — 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived— God has prepared these things for those who love him.

If God didn’t keep parts of the plan a mystery, the cross doesn’t happen, our sins are not redeemed. He didn’t force the unjust killing of Christ, but used the unjust action to bring justification for all who receive. v9 God has prepared these things…

Mark 4:12 then Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10 – the first instruction to Isaiah. The idea there is not that men’s hearts were hardened without reason, but as a result of their OWN act of hardening, So God further moved them down their self-chosen path.

But if we will come to him, come as these in Mark, alone, with ears to listen, and ask, he answers.

And Jesus begins to explain the parable, but says in v13 don’t you understand this? Who then will you understand all the parables?

This is the basic stuff, Jesus is saying, let’s start at the basic, the secret is the sower sows the word… and there are different kinds of soil and response.

Different Types of Soil – Hard, Shallow, Unfruitful, and Good

Let’s go there for a minute
- Hard Ground – the Path. Nothing gets in, predators steal the seed, it is open to the predatory purloinment by the personification of evil.
- Shallow Soil – Rocky Ground – it is receptive, receives with joy – but have no depth to grow, no roots to sustain survival, open game for distress and persecution
- Thorny soil – there is plenty of soil there because the thorny weeds are growing. But those weeds have taken over the soil, consume the nutrients and nothing is left for the seed. It grows, but it doesn’t produce fruit. The deceitfulness of the age steals the opportunity for production. Sounds like it’s alive, but distracted from its purpose because the weeds run rampant
- Seeds Sown on Good Ground – they hear, welcome, produce fruit
If we are going to sow with The Sower – we have good seed, but what are we doing about the soil? What do we do with this conundrum?
- Only sow seed ON Good Ground? maybe
- Be ground Inspectors? maybe
- Be ground Preparers? maybe
- Perhaps we need to be doing ALL of those things
Interestingly – the Isaiah 6:9-10 quote, I don’t believe is saying “don’t tell”, but it is both a bit of “reverse psychology” and a statement of the reality. Not All WILL come, but in Isaiah’s life, God has just revealed himself to Isaiah. Isaiah sought God in the tragedy of Uzziah’s death, and he saw God’s Holiness. That revelation revealed his own unholiness, and he cried out for cleansing and the Lord forgave and cleansed him.

From that cleansed position… Isaiah hears God say, who will I send, who will go for us? And Isaiah throws up his hand and says, “Send ME! Pick Me Lord, Use me Lord!”

The Secret is the Sower has Seed to Sow, and He invites us into the work if we will hear and desire to join him, prepare the field, cast the seed, and move toward the harvest.

Now that you know, are you in? are you joining The Sower, and sowing the word?