May God hear us

Psalm 120:1 NIV

1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.

The Psalmist prays to God to deliver him from the mischief designed him by false and malicious tongues.

If you have had time to watch the political debates that have been taking place; you would have heard many false and malicious words. It just seems people can’t win on their own integrity so they lambast the integrity of their opponents.

At times they use half-truths. For instance Ben Carson took time to return to Florida and rest and repack for the next set of debates and town halls. One of the TV networks said Ben Carson had dropped out of the race and those words got passed to a competitor politician who repeated them.

As people of God we need to be delivered from false and malicious tongues. We need people who can tell the truth at all cost. We need people with integrity and honor that remember God’s word and keep it holy.

Let us pray as a nation that God will deliver us from the mischief designed by Satan who uses false and malicious words to mislead us. May The Lord hear us and deliver us from our distress.

Count on Jesus

1 John 4:9 (NIV)

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

God commandeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Many years ago, in my first pastorate, I met with a teenage girl in our congregation. She was about sixteen at the time, and she was discouraged and becoming depressed. I tried to encourage her, but there was a revelatory moment when she said, "Yes, I know Jesus loves me, he saved me, he's going to take me to heaven—but what good is it when no boy at school will even look at me?"

She said she "knew" all these truths about being a Christian, but they were of no comfort to her. The attention (or the lack of it) of a cute boy at school was far more consoling, energizing, and foundational for her joy and self-worth than the love of Christ. Of course this was a perfectly normal response for a teenage girl. Nevertheless it was revealing of how our hearts work. [Jonathan] Edwards would say that she had the opinion that Jesus loved her, but she didn't really know it. Christ's love was an abstract concept while the love of these others was real to her heart.

[Timothy Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (Viking, 2015), page 163.]

Many of us may be looking for someone to love us, someone to fill the empty spot inside of us, someone we know we can turn to in a crisis. Let me clearly state there is only one who can fill every need you have and that person is Jesus Christ. Jesus died for you, for me and for the world that we would live eternal life through him. Know that when you can’t count on someone else, you can count on Jesus.

Love your neighbor

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

Christ extended the commandment of Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your mind to include loving your neighbor as yourself.

Charles Colson tells the following story about his home town of Naples, Florida, which he calls "one of the garden spots of the world."

It's an absolute nirvana for all golfers, and they all come there. They're all CEOs of major corporations, and they retire to Naples, and this is "it"—twenty-seven golf courses and miles of sparkling beach and the best country clubs. I watch these guys; they're powerful people. They have this New York look on their face; they're determined. But now, all of a sudden, they start measuring their lives by how many golf games they can get in.

I often say to them, "Do you really want to live your life counting up the number of times you chase that little white ball around those greens?" And they kind of chuckle, but it's a nervous chuckle, because in six months they've realized how banal their lives are, and they've got beautiful homes—castles—and when they get bored with that, they build a bigger castle, and they're miserable. The object of life is not what we think it is, which is to achieve money, power, pleasure. That's not the holy grail. The object of life is the maturing of the soul, and you reflect that maturing of the soul when you care more for other people than yourself.

[Eric Metaxas, Socrates in the City (Dutton, 2011), pp. 172-3]

Love your neighbor as yourself and you will find many blessing you did not realize that could exist.

Perfect Love

1 John 4:18 (NIV)

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Love considers God as most eminently good, and most eminently loving us in Christ, and so puts off dread, and puts on joy in him; and, as love grows, joy grows too; so that perfect love casteth out fear or dread. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

The Huffington Post ran a beautiful story about a church in Honolulu called Bluewater Mission. This small church started a restaurant called Seed, which gives people a second chance at work and at life. The article focused on a woman named Mary Nelson, who started working at Seed last year. It was only the second job the 53-year-old had ever had. At the age of 14, Nelson's mother committed suicide and she started working on the streets of New York City as a prostitute. At the age of 18 she tried to start a new life in Hawaii but she kept working as a prostitute.

Then when she was in her early 50s some Christians at Bluewater Mission persuaded her to leave the streets and try working at Seed. She spent the first six months washing dishes because she wanted to be far away from what she called, the "good people." But after a lot of hard work and love from the people at church Nelsons says, "I get to be the person I was never able to be. I get to help people without someone trying to take advantage of me."

Nelson noted that what she makes in a month at Seed, she used to make in one night on the streets. She had it all: new cars, jewelry, travel, nice condos—though, sometimes, beatings, rape and "so much horror" came with the price. "You can't buy what I'm going through right now," she says. "I never thought that I'd be this person I am now."

Recently, Nelson went with her church on a trip to the Philippines to reach out to prostitutes. She told the reporter, "I want those women to know there's hope. You can change. There are people out there that really want to help and you've got to … believe. Just like you went out there and took a chance on the streets, you've got to take a chance on this as well."

[Adapted from Carla Herreria, "Restaurant In Hawaii Offers Fresh Start For Former Prostitutes, Convicts, Others Who Need A Hand," The Huffington Post (2-28-15)]

Mary Nelson found love in the people who helped her change her life. At first she was fearful that others would judge her or be take advantage of her. Mary then found there was no fear in love; for those around her loved her as God intended.

Love

1 John 4:11-12 (NIV)

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

The example of God should press us. We should be followers (or imitators) of him, as his dear children. The objects of the divine love should be the objects of ours. Shall we refuse to love those whom the eternal God hath loved? [Matthew Henry Commentary]

Sanderson Jones, a former stand-up comedian who leads the Sunday Assembly—also known as the "atheist church"—spent Sunday attending three London churches and tweeting about his experience. His observations are surprising and an encouraging reminder for all churches. "I think churches should recognize that they are already doing so much right," Jones says, referring to the idea of having people welcoming on the front door, and people knowing where and when to set up for coffee after church. "I went to the American Humanist Association and they had a special lecture on why it's important to be welcoming. It's just the most basic things which you'll take for granted in 'Churchland,' which are in fact really powerful."  [Lucinda Borkett-Jones, "A well-known atheist visited three churches in one day and this is what he made of it," Christian Today (3-30-15)]

Love can be spread in many ways. It can be helping someone through a difficult time. I can be a friendly smile. Love can be shown in the purchase of a cup of coffee. There are so many way to love those who do not know the love of God. Start loving others so they know the love of God that is in us.

Waiting to understand

Proverbs 18:17 (NIV)

17 In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.

This shows that one tale is good till another is told and then the truth can be weighted.

Anson Hui is eleven-years-old. At the age of three, he was diagnosed with Glycogen Storage Disease (GSD), meaning his body can't break down or store sugars. He requires frequent daytime feedings (drinking raw cornstarch), and nighttime feedings through a pump that hooks into a surgically implanted tube to his stomach. At the age of five, he experienced developmental delays that doctors feared were connected to autism. At that point in his life, he couldn't speak sentences with more than three syllables. He also became a target for school-yard bullies. No wonder that Anson often asked, "Why did God put me here?"

However, Anson also discovered that he had a gift. He said, "While everyone else was busy talking, I listened and listened to all the sounds around me." His listening skills helped him develop another gift—perfect or absolute pitch. Anson discovered that he could memorize and then master complex piano pieces (such as Mozart's Concerto in D Minor) with astounding speed and proficiency. Anson has won numerous awards and even performed in Carnegie Hall. Anson's trials and his gifts have led him to declare his deep faith in the living God: "I can't decide many things that God has already planned, but I can still choose to work on my dream because I still have workable hands and a body to do it. I believe every single life is unique and special. Each has its own mission and purpose."

About a year ago he received more difficult news. An MRI revealed a benign tumor around his liver, which could lead to a liver transplant, a tricky procedure for any GSD patient. But once again, Anson finds solace in God's faithfulness. In a recent interview Anson said,

I know [there's] always a reason for God to give me a special body and talent. My dream is to be a tool of God … so in the end, I can hand in a beautiful [report] to my Lord in heaven with honor. And the most important thing is—I will never regret this journey on earth. [Julie Jordan, "Music as the No.1 Medicine (Part 2)," The Epoch Times (10-14-10)]

At age three Anson Hui was basically given a death sentence. Yet he continued to live and has faced many more obstacles. He continues to play the piano delighting those who hear. What if the writer had stopped at the first paragraph, we may have assumed the worst. Yet reading on we find Anson praising God for continuing to do miraculous things.

The silent and still prayer

Exodus 14:14 (NIV)

14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

The Israelites were leaving their Egyptian captors. They had reached the sea and could see their captors coming for them. Their worries were now magnified and they could only think of the work ahead of them. But Moses reminded them they would only need to be still as The Lord fought for them.

God

Grant me to be

silent before you--

that I may hear you;

at rest in you--

that you may work in me;

open to you--

that you may enter;

empty before you--

that you may fill me.

Let me be still

And know you are my God.

Amen.

[Sir Paul Reeves in a prayer at the WCC Seventh Assembly in Canberra, Australia. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 11.}

Let us be still and allow God to work in our lives. Let this prayer be one that we incorporate into ours so that we may be at peace with others.

Love IS

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NIV)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

The apostle gives us in these verses some of the properties and effects of charity, both to describe and commend it, that we may know whether we have this grace and that if we have not we may fall in love with what is so exceedingly amiable, and not rest till we have obtained it.

In a popular TED talk titled "The secret to desire in a long-term relationship," psychotherapist Esther Perel, who has counseled hundreds of couples who are having trouble in their marriages, notes how we tend to expect too much from our husband or wife. Dr. Perel says,

Marriage [used to be primarily] an economic institution in which you were given a partnership for life in terms of children and social status and succession and companionship. But now we want our partner to still give us all these things, but in addition, I want you to be my best friend and my trusted confidant and my passionate lover to boot, and we live twice as long. So we come to one person, and we basically are asking them to give us what once an entire village used to provide: Give me belonging, give me identity, give me continuity, but give me transcendence and mystery and awe all in one. Give me comfort, give me edge. Give me novelty, give me familiarity. Give me predictability, give me surprise.

[Dr. Esther Perel, "The Secret Desire in a Long-term Relationship"; Quoted in David Zahl, "Infidelity, Love, and the New Shame,' Mbird blog (7-7-15)]

Our nature self wants everything from life. It want’s others to give us what we feel we deserve. We want our spouses to fill the empty spaces inside of us. However, we miss an important part of the definition of love – IT IS NOT SELF SEEKING. We are not to seek out love for ourselves, but instead we are to give love, to impart it to others and show understand God’s wonderful gifts of mercy, grace and love through our own actions.

God's grace is with you

Philippians 1:30 (NLT)

30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.

It is not simply the suffering, but the cause, and not only the cause, but the spirit, which makes the martyr. A man may suffer in a bad cause, and then he suffers justly; or in a good cause, but with a wrong mind, and then his sufferings lose their value.

Comedian Jay Leno once conducted a "man-on-the-street" interview by asking random people to name one of the Ten Commandments. The most common response was something that wasn't even on God's original list—"God helps those who help themselves." That phrase, which is often used to emphasize a get-your-act-together approach to salvation, is often attributed to the Bible.

But the phrase is more closely tied to non-biblical sources. In a first century A.D. Greek fable, a wagon falls into a ravine, but when its driver appeals to Hercules for help, he is told to get to work himself. One of Aesop's fables has a similar theme. When a man calls on the goddess Athena for help during a shipwreck, she tells him to try swimming first. Both of these stories were probably created to illustrate an already existing proverb about helping yourself first.

A French author from the 1600s once said "Help yourself and Heaven will help you too." But it was the 17th century English thinker Algernon Sidney who has been credited with the now familiar wording, "God helps those who help themselves." Benjamin Franklin later used it in his Poor Richard's Almanack (1736) and it has been widely quoted ever since. A passage with similar sentiments can be found in the Quran, Chapter 13:11: "Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves."

But that phrase never appears in the Bible, and the way it's often used (as a self-help approach to salvation) is the exact opposite of the Bible's message of salvation by God's grace. [Matt Woodley, editor PreachingToday.com; source: "God helps those who help themselves," Wikipedia (last accessed August 5, 2014)]

Understand the word of God and pray for His wisdom that you might be able to work through the struggles in life that lay ahead. For God will never leave your side, but will always be there to help you. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.

Love your enemies

Matthew 5:43-45 (NIV)

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

God is always trying to reconcile sinners to Him. Therefore he asks of us that we might do the same by loving our enemies and praying for them. For God watches over both the righteous and unrighteous.

A pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, recently had an opportunity to practice what he preaches regarding turning the other cheek and showing forgiveness.

The pastor was standing in front of a group of people when a man punched him in the face. Victory Christian Center's pastor, Billy Joe Daugherty, continued his sermon even though the blow had opened a cut above his eye that would later require two stitches.

Church members subdued his attacker, and police arrested 50-year-old Steven Rogers. Daugherty, however, did not press any charges. In fact, he prayed for his assailant during the church service, and visited him in jail a few days later. [www.firstcoastnews.com; submitted by Michael Herman, Lisle, Illinois]

It is difficult to care for those who have wronged us, yet The Lord cares for each and everyone one of us, He loves us and He finds us precious even though we may have turned our back on Him many times. Listen to the words of Jesus and love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

The word of God

Psalm 33:4-5 (NIV)

4 For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. 5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

This verse reflects the high thoughts the psalmist had of The Lord. He found Him to be right and true; loving righteousness and just justice that come from His unfailing love.

Unfortunately, many people assume the Bible is an unreliable document. The truth is that of all ancient literature the New Testament is the most well-authenticated document, with an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting its reliability. There are more New Testament manuscripts, copied with greater accuracy, at earlier dates than from any secular classic from antiquity such as Herodotus, Plato, or Aristotle.

Some charge that there are grievous errors in the Bible. Actually, scholars who have examined the thousands of manuscript copies discovered 150,000 "textual variants." These variants are slight, involving a missing letter in a word. For example, note the variants in the following: Youha*ejus#wonamilliondol^ars. My guess is that you would not have any problem making out this message in spite of the variants. In more than 99 percent of the cases of textual variants in the New Testament, the original text can be reconstructed to a practical certainty.

In October 2003, Odyssey Marine Exploration recovered a ship's bell off the coast of Georgia. They believe it is from the ship called the TENNESSEE, which sank back in 1865 with a cargo of up to $180 million in gold. They aren't absolutely certain because the bell's inscription is partially obscured. Only the letters "SSEE" are visible. The rest of the inscription won't be legible until it's cleaned.

With $180 million at stake, do you think they will allow this fragment of a word to hinder their search?

["Salvaged Bell May Be Key to Riches," USA TODAY (10-15-03)]

Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. For no word from God will ever fail. For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

The failures in your life

Luke 22:32 (NIV)

32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Note that Jesus has told Simon Peter that his faith would fail him, but when his faith returned that he would be able to use it to strengthen others.

John Piper writes in Bloodlines, (Crossway 2011), One of the lessons I have learned in six and half decades of life is that very few dreams should go on hold while you improve the shortcomings of your life …. To be sure, there are times when you need to stop what you are doing and focus on conquering a flaw. But if you wait till all your shortcomings are remedied, your dreams will die. All our advances are with a limp.

If you wait till you are beyond criticism to pursue your dream, you will never do it. You won't marry or stay married. You won't decide to have children or raise them. You won't take your first job or keep it. You won't go into missions or stay there …. Few things paralyze people more than their own imperfections. And there are always people around to remind you of your flaws and suggest you can't move forward until you're better.

Many of you will fail in life just as Peter failed, but that doesn’t mean you have to remain down for the count. The Lord is with you and during the times you fail, The Lord becomes strong in your life. Remember The Lord is always with you and you can use your failures to help someone else who has failed also.

Love The Lord

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Blessed are we, who every morning and evening say, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. But more blessed are we if we duly consider and improve, what we are here taught to believe concerning God: that Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. [Matthew Henry]

There was a family in the San Francisco Bay area that grew up with commitment. The son's name was David Kraft. His father was a pastor, a godly pastor in the South Bay. David Kraft grew up with a father who constantly remembered God's faithfulness in the past so that David might trust in God in all of his tomorrows. David grew up in love with Jesus, and he felt the call of God into the pastoral ministry. He went to Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary.

David was a big, athletic young man. At the age of 32, he was six feet two inches tall and weighed two hundred pounds. He worked with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. That dear young man was diagnosed as having cancer. It wracked his body, and, over a period of time, he dropped from two hundred pounds in weight to eighty pounds.

When he was about ready to pass from this life into eternity, he asked his father to come into his hospital room. Lying there in the bed, he looked up and said, "Dad, do you remember when I was a little boy, how you used to just hold me in your arms close to your chest?"

David's father nodded. Then David said, "Do you think, Dad, you could do that one more time? One last time?"

Again his father nodded. He bent down to pick up his 32-year-old six-foot two-inch, eighty-pound son, and held him close to his chest so the son's face was right next to the father's face. They were eyeball to eyeball. Tears were streaming down both faces. The son said simply to the father, "Thank you for building the kind of character into my life that can enable me to face even a moment like this." ["Introducing Christ to Your Child," Preaching Today]

When God is a part of our lives we can face the most difficult burdens. So make sure you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your stenght.