A story of passion and conquest

DAILY BIBLE READING:

Joshua 13:1-14:15
Luke 18:1-17
Psalm 85:1-13
Proverbs 13:7-8

BIBLE VERSE(S) FOR TODAY:

Joshua 14:12 (CSB) "Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there, as well as large fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised."

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

I have some 'favorite' Bible stories and Joshua 14:6-15 is definitely one of them!

In it, we see in our mind's eye an 85-year-old man step into Joshua's presence. These two men were special. They were the only 2 spies (out of the 12 that Moses sent into the Promised Land) who came back with a positive, faith-filled report. The other 10 expressed doubt that they could take the Land but Joshua and Caleb resolutely believed that God could be counted on to do what He promised (see Numbers 13:26-33).

The Israelites believed the 10 faithless spies and rejected Joshua and Caleb's words. That one act doomed the nation of Israel to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. 

Now, in Joshua 14, Joshua and Caleb are the oldest of all the Israelites and they have seen God conquer most of the Promised Land through them just like He said he would.

But, there's one particular area that was still a splinter in Israel's eye. It hadn't been conquered yet. It was the area where the Anakim lived - the people who were so tall that they made the Israelites feel like 'grasshoppers' (see Numbers 13:28-29, 33; Joshua 14:12). The 10 spies used those particular people as the excuse to doubt God's promise.

Well, for 45 years, that act of faithlessness had turned Caleb's stomach. He knew God would have given the Israelites victory but they doubted and were, therefore, put on the shelf of 'do-nothing' until they learned their lesson.

So on this day, Caleb approaches Joshua and asks specifically for the land where the Anakim still lived. He wanted to kick some Anakim booty to vindicate God's name. He believed that God's glory was diminished among the Israelites when they doubted that He would and could do what He said He would do. So, Caleb wanted to show that an 85-year-old man with a promise from God could do what a whole Israelite army didn't think He could do.

Well, did Caleb succeed? Did he let the Anakim know that the God in Heaven could do whatever He pleased?

Knowing that Caleb had fire in his eyes, was jealous for God's glory, and wasn't going to back down from the fight, all we need to do is read the last sentence of this story...

"...After this, the land had rest from war." (Joshua 14:15)

I can picture Caleb sitting under a shade tree drinking a cold glass of tea and, with a broad smile and a twinkle in his eye, saying under his breath: "I knew God could do it!"

Are you a person filled with faith and passion? All you need to do is ask God to develop within you a jealousy for His glory. Find some precious promises of God that He has given to you. And then engage in the spiritual warfare against our satanic foe.

We NEED people like Caleb in our spiritually apathetic days!

A cure for whining

TODAY'S BIBLE READING:

Numbers 10:1-11:23
Mark 14:1-21
Psalm 51:1-19
Proverbs 10:31-32

BIBLE VERSE(S) FOR TODAY:

Numbers 11:10 "Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the LORD became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated."

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

Have you ever wondered if God is like some people you know who have a "button" and that when it gets pushed, they get upset?

Well, we learn of that "button" in the book of Numbers. We see precisely what sends God over the edge. In fact, our verse for today is just one of the many times that we see this striking correlation: The Israelites whined and God got angry.

I don't know about you but I can't stand it when someone is whining. Even the very word is enough to make me want to walk away. (But, I have done it plenty of times. Ugh!) 

In our text, we read that God hates whining, too! He absolutely can't stand whining! 

Why?

It would seem that the big reason God doesn't like whining is because it is rooted in discontentment. In fact, that discontentment is directed at God's plan for our lives.

Friend, God is the sovereign ruler over Creation (Ephesians 1:11). A seemingly insignificant sparrow can't even fall to it's death without God giving it permission to do so (Matthew 10:29). 

So, if God is that much of a micromanager, then there is nothing that can happen to you that God hasn't either actively sent your way or passively allowed to come your way. Absolutely everything that you or I experience has to come from his hands.

So, when you and I whine about our circumstances, we're actually showing our frustration and discontentment with God's plan for us. While we may think that our frustration is justified because of a car that won't start or a loved one who is in the hospital, what we're really saying is that we could run the universe a whole lot better than God can.

So, what is the answer to discontentment? Faith!

If we want to be OK with whatever happens to us (and not resort to whining), then we have got to learn to trust Him and ask God to give us faith even when life doesn't make sense. 

As we trust His heart, knowing that He loves us dearly and is working out His plan that is for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28), then we can be OK with what happens in life. We won't whine because we know that our troubles have to come through God's loving hands before they get to us. And in that, we can find comfort.

The light of His presence

TODAY'S BIBLE READING:

Exodus 34:1-35:9 

Matthew 27:15-31 

Psalm 33:12-22 

Proverbs 9:1-6

BIBLE VERSE(S) FOR TODAY:

Psalm 33:12 "What joy for the nation whose God is the LORD, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance." 


REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

A heart that is hungry to enjoy its God will find its curiosity peeked in these chapters. 

In Exodus, we see a man who craved in his innermost being to experience God's glory (see Exodus 33:18). In the very next chapter, we learn that Moses was (temporarily) changed by the experience.

Notice what being with God did to Moses...

Exodus 34:29-30 "When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the LORD. So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him."

His face was shining! But, where did that light come from?

Have you ever heard of "the glory of the Lord"? Remember when the shepherds were out in the field when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and "the glory of the Lord shown all around them?" (see Luke 2:9).

The glory of the Lord, the radiant light that emanates from His presence, appears to be something to behold. Moses cried out to see it (Exodus 33:18). Peter wished that he could continue to experience it (Matthew 17:14). 

When we read things like this, we come to realize that there is much more of God to enjoy than we are presently experiencing. There is so much more of Him to know (see Philippians 3:10). So much more to enjoy (Psalm 42:1-2).

So, why do we settle so often for lesser things when God Himself is there, inviting us into a deeper fellowship with Him so that we can enjoy Him.

If we cultivate this kind of relationship, while there may not be a physical light that emanates from our faces, there will be a glow. People will be able to see that we've been with Jesus (see Acts 4:13).

Desperately Crying Out For God

TODAY'S BIBLE READING:

Exodus 32:1-33:23 

Matthew 26:69-27:14 

Psalm 33:1-11 

Proverbs 8:33-36

BIBLE VERSE(S) FOR TODAY:

Exodus 33:11 "Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend..." 

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

We are a very success, action-oriented people. 

When someone tells us how busy they are, we feel compelled to tell them how busy we are, too. We may even want to tell them how much busier we are than them.

When someone tells us what they have achieved, we feel compelled to reveal our own personal achievements. We find it difficult to celebrate someone else's accomplishments unless we have our own set of successes.

Why is this?

Primarily because we have sinful hearts. We tend to be self-focused and want others to focus on us and value us, too. In our American society, busyiness and success is where we suspect that we get that value.

In today's reading in Exodus, we are invited into a back-and-forth scene between God and Moses. The people of Israel were people of action (they were headed to the Promised Land). Further, they were people who worked to achieve success (they needed to defeat any problem that kept them from achieving that goal).

But, their leader knew that action and success meant nothing if a vital component was missing. God had just stated that the people of Israel were so predictably stubborn and sinful that He wasn't going to accompany them any further as they traveled to the Promised Land.

Listen to Moses' response:

"Then Moses said, 'If you don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me - on me and on your people - if you don't go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.'" (Exodus 33:15-16)

Did you get that? Moses said that unless he could count on the fact that God was with them, he didn't want to go into action. 

What would it be like if each of us as individuals and the churches that we are a part of would refuse to go into action unless we could guarantee that God was with us? 

Too often, we go into action and achieve some levels of success. Yet, what we accomplished could have easily been done by someone who claims no relationship at all with the Lord. In fact, there was never any significant prayer and no sense of desperation beforehand asking for God's presence and guidance. 

We are action/success-oriented people who have learned to build the Tower of Babel on our own apart from God's help.

Oh, that we would become like Moses who realized that he desperately needed God's presence. Oh, that we could be like him as he refused to act unless he knew that God was with him. Maybe then we could see our God do some amazing things among us!

Why God gets the glory for our spiritual growth

Here are some (hopefully) helpful thoughts after my time in God's Word this morning:

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

It is in these two verses that we see a very important principle for the follower of Jesus: 1) we must intently work toward becoming more like Jesus, and 2) God works intently to make us more like Jesus.

Someone who is on their way to Heaven isn't going to get rid of sin and evidence a growing number of evidences of holiness unless they roll up their sleeves and get to work. They must spend much time in Bible study, prayer, obedience to God's Word, submission to the Lord, serving others, and other spiritual exercises.

Yet, the second verse points out that it is God who is at work in us to make us more like Jesus. If God did not work in us to help us get rid of sin and grow in holiness, it simply wouldn't happen.

It's like this: Someone who wants to get fit may decide to go to a local gym and start working out. They'll pump weights and will initially get pretty sore. But get this, when they work out, they aren't becoming stronger. They are actually tearing their muscles down. Micro tears are occurring (muscle damage!).

If that was the end of the story, working out with weights would be horribly detrimental to our overall fitness. It only tears our body down.

Yet, something happens to our muscles after a workout - if our body is healthy, our muscles will begin to rebuild. Those tears are healed but in a slightly greater capacity. And what's the result? Stronger, bigger muscles!

In some ways, this is like our pursuit of becoming more like Jesus. Sure, we absolutely must go to the spiritual gym and read our Bibles and pray and do so many of the other spiritual exercises. That's absolutely necessary.

But, we cannot give ourselves any credit for spiritual growth. God must come along behind us and do His work in us if there is to be any spiritual growth at all.

So, we cannot take credit when we are becoming more like Jesus. It's God that has done it. Sure, we participate in the process but ultimately He's the One who completes the work.

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Faith, Doubt and God's Glory

There will always be people who make God look bad.

While they proclaim that He is all-powerful, they will live in defeat.

While they proclaim that He is over all other supposed "gods," they will live in doubt and fear.

While they proclaim that He sovereignly works out His perfect plan, they will second guess what He is doing in their lives.

This happened when Moses sent the 12 spies into the Promised Land (see Numbers 13). Ten of them returned and said that the land was as wonderful as God had said. Yet, they also warned that the people were giants and the city walls were massive. There was no way that they would be able to take it ... in spite of the promises of their God.

So, since they doubted God's plan, power and presence, they doomed themselves to live in that reality. Their existence for 40 long years was that of wandering through the desert of life. Babies were born and old people died. They ate the same bland food for 40 years. It was a pitiful, boring existence for 40 longs years when they could have had the adventure of fulfilling God's plan for their lives.

Fast-forward 40 years to Joshua's leadership when they crossed the Jordan River on dry ground and began to take the Promised Land. Fast-forward 45 more years to a conversation that Caleb and Joshua had (the only 2 original spies who were still alive because they trusted God).

Caleb, who is now 85 years old was long past "retirement" age. Yet, He knew that God's name had been blasphemed when those 10 spies caused the nation of Israel to doubt God's plan, power and presence.

So, Caleb asked Joshua for a specific plot of land. The enemy inhabited that land and Caleb wanted it. But it wasn't just any enemy. It was the giants that caused the 10 spies to doubt their ability to take the Promised Land (Numbers 13:28). It was the sons of Anak!

Well Caleb knew that God's name had been drug through the mud. It made him sick. So, he determined to do something about it.

Caleb was going to show that with God's assistance, even a worn out 85 year old man could take down the "sons of Anak!" He wasn't going to fight those giants for his own glory. He was going to engage them to show that God can do whatever God wants to do. He wanted to show that there can be the adventure of a lifetime when we side with God and trust His plan, power and presence in our lives!

Listen closely to Caleb's words as he speaks with Joshua, the leader of Israel: 

Joshua 14:10-12 (New Living Translation)

“Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as He promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise - even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”

So, friend, what does your life do? Does it show others how wonderful your God is or does it cause them to doubt His power ... or His existence? Are you more like the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 longs years or are you like Caleb who wanted to show others how incredible His God was?

These are no small questions. Because, if you read the story, you'll see that God disciplined the doubters and blessed those who trusted Him.

What can you do beginning today to show others how great your God is?

Praying for God's glory and our deliverance

Sometimes the greatest victories in our life come when we have run out of options. When we have nowhere to look but up. Where we have nowhere to go but down on our knees.

That was what happened to King Hezekiah in Isaiah 36-37. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent one of his top military leaders with a massive army to attack Jerusalem and take its inhabitants captive. The Assyrians knew how to do this, too! They could lay a siege around a city so that no one went in and no one came out. Eventually, the inhabitants would run out of food and water. With no food and water, some may resort to consuming their own refuse (see Isaiah 36:12). Still others may even resort to cannibalism (see 2 Kings 6:24-29).

With this impending doom, the Assyrian military commander outside the wall was wearing the inhabitants of Jerusalem down with his words. He intended to get them to lose heart by doubting God’s ability to save them. He said:

“Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?” (Isaiah 36:18-20 – New Living Translation)

Hezekiah, the king, had run out of options. He had no military might to fight the vast army outside Jerusalem’s walls. He knew his people were terrified. He also knew that the Assyrian leader in his arrogance would not leave.

So, what was he to do? He inquired of Isaiah, the prophet of the Lord. And then, he sought the Lord for himself! Isaiah 37:14-20 tells us that Hezekiah went to the temple and got alone with God. He poured out his heart and made it clear that God’s glory was on the line. Hezekiah prayed that God would move powerfully so “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:20).

The end result is that God DID move. By the end of Isaiah 37, the Assyrian army had left and Jerusalem experienced peace.

When trials come into our lives, we cannot sit back and simply pray. If there is something we can/should do, then we should do it. A farmer would be foolish if he prayed that God would give him a good harvest if he failed to plant his own field!

Yet, too many of us may have forgotten this powerful tool in our Christian arsenal called prayer. Realize that God is powerful. He delights to hear from His children. We may forego many answers to prayer if we never drop to our knees in prayer.

Why not bring your burdens to the Lord today? And keep praying until the Lord either answers your request or directs you in what adjustments you must make before He provides His answer.

Longing for God's glory

In this morning’s Bible reading, I came across a pretty fascinating story. In short, many of the Israelites who had been in Assyrian/Babylonian captivity were allowed to go back to Israel to rebuild.

In Ezra 3:10, it tells us specifically that “…the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD…” Simply stated, Solomon’s temple had been destroyed about 50 years earlier but a new replacement was being constructed.

However, we notice something very interesting in Ezra 3:11-12. Notice the two very different ways that the Israelites responded when the foundation of the temple was laid and they observed it...

“… And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,”.

Did you get that? The young people were excited. They shouted for joy. Yet, the older folks wept. The text tells us why. The ones who wept were the “old men who had seen the first house.”

What’s going on here? Why are the young people shouting for joy and the older folks weeping?

Because this new temple was all the young folks knew. They had never seen Solomon’s temple. They just knew that they were experiencing the building of a new place of worship and they were excited.

Yet, the older folks wept because they “had seen the first house.” They had seen Solomon’s temple in all of its glory. It was massive. It was beautiful. God’s visible presence had been in that temple. So had been the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, Solomon’s temple reminded them of when Israel’s power and prestige were at its climax. Everything was going right for Israel and the temple, arguably one of the greatest wonders of the world at that time, spoke of the glory of Israel and of Israel’s God.

But, some 50 years after Solomon’s temple was destroyed, the older folks looked at this new temple’s foundation. They realized it was smaller, much smaller. The Ark of the Covenant was gone. God’s presence seemed strangely absent. The beauty of this new temple would pale in comparison to what they had seen before. The glory was gone. That’s why they wept. Their hearts longed for what once was but was no longer.

Application:
In today’s church culture, there are many worshippers that leave our church worship services with joy. They speak of the wonderful music or the great preaching/teaching. They enjoy the time to fellowship with their church family of friends. They are excited about what they experienced.

Yet, there is another group of worshippers who react differently. Either in their own individual lives or in a church setting, they’ve experienced God in times of revival. They have seen God move so powerfully that they were left with lasting memories of what He did. God became more real to them than they ever imagined. They experienced God’s power and glory and long to experience it again. Yet, they see the absence of that power today and they “weep.”

Those who haven’t been in a time of revival don’t know that something more, something better exists … so they enjoy what they’ve got. Yet, there are those who see how far we have fallen and long for God to move again.

Yet, while Solomon’s temple was gone forever never to return, God’s glory just might yet be experienced again! God is waiting on us! He has given us instruction on how to prepare revival. It is yet to be seen whether we will act on it.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

What is the difference between faith and wishful thinking?

It seems to me that if you really boil it down, the difference between faith and wishful thinking is: “Ultimately, who are our eyes focused upon?” With faith, our eyes are clearly fixed upon the Lord. With wishful thinking, our eyes are fixed upon I/me/my/mine. Faith focuses upon the things of the Spirit. Wishful thinking focuses upon the things of the flesh.

Regarding Joel Olsteen and those who teach the prosperity Gospel, it seems to me that any lost person would absolutely enjoy that message and never be offended by anything they say. This is in spite of the fact that Paul told the Corinthians that the Gospel is by its very nature offensive (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). Their message is geared toward satisfying the flesh/natural life/who we were before we were saved. Ultimately, it seems that they try to answer the question: “How can I be happy, fulfilled, prosperous, healthy, etc.” In contrast, a true follower of Christ will ask: “How can I live in such a way that I glorify God.” Christ-followers benefit in all sorts of ways as a result of following God and glorifying Him but this isn’t our ultimate aim.

So, with that being said, I believe that determining whether something is an act of faith or simply wishful thinking could be clarified by asking questions much like these:

- Is my heart focused upon God’s glory? Is my ultimate aim my own pleasure and happiness or is it to show others just how incredible my God is?

- Is there some Scripture that I can rest my faith upon? Faith is not work. It is restful. It simply rests upon a promise/precept of God and says, “God, You have said this in Your Word. I’m just trusting that You will do what You said You are going to do.”
- Is my heart seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness? Is what I am trusting God for going to further God’s rule and reign on planet Earth and will it help others along on their road to Christ-likeness.
- Is my heart cleansed from sin? The Bible says that if I regard sin in my heart, the Lord won’t hear me (Psalm 66:18). If I have any expectation of getting what I am asking for, I must be “repented/confessed up.”
- Is my heart broken before God? This simply means that my “self-life” has died and I am fully dependent upon my Heavenly Father. My wants and desires are aligning up more and more with the wants and desires of my God. Only then am I capable of being trusted to ask God for the right things.
- Is my heart testifying with the Holy Spirit that this is something I should pray for? Is the Holy Spirit who resides inside every believer giving me peace about praying for a particular thing?

Sermon (video): Experiencing God (Exodus 33:12-23)

Saint Augustine once said: “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.” That's profound! Ultimately, all of our searching to fill the void inside each of us is met in a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Exodus 33 gives us a glimpse into a moment when God allowed Moses to experience Him. From that, if we can draw principles of how we can experience and enjoy God, too. But, it is our hope that this sermon not only provides the principles but fans into flame a passion to experience our great God!

To view the sermon, click here.

Sermon (video): God's Pattern for Revival (Isaiah 6:1-8)

So your spiritual life has grown stale? It's been awhile since your time in the Bible has really been fun? It's been far too long since you've actually enjoyed praying? You feel unable to overcome the temptations in your life? And you sense that there's GOT to be more to the Christian life than what you're experiencing?

This sermon shows the relevance of Isaiah 6:1-8 as the answer to how we get right with God. It is the pattern that God has used through the centuries to bring individuals and groups back to Him. It's how we get our joy and effectiveness back.

Click here to view the sermon.

Praying for Revival

My wife took a business trip to San Diego with a female co-worker the year before we married. During some down time, she and her friend took the opportunity to rent a car and drive to the Grand Canyon to experience the wonders of God's creation.

Since then, I have heard Kim express with passion, that comes from deep down inside her being, how wonderful that experience was. As she recounts the memory of standing on the rim of the Canyon, her eyes get a "far off" look and she enjoys grabbing as many adjectives as she can to describe what it was like.

Yet, I can't help but realize that when she has shared that experience with others, it is met with apathy more times than not. She is excited but her listener doesn't seem as impressed. They try to mask their indifference with a surface interest but the mutual excitement just isn't there.

Have you ever experienced something like this? You're excited about some person, event, purchase, or whatever and you try to share the excitement with others only to have it met with indifference by the one you are talking with?

Why is this? Quite simply, because they haven't experienced it. They just don't have the same frame of reference. They don't have the same memories and incredibly positive emotions.

Frank Page
SBC Executive Committee President

That's how I feel when I speak of God moving in times of revival. I read an article today in Baptist Press where the SBC's Executive Committee President Frank Page is calling for Southern Baptist churches to make 2013 the year of prayer for revival. There will be those who hear of his call to prayer and will be inflamed with a passion for God to move powerfully among us. There will also be those who hear Frank Page's call to prayer and will respond with nothing short of apathy. What's the difference? It could be that some have experienced the glory of God and others have not.

When I read of this call to prayer for revival, I get excited beyond words! Why? Because I've experienced it! I was a student at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary when the Brownwood Revival swept our seminary. No one saw God but everyone would have readily agreed that He had shown up. We had an overwhelming sense of the holiness of God which led to deep, heart-felt repentance. Then, with clean hearts and a passion for the glory of God, we were empowered for ministry.

It's been awhile since God has moved in revival in our country. Those who have previously experienced God's glory in powerful ways should allow their experience to motivate them to call out for God to do it again.

There will be those who won't pray for it. They won't be excited about it. But there are those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:3). I pray that they/we will passionately pray that God would revive us again!

"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?"
(Psalm 8:6)