Although normal service has now resumed on the blog, whatever normal is! I thought I might continue to share select Bible verses for you to think about throughout the day.
How good are you at waiting? I have some patience, often it is tested at times!
What about waiting on the Lord? how good are you at that?
Waiting on God is not like waiting for a train however. Instead, waiting on the Lord is like waiting on a table. We do not stand with our arms folded and tapping our toes. Rather we are attentive and ready to serve.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalms 27:14 NIV
Pearls of Wisdom Even the dimmest, most tiniest of candles can cast a great light in a dark room. Are you the only Christian in your family? How about your place of work? Your school perhaps? It can feel extremely tough to be the only one with Christian beliefs or values. It can be lonely,…
— Read on andy-brown.org/2021/05/23/be-a-candle-pow/
I want to start this post with a little challenge for you, similar to what you might find in a children’s workbook or puzzle book. It’s a “fill in the blank…”
Complete the following sentence:
“God, if I have found favour in your eyes, please… FILL IN THE BLANK.”
How would you complete this? Is it immediately obvious to you, or do you need a little time to think about it?
Would you ask for something physical, such as health or strength? Or would it be something financial or material that you needed? Perhaps it would be an ask on behalf of someone else, such as salvation or a particular spiritual blessing?
How would you fill in the blank? #God if I have favour in your eyes, please…? #Bible #Jesus #Christianity
We may have all kinds of different ideas on how to complete this line, but, as it happens, we find out the “correct” answer as the Bible tells us. These are, in fact, words of Moses and I want to spend a few minutes thinking about how he completed the sentence.
Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.”
Exodus 33:13
The answer is: “Show me your ways!”
Hands up all of you who filled in the blank in this same way? I must confess that I would not have.
Moses’ prayer is incredibly humbling (to me at least, how about you?) He asked God to show him His way so that he might know Him. For Moses, the “prize” he sought more than anything was to know God. It was not physical, financial or even spiritual blessing, instead it was the privilege of knowing God.
Think of all the things we seek after in our lives. Some seek fame, through a variety of means right from YouTube artists to Hollywood actors. Others seek fortune, gambling or working themselves sick. Others seek satisfaction in romantic relationships, career or political power, and others move from hobby to hobby, house to house, friendship group to friendship group. Moses sought none of these things.
Paul the Apostle valued knowing God far above all else, just as Moses did.
He said:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Philippians 3:8-10
Paul counted everything as rubbish next to knowing Christ.
Paul counted everything as rubbish next to knowing #Christ #Jesus #Bible
How much value do you place in knowing Jesus? It is rather easy to say the words, “It’s the most important thing…” but if I looked at your life and how you spend your time, would I draw the same conclusion?
I am humbled at the thought.
Lord, show me Your way that I might know You! Help me to see all else as loos in comparison to knowing You! Let my diary, my bank statement, my social media feeds, my words, thoughts and actions all demonstrate that there is nothing in my life that is more important than You. In Jesus’ name, Amen
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”” Revelation 7:9-10 NIV
Sharing some audio of a talk I gave a couple of years ago. Hope you enjoy.
Here is a short talk Andy gave at the Morning Praise service in the Parish Church in St Osyth. It was on John 21:1-19 – text below. After these things, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael…
— Read on andy-brown.org/2019/05/05/feed-my-sheep-audio/
My family and I are experiencing a challenging time at the moment. this means I am blogging on the go, and so please excuse any formatting or lack thereof!
Over the past few days, I do not think I have stood still for one moment! My time with God has been seriously restricted, as has my time in his word.
Can you relate? Have you had similar seasons in life?
I rejoice that I have had opportunities to store God’s word in my heart in the past, and can draw on those resources now.
I strongly encourage you to hide God’s word in your heart during the sunny seasons in life. Life will always throw times of trouble at us, but we can prepare ahead of time.
This verse tells us that by hiding God’s word in our hearts, we will reduce the risk of sin. The more Bible we have within us, the stronger we will be to face temptation when it comes. And temptation is harder to resist during times of trouble, when we are tired or stressed.
We look at a short yet powerful passage from the Sermon on the Mount today. Such verses should absolutely challenge us to look carefully at our lives and ensure we are truly following God and the Gospel.
We read:
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Matthew 7:21-23 NLT
To be clear, these are words of Jesus Himself. As with everything the Lord said, we ought not to take it lightly.
Jesus tells us plainly that not everyone who calls Him Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In other translations, I believe it says not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will be saved. This is vitally important, and tells us something about what it truly means to be saved. Many people call themselves Christians, and many would say that Jesus is Lord, but is He – really?
Jesus says that only those who do the will of the Father will actually enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Does this fly in the face of the Gospel of grace? It sounds like salvation by works doesn’t it? Calling on the name of the Lord is suddenly not enough, but we must do certain things too to “earn” salvation, right?
I think not.
There is a distinct difference between acknowledging Jesus as Lord and living so, and simply paying lip-service and saying the words. I may have said this before, but it is a good example… I may be a fully paid up member of the local gym, carrying my membership card and even wearing the T-shirt, but if I never go and lift weights, I may as well not bother.
In a similar way, we can go to church, sing the songs, carry a Bible around and more, and yet if our lives do not reflect holiness and obedience, we must ask ourselves if we have truly surrendered our lives to God.
#Salvation is more than just saying words, it is living a life of #obedience #Bible #Jesus #Christianity
When we encounter Jesus, it ought to change us. When we make Him our Lord, that means putting Him in full charge of our lives and not just tagging Him on to our current lifestyle. True submission requires obedience. There can be no other way. It is a silly example, but I cannot claim to be a man of peace if I am frequently getting into fist-fights in the local pub. Likewise, I cannot claim to be a Christian while completely ignoring God’s instructions.
Obeying God’s will, as Jesus sets out above, is not a means to salvation, but a result of it.
Obeying #God is not a means of #salvation, but a result of it #Bible #Jesus
The true Gospel is indeed a Gospel of grace, not something we earn through obedience. God’s grace is freely given, and we need not nor cannot do anything to work for it. However, once freely received, the resulting change in our hearts should be reflected in our lives. Once saved, we joyfully obey the will of the Father in response to His grace. Grace comes first, and the fruit of obedience follows.
Verses 22 and 23 send a shiver down my spine. On that final day when we all stand before God, not all who think they are saved actually are. Imagine that for a moment, imagine being one of those who are told by Jesus, “I don’t know you!” What a terrible thing.
I do not want that to be me, and neither do I want that to be you.
The defence of these people (which is really no defence at all), is that they have 1) prophesied in Jesus’ name, 2) cast out demons and 3) performed many miracles. These are not small things in and of themselves. What this tells me is that not every miracle worker knows Christ, or rather, is known by Christ. Not every prophet, nor everyone who delivers others from demons, is part of God’s kingdom.
So how can we tell?
This is not straightforward to answer in a short blog post. Clearly, the Bible does encourage the use of such spiritual gifts such as prophecy or the working of miracles. Yet my suspicion is that is less about the activity itself i.e. casting out demons, but the motive behind it. Of these three examples, all are very public things. I wonder if it is all too easy to start claiming the credit for a miracle, a prophecy or a demon-deliverance. These are gifts of the Spirit, but there is no mention made of the fruit.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
Many seek the gifts of the Spirit, without seeking the fruit. Jesus said you will know them by their “fruit,” not by their “gifts.” (see earlier on in this very chapter – Matthew 7:15-20)
So what do we take from this?
Firstly, we do need to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. He is in charge, and we must recognise His rightful place in our lives. We must not seek Him as Saviour without also accepting Him as Lord.
If, indeed, He is our Lord, then we must do what He tells us. We will not get that perfectly right all of the time, but in response to the grace we have been given, we take His commands seriously. The better we come to know Him, the more we will want to do this.
We obey, not to earn His love, but in response to it.
When we do obey, it must also be for the right motives. We do not do it to be popular or to seek fame and fortune, but instead we do it for His glory.
As a blogger, I too need to be cautious with this. Do I write to bless people, or do I write to seek their favour? Judging by how often I check my stats, I need to check my motives! How about you?
These are challenging words from Christ, and I encourage you to pray over them in the coming days. I want you to know Christ, and I want Him to know you. When you stand before Him one day, I want you to have full assurance of your salvation. God’s grace is sufficient, and so let each of us respond to it in obedience. Amen
Are you putting something off that you know you ought to be doing?
For instance, have you been putting off your regular dental checks? you may not have toothache right now, and perhaps you just don’t have the time to visit the dentist or want to face the expense at the moment.
Perhaps your car has been making an unusual sound, the occasional whiff of smoke, or even the check engine light has come on. Yet, you have not found the time to visit the Mechanic.
Maybe you knew about a hole in your roof, yet the summer has stretched out before you without a drop of rain in sight.I will fix the roof later, you think, but later never comes. While later may not have come, if you live in the UK, the rain certainly will!
Turning to spiritual matters, perhaps there is a sin or bad habit in your life that you know you need to be rid of.
Maybe you have felt the Lord leading you to pick up your bible more often, or to kneel down in prayer more frequently. later, you think…
My advice to you today is to fix the roof while the Sun is shining! Because you never know when a raincloud may form.
Don’t put things off that you know you need to do now. Do not wait until it is too late!
When the toothache comes or the car breaks down in the middle of the road, you will wish you had taken the necessary steps in advance.
Likewise, when the storms of life hit you, and they will, you will regret not having a firm grasp on your Bible or not having spent more time with the Lord in prayer.
The ultimate example is to put off making a commitment to Jesus Christ as your saviour and Lord.do not put this off dear reader! Get on your knees today and commit your life to Jesus! Do it now, while you can, for later may not come.
Take my advice today, fix the roof while the Sun is shining! And have a great day
Andy Brown 