Holiness Has An Edge

By: Joe Stowell, Strength for the Journey

May

31

2019

"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." Leviticus 19:2

All of us who have kids have been guilty of ending an argument about why they should or shouldn’t do something with the conversation stopper: “Because I said so.” The reply is powerful because it has an edge to it. There are times when God is edgy with us. We’d like to stand there and argue with Him, but He keeps saying things like, “Because I said so” or “You be holy, because I am holy.” His call to holiness in our lives has that edgy sound.

In the Old Testament, when God wanted to bring that kind of holy edge to His people, He showed up in a place called the temple. God’s holiness came from another world and engaged with yours and mine. Jesus’ birth was a holy invasion—it came with an edge—from another place, another world, another reality. It cut through pretense by coming as a peasant baby born in a stable surrounded by sheep and goats. It cut into religious and political agendas by displaying genuine humility as a way to power. It sliced through the stuffy, hot air of classicism by first announcing His arrival to lowly shepherds working the third shift outside the city limits. It carved away centuries of religious oppression and hypocrisy by showing the power of quiet innocence. Holiness in God’s terms has an edge.

And it’s not only edgy in its essence; it’s also edgy in its demands. Because we represent Him, we are called to live with a holy edge. To live with a holy edge means to live differently—to make daily choices that square with God’s holiness; to stand for right in a wrong-headed culture; to preserve honesty, justice, and integrity no matter what. It means to replace greed with generosity and to forgive the cruelest offense. To serve others instead of ourselves, and to use our power to bless others instead of using it to advance our own agendas. It’s that kind of edgy living that makes a huge statement about the distinct difference that a holy God makes in our world.

When God first spoke to His people through Moses, He told them to live in and enjoy the land He had promised to them. But they were to live with a holy edge. They were to live differently than their pagan counterparts, uniquely reflecting the Holy difference of the true and living God.

Don’t lose your edge! Holiness sets you wonderfully apart in an increasingly unholy world. It’s no wonder that He said we should be holy because He is holy!

The Ascension of Christ

By Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The Ascension of Christ

“Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”—Ephesians 4:7-12

     Our blessed Lord and Master has gone from us. From the mount of Olives, the place where in dread conflict his garments were rolled in blood, he has mounted in triumph to his throne. After having shown himself for forty days amongst his beloved disciples, giving them abundant evidence that he had really risen from the dead, and enriching them by his divine counsels, he was taken up. Slowly rising before them all, he gave them his blessing as he disappeared. Like good old Jacob, whose departing act was to bestow a benediction on his twelve sons and their descendants, so ere the cloud received our Lord out of our sight, he poured a blessing upon the apostles, who were looking upward, and who were the representatives of his church. He is gone! His voice of wisdom is silent for us, his seat at the table is empty, the congregation on the mountain hears him no more. It would be very easy to have found reasons why he should not have gone. Had it been a matter of choice to us, we should have entreated him to tarry with us till the dispensation closed. Unless, peradventure, grace had enabled us to say: “Not as we will, but as thou wilt,” we should have constrained him, saying, “Abide with us.” What a comfort to disciples to have their own beloved teacher visibly with them! What a consolation to a persecuted band to see their leader at their head; difficulties would disappear, problems would be solved, perplexities removed, trials made easy, temptations averted! Let Jesus himself, their own dear Shepherd be near, and the sheep will lie down in security. Had he been here we could have gone to him in every affliction, like those of whom it is said, “they went and told Jesus.”

     It seemed expedient for him to stay, to accomplish the conversion of the world. Would not his presence have had an influence to win by eloquence of gracious word and argument of loving miracle? If he put forth his power the battle would soon be over, and his rule over all hearts would be for ever established. “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.” Go not from the conflict, thou mighty bowman, but still cast thine all-subduing darts abroad. In the days of our Lord’s flesh, before he had risen from the dead, he did but speak, and those who came to take him fell to the ground; might we but have him near us no persecuting hand could seize us; at his bidding, the fiercest enemy would retire. His voice called the dead out of their graves; could we but have him still in the church his voice would awaken the spiritually dead. His personal presence would be better to us than ten thousand apostles, at least, so we dream; and we imagine that with him visibly among us the progress of the church would be like the march of a triumphant army.

We Shall Be Like Him

 

Changing

by Inspiration Ministries

We are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 John 3:2 NASB

Our perspective on life changes when we realize that we are the children of God (v. 2). Like children, we constantly are developing. Growing. Changing. Like children, we are not in a final state but are constantly learning through a variety of experiences.

In this process, we will sometimes make mistakes and do the wrong thing. Like a good father, God does not give up on us when we make mistakes. He knows our nature, and He wants us to learn from our experiences.

As our Father, God looks at us with love, seeking ways to protect us, to guide us, and to shape our development. We should not be surprised when He disciplines us and helps us recognize areas where we need correction or improvement.

Our ultimate nature will not be clear until we are present with Him. Then we will be like Him (v. 2). Until then, we will continue to change.

Always remember that it has not appeared as yet what we will be. You are not in your final form. In fact, you can’t even imagine what you will be. That is something only God knows.

God is shaping you. He is constantly teaching you and helping you mature and become more like Jesus. He is helping you impact more lives.

Make sure you cooperate. Trust Him and obey His Word. Surrender your life anew to Him, because He is your loving Father.

You Are Not Alone

Never Alones

By: Patricia Lake, seedsofthekingdom.org

It’s something of wonder that the Almighty who threw the stars in space, and created the universe and everything in it, has promised always to be with us, and to never, never leave us. The Amplified version expresses it like this: “for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]”. No other god does this.

He, who never sleeps or slumbers, and watches over us day and night, won’t relax His hold on us. He knows the way ahead, and the pitfalls of life, and He knows exactly where we are at this moment in time. Nothing takes Him by surprise.

It is comforting and reassuring to know that our Heavenly Father is watching over us, and once we’re assured in our hearts with the knowledge that “He knows” – then we can rest in Him. We don’t have to go through life, facing life’s challenges on our own. He guards our footsteps as we trust Him.

At the beginning of time God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and even when they were deceived by the enemy, and, as a result, chose to disobey God, He still looked out for man’s welfare. Up till then they hadn’t known what it was like to be separated from God. But He swung into action with His wonderful plan of redemption, to restore and cover man, and to teach him that he wouldn’t have to fend for himself. Adam and Eve learnt what a huge mistake it was to listen to the deceiving voice of the enemy instead of trusting and obeying God. Man wasn’t meant to walk through life’s journey alone. God has always wanted to walk with the man whom He created – and still does.

God reassured Joshua that He’d be with him as He was with Moses, so he could face Israel’s enemies. From his own experiences with God, David was able to reassure his son Solomon that God would be with him in the building of the Temple, and through life, if he chose to obey God. Before He ascended back into Heaven, when He gave the great commission to ‘Go into all the world … and make disciples’, Jesus reassured His disciples, saying “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). And God sent His Holy Spirit to be with all Jesus’s disciples, when Jesus went back into heaven, so that they’d know that God was with them through the highs and lows of life, and would equip them for the task ahead. Those same promises are for us today in our generation, for God is always faithful to His promises, and ‘He watches over His Word to perform it’ (Jeremiah 1:12).

So whatever lies ahead, we can rest in the knowledge that God is true to His Word. Know this – we’ll never walk alone, for God will never abandon us. All He asks is that we trust and obey Him.

Friendship: No Greater Love

Memorial Day Remembrance

Author:  Kristen Parrish

January 17, 2015

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. — John 15:13

What’s the most famous friendship in the history of pop culture? My money is on Captain James T. Kirk and his Vulcan first officer, Mr. Spock, from Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. Where the rugged captain played from his gut, often finding unique solutions to dangerous encounters, Spock was his ever-logical and supremely faithful counterpart.

Whether they were facing Romulans or Klingons or nemeses like Khan Noonien Singh, together they made a whole. And their relationship has endured since the original television show premiered in 1966.

It is no small thing when in 1982’s movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Mr. Spock faces his final moments separated from his friend by a clear wall. How does he end up stranded and alone? The wounded Enterprise is desperately trying to escape an exploding nebula, but without warp speed, they’ll never make it.

Spock quietly disappears from the bridge and descends to the engine room, where he restores the warp drive, knowing the leaking radiation will be fatal to him.

With the ship out of danger, now-Admiral Kirk rushes down to his friend but cannot even hold him as he dies, because of the radiation that has flooded the engine room.

“Spock!” Kirk cries.

“The ship… out of danger?” asks his friend.

“Yes.”

“Don’t grieve, Admiral,” Spock says weakly. “It is logical.

The needs of the many outweigh —”

“— the needs of the few,” supplies Kirk.

“Or the one…”

“I have been, and always shall be, your friend.” Spock holds up his hand in the iconic Vulcan salute. “Live long and prosper.”

Spock’s dying statements to his friend mirror those found in Scripture. It is essentially the same message Jesus gave us in John 15:12–13, where He commanded us to love one another “as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Friendship is  a gift that God gives to us, just as He gave it to David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18:1: “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul”. These men were friends to the end, and after Jonathan was killed in battle, David took his friend’s son into his household to raise as his own child.

Is your life rich with friendships? If you are one of the luckiest of us, you may have a friend whom you love as your own soul. Be sure to nurture that relationship and consider yourself a blessed person.

A Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for friends. Help me appreciate them and not take them for granted. Show me who to offer my friendship. Amen.

Take Action

• Is there someone new in your community? Reach out the hand of friendship and welcome her or him.

• Do you have old friendships you’ve allowed to wither away for lack of time? Reenergize them with a quick phone call, a Facebook message, or an e-mail, letting them know you’re thinking about them.

• Is there someone in your church or elsewhere in your daily life who doesn’t have many friends because he or she is socially awkward  or shy? Offer your friendship, and you may be surprised what a delight you are to that person.

A Prayer for Memorial Day

A Prayer for Memorial Day: Remembering Those Who Have Fought for Our FreedomBy Debbie McDaniel, crosswalk.com

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Freedom is a gift, it’s a treasure.  And though we all may agree on that truth, it’s often easy to take for granted the greatest gifts that God has given us in our lives.

But those most precious gifts are never free. They came with a price. With sacrifice. They were worth fighting for. And are still worth fighting for today. Many brave men and women were willing to face hard battles in order for us to enjoy that gift of freedom today.

For all those who have protected our nation, for the men and women in uniform, together, we say “Thank You.”

We take time to remember today, and say a prayer of gratefulness for the many who have been willing to pay a great price for our freedom.  May God help us to live so courageously, may we follow the brave examples of those who have gone before us…

Thank you for reminding us that there’s incredible love and sacrifice displayed when one is willing to stand strong and fight for freedom

 .

This service of love and sacrifice on behalf of all people, points us directly to the greatest love of all, the very gift and sacrifice of Christ.

Our Savior was willing to pay the ultimate price, so that we can live free. Forever.

A Prayer for Memorial Day: Remembering Those Who Have Fought for Our Freedom.

Dear God,

We thank you for the freedom you have given to us, and for the price that was paid by Christ so that we could live free. We remember today. The cost of it all. The great sacrifice for freedom.

We thank you for the brave men and women who have fought, and continue to fight, so courageously for our nation. We ask for your covering and blessing over them and their families. We pray that you would be gracious and encircle them with your peace. We pray for your great favor and goodness to be evident in their lives.

Please be with all those who wear the uniform, who serve our communities and nation every single day. We ask that you provide your protection, that you would be their guiding force who leads the way, and their rear guard who keeps them safe from behind. We ask that you would draw them to yourself amidst the dangers they face in a dark world, for you are the Truth, you are the Way, you are the Light.

Help them to walk wisely. To stay covered in your armor. Give them godly discernment. Make them constantly aware of what lurks close by. Help them to be men and women of prayer, realizing that this is where their greatest help comes from. Help them to stay united and strong, bold and resolute, determined and unwavering.

Bless their families. Bless those they love. Give them your great favor, this day, and every day.

Thank you that in our nation today, we are free to worship. We are free to pray. We are free to read your Word.  We are free to speak.  We are free to share. For this, we are incredibly grateful. Yet, we understand how quickly these freedoms can be taken away. Give us an increased awareness of the spiritual battle we’re in. Help us to stand strong in you and for your purposes.

Thank you that as believers, we can be assured, you will never leave us, and are with us always, in this life, and the next.

Thank you for your truth that says, who the Son sets free is free indeed! We know that in you alone, true freedom is found.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Joy Beyond Amazing

Acts 16

by David Jeremiah,inspiration.org

One of my favorite Bible stories is the story of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. They were beaten; they were imprisoned; and who knew what would happen to them the next day? “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

The kind of joy that gets you singing in jail at midnight with your back bleeding and your life hanging by a thread that’s joy worth cultivating!

In our culture of instant gratification and constant amusement, it’s hard to understand the suffering the apostles endured for the sake of the Gospel. We’ll do anything to avoid trials and tribulations.

But often, in an attempt to keep anything uncomfortable from touching us, we miss the very thing God wants to use to lead us to greater joy in Him. We can’t avoid difficulties, but in the midst of all our troubles, there is God and His effervescent love.

This doesn’t mean we are to deny or disguise our feelings. Nor does it mean we can or should shrug off pain or disappointment, or try not to feel sorrow when we have good cause. It means we place our trust in God, and He opens the door to a joy beyond anything we can know on our own: the joy of knowing we are in His hands forever.

Our Joyful Savior

When we’re in a right relationship with God, He rejoices. And it’s only through that relationship that we experience joy in its fullness.

Jesus was completely comfortable at joyous events. In fact, Jesus’ first miracle took place at a wedding celebration. It was performed in a setting of rejoicing, not a setting of mourning; it was a wedding, not a wake or a funeral.

Throughout the New Testament, the Lord generously imparted His joy to others. One day He healed a crippled woman. She stood straight up and began praising the Lord (Luke 13:13). The Samaritan leper healed by Jesus returned to thank him, “praising God in a loud voice” (Luke 17:15 NIV). When the lame man at the Beautiful Gate was healed, he got up and went into the temple, “walking, leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:8).

We must get better at living life joyously!

Describing joyous moments like these, Paul wrote: “The kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) Many Christians have the righteousness part down and maybe even the peace part. But they’re clueless when it comes to joy. Instead of enjoying the Christian life, they seem to merely endure it.

The Day God Has Made

I speak for many who are Christ-followers: We must get better at living life joyously! Jesus experienced and expressed joy in life, and so should we.

When I wake up in the morning, I often repeat these words of the psalmist, taking liberty to replace we with I: “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Try it. Write down this verse, and keep it by your bed so it’s the first thing you see in the morning. Say it aloud or in your heart to yourself and to God.

Trust me. This one small act will begin opening your heart to joy.