The Old Testament of the Bible ended on a high point of the Israelites turning back to God, listening to him and trying to obey. Then came a 400-year break in God’s Word to us.
We know the Israelites continued on with their lives during that time. They were waiting….
expecting the Messiah to show up. How long were they going to have to wait?
I’m reading and blogging through the Chronological Bible which is re-organized so it follows the actual timeline that things happened. I started reading Genesis on January 1 and now it’s October. So 3/4 of the Bible is the Old Testament. If three-quarters of what God wants to reveal to us is in the Old Testament, then I’m very glad I’ve been reading and studying the Old Testament every year for the last 10 years. After spending 3/4 of the year reading the Old Testament, I have a better understanding of how badly the world at that time needed Jesus. My anticipation of the coming Messiah rises as I read over and over again of the Israelites turning away from God, getting lost in idol worship, paying the consequences and repenting. Then they get their spiritual act together – but just for a short time until they start wandering again.
Oh, how serious was their need for a Savior!
It was hard to wait.
You and I live under the New Covenant with God. The Messiah has come. There is no more waiting. Jesus was sent to earth to offer free salvation to everyone who would put their faith in him. And it’s really clear right now that our culture needs saving just as badly as the Israelites did.
The last 1/4 of the Bible is so much easier to read than the Old Testament because Jesus’ love, grace, truth and light shines out of the New Testament. Jesus is our role-model for how God wants us to live our lives here on earth.
A smile spreads across my face as I begin to read the New Testament – the rest of the story – for the 10th time.
No more waiting. The Messiah has come. This is the really good stuff.
it’s the big equalizer among all of us. You have 24 hours in a day and I have 24 hours in a day.
So the ‘I don’t have time for God’ excuse just doesn’t fly. We all have 24 hours and some of us find regular time with God.
Yes, I know all of our situations are different – work schedules, kid’s schedules, and all kinds of commitments fill our calendars. That’s where the challenge comes – how we choose to fill our calendars. Because it’s a choice.
I am now in a very blessed time of my life in relation to time because I am retired. I retired 4 years ago and I love my new schedule. This cannot possibly be my life now! My calendar is 99% filled with things I want to do. I have a lot of time for God.
But this was not true of my life before retirement. I worked for 34 1/2 years straight for Corporate Jack in the Box. I was married with a 9 month-old child when I started working for Jack and had another baby 4 years later. I traveled a lot and got promoted regularly gaining more and more responsibility working on a goal of becoming a VP.
With a husband who worked, 2 kids, a house, a dog and a 60-hour workweek, you can imagine my life. And right in the middle of all of that, God challenged me to put him first. I had been running on empty for quite awhile at that time and I was not happy when I realized that this is how the rest of my life could be. So when I heard God offer me the only way I was going to find joy and purpose in the middle of this craziness, I accepted the challenge.
And I began to reorganize my priorities. I changed my focus from my career onto my relationship with God. I started using my time differently – I stopped working 60 hours a week. I cut down to 40 or 45 hours a week, always used all of my vacation days to spend with my family and asked God to take care of the next raise or promotion. Interesting – I performed better when I worked less and I ended up with a career that blessed my family instead of taking away from my family.
My husband was also trying to put God first so we worked together to unpack our schedules. We decided our kids could be in one sport OR one lesson at a time. We totally revamped our weekends. We stopped planning anything on Saturday night that would make us too tired to get up for church on Sunday. Our family started doing all our chores on Saturday, leaving Sunday open for worship and time with our personal and spiritual families. Sunday afternoon became a great family time in the pool or playing games as well as Bible study small groups. Sunday became our God and family day – all day. My two top priorities. How great is that?
I admit, it was hard for me to find my personal time with God during the week. I have never been a ‘get up at 4 am to read my Bible type of person’. It just doesn’t work for me – I’m a ‘get up at 4 am and go right to work’ person. I’m also not a ‘read a devotional every day’ type person. I don’t get much from that, I want to dig deeper.
So in the middle of the busiest time of my life, I would try to find an hour here or there during the week with God, knowing that I was going to dedicate Sunday to him. I believe God honored my desire to spend time with him and helped make all the things I had to accomplish on Saturday go quickly because, somehow, I would often find an extra hour or two I could spend with God on Saturday as well. I hardly ever watched TV until the kids left home for college – it’s amazing how much time you have when you shut that thing off. Spending so much one on one time with God helped me hear him much better and eventually led to this blog.
I find it interesting to read when Nehemiah confronts the leaders in Jerusalem , “Why is the house of God neglected?” Nehemiah 13: 11. They had stopped supporting the Levites so the Levites had to go get jobs and were unable to serve in the temple. Everyone had started working on the Sabbath – selling all sorts of produce and merchandise inside the walls of Jerusalem.
This could not go on so Nehemiah shut the gates to Jerusalem when Sabbath started and they stayed closed until the Sabbath ended. He put guards on the gates and told everyone to start bringing their tithes to the temple again and start supporting the Levites so they could go back to their temple duties.
He shut the gates.
I feel like that is exactly what I had to do to find significant time to spend with God. I had to shut the gates on all the other things that me and my family could do on Sundays. I had to shut the gates to the things my family could do that would keep us out late or up late on Saturday. I had to reorganize Saturdays to make significant room for God in my weekends. Looking back, I feel like this re-prioritizing was a blessing for my entire family because it slowed down our Sundays and we had more quality time with each other.
When we want to accomplish something big, it takes a team. One person can only do what one person can get done.
I have discovered when a group of people join energy and brainpower to tackle a goal together, their efforts are multiplied and good things happen. I’ve seen big successes roll in when a team of people are engaged, committed to working together and helping each other achieve a goal.
And when God is involved I have seen a supernatural factor come into play that is truly astounding to witness. Projects turn out much better than planned. Blessings pile up. We see our faith growing as, together, we experience the power of God in our lives.
Has this happened to you? I’ve experienced this many times and its exciting every time it happens.
So I love reading the historical account of Nehemiah leading the Israelites in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. The Jews were being attacked regularly by their enemies who didn’t want them to complete the wall. They were very discouraged.
Nehemiah refused to stop building. He knew that he had been sent back to Jerusalem to lead this project so he couldn’t stop. He organized the men into teams, “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bow and armor. Nehemiah 4:16. They protected their brothers with everything they had.
Working together,
protecting each other,
they accomplished the goal of rebuilding the wall.
They could not have done it without each other.
Our Spiritual family is like this. We need each other. Each one of us needs to use our spiritual gifts in order to build each other up and fulfill our purpose of reaching others for Christ. We watch each other’s backs – loving and forgiving each other in supernatural ways.
And we love those who don’t know Jesus yet…
while our Spiritual family supports us and cheers us on.
I would normally tell you from experience that it’s not a good idea to test God. You won’t like consequences. God wants us to have faith in him and trust him, not test him.
With one exception.
There is one place in the Bible where God says, “Test me”.
He knows all the issues we have with money – it quickly becomes our god, we always want more and we’re willing to sacrifice our families to get it, we have trouble giving generously, we get in such deep debt that we think we can’t give. Just to name a few.
God says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Malachi 3:10.
I have attended a couple of different churches who sponsor a 90 day challenge for giving to God. People tithe for 90 days – no cheating because nothing is hidden from God – and they watch God move in their finances. If they don’t see God move, they get their money back.
Nobody has ever asked for their money back because God always moves. I love it! Test him!
And you will find out what those of us that have committed to tithing have found out – the refunds, checks for overpayment and unexpected credit to our accounts start rolling in. Regular stories like this –
I had a dental claim paid by my insurance a couple of years ago and the medical assistant looked at me with surprise when she handed me back a check for $900. She told that insurance NEVER covers this part of the procedure but they did for me. Thank you, God!
The air conditioner in our home recently started making a very loud and worrying noise. Our house is 15 years old and the air conditioner is original to the house so you know what we thought – time for a new air conditioner. Nope! It was fixed for the cost of a service call. I always give God the credit for anything like this that happens to us because I know he’s watching over us.
You would hear these kinds of stories from anyone who has committed to tithe. God is faithful and we can count on him to respond when we are generous givers. I also believe God moves in how often our cars break down and how quickly appliances stop working. If we are stingy with God, don’t be surprised with high car repair bills and appliances that keep having problems.
Through the years, my husband and I have given two of our older cars to charity because we know God will bless us more for that than what we could sell them for. We recently donated a 2 year-old refrigerator to a church mission for the same reason. God knows.
When you and I faithfully tithe, we are putting our finances under the umbrella of God’s blessing. When we do that, he not only blesses our finances, he pours other blessings into our lives as well. These are things that money can’t buy – like joy, love and purpose. And more.
So much more pours out that it fills us up and starts to spill over to the people around us. The windows of heaven open up for us when we get our money in line with God. The more we give, the more we have. That’s God’s math. We cannot outgive God.
If you don’t have any of these stories, go ahead and test God! I know what will happen.
Thank you for your faithfulness with our finances, Abba Father.
I have discovered that many of the ‘why?’ questions I ask God are not answered immediately. His answer comes later. In some cases, many years later.
I have learned to recognize God’s movement in many of my why’s. God is a huge planner. He is the master orchestrator of the past, present and future for all of his children.
Why am I going through a tough time today? Often I realize much later that the first tough experience trained me for an even tougher trial that was coming my way. I learned lessons in the first struggle which helped me be more successful in navigating the next difficult situation in my life.
God prepared me.
As I read God’s Word, I see God’s preparation as a consistent thread in his epic love story. In the book of Esther, Queen Esther was faced with a life-threatening situation when her people, the Jews, are being seriously threatened and Mordecai gave her this challenge, “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a times as this.” Esther 4:14. Wisely, Esther responded to the challenge by asking Mordecai to gather together all the Jews of Susa to fast with her for 3 days as she prepared for her audience with the king. She was going to reveal the fact that she was a Jew and ask the king to save her people. At that time in history, you were putting your life in danger by going to the king when he had not invited you. If the king didn’t want to see her, he could have her killed.
As the story unfolds, we see that over those 3 days of fasting God helped Esther develop a strategy for delivering her message. She set the stage first so that the king was ready to grant her plea for mercy for her and her people.
Preparation.
I know it’s a big part of why God let’s difficult things happen in my life – and your’s. Each step of the way, God guides us and teaches us what we will need to know for the next trial in our lives, training us so we are ready to complete the purpose he has for us here.
Thank you for preparing us and walking beside us, Abba Father
“This message is from the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the world, and who forms the human spirit within a person…” Zechariah 12:1.
The God who did all of this and formed my spirit wants to talk to me, he wants to teach me and he wants to guide me. He wants me to know the truth. He wants me to know him.
Real friends are people who care about us, easily forgive us and want the best for us. They are the people in our lives who cheer us on in the good times and listen well with extra tissues ready during the bad times.
I am fortunate enough to have several real friends in my life.
These friends love me enough to speak up if I’m getting off track. They hold me accountable for behavior that is not good for me. They subtly (and not so subtly) ask questions about my choices when my behavior is not going to help me reach the goals they know I want to achieve. They love me enough to speak truth into my life at the right time.
These friends also have shared this journey of faith with me. They have walked beside me as, together, we experience the transforming power of God in our lives. They continue to encourage me as God molds me into the person he created me to be and they celebrate with me when I find victory in my life through my relationship with God.
They help bring me to Jesus.
This is just like the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus in the second chapter of Mark. Their friend couldn’t move, so his four friends carried him around on a mat. They heard that this man, Jesus, was healing people – even paralyzed people – so they were determined to get their friend to Jesus.
You might think they would have been discouraged when they arrived and saw the huge crowd of people around the house that Jesus was in. They didn’t care – this was their friend and this was going to happen….today…..right now.
So they carried their friend on his mat up to the top of the house and dug a hole in the roof right over Jesus’ head. Then they lowered the mat down in front of Jesus.
Seeing the faith of his friends, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ” Stand up, pick up your mat and go home.”
“And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat and walked through the stunned onlookers.” (Mark 2: 11-12)
Jesus honored the faith of this man’s friends and healed him by the touch of his hand.
I know I have friends who need to get to Jesus.
Do you?
Are we good enough friends to help them get close enough to be touched by our Savior?
This one sentence does a great job of summing up the Good News – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
If you wanted to memorize just one verse of the entire Bible, this would be it. John 3:16.
God loved us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to pay the price for all of our sins for all time on the cross. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, those of us who put our faith in him can have an eternal relationship with God which starts here on earth and ends in heaven …. forever.
This is the most important news anyone can ever hear. People who are not Christ-followers don’t know it, but they are looking for Jesus. They might think they are looking for a better job, a better spouse or a better house, but they are really looking for Jesus. We were all created with a God – shaped hole which only God can fill. There will be an emptiness in our lives until we accept the salvation offered by Jesus and live in his Light.
This emptiness explains a lot of what we’re seeing go on in our world right now. People are looking for something and they aren’t finding it so there is anger, frustration, confusion and unrest. Evil thrives in this kind of environment. This will continue until they look to Jesus to fill that hole. He’s the only answer.
I cannot remember a time in my life when it was more important for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus to share our stories, share the Good News, share our trust in God and share that we know how this story is going to end. Judging those who do not know Jesus is not the right response to what is going on. Jesus tells us today that loving those who haven’t accepted the free gift of salvation yet is the right answer.
God has already claimed victory, we’re just living through the mess that Satan is masterminding. Satan is winning some battles, but we have nothing to fear – God has won the war.
As the mountain of craziness in this world around me grows, I need to find a way to stay grounded on what is good and right and helpful. Jesus shines his light on my path as I read the account of his discussion with Satan in the dessert.
Satan is confronting Jesus after he has been fasting for 40 days. My first thought was that the human part of Jesus were probably in a weakened state after all this time. After thinking about it, he has been in constant communication with his Father for 40 days straight so physically he may have been weakened, but spiritually he was strong and well fed.
Satan tried three times in three different ways to try to tempt Jesus to show off his power and rule the world like an earthly King. Instead of giving in, Jesus quoted scripture – God’s Word – back to Satan.
God’s Word is the truth and it stood up to all of Satan’s lies over 2000 years ago. Just like it stands up against all of the lies Satan is spewing across our culture today.
Reading, studying and applying God’s Word to my life is the only way I’m going to be able to navigate through all the lies, fake news, wrong thinking, lack of integrity, manipulation and secret agendas that are swirling around me today.
This same crud is swirling around you.
Are you looking for something solid to hang on to through this storm? God and his Word to you is the answer.
Being ‘good enough’ is not my goal. Getting my act together is not my goal. Checking all the boxes – keeping busy with ‘God’ stuff – is not my goal.
The historical account of Jesus’ baptism tells me what pleases God.
I do.
When I trusted in Jesus and was redeemed by his sacrifice on the cross, I was adopted by God and became one of his precious daughters. ‘Joint heirs with Jesus’ – as an old hymn describes it. What Jesus did for me makes me ‘good enough’.
While reading about Jesus’ baptism, I realize that Jesus hadn’t started his ministry yet. He hadn’t DONE anything for God. But God spoke from heaven to let everyone know that Jesus was his son and he was ‘well pleased’.
Let’s take a moment to let that soak in, my brothers and sisters. Jesus was God’s son and God was pleased with him – before his ministry began. Before he did any miracles. Before he did any teaching.
Accepting salvation through Jesus makes you and I children of God – and he is pleased with us.
Feel his smile shining down on you.
Feel his unconditional love.
Feel his forgiveness for any guilt that is weighing heavy on your shoulders.
Feel his peace flow over you in a supernatural way.
Feel his strength flow through you as he walks right beside you each day.
Let his joy fill your heart today.
Don’t DO anything. Just feel the pleasure he has as he looks at you. He sees himself in you. We are all created in his image, yet each one of us reflects different aspects of him – making us all uniquely his.
I am important to God. He has made me special.
You are very important to him. He has made you special.
