Category: Glory of God

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Is There A Church In Your House?

“The church in thy house.”  Philemon 2

C.H. Spurgeon

Is there a church in this [your] house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all members of it? or are some still unconverted?

Let us pause here and let the question go round–Am I a member of the Church in this house?  How would father’s heart leap for joy, and mother’s eyes fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved!  Let us pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us. Probably it head been the dearest object of Philemon’s desires to have all his household saved; but it was not at first granted him in its fulness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who, having wronged him, ran away from his service. HIs master’s prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to hear Paul preached; his heart was touched, and he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant, but a brother beloved, adding another member to the Church in Philemon’s house.  Is there an unconverted servant or child absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in this same earnest entreaty.

If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well, and let all act as in the sight of God.  Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity.  More is expected of a Church than of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has enrolled a family-church in the inspired book of remembrance.  As a Church let us now draw night to the great head of the one Church universal, and let us beseech him to give us grace to shine before men to the glory of his name.

[Is there a church in your house?]

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Has He…

From one of my favorite authors, C.H. Spurgeon:

“How much do you owe the Lord?

Has he ever done anything for you? Has he forgiven your sins? Has he covered you with a robe of righteousness?

Has he set your feet upon a rock? Has he established your goings? Has he prepared heaven for you?

Has he prepared you for heaven? Has he written your name in his book of life?

Has he given you countless blessings?  Has he laid up for you a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard?

Then do something for Jesus worthy of his love.

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What Are You Prepared to Do?

 “The Lord is with you when you are with Him.

If you seek Him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:2 b (NIV)

What are you prepared to do?  What are you prepared to do to seek God?  What are you prepared to do to honor and love Him?  What are you prepared to do to gain Christ?  The journey to seek and find God can be an easy or perilous one.   We were designed for the task, and the very best markers were left to guide our paths.   But the real question is, what are you prepared to do?

Scripture said if we seek him, we shall find him.  That if is a huge marker that indicates some action on our part.  We must initiate the seeking.  God is already there waiting for us to discover Him, but it is up to us to do so.  Seeking Him means taking part in the process. When you want something bad enough, you will rally your resources to get the intended object.  If we really want to find God, we will do everything within our power to seek Him out.

Seeking also means serving Him.   Service, when done out of love and deep appreciation for what He did for us, becomes a glorious journey of discovery and experiencing God.   Along the way, you discover why God gave us His very, very best His Son, Christ our blessed redeemer.  The process of seeking also reveals the real purpose for which we were created.   The seeking creates windows of opportunity for the expression of God’s goodness and mercy through service.  And as we serve, our lives become a beautiful reflection of Christ’s magnificent gift.   We learn that we fulfill the whole law as we serve Him.  We lose nothing, we only gain.  We discover love, joy, peace, understanding, diligence, and beauty.   Life becomes more about Him and less about us.  We undercover the true family, fruitful relationships, abilities, gifts, and talents through the gateway of service in His kingdom.   We taste and see that the Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever.  We find out He will be with us until the end of time.

So, what are you prepared to do?   If you forsake the Lord, and all He has done, then the journey to find fulfillment, and happiness becomes empty, shallow reflections; tainted, worthless idols of fame and fortune.  Our souls become bleached and withered from the years of wandering in the wilderness.   If you forsake Him, you lose all; everything; you lose God.  He will not force it; for this is a voluntary act of gratefulness to find Him who is our all in all.    There is a cost to seeking God.  It may cost everything.  But He reassured,  there is great reward.

What are you prepared to do to find God?

 

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Where is the Love?

Let me tell you a story.  Once upon a time there was a little girl whose baby brother was very ill.  The little girl watched as her mother and father cared for the little boy.  They wanted so desperately for the boy to get well. But all their attempts at healing failed.  They tried everything, but no one had the answer.   The little girl loved her baby brother.  She thought she must do something to help.  She remembered a story her grandmother told her about a magical bird, a little blue bird with powers to grant wishes to anyone brave enough to find it.  So off the little girl went in search of the mystical creature.

Where is the love?   The little girl in our story went off to find an object, a mythical creature who she hoped would see heart’s desire, and grant her request to cure her baby brother.   When we arrive on this planet, we are also in search of something, or someone who will see our desires, and grant our wishes, and love us.  We struggle with the not only the object, but along the journey.    We go off looking for it, whatever it is, but our internal GPS is off.  We look for love in all the wrong places.  Our vision is distorted, and convoluted. We’ve gotten lost in the jungle, in the desert, in the wilderness; blinded by illusions, lies, legacies, false dreams, images, hurts, pain, disappointments, and those blinded eyes cannot see the truth. We don’t know where is the love, nor what love really is. 

So, where is the love?

Scripture says love comes from God. 1 John 4: 7.  Love is also everlasting.  Love is divine, heavenly, it never fails.  Love is patient, kind; it is not proud or boastful.  Love is wonderous, miraculous, and we were born out of love, so we are both beloved and love.  Now, when I say we are love, and beloved, many of you were probably immediately turned off.  No, not me.  I’m not lovely, I’m not lovable,  I have never really, really been loved.  My father, mother, sisters, brothers, husband, wife; they didn’t love me.  Oh, they said they did, but they didn’t.  If they had loved, they would have___.  If they had, they would have shown me that I was beloved.  Or how can I be beloved when I_______?  Just look at me!  I’ve done so many horrible things.  I don’t know who I am.  I’m all messed up.  No one really loves me.

Beloved is a powerful word.  The mere speaking of it does something to our heart, mind, and soul.  When we first experience what we feel is love, our whole being changes.  Our soul hungers for it.  It becomes a drug.  Once we’ve tasted it, we want more.  But that kind of love is not love as God defines it.    So, where is the love?

“The Lord appeared to us in the past saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

Love is a song of life, hope and deliverance.  It is a clear, sweet heart song like none other. And it is special and different to each of us.  We received it at the moment of conception.  God told the angels look at this one, look how marvelous he is, she is.  They will bring something the world has never known.   How beautiful they are?  Look at them, my son, my daughter.  Look at the love.  See how they shine, sparkle;  My children; My crowning achievement.  I made them in my image;  My beloved.   We heard the voice of love right in the very heart of our DNA.  It was a song that said yes to Him who is love.   It is one of recognition, and angels rejoiced at our new birth, because another song of love filled the earth, another soul bringing glory to Father.  Our yes becomes His symphony, and our combined voices fill the atmosphere with love songs to Him, and those needing to find their love songs.

It is love that creates and heals.  It is love that builds, restores, and gives. It is love which endures all things, and demonstrates courage in the midst of the storms.  It is love that makes a home, and a community. It corrects injustice, and sacrifices.  It is a  song one hears that the soul longs for; it is the melody of life – a sweet harmony experienced when we embrace Him.  When we remember He is love, and His very essence, character is divine love, we are complete.  It is astonishing, magnificent, majestic, saving love.  Beloved, when we get the message of Jesus, that He (God) so loved the whole world that He gave us love wrapped up in Christ, then we see, feel and know we are beloved.  And God’s eyes sparkle, and He smiles when we discovered we are loved by Him.  Fully loved.

Say yes to His love, for he created us; you and me out of heavenly love. Remember our love song, our true song, and refuse to allow yourself to become dull, blurred and seared by the world anymore. No more running around to and fro. Cease the frenzy pace.  Stop, because we are no longer seeking the answer to the question where’s the love. The answer was given to each of us; a prime directive from the God Creator of all.   The real question is, does the world see it?   Does it see the love of Christ in you and me?  When you look at me, and I look at me, do we see love?   Are we reflecting the answer to the question, where is the love? Our lives must reflect the love.  Fully aware, transmit love to the world as He did, and does.   Tell the world, He loves with an everlasting love.  Tell them, we are from God, and whoever knows God must hear the voice of love, because we have been born of God’s love.   Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4: 6, 11 [paraphrased].  The world needs to hear the strings of God’s love.  They desperately need to see your belief that you are love, and beloved of God.  It is through us they hear their own love song –  the divine plan of salvation.

So, the answer to the question,where is the love is inside of each of us. It is you.  It is me.  It’s Christ.  Together, we are the answer to question.

O, the little girl in the story, did she ever find the little blue bird?  She discovered, as we all do it where it was.  Right within her.

Today, before another thought of what I have to do; before you begin that internal self talk about this is nothing, or it is not for me, before another moment passes and you say no, come and say yes to love.  Answer the question, where is the love?

 

 

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God is our refuge

“God is our refuge and our strength (Psalm 46:1-3)…a very present help in the time of need.”

 Yesterday, I attended a women’s conference where speaker after speaker gave powerful testimony of the truth of this familiar passage.  A damaged heart healed, tumors miraculously gone, shattered lives mended.  Stories of enormous physical and emotional suffering, and lost, and how God truly became their refuge and their strength.  This was not fantasy.   These women had a personal encounter with the living God, and their stories became ours.

God is our refuge and our strength.  God’s power provides strength.  His presence gives grace.   We can face our todays and tomorrows, because we are sheltered from and within.  Sheltered in God’s arms, we have confidence, and faith in Him who will not leave us.  There is unwavering belief in a God that cannot lie.  He said He will be with us until the end.  We have a blessed assurance in a God that can accomplish what man cannot.  Knowing and believing in who God is changes us.  Our lives become a beacon; a shining lighthouse for those washed up by life’s stormy seas.  And just like these women, we reflect the beauty and glory of God; a God who will never leave us, nor forsake us, even during the worst times of our lives.

As the conference ended, there was renewed hope and strength.  We can tell their stories, and ours of how God rebuilds, restores, and became for each of us our refuge and our strength.    

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Are you a passionate worshipper?

When was the last time you really worship? I mean experience God’s presence to the point you felt free.  Are you a passionate worshipper? Oftentimes, our culture conflicts with our inner desire to “enter into the Holy of holies.”   As one writer wrote, ” Passion for His presence will mark all that we are, and nothing will be more important than maintaining His presence in our midst.”   Feeling the blaze of the Lord, the oil of joy, and the beauty of His holiness transcends earthly pleasures.  It lifts us.   “Simply being with Him cleanses, refreshes, and satisfies.”

So much of our “worship experience” on Sunday is more performance than passion, more formal than informal, more staged than serene.   Now it has becomes an activity mainly marked by singing, clapping and perhaps dancing.   It lacks genuine connection with Him who is our all in all. Our worship experience with God should be so much more.  It should be like the sounds of heaven, where the angels and 24 elders continuously sing glory and praises to God and our Lord.  Passionate worship should make us one with the angelic chorus…our voices, our lives moving in harmony and rhythm to the great “I AM” in gratitude and thanksgiving for joy that besets our souls.

Are you a passionate worshipper?  Passionate worship should be daily, and not just relegated to a few short minutes on Sunday.  When was the last time you really worship God?  Can you recall it?  Where was it?  What were you doing?  How did it make you feel?  Does your life, your essence express glory to Him who is worthy of all our praise? Just like the 24 elders around the heavenly throne, we should worship Him each and every day.  We should never limit when to worship God.

How does one become a passionate worshipper?  God provided very clear and specific about what is biblical worship.

  1. Standing  – 2 Chronicles 9:7
  2. Lifting our hands – Psalm 28:2, 1 Timothy 2:8
  3. Clapping our hands  – Psalm 47:1
  4. Bowing – Psalm 95:6
  5. With all forms of instruments – Psalm 150
  6. Loudly, with crashing symbols – Psalm 150
  7. Dancing – Exodus 15:20; Psalm 30:11
  8. Leaping – Acts 3:8
  9. Shouting – Psalm 47:1

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”, everyday.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, daily.  Passionate worship; expressions of joy and thanksgiving transforms our spiritual walk.  It releases us to experience more of the abundant life.  We become healers, givers, providers, mighty men of valor,  virtuous women, builders of God’s kingdom, creators of beauty,  restorers of the breaches.  Passionate worship puts a finger in the oozing hole of guilt, pain, and suffering.

God wants us to worship to Him with all of our hearts, all of our hearts, and with all of our souls.    When we experience exuberant, intense, intimate, passionate worship, it releases “joy unspeakable.”

Passionate worship is loving God.  Are you a passionate worshipper?      

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Joy’s Fountain

A Classic Devotional from D.L. Moody

“Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition.  It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the hearts; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him.

Joy is love exalted peace; peace is love in repose; long-suffering is love enduring; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love in school; and temperance is love in training.  The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy.”

God, thank you for the joy that transcends all situations, problems, conditions.  Help me this day Lord to walk more closely with you, and be a Joy foundation filling up all those empty vessels with Your everlasting joy.  Amen

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No Greater Joy

Stormie Omartian wrote, “Lord,there is no source of greater joy for me than worshiping You.  I come into Your presence with thanksgiving and bow before You this day.  I exalt Your name for you are great and worthy to be praised.”

Psalm 100 encourages us to make a joyful noise, serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  We are to enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.     These assignments are simple, but have a profound impact.   Joy changes the whole environment.  It transforms hearts and minds.  Spirits are lifted up, and thinking is clearer.  Laughter fills the air, smiles upon faces, and songs are sung.   This is not reserved for a church building, or program.  Our joy should accompany us into the homes, businesses, the marketplace, the political arena, and every place the soles of our feet touch.

How much joy have you shared today?   Was there a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and on your lips?  Did your arrival change the environment, or was it the same old, same old?

Let the world know we are sons and daughters of God, and they can be too.  Share the incredible joy we have because of Him.   Tell others about the gift of eternal life, goodness and mercy.  Explain how we experience His amazing grace and mercy every day, despite all our challenges.

Show them how to rejoice and be glad, for there is no greater joy than knowing our Lord!!!  Each day holds the possibility of miracles both great and small.  The greatest is the gift of salvation.   From that we experience a God who will never leave or forsake us.  We see evidence that His promises are true every day.  O’ yes, there is so much.

Show someone the great joy you have in your heart.  The day is not over.  Go ahead, there is still time.  Tell someone there is no greater joy than knowing Christ.  It is a small miracle that holds the promise of No Greater Joy.

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The Mercy of God

The mercy of God is not a little thing.  God is not little, nor is His mercy small or puny.  It is a wondrous thing; full of light, life and love.  Meditate on God’s mercy.  It is so sweet and tender. It heals, and restores the broken heart.  His mercy changes the look and feel of our bodies. Oozing wounds are bound up.   It soothes our troubled minds, and bring joy to our souls.  Mercy puts a smile on the face, where moments before there was a frown.  God’s mercy is wide and infinite.  It can’t be measured or put in a bottle to be stored and saved for a rainy day.  It always ready, and available to everyone.   Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, the psalmist wrote.   Mercy brings us to the throne of Heaven so we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The mercy of God is ours.  Psalm 52:8

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The Promise

There is coming for those who believe a day like no other.  It is a day when all; the spirit, soul and flesh will behold the promise – the great light of Christ. (Isaiah 9:1)  No matter how dark the circumstances, how bleak the prognosis – the promise will come again. 

Christ is our lighthouse; a light wave blazing through the darkness of our souls; a glistening promise of new life. So bright is His light; so pure is His light that it lifts us out of the darkness of our sins. it radiates and cleanses; it restores and heals; it delivers and makes us whole again.  God’s Promise of our Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace is not to be taken lightly.  It should give us assurance; a blessed assurance that all will be made right today.  No matter how deep the pit – the promise can reach you.  We can rise up this day with shouts of joy and victory that the Promise has come, and will come again.