Daily Wisdom

Jud 1:24 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”

In reading scripture pertaining to God’s deliverance and protection I’m quick to think of a child standing on the counters edge who, without fear, is willing to jump from any height with the assurance that their father will not let them fall. Jude’s letter opens and closes with our assurance that our Heavenly Father will not let us fall. We must make great effort not to wonder from our humility and thankfulness in the Lord that promises to deliver us into His glory and will keep us from falling as prey. Too often a believer moves from their humility and become weak concerning their thankfulness for their salvation. There is only one person who can present us as faultless before the Father, and that is Jesus Christ and we must keep that ever present in our heart and mind. Life will stretch our faith and it often appears that our life is falling apart in the process. In such times be willing to jump from your counter into the promises of God and He will catch you. Doing so you will find your humility and thankfulness that the Lord is there to catch you! Humility and thankfulness keep our eyes on Jesus as the world around us falls apart.

“Find a Bible that’s falling apart and you’ll likely find a life that isn’t” … HSAY

Daily Wisdom

2 Cor 12:10 “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecution and distress for Christ’s sake…”

In Ch. 12 Paul recounts his experience with Heaven and is able to encourage us, that even among the infirmities in life there is a pleasure to be revealed in our faith. Three reason why Christians should take pleasure in adversity.

1.      No heartache – No heaven (vss 1-5). Paul reminds us that our past and present distresses serve to remind us this is not our promise and to focus on our future destination. Don’t hold to the hurt, your help is in heaven.

2.      No hurting-No humility (vs 6-7). Moses said in Deut 8:2-3 “thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and prove thee…” No humility no access to God, if we can find humility in our adversity it leads to the presence of God, and with it His strength.

3.      No pain-No power (vs 8-10). Moses said in Deut 8:16-18 “Who fed thee in the wilderness with mana, … And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth the power to get wealth.” In God’s eternal world things get done by the Spirit or they do not get done at all. If you want to accomplish things in the flesh, you will get fleshly results, not Godly results!

No grief – no glory… Acts 14:22 “…we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”  God reminds us every day through nature that nothing temporal lasts. He clothes the trees with leaves, only to strip them off within a few months, and ever sunrise must have a sunset.

We can never have a new thing without the parting of the old… HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Isa 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

When man sees no distinction between good and evil, destruction soon follows, it is moral absolute verses moral relativism. Man cannot individually define right and wrong for self without absolute truth. Doing so creates a relative definition of truth for their self-desired belief and wants. A challenging issue in our society today is the fact that we have allowed the issue of morality to be directed towards the believer “labeled Christian” rather than Christ! Christian and non-alike can be racist, sexist, or morally blind and sinful in many areas… but Christ is not, there is nothing morally relative in Christ just absolute truth, love, and hope. Paul, while noting the moral depravity of man and culture points out in (Rom 1:24-31), that the wicked live immorally while at the same time knowing the righteous judgment of God. Our society is prone to test what is verbally claimed as truth by believers by the way we behave and live our lives. Thus the onus of truth is on the believer as an example/testimony to it, Christ defined it in (Jn 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”)  As a believer we should stand on moral absolute truth, as a disciple of Christ we must live it as well. Doing so will bring great clarity in the truth which is Christ Jesus!

Moral relativism is not an issue of not knowing right from wrong, but the issue of doing wrong despite knowing better while blaming others… HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Tit 1:4 “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.”

If God is a God of order, and He is (1 Cor 14:33), then notice the progression: grace, mercy, then peace (II Jn 3). In order to find the peace of God, one must first discover the grace and mercy of God (Gen 6:8). The grace in which Noah found in God (Gen 6:8) is the very first time the word “grace” appears in the Bible. Grace describes God’s attitude toward the sinner. Whereas mercy is defined as not receiving what we do deserve, grace is defined as receiving what we don’t deserve which is deliverance! Noah deserved to die in the flood as well, he was a sinner. However, he found the grace of God for his life by giving God the “last say” in his life (Gen 6:13-22) and was delivered. And with God’s grace came God’s mercy and Noah was delivered through the flood, which provided Noah’s peace once he was inside the ark (a picture of God and His salvation). Therefore, realizing what we are and don’t deserve and acknowledging what we got though we didn’t deserve it… then you’ll find your Peace in the greatest gift and promise of all, Jesus!  

God’s peace isn’t the calm after the storm. It’s the steadfastness during it… HSAY  

Daily Wisdom

Mat 27:52 “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” 

Sadly, the Jews were always in need of a sign, the promise of God and His Word was insufficient for their doubts (Ex 3:13-14). Here in Mt 27 we see another sign/miracle for the Jews. When Christ died on the cross the bodies of the dead saints (known to those in Jerusalem) were raised to life to testify concerning Christ as Lord and Saviour. Whatever the day looks like from our perspective, whatever season of happiness or sorrow we are in today, rejoice in His promises. Remember, the promise of Christ (Gen 3:15; Heb 11:13) proceeded His presence on the cross. It’s the power of perspective, if we change the way we look at things with the eternal perspective of God’s promise, the things you look at change. In (vs 54) we’re told that once the centurion soldier saw those things that were done, feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”! Point being: while as believers we may not deny Christ is who He says He is, we must make sure we don’t find ourselves uttering the same verb of regret because we had the wrong perspective in the power of His promises for our life. An eternal perspective allows the power of God’s promises to work through our faith.

When we are designed to be tall, we will endanger our position if we lower our perspective…HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Mat 21:2 “saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.”

The story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem tells us how he sent two of his disciples to a village and instructed them to bring Him a donkey for Him to enter Jerusalem on. But why did Jesus choose the lowly donkey instead of getting a magnificent horse to ride on?

1.) Humility - fulfilled the prophecy in (Zech 9:9), making his entry while riding a lowly animal.  2.) Servant, though a King, riding the donkey showed He came to serve not to be served.

3.) Peace - ancient world, a leader rode on a horse signifying war and a donkey to signify peace.

While we all love to make an entrance, I can’t think of a better way than how Jesus made his! Does your arrival bring with it the image of Humility, Servitude and Peace?

“If Jesus rode low on a donkey, maybe we should get off our high-horse” … HSAY

Daily Wisdom

1Ki 19:9 “There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

What’s keeping you awake at night? The worries that keep us awake at night can point to the core of who we are. In (1 Kg) Elijah had found himself awake in a cave with his worries. Such moments can create great isolation, loneliness as if you’re all by yourself, and Elijah felt just that (vs 22).  There are times in life were the only thing on your side is truth (God’s Word), and that’s all it takes. Oneness is powerful if the one you have is God. This is of the greatest importance, not just declaring the words but believing in the assurance that God is all you need. Elijah was blessed because he came to the realization and acceptance that God would deliver him and that he was never alone. When he was physically alone, with God, Elijah was blessed the most (1 Kg 19:5; 12-13).  But by that same token the Lord is telling us today that we are not alone. We don’t need His presence, that’s what Elijah fell victim to, when we have His promise. The assurance of God’s presence is in the power of His promise that He will never leave us not forsake us (1 Kg 8:57). Back to the verse: Are you where God wants you to be or are you hiding in your cave?

Loneliness is not a lack of company, it’s the lack of assurance in God’s promises… HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Gal 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” 

I believe we’re all familiar with the process of pulling that little forked “tab/ticket” with that dreaded number on it and staring impatiently at the digital display waiting for our opportunity. Those who are familiar with the movie “Beetlejuice” and the closing scene and him holding his ticket can empathize with him (lol). Everyone waits in life be it for spouses, arrival of a baby, children etc. We can also find ourselves waiting for clarity, direction, healing, hope or a miracle. Yes, we wait on God in our temporal realm! And when we misunderstand what waiting is about, we can get more confused, frustrated and anxious. Patience is one of God’s greatest tools in our spiritual growth. Meaning our patience in God will greatly determine His purpose in and with us!  Our required patience is the time in which God is preparing our hearts for the things we cannot experience once we’ve opened that moment of our life. God knows that, we don’t always grasp it and thus grow impatient in the process. It can be like the song “Even If” by Mercy Me, which says “stood on this stage night after night reminding the broken it’ll be alright” when we ourselves are not confident that it will be!  But just wait, because everyone takes their turn in the waiting room. It’s a long and painful fact of life, but shortcuts and impatience often just lend to spiritual injury. Instead be Patient, Content and in Hope knowing that your patience is preparation for what will be a powerful outcome. Otherwise when our opportunity in the Lord comes, we will be spending our time on the bench healing rather than participating.

Just You Wait, if God’s asking you to wait then be prepared to receive more than you asked for… HSAY