Following Jesus Son of God …

God is dangerous.

You don’t believe me. Then why is Jesus called the Lion of the Tribe Judah?

Remember Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia
Throughout the series, it is stated that Aslan is “not a tame lion”, since, despite his gentle and loving nature, he is powerful and can be dangerous. More interesting info on Aslan on Wikipedia

Following Jesus means to die. I’d say that’s dangerous.

(Matthew 16:24-25 NKJV) Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Lose my life.

Did you ever have one of those friends your mom warned you about? “If you run around with John, you’re going to find yourself in trouble.”

Or maybe you were that kid?

Jesus is like that friend. If you “run with him” (follow him), you will find yourself in trouble.

I heard my “friend” had suffered a stroke; 39 years old. Wow!

My first thought was that I should visit him, try to be an encouragement, show him someone cares, all those good things we think of. . .

. . .and then often dismiss with our busy schedules, our fear of our mortality, our laziness, the very uncomfortable nature of hospitals.

I mean give me a break; hospitals can be very discouraging places, filled with sick people and all.

But I planned to stop after work and visit. And I did. I decided to not be selfish.

But I had to first deal with my process of rationalization:

• Would it matter really?
• I was tired.
• I would get home late.
• Traffic would be worse.
• Parking spaces are sometimes hard to find.
• Fill in the blank __________________.

Don’t misunderstand my intent.
I have not always made the right decision in these circumstances. I have before taken the easier route and gone on home. What swayed me was the opportunity to be there for someone in the name of God. I know that sounds so cliche.

And I know that someone may read this and think my entire purpose is to demonstrate how spiritual I am.

But my true purpose is to share that feeling of being right before God, and making a decision with some eternal perspective, and being able to step outside the picture and see myself possibly more as God sees me.

I really had the sense that God sent me. God whispered in my ear a good thing to do, and I did it.

God didn’t verbalize any words to my friend earlier this evening; he didn’t touch my friend’s arm, pat him on the shoulder, audibly tell him it is okay to cry, or hold his hand and pray with him.

He sent me to do all of the above.

Thank you, Father.

I just ran into this while piddling around. Eugene Peterson says it so well in The Message. I remember the first time I picked up a copy of The Message. I believe it was the Psalms or possibly the Gospels. Wasn’t too impressed; didn’t look at it again until years later. What the heck was I thinking? 🙂

Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us?

When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.

But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing.

Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions.

Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions.

We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure.

It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment.

That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God.

God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care.

(2 Corinthians 5:8-11 MSG)

I am in process; the theological term is sanctification; lots of cleaning up and learning still needed.  Bunches actually.

I need to remember that because sometimes what I believe is not what “comes out” in my life.

News flash!  I don’t always act according to my beliefs.

Sometimes I lack the faith and courage to do the right thing.

Sometimes I allow the cares of this world to squeeze God’s truth from my consciousness.

Sometimes I have wrong desires.

Sometimes I rebel.

But always God is bringing me toward a distant point where one day I will perfectly reflect the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.

(Philippians 1:6 MSG)  There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

Yeah, God!

Keep going. Isn’t that a lesson God teaches us over and over again in the Bible.

From the very beginning of time, we – as in the human members of this planet – have stumbled.

Adam and Eve. Abraham. Moses. Aaron and Miriam. David. Solomon. Esther. Rahab the prostitute. Samson.

You.  Me.  And everyone else.

Various acts of sin – eating what God prohibited, lying, killing, mutiny, illicit sex (lots of it), murder, sex for government position.

So be thankful and keep going.

Be thankful that God gives us a true account of people who by faith follow him.

And keep going because what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross did indeed pay the way, everything. Yes, Jesus paid it all.

So now I know that I can make it.

Sometimes I stumble and sin, but sometimes I “do God proud” as in I live by faith and honor him.

Satan lies and God tells the truth. We must make sure who we are listening to or we will get very confused and be tempted to quit.

Satan tells us that that last sin was it, the straw that broke the camel’s back, that God has had it with you, that this ones not covered, buddy, forget about it, sister.

But God tells us:

(1 John 1:9 ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We need continual washing and cleansing. We are a mess but one day we won’t be.

Keep going. In the name of Jesus Christ, keep going.

(Philippians 3:13 MSG) Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward–to Jesus.

Check it out; finally updated this site — livingbythewordsofGod.com. Had the extra time since was off on New Year’s Day.

Living by the words of God

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As our pastor was preaching Sunday in Hebrews concerning the superiority of Jesus Christ and the new covenant as compared to the old covenant, I thought:

Same God, two covenants.

Now that’s not exactly something we don’t already know and have for some time.  But sometimes a familiar truth becomes new when we see it for just what it is, uncovered from our biases, out from under the layers of previous knowledge.

Some struggle with “the Law” and “the angry God” of the Old Testament.

But wait a minute, dude.

Same God, two covenants.

There is only one God.

He hasn’t changed.

He is eternal.

His character is the same:  He is holy; he is love; he is light.

And he is sovereign.  So if he chooses to interact with his human creation in different ways at different times, then who are we to question that.

If you allow God to speak to you as you read the Old and New Testaments, you can’t help but see the same God.

Romans 11:33-36 ESV  Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  (34)  “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”  (35)  “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”  (36)  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Every cold winter morning I put my “armor” on before heading out the door to work — My Carhartt work coat, complete with attached hood.

Every cold winter morning I am thankful for this protection from the elements that God has provided.  I am encouraged to step into the challenge of another day.

And I couldn’t help but think of the armor in Ephesians 6:

Ephesians 6:14-15 ESV
(14)  Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
(15)  and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Sometimes we try to make the Bible so spiritual that we miss the point God is trying to make.  The Apostle Paul used real world examples to express God’s truth.  Here he uses the equipment of the Roman soldier.

My work jacket is like my breastplate of righteousness.  I put it on for protection, and I am ready to face the challenge before me that day.  I draw courage from God’s provision.

I am stumbling around a little bit here but be patient.  I think I may end up making a good point.  🙂

I have written before about my boots and how it occurred to me one day that this was an example of the “shoes” in Ephesians 6.15.  The primary meaning isn’t evangelism but that the shoes (the truth of the gospel living in us) enable us to walk over whatever terrain is before us and to do this in the confidence of God.

When I put on my work boots in the morning, I am prepared to walk wherever I need to go on the job that day.  That is the truth of this passage.

And now back to my jacket.

We put on the coat of righteousness after the belt of truth.  We don’t claim the coat or demand it; God provides the coat as we walk in truth.  Just as God provided my Carhartt as I walked in the truth of being faithful to work and support my family.

So  when we prepare ourselves for the day, we can let the real world examples of God’s provision give us more insight into spiritual truth.

Hmm. . .

How about those mini-wheats and toast I had for breakfast?

Hello and thanks to all who read this blog. It seems God is urging me toward something, and I am not sure what form it is going to take. I need to be more involved in the world around me is what I do know. I want to reach out to my neighbors where I live and our “neighbors” as in the folks living near the church I attend.

And I want to reach out to you, wherever and whoever you are.

This past year has been filled with joy and sadness, wonder and anguish, and God seems to be using it all to carve something out on my heart.

I have recently been listening to some of the things I did on the radio, and I feel compelled to make that information more available at least in two ways. One: I am going to share some excerpts here on “Amos Gideon David.” Two: I am going to compile my manuscripts from the radio messages into a book of brief meditations or lessons and make it available through Lulu.com. Then you may access the information on my storefront as a free download or you may have it printed, bound and sent to your door.

The following is an example from the Monday October 17 broadcast.

Do I really trust God for life?

To live by the words of God, we must trust God for life!

The question that each of us must answer positively in his or her own heart to be able to live by God’s words is this: Do I really trust God for life? On the big screen of my life when the words of God project a different picture than what I have imagined, when his blueprint for living alters my design, which life will I embrace? Do I embrace God’s offer or cling to what I have?

The difference between a living faith and religion is this: Faith submits to a Sovereign God; religion reworks the blueprint. Sometimes even our prayer requests are no more than attempts to manipulate God’s plan for our lives.

Let me give an example. Over two thousand years ago King Nebuchadnezzar swept over the land of Judah. A remnant remained and through Jeremiah had been told to not be afraid but to stay in the land and God would take care of them. God called them to accept their new circumstances, their new lives, and he would provide. In spite of God’s assurance, they came to Jeremiah with this request:

Please listen to our request, and pray to the LORD your God for all of us who are left here. Let the LORD your God tell us where we should go and what we should do (Jeremiah 42:2-3 GW).

Please note two things: The seeming sincerity of their prayer and the irony of their request in that they had already been told where and what. When God said “No!” to Egypt, they exploded in anger.

Azariah, Johanan, and all the arrogant people said to Jeremiah, “You’re lying! The LORD our God didn’t send you to tell us that we must not go to live in Egypt” (Jeremiah 43:2 GW).

Their prayer request was merely religious camouflage over their demanding hearts. They could not bring themselves to let go of the lives they had planned and accept the life God offered.

Again I am sorry that I haven’t had (or taken) more time for this.  Getting three days off for Christmas was great and an extra day next week for New Year’s will be nice also.

Had music stuff to do for church, and I am rethinking livingbythewordsofGod.com; will be giving it a face lift I hope.

I hope you like the new format.

One of the things I did with my extra time this past week was to upgrade my WordPress software, backup my blog files and choose a new theme.  It is not only more attractive but also more functional.