The times we now live in

^“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” (Is 26:20)

Today I asked the Lord why He did not bring very many prophecies.  The scripture above came to mind, and the Lord said that people want to hear about good things, not realizing the serious times we live in where plagues and wars go throughout the earth.  It a desperate and sorrowful time for many.  He continued, saying that people, even in the churches, want to play. Some churches measure their success by the numbers of young people who will come to their building to play.

The Lord asked me to be content with life as it is, and wait until these things pass through the earth, for then there will come a reaping of souls, a harvest to participate in.  There is much good to look forward to even though the times may be sorrowful now.  Let us look forward to His work, and wait in patience.  For those that labor for the Lord, be faithful.  For all of us, let us be content with what we have until His indignation has passed through the earth.  Amen.

Relationships change

Relationships change.  They grow as each partner grows.  Our relationship with God changes as we grow also.  Paul writes about this process in the following verses;

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am known.” (1 Cor 13:11-12).

A child grows into adulthood gradually.  Our focus becomes sharpened over time.  And, if we are in a good and honest relationship, we not only are “known” by the other person, but we will know our partner as well.  It is a gradual process.

The change that relationships go through depend on the maturity of putting aside childish ways. A child believes things are about himself, though he does not know himself very well.  Over time, the child’s perceptions change.  Relationships, if we let them change, begin to mirror ourselves to us, until we are “face to face” with who we are and what we want.

Until the time that we know ourselves, we cannot truly know our partner.  The same is true in our relationship with God. Even though God does know our inner most thoughts, we only begin to know His as we ourselves gradually mature.  We have different desires as a little child then we do as an adult partner. 

Some of Jesus’ parables are about relationships that change.  We see that a servant can become mature enough to run the Master’s house when He is gone (Lk 12:42-44). But caring for fellow servants in the Master’s absence is far different than being cared for in His presence. The servant may be used to receiving instructions for his every move, however, in the Master’s absence he will implement what he knows to be His will.  This process helps the servant to “know” the Master. We see in this parable that the Master wanted a partner in running his household.  He did not want the servant to remain a child. The Master also wanted the servant’s heart to become known to himself; he was faithful.  That is important in a partner.

I see that my own growth can take place when I trust God’s intentions for every change.  Or, my growth can be hindered by my unwillingness to let go of the way things were in the past.  If I love the paralyzing dependency of being His little child, I get stuck. I also cannot truly know my own heart.  If I want to know God’s heart and its desires, I have to put my childish ways behind me.

Are we willing to let the nature of our relationship with God change? Will we think He has lost interest in us, or we Him?  Or will our maturity lead to truly knowing God as He knows us?  Let us trust God’s intentions and His intense interest in our growth so that we can partner with Him.  Amen.

Glory

“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now Father,

 glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:4-5).

“Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you.” (verse 7)

“And glory has come to me through them.” (verse 10).

We live on the earth and can only imagine what glory would look like in the physical.  How would it affect our lives here?  Jesus’ relationship with His heavenly Father gives us a glimpse into glory.

Because Jesus knew His Father and did what His Father said to do, it affected Jesus’ life.  Jesus’ life, in turn, affected those around Him.  Because Jesus knew God’s ways and acted on them, He made God look good (John 14:9-11).  He glorified God by showing Him to people.  In the same way, our children glorify us when they take what is ours and put it to good use in the world.  Whether good teaching, riches, wisdom . . . when our children emulate the good in us, they glorify us.  You might say that they make us look good.

Implementation of what His Father gave Him made both Jesus and God look good on the earth.  But we don’t see Jesus’ glorification until He goes to heaven.  Jesus told a parable about a servant who, when he had done all he was told to do, was advised to say that he was an unworthy servant, only doing his duty. (Luke 17:10).  In this same way, Jesus was our servant here on the earth until the end of His life, doing only what His Master, the Father, told Him to do. But let’s take a look at what happened when Jesus finished His work.

In Revelation 5 we read about a scene in heaven.  All who dwelt there recognized Jesus’ work here on the earth.  They sang

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. . . . To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Rev 5:9-10 & 13). Jesus received His glory when His work was finished.

Jesus told His disciples that He would be treated poorly, and that they would also. 

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it has hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.” (John 15:18-19) “For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:31). 

Jesus’ followers did not receive fame or glory on the earth, though they did the works of the Father.  Paul is well known to us for his writings, but during his apostleship some called him a false apostle and discredited his teachings. He finished the work God gave him to do without worldly reward. However, because of his faithful obedience, Paul’s works made God look good to us.

God also has works for us to do.  He eagerly anticipates the day we will be glorified for what we do here on earth.  I have experienced the angels singing our praises for taking the good things we have received from the Father and giving them to others.  They are excited whenever we make God look good.  Let us take heaven’s excitement into our own lives and complete the works God has given us.  Then, and only then, will we receive glory.  Amen.

Kept by the Power of His Name

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one.” (Jn 17:11)

When Jesus was facing the end of His life He prayed a prayer to His Heavenly Father.  The line above is Jesus’ request that we be kept by the Father; protected.  He gives the reason for this protection as “that they may be one as we are one.”  Being one, or one flesh, is the term God uses for a man to be united to his wife (Gen 2:24). It is an intimate union where two people know each other’s hearts and minds, and eventually walk in agreement.  Jesus had just told the disciples that “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (Jn 14:11).  This oneness, then, is spiritual.

As a husband protects his bride, so the Father protected Jesus.  When we are His bride, God protects us also.  You might say that you do not feel protected, for there are abundant trials on this earth.  However, to be kept by the power of His name is to love God and be kept by Him as His bride.  All the works we do in His name are unable to keep us in our hour of trial.  Our love relationship with Jesus and His Father will keep us.

Sometimes the greatest gap that forms between 2 lovers is indifference. The heart can grow selfish, cold . . . and eventually, hard.  In the book of Hebrews we read this phrase several times; “Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts . . . “ (Heb 3:15).  People who love each other talk to each other.  Intimacy and hearing cannot be separated.  The minute we start thinking God no longer cares about us, we will be tempted to harden our hearts, and to stop listening.  The greatest test of love is to desire God’s presence in the very trials that only He can deliver us from.

Illness, rejection, and busyness with work will dry the love out of our hearts.  But God desires to pour the rain of His love onto our lives and heal us.  He always cares about us.  God loves us.  His protection isn’t from trials, and doesn’t eliminate our enemies.  God’s protection “keeps” us in the midst of trials and spiritual warfare so that our hearts won’t suffer defeat.  His desire is that we all become “one”, kept by love.  

Love: Oil for our lamps

If you’ve read Jesus’ parable about the 10 virgins (Mt 25:1-13) you’ll find that all 10 slept.  Though sleeping can be seen as not participating in the work of the Lord, Jesus tells us that 5 of the virgins are wise.  Sleeping has a different meaning in this parable. There is a time to work, and a time to rest, or sleep. 

“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (Jn 9:4)

All 10 virgins were sent to welcome the Bridegroom, but there was a period of waiting, for He came at the last minute, or midnight. Therefore, one of the things we see about this parable is that it’s about time.

Jesus’ parable about the 10 virgins is also about relationship.  The 5 virgins that were ready when the Bridegroom came went in with Him to the marriage. Marriage is the most intimate of relationships to share.  But the 5 virgins who were not ready were sent away.  The Bridegroom said “I know you not.”  He would not share an intimate relationship with people He did not know.

The difference between the 5 virgins who went into the wedding and the 5 who were sent away is wisdom.  Wisdom caused the wise virgins to take oil for the journey, whereas the foolish virgins did not. Because this parable is about time and relationship, I believe the oil is love.  Love helps us to endure waiting.  Love draws our hearts towards God and His children, our brethren. And during our enduring, love helps us to do what is important.

If we love, we wait well.  If we do not love, we wait poorly. Jesus told a similar story in which a Master was delayed. The faithful servant fed his fellow servants their portion in the proper time. But the servant who was wicked said “My master is staying away a long time,” and he beat his fellow servants, and ate and drank with drunkards. (Mt 24:45-49).  The faithful servant endured the wait, loved his brethren and cared for them. The wicked servant did not have the endurance needed to wait.  He did not have love, which endures (1 Cor 13:7).

Many are asked to wait and endure in faith. Love will ready our hearts for an intimate relationship with the Christ.  If we love God, we must also love our brethren.  We cannot say we love Jesus and then fail to love our brothers in Christ (1 Jn 4:20-21). If we have big plans of what we are going to do for Him and neglect or mistreat our brethren we will not be ready for Jesus.

Let us take true love into the night seasons with us.  God wants to invite us in to the most intimate of relationships. If we have loved, then we will endure the journey and be ready for Him.  Amen.