The Superior Blessing

By D’Ann Davis

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 1:3

Family. Friends. Wealth. Health. Travel. Security. Beauty. Success. These words come to mind when most of us think of blessing. At least that is what typically comes to my mind. When I pray blessings for people they often fall into one or more of these categories. Blessings I pray for myself certainly can dwell there. None of these areas of life are innately bad and many of them are part of God’s blessings, but they are neither ends in themselves or the fullness of what God has in store for us as His children. Often “blessings” in these areas can actually be curses because the allure to idolize the gifts shifts our gaze from the Giver. Worldly ideas of prosperity do not match God’s ideas of it. The Bible does not teach a prosperity gospel or a poverty gospel. It shows us that life is found in the Giver, not in the gifts. It favors spiritual blessings over material.

Spiritual blessings truly are the deepest ones. They touch our souls and fill us in ways that transient pleasures of this life cannot afford us. No house or spouse or job can truly fill one’s soul in a sustainable way, but spiritual blessings in Christ always will. God loves to give us the desires of our hearts as we delight in Him. He pursues relationship with us before we ever know Him, and He is determined in His efforts to demonstrate His lovingkindness and generosity.

What strikes me is that not only does God want to bless us spiritually, but that in Christ, He blesses us with every spiritual blessing available. God is not stingy. He wants to give us life to the full (John 10:10). “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11 instructs. Psalm 16:11 teaches us, “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God created the concepts of blessing, pleasure, goodness, and abundance. These are not manmade constructs that God arbitrarily dispenses. He created blessing and He seeks to bless. His blessings for His children are good and not evil. What we need versus what we might want. And He has made every spiritual blessing available in the person and work of Christ Jesus.

If you are like me, you can lose sight of the spiritual blessings in hope of the material ones. You can feel like your life is lacking in some way because of what you may or may not have physically speaking. But in Christ we lack nothing. In Him we have everything. In the midst of frustration or doubt, let us fix our eyes on the Author and Finisher of our faith, knowing that He is the culmination of all blessing Himself. He is what our heart truly longs for, and He is the one true fulfillment of our desires. In Him we have all we need. In Him we have, not some spiritual blessing, but every spiritual blessing. Let us rest in this truth and drink deeply of the Living Water who slakes the thirst of our weary souls. Let us seek Him with all of our hearts until we find Him, knowing that in relationship with Him, we are blessed.

Father, we praise You for being a God of blessing and generosity. Please bless us with Your presence, and help us be close to You. Help us to continually seek life in You and not apart from You, trusting that all spiritual blessings find their home in You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Trusting the Father

By Darrel Auvenshine 

There is none like the Lord; there is none beside You; there is no rock like our God.”

I Samuel 2:2 “

Perhaps at times we find it difficult to trust our heavenly Father. This is especially true in cases where our earthly fathers were not trustworthy. Maybe your father wasn’t present in your life, or maybe he was there, but didn’t connect with you.

One of the greatest obstacles between intimacy with the Father and us is our misperception of who God is. We view God many times through the lens with which we see our earthly fathers. So if our dad was compassionate, we would see God as compassionate. If our dad was demanding, we would also perceive God to be demanding. 

Our earthly father’s weakness or brokenness does not change the truth that God is a trustworthy Father who desires to know His children. Our hope is to get to know God for who He is, not who we perceive Him to be based upon broken human relationship.

Was your earthly father trustworthy?

How have you found trusting God difficult?

Reflect on a time when God was tender with you, revealing a part of Himself to you.

Insincere Confession

by D’Ann Davis

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers; as the spring rains that water the earth.’ What shall I do with you O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:1-6

Believers know that confession is a part of the Christian life. First John 1:9 reminds us of this virtue in saying, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” James 5:16 exhorts, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” We see instruction to and benefits from confessing our sins. However, when this confession is insincere, we are disobediently spurning the Lord’s reproofs. This was the sin of the Israelites in Hosea six.

The first three verses of this passage are beautifully written. The Israelites were nothing if not poetic. Their praising of God’s faithfulness and call to return to Him feels moving in its fervor and artistry. However, God knew the hearts of the Israelites. He knew their confession was empty and would not last. They had great things to say, but their heart had not resolved to truly come to Him in repentance. Their sorrow was not a 2 Corinthians 7:10 godly sorrow that leads to life and repentance, but a worldly sorrow that leads to death. God was not fooled by their shallow eloquence. And He is not fooled by ours.

God desires a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart more than He desires sacrifice, per Psalm 51:17. He sees past our façade and knows our hearts. He knows when we are grieved over consequences alone and unmoved by grieving the Holy Spirit. We may convince others of our feigned sincerity, but we do not fool Him. He is the One to whom we answer. We might think we are getting away with something by our empty words, but we get nothing past our all-knowing Father.

He says in 6:6, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Thank God we have a God who cares more about our hearts’ postures than He does the outward appearance! He is invested in our lives. He cares about our true confession, repentance, healing, freedom, and life. He wants more for us than our flimsy confessions that keep us in bondage. He wants authentic agreement with Him about our sin that we might be saved from it through Him. Thankfully we have a Savior who died not only for our sins, but also for our sinfully motivated and poor acknowledgements of that sin. Thank God He made a way for us even in this.

So let us cast aside the sin that so easily entangles us and repent of the impotent, disingenuous confessions we make. Let us confess in humility and truth, knowing that the truth sets us free.

“Dear God, thank You for loving us even in our insincere confessions. Help us to come to You in humility and truth and approach the throne of grace with confidence, knowing we have a great High Priest who can sympathize with our weakness. Please continually draw us to You and sanctify our motives and confessions that we might be pleasing to You and restored to You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.”

Sin Altars

by D’Ann Davis

“Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.”

Hosea 8:11

Matter of fact would be a good way to describe Hosea 8:11. In a verse that states the obvious, it is interesting how easily we can ignore its truth in our daily lives. The people of Ephraim, a tribe of Israel, had increased the altars they made to sin, and thus, unsurprisingly, they found themselves sinning.

We do this all the time in our daily lives, giving our flesh provision and then feeling we have been caught off guard when we fall into sin. We keep the contact information, visit that neighborhood, read that false doctrine, remove the filter from our computers, and then wonder why we cannot seem to overcome our fleshly battles. We are like our predecessors. Multiplying altars for sin in our lives, we sin.

Constant falls need not surprise us when this is our modus operandi. Frequent surrender to the flesh is to be expected when we leave the door open for sin, even if it is merely a toe in the door. Satan has a way of making a foothold out of a toe in the door. Thankfully though, we have a Savior who sought to save us from our half-hearted measures. In Him we find the grace to be freed from sin along with the thresholds that would lead to that sin. We have the grace to be above reproach. We have the power to overcome every obstacle between the Father and us. We have the freedom to choose Him in the matters of conscience and wisdom.

So in our fight for freedom, we can learn from the people of Ephraim. Remembering that making an altar for sin will lead to sin we can be better equipped to fight the good fight. Instead of worrying if we will have what it takes to overcome the temptation, when possible, we can simply remove the temptation. Matthew 5:6 tells us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When we want to do whatever is necessary to walk obediently before God, He will satisfy that desire and help us. So let us break down our altars for sinning and instead direct our hearts toward Christ, trusting that in Him, we can conquer both the temptation and what leads to it.

Dear Lord, please turn our hearts toward You and away from sin and the altars for sinning that will ultimately trip us up. Help us to find satisfaction in You and Your righteousness that we might walk in Your ways with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

To Be A Man

By Ricky Chelette

“Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.” 
Exodus 35:30-35

I wasn’t normal growing up, at least I didn’t think I was. My mom and dad were mere teenagers when they had me and I was a very precocious little boy. By five I was entertaining family and friends with songs I’d memorized from the radio or musicals I watched with my mom. I was far more interested in art and music than I was contact sports. There weren’t a lot of kids in my neighborhood growing up, but there were lots of retired adults. I loved sitting on their porches and having conversations about life, politics, events, weather or what they use to do for a living. I thought it was normal because it was all I knew. 

But when I got to school and began interacting with the other boys, I realized my interests were very different than theirs and they wasted no time pointing it out. While they wanted to play football and kickball, I was more interested in the carpenter ants that occupied the big oak in the middle of the play yard, or the conversations happening under the porte-cochère. It didn’t take long for some of the boys to call me names. It was clear to me. I wasn’t a boy like they were, or so I thought. 

The beautiful thing about God is that He has a much broader definition of masculine than the one our culture often portrays. In this passage in Exodus we see God creating men with specific gifts to make the temple of God a beautiful place of worship – gifts of intelligence, stone setting, and cutting, woodcarving, engraving, designing and even embroidering. These men were not second-class citizens because they were gifted in ways that today might consider more feminine gifts than masculine ones. They were simply God’s men, created by God and gifted by God to do His work for His glory. 

In a world were people want to marginalize, categorize, and compartmentalize everything and everyone, it is great to know our Heavenly Father has a much broader view of masculine and feminine than the picture the world might paint.

I am still not a great sports’ fan, though I can enjoy watching a game. I am still more interested in art and music, aesthetics and prose, and beauty and nature than am I in who is in the latest playoff bout for the sport of the season. But none of those things make more or less a man of God. They simply point to aspect of my Father, reflected in me, and created to give Him glory.

So if you see the little kid in church or at the playground or on the school campus who seems to walk to the beat of a different drummer, just know that he just might and that is perfectly fine. Encourage his gifts, celebrate his talents, and affirm his place in brotherhood of men. 

If you are that guy know that you are not an accident, not a mistake, not some weirdo or freak of nature, but God’s beloved son in whom He has placed an aspect of His creative character. Through you He desires to bless the world and bring glory to His Name. Embrace your giftings. Celebrate your unique perspective on the world. Use your talents to further the Kingdom and help the world see the extraordinary beauty found in the most ordinary life.

The Meaning of Love

By Ricky Chelette

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” 
John 15:13

Valentines Day has come and gone.  We’ve seen all kinds of images of love from our authoritative arbiter of worldview, Facebook:  sweet couples together kissing and sharing moments; pictures of roses and bouquets of flowers from admirers; elegant and overpriced meals skillfully (or not so skillfully) photographed; silhouette of couples walking into the sunset; mom’s kissing babies and babies kissing puppies.  The images all make for great postings, but do they really help us understand love?

Where do we go for a real picture of the meaning of love?  Romance novels and movies portray love as some romantic encounter filled with irrational feelings of emotions and euphoria.  Today’s idea of love is often completely self-focused and feeling oriented. It is centered on me feeling good and me feeling – whatever those feelings might be – with an intensity that elevates the moment to life-altering ecstasy.  As a result, we have assigned the word “love” to any number of seemingly uncontrollable feelings or desire to do whatever we want to do as long as it makes me feel good.  Feeling good has become the most “loving” thing.  

But love has not always been such a nebulous and ambiguous term.  In fact, one man defined love more than any other.  He left perfection and ultimate power for the confines of human reality, born in poverty as a helpless baby, in order to rescue a sinful, disobedient creation.  He willingly took on human relating to assure that we humans could access heavenly connection with our Creator.  He knowingly took on the punishment for humanity’s wrongs in order to pay the debt they owed; a debt they could never pay.  

From even the most cynical estimation he was an amazing man.  From a rational person’s perspective he was surely a hero.  From a spiritual perspective he was a Savior.  From a “love” perspective, he redefined what real love is for all time.  He said, “No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.  I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:18).  That is real love - loving enough to be willing to die for someone that can really do nothing of value for you.  It is a love that is other-focused, not self-focused.  It is a love that willingly sacrifices one’s personal pleasures for the good of others. It is a love that gives till it dies for the good of another.  It is the kind of real love the Gospel speaks of that when experienced, transforms the vilest of sinners into the grandest of saints. It is the kind of love that transformed Saul from a hater of the church and a killer of Christians, to Paul, protector of the church and lover of Christians.  It is the kind of love we need more of in our modern world.  It is the kind of love Jesus demonstrated on the cross to reconcile man with God.  It is Gospel love and it changes everything. 

In a day when love is said to justify everything from abortion sex outside of marriage, Jesus speaks with clarion clarity that real love is not about self, it is about others.  It is not something to possess, but something that possesses us.  It is not something we create, but something we give because we have been the undeserved recipients of it ourselves. It is, in a word, the Gospel.

Have you experienced real love in your life?  Not simply the love of another person, a friend, or even a spouse, but the love of Jesus given for you on the cross?  If you have, how are you sharing that love with others?  If you haven’t, take some time and read the book of John and discover the One who is the source and giver of all love, Jesus. When you do, it will transform your life!

Our Gentle God

By D’Ann Davis

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 
Isaiah 1:18-20

Throughout the book of Isaiah we see myriad announcements to different peoples about their impending doom if they do not repent to the Lord, and their subsequent salvation if they do.  Though in Chapter 1, verses 18-20, we see the tenderness of God highlighted in an intimate way.  In a book that so exalts His transcendence in judgment and justice over the nations and His Sovereign reign over the future, this handful of verses is a snap-shot of His equally powerful immanence and tender care.  God is just, God is righteous, God is merciful, and in these verses we see that He is also close and reasonable.

God gently calls to the people of Judah to reason with Him and think through their actions.  Their rebellion against Him would not only defile them but would be their ruin.  God is a generous and good God.  He wants us to walk in the fullness of all that to which He has called us.  He does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), but wants us all to come to repentance.  He is patient and longsuffering with us and we see that highlighted in verse 18.  God assures His children that if they would repent, even though their sins were as scarlet, He would cleanse them and make them white as snow.  He emphasizes that in sowing repentance they would reap the benefits of life in Him, but in sowing rebellion, they would reap destruction.

God makes the same tender call to us all the time.  Do we hear His voice?  Verse 20 tells us “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Are we listening to the words of His mouth?  Let us hear His gentle, kind call, knowing that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  When God speaks to us asking us to reason with Him and think through what we are doing, let us not hear condemnation, but invitation, knowing that through the blood of Christ, even our darkest stain might be made clean.  Hear His call today.  If He is calling you to reason together with Him, then listen to His word, and come and be made clean.