Hope and Healing Are on the Horizon

Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, Son of man, have you seen this?...This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. Ezekiel 47:5-6,8

It was just another of the many incredible experiences in the life of Ezekiel-an angel was talking to him, taking him on a tour of the future temple in the New Jerusalem.

The angel takes Ezekiel to the doors of the temple to show him some water flowing out from under the threshold. Together, they follow this water away from the temple and the farther they go, the deeper it gets.

At first it's just ankle deep. Then it became knee deep. Then it became waist deep. Finally, the river became a river indeed, one that couldn't be crossed. This river is a picture of our relationship with God, so let me ask you-are you ankle deep, or are you in over your head?

Are you in over your head? Are you being swept away in your love for God? Is it a river that cannot be crossed? Is it a force to be reckoned with? Has it grown to that point? Or are you still playing in the shallows?

God is calling all of us deeper where something wonderful awaits us. Climbing out of the river, Ezekiel shares with us something that the angel told him about it, that it flows to the east and enters a sea whose waters it will heal.

Do you know what sea lies east of Israel? The Dead Sea. And do you know why it's called the Dead Sea? Because nothing can live in it! A lot of us are still living dead lives even though we say we belong to Christ. We're still living with pornography. We're still divorcing our spouses as much or more than the world. We're not letting the river of Christ sweep us away and fill us with the life that God has for us. We're not taking that river of life out to the dying world that needs it so desperately.

The journey to life starts with a decision to follow Christ deeper. Don't settle for ankle deep. Get swept away!

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I repent for settling for an ankle-deep relationship with You; please forgive me! I want everything You have for me. Please lead me into the deeper water until I am swept away for You!

Amen

Wrong Way Worship

Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' 1 Corinthians 10:6-7

I'll tell you something that's really tricky. It is tricky-I mean hard, super hard-to get through this life without idols.

I hear you saying to me, Idols? You gotta be crazy, Bob. Idols are a thing of the past; I don't have any stone or gold statues sitting in my house.

Right, probably not, but those statues are merely an image of something that becomes more important to you than God. I do not believe that Paul would have warned us against idolatry if it was so simple a thing that we could look around our living room and say, I don't have any idols.

We have to look deeper, and here are some questions that will help us:

What is your greatest accomplishment or affection? Maybe your identity is wrapped up in piling up sports accolades or promotions at work. Perhaps you love your hobbies or your friends more than you love God.

What is your greatest fear? If you fear something more than you fear falling short of God's call then you will serve an idol whenever you are forced to choose between the two. When faced with the choice of losing your job or following unethical orders from your boss, which fear wins out?

What is your greatest desire in life? Is it all about God or is it about you? I just want to be accepted. I just have to find a spouse. I just want more kids. I need that new flat screen. These aren't all bad things, but are they more important to you than God?

What is your greatest comfort and joy? Are you just counting off the days until your next vacation or can you recoup in the presence of God right now?

What is your greatest frustration? Idols aren't always things we pursue; sometimes we find them by examining what ticks us off the most. Are those holy soapboxes, or are you just impatient with traffic? Do you trust God with your life, or do politics determine whether things are good or bad?

When you look for idols in your life, don't look around your living room. Take these questions and look around your heart.

Prayer Father God,

You are God above all else! Show me anything in my life that has become more important to me than You. Please help me to keep the right focus and live my life for You!

Amen

Driving in the HOV Lane

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3

Do you have the Holy Spirit in your life?

A lot of people ask me that question for themselves. They want to know if the Holy Spirit is in their life. I always take them to one place-our verses today.

So let's talk about this Holy Spirit for a sec. He's not a cloud, okay? He was likened to a cloud at one point back in the Old Testament, but He's not a cloud. Nor is he fire. Now in Acts 2, He's likened unto fire, but He's not fire. And He's not a ghost. Okay? He's likened to a ghost, but He's not a ghost.

He's not even a dove hanging on a wall. That might get me kicked out of the Calvary movement right there, so you know, but He's not a dove. He is likened unto a dove, likened unto fire, likened unto being a ghost or a cloud, but He's none of those things.

He's a person.

The question is, is this Person a part of your life, not just a cloud or a big super moon or a fire or a dove? Is He in your mind? Is He in your thoughts? Is He a part of your plans? Is He your Helper? Is He real to you in a personal and life-changing way? Do you let Him take the lead? Do you let Him be the nav? Do you allow Him to comfort you and fill you with His power and with His life and with His joy?

Because it all has to happen inwardly before it can happen outwardly.

Bob, I don't know. I just don't know about this. And how do you know if it's really the right Spirit that you get a hold of? I think I feel this energy from time to time.

He's not an energy. Nope. And He's not an aura.

Here's what Paul says: I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.

What's that mean? It means that if you love Jesus, then the Holy Spirit is in your life. Can you say that Jesus is really Lord of your life? That's the Holy Spirit there to help you say that.

So test it out and you tell me, do you have the Holy Spirit in your life?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You really are Lord of my life, so I thank You that I have the Holy Spirit. I really want all that You have for me, so please fill me afresh today and lead me into Your plans for my life!

Amen

Crossing the Finish Line

I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles...Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.' Isaiah 42:6,9

What was the first Bible verse that really impacted you? For me, it was the verse that says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We all like new things, and especially the idea of becoming new, but what exactly does this mean? I mean, I'm new, but it's still me here. How have they become new? How have things now become what they never were before?

I think actually this is where a lot of people get tripped up on this whole thing called Christianity-telling me you're new. But you're still losing your hair. You're telling me that you're new but I still see that you lose your temper. What type of new are you talking about?

Well, look at our verses today. You can claim that personally. He's saying, Yes, I made the first call. I called out to you. I called you in righteousness.

Maybe you're reading this today and, just to be totally honest with the Lord, you're like, Well, You called me, but I'm not righteous.

But He's called you in righteousness. In other words, He sees you new. He doesn't see you as you see yourself when you look in the mirror. He sees you finished. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this before, or maybe they have and they meant it in a negative way, but I mean it in the most positive ways of what Christ has done for you: You're finished.

Well, I need to prop this up and this up and this up. I need to work on this and go to the gym.

No, you're finished. Can you just relax and enjoy the fact that because of Christ, you're done? You're finished. You're complete. When He sees you, He sees the finished work. He says, I called you in righteousness. It's not something that you can earn, okay? That's only something you can receive. He calls you in righteousness.

If that's not enough then realize this: In the beginning, God's words created everything that now is. And now, by His grace and mercy, even when we weren't righteous, He called us righteous, declaring new things before they yet existed.

If God said it, it's true, and He calls you righteous. Receive that from His hand today.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for calling me righteous! I could be righteous unless You just transform me, and I receive the truth today that You have made me righteous. I'm finished! The old is gone and the new really has come!

Amen

Beyond Belief

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

What are you good for?

I don't mean to be insulting, but I mean the question sincerely. What are you good for? What purpose can you serve? Are you useful for honorable things, or only for dishonorable ones?

Even more important, do you know how to become useful for honorable things?

I want you to examine your life right now and see if you are useful for the Lord. Is your heart still passionate about serving Him and following His direction for your life? Or have you grown dull, consumed by the glamour of success or the tyranny of just scraping by?

We know from God's Word that He honors the people who set themselves apart for His use, but He relegates those who live for themselves to dishonorable things. It's not as though His heart is to treat them dishonorably, it's just that He can't trust them with honorable things. If He gave them honorable things, they would use them for themselves instead of for Him. And when our eternal reward is based on faithfulness with what we are given, He wants to set us up for success and not for failure.

So He only gives honor to those who are submitted to Him, set apart, sold out, ready to serve. These are the ones He can trust to be faithful. These are the ones He will send on the special missions for the kingdom of God. These are the ones He looks for to give them help in their time of need, because He knows their need is because they have been spending themselves for Him-His help is a co-laboring with us, not a bail out!

Have you set yourself apart for God? Are you devoted to His special purposes? Are you trustworthy with His mission? Then you are useful, good for something honorable in the kingdom of God. If you are not set apart, then you are only useful for dishonorable things.

The choice is yours today. Do you want to be good for something? Then set yourself apart.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I want to be good for something, so I give myself to you wholeheartedly. I hold nothing back today. I am Yours! Please take me, help me, and use me for Your kingdom today and every day for the rest of my earthly life.

Amen

Heaven's Open House

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Revelation 21:9-11

A lot of people I know are good book starters, but terrible book finishers. They read until the suspense is resolved, but can never force themselves to finish out the final details of the story over the last few chapters.

There is one book that we cannot afford to leave unfinished, and it is the Bible. We can know the essentials and end the suspense-that Jesus died and rose again so that, by faith, we can have eternal life-but the very last chapters of the Bible contain something we need.

At the very end is a picture of where we are going that is so beautiful, so inspiring, that we should all meditate on it, for if we truly understood what God has in store for us, nothing could hold us back from living all out for God.

In sports, there is an important practice called visualization. The idea is that whatever the sport, you can train yourself to see in your mind the perfect skill, match, game, shot, or race. And when you can see it clearly in your mind, something happens that takes you beyond your physical ability. Suddenly, simply by picturing your specialty done the perfect way, you are able to do it more perfectly.

Likewise, it is important for us to be able to picture where we are going. A runner does not race for the next step; they race with the finish line in mind. In our race of faith, we keep our minds fixed on where we are going.

God would not have written it in His Word if it was not important for us. I challenge you to read Revelation 21-22 in its entirety. As you read it, picture yourself in that great city. See yourself walking on its streets. Imagine the sights, sounds, and smells.

Continue to practice these things, for it will strengthen you to overcome what you face today.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Heaven! You have created such an incredible place for me to spend eternity with You, and I am amazed. Please help me to live today with Heaven in mind, so that I will run better for Your glory.

Amen

Hope and Healing Are on the Horizon

All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE. Ezekiel 48:35

We know the destination, but aside from that, we have a whole lot of messed up thinking. The destination is Heaven, right? And we all want to get there. But let me straighten a few things out.

First, no one gets a free pass into Heaven. There are no back doors, no coattails, no free passes, not even for Jews. Jewish people don't get to Heaven just because they're Jewish. Nope, they need to go through Jesus, just like everyone else. Along with this, good people don't go to Heaven, only forgiven ones. You can't be good enough for Heaven; you have to be forgiven.

Next, there's no Saint Peter standing at the pearly gates waiting to greet us in a white tux with a clipboard in his hand, asking us for our name. No, our names are known in Heaven by the One who counts-God. If we believe in Jesus as our Savior, then our names are inscribed on the palms of His hands.

Also, there will be no video of your life played out on some cosmic Jumbotron. How do I know? Because the Bible tells me that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and that sounds like a very condemning experience, if you ask me.

So if all we thought about Heaven is bogus, why would we want to go there? Do you want to get to Heaven simply because you don't want to go to Hell? Hey, I agree, Heaven's a better choice, but Hell is not what should motivate us toward Heaven. What should motivate us is what God declares about Heaven, that its name will forever become The LORD Is There.

The Lord is there! Yahweh-Shammah-The Lord Is There. If you want to know what makes Heaven Heaven, that's your answer-the Lord is there. And wherever the Lord is becomes Heaven, right?

That should be our motivation to get to Heaven-that the Lord is there-and we should want to be with the Lord wherever He is. If you want Heaven, but are unsure how you feel about God being there, then maybe you need to examine whether or not you really love Jesus.

Let Jesus set your heart free into the joyful expectation of His presence.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that Heaven is wherever You are, and that I will be there with You! I rejoice in the hope of living in the city that is named after Your presence there, and I thank You for forgiving me so that I can be there with You!

Amen