Vision Testing

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, I see men like trees, walking.' Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everything clearly. Mark 8:23-25

It is a good idea for us to regularly visit the eye doctor to make sure our eyes are healthy. It is an even better idea for us to daily check our spiritual eyes to make sure that our vision is clear.

When Jesus ministered to the blind man in these verses, the healing came as the blind man looked up. We must do the same thing to be sure that our vision is clear we must look up to God and examine whether our vision is in line with Him.

How do you do that? Here are four tips that will help you.

First, our vision cannot go against what God has already revealed in His Word. God will never guide us somewhere that contradicts His Word or His character, no exceptions.

Second, use common sense. God did not give us this gift just so He could contradict it every time He led us somewhere. When we use the brains God gave us then our vision will stay on track as we move closer to fulfilling them.

Third, for our vision to truly be of God, it must require faith. This is huge, and I want you to see how faith does not contradict common sense. Faith means to have vision for your life that is big enough you cannot do it alone. It means you will need God's help. It means to dream big, not to dream crazy.

Fourth, if your vision is of God, then He will provide for it. This will require leaps of faith where you count the cost, yet jump anyway. It means being a faithful steward of what we have, all the while knowing that it is God who provides for us to take the next step.

These tips will help you to look up and keep your vision clear.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your vision for my life! Please help me to see clearly what Your vision for my life is and to use wisdom in following You.

Amen

Knowing God's Plan

The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:1-2

God wants us to understand Him-how wild is that!

This is why He reveals Himself to us. He does this in many ways, most of all through Jesus. Our verses today tell us quite a bit about Jesus, showing us what it meant that God filled Him with the Holy Spirit.

First, Jesus had the Spirit of the LORD-the very Spirit of God. This was fulfilled when the Spirit descended upon Jesus when He was baptized, and it's significant for us today because Jesus promised that the exact same thing would happen to us.

Second, Jesus had the Spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge applied-it's what to do with what you know. This is how Jesus always knew just the right way to answer every difficult situation He faced.

Third, Jesus had the Spirit of understanding. Can't you just see this one all the way through Jesus' ministry? He was always hanging out with the drunkards and sinners-because He understood, and so He had compassion on them. He still understands us today and still works to save us.

Fourth, Jesus had the Spirit of counsel. Do you need some advice? Jesus has the counsel-the Spirit of counsel, which is one of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. Ask Him and let Him counsel you today.

Fifth, Jesus had the Spirit of might. Jesus won the greatest victory of all time in His death and resurrection, defeating all the unseen forces of evil. His Spirit is mighty in us to walk in this victory.

Sixth, Jesus had the Spirit of knowledge. He knows everything! Surely, we can trust Him with anything and everything.

Seventh, Jesus had the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. The role of this aspect of the Holy Spirit is to bring a respect and honor toward the Lord, what He says, and His role in our lives. Jesus had all seven of these active in His life, but then He gave His Spirit to us, which means the Holy Spirit is all of these things for us, too.

Come understand God, and let Him be who He is in your life.

Prayer Holy Spirit,

Thank You for all that You do in my life! I invite You to come and manifest these seven aspects of who You are in my life. Come and have Your way in me!

Amen

Triumph or Tribulation

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. Daniel 12:4

Have you ever thought about how incredible the days are in which we live? Truly, the world has never seen anything like what we now see every single day.

But God saw this day coming long before it came and He spoke of it to His prophet Daniel, sharing with him the words of our verse today. Certainly, this is a verse that points to our days. It is a verse for us, for now, for today.

I think you would have to agree with me that people are, in fact, running to and fro. I mean, that's about the best language Daniel could give to it, because he never could have comprehended or explained how people would ever travel faster than a horse could carry them. But now we are travelling all over the country, even all over the world. We think nothing of just hopping on a plane and twenty-some hours later, we get off on the complete other side of the world.

And certainly knowledge is increasing. We call this the information age, and Daniel didn't even give it that name. Especially with the internet, there is so much information available for us to learn, we are learning at a pace now that has never before even been possible.

The opportunities aren't lacking. There's information galore. Knowledge and wisdom and understanding are at all time high availability. But be careful now, because in the midst of all this that we know and can do and all the luxuries of this life, we wouldn't want to miss the most important thing.

In all that running to and fro, zip, zip, zipping around, especially in this busy season, people think they're too busy for church. And so many are saying, Oh, I think I know all I need to know. I don't need to listen to God's Word.

Really? Because I thought the goal was being conformed to the image of Christ, making sure our names are written in the Book of Life, living not for here, but for eternity. If we haven't arrived to that standard yet, then we still need church, and we still need to learn.

Don't get too busy for Jesus. Don't get too smart for His Word. Keep making time for Him, and keep listening to His voice.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You saw this day and age coming long before it arrived. Now that it's here, now that I'm living in this time, please help me to keep my eyes on You, remembering to make time for You and to keep learning from Your Word!

Amen

A Plaguing Prophetic Prediction

Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.' Exodus 11:6-7

Insurance. It seems like you can buy it for anything these days.

You can get all kinds of insurance-life, phone, car, computer, house, even software. With insurance, there's only one question you need to ask-Do I have coverage for that?

Because if you're covered, then your insurance will take care of you, but if you're not then you have to carry the cost yourself.

It is vital that we understand this principal as it relates to spiritual things, and we can learn what we need to know from the story of Moses.

When God sent him to Egypt, He performed several signs through Moses, including turning a staff into a snake and back again, turning the water to blood, and releasing a plague of frogs throughout the land. Interestingly, the Pharaoh's magicians were able to imitate all these signs by the power of Satan. But that's where the imitation stopped.

After these signs, God began releasing plagues that personally effected people. Just as in the story of Job, Satan needed permission to touch people, and in this case God did not grant it.

Soon, however, God drew another distinction, this time between His people and the Egyptians. He kept His people protected, while the Egyptians suffered one disaster after another excruciating disaster.

Finally, God gives us the ultimate picture of coverage-The Passover. Any Israelite who painted their door with the blood of a lamb and remained under that covering was spared. Every Egyptian who had no coverage lost their firstborn son to death.

You see that coverage is very important spiritually. Jesus came as the fulfillment of the prophetic picture given in the Passover, and He now is our covering, our protection from all that God will eventually pour out on the earth in the final days.

It is our job now as Christians to go spread this news, becoming insurance salesmen of a sort, offering the free coverage of God's salvation policy for all who will receive Him. If you haven't received Him yet, then right now is a great time. And if you have, tell others so that they can be covered, too.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for covering and protecting me from all the things that You are going to do on this earth, just as You once protected Your people in Egypt! Please forgive my sins today. I invite You to be Lord of my life!

Amen

Blind Corners, Hidden Driveways, Falling Rocks

We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3

You have probably met this kind of person. They are the ones who sit in your Bible class and ask the teacher off-topic questions, using terms you've never heard of and going over the heads of everyone else in the class except themselves.

Perhaps you have wondered at times if they were only trying to stump the teacher so as to prove they are the smartest person in the room. You have tried to figure out why they do this, torn between jealousy at how much they seem to know about God and skepticism as to how much all that knowledge is really worth.

But you figure, if they know so much about God, they really must have Christianity figured out, right?

Wrong. The truth is that they may not have God figured out, because the key to that mystery is not knowledge; it is love.

If you have met the kind of person I described above, then you have felt what it is like to be around someone who is puffed up. All their knowledge has inflated their view of themselves. Their flesh is so swollen around their eyes that they cannot see anyone except themselves.

The apostle Paul contrasts this kind of person with the one who genuinely loves God. This person, he says, is the one who knows God.

You can tell the difference immediately because the one who has love edifies. Another way of saying this is that love builds up. When you get around someone who loves God, you feel bigger and stronger than you did before because they built you up!

When I think of this, I see a picture in my mind. I see the person who loves like a strong castle. They are well built and fortified. You could live in this kind of castle. But the person who only has knowledge, I see them like a bouncy castle you rent for your kid's birthday party. They're all full of air and fluff with no real substance. They have nothing within them that you could use to build your life.

Knowledge has its place, but let's make sure we put love first.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for loving me! I choose right now to pursue love. Thank You that as I love You, You will show Yourself to me more and more!

Amen

Lost in Passion

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

The bottom line, that's what this is. This is the number one reason to guard your passions and follow God's plan for your sexual relationships.

Which, by the way, is that you would have sexual relationships with only one other person-your spouse-and never before the two of you marry, but only after.

That's God's plan, but here's the reason-your body is God's temple.

Here's how this works, because I think most of us these days don't understand what a temple would have meant to people back in Paul's day. People would build temples for their gods and then their gods would come live inside the temple, right? Well, to whom does that temple then belong? Does it belong to the people who built it? No. It belongs to the god who lives there.

It's as if you are a landlord, and after giving the deed to God, He sends His Holy Spirit to live in your house. But then, for some reason, you continue acting as though you still possessed the deed, and you gave your home away to other people. Harlot after harlot begins to take up residence inside this home that you already gave to God.

All the harlots bring their own junk with them and spread it around your house until your once beautiful home looks more like a whorehouse than a temple. It gets hard to even find God in there amidst all the refuse, and all the while He's wondering, Wait, don't I have the deed to this house? Aren't I the one who has complete say of who gets to live here?

But at the end of the day, the buck stops with you. You are responsible to maintain your body and decide what it will be.

So what do you choose today? Is your body a whorehouse or a temple? If you choose to make it a temple, then bow your knee to God today and let Him be Lord of His house.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

My body is Your temple, and I thank You that You live inside of me! I'm so sorry for acting like my body belongs to me. Be Lord over me today and always. You have complete say over how I use my body.

Amen

Rethinking Rebellion

Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?' Shadrach, Meshach, and AbedNego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.' Daniel 3:15-16

Their lives were on the line. All they had to do was dance when the Pied Piper played his little tune. It was as simple as going along with the rest of the entire nation. Surely these three Hebrews would bow to the golden image. After all, it would be wrong to disobey their king, right?

Wrong. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saw through the lies and the pressure, and they refused to obey a king and a culture that were not in line with God's will.

They stood with God, and not just once; they stood with their God twice. Nebuchadnezzar called upon his entire nation to bow before the golden image he had made, and only these three remained standing. The exalted king of Babylon prepped his furnace, but gave the boys one last chance.

The enemy has not changed his tactics much since the time of this story. He does not tempt us only once, but will keep looking for weaknesses in our defenses, doing anything he can to make us bow before a false God. He works to sweep us away in the trends of the culture, to make us think that we must be just like everyone else. And he whispers, If you will just bow, then good! Everything will be good if you will worship just like everyone else.

How do you respond when you feel the pull to bow to something other than the one true God? You don't. Look at what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say We have no need to answer you in this matter.

Rebel against culture. Stand firm. Give no answer to the enemy. This is our calling as those who belong to God.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You are God above all other gods! I choose to worship You alone. Please show me where I am bowing to any false god and give me strength to stand.

Amen