March 18
I have been studying the Life of Christ. There was a group of people that He had to deal with on a regular basis that were so religious they deemed their actions worthy of heaven. The name of this group was called the Pharisees. When Jesus walked on the scene, this group was relatively new in order. They were probably only 100 years in existence, but they were the power brokers of the religious world. Jesus didn’t seem to get along very well with, and I think it was because they carried the air of religiosity without possessing the roots of religiosity.
Being religious means to be holy, sacred or spiritual. The Pharisees were able to act like they were religious, but were, in fact, empty of holiness, spirit and sacredness. The Pharisees were the type of people that did everything right when people were watching, but never felt the true nature of religion in their hearts. Pure religion and undefiled, according the book of James, is to visit, or acting upon compassion, to those that are fatherless and widows. The key to pure religion is compassion, or it is its roots. The Pharisees fell far short.
What we do everyday is what we believe, and all the other things is just religious speak. What actions you perform everyday will dictate whether you are truly religious or people without roots. Do you have compassion on the feeble, the fatherless, the widow, the beggar, the poor, or do you shun them and turn away because they may bring you down to their level. How you respond to those types of people is the one action that tells God how you think about Him. Have you fed Him today? Have you clothed Him? Have you given Him warmth? While not easy, these actions are pure and undefiled, and more importantly, pleasing to God.
March 19
Several years ago I read a story that touched my soul. I do not know where it cam from and I do not know if it went just the way I am going to try and share it with you. I know that I will have the context of this story, but I am just not sure if it is totally accurate. It went something like this;
A young boy by the name of Billy decided on Saturday morning that he was going to fix his parents some pancakes for breakfast to surprise them. He found a big bowl and a spoon, and pulled a chair up to the counter. From there he proceeded to open the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling its contents on the floor. He then bent over to put some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added just a little sugar, leaving a little trail of flour, milk and sugar across the kitchen floor, which by now had some added paw prints from his kitten.
Billy was covered from head to foot with flour and getting very frustrated. He wanted this breakfast to be something very good for Mommy and Daddy, but it was quickly becoming a terrible mess. He didn’t know what to do next; whether to put it all in the oven or on the stove (he didn’t know how the stove worked). Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess, but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky. Just then, he saw his dad standing at the door.
Big crocodile tears welled up in Billy’s eyes. All he’d wanted to do was something good, but he’d made a terrible disaster. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking, but his father just watched him. Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.
That is exactly how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a colossal mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend or we can’t stand our job or our health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can’t think of anything else to do. That is when God picks us up and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him.
Billy continued to try to make pancakes, and we must continue to try and make pancakes. Even when we mess up, we must pick ourselves back up, and try again. Sooner or later we will get it right and then we’ll be glad we did.
March 20
The crowd is hushed. Silence thunders in the air. Tension is so thick it feels as if the very breath of life is being sucked out of you. You stand at the starting line and you begin to shake yourself loose and stretch every muscle you can think of in order to give yourself the best chance at victory. You walk up to the blocks and set your feet in place. You bend over and put one hand on the ground followed by the other. Every muscle is on the edge of the breaking point waiting to spring into action at the sound of the gun going off. Your eyes are so intense that it burns a hole in the finish line where you plan to cross. All of a sudden, the gun explodes in your ear and all the pent up adrenaline kicks in. You begin to exert every amount of energy that your body can exert. Your focus is without distraction and you’re running to reach the prize.
It is amazing to read about what an Olympic athlete goes through in preparation for an Olympic event. It is not just training for a short period of time, but years of preparation go into a race that may last a few short seconds. Cardiovascular training, muscular training and method training all get poured into an individual to perform at the highest level.
It is the same in our walk with God. To be the most effective follower of Christ takes cardio, muscular and method work. Cardiovascular exercise has to do with oxygen intake and endurance, and there are times when we need to endure the things of life, and the only way to do so is if our spirits have been trained to function under duress. It is this that the early church had mastered. I do not know how I would respond if a guard was covering me in tar and getting ready to light a match, but I hope that I have trained myself to endure. Muscular training is necessary because there are times in life that we must just push through with our spiritual strength. The quick and able handle of our two-edged sword, the Word of God, can only be effective if we have trained with it. Method training is the little things like handing the baton off at just the right moment letting go of the javelin at the right level of our bodies. Spiritually, we need to train to pass what we have off to someone else so they can do there part to lead another.
It is exciting to know that our training will pay off when we cross the finish line and we see Him face to face and he crowns us victorious.
March 21
Read Luke 22:42
“I am ready to be offered.” This is a transaction of will, not of sentiment. Tell God that you are ready to be offered and then let things fall where they may. There is no strain of complaint in your heart irregardless of what God chooses. God puts you through a crisis in private where no one else may be able to help. On the outside life may seem to be unchanged, while the difference comes within the will. Go through the crisis of your will and when it comes to the top, the amount of sacrifice will seem irrelevant. If you do not transact with God in the matter of the will, you will end up living in a self induced pity party.
The altar carries with it fire—burning and purification for one purpose only, the destruction of every affinity that has not been started by God and every attachment that is not of God. You do not destroy it, God does; you place the sacrifice upon the altar and then do not have self pity when the fire starts. When you have this fire burning in you there is no oppression or depression. When crisis then enters your life you realize that things cannot touch you like they once did.
The fire must consume your will. Fire does not operate in the level of emotion because emotions change, but in the will there must not be any gray areas.
What are you willing to give up? Would you be willing to sell something? Would you be willing to give your time? How about your dreams? Your finances? How about your family?
Are you ready to face new challenges? Be sure to make yourself flexible because you never know what God will begin to ask of you?
March 22
Read Hebrews 11
It is exciting reading stories from the underground church. There was a house church in old Russia that met in small groups so as not to arouse the KGB. It was at such a meeting after they began to quietly worship that the door burst open and two soldiers quickly entered with automatic weapons raised. They lined everybody up against the wall and threatened to kill anyone that did not denounce Christ. If they would denounce Christ they could leave the room and nothing else would be said. Slowly, several began to leave and yet there were a few that stood against the threat of death. After a few minutes the soldiers gave everyone one last chance to leave. A few more people slipped out the door. Those that were left looked down at their children with a look of reassurance. Finally, the soldiers turned and said to those that stayed to raise their hands one more time, and after a pause, to praise the Lord. These soldiers had been converted at an earlier raid. They made this statement to those that remained, “We have learned from experience that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted.”
Trust is an interesting thing. It is not easily established, but it is often easily destroyed. The thing about trust is that it is based on faithfulness. Faith and trust go hand in hand. God allows us to see that what pleases Him is faith. It is the thing that says, Forsaking All I Take Him.
Faith laughs in the face of death knowing that death is the beginning of true life, eternal life. Faith stands when all others bow because there is no fear, only obedience. Faith oftentimes gets us into more trouble than gets us out because it places us in circumstances that attempt to expose weakness. The temptation of the adversary is meant to expose our weakness, but he fails to remember than in our weakness we become strong through Him.
Are you willing to die for Him? Can He trust you in all aspects of life? Take some time and try, as hard as it may be, to place yourself in that underground church, and see if those guards would find you trustworthy.
March 23
Read Galatians 4:8-31
In this passage the Apostle Paul is not dealing with sin, but with the relation between the natural and the spiritual. The natural must be turned into the spiritual through sacrifice; otherwise a tremendous chasm is created in the actual life. Why should God ordain the natural to be sacrificed? God did not. It is not God’s order, but it has become His will. God’s desire was that the natural would be transformed by obedience, but sin made it necessary for sacrifice to take place.
If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, it will mock that which God is attempting to produce in each life, and corporately in the body of Christ. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to lay everything on the altar.
It is upon the altar that a transformation will begin to take place. It is at the beginning of our journey that we must decide what we will bring with us to sacrifice. All of our natural belongings are useless in walking after the spiritual. The only way to walk in His path is to live a life based upon that which is spiritual.
The altar of Christ was the cross. He made the ultimate sacrifice in order to provide an avenue for you and your family to enter into a spiritual dimension of relationship with Him. It is through that dimension that we begin to see a picture of life that we were unable to see before we were transformed.
What things in your life are based simply upon carnal, natural thinking? What are you prepared to place upon the altar for transformation? This journey is more than just money; it is about aligning your family with the spirit of God.
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