Foolish and wise

December 6, 2007

A lot can be said about the company you keep. If you hang around with criminals, it will wear off on you and you most likely will be one also. Likewise, if you hang around negative people, some of that negativity will get into your system and make you negative as well.

Proverbs 13:20 NET
(20) The one who associates with the wise grows wise,
but a companion of fools suffers harm.


Notice how the New English Translation puts these words. The original Hebrew was not translated well in the King James (and no I am not picking on it).

Proverbs 13:20 KJV
(20) He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

If you are with a wise man you will be wise. The original Hebrew uses two different words. One we translate wise (the first one) and one we would translate wiser. We grow in wisdom when we hang with wise people.

As a teacher I have had a lot of people tell me that they cannot understand computers because they are stupid. I have to tell them that they are not stupid, they just lack knowledge in computers. I tell them that what they are good in I would be stupid. Find people who are wise and get with them.

But people who feel stupid begin to hang with others who feel stupid. In that case you will come to harm.

Know that you cannot be wise in all things, but you can pick your friends that are.

Love v. Fear round 2

December 5, 2007

My daughter has a fear of spiders and other small bugs. While she can play with plastic ones that are so life like it is incredible, she jumps and screams at the sight of a live one. There is not trying to reason with her. But dad always steps in and saves the day. I kill the bug and take away her fear. Why because I love her.


1 John 4:18 BBE
(18) There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is, there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love.


God loved us too. He could have let us live in hell for the rest of our lives but He did not. He had perfect love, Jesus, come down to earth and take the punishment that we should have had. Like I squish the bug for my daughter, He went to hell to squish our chances of ever going there. And a Father watched a Son die, because He had perfect love for us.

Walk in Love

Passwords

December 4, 2007

I love old comedy movies. My daughter sat with me one night watching the Marx Brothers in "A Night At the Opera". I have never seen that girl laugh so much as she did that night. The knew how to do jokes back then. In another Marx film which name escapes me,Groucho and Harpo are trying to get into a speak easy during the time of Prohibition. They knock and a little door opens and a voice says 'what's the password'. Now Harpo knows the password is swordfish but he never talks. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a swordfish. They let him in.

I got to thinking about that today. We as Christians are sometimes guilty of using the buzzwords of our faith. They can be bewildering to someone either new to the faith or outside of it totally. Without meaning it, we can set up a password to our lifestyle. If they do not know the right way to speak, they will not really be accepted. Jesus is not like that at all.

Revelation 3:20 Murdock
(20) Behold, I have been standing at the door, and I will knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.


Jesus wants to come into all lives, but do we somehow keep Him out to others by making a password. He wants in. Let's not put a password to him for others because He did not it there Himself.

Fear v. Love

December 3, 2007

2 Timothy 1:7 VW
(7) For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The devil wants you to be a coward you know.

As I have mentioned a few times I volunteer in my churches children's department running sound. My interaction with the kids is minimal a lot of the times, but a few months ago we started doing small groups and I had to face a group of them and talk to them about the lesson that was coming up and take prayer requests. I basically did a little talking about the lesson but left the major stuff to the staff to take care of. Of course, especially with six year old kids prayer requests can take a long time, there are a lot of sick pets out there. Asking them if they wanted to receive Jesus was out of the question. Leave that for the specialists.

Last week however, things changed at a service that I was not even supposed to be working at. I showed up and they were short so I stayed. As praise and worship ended and we were about to go to the small groups, I heard the lead teacher say, team ministers, do not forget to ask the children if they know Jesus. Well, never let it be said that I do not follow orders.

See I did not think that I was proper enough to lead other peoples kids to the Lord. Leading mine was one thing but other kids. The paid staff do that the best, I might say something wrong to the kids.

So I had that group of six year old children bow their heads, and I ask them if any of them would like to accept Jesus as their savior and begin a new life. Three children rose their hands. I stumbled a bit, not sure what the protocol was for this. But never let the kids smell fear. We broke from the groups and I notified the associate children's pastor that we had three children that wanted to know Jesus. I figured he would take over.

"Have you had them pray the prayer yet?"
Well no."
"OK, you do that while I get the paperwork"

Well, I stumbled a bit more but made it through it. You see, the devil had built up a fear in me that I could not do what God has called me to do. It does not matter if I get them at 6 or 60, they are souls that need to brought into the kingdom.

Yesterday, as we broke in the groups, a little voice inside me said, it was a fluke. That the kids would not respond again so don't even try. Good thing I do not listen to little voices that try to install fear in me. As the clock ticked down and I was running out of time, I thought, do not try it again there is not enough time. I quickly asked the children if any of them wanted to know Jesus as their savior. Two hands went up.

If I listen to fear, then I am not loving to those children. God did not give me a spirit of fear. He gave me power to talk to those children. He gave me love to help them accept Jesus and a sound mind not to listen to the Devil try to shut me down.

Is there something that you fear in your life?

Spiritual Crutches

December 2, 2007

Judges 4:4-10 JPS
(4) Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
(5) And she sat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
(6) And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him: 'Hath not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, saying: Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children ofZebulun?
(7) And I will draw unto thee to the brook Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thy hand.
(8) And Barak said unto her: 'If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go.'
(9) And she said: 'I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thy honour; for the LORD will give Sisera over into the hand of a woman.' And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
(10) And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh; and there went up ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.


This story has a happy ending, the bad guy is killed but like Deborah had said, it was at the hands of a woman. What is interesting is the sad start it has.

Barak had been told to go take on the enemy, look at verse 6. God has spoken to him! He was in disobedience to what God had told him to do. He had a serious lack of faith. We would call it fear. So what does he do? He demands Deborah to go with him. Why? Can she hear better from God what is right for his life. He had every thing he need except a crutch to fall back on if he looses the battle.

Do you have a spiritual crutch that is holding you back today? Is someone else getting the glory that you deserve?

A Bird in the Hand...

December 1, 2007

Genesis 26:2-3 NET
(2) The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.
(3) Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham.

Why did Isaac want to go down to Egypt. He wanted to go because that is where the food was. There was a famine in the land and they needed to live. The natural told him to go where he could provide for his family.

The supernatural on the other hand told him to stay put. If he would do what God told him to do, the promises of Abraham, his father would be given to him.

Tough choice. Do you stay put because God told you to stay, or do you jump for what you think is the best deal?

Life is full of those promises and they put you where you are today. For my money, listen to God, for He always provides.

November 20, 2007

Proverbs 24:30-34 GW
(30) I passed by a lazy person's field, the vineyard belonging to a person without sense.
(31) I saw that it was all overgrown with thistles. The ground was covered with weeds, and its stone fence was torn down.
(32) When I observed this, I took it to heart. I saw it and learned my lesson.
(33) "Just a little sleep, just a little slumber, just a little nap."
(34) Then your poverty will come like a drifter, and your need will come like a bandit.

One can look at these scriptures and say they are about a man who does not take care of his house and farm. And that would be right. Any person who does not take care of these things will have a problem. Some can look at them and see a business lesson, ignoring your business can result in it falling apart. I do not fault either possibility. I do offer however a third.

The writer of Proverbs could be saying to us not to let our spiritual vineyard get into disrepair. So easy it would be to just sleep in on a Sunday morning, at least this week. And then next week you say the same thing. How easy it would be to skip my devotional time with God, or reading the Bible each day.

And if you do these things, just a little nibble here, a little nibble there, and you are into spiritual poverty. And though it will seem like it came in quickly, it was just your lack of will power that did it.

Tonight I faced that. I know there are only 10 people in the mailing list (though I would love more, I take what God gives me). I faced a grueling day today. I taught this morning for 3 hours, drove to work and worked for 4 hours and then took some time off that was coming to me. That time off was not for myself, it was to work at Parents Date night at my church. Parents got to drop kids off so they could go shopping, to a movie, etc. I got put in with the 2 and 3 year old children , though eventually we pulled out the 2 year old children to another room, 16 3 year old children was enough. When I got home I tried talking with my wife. I finally got to sit down to the computer to do this and it was midnight. I could have said forget it, no one is reading this anyway. But I knew, that a nibble here and a nibble here would eat away at my spiritual life.

So though it is late, some where in the world it is still Friday November 30. And I need to pray about tomorrows devotional and get some sleep.

Take time to get into a habit that will bring you closer to God, then keep at it. OK?