It is "What You Know”

Hosea 4:6

There is an old saying that goes, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know”. Of course this means that in life, intelligence and education will only take you so far, so you better know someone who can advance you or help you climb the ladder of success. In living for the Lord, who you know is Jesus Christ, so it is obvious that there can be no higher friend. However, what you know is of vital importance for the child of God, so vital in fact that I dare say that in order for you to live free from sin and its slavery it is very much, “What you know” that makes all of the difference.

Hosea tells us that God’s people are “destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Notice that they do not “perish”, as some translations say, indicating that they simply starve to death, or waste away. Rather, they are so weakened by what they do not know that they become easy pickings for their adversary, the roaring lion.

The New Covenant is wonderful and beautiful, providing everything that the believer needs to reign in this life, but all of its wonders are wasted if the individual is ignorant as to who they are in Christ. Jesus said to His disciples, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). “And ye shall know” is translated, “come to know” in Greek, meaning that Jesus promises us an ever learning experience as we walk with Him.

Paul stated that our new man is “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10); and that we keep from conforming to this world by being, “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Peter stated that if a believer does not have various fruits in their life, such as faith, patience, godliness, etc, it is because he “hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). Again, it all comes back to what the believer knows about what Jesus has done for them.

This is why Satan goes after our thought life with such fervor. He knows that he has been defeated at Calvary, and stripped of all of his power, but he thrives on our ignorance of those facts. If we feel like we must defeat the devil, then he will gladly go to war with us, since he cannot war with Christ. What we do not know about who we are in Jesus equips the devil to play with our lives, trapping us in vice and sin. Paul told Timothy to teach the people in his church who condemn themselves, so that God would help them to change their minds toward the truth (2 Timothy 2:25). This knowledge would “recover them out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (verse 26).

What does the Word say about you, the believer? Know these things and hide them in your heart. It says that you are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21); that you are one of the sons of God (John 1:12); that you are no longer a servant, but a son, and if a son then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:7); that you are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10); that you used to be a sinner, but now you are washed, sanctified and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11), and that because you are sanctified, you are perfect in the eyes of the Father (Hebrews 10:14).

Believer, hold fast to that knowledge and be free in Jesus name!

Purpose in Your Heart

Daniel 1:8-15

Daniel was a very young man when taken captive by the Babylonians. Some commentators think he may have been as young as 11. No matter the age, his understanding and ability had caused the king to place him, as well as his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in a position of favor. These young men were being groomed to be advisors to the king, a process that took three years (Daniel 1:5).

Daniel must have felt himself a leader of sorts over the others, as he spoke on behalf of the group, purposing in his heart that he and the other three would not eat the meat or drink the wine that was appointed to them by the king. His conviction no doubt stemmed from the fact that the meat and wine was also used in the worship of idols, and as children of God, they wanted no part in idol worship.

There was a great risk in taking the stand that Daniel did, for he challenged the eunuchs to feed him and his friends only “pulse”, which are vegetables; with water to drink. He stated that after 10 days, he and the others would be in better shape than those who ate the meat of the king. This would take a supernatural move in order to come to pass, but remember, Daniel had purposed it in his heart.

The Lord moved over the course of the next week and a half, making the 4 Hebrew children, “fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat” (Daniel 1:15). There were certainly no more nutrients in the food of these children, as the eunuch surely knew, so this health was a miracle from God, and the first in many instances where these young Hebrews would “refuse to bow”.

Purpose something in your heart today; whatever it is. We will do very little to effect this world or build the kingdom of God if the purpose does not make its way from our head to our heart. God is not looking for someone to eat only vegetables and drink only water; that isn’t the point. He is looking for someone to purpose in their heart to be used of God. He wants to pour His vitamins and minerals of the Spirit into every child of God who will yield, and prosper them with the goodness of heaven. We must place our hearts in His loving care, purposed to allow the Christ that is in us to bring His glory out through us.

Go today with the spirit of Daniel, unwilling to compromise your knowledge of His love and forgiveness for you. Let no one steal that glorious knowledge away from you, and be prepared for God to make your countenance fairer than all those around you!

Slow to Leave; Quick to Return

Ezekiel 10:4, 18, 19, 23, 24; Acts 2:2

The glory of the Lord rested on the mercy seat, between the two cherubims, on the top of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark itself sat in the back of the temple, in the most Holy Place, and was visited only once per year by the High Priest. This glory was often characterized by a cloud, and all of Israel knew that this was the very Spirit of the Lord.

Ezekiel saw a vision of the final moments of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord in Jerusalem. Having shown Ezekiel the debauchery that was taking place in the temple; idolatry, prostitution and blasphemy (Ezekiel 8), God is now ready to depart from the temple, emptying it of His presence, making room for the enemy to ransack and destroy it. In light of how bad things have gotten, you would think that God would run out as fast as possible, but His slow movements speak of someone who does not want to leave, but would rather stay as long as He can, speaking just a bit longer.

He starts in Ezekiel 10:4, “over the threshold of the house”, which is the doorway into the temple. Then He proceeds outward, “Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims” (Ezekiel 10:18). Now outside of the main room of the temple, the Spirit is hovering near the cherubims that were present at the event, who now fly out the east gate of the temple, with the glory “over them above” (verse 19).

Next we find God’s glory over the heart of Jerusalem, “And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city” (Ezekiel 11:23). Still slow to leave, the Spirit takes one more look at Jerusalem before going up from the mountain, back into heaven (verse 24).

Just over 600 years later, after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit makes His triumphant return to Jerusalem. The book of Acts records the way that He arrives as, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). He comes in a hurry! There is no slow arrival. Some say that He had to be begged in by the prayers of the 120, but that is not true. He waited until, “the day of Pentecost was fully come” (Acts 2:1), so that He could arrive on time.

Some say that if you are not very careful you will run the Holy Spirit off. I have heard it said that any foolishness in a service, even down to someone chewing gum will run the presence of the Lord out of the house. I say that if chewing gum ran the power out of a service, then there wasn’t much to begin with! The Holy Spirit was slow to go and quick to return. Don’t be deceived into believing that He is quick to leave you now. In fact, He will not leave you, nor forsake you. He will stay with you through all things because He is your comforter, and He is always pointing you to Jesus.

Go in the assurance that the Holy Spirit is in you as a child of God. He is not looking for some excuse to leave you high and dry, but rather, He is looking for another excuse to bless you. Take the abundant grace and dwell in it.

New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22, 23

The mercy of the Lord is a beautiful thing. His mercy ensures us that we will not get what our actions certainly deserve. Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations states that it is only due to the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed. The writer of Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), and John the Baptist told us that Jesus would burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17), so God surely holds the power to get rid of us. Why then, does God show mercy?

The end of verse 22 gives us both the answer to our question, and insight into the heartbeat of God, “because his compassions fail not”. God shows mercy because He is compassionate. He loves mankind so much that He holds back the flood waters of judgment, just so man can have another opportunity to turn to Him.

Christ’s death on the cross took the brunt of God’s fury against sin. Now, all who will accept Christ are free from that wrath. God delays sending Jesus back to get His church so that one more sinner might come home. For the one who will leave the 99 sheep in the fold to go and find the one, this is precisely within character.

Jeremiah goes on to explain that God’s compassions are not just feelings, but rather they are tangible things. He tells us that they are “new every morning” (verse 23). All good gifts come from the Father above (James 1:17), so we can view even the smallest blessing in our life as “His compassions”. Just like the manna in the wilderness for the Old Testament saints, Christ is the manna for the believer. He is pure white and tastes like honey (Exodus 16:31), and you will never be left wanting when you trust Him as your redeemer. Every day He is there with a fresh supply of goodness and mercy for you, requiring only that you take from Him.

How can we possibly pay the Lord back for this wonderful mercy, grace and goodness? Some say that you should witness to pay Him back, bringing souls into the kingdom. Witnessing for the Lord is great, but you could win everyone that you ever meet until you die and you could never pay the Lord back for His grace. Others tell you to give, and you could give until you have nothing else, and God still has the streets of heaven paved in gold, with or without your money. Actually, anything that you get by payment is achieved by your own works, and salvation is free. Is there a way to pay Him for His wonderful mercies, new every morning?

David asked the same question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12). Those benefits could be called the compassions of the Lord that are new every morning, given by a God who is faithful to do so (Lamentations 3:23). David answers his own question with, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:13). He learns that the only way to pay God back is to take more of God’s goodness. You and I are pleasing to the Lord when we feast at the table of God’s mercy and compassion.

Recognize the faithfulness of the Father all around you today and feast on the manna from heaven, because it is new every morning. Go in Him!

The Balm Comes to Gilead

Jeremiah 8:18-22

In the 32nd chapter of Numbers, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, chose to take for their inheritance the land on the wilderness side of the Jordan, while God has promised the land on the other side to all 12 tribes. These tribes represent world-bordering Christians; not lost, but certainly not free.

The land that they take encompasses the land of Gilead (Numbers 32:1), which was known the world over for its balm. The balm was a turpentine-like resin that secreted from a tree grown only in Gilead. The resin held medicinal purposes and was worth twice its weight in silver. You recall that Joseph was sold into slavery in Genesis 37, and that it was traders from Gilead who bought him. They were no doubt carrying this balm to sell to the merchants in Egypt.

Jeremiah is speaking of the oppressive nations just outside of Israel, and of the spiritual sickness that prevails in the land. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” speaks of the fact that no neighboring ally has come to the aid of Israel, and since armies cannot march in the winter and the summer is past, that means that no one is coming.

In this sorry state, he asks about the balm of Gilead. No physical balm can cure the ills of Israel, and no physician can take away her pain. It is going to take a medicine of a spiritual nature, and the hand of a Great Physician to eliminate Israel’s problems. Thank God that Physician was coming!

When Jesus journeys across the Sea of Galilee in Mark 5, He stops in the land of the Gadarenes. This land is home to the descendants of the tribe of Gad, who had co-inhabited with the Gentiles of the land of Gilead for centuries. The resultant peoples were idol worshippers, who sacrificed pigs to their many gods. A man lives there who has been dwelling in the grave yards, cutting himself, possessed with many demons. It is for this man that Jesus has arrived.

You know the story, how Christ delivers the man, and casts the demons into the swine. These pigs run into the sea and drown, destroying the entire sacrificial flock of the Gadarenes. One man is excited to be free while a nation is outraged at Jesus. The balm has finally arrived in Gilead, healing one, and causing a burning sensation in those who reject its powers.

Jesus is the balm of Gilead and He is ready to mend your sin-sick soul. If you do not know Him, all that you must do is believe Him as your savior and He will enter your heart, pouring His balm into the areas that need healing. If you are a child of God, the Great Physician is living in you, ready to bring His health and wholeness into every area of your life. Allow Him to mend your mind, your emotions, your hopes and your body. You are His child, even if you are bordering close to the world. He loves you and wants to bring His power into your life.

Go in the power of the balm today. Freely Christ gives His power. Freely you can receive.

A Reasonable God

Isaiah 1:18-20

The great British pastor G. Campbell Morgan was fond of relating a story that happened to him when he had just begun in the ministry. He was witnessing to a man whose argument against Christianity was that Jesus was unreasonable. “Confucius said, ‘Be just to your enemies’”, the man said. “But Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies’. That is an unreasonable command”, the man concluded. Morgan replied, “What if you could learn to love them?” to which the man responded, “Then I suppose they wouldn’t be your enemies anymore”. Morgan said, “Exactly”.

God can never truly be accused of being unreasonable. It was God that gave only one law to Adam and Eve in the Garden, and provided them with everything else free of charge. It was God that sent His Son into the world to meet the many demands of the Mosaic Law, to free man from its obligation. It was God that killed His own Son, so that no man would ever have to be held guilty for his own breaking of God’s Law. It was God that made grace available to the entire world, and did not charge them with labor or works, but asks only for faith. Again, no one who knows of these things could ever call God unreasonable.

It is the words of God that Isaiah pens in this passage, when God invites man to the bargaining table, “Come now”. This same spirit of openness and willingness is displayed by Jesus, when speaking to Jews who were burdened down with the many demands of the Law, He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). God’s invitation to man includes, “let us reason together”. As any good deal-maker would do, God shows the benefits before listing demands.

He offers to cleanse the sins of man, though they are as scarlet. He furthers the promise by offering to make our sins, which are “red like crimson”, turn “as wool”. He is offering absolution; a chance to start fresh, with no marks against us. This is our chance to get rid of Adam’s mistake!

His conditions are listed in verses 19 and 20, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it”. Man is ordered to be willing and obedient; otherwise God promises poverty, famine and death. These are God’s terms.

When Jesus speaks His words of invitation in Matthew 11, there are no such demands. In fact, He calls His yoke, “easy” and His burden “light”. Where are the demands that are attached to the blessing of no sins counted against us? The answer is the key to the New Covenant.

The sword that will devour the disobedient has already been turned on Jesus (Zechariah 13:7), not because He was disobedient, but because he “bore our sins in His own body upon the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He took the brunt of God’s fiery judgment, and now you and I get the blessings of having our sins washed away. Look at what the Psalmist says, as quoted by the Apostle Paul:

“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:8).

Just how reasonable is God? Even when He appears unfair in His justice, He is equally “unfair” in His redemption. All men are declared sinners because one man sinned, thus the sinner cries, “Unfair!” Due to Christ’s finished work, all men are declared righteous because one Man is righteous. Perhaps the saint should cry “Unfair!” as well. It is simply not fair that He sees me as righteous simply because I have placed my faith in Jesus. Now that is a reasonable God!

The Secret of the Stairs

Song of Solomon 2:14, 15

Basically a love letter between Solomon and one of his wives, the Song of Solomon is an often overlooked literary masterpiece. The language shifts between husband and wife without warning, and is filled with metaphors that have lost their meaning nearly 3,000 years after they were penned, but at its core, the Song is a letter between Christ and His church. Every verse that is from the husband is Christ speaking love into the ear of His bride, and every verse from the bride is the church worshipping her redeemer.

The phrase, “thou art” in verse 14 is italicized, indicating that it was not in the original Hebrew. When removed, along with “places” a little later, the meaning becomes a bit clearer:

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet thy voice, and thy countenance comely” (verse 14).

The bride is speaking of the husband, calling Him “dove”. When Christ was baptized at Jordan, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove, showing the gentleness of God’s nature (Matthew 3:16). Then the bride places herself in “the clefts of the rock”, and in “the secret of the stairs”.

The cleft of the rock is a natural indention which provides safety from the storm and the waves. Paul said that Christ is the Rock, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). The clefts in the Rock are the wounds of His hands and His feet. These wounds were placed there for you and for me, and we have our healing and wholeness in Christ and His finished work. We can rest in the pierced Christ, for His indentions are the clefts that provide for us.

The secret of the stairs is a glorious one that only the redeemed can know. These stairs are like a hidden passageway that provides access into the very throne room of the king. When a believer rests in Christ, he gains access to the Father to make all of his petitions known, where he can see the countenance of God (verse 14). Paul said that, “Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).

When you use this secret access, which is free to the believer through faith, you see the face of God. His countenance shines upon you, and He willingly gives you all that you need. When Moses asked to see God in the Old Testament, God placed him in the cleft of the rock and then covered Moses’ eyes with His hand, so that Moses could only see God walk away (Exodus 33:22). When Solomon wrote his song, he appeals forward to the New Covenant, when the cleft of the rock will lead to a secret staircase, where believers can go and see the countenance of God. That fulfillment came when a little woman with an issue of blood grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garment as He walked away. In the Old Testament, God is always walking away, but when Jesus came, He turned and looked the woman in the eye. Christ always lets us see His face, and God is no longer walking away. Praise the Lord!

You have access to everything that you need today believer. Rest in the cleft of Jesus’ wounds, which He bore for you, and go boldly to your Father to see His loving countenance for you.