On Which of Us Deserves Mercy

Jonah 3:4-6, 10; 4:1-4 NIV  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust…10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

 4:1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Observation

Jonah can be called the antithetical messenger (reluctant prophet?) of God’s global mercy.  The Jews of his time were very insular and possessive of Yahweh – He belonged to them and them alone.  Despite the fact that He was creator of all people and over all the earth, they did not see Yahweh as God for all peoples.  This mindset is evident in Jonah’s resentment of the mercy shown to the Ninevites.  After all, the pagan Ninevites were cruel conquerors feared throughout the world.  Jonah saw them as unworthy, undeserving and unforgivable.  How could his God possibly consider offering even one chance at grace and mercy to such evil people?  After some persuasion (three days in the belly of a fish), Jonah went to Nineveh with a message of imminent destruction.  When the city humbled itself in repentance, Jonah was furious with God for the mercy given.

Jonah was upset at God for “making him a liar” but also for being so generous with grace to  a people who were known as evil, cruel and pagan.  I suspect that Jonah’s original reluctance to go could have been based in fear of what the evil Ninevites might do to him – torture and death.  He relented and obeyed only when the consequences of disobeying God  became more real and frightening than the alternative.  At least the message he was asked to deliver was one of destruction – just what the Ninevites deserved!!  But God, rich in mercy, disappointed Jonah again.

Impact on Me

This grace and mercy toward the pagan, unlovely, even cruel is a foreshadowing of the new covenant in Christ.  Jesus, “friend of sinners,” demonstrated God’s liberality in pouring out grace to whosoever would come without exacting punishment or requiring rigid slavish rule following (earning grace points by good behavior and other works that we check off on a list).  This was a major paradigm shift for the disciples in His time.  I believe we suffer from the same human failing when we judge someone worthless, unworthy or unforgivable.  Do I write some people off in my heart as worthless, unworthy or unforgivable?   Am I like Jonah, resenting when God shows favor to someone I consider evil or cruel?  Who are my Ninevites?

I also have to examine the reason behind what I do in the name of Jesus.  The works I do should be based in and flow from my gratitude for the love, grace and mercy extended to me by God, not as a public demonstration to show others the depth of my spirituality, my faith, my fear of God.  Works performed to gain grace and favor with other people or God are completely rooted in duty and miss the point.  It is by grace we are saved, not our works.  Salvation comes through repentance because God has mercy on us – even when we are worthless, unworthy and unforgivable.  My gratitude for His redemption should result in works of serving with compassion, grace, humility as I live a life of love which reveals Christ to others.  May this always be my motivation.

Devotion

Almighty God, Creator, Redeemer, God of Mercy and Grace, I give You all the praise for all the work of my hands.  Lord, never let me get away with allowing the fear of what any person can do change my YES to whatever You ask me to do.  Give me the wisdom to know when I should say “No” or when my motivation is not gratitude for all You have done for me.  I want to live a life that announces out loud Whose I am, Whom I serve and Who deserves all the praise.  In Jesus’ name, I pray you will make it so.

On Did You Forget Who I AM

Mark 4:35-41 PHILLIPS   On the evening of that day, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  So they sent the crowd home and took Him with them in the little boat in which He had been sitting, accompanied by other small craft.  Then came a violent squall of wind which drove the waves aboard boat until it was almost swamped.  Jesus was in the stern asleep on the cushion.  They awoke Him with words, “Master, don’t You care that we’re drowning?”  And He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Hush now!  Be still!”  The wind dropped and everything was very still.  “Why are you so frightened?  What has happened to your faith?!’ He asked them.  But sheer awe swept over them and they kept saying to each other, “Who ever can He be? – even the wind and waves do what He tells them!”

Below excerpted from the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE

“Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.  “Hush!,” He said.  That’s all.  And the strangest thing happened….  The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said. 

Immediately the wind stopped.  The water calmed down.  It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened.  The little boat bobbed gently up and down and there was a great quiet all around.  Then Jesus turned to His wind-torn friends.  “Why were you so scared?” He asked.  “Did you forget Who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”

Jesus’ friends were quiet – as quiet as the wind and the waves.  And into their hearts came a different kind of storm.  “What kind of man is this?” they asked themselves anxiously.  “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” they said because they didn’t understand.  They didn’t realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God.

Jeus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM. 

Observation

This lake was familiar to them; it was their usual fishing grounds.  As fishermen, they knew how to handle a boat in rough water and how to judge the weather to know when a storm was coming.  This one surprised and frightened them with its intensity and their inability to control the situation.  If these fishermen were panicky and terrified, it was surely a wild, violent and powerful storm.  Surely, they would have thought it strange that Jesus could remain asleep in the chaotic buffeting of this storm, but they were so focused on the wind, the waves and the water washing into the boat that they had stopped thinking.

Jesus wanted them to move their thinking, their understanding, out of the natural – what is humanly possible – into the supernatural – what is possible for God.  When it came time to feed the 5000, hadn’t Jesus taken a meager and insufficient little boy’s lunch and supernaturally made it more than enough for everyone to eat and be filled?  When the incurably sick came, was Jesus able to heal every disease?  This stormy trip was a new circumstance but the same Jesus. 

So, here Jesus gives them a dose of truth and grace by asking, “Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  Then, instead of bringing the boat under control, He calms the sea.  He wanted them to understand, to embrace, that all needs, all circumstances, all storms, all insufficiencies, all scary situations are subject to God’s power and authority in and through Him.  “Jesus’ friends had been so afraid they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.  NO MATTER HOW SMALL THEIR BOAT OR HOW BIG THE STORM.”

Impact on Me

“Why were you scared?  Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?”  These are questions I revisit in every scary storm of life, every time when there is not enough, every time sickness threatens, every time the world seems out of control, every time evil seems to be winning.  I am always tempted to believe as a new year passes that we can leave the stormy times of the past behind – years filled with pandemic, death, rioting, rising crime rates, conflict driven by anger, injustice, loss of trust in those who rule over us (federal, state and local), misinformation & conspiracy theories, war and every other disruption of our usual “fishing grounds”. 

For any student of history, all of these circumstances are not new.  These life events are part of the human condition, repeated over and over from ancient times.  They are the legacy of that first mutiny by Adam and Eve in the Garden when they chose to take control away from God and into their own hands by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I have made the mistake of eating that fruit many times in my life. However, I have come to know through the experience of my life that the only guarantee of security and peace in life, the only foundation on which hope can be built, has been, continues to be, and will forever remain depending upon this same Jesus that calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee all those years ago. 

So, when I am buffeted by a storm, I need to stop to revisit the questions above and remember that all creation (seen and unseen, emotional, physical, natural or supernatural) is subject to Him.  “The wind and the waves recognized Jesus’ voice.  (They had heard it before, of course – it was the same voice that made them in the beginning.)  They listened to Jesus and they did what He said.”  Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me so He will always be in my boat.  Whether He is awake or asleep, when I think my boat is about to sink, I need to go back and sit down next to Jesus, trusting that we will make it to the other side – regardless of the intensity of the storm along the way.

Devotion

Lord, You are the Creator of all the good that exists.  You still have all authority and power in heaven and on earth.  You are executing Your plan created from the foundation of the Earth.  It is overwhelming to realize the You love and care for me in spite of all I am and do.  How many times have I given in to my fears and run in panic to You or, so much worse, away from You.  Yet, You still rescue me.  What kind of love is this?  Holy Spirit, renew my mind so that my thinking can move from the natural to the supernatural, that I may see with the eyes of Jesus and understand with the Father’s heart.  Teach me to walk fully in Christ, functioning in my perfect place in His Body, equipped with the weapons of His warfare and always choosing His side of every battle, keeping my eyes on Him regardless of the circumstances swirling around me, content to ride out every storm sitting next to You as You sleep in my boat.  Make it so, in the name of Jesus.

ON THE WALLS WE FACE

Isaiah  30:12-14  (MSG) Therefore, The Holy of Israel says this: “Because you scorn this Message, preferring to live by injustice and shape your lives on lies, this perverse way of life will be like a towering, badly built wall that slowly, slowly tilts and shifts, and then one day, without warning, collapses — smashed to bits like a  piece of pottery, smashed beyond recognition or repair, useless, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”

Observation

People like you and me make up every society in every nation of every time in history.  We can forget that they are people with families, hopes, dreams and challenges whether in 1000 BC or 2000 AD.  There are and have always been people who live in a way that pleases God and others who seek only to please and profit themselves at the cost of others (“live by injustice and shape your lives on lies”).  Because we have a perspective limited by mere decades of life, we can wonder why God does not move more quickly to execute justice.  Sometimes it seems in our lifetime that the wall is not tilting and shifting because the movement is imperceptible to us in our short lifespan.  We want Him to do so according to our time schedule – NOW.  We want to see results!

“…then one day, without warning, [the wall] collapses —   smashed to bits like a piece of pottery, smashed beyond recognition or repair, useless, a pile of debris to be swept up and thrown in the trash.”   I take note of the “without warning”.  Even when we look back, we lack the experience of being there, living in that society and under those conditions.  We are removed from and unaware of the deplorable condition of society that led up to the wall collapses that have come over the millennia, such as the revivals that completely turned a society right side up, the revolutions that have overthrown unjust rulers, and the social reforms that have succeeded against entrenched power/traditions.  There is no way to explain with words the history leading to those powerful events; you must live them.   Perhaps, now we are beginning to see the wall tilt.

Impact on Me

As I look around at the culture that surrounds me, I often feel like a foreigner in a strange land.  And, then I realize that I am!  In Christ, I am a citizen of Heaven, an ambassador and missionary on mission to this Earth.  If I begin to feel intimidated by the seeming height, size and strength of the walls of ungodliness set to block the truth I am sent to share, I pray that I will be reminded that these are “towering, badly built wall[s]” that can fall as quickly and completely as the walls of Jericho did when the Hebrews just obeyed the directions of their God – even when it did not seem to make sense.

In those times of doubt, I want to remember that I have experienced miracles that cannot be explained with words – miracles of provision, healing and restoration.  There is nothing that compares to being in the midst of the power of God working, impacting your situation, making possible what is impossible, demonstrating that His eyes and attention are on you, filling you with a joy and peace that is immeasurable. 

These kinds of experiences fill me with hope for the next impossible challenge.   They also cause me to recognize that it is not what talents, abilities, resources, experience, training or status I bring to the table that matter; it is only my faith, my willingness to be used and my obedience to His instructions that matter.  His success does not depend on me, but mine entirely depends on Him.

Devotion

Lord, God Almighty, Everlasting, Ever Faithful, may I never forget Who You are and will be in and through me when I just obey.  I may look at the walls that stand between the deceived and Your truth as walls that must tilt and collapse, “smashed to  bits  like  a  piece  of  pottery,  smashed beyond recognition  or  repair,  useless,  a  pile  of debris to  be  swept  up  and  thrown  in the  trash.”  Remind me always that Your time frame is based on Your eternal strategic perspective, not mine.  May I never lose hope in Your faithfulness and the fulfillment of Your Word when the time is right and most profitable to Your Kingdom purposes.  Romans 15:13 (JBP) “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope.”.  Let me know that the wall will fall when You are ready.  In Jesus’ name, I   pray.

On Pausing in Awe-Full Wonder

Psalm 29 (A psalm of David)

1 Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for His glory and strength.  2 Honor the Lord for the glory of His name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.   5 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  6 He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; He makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  7 The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  8 The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake;  the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  9 The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”

10 The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  11 The Lord gives His people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.

Observation

Can we stop just a little while and stand in awe and wonder of the Lord?  “Selah” should be right here to remind us to do so.  We don’t have an exact translation of selah but we see it often in the psalms.  It seems to be a suggestion to stop, reflect, contemplate and meditate on the wonder of what you just read or, in the case of the psalms, sang.  “The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.”  Any one of these statements speak of power and majesty beyond our conception.  Do we really perceive how unique, powerful and majestic God is?

These words are truth – reality – our eternal refuge and strength – immutable, from, about and for the One with “no shadow of turning” (James 1:17).  However, we live in a world where seeing is not believing and hearing is also not reliable.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) has blurred what is real, what is fact, making it possible to alter what is actually seen and heard.  AI has a myriad of beneficial uses, but we live in a fallen world where it will not always be used for good.  Scripture is one of the only places left that does not and will not be changed.  This is why we need to soak in the Word, be firmly rooted in the salvation provided by Christ, and remember every moment of every day Whose we are and Whom we serve.

Impact On Me

This is not a tirade against AI.  I am aware that, like anything else, AI can be used for good or evil.  For example, money or work are not inherently evil, nor are they always a means of deception.  The twisting happens when they become idols, replacing dependence on God for dependence on what we ourselves can provide – when we decide to determine what is good or evil rather than leaving it with God. 

The devil takes every thing created or available to use for deception.  He started with tempting Adam and Eve with the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and proceeded throughout history to use every other invention of humankind, attempting to twist the goodness out of it by making it another idol, another instrument of deception, another trading our way for submitting to the Lord’s way.  However, the Word says I don’t have to be ignorant of the devil’s devices, so I choose to pray for the Lord’s wisdom in my choices as I stand again daily before that Tree. 

But I digress….  “The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  11 The Lord gives His people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.”  Regardless of the machinations of the enemy of my soul, I have confidence in the power, majesty and promise of the Lord I serve because I choose to be rooted in Christ.  He is able to lead me in righteousness and truth.  He is able to give me the strength and wisdom to choose wisely.  He is able to give me peace in the midst of this stormy world.  He is able to lead me in battle right on through to victory.  He has the eternal plan to redeem this fallen world and restore Eden – first working within me and then calming the storms around me by flowing in and through me.  This is why He deserves all honor and praise.  This is why I stop to stand in awe of Him.

Devotion

“Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for His glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of His name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”  I do honor You, Lord, awesome in power, wonder, goodness, mercy and grace.  Stop me from rushing to get things done when I need to stop and recognize Your awesome wonder – in a sunset, in a flower, in how you are working in the lives of my family, every little thing that is another miracle of Your love and care for me.  Convict me when I think I am too busy to read Your Word or listen to the wonder of You set to music.  I want to walk with You, at Your pace, so I can listen to all You have to share with me.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name. 

On the Name of Jesus


John 14:9-14 Phillips “Have I been such a long time with you,” returned Jesus, “without your really knowing me, Philip? The man who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The very words I say to you are not my own. It is the Father who lives in me who carries out his work through me. Do you believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? But if you cannot, then believe me because of what you see me do. I assure you that the man who believes in me will do the same things that I have done, yes, and he will do even greater things than these, for I am going away to the Father. Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do—that the Son may bring glory to the Father. And if you ask me anything in my name, I will grant it.

Acts 3:16 Phillips  It is the name of this same Jesus, it is faith in that name, which has cured this man whom you see and recognise. Yes, it was faith in Christ which gave this man perfect health and strength in full view of you all.

I Speak Jesus
Songwriters: Jesse Pryor Reeves, Dustin Smith, Abby Benton, Carlene Prince, Raina Pratt.

I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind ’cause I know there is peace within Your presence – I speak Jesus

I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ’til every dark addiction starts to break, declaring there is hope and there is freedom – I speak Jesus

‘Cause Your name is power – Your name is healing – Your name is life
Break every stronghold – Shine through the shadows – Burn like a fire

I just wanna speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety – to every soul held captive by depression – I speak Jesus

Shout Jesus from the mountains – Jesus in the streets – Jesus in the darkness over every enemy – Jesus for my family – I speak the holy name – Jesus, oh

Observation

The name “Jesus” has no more power than any other name, UNLESS it is imbued with “faith in Christ” – Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, Word of the Father and so much more.   When it is invoked in the power and authority of Jesus the Christ, there is no power that can stand against the name of Jesus because the full power and authority of the One True Almighty God stands behind it and flows through it.   “I assure you that the man who believes in me will do the same things that I have done, yes, and he will do even greater things than these, for I am going away to the Father.”

Greater things??  Do we really believe this?  Do we pray in Jesus’ name expecting the power of evil to back up and the degradation of sin to begin to disintegrate?  Most of us are stretched in our faith to reach out expecting to see the kind of immediate results had at the word or hand of Jesus.   Why is this so?   Do we reach out hoping rather than believing, saying the words without expecting to see a change, or wavering because we are wondering what God’s will really is in the matter? In Christ, we have the overwhelming advantage in power and we need to recognize and use it.

Impact on Me

Many years ago, I read a pamphlet with extracts from a prayer warrior’s journal.  This is the one statement I remember.  “We don’t have to hold out against the devil.  He has to hold out against us!”  This changed the way I pray.  I began to understand the difference between the power of the enemy and the power of our God.  My pastor said that the difference in power is as if the devil is a microwave and God is the Sun.  I need to be reminded often because circumstances can seem like an avalanche – so sudden, heavy and unending!

“I Speak Jesus” is a song of war, one that reminds me that, because I am in Christ, I can step out and take the offense, have the courage to invade the Enemy’s camp and take back what he has stolen, be bold to wield the weapons of God to enforce the Enemy’s defeat by Jesus on the Cross, choose to continually live, walk, speak in the power and anointing of the name of Jesus.  “Your name is power – Your name is healing – Your name is life.  Break every stronghold – Shine through the shadows – Burn like a fire.”  There are days I feel ready, a fully armed and trained soldier, and others when I feel like I am still in basic training….

Devotion

Father, Almighty, Everlasting, All Powerful, All Merciful God, You deserve all praise and honor.  Who am I that You would adopt me as Your own, equip me to represent You, forgive me when I act like a coward or doubt Your faithfulness and ability to accomplish Your will?  I am so grateful for Your mercy when I fail by just saying the words of a prayer rather than bathing them in faith, believing for Your power to work out Your will.  I want to speak the name of Jesus with the same expectation Jesus had of Your response, Your power flowing.  To do so, I need to follow the example of Jesus to increase my intimacy with You and so to deepen my faith.  Help me choose to do so.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.