<![CDATA[Reality in Christ - Devotions]]>Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:46:57 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[who is a slave and who is free?  john 8:31-47]]>Sun, 30 Dec 2018 08:00:00 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/who-is-a-slave-and-who-is-free-john-831-47John 8:31-47
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."

"Abraham is our father," they answered.

"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."

"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

Observations for living today:
A lot of people quote Jesus' statement: "the truth will set you free."  Incorrectly quoted, the opposite intent of the author can be transmitted.  In this specific case, the world not only misunderstood His intent, they have used the quote to enslave themselves, binding themselves with the chains of depraved ignorance and out of control sensual indulgence.  By applying this gem of wisdom to comfort themselves, the light of life flickers until it finally goes out, starved for the breath of life God intended it to be. The only way to stop such tragic consequences from happening, the student of truth must revisit the Word and recognize the error of following those who listen to the ill-informed because it is easy or convenient. 
 
Satan loves to see people misquote Jesus.  To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said something, which became the foundation of the most misused quote from the Bible in the world today: “If you know the truth, then you will be set free!”  When an error is so prevalent, taking on a universal application as an acceptable assumption, one must be diligent to avoid falling in to the pit along with the rest of the stampeding herd of idiots. 
 
Every sin is preceded by an opportunity to believe God or not.  Those who act without thinking have trained themselves to do so, having decided already it was okay or having a foolish disregard for what is at stake.  Consider comparing Esau’s action in giving up his birthright to the wickedness of mankind who did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God (Gen 25:32; Ro 1:28). 
 
Knowing the truth is of no benefit unless it is applied—acted on.  Who are Jesus’ brothers and sisters?  Those who do the will of the Father (Mt 12:48-50; Mk 3:33-35; Lk 8:21).  Only those who “do the will of my Father who is in heaven” will enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 7:15-27).  Christ expects us to be like Him, to behave as He did, in harmony (complete agreement) with the will of the Father.  “As I have loved you, so you must love one another”—wash the feet of your betrayer, pray for him, do what is good for him, and forgive him completely.  John told us what love for Jesus would look in our life so we could know we are in Him—a very simple description of what Jesus did while He walked among us (1 Jn 2-3). 
 
The experts in the law had an advantage (Ps 147:19-20)—they held the key to knowledge, which when not applied, became their downfall (Lk 11:46-52).  They had access to the record of direct communications of God with man; but they did not believe those messages and therefore the generation standing before God’s Christ was/will be held responsible before God.  If those who had the Law and the Prophets had an advantage in being reconciled to God, how much more does the Christian have, knowing God’s voice spoke to us through Christ—how much greater the shame and pain awaits in eternity for one who began to rebuild his life, if he then refuses to believe and act in accordance with the truth (Heb 1:1-3, 2:1-4, 6:1-12).
 
The example of Peter and Judas after they abandoned Christ is simply one of believing.  Neither initially believed Jesus, even when told they were in danger, but Peter when recognizing the truth God spoke (Mt 26:75; Mk 14:72; Lk 22:62), understood his error, and started believing everything Jesus said.  Jesus made it abundantly clear God loved mankind and would forgive all acts except calling the Holy Spirit evil (Mt 12:31; Mk 3:29).  Peter believed God would forgive Him, but Judas when recognizing the extent of his error continued to not trust God’s character (Ps 147:11), gave up and killed himself (Mt 27:5).
 
Sin destroys you incrementally, increasing in severity, i.e., velocity (speed) and mass (weight) as it proceeds from pure innocence to total corruption (Jas 4:15).  While we do not know why Judas did what he did, we do know what it cost him:  1) eternal life with God; 2) the right to sit on one of the thrones in heaven and judge the twelve tribes of Israel—a position of authority with no end (Mt 19:27-30); and 3) a conscience clean of wrong/sin before God.   
 
It is up to the Christian to believe God and trust His love and power, putting on the clothing God gives him, so he can attend the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rv 22:10-17).  Consider the parable of the wedding feast (Mt 22:1-14), where the Lord illustrates the custom of giving appropriate clothing to wear at the wedding feast, which does the invited guest no good unless he puts the clothes on.  Compare John’s description of Christians at the “wedding of the Lamb” being given the “fine linen, bright and clean” to wear, which “stands for the righteous acts of the saints” (Rv 19:6-9).  This clothing was provided by God both to the sealed of Israel and to the “great multitude that no one could count” (Rv 7). 
 
Conducting cost/benefit analysis on the decision to believe God.
Jesus taught two parables (cost of building a tower/cost of going to war against a stronger king) to explain what it meant to be His disciple after saying “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.  And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:25-35).   He was not fostering hate for family, rather He was saying count the cost of your decision to follow me; make it a deliberate well thought out choice with a purpose, for the “cowardly and unbelieving” will find themselves in bad company when He returns (Rv 21:6-8). 
 
Two things must always be remembered when counting the cost of sin, i.e., cost benefit analysis when making a choice to not believe the words of God’s messenger.  First, what you will give up and what you will gain.  Second, your life is not temporary or temporal, it will last forever, from the creation of this world order and then forever under the new order when God implements the renewal of all things.  Both the good and the bad were born, lived and most will die as part of this world order.  But both the good and the bad will also transition from this life to one in the new order at the renewal of all things:  the good—those who believe God will rise or transition to spend forever within God’s love; while the bad—those who would not believe God will rise or transition to the second death where they will be forever (with Satan and angels who followed him) separated from God’s presence, chained in an everlasting torment of truth lost (Rv 21:1-5).
 
Do the cost/benefit analysis today.
 
Every Christian has the same requirement—to love God and His Son:
<    “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing”;
<    “if you love me you will obey what I command”;
<    “whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one loves me”;
<    “if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (Jn 14:12, 15, 21, 23).
<    “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.  These words you hear are not my own: they belong to the Father who sent me” (Jn 14:23-24).
 
You cannot overcome sin and unbelief if you love this world/life more than you love God:
<    God will not tolerate unbelief (Ro 11:20)
<    Following Christ Jesus is not for the faint of heart (Jn 12:23-26)
<    If you do not accept and do what Jesus told us, you do not believe God; the word spoken to you will judge/condemn you because you did not believe (Jn 12:47-50)
<    “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did (1 Jn 2:6)
<    “friendship with the world is hatred toward God and becomes an enemy of God (Jas 4:4-10)
<    The world does not understand us or listen to us—we are illogical (Jn 17:25; 1 Jn 3:1-3).
<    Therefore, wash your robe (body/life); put on the righteousness of God given so you can do His will (Acts 22:16; Jas 4:8; Rv 22:14). 
<    Count the cost now—ignorance on the Judgment Day will not be an excuse (Mt 7:13-27, 25:31-46). 
 
What disbelief costs (not all inclusive) in this life—what you will not have today:
<    Cannot come to God or know Him: “No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” (Jn 14:6)
<    No indwelling of the Holy Spirit:  “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. . . you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.  Because I live, you also will live.” (Jn 14:16-19)
<    Cannot see God:  “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (Jn 14:21)
<    Not loved by God or know His presence: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)
<    Will not bear fruit God desires: “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (Jn 15:5-8)
<    Will not remain in God’s love: “you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 15:10)
<    Will not be united, made one with God: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn 17:20-23)
<    Will not know or understand God or have His love or Christ within: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn 17:25-26)
 
Make no mistake, God rewards us for what we have done while in the body, but that does not give us any room to boast; for apart from God (His Son) we could do nothing pleasing in His sight.  No one can give God something He needs, something He does not already have, nor return to Him more than he has received from God—no one can out give God!  Bottom line, when we have done everything we could, we have only done what we should have and have no advantage before God He did not provide us with in the first place (Lk 17:1-10). 
 
Reality in Christ: 
The most powerful example of what it means to believe God is seen in Jesus.  He had the power/ability to stop the betrayal of Judas and/or Israel by fighting with more than twelve legions of angels (Mt 26:52-54) or by flight, i.e., just walk away like He did every other time people wanted to kill Him (by stoning (Jn 8:59) or by throwing Him over a cliff (Lk 4:30).  Jesus knew frustration, despair, isolation and even anger when dealing with the sin in this world.  What made Him so strong during His struggles?  He believed what God said and trusted Him—knew God’s love and power would be sufficient no matter what happened! 
 
There are two fundamental tenants a Christian living in the Reality of Christ must belief:
First, He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:17); therefore, we have the same opportunity to show the same strength during our struggle.  Peter, Judas, you and I face the same enemy of God, and God will not allow us to be tempted/tested beyond our ability to survive/bear—but will always provide a way out or through it, so we can endure (1 Cor 10:13).
 
Second, when we believe God, we will look and act just like Jesus (Jn 14:12; 17:20-23). Those who believe God lives within him, He indwells them and they behave like children whose Father truly loves and protects them; they bear a resemblance of their parentage—like father, like son; she has her father’s eyes; or the acorn never falls far from the tree. 
 
Increasing the quality and quantity of belief in God is part of the reality in Christ.
The quality of your belief is governed by what you know is true—the conviction of your reality. 
When measuring the quality of your belief there are some facts to be considered: 
<    God knows how hard the struggle to believe is—He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:10-18).
<    He knows what causes us to lose to the devil—our spirit is willing, but our body is weak; fear enslaves us (Mt 26:41; Heb 2:14).
<    You can know something is true, but not believe it enough to do it—know it is true but not worth doing now—how you live reveals who you believe, who you listen to or submit to as a slave: God or Satan (Ro 6:16-23).
<    God told Cain what he needed to do, how to defeat the enemy—master/overcome sin (Gen 4:3-7).
<    John taught us Cain belonged to the evil one, that is he followed the voice of the evil one instead of listening to God (1 Jn 3:12). 
<    James taught us how sin captivates our imagination with desire and leads us as a captive to a death sentence (Jas 1:12-25).
<    Make no mistake, those who do not believe God will be found out and punished justly, permanently (Jude).
 
The quantity of your belief is how often you apply the reality in Christ to your daily circumstance.  How do you increase the quantity of your belief?  The business adage “You cannot manage/control what you cannot measure” bears some thought when conducting self-analysis with the intent of increasing either the quality or the quantity of your belief/trust in God.  The key is the knowledge of God:  “This is eternal life, that they should know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent” (Jn 17:3).  Those who believe God and act accordingly are putting on the bright and clean fine linen robes made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rv 7:14).
 
What “truth” sets you free and what are you set free from? (Jn 8:23-51)  The truth is what you learn from doing what Jesus said/taught—“if you hold to my teaching . . . then you will know the truth” and the knowledge you get from the experience “will set you free.”  Free from what?  “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” 
 
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30). 
 
Take His yoke upon you, learn from it and know the truth—the reality in Christ of being freed from sin, forgiven, reconcile and rewarded by God!  And may you never know the horror of hearing God say: "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
]]><![CDATA[salvation defined]]>Sat, 07 Jul 2018 16:15:54 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/the-messiah-redefinedJohn 8:21-30
Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come."

This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?"

But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins."

"Who are you?" they asked.

"Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied.  "I have much to say in judgment of you.  But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world."

They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father.  So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.  The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."  

Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

Observations for living today:
God does not give up on us; we refuse to believe Him.  Jesus did not then, nor does He now, condemn us for our sin; we reject His observation and hang on to those failures until they destroy us.  We could believe Him, let go of whatever is dragging us toward destruction, but we choose not to, therefore, where He goes we cannot.
 
Jesus warns those who should know better, who should have no need to be warned, but because of human nature, fall incredibly short of where they could have been.  I cannot count how many times my parents were told by teachers I was not working up to my full potential.  I heard it, did not understand it, tried my best at the time, but alas, not only were my parents convince I was incapable scholastically, but so was I.  Then I met my wife in high school; one who never wavered, always knew and never stopped telling me how smart I was/am.  Now married 51 years, a graduate from college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and a Master’s degree in Military Arts and Science from the US Army’s Command and General Staff College, and retired from two careers, USN Commissioned Officer and as a Defense Contractor, I understand my teachers were correct.  There is a timeless quote, written by a professor from the College of Hard Knocks, “If I only knew then what I know now, things would be different.”  Those who listened then and did not let their ego and pride take over were able to hear the truth and put their faith in Him.  Some did then and there, but according to Acts 2, about 50 days later a lot more (3,000) did.
 
Understanding God is simple and complex at the same time.  Simple enough to do, while complex to the point it is very difficult to understand, because we insist on wanting to know more than we are ready to comprehend—the little child syndrome. 
 
God listens to us and more often than we realize, gives us exactly what we ask for.  The proud man is his own worst enemy.  Smart and proud, never wrong, and always leading everyone around them, will not keep a person from wandering down the wrong road of life.  How many men have gotten themselves hopelessly lost because they refused to ask for directions, thinking they knew where they were going and how to get there, only to never arrive and lose everything?  How simple it is to stop believing a lie and instead change your mind and accept the truth; and yet how complex is the act of changing a mindset—understanding God is indeed simple and complex at the same time.
 
Reality in Christ:
Salvation is believing what Jesus said and making it part of daily life.  If Jesus said not to do something and I say I believe him and I keep doing it, then I really did not believe what He said.  John wrote, "We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.  Whoever says "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in the person.  But if anyone obeys his word, love God is truly made complete in them.  This is how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did." (1 Jn 2:3-6)

Jesus only did and said what the Father told Him to say and do!  Believe what Jesus said, He’s only repeating what He heard God say and what God taught Him!  Jesus always reflected God (Heb 1:3) and we are called/instructed to do the same thing—consider what Paul wrote to the Corinthians; the Spirit of God enables us to contemplate the glory of what God has done in Christ.  Those who take this seriously can see and understand the glory of God and are being transformed into the likeness of Christ, from one degree of glory to ever-increasing glory.  When you believe what Jesus told us in earnest, you can change your mind, understand the difference between what is temporarily visible in this life and what is unseen and eternal in the life to come (2 Cor 3-4).
 
This reality is portrayed by Jesus in his parable of the wedding.  When the King invited his chosen people to the wedding of his son and they refused, he invited everyone to come.  As was the custom, the King provided appropriate wedding attire to all quests.  When He mingled with his quests and found one without appropriate attire and confronted him the guest was speechless, because there was no excuse for refusing to put the clothes on.  John clearly indicates the white robes of those attending the Wedding of the Lamb in Heaven is a gift given by God for believing His truth and living a life according to that belief (Matt 22:1-14 & Rev 7, 19:8).
 
What Jesus said is always true, for them and for us; He does not condemn us, we condemn our self when we do not believe; our own words and the words He spoke that we reject will condemn us: 
 
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.  But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:35-37)  
 
“Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.  The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.  I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.  If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person.  For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.  For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.  I know that his command leads to eternal life.  So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (Jn 12:44-50)
ere to edit.
]]><![CDATA[the light of the world - john 8:12]]>Fri, 23 Mar 2018 16:14:13 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/the-light-of-the-world-john-812John 8:12-20
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"

"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."  He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

Observations for living today:
Jesus was then and is now the light of the “whole world”, not just the Jewish nation. This probably added insult to injury to the elitist leadership, who thought they were the only ones, the chosen nation, to have God’s light within them.  This moment shows what will always happen when the divine purpose is hijacked by human interests, it goes off track and has the opposite effect for those who are trying to implement it.  God’s purpose to show Himself to the world through the Jewish nation, to be a beacon of hope/life was in fact happening, in spite of the actions of those who had become focused on national pride and survival (Ez 34).  They missed their opportunity to help fulfill God’s purpose, by failing to know God’s character they could not see the big picture of God’s plan.  Their failure did not stop God’s plan from being successful, it only stop their participation in God's plan.  God has not abandoned His chosen people nor the nation of Israel; Paul understood this and as difficult as it is to understand some of what he wrote, it is clear the blindness covering their understanding of Jesus will be removed eventually—they are and always will be loved by God.
 
The light of life—never in darkness!  But for all who believe and follow Jesus, regardless of national heritage, the opportunity to participate in fulfilling God's purpose is an absolute reality (cf. John 1:1-5, 9-18; 12:44-50).  When you accept/believe Jesus, God’s light shines on you and you have access to His life; do not believe and you are walking in darkness, dead to what God can do for you.  The darkness you live in blinds you to the opportunity surrounding you, but you cannot eliminate or overcome the truth.  You do not stop God’s purpose from happening, you only fail to be a part of it.  
 
The leadership of the day attacked Jesus with a legal argument requiring a witness to prove what He said was true.  Their argument:  Who else believes you or stands-up for what you say?  His answer: My Father, God!  To which their immediate reply, most likely thinking of His father Joseph, “where is your Father?” Clear example of the difference between divine vs human logic.
 
Not the first time they have had this argument; many have already acknowledged “this man is from God” for no one has ever done what He can do!  His answer, therefore, did not address their question, but was a precise commentary on their error in judgement: they did not know God; thus, they could not know Him nor understand anything He taught them.
 
There is only one way to know God:  He has to reveal the truth of Himself.  No person has seen the invisible God, save Adam, Enoch, and Moses.  Adam was created and spent a significant time with God before being exiled.  Enoch pleased God and was afforded the privilege of avoiding death and walking with God.  And finally, Moses saw God pass by, observing His glory, before sitting face to face with Him in the tent of meeting.  No other human, but the Christ, have experienced any significant firsthand knowledge of God.  These antagonists denied their scriptural heritage and rejected the testimony of all the prophets who foretold, according to the Spirit of God speaking through them, the message of the messiah’s coming.  Had they any part of the faith they claimed to profess, they would have just as Abraham and Moses, believed the one sent by God sanding before them in the temple that day. 
 
John’s recurring theme: eternal life comes through believing Jesus’ message.  Believe Jesus and you will know and understand God; if you know one you will know the other, because they reference each other, they are the same — John 17!
 
Reality in Christ: 
When you believe Jesus, know what He taught and follow His teachings you will walk in God’s light, and more importantly, not only know God, but be known and love by God—being one with God, always in His light-forever.
 
Life lived trusting God—absolutely no disadvantages—all things considered; don’t stop short of recognizing how things will playout.  A line in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) captures this idea clearly, "In India we have a saying, 'Everything will be alright in the end'... so if its not alright, it is not yet the end". 

Consider some well-known examples of those who live with the end in mind:
Farmer – cultivating crop/patience waiting – crop harvested –  life contained in fruit of harvest
Athlete – training/effort expended running  – victory won – honor in crown of victory
Mother – 9 months carrying/pain felt birthing – baby born – joy of new life/hope

As a Christian knowing my reality in Christ is an absolute truth, I know God loves me just as He loves His only begotten Son, and nothing can happen to me outside of this truth.  So, everything that happens will be beneficial to God's purpose, and that in the end is more than good; I cannot be separated from God and His love (Ro 8:38).

Prayer: Father, life can be hard and scary, but in everything we know you love us and care for us.  We also know the enemy of God is trying to destroy our love for you.  Give us strength to continue the fight to hang on to the message your Son gave us, to never let it fade from our conscious, but give us more of your Holy Spirit to guide us daily and never fail to love you back.  When we are tired, fill us with hope, when we hurt, touch us with healing and restore our strength to get though the days trial.  Guide us to your truth and open our eyes so we can understand our next step and how to show how much we trust you.  We know you are in absolute control and will always look out for us, help us when we doubt and are distracted, to turn back and show we do love you. 

]]><![CDATA[Regarding judgment - john 8:1-12]]>Tue, 25 Jul 2017 16:43:13 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/regarding-judgment-john-81-12 John 8:1-12

 8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They were using this question as a trap, to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 "No one, sir," she said.

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."



Observations for living today:
The leadership was not looking to get an answer to their question, they were trying to get Jesus to say something they could use as a justification to kill him.  They knew He was magnanimous toward women; the Pharisee who invited Him to his house for dinner (Simon of Lk 7:36-50) saw this first hand, may have been part of this crowd.  There was Mary Magdalene possessed by 7 demonic spirits (Lk 8:2), the woman with the bleeding issue for 12 years (Mk 5:25) and the Samaritan woman at the well who had 5 husbands and was living with a man not her husband (Jn 4:17).  Jesus led a very public life and most likely everyone knew of the kindnesses shown these women.  Jesus was prone to forgiveness and they jumped on the opportunity to use the official interpretation of the Law of Moses to trap Him. 

Now there is no proof of what I think happened, but logic tells me John painted the picture the way he did with a purpose; his words were not random, rather, they were selected carefully, without a doubt inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Before Jesus said anything, He began to write something on the ground with His finger, in front of those educated and pious men.  He did not say anything as they continued their assault, until He stood up and made perhaps one of the most misquoted verses of scripture (people use the phrase now to diminish the legitimacy of anyone disapproving of their actions).  Then He went back to writing with His finger in the dirt.  What was He writing?  Oh, would I love to know—but I don’t, so I filled the vacuum with this thought: He wrote the names of the women these men had impure thoughts of or maybe even worse, actually had improper relationships with.  Remember, Jesus warned in His sermon on the mountain, thinking of committing adultery is just as dangerous as doing it—the sinning starts with the thought, whether it be sex or murder (Mt 5:21, 27; Gen 4:6).  The phrase Peter used, “having eyes full of adultery,” describes accurately a life style to avoid (2 Pe 2:14).  Men think their thoughts are of no consequence, because they are not known by others.  Not true, as God has made clear; sin may not be known to the one standing next to you, but it is known by God, and those men claiming to be righteous enough to pronounce God’s judgement were just as bad as the one they were condemning.  This is probably why the older men left first, their list was a whole lot longer and they probably did not want to see their latest failures broadcast in front of them. So it is just as John wrote, man refuses to recognize the light God sent into the world because, their deeds were/are evil and coming into the light would/will expose their wickedness (Jn 3:19). 

Jesus was not giving the woman a pass, because she was better or worse; He did not come to diminish the tragedy of sin, but show us a way out from under the curse of sin.  His words were not as is so often attributed, to be a case for one not judging the action of another unless you are perfect; they were to be understood in the context of everyone needs to stop sinning, change course and leave the “life of sin” behind.  Consider what Jesus said to the man He healed at the Sheep Gate pool, who had been an invalid for 38 years: “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  What kind of sin could a man commit who was unable to walk?  Yet Jesus also made it clear to that man, sin has consequences, which if he did not stop, would result in something far worse than being crippled for 38 years.  What He wrote in the dirt that day probably made it just as clear to those condemning the woman, they needed to stop sinning, turn and do something else, or something worse will happen to them (Jn 5:15).  They did not and something worse did happen to them: they killed their Messiah and will be held accountable for it!


Reality in Christ: 
From the days of Socrates to the present it has been believed illness and tragedies were a direct result of sin, i.e., the act of disobeying or offending a deity.  In the Judeo/Christian heritage some thought this meant God punished sin by visiting or striking offenders with a punitive tragedy or illness.  Even in the news today we read of people/organizations of Christians holding onto this distortion of God’s character.  I say distortion of character, because clearly God’s power allows Him to do such things, but such things would be contrary to His divine nature (Ro 1:20).  I once listened to a Christian minister attribute the death of a five-month old baby as God inflicting suffering so people would repent.  The Reality in Christ reveals God has the power to strike (2 Peter 2:4-10) and in some very specific moments in the history of this world He may in fact have done so.  Some clear examples in Scripture are the Flood (Gen 6:1-8) and the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-8).  Both events reflect the power of God and are not inconsistent with His character.  The flood saved eight souls and the animal kingdom from the decadent hordes bent on satisfaction of their senses; while the confusion of both language and thought saved humanity from a rapid destruction with mankind focused on fulfilling their evil desires using out-of-control technology.  It does not take the imagination of Tom Clancy to understand what the history of man would have been if God had not slowed man’s ability to “improve quality of life” and call it “progress.”  One only has to imagine the genocidal cruelty of the Roman Empire and Genghis Khan having access to today’s technology to understand how bad it could have been—a terrorist with tactical nuclear weapons would be a Sunday afternoon at the park in comparison. 

In more than one instance Jesus made clear the unfair reality of life is not a reflection of one’s unrighteousness or that God was punishing an individual for an exceptional grievous offence (Jn 9:1; Lk 13:5).  There are consequences associated with bad decisions and people who make them are inclined to always blame someone else for the result—blame shifters who think they are innocent victims of an unjust system.  God loves us and He does not take our suffering lightly, and He certainly does not cause it—His enemy does, we just make it easy for Satan to strike.  Sometimes I think there would be more righteousness, i.e., better religion, if there were fewer priest and preachers—misrepresenting God. 

It is not unusual for a hired hand to usurp the authority of his boss, we see nurses do it to doctors, receptionist do it to CEOs, and Christians, Muslims and Jews do it to God.  My fourth-grade teacher used to write quotations on the blackboard, have us think about it for a week and then gave us a chance to tell the class what we thought the author was trying to say.  The only one I remember was, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”  No one in the class had a clue; I do not remember what she said, but I have never stopped thinking about it.  Especially as it concerns men/women who think they are familiar with God, i.e., know His mind, His intentions, what He thinks and why He did, does or will do things.  I have concluded, the loudest voices speaking on behalf of God, actually hold Him in contempt and have decided they need to take action to speak and or do something on His behalf because He has somehow failed to understand what was necessary in their particular circumstance—Judas will always be the best example of this dynamic. 

Man needs to stop pretending to be God; stop avenging for God; stop translating or interpreting or prophesizing for God—acting like God is not powerful or smart enough to do what He wants done.  Let God speak for Himself—oh wait—He did.  At many times and in various places, God spoke, but in these last days He spoke to the world through His Son!  We all need to read, understand and incorporate into our daily experience what Ezekiel and Paul wrote; things have not changed much—human nature still governs the majority of this world (Ezekiel 34, Heb12), but it does not nor can it ever remove the truth of God from those who truly love Him with their whole heart, mind and body!

There are two principles to never forget, which when applied help make sense of living today. 

1.  Evil--unfair trials, senseless affliction and every sort of tragedy have one basic purpose--to destroy God’s creation.  They all emanate from a single source: Satan, the leader of those angels who left their position of authority in the celestial realm, to become the enemy of God (Rev 12). 

Mankind wanted the knowledge of “good and evil” and we got it.  We each prove ourselves worthy of the consequences of this monumental error each time we do not trust or believe the word of God to be correct.  Satan does what he can to destroy what little faith we have and has been given time and space for now to inflict whatever he can on us to turn us farther away from trusting God—but his days are numbered, having already been defeated by the Son of God.   

We are not alone in this, if we are in Christ and we do not give up and leave the relationship looking for something better, closer, more tangible.  In Christ we are all children of God through faith, having put on Christ through faith in God, we all belong to Christ and are heirs with Him, adopted by God, into the fullness of the relationship God has with His Son, our Savior (Gal 3:21-4:7).  And just as God took the insults, cruelty and unfairness visited on His Son and turned it into something beyond glorious, so too He will take whatever Satan visits on us and turn it into something we can be proud of.  Jesus prayed to the Father (Jn 17:20-26) asking for us to be one with Him just as He was one with the Father—if you do not see it now or understand the full significance of His prayer, one day you will, if you do not give up believing/trusting God told us the truth.

2.  Prophets and angels never lie about what God said; they do not modify it in anyway and they always complete the mission they were given.

Prophets.  God has us given some tests to determine the difference between false and true prophet. 

Many claim to speak for God, to explain and/or interpret scriptures and doctrines of the faith, so those with lesser intellect can understand.  The history of Christianity documents the danger of trusting every man of god for an accurate representation of God’s message.  This danger began before the Twelve Apostle were even thrown out of Jerusalem.  John, who leaned upon Jesus during the last supper was excommunicated by a church led by those who were convinced they knew more about God than the disciple Jesus loved.  How to protect yourself from such insanity requires exceptional vigilance. This logic should be applied whenever there is doubt the messenger represents God.
   1.  God said: a true prophet is never wrong—what he says always happens.
   2.  If there is a difference between what a man says and what Jesus said, the man is always wrong.

There is also a pre-condition necessary for these two principles to be effective.  Life has been, can be and will always be unfair and confusing, until God removes all His enemies and establishes His “new order” promised from the very beginning (cf. Gen 3:15 to Rev 21:5).  Until then one must trust God and believe as all the great examples of “faith” did; that God exists and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:6), therefore if you do not understand what is happening around you and to you, ask God to give you wisdom (Jas 1:5) and know for sure, what His Son said is an absolute fact—listen closely and do not doubt: 

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:1-13)

And when you get really tired, and if you are a threat to Satan you will get tired, because he will attack you ferociously; never forget this!  The angels of heaven where created and are maintained for a reason:  as ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb 1:14).  Every child has an angel in heaven assigned to them, who is always face to face with God (Mat 18:10).  Jesus told us this as a warning regarding how we treat a “child of God.”  As every parent knows, your child may grow-up, but you will always love that little child; age has nothing to do with it.  If we could only know, understand and see what God does for us each day, it would be no less amazing than what Elisha’s servant experienced once his eyes and mind were opened and he could see the invisible power of God enveloping them (2 Kings 6:8-23).  They were protected by God and when surrounded by the enemy’s small and ineffective army, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Jesus knew this same reality when arrested by the Soldiers and religious leaders.  Peter drew a sword and struck the servant of the high priest and Jesus rebuked Him saying “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  God can protect His own, when they are threatened by His enemy’s army, and if He does not, there is a very good reason not to.  

The Reality in Christ is God loves me and has empowered me to leave my life of sin; His forgiveness will not go unnoticed in my life: not by me or those who see me. 

Prayer:
Father, your servant David taught me to pray, “search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Help me understand this in my life; help me know myself and become the person you know I can be.  You have given your Son the power to fill us with life, and to have that life flow from us to show the world what your love really looks like.  Help me understand what this means in every day of my life and in every event, I experience.  Give me strength to endure and courage to act in accordance with this reality.  When surrounded by threats and fear begins to creep into my mind, enlighten my spirit with your Holy Spirit.  Walk with me and never let me forget you love me just like you love your only begotten Son.  Thank you, Father, for this life and the chance to prove I love you.  Help me to never forget everything I’m going through is not new, it has happened to others, even your Son learned from His life something that perfected Him.  Give me the wisdom to understand this and rejoice, looking forward to when you reveal everything and make it possible for me to understand even as I am understood by you.    Amen





]]><![CDATA[you have to be thirsty to drink  john 7:37-53 ]]>Mon, 11 Jul 2016 16:43:09 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/you-have-to-be-thirsty-to-drink John 7:37-53

37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."

41 Others said, "He is the Christ."

Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"

46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.

47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law — there is a curse on them."

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophete does not come out of Galilee."

[The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.]

53 Then each went to his own home.

Observations for living today:
On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priest would bring a golden vial of water from the pool at Gihon Spring (fount of Siloam) and pour it on the sacrifice on the alter, most likely a reflection upon the water Moses drew from the rock in the wilderness.  The Nation’s hope for the fulfillment of the coming of the Messiah (Num 20:8-11; Ps 78:15-16; Zech 14:8,16-19) united everyone’s heart and mind on the salvation and life God promised to Abraham.  Jesus told those assembled He was the fulfillment of what they were looking for.  He did not quote specific chapter and verse, but told them their hopes were addressed completely in the Scripture (cf. Joel 2:28; Isa 44:3; Isa 55) and just as the people came to the prophet Moses to be saved from dying of thirst in the wilderness, so Jesus would save them if they were thirsty and came to Him to drink from God’s well of salvation.  He is the rock out of which the life giving Spirit of God would flow.  Whoever believes Jesus and follows Him faithfully, will become a part of the continuous flow of living water (Jn 4:14), i.e., an ongoing cause and effect of His work, similar to His reference to a grain of wheat dying to generate the next crop of life-giving food (Jn 12:24).

People come to those representing God to better understand reality and they expect to hear the truth.  Paul wrote the problems in the world are the direct result of the godlessness and wickedness of men.  The rebellion against God by the angels in the heavenly realm, migrated to mankind in the Garden of Eden, and it continues to manifested itself in men who replace the truth today with lies and call it wisdom.  The reality is, rebelling against God results in futile thinking and is the direct consequence for following the foolish desires of the human nature (Ro 1:18-29).   This will always happen when God gives specific instructions on what to do and man is not careful to do it right.  Consider Moses, face to face with God in the “Tent of Meeting,” being told what and how to get water for God’s people in the wilderness.  When Moses let his emotions take charge, he changed what was supposed to be said and done; he hit the rock twice and addressed the people focusing their attention on his brother and himself, instead of just speaking to the rock.  Because he failed to follow what God said to him, neither Aaron nor Moses were allowed to enter the promised land with the people.  Jesus, however, has a ministry superior to Moses, because He always did what He saw God doing and spoke what He was told to say, so the world would know He did exactly what the Father commanded (Jn 5:19; 8:26, 28, 38, 40; 12:49; 14:10, 24, 31).

Three serious conditions are associated with understanding God’s truth and the fulfillment of His salvation proclaimed by Jesus in God’s temple during the greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles:
    1) you must be thirsty,
    2) you must come to Jesus, and
    3) you must drink! 

1.  The Pharisees who sent the guards to arrest Jesus to stop Him from revealing the truth were not thirsty: they thought they had no need of salvation from God, because they were not like everyone else, lowly, uneducated and sinful.  Nicodemus, however, was thirsty and had sought out Jesus to get a drink to satisfy his thirst previously, which is why he stood up to their perversion of justice.  He still had not committed completely to Jesus, nor drank the water Jesus offered; but he would (Jn 19:39). 

2.  Consider what happens when you are really thirsty, when you come to the one God sent, and drink deeply from the well He provides.  If you really believe, you will accept and believe “with certainty” the words Jesus spoke are from God, just like the Apostles did (Jn 17:8).  The amazing hope His words generate today is established in the unchangeable character of God and the fact the Father always answers the prayers of His Son.  We are confident the Father heard the prayer of His Son in John 17, knowing those who saw and heard Jesus speak those words were also filled with His Holy Spirit according to God’s purpose to show how much He loves us.   

3.  Belief comes in stages – some considered Him a prophet, others the Messiah, i.e., Christ.  What do you consider Him and as with Nicodemus, where are you in meeting God’s conditions for success?  Similarly, thirst is satisfied in stages; first to address the acute dehydration and then to fulfil the requirement to maintain the body.  Drinking as with eating is not a one-time event, but demands a continued drinking experience to remain vibrant and alive.  The first drink stops the dying, continuing to drink brings the fullness of life.

Water quality is important.  One can compare drinking good water to eating a healthy diet.  Ignore this fact of life and life threatening conditions will rapidly develop.  If the wrong food and water is consumed, one could eat and/or drink themselves to death quickly, specifically, one could be starving while eating or dying of thirst while drinking.  Rabbit Starvation is caused by eating only low/no fat animal meat exclusively.  It quickly leads to death by starvation, while eating continuously, even to the extent the stomach becomes stretched (distended).  Drinking saltwater vs fresh has a similar impact, it does not satisfy thirst and the salt in the water overwhelms the body’s cellular processes and quickly kills you. 

It is important to note the parallel between the physical and the spiritual.  The body and the spirit have critical needs that must be met to grow and remain healthy.  What you feed the spiritual part of your being is actually more important than what you feed the physical.  This physical body is temporary and will be replaced with a new physical permanent body (1 Cor 15).  What you feed the spiritual part of your being is exceptionally more important; eat or drink the wrong stuff and you kill yourself, while desperately taking in more and more, trying to satisfy an overwhelming hunger or thirst.  Human nature tries to satisfy itself on the wrong food and drink.  The immediate result, poisons the soul, increases the desire for more and leads very quickly to a death spiral, which, without a supernatural intervention, leads to a permanent death of the soul.  John describes this kind of death after dying as the second death—a permanent separation from God’s grace eternally, with no hope of salvation (Rev 20: 6, 12-15; 21:6-8, 22-26; 22:1-7). 

Reality is, we are not human beings having a temporary spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience.  Jesus understood this when He addressed the people’s desire for God’s salvation.  If you live life following the desires of the human nature, if you consume only food to satisfy the appetite of your human nature and avoid healthy food and water, missing out on the food and drink God presented 2000 years ago, you are in reality one of the walking dead, eating and drinking yourself to a permanent second death. 

A quote capturing the essence of this concept is, “You are what you eat.”  Perhaps one of the best examples of this idea is found in the life of the person who first used the phrase in 1863, Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872).  He attended the University of Heidelberg and the University of Berlin to prepare for a career within the church, but was diverted when he joined a group of Philosophers known as the “Young Hegelians”  and ended up satisfying his human nature on worldly thoughts, becoming an atheist philosopher, whose writings significantly influenced Karl Marx’s views.  (Steven Shapin,  Never Pure: Historical Studies Of Science As If It Was Produced By People With Bodies, Situated In Time, Space, Culture, And Society, And Struggling For Credibility And Authority, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, 568 pages, pg 235 (ISBN 978-0801894213)). 

The example of the Jewish leadership also shows us what happens when you ignore the “words of God,” thinking you have attained superior wisdom, with a righteousness apart from all others; healthy, wealthy and wise, lacking nothing, and needing nothing (cf. Rev 3:14-22).  If one considers oneself a child of Abraham, one must ask the question, if your God is the creator and sustainer of all things, and your religious institutions reflect the glory and power of such a God; where is the Ark of the Covenant and what happened to the Temple with its required sacrifices?  Perhaps the answer will be found listening to the words God has spoken!  Ezekiel saw and heard what God would do:  remove the leadership who failed to represent Him, and do it Himself.  The early Church rejoiced in this the new covenant between God and Man; Paul wrote of it in his letter to the Hebrews, quoting the Jewish Scriptures: God Himself will teach His people, write His law on their mind and put it in their heart, and place His (only) faithful servant to be a shepherd over them (Heb 8-10; quotes Jer 31:31-34 and fulfils Ez 34 and Jer 3:14-18). 

Jesus established God’s new covenant, speaking the words the Father’s gave Him, doing everything exactly the way the Father wanted it done (Jn 14:10, 24, 31).


Reality in Christ: 
“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts.  Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day.  The content of your character is your choice.  Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become.  Your integrity is your destiny . . . it is the light that guides your way.”  (Heraclitus Greek Poet, Philosopher) 

You become what you think about, what you feed on daily; it colors your decisions and leads you to a destination.  If your thinking is governed by your human nature, you satisfy human desires, but if you live by and in the Spirit, governed by your spiritual nature, you satisfy the things of God.  Always remember what happened to Peter when he allowed his human nature to lead him.  Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him after Jesus explained God’s plan for saving mankind.  Jesus immediately called Peter “Satan,” warning him to keep his focus off of human concerns and keep it on things God cares about (Mat 16:15-28; Lk 9:20-27; Mk 8:31-38).

Things to think about often (daily for new Christian) as they will most definitely shape your destiny.
   - Who is not my friend? James 4:4
   - Who is my friend? Luke 7:33; John 15:13-15
   - Who am I? Luke 7:47  

Who is not my friend. 
Knowing your enemy, who it is, what will be done, when and how it will be done is a function of vigilance. 

“All warfare is based on deception” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Ch. 1, para 18).  Information is critical to success in warfare.  Information will shape your opponents next action, just as it does yours, and if you believe a lie, you could lose more than a battle, perhaps your failure could cascade into losing the entire war.  Misinformation is just as critical as having accurate information.  You want accurate information about your enemy, but on the other hand, you would like your enemy not to have any information regarding your situation.  I if he does get some information of your situation it would best if it was wrong, i.e., thinks you are weak where you are strong or strong when you are weak. 

Stealth is very popular in warfare because it alters how critical information is understood.  The most popular form of stealth is to be invisible.  Being invisible enables you to see and hear things to your benefit, or to position yourself so you can use your weapons more effectively.   An enemy who has mastered the art of stealth has just dramatically improved his chance of successfully defeating you. 

Your enemy is invisible or using stealth when you:
   - do not know the one who wants to destroy you;
   - do not know what he can do or wants to do, where, when, or how;
   - think you are in no danger; or
   - think you are stronger than he is even if he does attack.

We are at war with the enemy of God, “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” whose suppression of truth and lies beguile ignorant people who think they are wise (Rev 12: 7-9, 17; Eph 6:12, 13).   Knowing who your struggle is against, is like knowing you have a problem, it is only half the solution, and what to do about this very big, serious problem, is the other half.  I used to tell my children every problem has a solution, but implementing the solution is never easy.  I learned this from the Prussian general, Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote, “War is very simple, but in War the simplest things become very difficult” (On War (1832), Bk 1, Ch. VII, para 2).  As a Naval warrior trained by the US Army, I know this to be true.  As a Christian warrior engaged daily as Paul described above, I can testify the solution is simple, but very difficult to do, and will require the utmost courage and commitment every moment of the rest of one’s life—putting on the full amour of God (Eph 6:11).  If there are any doubts, that it can be done or should be done, read William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Complete & Unabridged) – The Ultimate Book on Spiritual Warfare.  

Who is my friend?  Jesus was talking to His disciples on the night He was betrayed and what He said to them was exceptionally important.  He told them He would no longer call them “servants” but, instead, He would call them “friends” (Jn 15:15)!  Why was it important for them to know this?  He wanted them to understand very clearly just how much God loves them and how important they are to God’s business.  The war of all wars is being fought and Jesus wants them to know clearly where they stand in God’s eyes.  “As the Father loved me, so have I loved you. . . so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. . . everything that I learned from the Father I have made known to you. . . I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  He only had one condition for them to maintain this standing, “You are my friends if you do what I command. . .  This is my command: Love each other.”  And then He closed His discussions with them with the greatest prayer ever prayed; a prayer to be memorized and continuously remembered daily by every Christian who believes Jesus to be the Son of the living God (Jn 15-17).

God and Jesus are one, and they both are “Friend” to us.  This is the message of the gospel: reconciled to God, no longer considered an enemy, but a true friend (Ro 5:10; 2 Cor 5:18; Col 1:22). 

How many times did God tell us something awesome—incredibly hard to believe—while saying, “do not be afraid”?  Whether God was speaking through a prophet, angel, or the very Son of God incarnate, His intent was, is and will always be the same: I know you are going to have difficulty understanding this, it is going to scare you, but trust me, I will not mislead you or let you down, and you will not be disappointed if you believe what I am saying.  

To the Twelve Apostles sent out to proclaim His message to the lost sheep of Israel, Jesus told them not to be afraid of those they would face who could kill their body, but could not harm their soul.  Instead, He wanted them to understand the one who could kill both the body and the soul, loved them very much.  To make it clear, He told them the Father was aware of every sparrow sold in the market place (two for a penny), and not one of those birds fell to the ground without the Father knowing about it.  They were far more important birds, in fact, God’s awareness of their life was so detailed, He was aware of and had given every hair on each of their heads a number.  Now here is the awesome and scary, if you can see it from their perspective.  They were not to worry about what to say when called to testify in front of the elite of this world— “it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Mat 10:26-42; Lk 12:1-12).  No pressure, all they had to do was believe what God said is true. 

To each of us, God says, have no fear, believe in me, I love you and know where you are and what you face.  Fear has no place in the life of one who has been redeemed by God, because God’s Spirit dwells within them; they are no longer a slave to fear, for they are His child—God is our Daddy (Ro 8:15)!  God, in Christ has destroyed the power of Satan, eliminating first the chains of human nature binding us to sin; transforming us by replacing our nature with His nature, thereby reconciling us to God.  Then through the knowledge of God with His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, He cleanses our conscience so the fear of death/dying/disappointing God is gone.  Satan is utterly destroyed, his dominion over those who believe God’s message has been removed, and he in turn is bound by God’s reality, to be cast into the depths of the abyss away from the presence of God on judgment day.  All who are alive are so because they believe God’s words—they live by their faithfulness (Heb 2:14-18).

The Father is building something new, something not bound by the physical or temporal laws of this world.  Rather, He is building a dwelling for Himself, whether you call it a house or temple, it is like nothing we have seen or experienced before (Heb 3).  Jesus is the capstone of what God is building, a rock—a living Stone for those who believe, giving them a spiritual nature so they can be part of what God wants for a dwelling place (1 Pet 2:1-10).  For those who do not believe, Jesus becomes “a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” (1 Pet 2:7 quoting Isa 8:14).  Paul put it this way: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life” (2 Cor 2:15-16).

This new building is what God really wanted—not sacrifices and offerings—but a body who would do His will; and in Christ and through Christ, God has/is/will make this a reality.  The Law was a shadow of the what was to come (Heb 10:1; Col 2:1).  But Christ is not a shadow of something to come; He is the Reality!  We are not waiting for something to happen, it has already happened and it is the reality in the heavenly realm even now.  We are waiting for God to complete His work and enter into His rest where we will join Him (Heb 4).  As a friend of God, with God as a friend, we need to stop thinking as humans and think as “Spiritual Beings” who God put the Spirit of Christ into!  We need to drive fear out of our life and know we are alive in and with Christ now.  This reality (fact/truth) is not going to change—our bodies might get weaker and even die, but the eternal spirit God gave us will not, and when God establishes the “new order,” and our bodies become imperishable and immortal, where will the fear of death be known and who will it affect? (1 Cor 15:54; Rev 21:5)

From the very beginning God warned us of living in fear.  When Cain was afraid he had lost his standing with God and was consumed with anger; his human nature focused his thinking on his brother’s success.  God saw the danger saying: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it” (Gen 4:7).  I do not think God was referring to Cain’s sacrifice, but was warning him about his thinking, what he was focused on and about to do! 

The danger anger brings is not the emotion, but the overwhelming focus on thinking about what to do!  When you use the emotion anger generates to do good, what is really right, you will be accepted by God.  If you let the anger focus you on evil, Satan will overcome you, master you, and destroy you.  James told us, regarding sin, “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14).  And the way to change what you are thinking, avoiding temptation— “Submit yourselves, then to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you (James 4:7-8).  What you focus on, effects what you become; you become what you eat or feed on!

If we are all like sheep that have gone astray, then the “Good Shepherd” is our best friend (1 Pe 2:25; Jn 10:14; Rv 7:17).


Who am I? Really? If what I think about I become, then what I do must reflect what I believe.
When Jesus was criticized by the religious elite for associating with “sinners”, He said, “wisdom is proved right by all her children.”  The wisdom of God is not proven by the pronouncements of leaders, priest or preachers, it is in fact proven by its results:  the lives and actions of God’s children, both the Son of God and all those who follow in his footsteps (Lk 7:35). 

Think about what God cares about – reflect what Paul wrote on being “Christian”


God revealed a new type of righteousness
“that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’ [Hab 2:4 by his faithfulness]” (Rom 1:17).

You have the fullness of God, do not be fooled by the world
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.  In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:8-14).

Take off the old self and put on the new self
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. . . since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col 3:1-5, 9-10).

Living by one’s faithfulness is observable, seen in what you do—how you do it
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (Rom 8:5-9) 

In Christ we are “a new creation” and we see everything from a new point of view
“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. . For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. . . We live by faith, not by sight. . . So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. . . So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  (2 Cor 5:1, 4-5, 7, 9-10, 16-17). 

Check your own actions, but be careful not to compare yourself against others
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. . . Each one should test his own actions.  Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load (Gal 5; 6:1-5).

Scary vs Hopeful
Give some thought to the following ideas; compare them to each other, to help you maintain a focus on what you think about—a negative and a positive, one a scary touch of reality to counter the other or to balance the hope for a new future.  Both are necessary to maintain connected to what is real; lose one or give one too much attention and the imbalance will cause you to spin out of control.  Understanding the negative is possible only when you can live without fear.

Scary part first.  Regarding breaking faith with God by not doing what He said, either intentionally or unintentionally; Paul wrote,
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb 10:26-31).

Whatever happened to “Sin” and “Shame”.  Christians today seem to be comfortable with not listening to God, i.e., irreverence is an indication of unbelief in the power of God!  Ignoring sin is a form of strategic stupidity.  Anyone who thinks on judgment day, when they come face to face with God and say, “I didn’t know” or “I don’t know why I did it;” that such a weak excuse for sinning will work any better for them than it did when my 8-year-old used it to explain his disobedience to me, is as immature as an 8-year old. 

Who do you think God will be more upset with, discipline or punish to a greater degree – the Hebrews in the wilderness (Num 15:22-41) or the Christians of 2016?  What part of His character influences your answer most: His righteousness, power, justice, unchanging nature, etc.? 

To think God’s justice for all the injury deliberate sinning did to the innocent will go unnoticed is misguided.  Do you think His love for the sinner, ignores the pain of those offended and injured by those who sinned?  Those who do not consider the impact of their sin and pray for blanket forgiveness without intense regret/remorse accompanied by continuous sorrow and tears as part of their repentance, do not make a case for justice.

Perhaps this is why all sincere Christians pray for forgiveness with tears and sadness for all the injuries resulting from both intentional and unintentional sins; for all of us know we have sinned, even if we do not know how much it affected others.  Chapter 4 of James addresses the conflicting desire dwelling within each of us, and counseled us on how to live victoriously: “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. . . Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (vs 9 & 17).

While not dwelling on it, but never forgetting it either, remember; everything will be laid bare, thoughts and attitudes (Heb 4:12-13) alike; and every careless word will be accounted for on judgment day, “for by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mat 12:36-37).

Finally, the really hard and scary part, read 1st John and measure yourself carefully, not to justify yourself, but to first accurately understand yourself and then to understand how much God loves all of us.  Do not be afraid, fear is Satan’s finest weapon, forged in a kiln of lies.  Let the truth John heard be part of what you think about, knowing we cannot imagine the beauty of what he saw and had the privilege to physically experience.

Now for the positive side, one of hope for those who remain faithful to God.  Listen to what John heard during his revelation (Rev 2:7, 10-11, 17, 26-29; 3:3-6, 11-13, 17-22), to what Jesus promised those who did what was right while in the body.  To those who overcome He will:
  -- give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

  -- give the crown of life . . . will not be hurt at all by the second death.

  -- give some of the hidden manna (bread of God) . . . will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

  -- give authority over the nations— 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery'—just as I have received authority from my Father. . . will also give him the morning star.

  -- be dressed in white. . . will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

  -- will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

  -- will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

CONCLUSION:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Ch. III, para 18). 

Written between 500-450 BC to explain why military campaigns were lost.  The quote reveals why so many Christians find themselves defeated by the evil surrounding them; why instead they are wounded, dying and confused by their lack of victory against sin.  Success calls for a serious warrior ethos; to continually believe God, to put on the “new self” eliminating the weakness of human nature and to live without fear, trusting God’s character as a Father.  God tempts no one to sin, but allows our belief (faith) in Him to be proven; therefore, if anyone needs wisdom to understand what is happening, ask “Daddy”! (Mk 14:36; Ro 8:15; Gal 4:6; Jas 1, 4)

Who’s not my friend.  Do not be friends with those who are at war with God.  How you will treat those who are at war with God, is another discussion, but for now just knowing who is not your friend is enough.  Note: Jesus said to love your enemy and pray for him, not to be led by him or believe his lies; all prayer for an enemy should begin with, “forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Who is my friend.  Understanding God’s character is important.  One needs to first grasp the fundamentals of the Gospel to understand what truth is, then add knowledge gained through experience, i.e., practical application—do what the Word said.  God loves you and if you believe Him everything will be more than okay.

Know myself.  American Indian analogy says when two dogs are fighting for control of a man, the one the man feeds the most will win.  Have an honest discussion about where you are and where you need to go; what to or not to do, understanding what you are doing tells a lot about who your real father is.  Fact is, you cannot serve two masters.  You are bound to one or the other, in this there is no both. 


Prayer: 
Father, you created us and have always loved us; everything you have done or said has always been for our benefit.  Thank you for not giving up on us, even when we ignored you and chose instead to walk away from you.  Help us as we return, to become wise again, to better understand how foolish we have been so we will never again make the mistake of doubting your truths.  Thank you for sending your Son so we could see your truth and find our way back to you.  Like the people in the wilderness seeking freedom from slavery and the lost Samaritan at the well thirsty for relief from the brutal heat of life, we come to the one your sent to us for a drink; your love and mercy are more than refreshing, they are necessary for us to become what you created us to be. 

Father help me understand the truth you have given me today and to avoid the confusion created by the lies of enemy.  Save me from the fog of war surrounding me, from deception planted by those around me and especially from the darkness hiding within me.  Fill me with your Holy Spirit so I can see and understand the foolishness of my rebellion and so I will always choose your wisdom.  Thank you for the redemption and transformation you are working in my life.  Strengthen me with your Holy Spirit, so I will remain courageous and live without fear, keeping my focus on what it means to live by faith.  Help me to always be steady, to not get become impatient, but to know with certainty, when things are hard and seem hopeless, you know exactly what is happening to me and you will not let me fail if I keep trusting that you love me.  Thank you for letting me know your plan of reconciliation and for a brother who gave Himself so I could stand again in your presence.


]]><![CDATA[To become a disciple or not - john 7:25-36]]>Sun, 24 Apr 2016 18:46:24 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/to-become-a-disciple-or-not-john-725-36

John 7:25-36

25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ?  27 But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me."

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."

35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"

Observations for living today:
People cannot stand to have their questions go unanswered! When the question hangs in the air, they start filling it with possible solutions. When the leaders who had been trying to kill him earlier tolerated His speaking in public, some of the people suggested the solution the leadership believed He really was the Christ.  But they knew this was not true and they justified it some folk theology "when the Messiah come, no one will know where he is from". It is never a good strategy to answer a question based solely on your own ignorance: "A little learning is a dangerous thing!" [ See “It Helps To Know What You Don’t Know” on my lessons page]  Unless they were ignorant of their heritage, i.e., Judaic doctrine, they knew where the Messiah would come from: from the root of Jesse through the line of David, and from the city of Bethlehem their King would come (1 Sam 16:1-13; 2 Sam 7:4-16; Is 11:1-5, 10-11; Mic 5:2).  This kind of unbelief and lack of intellectual effort (to know what should be known) enables Satan to exploit a weak mind.  This is one of Satan’s favorite tactics, with many variation; such as, those who think they know the date of the end of the world only know to the Father (Mat 13) and the use of titles such as “Father, Rabbi and Teacher,” to infer superiority of any kind, whether it be intellectual understanding or the achievement of righteousness/holiness (Mat 23).   Regardless of the logical reasoning employed to justify such behavior, if Jesus said not to do such things, then doing them will not please His Father.  Bad assumptions will always take you down the wrong road.  In military planning an assumption is a piece of information about the enemy thought to be true, which is unprovable, upon which the plan of action is based and which, if it proves to be wrong, will cause the plan to fail.  These people assumed Jesus was from Nazareth in Galilee, but they clearly did not know God or what He revealed about His Christ.

People are blinded by what they believe.  Their bad assumptions become facts guiding them to destruction, like the false lighthouses set by thieves along a treacherous coastline.  Satan will use man's pride to cloud the vision of the reality of God's truth.   

Yet in the same crowd watching the same miracles, hearing the same lessons, many were beginning to see and hear the truth: Jesus was here by God's authority, sent to speak and act so mankind could know and understand the truth.  Jesus understood some were close to having faith in Him and He behaved in such a way as to not damage their fragile state, fulfilling the prophetic words of Isaiah “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isa 42:1-4 quoted in Mat 12:20).  Instead he warned of a truth all faced.  They did not know God, He would only be with them for a little (very short) while longer before He returned to the one who sent Him, where He was even now--with God.  They would look for Him soon, but they would find it impossible to find Him.

When those who do not know God or believe His message hear the truth, they want seize the messenger and silence him permanently.  This is not a trait specific to the atheist, but to those who rage against the truth (Ro 1:18-32), whether they be Jewish, Islamic, Roman Catholic, Nazis, Marxist, Maoist or generic anarchists who kill all who oppose them.  When the leaders (Chief Priests and Pharisees) of God's people on earth heard "the crowd whispering such things" about Jesus, they sent the "temple guards to arrest him."  But God's messenger cannot be silenced apart from His will, nor can God's messenger be separated from God. The separation between where God is and where God is not, begins here on this earth.  When Jesus said "and where I am, you cannot come" He was warning those who did not believe the words God spoke.  Nothing can separate you from God when you believe His truth.  Jesus did not say "where I am going" as He spoke to the crowd in the Temple, but said "where I am."  

Believe what God said, you win; change it to suit yourself or do not make the effort to confirm what you are being told by religious leaders and you are in danger of believing the lies of God's enemies.  Christ and God's Holy Spirit are the only source of truth (Mat 23:8; Jn 14:15-21; 15:26; 16:7-16; Heb 8).

Reality in Christ: 
Jesus had much more to tell us when He was with us in the flesh (physically walked among us in human form), but He spoke to us in figures, because we could not bear what He would say without having God's Holy Spirit within us to guide us and help us understand (Jn 16:12).  But now He is with us in a new way and under a new covenant—a better, more profound way (Heb 8:7-13; 10:11-18). 

Consider the difference in the words He spoke to the religious leaders and His disciples.

To the leadership:  Jn 8:14 “you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.”  8:21 “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

To His disciples:  Jn 13:33, 36 “I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” . . . “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”  Jn 14:2-4 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”  Jn 16:5, 7-11, 16 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” . . . “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:  in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” . . . “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

God can and will always accomplish what He said He would; and it will always amaze you how He does it, but it should never surprise you, for He is a great and awesome God. 

We live in an exceptional age, under an equally exceptional covenant with God.  His Christ is our brother and God is our Father.  Nothing can happen to us they both do not know about, understand and have approved of; therefor Paul writes, because we believe the word of God spoke to us and about us— “we are more than conquerors . . . neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (Ro 8:37). If we apply this truth to our daily living, nothing can get at us without the Father’s accent (Ro 8:28), no trouble can get between my God and me, nothing can happen to me but what God wants to show His power, love and glory.  I am no longer living in a temporal world under the rules of human logic, but I am one with Christ, loved by the Father, filled with His Holy Spirit, a human being in the process of becoming a spiritual being one with the eternal Father in the same way Jesus was/is—and no one can stop or interfere with His will in this as long as I believe what His Christ and His Holy Spirit has revealed! (Jn 14:21; 15:9; 16:27; 17:20; Ro 8:15; 1 Co 2:12; 15:45)

Prayer:Father, you alone are Holy and Righteous, fulfilling everything you intended from the beginning.  I know you love us and sent your Son so we would no longer live as helpless orphans in a hostile world.  Help me resist assumptions thought to be true, whether they are mine or those of blind guide, in order to fill an intellectual vacuum that scares me.  Reveal them for what they are and help me remove them from my life so I can see only your wisdom and truth; make it my only reality, rooted and established in a complete belief in your Son, my Christ and my Lord.  Give me the wisdom to know what I don’t know and the strength to trust you when I am afraid.  Help me overcome every fear and to look for answers from anyone who does not know your truth, or to rely on them as a source of comfort or strength to endure.  Inspire me to know your truth and motivate me to learn as much as can be known.  Empower me with the ability to understand what I need to know and the faith to know everything else is unnecessary—you will teach me everything I need to know through your Son, my teacher and savior.  Seal me with the promised Holy Spirit so I can believe every word You have spoken; forgive my moments of unbelief and replace them with the complete understanding your Son promised.  Never let anything separate me from your love; fill me with your Holy Spirit every day so I will become a faithful child of yours in every way.

]]><![CDATA[the silence of god]]>Tue, 05 Jan 2016 19:59:43 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/the-silence-of-godPicture
Have you ever had a hard time believing God? The silence of God can be deafening!  Some of God's truth just seems impossible; I imagine Abraham and Sarah understood my frustration.  Wanting something to be true does not make it true and if seems too good to be true, chances are it is not.  Add to that confusion the total lack of empirical data of even a hint it is true.  This silence of God confounds people, even good people, opening the door for all kinds of evil to creep into their faith in God.  Adam and Eve; Abraham and Sarah; and even Jesus faced the silence of God.  The conversation between Eve and Satan did not go unnoticed by God, nothing does.  Abraham and Sarah must have prayed constantly about the promise of God to given them a son.  God did not interrupt Eve's conversation or stop her from doing what she wanted.  Abraham and Sarah's plan to obtain a son was not stopped by God.  Both of these attempts to make life better through the wisdom of man failed; sin entered the world by the former and the Nation of Israel birthed a Nation who will live in hostility toward all his brothers (Gen 16).  Contrast Jesus in the garden praying to His Father asking for a better way to accomplish His work and avoid carrying all the sins of the world; becoming sinful and separated from God for the sake of all who believe God can do everything (Mt 25:36-46; Lk 22:40-46).  Jesus did not replace or modify God's plan, He followed it and it worked just as the Father knew it would.

Mark 9:14-29 tells us God can help, will help and nothing is impossible for one who believes and does not falter in prayer (Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6; 1Cor 13:2; Jas 1:6).  Just like the caterpillar in chrysalis, we are experiencing God's plan for our transformation into the likeness of His only begotten Son.  The silence of God gives us the opportunity to prove we believe God is true to His word and will fulfill every promise given (1 Peter 1).

Wait on God, pray and know God is true to His word--it will happen just as He determined it would, when His time is right.
]]><![CDATA[a certified teacher ]]>Mon, 04 Jan 2016 21:59:11 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/a-certified-teacher John 7:11-24

11 Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?"

12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man."

Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"

16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"

21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."

Observations for living today: 
A good emissary or diplomat speaks with the authority of the one sending him, he does not add to or subtract from the message given him; to do so would be disrespectful.  How you treat an emissary reveals two things you believe: 1) the legitimacy of the emissary; and 2) the nature and strength of the originating authority.  Everything Jesus said or did was for the honor of the one who sent Him—always the Son of Man—a servant of the truth with nothing false about him.  The “Jews” tenacious attempt to disprove Jesus as a legitimate emissary from God demonstrates their belief/understanding of God’s character and power.

People judge a person "good" when the person does what is expected. A good nurse is kind, knows what medicine you need and always responds when you ask for help.  It does not matter how much the nurse knows, it is what nurse does that is important to a patient.  The people saw Jesus showing God's love and they wanted more.  The "Jews" saw a threat, an inconvenience at the least and worse one who was usurping their authority.

Those who lie or modify truth to find an advantage, blind themselves to truth.  Liars tell others the truth is a deception, cannot be known in spite of evidence to the contrary and rely on the use of fear to control those who do not agree with them.   

All the questions were attempts to determine if Jesus was a legitimate emissary of God.  His advice - choose to love God, do what God wants (His will) and the answer to each question will become obvious.  “If anyone chooses to do God’s will” the God of Genesis who spoke and everything that exists was created from nothing, the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Father whose eternal Son who now speaks in human form will make it understandable so you can “make a right judgment.”

It is interesting to see the controversy generated by someone doing good things for helpless people: healing and addressing the needs of those over looked by the aristocracy of the day (the Jews: scribes, Pharisees, and rulers of the people).  Helpless meaning no one could change the conditions they faced regardless of how much money or societal status they had, i.e., beggar, lunatic or rich man could not be helped out of the trauma they faced.  Neither the temporal Roman might nor the spiritual elite of the Sanhedrin could effect change; only the one sent by God could make a difference.   

The one, who could do what could not be done, confused the educated aristocratic leaders so much they could not:
- decide if He was a good man; after 2 years of public ministry (28-30AD) accompanied by multiple miracles (raising the dead, healing and feeding the body, freeing the mind from sin)—what’s the question again?

- understand how He became so wise, where He learned so much without an education; obviously smarter than any of them avoiding all the intellectual traps they put before Him.

- acknowledge His wisdom came from God; if we are God’s leaders and we do not agree with you, you cannot be from God—what would that make us? 

The religious leaders' desire to kill Jesus was public knowledge, yet when confronted openly by Jesus they denied there was evil intent in their actions.  The truth was so obvious and known to the public no one would speak on Jesus' behalf for fear of their retaliation. 

One only needs to look at the political environment today to see such dynamics at work—PC (political correctness) exists not because of what is right and true, but how it affects popular opinion, i.e., serves the need to be liked or in the politician's case, voted for on Election Day.  This philosophy is personified today by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).  When asked if he lied during the 2012 presidential campaign when he stated from the Senate floor, the opposing Republican candidate paid no taxes for 10 years, answered, "They can call it whatever they want. Romney didn’t win did he?”  The POTUS, a former Senator (D-IL), in an interview by Steve Kroft during the election campaign (CBS 60 Minutes 23 Sep 2012), when told some of his ads were “misleading and in fact not true” and was asked if the country deserved the truth, did not answer the question, rather, commented, “Do we see sometimes us going overboard in our campaign, are there mistakes that are made, areas where there is no doubt somebody could dispute how we are presenting things? You know, that happens in politics.” In the context of the interview he was saying lying is okay as long as he wins, because he is the only one right for the country; the truth really does not matter, only winning does. 

The real danger is not when worldly leaders behave with such depravity, rather when spiritual leaders imitate the world and become politicians; those who should be able to see and understand God’s truth, become bold faced liars telling people the truth does not matter.

Jesus used the teaching moment to demonstrate how those who do not love God cannot understand God.  The most religious and pious were claiming to obey the law.  Their legitimacy was anchored in their obedience.  He used their rote knowledge of the Law of Moses to expose their folly, while they used their knowledge of God to assure their status instead of revealing the character of God:
- circumcision came from Abraham not from Moses; God was going to kill Moses for not following the commandment when he failed to circumcise one of his sons (his wife did it so God would not kill Moses Gen 17:9-14; Ex 4:24-26).

- they were trying to kill Jesus for ministering to the helpless on the Sabbath (not a violation of God’s law, but against their tradition), while none of them were living in faith (keeping the law, i.e., fulfilling the spirit of Abraham and Moses).

- they interpreted the law in ways to promote the appearance of holiness, failing to understand it was to reflect their belief/faith in God (Mt 23).

Jesus addressed the needs of people knowing how much God wanted them taken care of, while the law was interpreted by the Judean aristocracy as a way to show how a man could attain righteousness.  Jesus always points toward God.  He is the compassionate voice, showing the intent and the heart of the Father, the invisible God made visible. 

Reality in Christ:
 17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.  

Want to know the truth?  Jesus does not try to prove it himself, rather, directs all the attention to God (compare Jn 6:44-45; Heb 8:8-13; Isa 54:13 Jer 31:31-34).  Listen to God if you want to know where Jesus was educated, where He came from.  The message He gave those people then is just as valid today!

The Law of Moses was a shadow of what was to come – the reality of God is found in Christ.  We need to get away from striving to appear smart and really be smart; in His words, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."  

Jesus was telling us you cannot act holy you must be holy (1 Pe 1:16; Heb 12:14)!  Read the Faith Building Cycle lesson for detail on how to make holiness a reality. 

This experience is personal and nontransferable.  You cannot buy it or give to someone; you have to do it yourself, period (Jer 31:30).  Stop cheating--copying from the person next to you!  Education is about learning, growing and changing who you are.  It is not the grade you get from a course that counts in life; it is what you learn from the course, how that knowledge changes how you think and then what you are able to do with a new perspective.   

This is why copying from the person next to you during a test does not help you. Nor does it help to just repeat another person’s idea, i.e., be politically correct without thinking through the concept—saying you are a Christian without any understanding of what God said (doctrine).  The blind leading the blind will both fall into the pit.(Mt 15:14; Lk 6:39-49)  Listen closely to what Jesus said about Judgment Day: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord’ did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Mt 7:21-27) It is not about saying the politically correct phrase or doing something to show/prove you are righteous or holy; it is about loving God, believing what He said and having that knowledge of God transform you--change you, like from a caterpillar to a butterfly.  There will be no worms in heaven, no caterpillars; those who refuse to be changed will not be, not now and not then!  You need to put on what God has given you (Mt 22:11; Rv 19:8)!  Listen to God, do what He wants done and you will understand Jesus; you will be “transformed by the renewing of your mind,” “metamorphosed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,” have “the mind of Christ,” and know “the deep things of God" (Ro 12:2; 2 Co 3:18; 1 Co 2:10).  

But if you try to copy from your neighbor and don't do your own work, you will fail completely.  God rewards you for what you have done not what the person next to you did!  “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. (Mt 16:27)

What do you think will happen if God asks you a question on judgment day and you do not know the answer; if you lived your whole life looking at the answer to His question and never gave it a thought, because it just did not seem to matter at the time?  Oh, by the way, what has God said to man and what did the Son of Man tell us about God; was it a myth or a fairy tale or a methodology developed by politicians to control the ignorant masses?  What do you think about the knowledge of God--worth retaining or not (Ro 1:28)? 

God never told us to do something or not do something to gain something for Himself.  We were created in love and power.  It is weakness that lets fear open the door to sin.  When you believe Jesus, God is your Master, Father and Teacher; what is there to fear?   If there is anything to worry about, it is we have become comfortable living in “Laodicea,” deceiving ourselves that everything is okay the way it is (Rv 3:14-21; Isa 55:1-7). 

What can be done to ensure we are not stuck in such a dilemma?  Simple! Until you graduate from God’s University and He physically shakes your hand while giving you a certificate saying you are finished, i.e., you have become perfect; there is more you need to learn and much more to for you to do.   

12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. . . . 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Rv 22:10-17)

Prayer:

Father, out of nothing you created everything; you alone know what truth is and you made us in your image, to know truth and love truth. Help me now to know truth and live in your truth so I too can make right judgments.  I want to understand your will and to do it daily.  Help me sort out the truth from all the lies surrounding me today.  I know you sent your Son to speak to us today and make it possible to live in your truth—I believe, help my unbelief, guide me out of darkness and futile thinking into the light of your truth.  Fill my days with your Holy Spirit so I might know clearly what is right and true; give me the strength and courage to walk in the light of your love.  Thank you Lord for giving us the truth and leading us back to the Father]]><![CDATA[god's timing]]>Tue, 07 Jul 2015 17:42:05 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/gods-timing

John 7:1-10

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. 2 But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

6 Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because my time has not yet fully come."  9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.

10 However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.

Observations for living today:
- God had a plan and timing is important.
- The world hates Jesus because He reveals clearly it is evil.

Before God created anything He had a plan for His creation.  Man, His work of art, was created first as a human being, but now through His Christ, a spiritual being (1 Co 15:45).  Every event in God’s plan has a purpose and a time.  Jesus accepted God’s plan and believed each detail God revealed to Him.  This Feast of the Tabernacles happened in October of 30 AD.  Things were getting intense, larger crowds followed looking for healing and the religious leader’s opposition increased in proportion to the peoples demand of more from Him; to the point the Sanhedrin’s intent to kill Him became known to the public. 

God’s plan has a timeline designed to accomplish His purpose.  During the Transfiguration, Jesus discussed with Moses and Elijah the details of His departure (Mt 17:3; Mk 9:4, 10; Lk 9:31).  While Peter, James and John witnessed the event, they did not understand it all and specifically struggled to understand what Jesus said about “rising from the dead”. 

Accepting God’s timeline, Jesus responded to His brothers’ suggestion, saying He would not go to religious festival yet, because according to God’s timetable, the time for Him to be revealed had not yet come; eventually it would, but not now. 

Believe what God said: do not let the logic of this world lead you away from the truth.

Jesus did not use the logic of the world to accomplish God’s purpose; to do so would thwart the purpose of God.  The logic of the world, i.e., good business practices or the smart thing to do to be successful will move contrary to God’s logic in most circumstances; friendship with the world brings very serious consequences, both intended and unintended (Jas 4).

This principle can be observed in the exchange Jesus had with Peter and His closest disciples once they concluded and He confirmed He was in fact the Messiah.  When Jesus began telling His disciples specific details about God’s plan for Him as the Messiah, i.e., He had to suffer and be killed by the leadership of Israel before being raised from the dead after three days, Peter, using the logic of the world emphatically refused God’s plan stating, “This shall never happen to you!”  Peter using ideas he was familiar with became the enemy of God by focusing on “human concerns” vs “concerns of God.”  There was then and there is now a very real difference between what God is concerned with and what humans are concerned with.  People use logic they are comfortable with, logic that seems natural to implement what they believe will move them closer to success.  This calls for wisdom; you cannot be “working like the devil for the Lord”—you just might lose everything for nothing!  (Mt 16:22; Mk 8:32)

Jesus clearly shows us how the world hates the truth (Jn 1:5, 11; 3:19).  Mankind was deceived by God’s enemy when they chose to treat the knowledge of God as something not worth retaining (Ro 1). Each generation walks further away from the truth and develops their own idea of what makes sense based on logical assumptions of what they think is true. Consider for a moment how long it took for those who heard Moses and Jesus face to face, to convert their message into a complex system of rules and rituals only the few elites could rightfully explain to the people God loves, i.e., to the uneducated and corrupt sinners—the lost sheep of His flock.   

There are two facts one must accept to avoid being deceived by the lies of Satan:
     - God has a plan, which will accomplish His purpose (Is 46:8-13; 55:6-11)
     - What God intends to accomplish will happen (Rv 21:5)

Everything that happens is not always what God wants. 
While it is allowed to happen, it cannot interfere with His purpose.  He limits the damages to those He cares about and He will reward their confidence in Him with more than a restoration of what used to be—the life of Job is a living example of this construct (Job 1-2).  A second illustration is the life of Jesus.  We have seen His humiliation and sacrifice, but we have yet to see the fullness of His reward/glorification (Heb 1-2).

Satan is busy doing things to disrupt God’s plan, to prevent His purpose from being made a reality. 
How often do people blame God for what Satan did?  Without fully understanding God’s plan and purpose they believe God did an evil thing by causing their suffering and pain, when in fact either Satan is tempting you to sin or you are learning a lesson from your sin, i.e., the result of circumstance (living in a world of sin) or the consequence of sinning (Jas 1:13; Heb 12:7). 

One of the fastest ways to miss the truth is to make a false assumption. 
Jesus’ brothers provide a good example of an incorrect assumption when they said “no one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret” (Jn 7:4) or possibly two incorrect assumptions: 1) Jesus wants to become a public figure; 2) things done in secret do not make you a public figure.

The logic they employed suggests the preferred method to communicate was to do so in a public forum, to prove something to as many people as possible.  Based on His testimony it is clear Jesus’ goal was not to become a “public figure” by pandering to the crowds, even though He would in fact publicly submit Himself to “the prince of this world” so everyone would learn Jesus loved the Father and did exactly what the Father commanded Him to do (Jn 14:31). 

When was the time right to become a “public figure”? [Jn 11-12] 
Jesus discussed His departure with Elijah and Moses and then He waited.  He went about life responding to the crowds with compassion, showing the Father’s character in everything He did.  When He raised Lazarus according to God’s plan the world would no longer afford Him any privacy.  When the Greeks asked to speak with Jesus, He knew and said, “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12:20).  Although there is no documentation to support it, this key milestone may very well have been part of the discussion with Elijah and Moses.

For those outside of God’s plan, i.e., those opting out because they do not believe the words of God; timing is not significant, i.e., anytime is right to do what they want to do.  The world is not going to oppose those who agree with them; but it will oppose those whose words or deeds suggest the world has it wrong.

Building and executing a plan using the logic of this world will always have unfavorable eternal consequences.  The world thinks you get ahead by taking what is yours, God teaches greatness comes by giving to others what you know is not yours—you are only a steward of it for a little while.  The world tells you to get even or better get ahead when wronged, God demands you become like Him and forgive knowing you’ve done worse to others, i.e. Him.  The world measures success in accumulated wealth (money), the Holy Spirit taught us love for money to be a root of many evils, which will drag you away from Him filling you with a dark hatred for the light of God’s love (1 Tim 6:10; Lk 16:9-15; Mt 6:19-24; James 2, 4 & 5)


Reality in Christ: 
God’s timing for those living in the Reality of Christ is no different today—His plan unfolds and while it is not always completely known or understood, it is always perfect.  Jesus did not know every part of the Father’s plan, specifically, regarding the day or hour this Heaven and earth will cease to exist, i.e., the coming of the Lord; neither the angels in heaven nor the Son of God knows when the end will come, only the Father knows (Mt 24:36; Mk 13:32).  We must live just as Jesus did, trusting the Father, knowing His plan is good and to live without fear knowing we are part of His plan and He loves us (Mt 10:28; Lk 12:4; Jn 14:27). 

What does it take to execute God’s plan in your life? 
Know God.  Hear God. Love God. Think like God.  Care about what God cares about; the way God cares!  A very simple plan, but it requires a life of vigilance, full of astute choices, which will invariably reveal the core of what you really believe about the word God spoke. 

For all those who profess God spoke to them or God told them to do this or that in an audible voice or dream, I would only say, the silence of God through history is deafening.  Therefore, I must conclude the overwhelming majority of such people are no different from those who blame God for having to suffer the results of evil and instead they justify their evil deeds as being directed by God.  Both live in a lie based on a false assumption of truth.  God did speak to men since Jesus left us; Peter and Paul for sure.  Should He choose to He may well speak to others again.  Jesus warned us of those who would lie in God’s name (Mt 7:15-20) telling us we would be able to know by their actions if they were good or bad.  God told us how we can know the difference between a false or a true prophet—the true prophet is always demonstratively right, what he says always happens—zero errors. 

God is always the same, His Spirit is not conflicted:  you cannot love your enemy then kill him; you cannot turn the other cheek and then sue him in a court of law for assault; and God never delegates His vengeance to His former enemy—and all of us were at one time enemies of God.

Logic of the world vs the unshakeable Reality in Christ
-  Familiar logic, thinking that seems natural and comfortable is never safe to rely on, because it emanates from the natural man or a temporal sphere of reality.  Always be sure you are following God’s logic (ref: new creation 2 Co 5:16-17; new self Eph 4:11-24; spiritual man vs human nature 1 Co 2).

-  Avoid incorrect or false assumptions; always have a way to check your work or balance your spreadsheet.  God’s message does not contradict itself; let the Holy Spirit lead (1 Jn)  By checking your work, you determine what you know is true and what you assume to be true—see  “It Helps To Know What You Don’t Know” posted on the Lessons page.

-  Perhaps the most powerful sentence Paul wrote on this subject was written to those in Colossae (Col 2):  “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ (v 8). 

-  Choose the reality in Christ and you are given the fullness of the Deity living in bodily form (vs 9-10), with God putting off the sinful nature of man (v 11).  The religious rituals of Israel were a shadow of things to come, the reality is found in Christ.  Although it may appear wise, a life lived according to basic principles of this world, based on human commands and teachings, has no value in restraining sensual indulgence (vs 16- 23).  

-  Life with Christ in God is real now, not something yet to become a reality (Col 3); it is the only reality for everything else will pass away and become nothing—from dust to dust, ashes to ashes, from nothing to nothing—only His Word/Spirit will never pass away; you are “raised with Christ” (v 1) and “hidden with Christ in God” (v 3), focused on “things above, not on earthly things” (v 2); the “old self with its practices” is taken off (v 9) and the “new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” is put on (v 10).

-  Summary:  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart; let the message of Christ dwell within you richly; and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father” (vs15-17).
 

Prayer:
Father, creator and sustainer of everything, thank you for my life in Christ Jesus and for the opportunity I have to prove I love you.  I know you have a plan and it is unfolding according to your purpose.  Give me the wisdom to understand my place and part in what is happening around me.  Give me the strength and courage to do what you have created for me to do and for the privilege to be one of your children.  Help me understand when I depend on the logic of this world instead of yours and I have made a foolish assumption instead of trusting what you have made so clear.  Thank you for your patience and for giving me the strength to endure the lesson I so desperately need to learn.  Thank you always for being such a good Father and providing such a wonderful Lord and Savior in Jesus.  Fill me with more of your Holy Spirit and help me to better understand how your spirit walks with me each day, teaching and strengthening me so I can be the child that makes you smile; in everything thank you in the name of Jesus.



]]><![CDATA[jesus warns the apostles one of them is a devil - jn 6:66-71]]>Tue, 05 Aug 2014 19:40:42 GMThttp://realityinchrist.com/devotions/jesus-warns-the-apostles-one-of-them-is-a-devil-jn-666-71 John 6:66-71
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.

70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!"  71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Observations for living today:
Jesus proclaimed the message God sent Him to give mankind.  When the people heard the truth they began to openly reject it.  Jesus had answered each question, teaching His listeners what was required and how God would love those who believed Him.  He had tutored the crowd patiently and encouraged all of His disciples to remain steadfast even as some turned away in disbelief.  God cares deeply for every soul; when so many disciples turned away, rejecting the words of God (Jn 12:50; 14:10, 24, 1; 17:8), His messenger was clearly frustrated.  He gave voice to His pain asking His closest disciples what they wanted to do.  Peter’s observation, while absolutely true, did little to lessen the anxiety Jesus was facing, but evoked another deeper lament.  Jesus, the exact representation of God’s being (Heb 1:3), who chose the Twelve openly warns them—one of them is a devil. The questions of vs 67 and 70 reveal the character of God, His genuine concern for each soul, while at the same time demonstrating each soul must believe God or perish: not even the Son of God can stop you from rejecting God’s truth (Jn 17:12).

“Will you also go away?” was an interesting question for Jesus to ask.  He always knew what was in their heart, who believed and who did not (Mt 12:25; Mk 2:8, 12:15; Lk 5:22, 6:8, 11:17; Jn 2:24).  Clearly the question was not a request for information, rather, a way to focus His closest disciples on one of His greatest and most challenging teaching points: one must believe God or perish.  This truth has been from the beginning (cf. Gen 3:17; 4:7).  Fact was, even then eleven of them were not fully convinced and one would never believe God’s message.

Jesus knew frustration.  This is just another example of how unbelief and its consequential disobedience evoked a visible response from God.  Other examples of unbelief include:
     <    When His disciples could not heal a sick child--“O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” (Mt 17:17)
     <    After delivering a series of “woes” to the teachers of the law and Pharisees--“how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Mt 23:37; Lk 13:34).
     <    As He entered Jerusalem on a colt, he wept for the city--“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace” (Lk 19:42).
     <    Twice upon entering the temple area driving out sellers and money changers with a righteous indignation--“It is written, ‘My [God’s] house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’” (Lk 19:46; Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11).
     <    After the last supper with His closest disciples--“You believe at last!  But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home.  You will leave me all alone.  Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (Jn 16:31).

God wants us to believe His words/message.  Man was created in God’s image and each is a child loved by the Father.  All of John 6 screams God loves you and will take care of you, believe it and live forever; reject this truth and you will perish.  God knows disappointment and sorrow—He wants His creation to know and understand He loves us—longs for and is waiting patiently for each child to come to his senses and believe what He says.  God’s will, spoken by Jesus, gives life to those who believe, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And the Holy Spirit taught Peter, God’s forbearance of immediate justice is a demonstration of His desire/will—“not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (Jn 3:16; Mt 18:10-14; 2 Pe 3:8-11)

God works hard to make the truth readily understood.  One can only imagine the abruptness of this remark after teaching His followers of the bread of God.  The Apostles were closest to Jesus, being witnesses to everything spoken and done; they were specifically chosen and taught by the Son of God to take His message to the whole world (Lk 24:48; Acts 1:8).  While we do not know why Judas was chosen, we do know Jesus always knew who he was and what he would do (Jn 6:63-65).  This forbearing of a single obstinate child shows God’s character; God’s mercy is to make the truth plain, i.e. shine a light revealing the truth, even while we prefer darkness (Jn 3:19-21).  This light/truth was made to shine on the Apostle Judas no less than the other twelve.
     <    He was baptized by John (Lk 7:29).
     <    He was chosen by Jesus to be an Apostle—blessed no less than the others with gifts to serve (Mt 10:4; Mk 3:19, 6:7; Lk 6:16.
     <    Jesus washed his feet the night He was betrayed—showing him the full extent of God’s love (Jn 13:1-17).
     <    He participated in the first Eucharist (Holy Communion) with the Christ instructing the Twelve on the significance of the His body and blood; telling them to do this remembering Him (Lk 22:14-23).

But Judas did not “believe” the warnings given by Jesus, giving Satan the opportunity to enter and command Judas to do what he clearly knew to be wrong.
     <    Scripture records Satan entered Judas twice, once when he planned the betrayal (Lk 22:3) and once when he began to execute the plan (Jn 13:2, 27).
     <    As he betrayed with a kiss, Jesus called him friend/comrade, leaving the door of reconciliation open (Mt 26:50; Lk 22:47; Mk 14:44).
     <    Even before Jesus was tried/convicted by Pilate, when Judas recognized his miscalculation of what would happen—Jesus would in fact be killed though entirely innocent—he tries to change the outcome by returning the money to the Sanhedrin (Mt 27:1-11), showing he still did not believe Jesus’ prediction that He would be put to death but rise on the third day (Mt 16:21; Mk 8:31; Lk 9:21).

Judas could have repented and known God’s forgiveness had he believed what Jesus said about God.  Just as Jesus called Peter Satan, telling him to get out of His way and get his mind off the things of man and onto the things of God, so Judas was warned many times.  Jesus plainly told the Twelve everything about what was going to happen to Him—Peter and Judas heard the same truth.  The difference between Peter and Judas:  Peter believed what Jesus said about God’s character, while Judas could not see himself being reconciled to God. 

Reality in Christ: 
Jesus’ question paraphrase: Do you believe me?
His question remains significant for us today and the reality of a life in Christ demands serious thought be given to how we answer.  Saying “I believe God” is not enough.  To give God an honest intelligent answer, we need to comprehend the environment we are immersed in and understand what the correct answer would look like.

The Environment.  The people heard Jesus speak clearly God’s message and they realized it was not an easy lesson to learn.  From the very beginning, everything God spoke to us, from His commandment given to Adam to the message proclaimed by Jesus has been understandable; every command and each lesson a simple concept to grasp, albeit a challenge to apply.  

The Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) captured this principle of life in his military writings:  “Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult.  These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War.”  (ON WAR Vol I Chapter VII Friction in War) 

We are involved in a celestial war against God, waged by the powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, which were defeated already by God in Heaven and yet continue to attack those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus here on earth.  On the surface, believing God is an easy concept, but doing it becomes a lifelong challenge when one realizes every ascent to God becomes a life threatening challenge to His enemy Satan.  Satan is making a last stand against God; each challenge/engagement (both yours and mine) by him is strategically and tactically designed to extinguish our confidence in God’s words (Rev 12; Eph 6:12; Gen 4:7). 

Do you also want to leave? What the correct answer looks like.
It is more than saying no; it is saying I follow because I believe you with certainty.  Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30).  Weary and burdened, Christians looking for rest will always find a tempting alternative presented by the deceiver (Satan); such is the nature of the conflict sin presents in this world.  Make no mistake, Jesus’ words are true, but they will not negate anything else He taught; a deliberate choice must still be made and followed through on by each Christian living in the reality of Christ—there is a yoke to be worn and you must learn from it—the simplest thing will most likely feel difficult.

A clear example of this conundrum is found when comparing what Jesus said regarding Judas (one of you is a devil!), to what He said to Peter, immediately following Peter’s inspired response to Jesus’ question to His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15; Mk 8:29; Lk 9:20).

Peter’s declaration, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” was an intellectual response to a question versus an emotional response to an event; it revealed what Peter believed—what he understood from all he had experienced in his life up to that day; i.e., all of what had been revealed to him by the Father and how he interpreted it.  Notice it was on this fact (rock of truth), this conviction of belief/understanding of Jesus, which the church would be built on, not on Peter.  Soon after this, when Jesus explained what this reality would look like when implemented, Peter still believing Jesus is the Christ, pulled the Son of the living God aside and said to Him, “This shall never happen to you!”  Jesus responded quickly and definitively:  “Get behind me, Satan! . . You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mt 16:21-23)  He then turned immediately to the disciples and taught them a simple formula for success/failure for living in the reality of Christ: “whoever wants to save their life/soul will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. . . For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then He will reward everyone according to what they have done.” (Mt 16:24-27) 

Who was Peter really?  He was called “Satan” by the Son of God in the moment, but not identified as a “devil” as one of the chosen twelve was later known to be.  Peter had yet to learn the truth of God’s words if you try to save your life you will instead lose it!  It was simple to say Jesus was the Son of the living God until Peter heard what difficulties would come walking down that road. It takes courage and confidence in the power and love inherent in God’s character to face the threats of the experience not yet lived. 

Not all are called to be like Peter, but all are to live by faith and be able to explain their faith when called upon (Jas 1:2; 1 Pe 1:6; 2 Pe 1:3); simply put, this is what and why I believe it—why I live the way I do!  You cannot lie about it to God, but you can trick yourself and perish (Jas 1:14f, 22-25).  This requires a serious belief in God; not a feeble attempt at saving yourself from something, but entrusting yourself to someone who really knows and cares about you.  Trust God and believe what He says and you will learn the most wonderful things; how much He loves you—just like He loved His one and only begotten Son Jesus (Jn 17:20-26).

Remember all the words of God are absolute truth and will happen:  “Behold I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” (Rv 22:12)
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