Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge…(2 Peter 1:2-6).

In his letter to Jewish believers that had been scattered throughout the Mediterranean world, Peter declared that something amazing is available to all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He says that we can actually participate or share in the divine nature. That is another way of saying that we can participate or take part in the very nature of God. Someone’s nature is who that person is at his or her core, who that individual is inherently.

Peter’s writing suggests that our participation in God’s nature is for the here and now, not just when we join him in heaven. That is why Jesus can call on us to be perfect (complete, mature) just as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt.5:48). This promise underlines, once again, the fact that those in Christ are not simply poor sinners who are no different from the unsaved except that their sins have been forgiven by grace. Peter says that something so significant has changed us that we can not only be forgiven but holy and, as time passes, we can take on the very nature and character of our Father.

Peter says that we have everything for life and godliness available to us though our knowledge of the Father and the Son. The word for knowledge here is epignosis, which goes far beyond the possession of information. This is a word that means a firm understanding and comprehension of a person or thing through experience, reflection, and repeated encounters. This is the difference in knowing God versus simply knowing about God.

For many, knowing Jesus is simply knowing facts about him, what he said, and who he was historically. That information is important but we are called to much more. We are called to experience the Lord and to develop a working knowledge of who he is and who we are in him. We experience him by faith – by risking obedience when our flesh and rational mind is pushing back hard against our decision. We experience him through personal encounters in prayer and worship, by hearing his voice, and by being part of his miracles. Through that and more we gain knowledge of him and through that knowledge we begin to reflect and take on his very nature.

Paul points us in the same direction when he says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). Paul was reflecting on the transformation of Moses when his faced glowed as he came down from Sinai because he had been in the presence of the Lord beholding his goodness. As we spend time in his presence, beholding his nature – his love, his goodness, his holiness, etc. those very things will be imparted to us by the Spirit. The adage is that we become what we behold.

Peter tells us that through this personal knowledge of the Father and the Lord Jesus, grace and peace can be ours in abundance. Not only that, but everything we need for life and godliness can be ours. These great and precious promises are available to every believer but do not come automatically. Notice that Peter emphasizes that since these amazing promises are available, we should make every effort to add to our spiritual inventory. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love” (2 Pet.1:5-7).

So many things are available to us in Christ, but they don’t come to us without effort. This is not earning our salvation because that does come to us wholly by the grace of God. However, gaining growth and rewards is something God does with us, not for us. We were chosen for the team simply by his grace, but we advance on the team and do great things by our effort coupled with the coach’s wisdom. So how do we add these things? We add them through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, confession, and declaration. We add them by saying “no” to the flesh and asking the Spirit to bear his fruit in us. We spend time with the Father and the Son beholding them and increasing our knowledge of who they are and how they work in us. We take risks in obedience and we get the word of God in our hearts. If you think about, that is how Jesus grew as a man to be who we know him to be.

I doubt if we spend enough time thinking about the promises of God that are available to us. Peter framed them as great and precious. He also said that in those promises is everything we need for life and godliness. The key to the vault is an increasing knowledge of the Lord – not just facts and figures, but personal experiences that transform us into his image. Those are promises we should pursue! Blessings in him as you pursue his promises.

When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. (Neh.6:1-4).

Nehemiah had been given favor by God with King Artaxerxes, King of Persia, to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and restore the gates of the city that had been decimated by the Babylonians. The surrounding tribes who had been enemies of the Jews were alarmed and angry that Jerusalem might be rebuilt and repopulated. Although Nehemiah arrived with letters from the King commissioning the restoration, the leaders of these tribes tried numerous ploys to keep the work form succeeding.

In the text above, Sanballat and Geshem the Arab, leaders of these hostile tribes, asked Nehemiah to leave his work and come meet with then under the guise of making peace. As you read through the Old Testament, you will discover the character of Satan in many of the hostile tribes that opposed Israel as well as in the character of wicked kings who ruled over Judah and Israel from time to time. We become what we worship and these tribes and wicked kings worshipped idols that represented demonic spirits. You will discover that Satan uses the same strategies against you that he used against God’s people then, in an effort to defeat them.

One of his great strategies is revealed here. It is the strategy of distraction. Satan doesn’t employ this strategy against the ungodly or the uncommitted, but rather against the godly who are committed to their relationship with God. Ultimately, Satan’s goal is to keep us from salvation but if he fails in that, he turns to making us ineffective in accomplishing the things that God has called us to do.

Nehemiah was given one assignment – rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which included resetting and strengthening the gates as well. Satan had tried threats, intimidation, and slander to halt the projects but Nehemiah maintained his focus. Finally, these men who had threatened to attack the city, who had ridiculed the Jews’ attempts to rebuild, and who had publically accused Nehemiah of plotting rebellion against the king tried one more distraction – peace.

Think about how appealing peace would have been. The workers had been forced to carry a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other because of the threats of war. Because they had to post guards around the city, fewer men were able to be part of the work force. It is simply hard to do good work when you have to keep looking over your shoulder. Peace would have blessed both the work and the future of the city after the work ended. It would have been tempting to take a break from the building and to sit down with these “heads of state” to carve out a truce.

However, Nehemiah saw it for what is was – a distraction that ultimately would not bring peace but delay and that would remove his presence from the people who were already fearful and discouraged about the mission itself. Satan doesn’t always attempt to destroy the godly with sin. Often he presents numerous “good things” to draw us away from our primary tasks as believers. The “good things” either shift our focus from the main things or spread us so thin that we do nothing with excellence or simply leave many things half done.

The first essential is to know the primary things that God has called you to do and to know the priorities for each. It will be a narrow focus. Your first priority will always be to grow in your love for God and his kingdom. Jesus told us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you” (Matt.6:33). The second priority will always be to grow in your love towards others. Remember, the two great commandments are to love God and to love others.

Primary among others will be your family. However, loving your family is not the same thing as providing more than your family needs or giving your children everything they want or think they want. Many godly men have put providing for their families ahead of loving God. They have put careers above bringing their children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. To provide they have given so many hours to the job that they have been an absent parent. Fruitful ministries in church and in the community have slipped into the shadow of great jobs. I’m convinced that “great job opportunities” are not always from the Lord. Like the offer of peace in Nehemiah’s context, these careers can seem like a blessing from God if you don’t stop to count the cost and determine how it fits into your primary mission of seeking God and his kingdom. Affluence, which comes with great jobs, has also taken many servants away from the church on Sundays as the family heads to the lake house every weekend.

Sometimes, the distraction is not to leave but to keep doing more for the church, the community, and our families – more ministries, more volunteerism, more good things – even godly things. Then we become spread so thin that we do none of them well, and eventually burn out as individuals and families. Or we allow our children to be involved in so many things that we lose connection with the main things – all in the name of giving our children opportunities. Opportunities for what? To excel in sports, in education, in social networking? Each of those can be beneficial but often we are distracted by more for our children and find ourselves equipping them to succeed in the world but not in the kingdom. The underlying message for chasing every opportunity for our children is self-actualization (being all that I can be), rather than Christ-actualization as our priority in life.

It takes wisdom to sort out the distractions when they all are wrapped in “godly” packaging. Hearing from God about these things is essential. If you think about it, many of the things in which we involve our families and ourselves are attempts to make peace with the world – to fit it, to belong, and to succeed in the realm that will all burn up sometime. As you step into the New Year, ask God to show you your primary focus. What walls are you called to build for the kingdom? What gates are yours to restore? What territory are you to take back from the enemy? Once you have discovered your assignment, don’t be distracted. Keep your focus narrow and be found faithful in those things. Then you and your family as well as the kingdom of God will be blessed in eternal ways.

Psalm 119 has 176 verses in it and it reminds me how important the Word of God is to the believer. This psalm was probably written by David although it is not specifically identified as one of his. The man writing the psalm was under attack – not a military assault but a personal attack by those who would destroy him and, perhaps, even take his life. The flavor of the psalm is that the assault has been going on for a very long time – accusation, gossip, slander, traps, etc.

In this psalm, the writer places immense value on the word of God for his hope and his ultimate victory. Let me list just a few of the phrases that he uses:

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might nor sin against you.

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Your statutes are my delight, they are my counselors.

Preserve my life according to your word.

Strengthen me according to your word.

Your promise preserves my life.

I have put my hope in your word.

Your statutes are my heritage forever.

Preserve my life according to your laws.

Deliver me according to your promise.

The writer clearly believes that God is discovered in his word and that his word is unbreakable. He believes that the written word of God faithfully represents the character and promises of God that God will not violate. If it is written, then God will be true to his word. His constant reference to the Word is not out of fear that God might forget his promises but is a clear statement of belief that God is always true to his word so we can count on his promises.

Jesus used the phrase, “it is written,” numerous times in the gospel. He quoted scripture as the Word of God that is always true or that must come to pass because it has been written by the God who cannot lie. To me it is also interesting that Jesus always spoke about the word in the present tense – it is written rather than it was written. It carries the same implication as the name that God revealed to Moses about himself. Tell them, “I am.” To speak in the present tense suggests no beginning (past) and no end (future). It suggests that something is an unchanging reality. God is – he always has been and always will be. His written word has the same quality and because of that can be totally believed and acted upon. Of course, God reserves the right to determine how and when a promise will be fulfilled but if it is written, it must be fulfilled.

To get the word of God deep in our hearts is a great weapon against the enemy. To know without doubt what the Lord has promised us disarms the lies, deceptions, and bullying of the enemy. I’ve been around long enough to know that the church in America does not value Bible study and memorization like it used to. Few people carry a Bible to church. When Bibles are misplaced they stay in lost and found for months. Very few come looking for them. Perhaps, they have others, but I suspect it is because there is not much hunger for what is inside.

It is almost as if self-help books and worship CD’s have replaced the Word. There is nothing wrong with a good book or worship CD’s but nothing stands unless it stands on the Word. Jesus constantly referenced the written word as his ultimate authority and the plumb line for his actions and beliefs. He used it as a sword against the enemy when Satan assaulted him. We should do the same.

Spend time in the Word. Chew on it. Memorize it. Discuss it. Study it. Get it in your heart. Like the psalmist, it is your heritage forever. You have inherited God’s promises and statutes. The psalmist says, “With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches” (Ps.119:13-14). Take possession of his truth and his promises as yours and know that they open up the storehouses of heaven to you. The Word unlocks greater riches than any the earth can offer.

Let me encourage you to spend time in Psalm 119 to see how much the psalmist valued the Word, the written promises of God, and the wisdom for living embedded in scripture. You will be blessed by doing so.

So…what do we do when the faithful fail? What do we do when we fail, when we slip back into a sin we thought we had left far behind, or when weakness overcomes our faith? There are many who would say that the cleansing of deep regret and overwhelming feelings of guilt are the right response to realign our hearts with the Father. Many of us believe that a sense of shame and guilt and the emotional pain of our failure will keep us from sliding into sin again. But there is an interesting passage in Nehemiah that raises a question about that course.

In the book of Nehemiah we find the prophet in exile. Jerusalem had been sacked and burned and the best and brightest of the Jews deported. When word reached Nehemiah that the city he loved was still devastated with the walls lying in heaps of rubble and the gates burned he cried out to God. God moved King Artaxerxes to allow Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and restore the city. After a remarkable restoration project, the wall and city gates were rebuilt. Nehemiah and the people were certain that all the things that had happened to Israel were because of their sins, so when the wall was completed Nehemiah called for a solemn assembly to re-consecrate the people and the city. Ezra the priest stood and read the Book of the Law to all the people.

The text says, “They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.   Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh.8:8-10).

The natural response of the people to their sin and the righteous standards of their God was to weep as they felt the guilt and shame of their sins and the sins of their fathers. And yet, God instructed them not to weep but to celebrate. This is a clear picture of the difference between condemnation and conviction.

Condemnation is a tool of the enemy that he uses against us when we fail. Condemnation produces shame and shame pushes us away from the Father at the very moment that we need to be drawing close. Remember, Adam and Eve felt shame in the garden at the moment of their sin and the realization of their nakedness. That shame caused them to hide from the Father and to blame others for what they had chosen to do. Satan loves to come and condemn. In response to the enemy’s strategy, Paul declares that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:1).

Shame is the very thing that drives many of us to sin in an effort to cover or medicate our sense of unworthiness. Our unbearable feelings of insignificance, defectiveness, and inadequacy drive many to substance abuse, sexual addictions, comfort eating, and so forth. Condemnation simply increases our shame and our need to medicate so that we get caught in a destructive cycle. Condemnation convinces us that even God can’t love and that being the case … we are on our own. When we are on our own we are dangerous to ourselves and others.

Even in the face of their sins, Israel was commanded to celebrate rather than weep. The celebration was not a statement that their sins did not matter, but rather a recognition that God’s love and grace were greater than their sin. It was a celebration of God’s love and mercy that draws us back to him rather than driving us away.

In the Nehemiah passage, God calls on us to focus on his grace rather than on our failings. Bill Johnson speaks to this when he says, “The real problem is not in what we lack, but how we respond to what God has said. Focusing on our problems more than God’s answers should be a dead giveaway that we’re really dealing with condemnation not the Holy Spirit’s conviction. Focus on God’s answers – not your problems. When the Holy Spirit shows us where we are falling short. The bigger reality is not the areas where we’re not yet walking in our destiny, but the destiny itself…The conviction of the Holy Spirit is actually a call to turn our focus away from our sin and our limitations. He’s saying, ‘You’re made for more than this. Lift your head and set your sights higher’” (Bill Johnson, Strengthen Yourself in the Lord, p.136-137; Destiny Image).

There is a time for godly sorrow, but the sorrow should quickly turn from our self- focus on our weakness to God’s strength, from our unfaithfulness to his faithfulness, from our failures to his victory, and from our discouragement to his grace. The joy of the Lord is our strength. We will have greater victories over sin if we focus on Him rather than us. The constant goodness of God and his willingness to forgive any sin as soon as our heart turns to him is a reason to celebrate. It does no good for us to wallow in our self-loathing or despise ourselves as if beating ourselves emotionally will pay for our sins or convince God of our sorrow. Our sins are already paid for and the proof of repentance is not found in self-loathing but in loving God.

When we fail in our walk with the Lord, we should own it, confess it quickly, and then get on to celebrating God’s goodness and love. There is joy in that and in that joy we find strength for the next stage of our journey wherever we are. Blessings today as you celebrate the goodness and grace of your Savior.

Some of the newest genetic research is revealing the impact of environment and decisions we make on our own genetic structures. This influence on genes is called epigenetics and science is discovering that what we are exposed to or expose ourselves to not only affects our brain structure but actually turns on and turns off certain genes. This effect on genes can also be passed on to our children. What that means is that our children are not born into this world as blank slates ready to be written upon. They bring with them certain predispositions for certain behaviors and probably attitudes that they inherit from parents. What the parents chose to involve themselves in or expose themselves to impacts what is passed on to their children at a genetic level.

In practical terms, if a parent exposes himself to years of pornography, his child will likely have a predisposition toward pornography or addiction at a genetic, cellular level which means that his child may have a real vulnerability or attraction toward that sin as he or she grows up. On the other hand, if a parent exposes himself or herself to the word of God and practices godliness, a child of that parent will have a genetic predisposition toward godliness and will be drawn toward the things and people of God. Epigenetics is in its early stages but research is strongly pointing towards these realities. It means that not just physical characteristics are passed on to children but also behaviors and attitudes may be passed on as well.

This research adds a dimension to God’s declaration in Exodus 20 that the sins of the fathers will be passed down to the children to the third and fourth generations. This verse stands not as a judgment but a warning that what we do will affect who our children are. It’s not that our sin and brokenness cannot be overcome by the blood of the Lamb, but that our destructive and sinful behaviors do not just affect us but our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well. Our sins cannot only establish neural pathways that create habits and addictions in our own brains, but make our children vulnerable to the same destructive impulses. That should be a motivation for godly living.

This new research, which simply confirms what many of us suspected anyway, helps to explain why certain scriptures state that God does not punish one person for another’s sins or the children for the sins of the parents and yet other scriptures say that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. God is not punishing the children but warning us that in some way our sins are passed on to the children.   We know that demonic spirits are given legal rights to family lines through the unrepented sins of “the fathers” but now science is also confirming that our sins or our righteousness affect them at the deepest levels of their genetic makeup.

However, since environments turn on or turn off certain genes, it stands to reason that repentance and a change of lifestyle can also change us at a genetic level so that our predispositions can lose power over us and our children. God is brilliant and has called us to the behaviors that give life not only to ourselves but our descendants. As this research progresses, I am confident that the words we speak will be classified as part of the environment that shapes the expression of our genes. The tongue has the power of life and death. Science does not replace God but simply continues to reveal his wisdom and confirm that he understands our inner workings so well that he must indeed, be the designer and creator of man.

Make good choices today for your sake and the sake of your children and their children! Blessings in Him.

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.         As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)

I’m always amazed at the impact Jesus had on ordinary men and women and especially “sinners”. In one sense, of course, we are all in that category but scripture often speaks of sinners and those who lived a sinful lifestyle and made no effort to cover it up or repent of it. Typically these people were social outcasts who were not welcome in the homes or synagogues of moral, religious people.

Levi (Matthew) was considered a sinner because he collaborated with the Romans and got rich by collecting taxes above and beyond what the Romans required of Jewish citizens. To the Jews, he seemed like a traitor who got rich off the sufferings and poverty of his own people. Tax collectors were hated. My guess is that Levi wasn’t welcome at the synagogue. His friends were those who shared the same reputation as he did. They essentially had no one else to socialize with. The Romans still saw them as inferior and backward because they were Jews and the Jews saw them as traitorous.

And yet, Jesus walked by and extended an invitation for Levi to be one of his disciples and Levi got up immediately and left his career behind. Not only that, but in celebration of his new found relationship with Rabbi Jesus, he threw a huge party at his house and invited followers of Jesus as well as all of his tax collector friends. The religious leaders of Israel were offended and questioned the righteousness of Jesus because he mingled with the unrighteous. We are not so different.

Look at the people who followed Jesus. Former tax collectors, at least one political terrorist, uneducated men, former demoniacs, perhaps a prostitute, and one swindler who would ultimately betray Jesus. These were not the names you would want to list as your board of directors for a new worldwide evangelistic association. If you think about it, Paul addressed the church in Corinth with a surprising reference to some of their past lifestyles. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor.6:9-11).

The first century church seemed to be made up of a large number of formerly unsavory characters…the kind we Christians tend to avoid today and mark off as highly unlikely candidates for the gospel. In fact, very few of us would even have contact with the list of lifestyles Paul mentioned. It’s a rare church that would have former drug dealers, strippers, prostitutes, alcoholics, embezzlers, and gang members in their pews because most of us would never present the gospel to someone like that.

But Jesus seemed to move among that social strata with ease…more ease than with the Pharisees. Somehow, Jesus spent time with and developed relationships with these men and women without compromising his standards and without alienating them. In fact, they were much more responsive to the gospel that the moral people of his day.

Of course, reaching those blocks of broken people is not without its challenges. We would wonder if our children were safe around them. We would most likely hear words in our church buildings that might cause us to blush. The scent of alcohol on someone’s breath Sunday mornings would not be uncommon and the church might get to know a few more bail bondsmen that we would like. We would also have to struggle to know how to love homosexuals without approving of their lifestyle and would struggle to even know how to relate at all to transsexuals.

But those are exactly the people Jesus went after. Those were the people who found a home in the church. Those were also the lives that were drastically changed…many of whom died willingly in the face of Roman persecution without recanting their faith. Can you imagine what testimony nights were like in those churches?

I’m thankful that in my church I do know former drug addicts and former drug dealers. I know former prostitutes and former homosexuals. I know former pornography addicts and former criminals. These are the most passionate people I know in the Kingdom of God. These are the most fearless and spiritually gifted people I know and the most evangelistic. They would all tell you that a person who has been forgiven much, loves much (See Luke 7:47). Jesus knew that and he wants us to know it now. I’m going to pray for more opportunities to reach the social strata that Jesus seemed to have such a heart for. Perhaps, you might pray that as well.

Blessings in Him…the one who came slumming for each of us.

In my last blog, we reflected on the accounts of Christ’s birth as presented in the gospels. They barely match the idealized sweetness and serenity of our cultural version. In our scrubbed version, Mary peacefully sees herself as blessed above all women to be carrying the Son of God in her womb and Joseph serenely stands by as her faithful companion. Life is never that easy, even when you have had visitations from angels.

I try to put myself in Joseph’s place when I think of the story and I imagine that there were still questions in his heart about his bride. Did he really have a visitation from an angel or was that a dream manufactured from his subconscious to deal with her unexplained pregnancy? And what of Mary? Did she sense the doubts in her husband? Did they talk about it or just push ahead? Why would she travel so far from home in the last month of pregnancy to sign up for a census with Joseph? Her presence wasn’t required. Wouldn’t such a trip put the child at risk? Perhaps, it was just easier to travel than to endure the accusing looks of neighbors and relatives if she had stayed at home.

Philip Yancey puts it this way. “In contrast to what the cards would have us believe, Christmas did not sentimentally simplify life on planet earth. Perhaps, this is what I sense when Christmas rolls around and I turn from the cheeriness of the cards to the starkness of the gospels…Luke tells of a tremulous Mary hurrying off to the one person who could possibly understand what she was going through: her relative Elizabeth who miraculously got pregnant in old age after another angelic annunciation. Elizabeth believes Mary and shares her joy, and yet the scene poignantly highlights the contrast between the two women: the whole community is talking about Elizabeth’s healed womb even as Mary must hide the shame of her own miracle. In a few months the birth of John the Baptist took place amid great fanfare, complete with midwives, doting relatives, and the traditional village chorus celebrating the birth of a Jewish male. Six months later, Jesus was born far from home, with no midwife, extended family or village chorus present” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p.3; Zondervan).

This is not to say that God’s grace was not present for the couple but it contrasts our scrubbed view of “away in a manger” with the sacrifices truly made by those who carried the Living Word into the world. The traditional village chorus that gathered around a family when a son was born was provided by our heavenly Father in the fields outside Bethlehem when angels sang to shepherds. We have no record that Mary heard the chorus except through the report of shepherds she did not know. After signing up for the census, the gospel’s indicate that Joseph and Mary stayed on in Bethlehem rather than returning to their families in Nazareth. Perhaps, that is another indicator of how unwilling family and neighbors were to accept the story.

Matthew tells us that magi (wise men) came from the east to see this new king. These astronomer/astrologers had seen a new star and assumed it was a sign for a great king. They probably came from the area of Babylon where the prophet Daniel had prophesied that a never-ending kingdom would be established in the days of certain earthly kings. Perhaps their study of his writings led them to Israel when this “new star” appeared.

They first stopped to see Herod and ask if he knew where this “new king” was staying so that they could worship him. Herod blessed their search and asked them to let him know as soon as they found this child. The magi were warned in a dream and returned home without notifying Herod of their find, but Herod consulted his Torah scholars who suggested that Bethlehem might be a likely place. Herod immediately issued an edict to kill all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two according to the time that the magi had first seen his star. That suggests that the Jesus was perhaps 18 months old at the time, since Herod would want to give himself a margin of error for destroying any potential rivals to his throne.

The magi found Mary and Joseph still in Bethlehem in a house, not a stable. By their gifts, God funded Mary & Joseph’s flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s death squad. And so, the King of Kings, born in a stable to poor parents, became a political refugee to Egypt to avoid death. So why did God choose this hardship for the birth of the Savior?

Yancey puts it this way: “Nine months of awkward explanations, the lingering scent of scandal – it seems that God arranged the most humiliating circumstances possible for his entrance, as if to avoid any charge of favoritism. I am impressed that when the Son of God became a human being he played by the rules, harsh rules: small towns do not treat kindly young boys who grow up with questionable paternity” (Yancey, p.32). When the writer of Hebrews says that we have a high priest who understands our struggles, he does not exaggerate. I also believe that the struggles of Mary and Joseph taught them to depend totally on God for direction, protection, and provision which was their legacy to this Son of God born into the world who also had to learn those things.

So I love the homey feelings of Christmas and even the idealized Christmas cards we see because they reflect the serenity that Jesus, through his suffering, has placed within our hearts. But the hardship of the first Christmas increases the value of the gift – a gift of love and sacrifice. It also raises the question of risk. God entrusted himself and our salvation to simple parents in a hostile world who still had the free will to ignore his directions and dreams sent their way or to simply refuse his offer of being God’s instruments for bringing his Son into the world. Love risks and so God risked it all and placed it in the hands of a young couple whose faith completed the task. May we have faith to complete the tasks he has assigned to each of us and let’s be thankful this Christmas for the gift that did not come easily. Blessings in Him.

Thanksgiving has blasted by and we are speeding toward December 25, Christmas Day. I am hoping to slow our place soon so that I can absorb some of what Christmas is all about – the great gift of Jesus to a lost and dying world. Every Christmas I return to one of my favorite authors who always helps put the frantic pace of Christmas back into perspective. The author is Philip Yancey and the book I go back to is The Jesus I Never Knew. I want to share some of his thoughts and some of my own in an effort to help you recalibrate this season if you, like me,  need some help.

Yancey reflects on this season when he says, “Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived at our house last Christmas, I note that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration. Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns buries in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer but also chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals, and cute gray mice…The explicitly religious cards (a distinct minority) focus on the holy family, and you can tell at a glance these folks are different. They seem unruffled and serene. Bright gold halos, like crowns from another world, hover just above their heads. Inside, the cards stress sunny words like love, goodwill, cheer, happiness and warmth. It is a fine thing, I suppose, that we honor a sacred holiday with homey sentiments. And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone and sense mainly disruption at work” (Yancey, p.29).

I am struck with how right he is. If we were to ask Mary and Joseph about the birth of Jesus, they would probably not remember it as serene, soft, and warm at all. I just reviewed our Christmas card batch so far this year. Most say nothing about Jesus. Many will have a very photogenic family on the front and a sweet sentiment for the holidays. The ones that do picture Jesus are neat and tidy and cute…one with the baby Jesus in a clean, warm cradle with a star shining serenely in the sky and a small lamb lying next to him. I’m sure that before the 25^th we will receive cards with angels surrounding the Christ child in adoration and with three richly dressed wise men bowing at his feet.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the cards and I love our friends who send them. Ultimately, we will all be surrounded by the peace and tranquility depicted on these cards and hopefully that peace rests in our hearts now because of Jesus. But, the point is that the first Christmas probably did not have that ambiance at all. To forget or clean up the Biblical account, in one sense, dulls our recognition of the cost of our salvation from beginning to end. We think of Christ’s suffering at Easter, but his birth and early years were no picnic either.

“Christmas art depicts Jesus’ family as icons stamped in gold foil, with a calm Mary receiving the tidings of the Annunciation as a kind of benediction. But that is not at all how Luke tells the story. Mary was “greatly troubled” and “afraid” at the angel’s appearance, and when the angel pronounced the sublime words about the Son of the Most High whose kingdom will never end, Mary had something far more mundane in mind: ‘But I’m a virgin!’ Matthew tells of Joseph magnanimously agreeing to divorce Mary in private rather than press charges (for adultery), until an angel shows up to correct his perception of betrayal” (Yancey, p.30-31).

To forget how human Mary and Joseph were somehow erodes some of the miracle from Christmas and also lets us forget how reluctant most of God’s heroes have been from the beginning. Moses begged God to send anyone but him to Egypt to free the Hebrews. Jeremiah argued that he was much too young for the job. Gideon claimed that he was a nobody and that no one who even think about following him into battle. Mary and Joseph were not born into powerful families. They were not great leaders in their community. He was a handyman and she was a teenager in a small, backwater town that we would probably have never heard of if Jesus had not grown up there.

From the outset, God’s entrance into the world as a human child created fear, confusion, doubt, gossip, accusations, feelings of betrayal, and estrangement as well as feelings of wonder and hope. It’s not so different today when he intrudes. Think of Muslims today in the Middle East who are experiencing the Man in White coming to them in dreams and visions and then discovering that he is Jesus whom they have been persecuting. Suddenly, their world is turned upside down. The faith that they thought was sure is rocked to its very foundations. Who will they tell? Who will believe them? Perhaps, their very lives are on the line because Jesus has come to them. What will their family say and what about the religious officials?

Mary had to feel much of that. Her fiancé’s first response was that she had been unfaithful. Divorce was the proscribed approach or even stoning if he were to insist on the letter of the Law. Even if he had no doubts about his angelic visit vindicating Mary, many would have believed that they, as an engaged couple, had jumped the gun and made up a preposterous story about an angel and an impregnated virgin. Nothing is said about their immediate families or about a wedding. Most likely it was a hurried, private affair meant in some way to cover up the inexplicable. Undoubtedly, Mary’s girlish dreams of a wonderful Jewish wedding filled with family, dancing, and blessings went unfulfilled. Joseph’s dream of his wedding night with the girl he loved, when their marriage would be consummated, vanished as well. So, let’s add disappointment to the feelings they associated with the upcoming birth of the King of Glory.

The greatest gifts often come with a huge price tag. The gift of Christmas came with a huge price tag not only for the Father, but also for those who God would use to bring his Son into the world and care for him in the days to come. When I reflect on the Lord’s sacrifice and the sacrifices of those God used, I am overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness – which is the heart of Christmas. Let’s slow down at least enough to be thankful for the amazing gift available to all who will believe. More thoughts coming. Blessings today in Him.

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Heb. 4:12

What does the scripture mean when it says that the word of God is living and active? What does it mean to say that the word is animated and has life beyond the page? How does it dissect and judge? And is that our experience with reading God’s word?

I like what Bill Johnson has to say about reading and studying the written word. “Our yielded hearts are impressionable as we study the Bible and receive God’s impressions like fingerprints. Within that sort of tender soil, the Lord plants the seeds of his Kingdom perspective. The insights and empowering nature of the Scriptures provide solutions that are applicable to every society and culture…Our study of the Scriptures must take us beyond the historical settings, beyond language studies…, and at times beyond the context and intent of the human authors as to its content. Our reading of the Word must enable us to hear from God afresh…I am not knocking principles. The transformation of individuals, families, cities, and nations depends upon receptivity of Kingdom principles. However, this is not the core of the Christian experience with the Bible. Rather, more often than not, we should read to have a God encounter. The Word of God is living and active. It contains divine energy, always moving and accomplishing his purposes” (Bill Johnson, Walking in the Supernatural, p.161-163; Destiny Image).

Some things appear to be inanimate. Without knowing what you had found, a battery would seem to be inanimate, cold, hard, and good only as a paperweight. But when something connects to it in the right way, tremendous power can be released. Uranium appears to be only a lifeless rock. Yet it emits radiation, an invisible power that has almost unlimited potential (for life or death) for those who know how to tap into the tremendous energy resting in the stone. Gunpowder just lies there like a pile of sand until something releases the inherent power in the powder. The Word of God contains tremendous power for those who have receptive hearts and for those whose faith can tap into the life resting in the word. Like gunpowder, it can simply lie dormant but when a spark is added, explosive things happen. Faith and obedience is that spark.

Most seminaries or classes on how to study the Bible will emphasize context and the original meaning the author gave to his writings. Having established that, it is up to the student to determine some biblical principle that might apply to our current life situations. Determining the principles for Christian living is the thing and the goal of Bible study. I still believe that is the starting place and there is significant value in that. But there is more. With God, there is always more. I believe that Johnson’s assertion that the ultimate goal of Bible study is an encounter with God is a key to spiritual transformation.

God did not just provide Israel with the written word from Sinai. He gave them his presence in the tabernacle so that they might encounter him and his goodness as Moses did on top of the mountain. The written word was given to prepare them for an encounter. Jesus rebuked the Jewish scholars for their approach to the scriptures. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn.5:39-40). The Pharisees believed that the Torah was a document from which to determine God’s commandments for men and principles for living. That was true, but there was more. Not only did the scriptures tell them how to live but they pointed to a person – Jesus Christ. They never thought to look for the person, only the principles.

More than principles and Bible facts, scripture reveals the heart of God for us and reveals who we are to Him. Knowing those two things, ignites faith and faith releases power. If I were to go back to the book of 1 Corinthians, I could study it through the lens of, “What did Paul say to the church at Corinth that might be applicable to us today?” That would be valuable and give me a great approach to Christian living. But if I studied the letter through the lens of, “What does this letter reveal about the heart of the Father, the love of Jesus Christ toward me, and who I am in the eyes of my Father?” it would be even more transforming. One approach promotes obedience first, while the other promotes relationship first, from which obedience will naturally flow.

As you spend time in the written word, look for the Living Word who came in the flesh and dwelt among us. We all believe that Bible study changes us but I have known many men who could quote extensive sections of scripture but did not seem to have the love of God in them anywhere. The Word is living and active as God lives through his word. Receptive hearts, hunger for his kingdom, or a willingness to risk something for the glory of God is what releases the power because it releases God to touch us in transforming ways. You might want to ask God to arrange an encounter with him as you study, a revelation of who he is and his heart for you, a rhema or fresh word for the day, or a response of obedience that will create an encounter with the Father during the day. Finding him is the thing.

Be blessed as you search for the Living Word in the written word today.

In our final look at Gideon, we will gain some insight into how and why God works in certain ways. Remember, Israel had drifted into years of rebellion and idolatry. The oppression they experienced at the hands of Midian was a corrective measure sent by the Lord to call them back into relationship with him.

In Judges 7, we find that Gideon had mustered 32,000 men for the battle against Midian, who still greatly outnumbered them. God then began a sifting process to reduce Gideon’s ranks. He first had Gideon announce that anyone who was afraid should leave. Twenty-two thousand promptly left. God then had Gideon take his men to a spring to drink. Three hundred squatted down, filled their hands with water, and lifted the water to their mouths. The remainder simply got on their knees, put their faces to the water, and lapped it up like dogs. God had Gideon dismiss all those who had lapped up the water so that only the three hundred remained.

God clearly states why he reduced the numbers. “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands, in order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her” (Jud. 7:2). We leave God when we feel we have no need of him. Self-sufficiency is the seedbed of rebellion against God. It’s not that men don’t want to worship, because after leaving God Israel would always chase idols. It’s just that men want to worship a god that will feed their fleshly desires and not call them to holiness. They want a god that will give them wealth, power, fame, sex…you know, rock-star stuff. Or they want gods that they can control through witchcraft and sorcery. Again…they seek the things that will make them self-sufficient. Satan still whispers, “You will be like God.”

God’s strategy was to put Israel in a situation where victory and survival could only come through the Lord. When three hundred face tens of thousands, there is no room for self-sufficiency. He also wants to reveal those who have faith. The three hundred who remained with Gideon were brave, but not suicidal. To stay, they must have had faith in the God of Israel.

God works in our lives to remove our idols, erase our self-sufficiency, and reveal any faith that is left in us after we have drifted away. Our drift from God is not always so apparent. We may still be going through the motions of faith but our hearts may be feeling very self-sufficient and may be looking away from God to other things that we believe will give us what we need to be happy. We may not even be aware of our condition.

God directed the three hundred to carry trumpets and torches hidden under clay jars to the enemy camp around midnight. After surrounding the camp, they blew the trumpets, broke the jars, and revealed the torches while shouting, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” The Midianites panicked and in the confusion of darkness attacked and killed one another. The survivors fled into the night. No general on earth would have laid out that strategy as a battle plan, but God works in unusual ways in impossible situations so that he gets the glory.

God is not an egotistical tyrant who demands worship because it makes him feel powerful. God knows who he is. He seeks glory because it is in our best interest to see his glory. His glory draws us to him. Facing an impossible situation and then seeing his hand in the situation in unexpected ways diminishes our self-sufficient attitudes and rekindles our faith. God is love and, therefore, always acts in our best interest. God rarely puts us in bad places. We typically get there by our own choices or the choices of someone to whom we are attached. But God will use those bad places to call us back so that we might make life-giving course corrections for our lives.

We always want deliverance to come by the express lane. But Midian had been severely oppressing Israel for seven years. Sometimes we need to taste the fruit of our self-sufficiency long enough that it becomes so bitter that we won’t ever return to it. Sometimes, God is multi-tasking and working on others while he works on our hearts. It takes time to get all the pieces just where you want them on the chessboard. But the good news is that God is always calling us back, adjusting our focus, and redirecting our steps…even when we have not noticed how far our hearts have drifted from him.

When we find ourselves in impossible situations, we need to check the spiritual condition of our hearts first. Have we been turning our hearts away from God or has our faith been cooling? Sometimes, our spiritual condition is not in a bad place, but God is simply calling us to a higher place. In those moments, we must begin to look for the hand and purposes of God. He is very intentional. No experience is wasted if we cooperate. God is rarely angry but is simply disciplining us as a good Father or stretching us as a great coach. Either way, don’t resist but look for his glory and let his glory draw you to him.