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³ You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
whose thoughts are fixed on you!
⁴ Trust in the LORD always,
for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

I woke up in perfect peace this morning. What a wonderful thing! I honestly can’t remember when the last time was that I slept so well and woke up in such peace. Which is a huge God thing because a little more than three weeks ago I had some routine tests that led to some less-than-routine tests that are leading to surgery to rule out some serious medical issues. There’s an 80% chance that I’ll be fine…and a 20% chance that I won’t be so fine.

And the very-cool-very-God-thing is that (for the most part), I have been able to not be anxious about it. No, it goes beyond that – I have had a supernatural peace surrounding me and filling me. Sure, I’ve had my less peaceful moments when I needed my husband to hold me and tell me he had a feeling everything would be all right! But there have been very few of those moments and in between them I have a strong confidence in my God who has promised so many things to me.

I’ve always wondered how to have this kind of peace! I know I don’t have all the answers and I don’t pretend to have it all together, but I am learning some things through the process that I’d like to share. God has been gracious enough to open my eyes to things I’m doing that help me experience what He’s doing in me – giving me peace beyond my wildest expectations! Maybe some of these things will help you keep the peace.

• Purpose to pursue God in your situation. I remember as my husband and I were driving somewhere shortly after my second test. I looked at him and said, “I so want to do this well. I want to trust God in a way that I haven’t trusted him in the past.” God saw the desire of my heart and is giving it to me.

Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart
Psalm 37:4

• Don’t be so proud – ask others to pray for you. I am absolutely certain that the prayers of faithful friends have a lot to do with my peace. I think it was in the same conversation when I said I wanted to do this well when a few minutes later I said something about not doing so well with all this. That’s when my husband reminded me that when I’m weak others will stand in the gap for me. His comment restored my peace. Share your needs with friends, and don’t ask them to pray just for healing. Ask them to pray for God’s presence to be manifest in your life.
• Remind yourself of the promises of God. I wrote the blogs on Ephesians 1 shortly after I learned that more testing was needed. I have been so blessed when I meditate on Paul’s words that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms simply because I belong to Christ.

• Have a rhema Word from God to hold on to. The Bible uses two different words that are translated “word” – logos and rhema. There is not complete agreement on the definition and use of these words: many evangelicals believe there is no difference; many charismatics believe there is a substantive difference. I fall into the camp of the charismatics on this one. Have you ever read the Bible and a specific passage came alive to you and seemed to have supernatural application to your life at that time? That is what would be called a rhema word. A rhema word is a word from God that has immediate and significant, even supernatural impact in your life at that time.

One of the characteristics of a rhema word is that it is life-giving. It is the word used in Matthew 4:4:

But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

Guess what! You and I can’t control God (for which I am quite thankful!). That means we can’t demand or manufacture a rhema word from God – He has to reach down and give it. But you can put yourself in a place where you are more likely to receive it. We all hear from God differently, so pursue God diligently in the way you are most likely to hear from Him:

• • If you most often hear from God through His Word, be especially diligent to study God’s Word.
  • If you hear from God most clearly during worship, add times of worship to your week. Listen to worship music, attend your church’s worship team’s practice session.
  • If you experience God most often while serving others, serve wholeheartedly.
  • In all these things, ask God for a word or promise to hold on to. God will speak to you.

• Stay connected with the Body of Christ, particularly those people who tend to hear from God prophetically (or those who are prophetically gifted). My pastor prayed for me last Sunday and during the prayer he spoke prophetically that God was going to show me His goodness and grace in the coming months in a way that I haven’t known in the past. WOW! Does that mean my diagnosis will be the one I don’t want but He’ll walk through it with me, or does it mean I’ll be in the 80%, which would be showing wonderful goodness and grace to me? I don’t know. But I know He’s going to show me His goodness and grace beyond what I have known in the past and that’s a promise that fills me with hope and peace. It is a promise that makes me look forward to whatever God has for me in the coming months.

• Limit yourself when it comes to learning about what might happen in the future. I’ve talked with doctors and they are very careful to only give you enough information to get you to the next test. The Internet, on the other hand is happy to let you spend hours reading about all the what-ifs that might come into your life. The doctors know what they’re doing in this regard. I’ve learned to recognize when I’m approaching that tipping point where information is about to rob me of my peace, joy and faith, and I back away from the edge. I’m not deceiving myself or not facing the truth. I am just acknowledging that dwelling on the details can quickly overwhelm me so I back off and run to my storm shelter. I know the truth about my situation and choose to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty instead of staring down the barrel of possibilities that may never materialize. To do the latter is to invite the enemy to wreak havoc with my peace.

• Limit yourself when it comes to talking about your situation negatively. This is very similar to the point above. I process things verbally, so the temptation for me is to talk, talk, talk about it. Anytime someone says “how’s it going?” or “what’s new?” my mind immediately jumps to these tests which occupy the major portion of a couple of days each week. It doesn’t take many sentences, though, before I can hear the strain in my voice. There’s that tipping point again. Back away from the edge – most people don’t want that much detail anyway.

• Throughout the day when my mind wants to dwell on the what ifs, I return to the rhema Word, other promises God has given me, and the goodness of the God who loves me and blesses me beyond my ability to comprehend.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9

I’m reading a book about grace. In it, I read that Charles Spurgeon, the famous British pastor, once described faith as:

“believing Christ is who He said He was and that He’ll do what He promised to do – and then living accordingly.”*

I want to live in such a way that people see that I serve a God I trust. Otherwise, why would they want to meet Him?

* Captured by Grace, No One is Beyond the Reach of a Loving God by Dr. David Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, © 2006, page 36.

So Many Books, So Little Time

Well, it’s many books, but it’s not really much time. We’ll finish six books and start two others in August, but we’ll do it at the same pace as we’ve been travelling throughout the year – three chapters each day, Monday through Friday.

I’ve had a number of conversations about reading through the Bible recently. It seems that many people have the misconception that they just can’t do it. “I’m not much of a reader,” is what I’ve been hearing.

The good news is that:

(1)  You don’t have to be much of a reader to read through the New Testament in a year. All it takes is reading one chapter each day, five days a week. Even if you are a slow reader, you can probably do that in less than ten minutes. Increase that time to thirty or forty minutes each weekday and you can follow our Resting at the River’s Edge schedule. Over a two year period, you’ll read through the entire Old Testament once and the New Testament twice.

(2)  There are many modern language translations available. You can check out different translations online. Read from several different versions. If you find one you like, head on over to ChristianBook.com and pick it up.

(3)  It’s the inspired Word of God. I confess – sometimes it doesn’t feel like it! But when it does, it’s magical! (That would be magical in the sense of “wow!” and “cool” and “how does God do that?”, not magical in the sense of sorcery of course).

Reading through the whole New Testament and/or the whole Bible pulls the story of God’s plan together in a way that isn’t grasped by reading less methodically. So even if you haven’t been reading along with us yet, I invite you to join us in August.

In August we’ll finish 1 & 2 Samuel – the story of David’s life. God called David a man after His own heart – that seems like reason enough to study his life. In the New Testament we’ll read Collossians, Philemon, and Hebrews. In the book of Hebrews we’ll read about how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that is taught in the Old Testament – He is our sacrificial lamb; His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sins; He is our great high priest. Mr. T used to say “I love it when a good plan comes together.” Hebrews pulls God’s plan together and spells it out for those of us who didn’t catch it on our own!

May God whisper in your ear as you read with us this month!

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of August’s recommended reading plan, click here.

Kings & Treasures

Resting at the River’s Edge is a Bible reading plan that many of the Apprehending Grace readers are following. Following the plan in 2010 and 2011, we will read through the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once. Typically one or two of my blogs in any given week follow along in our reading. If you’re a new reader at ApprehendingGrace.com, please don’t hesitate to jump in mid-stream – or better yet, don’t hesitate to pause by the stream and rest at the river’s edge with us each day.

The month of July will find us reading in five books:

Psalms
1 Samuel
2 Corinthians
Ephesians
Philippians

I have thoroughly been enjoying my time in Psalms and hope you have as well. In July, we’ll finish the first book of Psalms, reading through Psalm 41.

We’ll then read 1 Samuel through the rise and fall of King Saul, the anointing of David as King, and King Saul pursuing David to kill him. It’s a compelling story that I look forward to reading and blogging about.

In the new Testament, we’ll read three of Paul’s letters: 2 Corinthians, Ephesians and Philippians. I’m confident you’ll enjoy all three books.Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:7-8

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesiahs 1:3-6 (it goes on and I want to quote the whole chapter, but you’ll have to read it on your own, no space here!)

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 (this is the passage on which I base my blog, www.ApprehendingGrace.com)

It’s going to be a great month of reading. Don’t lose momentum during the summer months – consider them not just holiday months, but holy-day months.

Be blessed as you read in July! I pray that God’s Word comes alive in a new and precious way.

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of July’s recommended reading plan, click here.

Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Peter gave his first sermon on the day of Pentecost. As often happens when I listen to sermons on Sunday mornings, one sentence arrested me:

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Acts 2:36

“Both Lord and Christ”
Not just Lord, and not just Christ, but both Lord and Christ. What’s the difference? I turned to my trusted Greek dictionaries. The word translated “Lord” means “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master.”* God has made Jesus Lord – the One to whom all things belong; the One to whom all people belong, whether they accept His ownership of them or not.

Fact: The Sovereign God of the Universe had made Jesus the Owner of all created things.

Paul picked up Peter’s theme in Philippians:

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11

The truth is we belong to Jesus. He is our Master, our Owner, the One to whom we will one day bow our knee. The choice we face is – will we accept His ownership and bow our knee today? Will that bowed knee represent our will – that is, will it mean that we have bowed our will to His will? Hmmm. I think bowing the knee is much easier than bowing the will, but they ought to be one and the same. Brian Doerksen sings a song “Today” that captures this theme: “Today I choose to follow You. Today I choose to give my ‘Yes’ to You.”

God has already made Jesus Lord; let’s not wait until some other day to accept that ownership. God made Jesus your Lord. Will you accept His Lordship?

God made Jesus both “Lord and Christ.” The word “Christ” literally means “anointed” and is the name given to the Messiah, the Son of God.* We see this in John 1:

[Andrew] found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).
John 1:41

The word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word (the language of the Old Testament); the word “Christ” is the Greek word (the language of the New Testament). Both refer to Jesus. Who was the Messiah? He was the long awaited Savior. One of the values of reading the Old Testament is that it lays the foundation that the Israelites were looking and longing for the promised Savior to come. Christ, the Messiah, is the fulfillment of that promise and that great anticipation. He is the One who would save them and will save us from ourselves – our sinful nature – and throw open the doors to a vibrant relationship and intimacy with God.

God has made Jesus to be our Owner and our Savior. Both Lord and Christ. Not just our Owner. Not just our Savior. Both. As Owner, He can do with us as He pleases. As Savior, He is compassionate and strong. As an Owner, He could determine us to be worthless and throw us away. As Savior, He doesn’t have that option – we are of tremendous worth to Him and He desires the very best for each of us.

“Whom You Crucified”
I wasn’t there, but yes, I crucified Christ. It was my sin that required the death of a perfect sacrifice. If you all had lived perfect lives, Christ would have been crucified for my sin. It is Christ’s perfect sacrifice that pays the debt required by my wrongdoing. He is my Savior. His sacrifice saves me from eternal damnation and opens the doors to eternal life. Wow.

Sin is messy business, as I blogged about several days ago. As the Israelites were required to slaughter a lamb or bull to pay for their sins, Christ was the lamb slaughtered as payment for my sins. His sacrifice wipes my slate clean. His blood cleanses my soul. Again I say: Wow.

“God has made…”
It was God who elevated Jesus to the position of Lord and Christ. It wasn’t me, you, my pastor or your pastor, or even the Pope who made Jesus Lord and Christ. It wasn’t anyone who has ever lived on this earth who made Jesus Lord and Christ. It was the One who created the earth and all things in and on it. It was God, the Most High God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who made Jesus both Lord and Christ.

“Brothers, what shall we do?”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:37

After Peter’s declaration that God had made Jesus, whom they had crucified, both Lord and Christ, the crowd had one response: “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter’s response was one we need to be reminded of from time to time:

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Acts 2:38-39

Repent! Literally, “think differently!”** Bring your thinking into line with God’s Word. Come into agreement with Him that you have sinned, that sin requires a price and that Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, paid that price.

Be baptized – be cleansed of your sins. It’s interesting that the word “baptized” also means to be “overwhelmed.”** Be overwhelmed with the goodness of God. Be overwhelmed with His presence. Be overwhelmed to the point of giving Him complete control.

Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit – the One who comforts, reveals God and empowers believers to live the life God wants us to live.

This promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off – don’t believe it’s not for you. It is. If there is even the tiniest thing in you that whispers “yeah, but this isn’t for you, you’re not good enough” – that thing has a name – satan and he is a liar. He is the father of lies and there is no good in him. Choose to believe God. Repent, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What will you do?

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:37

I pray that your heart has been quickened as well. God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. What will you do about it? Will you make Him Lord – Owner – of your life? Will you recognize Him as your Savior? Will you repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I pray that today you are overwhelmed with God’s grace, the Savior’s cleansing power and the revelation and peace of the Holy Spirit.

*From Thayer’s Greek Definitions from Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Findex.com, Inc.

**From Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries by James Strong, Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1998, Parsons Technology, Inc.

¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6: 11-12

As I read this passage a few days ago, my attention was captured by one phrase: “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” What a great exhortation to consider as we look forward to 2010. I looked up the word that is translated “take hold” and found that it is a cousin to the word from which ApprehendingGrace.com gets its name.

The word katalambano is used by Paul in Philippians 3:12, when he says “I press on to apprehend that for which Christ has apprehended me.” (For more on how the blog was named, click here.)

The word used by Paul in 1 Timothy is epilambanomai. It means to take hold of, to seize or to take possession of.

I want to do that with my “eternal life.” I have claimed Christ as my Savior. I have asked Him to forgive me of my sins. I seek to give Him full authority in my life. I want also to fully take hold of the eternal life to which I have been called. To me, that is much more than the eternal life I will some day live out with my Lord. It means living this life differently from those who do not have the promise of eternal life after this life is over:

• It means living this life with freedom from condemnation from myself, others or Satan.
• It means living this life with a willingness to take risks that I might otherwise be too timid to take because Christ is in me and has made many promises in and for my life that have yet to be fulfilled.
• It means aligning my priorities with the priorities of God.
• It means constant dependence on a God who has promised to supply all I need for life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and has promised to never leave or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6, et. al.).

Our first series of blogs this year is going to focus on what it means to take hold of eternal life. I know, I wrote a blog earlier in the week in which it looked like God had given me a theme for 2010 –

“Learning to hear God’s Voice more clearly and regularly. Of course that requires listening for His voice, as it says in verse 3 – ‘…the sheep listen to his voice.’ It also carries with it the implication that I will follow His Voice after hearing it.”

The two subjects dovetail quite nicely – living the eternal life means living ever attentive to God’s Voice. And I think combined He has given us a great theme for 2010. I don’t have a nifty catch-phrase or title, or a perfectly gift-wrapped paragraph that defines it yet. But God is developing it in my heart as I type. I’m sure it’ll fall into place soon.

In the meantime, come back regularly as we “flesh out” what it means to take hold of the eternal life to which we have been called. Our next blog in the series will be by a guess blogger, my husband Phil. Watch for it early next week.

¹⁴Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.

¹⁵It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. ¹⁸But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
Philippians 1:14-18

I love Paul’s attitude here. He’s a prisoner because he preached the Gospel, and he recognizes that because he is in prison, many others are preaching the Gospel with more freedom than they were before. There isn’t the slightest hint of feeling sorry for himself. He rejoices that the Gospel is being proclaimed.

But it goes further than that.

• Paul understands that the motives of some are pure – to proclaim the Gospel – to share God’s great gift of salvation with others.
• He also understands that the motives of others are not nearly so pure – their motives are to stir up trouble so that Paul would receive harsher treatment in prison.

Still, Paul rejoices that either way, whether from pure motives or impure motives, the Gospel is being preached. Again, there is not a hint of bitterness or anger, or even frustration, toward those who are preaching out of impure motives. There is simply rejoicing that the Gospel is being preached.

I’m not sure where I first heard the term “unoffendable heart” – perhaps from Francis Frangipane’s teachings. Paul demonstrates an unoffendable heart in this passage – in a situation where others are clearly trying to harm him, he’s saying “it’s all good – they’re furthering the Gospel of Christ.”

Lord, help us to imitate Paul, even as he imitated Christ – help us to rejoice in the furtherance of the Gospel and not even give the slightest thought if we are offended in the process. Lord, may You have the victory when we think we have a right to be offended and instead choose to bless the offender.

Satan is the one whose desire it is to steal, kill and destroy. Becoming easily offended steals, kills and destroys our relationships with one another and with Christ. It spills over onto those around us, splashing them with the toxic emotions we feel. Don’t let Satan win even the smallest battle. Work hard to develop a heart like Paul’s and Christ’s – choose to be unoffendable.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11

I love Paul’s prayers, and this is one of my favorites. As I read it this morning, what struck me was that we would be able to discern “what is best” – not just what is good or what is better, but what is best. I love it that God has what is best for me held in reserve just waiting for me to discern and choose it.

I have never wanted to live a mediocre life, and I bet you haven’t either. This Scripture points to an extraordinary life – one that choose the best. A mediocre life makes choices that are OK, but not excellent.

I am reminded of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, and they flow so well with his words to the Philippians:

^12bAnd now I will show you the most excellent way.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 12:31b – 13:8, 13:13

The most excellent way is love. It’s what Paul prayed for the Philippians. Go back to our first passage:

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best…
Philippians 1:9-10a (emphasis mine)

How is it that they (and we) would be able to discern what is best? It is through love that grows deeper in knowledge and depth of insight! Love is the most excellent way because it never fails. It is never stilled and it never passes away.

To my detriment, when I think about making excellent decisions, I don’t typically ask “which choice represents perfect love?” If I want to lead an extraordinary life, if I want to make the best (most excellent) choices, that life and those choices must be rooted and grounded in an abundance of love.

I think I’ve got some work to do! Father, help me!

Home Stretch!

If you have been reading along with us using the Resting at the River’s Edge reading plans, don’t give up now — you are in the home stretch.
October 1 marks the beginning of the last three months of the year.

The big books we have left are Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Proverbs, Luke and Revelation. Of course there are many smaller books thrown in to keep it interesting.

In October we’ll read Ezekiel and a little more than half of the Proverbs. We’ll also read Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, Philippians and
Colossians.

We’ve been reading Jeremiah. He prophecied mostly before the Babylonian captivity — that is, when the Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians and forced to leave their home in Jerusalem and move to Babylon. Ezekiel prophecies during the Babylonian captivity. You’ll find a number of familiar passages and have the opportunity to read them in the context in which they were written. For example, pastor recently preached from the passage in Ezekiel 36, the Valley of Dry Bones.

The purpose for the Proverbs is provided in the first one:

¹These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.

²The purpose of these proverbs is to teach people wisdom and discipline, and to help them understand wise sayings. ³Through these proverbs, people will receive instruction in discipline, good conduct, and doing what is right, just, and fair. ⁴These proverbs will make the simpleminded clever. They will give knowledge and purpose to young people.

⁵Let those who are wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. And let those who understand receive guidance ⁶by exploring the depth of meaning in these proverbs, parables, wise sayings, and riddles.
(Proverbs 1:1-6, NLT)

Let’s explore the dept of the meaning in the proverbs, not just read them to stay on schedule!

Don’t give up now, friends! We can see the finish line.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t kept up. Life happens! Keep plugging away. God is honored by your faithfulness and you will be blessed by continuing to read through the Scriptures.

Be blessed, all!

To download a PDF of October’s reading schedule, click here.

October Recommended Reading Plan

If you want to stretch your brain a bit today, read this article by John Parsons posted at http://www.hebrew4christian.org/. The website teaches biblical Hebrew so that the reader can better understand Scriptures “from a Hebraic point of view.” This article is a commentary on the weekly Scripture reading.

To help you understand the article, let me give you a little background.

• What we call the Pentateuch, that is the first five books of the Bible, the Jews call the Torah, or the Law.
• The Talmud is a collection of interpretations and applications of the Law (or Torah).
• The oral portion of the Law is called the Mishnah.
• If you were to go through the first five books of the Old Testament (the Law or the Torah), you would find that there are more than 10 commandments. In fact, there are 613.
• The parashah is the scheduled weekly Torah reading, similar to a lectionary.
• Shabbat is the Jewish word for Sabbath.

Wow, that sounds like a lot to know just to read an article. Actually, you can understand the message of the article without knowing these things, but not knowing them bothered me as I read it. So I looked them up using the website’s dictionary and am providing them to you. Oh, by the way, chaverim means “friends.”

So, chaverim, I pray you enjoy this short but challenging article as much as I did. Shalom.

Living in the United States, many have come to value freedom over all else. Further, we have come to equate freedom with individual rights and the moment that my rights have been even slightly bumped, we cry foul. We then turn to our democratic government believing that it is their responsibility to protect our rights and we join political parties and various political organizations to make our rights a priority and to protect them.

The problem is that this wars against much of what we ought to be living as a follower of Christ.

 Let me say at the outset, I am a proponent of being involved in our government. I do not in any way shape or form believe Christians should eschew government involvement. Further, I am in favor of all people, regardless of race, creed, ethnic background, gender, or sexual orientation being treated fairly and equitably. As a woman I’ve faced way more discrimination and demeaning treatment than I would wish on anyone.

As a Christ-follower, however, I see two serious issues with the attitudes that can take root deeply in our psyche, when we allow democracy to go too far.

It’s Not About My Rights
First, as a Christ-follower, it’s not about my rights. It’s about Christ, having Him formed in me and living my life through Him.

When I read the Gospels, I don’t see Christ standing up for His rights. I don’t see Him demanding anything except a respect for and honoring of God. I know the moment that attitude rises up in me that says “what about my rights?” or “I deserve…” – I know that in that moment I’ve lost sight of Christ. Democracy has gone too far when it fosters the idea that my rights are superior to all else, when it causes me to have the default position that being wronged is an actionable offense.

I do not see that in Christ. I see Him laying down His life for His sheep. I see Him forgiving offenses and not keeping score (thankfully). I see Him taking the punishment I deserve and saying “I forgive you.” That ought to be my default position, not “I demand to be treated equal or I will take action to force you to do so.”

We have become an overly litigious society because we have allowed the world to convince us that our freedom is more important than our walk with Christ. That having my rights respected is more important than walking in forgiveness. Essentially, we have allowed the world to influence us to the point that we often establish “our rights” as our god. Lord forgive us.

We Live in a Kingdom
Secondly, when we live with the “democracy” mindset, it is very easy to forget that we live in a Kingdom that is ruled by a King. In our democracy, we live our lives from the perspective of organizing to get what we want (or at the very least arguing interminably to get what we want). It’s a perspective that wars against an attitude that says “here I am, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

As Christ-followers, we are not only children of the King, we are also subjects of the King. In the United States we struggle to understand the King/subject relationship because our very development as a nation plants in us the DNA not of a slave, but of independence – of one who glories in their freedom. Being independent is not a good quality for a Christ-follower. God wants us to be dependent on Him and it is a very hard practice to learn when everyone around us preaches independence and freedom. Yes, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1), but read the entire book – He has set us free – released us from the “curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13).

We live in a Kingdom, and in a Kingdom the King rules. I am thankful that I serve a loving, merciful, compassionate King. But I must regularly be reminded that I serve a King, and what He says and wants is far, far more important than what I want.

Final Words
Again, please do not read into this that I believe we should not work to improve our government or that we should not pursue equitable treatment for all. Let’s work hard, however, to follow Christ first, embracing His attitudes and purposes. The Apostle Paul put it this way:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
          Philippians 2:5-8

Lord, help us to stay Christ-focused in heart and mind and attitude.

God bless America.

Enjoy your 4th of July celebrations!