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He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38 The source of a river isn’t very impressive. Here’s the source of the mighty Mississippi. It’s hard to imagine this is the same body of water that we cross on that huge bridge as we enter Baton Rouge. Mighty things can start very small. A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .” ( John 6:29 ). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others. Water is a powerful force. It can be blocked for awhile but enough of it over enough time can overpower nearly any obstacle. A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an […]

Stay here and watch with Me —Matthew 26:38 For three years the disciples watched Jesus and were amazed. They were dazzled by miracles and challenged by His words. At the end of His walk on earth, the time for them to move from observation to participation was at hand.  We go through a similar process in our personal walks. We come to Christ through observation. We see Him working in the lives of others. We recognize the possibility that life through Him provides. We are like kids at Christmas filled with wonder; but at some point it’s time to participate, to step up to the plate. Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. It is significant that Christ called for others to “watch with me” at Gethsemane. For there, He completely sold out to His Father’s will. That’s what we must do. We can move to that level of commitment only with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that infills us at salvation, must […]

They were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . —John 17:6 Almost ever Christian at some time has thought about being a missionary.  Once we come to the Lord, something within us knows that we owe everything to Him and we want to pay back. Why don’t we act on this desire? Sometimes it’s because once we come to Christ we already have responsibilities and family and put off to “some day” our desire to respond. Other times, we simply are afraid of the kind of commitment that is required. All of this arises from a misconception of what a missionary is. A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ).  With this understanding, some of the “tough” scriptures come into a different focus. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” ( Luke 14:26 ). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one […]

He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord —2 Samuel 23:16 As we discussed yesterday, for there to be life tin us, there must be a flow of the living water through us. If it stays within us, it stagnates and, like the dead sea, can not support life. Further the flow from us must be “to the Lord.” Sometimes, we are willing to share the blessings we have been given, but we want to control the outflow. We want to determine to whom the blessings should go, when, and under what conditions. That is not the kind of flow Christ calls us to. We are to turn the hose over to the Lord. He is to determine the when, where and who of the outflow of our blessings. How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? It is an act of the will, a determination in my mind. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then […]

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow . . . —John 7:38 When Jesus spoke these words the disciples were well aware of the value of flowing versus non-flowing water. This is an image of the Dead Sea. The name ‘Dead Sea’ is actually a kinder, gentler translation from the Hebrew name ‘Yam ha Maved’, which means, ‘Killer Sea’.   The surface of the Dead Sea is over 1,300 feet below sea level. The very bottom of the sea, in the deepest part, is over 2,300 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea has some of the most saline water on earth; as much as 35% of the water is dissolved salts! That’s almost six times as salty as the ocean! The Dead Sea is completely landlocked and it gets saltier with increasing depth.  When Jesus spoke of “living waters” he was speaking of waters that flow. Waters that don’t flow contain no life. So it is with us, the significance of our lives is measured not by what we are given, or by what we retain, but by what flows through us.  “He who believes in Me . . . out […]

. . it is written, ’Be holy, for I am holy’ —1 Peter 1:16 Holiness is clearly out of style. Even at best we as Christian consider it something extra for “super” Christians who are, frankly, out of touch and with no real lives so they decide to be “holy.” Isn’t it enough to be “saved.” It would be nice to be holy, but is it really necessary? It is unpopular to preach about holiness. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness. Here’s the awful truth: Holiness is the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness.  Even if we can convince ourselves of the need to be holy, we can’t seem to believe that holiness is really possible. Certainly not in the world we live in. We don’t believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If we will surrender, we will see it can be. Can we face the ultimate truth: God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, […]

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full —John 15:11 There is a difference between joy and happiness and it’s important that we know the difference. Both are positive states but joy is direct and happiness is circumstantial. By circumstantial, I mean that it is the result of circumstances. Since happiness is the result of circumstances, it is dependent upon circumstances which, of course, can change and over which we have little control. But more than than that happiness is affected by our perception of circumstances. So there is a subjective element to happiness. Two people in the same circumstances may be experiencing different levels of happiness depending on their attitude and perception of those circumstances.  Joy, on the other hand, is a direct state. It flows from the residence of Christ within us.  Because of that it is not dependent on anything but His presence. Since He promises His presence to be real and permanent so too is joy: real and permanent. That’s why it surpasses understanding. Not only because it can exist in the midst of trying circumstances, but because it doesn’t require our […]

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven —Luke 10:20 It seems to me that men seem to judge relationship by action: what one does for another. Women judge relationship by some other, to me, less concrete, standard. I wish I understood it better because it seems to be closer to the standard that Jesus uses. In this verse, Jesus Christ is saying: “Don’t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.” The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service— rejoicing in the fact that God has used you.  It’s an understandable trap. Today in his sermon, our Pastor marveled that it was Thomas, the doubter, who traveled further than any other, to India,  to bring the good news. It’s so much easier to measure the service than the relationship expressed when Thomas addressed Christ, “My Lord and My God.” The problem is actions or service are not always pure. We do things for a variety of reasons and we have varying success in our doing of them. But from […]