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. . . tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high —Luke 24:49 Why do we tarry? Come on. Admit it. We are tarrying. We know there are things we should be doing. We have marching orders and are not moving. Why do we tarry? The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” ( Acts 2:33 ). The statement in John 7:39 — “. . . for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness. So our tarrying is without excuse. Christ has commanded and equipped us. We need to make a move. Once we begin to […]

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35 Have you noticed how the deepest Christians shine the most in adversity. It’s as if Satan’s attempt to disrupt only emphasizes the truth that the Christian is inseparable from his Lord. It may be that Christians see more trouble because they are Christians. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there. “Shall tribulation . . . ?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you ( Matthew 13:22 ). Trouble allows His love for us to shine. Our weaknesses allow His strength to show.  We are who we are so others can see who He is. In the wreck of our lives, we arise and are blessed. Nick

If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9 What good thing do I have in my life as a result of my superior decision making, hard work or careful planning? If I am honest the answer is none. I have great gifts: a beautiful, loving wife, an incredible daughter, fantastic greats and grands. I can claim credit for none of these; each was and is a pure gift from God. Yet I continue to live as if my next decision or effort or thought will make all the difference. History teaches me it’s not significant. Whether I go right or left means considerably less than whether I go in faith believing that right or left is the direction He would have me go. A life of faith is a life of “allowing” God to make your choice for you. Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard […]

. . . do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on —Matthew 6:25 My post this morning was for Tomorrow’s Utmost. I was a bit ahead of myself. This is based on today’s Utmost. We need to note that over care for our lives is unbelief. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . .” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— “the cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22 ). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when I cannot see”— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit. We have a clear choice: have faith in God or put faith in ourselves and our ability to provide […]

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead —Revelation 1:17 Most of the time, God’s impact on our lives is subtle. We have to be alert to know that He is working. But if we know Him, if we are truly His, there will be times that He reveals Himself dramatically in His majesty. This results in what OC calls, the Delight of Despair. It is despair because it occurs at a point when only God can make things right; delight because He comes and does just that. The smaller everyday annoyances of life are there so that we will know His quiet, gentle touch on our lives. The big things, the tragedies have purpose as well; that we will know His very real, dramatic and hero-like interventions in our lives. “He laid His right hand on me . . .” ( Revelation 1:17 ). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, […]

. . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us . . . —John 17:21 Wednesday was the first day without Kaydence. She has begun her month with her father. The separation from her is painful. God created us to be in fellowship. With Him and with each other. Once a bond begins to form, whether it be with our natural family or our brothers and sisters in Christ, separation becomes painful. If we feel any pain or loneliness now, it’s because we are separated from the Father and union with Him is our ultimate purpose. It was Jesus’ prayer for us. It explains why, when we are His, we are never alone. In fact, we are in process of becoming permanently never alone, but one in Him and one with all of His children. It’s what makes the idea of the Christian Lone Ranger so ridiculous. It is also why our Father must be pained with some of our attitudes toward each other: racism, failure to care for the poor, widowed or imprisoned, simple lack of love of our neighbors. If […]

I am blessed in that it is unusual that I spend an entire long day on business. Yesterday I had to be in Houston for a 4 p.m. meeting. With travel there and back it was a long day with everything focused on a one hour meeting. As I spent most of the day driving, I was listening to a book, but essentially the entire day was focused on that one hour meeting. It did make me think how important our focus is. If our focus is right so will our priorities be right.  I wonder if I will ever get my priorities straight. Sometimes I think I am seeking first the Kingdom, and the next minute I know that I am not. In those times that I do seek Him first, I have peace and joy and when I don’t I have worry and concern. It seems I would make the connection and keep Him first always. But I don’t.  When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. “. . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . .” Even the most spiritually-minded […]

This is St. John’s Wort. It’s suppose to help control moods. We are obsessed about our moods. I have to admit that I tend to be controlled by my moods. My decisions to tackle projects require a certain mood. I don’t write well, without the mood (or is that the muse?) Moods affect my spiritual life as well: a mood for prayer or worship or service. I also know that moods should not control me. Praying about it isn’t enough. There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with […]