Nick’s Walk

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 […]

Jesus said to her, ’Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ —John 11:40 Some who call themselves people of faith, attempt to conform that faith to common sense. They  process scripture and the promises of God through the filter of common sense. The fact that such a process screens the miraculous from a life of faith, seemingly does not disturb them.  But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42 ). Christ does not call us to a spiritual life that reduces the life of faith by a factor of reality. We are called to test the limits of what we believe to be reality and discover the wonder of the really miraculous world that the child of God inherits. If we will but test our faith and trust in […]

. . . one of His disciples said to Him, ’Lord, teach us to pray . . .’ —Luke 11:1   Why would a disciple ask this question? Prayer was certainly known to these guys. Prayer was a part of the spiritual life in Israel before Jesus came. But not prayer like this. No one prayed like this Jesus prayed. For Him, prayer was more than just petitioning God, or even talking to God. For Jesus it was a life of communion between the Son and the Father. The disciples wanted what they saw in the life of their leader. “Lord, teach us to pray.” Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man.  Prayer like Jesus prayed is only possible for the renewed man, the born again child. Jesus could communicate with the Father because He was the Son. We can pray like Jesus, after we become children of the Father. But relationship is more than an incidence of birth, or rebirth. It requires work. A couple has a relationship after their marriage, but can’t base it only on the piece of paper. It requires time, focus and attention. We must nourish the relationship […]

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you . . . —John 12:35 There is nothing quite like the emptiness of a missed opportunity. There is no future in living in a world of “what ifs” and God is a god of second changes, yet we should  beware of not acting upon the moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” ( Matthew 6:23 ). It is tough to work out the wonder of salvation and sanctification in daily grinds of life.  If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can move from an intellectual Christianity to a Christian life and that’s where the blessings are. Nick