Nick’s Walk

. . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . . —Ephesians 1:18 How is the life of Jesus manifest in us? It is evidenced by how we live. How we deal with the adversity of life. How we are changed. You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out your own salvation” which God has worked in you already ( Philippians 2:12  ). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it “out”? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you. God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others. What is God trying to work through us this day? We can know it by the apparent adversity we face. How […]

. . . that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body —2 Corinthians 4:10 With God there is always more. We may have come to Him after we recognized what a mess we have made of our lives and we want a second chance. We may be concerned that our lives of sin have taken us so far away from Him that hell is our destination. It is certainly true that God wants to save us. He wants our lives to be better. He had a better plan for us than we did. He wants us to live with Him forever. But He wants more for us. “We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” – We skim over those parts of the gospels that talk about Christ in us and being part of His Body. Our eternal purpose begins now. It should have begun long ago. We are here for a purpose and that purpose is to manifest Christ […]

. . . strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men —Acts 24:16 I have no trouble getting to sleep at night. It’s a nightly battle for Rosemary. I tell her  the secret is a clear conscience. This irritates her to no end and is, of course, completely unfair on my part. She responds that for me it’s a lack of conscience, a bit tough on her part. The truth is conscience is subjective. It’s not the same for everyone, but it should be. Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? Much of the world is in trouble because it has accepted a lesser standard than God. […]

If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8 God seems to enjoy surprising us. We should never expect the expected. Rose and I have been looking forward to these days in New Orleans. She came down with a virus the first night and has not been able to leave the room. This has not been what we expected. It is not always easy to make “the best” out of what does come or to be as flexible as God apparently wants us to be.  We are certainly creatures of habit. We are comfortable with the expected. The unexpected throws us off our rhythm. We need to learn to love the excitement of the unexpected. It’s really a matter of our sense of control. We have habits because we like to be in control of our schedule as much as we like control of everything else.   Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We […]

. . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love —2 Peter 1:5, 7 I have love on the mind this morning. I awake in New Orleans with my wife celebrating our 40th anniversary by spending a couple of days in our favorite hotel. It is instructive to compare our love now, after 40 years, to our love back then. New love is clearly blind. Our euphoria over being in love overcomes our good sense. We can see only the positives and imagine that the feelings will last “forever.” Somehow I think that is all part of God’s wonderful plan. If we didn’t have those feelings and enthusiasm, if we weren’t blinded by “love” and naive in thinking things will stay the same forever, we would probably never commit to a lifetime with another. But as those “feelings” mature over the years, they become more permanent and, indeed, more wonderful. Our love grows deeper and becomes based less on physical things and more on the entire person, the wonder of the whole gift our partner is to us. Added to that are the wonderful generations of children, grand children and greats. It is as if the newness of […]

There is a division of labor in the Kingdom of Heaven. We cannot do what God does, and God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. Guess what: God always does His part. Us… not so much. We say we will “pray about it” or “do it when the time is right.” God’s instructions to us are clear enough. We need to make a move.  We had a great session of Fearless last night. Many of us who struggle with forgiveness were blessed. Many who struggle with it were not, because when God told them to be there, they were not.  God is prepared to totally equip us to be all that He would have us to be, for us to do all that He would have us do. If it’s not happening, it’s not Him.  There is always something God is telling us to do. There is always a next step in our walk with Him. Stop hesitating and take that […]

Today OC discusses the difference between being principled and having vision. It’s an incredible difference and one with which I am very familiar. Forty years ago I would say I was principled. I was a believer. I had attended seminary in high school. But I believed faith was a private thing, something between a man and his God. Then I met a little Baptist girl who over the last 40 years has taught me that the very nature of our faith is sharing and doing.   “People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything.” Every time Jesus always address His church in terms of action. “Go.” “Baptize.” “Make disciples.” The modern church has converted the faith into something you turn to in time of trouble, a institutionalized counselor. We go to church to gather and praise, not because He is worthy of praise but because doing it makes us feel better and gathering with “the saints” gives us increased security. We think people will just “show up” to learn about Him without being shown a different way or invited to come. What a strange notion of church.   “A person’s own idea of God and His […]

Because you have kept My command to persevere . . . —Revelation 3:10   At times OC can be a bit difficult to follow. On some days, I feel blessed if I can pull one thought from the reading. On other days, like today, the we should just read him exactly as written. “Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” ( Job 13:15  ).Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built […]