Merry Christmas...

This week is the anniversary of the day that changed the world like none other. Nothing has so affected our planet as the coming of Jesus the Christ.

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
~Isaiah 9:6-7
What intrigues me today is the phrase about the increase of His government and peace having no end. Limit-less favor and unending grace. It’s hard to fathom that Christ desires to pour favor into our lives and families forever. His blessings that are new every morning have no conclusion…if we will allow it. It saddens me to think of the millions around us who’ve never learned to rely upon the limitless blessings of Christ. They are a prayer away from becoming deeply enriched by the same one that enriched the world 2000 years ago. It moves me to help others reach for the spirit of Christ. Oh I how depend upon His daily favor. Oh how it changes me. I wish you and yours a most favored day. And tomorrow…more…much more of the same. Because of Christ…Merry Christmas! ~verlon

All About Favor...

I love this time of the year. The Christmas story is soul-deep and soul-stirring. I've been thinking about the messages the angels gave during the time of advent. To Mary the angel said...

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." ~Luke 1:28

And to the shepherds who were being invited to the incarnation, the angels said...

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." ~ Luke 2:13-14

It is just so fascinating to me that the message God instructed His angels to proclaim during the introduction of His son was one of peace and good will. Christ's coming was all about peace and good will for every person on the planet. Thus, all of our present dealings with Him continue to be ALL ABOUT FAVOR! ~Verlon

Mis-spent Emotions...

We get emotional about many things. We get irritated at traffic, angry when things don't go our way at work, and concerned about money issues. We spend our emotions on many things every day of our lives. Even the passive people are feeling many things inside of them, though they may not show it outwardly. Here is a time when God directed one mans emotions...

"Then God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry because the plant died? You feel sorry about the plant, but Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" ~Jonah 4:9-11

When we read this verse from a divine perspective its easy to see that Jonah's emotions were being expressed disproportionate to the actual needs. He was spending his frustration on a plant dying, and being heartless about the thousands of people dying all around him. The grand point of the book of Jonah was God showing what is truly worthy of passion and compassion. It is people! Especially people who are living in darkness; they deserve our primary passion and attention. It is easy for us to get so wrapped up in things that are immediately affecting us that we MIS-SPEND OUR EMOTIONS. ~Verlon

Rethink Our Spirituality...

Most of us have an idea of what constitutes good spirituality. Scripture reading, prayer, church attendance, and worship are probably on most people's lists. But take a look at this divine reaction...

"Away with your noisy hymns of praise! Instead I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." ~Amos 5:23-24

Perhaps our ideas of Christian expression aren't as aligned with scripture as we think. I read one author who stated, "does it disturb you that most of the things we do in Christianity today aren't found on any of the pages of scripture?" That is a interesting observation. Our Lord has communicated in scripture what He is looking for. In this verse He wants to see His people engaged in actions that are making wrong things 'right'. Further He wants to see His people restoring justice to those who can't do it for themselves - the oppressed. In Isaiah 58 He states that He is not looking for those who are fasting nearly as much as He is looking for those who are helping the poor find bread. Don't get me wrong, great worship services and prayerful fasting have their place, but perhaps they are not on the same level as lifting up the poor and oppressed. We all need to stop once in a while and align our expressions of Christianity to what our Lord has actually requested in scripture. There is a time to RETHINK OUR SPIRITUALITY. ~Verlon

Secret To Love in a Nutshell...

Where does love come from?...And how can we get more of it in our lives? Those are two questions we can all appreciate. We know that love makes many things work better in our lives, but we can't just produce it as an activity of human will, can we? We know God is the author of love, but does that mean we should just pray for it? Here is an interesting insight...

"Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love...now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you." ~Hosea 10:12

Having large doses of love show up in our lives is the result of something - Righteousness! That word doesn't get much air time in our day, but it is actually a phrase that the Kings English crammed together. It actually reads, 'Right - ways - ness'. That helps our understanding of the term. Scripture is filled with many 'ways' that mankind should go. Interestingly enough, seemingly disconnected 'ways' produce an outcome of love in our lives. Go figure! When layers upon layers of 'right ways' are occurring over and over again, it produces love in a persons life, in their family, and among their neighbors. Those most likely to find these 'ways' are those who seek the 'ways' of the Lord as their first priority. And those are the same people who find themselves becoming showered with 'right-way-thoughts' and 'right-way-plans' and 'right-way-words' and 'right-way-actions'. And that is the SECRET TO LOVE IN A NUTSHELL! ~Verlon

Grab On To Trust...

Have you ever felt greed creeping up inside of you? I'm sure you have; it's common to man. While it feels powerful and justified, it always leads to a dark place.

"Greed causes fighting; trusting the Lord leads to prosperity." ~Proverbs 28:25

Some people have been friends with greed for so long they don't even recognize it in themselves. It motivates some to be work-a-holics, some to pay the price for certain kinds of success, and others to be outright mean as they insist on their self-centered agenda's. But one thing for sure - it always leads to conflict. You'd think that to deal with greed we'd need to dismiss our desires and wants. Surprisingly, that is not the solution. That just leaves us with nothing and no plan with which to improve our situation. The better way to look at greed is to realize it is a symptom revealing that something is missing in our lives. To restore that something causes greed to dissipate. That something is trust. When we are trusting our Lord with everything in our lives, greed no longer makes sense. Greed only has a job when we think it is up to us to make our own way in this life. Trust is a completely different paradigm - a different world view. When we trust, we are anticipating that the daily blessings and the promised favor of the Lord will flow into our lives. So the next time we feel the pangs of greed whelming up inside of us, perhaps it's time to once again GRAB ON TO TRUST! I am pretty sure we are going to like that outcome much better. ~Verlon

Best Form of Stress Management...

There is plenty of pressure and stress in days like these. Not enough time, not enough money, and not enough people to help are just a few of the stressors that are common to man. How do you handle these stresses when they begin to a boil in you? Here is an interesting insight...

"As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands." ~Psalm 119:143

Have you ever thought about using joy to deal with stress? Joy is quite different than happiness. Happiness is a by-product of favorable 'happenings', thus 'happiness'. But joy is something that flows into the human spirit from the Divine Himself. When we tune our ear toward Christ's daily plans and engage in those plans, something wonderful occurs. Pure undefiled joy begins to pour into our souls and literally overwhelms stress and pressure. I don't know about you, but I find Christ's daily plans for me and His daily infusions of joy to be my BEST FORM OF STRESS MANAGEMENT! ~Verlon

Pondering The Love Of God...

Following the leadership of the Lord can be hard at times. Especially when we feel He is saying 'no' to something we really want, or advising us to engage in something when we really don't want to engage in. These are the times when we most want to wrestle the control of our lives away from Him. So, how do we strengthen our resolve to follow Him no-matter-what?

"I reflect at night on who you are, O Lord; therefore, I obey your instructions". ~Psalm 119:55

This was David's secret of followership. He meditated upon God's trustworthiness in the evenings when he was falling asleep, so he would be more prone to follow the still small voice of God during the days. This is brilliant! The loud voice of self-will is going to show up in all of us - in the heat of the moment. If we haven't filled up our awareness of God's deep and abiding love for us in the night, it will overwhelm us. Is it possible that we can overwhelm the voice of self-will before it overwhelms our desire to hear and follow our Lord? When I take time to reflect on my Lord it doesn't take long before I am thinking about His great love for me and the purity of His motivations for my life. He is worthy of our trust in His leadership! Perhaps it is the wisest use of our evenings - PONDERING THE LOVE OF GOD! ~Verlon

Spirit Of Courage...

Most of us do not realize how much the Lord wants us to live our lives with boldness and courage. One of the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel, once had a vision in which he saw God's dream temple. In this vision he walked through the temple while an angel pointed out the different parts. When he got to the inner room there were carvings on the walls of cherubim with two faces looking in opposite directions. This is what they looked like...

"One face - that of a man. The other face - that of a young lion." ~Ezekiel 41:19

Interesting imagery. What do you think that meant? My sense is that God has long desired for all of his children to have the lion-like nature of His Spirit infused into us. We have invited the Spirit of Christ to live in us, and in so doing we have invited the 'Lion of Judah'. Simply stated, we have a lion-like nature stirring within us. Each one of us can express a boldness and courage that is far greater than our personalities when we need to. Somewhere in our souls God has welded us to His SPIRIT OF COURAGE! ~Verlon

The Unshakable Kingdom...

It is common to feel uncertain and unstable...like we are walking on thin ice. Money shortfalls, relational conflicts, job uncertainties, and many other disruptions create these kinds of anxieties in us. This is why scripture often referred to mankind as sheep, because nervousness is a sheep's most common trait. But we have been invited into something this is quite different than the nervous world we are accustomed to...

"Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful..." ~Hebrews 12:28

Christ's world is not like our world. His strong soul is quite different than our tentative soul. Some people have a hard time making the shift. They receive Christ into their life, but they maintain their nervous soul. Truly you and I have have been granted the opportunity to leave our fickle and uncertain and unstable emotions behind. We have been invited into THE UNSHAKABLE KINGDOM! ~Verlon

The Ways Of Wisdom...

We live in a place and time where most people assume the path to wisdom is through teaching. It is interesting to me how scripture seems to perceive it differently.

"All who obey His commandments will grow in wisdom." ~Psalm 111:10

Wisdom is the result of following the leadership and counsel of our Lord. While scripture clearly values teaching as perhaps a way to gain knowledge, it is not the same thing as gaining wisdom. Wisdom is deeper! Wisdom is more than the by-product of our reasoning. Wisdom is the actual thoughts of God literally pouring into us and through us into our situations. That wonderful ability is only learned by putting our feet in the footsteps of Christ, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. In this way we observe the ways of our Lord over and over again. In this manner of walking we learn THE WAYS OF WISDOM! ~verlon

Counsel Means Peace...

When I was younger I struggled with the idea of the will of God. I think I was concerned that His plans might cancel some of my plans. Beyond that I didn't like the idea of someone other than me being in control of me. It is funny how things change. Over time I simply became warn out by the results of my planning. It wasn't always that my plans were bad or sinful, but they simply wore me out for reasons I couldn't even explain. Simply put, exhaustion is the point when many people are ready to learn about the wonderful connection between God's plans and our rest. Well at least that was true of me. Look at this verse...

"The wise counsel God gives when I'm awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart." ~Psalms 16:7

When we know that God is speaking to us as we walk through our day, and we are paying close attention to Him...there is rest for us that night. This is true with amazing consistency. Even if things in our life are upside down, the restful result awaits. And that is good to know because all of us will have plenty of upside down seasons! During these challenging chapters we usually find good sleep hard to come by, UNLESS the words of God are flowing freely into us and over our situation. Thats a game changer. Now there is restfulness when there shouldn't be. I love the words and the plans and the will of God because COUNSEL MEANS PEACE! ~verlon

Make Sense Of It...

It’s hard to know what lens we are viewing our life through. Most people seldom consider that they have a perspective that has been shaped by their history and that perspective sits on their faces like a pair of glasses. Everyone views the world and their life’s events through a very particular set of glasses. The question then, “is that perspective accurate”? David, the great kind of Israel, realized that his perspective was incapable of rightly interpreting the events occurring around him. Here is one of his famous prayers to God…
“Without you, nothing makes sense.” ~Psalms 16:2
The wise person admits that they have a certain pair of glasses on their eyes by which they view everything around them. And the doubly wise person admits that their glasses don’t explain everything accurately. So, the ‘doubly wise’ invite God’s perspective to trump their own on a regular basis. The technical word for this is ‘epistemology’, and it means how we derive knowledge. People who don’t keep an ear toward heaven only have two sources of knowledge, 1)their experiences and 2)others experiences. But for those who have turned an ear toward heaven, they have a third source of epistemology, the insight of God Himself. This is called wisdom, discernment, and the ‘hearing prayer’. There are many things that will occur in our lives this month in which only by hearing from heaven can we MAKE SENSE OF IT! ~verlon

Now...

It is easy to get into a rhythm of life and start to assume that tomorrow will be much the same as today. Often this is true. But sometimes there comes a change moment. A moment when God shifts the gears and speeds our life off in a different direction…
“Don’t eat yeast bread…for seven day seat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry – that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt.” ~Deut. 16:3
The nation of Israel served as slaves for over 400 years. Each day they got up and did the same thing as they had done the day before. Then Moses was sent to them and things changed. In fact, after a few weeks of him being there an announcement rang out that the whole nation was to get ready because they would be moving out very quickly and with a very short notice. They were told that when the call to pick up and move out would be so sudden they wouldn’t even have time for their bread to rise before they baked it. That is exactly what happened. When God was ready to move them out, it was so sudden that they only had time to cook bread for themselves that could be done quickly. Yeast-less bread became a sign for them that is celebrated annually even to this day. It serves as a reminder that when God is ready to make changes in our lives, it can happen quickly. I wonder how good we are at hearing God say ‘NOW’? ~verlon

Another Blessing...

God promises blessings for us every day. He is generous beyond comprehension, to be sure. However, scripture speaks of other kinds of blessings that He dispenses in response to things we do. Here’s an example…
“When you happen on someone who’s in trouble, don’t look the other way. Don’t keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse. Don’t listen to that selfish voice. The way you handle matters like this triggers God’s blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures.” ~Deut. 15:7,8,10
The poor and needy will always be among us. The Old Testament predicted this and Jesus restated it. This then becomes a place where our Lord pays special attention, not only because of His love for them but also to see how His children will respond. Will we respond in a self-protecting way or will we respond in the likeness of our Father? Somehow that is an important divine question that is being monitored about each of us. I notice the words above to not look away, but rather to look at them in their need. Most poor people feel dehumanized because others look away. When we look at them, talk to them, get their name, and hear their need, they are validated and welcomed back into the brotherhood of man again. That by itself is very healing. Beyond that, if we have can help, even a little, it speaks to their worth. When we respond to the poor in the likeness of the God-family, ANOTHER BLESSING AWAITS. ~verlon

Heal The Ache...

Walking with God takes us many places. In fact, if we are committed to keeping up with Him, we will walk where He wants to walk. Look at this place in society where the timeless God has always shown up…
“Into the hovels of the poor, into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks: ‘I’ve had enough, I’m on my way to heal the ache in the heart of the wretched’.” ~Psalms 12:5
God has a special eye for those who are at the bottom. Further He has poured His healing into that corner of society. Healing happens most where the need is greatest. Jesus modeled the same thing and spent a great deal of his time healing and breathing life into the poor. When the Pharisee’s questioned him about eating with the slaves; He simply responded that it was the sick who need a doctor, not the healthy. In other words, He was again representing His Father by showing up with the poor with healing in His hands. Here’s my point: if we want to walk closely with God we will at times go places and be with people who are at the bottom. And when we get there we will see the healing flow of Christ like we’ve probably never seen before. It will actually flow right out of our own hands. Our merciful God has always had an eye for the poor. And He has always hoped that His sons and daughters would go with Him to help HEAL THE ACHE. ~verlon

Right By Us...

Many people fear letting God have full control of their lives. Some fear because they think they won’t get to do what they want if God is calling the shots. Others fear because God might ask them to sacrifice too much. These fears and others are put to rest once we truly know what God is all about.
“God’s business is putting things right”. ~Psalms 11:7
I heard it said that the very best outcome in any given situation is to act on God’s will. God is great at bringing about the best outcomes because He is in the business of doing right things for us and everyone around us. God is in the ‘right’ business. Once we understand that, following His cues and acting on His directions gets easier. While we might not always understand it at first, God will always do RIGHT BY US! ~Verlon

Deep Reverence...

It’s easy to over time start taking people for granted. We get used to them being there and used to their loyalty and appreciation starts to dull. When this happens our heart must be refocused on how valuable they are to us. This same tendency exists in our relationship with Christ. When the drift starts, we need to take some steps to re-value our salvation…
“Make an offering of 10%, a tithe, of all the produce which grows in your fields year after year. In this way you will learn to live in deep reverence before God.” ~Deut. 14:22, 23
Did you know that the original purpose of the tithe was to maintain appreciation for God in a consistent way? Our money actually establishes what we value. If we spend a lot of money on a car we will be quite upset if someone takes a baseball bat to it. On the other hand if we buy a rusted out junker, we might take a baseball bat to it ourselves just for fun. Our money actually establishes what we value and are willing to get emotional over. Our heart follows our money! This is true of every relationship too. If we are taking our spouse for granted, it’s probably time to spend some serious coin on them. They are worth it and our heart needs to be reminded of that. When we give offerings to the work of Christ, suddenly our respect for Him and His mission soars. Simply stated, our heart will never maintain a profound sense of worship for Christ if we aren’t digging deep from time to time. DEEP REVERENCE is a result of giving! ~Verlon

Welcome To The Family Sutter...

This last Thursday evening, our daughter Courtnay, gave birth to an 8lb. boy. His name is Sutter West Phillips. This makes Melodee and me grandparents for the 2nd time. We’re getting old! Momma and baby are home and doing great, and dad is already making plans to get that kid on a tractor. In fact, Tyler already bought him a John Deere hat. Pretty cool stuff. We couldn’t be happier that God has entrusted another one to our tribe. I speak blessing and favor and goodness into this young life. And I am so glad we can expect the attentiveness of the Lord upon him. ~Verlon

A Safe-House...

I have noticed something about myself, that if I have an answer to something I am not all that frustrated when challenges come my way. If I know how to fix something, it is not all that bothersome when it breaks. I get really irritated however, if something is broken and I have no way to repair it. Have you stopped to count up how many fixes our faith provides for us?
“God is a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive, you relax; you’re never sorry you knocked.” ~Psalms 9:9-10
When things get bad, no problem, we have someplace we can run. When temptation presses against us, no problem, we have a Savior. When sickness visits us, no problem, we have a Healer. When finances become lean, no problem, we have a provider. This is the real stuff of faith, that we have real places to run. And it is a good thing, because life intersperses the sun with some rain and some irritations amidst the blessings. I don’t know about you, but I can deal with the challenges so long as I remember that God has provided a place for me to run if things get too hairy. I have A SAFE-HOUSE! So do you. ~Verlon

New Will...

Status quo is a powerful thing. Status quo is memorized patterns of life that shape our daily actions. What we set out to do each day is shaped by our understanding of what works for us…the status quo. This is usually helpful because it allows us to establish rhythms. However, there is one instance when the status quo becomes our enemy…when God wants to move us to a new chapter.
“Don’t continue doing things the way we’re doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish.” `Deut. 12:8
Through scripture we see numerous ‘new seasons’ where God called men and women to change what they were doing and step into a new plan. In this verse God was instructing the nation of Israel to stop what they were used doing and take on a new set of actions because they were now in route to their promise land. We too have new chapters show up in our lives. And true to form, God asks us to stop doing what we are used to doing and take on a new set of actions because we are now on a new road. It is interesting how difficult it is to give up our memorized ways of doing our lives. Status quo is good for maintaining momentum, but it is a terrible friend in times of change. It is precisely at these moments when our daily habits work against the new chapter God has for us. And it is precisely at this time when we need to loudly acknowledge that God has instituted a ‘NEW WILL’ for us to follow and boldly make changes in our daily schedules. ~Verlon

He Speaks Heart...

We naturally adjust the way we talk to others. When we are with someone who talks fast, we speed up. When with someone who is slow and methodical, we tone it down. Some people prefer direct conversation, so we become more direct with them. Others are poetic, still others are jokesters, and then there are the philosophers. All of us find ourselves drifting toward the ‘talk styles’ of others just a bit in order to communicate with them. But how do we talk with God?
“Keep your mouth shut and let your heart do the talking. Build your case before God and wait for his verdict.” ~Psalms 4:5
Here the psalmist give an insight he learned about prayer – God speaks to the heart and He wants us to speak back to him from the heart. Talking about passion, dreams, fears, emotions, and frustrations might not be the first thing on your talking list, but it is first on God’s. The more we grasp this the more we understand prayer. The more we do this the more we understand ourselves. And the more we know our own spirits the more we hear the Spirit of God. HE SPEAKS HEART! ~Verlon

Ruthlessly...

We live in a civilized time. On top of that we live in a politically correct part of the world. All of this is good and makes for neighbors to get along with each other. There is a down-side however. It’s possible for us to lose our ability to confront the things that are trying to destroy our lives…
“Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines…” ~Deut. 12:2
The people of Israel served Jehovah, and yet they were surrounded by people who worshipped many false gods. Sometimes these false gods found their way into Israel’s world and they erected sacred shrines in the hills and small towns. God instructed His people to tear down these idol worship stations whenever they found them with great energy and determination. This is exactly what Gideon did right before he bravely led his army of 350 to attack an Midianite army of over 100,000. He won that battle by the way. But first he tore down an idol that his own father had erected in their family compound. Idols and false god’s weaken us. That’s why our God wants us to tear them down, He wants us strong. In this present day idols are less icon-like, so they’re harder to recognize. But anything that we depend on and give more desire to than God is an idol. Money, fame, power, sex, drunkenness, houses, hobbies, sports, etc., have all become weakening idols for otherwise good people. When these desires begin to outpace our desire for God and His plans, it’s time to muster our determination and tear them down…RUTHLESSLY! ~Verlon

Surrounded...

We are greatly affected by our expectations. If we expect people to be selfish with us, we will find it. However if we expect people to be kind to us, we will find that too. The greater impacts however, come from what we expect from God. If we expect Him to be aloof, then every time we feel alone we blame it on God being distant. But if we expect Him to be attentive to us, then we find extended moments every week where we feel His presence pursuing us. Here’s an ‘expectation’ verse…
“Real help comes from God. Your blessing clothes your people!” ~Psalms 3:8
Here the Psalmist revealed his expectation of God. He perceived the blessing of God to be so prevalent that it actually wrapped around him like clothes. Could we ever have such an expectation? It is a wonderful thing to expect the blessings and favor of God. It is even more wonderful when we expect those blessings to actually wrap around us on all sides. But that is how God’s blessings work. Gods favor actually SURROUNDS US! The only question is, can we learn to expect that? ~Verlon

Worth The Obsession...

Everything that is important to us can lose its luster if we don’t nurture it. Even the love we feel for those close to us will grow cold if we do not stir up that love consistently. The same can be true for something as wonderful as the gospel…
“Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.” ~Deut. 11:18-19
In this verse God gave ‘stir-up’ instructions to the people of Israel so they wouldn’t lose their closeness to Him. It is clear that He wanted them to obsess on the divine relationship…talk about it…remember it…restate it…over and over…all day long. Why? Because that is what humanity needs to maintain their focus on the ‘God-World’. Otherwise we’ll just drift back to the world we can see with our eyes and explain with our minds. And the spiritual wonders will drift away from our attention and expectations. We need to take this lesson to heart in this day too. The gospel of Christ is an amazing and wonderful thing that enriches everyone it touches in unspeakable ways. But if we don’t keep talking about it and restating it and stirring it up in our souls, we will soon start to take it for granted, it will drift away, and its great power to strengthen us will wane. Trust me when I say, it’s WORTH THE OBSESSION! ~Verlon

His Inheritance...

It is an impossible task to even imagine what God’s life must be like. But every once in a while scripture gives us the open door to try. In His desire for relationship with us He reveals some of His world so we can walk with Him.
“They are your people still, your inheritance whom you powerfully and sovereignly rescued.” ~Deut. 9:29
This verse gives us an interesting glance at God’s future hopes. Look at the word ‘inheritance’. Moses stated this to God in a prayer and called us, the people of earth, God’s inheritance. When you think of it, God made all and owns all, so what could be left for Him to inherit? Only us. The idea of God inheriting man was clearer in the culture of bible days. In the centuries that followed Christ’s life, if a slave wanted to be free he had the right to work hard and save up money to buy his freedom. When he had enough money he would go to the temple with his slave owner and pay the owner in the presence of the priest. The owner would then sign over the slave to God, making the slave property of God and God only from then on. This was called ‘sacral manumission’. The slave was then free to live his life as he believed God would want. In this way the understanding of man being God’s inheritance was reinforced daily. We need to embrace this understanding again in our day. Something wonderful happens to the person who becomes God’s inheritance! They become treasured and valued and cared for. We are HIS INHERITANCE! ~Verlon

Pleasing Themselves...

Much of our life is spent in intersections. It is here that life paths are selected that will affect us for a long time. It is here that one actually determines their future of happiness or frustration.
“You’re one happy man when you do what is right. They only cared about pleasing themselves in that desert. He gave them exactly what they asked for – but along with it they got an empty heart.” ~Psalms 106: 3,14,15
This scripture well defines the age-old intersections of the soul. This intersection looked the same for the people in God heading toward the promised land as it does for us today. Looking one way is the direction of ‘right’! When we consider that option we somehow ‘know it’ in the depths of our soul. Looking the other way is the option of ‘want’. This direction is so self-serving that it makes our heart lunge for it. One of the great lessons of humanity is studying all those before us who grabbed for the option of ‘want’. This verse not only reveal the intersection between ‘right’ and ‘want’, but it also reveals the emotional results that follow. The one who chooses ‘right’ ends up with a happy heart, while the one who chooses ‘want’ ends up with an empty heart. It’s an interesting side-effect. You’d think if we got what we wanted we’d be happy. Not so. I wonder how many people are holding an empty heart at night and don’t realize it is because they spent their days only PLEASING THEMSELVES? ~Verlon

Unusual and Unexplainable...

It is easy to reduce God down to someone we can understand. The reason we do this is predictability. We want to have a sense of control of the way God will show up and when. But when we do this it forces God to live in a very small world, one that our 3 lb. brains can keep up with. God actually lives in a very big world and He invites us to go there with Him. But most of us struggle with that invite. Look at this verse…
“Then He fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about,” ~Deut. 8:3
Here Israel got a lesson in the unexplainable. They were travelling through the wilderness toward their promised land and were out of food. They were hungry, hot, and grumpy. Then one morning they woke up to white bread-like flakes all over the ground. It cooked up much like bread. This continued every morning for the entire time they were on their journey. It just fell out of the sky. It was miraculous. It had never happened before in human history. This was something totally new and out-of-the-box. The point is, God has many ways to provide for us that are UNUSUAL AND UNEXPLAINABLE. The question is, can we find rest in that? ~Verlon

Raise His Voice...

Many individuals don’t like the idea that God might get angry with them. But there is a very close association between love and anger. Look at this verse…
“All you saints, sing your hearts out to God! Thank Him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love.” ~Psalms 30:4
Notice the close correlation between anger and love. I am not speaking of violent and demeaning anger; rather the kind of anger that makes one react when their partner or friend is destructing themselves or the relationship. I would say that if there isn’t the potential of anger in a relationship then there is not real love. If one of my children kept walking out in the road where trucks speed by, there would come a time when I would get angry at them for continuing to put themselves in harms way. After-all, I don’t want them to become horribly injured. I want them to be in my life all of our days. If I never got angry with them when they were doing harmful things, it would suggest I didn’t care enough about them to fight for their safety and blessing. God loves us so much that He want us free from destruction. He wants to walk with us and enjoy us as we have a great life together. So what if He does get a bit worked up if we play fast and lose with destructive elements? It means He loves us enough and is pulling for our best enough to RAISE HIS VOICE AT US when we consider harmful paths. ~Verlon

A Lineage of Love...

Many people attribute things to God other than loyal love, even Christians. It is not that they doubt God is love, it is just they expect other things from Him more. However, it is not consistent with His history to be framed any other way…
“…God, on His part will keep the covenant of loyal love He made with your ancestors: He will love you, He will bless you, He will increase you.” ~Deut. 7:12-13
The first covenant has gotten a bad rap. This is occurred because the New Testament covenant is based on grace more than obedience, but the Old Testament covenant was a pretty special and generous thing. The above verse reveals God’s part of the Old Testament covenant, and it was based on His promise to pour loyal love upon us. Maybe we need to take a step back and realize that God has always engaged us with His unfailing love. If this is true even back in the hard-hitting Old Testament days, how much more true in these present days. Our God-family has a long standing heritage of loyal love and blessing and increase. We get this generous love stuff….it’s in our DNA. Ours is A LINEAGE OF LOVE! ~Verlon

With Great Energy...

It is common for people to view God as passive in the way He involves Himself on the earth. When God does show up and do something it is usually considered rare and treated like a miracle. What I actually see in scripture is a God who is very attentive and active on the earth. Here is a new favorite verse of mine…
“He spread apart the heavens and came down with a dark cloud under his feet. ~Psalms 18:9
In some of the earlier versions of the bible this verse is actually says ‘He rent the heavens…”. In other words, God was so motivated to get to earth that He tore down the walls of heaven in His haste to get here. This is an awesome picture of God; one we need to meditate on for a while. Know this, God is not passive in the way He comes to us. He is not passive in the way He shows up for you either. He watches, He protects, He pursues, He loves and He rushes to us when we need Him…WITH GREAT ENERGY. ~Verlon

For Paislee...

Yesterday was our first granddaughter’s first birthday. What a package she is. She is only 20 some lbs., but already she is the center of the universe…at least our universe. There is an interesting emotion coming out of me as a grandfather that is different than anything I have ever experienced. It has to do with breathing favor upon her life and momentum into her days. I think I now understand Rembrandt’s famous painting of the old man Simeon holding up the Christ-child in the temple and speaking a blessing over Him. Simeon had been waiting for that moment for years. And now was his moment to breathe blessing and favor into the life of the infant Savior. While our granddaughter is not called to be the Savior of the world, she is called to something great. And like Simeon, this is my moment, to breathe the winds of God’s blessing and favor into her life, that they will blow constantly at her back, that she will walk the path God has prepared for her with focus and courage. So, here is a blessing for Paislee on her first birthday…
“But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find Him if you’re serious, looking for Him with your whole heart and soul”. ~Deuteronomy 4:29
Dearest Paislee, may you never struggle to feel the presence and leadership and unfailing love of our Lord…all of you days…because He is paying attention to your every moment and every need. ~Grandpa V

A Whole Life...

There is a thinking flaw in American culture, that if we pull pieces of our lives from many sources we will have a whole life. So we put together our careers, then our living neighborhoods, then our friends, then our hobbies, then our church, then our favorite restaurants, then our doctors and dentists, then our vacation spots, then sports ideas for our kids, all with the idea that when we get everything ‘pulled together’ we will have a full life. I am afraid what we end up with is a tired life. But what’s the better approach?
“The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.” ~Psalms 19:7
Is it really possible for us to let God to pull our lives together? According to this verse and its many cousin verses, God is funneling enough information toward us to build our lives by His plans and His time-tables. It’s interesting to me that the real path to wholeness isn’t exactly the American way. Truth be told it is not within our skill-set to build a whole life. We just can’t see the whole picture and the cause and effects of eternal issues. Wholeness is a gift from God! He is trying to breathe it into us every day. One of the great side-effects of walking lock-step with Christ is…we end up with A WHOLE LIFE! ~Verlon

Do-Overs...

Sometimes life gets all messed up and the pressure mounts and we react to things all wrong. Often we get mad and frustrated and say things that hurt people, and then we feel bad and so wish we could turn back the clock. Does this sound familiar? This is a great time to remember that God gives chapter breaks…
“Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be, you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean”. ~Psalm 32:1
I am so thankful that I can have fresh starts and all that I did wrong can get wiped clean. I have noticed however, that for some this is only a theory and they struggle to actually receive the fresh starts that are inherent in their salvation. Some are perfectionists and because their behaviors were less then perfect they just can’t let themselves off of the hook and step into a new chapter. Others have such a low view of themselves they can’t believe they deserve a clean slate and won’t engage in a new day. Still others are so proud that they can’t bring themselves to admit that they’ve made a mess of things and so they arrogantly stay in their situation no matter how smelly it might be. Then there are those who have come to the conclusion that real life only serves up mangled chapters and they don’t expect anything different. Do any of these sound familiar? Is there honestly any good reason for not stepping into a new chapter that our salvation provides for? For those who walk with Christ, we can have as many fresh starts and DO-OVERS as we need! ~Verlon

Ready To Listen...

One of the great delusions the enemy of our soul promotes upon the earth is that God is so busy running the big universe that He doesn’t meddle in the little details of our lives. Nothing could be further from the truth…
“What other great nation has gods that is intimate with them the way God is with us, always ready to listen to us?” ~Deut. 4:7
Even in the Old Testament, with it’s rules and regulations based covenant, God was perceived by all as being very attentive. How much more in this day, in the day of the covenant of grace, will we witness our God being attentive? And yet when the chips are down and the bills are larger than the balance in our checking account, many people feel very alone in their plight. Truth is God is watching us very closely and in those challenging times He already has ten ways to fix it and already is pushing one of them into place, even before we ask. There is no God like our God. There is no path as wonderful as the Christ-path. Many on this earth are quick to take their problems to professional people, to savings accounts, to alcohol, to taro cards, to their wit and skill and winsome personalities. But there is no place to run that is as presence filled as to Christ Himself. Christ’s people enjoy divine presence like no other people on the earth. It has been true through the ages that no one is as READY TO LISTEN as our God! ~Verlon

What Do You Expect?...

I have a funny memory of sitting across the table at a restaurant from Melodee some years ago. She had ordered a coke to drink and I had ordered a milk. When the drinks came I was watching her glass of coke as I took a drink of my milk. As soon as the milk got into my mouth I immediately spit it out, because for some reason I was expecting to taste coke too. The milk was perfectly good, but my expectation made it wrong, so I spit it out. The point? Our expectations are powerful things and have a strong impact on how we feel about what’s happening.
“Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect God to get here soon” ~ Psalms 31:24
This is a wonderful little Psalm that shows us how to set our expectations of God correctly. What do you expect from God? If you are expecting Him to be too busy running the universe than to show up and help you with your problems then when He, being true to Himself, does show up you’ll spit out His help. Or if you are expecting Him to be angry with you for every misdeed then when He, being true to Himself, shows up with unconditional love you’ll spit it out as underserved. But…if you expect God to pay attention to you and show up when you need Him, then when He does you’ll welcome His presence and His rescue plans. It’s a wonderful thing when someone learns to set their expectations of God correctly. So, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? ~Verlon

He's Doing Something...

We tend to be very self-centric. I’m not talking about being selfish, though selfishness can be one of it’s symptoms. Rather I’m thinking about the pressure that the self-centric approach to life puts on us to make our life happen. Where is there room for God to initiate things???
“Then God said to me, ‘Look, I’ve got the ball rolling…Sihon and his land are soon yours. Go ahead, take it’.” ~Deut. 2:31 [MSG]
Here God was speaking to Moses about what He was setting up for Israel. It’s clear that Moses had absolutely nothing to do with this plan, except to enter into it once God pointed it out. It was God and God alone that ‘got the ball rolling’ for them. God has always been at work in the earth. Our faith tells us that He is always at work in our lives too. It makes me wonder what balls God is rolling into place for you and me? Interesting question isn’t it. We tend to ask for God’s leadership, then pretty much solve things on our own. That’s the American way. While there is value to being a resourceful people, it’s possible that we never develop an eye for what God might be setting up for us. Somewhere in this self-centric approach there is a flaw in our faith. Let’s take a moment to look deeper than our resources and plans; I wonder what God might be rolling into place for you right now? What is He setting up? I assure you HE’S DOING SOMETHING! ~Verlon

Our Daily Trust...

There is such a thing as ‘memories of faith’. These are times when God showed up and fixed things in our past. These memories are the seedbed of our present trust in Him and His love for us. But sometimes when we face these a difficult challenge, we forget to summons those memories…
“You saw with your own eyes what He did for you in Egypt; you saw what He did in the wilderness, how God your God carried you as a father carries His child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here you won’t trust God your God” ~Deut. 1:30-32
God had done so much for Israel that it’s simply incalculable. His presence was constant and His miracles were astounding. Yet when the 12 spies came back discouragement in their tone the people simply fell apart. They went to their tents absolutely convinced that they were tricked by God and were there to be buried in the hot sand. It’s hard to fathom after God proved His love for them that they’d forget it in this moment. But they did! We can do the same thing too. All our fears and worries flow from the same faulty notion that this time we are alone to face this problem. To believe that we have to set aside our history with God’s love, but we do. And our trust waivers. Let me challenge you: Summons your memories of faith, recall that He didn’t drop you before and declare that He’s not going to drop you this time! God has earned OUR DAILY TRUST! ~Verlon

New Horizons...

Most people appreciate stability and consistency in their lives. But what if God looks at us more like pioneers than settlers? What if we are called to be on the move?
“Back at Horeb, God spoke to us: ‘you’ve stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now, get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, the Canaanite country all the way to the Euphrates. Look, I’ve given you this land’.” ~Deut. 1:6-7
It’s true that God seems to applaud movement through the ages. Remember how the people in Genesis wanted to build a tower and settle the population in the valley. But God intervened and mixed up their languages so they scattered to find their own people groups. After all, His instructions to mankind through the ages was for them to fill the earth and multiply. That means movement. The study of human migration over the centuries is a very interesting one. In the 1800’s there was a major migration from the Northern hemisphere to the South. And God used it greatly to spread the gospel to the Southern continents. Now in this century there is a major migration from the South back to the North. Once again we are beginning to see how that movement has some spiritual designs. Even if we aren’t moving to new towns, God has some movement plans for us. He looks at His people and His churches and calls them to take His gospel to some overlooked places. We are created for vision and we’re at our best when we are pursuing NEW HORIZONS? ~Verlon

Know Your Enemies...

The idea of having enemies is harsh. Many try to live as if there is no such thing. I wish I could avoid that reality altogether. But the fact is, there are people and forces in our lives that don’t want what is best for us. If they have their way we will end up in an oppressed state. So a wise person acknowledges that fact and embraces the idea that there are some relationships to be avoided. A problem comes however in recognizing some enemies.
“God spoke to Moses, from here on make the Midianites your enemies. Fight them tooth and nail. They turned out to be your enemies when they seduced you in the business of Peor.” ~Numbers 25:16-17
Israel was headed toward their Promised Land with the presence of God travelling beside them and a vision of a great future before them. It was at this time that the people from Moab decided on an evil plot. Rather than attack Israel directly they had their women seduce Israel’s men and turn their eyes from their determined march toward the Promised Land. The Moabite women were very effective and became so emotionally intertwined that the men of Israel couldn’t bring themselves to call them an enemy, even though they were now doing surprising things. Know this...it’s not the enemy that attacks us directly that’s most dangerous, it’s the one that comes like a friend but seduces us to want something other than God’s vision. God’s plans for us must be protected! Do you KNOW YOUR ENEMIES? ~Verlon

Blessed...

It appears that some people have an easier life than others. Some enjoy one good luck story after another while others get one bad break after another. There is a Chinese proverb, ‘if you want to get ahead, hang around the lucky’. I have never liked the idea of luck. And fortunately, it’s not in scripture. There is the idea of favor…
“God said to Balaam, Don’t go with them, and don’t curse the others – they are a blessed people”. ~Numbers 22:12
The nation of Israel was on the move and entering Moab country. The leaders saw this massive group and began to make plans for war. They were a superstitious lot, so before attacking they sent a fee to a spiritualist named Balaam to put a curse on Israel. But when Balaam went into his meditation God spoke clearly and told him not to curse the people because they were blessed. In fact, Balaam tried 3 other times to curse them for money, but God’s blessings only got louder in Balaam’s hearing. What an amazing thing to be a blessed people. And yet when I look at Israel’s doubt, their complaining over food, their rebellion against marching orders, and their wild night worshipping the golden calf; it’s amazing that they were blessed at all. But God promised them generous favor, so they had favor. The basis of favor is always God’s generosity and when we expect God’s blessing in our lives it deeply impacts us. Are you aware of God’s favor for you? Of course it helps if we are able to walk in a coordinated way with God’s plans, but it’s a wonderful thing to know you are BLESSED. ~Verlon

Afraid Of God's Plans...

Some people are at war with God’s will in their lives. The basis of the conflict is usually fear. In fact, the driving force behind many rebels is fear. There is a phrase that plays over and over in their minds that goes like this, ‘if I do exactly what God directs, then He’ll make me (fill in the blank with your most undesirable task). It’s a silly leap, but it’s been happening for centuries.
“The people of Israel said to Moses, ‘we are as good as dead. This is our death sentence. Anyone who even gets close to the Dwelling of God is as good as dead. Are we all doomed?” ~Numbers 17:12-13
The nation of Israel had just finished a conversation with God about which tribe was to serve as priests. God made it very clear He wanted the tribe of Levi by making Aaron’s wooden staff sprout blooms and almonds while the other tribal leaders staff’s remained just sticks. The people saw God’s will and their own will reacted. As happen so often, they reacted with fear. That’s what the above verse is all about. When ever God makes His plans abundantly clear mankind the world over tends to react. The realization that we have less power bothers us and our will recoils. Sometimes the will reacts outwardly by forcefully demanding our way anyway. But usually it reacts inwardly by running to irrational fear and fearing what this controlling God will make us do next. But lets stop the presses for a moment. Hasn’t God proved His love for us? Aren’t we His cherished sons and daughters? Should any of us really be AFRAID OF GOD’S PLANS? ~Verlon

Grumbling Quotient...

Mankind through the ages has felt a certain right to grumble. If something doesn’t go right at work we grumble, if somebody treats us weird we grumble, if we get cut off in traffic we grumble, and if things don’t work out the way we like at church we grumble too. But that last one can be costly…
“Grumbling broke out the next day in the community of Israel, grumbling against Moses and Aaron.” ~Numbers 16:41
The thing that is so amazing about this verse is when it occurred. Just one day earlier Korah and 250 friends had rebelled against Gods leadership and the earth opened up and swallowed them whole. That must have been frightful to watch. But here it was the next day and the people were grumbling against what God just did. It was such an instinctive way of acting they didn’t even realize that was what Korah and crew had just done. They couldn’t see that their grumbling was just more disrespect and rebellion. Mankind is forever blind to this stuff. We feel absolutely entitled to gripe and complain whenever we want. While grumbling injures every relationship, it’s especially harmful to Christ and His church. Accordingly there are special warnings given to the followers of Christ who are commissioned to reflect Him well on the earth. But we have this problem, we’ve all embedded some measure of grumbling into our habits & personalities. It might do us good to evaluate our attitudes about Christ’s leadership and His church. Just out of curiosity, what is your GRUMBLING QUOTIENT? ~Verlon

Re-Gathering Our Desires...

Oh how I wish that once I learned a lesson, it would be with me forever. But somehow my spiritual gains tend to slip backwards. Have you noticed that about yourself?
“Tell them that from now on they are to make tassels on the corners of their garments. When you look at these tassels you’ll remember and keep all the commandments of God, and not get distracted by everything you feel or see that seduces you.” ~Numbers 15:38-39
The nation of Israel found themselves forgetting to follow God’s plans. So Moses had them sew tassels on their robes as visual reminders that they were in a covenant with God to live their lives His way, and not their way. Those tassels dangled in full view and drug in the dirt and got in the way of everything, but became a constant reminder for them. Have you faced your need for reminders? Without re-gathering our desires to Christ’s ways every so often, our hearts will soon do exactly what Israel’s hearts did and become overly affected by what we feel and what we see! Scripture puts this in the category of seduction, much the same as the wandering-eyed man who drifts into the arms of a prostitute. Reminders are a very valuable part of following Christ. They come in many forms; daily scripture readings and meditating on what you read, taking time to pray and enjoy the Lord, gathering with other Christ-followers and encouraging each other, and engaging in Christ’s mission. These are modern day tassels that refocuses us on Christ and RE-GATHERS OUR DESIRES. ~Verlon

The Outsider...

There is a common oversight that occurs in many people; they overlook the people around them that aren’t ‘in’ the group. But look at this divine attitude…
“The community has the same rules for you and the foreigner living among you. This is the regular rule for future generations. You and the foreigner are the same before God.” ~Numbers 15:13-15
God has always had an eye for the foreigner. Here it shows up again when He commissions His Jewish people to develop attentiveness and an ‘open door’ policy for foreigners. God makes it clear that He see’s the new person the same as He see’s the natural-born insider. God designed us to be in social circles. In fact, we can’t be healthy and whole people without it. Family circles were His idea. Neighborhood and living circles were His idea. Church and God-family circles were also His idea. So often though, after we’ve been ‘in’ a family circle for a while we forget how isolated it feels to be on the outside looking in. But our Lord has never forgotten that. So when He gathers people together He expects us to have an attentive eye for the ones who feel like they are not in the inner circle. Inclusion and embrace are the order of the day. In the OT, God has always worked mightily for groups that honor the foreigners and brought correction to those who mistreat and ignore them. And in the NT the gospel has spread greatly when Christ’s people have embraced and included the marginalized. If we let Him, Christ will gives us an eye for THE OUTSIDER! ~Verlon

Encourage Somebody Today...

There are those in the mix of humanity that seem to enjoy popping others dreams. They themselves are probably jaded because their dreams haven’t materialized, so when they hear things like faith, vision, dreams, and opportunities they despise it. But this is a rather dangerous practice…
“So it happened that the men Moses sent to scout out the land returned to circulate false rumors about the land causing the entire community to grumble against Moses, all these men died. Only Joshua and Caleb were left alive of the men who went to scout out the land.” Numbers 14:36-38
I know this isn’t a very cheery verse, but it serves up a good point. I find it interesting that all the spies who came back and exaggerated the negatives to the people were dead in a very short period of time, while the two who came back invigorated by God’s generosity lived very long and strong and fruitful lives. In fact, later it says that they were as strong in their 80’s as they were in their 40’s. Here’s the point; people who discourage and weaken others have a short shelf-life themselves. God’s ways requires some faith and courage. He expects the mature to breathe courage into others so they’ll grasp His plans and it’s never a good thing when a mature person minimizes courage and faith. I don’t know about you, but I want to be listed among those who help others walk boldly toward God’s plans. Do you need to ENCOURAGE SOMEBODY TODAY? ~Verlon

God-Opportunities...

Humanity has struggled to see and engage in opportunities. We tend to get overly affected by the challenges that come along with every open door.
“We went to the land to which you sent us and oh, it does flow with milk and honey. Just look at this fruit. The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak." ~Numbers 13:28
The children of Israel had talked about their promised land for some time. But as they stood on the edge of it and looked at the challenges, their ‘promised land’ talk lost its luster. The land was indeed everything God had promised. It was fabulous. But it had greater challenges than they ever imagined. Here’s a principle of life that is true of God’s promises too; Every great God-opportunity is filled with challenges to be outlasted and opposition to be confronted! The amazing thing is, God must think we’re up to it. Of course He’s going to help us out…a lot…but He still thinks we’re up to the challenge. The question is, do we believe we can work with God good enough to obtain His greatest callings and best opportunities? Here’s a second principle about these moments; We can do far more than we think we can! Great God-opportunities await those who have faith in God and have some faith in themselves! ~Verlon

Humble...

Humility is an important quality. Most of us probably don’t fully grasp its importance to Gods plans.
“Now the man Moses was a quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on Earth.” ~Numbers 12:3
Aaron and Miriam started gossiping behind Moses back about his wife not being a true Jew. The talk turned into superior feelings over Moses and threatened the unity of Israel’s leadership team. So God had to intervene. I find it interesting that Gods response to them was noting that Moses was the humblest man on earth. This is especially interesting when we take into account that Moses was also responsible for more miracles of awesome proportion than any man on earth. He was known for his miracles and power, yet God saw him as humble. There is a book about ‘how great leaders fall’. In it the author gave four “A’s” of one’s demise. The last “A” into failure was ‘Adultery’. But the first “A” toward failure this author gave was ‘Arrogance’. Some people have the ability to create great results on the earth. These are things they can be proud of, but if they are not careful they can begin to feel superior to others. This is arrogance! And arrogance is the first step toward the failure cycle. God wants his children free from this particular weakness and warns us numerous times that ‘pride comes before a fall’. He wants us to chose the humble attitudes so we’ll remain dependent upon Him and so His love will always flow freely through us. ~Verlon

A Story About My Dad...

My father passed away 5 years ago, but he left many images of strength and character behind for me to draw from. One such memory comes from my high school days. It was towards evening and my father and me were standing near the garage door. He could see I was troubled and asked what was up. I spilled out a litany of bad breaks that had happened to me in that last week. I had girl problems, car problems, friendship problems, school problems and a general sense that nothing was going well. His answer to me was both short and surprising helpful. He patted me on the shoulder and said, “Son, tomorrow is another day”. He didn’t even have to interpret the phrase for me. Somehow his stance and his eyes did that. I instantly got the point that sometimes we just have to admit that this day is a bad one, and look to tomorrow when we’ll get a fresh start with fresh optimism. I remember waking up the next morning with dads words in my mind. He was right. I indeed felt different than I did when I went to sleep. I have remembered that short lesson many times over the years. Sometimes we need to stop fretting over and trying to fix today, and instead decide to wake up to a new tomorrow. I appreciate what my dad breathed into me…and still does. I miss him. God did a great thing when He designed life to include the strength of dads. Happy Fathers Day to you all! ~Verlon

Able Provider...

We spend a lot of time dealing with income and expense issues. Even those with great wealth can’t get away from it. In fact, their financial stress actually increases because they have more to lose. But no doubt the financially strained people wrestle with these things daily. How many times a month do you worry about money?
Moses said, “I’m standing here surrounded by 600,000 men on foot and you say, ‘I’ll give them meat every day for a month.’ so where’s it coming from? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough?” God answered Moses, “So, do you think I can’t take care of you?” Numbers 11:21-23
Moses had an amazing responsibility set on his shoulders. He had to navigate the people to the promised land, restructure their entire society, train them in their covenant with God, and make provisions for them. That last role was becoming especially heavy for Moses. The people were really tired of manna and were putting pressure on Moses to provide something better. Gods response to this was to tell them they would start getting meat. This drove Moses to his tent to pour out his frustration to God. The verse above was Moses’ lament. In midst of Moses’ tired and faithless rant God asked him a very important question, Do you not think I am an ABLE PROVIDER? We all need to ponder that question from time to time. By the way, God made good on this promise by sending enough quail to feed everyone. Moses didn’t see that possibility, did he. ~Verlon

More Than A Philosophy...

Christianity provides a great vision of life that enriches everyone who engages in it. But walking with God is more than a great way to do life. There’s something deeper going on!
“I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them, they’ll then be able to take some of the load of this people. God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. Meanwhile to men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but didn’t leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit rested on them and they prophesied in the camp..” Numbers 11:17,25-26
Moses was getting tired and finding it hard to trust that God would provide for such a large people in such a barren place and get them into the promised land. So God told him to have the 70 leaders assemble in the meeting tent, and once there God implanted a part of the same Spirit He had placed in Moses into those men by divine act. Their hearts became so filled that they started speaking like Moses did; the words of God literally poured out of them. Even the leaders who didn’t make it to the tent had it happen to them. It was truly an inward spiritual miracle. There is an important truth for us in this story. Our faith will get tired at times. God’s answer to this is to pour His Spirit into us and to flank us with others who hear the Spirit too. Walking with God is MORE THAN A PHILOSOPHY! ~Verlon

Craving and Whining...

What is it about us that makes us want what we want, when we want it?...and if we don’t get it, we’re not happy?
“The riff-raff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, ‘why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt and got it free, to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic, But nothing tastes good out here, all we get is manna, manna, manna’.” Numbers 11:4-6
Cravings are powerful things. They have the ability to cause us to totally lose our perspective. Israel was in the process of being wondrously delivered from slavery. But as the craving for better food rose up, they completely forgot the miracle they were experiencing. Never before in human history, or after, has a people been led out from their oppressor in tact like what happened for Israel. In a moment they were free and heading toward their own land. Yet within weeks, craving and whining erupted. They actually considered turning around and going back into slavery, just because the food in Egypt was better than the manna that God miraculously provided for them each morning. Cravings are powerful. Cravings are blinding. Cravings spread from person to person. Notice that some riff-raff complained first, then the discontent spread through the people like yeast through bread. I think any spiritual leader would agree that there is nothing that cancels God’s plans any faster than CRAVING AND WHINING! ~Verlon

A Place At His Table...

We’ve all probably had the experience of being in a strange place with new people. It is an odd feeling to be a foreigner and how nice it is to have one of the group reach out to us and start introducing us into their circle. God has always had an eye for the stranger and insisted His people be the same way.
“Any foreigner living among you who wants to celebrate God’s Passover is welcome to do it.” ~Numbers 9:14
God has historically done much of His divine work over food. The Abrahamic covenant, the Passover meal, Communion, and the Last Supper in Heaven are all meal events. Jesus used the table often in His parables about the great banquet and ‘behold I stand at the door and knock’. The point of all this is inclusion. God wants all of His children to be welcomed at His table and that includes the foreigner. The verse above spoke to Israel’s annual Passover dinner in which they would re-enact what Israel did the night before they fled from Egypt. They would eat lamb, eat the unleavened bread to signify they didn’t have time to wait for the bread to rise and retell the Passover story and God’s great act in freeing them. This was a salvation story of epic proportions. And who did God go to extra lengths to be sure they were present at the table?...the strangers and the foreigners. The same thing is occurring today in this ‘day of salvation’. Again God is working hard to assure that no one is outside of His salvation plan and that everyone has A PLACE AT HIS TABLE. ~Verlon

Speak Blessing...

Most of us don’t realize the power that is in our words. Our culture doesn’t highlight verbal blessings like others do, so we vaguely realize what a potent thing it can be. God built verbal blessing into Israel’s new and developing nation…
“Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the people, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lore make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his fact toward you and give you peace’. In so doing, I will confirm it by blessing them.” Num. 6:22-27
Whenever the people left the presence of the Lord He wanted this blessing ringing in their ears. But the most incredible thing was He empowered the priests to speak it into existence. In other words God said He would respond every time it was uttered. Think of it, humans blessing other humans and God then going to work to breathe favor just because it was spoken. If you stop and think about it, we are made in God’s image. In fact, He considers us His sons and daughters. So why wouldn’t He give us authority to bless each other. How long has it been since you’ve blessed someone in the name of the Lord? There is great power in our words. When we direct the blessings of the Lord toward a friend, a wife, a husband, a child, a neighbor or even a stranger, something in God’s big universe re-aligns to respond. Call it miraculous, call it mysterious, call it whatever you like, but God will grant favor to others when you and I SPEAK BLESSING on them. ~Verlon

Symptoms of Sin...

Humans are amazingly adaptive. We can adjust to many environments. But that has a negative side to it, in that we can adapt to things that are destructive. Rather than feeling pain and shifting to a different path, some merely adjust to the pain and call it ‘life’. We are so adaptive we can overlook the call to change a behavior. Do you have the ability to rightly interpret the pain that shows up when on a wrong path? Look at the verse…
“Even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They’ll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them…all because of their sins.” ~Lev. 26:36
Israel somehow lacked the ability to connect the dots between their self-willed ways and the fears that were consuming them. It is true that sin breeds fear and weakness in us; while salvation breeds courage and an indomitable spirit. While every panic attack doesn’t signal sin, sin does show up in daily emotional ways. Martin Luther, the famous reformation theologian of 500 years ago related with this verse deeply when he read it and admitted that small things disturbed him greatly because he didn’t have confidence in God’s love for him. In fact, it was a lightening storm that drove him to leave studying law and run into the priesthood. It happens to the best of us, that we are put to flight and run as though we’re about to be consumed. This is nothing but plain ole fashioned sin blinding us from resting in Christ’s love. The discerning person knows the SYMPTOMS OF SIN! ~Verlon

It's Personal...

It’s hard for us as mere humans to imagine what it is like to be God. That inability can create a distance between us and our God. Some see Him as a ‘force’. Others try to conceive of Him as the CEO of the universe who only handles big concerns. Still others feel forced to rely upon Him because they are in need, but are uncomfortable to be so close and struggle with the survivalist relationship. But look how God wanted to be known…
“I’ll set up my residence in your neighborhood, I won’t avoid or shun you, I’ll stroll through your streets. I’ll be your God, you’ll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you.” ~Lev. 26:11-12
Look at the many relate-able overtures God gave in this verse; “set up residence, be in the neighborhood, stroll down the streets, be you’re God, be my people”. These are close and endearing images aren’t they? And of course, these pictures of close proximity and warm sentiments are meant for us to ponder as well. There is a great corner taken when a follower of Christ realizes that the divine relationship isn’t a contract, it’s a relationship. It isn’t a distant law of the universe to be understood, it’s to be lived in close proximity of our lives. Our relationship with God is many things, but most of all IT’S PERSONAL! ~Verlon

A Dollar And A Stick...

Over 30 years ago I drove to a family reunion. It was a great weekend of laughter, BBQ’s and Frisbee golf. On Monday morning as I packed up to drive back to Seattle my 2 nephews came running up to me. I had played hard with those two young boys that weekend, we’d had a lot of fun wrestling, and running. I was their ‘big uncle’. Now that it was time to say goodbye it was emotional. One of them started crying and reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill and handed it to me. I tried to give it back by telling him I made plenty of money at my job. But grandma intervened and said, ‘you take that dollar and let him tell you that he loves you like he wants to’. I did. Then the other nephew stepped up. He loved me too and felt the emotion of the moment, but he didn’t have a dollar, so he just gave me the stick he had been playing with all morning. As I drove away from that campground that day, I had a wrinkled dollar and a 6” dirty stick laying on the dash of my car, but to me it meant a great deal, it meant I was loved. The gestures of love we offer aren’t always big are they?
“The priests must not treat with irreverence the holy offerings of the Israelites that they contribute to God.” ~Lev. 22:15
God pays great attention to the gifts and offerings we give Him. He revere’s them, honor’s them, hold’s them close, and never allows them to be disrespect. Our Lord is listening for every expression of love, even if it’s just A DOLLAR AND A STICK! ~Verlon

The Honest Option...

Managing relationships can be a challenge, unless you are comfortable to do it in the scriptural way…
“Don’t secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out in the open, otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt. Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge.” ~Lev. 19:17-18
People disappoint people. Inside of every relationship there will be let-downs. All of our imperfections have to show up somewhere and it’s inside close relationships where they surface. When these let-downs occur, there are only so many things we can do in response. We can secretly hate them, we can carry a grudge, we can ‘get even’ or we can be honest with them about how their actions affected us. Social scientists have long observed that children instinctively take the verbal honest route when they are disappointed by another’s actions. But by the time they reach adult-hood, our culture has shamed the honesty out of them. They then are left to pursue one of these other options, which are simply not helpful, especially for the one who has been wronged. Many adults live between the shame our society places on honest reply’s and the inward frustration of not being able to get a relationship repaired. Maybe the Old Testament got it right for all times. Maybe the scriptural answer is the way mature people are supposed to repair relational fractures. When we consider all possible reactions to a relational ‘let-down’, THE HONEST OPTION looks like the best one. ~Verlon

Generous For A Life-Time...

It’s generally considered wise to make the most of our opportunities. Some even go so far as to call it good stewardship to strain every possible dollar out of a days work for themselves. But God instilled an attitude into Israel that was different.
“When you harvest your land, don’t harvest right up to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings from the harvest. Don’t strip your vineyard bare or go back and pick up the fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am God, your God.” ~Leviticus 19:9-10
The idea intentionally leaving some money behind for the poor is not in most peoples thought processes. But God has always thought that way. He has always made a way for the poor, and built into social systems a way for those who aren’t doing well to live. What is your attitude toward the down-and-outer? It’s a very popular notion, even among Christians, to walk away from the needy saying to themselves that if these people wanted to work they could. And yet, the poor is always among us. President Eisenhower declared war on poverty during his presidency. After the government threw their full weight against it, slight gains were made. Then one year later it drifted right back to where it was before Eisenhower started. How do we understand that? How do we explain that? We don’t. But we can follow God’s counsel and live in a way that leaves a little behind fro the poor. It’s not the one time gifts God calls for, rather it’s the daily attitude of GENEROUS FOR A LIFE-TIME. ~Verlon

Self-Designed Worship...

We live in a day when it’s popular for people to craft their own spirituality. In Oprah-like fashion people are choosing the way they want to pray and express their worship. This isn’t something new. The first one was Cain. God asked for animal sacrifice to atone for sin. But Cain was a gardener and insisted it be vegetables from his garden. I can see His reasoning, but it just wasn’t what God requested. That didn’t go so well for him. Shortly after than in human history, idol’s and icons of all kinds sprung up in the land. None of that worked for God. Then we come to this story…
“That same day Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’ sons, took their censers, put hot coals and incense in them, and offered ‘strange’ fire to God, something God had not commanded.” ~Leviticus 10:1
It was only the second day after the Priesthood had gone to work, and already they put incense into their censers that God hadn’t instructed and were burning them in ways God hadn’t requested. They did it just because they wanted too. I am all for people being free to love God in creative ways as the Spirit of Christ stirs them. But SELF-DESIGNED WORSHIP hasn’t worked out all that well for people over the centuries. Worshipping in ways that we like, perhaps isn’t the key to a great relationship with God. What does Christ really want from you and me? ~Verlon

Hindered...

Contrary to popular opinion, salvation is not a one time event. Rather it’s a lifestyle of relying upon the Savior. But sometimes there are people who try to dissuade us, and there are things in our lives that actually hinder our reliance upon the Savior.
"In this way the priest will make atonement for your sin. If you can’t afford a lamb, bring as your penalty to God for the sin you have committed, two does or two pigeons.” ~Leviticus 5:6-7
The meaning of this verse might not be obvious, but when seen as the backdrop it becomes clear. Let’s fast forward to Jesus when He was tipping over the money tables at the temple, and whipping the vendors. Why was He so mad? There was something very wrong occurring, and yet it had become socially acceptable, even by the spiritual elite. The Priests would examine the doves and pigeons the people brought. That was a correct thing to do as spelled out in Levitical law. What wasn’t correct was the priests were disallowing almost all the birds, and making them go to the bird vendors at the front of the temple and buy an ‘approved’ bird at a huge mark-up. The priests of course got a percentage of ‘the take’. But what was worse, these people were poor, too poor to bring a lamb or a goat. It was the poor that were being frustrated at the place of salvation. I am quite sure that Jesus still fights to clear the path of salvation for anyone at anytime. Is your journey of salvation being HINDERED in any way? ~Verlon

Give It Your Best...

There are many great things to do in this life. Many great jobs, many great vacations, many great hobbies, many great sports to engage in, many great concerts to attend, many wonderful restaurants to enjoy, etc. etc. If we are going to get to the most out of this life, we must mildly engage in some things so we can save our resources and energy to ‘get it all’! Unfortunately, some take that attitude into their spiritual life…
“If the offering is a Whole-Burnt Offering from the herd, present a male without defect at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting that it may be accepted by God” ~Leviticus 1:3
The book of Leviticus has an important and repeating phrase in it, ‘without defect’. There is a huge lesson in those two words that we need to meditate upon. It would have been normal for an Israelite to save the stronger animals for the market and bring their lame and wounded animals to be sacrificed. After all, they are going to be burned anyway. But God didn’t want a casual attitude to develop and asked for their best animals to be chosen for sacrifice. These burnt offerings were the way one became restored to God in Old Testament days. This was important stuff, too important to be approached with a ‘left-overs’ attitude. Same holds true for today. To passively engage in our salvation so we can save energy and resources for hobbies and jobs and vacations reveals a deep ignorance in us. Our salvation is what will enrich us the most so…GIVE IT YOUR BEST! ~Verlon

Where's The Presence?

Life can be confusing at times. Which way should we go? What job should we pursue? Who should we align with? Etc. These seasons are frustrating. There is another question that perhaps followers of Christ should be asking during these seasons, Where’s the presence? That’s a weird question isn’t it.
“The Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Glory of God filled The Dwelling. Whenever the Cloud lifted, the people of Israel set out on their travels, but if the Cloud did not lift, they wouldn’t set out. The Cloud was over The Dwelling during the day and the fire was in it at night, visible to all the Israelites.” ~Ex. 40:34-38
Moses and the people had just finished constructing the traveling tabernacle…the tent of God. Then the cloud of God came down and rested on it and in it. During the day the Israelites could see this white cloud covering and surrounding the tent. That must have been an odd sight during those hot desert days. Then at night that cloud glowed with an orange glow as if it were somehow on fire. That must have been even more odd to witness. The point is, there was no question that God was with them. All they had to do was walk outside and look toward God’s tent, and they could see with their naked eye what God was doing. If the cloud of God was lifting, they packed up. If He was resting, they would settle in. They knew what to do at all times by asking, ‘where’s the presence’? For them it became a daily question. I wonder how often we ask what God is doing? ~Verlon

A Story About My Mom...

My mother is 87 years old and lives alone in Salem Oregon. A couple months ago, she came home to find her home had been broken into and a couple thousand dollars worth of things stolen. The thieves were caught, and one of them, a young woman was being sentenced this past week. My mom was in attendance and when the judge asked if she wanted to say anything, she stepped up to speak. Rather than addressing the court, she turned to the girl who was sitting behind a table wearing a prison jump suit with her hands and feet in chains and mom said, “you probably don’t have a grandma do you?” The girl nodded no. “That means you probably don’t have anyone praying for you today.” At this the young woman broke into sobs. My mom continued, “well you got a praying grandma now, and I’m going to be praying for you from here on. Here’s what I’m going to pray for, I am going to pray you meet Jesus, and I am going to pray you have the courage to follow Him out of this hole you are in and that you’ll never end up back here again. I am going to pray that you keep following Him right to heaven. I don’t know how much longer I have to live on this earth, but when I am done here I am going to be in heaven. And I really want you to be there with me. You and your new praying grandma have a date.” And with that she sat down. The court room sat silently as the prisoner wept. It turned into one of those profound and divine moments. I am proud of my mom! ~Verlon

Made A Place For Him...

It’s interesting how life fills up. If we have 6 hours, it will fill up with 7 hours of things to do. If we have 20 dollars in our pocket, suddenly we want to do 25 worth of things. So, if you want to add something to your life, something else must go. None of us can endlessly add things to our days. Have you thought about that regarding spiritual life? Christ is a serious blessing for anyone. But if we want Him to live in our lives…room must be made.
“The men were eager to get started and engage in the work…the people kept bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning. The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work, so Moses sent out orders thought the camp; men! women! No more offerings for the building of the sanctuary!” ~Ex. 36:2-6
It’s hard to believe this was the same people from 4 chapters earlier that were dancing around a golden calf. But somehow they got their heads on straight and became excited at the idea of housing the presence of God in their camp. Think about it from their point of view, they had seen the presence of God show up at times in a fiery cloud, but then He’d be gone. Not being able to see Him, along with Moses’ absence was probably what led to the golden calf incident. But now God had offered to live among them. With great excitement they donated their gold and silver and energetically constructed a place for Him to live. We did that too. The Spirit of Christ offered to moved into our lives and we MADE A PLACE FOR HIM! ~Verlon

When Their Heart Is Stirred...

In our culture we tend to downplay the notions of the heart. We’d rather keep our responses limited to logic. But that approach to life disables so many things in this life. Dr. Dobson states that marriage is many things, but most of all it’s emotional. Individuals that don’t get that struggle to create happiness in their spouses. Our spiritual life is similar. Walking with Christ will certainly engage our minds, but never doubt that it will deeply engage our emotions and stir our souls.
“So everyone in the community of Israel left the presence of Moses. Then they came back, every one whose heart was roused, whose spirit was freely responsive, bringing offerings. They came, both men and women, all the willing spirits among them…whose heart moved them freely to bring something for the work that God through Moses had commanded them to make, brought it, a voluntary offering for God”. ~Ex. 35:20,21,29
God had asked them through Moses to come together and build a tabernacle to house His presence. But notice what that request did in them. They became roused, responsive, willing, moved and wanted to act on God’s instruction. Know this; God may lead but it’s what comes next that determines if it will turn into great favor. There are some people who just can’t let their heart lead them in a generous response to God. But there are others who find God’s favor time and again because they simply act WHEN THEIR HEART IS STIRRED! ~Verlon

Never Been Done...

It’s interesting how easy it is to fall into a survival routine. We go to work and come home, so we can rest enough to get up and go to work again. There’s nothing wrong with routine, but sometimes they diminish our expectation of creative and unique happenings in our lives. If that gets lost, we must win it back…
“And God said, As of right now I’m making a covenant with you; in full sight of your people I will work wonders that have never been created in all the earth, in any nation.” ~Ex. 34:10
This verse reveals a God who was doing something brand new for a people that had never happened before. Further it reveals a God that never got out of the creation business. I guess you could say He forever enjoys creating wonders and miracles that are brand new on the earth. This is the God who we have invited to live in our daily lives. I suppose it’s normal to think we are just one of the 6 million people that live on this planet, just one spoke in a very large wheel of humanity. But there is much more grandeur in you than that. God hand-crafted you uniquely on the earth and fully intends you to live like it. Would you be surprised to know that God intends to be absolutely creative in the way He shows up in your life? He wouldn’t be Himself if He slipped into routine expressions. He has some things planned for your life that this world has not seen before…that has simply NEVER BEEN DONE! ~Verlon

Safe Place...

There are many vulnerable places in this life. Part of our adult development is learning how to manage weaknesses and side-step destructive places. But at times we find ourselves feeling like there is no good place to step. Have you been in one of those seasons where every direction looks scary?
“God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need Him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea-storm and earthquake.” ~Psalm 46:1-2
This is a key lesson of faith. Every person truly needs to know how to run and hide in God. He provides a hiding place for all of His children, but not all of His children are good at running to it. But it’s a path we all need to memorize. Something paradoxical happens when we run and hide in God, we learn to stand firm in precarious places. I know it sounds odd that one can run and yet stand, but it’s true. When we know how to ‘hide in God’ inwardly, we become stalwart and even forceful outwardly. We are able to face doom right in the eye and not wilt. We are able to face storm and quakes that are common to life with courage and boldness. And why not? When our doubts and fears do arise, we know what to do with them. We know where to run and hide and rest and recharge. We know how to be reminded of the resources of the God-family that embraces us and calls us their own. Of course we are going to stand in fearless courage, we have a SAFE PLACE and we know how to run to it! ~Verlon

Closer Look...

Christianity is not a philosophy nor a way of life, it’s a living breathing relationship with Christ Himself. If we ever forget the ‘friendship’ part, it turns into a boring list of behaviors. We need to remember from time to time what makes it alive…
“Moses said, please let me see your Glory. God said, but no one can see me and live. Look, here is a place right beside me. I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by”. Exodus 33:18-23
Moses found himself in great personal need. The role of leading the self-willed Israelites had weakened him. But he had been in the visible presence of God more than any other man on earth. The presence cloud of God had actually come down and drifted into the tent to meet with him. When he was on the mountain getting the 10 commandments God descended upon the mountain in the form of a fire cloud. Moses had seen a lot of God. And yet in His moment of need He simply asked to see more. He obviously recognized that great strength flowed into him whenever he got close to God, so in this present time of need he knew what to reach for. He’d learned a ‘more of God’ pattern for empowerment. This time he asked to look God right in the face. While God knew that was more than the human body was wired to handle, He still made a way for Moses to get closer. And yes, it made the difference Moses needed. How long has it been since you’ve asked God for a CLOSER LOOK? ~Verlon

Enough...

We all like to know in advance what is happening. But it doesn’t take long in this adult life for us to realize that’s seldom possible. Life is an adventure. So is our spiritual journey…
“Moses said to God, you tell me to lead this people, but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. Let me in on your plans. God said, my presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end”. Exodus 33:12-14
Moses had just come down from the mountain and found the Israelites dancing around a golden calf. Though he’d only been their leader for a few months, he was already tired of their wayward tendencies and faithlessness. He found himself looking at God wondering who was going to help him with this assignment. That was code for ‘I’m thinking about quitting’. God’s answer to Moses is one we all need to contemplate for a moment. God simply promised His presence for the entirety of the journey. God didn’t fill in any of the blanks for Moses, nor did He reveal any of the earthly resources that would become available in the future for Israel. He simply promised His presence. But of course, in so doing it meant Moses would never end up in a spot without God’s oversight, God’s leadership and God’s continual supply. For Moses, that was enough! That same promise was given to us. Right before Jesus ascended He said, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age”. His continual presence is ours. The question is, do we believe that’s ENOUGH! ~Verlon

God Is With Us...

Everyone needs to see the favor of God upon their lives. Sometimes this is hard to see, especially when you’re walking through one of those ‘valleys of the shadow of death’. During those times we typically wonder what happened to our favor and we doubt the presence of God in our situation. But He’s there! Truth is, the tough times underscores all the more our need to see God’s presence at work in us…
“Whenever Moses entered the Tent, the Pillar of Cloud descended to the entrance to the Tent and God spoke with Moses. All the people would see the Pillar of Cloud at the entrance to the Tent.” ~Ex.33:9-10
This verse is actually a reflection of the way things were for Israel a few days previous. But now, there was trouble in the camp. It was only days ago that they’d crafted the golden calf and danced in wild frivolity around it. Moses came back down from the mountain, ground up the golden calf into power, mixed it with water and made the people drink it. I’m not sure of the significance of that, but the people were now concerned that they’d done permanent damage to the visible presence of God that used to show up for them. Here’s the point; we all have a greater need we realize to see the Lord at work in our life! It affect our spiritual esteem. Just as Israel had confidence that God’s presence was with them, every person and every church needs to be able to say with confidence, GOD IS WITH US! ~Verlon

Deeper Insight...

Most people soon realize there is more than one way to interpret something. Some perspectives are shallow and meaningless while others are a far better view. But finding the better perspectives isn’t easy. We live in a noisy world distracting world and we have noisy inner desires that pull our perspectives in the direction of our self interests. How can we find the more helpful insights?
“Moses came down from the mountain carrying the two tablets of The Testimony. When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses that sounds like the sound of war in the camp. But Moses said, those aren’t songs of victory or defeat, I hear songs of people throwing a party.” ~Ex.32:15-18
Moses and Joshua had been on the mountain for 40 days getting the ten commandments on tablets of stone. Meanwhile, back at the camp the people had erected an idol of gold and were dancing around it in wild-party fashion. So when Moses and Joshua made their way back to the camp they began to hear the shouts and singing in the distance. Joshua immediately concluded they had been to war and were celebrating their victory or mourning their loss. But Moses had been in closer conversation with God than Joshua. Moses was close enough to hear God say that the people had built an idol for themselves and turned to wild partying. Here’s the lesson; the closer to God we stand, the better perspective we gain. Next to Him is where we see the ‘big picture’ of our life and find DEEPER INSIGHT! ~Verlon