SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you. .” ~Hosea 10:12
A CROP OF LOVE…We would all probably like more love flowing in our lives. Love is a great theme, and yet it gets squeezed out so easily by everything from busy-ness to offenses. We only seem to be able to focus upon it for short spurts. In this scripture we see an interesting idea. That we can plant some seeds into our lives that will grow into an entire crop of love. There is something about the planting metaphor that fits us well. We plant words and attitudes into our relationships every day…and they do turn into a harvest of sorts, don’t they. And we do need to plow up hardness in our hearts from time to time, like a farmer would need to plow a field after winter. However, there are a couple turning points in this verse. The seed that turns into love isn’t love itself…it’s righteousness. That term isn’t used much today but it means right-way-ness. In other words, doing the right thing according to God. It’s an intriguing thought that if we purpose to seek & follow God’s directions every day it will result in a great crop of love. And further that He will take on the role of the farmer and shower us with seeds of right-ways-ness so we can flourish well. If He gets His way…we will each one have a great crop of love springing up in our lives one day. ~verlon
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Don't Give Up...
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“Yes the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy! Restore our fortunes Lord as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” ~Psalm 126:3-6
DON’T GIVE UP…The human spirit can handle difficult seasons if there are a few things present in us. Without them however, and it only takes a few short days of struggle to wear us down to the point of utter despair. The above verse gives a short list of what fuels the soul during harsh times. 1)The remembrance of God doing amazing things for you in the past. 2)The presence of joy…which is instilled in you by the presence of God. 3)Prayer – just asking the Lord to restore your good fortune is strengthening. 4)A vision of streams flowing across the dry parts of your life. We all need a flourishing vision to focus upon. 5)Remembering that all harvests require days of planting that are harsh enough to bring tears. 6)There is coming a day of shouting and laughter…a day when you will break into spontaneous singing even if you can’t sing.
If we keep our thoughts and hearts focused on these things, we will bravely endure dark days and hard times. For down deep we know that these days of planting are the very thing that is preparing us for the day of harvest and the day of song. ~verlon
DON’T GIVE UP…The human spirit can handle difficult seasons if there are a few things present in us. Without them however, and it only takes a few short days of struggle to wear us down to the point of utter despair. The above verse gives a short list of what fuels the soul during harsh times. 1)The remembrance of God doing amazing things for you in the past. 2)The presence of joy…which is instilled in you by the presence of God. 3)Prayer – just asking the Lord to restore your good fortune is strengthening. 4)A vision of streams flowing across the dry parts of your life. We all need a flourishing vision to focus upon. 5)Remembering that all harvests require days of planting that are harsh enough to bring tears. 6)There is coming a day of shouting and laughter…a day when you will break into spontaneous singing even if you can’t sing.
If we keep our thoughts and hearts focused on these things, we will bravely endure dark days and hard times. For down deep we know that these days of planting are the very thing that is preparing us for the day of harvest and the day of song. ~verlon
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Those First Steps To Self-Destruction...
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.” ~Hosea 4:6
THOSE FIRST STEPS TO SELF-DESTRUCTION…When I speak of self destruction, the first images that come to mind are probably the alcoholic, the gambling addict or the person soliciting prostitution. Actually self-destruction starts off in much milder places. The alcoholic starts as the fun guy at the Saturday night frat party, The gambling addict started off just kicking it at Vegas a couple times a year. So, the question becomes, what are those smaller paths that lead to the grander destructions? What things seem like innocent fun but turn into brutal rock-crushers of our esteem, marriages, families, and careers? To look even deeper, what did that first step look like and how did it happen? Wow, now that’s a deep and important question to wrestle with, and the answer might be different than you think. Some surmise that the first steps toward destruction is about boundaries, but the above verse shows it’s a lapse in focus. When we don’t ‘know God’, we are more available for other precarious paths. Knowing God is more about experience than information. There are many people sitting in churches today that know all about God…but it’s been quite a while since they’ve ‘known Him’. We need to feel God often! We need to sense the pressure of His hand against our chests and His stirring in our souls. Experiencing God this way holds our intrigue and dulls our interest in those first steps to self-destruction. ~verlon
THOSE FIRST STEPS TO SELF-DESTRUCTION…When I speak of self destruction, the first images that come to mind are probably the alcoholic, the gambling addict or the person soliciting prostitution. Actually self-destruction starts off in much milder places. The alcoholic starts as the fun guy at the Saturday night frat party, The gambling addict started off just kicking it at Vegas a couple times a year. So, the question becomes, what are those smaller paths that lead to the grander destructions? What things seem like innocent fun but turn into brutal rock-crushers of our esteem, marriages, families, and careers? To look even deeper, what did that first step look like and how did it happen? Wow, now that’s a deep and important question to wrestle with, and the answer might be different than you think. Some surmise that the first steps toward destruction is about boundaries, but the above verse shows it’s a lapse in focus. When we don’t ‘know God’, we are more available for other precarious paths. Knowing God is more about experience than information. There are many people sitting in churches today that know all about God…but it’s been quite a while since they’ve ‘known Him’. We need to feel God often! We need to sense the pressure of His hand against our chests and His stirring in our souls. Experiencing God this way holds our intrigue and dulls our interest in those first steps to self-destruction. ~verlon
Saturday, December 5, 2009
He's Paying Attention...
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“When I call, give me answers. God, take my side! Once, in a tight place you gave me room. Now I’m in trouble again; Grace me! Hear me!” ~Psalms 4:1(message)
HE’S PAYING ATTENTION…It’s our nature to get into trouble. We don’t mean to, we don’t go looking for it, in fact we usually don’t even know how it finds us so easily. But it happens. Our inability to see around corners and living in a fallen world seems to invite trouble. The scripture above is one of David’s great prayers. I truly resonate with this one. I need God to answer me when I call…don’t you? I need to feel God is taking my side and not just doing what’s best for the universe…you too? When I am in a tight place, I really need preferential attention from Him. I need him to move the crushing weight off of me before it kills me. Can you relate with that need for His immediacy? I also recognize that I need to be graced. I need His divine favor to flow into my life and my situation. And sometimes desperately quick. Finally, I just need to know I’ve been heard. I need the same feedback from God that I would need from you if I were sharing a heart-felt need. I need an occasional nod, eyes of compassion and evidence of someone deeply listening to my saga. I’m quite sure you need that too. Let me venture this thought. It’s more God’s nature to pay close attention to us than our nature to pay attention to Him. Let’s not make the mistake He’s only as attentive as we are. He’s Here! He’s Present! He’s Paying Attention! ~verlon
HE’S PAYING ATTENTION…It’s our nature to get into trouble. We don’t mean to, we don’t go looking for it, in fact we usually don’t even know how it finds us so easily. But it happens. Our inability to see around corners and living in a fallen world seems to invite trouble. The scripture above is one of David’s great prayers. I truly resonate with this one. I need God to answer me when I call…don’t you? I need to feel God is taking my side and not just doing what’s best for the universe…you too? When I am in a tight place, I really need preferential attention from Him. I need him to move the crushing weight off of me before it kills me. Can you relate with that need for His immediacy? I also recognize that I need to be graced. I need His divine favor to flow into my life and my situation. And sometimes desperately quick. Finally, I just need to know I’ve been heard. I need the same feedback from God that I would need from you if I were sharing a heart-felt need. I need an occasional nod, eyes of compassion and evidence of someone deeply listening to my saga. I’m quite sure you need that too. Let me venture this thought. It’s more God’s nature to pay close attention to us than our nature to pay attention to Him. Let’s not make the mistake He’s only as attentive as we are. He’s Here! He’s Present! He’s Paying Attention! ~verlon
Thursday, December 3, 2009
No Standing Alone...
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“But the son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” ~I John 3:8
NO STANDING ALONE…It doesn’t take us long to realize that evil is real. We have all met people who are truly warped and determined to bring pain on others. We have watched good environments turn caustic and seen an evil cloud drift in and make friends into negative, spiteful and hurtful enemies. We can look inward at ourselves and see the presence of truly dark thoughts and feelings…the kind we’d be totally embarrassed if anyone around us knew were there. I heard one guy say, “I often envisioned taking a driver who had just cut me off and pulling him out of his car and slamming his head repeatedly on the hood. I was a Christian with anger fantasies”. Can you relate to that? I can. YES EVIL EXISTS! And it seems to have convincing power. Goodness is soft and subtle, but evil comes like a fire-storm. It rolls into our lives with a fearsomeness that makes us cower. I love this little verse above…it so simply dislodges darkness in all it’s power. Make no mistake, Christ is not a nice guy when it comes to the facing off with evil. He is bluntly opposed to anything the devil has planned for society or for us. Whether evil is being imposed from without or trying to take root from within, Christ positions Himself to tackle it with a vengeance. Because He’s so focused on our lives…and so quick to take a determined stand…we have power over evil. We will never stand alone against the dark. ~verlon
NO STANDING ALONE…It doesn’t take us long to realize that evil is real. We have all met people who are truly warped and determined to bring pain on others. We have watched good environments turn caustic and seen an evil cloud drift in and make friends into negative, spiteful and hurtful enemies. We can look inward at ourselves and see the presence of truly dark thoughts and feelings…the kind we’d be totally embarrassed if anyone around us knew were there. I heard one guy say, “I often envisioned taking a driver who had just cut me off and pulling him out of his car and slamming his head repeatedly on the hood. I was a Christian with anger fantasies”. Can you relate to that? I can. YES EVIL EXISTS! And it seems to have convincing power. Goodness is soft and subtle, but evil comes like a fire-storm. It rolls into our lives with a fearsomeness that makes us cower. I love this little verse above…it so simply dislodges darkness in all it’s power. Make no mistake, Christ is not a nice guy when it comes to the facing off with evil. He is bluntly opposed to anything the devil has planned for society or for us. Whether evil is being imposed from without or trying to take root from within, Christ positions Himself to tackle it with a vengeance. Because He’s so focused on our lives…and so quick to take a determined stand…we have power over evil. We will never stand alone against the dark. ~verlon
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fill The Earth...
FILL THE EARTH…We live in a time that is far removed from the early instructions God gave to man. So much so we all but deny the identity God intended for us to wear.
“God blessed Noah and his sons; He said, Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth!” ~Gen. 9:1
Did you realize that you were commanded by God to prosper in your efforts of filling the earth? This isn’t merely populating the planet with our offspring, that is carried in the word ‘reproduce’ from above. No, ‘fill the earth’ means something beyond physical reproduction. It’s a call to advance into spaces of our world that are chaotic, and insert order into it. To Adam, God used the words, “subdue the earth”. In the new testament Jesus said, “occupy until I come”. And here to Noah He says, “prosper…fill the earth”. There is a repeating theme through time regarding this. God has places something deep in our DNA to push us forward into new places and spaces. Did you know the word ‘male’ means ‘fill’? It’s even communicated in our gender definitions. The apostolic instinct that we see modeled by Paul and others was of this same bent. They felt compelled to push the gospel, the ‘good news’, out to the hamlets, the towns, the villages, to tribes, to the very corners of population. It’s in our very nature to reach into the unknown and make it known, to reach into blackness and turn on lights, and to reach into chaos and initiate order. This I believe, God prospers the person or persons who takes seriously His repeated instructions to FILL THE EARTH! ~verlon
“God blessed Noah and his sons; He said, Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth!” ~Gen. 9:1
Did you realize that you were commanded by God to prosper in your efforts of filling the earth? This isn’t merely populating the planet with our offspring, that is carried in the word ‘reproduce’ from above. No, ‘fill the earth’ means something beyond physical reproduction. It’s a call to advance into spaces of our world that are chaotic, and insert order into it. To Adam, God used the words, “subdue the earth”. In the new testament Jesus said, “occupy until I come”. And here to Noah He says, “prosper…fill the earth”. There is a repeating theme through time regarding this. God has places something deep in our DNA to push us forward into new places and spaces. Did you know the word ‘male’ means ‘fill’? It’s even communicated in our gender definitions. The apostolic instinct that we see modeled by Paul and others was of this same bent. They felt compelled to push the gospel, the ‘good news’, out to the hamlets, the towns, the villages, to tribes, to the very corners of population. It’s in our very nature to reach into the unknown and make it known, to reach into blackness and turn on lights, and to reach into chaos and initiate order. This I believe, God prospers the person or persons who takes seriously His repeated instructions to FILL THE EARTH! ~verlon
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
What do we love?
SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you…but anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” ~I John 2:15,17
WHAT DO WE LOVE?…It is so easy to give our hearts away. When we get a job we love we thrust ourselves whole-heartedly into it. When we see the house we love we go to the ends of the earth to get it. When we see the see the car or truck or boat we love we can get quite excited. There is nothing wrong with enjoying things on this earth, God actually wants us to. But there is a point when we’ve given too much of our heart to this world and have little left for Christ’s world. A good question to ask ourselves is, “Do I express more passion about my job then I do the work of Christ?” “Do I consistently get more excited about a new house or new cars or trucks or boats than I do the call Christ has given me and my church?” Most of us would say we love God, but when we break it down, we sure invest a lot of our hearts and emotions in other directions, don’t we. According to the above scripture, investing our love in what pleases God significantly affects our lives. Have you thought about choosing in advance where you will invest your emotional energy? We know what pleases us… that’s easy to see. But do we know how to invest our emotions in what pleases Christ? Interesting question isn’t it. ~verlon
WHAT DO WE LOVE?…It is so easy to give our hearts away. When we get a job we love we thrust ourselves whole-heartedly into it. When we see the house we love we go to the ends of the earth to get it. When we see the see the car or truck or boat we love we can get quite excited. There is nothing wrong with enjoying things on this earth, God actually wants us to. But there is a point when we’ve given too much of our heart to this world and have little left for Christ’s world. A good question to ask ourselves is, “Do I express more passion about my job then I do the work of Christ?” “Do I consistently get more excited about a new house or new cars or trucks or boats than I do the call Christ has given me and my church?” Most of us would say we love God, but when we break it down, we sure invest a lot of our hearts and emotions in other directions, don’t we. According to the above scripture, investing our love in what pleases God significantly affects our lives. Have you thought about choosing in advance where you will invest your emotional energy? We know what pleases us… that’s easy to see. But do we know how to invest our emotions in what pleases Christ? Interesting question isn’t it. ~verlon
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