Feel The Zeal...

FEEL THE ZEAL…The coming of Christ signaled the beginning of grand plan. In fact this grand plan has mushroomed into the largest single initiative on our planet and has only increased in momentum with time. It’s the redemption mission of God.
“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
Notice with me the zeal of the Lord. God is absolutely invested in the Christ-mission heart and soul! Thus Christmas is a time of remembering what God has begun. Rick Warren makes the point that in California there are many places you can get surfing lessons. But there is no place you can get lessons on how to make a wave. The sport only exists by riding on the waves God makes. On this earth, God has created an enormous wave called the redemption mission. That first Christmas was the first time it hit our shores. And His zeal is fully & emotionally committed to keeping that particular wave hitting us over and over again. Can we pause in this Christmas week and feel His desire that we become invested in His wave…FEEL THE ZEAL! ~verlon

Merry Christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS…This 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

His Name...

HIS NAME…A persons name revealed a lot in Bible days. Names were based upon character traits. As an example, Peter was a ‘back and forth’ young man, so his family named him ‘blown in the wind’. But Jesus renamed him ‘Rock’. Let’s look at the names given 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
The strong traits attributed to Jesus are many. And this is just the short list. But it defines what the world received on Christmas night. And for those of who’ve invited Christ to move into their lives, this is who they now enjoy. Sometimes we need to be swept away…that’s why He’s called wonderful. Sometimes we need guidance…He’s the counselor. Sometimes we need strength…He’s called Mighty. Sometimes we need eternity…He’s Everlasting. And sometimes we need rest for our troubled souls…He just happens to be the Prince of Peace. All we need to compensate for life in this fallen world is guaranteed in His name…His amazing name! The song says it well: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s just something about that name.” ~verlon

A Son Is Given...

A SON IS GIVEN…Absurd generosity. That’s what it is for any father go give his son to save a people.
“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
There is a short-film called ‘Most’. It’s a true story of a train switchman in Europe. His was a lonely job, to sit in a small switch house and lower the bridge when a train would come a couple times a day. He decided to take his 7 yr. old son to work with him one day. No one would know. When it came time to put the trestle down his son had wandered out of the switch-house. The switchman called for him so he could watch the lowering bridge, but there was no answer. Then to his horror, he saw his son playing down on the gears beneath the bridge. He heard the trains steam whistle in the distance. He was faced with an absurd choice. Save his son & kill everyone on the train, or crush his son & save the train. I won’t ruin the ending. But that’s the choice God was faced with too. We know what He chose, “unto us a son is GIVEN”. Absurd generosity, isn’t it. ~verlon

A Child Is Born...

A CHILD IS BORN…Here is it, the week of Christmas. The possibility of snow is a wonderful background thought and our hearts are getting ready to feel the love of family. God counted us valuable enough to send His own son to be our Savior. There is no greater proof in all of earth history that we are truly valuable then the coming of Christ! And what an affect that one child has had on our entire world.
“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
This is clearly my favorite Christmas verse and I am going to obsess on it all week long. The first thing I see in these words is the intriguing idea that when God needed to redeem a world that had lost it’s way…He relied on a child. He sent His son into a mothers womb, to be birthed and begin life as an infant. If I were sending a savior, I would think a show of strength would be in order. But God would not agree. He saw it as a time for the frailty of infancy. A time for the Christ-child to be dependent upon us. Think of that, God dependent on us! I can’t even put into words how that makes me feel. ~verlon

Open Our Eyes...

OPEN OUR EYES…Blindness is common to our human condition. I am not speaking of physical blindness, but rather blind to needed perspectives. We each have a world that we live in. This world is a culmination of past lessons learned, personality traits, and attitudes we’ve learned from others we’ve been around. The are the things that have shaped our views, by which we interpret everything by. But sometimes our world doesn’t provide what we need, nor does it instinctively make room for God’s plans in response to our needs. This is referred to as paradigm blindness. In other words, we just can’t see outside of our memorized thought patterns and ‘lived in’ world.
“Just then God opened her eyes. She looked. She saw a well of water. She went to it and filled her canteen and gave the boy a long cool drink. God was on the boys side as he grew up.” ~Gen. 21:19
This is the story about Hagar. Sarah was frustrated with her servant Hagar and sent her away into the wilderness. She was out of water, and her boy was wasting away in the hot sun. She sat down and cried, on the edge of fainting and no options left. In that desperate moment, God opened her eyes, and in the near distance was a well. She didn’t expect a well to be there, they were in the wilderness afterall. Whether it was a well that had been dug by man, or was miraculously provided by God, it was there to sustain them, thought they didn’t see it at first. Hear this point clearly: God is pulling for us and providing for us, but we will forever need Him to OPEN OUR EYES! ~verlon

To Be Known...

TO BE KNOWN…I walked into a starbucks a few weeks ago that I don’t usually go to. Behind the counter was a guy who used to work at the starbucks near the church. He looked up at me and without any hesitation said, ‘let me guess, a triple tall wet breve cappuccino’. I was shocked. I didn’t know he knew me that well. We laughed and I applauded him on his memory. It felt good to be known.
“Search me O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” ~Psalm 139:23
We all have a basic need to be known by God! Most people have a theoretical understanding that God know everything about everyone. But we need something more personal than that. We need God to look at us and say, ‘let me guess, (and then read our mail perfectly including the nuances of our personality and the precise concerns of our present situation). So how do we know God is paying close personal attention to us? Believe it or not, it’s the discomfort of being searched and tested that reveals God’s attentiveness. In this verse David actually asked to be searched and tested…so He would be known. When we invite God to put His finger on our inward faults and press against our anxious thoughts, something comes alive in us. It’s the message beneath the testing that is so enriching. To have God look into our hearts and speak about what He sees, is a very esteeming thing. To be known by God…is to be deeply cared for…is to be valued beyond measure. ~verlon

The Lowly...

THE LOWLY…There’s an interesting part of the Christmas story that we often overlook. It’s the fact that the Christ-child was born in a ‘lowly’ town, in a ‘lowly’ animal hovel, laid in a ‘lowly’ manger and visited by ‘lowly’ shepherds. It might seem like an over-use of the ‘lowly’ theme, but I didn’t write the script for this story…God did! He chose all these lowly components to tell us something. HE LIKES THINGS LOWLY! How’s that for stating the obvious…
“I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you. there will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain. Those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord. ~Zephaniah 3:11-12
See I told you, God likes lowly things. And there are hundred of cousin verses just like this. He chose the pentacle moment of earths history to state it again. He literally wrapped the incarnation story around the ‘lowly’ theme. It was the atmosphere He wanted His son birthed into. In fact, in some way He wants all of our lives to be touched by the richness that comes from ‘lowly’ moments. There is great blessing here. For it’s only then that we learn true dependence upon God. It’s only then we learn what real rest feels like. When every visible thing around becomes lowly…we finally look to the invisible God. AND WE FIND HIM! If it was good for the Christ-child…it’s probably good for us. Can we ever learn to embrace the ‘lowly’ parts of our life? Blessings await! ~verlon

Makes Me Laugh...

MAKES ME LAUGH…We humans become far too concerned and serious regarding the challenges of life. We long for things so deeply that we often overlook the blessings the Lord is giving us each day. We also get so stressed out by the challenges that we can’t appreciate the creative and poetic way God inserts Himself into our situations. This story is a needed reminder…
“Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I will bless her, yes! I’ll give you a son by her…then Abraham laughed, ‘can a hundred year old man father a son? Can Sarah at ninety years, have a baby?’ But God said,…name him Isaac(which means laughter). ~Gen.17:15-19
God is the creator. We all know that about Him, but when it comes to our life we want the predictable version of His answers. Down deep we tend to resist the creative God being creative in His responses to our problems. For Abraham and Sarah, they needed a son. God had promised them as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. They waited and waited and waited for Sarah to get pregnant, but no baby arrived. Now they were old, and had settled on the notion that their half-son Ishmael would be their only son. How interesting that God would show up late, and give them a son anyway. On top of that, God enjoyed His plan & told them to name him ‘Laughter’, because everyone is going to be laughing with joy about this anyway. Do you think God missed the opportunity to fix something in your life? No! God’s way are so surprising they MAKE ME LAUGH! ~verlon

One Who God Watches...

ONE WHO GOD WATCHES…There is a basic and deep in all of us to feel the attention of God. Most of us understand that God is Omnipresent, in other words He’s everywhere at once, thus always here. But somehow we still wrestle with that alone feeling. This is especially true on the hard days. Here’s an interesting story…
“Sarai was abusive to Hagar and Hagar ran away. An angel of God found her beside a spring in the desert…She answered God by name, ‘you are the God who see’s me’. That’s how that desert spring got its name, ‘God-Alive-See’s-Me’ spring”. ~Gen. 16:7-12
Somehow I think we can all relate to this story. Sitting in a desert by a lonely spring…been there. What I love about this story is that an angel found Hagar in this lonely place. What, did he just happen to be flying by? No, of course the angel was there just for her. Many Bible scholars believe that when the Old Testament uses the phrase, ‘angel of the Lord’, it’s often actually talking about the Lord Himself. It’s not far fetched to think it was Christ who was there for Hagar. Afterall Revelation states that the lamb[Jesus] was present before the foundations of the world was laid[Creation]. So I guess the son could handle the Hagar assignment. Back to the point, there comes a time in our faith journey that our heart somehow gets re-forged because of Christ’s attentiveness to us. And the places that used to be lonely, get renamed. And our self-worth and self-identity changes. And we become ONE WHO GOD WATCHES. ~verlon

The Secret Life of Servants...

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“Oh praise the Lord all you servants of the Lord, you who serve at night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your holy hands in prayer, and praise the Lord.” ~Psalm 134:1-2
THE SECRET LIFE OF SERVANTS…The bible refers to us sons and daughters…and yet calls us servants too. It’s not a demeaning thing, Jesus even referred to himself as a servant. But there is something within this title that helps us return to God’s best plans for us. Somehow within this world of servant-hood we find a deep bond with the Divine like no other way. And this verse seems to capture just a bit of the secret world of the servant. Much of this world is talked about as a night thing. A true servant does more for the Lord than anyone ever see’s…they are not doing it for the applause of others in the daylight. They are simply responding to their Lord. But there is another ‘night’ truth here. Our servant-hood isn’t just a day job. It’s a 24/7 expression of our life…spilling into the night too. Doing works of Christ during the day…meditating on Him and His mission during the night. But the part I love most about this verse is how it casts us as the first ones to partake of what we’re selling. We are quick to lift up our hands in prayer…because we truly believe in the power of our message. And we are the ones who respond first and fast at the opportunities of praise…because we know how He enables us as we exalt Him. It’s how men and women of the cross have found strength in the night for centuries. It’s the secret life of servants. ~verlon

Desperate For Agreement...

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?...Indeed the sovereign Lord never does anything until He reveals His plans to His servants…” ~Amos 3:3,7
DESPERATE FOR AGREEMENT…There are many circles of humanity that are desperate for the attitude of agreement to touch them. There are families in which each person is insisting on their own way. Companies are struggling because their people haven’t grasped the power of agreement and hold to their personal views like they’re gold. Churches struggle with the same problem…and we actually have the playbook on unity…the Bible. But our humanity gets in the way and we cancel out the power of agreement with almost as much regularity as those who are uninformed of this attitudinal value. There must be agreement! We don’t have to like everything about a direction to embrace it and enable it for the greater good. Contrary to popular opinion, the universe doesn’t revolve around what we want. Even God limits Himself to the paths of agreement and works His plans on the earth only after revealing them to us and gaining our agreement. Wow! He knows that until the attitude of agreement has been forged, even His efforts will be mis-spent. We live in a ‘my way’ culture in which most people navigate their way through it insisting upon what ‘they want’. Is it possible that this deep individualism has made us blind to a deep need in our families, churches & work-places that are desperate for agreement? ~verlon

Powerless...

POWERLESS…I hate being powerless. There are moments in life when we are simply outmatched. Bills become greater than our income…disruption becomes greater than our ability to breathe peace…chaos undermines our plans faster then we can instill direction…discouragement becomes greater than our energy …etc. etc. I even hate it when someone makes a snide remark and I can’t even find a good come-back…too brain-dead to go tit-for-tat with a friend in the halls of church. Bumping up against our limitations is part of our adult learning, isn’t it. When these moments are visiting me in living color…I like this verse.
“Oh Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty!”
~II Chronicles 14:11
This is one of the great benefits of being on friendly speaking terms with God Himself. When we are powerless…we aren’t really powerless. In other words, when we come to the end of our abilities…it doesn’t mean we are at the end. Beneath us is God. Around us is God. Within us is God. God is consumed with our life and our present challenges. And God has no idea what it’s like to be powerless. However dark and impossible our present challenge looks, we are never without options and power. Our only problem is that we don’t know what they are. Our problem is that we only see our resources, and how futile they can be. When we see no answer, He see’s 10,000. Are you facing a mighty problem and completely powerless to address it? No you’re not!
~verlon

Believe Him!

BELIEVE HIM!...“How good are you at believing what the Lord is whispering in your soul? This is a spiritual aptitude that must be developed if we are going to be affected by Christ’s leadership and influence. Yet there are many who simply have never learned to believe! Accordingly, the interventions of Christ never leave the story books and enter their daily lives. Here’s the moment Abraham chose to simply believe…
“Count your descendants. You’re going to have a big family, Abraham! And he believed! Believed God!” ~Gen. 15:5-6
I like how the voice of God was talking to Abraham. God likes to talk with His creation. That’s still true today. The Spirit of Christ that lives in us is always whispering His comfort and His direction inside of us. If we can’t trust those inward words, then will fumble many blessings & encouragements He’s trying to give us. We’ll fumble provisions He’s lining up for us, we’ll fumble mission engagement opportunities, we’ll literally talk ourselves out of ‘one blessing after another’. Why does the voice of doubt get so much credibility? Has doubt ever led to a single blessing in our life? The presence of doubt only means that we can’t see the whole plan at that moment. Abraham had no son, and he was old, so he couldn’t see where all these descendants would come from. So, he simply chose to believe God! There’s an age-old lesson to be learned about God’s whispers, that even though we don’t see all the facts, we can choose to simply BELIEVE HIM! ~verlon

After We Lose...

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY…“The Lord says, I will give you back what you lost…The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.” ~Joel 2:25,24
AFTER WE LOSE…Loss is a part of this fallen world. For every 2 steps forward we will take a step backwards. The construction worker labors hard for his paycheck, but he gets sawdust in his eyes and slivers in his fingers in doing so. The athlete trains their body and tunes their muscles, but injury is part of the journey of performing at their best. The business person works hard at putting together relationships and making deals, yet some of them still come unglued costing their company huge dollars. Loss is present almost every day. We lose positions, we lose influence, we lose faith in others, we lose money, we lose belongings, we lose friends, we lose health, we lose family to death and when we lose too much, we even lose confidence in God. But what happens next? What about after loss? If we’re still here, there just has to be an after, right? The above verse is one of the classics. Israel had lost huge. They had lost their focus on God and that brought loss in every other area. They found themselves despairing for even food. Then these words were given to them. This is a great example of what happens after loss. God see’s to it we are offered a tomorrow. A good tomorrow. In fact a great tomorrow. We perceive loss as the end of the road. That’s actually not true. God will again offer us options of blessing…He still builds tomorrows. ~verlon

A Crop Of Love...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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