Author: kezha1

Across the ages, the Church has looked with joyous anticipation to the promised return of Christ Jesus. Just as His first coming secured our redemption, His second return is our blessed hope for the full consummation of His Kingdom here on earth. But we are not to just sit back on our hands as we wait…we are to be doing Kingdom work, spreading the Gospel Message, and serving the needs of others. But we are to also be vigilant in our watch for Jesus’ return…alert & discerning that we may not be deceived. (Luke 21:34-36) And as we labor, we can look forward with encouragement, joy, and hope for this marvelous future manifestation, or as Jesus told His disciples in Luke 21:28, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.”

His deeply emotional writings have given Jeremiah the title of the Weeping Prophet, for he spoke on behalf of God during the final days of his beloved nation, Judah, before it was overtaken by Babylon. Jeremiah was called a traitor, his pleas for repentance interpreted as treason by the people of Jerusalem…to the point that Jeremiah even complained to God that he didn’t want to speak His Words anymore. “But if I say I won’t mention Him or speak anymore in His Name, His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I’m weary of holding it in; indeed, I can’t.” (Jeremiah 20:9) And so Jeremiah continued to call God’s people to repentance…to turn from sin & turn back to Him. But then in Chapter 12 God turns His attention to the main reason why Judah is suffering so…”Many shepherds will ruin My vineyard and trample down My field; they will turn My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before Me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.” (Jeremiah 12:10-11) Let that last phrase sink in for a moment…”Because there is no one who cares.” Has the Church gotten to that point? A point where social issues out-weight the Word of God coming from the pulpit on Sundays? Where the color of the new carpet for the Sanctuary is more hotly debated than God’s Word? James warned us in the Scripture above that we can’t have it both ways…we either stand with God or fall with the world. But has the Church gotten to that point already…a point where we only go to Church to be entertained with big musical productions, and feel-good sermons that tickle our ears but are just full of fluff? God warns us in the last verses of Chapter 12 of Jeremiah, “But if any nation doesn’t listen, I will completely uproot & destroy it.” The Church is at a very pivotal moment in time, a critical time of taking personal & corporate responsibility as the Body of Christ to take a hard look at what the Church as become. The Church is not to be a country club for people to waltz in & out with little obligation or commitment. No, the Church is to be the instigator of change for the world…but are we willing to take the challenge, or are we just too comfortable with the status quo?

Now Habakkuk was a prophet who wrestled with God concerning the injustice put upon His people. But here, He is reassuring Habakkuk that the appointed time for God to reveal His Will, vision & purpose will come…and to wait for it. Patient obedience is devotion to God, not misguided devotion to the vision He has given us. It’s reaching out for more of God…not satisfied with the status quo…our reach always exceeding our grasp. Or as Paul puts it in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of me.” But what do we usually do with that first vision God gives us for our life? We don’t wait, but rather rush off doing “busy work” thinking we are pleasing Him…but in reality dishonoring the vision God has given us. No wonder the vision usually remains dormant as a melancholy reminder of our first love. Waiting shows true faithfulness in God, and confidence that He will answer. And never giving up on that vision demonstrates our best for God’s glory.

The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal force, but rather a person & part of the Holy Trinity. Nor does He have a loud thunderous voice that we can’t ignore…instead, I Kings 19:12 says its sound is more like a gentle whisper. The Spirit lives within us as a Comforter, Encourager, and Guide. But as longtime Believers, why are we warned then that we can still quench or grieve the Holy Spirit? Just ask yourself these questions…is your personal testimony only about the past works of God in your life? Do you “look back” rather than move forward…or as Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” Are you not moving forward in God’s plan & purpose for your life out of subtle disobedience & defiance to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Sadly, we can all easily snuff out the fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives by simply ignoring Him…and in doing so move farther and farther away from the light. But the cure for this apathy is to recognize & respond to the Holy Spirit in humility & wonder for the intimate fellowship and oneness we have with Him.

Throughout both the New & Old Testament, Jesus Christ is called the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd of Israel, and the Great Shepherd. Isaiah 40:11 tells us that the Messiah will tend His flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in His arms & carry them close to His heart; and He will gently lead those who have young. But why do sheep (or we for that matter) need a shepherd? If you’ve ever raised sheep, you know they can be kind of flighty…that’s why you usually see guard dogs, goats, & shepherds as part of the flock to watch over and guide them safely. Again, Isaiah points out these tendencies to wander, when he writes, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6) But as His flock, these verses in John should also give us great encouragement. First, we see the hired hand recognize his master & promptly open the only gate to welcome him in. Then we see the sheep give immediate attention to the shepherd as He calls out each one of them by name. Finally, as the shepherd leads the way out, the sheep follow…out of obedience, love, & adoration for the Shepherd who they know cares deeply for each one of them. “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hands. Psalm 95:7

In this verse the landscape is a wasteland, the once productive cultivated land now covered with thorns & briers and completely barren. But in verse 15, God promises that the land will again flourish by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field.” Sometimes our lives can feel the same way…dry, barren, with the worries of this life choking the Word & making us unfruitful. (Mark 4:19) But the answer is to seek after God… asking the Holy Spirit to pour out His Spirit anew & afresh on each one of us…so that we too can flourish once more.

The Jewish exiles felt like the dead & buried…their bones dried up like those in the Valley of Dry Bones where Ezekiel had just witnessed the miraculous regeneration by God’s Will & authority. In their hopelessness & helplessness God promises that He will restore, renew, and revitalize…a tangible testament to His power & rule over the world. As a Christian today, do you feel spiritually dry & dead? Are you just going through the motions as a Believer, but without the fire & hope of your first love? “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10) Come before Him with humility, repentance, submission, and contrition…and God promises He will restore you.

Hundreds of sheep find Summer pasture high in the mountains of Idaho & Wyoming, but come October, they start the slow migration to Southern Utah where the flocks spend the Winter. Where we lived in South-Eastern Idaho was the migratory path for many flocks to travel south down through the back roads. I found it fascinating the first time I came upon a huge flock of 300-400 sheep resting in a hay field for the night. The boundary was a temporary single stretch of electric fencing with only one opening. Inside in pen were 2 Great Pyrenes dogs standing guard, the shepherd and his wagon, and a portable water tank & troughs for the sheep to drink. But what I marveled at the most, was how incredibly calm the flock was inside this makeshift sheep-pen. I really wanted to chat with the shepherd, but not surprisingly at all, the dogs refused to let me enter. In these verses, Jesus is warning us about those who scale the fence of the sheep-pen in foul play…false teachers who use deception, both openly & in secret, to steal us away from the truth. That’s because there’s only one gate…and The Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, is the only One who can enter by that way.

As the story of the man born blind develops, we watch as his journey of faith moves forward. It starts with him simply obeying Jesus’ command to, “Go and wash.” and ends in him being able to see clearly enough to, for the first time in his life, walk home by himself. Though he referred to Him as, “The man they call Jesus.” he chose to trust Him. Later, as the Pharisees interrogated him, he called Jesus a Prophet, drawing from his Hebrew knowledge from Deuteronomy 18:15 and acknowledging that this man was indeed special. Finally during his 2nd interrogation with the Pharisees the man had heard enough of their slanderous accusations about the man who had healed him & instead he schooled them. “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His Will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” After the man had been thrown out of the Temple, Jesus found him and this man’s faith went from general confidence to joyful acceptance of Jesus as his personal Savior. It best summed up when he professed, “Lord, I believe.”

No matter if our stress comes from internal or external sources, we can become overwhelmed by anxious hearts & thoughts to the point that it literally rules our life. But what good is it? Worrying is like getting on a treadmill and walking for 5 miles, but in the end, you’ve got a pounding heart & racing mind but you’ve gone nowhere. We are thus reminded in Psalm 73:26 that, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” That’s right, God & His Word are not only your strength, but the only solution to overwhelming anxiety & worry. We are to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart” …the fruit of that being God’s Presence, protection & peace.