Month: September 2018

“These are the words of the Amen, the trusty and faithful and true Witness, the Origin and Beginning and Author of God’s creation: I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!” Revelation 3:14b-16 ->me: The Amen -> ‘So be it’ | ‘May it be so’ | etc. I love that Jesus describes Himself this way! Meaning that as the Amen (The God of Truth), what He does, just is…and we need to be good with that. Jesus is the ultimate witness because He sees my heart. It isn’t what I do but why I do it that is important to Him. This overflows into so much.   Looking back at last Friday’s QTVOTD (We have it too good), this rolls in as a complement. God does not like people who just skate through life. Yes, we live in virtual luxury compared to other Christians in the world. I can easily sit back on my deck with my tea or coffee in my hand and breathe deeply knowing I don’t have a care in the world. The other night I was sitting up at my desk in our bedroom and my prayer went something like this…”Lord God in heaven, Mighty is your Name. I sit here humbly before You to receive the teaching of your Holy Spirit…here in my comfy bedroom, with carpet, at my desk with a fancy computer, with 4 different highlighters, in a warm house with the most comfortable bed I have ever had waiting for me to get a full nights sleep in it.” It just dawned on me how easy it is for me to become lukewarm, apathetic, satisfied in my surroundings, and comfortable with my life in this world. I definitely do not want to be cold so what does it mean to be hot? More on that tomorrow…

“He who overcomes (is victorious), I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God; he shall never be put out of it or go out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends from My God out of heaven, and My own new name.” Revelation 3:12 ->me: Jesus says ‘My God’ four times in this verse and the four promises are fantastic!  There is a lot of thinking on the ‘make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God’ but the sentiment is the same and hearkens back to Psalms 27:4 ‘one thing I seek…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life’ and to never have to leave.  Then to have 3 names written upon me -> God’s name (YAHWEH – to Whom I belong), God’s city (the New Jerusalem – where I belong), and Christ’s own name (the one we do not know yet – to Whom I love and serve).  When one bears these names there is no mistaking who they are, where they live, what they stand for, and Who they serve.  What a beautiful picture of God’s adoption of us.  So the goal is to have a faith that prepares me to receive these names, to stand permanently in the Temple of the Lord.  To bear a life that begets a smile on my Lord’s face as He descends through the clouds when He comes.

“I know your [record of] works and what you are doing. See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept My Word and guarded My message and have not renounced or denied My name.” Revelation 3:8 ->me: These are the words of Jesus to the church at Philadelphia.  In verse 7 He outlined His authority and petition for the church to listen to the only 100% reliable source of truth.  This verse (vs 8) is an answer to prayer.  This last Thursday I had the honor of praying and pouring over the effects of busyness on our lives with 5 other men at church.  One of those men also works at Microsoft and we began a discussion about starting up a regular lunch at work where we could invite others to join and pray for our co-workers and be ready to seize opportunities to win others Christ and build up those who starting out or languishing in their Christian walks.  Ok, there was the preamble – now the meat.  I like to read the above verse with the third sentence first.  As Christians at MS we are few and therefore our power/strength of influence is light, but we stay true.  We do not denounce our Savior and we keep His word and message. [now onto the first sentence] Jesus knows of what we have done and what we are currently doing.  I have set a door before you wide open which no one is to shut.  We are to move forward and if Jesus has opened the door then there is a mission to be done!  This is answered prayer and I can’t wait to talk more about this on our first lunch together this coming Wednesday!  Here are some more supporting scriptures I found regarding this door being opened – Acts 14:27, 1 Corinthians 16:9 (so good!), and 2 Corinthians 2:12.

“Yet you still have a few [persons’] names in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes, and they shall walk with Me in white, because they are worthy and deserving. Thus shall he who conquers (is victorious) be clad in white garments, and I will not erase or blot out his name from the Book of Life; I will acknowledge him [as Mine] and I will confess his name openly before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:4-5 ->me: Oh to be counted in the number of ‘those who have not soiled their clothes’! Right now I am also reading ‘A Call to Prayer’ by J.C. Ryle (really good short read!). What Ryle is asking in his book is “Do you pray?'” -> he adds that in all of his study it is clear that prayer is necessary for salvation…how else would you ask Jesus into your heart? We all sin and the only way to keep our garments clean is to confess our sin and repent; through prayer. [Going to be careful here] I am learning that ‘walking with Jesus in White’ is a constant state of ‘justification’ only achieved through prayer. I am not ‘worthy or deserving’ on my own accord but ONLY through the shed blood of my Savior on the cross and the application of my sins on Him by the Father. Additionally, the only way to conquer is to fight! I am pretty sure that anyone who stands idle on the battlefield will not be determined to be a conqueror.   All right, here is the roll up – In order to be clad in white garments I must be clean. I can not clean my garments myself but I have access to the one who can wash the soiled bits with the perfect blood only He shed. That access is through heartfelt and deliberate prayer. The battle over my purity is fought in the bounds of my prayer closet, so I must spend time there to be victorious. Jesus then promises that my name will not only be indelibly written in the Book of Life but my name will be acknowledged by Jesus before His Father and the angels. Note: notice He does not say ‘before My Father [in heaven]’ like He does in Matthew 10:32? Because He is saying these words, alive and well, from His position in heaven!!

“So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent. In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come.” Revelation 3:3 ->me: This is the following verse to yesterday and I think encompasses, again, an application to our comfy lives here in the US. WE HAVE IT SO GOOD!…TOO GOOD. One of the scariest prayers I pray is for God to help me see how much I need Him. Am I ready for what that might mean? Am I ready for God to put me in a circumstance where it is clear that all I can do is lean on Him? So, what do I do so that this is not a necessary avenue that the Lord must take with me? I must remember and hold fast to the teachings of His word through not only the reading the bible but also through the instruction of my pastors and spiritual leaders. It’s not good enough that I just remember…I must also obey and continually repent. Tonight before my quiet time I got down on my knees next to my bed and let the Lord know how thankful I am for the gift of His Son, that I feel the cleansing power of His blood, that I recognize that He chose to give up everything in heaven to come down, suffer, and be my sin bearer by dying on a tree and having all of God’s wrath laid down on Him…yet, I still sin. So…I must confess and repent…everyday. The coming of Christ as a thief is used to denote ‘unexpectedness’. The last thing I would want is to be in a valley of sin, a period of faith without works, or in a mindset of apathy when my Savior returns. What a devastating state of embarrassment that would be knowing all that He has done for me.

“I know your record and what you are doing; you are supposed to be alive, but [in reality] you are dead. Rouse yourselves and keep awake, and strengthen and invigorate what remains and is on the point of dying; for I have not found a thing that you have done [any work of yours] meeting the requirements of My God or perfect in His sight.” Revelation 3:1b-2 ->me: This is the sharp condemnation of Sardis and I think this might be how God sees most of us American Christians who have become slack in our walk; we are too comfy. This was me for 33 years! Sardis had been overthrown twice before the birth of Jesus. The city was built on a hill so steep that its defenses seemed impregnable. On both occasions enemy troops scaled the walls by night and found that the overconfident Sardians had set no guard. So Jesus’ words here to ‘rouse yourselves and keep awake’ would mean something to this church. The church in Sardis may have pleased men but it did not please God. Nothing it did was complete in the sight of “My God”; its works were not brought to fulfilment. Why did both Jews and Romans leave this church undisturbed (unlike some of its neighbors [Pergamum and Thyatira])? The answer is probably its lack of aggressive and positive Christianity. The church didn’t do anything with conviction that would draw attention to itself and therefore not worth persecuting. I can’t allow myself to ever get here again – that place where I am so secure and comfortable where I am lulled into living a life that bears no fruit for His Kingdom. Lord, please help me to never be called out by you like this.

“But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not explored and known the depths of Satan, as they say—I tell you that I do not lay upon you any other [fresh] burden: Only hold fast to what you have until I come.” Revelation 2:24-25 ->me: In John’s vision, Jesus takes the church of Thyatira to task over succumbing to the pressures of their environment by listening to false teaching that was saying that it was ok to sin in certain circumstances (send me a note if you want to hear more about what this was…took some study). Here is a current day example -> it would be like working someplace where it was part of your job to lie to and get drunk with customers to win their business. This teaching was saying things like “God doesn’t want you to lose your job so it is ok to do these things…”. Jesus had some real tough words for these believers and even worse for the false teacher. Jesus also gives everyone a chance to repent…and to those that stayed true to his word and did not go with the false teaching He says to hang on. We all have a will, we must live in this world, and be subject to the environments we exist in. We must also stay present in our spheres of influence: if we hide ourselves away into communes, shutting ourselves off from the world who desperately needs to hear the gospel, then we are not fulfilling our mission. I must be a witness at work or with my unbelieving friends, but God does not condone dabbling in the sinful acts of world I live in order to reach the lost. I must always remember this passage to keep my guard up against the evil one who wants to trip me up.

“Fear nothing that you are about to suffer. [Dismiss your dread and your fears!] Behold, the devil is indeed about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and proved and critically appraised, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be loyally faithful unto death [even if you must die for it], and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10 ->me:  These are the words to the church of Smyrna – In verse 9, Jesus acknowledges the local atmospheric circumstances of the church there.  Smyrna was known as a city where being a believer was not only unlawful but the Jews and pagans took advantage of the illegality of Christianity and would use it to take action against the Church.  Jesus even goes as far to call the Jews who slander and perpetrate these acts as belonging to the ‘Synagogue of Satan”. Yeesh!  Jesus, as our intercessor, knows the earthly life and pain that accompanies living in this ungodly world.  I don’t know about you but one of the most comforting things about my Savior (Who sits, right now, at right hand of the Father in heaven) is that He knows exactly what betrayal, slander, persecution, pain, hopelessness and sorrow feel like.  So here, even in the face of imprisonment and maybe even death, Jesus is reassuring them that pain, affliction and even death in this world does not hold a candle to the crown of life He has in store for those who are loyal to His name….to the end.  Oh that I would have this kind of loyalty; this kind of fortitude in affliction.  This is why I need to be in His word everyday; building up the knowledge I have in Him so when the day comes, I will withstand the test and be proved and critically appraised.

“He who is able to hear, let him listen to and give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant to eat [of the fruit] of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7->me:  With the close of each of these messages to each of the churches, Jesus closes with this phrase ‘He who is able to hear, let him listen to and give heed to what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches)’.  Sometimes He has a follow-up like He does here – an exhortation.  I like how this lets me know that this note to Ephesus is also for me…because I am able to hear…so now, I am to listen and take action.  The Spirit here is the Word, and the Word is Jesus.  Jesus is promising that if I am able, with His help, to overcome and be victorious, He will give me the tree of life (which will be in the New Jerusalem).  How do I overcome and have victory?  Verse 22:14 tells me -> “Blessed (happy and to be envied) are those who cleanse their garments, that they may have the authority and right to [approach] the tree of life”.  I cleanse my garments by being cleansed by the Blood of Jesus Whom I have accepted.  The Blood is there but I must accept and use it on a daily basis to keep my life clean and upright.  The Blood is also a reminder of what He has done for me which helps me to keep in perspective the focused desire I have to represent Him in the greatest light.  It is He Who lives IN me…Here He is telling me what I need to do, I just need to listen and heed.

“But I have this [one charge to make] against you (church at Ephesus): that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].  Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God’s will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.” Revelation 2:4-5 ->me: In John’s vision, after Jesus lays His hand on Him and tells him not to be afraid, Jesus asks John to write down His words as a message to the seven churches mentioned earlier.  These words He has for Ephesus are tragic but I have found myself here.  Going day to day being a good Christian, standing up for what is right, doing lots of good works…but, my heart is not doing it out of a love for my Savior…it is just doing it.  Jesus gives 3 ways for the Ephesians to turn this around, 1) Repent – turn 180 degrees and fall with my arms wrapped around His legs. 2) Remember – hearken back to the way it felt the first time I realized the gravity of what He had done for me, and keep that memory on the forefront of my mind moving forward.  3) Do the things you did at first – those things I did that were birthed out of the this new love I had for Him.  The consequences for the church are dire if they don’t turn things around…their lamp stand will be removed (the church destroyed?).  I think of all the churches that are leaving aspects of the word of God behind to placate to the lost world they exist in; these churches are at risk.  My call here is to love my God and then do what I can in my own church to nurture the spirit of “First Love”.