Seize the Moment – Day 853
Finish the Task!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, July 18.
How would you respond if squatters moved into your back yard? Even though you had legal rights to your house and land, how would you react if they worked to influence your family and take possession of what belongs to you?
God was actively working through His people to eradicate Baal from His promised land. It was King Ahab, and his wife Jezebel, who introduced Baal into Israel. They even built him a house with an altar in the back yard of Samaria (1 Kings 16:31-32). God was provoked (1 Kings 16:33) and He called forth Elijah to declare a drought (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah was tasked with destroying the cult of Baal worship (1 Kings 18:17-40). He had a great victory, but he didn’t complete the job (1 Kings 19:1-8).
God passed Elijah’s task to remove Baal from His back yard to the next generation of prophets and kings, to Elisha, Hazael, and Jehu (1 Kings 19:15-16). What God began with Elijah, in response to the abomination of Ahab building a house of Baal in Samaria, was completed by Jehu with the destruction of that house and the eradication of Baal from the northern ten tribes of Israel.
Seize the moment and remove anything that is not pleasing to God from your life. As a Christian, God has legal rights of ownership to your heart, mind, body, and soul (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). Invite the Holy Spirit to finish the task Christ began in you (Galatians 3:1-14; Philippians 1:6).
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Train to Live on Mission – Week 21
Battle Drill #21:
Slow to Anger!
Proverbs 14:26-30 (NAS95)
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Slow to Anger!”
Soldiers must be emotionally healthy. Emotional health doesn’t mean you will experience your emotions less, it is the ability to be aware of your emotions so that they don’t hijack your thoughts, words, or actions. The military trains soldiers in a difficult school so that they can learn to make good and right decisions, regardless of their circumstances or emotions. Soldiers are pushed emotionally, mentally, and physically to be able to do the harder right instead of the easier wrong. As soldiers for Jesus Christ, we must train ourselves in the same way.
Today we are learning the battle drill, “Slow to Anger” because anger is a real emotion that every single person must learn to bring into submission, otherwise, it has the potential of causing a wildfire. For example, the thought of a trained soldier with a gun on mission doesn’t bother most people, because that is a soldier’s life. But what does bother us, is when a trained soldier with a gun has lost control because of their anger. In the same way that this is a scary reality, so are Christians who use the Word of God in anger.
It is my calling to equip you to use the Word of God effectively, so that you may bear the good fruit of a disciple of Jesus, but it’s not enough for me to teach you the Word of God, I must disciple you to use it with emotional health, under submission to the Holy Spirit, not in your flesh. We will now look at the first action step of a soldier’s training routine to live on mission.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.
The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 14:26-30:
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. In a multitude of people is a king’s glory, but in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion [jealousy, envy, rivalry, zeal] is rottenness to the bones.
To better understand how I am applying this Scripture, you need to hear these verses in their context, as a part of the whole of Proverbs 14. (Read from the Bible). This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal [same Hebrew word “passion” in Proverbs 14:30] of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Who will accomplish bringing righteousness and justice to the nations? God will through His Messiah! God has a plan; trust Him. He reminds us of this in Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Is it your zeal or striving that exalts God? No! It is “the zeal of the LORD of hosts [who] will accomplish this.” Don’t take on the offenses of God; He is fully capable of exalting Himself! God accomplished this through the coming of Jesus Christ and we are His body, the Church. We must remember that God will establish the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and uphold it with justice and righteousness. As Psalm 100:3 proclaims, “Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Paul reminded the Church in Galatia with his rhetorical questions in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” In other words, if the zeal of the Lord is to establish the Kingdom, will your flesh now uphold it with your anger at people’s mockery of God, fueled by your self-righteousness religious zeal?
No, absolutely not! That is an arrogant, prideful, and blasphemous thought! One, which has fueled churches for way too long! We must keep reminding ourselves of this if we are going to train ourselves to be slow to anger. Anger is often fueled by discouragement and disappointment, in ourselves and others; when expectations are not met and ideals are not realized. We hate it when our plans, or, even worse, God’s plans seem to be thwarted every which way we turn by evil and sin. And when I’m angry about something, I feel powerful and when I act upon it, I can do mighty things. In the past, as a teenager and young military man, I fueled my anger, thinking that I could harness it for greater accomplishment, only to learn the hard way that anger was a wildfire that while powerful, yes, it was destructive as it spread into areas of my life that I did not want fueled by it, such as my relationships. I made hurtful and bad decisions because I was trying to harness the power of a wildfire. A popular culture illustration of this is the transformation process of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe.
Anger is very real, but it must not be allowed to be in control of your faculties. God does not desire for your life to be fueled by wildfires, such as anger. Rather, God desires your life to be fueled by His holy fire, the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus desires that our lives be fully submitted to His yoke – His ruling authority of peace! Paul taught in Ephesians 4:17-27:
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.
What are the first two examples Paul used in applying this teaching to our everyday Christian walks? First, you are to give an honest report (see my sermon from July 3, 2022) – “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (25). Second, you are to not sin in your anger (26-27), which means, when you are experiencing the very real emotion of anger, you are not to give it lordship of your life. Nor are you to use anger as a motivation or fuel source in your life. Your Lord is Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and coming again. Your fuel source is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you to give you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Your motivation is the glory of God alone! That takes us to the third action step to training yourself to being slow to anger.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
How? By becoming like Him! God is “Slow to Anger.” That is one of Yahweh’s first descriptions of Himself, as God revealed His character to us in Exodus 34:6, “Then the Lord passed by in front of [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” This is one of the most repeated verses in the Bible because God wants you to know who He is. He has revealed this truth to us on purpose.[1] The following passages repeat that God is “slow to anger”:
- Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression.”
- Nehemiah 9:17b, “But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and You did not forsake them.”
- Psalm 86:15, “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”
Who will give you this great understanding? The answer to that is found in the axiomatic battle drill of the book of Proverbs, found in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” When you fear God, then you will have knowledge. When you are slow to anger, then you will have great understanding. Only fools, who despise God’s wisdom, are quick tempered! James taught in James 1:19-20, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Those who fear God will please God by being like Him (that is righteousness). That brings us to the final action step.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
There are things worth getting angry about, even when you are slow to do it, but, and this is a big but, we are not permitted to sin in that anger, no matter how righteous the cause or holy the crusade may be to you or others. We conclude today’s sermon by learning from Jesus’ example when He was on mission and got angry in the face of injustice and corruption in the temple courts, from John 2:13-17:
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
Jesus’ anger is righteous because it flows out of love and is focused on the real and legitimate enemy. Imitation is the greatest complement you can give someone! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:16). Here are three practical observations you can apply to your life about anger, gleaned from Jesus’ displays of anger in the Bible:
- Jesus had pure motives with His anger. He did not seek selfish gain but desired the best for the other person in why He was angry and how He expressed His anger. Because He loves the person and hates the sin!
- Jesus focused His anger on the sinful behavior or corrupted activity. His anger was fueled by love and bound by the Word. Jesus’ response to His emotions was always for the will of God to be accomplished in and through His life, words, and actions. Anger that does not flow out of godly love is focused on the wrong target.
- Jesus was in control while He was angry. He did not “see red” and lose control. He did not hold on to his anger. Jesus controlled His emotions; His emotions did not control Him.[2]
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] For an easily accessible study on “slow to anger,” watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQ1nq_YJD0.
[2] “Was Jesus ever angry?” https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-angry.html. Accessed July 14, 2022.
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Seize the Moment – Day 851
Where He Leads I’ll Follow
Matthew 4:19-20(NLT)
“Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.”
William Ogden was a gifted musician and songwriter. By the age of 10 he was able to read music and listen to a song and write out the melody, and at the age of 18, he became the choir director for his church. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and then organized a male choir that was known throughout the Army of the Cumberlands.
After the war, he resumed his study of music under some of the most prominent musicians of the day. He would go on to teach in the US and in Canada. He wrote and published this hymn in 1885.
Where He leads I’ll follow, follow all the way.
Where He leads I’ll follow, follow Jesus every day.
We need to wake up with this mindset, declaring our confidence in the One who saved us! His promises are sweet, and His message is one of hope, grace and love. So follow Jesus with everything you’ve got.
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Where He Leads I’ll Follow
Kind is the word,
Dearer far than any message man ever heard;
Pure was the mind of Christ,
Sinless I see;
He the great example is, and pattern for me.
Where He leads I’ll follow,
Follow all the way.
Where He leads I’ll follow,
Follow Jesus ev’ry day.
Jesus hath shown,
Sweeter far than any love that mortals have known;
Kind to the erring one,
Faithful is He;
He the great example is, and pattern for me. (Chorus)
“Come unto Me;”
Weary, heavy-laden, there is sweet rest for thee;
Trust in His promises,
Faithful and sure;
Lean upon the Savior, and thy soul is secure. (Chorus)
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Seize the Moment – Day 850
Wait on God’s Justice!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, July 15.
Is there a justice that you are waiting to see fulfilled?
The last unfulfilled task of Elijah’s tripartite commission on Mount Horeb was to anoint Jehu king over Israel (1 Kings 19:16). That task was done by one of Elisha’s disciples, a son of the prophets. In 2 Kings 9:3, Elisha gave him the message he was to deliver to Jehu upon anointing him with oil, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I have anointed you king over Israel.’” Strikingly, Elisha’s disciple said so much more at Jehu’s anointing in verses 6-10:
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male person both bond and free in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.”
He seems to have exceeded his marching orders. Did Elisha’s disciple become overzealous in his desire to see God’s justice fulfilled? No, God used this man to pass to Jehu the original prophecy of Elijah, found in 1 Kings 21:17-29. It took three generations to see God’s justice fulfilled, but not a single Word of the Lord fell to the ground void (1 Samuel 3:19; Isaiah 55:11).
Seize the moment and walk faithfully, trusting that no matter how many generations it takes to see God’s justice fulfilled, “God’s Words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
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Seize the Moment – Dat 849
Trust God for the Big Picture!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 14.
Have you ever been asked to do something that you didn’t understand, but you knew it had to be done? That’s the situation Elisha found himself in when he visited Damascus. King Ben-hadad was sick and sent his servant Hazael to inquire of Elisha if he would live. After telling Hazael that his master would recover, but still die, he gazed at Hazael and wept. Their conversation, recorded in 2 Kings 8:12-13, illuminates the difficult life of a prophet:
Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.” Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
In verse 15, Hazael murdered Ben-hadad and seized the throne for himself. Elisha was obedient to fulfill Elijah’s mandate from 1 Kings 19:15, “you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram.” While Hazael would go on to do grave evil against the people of Israel, he was also used by God to bring judgment against His people for their disobedience and idolatry, as recorded in 2 Kings 13:3, “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Aram.” Elisha may have been conflicted with this turn of events, but He trusted God’s sovereignty and obeyed the Lord, regardless.
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Seize the Moment – Day 848
Pray to the God who Keeps His Promises!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, July 13.
Are you concerned with the increased costs of living?
The king of Aram besieged Samaria, causing a great famine. The costs of living skyrocketed and the people became desperate, so much so that they turned to cannibalism (2 Kings 6:24-30). The stage was set for another conflict between an evil king and a faithful prophet.
The king was so distraught that like his father Ahab who had blamed Elijah for the drought previously, Jehoram blamed Elisha for this famine and ordered his death. Neither king could see God’s judgment upon the nation for their sins, but in 2 Kings 7:1, Elisha prophesied to the king’s messenger,
“Listen to the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord, ‘Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’” The king’s official responded with disbelief, so Elisha told him personally, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of it” (2).
God kept both promises! God vanquished the enemy in a single night, which not only ceased the Aramean’s siege of Samaria, but left behind their food stores for the city’s people to consume (3-9). By God’s direct activity, Elisha’s prophecy was fulfilled in verse 16,
“So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.”
God was faithful to provide for His people, and to judge the evil in the land (2 Kings 7:17-20; 9:19-26).
Seize the moment and don’t look for someone to blame for the rising costs of living, rather trust God for judgement and faithfully pray that He will provide your daily bread (Matthew 6:11).
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Seize the Moment – Day 847
The Eyes of Faith to See!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, July 12.
In a recent article, Dr. Karan Raj explained, “humans are capable of seeing only 0.0035% of reality.” The normal person sees a very tiny portion of the vast electromagnetic (EM) spectrum, a specific range of wavelengths approximately 380 to 750 nanometers. The science is fascinating. Today’s famous Old Testament story has me thinking that faith and science are best when they are in dialogue with one another.
In 2 Kings 6:8-10, Elisha the prophet has been feeding inside information to Jehoram, the king of Israel, about Ben-hadad’s military movements. It’s not because he was a spy, but because he had ears to hear what God was revealing to him about the secret council meetings of Israel’s enemy. Never forget that what is hidden to man is laid open to God (Hebrews 4:13). Because of his accurate reports, Ben-hadad sent an army to take Elisha and surrounded his city with horses and chariots. Open your eyes to Elisha’s response to his servant’s report of what he saw as overwhelming odds in 2 Kings 6:16-17:
“Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
What appeared to be a disaster, was just an opportunity for the eyes of faith to be opened to God’s power and provision for His people (Hebrews 11). God is not surprised by the overwhelming odds of our circumstances; in fact, He plans on using them for His glory and our good.
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Seize the Moment – Day 846
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Train to Live on Mission – Week 20
Battle Drill #20:
Be a Hope-Bearer!
Proverbs 13:12-17 (NAS95)
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Be a Hope-Bearer!”
In a recent news article, the author explained the importance of teaching your children the practical life skills of hope, a timely reminder since we are living in a world filled with hopelessness and darkness:
Research shows that hopefulness can dramatically reduce childhood anxiety and depression. Hopeful kids have an inner sense of control. They view challenges and obstacles as temporary and able to be overcome, so they are more likely to thrive and help others. Yet despite its immense power, hope is largely excluded from our parenting agendas. The good news? Hope is teachable. One of the best ways to increase this strength is by equipping children with skills to handle life’s inevitable bumps.[1]
The article continues with “nine science-backed ways to help kids maintain hope.” Those ideas include the following: stop negativity in the moment, share hopeful news, celebrate small gains, create gratitude rituals, and embrace service opportunities. I must point out to you that these “science-backed ways” all find their origin in the Bible; therefore, I am going to give you a Proverbs-backed battle drill that encourages you to train yourself everyday to be a hope-bearer.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.
The battle drill we are going to learn and apply this week is from Proverbs 13:12-17:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded. The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn aside from the snares of death. Good understanding produces favor, but the way of the treacherous is hard. Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays folly. A wicked messenger falls into adversity, but a faithful envoy brings healing.
To better understand how I am applying this Scripture, you need to hear these verses in their context, as a part of the whole of Proverbs 13. This is what the Field Manual says, let’s now take the second action step to learn how to apply today’s battle drill to our everyday lives as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
It is not God’s will that you become a jaded, cranky doomsdayer. Rather, it’s God’s will that you become a loving, patient hope-bearer! So, let’s get to the heart of this very real human experience. The biblical concept of hope is linguistically and thematically connected to waiting on the Lord. An example of this is found in Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who wait for [hope in] the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” The “wait for” and “hope in” are interchangeable; both translations are found in the same Hebrew word, “Qavah” (קָוָה), which has an original connotation of twisting or stretching.[2]
How’s this for a new translation of Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who are stretched by the Lord will gain new strength…” In response to that, maybe we should write a new Beatitude: “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Or “Blessed are those who are stretchable, for they shall not snap!” In returning to the soldier imagery of our sermon series, many a military person has expressed a common parody of the US Marine’s motto, “Semper Fi: Always Faithful” with the ever-present military reality of “Semper Gumby: Always Flexible!” I never realized that the US Army’s philosophy of “hurry up and wait” could bring about good.
Seriously, this is the key to being a hope-bearer. To truly understand biblical hope, you must understand that at the heart of hope is trusting God! Concepts like trust and hope are in short commodity in our culture today because we are not a patient people, we hate waiting and despise being inconvenienced. We are notorious for being the masters of our own fate. If we had to be honest, and not take offense at our own honesty, it is not the over 1.02 million deaths in America that dominates most American’s frustration with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been the disruption and inconvenience to our schedules and lives. As a culture, we struggle with hope because we don’t wait gracefully, and we don’t tolerate inconvenience very well.
There is hope with every season of darkness because there is a sunrise coming! Creation reveals the majesty of God! As Jeremiah wrote in Lamentation 3:19-26, there is hope, even in the darkest night of the soul and in the worst possible circumstances:
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord.
This is real hope – biblical hope! It is not wishful thinking! It is not my life working out for me the way I want it to, or else everyone will hear about it. Quite the opposite, biblical hope is learning to trust God as the Good Shepherd of your soul. We train hope into our lives by learning to walk with the One described by David in Psalm 23, based on his life of waiting on God:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
There is no secret sauce to hope! It is 100% trusting God! It is learning that God is who He says He is, to take Him at His word to do what He says He will do, when He wills to do it. His time is always best! That takes us to the third action step to training yourself to be a hope-bearer.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
In John 10:10-11, Jesus described His purposes for our lives as our Good Shepherd, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” An essential reality to training to be a hope-bearers is found in not separating verses 10 and 11. Jesus came to give abundant life by laying down His life for the sheep! The lie of the thief is that you don’t have to lay down your life and you can still have abundance. God’s creation declares His glorious plan for our redemption: Just as there is no sunrise without the night and no spring without the winter, there is no crown without the cross and no resurrection without the grave.
There is no hope without the need to wait for “it.” It being God’s good pleasure for our lives – Jesus gave His life so that we may have life in Him. God’s good pleasure is to become like Jesus; therefore, even our waiting is a part of God’s redemptive purposes, every time, no matter the length of the wait, no matter the human explanation for the delay or inconvenience. God uses all things for His good pleasure; that is a fundamental truth of a hope-bearer! This is the reality of Paul’s promise in Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” Therefore, wait upon the Lord and He will strengthen you for the mission. That brings us to the final action step.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
It is why you were saved! In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus calls His disciples to the mission of God, to carry on His work as the Light of the world:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
This is a radical statement – “You are the light of the world.” Jesus used the title given to Him and applied it to you. A significant way we train ourselves to be hope-bearers is to remember who we are, to memorize this truth and to recite it to ourselves – “I am the light of the world. I am a hope-bearer!” If we believe this about ourselves, then we can fight off the temptations of disappointment, despair, discouragement, and even depression. There is meaning and value in every dark season, in every delay and set back, and in all my waiting upon God.
Being the light of the world is more than a verse to memorize, it is a promise to experience, and a battle drill to train by giving yourself to the daily work of being hope-bearers. I wrote about this in Seize the Moment: New Testament Devotions for Today:
God is not surprised by your current darkness, whatever it is. But, if we let it, the darkness can prevent us from being the light of the world. Don’t let the darkness prevail – we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! Shine the light into the darkness. Reflect specifically today on how you can help others to see the light of God in the midst of all the darkness. Seize the moment by being a hope-bearer, not a doomsdayer![3]
One person can make a difference by being a hope-bearer! It’s contagious. Bring the light of hope to all you encounter! Go from this place and may the light of your good works pierce the darkness. Christ is coming again to make all things new. Wait on Him and anchor your hope in His promise of the New Heaven and New Earth that awaits us all.
Make this battle drill a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual part of your Christian life so that you can CM – Continue the Mission! Therefore, live on mission today and train the battle drill of the week for the glory of God. Let us pray.
This message can be listened to here:
This message can be viewed by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Michel Borba, “Child psychologist: The No. 1 skill that sets mentally strong kids apart from ‘those who give up’ – and how parents can teach it.” https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/04/psychologist-shares-the-top-skill-that-sets-mentally-strong-kids-from-those-who-give-up-easily.html. Accessed on July 6, 2022.
[2] Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 875.
[3] Jerry D. Ingalls, Seize the Moment: New Testament Devotions for Today (New Castle, IN: Northside Books & Media, an AGF Publishing Imprint, 2021), 7.
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Seize the Moment – Day 844
Today’s hymn focus will be
He Hideth My Soul
Psalms 27:5(NLT)
“For he will conceal me there when troubles come;
he will hide me in his sanctuary.
He will place me out of reach on a high rock.”
Today we have another beautiful hymn written by Fanny Crosby. She grew up to be a teacher at a school for the blind, but did not start writing gospel texts until her mid-forties. Once she began, the words of inspiration seemed to flow from her heart, making her “the happiest creature in all the land.”
On this occasion, her friend William Kirkpatrick stopped by to play a new melody that he had composed that he felt could become a singable hymn. As he was playing, her face lit up! She knelt in prayer and then wrote the words to this wonderful hymn of faith and hope.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land
He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there
with His hand, and covers me there with His hand,
YOUTUBE:
He Hideth My Soul
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Savior to me;
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
He taketh my burden away;
He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved,
He giveth me strength as my day.
With numberless blessings each moment He crowns,
And, filled with His fulness divine,
I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God,
For such a Redeemer as mine!
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love,
I’ll shout with the millions on high.
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