Daily Light - May 9, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"This is the day THE LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24

As we arise to worship together today, let us not for one moment fail to recognize who we are to worship. This is not just any other day. This is THE LORD's day: THE LORD of glory, THE LORD of creation, THE LORD of hosts, and THE LORD of lords. God declares "I am THE LORD" 162 times in the Bible.

This beautiful name THE LORD means "the existing One". In other words, He always has been, He is today, and He always will be. He is THE LORD of your past, your present, and your future. However, we cannot perceive the fathom of time as He can. We can only live in the present. That is why there is such an emphasis on this day. "This is the day THE LORD has made." Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Rejoice in THE LORD today and serve Him this day with your whole heart. Recognize the beauty of THE LORD's holiness today and worship Him because of it. Fall on your face before THE LORD for yourself. Recognize your unworthiness and embrace the grace that flows down His hands and feet. Seek THE LORD while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near. We are desperate for His love, His wisdom, and His power. This name is sacred, "hallowed be Thy name". Let us not mistreat it or abuse it, but let us reverence it with a sacred trust. There are others that despise this name. Do not worry about what those who would mock this precious Name do. THE LORD is love, but He is also a righteous Judge. He will repay. What will you do with the name of THE LORD this day? Will it be reverenced and honored not only in your words but more importantly your actions? The expression of the name of THE LORD literally means that He is the owner and ruler of everything. You are His. All you claim as yours belongs to God. He bought you with a price, therefore glorify THE LORD in your body.

May you feel the presence of THE LORD in your life today.

Daily Light - May 7, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works in us."

Ephesians 3:20

If you are around me very long, you will hear me use this verse at some point. I think it is pivotal to our understanding of God and His power. Most of us believe, or say we believe, that God is all powerful (omnipotent). We declare with resolve that He can do all things, and we are right. When we read this passage, we cannot wait until Heaven to see al of these things fulfilled. However, in the context Paul is not saying that we have to wait until we get to Heaven to see God's power manifest in our lives.
Most of us have a very grand view of Heaven. Most of us also have a very confused view of Heaven. The old image of saints sitting on clouds and playing harps while they flap their golden wings comes to mind. I hope and believe that there is more to it than that. However, I also believe we have a very confused view of life. Many believers are sitting around waiting on Heaven and missing out on all that God has for them here. God wants to use us now. He desires to do great things in our lives today. Notice that the passage says "according to the power that works in us." It does not say the power that will work in us. He longs to do something in our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls while we are living on this earth. How do we see these things fulfilled? At some time read the verses surrounding this text. You will find that it is the person that is surrendered to the Spirit of God that is strengthened to do what they never thought they could do. It is by faith in His power not ours that we come to know what it means to live in the presence of God. As we learn to love like Christ, we are able to minister as He would. This ministry makes us more like Him and draws us into deeper relationship with Him and His children. If you were supernaturally empowered by God to accomplish His will, living in the hope and joy of His presence on a daily basis, and regularly ministering to people as Christ would, wouldn't that be "exceeding abundantly above" what you ever thought possible?
May you come to know Christ in a more personal way today!

Daily Light - May 6, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses,

commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

2 Timothy 2:2

The Gospel message is generational. The message itself is the same from generation to generation. However, how or whether it is passed down is what is generational. There is a great obligation and responsibility for one generation to pass down what they have learned and been taught to those coming behind them. A verse that I have claimed as my life's challenge is Psalm 71:18 which says, "Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come."

Paul was challenging Timothy in this passage to not fail to do his part in blazing a trail of spiritual legacy. He knew that if one generation did not do their job the results could be devastating. You can see five groups in this passage: 1)me, 2)witnesses, 3)you, 4)faithful men, and 5)others. Everyone in the chain of Biblical instruction must do their part. This is why Jesus Himself told the disciples to not discourage the children from coming. If we do not reach the next generation with the Gospel of Christ, we have doomed the generations that will follow. I have seen the devastating effects first hand. My parents were missionaries in England for several years. If you study the country's history, you will find that most of our nation's spiritual leaders either came from or were influenced by England. There are literally hundreds of men and women that we could list that are known as spiritual giants from this great country. Yet today, less than 10% of the population attends any kind of church. Why? You can trace back the tragic losses during the world wars and see that a generation faded off the scene without being able to instruct the next. To give one illustration of the great loss, the city my parents worked in was Leicester. There was a hall built in this city in honor of the great missionary to India, William Carey. Today William Carey Hall has been used as a Hindu temple. This is a call for us to wake up and realize that this next generation desperately needs to hear the message of Christ. This is a call for us to take young believers and disciple them in the truth. Let us not fail to do our part for fear that the generation after them will not hear of the joy of life in Jesus Christ.

May you be an influence for Christ in someone's life today.

Daily Light - May 5, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness."

Psalm 84:10

Have you ever just sat back and realized how crazy our lives are? If your schedule is anything like the schedule of most people, it is insanely busy. We wake up in the morning with a list of things that have to get done running through our mind. You probably spent part of the night thinking about it as well. Many times our schedules keep us from sleeping soundly. It also keeps us from doing the things that bring us real joy and pleasure. We never have any time for ourselves. I think "stay-at-home" moms have some of the most difficult responsibilities. They wear so many hats during the day. Of course, those of us that head off to work outside the home find our day to be filled with everyone else's agenda pressing against us. It is in a simple word "madness".
Gratefully and amazingly, we find something completely different in God. This passage speaks of not madness and busyness but simplicity. Yes, simplicity can be found in God. Of course, many would argue that God is not simple. He is very complex. While theologically that might be true, there has never been a child that thought so. The Bible talks about the faith of a child. There are no agnostic or atheistic children. Why? Psalm 19 and Romans 1 are very clear that God has revealed Himself to us. Children believe in the simplicity of God. They trust Him that He is and that He can and will do what He says. The psalmist is expressing a return to child-like faith. Wouldn't it be better to trade just one day of peace in the presence of God than live in the madness of a thousand days anywhere else? We live in a society that pushes every one to accomplish what the rest of the world says is important. There is nothing wrong with achieving great things, and we ought to strive to do great things for the glory of God. However, our motivation to do those things is too often for selfish ambition. Wouldn't it be wonderful to know that God is pleased with your life as just a doorkeeper in His house? He loves you as a person. He sees beyond what we do and recognizes who we are. Maybe it would be good for all of us to stop somewhere in the middle of our madness and obey the admonition of Scripture: Be still and know that I am God. He didn't call on us to figure Him out or understand exactly what it is that He is doing. No, just be still and know that He is God.May you see the simplicity of God today and may it be personally encouraging.

Discouragement

And let us not grow weary while doing good,

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Galatians 6:9

The Bible instructs us to not get weary, but that is one of the most difficult challenges of the Word of God. I feel weary and a little discouraged right now. Not because things are going bad, but just because even doing God's will becomes difficult and taxing. So when I read a verse that tells me to not be weary, I get more discouraged, because I think that I am failing God in some way. However, I really dug into this word "weary". I found out that it did not mean what I was interpreting it to mean. It literally means to not let the evil of discouragement so overtake you that you give up and quit. That makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Did Jesus ever get discouraged? With that group of disciples you bet He did. Did Paul ever get weary on his journeys? A cruel beating followed by a rat infested prison would cause anyone to lose heart. Did Peter ever feel like giving up? That is an easy one. How do you think he felt as he bitterly wept after denying Christ? When I stop and think about it, I am in pretty good company. I may feel a little discouraged today, but I am not going to allow it to make me give up and quit. My eyes are on the author and finisher Jesus Christ. As long as He is holding me up, I'll keep standing for His glory!

Where did that come from?

I think that it is odd how a word or group of words that you have rarely heard of suddenly become a regular part of your thinking. A few months ago, someone introduced me to the term "emergent church". Now, everywhere I go I hear someone talking about this term. Every book or magazine I read seems to mention this term. It is probably not everywhere, but I guess I am just simply more aware of it. That made me start thinking about the presence of God. How aware am I that God is in my life every day? I know that He is there, but I think that I am just not fixed on that thought and therefore some days I can seem to pass through without acknowledging Him like I should. God is so much there that He is at work in every part of my life. It would do me some good to wake up and acknowledge Him so as to yield to Him in every area. By the way, I brought up the emergent church. Every once in a while I am going to write about some things that I have learned about this group. I find it interesting. You can share with me what you think.

Serving on Foot

I have been thinking alot lately about pastors that I have met while on missions trips. People like Jose Luis in Jimenez, Mexico; Pastor Sopa in Dapong, Togo; Pastors Frisnel and Luke in Mirebelais, Haiti; all come to mind. These men will probably never be known by most of the world during their lifetime, but I know that their Heavenly Father knows them well. These men of God many times have walked from place to place to serve God. While in Mexico, Jose Luis gave up his car for a week so a visiting missionary could use it. Pastor Sopa has walked or ridden a bicycle to six different churches every Sunday for years.

With that in mind, I woke up the other day and decided to walk to the church (only about 5 miles away) and pray for them while I walked. As I was walking and praying, a rain storm rolled through and drenched me to the bone. There was no shelter, trees or building, within a mile or so. As I was running to get out of the rain, I wondered how many times these men had been miles away from their home and in the same situation. I was suddenly very humbled to be called their brother and fellow servant in Jesus Christ. It wouldn't hurt most of us to do some walking and to pray for our brothers and sisters all across the world that serve on foot.