December 20, 2024

December 20, 2024 -- Galatians 6:1-3 -- Temptations and victory in Jesus

December 20, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians 6:1-3

In the last two studies focussed trials and tests. Today it is on temptations and the victory that is yours through Christ. Temptations are different from trials (which are common to all people) and tests (which are administered by God for the refining of faithfulness) because these are Satan’s devices designed to lure you away from God.

Notice how contagious temptations are. You are cautioned, your desire to help someone who has been caught, or overtaken, or captured by a sin, can be the exact point where you become tempted. Distracted by the sin the other struggles against, you yourself can become tempted to sin. Here is an example of this. Police do a drug bust and find lots of drugs and money. The work of police is to enforce the laws of the land and to bring criminals to justice, where, if the system is functioning well, those caught in sin are rehabilitated. However, a police officer in the pursuit of duty might be tempted by the wads of cash and take some. What was purposeful and proper work becoming a place of great temptation and becoming in the sin being fought against.

You who are in Christ Jesus are already God’s beloved sons and daughters. The Devil, unable to mount an assault against heaven, will then seek to hurt and wound God’s image-bearers. He will strike out at the Christians he can reach as his way of getting at God. The Bible describes you as the “apple of God’s eye” (Psalm 17:8). You are precious to God, as precious as eyes which humans instinctively and reflexively guard. The only way for temptations to overtake you is to go, eyes wide open, after them. Reflexively stepping back if the person you seek to help is refusing to repent and turn to God.

The passage gives several warnings.

First, there is a warning against pride. While helping others, if you think you are impervious to the same temptations, you will find yourself to be sadly mistaken and will perhaps wind up falling to the same temptations.
Second, the law of Christ is given not to spoil your fun or make life burdensome. The law of God is the pathway of a fruitful life, one filled with holy adventure and fullness of life lived according to the purpose of God. Temptations from Satan are like those in Eden, where the Devil makes you question the goodness of God and His commandments.
Third, the restoration of the fallen one must be carried out in a spirit of gentleness. Earlier, in Galatians 5, Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit. Gentleness is a character trait of the Holy Spirit, given to men and women who are led by the Spirit and fight spiritual battles in prayer and as the Word directs.
Fourth, do not isolate yourself. When you are tempted and struggling against sin, go and find fellow Christians and admit your temptations, your moral failures and your sin so that you can be restored. This is an allusion to “whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire” Proverbs 18:1; the more you isolate yourself, the more you will be propelled into the grip of temptation.

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, know it is the purpose of God to lead His children in sanctification—that is, into increasing holiness by the work of the Spirit. Jesus’s work at the cross is the only act of supererogation (not only fulling the whole requirements of the law but actually superseding it so as to make the grace and blessings of God available to others). When you need His forgiveness and blessing, in the strength of the Spirit fight against your own sinfulness and cry out to Jesus. He will reconcile the remorseful to the Father. He will lead you deeper into the blessedness of being a beloved son or daughter of God. Sin loses its appeal in His presence. In His presence there is fullness of joy.

Jesus, guard me by Your Spirit so that I will be faithful in my obedient walk with You. When I am confronted with fellow Christians who have become entangled in sin, keep me humble and by Your Spirit equip me to be a holy, well-protected ambassador of Jesus to bring the one entangled in sin to your throne of grace and mercy. Father in heaven, thank You that in Your presence is fullness of joy. The Devil would refute that and tempt me to self-pity and isolation. Dear Father in heaven, break through the hissing whispers of the enemy so that I will hear Your voice in Scripture and know it is You Who call Your beloved children to faithfulness and fullness of life that is rich with adventure and blessing through Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/A5Ka5YlK6wc?si=IEGMzAnNgshVM6sL Joy, Joy —David Phelps

December 19, 2024

December 19, 2024 -- II Corinthians 12:7-9 -- A test is different than a trial

December 19, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
II Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV

What glorious visions and instructions Paul must have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. Earlier in the chapter he described being caught up into heaven where he saw visions and received instructions too wonderful to tell. Note his incredible honesty here. Those visions could have become a source of boasting and something which would feed his conceit. Conceit is vanity or self-love. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His great purposes and for the strengthening of the man Paul, but also for the good of the men he mentored and the various gatherings of people he served, allowed Paul to face a difficult test.

The nature of the test is not described. The point is that a Christian man or woman will realize there are circumstances, people, events and so on which God has uniquely suited to test you for faithfulness to Him. The “thorn in the flesh” is not this or that single thing that will be the same for all people. No. Tests are events or circumstances that any believer, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, will experience in his own life and as he experiences it the believer will understand what is happening is God’s refining work. It is a test for faithfulness.

Note that Jesus has Satan on a leash. The Devil harassed Paul, and it must have been terrible and hard, but the Devil can not go further in harming Paul. Why was this trial allowed? Paul was incredibly gifted. An evangelist winning souls for Christ. A mentor. A teacher. A gifted Old Testament scholar. A healer. Used mightily by the Holy Spirit to write so many books of the New Testament. Paul, by his own confession, was given to conceit. What the Devil intended for evil, to break Paul down, God was using for good, to keep Paul from conceit.

But even more than this, by this test, Paul was driven to prayer. The man who is always praying for others, now had to pour out his heart to God in urgent, longing prayers for himself. He was taught how much he himself needed God for every moment of his life. This test for faithfulness is “an open book test”. Those were my favorite in school. You’d have an exam in front of you, but you could use the textbook of the class to drill down and give answers. Paul had the whole Old Testament as his open book as he endured this testing. He knew Abraham had been tested for faithfulness. He knew David’s running from King Saul was a test for faithfulness. God never abandons His own. He will, however, refine them, shape the, and prepare them for His desired ends: that His people grow in holiness. When you experience testing, go to the Bible. Read.

A test like what Paul endured is different than a trial. Trials are common to all people. It is what happens when life happens. You are in a rush and you get a flat tire. You are planning a wonderful outdoor event, and unexpectedly it rains. These are things everyone experiences. A test is sent by God, tailored by God, so that the believer is transformed. These are for Christians to grow. For Christians, who like Paul, learn to pray more deeply, seek God more humbly.
Tests reveal character flaws. Tests reveals where one is self-reliant rather than wholly God dependent. Tests show how much or how little one is given to prayer. Tests chisel away sinful patterns and traits. Tests show the limitless grace and mercy and love of God.
Let me explain. If you let your child do whatever he wants, there is a problem. What if he is playing near the street and is unaware of the dangers of stepping into traffic? What if your child is playing in the shallow waters in an area where there is a strong undertow? Wouldn’t you warn your child? Yank him out of danger? The tests of God are his perfect means of boxing Christians in so that they learn of greater dangers that are lurking nearby, while keeping them from ultimate destruction.

Paul realized his weakness is the point of greatest receptivity to the power, love, and blessings of God. He boasts in his weakness because that is the very place he is most open to all that God is teaching Him. He is most aware of the power of Jesus Christ. he realized the Spirit of God is present, enabling him to pray, planting in him positive character qualities. Tests are also training grounds by which the Father, through the help of the Spirit within, prepare the believer for greater opportunities for obedience and service to Jesus. It is a preparation for a promotion in grace and service.

Father in heaven thank You for the rich salvation that is already mine in Jesus Christ. Thank You for bringing me into Your family through Jesus work of salvation. More than this even, thank You for the fact that Your people will be brought to completion and perfection. When I am presented with a test, direct Your Spirit to sustain me, and by this testing cause me to receive positive character qualities and by this to grow deeper in faith and obedience to Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/9zGbdg1YCYY?si=HPpTevfyumbUwU0G “Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near”

December 17, 2024

December 17, 2024 -- Psalm 59:16-17 -- When trials come, and oh boy, they will...

December 17, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

But I will sing of your strength;
    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
    for you, O God, are my fortress,
    the God who shows me steadfast love.
Psalm 59:16-17 ESV

The word but is a coordinating conjunction. It is a word that signals there is a contrast in what follows from what was presented before it. The previous verses spelled out the trials of the man of God who was faced with many enemies. These enemies hated him because of his love and devotion to the LORD of Hosts—that is, the God Who is in charge of heaven and earth and angel armies.

Trials are common to all people. Pouring rain on your wedding day. Missing connecting flight and getting stranded at an airport. A postal strike that delays the cheque you were expecting so that you can’t afford something you need. The Psalmist is leading the child of God in the proper response to the trials of life. It is what Step 7 confesses: “I humbly ask God to place healthy character qualities in me” (Overcomers Workbook, page 123).

Rather than venting his anger and expressing fury, the Psalmist turns to God. He chooses to sing to God, in fact the phrase “I will sing” is repeated and made emphatic “I will sing aloud”. In effect he is asking God to let the voice of praise to drown out the discontent and frustration which might lead to sin. God is the fortress of His people. Though the enemies rage and the troubles of life pelt the walls of this refuge, His people are safe within His protection.

The promise is confirmed in Jesus Christ, “I know My Own and My Own know Me” (John 10:14a). A little bit later Jesus notes He gives His followers eternal life, and His Father has given these people to Jesus. No one and nothing can snatch the people of God from the Father’s hand (cf: John 10:27-30).

A few lessons can be drawn from this.

Trials are common to all people. God-haters and God-lovers will both alike have trials in their lives.
Christians realize these common-to-all-people trials are used by God the Father to draw His people closer to Himself.
How you handle such trials might lead others to see the impact Jesus has on your life. So the potentially frustrating trial become instead a point for witness to the goodness of God.
Trials open your heart to God the Father. When trials come, and they will come, you cry out to God, asking Him to refine your character and by His Spirit give you all you need to endure them and become more like Jesus.

Teach me, Father in heaven, to receive and implement in my life
the teaching of the psalmist, so that in every trial I would cry out:
But I will sing of your strength;
    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
    for you, O God, are my fortress,
    the God who shows me steadfast love. Amen.

https://youtu.be/DV-V4xZMQx0?si=2RgzQ7iorA987RjC Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

December 16, 2024

December 16, 2024 -- Mark 6:30-34 -- Facing triggering troubles and refining fires

December 16, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:30-34 ESV

What triggers you? Say life is going on as usual and a few things happen all at once and you get furious. Or you get overwhelmed, and you justify a quick return to sin. You shop to make yourself feel good (with money you don’t have); or you gamble for the thrill of it and crash afterwards. You know your pattern of self-soothing wrong doing. Why mention this?

I urge you to ponder Jesus and His life. Remember He is truly human and truly divine. He walked this earth as a man and never once sinned in thought, word, or deed. Now consider this triggering time. If you have a couple of minutes, read Mark 6:14-44. Jesus had sent out His apostles two by two to prepare the way for His arrival at various towns. His dear cousin John, having been imprisoned, was killed by Herod, and the news just reached him. As the news reached Him, His disciples returned, filled with stories they wanted to share. No doubt He was ready to grieve. The passage noted Jesus was ready to go to a desolate place. That is shorthand for a place away and a place for intimate prayer before His Father in heaven. He didn't have time to eat. Meanwhile, the crowds ran towards Jesus to be taught, healed, and to see the spectacle that Jesus is. Then these crowds, staying long, were hungry and needed to be fed. The disciples were unsure what to do. They pressed Jesus to find a solution. The point in all of this? Jesus could have been triggered. At this time, humanly speaking exhausted, overwhelmed, tired, grieving, perhaps tempted to be frustrated with His disciples’ lack of faith and annoyed by the helplessness of the crowds demanding so much of Him.

Jesus though completely, fully human, that is, as human as you are and I am, never sinned. All His grief, all potential frustration, all temptation to an angry outburst, all exasperation with the hapless disciples knocking about and any other emotions, which if left unchecked would be a highway to sinful action, all of these He willingly rejected that He would, as the passage notes, have compassion on the people and serve them.

Step 7 requires the Christian to pray (daily, or as many times a day as is needed!) “I humbly ask God to place healthy character qualities in me” (Overcomers Workbook, page 124). The same Spirit given to Jesus in His humanity is the Spirit Who by command of the Father and the Son fills you. Life in Christ is possible because His Spirit is the connecting lifeline Who makes living for Jesus possible. Your triggers and flashpoints, your daily potential frustrations and unexpectedly overwhelming situations are all be used as teaching moments where the Spirit of God shows You the pathway of obedience to Jesus, so that the fruit of righteousness is exhibited to the people around you, who then will see: Jesus is real. They’ll be questioning: “How can you go through all you’re going through and still be sane?”

Answer: It is the fullness of life that is mine in Christ. It is the Spirit of God Who is using every circumstance of my life, good and bad, hard and sad, to produce in me the purity of faith that is like pure gold having been made pure by the refining process of trials. The goal of God is not your comfort. God’s purpose is to make you holy, as He is holy. Such holiness enables the follower of Jesus to bring honour to God in every circumstance of life and has the added benefit of bringing the believer to the place of joy knowing that whatever trial you are going through is being used by God the Father to perfect you.

Father in heaven, I confess how much and how greatly I fear refining trials. I just want to pull away when circumstances are too hard, go somewhere and nurse my wounds. Or worse, do whatever I think will make me feel better, but will be worse for me than ever. I need You. Please keep me from sliding back into old ways and wicked patterns. Father of all mercies, place the fruit of the Spirit in me so that I can patiently endure all that is happening with the complete, unshakeable confidence that I am being refined like gold, made pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Amen.

https://youtu.be/qyUPz6_TciY?si=FrJ2WewT2qu3Iwao “Though You Slay Me” Shane and Shane

December 15, 2024

December 15, 2024 -- Proverbs 14:13 -- Question: what kind of fruit is your life bearing?

December 15, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,
a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
Proverbs 14:13 ESV

When a Christian desires to follows Jesus Christ, that new desire is evidence that the Spirit of God has taken hold of the heart and is giving new impulses which are in keeping with the new life that comes through the Gospel. Jesus was approached by the Rich Young Ruler who began his question by addressing Jesus as “Good Teacher”. Jesus stopped him right there observing, “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:18-19 ESV). Ah, do you see the problem? Old Testament and New Testament no man or woman or child is good. Then, how can a good man be filled with the fruit of his good ways?

The point Jesus is making is first, He is God. He is fully human and by the work of the Spirit in His humanity He walks in perfect harmony with the will of His Father in heaven. He is good. Second, He is the source of good. If one is not in step with Jesus, one can’t be good. In the Old Testament, sacrifices pointed to the goodness of God which is given through Jesus Christ. He would be One sacrifice to take away sinners’ guilt and the punishment they deserve. Third, it is by faith in God that the goodness of Christ is applied to the life of the believer and kept in the believer by the Holy Spirit. Finally, if the Rich Young Ruler were really interested in the goodness of Jesus, He would have acknowledged Jesus's power to give him true joy, and in view of that joy left his love of money and replaced it with a love for Jesus, the treasure greater than any evaluation or ability to price.

As believers follow Jesus Christ, their lives are transformed. They are granted the righteousness of Jesus. The old life with its patterns of sin and former willing cooperation with evil are being dismantled. For this reason, those who find victory in Jesus Christ pray “I humbly ask God to place healthy character qualities in me” (Step 7, Overcomers Workbook, page 123). It is a heartfelt admission there is no good in me that is “naturally occurring”. Any good found in me must find its source in my union with Jesus Christ—the Captain of Salvation. The struggle is real. It is constant. The Devil hates Jesus, but unable to attack Jesus directly, seeks to tear at and kill those who are becoming more and more like Jesus.

The Bible is filled with examples and illustrations of the “fruit” that is granted to believers. For example, there is the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11). There is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). There are examples of bitter fruits as well, for those who refuse to walk with God. Those who know God exists, but refuse to follow Him, are clearly identified by the root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit (Deuteronomy 29:18). Face it, your life will always bear fruit, clear evidence of Who or what you are following. Those who run with the Devil bear fruits like: maliciousness, attitudes of disobedience to parents or authorities, gossip, bitterness, murderous thoughts and so on. Those who follow Jesus Christ will bear good fruit, evidence of the life of Jesus in Whom they are united to God and to other believers.

Father in heaven, I humbly ask You to remove from me the root of bitterness. Renew in me a desire to know Jesus and follow Him. By Your Spirit’s presence, plant in me the goodness of Jesus so that my life will bear good fruit to the praise and glory of God. Amen.

https://youtu.be/PNww8F6G9U8?si=sZF4B8KAA3NmgTnL
Make My Life a Prayer to You

December 13, 2024

December 13, 2024 -- Proverbs 13:6 -- Sin overthrows the wicked, righteousness guards the believer

December 13, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,
but sin overthrows the wicked.
Proverbs 13:6 ESV

What does sin do? Sin twists the sinner, contorting him to fit its malicious, hell-sent purposes. Acting in step with what is immoral or wrong or contrary to the will of God works death in the one who walks that way. It is a silent killer. Its effects aren’t easily detected early on, but the cumulative layers of evildoing will one day hit like a widow-maker heart attack.

Righteousness is a word that is repeated so often in the Bible. It is the attribute of God which reveals He always acts with perfect justice and perfect love. Those who believe in Jesus Christ receive the fruit of righteousness through His accomplished work. Believers are set apart from non-believers by this one critical attribute, the perfect obedience of Jesus is credited to them and sealed to them by the Holy Spirit.

Believers have the righteousness of Jesus which prompts them to bring glory and praise to God. Confidence in Jesus prompts the believer to continually pray Father in heaven, take away my character defects, my sins, and my constant inclination to sin and renew a right spirit in me. David prayed, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle” Psalm 56:8. These restless tossings and those fountains of tears are a sign of repentance. Believers who sinned cry out to God, ill at ease with themselves, until God has restored them. Beware of the horrible state of becoming so comfortable with your wickedness that you can commit them and not experience a twinge of conscience. It means you are being overthrown by your own sinfulness, so blind to it that you can’t see how it is killing you.

Desiring to walk in the ways of God is clear evidence you are a beloved son or daughter of God the Most High. Confessing to God every time you have stepped from the path of righteousness is a clear sign that the work of Jesus is being applied to your heart. Finding that life in Christ is the only life worth living is evidence that the righteousness of Jesus is guarding you. The Spirit is healing you so that Jesus's righteousness is life and peace and joy as you grow closer to Him..

In God, Whose word I praise, in the LORD, Whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?
I must perform my vows to You, O God; I will render thank offerings to You.
For You have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Amen.

Today’s prayer is Psalm 56:10-13 ESV

https://youtu.be/ZYkZE8AogDE?si=C153aabXybn7mtMm God of All My Days

December 12, 2024

December 12, 2024 -- Ephesians 1:3-4 -- The grace of Jesus that breaks every lie of the Devil

December 12, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV

Some of the preachers I listen to refer to the grammar of grace. This is what they mean by that expression. First the blessing and love of God reach the believer, so that he is transformed from an object of the wrath of God to a forgiven child of God. Second, a believer knows in his heart and mind and soul that he is precious to the Living God, through Jesus Christ and this spiritual blessing is kept safe in heaven and is sealed in him by the Holy Spirit. Grace first, then in view of the grace received we realize there is work to do.

As believers, children of the Most High God, we are called to be holy and blameless. From the place of grace, we enter the race to leave former sins and more fully embrace the grace that is ours in Christ. We fight former sins not so that we can be pleasing to God, we already are pleasing to God through Jesus. We fight former sins as beloved sons and daughters who want to get closer to God.

At Step 6 believers commit themselves to working out the grace of God into every part of their lives as they say, “I am ready to let God take away all my hurts, character weaknesses, and wrongdoings” (Overcomers Workbook, Day 45, page 114). The Devil often uses past events, sins, or wrongs committed against you, to try and drive you away from God. He hisses at you as if you were unworthy or even hateful to God. It is an old lie and worn-out trick.

God spoke grace into your life precisely because you were once an object of wrath. God spoke grace into your life through Jesus Christ precisely because you could not reach out to Him, you could not heal yourself. You needed Him. And before you even knew the greatness of your need, before the world was created, He chose you in love. He knew all your brokenness, all your sins, all the things you thought would make you unacceptable, and He said, “You are mine”.

Whatever past lies grip you or wrongs you have committed and confessed to God so you are forgiven threaten your security in Jesus Christ, remind Yourself these things are precisely why God sent Jesus and then sealed the love of Jesus into your heart. Now, go and sin no more. In the strength of the heavenly blessings that are already yours in Jesus Christ, embrace His grace which is for you.

Father in heaven, thank You for the depth of love You have demonstrated to Your people in Jesus Christ. Precious Lord Jesus, thank You for the wells of salvation You provide, which assure and reassure me I am Yours. Beautiful Spirit of God, hold to my mind, heart, and memory the accomplished work of Jesus so that graced by His redeeming love I can rise up and live an ever more holy and blameless life which You, Holy Spirit, bring to reality in me. Amen.

https://youtu.be/q6613kvET6M?si=CoZX_kz2pg4hubEL “Let Me Be a Child of Peace”

December 11, 2024

December 11, 2024 -- Joshua 22:32-34 -- How can this fighting ever end?

December 11, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”
Joshua 22:32-34 ESV

The background is so important if this small portion of bible reading is to make any sense. When the people of Israel were prepared to take the Promised Land West of the Jordan, the tribes of Reuben and Gad chose territory to the East of the Jordan. The other tribes were angry at first, until Reuben and Gad (and to be fully accurate the half-tribe of Manasseh) explained they’d cross the Jordan, enter the Promised Land, and fight with the rest of Israel to conquer all the land the LORD was giving to them. Now that all the battles were done and Reuben and Gad returned to their territories, their wives and children, their flocks and herds and cities and pasturelands a report reached the leadership of the tribes of the Promised Land that Reuben and Gad built an altar. This is a direct violation of the command of God as such an altar could only be built where the LORD commanded His people to build it and make sacrifices on it.

Old wounds were ripped open among the tribes in the Promised Land. Perhaps Reuben and Gad had an agenda against them after all! War was about to break out among the people of God because of the altar, which could be considered an act of treachery. The Reubenites and the Gadites explained, that no this is not an altar for sacrificing, it is an altar of witness. It large enough to be seen on the other side of the Jordan. It stands as a sign so that the rest of Israel will know, whenever they pass by it, that the family of God which lives farther away from them, separated by waters, are still part of them. They belong. They chose to be faithful. They and their families will worship the Living God at His tabernacle, wherever He places it. What happened becomes for all the people an Altar of Witness, a monument to remind the people of their past and the future they will forge together.

Beloved, sometimes our sins and our hurtful acts committed as husband and wife, or as members of a congregation, or as a church against another church (or nation against nation) become a bone of contention. Every remembrance of it stirs up anger and frustration. How then can we live in the harmony God intends for His people?

The Altar of Witness pointed to the Altar at the Tabernacle. It is the was place where sacrifices were offered. Those sacrifices were a reminder to the people that God had set aside His just anger against all their sins and would vent His anger until Jesus, the full and final sacrifice for sins, would come. How can we as believers get along when there are so many hurts and wounds and landmines among us in our relationships? It is the work of Jesus—He is our Altar of Witness. He is the full and final sacrifice that enables us, as the people of God, to live in real and deep community.

Our old arguments and fights and resentments can become one of two things: a source of contention that deepens the rift between people or an Altar of Witness. Every time you reach the same place of anger, you can rehearse it and hate it and hate the person or people who incited that int he first place. It is what the world does. It is deadly poison that sours relationships so that even generations later old enmities become inflamed and the cause of rivalry and fighting. However, the Word of God shows a better way. The very place of conflict is the place where the warring parties remember the work of God. In the Old Testament that is an altar, in the New Testament, that is the cross of Jesus Christ.

At the cross believers know that God has accomplished the work only He could. The Father, in love chose people for His Own. The Son, in love and fullness of submission to the Father’s purpose and for His glory, offered Himself as the sacrifice that takes away the anger of God against sin, and removes the thorny barrier which sin and hatred that had been erected between warring factions. The Holy Spirit applies the love of God and the healing forgiveness of Jesus so that former enemies can live together in peace.

The very bone of contention, the place where anger was incited, now becomes a monument to the endless love of God and the forgiving grace of Jesus and this is sealed by the Holy Spirit. Believers can say, “remember how we used to fight about this? What a glorious God we serve, that we can be reconciled and healed!” Wait a minute! What about the times when I am prepared for healing, but the other party keeps throwing it in my face?

Beloved, I Peter 3:1-7 speaks to this, a believing spouse and an unbelieving spouse in conflict. The believing spouse will live for Jesus with such commitment and submission to Jesus that the other will be won to God. A wife might win her husband to God, or a husband with his great gentleness might win his wife to God. It is evangelism, costly and difficult right in one’s own home. When the conflict is broadened, between families or churches, the command is not to repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling. (Reviling is hurling abuse and bitterness and cursing against the other person). When you are abused, like Paul you can say, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” (Colossians 1:24).

Being a Christian is costly. We submit our joys to God and our lives to God and our on-going hurts and wounds and the very things that are plaguing us. Step 6 is: “I am ready to let God take away all my hurts, character weaknesses, and wrongdoings” (Overcomers Workbook, page 111). Are you? Seriously, are you prepared to endure all suffering for the sake of Jesus and to share in His suffering and so also to share in His exaltation (as Philippians 2:1-11 commands)?
Then let very abuse and wrong-doing committed against you cause you to look to the Altar of Witness, or, as New Testament believers, look to the cross of Jesus Christ—where ultimately every wound is healed, every wrong forgiven. It is also the place where the judgment of God is enacted against the world. All who refuse Jesus, will themselves be punished to the fullest extent of God’s just anger against sin. They will be punished for their sins and their haughty rejection of God’s goodness. If you’ve ever really considered hell, the horrors of it, the depths of it, the terrors of it; then in this life, looking to Jesus, you are prepared to do what you can to help people find in Jesus such healing and such grace that even old rivalries and reviling can find their healing in Him alone.

Father in heaven, there are countless times I see what others did, or do, and I can feel my blood boil. But a passage of Scripture, like this one, remind me that You saw, see, and know what I will commit against You, and yet in love You gave Jesus Christ so that His cross is witness between of us Your limitless love. In the precious Name of Jesus, forgive me all my waywardness and all my reviling against others. Spirit of the Living God help me to live in such dedicated submission to Jesus that my love, like His, will bear all things. believe all things, hope all things, endure all things and like Jesus’s love my love poured into my heart from the well of living water, will never end. Amen.

https://youtu.be/ogS5n0QtSm0?si=1dwEOgDSQ59SVzUf “While You Were Sleeping”

December 09, 2024

December 9, 2024 -- Mark 1:14-15 -- Cooperating with God's treatment plan for your healing

December 09, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mark 1:14 ESV

Mark deliberately writes of Jesus’s public ministry framing it so that Jesus’s first words are a call for the people to repent. Led by the Holy Spirit, Mark ensures that the readers of the Gospel know that Jesus is calling people to leave their past, get up, intentionally to move away from all their wrongdoings and turn to Him. There is a great urgency in all of this for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

When Jesus walked the earth, He was the living declaration of the love of God. When Jesus was betrayed, and tried in a court stacked against Him, and crucified, the judgment of God against the world, against Satan and against sinners was openly revealed at the cross of Calvary. All who turn from their sinful ways to Jesus Christ find in Him healing from their past, their guilt, their wickedness. Those who do not turn to Him will be fully, for all eternity, punished for rejecting Jesus and punished for their own sinfulness. Repentance is both the turning away from sin, but it also involves turning to God and finding in Jesus Christ the soul, mind and body healing that all our senses yearn for.

Be aware, to turn from the pathways of addictions, malicious evils and apathy against the Living God will result in a keen awareness of all the reasons why prior to this you didn’t dare to approach God. There is the fact that others remember you in your old ways and now will sneeringly mock you for turning to Jesus. There are weaknesses in your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual make-up which will interfere with your walk with God. They are deep enough to make you stop and wonder, “Can God really love a train-wreck like me?”

The answer echoes through-out the passages of Scripture: “Yes”! God does not allow sinners to keep destroying themselves in their sins. He moves people by His Spirit to see how hateful and vile sin really is, He empowers such people to turn from their evil ways, and to find forgiveness and healing in Jesus. It took a long time for you, fueled as you were by all your sins, to get where you were in your depraved and corrupt condition. God has the power to heal you. He has the love and the will to heal you. It is a process of healing that takes time. Let God’s power move you both to will and to work out this salvation into every part of your life.

Think of it, when a patient is ill and the doctor gives medication, there is great relief in knowing what the condition is. Then gratefulness in knowing there is help for it. Then there is start of the medication and treatment plan. Sometimes the treatment is so hard and affects the patient so that he wonders, isn’t this worse than the illness itself? No. The body and mind are marshalling all the resources needed to cooperate with the medications and surgery to bring the full healing. That is what happens spiritually. God has diagnosed your condition. You were dead in your sins. He has revived you. He is applying the healing. It is a wonder, a great miracle, He has brought you from death to life. Now He is bringing His saving power into every part of your life.

Repentance is that continual activity of listening to the Great Physician, and continually submitting to His regime of healing, so that you do not get sicker, comatose and die. But instead, walk in the healing victory He has in store for you.

The return of Jesus is near at hand. Repent. Turn from your sin, walk in the healing He is bringing you. Renew your commitment each day to accept His treatment plan as it is laid out in the Word.

Father in heaven, I confess I can feel so stuck. As if there is no noticeable change in my mind or my body in this warfare against the soul-sickness of sin and its lingering effects. Thank You for the work of Your Holy Spirit consistently applying to me the healing of Jesus Christ. On my best days, help me to thank You for all You have done and all that You are doing; on my worst days show me how to cry out to You for all the help I need so that repentance really will be the on-going pathway to the full healing You intend for me and for every single one of Your children. Amen.

https://youtu.be/uYHpJnfy2lQ?si=zkOTYNdIxntNxa5w Make Room

December 08, 2024

December 8, 2024 -- I Corinthians 13:1-6 -- This might be the hardest step of all

December 08, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I Corinthians 13:1-6 NIV

Many of us are so familiar with the soaring words of I Corinthians 13. Perhaps read at weddings. Memorized in Sunday Schools. It is, however, not merely a nice little text, it is the explosive, life-altering explanation of the love which God has shown to His people in Christ Jesus. Read through the descriptions of love, practical, ethical, moral, persistent as the phrases pile on phrases giving full explanation of what love truly is.

Some of you might have noted this is not the translation I usually work with for these devotions. Today it is the New International Version (revised in 2011). The reason I chose that version is the translation at verse 5. Where the ESV has resentful, the NIV has the more to the point “keeps no record of wrongs”. At Step 6 in the Overcomers Material, participants admit: “I am ready to let God take away all my hurts, character weaknesses, and wrongdoings” (Overcomers Workbook, page 108, Day 43). All my hurts. Let that sink in. There are so many hurts and wrongs and betrayals committed against us, and we treasure them up and justify our own bad behavior.

Jesus is the only True Man Who never, ever, kept a record of wrongs. When you think of all the sins, betrayals, character assassinations committed against Him, all the wrongdoings and good intentions gone awry, and the list could be endless, it really is staggering to realize He is as human as we are, but He didn’t sin by storing up resentments against others. He kept no record of wrongs, no heart-hit-list against His enemies, not even against His dearest disciples who, one by one abandoned Him, which must have been most cutting wounds of all. He took on Himself all such wickedness committed against Him and bore it to the cross, where He was punished for the sins of all.

What is love? It is patient-kindness, living the unbreakable love of God outward to all the people you meet. They are unworthy. So are you. They are just going to take advantage of it. So do you take advantage of God’s love. One the one hand you reach greedily for more and more of God’s love all the while hoarding and trying to hold back love that needs to flow into the life of those who worked evil against you. Christians are supposed to be the most radical group of all: no matter how wronged, hurt, wounded we are, we will pray over all such who hurt us, have hurt us, and we hand them to the mercy of Jesus. We do this, so that, with a clean head, a clean slate emptied of every record of wrongs, and a clean attitude, we as Christians are prepared to meet all people with the never-ending love of God that flows to us through Jesus’s accomplished work which is sealed to you and me by the Holy Spirit.

Day 43 in the workbook suggests students write down all the resentments and hurts and wounds which are keeping them from experiencing the fullness of love that is theirs in Christ. As you write that list, I suggest you put a light, pencil line through each one and in bold write beside it: “Paid in full at Calvary.”

Then consider the resentments others have against you. For your sins. For your lack of kindness. For the wreckage left by your addictions, like alcohol, drugs, porn, anger, over-spending-in-order-to-feel-good, pride, gossipy ways, self-centredness, keeping a record of wrongs. Now, pray that on this list others might have against you will also, by the grace of God, have those record-holders be moved by the Spirit to cross them out and write: “paid in full at Calvary”. But even if they do not, you walk in the great freedom of the forgiving love that has been poured out to you in Jesus Christ. Now, go and live for Jesus showing to all that you walk in the greatness of His forgiving love. In the never-ending stream of Jesus’s love which wells up in you unto eternal life, you will be prepared to meet all accusations and all resentments hurled against you with patience, humility and a heart willing to be reconciled. That reconciliation is not cheap, it comes at the great cost of Jesus Christ, His perfect life, and sinless Person, punished so that we would walk in freedom of the Father’s electing love.

Father in heaven, it is too hard. Too lofty a thing to attain, this living love out loud like Paul wrote to the Corinthians. I confess I am skilled at keeping a record of wrongs, and quite remiss in knowing about the wrongs I’m committing against others. Often, I’ll be surprised at the variety of ways in which I have hurt others and I am not prepared as in Christ I ought to be to humbly confess my own sins and seek reconciliation. Teach me the way of love so that in true fellowship with Jesus and with others I will live the extravagant, life-changing love that is mine in Christ. God, I have already failed at this so much. I admit, even as I am praying this, my head and heart like a horse straining against the reins I am shying away from really digging in and praying it with conviction. Spirit, help me to be even more sincere in making this prayer and erasing all the records of wrong I have so that nothing will hinder my intimacy with Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/Cyek-LrYBV8?si=cv3djJOjj0NXv-5e Take Me to the Cross

December 06, 2024

December 6, 2024 -- Proverbs 24:3-7, 15-16 -- Fallen Christians who rise again and again through Jesus

December 06, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

By wisdom a house is built,
    and by understanding it is established;
4 by knowledge the rooms are filled
    with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is full of strength,
    and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
    and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;
    in the gate he does not open his mouth.
Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;
    do no violence to his home;
16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
    but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
Proverbs 24:3-7, 15-16 ESV

For those who are keeping track, the current step is 6, where the Overcomer states: “I am ready to let God take away all my hurts, character weaknesses, and wrongdoings” (Overcomers Workbook, page 106). Prior to this step, those who overcome the world in Jesus are those who have confessed they are helpless, powerless against their sins. They commit their lives to God and trust Him to guide them. Now, that is wisdom.

Look at the first part of the Bible reading today. Wisdom—that is the work of Jesus and His forgiveness and healing applied deep into the heart of the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit—builds a beautiful home. Those who are in Jesus Christ are by His salvation are clearing their lives of all the filth and sins and wreckage their addictions and sins and consequences of wrongdoings have brought down on their heads. It is hard work. In fact, it is waging war against your past. The result is the believer’s home—his heart, mind, and body are a temple—for the Holy Spirit Who lives in them.

Notice just a few verses later it is recorded the righteous stumble. Believer, you who triumph in Jesus Christ, know that you will still struggle against sin and at times you will fall before its power. In fact, you’ll be cowed by it, wrecked by it. Tortured by it. There are so many times believers isolate themselves and are a target for temptation. Other times believers are angry and as Ephesians teaches, their anger gives a foothold to the devil. Some believers are Christian bullies. You meet Christians who are resentful. What’s the point of rehearsing all of this?

When you are saved in Jesus Christ you know, like a very ill patient with a gifted, patient doctor, how many times you despairingly have to turn yourself in to Him for His care, knowing you have neglected (again, and again, and again) His prescription for your healing. He has come to save you to the uttermost. When one of His patients falls into sin, He does not give up, He applies His healing. In fact, Hebrews teaches Jesus is the High Priest Who prays for His people, and by His priestly work He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

Ah, churches and pew sitters, wake up. You are saints who sin. You are people who are held safe in Jesus Christ, and you will, as Paul so eloquently states it, be people who know what is right but do the wrong anyways. Read Romans 7:15 and following. Paul bluntly states I do what I do not want! Churches are supposed to be houses of healing. Churches are supposed to be places where broken-hearted people who know their own sins find refuge and healing. The fact that a saint who has fallen goes back to chapel or to church or to fellowship with other Christians is precisely the sign such men and women are housed in wisdom (remember, wisdom working in us builds a house of strength and glory in Jesus). Let your church, your fellowship group, your home be a place of healing, where saints who have sinned are restored in the love of God.

The Bible never pulls its punches. David sinned against Bathsheba. And late in life he finds a beautiful virgin and sleeps with her (doesn’t marry her, doesn’t make her a concubine). David, a man after God’s own heart is a sinner, who, when confronted with his sin, repents. Paul, the much-loved author of 13 New Testament books was a murderer. After he was captured by Jesus and changed, he still had anger issues—he and his dear companion Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement they separated from each other in their missionary work.

The reason this chapter of Proverbs is so hopeful, and life-affirming is that believers, those called righteous in Jesus Christ, are those who after they fall into sin arise. They confess their sin. They are received in a community of faith that brings them to Jesus Christ, the Captain of Salvation for healing. Jesus by His Spirit puts steel in the spine of His soldiers so that they will go off in their company of saints to continue the battle. He is praying. He will save you to the uttermost.

Father in heaven, by Your Spirit help our churches, families, and local fellowship groups of believers recapture the sense that these are hospitals for wounded, sin-infested soldiers who continually need the healing, forgiving balm of Jesus applied to their lives. Jesus, thank You for Your prayers, Your tenderness, Your work by which believers are saved to the uttermost. Father in heaven, help us, as believers, to lift one another from places of brokenness and weakness and rise once again in the victory that is won through Jesus Christ. Amen.

https://youtu.be/evXmTDHPyTQ?si=cTXzmSc0zXnXdM9Y Joy to the World!
nb: this carol is so appropriate for today because stanza 3 says “no more let sin and sorrow grow”; it acknowledges believers in Christ still need, oh urgently and desperately, need His healing, saving work.

December 05, 2024

December 5, 2024 -- Romans 5:18-21 -- The hard truth implications of this new life in Christ

December 05, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit’s power: Sh’ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:18-21 ESV

Simplified now. The passage teaches the one trespass was the sin of Adam. He disobeyed God and by his sin all his descendants are sinners. The Bible is clear, all people on this earth are one race. One family. All, if they could, trace their line of decent, would go right back to Adam and Eve. Then came the love of God in Christ Jesus. His one act of righteousness was a life lived without any sin. His perfection through-out his life meant that He is the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people. All who believe in Jesus are therefore counted righteous in Him.

The grace of Jesus, His forgiving work is applied to every area of our lives. It is the incredibly good news of the Gospel. Sinner, you are forgiven in Christ. Now, there will be some who read this and shout: “Woo-hu! I have, like 007 a licence, not a licence to kill, but a licence to sin however I want, whenever I want, and wherever I want, and Jesus’s righteousness will be applied to me”. (In that very thinking you see how sin clouds all your judgment and shows the rot of deadness that persists in you.)

Sin is rebellion against God. To continue to sin is to say to God, I want all Your presents, but NOT Your presence. I can’t stand it. That means the righteousness that could be, or should be yours in Christ, really hasn’t touched your thinking, your heart and your attitude. When the Spirit of God grabs a sinner by the scruff of the neck and yanks him from death to life, snatching him as it were from the very fires of hell, that man, that woman, that child is grateful. So filled with relief and joy and hope that sin and the hatefulness and the venom of it is repugnant. It is replaced with thanksgiving. Enumerating endlessly all that good that is yours through Jesus!

As is written in Romans 6—we died to sin in Christ Jesus, there is no way we would ever want to go back there again. Step 6 in the Overcomers workbook states: “I am ready to let God take away all my hurts, character weaknesses, and wrongdoing.” In the previous step we submitted our life to God as He guides us. Now the one who overcomes in Jesus Christ is saying: “I trust He will begin His healing work in my life.”

Salvation worked into my life and my soul means that I must forgive people who were unspeakably cruel. Just as God forgave me in Christ Jesus. The measure of their sins against me never even reached my anklebone, while the least of my sins against God had me drowning in my own filth. There is no comparison at all. That is why a sinner set free in Christ turns and wants to forgive others, longs to show to others the goodness Christ has shown him.

This Step really gets to deep wounds. Sins committed against you. Sins you have committed. Unless the powerful Spirit of God gets in you and works out the salvation of Jesus, everything dies on the vine here. Our character weaknesses, our inclination to sin, and our pride will prevent the healing work of God from reaching us and we will pack it in and head back to the handbasket that will sail to hell.

Do not give up. God as been saving men and women like yourself, since the dawn of time. He knows His work. He is tender with the broken; he is patient with the penitent; He is direct with the proud crushing their ignorant pride so that they will be cleansed and made to be a fit dwelling for the Spirit of God. The Father in heaven delights to show compassion and heal people who, humanly speaking, should never, ever be able to get along. It is what I often experience in Bible Studies in prison settings. Like yesterday. The gathering of men present: such differences between each man—crimes, ages, where they’d lived, socio-economic status, education—and there they were, reading the Bible together. Praying. Trusting in God to do what humanly speaking is impossible: to share the Gospel, to grow in righteousness and work their way back to reintegration as men truly transformed by Jesus Christ.

Devotional Sentence: Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

ALMIGHTY and Most Merciful Father;
We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against Thy holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
And we have done those things which we ought not to have done;
And there is no health in us.
But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
Spare Thou them, O God, which confess their faults.
Restore Thou them that are penitent;
According to Thy promises declared unto mankind
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And grant, O Most Merciful Father, for His sake;
That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
To the glory of Thy Holy Name. Amen.

Confession. DIVINE SERVICE BOOK FOR THE ARMED FORCES, 1950, page 3 & 5.

https://youtu.be/M7670CXvPX0?si=PurgT-3wMEPKTxt- Casting Crowns “I Heard the Bells”

December 04, 2024

December 4, 2024 -- Psalm 141:5 -- Faithful friends vs stubborn sins

December 04, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—
it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.
Psalm 141:5a

It happens more often than I ever hoped it would that a man I once met in prison is released. That is not the problem. Then he returns to prison. That is the problem. Often, he hesitate, neglecting to attend Bible Study because he is too ashamed. Too embarrassed. Too worn out by his sins. In our Overcomers group men will tell the guy who has returned to prison, get over to the Overcomers group. Come on out.

In the first place there will be kindness. Every single one of us knows the power of sin. There are the hauntingly familiar sins. There are the temptations that never quite seem to let us go. There are the floods of justifications we offer when we do wrong. All these, and many more reasons, prove the urgent need a man has, a woman has, a youth has, for true and deep accountability. So, one who is aware of his fallen condition needs gentle welcome and tenderness to deal with the open wounds of failure.

Second, as Step 5 states it: I confess my character weaknesses and wrongdoings to God, myself, and another person (Overcomers Workbook, Canadian Bible Society, page 100). Why do we fail? Simply, we refuse to acknowledge the power of the sin that still lingers in us. Yes, believers belong to Jesus Christ. Yes, believers know the power of the Holy Spirit living within them. But it is all-too-often-too-true that believers also, knowing the good they should do, choose the evil. When a believer meets with an accountability person, that brother or sister in Christ, knowing the weakness and inclination to sin the other struggles against, will be brutally honest so that sin will not get a victory.

Why? Well, look at the text one more time. The work rebuke can be translated: judge, correct, criticize. The whole point is when temptation has begun its work in you and you are gripped by it, you are already planning more evil than your own mind will allow you see. You are prepared to deceive yourself. A true, honest, fellow Christian will spot in a second what you are hiding from yourself. An honestly righteous person won’t care about your feelings but will guard you against yourself so that you don’t take a hard fall and lose so much ground you had gained in your walk with God.

Sin has consequences. They are greater than the lies that the enemy would lead you to believe. Temptations begin to blind your perspective, and you forget how bad the last go-round with sin was. Patterns of evil will numb you so that you are more and more inclined to stumble back into the same sin and shrug your shoulders and call yourself helpless. You’re not!

A good brother or sister in Christ will call out what you are thinking of doing and will help you fight the good battle of faith. Why is it oil on your head? In Bible times, oil was used to cleanse wounds and form a barrier protecting a wound against infection. When a sinner morally fails, violates the commands of God, he wounds his relationship with God, himself and others. Preventative conversations that expose one’s motives and keep the person from going ahead with the intended sin is like an oil of healing, applied, affirming the righteousness of diverting one’s path and makes the face shine with the glory of obedience to God.

It is hard work to be a Christian. At verse 3 the Psalmist asks the LORD to put a guard over his mouth. How easily people can sin with their words. It takes the might of a military person to hold back the inclination to sin. In Philippians 2 Christians are commanded to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. It is a fitness routine and any slacking in it will result in flabby, unfit Christians.

The result of all of this is joy in the LORD. The result of fighting against the temptations of the flesh and sinful inclinations of the heart is the blessing of direct conversation with God, no embarrassment or shame. The result of meeting together for deep and true accountability is to guard one against sin; but where one has stumbled, it is the task of a Christian to help the other to stand again and find the healing grace that is already theirs in Christ Jesus.

ALMIGHTY GOD, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against Thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly Thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, forgive us all that is past; and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please Thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(The Confession—to be said by all. Divine Service Book for the Armed Forces, 1950, page 51)

https://youtu.be/lXsXmoOXQK4?si=vz6mVxgPTcMhQPLa Remember Not, O God

December 02, 2024

December 2, 2024 -- Proverbs 15:31-33 -- Accountability in your walk with God

December 02, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.
Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,
but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 15:31-33 ESV

The original language is quite graphic. First there is synecdoche—one word describing the whole person. The wise one is a man or a woman who is “all ears”. Listening for God, hearing His voice in Scripture, attentive obedience to His Spirit’s directing of the conscience and a committed awareness that the LORD uses godly friends to direct his living. What is that person listening for? Life-giving reproof—that is discipline and instruction, correction and guidance on the way of life.

Whoever ignores instruction can also be translated whoever lets go of it. It is as if godly counsel and instruction goes in one ear and out the other. You hear what is good and right and life-giving but in obstinacy you turn away from it, well you are proving you hate your life, and you hate your very soul. Such defiant behavior shows you are refusing God’s promise that you are made in His image and made for glory and excellence according to His purposes.

The word “listen” is repeated twice in these brief passages as is the word “reproof”. Reproof, that is discipline or correction, or godly advice is given in response to the words of one who pours out his soul. I find in this passage a pattern for the godly. When you are walking with God it is all too easy to be negligent and brush over one’s sins. To do so is to hate your life and to despise your soul. But when a dear friend, one who with the compassion of the LORD, and great tenderness, speaks the instruction and correction of God into your life, you, wounded though you are, have the Spirit-given ability to hear and respond. The words of God are life-giving and hope bringing.

Believers are called to have one, maybe two, dear friends who have the right to speak advice and counsel to them. These siblings in the LORD Jesus share your desire for godliness and the love of life that is available through Christ Jesus. They will be ruthless in exposing faults in you thinking and calling out bad behavior but do so with the kindness of the Gospel which affirms the purpose of doing this is to grow in the fear of the LORD and instruction in wisdom. The friendship is such that you will also be able to see whatever is hindering their walk with God. Unless the people of God are humble and humbled by the Spirit, then pride will close their ears and as verse 29 of this same chapter indicates, the LORD will not hear their prayer.

It is fascinating to me that groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and others like it have co-opted the original material of the Bible and made it their own. AA focuses on mutual accountability, which is great, but Christians seem to have drifted from this penetrating, honest accountability among themselves. Perhaps it is too general a statement, but it seems that Christians rarely practice this critical discipline. I strongly advise Christians to find a friend or two and decide to pray together, open your hearts to one another, share the areas of weakness and any tendency to sin, and confess the sins you’ve become entangled with so that you will grow in the fear of the LORD, in instruction in wisdom and humility which is evidence of a life that has as its great focus the joy knowing Jesus and Him once crucified and now exalted at the Father’s right hand in glory.

Father, I don’t want my sins and the bad things I keep heading to to block my relationship with You. I want to be a follower of Jesus and one whose prayers You hear and answer. I ask that Your Spirit give me a fellow friend or two who walks with Jesus so that together we can correct and be corrected by one another and by this grow in our obedience to and rejoicing in Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/R8mLTdQQXg4?si=RSwlnsrUEvavOvhE Psalm 16 (Fullness of Joy)

December 01, 2024

December 1, 2024 -- Proverbs 1:8 -- The power of Confession with accountability

December 01, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, by the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching…
Proverbs 1:8 ESV

When you were little (for some of you this will be a real stretch of the imagination) your father and your mother were your accountability persons. When you did something wrong and they noticed it, they confronted you. Their instruction was the God-given model and example of what accountability looks like in daily living. The instruction of the father and the teaching of the mother are meant to guide your steps. When you stray, then your parents (who likely already know you stole a cookie, or broke a window, or hit your sister) meet with you and ask you about your sin, or your wrong action. You squirm. You blame others. But you know that your parents already have you dead to rights (caught red-handed).

The pattern is established by godly parents. When you sin, and all people sin, then the child, or man, or woman must confess that sin to their parent, and to God. Parents then teach their children to pray to God, asking His forgiveness and strength to walk in the way of holiness. Such godly parents also model the post-sin love of God. Yes, you confess, but you also find relief and acceptance. As a child grows older, friends become their accountability partners. That naturally occurring transition reveals why it is critical that teenagers choose good, godly companions. Friends who are worldly will lead believers into wicked paths and try to live as if there are no consequences.

Note as well, if the pattern of sin, confession, prayer that godly parents are called to model for their children is missing or warped, there will be consequences. Children hear it when one parent speak lies to a manager. Little ones notice mom spending time in front of the TV watching what is clearly not acceptable according to family values. By these and countless other ways, the child learns to deceive. It undermines the healthy family life which God has established. Holy family patterns are established when a parent, caught red-handed in wrong, humbly acknowledges sin and wrong-doing and during family devotions prays for forgiveness.

When you encounter Jesus Christ, His standard of holiness, His perfection, then you realize your life does not measure up. It is not acceptable to be blaming parents, or friends, or co-workers or the world’s influence for your own waywardness. Jesus is not asking you about others, His radiance and goodness require you to examine your own heart and require you to confess your own sin. Where the godly example of parents was lacking, or a young-to-the-faith Christian did not have such instruction, then it is the Spirit of God who leads a man or a woman to self-examination and repentance.

In the Overcomers material, Step 5 is: “I confess my character weaknesses and wrongdoings to God, myself, and another person” (Overcomers Workbook, Canadian Bible Society, page 95). Character weaknesses are the inclinations to sin, attitudes and impulses with which all people are born. A child does not need to be taught to sin—that comes naturally. A child needs to be discipled in the way of godliness—that is new territory. When you have a godly accountability partner, then the desire to sin, the impulses to wrong-doing or self-destructive patterns are confessed so that their powerful hold is broken before they lead to actions. At that moment the Spirit of God ministers healing to the mind and heart.

Confession of rebellion, lies, strife, and all other transgressions against the commands of God prevent the evil from continuing in the heart. Confession puts a stop to the evil action and the lies or whatever else is going on, throwing back the curtains of concealing darkness and letting the light of God’s mercy and love reach the cold depths of the heart whose words and actions betrayed God. A good accountability friend (or parent) acknowledges the wrong. Sees you through the consequences of your wrong or sin and constantly points you to the healing mercy of God, all the while praying for you and showing you in person, what the mercy of God looks like.

Oh God my Father, I can easily lie to myself, acting as if my sins could escape Your notice. Thank You for the godly ones who instructed me in my youth in the way Truth. I confess my desire to keep up appearances, rather than exposing myself to holy scrutiny. Lead me to a Christian friend who will hear my confession and even listen to the weaknesses in me that are tempting me, and let this person be one who I can hear and encourage in godliness, so that together our great desire is to honour God with mind, mouth and motives. Thank You, God of Glory, that You already know the absolute worst about my life, and You have provided the Savior, the One Whose blood made ^propitiation for all my sins. Amen.

^propitiation: at the cross, Jesus’ blood and body were sacrificed. Meaning that He took on Himself the just and proper anger of God against all your sin, so that God’s kindness and mercy would be yours.

https://youtu.be/TxC16duiHvQ?si=dUrDyykd4mpz8tBn O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer

November 30, 2024

November 30, 2024 -- Deuteronomy 32:16-21 -- A heart check and spiritual health inventory

November 30, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
Deuteronomy 29:16-21 ESV

When Israel was set free from her slavery in Egypt and brough to the Promised Land, those forty years of wandering in the wilderness were both instruction and warning. Instruction because God rescued His people. He gave them food. In the dry places He gave them water. He protected them from their enemies (though they were a slave nation and not an army and the people whose lands they passed through had well-equipped soldiers and armies). He proved Himself faithful. He proved Himself to be patient with His people. He proved He Who started the good work of salvation would see it to completion, being them to the Promised Land. That is instruction.

The warning. People will become bitter. It is possible an Israelite, or a family, or a tribe, or even the whole nation would resent all the Egyptians who were freed with Israel. I grew up in a predominantly Dutch community in the 1960’s. That’s just 20 years after World War II. In that community were men and women who’d experienced hardships and terrors perpetrated by the Germans and those Dutch people hated, with a white-hot rage, anyone or anything German. It was a bitter root that they carried and passed on to their children. The LORD warned His people against bitterness. He warned them they’d have to avoid the traps of the cultures, peoples and false gods around them. It is a vital warning today. How many Christians have statues of Buddha, or observe Halloween toying with sin, rather than devoting themselves completely to the Living God? How many Christians are bitter, and giving themselves excuses to be bitter, as if they had just cause for it. They don’t. The torrents of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ wash away any claims or rights you have to bitterness.

Believers are called to examine their hearts each and every day. Where there are steps leading the believer to wander from God, that must be recognized and immediately repented of, confessed and the hardened heart softened by the Spirit of God. Bitterness is poison easily ingested. Against governments and policies. Against fellow Christians. Against preachers. Against neighbours. Against spouses or former spouses. Parents against children. Citizens against foreigners. Against former friends. Against those who seem to be doing well while you struggle. The list goes on and on.

Believers who examine their hearts daily, carefully inspecting their actions and attitudes, in view of Who Jesus Is and how in Him the Father rescued them from the kingdom of darkness and brought them into the light of Christ, will learn to hate evil. They will realize how even a tiny bit of evil lodged in them will be a portal for the poison of bitterness to take hold and allow ever more toxins to flow in. This threatens their whole existence as believers.

When you find bitterness, confess it. When you encounter wells of anger against others, bring it to Jesus and ask that He Who healed you from all your sins and brought you, purified, to the Father, will enable you to love others so that your words and attitudes will make you a soul-winner for Jesus. Where find bitterness, know this, you will have to dig at it, pull it out. It is a regular, daily task until every trace of its root is gone.

This is more than you can do alone. Jesus commanded: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44). Such obedience to Jesus Christ destroys the root of bitterness. Such prayers are the spiritual battle which will win the world to our Savior. Such prayer and action will result in personal victories, where someone you were deeply bitter against, becomes once again, a human, not a caricature. This is the hard work and the heart work of the Gospel of Jesus.

Father in heaven it is amazing that You love me. Thank You for the work of Your Spirit Who has applied the salvation of Jesus to my heart and mind, attitudes and life. Patient Father, by Your Spirit, tend the garden of my heart so that all bitterness, malice, envy and spite will be rooted out and removed allowing that the seeds of the Gospel will have good soil to grow fuller, broader, and deeper into every area of life. Where I have been nurturing bitterness and hatred towards others, expose that to me. Show my sin to me as the ugly, perverse and nasty pustules of poison it really is. Then, drained and emptied, restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Fill me with the love, hope, and faith of accompany new life in Christ. Renew a right spirit within me. Help me to teach sinners the way of salvation so that the good work You began in me will be brought to completion at the day of Christ. Amen.

https://youtu.be/px-eU1QjQiU?si=9WFEh4H2odi9Ktto Psalm 51 (Wisdom in the Secret Place)

November 29, 2024

November 29, 2024 -- Luke 5:27-32 -- Daily Heart Check

November 29, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:27-32 ESV

Levi was a collector of taxes for the Roman Government. He was ripping off his own, Jewish, people, who were oppressed by the Romans. He was making himself rich off the misery of others. He was hated by the Jewish people for his collusion with the enemy. Why was he prepared to rip off his people? Maybe he wanted to be rich. Maybe he resented the Jewish religious leadership who were themselves colluding with the Romans so that they could keep their power—like dogs on a lease. They should have put their full trust in the Lord, Who is above every power and lifts nations or casts them to the ground. But I digress. Whatever led him to sin against God, his nation and even against his own heritage was changed the moment he met Jesus.

Look what happened. Jesus saw Levi. It is more than a glance. It is a penetrating look that sees the sin, sees the heart and like a physician knows the sickness in his bones. Notice it is Jesus Who goes to Levi, not the other way around. Then Jesus simply commanded, “Follow Me”. The beauty of this picture is found in the verb form, Levi leaving everything, rose and followed Him. There was no hesitation. He was instantly cured of the vices that gripped his heart and motivated his betrayal of his nation and the Living God.

Look at the sign of repentance and the full acceptance of Jesus which the passage reveals. Levi hosts a big banquet for other tax collectors. He is sharing his new-found faith. He has access to those sinners in a way no others could. Jesus is the honoured guest, He is present as the highlight of Levi’s new life. He has broken all ties with his past job and any possibility of returning to it. His life is now utterly in the hands of his Lord.

Dear fellow believers, following Jesus requires believers to commit to working with God to make a daily inspection of their character—that is Step 4 in the Overcomers workbook. What you are doing and how you are acting is an outflow of whatever it is that your believe about yourself. If you think you are not worthy of Jesus’s forgiveness and love, then instead of truly, deeply, honestly following Him, you will ultimately take a different road. When you daily inspect your heart, your motives, and the reasons you do whatever wrong or sinful things you do, will uncover the places in your mind and heart that need the healing of Jesus.

Angry bullies will continue to bully because they don’t really believe Jesus’s words that the meek inherit the earth.
Addicts will say Jesus is all that anyone needs, but their return to addictive behaviors shows the heart’s true devotion.
Those abused in childhood will not think themselves valued or loved and in turn will not be capable of accepting the love Jesus brings.
Gossips insecure will spill secrets thinking this is the way to valued, as bringers of information. Their words, like choice morsels of food, go deep into others and show them to be unreliable and unworthy. Only in Jesus will a man or a woman know their true worth.

Why make this deep, candid inspection of your character? So that anything, no matter how small it might be, will not divert you from following Jesus. Think of a small pebble in your shoe. If you do not immediately remove it, while you walk you will be placing your foot in certain ways so that the pebble will be dislodged from either the ball of your foot or the heel. But the fact is, you will be accommodating the pebble, not walking in step with Jesus.

Jesus compares Himself to an earthly physician. No matter how embarrassed you might be about your condition or what part of your body hurts, you must tell your doctor. There is no other way to get the help you need than to let the doctor know the worst about your condition. So it is with Jesus. Let Him know the worst, the most broken, the most painful area of your life. He is the Great Physician—He Who made you, knows how to heal you. No wonder Levi enthusiastically followed Jesus—he found healing.

An important note added to this, as your life changes, you will find new areas of need and hurt which require Jesus’s healing touch. Teenagers need Jesus’s healing as they navigate the bewildering world of growth, hormones, and peer pressures. Working people and then retiring people will find their need for Jesus’s healing ministrations to be unique because the circumstances of their life are now new, and those new routines will uncover new areas of need.

Jesus, I’ve walked with the pebble of sin in my shoe for so long. It is almost a companion and a game to keep it in a place where stepping will not bring pain to my foot, and pain to the knees and hips then my whole body as I continuously adjust to it. As You healed Levi, so blessed Jesus, heal us. And, as You heal me, I pray to You, please, continually remove the pebbles of sin that keep me from walking with You. Spirit of God, help me to trust Jesus enough to bring to Him the worst about my condition. Father in heaven, thank You for the promise that while we were yet sinners, You demonstrated Your love for us in this, You crushed Your Son Jesus to be full, the final, the Only-Ever-Needed sacrifice for sin. Amen.

https://youtu.be/ohxSXsVgV-A?si=_cBy4Ng4YASe46Nr What Wondrous Love Is This?

November 27, 2024

November 27, 2024 -- Psalm 139:23-24 -- Fearless inspection of mind and heart

November 27, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV

As many of you know, this series of devotions follows the Twelve Steps as they are laid out in OVERCOMERS Freedom From Life Controlling Issues, Canadian Bible Society, 2022. Today’s material moves to Step 4 which is “I commit to working with God to make a daily inspection of my character”. Why is such a daily inspection of your character necessary? Well, what you think and what you believe become what you do. If your thinking is corrupt, then your believing and acting become corrupt.

Contrary to what the world says, that people are either basically good, the Bible shows that believers who are being made new in Jesus Christ must constantly fight the old sinful patterns and inclinations of the mind. The Bible teaches that people have a sin-nature that warps their thoughts and acting. The world also teaches, perhaps just more information is needed, and people will act more kindly and justly. This is easily disproven as well. How often in the past week did you know, I mean your conscience knew and your impulses knew the right you should do, and you didn’t do it? You are educated, but you are not acting according to that level of education. That is not the problem.

John Piper noted the Bible has many phrases which describe the human mind. Careful, these are not complimentary. Look at the list he has compiled, our minds are:

confused (Deuteronomy 28:20)
anxious, closed (Job 17:3–4)
evil, restless (Ecclesiastes 2:21–23)
rash, deluded (Leviticus 5:4; Isaiah 32:4 NIV)
a troubled mind (2 Kings 6:11)
a depraved mind (1 Timothy 6:5)
a sinful mind (Romans 8:7 NIV)
a dull mind (2 Corinthians 3:14 NIV)
a blinded mind (2 Corinthians 4:4)
a corrupt mind (2 Timothy 3:8)

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-battle-for-your-mind, Oct 1, 2010

It would be easy to add to that list, but the point is made. Our minds are a tangle of rebellion, lingering evil, against which the sanctifying power of God must be brought to bear. Believers must examine their thoughts and their motives and their intentions and their character. It requires the penetrating, powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. We are too lazy, too self-satisfied, too dull and blinded to truly know the sinful artifices of our mind which warp our actions.

Before you get too discouraged and leave off from this whole process understand a few, critical points. In Psalm 139 it is God Who made His people. It is God Who initiates the process of purification from sinful person to sanctified person. He knows the wickedness of the human heart. The warped mind, the rebellious mind, the corrupt mind, the sin He is dealing with in each person according to his or her need. It is gratifying to know that a sanctified person is one who, in the grip of Jesus’s grace is a forgiven sinner who is empowered by the Holy Spirit to make the necessary changes in his mind, attitude, heart, life and actions which accord with the will and purposes of God. It is a life-long process that confirms the necessity of God’s work in one’s life and affirms the patient graciousness of God in each person’s life.

Be prepared. This is a very difficult step. The transformation the Father brings through Jesus Christ will be Spirit-powered, and it is surgery that goes to the exact places of wounds, misunderstandings, fears, so that as such are exposed by the Spirit they can be healed, conquered and transformed by the Father’s love.

Be prepared and act. I can’t remember who said this, but it rings true, “Many Christians are more aware of the state of their investments than they are of their attitudes and mind”. Yet, our investments and bank statements are, in view of eternity, insignificant when compared with the investments we are called to make right now in our daily walk with Jesus Christ.

God the Father, the Lamp of the Spirit’s searching light is nearing my heart, and I confess I am not prepared for what will be exposed. There are many sins I’ve justified. There are many things I’ve been holding on to defiantly, knowing they are not pleasing in Your sight. Jesus promised that He is approachable and kind so that all Who turn to Him will find rest for their souls. To get this rest, I am beginning to understand I need the surgical precision of Your search light to expose and excise all that is lined up in me which opposes You. Father in heaven, hold me in the merciful, loving grip of Your grace as You work out the salvation of Jesus Christ in every area of my heart, mind, soul and life. Faithful Father let the Spirit both cleanse and heal and put the steel in my spine that is needed so that I will give my faith the work-out it needs in order that my life will continue to be led in the way everlasting. Amen.

https://youtu.be/-44GH3NhdIA?si=vAwgK6XiY_ttgGe3 I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow

November 26, 2024

November 26, 2024 -- John 15:4-5 -- Connected to Jesus, the True Vine

November 26, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5 ESV

At verse 1, prior to today’s text, readers are informed the Father in heaven is the vinedresser. At His decree people are drawn from the stick pile, dead and lifeless, and are grafted into Jesus, the True Vine. In the Old Testament the people of God were supposed to be the vine of God, His planting and all connected to them would live. For the most part they failed in this and wanted to hoard God’s blessings for themselves excluding all others.

When a branch is made alive in Christ, it can’t help but bear fruit. Buds swell and burst open. Flowers open and will yield fruit. The point is that those who belong to Jesus will bear fruit. There will be evidence of this life in you. How can you tell God is working in you?

You are intrigued by other Christians, and you want to spend time with them.
You are hungry for the Bible and have questions about it.
You go to chapel or church services.
You see others who are struggling, and you invite them to church or chapel.
You share what you have and what you know.
You find you genuinely care about the people around you.
You begin to hate your sins, more and more.
You find old hurts and bitterness are losing their grip on you.
Your addictions and life controlling issues, sins one by one, are becoming hateful to you. Old strongholds of sin are emptied of meaning.

It is the Spirit of God Who is working in you, Who brings the change. The Spirit brings, every moment and every day, the life-giving nutrients that result from being connected closely with Jesus. Because the life of Jesus flows in your spiritual veins, you will bear fruit which is like the life and character of Jesus.

Be honest, there are days when this is exciting. It is true. It is obvious to all. There are days when it is barely noticeable. Think of winter. When the vine endures hardship and bitter winds and penetrating cold. During the winter the vine is not dead. It is preparing for a new season of growth. God the Father, the vinedresser, will in the appropriate season prune every branch so that it will be even more fruitful the next year. The branches of the vine rest in winter. In the way, painful as it might be, each branch is prepared for a new season of life, of growth and of fruitfulness. If you are in a winter season of your faith hold on. More importantly, know that God is holding on to you. He Who grafted you into Jesus, the True Vine, knows what He’s doing. He can keep you alive and close to Himself. He will heal the places of hurt. He sees the fruitfulness of the next season and is strengthening you to receive it.

Thank You, Father in heaven, for Your loving patience in grafting men, women and children into Jesus. To be honest, if You did not hold us in place, there’d be many times we’d try to pull ourselves out, try to generate our own growth and try to be fruitful apart from You. It is foolish. Thank You for the Holy Spirit living in all believers Who anchors us in the love of Jesus, Who closely connects us to Him so that the life and fruitfulness of Jesus becomes more and more evident in us. When it seems there is no growth in us at all, help us to rest in Jesus, staying connected to Him in the full confidence that winter will soon pass. Revive in us the confidence that Spring, and new life and new growth will find us rested in Jesus and strengthened by the Spirit and ready for all that You have planned for us. Amen.

https://youtu.be/EMvfX-ajxA4?si=0mP8qM9O6jELkkgj My Soul Find Rest

November 25, 2024

November 25, 2024 -- Mark 5:17-20 -- Healed and Directed by the Captain of Salvation

November 25, 2024/ Richard T. Vander Vaart

17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Mark 5:17-20 ESV

The man, once possessed by a legion of demons (note this fact: a Roman legion consisted of 6,000 men!), is healed; his healer Jesus is about to leave. The people who’d bound and chained the one possessed, rather than rejoicing in this man’s healing, are begging Jesus to leave. The healed man wants to go with Jesus—but he is told to stay and witness to Jesus’s mercy in his life.

This is an incredible story. How hard-hearted the people appear. Until you realize the healed man used to roam around the graveyard, yelling, scaring people. He'd cut himself, freely bleeding. Before he’d gone off to live on his own, people had tried to help. He was a danger to himself and to others, so they tied him up. He escaped. They put him in chains. He broke them. He escaped. People were afraid. He was afraid. Jesus comes and heals the man, the question is: would he stay healed? The answer is alluded to, the man goes into the region of the Decapolis, the 10 cities, and proclaims what Jesus did for him. People marvel. They are amazed at his testimony of healing. He goes to people who’d chained him. He goes to people who mocked him. He goes to people who rejected him. He goes to family that had given up on him. They can’t refute the fact he really is healed. They might want to. Who knows if there'd hadn't been times of quiet, deceptive days where the demonic forces were not fierce, only to suddenly erupt again. And again. Again.

What is the point. When you experience the healing of God, healing like the hold of addictions being broken, healing like that of life-controlling issues finally subdued, healing like having hardened sins broken and your life takes a completely different direction, count on this—you will encounter people who are afraid of you. They’ll remember what you were like and based on that doubt if a really lasting change has taken place. There’ve heard so many, oh so many past promised. Broken. So many false starts. Crashed and burned.

What makes this time different? It is the love of Jesus Christ and the Spirit-given humility to own up to failures and to confess them and walk once again in obedience to Jesus. Christians who are in Jesus Christ are Overcomers who struggle with addictions, sins, and other life-controlling issues, but have now intentionally submitted their lives to the care of God as He guides them. The healing is awesome. However, remaining submitted to God is difficult to do because God will often guide His children back to the very places where the people who once knew them now will see them as changed and made-whole.

In Hebrews 2:10 Jesus is called the Captain of Salvation. He sees the entire battlefield. He knows the strengths of the enemy and the vulnerabilities. He sends His Overcomers, the soldiers who have experienced His healing, into battle for His Name’s sake. In the thick of battle, no foot soldier (at least not a wise one) stands up and says, “Um, Captain, I have a better strategy”. (Humanly speaking we Christians try that all the time, but you know in military terms, that is a non-starter!) So, like the healed demoniac, we trust the Captain of our Salvation to command us and bring us to the place where we will be most effective in His campaign to work all things to His plan and purpose.

It is easy enough to forget this life is a great battlefield between the demonic forces. A battlefield where the pressures of a world that institutionalizes sin push hard against you. Even your heart is a battlefield, fighting the natural tendency to sin rather than serve; fighting against the constantly renewed decision to submit your life to will of God as He guides you.

Trust the Captain of Salvation, Jesus, that He Who began the healing work in your life will bring it to completion. Part of the healing work might be, like the it was for the man from whom the demons were cast out, to go to the very people who wounded you and fortified by the Holy Spirit, show yourself cleansed and in your right mind. Some will still reject you. But many hearing and seeing your testimony will be awed by the greatness of God and with you believe.

O LORD GOD, of infinite mercy, we beseech Thee to look in compassion upon our country now involved in war. Pardon our offences, our pride and arrogance, our self-sufficiency and forgetfulness of Thee. Give wisdom to our counsellors, skill to our officers, courage and endurance to our sailor, soldiers, and airmen, and all who guard our shores. Look in mercy on those immediately exposed to peril, to conflict, sickness, and death. Be with the dying; give to them true repentance and unfeigned trust in Thee; and in the Day of Judgment, good Lord, deliver them. Finally, we beseech Thee to remove in Thy good providence all causes and occasions of war; to dispose our hearts and the hearts of our enemies to moderation; and of Thy great goodness, to restore peace among the nations; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A PRAYER IN TIME OF WAR, Divine Service Book For The Armed Forces, 1950, page 30

https://youtu.be/mSzm7rEkmEU?si=ga3sKZxtrokaWToA Here I am, Lord

Richard T. Vander Vaart

Richard T. Vander Vaart

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Richard T. Vander Vaart

December 20, 2024 -- Galatians 6:1-3 -- Temptations and victory in Jesus

December 19, 2024 -- II Corinthians 12:7-9 -- A test is different than a trial

December 17, 2024 -- Psalm 59:16-17 -- When trials come, and oh boy, they will...

December 16, 2024 -- Mark 6:30-34 -- Facing triggering troubles and refining fires

December 15, 2024 -- Proverbs 14:13 -- Question: what kind of fruit is your life bearing?

December 13, 2024 -- Proverbs 13:6 -- Sin overthrows the wicked, righteousness guards the believer

December 12, 2024 -- Ephesians 1:3-4 -- The grace of Jesus that breaks every lie of the Devil

December 11, 2024 -- Joshua 22:32-34 -- How can this fighting ever end?

December 9, 2024 -- Mark 1:14-15 -- Cooperating with God's treatment plan for your healing

December 8, 2024 -- I Corinthians 13:1-6 -- This might be the hardest step of all

December 6, 2024 -- Proverbs 24:3-7, 15-16 -- Fallen Christians who rise again and again through Jesus

December 5, 2024 -- Romans 5:18-21 -- The hard truth implications of this new life in Christ

December 4, 2024 -- Psalm 141:5 -- Faithful friends vs stubborn sins

December 2, 2024 -- Proverbs 15:31-33 -- Accountability in your walk with God

December 1, 2024 -- Proverbs 1:8 -- The power of Confession with accountability

November 30, 2024 -- Deuteronomy 32:16-21 -- A heart check and spiritual health inventory

November 29, 2024 -- Luke 5:27-32 -- Daily Heart Check

November 27, 2024 -- Psalm 139:23-24 -- Fearless inspection of mind and heart

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

November 26, 2024 -- John 15:4-5 -- Connected to Jesus, the True Vine

November 25, 2024 -- Mark 5:17-20 -- Healed and Directed by the Captain of Salvation

Richard T. Vander Vaart

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