303 - "The Word is my Oxygen" Luke 21-22

Fearless Courage to both of you! You have already shown it. May you live it fully.

One Day, the heavens and earth will pass away.  

White-hot stars will melt to a crisp, 

the stunning shimmering sun will melt forever. 

And it will happen in a blink. 

Another lovely generation of generations passes away.  

But, the Word of God will never ever pass away. Luke 21:32. 

We hold this Word in our hearts this day and forever more.  

It's the One Thing my anchor holds within the veil.  

This Word is my oxygen; 

the hammer that breaks the rock hard pieces of my soul; the snow that melts my heart;                            my very next breath. The Living Word. 

 

So, how do we stand before that? 

Go to Him now. Today. Move into Him. 

The One Who will ask all the right questions of us. 

Live the Word of God every day. Deut 32:45 - these words are our very life.

PHOTO:  Zeke & Ezri at Bristol's 4th birthday party in KC.  They really really liked each other at 6 & 7.         

Fearless Courage is my prayer for you both.  

302 - "A Sighting of Christ" Luke 19-20

                                                        

"Zacchaeuus, Today is my day to be. guest in your home." John 19:5-6.

"Those who sincerely desire a sight of Christ, like Zaccheus, will break through opposition, and take pains to see him." Oh my! That's it.  Do I really want a sight of Him?  Let's move through these barricades of distance and deceit and displeasure and discontent---such depravity. I'm surrounded by this opposition on too many sides but God knows.  He understands my frame.  He is passing by and looking to fill hearts that are empty.  Fills us with Good.  But we have to come down from our high places where we dwell.  So, come down, Zaccheus and you and me.  Come down.  

And let's see what is in our own hearts.  Luke 20:4 - Jesus asks:  The baptism of John, is it from heaven or of man?  Why do you look to revelation to excuse your behavior.  Sidetracked.  The scribes and Pharisees want to find the loopholes of life rather than deal with the sight of Him and how that changes our hearts.  

Oh! For a sight of You.  In this weary world of ours, let us find the wonder, the awe, the Ever-Present Savior.  Help us to come down.  Press in.  Stay long.  Fill us up, O God!

PHOTO:  A beautiful normal day. Today. The guest is knocking on our door. 

                  

301 - "We Are Living in End Times" Luke 17-18

                                                          

Luke 18 opens with an importunate widow grappling for favor with an unjust Judge.  And it ends with a poor blind man grasping for sight with an ever-present Savior.  

The Kingdom is present in both. 

Luke 17:22 is the context written to all who live in end times. That's us. And His Spirit is in you and me.  It's a "Kingdom set up in our hearts by the power of Divine Grace."  Planted in our hearts forever.  For, He is coming back and will find sinners on the earth waiting for Him.  The wicked will move on to their destiny according to Luke 17.  I studied Latin in high school.  One of the first words that you learned in the study of Latin was the verb porto, which means to carry, and the noun porta, which means a door or a gate. Importunate prayer means  persistent prayer, urgent prayer, annoyingly urgent. 

As we wait for His coming, we ought always pray. Luke 18:1

We beg you to hear our cries and answer us today.  For Your Kingdom is set up in our hearts and we cannot even comprehend nor convey our wonder and awe in rightful amounts.  Hear these humble words of ours carried to you, annoyingly but importunate, for Your Ear is kind and loving.  And we need You so.

PHOTO: The suns set tonite in ATX on some rough patches in my life.  Things I don't understand.  Words escape.  Divine Grace abounds.  Come Lord Jesus. 

 

300 - "Can the Younger Prodigal and Older Son Grow in Me to Maturity of the Father" Luke 14-16

                                                    

When you are invited to a wedding feast, do not sit in a place of honor. Humble yourself. We live in such a celebrity society. People long to be associated with high success. Drop that name. Squeeze into that friend circle. Believe that you have to have that friendship, that opportunity, that ministry, in order to feel good about your world. He who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 14:11. Free grace is always yours for the taking. Abundant mercy is ready to be delivered. "All found pretence to put off their attendance." M. Henry. Just put in your application while you put off the pretence and put on the attendance. Show up today. All in. Full force. Psalm 3:3. He is the Lifter of your head.

And Seek Peace. Peace on earth? Luke 14:51. Peace in your heart. I read tonight the book, "Peace Child." A beautiful story of courageous couples who moved thousands of miles away empty-handed with fists unclenched. Just to make friends with the Sawi Nation who held fast to treachery as an ideal. Matthew Henry said: "It is our interest to seek peace with God, and we need not send to ask the conditions of peace. They are offered to us, and are highly to our advantage." Seek Peace.

I've thought a whole lot this year about the story of the Prodigal Son.  In his book about the prodigal, Henri Nouwen writes:  "Can I let the younger and older son grow in me to the maturity of the compassionate father?"  The father is who I must become, he writes.  As the father deals with his own anger and loneliness, his anger turns to solitude and his loneliness turns to gratitude.  I am that younger and older brother.  Frustration.  Anger.  Pain.   Can you grow both of my sides into a compassion that moves into the lives of others in the midst of my own mess?

PHOTO: Standing on this shore. So many things wrong in my life. Didn't think I would end up here. Even today, a harrowing experience. But we need not put any conditions on the peace. He gives. And He gives good.

299 -“The Great Reversal—-from Strangers to Grace” Luke 12-13

 

Luke 12:2   "You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be EXPOSED. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public..."

Luke 12:5  Save your FEAR for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands. 

Luke 12:15. Life is not DEFINED by what you have, even when you have a lot." 

Luke 12:22 "Don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer APPEARANCE than the clothes you hang on your body.

Luke 12:29  "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so PREOCCUPIED with getting so you can respond to God's giving. ...Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. ...

Luke 12:53 Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I've come to DISRUPT and CONFRONT! 

PHOTO: A little bird landed on the cross just as I clicked the camera of this little country church that I passed a thousand times in my life in Fort Worth. Used to live smack dab across the street from this little country church. It's a Beautiful God Who has done an incredible work in my heart as I remember the thoughts I had when I would pass this little country church. And those thoughts are no more.

298 -“Only One Thing Necessary” Luke 10-11

 Choices. Martha was anxious and troubled about more than one thing. Jesus told her: "Only One Thing is Necessary." Mary chose the good portion. So, what's the good portion? If this is just about making good choices, we can "work" on our salvation but that's called works righteousness. The choices must come from a good portion, a good place in our hearts. It's about making choices for His Glory not mine, His Goals not my comfort. our LORD reveals our motivations in our choices---the intentions of our hearts---and thus, even choices may look really good, but are we controlled by the Love of our Christ. I may choose to say a good word to you this day and sin horribly in the midst. Man looks on the outward appearances; God looks into our hearts. Only One Thing Necessary. As long as we have breath, we may choose to do what's right and the piercing of our soul will be found out. Choose this day the God you serve or you choose another god. Only One Thing is Necessary.

PHOTO: Bob and Bev at Fred‘s graduation from the university of Texas. Circa 2014. We both tried with all of our heart to instill on you, the values of the most necessary thing in life. 

297 - “The Finger of God” Luke 8-9

 

A crowd.  A hurry.
A ruler.  A worry.
A woman. A scurry.
A daughter.  A bury.
It's a Beautiful Word from Jesus offering to heal this girl, this woman, this crowd.
"The hand of Christ's grace goes with the calls of His Word, to make them effectual. Let us not complain of a crowd, and a throng, and a hurry, as long as we are in the way of our duty, and doing good."  Matthew Henry. 
Fear Not.  Only Believe.  Luke 8:50

And the woman saw that she was no longer hidden in the crowd.  Luke 8:47
When we are no longer hidden.
May we come in faith, trembling. 

Oh! The compassion of this Christ raising sons of widows and daughters of rulers;
finding women hidden in a crowd.
Let the trembling be felt. 
The word has come.

Life presses in on us this day.  Pictures of friends who've grown distant.  Hearing of success of others not our own.  Knowing of healing happening around us, not in us.  Oh Father, let us not complain of the crowd, let us live to do good today.  Always.

PHOTO:  Who touched me?  No longer hidden.  And the trembling began.  And this trembling is felt all over the earth.  Such faith. 

296 - “Are You The One?” Luke 6, 7

 …

Are you the One?" An odd question for one of the top ten prophets of all time to ask? It so shows the human side of all of us. John sits in prison pondering the scenario---why am I at this place in my story? Luke sets the stage: The story of the famous Gentile centurion over 100; the poor widow of Nain holding a lifeless child; and now John the Baptist's perplexing question as he sits in jail.  Luke nails it:  So what will be my response to Jesus, and why should we respond to him? At this point Luke zeroes in on the real question. This section's dominant theme is faith. It's all about the presence of faith or doubt in the Presence of God. And Jesus doesn't reply "yes."  He replies:  "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me."  Luke 7:20-23. Jesus really didn’t answer John’s question. 

PHOTO: Flicker. Copyright free.

295 - “Put Your Nets In Deep Water

 

Professional fishermen---yes they were.

They knew how to fish.

Grace ~ It fell from Him. Still falls on our hearts. 

So, put your nets out into deep water, says the Carpenter, not a Fisherman. Luke 5:4.  It's a miracle.  

These seasoned fishermen know how to fish.  Only God could have pulled this one off.  And grace falls in one of those daily moments where they spend hundreds of hours earning their way.  We never know when a Divine Visit, Words of Grace, will fall on us at work. 

So what's the insight here?  Christ tells Peter to apply himself to this secular calling of his.  Don't waste you r work.  Time spent there is never a hindrance, it's holy.  When we have been with God, true joy will result in our work.  "We must not abruptly quit our callings because we have not the success in them we desire." Own ourselves as sinful men, redeemed.  Don't view your work as a vehicle to prepare for ministry.  Work is your ministry.

PHOTO: Lake Travis. Spent almost 2 decades in Austin. Such an unusual time full of deep hurt and much joy. They live juxtapose to each other, you know.

294 - “Seeing the Power of God in Afflction” Matthew 17; Mark 9

      

Matthew 17:14-15 And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before Jesus, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly."  What anguish of soul for a Dad to watch his son t.o.r.m.e.n.t.e.d. physically by demons. LORD, will you do anything?  Jesus replies in 17:21: With a tiny grain of faith, say to your mountain: 'Move Forward,' and it will move!  Nothing will be impossible for you.  

The disciples just didn't get "it," did they?  (17:20) - 'You're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle." 

What circumstances riddle my soul this day?  Will faith be found among us?  The Kingdom is near!  I can wrestle with a Good God just like these disciples wrestled to find faith.  "I can live to give and not to grasp.  I can bring a taste of heaven to earth."  66 LL. 
A Son of Adam, bothered by Satan, not only spiritually (like us all) but also physically.  Followers of Christ, not able to do anything about it.  Do the things of God rest on our hearts with deep conviction? What am I truly convinced of? The Truth will set you free.  How can the Truth, which we know not from conviction, be instrumental in our own hands of becoming faith in others?  Help us all, dear LORD, to deal with our own stuff.  By our tiny faith, we will draw out from others the people God intended for them to be.  What am I drawing out of those closest to me?

PHOTO:  The mountains of the Northwest. Majestic. Move mountain!  father in Matthew 17:14-15 sees the power of God in his affliction. And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before Jesus, said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly."  What anguish of soul for a Dad to watch his son t.o.r.m.e.n.t.e.d. physically by demons. LORD, will you do anything?  Jesus replies in 17:21: With a tiny grain of faith, say to your mountain: 'Move Forward,' and it will move!  Nothing will be impossible for you.  

The disciples just didn't get "it," did they?  (17:20) - 'You're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle." 

What circumstances riddle my soul this day?  Will faith be found among us?  The Kingdom is near!  I can wrestle with a Good God just like these disciples wrestled to find faith.  "I can live to give and not to grasp.  I can bring a taste of heaven to earth."  66 LL. 

A Son of Adam, bothered by Satan, not only spiritually (like us all) but also physically.  Followers of Christ, not able to do anything about it.  Do the things of God rest on our hearts with deep conviction? What am I truly convinced of? How can the Truth be instrumental in our own hands of becoming faith in others? By our tiny faith, we will draw out from others the people God intended for them to be.