The Mind’s Love for God

He said to him, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37 [HCSB]

What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with my understanding. 1 Corinthians 14:15 [HCSB]

That the mind must love, that the intellectual nature also has its affections which it must give to God; this, perhaps, seems to us… strange; certainly it is less familiar.…
     The glory of this part of His commandment… seems to me to be in this assurance which it gives us that God, the Father of men, is not satisfied if His children give Him simply gratitude for His mercies or the most loyal obedience to His will; but that He wants also, as the fulfillment of their love to Him, the enthusiastic use of their intellects, intent to know everything that it is possible for men to know about their Father and His ways. That is what… is meant by loving God with the mind.… “Understand me! understand me!” He seems to cry; “I am not wholly loved by you unless your understanding is reaching out after my truth.”…
     They always have loved God best, they are loving God best today, who gaze upon Him with wide-open eyes; who, conscious of their ignorance and weakness, more conscious of it the more they try to know, yet do try with all the powers He has given them, to understand all that they possibly can of Him and His ways. - Phillips Brooks, Sermons Preached in English Churches

Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

Reaching to Others

You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:34 (HCSB)

The young girl, with her family, moved from church to church with some regularity. It was always with pain that she moved into a new Sunday School. Feeling like an outsider was embarrassing. She didn’t know the ropes, and it made her feel rejected before anybody even had the chance to reject her.
     It’s not just pre-adolescent self-consciousness that makes us feel that way. Every day in our churches, at our jobs, at the PTA, in our neighborhood, there are people feeling like outsiders. Further, the brokenness of our society causes even those of us who seem “connected” to feel alienated from one another.
     Our Lord commands us to be His representatives to integrate those who feel ostracized into the protecting greenhouse of His love and care. It’s our arms that reach out for Him. It’s our words that draw them in.
Are you reaching? To whom?

Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

Becoming the "Filth of the World"

We have been made as the filth of the world...
1 Corinthians 4:13

These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or "filth of the world." "Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ..." (Colossians 1:24) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration - being "separated to the gospel of God..." (Romans 1:1).

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you..." (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, "I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend." And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the "skin of your teeth" if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is "separated to the gospel..." Or you can say, "I don’t care if I am treated like ’the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed." A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but "to reveal His Son in me..." (Galatians 1:16). - Oswald Chamber, My Utmost For His Highest

Peace

Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble. Psalm 119:165 [Holman Christian Standard Bible]

Peace—it is the ever-elusive, all-consuming desire of every person. It always seems just beyond our reach and an impossible goal in a world gone mad. But this Scripture gives a promise for peace that can easily be realized by anyone. It says that if we love God’s Word, we will have peace.
     The word for “peace” used here is the well-known Hebrew word shalom. We tend to think of shalom merely as a simple greeting. It does, of course, mean peace, safety, and tranquility. Yet inherent in the meaning of the word is completeness, wholeness, health, prosperity, fullness, rest, and harmony. Thus peace is much more than the absence of war and conflict; it is the wholeness that the entire human race seeks.
     Where do we need the wholeness of God’s peace in our lives? As we fall in love with His Word, peace will naturally be the by-product.
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

God's Direction

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 [HCSB]



I love the personality suggested by the pronoun in the text: He will guide you on the right paths. Behind the “He” of the ancient preacher is the God of the Bible. Because that is so, the “He” trembles with the tenderness of the Father’s love. No evil can baffle if He directs the path.… No opposition can overcome if He direct.…
     He has many ways of directing. He directs by obstacles placed across the way which I cannot overcome, and which drive me into a new way. He directs by clearing the obstacles away, which I thought could not be moved. He directs by delay, keeping me waiting long after I have heard His call to service. He directs by immediateness, flinging me out into a new position, wherein I must seek His guidance.… I state these contradictory things in order to throw you back upon this profound conviction; not from me nor from any man, must you take your rule of His direction. You must discover the rule for yourself in immediate relationship with Him. - G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminster Pulpit
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

The Object of a New Year

The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.
     Unless a particular man made new year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards.
     Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. - G.K. Chesterton

New Year's Countdown 3

Receive with meekness the implanted word. James 1:21

God’s Word is the source of wisdom for living, the standard of holiness for character, and the strength of the human spirit as truth. This Book, breathed by the Holy Spirit, is the foundation for our building, the fortress for our defense, and the food for our sustenance. Too much cannot be said about God’s Word.
     But too little can be done.
     Only as I feed daily, and only as I receive in humility what the Word says about me, does this divine masterpiece take effect. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were experts in knowing the Word but failures in receiving it. So, on the brink of a New Year, lay plans for reading through the Word. But also plan to let it read through you too. Its saving power, which saves us from confusion, error, and failure just as surely as its truth saves our eternal souls, depends on such reception.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

New Year's Countdown 2

But we all… are being transformed. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Bible gives a context to the liberated life: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!” But it quickly describes exactly how the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain the freedom of His Kingdom. Study this amplification of our text.
     “But we all (everyone of us deciding for ourselves), with unveiled face (not hiding behind pretense or cowering from God’s dealings with us), beholding as in a mirror (which is the Word of God) the glory of the Lord (which is the Son of God), are being transformed (that is, progressing from stage to stage as a creature undergoes metamorphosis—a caterpillar to a cocoon to a butterfly) into the same image (of Jesus, our Master, Model, and Savior) from glory to glow (or from one stage of His grace and character to ever-expanding dimensions of the same) just as by the Spirit of the Lord (for it is only by His presence, power, and perfecting work that such a change can happen!).”
     Anyone willing to be freed and changed that way is destined to a great new year!
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

New Year's Countdown 1

Love… hopes all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 [NKJV]

Today, begin a “countdown” to the beginning of the New Year. Let each point—each day—become a milestone as you “depart another way,” leaving the past behind and welcoming the Holy Spirit’s ministry to bring a glorious newness to your soul. These days, let us look at the themes of love, power, transformation, the Word, and faith: milestone markers.
     Open this day and these days with a full-hearted, special welcome to the Holy Spirit to flush, to fill and to flow through your heart with love. He can and will send a surge of love, according to God’s Word (Rom. 5:5). It will come in gushing, rushing rivers (John 7:37–39) and remove every obstruction to our being perfected in a love for Christ, a love for God’s Word, a love for the lost, a love for the unlovely, and a love for those who have wounded us. He changes our attitude and outlook—hope for tomorrow becomes more than a wish. Love begets a hope that is confident.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

Christmas Visitation 1

The Dayspring from on high has visited us. Luke 1:78 [NKJV]

Has it occurred to you that God foresaw the eventual worldwide celebration His Son’s birth would bring about? He did! Contrary to the debunker’s refusal to enjoy a holy spirit of celebration, God seems to delight in creating festive times for His people. An entire “string of lights,” so to speak, was assembled by Him in the Old Testament where He ordered feast-times on an average of every two or three months!
     Of course, carnal and commercial celebrations miss the point of Christmas—we all know and acknowledge that. But do not let the Scrooge spirit overthrow the Holy Spirit’s desire to awaken fresh expectancy and joy in your heart at this precious season.
     God has visited us! That “the Word became flesh” brought about a new day. “Dayspring” means “dawn,” and as we approach Christmas this year, do so by welcoming the Holy Spirit’s rise with fresh joy, hope, and love.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

Back to Bethlehem

But you, Bethlehem… out of you shall come a Ruler. Matthew 2:6 [NKJV]

Even its pronunciation is musical—“Bethlehem.” The name itself sets the imagination aflame again, as we all experience the symphony of thoughts about this tiny, yet mightily historic site. Bethlehem was destined for significance by the Almighty God Himself. He whispered His intent to His prophets, and in our text we hear Micah quoted more than seven hundred years after he predicted Bethlehem would be the Messiah’s birthplace.
     It is a good thing to go there—at least in our imagination; and especially at Christmastime. The fact that God would interest Himself in so tiny a village, and ordain its place and high purpose in His plan of redemption, tells us something about God and His ways.
     He delights to take the ordinary and do the extraordinary there. He loves to take people like us and do wonderful things for them, to them, and through them. It is His mind and His pleasure to do great things at simple places, with plain people! Just as we sing, so let us act: “Come to Bethlehem and see!”
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

Christmas Kings

Of His kingdom there will be no end. Luke 1:33 [NKJV]

From the time of Jesus’ conception a stream of promise begins to flow: a new government is coming to the souls of men! The issue was not political, but spiritual. The King Himself verifies this: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).
But He is King, a king like no other. Look at the descriptions of His kingly role in God’s Word:

• “The King eternal” (1 Tim. 1:17)—as such, the endlessness, the unchanging durability of His rule is declared.
• “A king will reign in righteousness” (Is. 32:1)—as such, His completely just, even-handed, considerate and life-releasing method is forecast.
• “King of peace” (Heb. 7:2)—as typified in Melchizedek and fulfilled through His rising to His first throne, the cross, where He secured out peace (Eph. 2:14–18).
• “King of the saints” and “King of kings” (Rev. 15:3; 19:16)—forever praised as our saving King, and all history’s ultimate Ruler!
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.

Encouragement

I read this passage in my Quiet Time this morning and was really encouraged. I hope it encourages you, too.

Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison.  ²⁰ I continually remember [them] and have become depressed. ²¹ Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²² [Because of] the LORD's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. ²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! ²⁴ I say: The LORD is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the LORD. Lamentations 3:19-26

Great and Mighty Things

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty (inaccessible, isolated) things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3 [NKJV]

What an absolutely incredible promise! If Jeremiah prays, God promises that He will not only answer him, but reveal “great and mighty things.” These are things that could not possibly be known any other way. The idea of the word “mighty” in Hebrew would be better rendered “isolated” or “inaccessible.” God is offering revelational insight based upon a pursuit of Him in prayer.

All successful, spiritual enterprise is based upon clear understanding of the forces which oppose us and direction for dealing with these influences. The carnal mind is unfit for spiritual warfare. Our natural human perception can at best only lead us to the doorway of understanding and never through it. Even former spiritual victories and the experience of walking with Christ for years cannot substitute for fresh spiritual insight that comes from our daily walk with Him in prayer.

How is your prayer life today? Turn to the Lord now and He will provide all that we need: guidance, insight, strength… and “great and mighty things.”  (Jack Hayford)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

Peace Beyond Understanding

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 [HCSB]


There is a peace with the understanding, and there is a peace that goes beyond the understanding and finds its warrant in personal trust and love. The peace within the understanding is the result of a clearly perceived proportion between need and supply, between danger and precaution. "I have seen what peril is likely to occur, and I have guarded against it; I have found out all the weak points in my house where the fire or the hurricane might smite it, and I have strengthened and secured them; therefore I may dismiss my anxieties and sit down at rest."


The peace which goes beyond the understanding says: "I have done all this as well as I knew how, but there are regions of danger which I cannot explore, there are perilous forces which I cannot measure. The universe is large, and out of any distant corner of it there may come a sudden blow striking right out of my life. Beyond what I can provide for, then, I find out Him who is in all the universe, and, loving Him, I trust myself upon His love. It is not knowledge, now, of what will come or how it will be met; it is only the sympathetic apprehension of His love and care who is all-strong, all-wise. This is what I rest upon. This is the confidence in which I sleep by night and work by day."


Follow Christ... and He will lead you certainly to God and to "the peace of God which passeth all understanding." (Phillip Brooks, The Law of Growth and Other Sermons)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

Kelli Kidd Jones, My Sis-in-Law

I'm very excited and honored to share that a blog post that my sis-in-law, Kelli Kidd Jones, wrote recently has been selected to be featured on Destiny in Bloom... a blog collaboration of 10 amazing Christian women. 

With being selected as a guest writer the only thing they asked of her was to help drive traffic to the site on Monday (tomorrow, Labor Day) the day Kelli's post is published. The website does not make any money by people visiting it is just one of the measurable ways to see how her post is received by readers. 

So I am asking all of my friends and family to please show your support for my sis-in-law, Kelli, tomorrow (MONDAY, LABOR DAY) by going to the Destiny in Bloom website www.destinyinbloom.com and reading her post. It would be even more helpful if you would leave a comment on the post (and try not to be too obvious that I begged you to do so :)). Again, this is how they measure if the post/writer was successful and could be the basis as to whether Kelli gets asked to write for them again! :)

On a personal note, I know I'm biased, but Kelli really is an excellent, gifted writer. Please check it out... remember www.DestinyInBloom.com - Kelli Kidd Jones...Thanks!


PS Check out Kelli's blog at http://KelliJonesBlog.com

Songs in the Night

But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’ Job 35:10-11

Night is the season of terror and alarm to most men. Yet even night hath its songs. Have you never stood by the seaside at night, and heard the pebbles sing, and the waves chant God’s glories?… We need not much poetry in our spirit, to catch the song of night, and hear the spheres as they chant praises which are loud to the heart, tho they be silent to the ear—the praises of the mighty God, who bears up the unpillared arch of heaven, and moves the stars in their courses.…

When thou thyself art low, it is well to sing of the fountain-head of mercy; of that blest decree wherein thou wast ordained to eternal life, and of that glorious man who undertook thy redemption.… What!… canst thou not sing of that raptuous moment when he snapt thy fetters… and said: “I am the Breaker; I came to break thy chains, and set thee free”?… Go back, man; sing of that moment, and then thou wilt have a song in the night.…

Beloved, there is another thing of which we can sing more sweetly; and that is, we can sing of the day that is to come.… Christian! if thou art in a night, think of the morrow; cheer up thy heart with the thought of thy Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon, World's Greatest Sermons)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

God’s Whisper and Thunder

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?
Job 26:14 [NKJV]

Job in thought passes through the universe [Job 26:7–13].... He passes to the confines of light and darkness, rides on the wings of the wind, discourses of the clouds, skims the mighty surface of the sea. All this, however, he deems as the outskirts of God’s ways. It is but a whisper compared to the mighty thunder of his glory and power. If this is a whisper, what must the thunder be!

Perhaps we know something more of the thunder of his power than Job could, because we have stood beneath Calvary and seen Jesus die, and He is the wisdom and power of God; yea, we have witnessed the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of the strength of his might, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.

Who of us can fathom or understand the power of God? But what a comfort to know that it is an attribute of his heart. God is not power, but He is love, and his love throbs through and commands his power. Be reverent when you kneel before the great and mighty God; but believe that all his power is engaged on the side of the weakest, neediest child. And more: cease not to wait upon God until He endue you with his mighty power, for service and for daily living. (F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

Kingdom Joy

...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 [NKJV]

No human system can generate the dimensions of fullness and fulfillment God’s kingdom life bring us. The present passion so many of us feel, to drink of “all the fullness of God,” is a quest for the way the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus as King in our daily life and living. There are no religious substitutes for the reality of this order of life.

As Paul wrote here, he was laboring with a problem, for everywhere he turned he found opponents to the message of Christ’s kingdom joys. His most ardent enemies weren’t Roman soldiers or Roman government, but a strange breed of religious diehards. They knew the true God but hated the refreshing liberty of Holy Spirit-filled living Paul was preaching. They kept imposing ritual requirements related to the Mosaic code—issues concerning certain “eating and drinking” stipulations. Paul wasn’t arguing for undisciplined living but simply for unsaddled souls! In effect, he says, “God’s kingdom isn’t in the trappings of tradition, but His rule brings His right ways (righteousness), His mighty ways (peace) and His bright ways (joy).” Let’s all open full to such fullness—and to His kingdom’s expansion in our souls.
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.

Purpose - Part 2

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you. Jeremiah 1:5 [NKJV]

God knew us before we were born. He has prenatal perspective on the life He created to serve Him and to bless the world. The Father set us apart with the intent that we would fulfill a distinct purpose in His great plan. Later in this same chapter, the Lord says, “I have put My words in your mouth… I am ready to perform My word” (vv. 9, 12). God does not just call us to serve Him; He also fills us with His Spirit so that the outcome is guaranteed before we even start!

God has created us for Himself, and His plan transcends our lifetime. Revelation 20:6 promises that after Christ’s return, we “shall reign with Him a thousand years.” We are a precious treasure uniquely created to be an instrument of blessing in the Father’s service.

As we go through the day, rest in the knowledge that from before our conception, God’s love for us is assured, our purpose has been established, and the power to attain the goal is promised.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.