"God of... Heaven"

    The second most used term referring to God is found 17 times in the Old Testament and only twice in the New. It’s probably the first fact we learn about God in childhood: “God lives up in heaven;” we sang songs about being careful with what we do and say because “the Father up above is looking down in love,” and that simple fact is as complicated as this term for God gets.

God (Strong’s #H430) – elohim – means divine being

heaven (Strong’s #H8064, Hebrew/O.T.) – shamayin – means the abode of God

  (Strong’s #G3772, Greek/N.T.) – ouranos – means the highest heaven, the dwelling place of God

    You may be thinking, ‘I already knew all this, what more is there to say on the subject?’ Well, I have found through my own personal studies that anytime a term/phrase is mentioned more than once in the Bible each usage is enveloped in a little bit more information so that when we look at each one we learn a bit more and end up with a rather complete picture when we are done!

Side study: Try this for yourself in studying, for example, the phrase “the fear of the LORD” (throughout the Bible) or in studying the passages that mention Joseph of Arimathea (in the New Testament gospels).

    What can we learn from the 18 references to the “God of heaven” in the Bible? Here’s what I have summarized:

We should…

          …seek Him (Daniel 2:17-18, also consider Acts 17:26-27)

…pray to Him (Ezra 6:10, Nehemiah 1:4-5; 2:4, Daniel 2:17-18, also consider 1 Thessalonians 5:17)

…obey His commands (Ezra 1:2, 7:23, also consider 1 John 2:3-6)

…offer sacrifices to Him (Ezra 6:9-10, also consider Romans 12:1-2)

…trust Him (Nehemiah 2:20, Daniel 2:44, also consider Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

…give Him the glory and praise Him (Nehemiah 1:5, Daniel 2:37, Revelation 11:13, also consider Psalm 103:1-5)

…thank Him and bless Him (Psalm 136:26, Daniel 2:17-23, also consider 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Ephesians 1:3)

…confess our faith in Him (Jonah 1:9, also consider Matthew 10:32)

…do good for those who fear Him (Ezra 7:21, also consider Galatians 6:9-10)

…not be like those who blaspheme Him because of their pains and troubles and refuse to repent of their evil deeds (Revelation 16:11, also consider what we should do: trust in His help Psalm 34, be faithful to Him, Romans 12:12, and repent of our wrongdoings, 1 John 1:9, 2 Peter 3:9)

 

    From its first mention in Genesis 24:6 to its last in the book of Revelation, our study of the “God of heaven” is a good reminder to us that He is not simply ‘a being up in the sky’ – He is the very God of heaven! The One to whom we can run to at any time (Hebrews 4:16) and who we can always count on! Let’s follow the Bible examples we have taken note of in this study and seek the God of heaven, pray to Him, obey Him, offer ourselves to Him in daily service, trust Him, praise and magnify Him, give Him all the glory with hearts full of thankfulness for all He has done for us! Let us confess our faith in Him, in word and conduct, be a benefit to those who fear Him, seek His solace when we are suffering, and His forgiveness when we sin!    

You can do it! So can I!!   

Sing And Make Melody - How Shall The Young Secure Their Hearts?

    The song I have selected this week asks a question: How Shall the  Young Secure Their Hearts? It is a teaching song (to us) as well as a declaration of the wondrous beauty of God's truth - the Bible!

How Shall The Young Secure Their Hearts?

(written by Isaac Watts in 1719)

How shall the young secure their hearts

And guard their lives from sin?

Thy word the choicest rules imparts

To keep the conscience clean,

To keep the conscience clean.

Tis, like the sun a heav'nly light

That guides us all the day,

And through the dangers of the night

A lamp to lead our way,

A lamp to lead our way.

The word is everlasting truth,

How pure is every page!

That holy book shall guide our youth

And well support our age,

And well support our age.

    This hymn is based on several passages found in Psalms 119. Look at these wonderful verses:

"How can a young man cleanse his way?

By taking heed according to Your word.

With my whole heart I have sought You;

Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

For Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You."

(Psalm 119:9-11 NKJV)

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

(Psalm 119:105 NKJV)

"You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are truth.

Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old 

that You have founded them forever."

 (Psalm 119:151-152 NKJV)

    I encourage you today to make time to read the whole of Psalm 119. It is a wonderful psalm of joyful submission to God's word, and a song of depending on God and His faithfulness for help! Please read it!

    Consider the last verse of the hymn: 

God's word is everlasting truth, how pure is every page!
That holy book shall guide our youth and well support our age.

    1 Peter 1:25 states "the word of the Lord endures forever." In Psalm 119:89 the psalmist declares, "Forever, O LORD, Your word stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations." All generations! We've already read verses that declare the benefits of seeking God in our youth and applying His instruction as we develop but we need to remember that we also have support in our older years; God does not forget us, His word does not fail us. His instruction grows in value and His teachings result in increasing wisdom, so we in turn can encourage a new generation to seek Him!

    Look at this picture of old age:

"The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the house of the Lord;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

They still bear fruit in old age;

they are ever full of sap and green,

to declare that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

(Psalm 92:12-15 NKJV)

    God is good and greatly to be praised!! Encourage the young to seek Him! Encourage the old to trust in Him! No matter your age, secure your heart to Him!! Only in Him do we have the Lamp and the Light that can guide our way! Please read Psalm 119 this week and sing this hymn with understanding!

You can do it! So can I!! 

Worthy of Jesus - None of Self and All of Thee

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38 NKJV)

    Over the past several weeks we have looked at what it means to:

• let go of the past (parental teaching/religion) if it isn’t according to God’s truth
• look to the future by helping your children to seek God first and foremost in their lives
• deny your own self and be fully committed to obeying God, willing to make any changes needed to be right in His sight
• take up your cross by committing yourself so wholly to following Jesus that you do not return to your former life (ideas, notions, practices, etc.)  

    If you are content to simply know what you have always known, do what you’ve always done; if you are willing to surrender your leadership to your children’s wishes, wants, and desires without regard for where their wants may lead them, if you are unwilling to deny even yourself (your own self-centered wants, wishes, and desires) nor commit yourself wholly to following Jesus for life, then Jesus says that you are not worthy of Him. If you are doing these things you aren’t following Jesus – you aren’t even on His pathway – you’re creating your own (Romans 10:2-3) and man-made pathways will never get you to heaven (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25, Matthew 7:21-23).

    Instead, let us have a disposition like Paul, who willingly submitted to God’s truth when He heard it, and followed Jesus’ path:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

    Paul took up his cross, died to selfish interests and pursuits, and used his time and ability to magnify Christ in all he did. He declared God’s greatness, he spoke the gospel Truth and he lived by it! When we read some of Paul’s epistles (consider Philippians) we quickly come to realize the joy he truly felt, even though in prison, even though nearing physical death; Paul was overjoyed in following Christ and being faithful to God and obedient to His commands. That is why he kept telling others about Jesus, no matter where he found himself!

    We can do what Paul did! He encouraged us all to do just that when he wrote “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

    Are you ready and willing to trust God enough to let go and follow Jesus? Are you ready to let conviction win over convenience? Are you prepared to love your children enough to love Jesus more? To guide them by example to always seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)? Are you pleased to put God ahead of yourself, take up your cross never to return to your former, sinful ways, and commit yourself wholly to following Jesus through study and practice (James 1:25)? Then you are worthy of Christ!!

You can do it!! So can I!!

From wherever you are right now – BEGIN!!  

 

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Are You Diligent In Your Work?

    This week, let's consider the command found in 2 Timothy 2:15:

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth."

    We understand diligence to mean 'being careful and conscientious in our work' which shows a positive attitude toward the project/duty at hand. In researching the word 'diligent' I discovered that it comes from the the Old English word 'diligo,' which means 'to love.' Diligence means 'with love.' So the above verse can read, 'With love present yourself approved to God."

    When you love what you do, how careful are you to do your best and put your best effort forward? When you love the person for whom you are accomplishing this task/duty, how much conscientious thought do you put into everything you do? When you are motivated by love, great things are accomplished with ease and all tasks are completed joyfully (consider Jacob in Genesis 29:20)!

    When we love God we will want to know how to please Him (be approved to Him). How can we know how to please Him? By reading His Word!! Then, motivated by love for God, we will learn to love His instructions for us - all of them! When we love God and His Word we will read and study and flourish and have no need to be ashamed, because we will know His Word; we will know how to rightly divide [understand] it and apply it (Hebrews 5:12-14)!

    Now, with your understanding of diligence, read 2 Peter 1:5-10.

    Take note of verse 10: "...be even more diligent (do these things with even more love), to make your election sure (sounds like, 'approved to God' right?), for if you do these things you shall never stumble (again, similar to, 'no need to be ashamed', right?)..."

    We need to learn to increase our love for God to the point that we desire His instructions/commands and increase our love of doing the things God commands! God is worthy of our love and our obedience!

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3 NKJV) 

Let love motivate your faithful service to Him all of your days!!

You can do it! So can I!!

Fix It So You Can Flourish: Transformed By Renewing Your Mind

    Our passage to read and think on throughout this week, as the Lord wills, is Romans 12:1-2:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (NKJV)

    Following in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6) we learn to humbly submit to God, sacrifice our wants and desires (Matthew 16:24), and obey His instructions and commands so that we can be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and be pure just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). We will determine to make good choices in our attitudes, our words, and our actions so that others will know that we belong to God!

    When I was younger my Dad explained Romans 12:2 like this: Pour Jello into a mould, after it sets, you turn it out and you have a lump of Jello that looks exactly like the mould. The Jello conformed to the mould it was in! We conform to the world when we let it shape us, which will leave us looking just like the world!

    God wants us to be transformed (undergo a change in character). How do we do this? "...by the renewing of your mind." Fill up your heart and mind with God's word motivates us to try harder each day to make good choices in our speech, our attitudes, our actions. Read and think on Ephesians 4:17-32 as it echoes these thoughts. 

    If we put in the self-sacrificing effort, God will provide the transforming renewal!

    Determining to do things God's way will take faith and trust on our part, but it's well-worth our every effort because we will soon prove to ourselves - and to others - that His will is "good and acceptable and perfect."

    Only when we transform ourselves by doing what God has told us to do can shine as a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Only when we are different from the world can we show the world that there is a different way!

    Let's be the living sacrifices that God wants us to be, so that we can prove that His way is the best way!

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!

Understanding Peace So We Can Pursue It

    I would like to share with you something that I read while studying and researching the word ‘peace’ (Hebrew: ‘shalom’, Greek: ‘eirene’). 

    “Shalom really means everything that makes for a man’s highest good, all that makes life life indeed. In English peace has come to have something of a negative meaning. It is apt to mean the absence of war and the absence of trouble. For instance, if in a campaign hostilities actually came to an end and there was no more fighting we would be likely to say that there was peace; but quite certainly the Hebrew would not call a situation where there was a blasted earth, and where people still regarded each other with a kind of terrified suspicion, peace. …The greeting salaam does not simply express the negative wish that a man’s life may be free from trouble; it expresses the positive hope and prayer that he may enjoy all good gifts and blessings from the hand of God. In thinking of the meaning of peace, both in the Old and New Testament, it is essential to bear in mind the positive meaning of the word.” (William Barclay, Flesh and Spirit, 1962)

    Can you understand why love comes before peace in most every list of qualities a Christian is to have?

    We need to have a heart that learns to truly love – undefeatable goodwill and benevolence that seeks only good for the other – in order to pursue peace which is a sincere wish that the other person will blessed with ‘everything that make’s for man’s highest good.’

    All too often we are content with a peace that is only visible. We think, ‘there are no negative interactions, no outward upset, so we are at peace, right?’ Yet our hearts are disappointed, discouraged, angry, frustrated, irritated, or fuming. Our hearts are so darkened that the very idea of hoping that our fellow man has everything that makes for their highest good is something we may sneer and scoff at. God wants us to pursue true peace, and it begins in the heart.

    Consider your heart this week. Take note of any upset that you keep bottled up under the guise of peace. Is your heart truly at peace with your family, friends, brethren, and neighbours? Can you sincerely hope for them everything that makes for their highest good?

You can! So can I!!

Follow Jesus and Flourish

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour." (John 12:24-26 NKJV)

    Over the course of this year's study - Be More Like the Son in 2021 - we have found that in order to flourish we must let go. Let go of our own notions and ideas and dig into God's word for the truth, let go of our stubborn independence and submit to God and His wisdom and instruction, let go of our selfish desires and live lives that are pure and holy and helpful to others. 

    Like the seed of grain we must have a willingness to be buried (in baptism, Romans 6), so that we, in full submission to God and His commands, can flourish and bear abundance of fruit! We must learn to hate our life in this world ('hate' meaning to love God more than the things in this life), and to look forward with earnest regard for life eternal with Him (2 Peter 3:10-18)!

    Jesus said, "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me..." Follow His steps (1 Peter 3:20-24), don't turn from the path He has created for us (Matthew 7:13-14, Hebrews 10:35-39, consider also Joshua 1:7), carefully learn His steps, His character, His care, and allow yourself to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29-30) as you put His ways into daily practice!

    "If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour."  Just reading that statement is thrilling, but it is a promise that God can/will/does fulfill! Read and think on passages like Romans 8:12-17 where we find that we, who are led by the Spirit (letting God's Word, the Bible, be our guide), are children of God "and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (v17) and also Ephesians 1:3-14 where we discover all the spiritual blessings we have when we are in Christ (in the church, His body, Ephesians 1:22-23)!

    Are you determined to Be More Like the Son in 2021? Are you willing to follow Jesus's steps?

You can do it! So can I!!

     

Jesus Knew The Scriptures - And We Should Too (Part 2)

     Jesus used His scripture knowledge to disarm the devil and nullify the temptations set before Him (Matthew 4:1-11). He truly exemplified Romans 12:21 in this encounter! In so doing He also teaches us how we too can avoid temptation: by putting our focus on God and keeping in mind our spiritual growth (Psalm 119:59-60, Colossians 3), by trusting God’s love and patience rather than testing them (Romans 6:14, 2 Peter 3:9), and dedicating ourselves wholly to Him, giving Him due honour and respect through proper worship (John 4:24).

    We need to be prepared to do what Jesus did – use Scriptures to counteract the devil’s lures – but also hear what these Scriptures teach – prioritize God and humbly honour and obey Him - so we are wise to temptations! Consider:

• Man should live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. Prioritize the spiritual over the physical (Matthew 5:6, John 4:31-34; 51, 57) 
• You should not tempt/test God. Use your time in proving God's wisdom through humble obedience, don't waste your time trying to disprove or question God (His existence, nor His commands) through man-made doubts and theories (Deuteronomy 6:16, Exodus 17:2, 7)
• Worship God and serve only God.  Give your time and devotion to your holy Creator not anything created by men (consider Matthew 6:19-21; 24, 33, 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 17-19)

    Those who work in identifying counterfeit currency do not study every aspect of the counterfeits, they study the authentic! They know the genuine article so well that they can spot deceptions and discrepancies quickly.

    The devil is a master counterfeiter. He tries to pass off his lies as truth so we need to know the genuine article – we need to know the Truth (John 8:31-32), not a man-made version of it (Matthew 15:8-9), not a hearsay version of it (Matthew 7:21-23) – we need to read God’s Word, the Bible (Psalm 119:160, John 17:17); we need to know it so we can understand it, and use the knowledge we have gained from it to be wise to the devil’s lies and resist him (James 4:7, Hebrews 5:14)  

    Jesus knew the authentic – Jesus was the authentic! – but we can be like Him by diligently studying God’s word, to understand Him better, so we can worship and serve Him more accurately and mindfully! So that we can know the Truth and not be lured away by the lie!

    To Be More Like the Son in 2021 let’s do all we can to increase our Bible knowledge!

    From wherever you are right now - BEGIN! 

Helpful Links

Bible Reading Plans:

• Classic Read-through-the-Bible (365 days, find it here)
• Read through the New Testament (90 days, find it here)
• Read Old and New Testament (365 days, find it here)
• Stay on Track Plan (364 day, weekday only, weekends can be used to catch up, find it here)
• The Busy Life – 2 year Read-through-the-Bible Plan (find it here)
  

Note: Six years ago, I followed the classic plan (at top of list), the next year I followed a chronological reading plan (find it here). I felt well-established in my new daily habit by that time so for the past four years I have made up my own daily reading plan  (one chapter from Old Testament and one chapter from New Testament) that allows me to read through sections of the Old Testament and the complete New Testament 3-4 times in a year.

Find one that works for you so you can get into God’s word every day! Do your best to create new reading habits - it is well worth your time and effort!! You can do it! So can I!!