Daily Reading: 5-27-16

2 Corinthians 11:1-6 The Voice (VOICE)

Yesterday, I shared about the work of the Gospel and the necessity for our response. When we choose to respond, the work of the Gospel of Love rises up and begins to teach us to live Christ-oriented rather than self-oriented lives.  A self-oriented life is simply being overly concerned with one’s own desires, needs, or interests.  If we are honest, we can be preoccupied in our minds with ourselves. Jesus Christ brings a new focus to His followers: Loving God with every part of our being (Christ-oriented) and then turning to love others (becoming other-oriented) the way we have loved ourselves.  Jesus loves us and affirms our individual value. He is not trying to diminish us; He is seeking to bring His glory to our lives.   As Truth, He knows more about the work of deception than anyone and He knows our minds need to be renewed by the Holy Spirit, because at the core of our being we really are self-oriented.  If we are serious in our quest to live the Gospel and to be Christ-oriented, our minds will experience a type of battle.  What Christ may speak to our hearts to bring growth can conflict with our own natural inclinations and seem like foolishness.

The Apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to press through what seems foolish to find a deeper life with Christ. Even though they are satisfied in the shallow realms of the Gospel, the Corinthians must get beyond what they want, think, or feel to lay hold of the Christ-oriented life God has promised those who believe. Paul wants more for the Corinthians and the culture is seeking to deceive them.  He writes his letter to remind them of the work of Grace and to give them Hope to rise in the glory of God.

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Daily Reading: 5-26-16

2 Corinthians 5:11-17 The Voice (VOICE)

The biblical word “Gospel” or “Good News” refers to when God’s love descended from heaven, was wrapped with humanity, and given as a one time sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.  According to John 3:16-17, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent the Son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him.” Sin separates humans from experiencing the divine glory and fellowship with God.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is that divine human creation sent by the Father to reconnect humanity with God.  This is referred to as GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense).   The gospel calls for a three-fold response:  1) Believing and trusting Grace; 2) Growing as we journey more deeply into the Gospel of the cross or dying to selfishness; and 3) Hoping in the return of Christ for his followers and the inheritance of heaven.

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Daily Reading: 5-25-16

Luke 14:34-35 

If you know me at all, you know I enjoy salty treats: popcorn, tortilla chips, almonds, etc.  Please don’t withhold the salt on these items, because they are just not the same for me! Salt not only preserves food, it gives these treats great flavor. There is a side effect from enjoying salt; it makes me really thirsty.  If I am going to enjoy salt, I know I will need to find something to quench my thirst.  

From our passage, today, we gain the understanding that Jesus enjoys salt, too; salty disciples.

Our reading begins as Jesus is teaching his disciples about the cost of following Him.  He uses salt as a simile.  Why? It is a local example the disciples can understand.  The salt that was used in Palestine was probably from the south end of the Dead Sea.  This salt was in contact with the ground and endured repeated exposure to the rain and sun causing it to lose its effectiveness to flavor or preserve food.  Jesus wants the disciples to realized they could lose their effectiveness to flavor the world with God’s love.  The disciples would need to endure the effects of the world in order to stay salty to the end!  If they lose their saltiness as disciples, they lose their effectiveness for growing the Kingdom. 

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Daily Reading: 5-24-16

Psalm 1 New Living Translation (NLT) 

Yesterday, we read Psalm 1 and considered our life-paths and who will influence us.  Our take away or understanding for commitment should be to follow or obey God’s Word and His Way of Love.  The Word is the foundation for a meaningful and prosperous life.  God knows what is best for us; others may think they do.  We may find ourselves at a crossroad where we need to choose who we will follow.  

Today, we are going to read the same passage we read yesterday, but in another translation, The Voice.  I find it is a great exercise to read in different translations.  Sometimes a passage will be opened up to us in a new way.  You may have your favorite translation and there is nothing wrong with that preference; but allow yourself to be stretched sometimes.  The Word is alive and it speaks spiritual life.  Period.

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Daily Reading: 5-23-16

Psalm 1 New Living Translation (NLT) 

In this world, we will always run into well-meaning people who want to tell us how we should think, feel, and conduct our lives.  Most of the time, human advice is based on how that person lives, as well as his or her own inclinations and personal comfort zones.  There may be wisdom mixed with their advice, but it is possible for the advice to be diluted by their own desires and what satisfies their level of expectation and or conviction.  As Christ followers—followers of Incarnate Love—we must be very careful about who we allow to influence us.  As well, we are responsible for how we influence others.  The Lord watches over the life-path of those who delight in Him.

The Book of Psalms is a songbook that shares stories of praise, as well as the joy a person can find in simply obeying God and His ways of Love.  People who are good influencers will always lead us closer to God and deeper in His Love.  Near them our strength is renewed and our hope refocused on Love.  We sense an inward prospering. God desires that we prosper in all that we do.

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Daily Reading: 5-20-16

Ephesians 4:1-6 New Living Translation (NLT) 

The LORD, our Tree of Life, calls us to come, taste, and see that God is Good (Psalm 34:8).  We gather and grow as we partake of the grace flowing from our Tree. Jesus teaches he is the Vine and we are the branches of this amazing life-giving Tree (John 15:5).  As we stay connected to our Source and one another we become bound (wrapped by grace) as One loving, forgiving, peacemaking and Spirit-led people who extend Hope to the world.  Victory is all about making a “grace connection” to the Tree in the Father’s Vineyard or Garden.  The Apostle Paul urges the Church at Ephesus to remember and apply the power outflowing their connection to God.

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Daily Reading: 5-19-16
Proverbs 3:13-18 New Living Translation (NLT)

Wouldn’t it be amazing if everything we needed in life could be gain by connecting with the wisdom and generosity of one Source? Here is a symbolic image I want to share that best reveals my thinking: a Tree of Life to which we are invited to approach and pick the fruit of Wisdom for supply whenever we needed it. Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as the “right use or action of knowledge.” We wouldn’t need to blindly hunt around, steal from others, or go without, we could just go to the one Source, connect, and gain the necessary wisdom for meeting our greatest needs in life. This Tree would be a Source of all other connections. As all of humanity connected at the Tree we would take care of one another with the patterned provision provided by the Source. Everyone loving, working, and serving together under the Tree of Life.

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Daily Reading: 5-18-16

Luke 1:26-38  New Living Translation (NLT)

In our devotional yesterday, we read about how the Spirit reveals God’s goodness; God is a Giver who provides everything we need to live in spiritual victory.  If we lay hold of spiritual victory by welcoming the work of the Spirit, God’s glory will flow into every area of our lives; an inside to outside process.  The Spirit will supernaturally overshadow our human condition and ability.  I don’t know about you, but I confess my great need for the Spirit to overshadow my soul and what I bring to the table of life.  I have a great desire to accomplish or fulfill more than I could ever do on my own.

I love the angel’s prophetic message to Mary.  I am even comforted that she is confused by the Word of the Lord to her heart.  Why?  It means the Spirit is overshadowing her.  When the Spirit is working in our lives, we may not be able to grasp spiritual things until they are revealed in the natural.  That is when our love for God and our faith in the work of the Spirit of Truth must sustain us.

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Daily Reading: 5-17-16

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 New Living Translation (NLT)

God is a Giver!  In fact, God is a Generous (with a capital G) Giver of all that is Good!  We have been given God’s Spirit in order to recognize and see the many other good spiritual things He has given us.  Think about it.  God has given us good gifts in abundance, but we may only recognize them through the work of the Spirit.  The Spirit is the One who opens the spiritual eyes of humans, so we may see the hand of God—our Giver.  Therefore, if we want to see and know spiritual things or understand God’s thoughts and purposes for our lives, we need to welcome the work of the Spirit.

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Daily Reading: 5-16-16

1 Corinthians 2:1-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

Yesterday, we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit upon a diverse group of disciples.  Although many of them were from the same area, they were diverse in their soul’s condition before the work of the Spirit; each one struggled with a different sin or inclination that caused a focus on self.  All sin is the same, but we struggle in diverse ways.  Sin is always self-focused and self-exalting; sin rejects God and His eternal love. 

This human yet diverse condition is true of us today; we too must wrestle our selfish flesh down (submit to God and resist the devil) in order to welcome the liberating and bold work of the Spirit.  The Spirit produces spiritual fruit and becomes what we lack in our human condition.  Because they trusted God, the disciples were united as One in the Spirit and given the power to witness to the work of the Living Christ within to bring salvation.  Each disciple had a different story of how the Spirit had set them free to serve God; many were given different languages so they could tell their diverse stories of the One True God.  The Spirit of God is a Gift that is given to help us understand what is truly valuable and eternal; what is from God and what pleases Him. 

The Apostle Paul comes to Christ with the inclination to be a hater.  He spends a lifetime thinking he knows the mind of God; he abuses people to gain control for God.  He welcomes the Spirit and he is then able to identify his wrong spirit, as well as God’s heart. The Spirit humbles him and imparts wisdom.  What does the Apostle Paul value now?  The answer is the work of the Spirit.  Now the Apostle Paul can see the love of God for a struggling and misdirected humanity that has existed from the beginning of time.

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