The High Calling of God

I Corinthians 14:7-12 "Musical instruments like the flute or harp produce sounds. If there is no difference in the notes, how can a person tell what tune is being played? For example, if the trumpet doesn't sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? In the same way, if you don't speak in a way that can be understood, how will anyone know what you're saying? You will be talking into thin air. No matter how many different languages there are in the world, not one of them is without meaning. If I don't know what a language means, I will be a foreigner to the person who speaks it and that person will be a foreigner to me. In the same way, since you're eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in them so that you help the church grow."  (God's Word Translation) These verses have to do with the gifts of the spirit. But the other day as I was decorating our house for Christmas, this verse came to mind. Many years ago my husband bought a

1 Corinthians 15:58 "With all this going for us, my dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time." (The Message Bible) In the NKJV it says: "... be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." To "stand your ground" today is a legal term which means, in some states, that a person can use deadly force if they feel that their life is at risk, rather than trying to get out of the situation. Taking this into the spiritual realm, we as Christians, need to stand our ground against our enemy- the devil-rather than running away. James 4:7 tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us- not the other way around. The words "therefore" and "with all this going for us" refers us back to the rest of chapter 15. The entire chapter is speaking ab

2 Corinthians 3:16-18    "16 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face to face!  17 They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it!  18 All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him." (The Message Bible) I have thought so much over the years about this "high calling" mentioned in Philippians 3:12-14 . The New King James Version calls it the "upward call". KJV calls it the "high calling". Which ever word you prefer there is a great revelation behind it. I have come to the conclusion that it is not

"At that time the Lord said to me, 'Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets, the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.'" (Deuteronomy  10:1,2) Moses went up to the mountain of the Lord with blank tablets. As he gave them to the Lord the Lord wrote the commandments on them. We, too, must go to the Lord with blank tablets. In other words, we must empty our lives of our desires, plans and wishes- consider our life a blank tablet- ready to be written on by the Lord. God requires that we offer our lives to Him so that He can write on our hearts what He wills and purposes. It isn't our job to decide what we will do with our lives. That is God's responsibility.  It isn't wrong to make plans or have desires- but as we delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desires of our hearts o

2 Corinthians 11: 23-31 This morning I was reading this passage of scripture about all the things that the Apostle Paul went through and yet he could still praise the Lord for all His goodness. I thought about how much we can  learn during our times of difficulties and weaknesses if we go through them trusting and leaning on the Lord. I was reminded of the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:45-46. It is a parable about the kingdom of God and a merchant who was searching for beautiful pearls. When he found the pearl of great price he went and sold everything he had to purchase it. That great pearl was Jesus Christ. If we desire more out of our Christian life than the ordinary- we must be willing to search for it. Many times it is through adversity and trials that we really find those pearls, those beautiful treasures from the Lord. When we let the Lord take over our attitudes during these times, when we focus on Christ and His will, we will come through on the other side of tha

Most of us who went to Sunday School as youngsters remember the story of the two brothers Jacob and Esau. Genesis 25:29-34 tells of an incident where Jacob had made some stew while Esau was working in the field. Esau was born first which was an honor and he would eventually obtain a double portion of the family inheritance. But Esau came in from the field tired and hungry and pleaded for some of the stew. Verses 31-34 : "But Jacob said, 'Sell me your birthright as of this day.' And Esau said, 'Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?' Then Jacob said, 'Swear to me as of this day.' So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils, then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright." How many Christians today settle for less than God's best for them. They cross the line when they think they are in a pinch. At what point do we go ahead and exchang

Wherever we are or whatever we do can be made holy by the Presence of the Lord. Exodus 3 describes Moses' encounter with God in the burning bush. It was just a bush- but it was made holy by the burning fire of the Lord's Presence. Whatever we do- no matter how menial or mundane we may think it is- is made special and holy when it is dedicated to the Lord. Our lives, our bodies, our homes, our jobs-- all become a holy place when we dedicate them to the Lord and allow His Presence there. I worked for many years in the health care field and wondered sometimes what kind of difference I made. I wasn't doing anything special- it seemed to me. My last employment consisted of working with the elderly in a day care setting- tending to their physical needs. It was very hard work- physically and mentally- very draining. I would come home some days so very tired and wondered just what good I was doing. One day during worship in church we were singing a worship chorus about Holy H

When I was a young girl, I loved picture puzzles. My mother, brothers and I would spend many hours putting them together. As we dumped all the pieces on our large dining room table, mom taught us to find all the pieces that made the frame and put this together first. Then we turned each piece the right side up and found matching pieces and began to form the puzzle. This usually took several days to complete and hopefully no one needed the table before we were finished. We would look at each piece and try to identify where it went in the puzzle. What good would it have been, if after the frame was complete, we just admired each piece and tossed them back into the box? Our puzzle would have never been completed.   I was thinking about this recently and saw the frame as our foundation to our Christian life. We must have our foundation correct according to the Word of God. If not, the other pieces of our lives will never fit. To some people, the first few pieces go in quickly-- we sto

I love nature- not only for the beauty and intrigue it brings but for the lessons we can learn from it. While Jesus walked among us, He taught us many spiritual lessons using nature and He is doing the same today- if we take the time to listen.   I recently bought some flowers to put into containers around our house. I had bought some petunias and re-potted them into hanging baskets. A couple days later while I was taking it off the hook to reposition it, the pot slipped from my hands and fell several feet to the sidewalk. I just stood there for a little bit looking at it- all the new potting soil I had placed under, around and above it was spread all over the sidewalk and the yard. And there was the original piece of sod with the four beautiful petunias just lying there. I had just been admiring how nice they were looking since being in their new pot, just before I left them fall to their possible death. I went off the porch, scooped up the petunias and the new soil, put them bac

John 10:1-11 I recall as a little girl in Sunday School seeing those beautiful and comforting pictures of Christ as the Shepherd with the sheep. It was always such a peaceful scene and I still enjoy the thought to this day. Jesus Christ- our Good Shepherd! What more could we want! If you have ever did any reading on the subject of shepherds you know that it is very interesting. I always picture the shepherd as the great defender of the sheep, warding off wild animals and making sure each and every sheep stayed safe. I have heard that at some point throughout each day, the shepherd spends some time with each individual sheep, looking it over to make sure it didn't have any pests that would cause disease and looking for bruises or anything that would cause harm to the sheep. I have read that he would anoint the sheep's head with oil, especially around the nose to keep parasites from entering into the sheep and causing disease and probably death. He carried a staff, a large rod

In John 15:1-8 - Jesus makes another of His "I am" statements. In verse 1 He states: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." Also He brings this out in verse 5: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.   That word "abide" means to remain or stay in a certain place. We, as the branches, must remain-- abide- in the true vine- Jesus Christ- in order to survive. As long as we stay connected to the vine, we will flourish and be productive. But when a Christian decides to walk on his own, walk away from the Presence of God- eventually he or she will wither and die. How often have you seen a branch that was broken off a tree continue to have the leaves. But in time, those leaves will have to die because they are no longer receiving nourishment from the tree.    On the other hand- when we stay attached to the vine we will blossom and bear fruit. W

John 7:53-8:20 Continuing with Jesus' "I am" statements, in this reference He is stating that He is the Light of the World. In John 8:12 He makes another bold statement that left His skeptics and critics in an uproar. He said: "I am the light of the world . He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John the Baptist had already witnessed to the fact that Jesus Christ would be the true light in John 1:4-9, and in Luke 2:25-32 Simeon prophesied that Christ was "a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles." Light means “to shine or make manifest; esp. by rays; (1) and d arkness is defined here as "spiritual depravity or moral darkness, emblematic of sin, as a condition of moral or spiritual depravity."   (2). The unregenerate man can not understand the spiritual things. He has to be regenerated from within by the Spirit of God.   From the very beginning God separated the darkness and the light. It w

John 6: 22-63   John 6:51 Jesus is saying: "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."   The disciples had no clue what Jesus was talking about. He had just performed a miracle by feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of barley bread and two fish. ( John 6:1-14 ). But when Jesus made this statement a little later they did not understand. Sometimes even Christians have a hard time understanding this, but it has to be understood in the spirit and not the natural mind. Verse 63 in this text states : "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." We must understand scripture in the spirit, we can not understand it in our own natural mind. Jesus wasn't talking about literally eating His flesh and blood, and even when we take commu

What kind of pudding do you prefer- instant or the kind you have to cook on the stove? I have had a thought lately that I can't get out of my mind. It is this: there are two types of Christians and they are like these two types of pudding.   First, there are the "Instant Pudding Christians". They want everything NOW! They don't want to have to go through any process (dealings with the Lord)- they just want to do and be everything now. Think about it. What is instant pudding like? It is runny and lumpy. It doesn't have much of a flavor and it has almost no consistency. It doesn't take much effort to make- just pour the box into some milk, whip it up and ta-da- you have it! But just what is it?  In my opinion the only thing to do with instant pudding is to dump the box into something else like cakes or pies or other desserts. It isn't much good on its own merit.   Then you have the "Cook and Serve Christians". They are willing to be put on

I frequently learn spiritual lessons from our 10 year old Golden Retriever Ginger. Recently my husband and I were getting ready go away for the weekend. Our dog loves to travel and even though she was only going to be dropped off at the kennel- still she DID NOT want to be left behind! The night before we started getting our suitcases ready and all the things we were taking with us. She always becomes so anxious when she sees all this activity going on. On the morning that we were leaving my husband was packing the car and Ginger was just beside herself. Every time I went upstairs to get something she followed me, panting and pacing. Every time my husband went outside she wanted outside with him. Then she wanted back in, just panting as only dogs can do- and pacing and being so anxious. You would think that after 10 years she would have learned that we have never left her alone while we have gone away. But she couldn't keep us out of her sight and she was pacing all over the plac

  "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, " Ezra 1:1 (NKJV) After the Jews had been in Babylonian captivity, the Lord stirred up the spirit of the king of Persia, Cyrus, to let the people go back to Jerusalem to build the temple. That word "stirred up" means "to rouse, to awaken, to excite, to raise up." It has the meaning of an eagle stirring up its nest or musical instruments being "awakened" or tuned up, getting ready for playing, Oh how we need to be stirred up in our spirits these days! I don't know much about an eagle stirring up its nest but I have observed many Mourning Doves in a nest that is on our front porch. When the young dove is mature enough and ready to leave the nest, the parent coaxes