The High Calling of God

Genesis 43:23 : “But he said, ‘Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; ..”   This verse comes from the story of Joseph and his brothers. His brothers had come to Egypt for grain, not knowing that the man in charge was their brother, Joseph- whom they had sold years before. After the men had bought grain and prepared to go back to their father Jacob, Joseph had ordered that their money be placed in their sacks of grain.  Years ago, the Lord dealt with me on these words- “Treasure in your sacks.”  What He was showing me was that it is in the ‘small things’, the everyday things, and the mundane things of our lives- it is there very often that we find true meaning and purpose in our lives. It may be in the least likely place that we find that “treasure” in our sacks--our sack life- our every day order, routine responsibilities--the treasures of His love, grace, loving-kindness, sacrifice and...

Romans 8:35-37 : “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Those words: “more than conquerors” come from one original word- “hupernikao” (Strong’s #5245) meaning over and above. It has the idea of being super victorious, executing an  extraordinary victory. When we are born again through the blood of Jesus and filled with His Spirit- we are more than conquerors through Christ. We triumph and glory in Christ’s victory ( 2 Corinthians 2:14 ). The battle has already been won through Christ. Our triumph and victory is in Him. We are part of His victory and we should leave no one behind. I believe it is the Marines’ motto- to leave no man behind. It should be the Christian’s motto as well.  ...

The other day as I was reading in Acts something neat happened. As I read a subtitle for a chapter, my eyes did one of those tricks that happen from time to time. The subtitle was “Journeys in Greece” but my eyes read it as “Journeys in Grace”. I chuckled to myself but I thought-how neat—Journeys in Grace. Our Christian walk truly is a Journey in Grace. From the very first moment we are born again through the blood of Jesus Christ and every day thereafter, it is a journey of grace. As I look back at my 40+ years of serving the Lord, I can say it has been a journey in His grace. I haven‘t always made the right choices. I have done some pretty stupid things at times, but as I obeyed the Spirit’s leading, I was lead back to the right path. There are many, many verses about grace but one of my favorites is 2 Corinthians 12:9 . Paul is saying: “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather bo...

Col 3:1, 3 (Gods Word) “Since you were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above—where Christ holds the highest position.  Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things.  You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God Recently my husband bought me a new camera. I was used to the point and click digital with limited zoom lens. I did get a lot of use and enjoyment out of that camera but was ready to move on to something with a little more zoom potential. So, off we go into the woods to experiment with my new camera. Since it was towards the end of winter and very early spring, I soon found out there wasn’t much to practice on but birds. Nothing wrong with birds- and it did give me great opportunity to try out the zoom lens. My husband commented that I had chosen the hardest thing to take pictures of- birds in trees. You have to deal with all the bare branches that normally are around a bird perched in the tree. But I tried an...

1 Samuel 30:6: "Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." David had been through a lot up to this point. King Saul was trying to kill him.David ended up in the wilderness running and hiding from Saul, even though David had been anointed as king by Samuel. He had allied himself with the Philistines and while he was away from his home, invaders came and burned the city and took all the women and children, including David's wives. Then the people turned on him and wanted to stone him. "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." Other versions render "strengthened" as "encouraged" but really "strengthened" is a much more accurate word. It comes from the original which means to "fasten upon"; "fortify"; "to bind"; "...

"But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you-from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted."  1 Peter 2:9 (The Message Bible) Webster defines "instrument" as "2. A tool; utensil; implement."   (1).  An instrument doesn't do any good unless it is picked up and used. My garden will not get dug, watered or weeded as long as the tools are still in the shed. The violin or piano can make no beautiful music on their own. It has to be used by someone. I was reminded recently how we, as children of the living God are His instruments--His tools to get the job done. The work of the kingdom will never get done unless we- his instruments- allow Him to use us in the way that He desires. If we don't allow ourselves to be used by God- can we really call ourselve...

Colossians 3:3 : "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." I like the way the Message Bible states the first 6 verses of that chapter: “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,  act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.  2 Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from  his perspective. 3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your  real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God.  He is your life.  4 When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. 5 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenev...