Heavenhigh

Repentance!

# 49 2018. Dev. Ps. 51: Repentance! Read all of Ps. 51. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.¹¹Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”.

We read in the title that Psalm 51 is David’s response to God’s condemnation of his affair with Bathsheba. This Psalm is also one of seven penitential Psalms. You may read the event in 2 Samuel 12:1-7. David himself said: a man blessed with everything but steals from a poor man what is dear to him should die! Yet God spared his life and removed his sin from him. If you read the story you will see that God’s forgiveness came about before repentance on David’s part; highlighting the truth that salvation and forgiveness is solely by God’s Grace. Yet there are consequences to sin; David’s children lose their respect for him and from this time forward the sword does not leave David’s house.

David begins his prayer of repentance by appealing to God’s mercy and highlighting “God’s unfailing love and his great compassion” vs.1-2.

He moves on to acknowledging his sin, he admits doing “evil in God’s sight and to you, you only have I sinned”. He admits to being a sinner from birth and in the womb and that God’s judgments are right because God desires righteousness and teaches him wisdom vs.3-6.

David asks to be washed, to be clean again, “let me hear joy and gladness; blot out all my iniquity” vs. 7-9. Hearing joy means that David wants to include the whole community. He prays for the city v.18.

Now we come to the heart of the matter; David realizes that he can not do this on his own. We would do well to remember that forgiveness is by God’s Grace and that repentance can not be done by our own efforts. “Create in me (us) a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (us).” Don’t leave me (us) don’t allow me (us) to leave your presence, to distance ourselves from you. Grant your Holy Spirit power in my(our) life, “to sustain me(us)”.

With forgiveness comes responsibility; “then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you” v.13. “Open my (our) lips, Lord and my (our) mouth will declare your praise” v15. “My (our) sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you God will not despise” v.17. We do not deserve forgiveness or salvation for that matter, but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will not refuse a broken and contrite heart! Praise be to God!

Omnipotence!

# 48 2018 Dev. Col. 1:19 Omnipotence! Read verses 15-29. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Colossians 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Christ) ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

In this section Paul establishes Christ’s omnipotence in God; as the Son in the triune God. Paul refutes the concept of worshiping angels, of worshiping knowledge, and relying on human knowledge. The Colossians were being led astray by those promoting a gospel that appealed to mankind but it was a false gospel.

What is leading people astray today? Given the decline of the church it is a question long over due and it is a question we all must answer for ourselves. Obviously those who do not acknowledge Christ can not know God and are led astray by every new idea and concept of worship. Christians vary in belief; there are hundreds of thousands different denominations. The problem today is a misunderstanding of Jesus Christ; His humanity, His radical approach to life on earth when He came to walk among us, His purpose made clear in His life and His radical love for the whole world.

Who is Christ anyway? Paul gives us the answer: “¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”

As followers of Jesus here in the West, we are a very tame example of Christ! We have become afraid to listen to the Holy Spirit, afraid to speak out, we are afraid to speak to others about Jesus. We are afraid of those people who do not know Jesus, but those are the people who Jesus came for! Fear allows us to condemn everyone not like us! We are afraid of change; tradition has misled many of us. We also fear suffering, but as Paul says Christ’s suffering is not yet filled up in him, it definitely is not yet filled up in us. The answer is recommitment to follow Christ in Spirit and in truth. We should be known as radical Christians and as Jesus “geeks”!

When reading Paul’s description of Jesus, we should be amazed and we should be encouraged because along with everything else, Jesus is the head of the body the church. That means the church will survive and expand, she may be different than we know her, because if we continue to worship as we do now she is slowly dyeing. If she is to expand she may not do so in this country, we are much too comfortable and have no sense of the demands of the gospel on our personal lives, but she will expand. Further, Christ is above all things “and in him all things hold together, if God is for us who can be against us” Let us rejoice and rededicate ourselves during this holiday season!

Thanksgiving!

# 2018. Dev. Ps. 50: 14,15. Thanksgiving! Read all of Ps 50. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 50:14,15 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,¹⁵and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Ps. 50 is God addressing Israel; the faithful and the unfaithful. At the same time God speaks to us today. Vs. 1-6 is a preamble to God’s greatness, his power, his righteousness and justice; all of creation proclaims God’s greatness. In Ps. 50 God comes in judgment, perhaps anticipating David’s confession in Ps.51. V. 7 begins God’s voice in the first person. “Listen my people… I am God, your God.” God addresses all humans, believers and unbelievers. Although your sacrifices are continual, I do not need sacrifices, I have no need for them because all the animals (creation) everything is mine.

God does not need our sacrifices; our worship, our praise, our good works, we have nothing to offer up to God. Apart from God’s grace we are empty, devoid of goodness, or righteousness. This harsh truth is unacceptable to the world and is hard to accept for followers of Jesus, we all like to think there is some good in us. When Jesus was called good, he answered “why do you call me good, only God is good”. It is not that we do not do good things, we do, we are created in God’s image after all, but only those recreated in Jesus Christ do work that is acceptable to God and follows us to heaven, becoming the building blocks for the New Heaven and the New Earth.

God also addresses the unfaithful; vs.16-22 you will be destroyed, you join the thieves, the adulterers, those who reject me, hate me and my precepts. God says to them: “Consider this, those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

This is where vs.14,15 comes in, what God wants from us is thanksgiving, exactly what we do this week. Thanksgiving that includes our response to God’s grace; dependence on God, a Christ like World and Life View, good works in Christ’s name and living Christ in the face of the extreme opposition of the world. May the Spirit of Christ empower us! Thank you Lord Jesus for making us good. May we be truly thankful during this holiday time.

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Hope!

# 46 2018 Dev. Col. 1:1-5. Hope! Read verses 1-14. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Colossians 1: 3-5 “ ³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people — ⁵the faith and love that spring from the hope⁽^I⁾ stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel…”

Colossians is one of the prison letters written by Paul while incarcerated in Rome. Paul’s theme is the superiority of Christ’s actions and teachings compared to human philosophy. The Colossian Church, most likely planted by Epaphras one of Paul’s Gentile converts, was under attack by a group of Judaizers promoting a heretical approach to Christ’s teaching. The heresies include: food restrictions, circumcision, worship of Angels and Christ minimized; a form of Gnosticism and Humanism. Colosse was on the main trade route from the Euphrates river valley but had declined in importance by trade in surrounding cities.

Paul begins with a greeting and a prayer for the Colossians, vs.3-14. Paul thanks God for their faith, love and hope. Please read the full prayer here summarized. I have not stopped praying, Paul says, asking God to fill you; knowing God’s will through spiritual understanding, live a life worthy of Christ, bearing fruit and knowing God. Be strong, have great endurance with patience and joy, thanking God for His Kingdom and Salvation in Christ from the dominion of darkness to life in the Kingdom of light!

There has been a shift in our culture and in the idea of a Christ centered world and life view; no longer is prayer and seeking the guidance of the Spirit a daily practice in Christian homes. Fear has set in; information is suppressed, followers of Christ are deprived of meaningful prayer and God is deprived of legitimate praise. Therefore, on a daily basis, this is a prayer every follower of Jesus must pray, for him/herself, for all true believers and for the church. Practice love, faith and hope by praying always and always praising God!

Depend On God!

# 45 2018. Dev. Ps. 49:15. Depend on God! Read all of Ps 49. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 49:15 “But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
he will surely take me to himself. “

Ps. 49 begins a series of five wisdom Psalms. The Psalm is addressed to all people: “Hear this…all who live in this world” and he addresses every level of society: “both low and high, rich and poor alike”. The Psalm still speaks to us today; the goal today is to be well off, the American dream. This in itself is not sinful, what we have gained by hard honest work is a blessing from God. The problems start when we no longer give God the credit and we start to rely on ourselves and on our possessions. Death Is assured for all persons despite wealth or position. The issue here is life and death. The Psalmist makes it very clear: “No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—⁸the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—“ No one is righteous, all who live on the earth are doomed, as the Psalmist puts it, all will descend stripped of wealth and glory. What then is our hope?

The Psalmists hope is in God: faith in Him and in His promises v.15 “God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.” This is our hope as well: it is a hope but also assurance of salvation because Jesus paid the ransom for us when we put our faith in Him. No amount of wealth, no amount of good works, no amount of church attendance will suffice without faith. Only faith in Jesus makes us righteous; real faith means that we love Him, follow Him and live out Jesus’ love in the world. Thank you Lord Jesus!

Stand Firm!

# 44 2018 Dev. Php. 4:8. Stand Firm! Read Ch.4. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.

Paul ends this letter to the Philippians with an exhortation to “stand firm in the Lord” and he tells us how to do it: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice”. Be gentle, do not be anxious, pray and be thankful. And Paul gives us the result of standing firm: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s peace in every situation of our lives is not always understood but comes to us by God’s grace.

V 19, Paul thanks the Philippian church for their support, the Holy Spirit set aside Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, now the Philippian church is fulfilling the mandate of the Holy Spirit. On the denominational level, the mandate to fund mission is not much adhered to today, putting the responsibility of funding on the missionary. As a missionary, under the present fund raising scheme it is my experience that this makes mission work more difficult and in some cases some would be missionaries are not.

Paul moves to his final exhortation v.8 “whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things”. That is how we stand firm “think about such things”. Standing firm is important today and very much at this time. Think about these things as you vote. May God be pleased.

God’s Presence!

# 43 2018. Dev. Ps. 48:8. God’s Presence! Read all of Ps 48. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 48:8 “As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.”

Ps. 48 is the last of this series of 3 praise Psalms. We read these with the eyes of faith as in the time of use in temple worship. This is a liturgical praise song. The first three verses and the last three verses frame the main them, as we see it in the central verse, v. 8. “God makes her secure forever”.

Vs. 1-3 is praising God’s presence with His people using metaphoric language, but the meaning is real. As followers of Jesus we identify with God’s presence in this world.

Vs. 4-7 praises God for His great power, again using metaphorical language. We have experienced His great power in our salvation in Jesus!

V.8 is the center of this Psalm. It is all about God’s care for His people but it is also about the faithfulness of God’s people. “As we have heard, so we have seen”. We talk about the faith of our fathers and mothers, sometimes in a negative light, but because we have heard, we have believed, by the Spirit. Today, some things seem right but are against Gods laws. Do we have our eyes open to see the truth of what was believed before us?

Vs. 9-11 praises God for His love, His righteousness and for His justice. As followers of Jesus we experience His love, we practice His righteousness and we promote His justice.

Vs 12-14 is the end bracket and again praises God for His presence, reminds us of our responsibility to pass God’s love forward and praises God for His guidance even to the very end. Today, we also praise God; “For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end”. Amen!

Confidence!

# 42 2018 Dev. Php. 3:7,8. Confidence! Read Ch.3. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Philippians 3:7,8 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ”

In Ch. 3, Paul doubles down on sacrificing everything for Jesus. He draws a comparison of confidence in the flesh and confidence in the Spirit. He uses his own experience as the example of moving from flesh to Spirit. We would think that this would be a non issue today, but in fact it is alive and well in two ways.

First, sacrifice is a bad word today, real sacrifice is unheard of except in the military. As followers of Jesus we just don’t stand for something but for peace, justice, righteousness and the grace of Christ. Do these issues demand sacrifice? Yes, they do! Think about peace in today’s self-seeking society. Road rage, indiscriminate killings every single day, just to mention a few. Think about justice, the housing and homeless issue, the nasty political adds, and the problems of the poor. Think about righteousness, guilty before proven innocent,

a string of false convictions, laws that contradict God’s laws in the name of choice and equality. Think about grace, some personal actions alienate us from each other and from God but the grace of Jesus forgives and addresses all the issues we have mentioned. Are we ready to forgive?

Second, many Christians still depend on themselves (flesh). Self-reliance is subtle and comes to expression with self righteousness, arrogance, condemnation and lack of forgiveness. Relying on tradition, order of worship and music is detrimental if that is what defines worship. The Biblical standard is to worship in Spirit and in Truth. In the sanctuary of God’s creation all of life is worship and the demands of the gospel is for followers of Jesus to live in Spirit and in Truth.

So what do we take away from Ch. 3? How does this chapter change our perception of “flesh” and “Spirit”? Giving the pressure of the world around us (Satan), living by the Spirit is a daily commitment to Jesus and daily decision to seek and listen to the Holy Spirit. How does it change our perception of serving Jesus? Not all that claims to be spiritual is spiritual, not everything that seems right is right. We need to evaluate and discern everything by God’s Word. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit living in us and He never leaves us! Are we seeking Him and listening to his urging?

The Ascension!

# 41 2018. Dev. Ps. 47. The Ascension! Read all of Ps 47. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 47:5,6 “God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praise; sing praises to our King, sing praises.”

Ps 47 is one of three praise songs. They are liturgical songs used for temple worship initially, but later Ps. 47 was used during feast days like the feast of tabernacles. During the time of the synagogue it was sung at the Jewish New Year. After the Reformation the Psalm is sung for the celebration of the ascension of Christ.

In vs. 1-4 the Psalm is addressed to all nations of the world, “the great King over all the earth”, God is in control with His power and His love. God’s intention for the people of God, Israel and the new Israel, the church, is to bless all the nations of the earth (Gen 18:18). Vs 5,6,7 are the center of the Psalm, God ascending up to and into the temple, the Holy of Holies. The temple was the model of the sanctuary in heaven. Today the followers of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, are the sanctuary of God. Therefore, “sing to Him a Psalm of praise.” Vs 8,9 establishes God as the ruler of the earth; “the earth belongs to God; he is greatly exalted”.

For Christians today this song of praise resonates, His power, His love, His reign, but the Ascension of Christ not so much. Given the state of scientific knowledge the idea of ascending up to heaven from the earth is not believable. The Protestant Church mentions the Ascension of Christ but no special service as in the past. Yet, the Ascension is the climax of the Incarnation and was the condition for sending the Comforter. Of course the ascension is possible, God exists in an other dimension; spiritual but also physical, Christ is there in his physical body!

How do we explain it all? By faith, the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the Ascension! God’s ways are not our ways, God’s understanding is not our understanding of the world. “God is seated on his holy throne, God reigns”. Praise the Lord!

Work out

# 40 2018 Dev. Php. 2:12,13. Work Out! Read verses 12-29. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Philippians 2:12,13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”.

Again Paul begins with therefore, pointing back to what he said before: Jesus’ glorification vs. 9,10,11. Paul also gives us some insight into his situation he is in house arrest but he hopes to be released. He commends Timothy and Epaphroditus. “He hopes in the Lord to send Timothy” to Philippi, Paul holds Timothy up as an example to them and to us. Timothy does what we should do: he looks to the interest of others as the interest of Christ. Paul also commends Epaphroditus who apparently risked his life to bring the help the Philippians sent Paul. Whenever Followers of Jesus cross borders and cultures to bring the Gospel by way of evangelism, education, developing infrastructure and agriculture, we risk our lives. Paul tells the Philippians to rejoice “and honor people like” that.

Verses 12-13 tells us, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. We are saved by grace alone, but this tells us we play a role in salvation in terms of our faith response to God’s grace. It would be like a physical work out contributing to our physical health and in this case contributing to our spiritual health. Paul says: “do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure “children of God”. Let us put it into the terms that minimize the church today: pride, self-righteousness, condemnation and a disregard for those who have not yet responded to the grace of Jesus. As Paul points out, this is a serious issue because “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” God’s will and good purpose is to bring every person back to Himself! In the power of the Holy Spirit we “will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶as you hold firmly to the word of life.” Some translations: “as you hold out the word of life”. The implication is that we live the word in our daily lives for others to read!

How do we work out our salvation? By obeying the “Word of life”. God’s Word sets the direction for followers of Jesus in this life. That means that we spend time with the Word, that means we take time to listen to the Holy Spirit and it means to learn Jesus: His thoughts, His teachings, His actions while He walked on this earth. When we work out our salvation we work alongside God!