‘If Only’ Pondering

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What does ‘if only‘ pondering mean? When we pray, we often pray for an outcome. If only I had a house, if only I had a raise if only, I was married, well, wealthy… The prayers are doubtful asks. We are not praying to God because He is God. We are praying to God asking Him to prove He is the God of the way, the truth, and the life.

Our relationship with God is not founded on what He can do for us. It is founded on the fact that He sent His only begotten son to die for our sin. It is through faith that our relationship is real and solid. I believe that we do not often focus on the phrase, ‘only begotten son’ as demonstrating the depth and breath of His love for us. My question is, what if God had not sacrificed His Son for us, would we be crying ‘only if’? A statement that decries a state of darkness.

Like many in the Bible, we learn that once they ceased crying for things that they felt would improve their lives and coexist on the planet, the very same moment their circumstances changed. Their belief in our Almighty, Sovereign God took away the sting of their circumstances. As the sting dissipated, their vision cleared, and avenues illuminated alternatives that previously were not viewed. It is difficult to see in the dark, and in the blackness of night, you are blind. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Through Him, there is light that leads the way. Our ‘only ifs’ seemingly rear their faces as selfless requests.

God is the I AM, not a God who must jump through hoops to prove Himself to us. ‘Only if’ we could understand the vastness of His love for us and enter prayer with the intention to deepen our relationship with Him and not to offer up a Christmas list at every turn.

Helpful Scriptures

Jesus is the Light

John 8:12. Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me, will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.“

Psalm 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Ephesians 5:8. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.

1 John 1:5. This is the message which we have heard from him, and declared to you, that God is light, and him there is no darkness at all.

Faith and Doubt.

Proverbs 3:4,6. Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Mark 9: 22-23. But if you can do anything, take pity on us, and help us. “If you can?“ Said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Matthew 28:16,17. “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain, where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”

Hebrews 11:6. “And without faith, it is impossible to please, God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

James 1:2-7. “Considerate, pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Where doubt reigns, faith cannot abide. (Billy Graham) When we utter the ‘if only’s’ we are in essence doubting our maker, and faith cannot abide. When we doubt the ‘if only’s’ weaken our faith, in fact it renders it void. Our faith resides in the truth that Jesus is our Savior, who cares for us, directs us, and provides for us. Praise, and Thanksgiving should replace our ‘if only’s’.

Images: Hebrews 11:6, Highland Park Baptist Church; John 8:12, wiirocku.tumbler.com; Ephesians 5:8,9 Pinterest, Laura Huntington; @studentdevos

Scriptures: Jesus is the Light. Bible Verses About Jesus Christ, Light of the World. ccg.org; 10 Bible. Erases About Faith and Doubt. Jesus film.org; Biblegateway.org


When God Calls

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And the LORD came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” 

1 Samuel 3:10 NLT

God calls us in many ways. It is not often a vocal communication but more like an unction. The unction is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us guiding, directing us, and preparing us for our journey to walk with God. “The Holy Spirit helps us realize God’s purposefulness to orchestrate our lives and prepare us for heaven.” Bible Study Fellowship, Study of the Book of John, Doctrine of Sanctification, pp 243)

We communicate with, or should I say, God communicates with us in diverse ways. Just as we communicate with others in diverse ways, no one way is correct. Samuel originally mistook God’s call, he did not recognize His voice.  Do you hear a voice but do not recognize it is the Lord? Does He have to call more than once to get your attention like Samuel? When you recognize it is God, how often do you respond in the same way as Samuel, saying, “Speak, your servant is listening.” 

And when you do respond how often do you act on what is being conveyed? Do you listen and choose not to act? Is there quandary prior to acting? Or do you respond, “Yes Lord, and immediately follow His instruction?

Our walk carries a great degree of responsibility. We are all God’s disciples and we each have a path to follow and purpose to do God’s work on earth. Do you point others to God?

“God equips us all with gifts and graces, interests and talents to be used to bless one another.”(workingpreacher.org. God Calls Samuel. Oct 17, 2021)

When God Calls, do you listen? Do you act?

Images: IMDb 2018; CentreNDL

Do You See His Glory

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Hi, Welcome to 2024! Food for thought.

How often do we overlook the glory of God in the things we see? His glory is evident if we shift our visual perception. Are your spiritual eyes targeting God’s glory?

We live fast paced lives and are rushing around throughout the day, trying to meet deadlines, packing our days. Our focus is on what lies before us, myopic and laser tight. The problem is, we are focusing on the world through our physical eyes. This daily chaos is detrimental to the development of our spiritual sight.

As long as Satan can deter our spiritual growth the greater his opportunity to control your life. If he can control you, unbelief will continue to separate you from Christ. Your faith will falter and you will experience a fissure in your faith which he uses to further separate you from God.

“God’s glory is the revelation or manifestation of His attributes or excellences.” (Veresbyversecommentary.com. John 11:40) This scripture in part is about delay. Martha and Mary sent word to Jesus that his friend, their brother, died and they wanted Jesus to come and save him. They lived in a time when it was a Jewish believe that it took three days for a body to begin decomposing and the soul to leave the body. So they felt that if Jesus was able to get there within that three day He could retrieve the body and bring Lazarus back to life. But Jesus, knowing the tradition chose to wait a fourth day to prove that he is Messiah by bringing Lazarus back to life after his soul left him.

Life presents situations and circumstances with a man-made deadline. We pray for answers that are parallel to the circumstances and situations. If the prayer is not answered within the timeframe expected, we consider it a delay, or that God is not listening, and is ignoring us. The truth is, God‘s timing is always accurate. His time may not be our time, but his delay may be for our spiritual growth. Once we shift our focus from a physical plane to a spiritual plane, we see God‘s glory in the entire timeframe of the incident. We should always look for the glory of God in everything that goes on in our lives from the breath that we take to the actions that are required of us, to the rest that we receive at nightfall. God‘s glory is prevalent in everything that occurs in our lives. We simply must have the faith to see and receive.

As in the case of Lazarus, Jesus wept when he saw Lazarus’ sister’s grieving. He weeps for us as well, he knows our grief. He knows our expectations, and he knows our joy. He knows what will strengthen our relationship with Him. The Lord listens to our prayers and petitions. The reality is, He knew we would make the petition long before we did. He also knows that blessing us in the form of our petition may not bide well. It may prove to be detrimental to us, the timing may not align with the lessons or timing with His next steps for us. What we can learn from this scripture is that our faith focuses on God’s glory, not the miracle, or the answered prayer, but on Him and Him alone.

Finally, know this, God will call us by name just as He called Lazarus to come out of the tomb and back into life. He will answer our prayers because He intimately knows each of us. His glory is always prevalent, even when we think it is not. “And whenever and whatever God speaks to the need you have, He will call you by name so that His glory is revealed in your situation.” (Wellspringchristianministries.org)

Photo – LAB Photos

We are God’s Light Bearers

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As we celebrate the birth of Christ and the light He brought to the world, we must also think of the way in which he treated people and how his love covered us in the worst and best of times. Our world is currently clouded in hate, the evil one is working through the hands of men to devastate the world, but we cannot be overcome by the darkness they launch into the world. As Christians, we must continue to project the love of Christ and not fall into darkness. We must see the good of humankind in the darkest of days. Most of the people in our world are not evil. They want nothing more than to live their lives in peace.

John 8:12 NIV so clearly reports Jesus’ words, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of

As Christians, we have been given the gift of light. It is time that as Christians, we pray, and act in the light. We cannot become laxed, feeling the weight of the world. We are the light bears that Christ authorized us to be. 

John 1:5 NIV, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In the 18th and early 19th centuries men were hired to light gas streetlamps. Today we represent the street lighters, lighting and wrapping the world in the love of Christ.

When we pray and meditate, we must envision the world covered in light. The light represents love and love will always outweigh the darkness. Our prayers are important and collectively they can change the world.

Ephesians 5:8 EVS, chronicles our responsibility so well, “For at the time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

As children of light, we must exude the light in our daily walk and envision the world wrapped in light (love). 

We are the designated warriors, Ephesians 6:12-18 NIV, spells it out thusly, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one period and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; Praying always in all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to the end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

In closing, I listed scriptures that focus on the light. Keep them close to your heart, and in the darkest of moments, personal and universal, never stop seeing the light of Christ as the victor in the moments of darkness. Remember, God’s perspective of time is different than ours, therefore what may seem like an eternity to us is “but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8 ESV) This scripture should encourage all of us to continue to walk in the light, spread the Good New and wrap the world in love when we pray.

Psalm 18:28, “You come a Lord, keep my light burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”

Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation dash whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life dash of whom shall I be afraid?”

James 1:7, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness..!”

The trumpet has blown, the war between darkness and light, good and evil is present, as the Lord’s warriors, we are to gird up and enter the battle, praying endlessly, presenting the light of Christ in our walk and living as God has empowered to live, regardless of what we see or read.

Scriptures: Bible.com; biblegateway.com

Images top to bottom: google pics; Dailymail.com; <a href=”https://wallpapers.com/wallpapers/armor-of-god-rtpefxpudnccuifc.html”>Image by severadrab</a> on <a href=”https://wallpapers.com/”>Wallpapers.com</a&gt;; Google pics; marquetteacademy.net

DOVES AND THE MESSIAH

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While reading the story about Jesus’ parents presenting him in the Temple, in Luke 2:22—40, I was struck by the parallels between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Maybe struck is not accurate, there was a different type of clarity I experienced (like an ah-hah moment). It is interesting that as we mature in the Word, the Word takes on greater life and our depth of understanding deepens. The focus of these verses conjoins Jesus being differentiated from other firstborn sons to standing out from other firstborn male children, which differentiates between, the act of following the Law of the Lord (shared by Moses) to that of following the Law of God (shared by Jesus); the announcement of prophecy of the coming of the Messiah to the actual enacting of the prophecy; and, God’s use of doves to bridge Jesus’ consecration as a child of God to that of becoming the divine essence of the Son of God.

In researching these verses, Wikipedia reported, “According to the gospel, Mary and Joseph took the Infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days (inclusive) after His birth to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Torah.”

As we continued to read, we learned that Jesus’ parents followed the commands of the Torah and took Jesus to the Temple to receive redemption. We also learned that Simeon, a man of God, knew the child was the Messiah because God told Him he would arrive in the form of a man.

The scripture further reads, “When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph, and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord.” Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: Every family was to offer a sacrifice of either a pair of doves or two young pigeons.

As the story continues, we learn that “there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had was to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:22-30, 32 NIV

Not only did Simeon announce Jesus was the Messiah, but an old woman, a Prophet, confirmed it as well.

As time progresses Jesus is baptized by John. This is another instance we find doves as a centerpiece of the story.

”The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’“
‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬, ‭31‬-‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I find this type of study during differing times of my life to be enlightening. It gives me joy, hope, and a sense of peace knowing that God’s Word never fails us as we mature as Christians. The story continuously unfolds and becomes more magnificent by the day.

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? Then he went down to Nazareth with them (his family) and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.“
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭46-52 NIV

NOTE – His mother became a believer long before the other members of the family. She cherished each moment she observed His growth, as all mothers do when watching their child develop into an adult.

Thoughts in a Nutshell:

  1. Both the Torah and the Old Testament revealed that consecrating the firstborn male son of a family had to be redeemed by the Pharisees, and the family had to bring a sacrifice of two doves or pigeons to complete the ritual. This is important because when John baptized Jesus, God sent a dove that lit on Jesus. The dove was a symbol the Lord used to link Jesus to the Lord. Symbolism was important throughout the Old Testament, in that few people knew how to read, and the Torah/Old Testament was only available to religious leaders. The parallels were a means to connect prophecy, the unfolding of Jesus’ life that ended in the crucifixion and ascension of Christ, the New Testament, and the end times.
  2. Joseph was the father (stepfather) of Jesus and raised Him as His own. We were adopted and God invited us into His family as His own.
  3. Many revelations that are missed when studying the different Books of the Bible independently, cannot be understood without referencing the information in the New Testament to that of the Old Testament.

Images: 1. Catholic Daily Reflections; 2. IDS.org; 3. Gospelimages.com; 4. Nationalshrine.org

Resources: Bible.org, Biblegateway.org, Wikipedia