A Kingdom of Priests - Exodus 19:5-6

"Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation." Two months after the Isrealites left Egypt they arrived at Mt. Sinai. Moses climbed the mountain and received special instructions from the Lord to prepare the people of Israel to make a covenant with God. The covenant at Sinai called Israel to absolute loyalty to Him as their God and to a lifestyle that reflected His nature and His will through obedience to His law. While the Sinai covenant was good, it was incapable of enabling the Israelites to follow its commands. It is not until God graciously bestowed His Spirit that human beings were able to obey God's commands. By the sacrifice of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, God now makes it possible for us to be empowered by His Spirit to obey and fulfill His covenant plans for us to be His holy nation--like a kingdom where everyone is a priest. When you have His Spirit dwelling in you, then God has made you one of His special treasures and you can have a personal, priestly relationship with Him.

How To Deal With Guilt - Psalm 51:9-11

"Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you." All of us commit sins and our sinning is usually accompanied by a personal sense of guilt. While the psalmist understood that he needed absolution from the guilt of sin as legal consequence of God's universal justice system, he also understood that guilt had serious and debilitating psychological and spiritual effects on individuals that needed to be addressed. When the psalmist sinned, he repented and asked God to forgive his sin because he knew all sin was an act of opposition or rebellion against God: "Have mercy on me, O God...Against you, and you alone, have I sinned" (vs. 1,4). But the psalmist also asked God to remove the residual effects of the guilt that accompanied his sin: "Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin" (vs. 2). To the psalmist, sin caused the heart to be stained with guilt and so he asked God not only to forgive the sin but to clean up the stain of guilt. The guilt-stained heart could be cleansed only by the restorative power of the Holy Spirit. When you seek restoration from sin, the Holy Spirit cleanses your heart by renewing your spirit, restoring the joy of salvation, and enabling you to once again obey God and accomplish His will so you won't be spiritually incapacitated by guilt.

The City of God - Psalm 48:1-2

"How great is the Lord, how deserving of praise, in the city of our God, which sits on his holy mountain! It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King!" Zion is the Hebrew name for the mountain in Jerusalem where the Temple was located. On the one hand Zion was synonymous with the actual city of Jerusalem that was destroyed in 586 BC and again in AD 70. On the other hand Zion was the City of God that transcended geographical location. Zion was the City in which God dwelled and, therefore, was symbolic of God’s protection and blessings (as described in this psalm and others). Zion was also symbolic of the heavenly Jerusalem that Abraham and all men and women of faith were seeking: "Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God...they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:10,16). Zion symbolizes the invisible, spiritual Kingdom of God that culminates in a visible, physical Kingdom in which all of redeemed humanity participates. Zion represents the destiny of the physical universe--a new world order that is established from (or in the middle of) the present world. Heaven and earth ultimately come together so that the dwelling place of God is no longer in heaven but on earth among His redeemed people: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth...And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them" (Revelation 21:1-3).

In the Good Ole Days of the Church - Acts 4:24,31

"When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God...After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness." Peter and John were taken into custody by the Temple guard and thrown into jail for healing a man at the Temple. Then they were taken to a hearing before the council of elders, which included the high priest and the priestly family. Peter and John testified before the council how and why the man was healed. Predictably, the council didn't like their explanation and ordered them to quit teaching and preaching (and healing) in the name of Jesus. Peter and John's response to the council's order was predictable as well: "Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard" (vs. 19-20). Peter and John were released by the council and went back to the other believers to report what had happened. The believers reacted to this persecution from the Jewish religious leaders by praying for God's empowerment to help them accomplish His plans and purposes according to His Word in the Scriptures: "You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying, Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah. In fact, this has happened here in this very city....And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (vs. 25-27, 29-30 quoting Psalm 2:1-2). In today's church we would address persecution by devising a program or ministry. But the apostolic church didn't form a persecution support group or organize a persecution outreach ministry. Back in those days they just prayed for God's help. They prayed for God to help them confront the threat of persecution by empowering them to keep on preaching and healing in the name of Jesus. They prayed vehemently and with unity and they kept on praying until God answered them. They prayed until they were filled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and, thus, enabled to preach the gospel with boldness and miraculous signs. Oh, how I long for the good ole days of the church!

The Great Give Away

"But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!" (Acts 3:6,NLT)

One day Peter and John went to the Temple for the afternoon prayer service.

There was a man who had been lame for more than 40 years (vs. 4:22) laying at the Temple gate begging for money. As Peter and John were about to enter the Temple, the man asked them for money.

And Peter made the statement in this verse. Peter said he didn't have any money to give the man, but he would give the man what he did have, which was the gift of healing in the name of Jesus Christ.

The man was instantly and undeniably cured and he jumped up and down and praised God excitedly (vs. 8).

When all the people coming to the Temple saw and heard the formerly lame beggar, they were amazed and began to gather in the Temple.

As Peter saw a crowd gathering, he took advantage of the opportunity to tell the crowd about the salvation of Jesus: "Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. People of Israel, he said, what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this...You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!" (vs. 12-13, 15).

The simple act of giving away what God has freely given us can make quite a difference in someone's life and may even change the world!

Five Keys to Godliness - Psalm 37

Psalm 37 is one of the wisdom psalms, so called because these psalms stress the importance of wisdom as a result of knowing God or provide instruction. Psalm 37 provides instruction in godliness and contrasts the life of the godly with the life of the wicked. The Psalm opens with five keys for achieving godliness in your life. In addition to helping you develop godliness in your life, embedded in each of these keys are additional promises for living a life focused on accomplishing God's plans and purposes:

1. Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper"(vs. 3). When you cultivate a life of devotion and confidence in God, then God will watch over you and provide for your spiritual and material needs.
2. "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires" (vs. 4). When you find happiness and fulfillment in accomplishing God's will, then God will help you do that very thing.
3. "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun" (vs. 5-6). When your complete focus is on God, then He will form you into an example of godliness to others and they will want what you have.
4. "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes" (vs. 7). Rather than taking matters into your own hands, let God be in control of your life and you won't have to plot and scheme like the ungodly in order to prosper.
5. "Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm" (vs. 8). Anger and outbursts of temper can damage your character and prevent you from developing godliness in your life.

When you apply these five keys to godliness to every aspect of your life, then God can begin to take control of your life and help you accomplish His plans and purposes: "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand" (vs. 23-24). And when God guides and directs your life, then you are enabled to teach and advise others and show them that godliness is a matter of making God's law the law by which you live your life: "The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong. They have made God’s law their own, so they will never slip from his path" (vs. 30-31).

When the Going Gets Tough - Matthew 27:64

"If that happens, we'll be worse off than we were at first." Back in high school, the football coach always yelled, "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going," as we ran wind sprints up and down the practice field! I'm sure he meant to inspire and motivate us, but it didn't seem so inspirational as we gasped for our next breath! This scripture was the conclusion of an argument made to Pilate by the Jewish religious leaders to explain why the tomb that contained the crucified body of Jesus should be sealed and a Roman guard posted. Of course, what the religious leaders tried to prevent from happening is exactly what happened, except the body of Jesus wasn't removed by His disciples but was resurrected by the power of God. Thousands of years earlier in Israel's history when Pharaoh ordered the murder of all Hebrew baby boys to prevent the Israelites from getting too powerful, Moses was born and saved from death and would eventually lead the Israelites out of Egypt. What Pharoah tried to prevent from happening is exactly what happened by the intervention of God. Later, when Pharaoh tried to prevent the Israelites from leaving Egypt and had them cornered at the Red Sea, God delivered the defenseless Israelites from the powerful Egyptian army. Again, what Pharaoh tried to prevent from happening is exactly what happened because God came to the rescue. In all these stories we see a pattern emerge: When it seems like things can't get any worse, that is when God is at His best and saves the day for His people. So if it seems like life is giving you more than you can handle, you can't, but God can! You see, when the going gets tough, God gets going!

The God of Good - Genesis 50:20

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." After Jacob died Joseph's brothers were afraid that he would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery many years earlier. So they sent a message to Joseph begging his forgiveness. When Joseph received their message, he wept because they still feared reprisal from him. Then they came to Joseph and bowed down before him and told him they would be his slaves. His brothers' act of submission fulfilled a dream God had given him. Years earlier Joseph's brothers became angry with him, kidnapped him, and sold him into slavery after he told his brothers about the dream. Thus, the whole chain of events that was set in motion by Joseph's dream now finds fruition and fulfillment. To survive the drought, Jacob (Israel) relocated his extended family to Egypt where Joseph was the prime minister and over the next several centuries Jacob's extended family would grow into the nation of Israel. Joseph recognized that he was the bearer of God's promises and God used evil acts taken against Joseph to precipitate a course of events that enabled Joseph to preserve God's promise and covenant with his father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham. When bad things happen to us, we sometimes let a dualistic theology take over our thinking and we treat good and evil as equivalent moral opposites that are both instigated by God. This story clearly demonstrates the superiority of good over evil. GOD DOESN'T DO EVIL. God is the God of Good. In fact, we could argue that God can't do evil because it is against His nature. Evil is but another tool God uses to work His plans for good (Jeremiah 29:11). When bad things happen to you, don't attribute it to God, but attribute the good that comes out of it to God as He uses you, or tries to form you into someone He can use, to accomplish His plans and purposes.

The Long Way to the Promised Land - Genesis 46:3-4

"I am God, the God of your father, the voice said. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again." Due to a great famine in the land and at the request of Pharoah and Jacob's son, Joseph, who was the prime minister of Egypt, Jacob and all his family, which included his eleven sons and their wives and children, moved from Canaan to Egypt. Their first stop on their journey was at Beersheba, so named 200 years earlier by Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, who lived in the area for a long time (vs. 21:34). In a night vision God re-affirmed His covenant with Jacob (Israel), but in a peculiar way. God promised He would make Israel a great nation in Egypt and then bring them out of Egypt to live once again in the land of Canaan. In other words, Israel had to get to the promised land by way of Egypt. The Israelites grew into a great nation in Egypt, yet they only received God's promise after they were subjected to Egyptian bondage and God delivered them. A pilgrimage like the Israelites in Egypt may be what those of us who need to learn obedience to God's will have to experience for ourselves. It's a long way to the promised land for some of us because of our hardness of heart and it may require us to live in Egypt for awhile! Sometimes, the working out of God's plans and purposes in and through our lives comes in unexpected ways that may include living through problems, difficulties, and even suffering in order to attain the promises and rewards of accomplishing God's will.

Pursued By Love - Psalm 23

"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever" (vs. 6). This psalm of David describes how the Lord watches over and cares for His people like a shepherd for his sheep. It was a common analogy for people in this culture in David's time to view rulers as shepherds. But the psalmist raises the analogy to a higher level by declaring that the Lord not only watches over and cares for His flock, but He also pursues them with His unfailing love. Jesus poignantly illustrates this principle in the parable of the lost sheep. He told how a shepherd would leave his 99 sheep to pursue one lost sheep until he found it. And then when it was found, he would celebrate its recovery and restoration: "In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!" (Luke 15:7). God is pursuing you with His goodness and unfailing love. Quit running and hiding and let Him catch you and He will take care of you forever!

Doing What God is Doing - Genesis 41:16

"It is beyond my power to do this, Joseph replied. But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease." Pharaoh had two dreams and no one could interpret them for him. Pharaoh's cupbearer remembered about Joseph interpreting his dream when they were in prison together and told Pharaoh. Pharaoh had Joseph brought to him and asked if he could interpret his dreams. Joseph recognized that God had given Pharaoh the dreams for a purpose. Therefore, God could tell what Pharaoh’s dreams meant and Joseph was confident that God would do so to accomplish His will. Joseph was so filled with the Spirit and wisdom of God that it was apparent to Pharaoh and his officials: "Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?" (vs. 38). Because Joseph was full of God's Spirit, he recognized that God was at work and he joined with God in what he was doing. We each have God's Spirit in us and like Joseph, by the unction of the Spirit, we should be able to recognize what God is doing within and around our lives and we should join with Him by exercising the gifts and talents He has given to each of us. "So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (John 5:19).

The Fury of God's Salvation - Psalm 18:1,3,6,16

"I love you, Lord; you are my strength...I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,and he saved me from my enemies...But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears...He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters." This psalm describes how God will move heaven and earth to save those who love Him. David, the psalmist, entitled this as a song to the Lord when He rescued David from Saul and all his enemies. The psalm first expressed David's love for God and his assurance that God was His protector. When he called out to God for help, God heard him from His sanctuary in heaven where He resides and rushed to his aid. David used some quite descriptive figures of speech to demonstrate the intensity with which God came to his rescue (vs. 7-15). David says that God opened the heavens and came riding on a mighty angelic being. He came with the speed of a great wind, yet he came surreptitiously so David's enemies did not anticipate His approach. He attacked David's enemies with a battle cry of thunder, lightning, and hail and attacked with such fury that the wind of His breath exposed the bottom of the sea and his enemies were paralyzed with fear. Now that is quite a rescue! God will use the full force of His fury, even sacrifice His own Son, to save you!