Month: September 2019

The Kitchen Table Day 35

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29: 10-14

I’m not sure why but it seems we often must lose everything before we can gain anything. I think that’s probably our plan, not God’s. But He waits for us with plans that are good and not evil. He has plans for a future and a hope. We don’t just wait around wallowing in our disbelief and disobedience and find God’s will. God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” When things aren’t what they should be or could be, seek God for what can be. There’s something about prayer that changes us, renews our head and our hope. When we learn to walk with God in prayer we will begin to see and discover the power and the promises of God personally. It’s too bad that too many of us neglect prayer until we’re in peril and poverty. God has great big plans for us, and we find out what those plans are as we spend time walking and talking with Him along the way.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 34

So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands.  2 Corinthians 8:10-12 msg 

When our heart is a right place with God, our life will be also.  This life is lived from within: From faith with hope in love.  Once we have let our hearts fall in love with Jesus we can live from our hearts for Jesus.  This love involves a choice and a commitment.  When we choose to believe Jesus, not just believe in Jesus, we can commit our hearts’ love to Jesus.  We choose to love Him because He chose to love us, and we love that love God has for us.  This is essential to knowing and living in God’s will.  Doing God’s will requires that we desire God’s will.  Desire is what happens in love.  If we know what love is, we will reserve our love for what is true, trustworthy and timeless.  Jesus told us that out of the heart we speak and where our treasure is there our heart will be also.  When our heart is in love with Jesus, we can be free to follow it’s desires fearlessly.  God has made us to love fully, freely and fearlessly.  That only happens when His love fills our heart.  Be honest with what’s in your heart and you can be honest from your heart.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 33

​ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.       Romans 12:1-2

There’s this thing called the “mercy of God” that changes everything for us.  God loves us!  And it’s His love that convinces us to leave this life of sin.  We offer Him our lives by His love.  This thing about exchanging our will for His will is motivated by love, not the law.  The law shows us that we cannot live in His love on our own.  It’s not a rules thing; it’s a revelation thing.  When we begin to live in the revelation of God’s love, we will leave this world for rules to live in the reality of His love.  Our will is shaped by our love or who or what we think loves us.  Fall in love with Jesus today.  Love His will, His word, His work.  And if we fail, we get up and run back into His arms of love.  His will for us is good, pleasurable and mature.  We’re walking away from the immature love of this world to live in the mature love of God.  That’s what will transform the will of a believer.

From the Kitchen Table Day 32

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:23-27.

One last thing as we look at this incident one more time but this time from Luke. Where we are ashamed, we will be afraid! In dealing with our will, the real deep thoughts of our heart, we will know what we are afraid of by recognizing what we are ashamed of. When God’s word and will are fully accepted into our hearts we won’t be afraid to stand on it, speak it or serve it. That is what happens as the Holy Spirit gives us revelation of it as we come to Him daily and receive His word and will as the key to living this wonderful life that God gives us. It’s a daily decision to delight in God’s word, God’s will & God’s way that leads to eternal life. Fall in love with Jesus and we will fall in love with His word, His will and His way.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 31

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”           Mark 8:31-38

I want to say it again, remember that God is more interested in our “will” than our “walk”.  Being precedes doing and how we think will determine what we do and how we do it.  The Holy Spirit tells us in Romans 8 that the mind set on the flesh is death and the mind set on the spirit is life.  We will travel where our thinking takes us.  We cannot serve two masters and we cannot work two wills.  We end up trying to please those different wills and miss the pleasure of both.   I’m sure that there are some people who take pleasure in their own will to their own destruction.  They just don’t think about the end or the goal.  They don’t worry about God’s will because they don’t believe in God but man, left to his own devices, will find death, disaster and disappointment.  We’re just not as smart as God, the creator and giver of life.  It doesn’t take smarts, it takes trust but if we trust in Him, He will make us smart for life and give us the pleasure of enjoying His beautiful will today and tomorrow.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Day 30

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26

Always remember that God is interested in our “will” more than our “walk”. We can walk ourselves to church, to the corner, and across the country to be good but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are in God’s will.  People have changed careers, changed jobs, changed neighborhoods and changed churches and have pointed to God’s will when they did it, but they never changed their will for His will.  We’ll even bring in and blame the devil in defending our life’s choices BUT unless we surrender our will for God’s will it won’t really matter.  Peter, in this passage, had just confessed Jesus as the Christ and then tried to persuade Jesus out of the cross.  If Jesus would have listened, we all would have missed out on the will of God.  Denying ourselves involves dying to our will in order to discover His will.  Making this decision is an inside job where we decide in our hearts to live for God’s will rather than our will.  The will of God is a beautiful thing that saves the soul, giving us the right mind with the right motive and the right morals we need to live a fulfilled life.

The Kitchen Table

Day 29

Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:  “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ​‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.  Acts 13:13-23

The will of God is something that we do, not just believe or think and talk about.  In the end, it’s something that we do.  If our heart has really been touched and transformed it will show up in what we do and how we do it.  It’s in what we do that we discover the true desires of the heart.  This isn’t a life that we get by works but it is a life that we live by will.  Acts 13:36 says that after David had served God’s purposes in his generation, he passed away.  David accomplished his work because of his will.  We just can’t hide our will, it comes out in what we do, how we talk and where we go.  We know how this works; we must want what Jesus wants and that only happens as we believe and behave in Jesus.  Changing our will requires complete and total surrender to God.  It’s something we will deal with all of our lives but it’s also something God will develop in our of our lives as we trust and obey Him.  Can you imagine a world where everyone does the will of God because everyone desires the will of God?  That’s heaven!  That’s God’s will for here.

The Kitchen Table

Day 28

“And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, ​‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
“When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, ​‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”  Acts 22:12-121

If we’re going to live this life that Jesus bought and brought us there’s something we’re going to need to realize. The life isn’t lived by rules but by revelation.  God revealed Himself to Paul and Paul had to respond to that revelation.  That’s how God’s will works in our lives.  The life we live is the one we have chosen to respond to.  The life we live from now on will be a life of revelation where God reveals who He is, what He loves and where He is going.  We either respond to His will, making it our will or we live in the will of our foe and our flesh like we talked about yesterday.  There is no law against the will of God, that’s why this life is not about rules.  But there is revelation which comes to us as we spend time with the Lord, see who He is and value what He wants.

The Kitchen Table

Day 27

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.           2 Timothy 2:22-26

Listen closely, we can’t really discover the will of God for our lives if we don’t take responsibility for our lives.  Until we learn to live above the passions of our youth, we will become trapped by the devil into doing his will not God’s will.  Youthful passions are those passions to be loved, liked and let into the circle.  When our passions are greater than our principles it’s easy to pervert the will of God in our lives and for our lives.  Until we are willing to take responsibility for our lives, we will continue to wreck-havoc on the will of God for our lives while wrecking-havoc on God’s will for other people’s lives.  That there is the will of the devil.  So often we think the devil does his thing by bringing sinful things into our lives but usually he does his thing by using the sinful passions already in our lives.  We break that hell’s power with a heavenly passion for God and His will for us and those around us.  If we feel like the devil is working his will in our lives, we shouldn’t look outside until we’ve looked inside to see if he isn’t leveraging our own passions against us.  And you know what?  It’s always a good thing when we let God be honest with us.

The Kitchen Table

Day 26

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.  The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen                    1 Peter 4:1-11

We have been created to love, live and laugh in this life.  How we do that differs depending on who we ask.  How we live this life will depend on where we live it from.  We can live from our flesh or from our faith.  Peter admonishes us to keep loving, keep living with respect and keep laughing (or keep enjoying this life) as we serve God’s will for today.  I know that others are convinced that you live, love and laugh by catering to the desires of a fallen human race but that’s not how it works.  If we let our need for entertainment enslave us to the cravings of our fallen nature then we will find ourselves drowning is the debauchery, maligning our own reputation and crying over our lost opportunities.  Jesus once prayed, “not my will but your will…” when he faced the cross.  Keep this privilege of prayer close to your heart.  It’s here, in the privilege of prayer that Jesus overcame the feeding frenzy o the flesh and it’s where we will do the same.  Knowing God’s will for our lives will become clearer and clearer as we spend time with Him in prayer.  It’s there, with Him, that our attitudes and ambitions are changed.  Knowing God’s will for our lives will involve a struggle because we will have to choose to live in faith or in the flesh and the best way to deal with that struggle is to spend time with the Father.