Month: October 2019

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 18

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.  Colossians 2:6-15

Don’t go halfway!  Jesus said it was dangerous.  Half-baked ideas and initiatives get no respect and neither does half-hearted Christianity.  Dig your foundation deep.  Come to conclusions about what you believe, and you’ll have convictions for how you behave.  Captured Christians can’t.  Remember that!  We can and will become captives of the carnal world if we don’t come to some conclusions about the Christian life.  Dig deep, we must come to some conclusions about what we believe or we will live half-baked, half-lite, half-way lives that just go to church, they don’t be the church that looks like Jesus.  Find out what it means when He made us fully alive, forgave all our sins, cancelled all our debt, released us from every one of those legal demands when He went all the way to and through the cross.  And know what it means to be filled up with His Spirit.  Half-baked Christianity won’t get us half-way down the road and will leave us only half-way satisfied with this life.  The half-way way life never gets all the way down the road leaving us only with nice thoughts, not real treasures.  It all sounds like the great vacation we always wanted to take but never did.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 17

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”                     Romans 9:30-33

There’s hardly anything more difficult to live with then the shame of foolishness, failure and the regret of believing in the fantasy of a lie.  Shame shatters our confidence and competence.  That’s why promiscuity pulverizes our identity and intellect.  If we want to stand, we must find the rock of truth and stand on it.  God put that stone, His Son, on the path of this life and everything He said and did was truthful & trustworthy.  We can depend on Him.  Some will trip over that Stone and others will find themselves under that Stone, but believers will build their lives on that Stone.  Those who believe in Him will know the truth about love, life and living.  God says that those believers will never be put to shame.  Anyone who does not believe will be tripped up by what Jesus said, who Jesus was and how Jesus lived because they will be offended by what Jesus expected from us.  Tripping over Jesus is what happens when we are offended by Him.  His word is the truth.  Take Him at His word.  The world might think us silly, but He won’t ever leave us shameful.  We build our lives by believing on His life and we will never be put to shame.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 16

But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”          2 Timothy 2:19

The vision and values of God never change; we can count on that fact.  The earth shifts and opinions swerve but God’s word, work and will stays put.  Those values and that vision don’t have to change, the Creator of live knows who life works and He knew what He was doing when He created life.  The created don’t know what the Creator does except He tells them.  Those who hold to Him and His word stand the storm, endure the evil, correct their opponents and lead them to the truth. (2 Timothy 2:24-25)  God’s voice, vision and values are our firm foundation and those who stand on these things will not fail nor fall.  The Lord knows those who are His and He will not deny His word or His own.  Let that be our confidence today.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 15

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”  Luke 6:46-49

Dig deep!  The secret to a successful Christian life is to dig deep and let God’s values and vision form the very essence of our life and being.  Without a firm foundation, we stand frail in this world because there are storms and struggles along the way, but we have this promise that we will stand the storm.  The secret to this day lies in listening to and living with God.  The interesting thing about this story is that it’s the rising influence of something on the ground, not the immediate impact of some storm from the air, that takes the shaky life apart.   The secret to standing the storm is to be standing on the Scriptures, what God has told us about living this life.  And here’s the promise, you will make it through standing.  God’s word is sure and true!  Trust Him!

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 14

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Think about this, the only Christ much of the world will see is the Jesus they see in you and me.   This happens first, not through our labor or our language but through His love living and lighting up our world.  It really all comes down to bringing “glory” to God by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It’s a desire for goodness prompted by faith that prays.  Pray that our love would grow in the church because love brings glory to God.  It’s not our labor or our language but our love that must grow first.  Being precedes doing.  Pray that our love would grow today because where love grows, life grows.  And where love grows, labor, language and light will grow too.  So often the apostles would pray, not against the enemy, but for the church and it’s love for God to grow.  We glorify God when we grow in His love.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 13

​ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.                 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

The Holy Spirit tells us that we are a living letter from God, read out loud, every day, to those around us and we are merely obedient followers of some law.  Who we are shows up more than what we do.  Being precedes doing.  The victorious Christian life flows from who we are more than by what we do.  This life is lived from a real and living relationship with the Holy Spirit, not a relationship we have with the law.  It’s not cold and hard; it’s a life that is warm & tender  And it shows because it’s a life that is motivated by the voice, values and vision of the Holy Spirit, not regarded, restricted and redeemed by the law.  This letter hasn’t been written, it’s being written as we breath in this real and rewarding relationship with the Holy Spirit.  It’s a life lived with the Holy Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit as we learn to listen and live in agreement with Him, not the tablets of stone.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 12

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.  ​ Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.                     1 Corinthians 12:23-11:1

There are two attitudes that will expand and energize our lives, being thankful and thoughtful.  These same two attitudes will keep our lives balanced and centered in love.  Trusting God with our wants and needs will keep us thankful and thoughtful.  This life is made to orbit around the Son, not the self.  Our universe or our lives gets smaller and prone to sadness when it becomes centered on self but our universe reaches to the stars when we center it on Jesus.  In fact our lives become prone and powerful for living in God’s love, light, liberty and life as we center our lives on the Son rather than the self.  So, let’s be thankful that Christ has made us free and thoughtful of those around us who need to be set free too, trusting God for all our needs along the way.  It’s liberating. 

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 11

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.                James 1:2-8

In a world that has walked away from God, there are going to be difficulties.  This isn’t because its what God wants but because its what man wants.  This world suffers because of man’s sin, not because of God’s insensitivity.  In the midst of all this trouble, we have a choice to make.  We can live in faith or fear.  We know that in all things God is working for our good, even when we’ve chosen bad.  Remember this, God loves us and God always knows what to do to bring us back on His path.  But we must choose to grow up in God going on with God regardless of the trials and temptations we meet along the way.  The Holy Spirit invites us to “ask” for God’s wisdom without doubting.  This  doubting isn’t merely doubting that God will give us wisdom, it’s doubting whether or not God’s way works which then leads us to dabble in the world’s way too.  Trust, not only that God will answer, but that God’s way will work.  This trust in the truth will take us up in the faith, deeper in our relationship and broader in our expectations and wisdom.  God is good.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 10

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.  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 2:20-26

God has a house and there’s not a house on the block more complicated than His.  It’s complicated because it’s filled with all sorts of believers.  There are babies and there are adults.  There are troubled teens, struggling moms, difficult dads as well as thoughtful friends and helpful partners.  Everyone has a place around the table but not everyone will do their part.  Today we have a choice to be a vessel for honor or dishonor.  We have the choice to live up or down, love or loath, be the light or need a light.  We will need to get past our youthful passions, those passions and problems we dealt with growing up when we were looking for the way, the truth and the life that worked.  Understand, that even in this house there will be people who choose NOT to grow up but don’t let that be you.  God has plans for us and those plans are good and honorable.  Remember, repentance isn’t just a one time thing we do when we are born-again.  Repentance happens anytime we chose to live in God’s love, light and life rather than the deception, darkness and dread of the enemy.  God has big things in store us, let’s live up today and let’s live in God’s will for our lives.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 9

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.   Psalm 1:1-6

Life is lived in promises.  We live for the promises we either believe to be true or want to be true.  There are a lot of people who live in the promise of heaven but from the promises of hell.  God’s promises are not just of a future life but are for this life right here and right now.  Blessed is the one who lives in and from the promises of heaven in the here and now.  They don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand on the same path as sinners or even sit around the table with those who mock the promises of God.  That just doesn’t work.  We can’t hold on to the promises of God with people who don’t.  The promises of God are to good and to right to just celebrate for one hour each week and forget the rest of the week.  The promises of God come with a picture for life where the promised lives out a life where she is powered, productive, and prosperous by God.  We have a choice about these matters.  Who are we going to choose to believe?  Who are we going to choose to follow?