From the Kitchen Table

From the Kitchen Table

Day 19

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.                                                                                                Is 29:11-14

It’s our knowledge of love that leads us through life.  We have a tendency to look at the world around us and decide if we are loved but God calls us to look at His word and know that we are loved.  In this Scripture, the Israelites find themselves prisoners in a foreign land because that’s where their disbelief and disobedience took them.  Like we saw yesterday, live in love of you’ll live a lie and lies have a way of taking us into an ugly and unwanted truth.  God has plans for us, that means God is always thinking about us.  His plans for us are good, His word says so.  But God won’t force His plans on us.  He just won’t!  He waits to talk to us through prayer and lead us into His plans as we process things with Him.  Here’s the thing, it’s hard to talk to someone if we don’t think they care about us or love us.  Until you and I begin to believe and know that God loves us, this prayer and these promises will be difficult for us to believe in.  God loves us, He has told us and shown us over and over again.  It’s our knowledge of His love that will lead us into God’s thoughts for us.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 18

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.                    Eph 5:15-21

Live in love or you’ll live a lie.  God created this life to be lived in love and if we live that way, we will make the most of this life.  Ephesians chapter 5 begins with “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Living in love is where we will discover God’s will for our lives.  The other things people do, such as, getting drunk, acting sexually immoral, speaking crudely and just being foolish with their lives will keep anyone from knowing the life God has planned and purchased for us.  One of the most devasting things about living in sin is that it makes us selfish.  But there’s something about making room in our hearts for the Holy Spirit that miraculously changes everything about us to look and live like Jesus.  Receive the leadership of Holy Spirit in your life every day and let Him fill your heart, your mouth and your eyes with His love and you will possess life wherever you go.  This life is the one that really works.  Live in God’s love or you’ll live the devil’s lie.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 17

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.  Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.  Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Psalm 32:8-11 This life can be as big or small as you want it to be.  God made it that way.  God’s will for us is a big life where you and I live in the steadfast love of the Lord, trusting Him for the big life.  If you read all of Psalm 32, you’ll find that sin is what limits this life.  You see, a big life isn’t determined by where you go but what you do or how you live this life.  The words that come from God’s Scriptures and God’s Spirit will show us the way.  Sin saps us for health, energy and joy because sin is about self.  When we make this life about us, it becomes very small.  Self is very, very small when we compare it the solar system God has created to orbit around the sun or the Son.  God is calling us to a life of “love” and “joy” as we trust in Him.  He made us for this big life of love.  But we can’t get there until we acknowledge and confess our sin.  Be real with yourself.  Do you have Joy?  Do you know love?  Are you free to love and appreciate others?  Can you hear the voice of God?  Disbelief and disobedience will let the sorrows of sin detain and dominate our lives.  If we’re going to live this big life God has made for us, we’re going to have to listen to and live in what we hear God saying to us along the way.. 

From the Kitchen Table

Day 16

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.                                         Colossians 1:9-14

This morning I want to remind you to never stop growing and knowing in your relationship with Jesus.  Jesus has rescued us from the rule and reign of darkness and has brought us into the rule and reign of Jesus, the light of the world where there is freedom and forgiveness.  This is God’s will for our lives.  But we must keep learning in order to keep living in this kingdom.  It’s not that God gives up on us but that we often give up on God because we quit pursuing Him.  The better we know Him the deeper His love, the higher His hope and the wiser His faith will be in us. The stronger our faith the bigger our hope and the greater our love.  God has chosen for us to love, live and laugh.  The closer we get and stay to Him the further He takes us in this life.  Jesus lived large so that we could too.  That’s a life that is worthy of the Lord.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 15

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.                                                                                                                      Colossians 1:3-8

God has a plan for our lives.  We get focused on the “what” but God’s will is first and foremost on the “how”.  If we can adjust to the “how”, I believe we can find the “what”.  Remember this, God is more interested in who we are than what we are or do.  Paul writes that we have heard of your faith in Christ, your love for others because of the hope you have in heaven.  There are three characteristics of a bona fide believer: faith, hope and love.  That’s the kind of life that will bear fruit and will lead us into the “what” of God’s will for our lives.   In fact, living from faith with hope in love will develop a world of opportunities for us.  And we need to remember who brought us into this undeserved, unreserved love of God (grace) because we discover this life when we encounter love that creates hope that inspires faith.  That’s a witness that will change the world and isn’t that the will of God for our lives anyway.

From the Kitchen Table

Day 14

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.  I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.  You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.  I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going.  This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in!                             Psalm 139:1-6 msg

Before you go out the door or even eat that bowl of cereal, remember, God is with you everywhere, all the time.  He knows you and He knows what your thinking, doing, saying and even wanting.  Relax in His care.  Rely on His help.  Rejoice in His presence.  We can resent His voice when He volunteers to show us the right way to go and live, and love.  When we get that desire to do our own thing and hide from God, remember that we can’t.  We can’t because He can’t stop loving us and so He will NEVER leave us or forsake us.  Rejoice that you are loved and looked after.  Not everyone feels that way and it takes them down other dark paths.  The truth is that they are never alone, they just don’t feel like it.  Today and every day, God is with you.  It’s one of the greatest things you and I can know.  Rejoice in this truth and don’t resent His presence.

Day 13

From the Kitchen Table

“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.                        Matthew 10:26-33

Remember that making the most of this day begins with the Maker of this day & understanding that you & I are most important to Him.  We don’t live in fear when we live in His love.  He is mindful of us and He even knows the number of hairs on our head.  God loves His creation.  Knowing God’s will for us begins with knowing God’s love for us.  So many people wander around wanting to know God’s will for their lives or what their purpose in life is and they can’t find it because they can’t believe that there is a Maker/Creator who chose them and loves them.  When we don’t believe that God loves us, we end up blaming God for this world’s difficulties, disasters, and death.  Knowing God’s will for us begins with knowing God’s want (love) for us.  When we begin to settle down in His love for us, we will begin to see His life for us.  When will we know that we have settled down in His love?  When we keep talking and acknowledging His love for us with everyone we meet.

And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them Deuteronomy 28:13-14

Remember that, today, the Lord has chosen you to win over your enemies. We have an enemy, but God has made a way for all believers to rule and reign over that enemy. It’s all contained in God’s word. When you and I live in agreement with God’s word, we win. Trust in God’s word, think God’s word, talk God’s word and travel through this life in agreement with God’s word. God has made you and me to be the head and not the tail. God has chosen for us to live in His blessing, but that blessing must be received through faith. God won’t push His gifts on us. And sometimes our greatest enemy is ourselves when we begin to second guess God and turn to our right or our left. That doesn’t work. I know that we all struggle to stay on the course, our own thinking gets in the way. You see, God created us with the ability to think about down the road, around the corner, and about the future. We can figure things out. God created every one of us with the ability to rule & reign in this life. That ability to think is what enables us to hear, see and think about God’s way and then to agree with God word for life. Think well today!

Day 12 from the Kitchen Table

Deuteronomy 28:1-6

And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

As we saw yesterday, God has created us to rule & reign in this life.  The secret to success is in obeying the voice of the Lord.  God’s word comes with blessing because God’s word brings with it love, life, light, liberty & luxury.   God told the Hebrews that He would set them up high above the nations and blessing them richly if they would simply obey His word.  That some blessing is for us today if we will listen and live in His word.  God says I will bless you when you come in and when you go out.  God wants to reveal Himself, His love, life, light, liberty and luxury to us and through us who believe and obey Him.  God has chosen to bless you and me today.  That’s what heaven looks like and that’s what God wants to do in and through us today.  Risk it all for Him!

Day 11 from the Kitchen Table

Genesis 1:26-28.

 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

If we’re going to live this life to the full, we must think about what God wants.  There seem to be a lot of people who wander around wondering what God’s will is.  God has revealed His will.  He has revealed what He wants through His word and His work.  It’s not a real mystery.  God has given us His word through the Bible, and He has shown us His word in Jesus.  But we must want to live in what God wants.  He wants to reign in this life and over this world through you & me.  We were made in His image for this instant.  We were created to live in His purpose, prosperity & power with His passion over all His creation.  God has made us for this day.  Let’s let His will rule in all our relationships, responsibilities and responses.  He is here, by His Holy Spirit, to help us along the way.  Don’t forget, we can do this because He made us for this.