From the Kitchen Table

Driven by Eternity               DAY 31

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. (Psalm 92:13)

Have you planted yourself in a local church? If you haven’t, it’s to your benefit to get connected to one. This is one of the most important steps to discovering and living out the call of God on your life. (John Bevere)

This morning I’m reminded once again just how important the role of the church is to the development and deployment of Christians.  The church is a God idea.  He has ordained the church as His tool for developing and deploying followers of Jesus into this life and this world.  The church isn’t just something believers do, it’s somewhere believers belong and share and enjoy and grow and serve.  In the church is where God develops our character and defines our calling if we’re willing, to be honest, and humble.  In the church, we discover who God has made us to be and where God has prepared us to serve Him.  It’s the church, not merely the Christian, that God has chosen to be His presence in this place.  John Bevere ends the devotional today with “The church is God’s prescription for learning to flourish in His kingdom.”  Where are you with that?

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 30

DISCOVERING YOUR CALL

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.  (Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT)

When someone discovers they can choose a different path for their life other than the one God intended for them, and that they will be held accountable by God for that choice, it can be justifiably terrifying! (John Bevere)

We will be held accountable for what we did with what He gave us.  That’s the lesson from the parable of the tenants.  But rather than focus on what might go wrong, focus and what will go right.  When we seek the Lord with all our hearts, going His way is more of a given.  When we go our own way, it is a sign that we want God on our terms or we can’t go because of our fear, disobedience and maybe our lack of trust.  The preacher in Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”  Learning to hear and see in the power of the Holy Spirit will make God’s way more obvious.  We will still need to trust Him and that comes from spending time with Him.  Today John Bevere writes, “God’s ways do not normally align with our understanding, but if we seek Him He will reveal our calling.”

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 29

LIVING YOUR UNIQUE CALLING

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.”                        (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)

Everyone has a divine calling on their lives. We all serve important roles in building God’s house. It’s important for us to know that in regard to our calling we won’t be judged according to what we did but according to what we were called to do. (John Bevere)

Today I’m reminded that this calling is something God reveals to us when and as we become who He wants us to be.  There is a place in God’s house, God’s passion, for us in this life but I don’t think it’s a great treasure hunt that depends totally on our ability to find this treasure.  If we will be concerned with becoming who God wants us to be, I believe God’s passion for what He wants us to do will rise to the service.  The issue won’t be can I find God’s passion for me, but will I follow God’s passion for my life?

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 27

CO-LABORERS WITH GOD

We are co-workers with God and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he is building.                                               (1 Corinthians 3:9 TPT)

God has limited Himself on our behalf. No one could have ever forced Him to do this, yet He has chosen to simply by giving man authority over the earth from the beginning. Because He has delegated authority over the earth to man, we can restrict God. (John Bevere)

 

God has delegated His authority to us so that we might live in His authority to accomplish His will in our lives and on this earth.  We can restrict God through our choices.  That happens when we grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30)  and quench His holy work(1 Thess 5:19)  in and through our lives.  When God saved us He brought us on His team to build His work in us and through us.  We have a responsibility to reveal God’s work, want and will in and through our lives in and by His authority that has been delegated to us and for us to live in.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 26

HOPE FOR A HOPELESS ASSIGNMENT

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1–2)

You are both a builder and a gardener, and your great purpose in life is to build a house for God.  How you build God’s house is the ultimate basis for how God will determine whether to reward you or how greatly to reward you.  In short, we can build without the help of the Spirit, but all of that will be useless in the light of eternity. Only what we build with God will endure the test of fire on that day.  (John Bevere)

Today I’m reminded that what we build for the Lord will be determined by what we build with the Lord from a heart of humility and faith.  We cannot afford to place the Holy Spirit on the sidelines of our lives, simply watching us.  What can a man build for God?  But with the Holy Spirit living in us and with us God will build something awesome through us.  This faith is about living in a relationship with God, not just a religion about God.  How are we letting the Holy Spirit work in us and through us?

Driven by Eternity                      DAY 25

JUST BARELY SAVED

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:10–11 NIV)

Someone who has wasted their earthly life and not planned ahead for their eternity has nothing waiting for them, except barely their salvation. Your life is before you and your eternity has yet to begin. Live wisely today to plan for an eternity filled with reward. (John Bevere)

I think there are many people who have a passion to live but just not a plan for living here or there in eternity.  Because we don’t have a plan or a purpose for this life we throw away our opportunities to grow and build for now and then in eternity.  That day of accountability, when the Master of the house returns, is daunting for those who are deceived by this life’s pleasures and pressures.  And our actions never simply just affect us, they affect all those around us.  No, life, now and then in eternity, belongs to those who have a Holy Spirit life plan that works.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 24

LIFE IN THE LIGHT

“For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Luke 8:17–18)

God calls us now to be courageous by choosing to enter His light. Doing so will allow His Word to expose our hearts privately, sifting through our intentions and motivations as only His Word can, and allowing Him to shape our hearts. (John Bevere)

It’s time to get those secrets out in the light.  Better now then later.  When we stand in the presence of Jesus, all of our thoughts and motives will be exposed by His holiness and light.  That’s scary on the surface but in that moment, we will be healed.  But healing doesn’t have to wait until that day.  We can choose to live in the light today and knows God’s healing today.  We don’t want to be like the wicked, lazy servant who merely hides his responsibilities.  When we hide our lives, everyone knows it, but no one can question or evaluate those things we are hiding because they are hidden.  So, no one really knows what is buried but we do, and those things have a way of rotting under the ground producing a stench and a struggle to keep that odor covered up.

Living in the light is allowing God’s word to reveal what is life and what gives life in our lives.  God’s Scripture and God’s Spirit will do what Jesus’ presence will do if we will let the Holy Spirit show us.  On that day we won’t be able to stop God’s light from exposing our true hearts.  But the advantage is that if we allow God’s word and the Holy Spirit shine His light in our lives now we will be healed and free to make the most of this life.  And that Day will be a day of joy, not sorrow.  “For whoever has, to him more will be given…”

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 23

LIVING TO WIN

You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.

(1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NLT)

Our faith in Jesus determines where we spend eternity, but our faithfulness to His Word determines how we spend eternity (John Bevere).

I’ve always wondered if we will know how to live in heaven then if we don’t learn how to live in heaven now.  I mean, that’s really the objective as I listen to the words and prayer of Jesus.  “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” And then Jesus said that what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven.  Our great opportunity and our great objective are to live in heaven now and then.  I’m of the persuasion that we will continue to grow in wisdom, understanding, and stature in heaven.  Why would there be a tree in the center of the city of God with healing in its leaves if there was no hope of change even in heaven?  However, it does seem likely that faith determines where we spend eternity and faithfulness determines how that eternity will start.

Driven by Eternity                                                                                                                         DAY 22

THE BELIEVER’S JUDGMENT

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10, 12)

I meet Christians everywhere I go who assume heaven will be the same for all of us. They believe judgment is only for unbelievers—that because they have placed their faith in Jesus they have escaped all trials of their own. Their assumptions lead them to believe all believers receive an identical eternal reward. This simply is not what the Scripture teaches. (John Bevere)

Some people are motivated just to get to heaven.  Others are motivated by where and how they will live in heaven.  It’s no secret, there is a judgment day for believers.  1 Corinthians 3:10-15 lays it out, “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” 1 Cor 3:13.

It is interesting that many people believe that regardless of how we live here, we will all be the same there, in heaven.  That seems a bit strange in that our spirit and soul continue to live after this body gives out.  The question is, “What did we let God do with our soul before we died?”  If that part goes into eternity with our spirit then will our soul be ready and able to think right in heaven then if it can’t think right about heaven now?

Regardless of how all that works, I believe that what motivates our building in this life is what we believe about heaven for this life.  The believer who lives in heaven now will be ready to live in heaven then.  This life is not about twisting God’s arm but working with God’s hand bringing heaven on earth while we can.  The soul that can think and love heaven (God’s presence & passion) now will be able to do the same then.

Driven by Eternity     DAY 19

THE FUTURE OF BELIEVERS

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness. (Psalm 17:15)

Many people hope their eternal destination will work itself out, but those who believe in Jesus can know exactly what to expect when they leave this world for the next (John Bevere)

Our hope is sure, it’s of His doing.  Our process is sketching because it involves our doing.  This devotional is so good I’m just going to put most of it in here.

The very moment a person places their faith in Jesus, they become a new creation. Their spirit is born again and is recreated in the image of Jesus. This is our first taste of eternal life, but it is not our last. Every person is made up of three parts—spirit, soul, and body. We are spirits with souls (a combination of intellect, will, and emotion) who live in physical bodies. When our spirits are born again, we become able to enter God’s throne room in heaven by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. We do this in prayer or through worship. And, once our spirit is saved, the salvation of our soul begins.

Our soul carries all that we have learned during our earthly life through either experiences or formal training, along with all the emotions associated with these lessons. These can be good lessons, like those learned from a godly and loving family, or they can be bad lessons, like those learned through trauma or abuse. Regardless of what our souls carry in our moment of salvation, it must be redeemed unto God’s salvation. Our intellect must learn to affirm God’s truth, our will must become submitted to God’s, and our emotions gloriously become healed and whole through God’s freedom and wisdom. We engage in this process through the Word of God and our obedience to it. The soul is the only part of man whose rate of salvation we help determine. The transformation of our soul is crucial to our finishing well as believers.

Finally, our bodies will be saved. As Paul writes, “So, while living in this ‘tent,’ we groan under its burden, not because we want to die but because we want these new bodies. We crave for all that is mortal to be swallowed up by eternal life” (2 Corinthians 5:4 TPT). We already feel the tension between the eternal realm and the temporary one we still live in, for our spirits have joined the eternal already, but our bodies are still mortal. Yet we know our bodies are only like tents, temporary dwellings that will be rolled up by death so that our eternal spirits can be given a new, eternal body. These new bodies truly will last forever, never aging, and will have new abilities just as Jesus did after He was raised from the dead.

If you believe in Jesus, God’s salvation has already begun and it will one day be completed—spirit, soul, and body. Let God’s salvation grow in you today.

Bevere, John. Driven by Eternity: 40-Day Devotional: Make your life count today and forever (pp. 80-81). BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC. Kindle Edition.