“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 is one of those texts that I return to again and again. Like John 3:16, this passage is what we could call “the gospel in a nutshell.” It tells us that it is because of the grace of God that we can be saved in the first place. In other words, God will save us in spite of ourselves. It tells us that we are saved when we put our faith in Christ Jesus. Furthermore it tells us that we have not been saved by our works, but that we have been saved to work for the Lord. Nothing that we do can save us, but when we are saved God has work for us to do. Notice that the text tells us that we are God’s workmanship. What this means is that by God’s grace, when we put our faith in Christ we are saved. In other places in scripture we are told that when we are saved we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins a work in us to do the works that God has called us to do. Our salvation is not “worked in;” rather it is "worked out" through the Holy Spirit within us. Notice also that the works that we are to do have been “before ordained.” The NIV translates it: “which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” The idea is that when we are saved, God has plans for us. We are led by the Holy Spirit to do the things that God planned out in eternity for us to do. These works take many forms. Many of these works are carried out in the churches that we attend. There are many ways that God can use our gifts in the church. There is always work to be done at the church, from teaching a Sunday School class to singing in the choir. God prepared in advance that we would do these works that keep the church going and carrying out its mission for the Lord. But God also has prepared in advance works for us to do in our daily lives. I think that we forget that and think that it is only at the church that God can use us. I don’t know what it is that God might want you to do in your community, but you should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and do the works there that He would have you do. The world needs for us to do God’s work outside of the walls of the church. I don’t know what work God has called you to do, but I know that if you are a Christian, He has work for you to do. We should be aware that God is working in us to work for Him in daily life. The KJV translates it: “that God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” In this context “walk” means what we do in our daily lives. The point is that we are God’s workmanship every day of our lives and that God can use us in many ways as we live out our lives in the world. We are God’s workmanship whether we are in church, at work, on vacation, attending a sports event –whatever. Doing God’s work is not just event oriented; rather it is part of our lifestyles. I don’t want to be trite here, or seem to belittle the work that God wants us to do, but there are times that this work can be to smile and say a good word to someone who is in bad need of encouragement. If the Holy Spirit can lead a lost soul to Christ through us, He can surely use us to be an encouragement to discouraged people. The point of this article is to make you aware that God wants to use you at your church and in your community. You are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that (you) should do.” Bro. Joe
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“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
“Very present help” has also been translated as “an ever present help.” Both of these translations get to the heart of this wonderful promise of the Lord’s help in our inevitable troubles. The Lord is “very present” and He is “ever present” in the lives of His people. What a wonderful promise and what a wonderful reality. Jesus illustrated this promise in John 14:16-17: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. 17. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, neither knoweth Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you and shall be in you.” Jesus was assuring His disciples that when He ascended to the Father, they would not be alone, because the Holy Spirit would be, “very present" in their lives. He is present in our lives at all times, but His presence is especially needed, and felt, in times of trouble. You can be assured that you are never alone. His eyes, which are also “on the sparrow” are truly watching over you. (Luke 12:6-7) Jesus promised His presence in Matthew 28:20b: “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” As the ages roll, we have the promise of His presence, and of His care. This promise is made in the conclusion of what we call “The Great Commission.” “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the ages.” The Lord saved us to be His witnesses to the world. There is no promise that there will not be trouble in fulfilling this command, but there is a promise that we will not be alone. For He is “a very present help in trouble!!!" Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have His promise that He will be with you in all that you face in life. Believe me, in the last few years I have come to really know the truth of this promise. For example, I have come to know the truth of this promise made to Israel in Deuteronomy 33: 27: “The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say destroy them” I have read that this is only a promise to the Jews. You can believe that if you want, but I have experienced those “everlasting arms” under me. You can know that too. as you join David in his declaration in Psalm 16:8-9 “I have set the Lord before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope.” Believe it! Bro. Joe “My soul longs, yea even faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
Have you ever thought about the deepest longing of your soul and what your “heart and flesh” really cry out for? That’s a question that we all need to ask ourselves. Let’s take a few minutes and think about what are the real longings of our souls, and the deepest need of our “heart and flesh.” In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus shared a parable about a young man who thought that the deepest longing of his life was to leave home and live like he wanted to live. His father made this possible because he gave him his inheritance. He went off into what Jesus called “the far country” and began to fulfill his selfish longings. When a famine came, he ran out of money and consequently, he lost his new “friends.” He became destitute, and was about to starve to death when he came to his senses and decided to return to the father’s house. He had gotten what he longed for, and discovered that what he longed for was not as satisfying as he thought it would be. In his moment of deepest need the young man thought of his father and longed to return to him. Fortunately, he was welcomed home and even given a party to celebrate his return. This made we wonder that if our deepest longings were fulfilled, would they really satisfy us? If our deepest longings are for more “stuff” would we find that this “stuff” would give us real satisfaction? Have you ever received anything that gave you soul satisfaction and fulfilled the desires of your “heart and flesh”? It might have given you a momentary thrill, but eventually the thrill wore off and you were soon needing something else. The point that I want to make in this article is that our deepest needs are eternal. The prodigal son in Luke 15 made this discovery. Psalm 84:2 gives us true direction as to what the longings of our hearts and souls should be. He longed for the “courts of the Lord.” This was not a desire for more church. The “courts of the Lord” was where God came to dwell among his people in the “Holy of Holies” in the temple. He wanted to be close to where he knew that God would be present. He longed for “the living God.” I know that the Lord is with me, but there are times when I literally cry out “Oh, Jesus come to me.” It’s not that I think He has left me, but it is that I want, and need, more of Him, more of His love, more of His word, more of His power, frankly, more of His attitude. These are times when I have wandered from closeness to Him and just long for that closeness. I find that, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, He is waiting for me and comes to me with all of His love, more of His word, more of His power, and more of His attitude. This will be true of you too. Just ask Him. He is waiting!!!! Bro. Joe “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
This is one of my favorite Bible verses. I refer to it many times when I am troubled or when worry wants to take hold in my life. I want to share it with you, and pray that it will do the same for you as it does for me. It is a great promise for all of those who believe in Jesus Christ. It is a promise that is certain: “And we know….” We do not have to wonder if Jesus is at work in our lives through the Holy Spirit. We can know it. There are not a lot of things that are as certain as this. We can’t predict what is going to happen in our lives in a day, but we can predict that whatever happens, Jesus will be a part of it and will do a work in our lives in the midst of it. It is a promise that is complete: “that all things…” It is great to know that whatever we have to face on a given day, Jesus will be there with us and for us. “All things” does not mean that Jesus is selective in what He will help us with. “All things” can include the little bothersome things that happen to us in a day, the little irritations that can plague us and ruin our day. “All things” can include the big things that can happen to us in a day. There is no limit to what “all things” can include. It is good to know that whether our problems are big or little, we are covered by the love of Jesus. It is a promise that is conjoined: “All things work together for good…” When things are conjoined, it means that they are combined, or entwined. The good news here is that all of the things that happen in our lives are conjoined, combined or entwined, that is that they all work together. This is difficult for us to grasp sometimes, but we need to grasp it: All of the bad things that happen and all of the good things that happen are conjoined to work for our ultimate good. It is a promise that is conditional: “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to God’s purpose.” This is a promise for the people of God. It is for those who love God and are called to be His. We might put it that it is for those who have accepted the call of God on their lives, and have accepted Jesus as Savior. However we put it, it is a wonderful promise for those who believe. We can be sure that whatever life brings our way, whether good or bad, the Lord will work it to our ultimate good. We just need to be patient and, above all, believe that the One who made the promise can and will keep it. Bro. Joe “The Lord sits upon the flood, yes, the Lord sits king forever. 11. The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”
In my annual trek through Psalms, I found some good news that I would like to share with you. This should make your day. We can take comfort in knowing that the Lord rules. He is our creator and He “sits as king forever.” The Hebrew word translated “Lord” is "Yahweh". This is the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He is the Lord of the universe. This Lordship came to earth in name of Jesus Christ, and His Lordship was revealed through His perfect life and through His miracles. This was particularly true of His miracles in nature. For example, Jesus turned water into wine – which cannot be done naturally, and He calmed a storm on the Sea Galilee just by His word. This is the Lord who loves us, died for us, arose the third day and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God making intercession for us. AND HE LOVES YOU! See, I told this would make your day. We can take comfort in knowing that the Lord will give us His strength – His eternal strength. The Hebrew word translated “strength” can have wide meaning, but in its context here, it means that the Lord gives His strength to His people to meet the inevitable challenges of life. It is in using the Holy Spirit’s strength to meet the challenges of life that we can emerge victorious. There is no challenge, no problem that can keep us down when we lean on Christ’s great strength. There is no temptation that can ruin our lives when we lean on His strength. Read 1 Corinthians 10:13 to understand this: “There has no temptation taken you but that is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” See, I told you this would make your day. We can take comfort in knowing that “the Lord will bless His people with peace." This is the translation of the Hebrew “Shalom” (or “Salom”) which has variable meanings. Shalom peace gives us a sense of well-being. We have the peace of knowing that God is in control, and that we just need to lean to His understanding and not merely our own. Shalom peace gives us the knowledge that the Lord holds our lives together. Shalom peace gives us a sense of wholeness. The important thing is that we have this peace in Jesus. I want to share a word from Jesus on this subject of peace from John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that IN ME you shall have peace. In the world you will have tribulation/trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In Jesus, this peace is yours. See, I told you this would make your day. Shalom Bro. Joe “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Our text is one biblical reminder that we are never alone, for God is with us. He is not with us only in times of trouble, but He is with us at all times. You are not alone! You are not alone because God is always with you. If you are a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is not only with you, He is abiding in you. If you are not a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is pulling at your heart waiting for you to invite Jesus into your life. God is not unaware of any human being, and longs for all to be saved. Keep in mind that God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent! You are not alone even when you have “bad days.” Some days you feel that God has forgotten about you, or abandoned you. There are days when everything goes wrong and you feel defeated. Relax, we all have those days. But Jesus is not dead in those days, and the Holy Spirit is not inactive. I am in the process of reading Job as I write this, and the thought came to me that when we feel God-forsaken, we need to think of Job. Every time I read Job, I think, “And I think I’ve got problems.” But God had not forsaken Job and He has not forsaken you. When you are having a good day God is with you. Sometimes we feel that we have this thing called life all wrapped up. We might think, “Why do I need God. I can do this thing myself.” I am reminded of times when I have gone into the pulpit thinking that I know how to preach and the result was that I left the pulpit with the thought that I don’t know how to preach. We have a tendency to go our own way, and like Sinatra, we do it “my way.” Just like I can’t preach like that, you cannot approach life like that. Not only is God with us, we need for Him to be with us to offer us guidance. Jesus knew that we needed God’s guidance when He sent the Holy Spirit to convict us and to live in us. You need to remember that God is always with you to inspire and encourage you. He is also with you to get you back on the right path when you leave it. He has given you the Holy Spirit to gift you and to use you in His service. As God is with you as an “ever present help in trouble.” He is “an ever present help in all of life.” You just need to remember that you are never alone, because God is always with you. Bro. Joe “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Paul did not write: “But my God shall supply all your wants…” The Bible nowhere promises that God will give us all that we want. In Psalm 23:1, David wrote: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” I think this means that God simplifies our wants. I know that He has simplified mine. We think that our greatest needs are physical, but they are not. I am not intimating that God does not meet physical needs, but that these are not all of the greatest needs that He meets. Let’s look at some of the needs that we have that come from God’s great “riches in glory.” One need that only Jesus can meet in our lives out of “God’s riches in glory” is spiritual. This need for spiritual fulfillment is so great in human beings that they will attempt to fill that vacuum with all kinds of things that will not fill it. Drugs cannot fill that vacuum. Romanic love cannot fill that vacuum. I am certainly not against romantic love, but it can’t meet our innermost spiritual needs. A good job with good pay cannot meet that need.This is why Jesus told the rich young man who asked how he could have eternal life to sell all that he had, give it to the poor, and follow Him. He knew that the young man was trying to fill his God-shaped vacuum with his possessions. He couldn’t do it. Jesus knew that his greatest need was spiritual and that all of his physical possessions could not fill that need. Another need that only Jesus can meet in our lives out of “God’s riches in glory” is emotional. Our lives are filled with all sorts of emotional needs. Our emotional needs usually reflect our need for acceptance and love. One of the worst things that can happen to us in life is to feel that others have rejected us, or that we are not acceptable to other people. Jesus can fill that vacuum for us. It is Jesus who makes us aware that we are acceptable to God. My main concern is that there are many people who do not believe that God would forgive them and accept them into His kingdom. Let me tell you that if you have no other friend, God wants to be your friend, and all He asks of you is to allow Him into your life. You might be an unbeliever. I am simply asking you to throw all caution to the wind, confess your sins and ask Jesus into your life and let Him go to work in your life supplying your needs. You might be a troubled believer. There are many troubled believers out there and you need to reclaim that God has made to “supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” It’s all there for you – go for it. Bro. Joe “Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
We go from not fretting, refraining from envy, to trusting the Lord. Now the psalm takes an unexpected turn. David tells us that we are to delight in the Lord. I chased the word “delight” down to its Hebrew root and discovered that it means the same thing in Hebrew that it does in English, it means to enjoy and to take pleasure in something or someone. (duh?) I had to ask myself if I really enjoy God. Have you ever really thought about enjoying God? As I thought about it, I remembered all of the times that I go to Him in prayer. I get up in the morning thinking of Him and talking to Him. When I am about to go to sleep at night, I talk to Him. Yes, I enjoy God. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk to Him whenever I want. I take pleasure in His presence in my life. I will admit that there are times when I don’t enjoy Him, and that is when I disappoint Him in some way. It is like when I knew that I had done something that would disappoint my mother. I knew that she would not stop loving me, but I sure did dread the idea is that what I did might have broken her heart, and the discipline that I knew would follow. But even the discipline of God reminds us that He loves us. Be honest: Do you really enjoy the Lord? I also had to ask myself if I really take pleasure in God? The answer is a resounding YES. I take pleasure in the Lord, because He is my constant companion and friend. Jesus promised to never leave us. He has given us His Spirit to be with us all of the time. I take pleasure in the fellowship that I have with God on a daily basis. I take pleasure in worshiping Him and thanking Him for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do as long as I live. After that, because of faith in Jesus Christ I enjoy His presence for all eternity. Yes I take pleasure in God. He has done the same thing for you that He has done for me. Take pleasure in the fellowship that you can have with Him on a daily basis. You do not take pleasure in God if you think of Him only on Sunday. You certainly do not take pleasure in Him if you have not trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. Based on all that I have written can you say that you delight in God? The promise is that when we delight ourselves in God, He will give us the desires of our heart. This does not mean that He will give us all we want. What it does mean is that when He is our delight the desires of our heart have to do with our relationship with Him. If that disappoints and bores you, you are not delighting in the Lord. Think about it. Bro. Joe .“Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
One greeting that I have remembered from my years of prison ministry was “I am greatly blessed and highly favored.” I thought that was a remarkable greeting considering that the men who said that were long-term prisoners. I knew that they were not in a good situation, but they were blessed by the Lord. The Lord turned an unbearable situation into a blessing. I have also met many people in churches who were complaining about one thing or another. (I must confess that I have to watch myself, lest I find myself complaining.) Jeremiah gives a good definition of what it means to be blessed. First, being blessed means to trust in the Lord. For myself, I can imagine what it would be to face each day without knowing that I could trust in the Lord. Trusting God has gotten me through some rough spots in my life. But I am not bragging, because I have met some people who have made me feel that I lacked the trust that I should have. I have met some people who were in much worse shape that I have been at my worst, yet they still managed to praise the Lord, because they trusted the Lord. If you want to be blessed, trust the Lord. I can’t tell you how to trust the Lord. You just have to release your heart and mind to Him and let Him lead in your life. Keep Him ever near you, and heed the promises of His word. Second, being blessed means that one’s hope is in the Lord. A truly blessed life is a life that does not depend on the circumstances of life to make them happy and content. A truly blessed life looks beyond this world to the Lord. The apostle Paul gives us a grand example of this in the book of Philippians. He wrote this letter during his imprisonment in Rome. He wrote of joy and rejoicing in this book in spite of his own circumstances. A good example of this is found in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice.” Instead of complaining about his imprisonment, he reminded us that true blessings are found in the joy of the Lord. Truly ask yourself where the ground of your real hope is. The things of the world are fleeting. We need to ground our hope in eternity, in the almighty, all-knowing, ever present Lord. That is when we are truly blessed and when we feel “greatly blessed and highly favored.” Third, Jeremiah told us of the effect of this blessed life: “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” This reminds us of the righteous person in Psalm 1:3: “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth fruit in his season…” A blessed life is deeply planted in the power and hope of the Lord. This person’s life continues to be effective, in spite of life’s circumstances. A blessed person is a productive person, whose roots reach deep into the power and presence of Jesus. I want to close this article by telling what an “unblessed” or cursed life is like from the verses preceding our text in verses 5-6: “Thus says the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. 6. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inherited.” These are your two choices: be blessed or cursed. Seems like a no brainer. Doesn’t it?! Bro. Joe “Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord; that walks in His ways. 2. For you shall eat the labor of your hands, happy will you be, and it shall be well with you.”
If I live as long as Methuselah, I will never be able to garner all of the wisdom contained in the Psalms. This article, like most of them, is the result of my daily Bible reading. What I saw in this text was instructions on how to live a blessed life. First, I need to define what the word “blessed” means. Without boring you with a word study, I will share with you what I have seen that it means after years of Bible reading. It means to be happy and to be happy is to be fulfilled. Being fulfilled does not mean that we have everything that we want, or for that matter, everything that we need. It means that God/Jesus brings ultimate satisfaction to our lives, regardless of the circumstances. The two verses written above, describe how we can have that fulfillment. “Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord” means that the blessed person has reverence for God. A blessed life will always have to include a worshipful reverence for God. People who do not believe in Him, and who do not accept His reality. cannot live a blessed life in the biblical sense. When one knows God as the Bible describes Him, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, in other words, sovereign, he or she has to fall at His feet in reverence for Him. In short, a fulfilled life begins and ends with a reverent relationship with God. “Blessed is everyone….that walks in His ways” means that the blessed person is living a holy life. Wow! That word “holy” looks awfully pretentious, and based on today’s standards, I guess it does seem that way, but it is a good Bible word. It does not mean that one is self-righteous. It means that one is living honestly before God and seeking God’s forgiveness when that is needed. A person who is “walking in God’s way” should be cherished and valued. A person who is truly living this life will be loving and trustworthy. The ultimate compliment that I give a person is that I would buy a used car from him or her. That would be true of this person. Does this in some measure describe your life? Do you love God? Do you love people? Do you seek to live the right kind of life based on the Bible? Are you trustworthy? These are good questions to ask ourselves, and we need to ask them honestly and react honestly when God convicts us. “And it shall be well with you” means that the blessed person is tangibly blessed by God. As written earlier, this does not mean that the blessed person has everything that he or she wants or needs. It means that the blessed person is walking in close fellowship with God, loving Jesus, following the leadership of the Holy Spirt, and is really attempting to live a good life. It means that one lives with a clear conscience and is in favor with God. The blessed person does not live in fear in this life, nor does he or she fear death. Like everyone else, the blessed person will occasionally be afraid, but he or she will not live in fear. The blessed person will certainly not be perfect, but he or she will be forgiven, because he or she will be convicted and ask for forgiveness. The bottom line is that each of us needs to pause and ask ourselves if we are truly blessed people based on Psalm 128:1-2. Bro. Joe |
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