Yes, Jesus Loves Me

I was blessed to attend a Bible study group this week for the first time. As a teacher, it is a rare treat to have someone pour into me for a change. The worship was uplifting, the fellowship was sweet, and the message was timely: the Love of God. The speaker took us through several of the attributes of God’s love and she ended by leading us all through “Jesus Loves Me.” Yes, that is a sweet little song we teach to our children, but let me assure you, it is equally applicable to adults. There is something specials about singing that song with a group of seasoned ladies who have leaned on God’s love through the highs and lows of life.
But something interesting happened. Did you know that there are more verses to that song than we teach our babies? Do you know the words to all those verses? I don’t and neither did most of the ladies there. So we Googled the song. We all knew the first verse – no problem. And we all referred to our phones for the second verse – still good. And then we came to the third verse and we were not all on the same version. Suddenly most of us dropped out and let the leader sing a solo.
What happened? We looked to the world for the words. We trusted the internet to fill in the holes in our song. The lesson was clear to me. Trust no one else but God for truth. Sure it was just a verse in a simple, little song, and the words we pulled up were not blasphemous – they were just not the right words. But words – or rather The Word – matters. Paul urged Timothy to stay in the Scriptures that are the very breath of God (2 Tim 3:14-17). Peter confirmed that the Scriptures are given to man by the Holy Spirit – they are trustworthy and true. They are always the right words.
You may be tired of me beating the Berean drum, but it cannot be stressed enough – always, always, always take everything you hear and everything you read and lay it alongside the Bible and see if it is true (Acts 17:11). Do not take anyone’s word for truth if it does not agree with the living Word of the living God. Too much is at stake to be misled, even by one little, seemingly insignificant word.
Beloved, be a student of the Scriptures. Get to know God’s Word for yourself so that you do not fall for the wrong verse in the song. Because Jesus does love you, and you need to know it.

The Power of Your Words

This may surprise you, but sarcasm comes naturally to me. My mom was always after me about it. “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.” That’s one of the reasons I tend to stay off of the Book of Faces after I post the day’s devotional. I do not trust myself to not get snarky. It’s just that – gosh – some people really deserve it.
But that’s the “old man” in me. That phrase comes from the Apostle Paul who wrote often about the tug of war between who we were before Christ and who we are to be in Christ. Even though our sin has been put to death by the Lord Jesus, our urges and desires remain until we are perfected. It is a life-long battle. For some, it may be drugs or alcohol or physical pleasure or materialism. But God has been working on my mouth for a long time for good reason.
Years ago I read in Isaiah, “I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand” (51:16). That verse grabbed my heart and I prayed that God would put His words in my mouth. The next day another verse came to life – very clear in its meaning and application for me: “If you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman” (Jer 15:19). Boom! I had a calling and a caution. I have bitten my tongue more than once – and failed to more than once.
Jesus said, “Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matt 12:36). In the original Greek, that means idle words, useless words, lazy words, ineffective words. In other words, worthless words. So then, what are worthy words? Words that are productive, words that accomplish God’s good purposes, words that work hard for the good of others, words that edify. As Paul wrote, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Eph 4:29).
Solomon said, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21). Your words can do great harm or great good – you and I need to use them wisely and carefully. Beloved, let’s commit to speak only “apples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov. 25:11)

Spiritual Ears

One of my favorite games with Joy when she was very little was “Where is Joy’s . . .” toes, eyes, fingers, nose . . .” “My nose is wright here” and she’d tap the end of her nose. Sometimes I would change it up and ask her “Where is Nana’s nose?” and she would giggle and tap my proboscis. One day I asked her, “Where is Nana’s ears,” and she touched them, then looked curiously at them, and said, “Nana, I know why you have ears. So you gwasses don’t fall down!” Then she noticed the frames resting on my nose and she was awestruck. I started to laugh until I noticed that she was serious. She had made a connection: Nana’s nose and ears are important for keeping her gwasses in place.
Jesus told the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1-23) and said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Of course we all have physical ears – some of ours do double duty as Joy discovered – but Jesus was speaking of spiritual ears. Ears that will not just receive words like an adult talking in a Peanuts cartoon, but ears that hear – that attend to and consider what is said so that one might understand and perceive the purpose of the message. The purpose of hearing what Jesus said is obedience. God doesn’t just speak to be heard, He speaks to be obeyed.
Maybe that is why so many of us are not using our spiritual ears when we quickly run through our daily devotional. We know that if we hear and understand what the Bible is saying, we are obligated to respond. Jesus quoted Isaiah in saying: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving” (v. 14; Is 6:9). We are looking for a nice word of encouragement to get through the day, but we don’t want something that is going to change our comfy lives.
But hear what the Psalmist said about the Scripture: “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Ps 119:32). There is real freedom in the Words of God. There is real rest and peace in His truth. There is real Joy in obeying His Word.
Don’t just let the words bounce off your ears, but receive them into your heart so that you will abide in them (Jn 15:7). Beloved, Let the Word of God be your delight and obedience be your offering.

This is My Story

Yesterday we talked about the sovereignty of God over our lives. I want to share my story with you and why I know it is true.
I started writing before I could form letters – just squiggly lines on a page. I wrote “stories” all the time. When I started school, my love for words and writing made me want to be a teacher. As I got older, I started writing poems and my Creative Writing teacher submitted one of them to a national high-school poetry contest and it was published in their honorable mentions book.
I got married – young and stupid – and my ex-husband didn’t agree with my dreams, he burned my piles of notebooks and insisted that I pursue a career in the medical field, like his mother. As soon as we divorced, I bought a new notebook and started writing again.
By now my love for words had merged with my love for the Word and its Author. I knew God created me to write and teach for Him. But satan began to work against me creating roadblocks at every turn. In 2005 some of those roadblocks sent me into an emotional tailspin, combined with demonic oppression. I had a major breakdown. I could not function. I could not focus. And I could not write. This time I took my notebooks with years of writing and burned them.
But God. He pulled me up out of that dark pit of despair over a two-year recovery by sending me on a deep dive into the Scriptures to study His names in Hebrew. That was the first study I wrote after that season. Not too long after, I was a seminary student (which I still am) and learning more than I ever dreamed about the Bible. And I was teaching and writing. A couple of friends encouraged me to write a blog which I have been doing now for 11 years.
Satan tried many, many times to stop me. But God came every time and rescued me and set me back into His will. I don’t know what He has ahead, but I am certain to the marrow of my bones that this is His calling on my life and He will sovereignly guard it. Paul wrote, “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). What He wills, He ensures.
He has a calling for you too, Beloved. It is what He created you for. Trust Him and dive into it. It is the sweet spot of your life.

A Church in Danger

Have you noticed that there is a lot of hero worship in Christendom? There are “rock-star” pastors with thousands of followers and Bible teachers who sell out auditoriums around the country. I’m not saying popularity in the church is wrong. Jesus had quite a crowd that followed Him and hung on His every word. Take the fellow in Luke 9: “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you where you go.’” (v. 57). He wanted to be part of Jesus’ entourage. But Jesus didn’t encourage this would-be fan. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head” (v. 58). I believe Jesus was saying, “This is not going to be the high-life you’re expecting. I don’t have a multi-million-dollar mansion to put you up in. I walk hot, dusty roads and sleep where I can.”
What did you expect from Jesus when you chose to follow Him? A solution to all your problems? A good reputation in the community? A full life with heaven thrown in after it’s all over? Just a few verses before He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23) Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and the cross. He might have also told the man, “Don’t hook your wagon to me unless you’re prepared to die.”
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a war going on between good and evil, between light and darkness. God’s people are the enemy of the present ruling authorities who are bent on the church’s destruction. If you choose Jesus, you need to know that you are also choosing self-denial, persecution, rejection, and suffering. That is what the Lord endured. Why should we expect any less?
I look at the modern church – particularly in the West – so comfortable in our air-conditioned sanctuaries. Where is the suffering? Where is the persecution? Where are self-denial and the cross? I’m pointing my finger at myself. I believe the enemy’s strategy against the church in the U.S. is not a full-on battle, but to make us relaxed and contented while he waters down our theology and sugarcoats our worship. Just before he hits us with an all-out assault.
I realize, Beloved, that this is not a warm and happy message. Take it as a warning. If our Christianity is comfortable, maybe we’re in more danger than we know.

Jesus Messiah

I love etymology – the study of words and word origins and how their meanings have changed throughout history. There was a time when “cool” meant not hot or cold. Then cool described someone who was hip and fashionable, someone to be admired and emulated. From there cool came to mean aloof, and then it evolved into dispassionate or unemotional – which could be a good thing or a bad thing. A cool person was unruffled in a crisis. Or they completely disengage with others. A cool retort, a cool movie, a cool snap in the weather, a cool dude, a cool demeanor – they all used the same word but applied different meanings.
The ruling principle in hermeneutics – the interpretation and application of the Scriptures – is to discern the author’s original intent and the best way to do that is to research the original language of the text. I have discovered so many fascinating and challenging things by studying the Bible with a concordance at the ready. (And don’t forget about the importance of context, context, context.)
Here is a cool word study (did you see what I did there?) as an example. In the creation account, after all the birds and animals and creatures were named, the Scriptures says: “But for Adam, no suitable helper was found” (Gen 2:20). The word helper is ezer and it means one who assists or supports in times of hardship and struggle. It is the same word used by the Psalmist to describe the Lord: “We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield” (Ps 33:20). (We’ll dig into “shield” another day – fascinating!). When the Israelites defeated the Philistines in Mizpah, Samuel set up a stone of remembrance and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us” (1 Sam 7:12). Robert Robertson wrote the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and included the line: “Here I raise my Ebenezer” a reference to this passage and to God’s help in his own life.
One of my favorite words is “Messiah” – the divine title of the Lord Jesus. In the ancient Hebrew, “ah” was the root word for “the Lord.” A name that ended in “ah” always referenced the Lord. Now I’m taking a little creative license here, but look at the word again and think about this: Have you ever gotten yourself in a mess? Jesus is the Messiah. Do you see it Beloved? Jesus is Lord (ah) over the mess (Mess) I (i) made of my life. That’s good news for us messy people!!

We Need One Another

Every person I know is struggling with something – family issues, health problems, financial difficulties, mental and emotional health, work and school. You probably found yours among that list.
Something else we all have in common is the need for encouragement. The Lord impressed on my heart at the end of last year that I need to focus on writing more messages of encouragement. I understand why. You need it and so do I. I was reading this morning in 1 Thessalonians and was caught by the sequence I saw in chapter 3.
Paul was in Athens but his heart was in Thessalonica and the church he had previously established there. Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians had abandoned their faith in Christ. He sent Timothy, his trusted friend and co-worker to both find out how they were and to “strengthen and encourage” them in their faith (v. 2). He did not want the church to become discouraged by persecution nor to be tempted by the enemy to give up.
When Timothy returned, he brought Paul “good news about your faith and love” (v. 6). They were “standing firm in the Lord” (v. 8). The Apostle was greatly encouraged! He thanked God for the Thessalonians and was strengthened in his own faith. Their lives were a testimony to God’s power and faithfulness. Paul was refreshed and able to endure the persecution and trials that surrounded him.
There is something wonderful about the family of God. We encourage one another. We hold each other up. We “speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19).. We share stories of God’s goodness in our lives. That is why I am so transparent in these devotionals – maybe a little too transparent. I believe with all my heart if you see God carry me through difficulties, it will give you hope in your own. Likewise, when you share what God is doing in your life, it gives me encouragement to hold fast to Him and keep pressing on.
Someone you know needs a word of encouragement today. It may be a family member, a coworker, a friend -it may even be me. Or maybe it’s you. I hope these simple words lift you up and that “you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (Rom 1:12). Let’s support one another, Beloved. The three of us – you, me, and the Lord will get through this together.

Advent 2023: You Will Find Him

“Adoration of the Shepherds” Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1617-1682).

Often when I read the Scriptures, which I have done many, many times, the Spirit will highlight a word or phrase and draw my heart with wonder. Today, as I read Luke’s familiar account of Jesus’ birth, three words leaped off the page. It is in the Shepherd’s story in Luke 2:8-18. Shepherds were tending to their flocks through the night. Suddenly a brilliant glow lit up the night sky and an angel appeared before them with the most incredible announcement: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (vs.10-11).
“The Savior?”
“The Christ?”
“Could it really be the long-awaited Messiah?”
I have no doubt they were overjoyed and excited by this wonderful news.
But this was more than an announcement. It was an invitation! “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (v. 12). They were being called to witness the very One that priests and devout Jews had longed to see! One that would change everything.
Did you see the three words that stood out to me this morning? “You will find . . .” There is such hope and promise in those words. The angel didn’t say, “Just so you know about it . . .” And he didn’t say, “Go see if you can locate this baby.” He said, “You will find. . .” You. Will. Find.
That brings to mind my life verse from Jeremiah: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart (Jer 29:13). Look at the next verse: “I will be found by you.” (v. 14). The original terminology reads as if God is saying, “I will place Myself in your path so that you cannot miss Me.” You will find . . .
The angel’s proclamation echoed God’s words in Deuteronomy when the Lord rescued Israel and led them on the path to the Promised Land. He said “If . . . you seek the Lord your God, you will find him . . .” (Dt 4:29).
What a promise! God is not playing a divine game of hide-and-seek. He invites us to come and promises we will find. Beloved, this Christmas take a step toward the Baby in the manger. He will meet you more than halfway.

Make Your Words Count

Pay attention to your words.

They have more power and influence than you know – for those around you and for yourself. Scripture even says our words influence God. Whoa! In Numbers 13, the Israelites send out spies to check out the land of Canaan – the Promised Land. They returned with a glowing report of bounty and a terrifying tale of giants. Only two of the twelve trusted God to give them the land. The people rebelled and complained, claiming God sent them out into the desert to die. God heard every word and He said, “As surely as I live, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert, your bodies will fall . . .” (Num 14:28-29). Their children would inherit the Promised Land after forty years of wandering, but their unbelieving parents would never see it.

Psychologists have long taught the power of self-talk – from the Little Engine that Could – “I think I can, I think I can . . .” to athletes who rely on “I can do all things through Christ” (Phil 4:13). The 23rd Psalm is David expressing his hope and confidence in the provision, protection, guidance, comfort, goodness, and mercy of God. And if you haven’t figured it out, worship is more for our good than the Lord’s. He doesn’t need reminders of who He is, but you and I do.

Your words also carry a lot of weight in the lives of others. Once again David shows us how to change the climate around us. In Psalm 40 he said, “I proclaim [Your] righteousness in the great assembly” (v. 9). “I speak of your faithfulness and salvation . . . Your love and Your truth (v. 10)”. David was careful to always speak about God. He kept the Name of the Lord on the tip of His tongue and His praises on His lips. That’s very different from the conversations we hear all around us. Even the conversations we hear at church.

You and I have the power to influence our hearts and minds and that of those around you. David said the Lord had “put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord” (v. 3). What if everyone around you heard you always speak about the goodness of God? Imagine how that would change your home, your workplace, school, and yes, church. Imagine the change inside you. Your words matter, Beloved, make them count for good.

Your Crazy-Quilt Life

I wish someone had told me when I was much younger that God had a purpose for me. It would have changed everything – my education, the way I spent my time, how I thought about myself, the people I hung out with, and even the way I raised my son. I have already begun telling my granddaughter that God has a special and important plan for her life.

I appreciate Moses’ prayer: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Life moves at such a fast pace. But Moses wasn’t talking about keeping track of how many days we’ve lived; he was talking about paying attention to how we live our days. The word “number” means to appoint and prepare. It is about making your days – and the hours and minutes that make up your days – count.

God allowed Moses to grow up in the palace in Egypt as a training ground for his purpose. But I’m sure he never considered tending his father-in-law’s flock as holy schooling. But they were. He learned invaluable leadership skills in Pharaoh’s palace and he learned humility as a fugitive and a shepherd. Every step of his life was intended to move him toward his purpose.

That’s true for you and me too. My fascination with words started very early; they were part of my preparation. My high school creative writing course unlocked a passion for writing that has never left me. Yes, those were all good things, but what about the rest? What about the foolish things and the painful things and the ugly things? How could they possibly fit into God’s purpose? They taught me discernment, compassion, and, like Moses, humility. They taught me to be careful who I trust. They taught me to never judge. They taught me to be obedient to the Lord and they taught me the value of God’s Word.

Someone is sitting on a heap of regrets today. Maybe it’s been your choices or the fallout from someone else’s – either way, it’s been a rough ride and you can’t undo what has been. But God . . . You know the verse, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). “All things” mean the good, the bad, and the ugly. God doesn’t waste anything in your life. Every tear, every Joy, every sorrow, every moment is part of His training ground for your purpose. Put it all in His hands, Beloved, and He will bring about something beautiful. You.