January 16, 2012 … Traveling Through Life In Faith And In Fear

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Passage of the Day: Chapter/Verse Reference: Genesis, Chapters 12-15 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Genesis 12: 1-4: … [Abram Goes Out in Faith] … 1 The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
Genesis 12: 10-13: … [Abram Travels In Fear] … 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are.12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live.13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."


My Journal for Today: Moving back from the Book of Job, in my chronological read through the Bible this year, the reading plan has me (and any reading with me) to go back into Genesis; … this time doing a read into God’s calling of Abram (later, of course, to be renamed “Abraham” by God). And here, mostly focusing on Chapter 12 in my journaling today, we see how great and how small a believer’s faith can be as they travel through life; and Abram is a prime example of a follower of God having a rather schizoid faith.

At the outset of Chapter 12 in Genesis, our highlighted hero, Abram, is living in the land of Ur, which, you can see on the attached map above [click on image to enlarge for viewing], is now located in modern Iraq, very close to where the supposed garden of Eden might have been, near where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers join. Abram was a very wealthy Bedouin sheepherder, traveling the deserts of the Chaldean region of that area. And for whatever reason, God chose Abram to be the father of two so-called great nations … that of the Jewish line and that of the Arab line of peoples, both who claim “Abraham” as their “father.”

And what the Holy Spirit has impressed on my reading today is the vacillation in faith exhibited by the one Chaldean tribesman with whom God chose to bring His everlasting covenant of salvation [which you will read about in Genesis, Chapter 15 of today’s reading plan]. Note, however, in reading above in the early verses of Chapter 12, God calls Abram, likely through a dream or vision, to pick up his family and all he has and head northward. And without much contemplation, Abram, in full surrender to God’s call, pulled up stakes, followed God, and moved to Haran (also spelled “Harran”), which on the map provided above is about 600 miles northwest … from what is now southern Iraq, moving to southern Turkey … a significant trek with all of Abram’s family and belongings. Yes, Bedouins in that time were used to picking up and moving to find water or food; but this was a major move; and God had not told Abram where to go. God just said GO “… to the land I will show you;” … and Abram, in faith, went.

Now, that is a model of surrendered faith to God’s will or His call on our life. And one might assume that Abram will continue – in our study of his life in Scripture – to be a compliant model of faith. However, just a few verses later in Chapter 12, we read of Abram balking in fear as He was called by God to move down to Egypt from living near Jerusalem to avoid a famine; and again Abram followed God’s leading. However, when he approached Egypt we see this Spirit-led “man of faith” become a very human “man of fear” as he hatches a scheme with his wife, Sarai, to play the role of his full-blood sister (actually she was his half-sister, though being his wife) to avoid Pharaoh taking her into his harem and claiming all of Abram’s wealth. Well, we know the outcome from Genesis. The scheme worked and Pharaoh expelled her and sent Abram on his way; but we know that these schemes only worked because of God’s mercy and His covenant with Abram to take Abram’s descendents into a promise land, which, again was based on Abram’s faith.

All of this speaks volumes to my heart; and being a man of faith who can, in times of challenge, become a man of fear, I’m lifted up by the fact that God has given me the hope of His eternal NEW COVENANT, which is far superior to the OLD COVENANT which inspired Abram, later to become “Abraham,” to follow God in faith. I know, because of God’s covenant of salvation (see Romans 10: 9 -13) which was perfected and completed in the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God, my Savior and Lord, Jesus, I can and will find the promised land of glory with God, the Father, because I’ve placed my faith in Jesus, as Lord and Savior, Who died to save even sinners of wavering faith like Abram and Bill Berry.

Praise God that He sees in Bill Berry, just as he did in Abram, enough faith and something of purpose to call me to be with my LORD forever. In doing so, I will one day be in Heaven, with Abraham, worshipping Our Savior and Messiah, Jesus. And now that our God has called me, and I have come as did Abram, in faith, … He will do what He promised, through Paul in Phil. 1: 6 … to complete me and reshape me into the image of the One Who died to give me His forever covenant of everlasting life.

My Prayer Today: … To God be the glory! And HALLELUJAH! … Amen

Map of Abram's Journey ...

September 23, 2011 … Guaranteed Heavenly Glory

Passage of the Day: Romans 8: 17 … [see in underlined/bold below] 12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

My Journal for Today: Sinful man may not be able to see all of God’s intended glory, which was present in Adam and Eve before the fall. The saved, believing as we do, might be able to see bits of that glory through the eyes of faith; but for the lost, that is impossible. Hence, it is no wonder why we see such hopelessness and cynicism and even anger concerning God and Christ in those who have not received God’s saving grace, … i.e., those who do not have God’s Spirit dwelling in their hearts.

But all of mankind knows that glory is absent … yes, even those who have not been born anew in Christ. All of man has seen, in God’s creation, what could be and what is not. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1: 18 – 20, …

SCRIPTURE: “18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. “

From the dawn of time, it has been God’s plan that those who are reborn in Christ would be “recreated” to be like Him in glory (see Romans 8: 29 – 30 and 1st Cor. 15: 35 – 57). Therefore, with God’s Spirit sealing that reality, saved believers live with the hope of glory, … as the Psalmist declared in Psalm 17: 15 or the Apostle in 1st John 3: 2. As we live out our lives in our sojourn here on earth, John MacArthur rightly says, “The Holy Spirit guides us through different levels of glory.” [also see 2nd Cor. 3: 18] And furthermore, as we grow in our relationship with Christ, becoming more-and-more like Him in our sanctification, I believe God, the Holy Spirit, gives us, what I call, glimpses of glory to bolster our hope until that day when we are face-to-face, being fully restored into the glorified form we were intended to have in His image (see Gen. 1: 27).

I hope you’ve experienced those “glimpses of glory.” I certainly have, … seeing God’s character in the beauty of a sunset, the radiance of a rainbow, or in the love my wife displays when I don’t deserve her love. I have seen His love as two turtle doves cuddled [that’s a long, but wonderful story – ask me about it someday – I’d love to share it with you], … and I have witnessed His grace in the forgiveness of my wife or in the unencumbered love of our grandchildren. We, who believe, if we stop to see the glory which God shows us providentially, we can be blessed by glimpses of what is to come when we see the face of Jesus.

I have even felt God’s glory imparted this morning in meditating on the passages Dr. MacArthur led me to in this devotional. Did you sense that glory? I hope so. If you want to be helped to meditate on God’s glory in reading this, click on this hyperlink and be taken to a great contemporary hymn by the Gettys, entitled BY FAITH.

My Prayer Today: O, my Lord, I long for the glory! But I’m grateful for the life You give me here today. Amen

March 23, 2011 … Jesus’ Humble Identification with Sinners

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 7 - 8 - 7 … but [Jesus] made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

My Journal for Today: Though Jesus walked among mankind in those three years of ministry where people, especially His chosen Disciples, followed Him around, witnessing miracle after miracle, most of these people, who were looking for a Messiah, did not really recognize Christ’s Lordship. As I said, even His closest followers, the twelve Disciples, couldn’t or wouldn’t accept Jesus’ claim to being THE Son of God, the Second Person of the Godhead … even though He did many things they witnessed that only God could do (see all of John 6).

In Christ’s humility and manhood, Jesus, except for His sinlessness (see Heb. 4: 15 cited below) was fully identified with man in His incarnation and walk on this earth. And that’s why His being 100% man actually added something, i.e., perfect empathy, to His omniscience, rather than His being reduced by His emptying of His majesty in the kenosis of becoming “human likeness.” [see again Phil. 2: 6-7] So, now, we look back on THE LORD in His ascension, coronation, and re-glorification, especially after the reality of this resurrection with awe; well, at least I do! Now, we know we have a risen Lord, still sinless as the God-Man, Who could become our High Priest, fully able to have perfected, infinite empathy with our plight and weakness as mankind. He is everything declared by Heb. 4: 15 …

SCRIPTURE: Heb. 4: 15 … we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

As we’ve been reviewing this month, Christ’s humility is our great, yes, even perfect, model for the pursuit of the attitude God’s Spirit, through Paul, exhorted us to have in Phil. 2: 5 – an attitude just like Jesus! We often think that it would have been an advantage to have been there and witnessed Christ’s deity on display, seeing all those miracles first hand. But you know, as I alluded above, the Disciples saw all of that; and yet, they still had doubts and fears … fears that led even their strongman, Peter, “the rock,” to cringe in fear and even deny to his Lord.

Well, today we actually have one advantage over those who walked with Jesus and saw Him first hand. We have the codified history – inspired by God Himself – in the collated and cannonized Bible. We have the very real and historically documented resurrection, which only a few were able to see and touch the resurrected Lord in those days of the cross. Yes, men like the eleven remaining Disciples, and others, had the opportunity, to see the resurrected Christ first hand, even touch Him as did Thomas [read John 20]. But anyone who delves into the truths of the New Testament and reads the true account of Jesus can have, as MacArthur recounts, “… heart-felt assurance that He (Christ) was perfectly man and perfectly God.”

My Prayer Today: To know You, as my Lord, even as imperfectly as I do, dear Jesus, is my hope of salvation. Amen

February 28, 2011 … God’s Glory in Christ

Passage of the Day: John 1: 14 … The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

My Journal for Today: Still focusing on God’s glory and His character for today this final day of February, the beloved Apostle, John, declared in today’s verse, Jesus Christ was (and still is) the personification of God’s glory (see also Hebrews 1: 3 below).

SCRIPTURE: Heb. 1: 3 … The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

God has made His glory manifest and visible for all mankind to witness and follow in the incarnation and personhood of Jesus Christ and then by giving His church His canonized word. The God-Man walked on this earth, and as chronicled in the New Testament, Jesus was, of course, a man; but even then, three of His inner circle of Disciples were witness to the glorified Christ on the “Mount of Transfiguration.” (read of it in Luke 9: 28 – 36 - linked here for your review) However, they also experienced and wrote about Christ’s personhood as The Son of Man.

When Christ comes again, it will be in His full glory (Matt. 24: 30), the whole remaining earth will see what Peter, James, and John were privileged to see in that mountaintop spiritual experience. Everyone will see the glorified Christ (as in the account of Numbers 24: 21).

SCRIPTURE: Numbers 14: 21a …, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, …

So, as we now have relationship with the glorified Christ, what should be our response to the glory of God which we find in our Lord? Well, the first, of course is adoration and praise [see Luke 2: 14]; and our lives should be our worship of living sacrifice, as Paul wrote about in Rom. 12: 1. Only then, in obedience to God’s word, can we attain but a reflection of God’s glory (see 2nd Cor. 3: 18). For in walking in obedient worthiness to God’s glory, we become a living refection of His light, shining righteousness into a darkened world, ultimately reflecting His glory in the process (see Phil. 2: 15 and Matt. 5: 16).

My Prayer Today: Yes, again I say, Lord … shine Your light through me. Amen

Blogger’s Note: It’s been a good month with those who’ve come along with me. In March, if you come along with me, I’ll continue using John MacArthur’s devotional, Strength for Today, to take an in-depth look at the one spiritual quality, modeled by Jesus, which we need to capture and utilize God’s sanctifying, enabling, empowering, enlightening, encouraging grace; and that quality is HUMILITY. Come along with me and let’s all grow together. … wrb