God’s blessings are not primarily for me, but they are through me for His glory. This is a short clip from an exclusive video I shared with my Patreon supporters. Become a supporter today! I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” —Dean Smith
Until the mid-1800s, the historicity of King Sargon II (mentioned by Isaiah) was in doubt. Not only has archeology again affirmed the historical statements made in Scripture, but “the way Isaiah spelled Sargon’s name is an indicator that the prophet lived at the time of Sargon II, and that the book was not penned hundreds of years later.” Check out this archeological biography of Sargon II.
And then there is this archeological report about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Fascinating!
How sweet and gracious even in common speech,
Is that fine sense which men call Courtesy!
Wholesome as air and genial as the light,
Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers—
It transmutes aliens into trusting friends,
And gives its owner passport round the globe. —James T. Fields
“A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.” —Joe DiMaggio
Not using the spiritual gift God has given you is selfish. He gave you these gifts on purpose so that His kingdom could be made more visible and desirable.
He turned to God and the people put away their idols <or>
He turned from God and the people turned to their idols
It’s true: As goes the leader, so go the people.
In my life, I’ve experienced that the good things that I do over-the-top are only moderately emulated by those around me. But the unhealthy things that I even slightly indulge in are adopted quickly by everyone else.
Godly leaders must be so aware of how their example impacts everyone around them, and they must fight to maintain biblical standards. When we miss the mark, we must be quick to admit our shortcoming, repent, and get back on track.
In Hosea 4:9, God warns that the people will follow the ungodly example of their leaders, which is why God’s punishment is often more severe for those leaders.
On the positive side, in Leviticus 9, Moses and Aaron demonstrate the leadership example of spending time in God’s presence and fully obeying everything God had revealed to them there. Then verse 23 it says that after they came out of His presence, God’s glory appeared to all the people. The positive example of the leaders led to huge blessings for all the people!
A mark of a godly leader is one who increasingly aware of the power of his example.
Leaders, let’s be first to go first in…
…being in God’s presence
…obeying God’s commands
…repenting when we fall short
…asking forgiveness of those who have seen our poor example
…asking God to bless His people because of our good example
This is part 77 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
There’s an interesting verb used with both Enoch and Noah that denotes intimate fellowship—the word is “walked.”
Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)
These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9)
David uses this same verb when he prays, “Vindicate me, Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Examine me, Lord, and put me to the test; refine my mind and my heart. For Your goodness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth” (Psalm 26:1-3).
And Solomon uses the same verb to say that anyone who walks in righteous integrity leaves a legacy of righteousness for his family: “A righteous person who walks in his integrity—how blessed are his sons after him” (Proverbs 20:7).
There is something important that is implied in this walking. God tells us what it is in this question: How can two walk together unless they agree to do so? (Amos 3:3).
But make no mistake, God doesn’t agree with whatever path I choose to walk, but I must agree to walk God’s path.
I must agree that God’s path is best, despite what everyone else is doing—“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Yet Noah didn’t walk with the wicked, but he was commended because he walked with God.
In the New Testament, Enoch and Noah are listed as back-to-back examples of faith (Hebrews 11:5, 7). The verse that connects these two men speaks of the faith-filled integrity that kept them walking with God—
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
That word “seek” means to diligently crave. Enoch and Noah and David show us examples of men who diligently craved walking with God above all else. Their faithful, diligent walking made them stand out from all those around them.
What about us? Hebrews 11:6 says we can follow their example. We can choose to walk with God by faith. We can diligently crave Him above all else. When we walk righteously with God, He “rewards those” who do—for ever and ever!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
It had been a long, fruitless night of fishing for Peter, Andrew, and their fishing partners. They came back to shore and began to wash their nets which had caught nothing all night long.
As they washed their nets, no doubt contemplating how they were going to make ends meet without any fish to sell in the marketplace, they listened to an itinerant Preacher. This Man was fascinating to listen to as He talked about Scripture in a way none had ever heard.
The crowds listening to Him swelled in size—almost spellbound by His kindness and wisdom—until the Preacher had no place left to stand on the shore. Turning to Peter, the Preacher said, “Peter, my name is Jesus. Would you allow Me to stand in your boat so I can continue to speak to all of these good people?”
Peter welcomed Him onto his ship and pushed out a little ways from shore. There he sat and continued to listen with growing amazement at the way this Man taught. It was unlike anything Peter had heard from any other rabbi.
When Jesus concluded His sermon and dismissed the crowds, He turned to Peter and said, “Thank you for helping Me. I know it’s been a tough night for you. If you will sail back out to deeper waters, you will be able to let down your nets for a huge catch.”
Peter smiled and said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught a thing. I doubt we will be able to catch anything now.” For a brief moment, Peter contemplated rowing Jesus back to shore, but those words he had heard Jesus speaking were still resonating in his heart, bringing to life a faith he hadn’t known.
Almost before he realized he was speaking the words, Peter said, “But because You say so, I will obey.”
No sooner had Peter and Andrew let their nets down into the deep water, than they caught so many fish that their nets almost began to break. They shouted to their partners for help. Even with their combined efforts, the amount of fish they caught nearly sunk their boats! (See Luke 5:1-11.)
What an example Peter has given me!
It may seem illogical, unconventional, counter-cultural, scary, or embarrassing. But because You say so, I will obey.
I may lose friends, lose “face,” lose position, lose money, or lose possessions. But because You say so, I will obey.
I may feel afraid, uncertain, unclear, confused, or skeptical. But because You say so, I will obey.
It’s only in my obedience that I can see Your power, Your lordship, Your wisdom, Your blessing, and Your glory.So because You say so, I will obey.
Jesus, You said, “Anyone who loves Me will obey Me” (John 14:23). I do love You, Jesus. No matter what it is, because You say so, I will obey.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In our series on six important spiritual disciplines, our key phrase is “so that”—
I get stronger so that we can get stronger.
For discipline #1: I study my Bible so that I have something to apply to my life.
For discipline #2: I take time for solitude so that I can respond in a God-glorifying way in stressful situations.
Our third spiritual discipline makes people nervous: Giving. So perhaps if I give you the “so that” up front that will help you stick with me. Here it is: I practice the spiritual discipline of giving so that I can encourage others and experience God’s greater blessings.
Jesus has a caution about giving: Don’t give to get earthly recognition (Matthew 6:1-4). He states this with two don’ts and one do:
do not announce your giving
do not calculate or reckon your reward for giving
do expect God’s reward for your giving
The stark contrast is seen between Joseph Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 4:34-5:4. Barnabas gave everything he had received from the sale of a piece of property without expecting anything in return. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give everything they had received from the sale of a piece of property fully expecting some sort of recognition. The results are just as stark and clear: Barnabas was honored by both the church and God, while Ananias and Sapphira were severely punished by God.
When Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 that our giving should be in “secret,” He clearly doesn’t mean that no one knows that we have given. Clearly, in our examples in Acts, people knew that Barnabas had given money to the church.
In two of his public letters, Paul gave public thanks to the church at Philippi for their financial gifts to him, and he called out the church at Corinth for their failure to give as they had promised they were going to (Philippians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 8:11).
Paul noted that the Philippians gave because they knew there was a need, and Paul praised them for this and told them that they would see God’s reward for their generosity (Philippians 4:10-20). We can see our “so that” idea here: Paul was encouraged, he said that the Philippians would have all their needs met, and God was glorified.
Paul used this example of the Philippians as an encouragement to the Corinthians (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-12, 9:5-8). Paul encouraged them to make sure they had a “get to” attitude about giving, not a “have to” obligation. He noted that God blesses the cheerful, get-to giver.
Notice how similar the blessings of God sound to these two churches:
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
When the Bible talks about giving, it is never restricted to money, although that is part of it. The Bible talks about giving in three categories. We could call these The three Ts—
Treasure—our tithes and offerings.
Time—giving our service to those in need.
Talent—using the abilities God has given each believer to build up the Kingdom of God.
How much of our treasure, time, and talent should we give? We should never look for the bare minimum, but we should be lavish givers. C.S. Lewis said it this way in his book Mere Christianity:
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.”
For myself, I am trying to think of spiritual discipline #3 as this prayerful declaration:
I will allow the Holy Spirit to show me how much of my time, talent, and treasure I am privileged to invest in the Kingdom of God. I will gladly do this so that God will meet all my needs here, He will reward me in Heaven, and other saints will be encouraged by my giving.
I hope you will join me in making this your declaration as well.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Happy birthday, USA! 🇺🇸
If we want to keep the freedoms we enjoy, it doesn’t really matter what political party is in power. But it does matter if we are bowing our knees to King Jesus. Psalm 2 tells us how to lose God’s blessing (throwing off our dependence on God) and how to keep God’s blessing (honoring Jesus as Lord).
Today is a day of celebration, but it should also be a day of reflection. Let’s make sure we are all bowing our hearts to Jesus, and let’s pray for our elected officials, that they will also acknowledge Jesus as their King.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
One of the things I remember the most about my Mom is her fierce belief that God had a plan for my life. There were times I struggled in my belief, but she was tenacious in her faith on my behalf. I’m here today doing what I do—which I love doing!—because of my Mom’s faith-filled, persistent prayers. So if I could give two words of encouragement to godly mothers who are praying for their kids it would be this: Don’t quit!
In 2 Kings we meet a godly woman who very much wanted to be a mother. While she waited and prayed for an answer to this prayer, she kept ministering to others. One of the men who benefitted from her gracious hospitality was the prophet Elisha. Whenever the prophet would pass through Shunem, he would stay that this woman’s house, where she and her husband had prepared a room especially for him.
It appears this Shunammite woman is married to a man much older than her. They are without a male heir, so if her husband dies she will lose everything—no property, no voice, no source of income. Clearly this has to be a concern for her, but she doesn’t mention this to Elisha when he asks how he can bless her for their care for him. Perhaps she had resigned herself to the thought that her barrenness was a hopeless situation, but Elisha told her that in a year’s time she would become pregnant with a son. She must have been disappointed before because she says, “Don’t mislead your servant,” as if saying, “Don’t get my hopes up again!”
However, God does give this couple a son, and that little boy is dearly loved! At a very young age, this boy dies suddenly. This could have been a time that anger or depression could have been expected. But not with this woman!
Remember when we looked at Psalm 42 last week? The psalmist was grateful for the experience he had in God’s presence, but now that there is a setback of some kind he is struggling with the “Where is your God?” taunt from his enemies.
When God answers our prayer, the devil loves to whisper, “Lucky break. You didn’t really deserve this.” So if anything goes wrong he can lie again, “See, I told you so!”
This is where we must not merely listen to those thoughts but talk back to them. Perhaps the Shunammite said something like, “You’re right, I didn’t deserve this or earn this gift of my son. This is a gift from God’s grace. God promised this son to me and I believe God will preserve what He gives.”
Moms, you must cling to God tenaciously in faith-filled prayer!
This godly mother shows us what tenacious faith looks like. She took her son into Elisha’s room, placing him on the prophet’s bed, and she quickly sends word to her husband that she is going to find Elisha. When her husband asks what is wrong, her faith-filled answer is, “It’s all right.”
As she gets close to Elisha’s home, he sees her in the distance and sends his servant Gehazi to ask, “Is everything okay?” To which she gives the same faith-filled reply, “Everything is all right.”
When she finally gets to Elisha, she grabs onto him and says words that must have gotten Elisha’s attention immediately: “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” These are the exact same words Elisha said to Elijah three times on the day Elijah was taken to heaven. Just as Elisha clung to the promise of God’s blessing, so did this mother (see 2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6).
God did answer her prayer and raised her son back to life. But this wasn’t the end of the blessing.
Remember that a widow without a son has no standing in the community. To be saved from a famine in Israel, this woman and her family lived for seven years in Philistia. While they were there, her husband died and squatters took over her property.
But in God’s perfect foresight and timing, this woman and her miracle son walked into the king’s throne room just as Gehazi was telling the king about the miraculous resurrection Elisha prayed for. The king is so moved by this story that he doesn’t just restore her land, but he orders the squatters to pay back to her all of the income they earned from her land during the time she was away!
Not just restoration, but blessings beyond imagining (see 2 Kings 8:1-6).
We don’t know who wrote Psalm 116, but it very well could have been this boy who was raised to life. The opening verses talk about God’s deliverance from death, but then the psalm says, “I serve you just as my mother did” (v. 16).
This woman’s tenacious faith resulted in immediate provision for her, a legacy of faith in her son, and a testimony that is still encouraging us 3000 years later!
So let me repeat this to godly mothers who are praying for their families: Don’t quit! There are eternal testimonies and rewards coming that you cannot even perceive!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week we learned that we have a job to do. If we want to see Jesus come back to take us Home, we need to share the Good News with everyone. Jesus said that we didn’t have to obey Him in this Great Commission by ourselves, but we can go in His authority and with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 24:14; 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
In Acts 1:8 notice that Jesus said we are “be My witnesses.” This isn’t an action first, but they are actions that spring out of who we are. So we need to ask: How are we to be His witnesses? Answer: By being blessed by God!
God has desired that we know the blessing of His presence since the very beginning. He instructed the priests to bless the people with these words:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)
The Hebrew word for “peace” in this passage is shalom. One of the most basic definitions for shalom is “nothing missing.” In other words, we are blessed people when we realize there is nothing keeping us back from God’s presence.
If you asked someone in the Old Testament where they thought God’s presence was, they would probably point you to the Tent of Meeting or the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. But that was merely a foreshadowing of what God truly desired for His relationship with us. Jesus promised His followers, “On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). So if Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Him, that means we are also in the Father. In this position, we can experience the nearness to the Father that Jesus knows (see Ephesians 1:3-8).
This nearness is our source of peace: Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you (2 Thessalonians 3:16). In this verse, the Greek word for “peace” is eirene, which means a soul at utter peace with God because it is assured of its eternal Home in God’s presence.
Blessed people are abundance people. Blessed people have all their needs supplied so that they can be a conduit of blessing to others. Our increasing awareness of God’s blessing empowers us to be witnesses for Him.
Let me take you back to the Book of Psalms. In Psalm 67, the psalmist asks for God’s blessing on his life four times in just seven short verses. Why does he desire this blessing? It’s not for himself but for others. Look at just the first two verses of this psalm:
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on usTHAT Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Recall that Jesus commissioned us to go to all nations and that the Holy Spirit empowers our witness to all peoples. This psalmist is asking for God’s blessing so that he can be a witness to everyone. Nine times he says that he desires that all nations or all peoples will know and worship the Most High God.
God’s blessing on His people is really SO THAT all peoples and nations can see His blessing and turn to Him. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is to remind us that we are indeed blessed in Jesus, and that we have a mission to fulfill in taking that blessing to others.
The Holy Spirit positions us to be blessed in Christ. This blessing empowers us to be a witness to all peoples so that they can come to God through Jesus.
It is good for us to pray for the Spirit’s blessing on our lives so that we can BE a blessing to all nations and peoples.
If you would like to check out all of the other messages in our series called We Are: Pentecostal, please click here.
Yes, I believe so IF we recognize why we have been blessed by God.
In God’s perfect timing, the next psalm in our series looking at the Selahs in the Psalms is one that addresses this topic.
Notice the very first word in Psalm 87 is the personal pronoun “He.” There is an assumption the sons of Korah make that their readers will know that “He” is The Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. In fact, they see God as the Prime Mover in this psalm, putting His words at the very middle of the psalm (v. 4).
Just before these quotation marks, we are invited to Selah—pause and carefully listen to God. He announces heavenly citizenship for age-old enemies of Israel: Rehab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush. Peoples from all of these nations are identified as: “those who acknowledge Me” and three times He says they are “born in Zion” (vv. 4-6).
God desires that none should perish. He wants people from every nation, tribe, and language to enjoy His presence forever in the eternal Zion.
The sons of Korah remind us of just how blessed Zion truly is (vv. 1-3) and how God establishes all who have Zion citizenship (v. 5). God does this so that all people will see God’s blessing on those people who acknowledge Him as their Lord and King.
So let’s return to my earlier question: Is it right and biblical for Christians to pray for God to bless America?
Let me ask it another way: Has God blessed America? I believe He has and we should be eternally grateful. I believe this nation was founded on biblical principles, and recognized as a place where people could have the freedom to worship God.
Will God continue to bless America? Psalm 87 says the blessing will last only as long as we Americans acknowledge, “All my fountains are in You” (v. 7). This is a call for us to continually recognize God as our Foundation and Source. We also have to remember that the blessing is only to us so that it can flow through us to all peoples, languages, and tribes.
The blessing stops when we dig our own wells, or we try to hoard the blessing.
There are two phrases in this psalm that stand out to me as prophetic.
Selah (listen to this) and then “I will record” (vv. 3-4)
“The Lord will write in the register” (stop to celebrate) Selah (v. 6)
God keeps perfect records of those who are citizens of Zion because they have acknowledged Jesus as the One who paid the price for their sins to be forgiven. So when John gives us a glimpse of the eternal Zion, he tells us about the rejoicing over those who are there “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9-10, 7:9-10, 21:22-27).
Just as Revelation records spontaneous praise to God, the sons of Korah build in those Selah pauses to worship too:
Glorious things are said of God—praise Him!
He has blessed us by His presence in our midst—praise Him!
People from all tribes are entering Zion—praise Him!
May God continue to bless Americaso that we can use those blessings to tell the world about His love as we invite them into a personal relationship with Jesus!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
There’s a little song that makes me chuckle every time I hear it, and I may have even sung this song a couple of times myself. It goes like this, “I had a lot to do today, but you know what I did instead? I took a nap. It was a very good nap.”
We’ve all been there. There are things we know that we should do, but we simply don’t feel like doing them. We let our feelings drive our actions. There are several seemingly innocent things that we can handle this way, with no apparent problems created for ourselves.
The real problem comes in when our feelings continually drive our actions. Because the caboose which must follow that engine can easily become “my truth.” It goes like this:
I let my feelings take the lead
I act on my feelings
I now believe what I felt was truthful
This could be called pragmatism—allowing a positive outcome to determine what I believe to be truth.
But our feelings may lie to us. Our feelings can make us believe something is harmless, when in fact it may be putting us on a path from which it may be extremely difficult to recover.
Jesus taught us a different way. He prayed this way to His Father, “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17). He may have had in mind these words from the psalmist:
The sum of Your word is truth—the total of the full meaning of all Your individual precepts; and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever. (Psalm 119:160 AMP)
When we let truth drive our actions, we are performing those actions in faith that good feelings will follow. Now the progression goes like this:
I let what I know to be true take the lead
I act on that truth
I feel good for doing the right thing
I may not feel like exercising, but I know it’s good for me. So I do it and then I feel good for doing it, and my body is healthier for doing it.
I may not feel like forgiving the one who wronged me, but I know God says I should. So I do it and then I feel good for doing it, and my emotions are healthier for doing it.
I may not feel like speaking the tough word in love to my friend, but I know the Bible says I should. So I do it and then I feel good for doing it, and my relationship is healthier for doing it.
Letting God’s truth be the engine that drives our actions will result in healthiness and good feelings. But letting my emotions be the engine that drives my actions may sometimes result in temporary good feelings, but the longterm consequences may not be healthy or God-honoring.
We should not say, “God, please bless what I’m doing so that I can feel good about it,” but instead we should say, “God please help me to do what You say is right, and I know I will feel good because Your blessing will be on it.”
Craig T. Owens 