Mystery is to be Sought Out..Craig Denison Ministries

 Mystery is to be Sought Out

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

One of the most scandalous truths of the gospel is that our Creator longs to be encountered by his creation. God longs to meet with us. His greatest desire is for relationship with us. I can’t fathom why God in all his holiness and goodness makes himself available to us, but it is the powerful truth of Scripture. God is pursuing each of us with his relentless love, seeking out those who might respond to his open invitation by opening the door of their hearts to him. My prayer is that in response to God’s desire to meet with his people we would be those who say yes to centering our lives around his nearness. May your week be marked by the reality of God’s presence and love.

Scripture:“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Proverbs 25:2

Devotional:           

The fact that God conceals things in mystery for his children to search out is one of the most curious and wonderful truths of Scripture. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” We who have been made kings and queens by the blood of Jesus have been granted access to the mysteries of God. God in his grace has given us the right to know the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

What would relationship with the God of the universe be without mystery? What would it be like to know the God who has formed galaxies and planets beyond anything we will ever discover without that which remains unknown? We are made to be enthralled by the mysteries of our heavenly Father. We are created to search out that which is not made plain to us. God is inviting us to ask, question, seek, and find that which transcends the natural and stretches into the unknown: the eternal.

Colossians 2:1-3 says,

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

All mystery finds its resolve in the person of Jesus Christ. Within him dwells “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And the more we get to know the living, active person of Jesus through his Spirit, the more we receive important, transformative revelation. You see, even something as foundational to the Christian faith as grace is laden with mystery. The powerful effects of Jesus’ grace-filled sacrifice baffle the mind. How could one man in laying down his life make righteousness and salvation available to all? But in God’s grace this is wholly possible. And only when we truly seek out the mysteries laden within grace will we begin to experience all the powerful effects it has to offer us.

May we as God’s children grow to love the mysteries laid open for us by our loving heavenly Father. May we enjoy the process of searching out the deeper things within God’s heart with the help of the Holy Spirit. And may that which is unseen, heavenly, and eternal begin to have a profound impact on our perspectives, emotions, thoughts, and actions. Search out the mysteries of your faith today and discover just how vast and available the love of your heavenly Father is for you.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the call before you to search out the deeper things of God. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire for the mysteries of your faith.

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” Proverbs 25:2

“In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:24-27

2. What parts of your faith have you yet to fully search out? Ask God to reveal what mysteries he’s laying open before you that you might walk in a deeper revelation of who he is and what he’s done.

3. Take time to search out an aspect of your relationship with God. It might be something about his creation or an aspect like grace, forgiveness, or love.

“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’” Psalm 27:8

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:1-3

Coupled with God’s desire for us to seek out mystery is the truth that we are not meant to fully grasp every part of God and Christianity. Part of the beauty of our relationship with an omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal God is that there will always be parts of him that are a mystery to us. How God has always existed and is both three and one are paradoxes too great for comprehension. We must simply trust the truth of Scripture for what it is at times and not dwell on that which we cannot attain. We must reconcile only that which is intended to be reconciled. May you search out all the mysteries opened to you by the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who dwells within you, while at the same time enjoying all the unknowables meant to stir up awe and wonder within you.

Extended Reading: Colossians 1

The Passion to Obey..Dr.Charles Stanley

 The Passion to Obey

Dr.Charles Stanley

John 14:15

For a sermon I gave several years ago, I jotted down a list and titled it "The Evolution of a Passion to Obey God." That passion doesn't just spring up, full-blown at salvation. We do enter our new life in Christ with a desire to please Him, and that does include obeying Him. But an intensely determined pursuit of His will develops more slowly.

In fact, the first stage--fear of the consequences of disobedience--barely qualifies as reverence for God. But as we progress in our faith and form a commitment to obey the Lord, we eventually reach the final stage, which is love and devotion to Christ. Wouldn't you rather follow Him out of love than out of fear?

Getting from the first stage to the last begins with what you might expect--an increasing knowledge of Jesus Christ. As we dig into God's Word to see how He provided for the saints, we develop a desire for His best. Men like Moses, David, and Paul weren't satisfied with what the world had to offer, and we won't be either when we witness His work in the lives of His followers. So we test out obedience and discover that God's promised blessings are real. As we acquire a record of consistent rewards for doing His will, we recognize the wisdom of obedience.

Can you find yourself on the spectrum between fear and devotion? It is my hope that you have committed to obeying God and that you are reading His Word daily to learn how to keep your promise. God wants your best--your passionate pursuit of His will--because He is giving His best to you.

Seasoned in Prayer..Rev. Kyle Norman

 Seasoned in Prayer

by Rev. Kyle Norman

“When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened to Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” (Daniel 6:10)

The Book of Daniel is filled with exciting tales. Daniel stands before kings proclaiming the sovereignty of God. His friends are cast into fiery furnaces, and he himself is fed to the lions. Yet through it all, Daniel remains unharmed. Daniel’s life stands as a testimony that faithfulness overcomes fear. God’s power is mightier than the power of would-be kings and tyrants.

Of course, the secret of Daniel’s life, and the strength within his faith, is his heart of prayer.  Daniel pours his heart out to God in prayer, passionately and consistently. Daniel’s prayer life, therefore, serves as a model for our own.

It is Daniel’s dedication to prayer that gets him in trouble with the Babylonian straps and administrators. We read about this in Daniel 6. Daniel is an old man at this point, well-seasoned in life and in prayer. In fact, Daniel’s life of dedicated prayer was well known. It was public knowledge. We read that Daniel prayed three times a day “as he had done before.” Daniel had long established himself as a man of prayer. This was one of the reasons why his advice and counsel were so sought after. People knew that Daniel communicated with the Lord, that he enjoyed an interactive relationship with his God. Daniel spoke to God, and God spoke to Daniel. True, Daniel’s prayers occurred in private; he knelt down in his room with a window opened towards Jerusalem. Yet while his prayers were private, they were not hidden. This is how Daniel was caught defying the King’s decree.

It is no surprise that Daniel responds to the King’s decree with prayer; it is the way he responds to all things. Scripture describes the scene this way, “When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went to his upstairs room. . .three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed.” Daniel knew that the decree meant trouble for the faithful Israelites living in Babylon. He wasn’t the only one who remained faithful to Yahweh. Daniel, a man gifted with interpretation, knew what the decree meant. King Darius had been manipulated by the Babylonian administrators. He had signed a decree that all in Babylon must bow down to the king in prayer, an act which violated God’s first commandment. The trap has been set, and all the faithful Israelites could now be targeted and sent to the lions. 

Do we respond to life’s difficulties in prayer? When we find ourselves caught unawares by the twists and turns of life, do we drop to our knees? Or, instead, do we try to meet the challenge head-on, trusting in the strength of our will and the sweat of our brow? How deep does our reservoir of prayer go?

Daniel could have acted from strength and power. He could have leveraged his own political clout; he was, after all, third in power over all of the Babylonian kingdom. Or, he could have chosen to bide his time. After all, the decree was only good for 30 days. Daniel could have refrained from prayer for a season, thus ensuring his safety. Daniel, however, was a humble man. He didn’t combat manipulation with manipulation, politics with politics, or power with power. Daniel was a man of prayer, and his prayerful connection to God could not be sacrificed. And so, Daniel knelt and called out to God. His prayer was timely and specific. Scripture records that “The administrators went as a group and found Daniel, praying and asking God for help” (Daniel 6:11). In response to the obstacles before him, Daniel sought the one he knew could protect and save. 

Intersecting Faith and Life:
How might we follow Daniel’s example? It can be easy to view our prayers as something so intensely personal that we rarely speak about it. True, Jesus does teach that “when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). This is exactly what Daniel models. And yet, as private as his prayers were, they were also public. They were known. 

How might you make your life of prayer known? What might it mean for others to know that you begin or end the day in prayer? Like Daniel, could your reliance on prayer be so integrated into your life that it becomes the very foundation of who you are and how you live in this world? Of course, this doesn’t have to occur in a self-aggrandizing way. Jesus warns his followers about praying out of a desire for human praise (Matthew 6:5). Yet this verse doesn’t mean that our dependence on prayer, especially in the difficult moments of our life, cannot be public knowledge.

Daniel’s example proves that the life of prayer testifies to the strength of prayer. Like Daniel emerging from the den of lions, people see the effect of our prayers.   When others know that we respond to the events of life prayerfully, they are able to witness the result of prayer. And maybe, like Darius, they will praise the Lord as a result. 

Further Reading:

• Philippians 4:6
• Matthew 6: 5-14

What Philippians 4 Can Teach You about Contentment..Cortney Whiting

 What Philippians 4 Can Teach You about Contentment

By Cortney Whiting

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:12-13

Mark Twain said, “Comparison is the death of joy.” I have experienced that joylessness in my life. The pitfall of comparison and the feeling that we are not enough pervades across our culture. Social media highlights how many friends and followers a person has. The brands we own determine the status of our wealth. The longing for more must stop. Recently, my children visited a house and asked me when we could own a house that was a mansion. Discontentment apparently is learned at a young age.

So how can we combat thoughts that who we are and what we have is not enough?

I believe we can learn a valuable lesson from Philippians 4. Paul founded the church in Philippi on his second missionary journey and later wrote the letter of Philippians to the church during his imprisonment in Rome. After persecuting the early church, the converted apostle faced trials of many kinds for the cause of Christ. The theme of joy threads throughout the writing.

As Paul closes the letter, he reminds the Philippians that their citizenship resides in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Because of our knowledge of who we are in Christ and our future inheritance through Him, we can be encouraged to live out our faith in confidence with the principles found within the text.

Here are 5 things Philippians 4 teaches us about living a content life:

1. Stand firm (4:1)

The realities of this world are not what we as believers were created for and they are not our final reality. Until Christ makes everything whole and right, we are to stand fast and firm in our faith. Given the context of not feeling that we are good enough, this charge to stand firm in our faith in a fallen world knowing that our ultimate citizenship belongs in heaven should give us hope.

2. Rejoice (4:4)

Paul emphatically commands the church to always rejoice in the Lord. Regardless of our circumstances, we are to always express our joy found through Christ. In recounting all God has done in our lives, we realize how blessed we are. Our thoughts reside not on our own inadequacies or on what we do not have, but rather on Christ’s sufficiency.

3. Do not be anxious (4:6)

Paul tells the Philippians to not be anxious about anything. Feelings of inadequacy often breed anxiety. Yet, we are to cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us.

4. Allow God’s peace to rule (4:7)

Paul gives the Philippians the promise of God’s peace that surpasses all understanding. It is this peace that will guard their hearts and their minds. As believers today, we must allow this peace to infiltrate our lives, especially in times when we feel discontentment lurking.

5. Do everything in God’s strength (4:13)

Knowing that all his identity and value comes from Jesus Christ alone, Paul declares that he can do all that he does by God’s enabling strength. The lesson for believers struggling today with any thoughts of inferiority is that anything we do is done with the strength God bestowed us with and should be seen as such. Therefore, whatever we do, should be done to the glory of God and should never be seen as inferior because it was done by His power.

I still have days where I want to compare myself with others or where I feel that I will never reach the unobtainable bar called “Enough.” Yet, on those days, I fall back into the grace of my Heavenly Father and simply rest, knowing that my identity and my joy resides in Christ alone.

A Prayer to See..Jessica Van Roekel

 A Prayer to See

By Jessica Van Roekel

“And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And the blind man said to him, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.” Mark 10:50-52

What do you want from me? This is a question I’ve asked my children, my husband, and my church when I’ve been frustrated trying to guess their expectations. Expectations, especially unspoken, can create trouble in our lives. It leads to assumptions where we guess, sometimes wrongly, and then disappointment comes in waves. But do we know how to answer that when Jesus asks the question?

We might want someone to carry our burdens. Or maybe we don’t want any burdens at all. We might want our children to walk with the Lord, but their choices keep leading them elsewhere. Then we struggle to have hope. We wonder where we went wrong. We cast blame on friends and entertainments influence. Maybe we’re tired of living in the spiritual wilderness, and we wonder when we’ll make it to that elusive oasis.

Or maybe we’re in the difficult middle of caring for aging parents while still raising our kids. We bounce back and forth from releasing our kids to greater independence while navigating the need for our parents to depend on us more and more. In the maelstrom of living life, we start to focus on surviving the chaos that we squelch our desires because there’s no room for them. We only know that our burdens get heavier and heavier, and our eyes grow blind to hope.

But sometimes, we repress our desires for other reasons. We’re disappointed with people or God. We hope for something, but the opposite happens. We’re too afraid to pray because we assume that it won’t make a difference. Or we’ve believed God for a promise, but that promise remains unfulfilled. And we plod through our lives, squeezed tight by the burdens we carry.

We know Jesus heals, bears burdens, and promises victory, and we wonder when it will be our turn. We sit on the sideline of our life, letting life happen to us, desperate for Jesus to walk by like he did with the crowds at Jericho. I love the story of the blind beggar for two reasons. One, because when he heard that Jesus was near, he called for Jesus repeatedly even though the crowds tried to hush him. Second, because he was ready to answer Jesus’ question.

There are times when the chaos of our world shouts at us to stop calling out for Jesus. Our voice gets lost in the loudness of everything that demands our attention. We start to wonder if God even hears us, but faith propels us onward. It’s the belief that God sees us and that he wants us to answer the question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Just as the blind man articulated his desire and was ready to throw off his cloak—the thing that his identity was wrapped in—so we can be ready to throw off our worries and concerns to stand before Jesus with our answer. The blind man wanted to see. What do you want Jesus to do for you? At times, we have so many thoughts swirling in our brains that answering this question leaves us speechless. It’s in these moments when we can seek God for the answer to what we need Jesus to do in our lives.

Let’s pray:

Holy God,
You know my need. You know what’s crippling me. You know my burdens that weigh heavy on my heart. I come to you today, blinded by worries and what-ifs and what-nows, and I stand before and ask to see. I want to see you move in my circumstances. I want to see your peace flood my heart. I want to see your joy rise inside me despite the heartache I hold in my hands. I know you can do a mighty work in my life, and I praise you for who you are and trust you to open my eyes to see you today.
In Jesus’ name, Amen

What Thanksgiving Reveals about You..Adrian Rogers

 What Thanksgiving Reveals about You

 Adrian Rogers

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15

If worry is the opposite of faith, then thanksgiving is the expression of faith—in fact, the highest expression. God has blessed you, but you may not think so if you’re measuring blessings by the barometer of health, wealth, and happiness. 

You say, “I don’t think I have as much to thank God for as some other people.” Well, the apostle Paul was in a filthy Philippian jail, awaiting a possible death sentence, when he wrote, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

Unthankful people are never happy people. They’re filled with bitterness, fear, negativism, selfishness and self-pity.

My friend, let me tell you what blessings we have. “Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits…” (Psalm 68:19). God has loaded your wagon. How often? Every day! “It is of the LORD’S mercies we’re not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every day you wake up to blessings.

Thank Him for spiritual blessings. Thank Him for the simple blessings of good, clean water, enough food, shelter, the simple things. We are so blessed. Refuse to worry. Instead, carry everything to God in prayer. Rejoice in the presence of the Lord. Rely upon the power of the Lord. Reflect on the provision of the Lord. Rest in the peace of the Lord. Do everything with thanksgiving.