When I think of Gideon I normally think of a man of great courage who the led 300 men that routed the innumerable army of the Midianites. When I read Judges 7:9-11 I was reminded that their was more to the story. Notice what the text says,

“That same night the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.”

The story continues with Gideon going with Purah to overhear what the enemy was discussing! No debate. He was afraid and took the option to learn more about he enemy rather than immediately take God at his word. What did he hear? He heard the opposing army discussing a dream in which they thought it meant that Gideon was going to defeat them in battle!

The story continues vs 15 which says, “As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped.” The word “worshipped” means that he fell down on his knees and touch the ground with his forehead in worship of God!

What does this story tell us about the God we serve? He was very patient with Gideon and knew his weakness and lack of faith. He allowed him to see the certainty of God’s deliverance if he would respond in faith.

What does this say about Gideon? His first response to God’s promise was doubt. But, I think we also see that courage does not mean a person will necessarily be fearless.  It took great courage to go down close enough to the Midianites to hear them talking.  At the same time, he was not a superstar. He had imperfections and yet God worked through them to accomplish his will. After hearing the Midianites discussion, Gideon then responded in faith and assembled the troops to crush their army with the courage that came from trusting the LORD to do as he promised.

Father, I thank you that you are such a patient God and know me fully and know my weaknesses just like Gideon. As you helped Gideon work through his lack of faith would you continue to work in me to help me trust you to work in my life? May you work in me to make my first response to your leadership one of trust rather than doubt. May you give me the courage that comes from taking you at your Word as Gideon did!

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

I love studying the letters of Paul, but sometimes I forget how much he hated Jesus and the Church prior to his conversion. In Acts 8:3 it says, “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” The word “ravage” can mean “smash or destroy.”

What did “smashing” the Church look like? In Acts 26:10-11 Paul explains himself when he says, “I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” Paul was enraged at the followers of Jesus and he was involved in making sure many were beaten, tortured and put to death.

In Acts 9:1 Paul is described again as “breathing threats,” against the disciples which means to “threaten strongly” with his desire to have them murdered. As Kistemaker summarizes, “everything Paul thinks, says, and does is dominated by his desire to destroy the followers of Jesus.”

After terrorizing Jerusalem, Paul gains permission to pursue believers in other cities. On his way to Damascus, he meets Jesus and he is never the same. One encounter and he was a new man. That same zeal he had to persecute the Church changed to a zeal to proclaim the Gospel! Paul most likely ended up in some of those same prisons he took Christians to and endured some of the same treatment. How ironic!

Father, you do not sugar coat the truth about Paul. He was an amazing servant of yours but he started out as an evil persecutor of the Church and had a hand in the death and torture of many saints. In spite of this, you offered him the gift of forgiveness!

Although I have not been involved in opposition to you and your Church like Paul, I certainly did not deserve salvation more than Paul. I too was lost in sin, but my sin was just different than Paul’s. Thank you again for saving those lost in sin through accepting the gift of forgiveness made available through believing in Jesus Christ. Thank you for saving me!

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

This morning I was struck by Jer. 17:5-8. In that passage Jeremiah is contrasting the “cursed” man with the “blessed” man. The context is one where Judah was in serious trouble. They had abandoned their allegiance to God and had embraced other gods. In addition, they were about to be invaded by the Babylonians and were trusting in Egypt to protect them.

Jeremiah says that those who trust in man are like a barren desert bush whereas those who trust in God always have the resources for life and are fruitful. Charles Dyer summarizes the situation well when he says,

“God indicated that a person who trusts in man for protection is cursed because his heart has turned away from God. Instead of prospering, he will wither away like a desert bush. God would make him as unfruitful as the barren salt land around the Dead Sea, unable to support life.

A righteous person is blessed because his confidence (trust) is in God. Unlike the person in verses 5–6, a righteous person will flourish like a tree planted by the water (cf. Ps. 1:3). When difficulties (represented figuratively by heat and drought) come, he will not fear. Instead he will continue to prosper like a tree that bears fruit and whose leaves remain green.”

Father, your Word clearly shows that the heat will come in life. The question is, “How will I respond?” Will I take things into my own hands and trust in others and myself, or will I first turn to you and then choose to trust in you as I actively follow you in the midst of the heat?

Thank you for showing me again today, that happiness is the byproduct of trusting in you regardless of my circumstances. May you be the allegiance of my heart and may I follow you when life gets hard, trusting in your resources and being fruitful as you work through me.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

What do you think of when you think of Moses? If you are like me, you may have thought about the great leadership Moses provided leading the people out of Egypt toward the promised land.

Moses’s great leadership did not come out of a vacuum and really takes place in the third and final season of his life. In Stephen’s summary of Moses’s life in Acts chapter 7, he broke the life of Moses up into three 40 year periods. The first season of 40 years was when Moses grew up under the influence of the Pharaoh’s household. At the conclusion of this time Moses is described in this way, “Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” Wow! Certainly he is ready for great things! But as the story unfolds, apparently that thought is premature.

The next season of his life comes out of nowhere and doesn’t seem to fit the story. Moses flees to Midian for 40 years and lives as an exile because of his murder of an Egyptian. What must Moses have been thinking at that point? What a change from living in the seat of power to that of an exile who now appeared to have no future. As it turns out, this season was not a waste for him, but was all part of God’s training for Moses.  The best was yet to come.

As unexpectedly as Moses fled to Midian, an angel now appears to Moses.  This event introduces the start of the third season of 40 years in his life.  It is at this time he is allowed to experience the great adventure of leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt to their new home and to enjoy a very unique relationship with God!

As I look back on my life I can see seasons of my life as well. For me the seasons would be my upbringing, salvation in college, service in ministry, seminary, marriage and parenting, the work world and then back into the pastorate. It is easier to see the seasons of life when I look back, but hard to see them when I am living them and I certainly can’t see what the future will be like. Is this my last season or is there more to come?

Father, I do not know where I am in the seasons of life you have for me. I can’t see what the future holds, but I can express my great thanks for how you have led me in life and I look forward to your continued leadership of my life and my family. Have your way in me and with me.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

Have you wrestled with the meaning and purpose of life? What is it that should capture the longing of my heart so that it becomes the focus of my life?

Solomon tried to answer this question in the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecc. 1:14 he said, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and a striving after the wind.” Since the fall, man has struggled to answer this question because it seems that there is no answer to the meaning of life if you only look at life “under the sun.” In fact, some Greek philosophers used the term “logos” to try to explain the meaning of life. To them the logos described an impersonal, “divine reason,” or “wisdom” that controlled the universe. This impersonal force was unknowable. Is man just created and set free to try to make sense of life under the control of some impersonal force, or is there another answer?

John in his evangelistic Gospel tells us that the Logos is not some impersonal force or reason that controls the universe, but the Logos is a person! This person is Jesus. He is God the Son and he has explained the Father to us. In John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God and the Word (Logos) was God.” In verse 14 John says, “and the Word (Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Wow! Jesus is the Logos. He communicates God to man and he is knowable. A relationship with Jesus provides meaning and purpose for my life. Jesus alone can fill up my mind and my heart!

Father, thank you for sending your Son into this world. He is the Logos, the one who controls life and the reason for life. Help me to make Jesus the priority in my life that he should be.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

Joshua gives a good reminder of what a healthy relationship with God looks like. In Joshua 22:5 is it says, “Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

A number of things stood out to me today as I read this chapter. The first thing that caught my attention is the phrase, “with all your heart and soul.” This was a Hebrew formula used to describe the whole person. Therefore, I am to love God with my whole being.

The second thing that hit me is a question, “what does such a love for God look like?” I think we see aspects of this whole life commitment when Joshua says we should walk in his ways, keep his commandments, cling (be true) to him and serve him. This comprehensive picture shows that “Loving God is much more than an affirmation or a feeling; it is obedience, loyalty, and service to God above all else” (Nelson Study Bible).

Father, this is a fresh reminder that my obedience is not obligation or legalism to a code of conduct, but a whole life commitment to make you my number one priority in life and live like it. I need to ask myself, “Am I being true to you?” “Are you the ultimate allegiance of my heart?” Thank you for your love for me and may I grow in my very real and practical love relationship with you.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

Do you wrestle with seeing Christ’s character displayed in your life? Paul gives us some great insight on this topic in the letter to the Galatians. In Gal. 5:19 he says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident..” and in contrast to this, in verse 23 Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is…”

This contrast of “works” and “fruit” is very striking. The flesh, that part of me that naturally wants to please myself instead of God is capable of doing many things, but the result of my works are sinful and do not result in life change.

What is the solution? Paul changes terminology to horticultural terms when he discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He says the Spirit produces fruit. This description is striking for a couple of reasons. The first is that the term “fruit” is singular even though Paul gives is a long list of individual fruits after this statement. He does this to show that I should be progressing in all the fruit of the Spirit listed all at the same time. That is how we know the Spirit is active in us.

Secondly, fruit is describing something that is not the result of my effort. but is the natural result of the Spirit working in my life. Instead of striving to make myself more like Jesus, I need to yield to the Spirit so that he can progressively produce all of his fruit in me.

It is only through the Spirit’s influence in my life that I can overcome the flesh and be transformed to live like Jesus from the inside out. This fruit of the Spirit comes as a whole not one virtue at a time. My life should increasingly display all of the fruit of the Spirit at the same time. Am I progressing in all the fruit of the Spirit in my life? If not, I need to yield to the leadership of the Spirit so he can produce his fruit in me.

Father, thank you for giving me a solution to my natural tendency to sin. Thank you for sending me a helper in the Holy Spirit. As Jesus accomplished justification for me, may I yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit so that he can produce fruit in harmony with your character.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

In the first 10 verses of Psalm 147 the writer gives a seemingly endless list of reasons to praise God for his greatness. After the magnificence of God is clearly shown so that the reader is in awe of him, the writer says something that is almost shocking. He says, “the LORD takes delight in his faithful followers, and in those who wait for his loyal love” (NET Bible).

Are you kidding me?! This incomprehensible God just described takes delight in his faithful followers and in those who wait for him to express his loyal love in their lives? WOW! Our God is not some distant force that is not involved in his creation. His is intimately involved in my life. My faithfulness to him, and my choice to wait for his loving provision in every area of my life brings him pleasure!

Father, how I can know you and live in a way that causes you to delight in me is almost to much to comprehend. Help me to see the significance of being faithful to you and give me your grace to wait for your loving provision in my life as I live each day. What a privilege it is to walk in a relationship with you!

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

Matthew 20:20-28 is an amazing passage. The mother of James and John (Salome) asks Jesus for her sons to have special privilege in His Kingdom. Most think that Salome was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. That makes James and John cousins of Jesus. So here we have James and John trying to take advantage of family to gain special privilege. Of course the text says the other 10 disciples were indignant at their attempts. All of them though clearly misunderstood what greatness is from the perspective of Jesus.

Barclay summarizes Jesus’ counter-cultural view of greatness well when he says, “The world may assess a man’s greatness by the number of people whom he controls and who are at his beck and call; or by his intellectual standing and his academic eminence; or by the number of committees of which he is a member; or by the size of his bank balance and the material possessions which he has amassed; but in the assessment of Jesus Christ these things are irrelevant. His assessment is quite simply—how many people has he helped?”

As Jesus concluded his teaching in this passage he says, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Father, it is easy for me to forget how you evaluate greatness. I can find myself pursuing position, power and influence, but you simply want me to give my life away serving others. Help me to be a servant of others and view greatness like you do.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff

Happiness is one of those things that seems to be like water in your hand—it seems to always get away. Today I was challenged with thinking properly about happiness. If I seek happiness I will never find it. Happiness is not based upon my circumstances but is a byproduct of something else. Happiness comes from within and is sourced in my relationship with God.

“Blessed (happy) is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.“ (Psalm 1:1-2)

Jesus also talks about this concept in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

In fact, the word “blessed” is used 121 times in the New Testament and it never says “the happy person is the one who seeks happiness.” Happiness is the fruit of other things—primarily being rightly related to God and His Word.

Father, thank you for the reminder that lasting happiness is not found in my circumstances and is the fruit of my relationship with you. Help me to make you the primary allegiance of my heart. That is the only place to find happiness and fulfillment, for you are my God.

Following Jesus with you,

Jeff