Leaving time behind

Friends,

It's pretty common to have a special awareness of the passage of time around annual milestones. Birthdays, anniversaries, and the turning of the calendar. They all remind us that time marches on relentlessly. And quickly.

Now my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.
They pass by like swift ships,
Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
Job 9:25-26 (NKJV)

The LORD recognizes that coming to grips with the passage of time and our corresponding mortality is no easy thing. The answer is to focus on Him ... the timeless One.

Almighty God is not subject to the limitations of time. He is not restricted to act only in our present time, for acts upon all time at all times. By the way, every time I attempt to understand this, I end up with a headache. But that is because I'm attempting to understand the wrong thing.

The more you and I focus on the Lord, and pursue intimacy and connectedness with Him, the less effect the passage of time has on us. Yes, our physical bodies will deteriorate, and we'll still sometimes forget why we walked into a room.

But our spiritual capacity will grow and strengthen. And we will be far better prepared to live in His eternal presence.

Be encouraged, Jose

Passover to Passover

Friends,

When the LORD first instituted Passover, it was a relatively simple affair. His directions were specific but they were fairly straightforward. We find them in the twelfth chapter of Exodus ...

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
Exodus 12:15-17 [NKJV]

Keep in mind that these instructions were given to a people that was approaching the end of centuries of captivity. There were very few tangible reminders of God's promise, only the stories of journeys taken and battles fought by old sheep herders and their sons.

Once the LORD delivered Israel from the grip of Egypt, He began to unveil more mysteries. Prior to their entrance into the Promised Land, God's people had forty years -- being led by the very presence of God -- to learn the deeper meanings of what He had been teaching them. And so, near the end of this journey, the LORD introduces more into the Passover feast:

"On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast; unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. And you shall present an offering made by fire as a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah you shall offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram; you shall offer one-tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs; also one goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you. You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. In this manner you shall offer the food of the offering made by fire daily for seven days, as a sweet aroma to the LORD; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work."
Numbers 28:16-25 [NKJV]

As you can see, God has made the preparations more extensive, the worship more intense, and the sacrifice more complete. At first, the children of God could only make minimal preparations. After years of hearing His voice, God expects more.

The same is true today.
We must not stay in our state of initial salvation. We must grow. If a 30-year-old man still sucked his thumb and needed a diaper, we would recognize that something was terribly wrong. If a 30-year Christian has no deeper knowledge of the LORD than he did when he first came to Christ, then we must likewise realize that something is terribly wrong.

Where are you today in your walk with God? Have you grown? Have your prayers changed? Are you doing battle against the powers and principalities of evil? How much of your prayers are about asking for yourself versus interceding on behalf of your brethren?

Take time this weekend to consider these questions and to go before God. Listen for His answer. And be resolved to obey His word.

Be encouraged, Jose

Where are all the old men?

Friends,

I've been listening to an absolutely remarkable series of podcasts over the last month or so. John Eldredge has recorded these in support of a book his ministry is releasing this spring entitled Fathered by God. His premise is that every man must pass through six stages in his life: Beloved Son, Cowboy, Warrior, Lover, King and Sage. The last stage, that of Sage struck a deep chord for me because I've come to realize that there are no old men of God in my life.

Certainly, I have several male friends in their sixties, but only two who profess to be Christian. And unfortunately, even both have confessed Christ for many years, neither has really grown to be an elder in the Body of Christ.

The role of the Sage is critical to those of us that are "coming up through the ranks," so to speak. It is so necessary to the discipleship of men that the LORD has, throughout history, specifically assigned Godly elders to various figures in Scripture:

And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you did call me."
Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place. -- 1 Samuel 3:8-9 [NKJV]

Samuel went on to anoint Saul and David as kings of Israel, counseling, rebuking, mentoring and teaching them for the rest of his days. His preparation for that role came at the feet of Eli, an old priest whose eyes were "growing dim."

The temptation is surely strong for a man, having worked for several decades, to retire to the sunshine and fairways of Florida or Arizona. But we who are in the thick of battle need you. We need you to be grown up in the LORD. We need to you be a conduit for God's word. We need someone to follow.

Wherever you are... come back. We stand ready to listen.

Be encouraged, Jose

Ransomed Heart Ministries Podcasts, click here ... Going Deeper, Podcasts