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The Love Test

They Will Know You Belong To Jesus By Your Love

It is always easier to be active than loving, to be charismatically gifted than loving, to be prophetically certain than loving, to be biblically astute than loving. But none of those are substitutes for love. The first characteristic God expects in you is that you love. 1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.” Thus, John says love is to be the very essence of who you are; the manifestation of your character: “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Corinthians 13:3 (MSG)

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Are you a loving person? “Sure,” you say, but really, is love the preeminent characteristic of your life? It should be, since you belong to God, and love is his very essence; the manifestation of his character. 1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.” Thus, John says love is to be the very essence of who you are; the manifestation of your character: “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

Let me suggest a sobering way to measure yourself against the kind of love you have been called to exhibit in every aspect of your life—in your home, at work, when you are on social media, at all times, in every place, with all people! Read Paul’s description of love from 1 Corinthians 13:4-6, but substitute your name whenever the word “love” appears:

“LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind. LOVE does not envy, LOVE does not boast, LOVE is not proud. LOVE is not rude, LOVE is not self-seeking, LOVE is not easily angered, LOVE keeps no record of wrongs. LOVE does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. LOVE always protects, LOVE always trusts, LOVE always hopes, LOVE always perseveres. LOVE never fails!”

Hmm! If you’re like me, you and God have some work to do to get you up to speed in the love department!

Going Deep With God: Here’s a risky assignment: Ask the people who know you best how you measure up in the Love Test of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

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God’s Promissory Note Of Love

Worship Then, Worship Now, Worship In Eternity

When you plow through the tabernacle details and are getting a bit bored, or tempted to skip past them, just remember that they are reminding you of a God who cares about your worship because through your worship he wants you to be close to him and him close to you. And furthermore, those details are a promissory note to you that one day in the eternal future, there will no need of a tabernacle because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be our tabernacle.”

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 37:1-9

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.

In chapter after chapter over the last sixteen chapters in Exodus we are provided exacting details of the tabernacle, its furnishing and the supplies that will be used for worship. How exciting this must have been for the children of Israel, who up to this point, worshipped a God who took no form and had no sacred temple where the worshipper could meet with him. Unlike the surrounding nations, their God was invisible. Now he would have a home, and they would have a place worthy of a deity.

From our point of view, it is very likely that as we read this tabernacle minutiae between Exodus 25-40 we may be bored and tempted to “speed read” if not skip over it entirely. Yet since we hold a high view of Scripture, namely, that all sixty-six books of the Bible are inspired by God, and are therefore “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), we must conclude that God included these chapters as a blue print for worship that still has some application for both our corporate and private worship today. And it does.

Many have undertaken the task of explaining the significance of the tabernacle, but that is neither my expertise nor my purpose here. But I would point out three general “take-aways” from this chapter, and its companion chapters, that should remind us of the grace and mercy of the up-close and personal God to whom we belong.

Firstly, it reminds us that Almighty God, the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, is worthy of our highest praise and continual adoration. In the artistry and richness of the tabernacle—made according to his design—he tells us that our most careful and costly worship is due him.

Secondly, in calling his people to construct a tabernacle that he, himself, has designed, he is showing us that he has come “to dwell,” literally, to tabernacle, in the midst of his people. That is why his people must be holy, worship him in his holiness, and themselves be holy. But more than that, think of how amazing it was for a God to dwell in his awesome but loving presence among his people! And he does. What other god is like Israel’s God. There is no other. How merciful and lovingly kind Yaweh is!

But thirdly, as significant as this house of worship was for the people of Israel as they journeyed through the desert and later on possessed the Promised Land, the tabernacle was also a picture of what was to come—a prophetic foreshadow of a time when God would come to permanently and personally dwell among his people. He would come one day in the glorious incarnation of his Son (John 1:14), and would again one day return in the Second Coming to usher in his permanent and personal dwelling among his people in the eternal kingdom.

When you plow through the tabernacle details and are getting a bit bored, just remember, those details are reminding you of a God who cares about your worship because through your worship he wants you to be close to him and him close to you. So much so does the Creator desire intimacy with you, his creation, that he sent his Son to physically, literally, bring the tabernacle to you and through his death, make a way—a new and living way—into the place of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies. And the full and final fulfillment of that Divine desire to have intimate closeness with you and all his people will be consummated at the Second Coming when there will be no “temple in the eternal city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22)

Learn to read between the details of the tabernacle the promissory note of love that God has left for you.

Going Deeper: Exodus 37, along with all the chapters between Exodus 25-40, are in a sense, a pre-incarnate sneak peek of what God has planned for his people in both the First and the Second Coming of Jesus. In anticipation of that, re-read John 1 and Revelation 21—and do it from a heart of grateful worship.

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God, Help Me To See My Real Enemy

52 Simple Prayers for Each Week of the Year

Satan hates God, but since he can’t get to God, he goes after you. He is behind every conflict, upheaval, and attack in your life and in your world. Of course, he manipulates people and uses circumstances in the visible realm, but make no mistake, the Enemy is behind it all seeking to steal, kill and destroy. Don’t fall for attacking the wrong enemy. Put on the armor of God and take the fight to the Evil One. And don’t fear: Jesus already defeated him at the cross. You’re just in the mop up campaign, and it will last just a little while longer.

A Simple Prayer to Defeat Satan:

God, help me to see the real enemy—The Enemy—behind every conflict, every upheaval, and every attack. Too often I focus on “flesh and blood” causes, but it is the Evil One who hates me because I belong to you. It is he who uses people and circumstances to derail your plan for me and my trust in your sufficiency. So give me eyes to see, help me to exercise discernment, and remind me to go to battle against him in the armor you have provided the next time I am tempted to take it out on someone else.
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You Are Jaw-Droppingly Gifted

The Gifts That God Imparts To You Make You Very Special

SYNOPSIS: It is through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the body of Christ ministers effectively to God, to itself, and even to the world. How awesome is it that God would share his grace with his children, you and me, through the gifts that he places within us, allowing us to be vessels through which his supernatural power flows as the Spirit enables us.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 36:1

The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.

As you read about the work of the uber-skilled craftsman that God anointed for the construction of the tabernacle, you are tempted to stand back in jaw-dropping amazement at the incredible gifting of the Holy Spirit that enabled these workers, Bezalel and Oholiab, to pull off this stunning feat. But do you realize that “the Lord has gifted” you, too. And when your gifts interact with the rest of your spiritual shape, your personality, experiences and passions, the angels stand back in jaw-dropping amazement at what the Holy Spirit has enabled you to do, too!

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 12:1 and 7, “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant…. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” What follows is Paul’s description of the body of Christ building itself up and functioning in its God-given call to be the dwelling place of God and repository of truth in the world. Essential to this process of edification is the operation of spiritual gifts within the body. Paul says each one has at least one gift, these gifts are determined and empowered by the Spirit, and they are to be used for the common good, i.e., “as a means of helping the entire church.” (vs. 7 NLT)

When you understand and begin to operate in your gifts, serving according to your passion, the church is unleashed to experience the effectiveness and success that Christ envisioned when he said he would build his church. And the widespread, Spirit-directed operation of the gifts active among all the church members indicates the church’s degree of health. When people are operating in their gifts and authentic ministry is occurring, there is no limit to what God will accomplish through that body of believers to reveal his power and presence to the world.

The presence of spiritual gift in your life—and in the lives of all the others in your spiritual community, means several things:

First, it means that ministry is not just for the pastors, but also for the parishioners. Each believer is called to a ministry, and ministries are enabled only as one understands and operates in the ministry gifts. It is through the gift-based ministry of the believers that God’s grace flows to the body. I Peter 4:10 reminds us, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Second, it means that ministry is a privilege, not a problem. So many Christians have looked a service in the body as a duty that must be endured, perhaps even resisted and avoided in some cases, and not a joy. Most likely, this occurs because that believer is not serving according to their gifts. When Paul teaches in Ephesians 4 on ministry gifts, he reminds his readers in verse 7, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” Christ gives the gift that enables us to minister. Furthermore, that gift is associated with grace. Seeing it as a problem reveals a profound misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches about gifts.

Third, it means that the impartation of spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit gives you the privilege of being partners in ministry, not a pew potato. I Corinthians 12:7 says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” A gift requires a stewardship, a producing of fruit, a contribution to the common good. An uninvolved believer simply warming a pew is an oxymoron.

Fourth, it means that gift-based ministry releases your potential, which in turn, as your work in harmony with all the other gifts operating in your church, enables your fellowship to grow exponentially. Operating in the gifts of the Spirit release God’s power to work through the Christian in ways that would not ordinarily occur. When many believers are operating in the gifts in a Spirit-coordinated way, unlimited and unexpected results occur. Ephesians 4:16 says that it is through the operation of the gifts, that “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Fifth, it means that using your spiritual gifts to minister enables other believers to experience God’s grace. I Peter 4:10-11 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms… so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” What is the conduit of God’s grace (the Greek word is charis) in the church? Your spiritual gifts (the Greek word for gifts is charismata).

It is through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the body of Christ ministers effectively to God, to itself, and even to the world. How awesome is it that God would share his grace with his children, through the gifts that he places within us, allowing us to be vessels through which his supernatural power flows as the Spirit enables us.

Yes, “the Lord has gifted” you “to perform your task involved in building the sanctuary” of his presence among his people!

Going Deeper: Have you discovered the spiritual gifts God has placed within you? If not, ask your pastor to help you figure out just how jaw-droppingly gifted you are—then get to work.

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Passing The Collection Plate

Giving Is An Invitation To Partnership

SYNOPSIS: Offerings didn’t originate with the preacher, but with God. Interestingly, God could have created all the resources a ministry would ever need to operate if he wanted to. He is God, the Creator, after all. Apparently, he didn’t want to. What he wanted was willing partners who would take steps of faith to sacrifice their own resources to invest in the things that mattered to him. Amazing, isn’t it? God wants you as an invested partner!

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 35:4-5, 20-23, 29

This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering… Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. …All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.

Preachers get a bad rap for taking offerings—early and often. Surveys reveal that a high percentage of the un-churched believe there will be an over-emphasis on money if they attend a church service. Even believers—some of them, anyway—clinch their wallets a little tighter when it comes to offering time. Unfortunately, some preachers and televangelists have given folks good concern about getting fleeced.

Yet there is a place in the work of God for giving people the opportunity to give of their time, talent and treasure to support and advance the work of the Kingdom. In fact, the call to give didn’t originate with the preacher, but with God. Interestingly, God could have created all the resources a ministry would ever need to operate if he wanted to. He is God, the Creator, after all. Apparently, he didn’t want to. What he wanted was willing partners who would take steps of faith to sacrifice their own resources to invest in the things that mattered to him.

And when people—you and I—are willing to give and allow God to touch our hearts, as was the case with the Israelites in this story, opportunity and generosity meet to create a miraculous giving moment. Human willingness meets with Divine enablement and the Kingdom of God is advanced in defining ways that please the heart of God and delight the hearts of the giver. What happens in the catalytic moment is what Jesus said would happen: It is better to give than receive. (Acts 20:35)

Arguably there is no more impactful way to partner with the Almighty than by joyfully, willingly and sacrificially giving to his work. It is worship—it honors God with your trust at the most costly level. And it unties his hands to bless you, the giver, with divine abundance—the giver becomes a conduit: the more you give, the more God gives you to give. Generous, joyful Kingdom givers get caught in a cycle of Divine generosity—and there is nary a more beautiful thing.

Yes, I know: I’m a preacher who just wants more money. Right? No, wrong! I just want to see God’s abundance unleashed in your life through the joy of generous giving. Just try it, and see if it doesn’t work.

Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert. He’d wandered for days and was near death from thirst. He stumbled on a dilapidated, deserted shack. An old pump was in the yard, likely useless, but he was dying, so he starting furiously pumping. All he got was squeaks and dust.

He was about to give up when he saw a jar nearby. A note was attached, and it still had a little water. It said, “Use the water in this jar to prime the pump.” He suddenly faced a decision: Drink the water in the jar and live a few more hours or put faith in the note and hope for a flow of life-giving water. Then he decided to hedge his bet, so he poured in some in, kept some back, and began to pump. All he got was just a dribble, but there was hope! So he poured in all the water and began pumping. And soon there was all the water he could want.

When he’d fully satisfied his thirst, he filled the jar back up and added to the note, “Believe me, it really works, but you’ve to give it all you’ve got!”

Going Deeper: Try it! Believe me, it really works. And if you don’t believe me, at least believe God. In his own words, he says to you, “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10)

Pass

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The Radiant Face of the Pastor

God's Anointing: The Ultimate Criterion for Spiritual Leadership

Moses was tasked with leading a people, some who didn’t want to follow him, others who were jealous of him, and still others who just didn’t like him or his style of leading. But God gave Moses a gift to fulfill his high call of pastoring the Israelites: the manifest Presence of God himself. As a result, the glory of the Lord lit up Moses’ face whenever he returned to the people from the Lord’s presence. Now most pastors don’t expect something that dramatic, but they do crave God’s approval as they stand before their people. Without that, they’ve got nothing.

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 34:29-30,35

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him…they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Most of the direct interaction pastors have with the people of their church is quite positive and appreciative. Those who are upset and who do not appreciate their pastor’s leadership style or his ministerial abilities don’t usually speak to the pastor directly—which is certainly the Biblical approach to handling differences—they tell other people. Pastors usually hear of it either second or third hand, or after the fact when those who are disgruntled have landed in another church.

This is, undoubtedly, the most disheartening thing that the pastor faces. Don’t let your pastor kid you: he takes it personally. (I realize your spiritual leader may be a woman, but just for the sake of discussion, let me use the masculine pronoun to refer to your pastor.) It gnaws at his insecurities, shakes his confidence in his abilities, discourages his spirit, frustrates his vision, and if all that weren’t enough, it hurts his feelings. Yes, pastors have feelings just like you. I know all of this because I am a pastor, and because I interact with enough of them to know this is true.

Is the challenge the pastor faces any different than the one Moses faced? He was tasked with leading a people, some of whom didn’t want to follow, others who were jealous of him, and some who just didn’t like him or his style of leading. But God gave Moses some special gifts to fulfill his high call: miracles, divine interventions, the dramatic Presence of God himself, and in this case, the glory of the Lord that lit up Moses’ face whenever he would return to the people from the Lord’s presence.

Most pastors I know don’t expect something that dramatic—neither do I. But we do crave some sort of Divine aide that will indicate the Lord’s approval as we stand before our people. Our only qualification to lead is God’s anointing upon our life and ministry. Without that, we’ve got nothing.

What is interesting to note is that even though Moses had these Divine displays of affirmation on his résumé, there were still those who resisted and rejected his leadership. I guess it happens to the best of them—and I guess I, and every other spiritual leader, have to steel ourselves against the insecurities, oppositions and rejections that will assault our leadership at one time or another.

But at the end of the day, for most of the pastors I know, including me, the privilege of representing God to the people and the people to God is more than enough to make up for any slight, oversight, or personal inconvenience we may experience.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Going Deeper: Here is a prayer you might consider lifting up to God on behalf of your spiritual leader: “Dear Father, I am not asking for you to make my pastor’s face to glow like Moses. But Lord, it is true that my leader cannot fulfill his Divine calling to lead me and my fellow believers to the victories you have destined our church to achieve without your visible anointing and favor upon his life. So I ask that you would put your hand on him in a special way. Cleanse him that he might contain your holy favor and purify his motives that he might handle your blessing and anointing as a sacred trust. And fill him with the Moses-like enabling Presence that your people will be inspired to follow. Cause your Presence to go before him…let your hand be with him…expand his territory…bless him indeed…and cause his life to expended for your glory and honor.”

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Knowing The God Who Wants To Be Known

To ask God that you might know him is a request that pleases his heart! After all, that is the reason he created you; that is why you exist. God himself says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire…the knowledge of God [from you] more than burnt offerings.” That should be your chief aim in life. To know God who wants to be known is truly the sweetest nectar of life.

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 33:11

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.

If I could choose an epitaph that described my life, it would be this: “The Lord would speak to Ray Noah face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” But is that really possible for a human being?

It was for Moses! If anyone ever really knew God, if a human being ever experienced an extraordinarily intimate revelation of God, if a man ever truly had a close personal friendship with God, it was Moses.

But Moses didn’t always have this kind of relationship with God. If you were to review Moses’ life, you would be reminded that in his first forty years, Moses knew a lot about God. He was born to Hebrew parents, but raised in the lap of luxury in the Egyptian palace as one of Pharaoh’s sons—he was a prince of Egypt. Moses knew about God through his heritage, but there is no indication of a walk with God characterized by love and obedience. In fact, it appears Moses was somewhat indifferent to God.

But then Moses tried to play God and killed an Egyptian, and he had to flee the palace to the backside of the Sinai Desert, where he lived as a fugitive for the next forty years until he met God at the burning bush. And during these four decades, Moses unlearned everything he knew about God in the first forty years. It was a desert experience—literally and spiritually—where Moses knew nothing but the silence of God. God had enrolled Moses in the University of the Desert—the Graduate School of Sinai—where he trained Moses in the curricula of solitude, monotony and failure.

But then came the burning bush, which marked the beginning of the final forty years of Moses’ life. And in this period, he came to know and experience God the way we want to know and experience him: In his power and glory. Moses, unlike any other man, experienced first hand every attribute of God a human being could possibly experience: God’s omnipotence—that he is all-powerful; his omniscience—that he is all-wise and knowing; his omnipresence—that he is everywhere at all times; his Divine nature—that is, his justice, righteousness, holiness, and incomparable greatness.

What more could a human being want? Yet that wasn’t enough. Moses didn’t just want to know about God, he wasn’t satisfied with seeing the evidence of God’s activity. He wanted more:

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you…Now show me your glory. (Exodus 33:13,18)

You’ve got to admire Moses’ boldness, audacity and greediness for God! Here is what he’s really asking: “God, I want to know you…your character…your nature…what makes you tick. I want to enter into the deepest dimension of intimacy with the Almighty that’s possible for one human being.”

Amazingly, God obliged this big, audacious request—he revealed himself fully to Moses. (Exodus 33:14-23) Now this doesn’t simply tell us something about Moses, it mostly reveals something vitally important about God: God wants us to know how much he wants to be known.

He has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is there, the God who is near, the God who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him. (Deuteronomy 4:7)

God wants us to know that he’s near and that he is knowable: “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” (Exodus 33:19) In other words, I will let you know me.

To ask to know him is a request that pleases the heart of God! You see, that’s what we were made for: To know God. That’s what he desires from us. God himself says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire…the knowledge of God [from you] more than burnt offerings.” And that should be our chief aim in life—to know God—because that is truly the sweetest nectar of life. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,

This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Knowing God is the best thing in life. In fact, it is eternal life. Jesus said in John 17:3, “This is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

God has offered to let you know him—really know him. It’s the best offer you’ll ever get! I would take him up on it if I were you.

Going Deeper: Not only does God want to be known, God has made himself available. He doesn’t want you just to know about him, he wants you to intimately know his person. God is knowable and personable. Exodus 33:11 tells us that Moses knew God as a friend, and that he “would speak to Moses face-to-face.” Exodus 33:14 God tells Moses, “My presence will go with you…” Exodus 33:19 says that God “caused his goodness to pass in front of him and proclaimed his name in Moses’ presence.” God said he would let Moses see the after-effects of his glory in Exodus 33:22. What is God saying? “I want you to know me, and I will make myself available to you. And now you will not only know about me, you will see and experience my very nature and personhood.” That’s quite an invitation! Have you taken God up on his offer?