Lent 2022 Day 7 “Rescued and Restored”

Zechariah 3 New International Version

3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” ⁵ Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by. ⁶ The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: ⁷ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here. ⁸ “‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. ⁹ See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes^[b] on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. ¹⁰ “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Rescued and Restored

It is day 7 of our dedication to consecration. After a week I pray you are not getting weak. One of the things that we address through consecration is an awareness that we have been the recipients of grace. Think of a time where you knew you were out of control. You may have fallen into some bad habits and they consumed every thought you had. After a while you became so identified with your frailty that you forgot who you truly were. Like a garment that never gets changed you wore the residue of your recklessness and it weighed you down. Without consistent care we become fragile, fractured, and fallen. This happened to Israel and led to their exile from Canaan and it almost led to their extinction until YHWH extended grace.

In our text from Zechariah 3 we have the writer writing Joshua the priest as a representative of Israel. Joshua like Israel is being accused and judged by satan for his sin. While in the midst of this the LORD rebukes the accuser and reminds the accuser and us, We are like burning sticks snatched from the fire. The LORD has rescued us from the fire and we are no longer to carry the penalty and punishment for our actions. In short we are granted a second chance. We were frail and fractured but the LORD says we are still functional. The thing about fire however is it leaves a residue. The residue is like a reminder of where we’ve been. Knowing this the angel of the LORD instructs Joshua’s filthy clothes be removed. By doing this we learn to move on we have to leave the past behind.

On this 7th day of consecration I encourage you to leave the past behind. Take off your filthy clothes from the fire and put on your best clothes. You have been through the fire and even though you may have set the fire, the LORD, the ALMIGHTY CREATOR, has rescued you from destruction and you are restored.

Points to Ponder: How are you confronting the residue of what you’ve been through? How are you showing grace to others? How will you move forward in the confidence of your new garments?

Lent 2020 Day 31 “Turn Around”

Daily Scriptures: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20130;%20Ezekiel%2033:10-16;%20Revelation%2011:15-19

Ezekiel 33:10-16

⁰ “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of^[a] them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

¹² “Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ ¹³ If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. ¹⁴ And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— ¹⁵ if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.

Turn Around

Have YOU ever been weighed down by the things going on in your life? Have you ever faced an obstacle so large that you were intimidated and felt there was nothing you could do? Have YOU ever missed the mark so bad that YOU saw no way to fix it and that thought made you feel like YOU were wasting away? I’m sure most of us have. This is the sin effect. We mess up and know we’ve messed up. We aimed right but went left. We knew better but we missed the mark anyway. We fear we may have fallen so far that not even YHWH can reach us. Our thoughts turn inward and we start getting distressed and depressed. This is followed by low energy and bad choices to make us feel better. We forget that we can turn around. Just because we have fallen does not mean we cannot get back up.

The text today from Ezekiel addresses the Israelite community who have started to recognize they have messed up. They are consumed by their thoughts of failure, feel weighed down, and wonder how can they live. The prophecy comes to them “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’”  In essence the writer is saying, Why would you choose death when you can be alive? To choose to live is to choose to turn back from evil. This verb, “to turn” is used repeatedly in this passage as a reminder of the physical understanding of repentance. YHWH offers the opportunity to get it right from here on. No matter what we have done, we did it in the past. We do not have to be defined by who we were and what we’ve done. We can turn around.  YHWH recognizes where we have been and what we have done and offers the opportunity to move on. We can get on the right track and the choice is up to us.

The Lenten season is helping us to connect to the complexities of being a believer. On one hand we must be accountable for our actions and inactions and on the other we must embrace the fact that we can be forgive. Our destination is not destroyed by our current situation. We can get it right, but we will need help. Jesus  and the Holy Spirit is that help. Whatever has caused you to miss the mark, BUild a bridge and get over it. Live In Victory Every Day.

Point to Ponder: What action from your past are you allowing to crash into your present? What does repentence mean to YOU? How will YOU grow from here?

 

 

Lent 2020 Day 12 “An Awakened Spirit”

Daily Scriptures: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=25

John 3:1-13 (NIV)

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d] 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. ¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.^[e

An Awakened Spirit

“I’m only human”. “What you see is what you get”. “Apples don’t fall too far from the tree and my tree is rotten”. “That doesn’t make any sense, it defies logic. If I can’t see it taste it touch it, smell it, or hear it, then it isn’t real.” Many of us have been infected by these seemingly innocuous sentiments. As a result, we have lived too much of our life locked in the prison of our minds. Somehow many of us have been convinced of limitations and have lowered our life’s expectations accordingly. After settling for the life that we have, going along to get along we may just figure this is all there will ever be and we settle. Even as we settle we find ourselves often suppressing that feeling deep within us that there has got to be more to life than this. We know it but we suppress it until one day, like the phoenix it rises within us and says, “I will not be denied”. We can’t sleep deeply or rest completely. Something has to change.

Our text in John reveals such an account. Nicodemus a leader in the Jewish council, is no longer satisfied with this feeling. He is tired of sleepless nights, so one night he goes to visit Jesus. Jesus has been on his mind because he recognizes there is something different about Jesus. Something about Jesus is challenging, convicting, and calming all at the same time. Nicodemus recognizes the presence of GOD moving in the life of Jesus and wants to understand, how he can do the things he does and be the way he is. He says, “We know you are sent from GOD”. Jesus responds unconventionally by saying, “No one can see the Kingdom unless they are born again. This is confusing, I believe because Nicodemus was still looking through the lens of the flesh. He was still locked in this realm while Jesus was speaking of the SPIRIT realm.

Many of us today like Nicodemus need a new lens through which to view the world. We can hear the MASTER saying we must be born again. We need to release the stinking thinking of the past and embrace the fragrance of the impossible made possible.

When we are born of the SPIRIT we become like the wind. We will be persistent. We will be free. This wind can be powerful and tear down strongholds. This wind can be focused bringing cool breezes on hot days. This wind can power boats across oceans and this wind will respond to the voice of GOD. When we are SPIRIT born we are under the control of the CREATOR.

This Lenten meditation is encouraging each of us to abandon any idea or thought process that causes us to cling to comfort over Christ. With GOD we may not always know where we are going to end up but we will know, there is never a time or place where GOD cannot see our face and with that, its already all right. We are spiritual beings having human experiences not the other way around. LIVEBIG

Points To Ponder: What dream have you been suppressing due to fear? Who have you met that challenges you to be better? What are you willing to let go of in order to reach the next level in your life? Who will you inspire on your way?