One-a-Day Friday, 10/31/14

number 1Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and we are cut off.’  Therefore prophesy to them and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them…Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live…(Ezekiel 37:11-13).

Today’s Halloween.  My neighborhood is covered with skeletons and open graves.  They are meant to be scary, or funny, or…

You know what, Beloved?  I’ll bet no one is intending these images of death to be comforting.  And yet, I’ll never look at bones or graves the same way again.

Thanks, God.

Your Word wins.

One-a-Day Thursday, 10/30/14

number 1Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (Ezekiel 37:9-10).

It’s his power, of course.

Ezekiel realized that.

Ezekiel knew that, while he may have spoken the words, they were God’s words.

God’s Word.

Oh, the things that God can accomplish through you, Beloved—and yet it is God doing the accomplishing.

I find that empowering

and humbling

at the same time.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

One-a-Day Wednesday, 10/29/14

number 1So I prophesied as I was commanded.  And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them (Ezekiel 37:7-8).

He did what he was told to do.

He probably didn’t understand what all was happening.

He might have felt a little foolish, you know, talking to dead bones.

But he obeyed…and something amazing began to happen.

What has God told you to do today, Beloved?

Are you willing?

One-a-Day Tuesday, 10/28/14

number 1Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:4-6)

Now there’s a promise.

These dried up, bleached out, dead bones will live again.  And I don’t think that’s merely a future thing, either.  This dried up, bleached out, dead heart has already been raised to life.  This man, dried up by trials, bleached out by the world, dead in sin, is daily made new by the Lord of the Universe.

Why?

Why does he do it?  Why does he, day in and day out, put breath into me—physically and spiritually—and bring me to life?

Well, he tells us, doesn’t he?

So that I will know that he is the Lord.

That’s what he does, Beloved.  He makes life spring from death.  He renews and restores and refreshes, because he can.

Because only he can.

He’s at work in you right now, Beloved.  Restoring life to what was dead.  He’s working in you so that he can work through you.

All that, and it’s only Tuesday.

One-a-Day Monday 10/27/14

number 1The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Oh Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:1-3)

I wish I could tell you how well I identify with Ezekiel.  Man of God, totally in tune with the Spirit, hearing from the Lord and boldly speaking truth to the world around him.

Yeah, that would be awesome.

But I identify with the bones.

Some days, I feel like the life has been drained completely away from me, and I am a dry, bleached, crumbling pile of bones.  Do you ever feel that way, Beloved?

I thought you might.  That’s why you and I get along so well.

So I ask the question: can these bones live? Will they ever again live and move and breathe and love and laugh and cry and have purpose?

God alone knows.

He knows.

Are you ready for what comes next?

Hold on to your bones, Beloved—this is gonna be amazing.

One-a-Day Thursday, 10/23/14

number 1Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (Psalm 1:4-5)

Sometimes I forget.

Sometimes I look at the nonbelievers around me, and I envy their “freedom.”

Sometimes, Beloved, I’m a little short-sighted.

I forget their destiny.  I forget that, without Christ, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Ever wonder why chaff blows away, while the wheat (that would be you) remains?  It’s because chaff has no substance, no weight.  There is nothing solid to it, nothing to keep it from drifting away on the breeze.

So it does.

What I sometimes confuse for freedom is the aimless drifting of an empty soul.

One day they, like we, will stand before the Father.  They will not be clothed in the righteousness of Christ—they will be naked in their sin.  They will not stand firm in the armor of God—they will be crushed under the weight of their own earned guilt.  They will not rejoice in the fellowship of the saints—they will be ever, forever alone.

Sometimes I forget.  But when I remember, I praise God for his grace, and I remind myself never to envy the lost, but ever to pity them, to pray for them, to reason and wrestle and reach for them.

Join me, Beloved.  And Happy Thursday.

One-a-Day Wednesday, 10/22/14

number 1He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.  (Psalm 1:3)

OK, I really appreciate the tree image.  On a day like today, when I’m running crazy, the idea of solid, deep stillness is delicious.  On a day like today, when so little that I do seems to be of real value, the thought of being useful, of fulfilling my purpose, is profoundly satisfying.  On a day like today, when my back aches and the gray is spreading, the hope of not withering invigorates me.

But I gotta tell you, Beloved–I struggle with the rest of the verse.  I’m trying to be a Psalm 1 kinda guy, but I can’t honestly say that whatever I do prospers.  Maybe I’m not Psalm 1ish enough.  Maybe I sit in the seat of mockers more often than I like to admit.  Maybe my meditation isn’t up to snuff.

Maybe.

Maybe I don’t have a good enough grip on what it means to “prosper.”  Maybe, just maybe, God is prospering me in ways I can’t see, can’t even imagine.

I like that “Maybe” better.

For all that I don’t know—which is plenty—there is one thing I do know.

I wanna be a tree.

One-a-Day Tuesday, 10/21/14

number 1But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  (Psalm 1:2).

Do you delight in God’s word?

No guilt here—it’s an honest question.

Actually, I ask the same question of myself.  I mean, I read his word, I study his word, on occasion I even commit his word to memory…but do I delight in it?  Do I meditate on it?

Do I even really know what that looks like?

I know I’d like to.

I know that biblical meditation is different from what they’ll teach you at yoga class—and what are you doing at yoga class, anyway?  They’ll teach you to empty your mind, and allow the void to be filled by narcissism and demons.  OK, they probably won’t say it that way, but that’s what it amounts to.  Biblical meditation is about filling your mind with Scripture, sort of letting a particular verse roll around in your head.  You pray that God would illuminate the passage for you, and help you to see what he wants you to see in it.

Let’s experiment today.  Pick a passage of Scripture—it could be this passage, or yesterday’s, or just your favorite verse—and ask God to help you meditate on it.  Ask him to help you delight in it.  Let it roll around your head today, and see what he has to show you.

C’mon, trust me, Beloved—it’ll be fun.

One-a-Day Monday 10/20/14

number 1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. (Psalm 1:1)

Who do you listen to?  Not on Sunday, but on Monday, Tuesday, and the rest.

I like to listen to talk radio.  I enjoy the news analysis and commentary, but I have to keep one thing in mind—these are not Christian shows.  The hosts are not coming from a Christian perspective. Even though we may agree on many issues, we are fundamentally at odds.

Again I ask:  who do you listen to?  Are you following the teaching of the Word, or of the world?  Are you seeking to imitate Jesus, or celebrities?  Are you fellowshipping with Godly believers, or the lost?

The people who surround you, the communion you immerse yourself in, will have a profound impact upon your thought life.  So step back today and take a look at who that is.  If you need to make some changes, do so.

Mondays are a great time for fresh starts.

So get started, Beloved.