LOOK TO HIM AND BE FREE

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 18 May 2013

Hi all,

Mirror Mirror on the Wall!

The English language has some fascinating “sayings”. One of those my dad used fairly often was, “You can’t see for looking at it”. In other words, “it’s there, why can’t you see it?” Most of our ladies will identify with this immediately. Phyllida certainly does. When I’m looking for something and “can’t find it”, I frequently go and ask her if she has seen whatever it I’m looking for. At one time she would ask if I’d had a good look for it? She stopped doing that when she knew that my answer would be “Yes”. 

There it is!

At one time, when I was a child, Mom would say, “Have you looked properly, or the way you usually do”? I suspect this was Phyllida’s unspoken question! Then Phyllida puts down whatever it is she is busy with. She then gets up and walks directly to the missing object. 

Much chagrined, I usually mutter something unmentionable under my breath and then say, “Thank you darling!” Where was it? Exactly where it should be! For Phyllida, history has repeated itself. For me, the thing was deliberately hiding in the open. It was “camouflaged” such that I “couldn’t see it for looking at it”.

Not even wearing glasses

I understand this syndrome exists in most marriages. Ladies, be encouraged. You are not alone! This confirms the proverb, “Women have many failings. Men have only one. Everything they’ve ever said and all they’ve ever done”! Thankfully, the Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer from this problem. Back then He didn’t have a wife so we can’t very well check it out. Nevertheless I’m convinced He didn’t experience this syndrome, because He had no “syn”. He was sinless.

Feeding the 5000

Jesus lived a sinless life. He was tempted in every way, just as we are. But He didn’t sin. His “secret”, if there was such a thing, was being constantly in touch with the Father. He only did what His Father told Him. It sounds easy doesn’t it? It isn’t. Our sin nature gets in the way. We’d like to do the same. For us, the channel of communication has been “jammed” by Satan and his pals. The voice of the Lord has been rendered so feint by “noise” we struggle to hear what He is saying. Then, even when we have heard, we are not sure if the voice we are hearing is from ourselves, Satan or from God.

Several years ago, I came across a “system” that is of great help. When undecided about a course of action, I ask myself, what is it my flesh would like to do? Then, I do the very opposite. You know what I mean. I’d like to punch someone on the nose. The opposite is to buy him a bar of chocolate! It works quite well. Try it yourself. I can’t guarantee the result. What I do suspect is you will get things right more often.

Walking on Water

In today’s meditation we look at being free. We will only be free, when we focus on Jesus completely. We must get past our little inter-gender skirmishes in marriage and relax in the joy He brings. 

We must learn to “tune in” to the voice of the Lord. The more we try, the more we will succeed. In our relationships with others, we need to be generous in the way we deal with others. Focus on the good things others do, rather than on our own selfish preferences. We will succeed in doing this if our eyes are firmly fixed on Jesus. Then we will be “free indeed!”

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – 18 May 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	LOOK TO HIM AND BE FREE
The vast majority of men and women are either arrogantly, over self- confident, or pathetically under self-confident. People say they can do anything and everything and others say they cannot do anything. Both concepts do not follow the perfect pattern of Jesus. He was completely aware of Who He was. He didn’t behave like a slave driver and was not a wimp. Jesus wasn’t proud. That is sinful. He was also not a push-over. He was always fully in control of everything around Him. Everything He did, was motivated by love for His Father and love for people. He allowed the people to do their best, or their worst, without any attempt to control them. Because of His love for people, he fed 5000 using a schoolboy’s lunch. Then he avoided the same people, because He didn’t want them to see Him, merely as someone who would give them a free lunch! He walked on the water of the sea of Galilee, in order to reach His disciples. This was not merely a whim, to demonstrate his Divine ability. He invited Peter to do the same. Peter was partly successful. He stopped focusing on Jesus. We forget that Jesus could walk on water because He was focussed on His Father, not because He was Divine. His Father told Him to walk on the water, so He did. John expressed it as follows:  30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. John 5:30 TNIV  In the Christian life, there is no such thing as “luck”! Jesus didn’t get lucky and walk on water. His Father told Him to do it, or He wouldn’t have even tried. Then, when Peter asked Him if he could walk on water, Jesus agreed. There is no question in my mind that His Father said “Yes”. So Jesus also said “Yes”. The tragedy of the situation was Peter stopped looking to Jesus. He could easily have drowned. This really is the central issue in this morning’s meditation. The moment we take our eyes off Jesus, we start sinking. If He doesn’t rescue us, we will drown in a sea of complaints and dissatisfaction. It’s a regular occurrence for most of us and often strikes after significant achievement in His Kingdom. Poor old Elijah won the Lord’s battle on Mount Carmel. Almost immediately thereafter, he was running away from a woman! He stopped looking to God. So Peter and Elijah had a similar problem. So do we. Often as I look at the circumstances confronting me, I feel overwhelmed by the task Very quickly I start to sink into what John Bunyan called “The Slough of Despond’. You’ll find that his “Pilgrim” did the same. In that “slough” things get worse and we have our own “Pity Party”. There is only one “cure”. Fix your eyes on Jesus. In Hebrews we read: 2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. Hebrews 12:2 MSG Jesus is the only “cure” for this sickness. If you don’t focus on Him, you’ll drown. Look to Him and win! Jim & Phyllida Strickland Elijah on Mt Carmel			26 Let us not become proud. Let us not make each other angry. Let us not want what belongs to others. Galatians 5:26 NIrV 24 Then Gideon said to them, "Do me a favour. Each of you give me the earrings from your loot." (Their enemies, the Ishmaelites, wore gold earrings.) 25 The men of Israel answered, "Yes, we'll give them to you." So they spread out a coat. Each man took the earrings from his loot and dropped them on it. 26 The gold earrings Gideon had asked for weighed 40 pounds. This did not include the half-moon ornaments, the earrings, the purple clothes worn by the kings of Midian, and the chains from their camels' necks. 27 Then Gideon used the gold to make an idol and placed it in his hometown, Ophrah. All Israel chased after it there as though it were a prostitute. It became a trap for Gideon and his family. Judges 8:24-27 GW 5 Are you looking for great things for yourself? Don't look for them, because I'm going to bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD. But wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.'" Jeremiah 45:5 GW 7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. 2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT 3 Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. Philippians 2:3-4 NLT 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT 28 Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30 NLT	Sometimes as I read Scripture I simply shake my head. I think I’ll never get this right before the day I’m dead! The standards are impossible for me to ever scale; And every time I look at them, I’m certain I will fail! It isn’t the right attitude; I know this fact for sure. But for this sort of sickness, they haven’t found a cure! Sicknesses like laziness, like sloth and unbelief, Are sure to bring a Christian to a place of utter grief! I’m only in the first grade in Father’s School of life, Designed to make us “better” and keep us free from “strife”. But His is the Professor, and the standard He has set, Is far beyond the “doing” of anyone I’ve met. I know that there are people who are different from me; They like to face the challenge of impossibility! For them it is the “essence” that gets them on the go. Are they the Christian superstars whom no one gets to know? I’ve never ever met one. Perhaps they don’t exist, Except in the appearance of some thick and foggy mist? But this is a comparison between the pair of us. And this is rather odious; it makes me want to cuss; And take it to the Father and moan, “O woe is me. I’ll never ever get there as sure as sure can be”. It’s called a “pity-party” We have them on our own. We belly-ache and mumble and grit our teeth and moan. I wonder if there’s any folk who act the same as me? I hope not, for that’s surely isn’t Christianity. But I’ve a sort of feeling that I am not unique. I never seem to hear it from those to whom I speak. They seem to ooze with confidence and say that all is fine, When secretly their problems are just as bad as mine! There has to be an answer. Perhaps my faith is small? But Jesus is the answer to folk like me who fall. Then, when my party’s over and I come to my sense; Admit I have a problem; confess that I am dense. That’s when my Lord and Master appears upon the scene; He points out just how silly that I have surely been, And draws me to His bosom and says to me, “My Son You have to keep on going ‘til the race of life is won.” Jim Strickland Written 18th May 2012

THE MAN WHO IS GOD

Bus Driver from Soweto

Time with Jesus - Friday, 17 May 2013

Hi all,

What would you say if a bus driver from Soweto told you that he was the Son of God?

Check things out Maths?

Most of us would want to check and see if there was anyone missing from Tara. A few of us, not many, would want to investigate this, just in case there was any truth in what the man said. How would we investigate? Who would we talk with about this? I suppose if you were a Roman Catholic you would want to talk to your priest or bishop or perhaps the pope. Protestants would want to talk with their respective priest, minister or pastor. No doubt our Jewish friends would want to talk with their rabbi.

"Our God compressed into a Span
Incomprehensibly made Man"
Charles Wesley

Two thousand years ago, ordinary Jewish people would have wanted to talk with their religious authorities. Back then, the average Jewish man or woman was not nearly as sceptical as we are. In a way they were expecting Messiah to arrive on the scene at any moment. Years of oppression by the Romans had greatly influenced their thinking. Furthermore, no “voice of the Lord” had been heard in Judea, since the prophet Malachi, some 400 years previously. In addition, a “crazy man” who wore weird clothes, ate locusts and wild honey was drawing huge crowds into the desert to be baptised in the River Jordan. “Repent” the man declared to all who would listen. “The Kingdom of God is at hand”.

The creation of the World

The religious authorities had already had a “run in” with John the Baptist. He told them they were a “brood of snakes”. From then on, they left him alone. He in turn warned the people of the coming of Messiah. Shortly thereafter he was imprisoned and then beheaded by Herod. Before this happened, John baptised someone whom he said was the Messiah. This same man had begun to minister and great signs and wonders coincided with His preaching. All this seemed to correspond with the predictions spoken by their prophets. Could he be Messiah?

Jesus Christ
The Messiah

In terms of this scenario, what would you have decided? Would you have accepted Him as the One Whom God said He would send?

There were a number of “tests” whereby the claims of the individual would be checked. Was He a descendant of King David? Yes He was. His mother and “father” could both trace their ancestry back to King David. He had been born in Bethlehem exactly as had been predicted. He had been conceived by a virgin. Certainly His mother confirmed this. His “father” Joseph had died so he could not confirm the claim. In fact, there was nothing anyone could find to prove He was not the Son of God.

100% God and
100% Man

The religious authorities hated Him. His very presence threatened their way of life. So they plotted to get rid of Him. In the end He was crucified after an illegal trial. Furthermore, the local Procurator could find no reason to execute Him. He gave his consent to the crucifixion out of fear of what the religious authorities would tell Caesar.

What think ye of Christ?

Today, 2000 years later you and I are faced with the same issue. “What think ye of Christ?” Put in 21^st century language, “What do you think about Jesus? Is He the Son of God?” We are not talking about a bus driver from Soweto. We are speaking about Jesus, the Christ; the Son of the Living God. Your eternal future hangs on your answer to this question.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Friday, 17 May 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	THE MAN WHO IS GOD
Mathematics. The word alone is often sufficient to make people run for cover. At first it was also my reaction. Then Brother Leonard came on the scene. Suddenly, Maths made sense. He seemed to have a way of teaching that was right for me. He imparted the logic of the subject. Part of his method was the liberal use of the cane! It’s amazing how much difference this made. You “got the point” one way or another. Even dear old friend Pythagoras made good sound sense! At that time I was introduced to the symbol Ξ It meant “is congruent with”. It looks like a double equals sign and meant “is the same in every way” or “is identical to”; a convenient maths shorthand which was very much the “sauce” in geometry, if you follow my meaning. If you sprinkled the sign liberally round a couple of equal triangles, it meant they were “identical”. Those days are now long gone. But the sign remains in memory and is useful in theology in the 21st century. For example we can say that Jesus is identical to God and is identical to man. In maths it would read Jesus Ξ God, and Jesus Ξ with man. In some incomprehensible way, when you look at Jesus, you are looking at man. Also, when you are looking at Jesus you are looking at God. Now I must admit my memory is not all that good some 52 years later, so if I’ve misled you, please forgive me. But to my way of thinking it is a very useful way of showing that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Note that this is essential from the point of view of fallen man. When we look at Him, He looks like any other ordinary man. There was nothing about Him which would cause you to say, “There goes God!” Of course Satan and his demons knew it! So did the Father and His angels. It was necessary for Jesus to be both, simultaneously. He had to be a man to defeat Satan. He also had to be every man who has ever lived, a feat only possible by God Himself. This raises a couple of interesting problems which I’ve tried to understand and explain. The first is how it was possible for God to make Himself small enough to fit into Mary’s baby. Charles Wesley put it this way, “Our God contracted to a span. Incomprehensibly made man.” It’s marked in green in the meditation. The other is how He could possibly have lived a sin free life? To do so, it was imperative that he be born without the sin nature we all share. Thus God had to be His Father and His mother had to be mortal. This didn’t make Him 50% human and 50% God. In some respects He was like us. We are not 50% our mother and 50% our father. We are their offspring. We are 100% the combination of them both. How does that work? I thought that perhaps I should ask you! The blood in His veins was not tainted by sin. If it had been, there would have been no point in shedding it for us. He would then have been the same as every other person who has lived since Adam and Eve. But He wasn’t. He was Divinity in the flesh. He was and is the Son of the Most High God. There are times I’m tempted to feel sorry for Satan. He was fighting God. He had no chance! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			19 Long ago You spoke in a vision to Your faithful people. You said, "I have raised up a warrior. I have selected him from the common people to be king. Psalms 89:19 NLT 16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:16-17 NLT 26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. Ezekiel 1:26 ESV 13 No one has gone to heaven except the Son of Man, who came from heaven. John 3:13 GW 39 Look at My hands. Look at My feet. You can see that it's really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do." Luke 24:39 NLT 7 but (He) made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:7-11 ESV 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2 ESV	One thing we know for certain. Christ Jesus was a man. To look at Him, you’d never know, ‘contracted to a span’, Within Him the Creator, of Heaven, sea and sky, Had been incorporated to come to us and die! We know that it sounds fanciful. Indeed we think it odd, That in a little baby there dwelt the Son of God! It seems to be ridiculous that nursing at her breast Was He Who made the Universe and was now manifest. This little tiny infant, a babe in swaddling clothes Was truly God Almighty, from head down to His toes. If you can understand this, then you can help us out. Explain just what was going on and what it’s all about. The greatest theologians this world has seen and known, Don’t have an explanation of what God’s Word has shown. We know His birth was prophesied soon after Adam fell. That He had been expected; but when, no one could tell. One thing we know for certain. That when the time was right The Lord would send us someone equipped to win the fight! He had to be of flesh and blood or couldn’t qualify. He had to look like everyone. Would even have to die. He had to walk life’s journey without committing sin. And if He lost the battle, then Lucifer would win; And God would be defeated! A possibility That’s truly inconceivable to folk like you and me. That’s why this little baby was more than meets the eye. God clothed with humanity. A man, yet God Most High! What was the baby thinking? What functioned in His brain! We contemplate this matter and all our thoughts are vain. But why should we explain it? If we know something’s true, We needn’t understand it, to make it work for you. We know that scientifically a virgin can conceive. She only needs a donor and she’s able to receive, All that’s necessary for her to bring to birth, A child who looks exactly like all other folk on earth. If science can achieve this, why should we be surprised, If God could do the very same and not be supervised? We also know the gender is determined by the male. So Jesus’ conception is not some fairy-tale. And so He grew to manhood; our God who was made man. This wasn’t just some accident, but part of God’s great plan, To change that which had happened to Adam at the fall; And bring to full fruition the Man Who’s Lord of all. Jim Strickland Written 17th May 2012