“Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.”

Genesis 32:31

Sometimes it is tempting to view crises as unneeded and unwanted intrusions in our life!  We may very well find ourselves asking the Lord, “Why me?”  We can lose sight of the fact the Lord often uses such events to disable our natural abilities as a reminder that the same One who has called us now lives in us to accomplish all to which He has called us!  Often times our greatest need is for the Lord to touch us with that “disabling” touch.  That was certainly true for Jacob as he wrestled with “a man” in Genesis 32:24.

I want to visit with you about two things that happened to him after the angel (see Hosea 12:3-4) touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh, so that the socket of his thigh was dislocated (Gen. 32:25b).  First, he now walked with a limp as a daily reminder of his dependence on God!  He no longer was free to function as his birth name implied=Supplanter; Heel-grabber; Deceiver.  He would now walk (live) as a man completely dependent on the Lord!  No longer was he free to live by the credo, “The end justifies the means!”  He would now live his life and serve the Lord relying on the Lord’s daily supply of His guidance and strength!

Secondly, his limp would be a daily reminder of not only his dependence on God, but a reminder of the Lord’s continual presence in his life!  The ultimate ‘success’ of his life and ministry would no longer rest on his talent, his abilities, his resourcefulness, his ANYTHING!  His fruitfulness in life and ministry would forever be linked to the faithfulness of God to never leave him, or forsake him…to be with him always, even to the end of the age!

A new Marine recruit was puzzled to be ordered to hold his food tray a certain way when standing in the chow line, even when he was chastised for not having his hands on the tray in the proper place.  It wasn’t until later when he was issued his weapon that he learned he was to hold his weapon in the same way.  Unknown to him, he was being prepared for future encounters with the enemy!  Often we do not understand when we have to go through difficult, sometimes painful experiences in life, not understanding at the time that the Lord is touching us with a disabling touch in order to prepare us for future encounters with our enemy the devil!

Jon Moore

“…If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Several years ago a man sent me a book he had compiled entitled, “Deep Fire”.  It is a collection of sayings by men and women, mostly from the past.  For several months I have been thinking and praying about sending some of these quotes out for your thought and prayer.  When the author of the quote is known, it is given…

“The secret of detachment from the world is attachment to Christ.”  A J Gordon

“In God’s work we see His hand, but in His Word we see His face.”

“One needs no further explanation of the lack of the fullness of the Spirit than the fullness of self”

                                                                                                                                               James H. McConkey

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”  Demosthenes

“A deep and sober daily concern to please God is the rarest of rarities.”  Vance Havner

“Faith will lead you where you cannot walk.  Reason has never been a mountain climber.”  E W Kenyon

“During times of revival the Divine is so real that nothing else matters.  During times of decline, like our day, everything except the Divine matters.”

“Suspicions subtract, faith adds, but love multiplies.  It blesses twice-him who gives it, and him who receives it.”  C T Studd

“No amount of activity in the King’s service will make up for the neglect of the King Himself.”

                                                                                                                                      Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“Though the gracious soul still desires more of God, it never desires more than God.”  Matthew Henry

“The death of Jesus for you makes possible the Life of Jesus in you.”  Major Ian Thomas

“A revival is a miracle.  It is the hand of the Lord, and it is mighty.  It can only be explained as the direct act and intervention of God.”  D Martin Lloyd Jones

“Revival is not some emotion or worked-up excitement; it is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God.”  Stephen F Olford

Would you consider a recommendation from me?  Start at the top and take one quote per day.  Memorize it.  Quote it to yourself several times a day.  Think through the quote.  Pray about it.  Is the Lord using the quote to speak to you at some level in your life?  Respond to Him.  Talk back with Him.

Prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue!

Blessings

Jon Moore

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected (completed).”

James 2:21-22 

There are different kinds of faith. One popular kind we may call “positive confession” faith.  Those who teach this kind of faith often emphasize that man creates his own faith!  If he thinks positively and talks positively, anything is possible in the area of wealth, health, success, etc.  Seemingly God is not necessary, because man creates his own faith!  Another kind of faith is “blind” faith.  Once again, this kind of faith has no need of being created by, or given by God.  Presumably one just decides what he or she wants, then decides to “have faith” for it!  These kinds of faith so readily available in the world are different than Bible faith, the faith that is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Besides coming as a gift from God, James in the book that bears his name in chapter two emphasizes that Bible faith results in God-empowered, God-honoring works.  He also says that, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”  Some have suggested this is a contradiction in the Bible, but that cannot stand in the light of a closer look.  The verses mentioned earlier in Ephesians 2:8-9 are followed in verse 10 by, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…”  So Godly works are understood to be the outcome of faith that comes as the gift from God!  Then James follows up in James 2:21-22 (see above) by saying that works both correspond to and complete one’s faith.  Godly works will correspond to God-given faith, and God-given faith is not complete until it is expressed in Godly works!

James tells us that these truths are exemplified in both the life of Abraham, and the life of Rahab the harlot (v 25, see also Joshua 2:4, 6, 15)).  Abraham is the patriarch of those in the family of faith, because “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:6-7)  But it is good to know that what is true for the patriarch is also true for the prostitute!  There is no hierarchy among the sons and daughters of God by faith!  Godly faith is expressed, manifested by Godly works.

After John the Baptist was arrested and imprisoned by King Herod (Luke 7:18-22), he sent messengers to Jesus to ask, “Are You the expected One, or do we look for someone else?”  Jesus responded by telling the messengers to go back to John and tell him what they had seen and heard.  He was restoring sight to the blind, making the lame to walk, cleansing lepers, enabling the deaf to hear, raising the dead and preaching the gospel to the poor!  Seemingly Jesus did not directly answer their question, but actually He did so in the surest way possible.  The clearest evidence of who Jesus was (Messiah), was what He was doing (the works of Messiah).  That is not only true of Jesus.  That is true of both you and me.  The clearest evidence of who we are is what we are doing!  If you are of God-given faith, you will be engaged in God-honoring works!  The clearest evidence of who we are is what we are doing.  Are you part of the Lord’s faith family?

Jon Moore

“But earnestly desire the greater gifts.  And I show you a still more excellent way.”

1^st Corinthians 12:31

The church at Corinth is often called Paul’s “problem church!”  The believers there struggled with divisions, religious pride and misunderstanding spiritual gifts.  In chapter 12 of what we know as 1^st Corinthians the apostle dealt with the matter of spiritual gifts the Lord has given to each of His children, as well as the gifted men He has given to His churches.  He ends the discussion by pointing to a more excellent way, the way of God’s love.

One day a child asked her mother, “Why does the sun shine?”  The mom’s answer was short and simple, but very profound, “The sun does what it does, because the sun is what it is!”  The sun shines (gives light), because the sun is light to all!  Likewise, God does what He does, because He is Who He is!  God loves, because God is love (1^st John 4:7).

In the first three verses of chapter thirteen Paul explains why God’s love is the more excellent way to live and to minister to others.  1) Love adds sincerity to words.  “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”  People, especially young people are quick to discern insincerity in words.  When we speak to others in God’s love we have something real to say.  2) Love adds strength to actions.  “If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”  I am always reminded of the layman’s definition of nothing=A zero with the rim knocked off!  That’s NOTHING, and that is what our actions amount to in the absence of God’s love.  Actions taken in the love of God give us something real to do!  3) Love adds substance to giving. “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”  Only when we give in the love of God do we have something real to give!

The early church was not wealthy with this world’s goods and was largely opposed, but it had two formidable weapons expressed by the Greek words Kerygma and Koinoinia!  Kerygma speaks to the word of God, and Koinoinia speaks to the loving fellowship between Believers.  Understand that the ancient world was filled with religions, philosophies and false deities, but the missing element for which people were starving was to know that they were loved!  The world has not changed.  People are still searching for something real, and it is only found in the person of Jesus Christ and in and through those who are His!

Jon Moore

“Now when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.  When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son.  But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  2^nd Samuel 11:26-27

One of the most liberating truths about coming to know Jesus Christ is the freedom it brings; Freedom from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin and eventually from the presence of sin (John 8:32).  However, freedom in Christ cannot be separated from responsibility, from accountability.  This New Testament doctrinal truth is illustrated (as are many) in the Old Testament in the life of King David.  David chose to disengage himself from his soldiers and stay at home in a time when kings usually went to war.  During this time of idleness, he saw Bathsheba, lusted for her, committed adultery with her, tried to cover it up and ultimately was responsible for seeing to the death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite.  What some in the world might overlook, the Lord held David accountable!

There are two significant things regarding how the Lord held David accountable, and we would be wise to learn them.  First of all there was an afflictive aspect of God’s dealings with him.  The Lord said, “The sword shall never depart from your house…I will raise up evil against you from your own household…You did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel…” (2^nd Samuel 12:10-12).  True to the Lord’s Word, the baby Bathsheba would bear would die.  Tamar, David’s daughter would be raped.  Amnon, his son would be murdered by Tamar’s brother.  Absalom, his son who led a rebellion against his father would be killed.  David’s concubines would be ravaged in full public view.  And Adonijah, another son of David would attempt to seize the throne in defiance of David’s stated wish for Solomon to succeed him as King.  Just as surely as the Lord said concerning the Word that comes forth from His mouth, “will not return to Me empty…Without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it!”  (Isaiah 55:11)

But do not fail to see and learn that there is a second aspect of God’s dealing with David, and it was and is REDEMPTIVE!  “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ and Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die’”  All of God’s Judgments of His people are ultimately redemptive!  Our freedom in Christ is certain, and His Grace is so amazing that, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Romans 8:1).  As surely as we confess our sins, “God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”  (1^st John 1:9)

In 1992 there was a scandal in Washington DC (really).  It came to be known as “Rubbergate.”  People in congress are allowed to write checks on the “congressional bank” up to the limit of their congressional “salary.”  In 1992 sixty-six congress persons wrote about 20,00 bad checks (more than their “salary”).  The value of these 20,000 checks was $10,846,856.  That brings to my mind Jesus’s last word on the Cross.  It was “tetelestai” which roughly means “completion”.  In the market place it meant “Paid in Full”!  Something tells me politicians are not through writing “hot” checks, but Jesus Christ’s payment for salvation will never be returned for lack of sufficient payment!  Praise the Lord, It is finished!

Jon Moore