“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and keep me on this journey that I take…and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.  This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house…”  Genesis 28:20-22

After Jacob’s long and eventful stay in Haran, and the Lord’s deliverance from Laban, his uncle and now angry father-in-law, he began his return to his homeland.  Once again God miraculously delivers him, this time from his brother, Esau!  However, in spite of his former vow and the Lord’s promise, Jacob had a change of mind/heart and settles in Shechem.  There, due to his grand-daughter’s rape and to his two son’s treachery in killing all the males and looting the city, Jacob was forced to move once again.  It was at this point that God reminded Jacob to go BACK TO BETHEL (Genesis 35:1a)!  The name comes from two words, meaning House of God!

If you stop and think, it is a great thing the Lord has done that He has given us the Holy Spirit to remind us of what He has already told us (John 14:26b)!  It can also be a humbling thing to be reminded we haven’t kept our commitments to Him!  Notice the Lord makes two requirements for the trip (Genesis 35:2).  1) Put away your idols!  It has been well said that an idol is anything or anyone that substitutes for the place of God in your life!  2) Purify yourself!  “If we confess our sin, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  (1^st John 1:9)!

Not only does the Lord have two requirements for this trip, but He also has two remembrances to keep in mind (v 3).  1) It is God Who first makes a commitment to Jacob in Genesis 28:13-15 to bring him back to Bethel!  2) Then Jacob makes his vow to God in Genesis 28:20-22.

I remember a story of a man who was driving his wife and children to a remote campsite to take a camping vacation.  He came across a sign stretching across the road that read, “Road Closed!  No Entrance!”  He drove around the sign proclaiming, “I know where I’m going and how to get there!”  After a 10-mile long, bumpy ride, he came to a washed-out bridge!  He turned the car around, drove back another 10 miles.  When he arrived at the sign, someone had hand-painted a message on the backside of the sign, “Welcome back, Stupid!”

It is never a good thing to disobey God, but if you do make that mistake, it is a very good thing to get back to where you started (Bethel=House of God)!

Jon Moore

While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?”  But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe!” 

                                                                                                                                  Mark 5:35-36

Faith that is untested is faith that is uncertain.  Faith that has been tested and matured is faith that is prepared to deal with whatever challenges that life brings!  The synagogue official Jairus came to the Lord with a weak faith, but as the result of walking through a time of testing, he came out with a stronger faith.  Note the significant tests of faith through which Jairus was required to walk.

The first test of his faith in Christ was the test of patience.  No sooner had Jesus agreed to go to the home of Jairus to minister to his terminally ill daughter than the Lord was led to minister to a woman with a twelve-year long issue of hemorrhaging-(verses 24-34)!  Can you imagine what was going through Jairus’s mind while all this was happening?  “Hurry up!  My daughter is dying!  Why are we wasting precious time?”  Most times the Lord operates on a different time schedule than we do!  Will we be patient in our faith to trust Him?

Secondly Jairus had to pass though the test of perseverance.  A messenger came delivering a somber message.  The girl had died!  He was asked, “Why trouble the Master anymore?”  What would Jairus do?  Would he accept the report after Jesus had accepted his request to come to his home, and “…lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live?”  It is at this point Jesus said, “…only believe!”  It is important to know that this word in the original language of the New Testament literally means, “Keep on believing!”  Would Jairus continue in faith?  Will you and I continue to believe the Lord’s Word when so much around us seems to contradict?

The third test of faith is that of purging.  When Jesus, three of his disciples (Peter, James & John) and Jairus arrived at the home, professional mourners were already there making a loud commotion (common in that day).  When the Lord said the girl was not dead, the mourners laughed at Him, so He put them out, allowing only the parents and the disciples to accompany Him into the child’s presence.  Not only is it crucial that we trust the Lord, but it is also critical we surround ourselves with other believers in Christ!

A visitor to Africa freed a struggling butterfly from its cocoon, but he was shocked that it did not have its distinctive coloring as it flew away.  A native explained that by beating its wings against the cocoon, the wings are marked by splashes of vivid colors, but releasing it from its beatings, the visitor had robbed the butterfly of its beauty!  Likewise, victorious faith by definition MUST BE TRIED!  There can be no victory without conflict!  Keep believing Jesus!

Jon Moore    

“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