Little Chats With God

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Isaiah 42:8Isaiah 42:8
English: World English Bible - WEB
8 I am Yahweh, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to engraved images.

(NIV)

Lord, I have heard people take verses like this and use them to suggest that You are some kind of egomaniac. I know that’s not the case, Lord … but I can kinda understand that reaction from people who don’t know You.

Why is it that You place such importance on people not worshiping other gods? After all, there are many today - as I’m sure there were in Isaiah’s day - who insist that there is only one god, and it doesn’t matter what you call him (or her), or how you represent him - we are still all worshiping that same god. You certainly don’t seem to share that viewpoint! You make it abundantly clear in Your Word that You do not consider Baal or any of the other deities worshiped in the ancient Middle East to be even remotely equal to You.

Could that be because all those gods turn the true order of things upside down? They are made by man - whether they are carved in stone or wood, or only in the minds and imaginations of people - therefore they reflect man’s image. You were not made by man: You are not the creation of either our minds or our hands. Rather, we were created by You in Your image.

There are a whole heap of problems when man creates god in our image. Firstly, we are finite, so a god created in our image cannot be infinite. We are temporal, so the god we create cannot be eternal. We are sinful, so god in our image cannot be holy. Our power is extremely limited, so god like us cannot be omnipotent. Our knowledge is limited, so the god we create cannot be omniscient.

Lets see … that leaves us with a god who is finite, temporal, unholy, and limited in both knowledge and power. Not much of a god, if you ask me! Not much use to mankind!

I guess that explains why You insist that we worship You, and You alone!

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This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

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)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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“You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the pride of the earth.” Isaiah 62: 6Isaiah 62: 6
English: World English Bible - WEB
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who call on Yahweh, take no rest,

b-7

Lord, I laugh every time I read these verses. If ever there was an invitation to nag You, this has gotta be it! You say to give you no rest - what a far cry that is from the people who say, “pray once, and then if you pray for the same thing again you are lacking faith.”

I think, too, of Your illustrations in the New Testament … the woman who kept nagging the unjust judge till he gave her justice, and the bloke who kept banging on his friend’s door in the middle of the night till the friend got up and gave him a loaf of bread. In both cases the message seems to be, “keep making a pest of yourself till you get what you want.”

Now, Lord, I know that the world has a saying that “it’s the squeaky door that gets the oil”, but I don’t quite understand why You would be like that. After all, You love us and want the best for us even more than we do. Particularly I don’t understand why You would be like that with things that You have already said that You want to do … like establishing Jerusalem, or establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. If it is Your will and purpose to do these things, then why don’t You just go ahead and do them? Why do You need us to nag You into it?

Something just occurred to me, though, Lord. From the beginning You wanted to reign on earth through man. You appointed us as Your vice-regents and gave us Your authority. Sure, we handed that to satan when we sinned - but that never changed Your purposes, did it? So, when You invite us to nag You like this, are You really inviting us to step into the position You called us to in the first place? Is it really more about moving us than about moving You?

Do you like Little Chats With God? Buy the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/my_little_chats_with_god/6099303.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

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)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5

So often, Lord, we hear that expression, “Do as I say, not as I do.” People give voice to standards that they themselves do not observe, yet they expect to hold others to those standards. It’s so easy to separate our words and our actions - to say one thing and do something totally different.

But here You get to a much deeper level: the level of the heart and mind. Everything we do flows out of our attitude. Unlike our words, we cannot separate it from our actions.

Our attitude is the sum of how we think and feel about life, the universe and ourselves. If we think life owes us, that attitude will show through in everything we do. If we feel that our purpose is to love and serve You, that will also show through.

You say we are to cultivate an attitude that is the same as Your own. It’s not enough for us to speak Your words. Nor is it enough for us to “imitate” You - the very best imitation is only ever a good fake. No, You say it has to come from the heart and mind.

The question is, of course, how do we get there? You had the distinct advantage of not being encumbered by a sin nature, remember!

Ah, but even as I write that You remind me that You live within me by Your Spirit. He has Your nature and Your attitude, and He wants to live His life - Your life - through me. I don’t have to struggle and strain to make my life and my thinking conform to Yours. I just have to let the old life die and start living in the new life You have given me.

Sounds so easy … but not so easy to do! Lord, bring me to that place where I am dead to my own old attitudes, so that Your attitude can truly be expressed through me.

Do you like Little Chats With God?

Buy the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/my_little_chats_with_god/6099303.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

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)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…

1 Thessalonians 5:111 Thessalonians 5:11
English: World English Bible - WEB
11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.

Lord, I get so tired of knockers. You know the ones I mean - the people who are always negative about everything. No matter what you’re doing, it’s not good enough. No matter what your plans, they haven’t got an ice cube’s hope in hell of succeeding. And if you’re feeling a bit down and say that you can’t do something, they will agree with you quickly and wholeheartedly. Just being around people like that pulls you down.

How refreshing it is to meet someone who, instead of knocking, lifts others up. Instead of seeing the negatives, they focus on the positives. Problems become opportunities. They appreciate your efforts, and recognize your talent even if it is only latent. They encourage you to believe that all your dreams can come true, and build you up to see more in yourself than you ever could.

I guess, Lord, that to be like that we have to be able to see people as You see them. It always amazes me to know that You can look at a drunk in the gutter, or a drug addict, or an habitual criminal, and see beyond what they are to what You created. It’s not that You are unaware of what people have done with their lives, or that You don’t hold them accountable. But as well as the present You see the past - the fact that You created them in Your image. And You see the potential future - what their lives could be, even now, if they turn to You and accept Your grace.

Lord, help me to see people through Your eyes, and seeing their potential to lift and encourage them to fulfill that potential, rather than knocking them down.

Do you like Little Chats With God?

Buy the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/my_little_chats_with_god/6099303.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

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)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

 “… You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you …” 1 Samuel 23:171 Samuel 23:17
English: World English Bible - WEB
17 He said to him, Don’t be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.

 Lord, how sad this verse is in the light of what was to follow! Here were two young men with such enormous potential. And not only did they each have that potential, but they could recognize it in each other. They could have been such a strong team, each building on the other’s strengths and compensating for his weaknesses. As David’s right-hand man, Jonathan would surely have come into greatness himself; whilst he, in turn, might have been able to deflect David from some of his more foolish decisions.

 Of course, David went on to greatness anyway. Even though he never dishonored his family or his background, he managed to separate himself from them and become his own person; to find his own identity and destiny.

 Jonathan never quite managed to do that. In spite of his recognition of Your anointing on David’s life, and in spite of his personal love for David, he clung to his loyalty to his father and the old order of things. Never able to make the break and stand firm in his new loyalty to David, he instead remained with his father and suffered the same fate as him.

 I find that sad, Lord - how much more sad must You find it? But then, I think of so many people that I know today, and wonder whether they are really much different from Jonathan … people who can see clearly the kind of things that You want for Your Church, but hold back from moving into them … people who have such enormous potential, but choose to cling to the past and the old ways rather than growing into that potential.

 Lord, teach me when to hold on and when to let go. Help me to grow in a loyalty to You that overrides all other loyalties.

 

Do you like Little Chats With God? Buy the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/my_little_chats_with_god/6099303.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin

)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

 Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. 1 Sam 14:61 Sam 14:6
English: World English Bible - WEB
6 Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that Yahweh will work for us; for there is no restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few.

(b) NIV.

 

Lord, this episode had to be one of the craziest schemes of all time. Two blokes, Johnathan and his armor bearer, decide to take on a whole detachment of Philistine warriors. Not only that, but they warn them that they’re coming. What’s more, they have to climb up hand-and-foot to get there. Their only possible advantage - at least in the natural - was that the Philistines were probably too busy rolling around on the ground laughing at the whole idea to be able to defend themselves.

 

Yet, Lord, it seems that throughout Your Word, You like to make the point that one plus You is a majority. I think of Gideon’s army, which You deliberately reduced from 32,000rom 32,000
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se za?ne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

to just 300, specifically to demonstrate that victory doesn’t come from human numbers, strength or ability, but only from You.

 

And, in the New Testament, I think of the little band of 120, empowered by Your Spirit on the day of Pentecost, who went on to “turn the world upside down.”

 

Lord, in my own life it often feels like I’m fighting on a dozen fronts at once. Sometimes I feel totally outnumbered. Yet, Lord, when I look at those things in the light of these Scriptures, one thing becomes obvious - no matter how big and daunting the things that come against me might be, as long as I am in Your will, You are with me - and we are the majority.

 

Stretching my vision to the bigger picture, I think of all the things that come against Your Kingdom - false religions, militant atheism, spiraling immorality, rampant injustice, endemic materialism. Sometimes they all seem so big, we wonder how we can ever effectively stand against them. Help us - help me - to remember that You always win, no matter how many are on Your side.

 

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin

)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

“If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people.”  Micah 2:11Micah 2:11
English: World English Bible - WEB
11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;’ He would be the prophet of this people.

(NIV)

Lord, I really do wonder about Your people sometimes! In that book I read recently the author talks about this young guy who decided that going to church was too hard. Instead, he was going to go water skiing. He collected a few mates to go out on the river for the day. I guess they felt that because it was Sunday, they had to do something “religious”, so they read a couple of verses of Your Word, talked about it briefly, said a few prayers. Then they went off to worship their true god, fun. Soon others joined them in their church of fun. The writer makes the point that they shared the Gospel with these new recruits, and many of them accepted Jesus, and he sees this as an ideal example of the new way of “doing church.”

Excuse me, Lord, but am I missing something here? I seem to recall You saying something about people taking up their cross to follow You, not taking up their water skis. Somehow I thought that the commitment You require was a little deeper than a few verses of Scripture and a brief prayer (of course for the needs of the individuals concerned.)

Not that there is anything wrong with water skiing - or any of the other pleasurable activities of this life - but when those things take the place of our commitment to You, I find it hard to draw any other conclusion than that they, rather than You, have become the object of worship.

Of course, this kind of Gospel would be really easy to spread. I mean, how difficult can it be to recruit people who are only interested in having fun? It makes Your words about counting the cost seem like so much codswallop. If that’s what Your Kingdom is all about, Lord, then why didn’t You just throw a big party? Yet as I read the Gospels, it seems to me that pretty much the whole of Your ministry on earth was spent challenging people to deeper faith, deeper commitment, deeper preparedness to pay the price. That, and getting up the religious authorities’ noses in such a way that it would lead eventually to You paying the ultimate price.

Lord, if You had been living on earth at the beginning of the 21st century, I can imagine You going water skiing with Your friends. I just can’t see You doing it as a substitute for the deeper spiritual exercises of life.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin

)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5John 15:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

(NIV)

The idea of bearing much fruit sounds good to me, Lord. It’s no fun working your heart out, only to find that in the end it all turns to dust. That’s what happens with our human efforts. I’ve seen it in others, I’ve experienced it for myself, and I really can do without it.

So, You’re saying that the trick is to remain in You - to “abide” in You, as the old version says. I’m guessing that You mean something rather more than simply continuing to profess the Christian faith - there’s heaps of people that do that, but without the slightest evidence of fruit in their lives.

It seems to me the branch is in a place of total dependence upon the vine. The vine is its only source of life. If it is cut off from the vine, it dies. I guess we need to be in that kind of dependence upon You: not looking to other things or other people as our source of life, strength, happiness, peace, provision, health or anything else. It all has to come from You, even though You might deliver it through other means to get it to us.

At the same time, I see a constancy here. The branch doesn’t toddle off and do its own thing, then just come back to the vine when it needs another feed of sap. It stays attached to the vine all the time. It receives from the vine in a constant flow.

That’s the hard bit, Lord. Learning to stay constantly attached to You through all life’s ups and downs and runnings around in small circles. It’s all to easy to fall back to seeing prayer as a quick meal snatched between battles - and sometimes the battle gets so long and dragged out that it’s easy to forget to pray at all.

Help me, Lord, to become so attached to You that Your life is able to constantly flow to me, and through me.

 

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin

)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known. In wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk 3:2Habakkuk 3:2
English: World English Bible - WEB
2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.

(NIV)

Lord, I guess Habakkuk was one of those blokes who put their mouth into motion before putting their brain into gear. He started out by telling You how terrible the world was - or at least, the people in it - and how You really should do something about it.

In reply, You told him that You were about to do something: You were going to bring judgment on Your people, in the form of the Babylonians. Suddenly, Habby realized just what that would mean. It’s like he took a deep breath, gulped hard, and went, “Oh, whoops! What have I asked for?”

Suddenly he realized that this was not just a theory. Real people were involved. People he knew. Himself, even. Just two chapters after demanding Your judgment, he pleads for Your mercy.

At least he recognized that there are both sides to Your character. You are a God of mercy, Whose desire is always for the good of Your people, and Who wants to bless us. But You are also a righteous God, and a just God, and when Your righteousness and justice are offended You can be a God of judgment.

Unlike Habakkuk, many of us today recognize only one side of Your character. We are so used to Your mercy and grace extended to us in Christ that we forget Your righteousness, justice and judgment. Perhaps Your words to us today would be, “In mercy remember wrath.”

Help me, Lord, to enjoy Your grace and mercy, but never forget the other side of Your character.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

WP-Bible plugin

)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105Psalm 119:105
English: World English Bible - WEB
NUN ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light for my path.

(NIV)

I had to write something about the church the other day, Lord, and I found myself using the old familiar statement of Evangelical faith: “We believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, and as such is our only rule of faith and conduct.” It’s true. It’s solid. It’s comfortable, and comforting.

Yet I wonder how many of us who subscribe to that truth actually live by it. Sure, we subscribe to it in the big issues: we really believe that You are the only God, and that we shouldn’t go round killing people or jumping into bed with someone else’s spouse. But when it comes to issues like not getting angry with someone, or not getting anxious about the provision for our lives, or keeping our thoughts focused on the things that are good and pure, then it seems to me that we often fall a long way short of following its rule.

The problem is, Lord, most of the time Your Word doesn’t give us the big picture. So often we’re looking for answers to “life, the universe and all” - we want our lives tidily mapped out for us for the next ten years, at least. But all You want to talk to us about is today. Sometimes not even that - just this minute, right now. You leave the rest in darkness. You tell us to trust You for this minute, but You don’t tell us where our foot is going to land with the next step.

I remember walking at night through a village in Vanuatu. It was pitch black, and all we had were these feeble little torches. They barely gave us enough light to see where the bloke in front was putting his feet. Yet that was enough: as long as he had walked there before, we knew we could safely follow.

I guess it’s the same with You, Jesus. You’ve walked by Your Word. As long as I have enough light to see where You have put Your foot ahead of me, I can safely follow. Lord, help me not just to know it, but to do it.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

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)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name; ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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)