November 30 ... I Corinthians 5 - 8 "Live Tall. Love Well."

1 Cor. 5:6 ~ “Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it's anything but that.” Oh God, please show me, show us, show this generation, where we are sarcastic in style, arrogant in attitude. We don’t have to live in a witch hunt for our sins, just listen and linger and rally and read His Word and let the Word read your heart.

I Cor 6:12 ~ “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” Technically Legal---Spiritually Inappropriate. Not by fear, not by insecurity, not by want, not by loneliness. No, I will embrace my loss and push into the center of my soul facing my fears and aloneness. Is my desire for God greater than my desire to manage my fears and failures? Yes, by His Beautiful Wild Grace. For I Cor 6:20 says “You were bought with a price.” Unbelievable.

1 Cor. 7:17~ “And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there.” Here is another admonition to live in the present moment. What veils our minds and hearts that makes us live irritated, aggravated, put out, bored, negative. Live tall. Love deeply.

1 Cor. 7:29-32 ~ “I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don't complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple —in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you.”

Change me!  66 LL says God has not promised to protect me from what scares the daylights out of me or provide me with what I think I need to trust Him.  God has promised to change me, to make me able to love God and others NO MATTER what goes on in me or in my life, no matter how bad!

November 29 - I Corinthians 1 - 4 "Present in this Moment"

GOD NEVER GIVES UP ON US
I Corinthians 1:9  "God Himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.  He will never give up on you."  Amazing to know that God Himself will never be angry with us again.  HE is committed to us and our well being, whatever that may look like. Loved with a Love we can never lose.  We do know it looks like this--- He is leading us to collect a following for Him. 
Col. 1:17 says: "God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done."  And it's not about finding the right words to do it either or the message would be trivialized into words.

DEMONSTRATION OF THE POWER OF GOD
I Cor 2:4 Your life of faith is a response to God's power.  Paul didn't think that he came with wise words but in fear and trembling.  A demonstration of a life dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit so that our faith rests not on people and what they bring to us but on the power of God.  And we have seen and heard it because God by His Spirit has brought it all out into the open before each of us.  Never imagined anything quite like it.  I Cor 6:9.

PRESENT IN THE MOMENT
I Cor 3:16 - "You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God Himself is present in you?"
He is always present.  But the real question is do I live a life where I am always present in the moment.  Or am I living in the past wishing for days gone by.  Am I living in the future hoping that things will be different?  Do I stay with my family and my friends in the present moment?  Or am I too busy trying to manage my life to make it work better?

WHO REALLY KNOWS YOUR HEART
I Cor 4:7  "For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn't everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what's the point of all this comparing and competing?  "God's Way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life."  I Cor 4:20
After reading your Word, I am convinced:  "You've not promised to protect me in this life from things that scare the daylights out of me or to provide me with what I think I need to trust You.  But what You have promised is to change me, to make me enough like Your Son that I'll be able to love You and love others no matter what goes on in me or in my life, no matter what struggle with or how many bad things happen to me." 66 LL.  Please change me today!  Help me to be present in the moment where I am.

November 28 ... Romans 14 - 16 "One is Strong Enough to Make Me Strong"

"Forget about deciding what's right for each other. Here's what you need to be concerned about: that you don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is."  Romans 14:14  All we can deal with is our own stuff.  Be more concerned with how I am "missing" it rather than my husband, my children, my life.  "Cultivate your own relationship with God." Romans 14:22.  "All of our praise rises to the One who is strong enough to make you strong, precisely as revealed in the Mystery ... "  Romans 16:25.

The following quotes are from the chapter on Romans in 66 LL:
* "I am trying to reduce what You're saying to ideas I can understand and, more importantly, to ideas I can manage."  The managed life slips up into our curved in lives.
* "Do you want to learn facts that you can organize into a system of truth that will let you feel smug in the belief that you're right?  Or do you want to discover truth that sings?"
* "Pass through the corridors where truth is carefully outlined on the walls, where those who fail to realize that the corridor is but a hallway leading to a far better place do nothing but take notes. They mistake the Truth that is living water for the dry dust of mere facts.  These parched souls endlessly analyze the composition of the water I've provided but never seem to realize it was meant for drinking."  Reminds me of John 5:40.  God, may we never settle for taking notes but drinking the facts...Living Water.
* "I have found a way to supply the power you lack, the power you need, to become the person you most long to be, the person you most truly are, the person I alone can make you:  a worshiper of Me in any circumstance, a lover like My Son who desired forgiveness for His murderers, a dancer who hears heaven's music on earth and moves freely in rhythm with My Spirit in a worshiping, loving, dancing community of friends who feel indebtyed to reveal My Son to the world by the way they relate and through the creative expression of whatever gifts they possess and opportunities they find." 
* "Think hard.  Notice the desires that awaken in your heart."  Do I really think that way every day?  Am I aware of the desires in the center of my soul?  Is there anything I desire more than the Love of my God? 

November 27 - Romans 11-13 "Extravagant Generosity of God"

Romans 11:33 - Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom?”

WALKING-AROUND LIFE
Romans 12: 1-2 - "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” "And discover beauty in everyone." Romans 12:17

DON'T LOITER AND LINGER
Romans 13: 13-14 - We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

"Trusting Truth not experiences, not blessings." 66 LL. No way to walk around this life in our own power. Cause it's either our energy or the Energy of Christ. But I am so committed to my own well-being. Have mercy, O God. That's just living selfish. Col 1:29 - It is the Energy of Christ so powerfully at work in us, if we let Him. Living a broken life! Humbled by His Extravagant Generosity!

November 26 - Romans 8-10 "Pass Through Corridor of Truth"

GOD, HELP US NOT TO LIVE SELF-OBSESSED.
Romans 8:5-8  "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing."  Self-Obsession!  We are committed to our own well being.  God, have mercy on us.  If God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.

GOD, HELP US TO BETTER LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE PRESENT WITH OTHERS
Romans 8:18 "That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times."   The joyful anticipation deepens.  Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the Glory that will be revealed One Day.  Meanwhile..."It's time for you to pass through the corridors where Truth is carefully outlined on the walls, where those who fail to realize that the corridor is but a hallway leading to a far better place do nothing but take notes."   66 LL

GOD, MAY WE HEAR YOUR STILL SMALL VOICE LEADING US TO REPENTANCE
Romans 8:23  - Groan Inwardly.  Wait Eagerly.  Love Deeply.  It's the sermon that Larry preached on The Southern Steps in the ascent to Jerusalem.  They purposefully built the grandeur steps uneven so that you have to slow down, can't run.  They slowed you down on your ascent so that you can reflect on your life and what sin is keeping you from knowing God.  Repent!
GOD, WOULD YOU PRAY FOR IN WORDLESS SIGHS?
Romans 8:26  - Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God."  The Spirit of God can keep us present if we listen to Him.  Satan wants us to live in the past or in the future. 

November 25 ... Romans 4 - 7 "WIDE OPEN SPACES OF GRACE"

A Very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you allowing God to write His Story in your life and be lifted up in it.  On this Thanksgiving Day, I pray you may live in the wide open spaces of His Grace.  May those of you hemmed in with troubles find a Beautiful God in unexpected ways today.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.  My Love from Bethlehem where I stood in the cave this Thanksgiving Day---the very place where He was born 2000 years ago.  So drawn with you to the Heart of our God!  Oh Happy Day!

GOD-STORY NOT MANAGING MY OWN STORY
Romans 4:3  The story we're given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.  "Trusting Truth, not experiences, nor blessings."  66 LL.

WIDE OPEN SPACES OF GRACE
Romans 5:2  I weep as I read this verse:  "We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

HEMMED IN WITH TROUBLES
Romand 5:3-5  "There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! And Christ arrives right on time to make this happen.  Hang on to His every word.  You are dead to self and alive to Christ.

END OF MY ROPE
Romans 7:24 - 25   But we respond:  "I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

November 24 ... Romans 1-3 "Race for Sinner-of-the-Year"

Romans 1:1-7  - I, Paul, am a devoted slave of Jesus Christ on assignment, authorized as an apostle to proclaim God's words and acts. I write this letter to all the believers in Rome, God's friends.   The sacred writings (like the Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll I saw this morning) contain preliminary reports by the prophets on God's Son. His descent from David roots him in history; his unique identity as Son of God was shown by the Spirit when Jesus was raised from the dead, setting him apart as the Messiah, our Master. Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus. You are who you are through this gift and call of Jesus Christ! Amen and Amen! 

I went to the tomb today and HE was not there.  He was risen!  To stand in that surreal spot...I went to the Garden to pray and the dew was on the persimmons.  I was so convicted of sin as I stood there in His Presence struggling with a besetting sin.  Romans 2:4  "God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change."  Reminds me of the quote:  God is not nice.  God is not my uncle.  God is an earthquake."  And it is His Kindness that leads me to repentance.

Even in Jerusalem and America this very day----They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.   We pass by it---some of the Jews have his home in their hands but not their hearts.  But, He is here.

But wait, Romans says it right and that's where my thinking must be:  There's nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.

We are all in a race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
Don't know the first thing about living with others....how true.  Self-absorbed....self-centered.  Praise God there is Hope for our sin.

Romans 3:31But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don't we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.

Hallelujah what a Savior!

November 23 ... Acts 27-28 "Manage My Life or Glorify My God?"

Acts 27 - A Storm at Sea...there was a storm in my heart last night being stuck in an elevator in a Jerusalem hotel for 10 minutes too long...alone. Paul said: "Acts 27:22 I urge you to keep up your courage...on the fourteenth night they were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea."
Larry spoke tonight about: Living the Managed Life. I wonder if God brought me here for a forming experience like being stuck in a hotel elevator for 10 minutes alone. Do I manage my wounds or am I glorifying God? There is something underneath the pain. Where sin abounds, Grace abounds.

Recognize and radically repent. I long to more search the center of my soul---our desire for God---even though it feels like terror and better learn to persevere and not be controlled by it. Have mercy on us, O God. Fill us with hope to lead the resurrected life. Give us courage.

Acts 28:20 - It is because of hope that I am bound with this chain. Here for hope, not for doom.

What lingers as we close the pages of Acts?

November 22 ... Acts 24 - 26 "Groan Inwardly. Wait Eagerly. Love Fully"

Acts 24:26 Paul didn't give in to the pressure of Felix who would call for him in prison hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe.  Felix sent for him frequently and talked with him.  I stood at the Garden of Gethsemane where Peter cut off the ear of the soldier.  What a different man he has become.  No demandingness here.  No self-centeredness here.  He was in prison to do God's will.  "You have been graced with a disaster your soul requires to bring you back home."  (Tim)

Larry spoke on the steps of the Psalm of Ascent as the sun set over Jerusalem tonight.  "Groan inwardly.  Wait eagerly.  Demand nothing.  Demand not what I want to feel in any situation.  And He will sustain you with joy based on hope." And our hope is that there is a New Jerusalem where One Day there will be a loud voice.  He will wipe away every tear.  Meanwhile, we are learning to relate like Jesus without self-centeredness.  "The degree to which I can love means my hope has nothing to do with how others treat me."

Groan inwardly.
Wait eagerly.
Love like Jesus.
It's my prayer for you this Palm Sunday as I descended the steep Palm Sunday Road. Jesus did this for me, for you.

I'm so taken with the life of Paul in Acts 25:27.  Where was Paul when God freed Peter in jail?  Where was Paul when John was beheaded.  They weren't rescued like some had hoped.  But they were carried in the heart of God.  Drawn to the Face of God.  Just like Paul sitting in a prison.  Groan inwardly.  Wait eagerly.  Love fully.

November 21 ... Acts 21 - 23 "What Will the Master Do Through Our Obedience"

Acts 21: 12 -13  We begged Paul not to be stubborn and persist in going to Jerusalem. But Paul wouldn't budge: "Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You're looking at this backward. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can't you see that?  It's in God's hands now," we said. "Master, you handle it."

I am sitting in Jerusalem tonight as I write.  These words mean much to me, down deep.  The issue is not what they do to Paul or to me or to you but the issue is what our Master does through our obedience.  And Paul tells the rest of his story.  Hearing the history here it startles and sinks deep.  Psalm 51:6  May the Truth of the Gospel sink very deep in all of our hearts that we may be more concerned about what our Master does through our obedience than what happens to us.

November 20 ... Acts 18 - 20 "The Black Words Come Alive and I'm Drawn to the Heart of God"

"Your purpose till you die is to reveal a new attitude toward suffering and a new agenda in prayer that flows out of your new purpose in life that makes sense only if you claim your new hope of resurrection."  God sent His angel in Acts 5:19-20 for one purpose:  to stand in the temple and tell the full message of new life and to live it out.  "You are not alive in this world in order to experience Me or to enjoy the blessings of a comfortable life."  66 LL

As we walked the streets of Capernaum, Jesus' home, the "black words" came alive today---we have the "red words" Jesus spoke written in our Bibles.  But to picture the leper up on the hill listening to the Sermon on the Mount as we sailed in a boat on the noble Sea of Galilee is having the black words come alive.  You see, that leper is me listening to a similar sermon delivered this day.  I need the healing Hand of the Master and don't know what He will do yet.  But this I know, like the leper, my heart is drawn to the Heart of God, no matter what.

In Acts 18:2, the Master spoke to Paul in a nearby village where I sit this day.  The Master said:  "Keep it up, and don't let anyone intimidate or silence you. No matter what happens, I'm with you and no one is going to be able to hurt you. You have no idea how many people I have on my side in this city." ... "Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?" Acts 19:2.
"Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got."  Now go live out that radical trust.

Acts 20:28 - "Now it's up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people—God's people they are—to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for. Vicious wolves are going to show up and rip into this flock, men from your very own ranks twisting words so as to seduce disciples into following them instead of Jesus. So stay awake and keep up your guard. Then, Acts 20:36 Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. And then a river of tears.

November 19 ... Acts 16 - 17 "Trust Truth Not Experience or Blessings"

Acts 16:12 "The Jews received Paul's message with enthusiasm and met with him daily, examining the Scriptures to see if they supported what he said." The Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonicans!  Oh to be known for nobility. 

The beauty of this place is incredible.  Yet the true beauty of Paul's life was not honored here.  Standing in Herod's House where Paul was persecuted and thrown into jail.  The palace and surroundings is beyond compare.  Only Paul's life is beyond comparison and he was persecuted for real beauty. 

Acts 16:23 - The idolatry in Athens so angered Paul.  He told them:  "You take your religion seriously.  I found one idol inscribed: 'To the God Nobody Knows.'  Well, I'm here to introduce you to this God!! The God Who made the world and everything in it!  He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. We live and move in him, can't get away from him!  He is calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right."

As I sit on the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee, hearing the words "Blessed are the Meek..."  I ponder that moment and all the Followers both living and dead who have clung to those timeless words.  Larry opened his mouth and God filled it on this Mount...Psalm 81:10.  There is one Truth from Larry that will stay with me for a long time.  One thought persists.  If I had to sum up in about 10 words what God has been doing in my life to grow me so much over the past four years, well here’s the powerfully short sentence.  “You must now trust Truth, not your experience or your blessings.”  66 LL.

November 18 ... Acts 14 - 15 "Free to Really Live and Put Muscle & Sinew in the Lives of Others"

Everywhere I turn, I see the ancient footprints of Mary Magdalene, Dorcas, Simon Peter, the Widow of Zain, Saul, Mary of Bethany, Zaccheus, Tabitha, the Ethiopian Eunuch and so many more---all set free in Jerusalem and Samaria and beyond. Today we stood on top of Mount Carmel where Elijah stood and said: "Come near to me."  God is saying the same thing to me this day:  Come Near.  Mount Carmel overlooks a vast expanse from Galilee to Tiberias to Nazareth.  Amazing as we stood on top of the mount and looked into the past, standing in the present, knowing the future will happen here.  One Eternal Day.  He is coming Back! 

Just as they met the LORD, He is still alive and active in the streets of America this day. “You are now free from slavery to the demands of self, for recognition, for life to go as you want, for good health and prosperity, for freedom from emptiness, and for the experience of fullness. … You are now really free to live.” Acts 14-15(The Message).  Stopped by Joppa where Tabitha where Peter brought Tabitha back to life. Free to really live!  Saw the place of Peter's miraculous vision at the House of Simon the Tanner that all of us are clean in the eyes of God.  Here's the place where Cornelius was set free and led many Gentiles to convert to following Christ.  Free to live!

Acts 14:9 Paul, looking the man in Lystra in the eye, saw that he was ripe for God's work, ready to believe.  Wondering as we drive along the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea what others see in us this day, this year as they look into our eyes?  At Mt. Carmel where Amos wanted to hide from God - Amos 9:3 - does distance or hiding have any place in me? 

Acts 14:19 they beat Paul unconscious but Paul who was “launched by God’s Grace (14:26) came to, came right back and put muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times."  Why do we make it sound like it's all going to be good?

November 17 ... Acts 11 - 13 "No Sin Can Destroy My Desire for God"

Arrived today in Tel Aviv. My hotel overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.  A quote from 66 LL in the Acts chapter pervades my thinking. I am dealing with a besetting sin alongside of anguish that God knows is real. But this day, this place, there is Resurrection Power for what I face. “My Power is more evident than ever in your desire for Me that no agony of soul or fall into sin can destroy.” I have to keep embracing what is going on in my heart --- My Desire for God cannot be destroyed. Nothing can separate me from Him. Absolutely. If your desire for God is not there, you must wonder and contemplate who blew out the flame.

Acts 11:18 God has broken through, opened us all up to Life.

Acts 11:23 Barnabas went to check on the church in Antioch and saw God was behind all of this. Barnabas “threw himself in with them, got behind them, urging them to stay with it the rest of their lives.” This is such a word from God to me this day. Throw myself in. All in.

Acts 12:7 An angel had to shake Peter to wake him up in his prison cell. Chained to 2 soldiers, he still slept like a baby. What peace that passes understanding. No worry there. Rescued from Herod’s precious production.  Here lies my anguish as I was awakened last night for the first time in many months in sheer terror of a nightmare of death by suffocation.  In Jesus Name, the terror flees.  He is the Lifter of my Head! Psalm 3:3.

November 16 ... Acts 9 - 10 "God Puts Things Together"

SAUL...murderer no more
Acts 9:17 The Master sent Ananias to Saul so that he could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  With the help of the Spirit, Saul begins preaching uninhibited in the Master's Name---so much so that the Jews and Hellenists wanted to kill him.   He went from a voice of crime to a voice of compassion.  Wonder what he thought about, what images were imprinted on is mind?

AENEAS...crippled no more
Peter healed this paralyzed man.  All those in town saw the miracle and woke up to the fact that "God was alive and active among them."

TABITHA...dead no more
Tabitha was well-known for doing good and helping out.  She became sick and died.  Peter knelt beside her lifeless body and prayed.  Tabitha sat up straight from the dead.  I'll be in Joppa on Thursday.  I weep as I think about seeing the spot. 

CORNELIUS...separated no more
Acts 10:33 God puts things together like Cornelius meeting Peter.  "And now we're all here in God's presence, ready to listen to whatever the Master put in your heart to tell us."  That's where I am this very day.  Given a trip to Israel and here we are in God's very Presence.  Whether we are in Israel or Indiana, would you dear God please make us ready to listen?  Acts 10:35 "It makes no difference who you are or where you're from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open." 

I fly today to Tel Aviv...best birthday gift ever!  God's provision in the midst of such transition.

November 15 ... Acts 7 - 8 "Gazed into Heaven"

Stephen recounts the history of Israel with stunning unspeakable beauty.  He knew the story of God through and through.  He loved the Word made flesh. 

Acts 7:51 - "Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears...you've kept up the family tradition---traitors and murderers, all of you."  Flaps move --- they let you hear what you want to hear.  Stephen didn't mince his words.  The mob rioted and Stephen hardly noticed.  Talk about not being torn up by other's words. People's words are way-too-important to me.  God encourages us through the tongues of others but do I hardly notice the negative?

The rocks rained down on Stephen as he prayed:  "Master Jesus, take my life and don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. His eyes were fixed on the Eternal One not what is temporary.  Stephen gazed into Heaven - Acts 7:55.   He died... and Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.  Our first glance at Paul, a murderer.  Saul went wild persecuting the church.  And there was much joy in the midst of this temporary devastation.  Oh, to fix my eyes on what, Who is Unseen.

November 14 ... Acts 4 - 6 "Speak God's Word with Fearless Confidence"

Acts 5: 20 -The Full Message of This New Life!

Acts 4:1 Peter and John addressed people, priests and police instructing that the resurrection from the dead was done!  The Sadducees threw them in jail for the proclamation but it was too late.  5,000 already believed.  Staggering numbers. 

Peter and John had to face the music in the morning---anybody who was anybody in Jerusalem was at the meeting.  Most important, the Holy Spirit was there.  And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose.  "Do you love Me, Peter?" still rings in my mind.  Peter has nothing to hide anymore.  Do you know this Jesus, Peter?  Whoa.  Yes, He is the One you killed on a Cross and so did I.  Acts 4:13 makes me weep:  Peter and John stood so confident, so sure of themselves!  I've felt like second-rate most of my life.  If ever I should feel that way according to my circumstances it would be now.  However, I'm not that person anymore---my story no longer defines me.  I stand confidently weeping before a Mighty God Who is always good and a daunting world that hasn't been too good to me lately.  I am sure of myself.  Falling Forward.  Sure of what I deeply believe!  Convinced of some things I'll bank my life on even though I have million miles to go---I'm not putting myself in the same league with these Christ follower.  But I am standing!

The Sadducees threatened the duo.  Their answer in Acts 4:20:  "Whether it's right in God's eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. As for us, there's no question—we can't keep quiet about what we've seen and heard." Whether it's Jerusalem then or today:  "Earth's leaders push for position, Potentates meet for summit talks. The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!"

O Mighty God, Acts 5:30, "Give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the Name of your holy servant Jesus...and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's Word with fearless confidence."  Acts 5:33 And Grace was on all of them. 

Frightened fledgling fishermen who now stand in fearless frightening faith.  How did that happen?  The Holy Spirit came on them. And the disciples were overjoyed that they were given the honor to be dishonored for His Name (5:42).  Come, O Spirit of God!

November 13 ... Act 1 - 3 "First in Line"

JESUS' LAST WORDS ON EARTH
Acts 1:8 -  "What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."  What did the words strike in the hearts of his disciples?  "The tension between hope for what could be and the reality of what I see in me and all around me."  66 LL.  Are we aware of our own phoniness?  Have we become a community of pretenders presenting ourselves to each other as more spiritually alive than we are?  66 LL. 

PITCHING TENTS IN THE LAND OF HOPE
Acts 2:1 -4 "When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from."  They were in the right place when the Spirit showed up. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks... Peter spoke up (Acts 2:21) and quoted from Joel... "God will pour out His Spirit and I will pitch my tent in the land of hope....no longer any room for doubting this Master and Messiah Whom you killed on a cross...change your life.  Return to God.  Get out of this sick and stupid culture.  Get out while you can."  3,000 took him at his word and signed up.  Acts 2:41.  They sold what they owned and pooled their resources to meet all the needs.  Look at the boldness of this follower now leader named Peter.  Do you love Me? 

FIRST IN LINE TO TURN FROM OLD WAYS
A beggar, reclining at The Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:5), looks up from his spot expecting to get something from Peter.  No money for the beggar.  Healing in Jesus' Name.  "Why stare as if our piety or power made the beggar walk?  Faith in Jesus' name put this man on his feet---yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole before your eyes... .  Now, it's time to change your ways!  Turn to face God." "You are first in line (Acts 3:26).  Turn, one by one, from your sinful ways." 

November 12 ... John 19 - 21 "Gone Fishing"

Out of the myriad marvel of miracles, what did John stir in you as you read this book? 

He is changing me to live this life I cannot live.
There's a quote at the end of the Book of John in 66 LL that so speaks to deep places in me.  "Father, I'm like your Son's early disciples who believed what He said but as soon as He disappeared from sight, they went fishing (John 21:2-3).  I want to live a life I'm good at, a life that lets me protect myself from avoidable pain and feel good in available pleasures.  But You want me to live a life I can't live!"  I hear the Savior say:  Your strength indeed is small.  There is Resurrection power for the mundane and for the miracles.  The word "resurrection power" that Paul writes about means the strength you need to push through the daily grind and glory. 

He changed the world.
John 21:25  "There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books."  I'll walk those worn paths in Israel next week and think about who He changed.

He changed Nicodemus.
John 19:39 Nicodemus first came to Jesus at night but now he comes in broad daylight.   We all walk in Light this day where there was once darkness.  Bring Light, O God.  Bring Resurrection Power for the mundane things we cannot master.

He changed Mary Magdalene.
John 20:15-16 Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep at the tomb? Mary thought he was the gardener until He said her name.  He is calling your name this day.  Annette. Deborah.  Michele.  Sylvia. Mary Lou.  Cici.  Kim.  Angie.  Jan.  Jen.  Gay. 
Open our eyes, our ears to see You today like you did for Mary Magdalene. 

He changed Simon Peter.
Simon Peter went fishing---did he just pick up and leave and go do what he knew to do best?  Simon couldn't catch a thing until Jesus showed up.  Then he caught 153 big fish.  John 21:10. Are you asking Him this day to show up big time for you and your husband and your children?  Three times---once for each betrayal---Jesus asks Simon Peter:  Do you love Me?  And Jesus is changing Simon Peter into Peter.  "One day, like you and me, when you get old, you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don't want to go."

He changed me. 
John 21:22 - Doesn't matter what happens to anyone else. "You, follow Me."  Not any other strong man.  Not any other stable person.  Not any successful ministry or leader. Not any achievement.  Not the good life here and now.  Just Follow Me.

November 11 ... John 16 - 18 "My Story Doesn't Define Me"

SO MANY QUESTIONS
John 16:23 - When I see you again, you'll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. You'll no longer be so full of questions.

UNSHAKABLE AND ASSURED
John 16:33 -  I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

NOT DEFINED BY THIS WORLD
John 17:12  Jesus prayed for God to guard us as we pursue this life so that we can be of one heart and mind.  He asked that His Joy would be complete in you and me this very day.  Guard them from the evil one.  I am not defined by this world.  My story doesn't define me.  Make me holy----consecrated----with the Truth.  And Jesus prayed to give each of us a mission in this world.  And He ended His prayer asking for God's Love to be in me and you. 

November 10 ... John 13 - 15 "A Loveless World is a Sightless World"

TRUST ME
John 14:1  "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me.

ANOTHER FRIEND
John 14:15-17  "If you love me, show it by doing what I've told you. I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth.

LOVELESS WORLD
John 14:23 -24"Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words.

REALLY ALIVE

“To really live would mean to do whatever it takes to advance God’s Kingdom, to give God pleasure, and to be an opportunity for the Spirit to do His Work in the most disappointing husband or frustrating wife" no matter what your circumstances.  66 LL.

FEELING ABANDONED
John 14:26 -27  "The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you... I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft.  If we feel left out, abandoned, overlooked, overused---it's not God we are experiencing.  What sin stirs your heart?  What surrender must stir thicker?

October 9 ... John 11 - 12 "God's Outstretched Arm is Ready to Act"

GOD KEEPS NO ONE WAITING UNLESS IT'S GOOD
John 11:17 "When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead."  Jesus kept all those mourning for Lazarus waiting.  C. S. Lewis once said:  "I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait." 

LAZARUS COULDN'T UNWRAP HIMSELF
Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.  Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose." John 11:43-44.  Jesus healed Lazarus from head to toe but left him bound up.  Wonder why?  Are we like Lazarus, still bound up in some ways, yet so alive, and so needing our friends to walk alongside of us and unwrap the layer that is falling off. 

RAISED FROM THE DEAD BACK TO A DANGEROUS LIFE
John 12:18  "The high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him.   Can you imagine being raised from the dead only to find out that your life was in danger cause you were alive? The Pharisees didn't like that the world was in a "stampede after Jesus (12:19)."   Follow Me...and it might cost you your life.  Let it go, reckless in your love, and you'll have it forever, real and eternal (12:25). 

GOD'S OUTSTRETCHED ARMS READY TO ACT
Who recognized God's arm, outstretched and ready to act? John 12:39. First they wouldn't believe, then they couldn't—again, just as Isaiah said: Their eyes are blinded and their hearts are hardened.  Is God's Arm too short for you this day?  Is His Arm outstretched ready to act for you this day?  Do we recognize God in our life this day?

November 8 ... John 9 - 10 "No Pretense Here"

The Blind Man...do you want to see? 
John 9:11 - "I did what Jesus said."  Put a paste on your eyes and wash. 
No pretense there.
The Pharisees questioned him.  No intimidation.
His parents didn't back him up:  "We don't know.  Haven't a clue."  John 9:20
The Pharisees threw him out on his ear. John 9:34
The man lost his job begging---no need to beg anymore.
John 9:39 "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see...and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind."  Blindness doesn't co-exist with pretense.

 "How long will you keep us guessing if you are the Messiah?"  John 10:25-32 - Jesus answered, "I told you, but you don't believe ... You don't believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep recognize my voice....They are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal them from out of my hand."

"Many turned away when they realized what He was saying was "hard."  Like so many today!  The word hard is a translaton of skleros:  offensive not merely difficult.  "To love with nails in Your Hands and to love those who put them there captures the essence of what it means to really live!"  66 LL.

November 7 ... John 7 - 8 "The Story of The Missing Man"

John 8:2 "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt.  I wonder what words lay on that ground? "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." One by one, they all walked away.  "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" (John 8:10)  "No one, Master."  "Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."  I keep thinking about Owen's comment:  Be killing sin or it will be killing you.  Do we entertain thoughts that have no place in our heart?  Demeaning thoughts.  Rude ones.  Uncaring comments.  Where do I fit in this story.  St. Ignatius tells us to meditate on Scripture by placing ourselves in the story.  Am I like the woman caught red-handed in any act?  Am I like her accusers looking for sin in others?  And where is the missing man?  The woman was exposed and found Divine Light. The missing man missed God.  Not a bad thing to be found out. Forgiven Fully.  Mary Magdalene will be the first person that Jesus will appear to in His Resurrection.  Jesus certainly didn't hold this sin against her.  So why do I beat myself up for things I've done that are forgiven?

Luke 8:16 - "I don't make judgments out of the narrowness of my experience but in the largeness of the One who sent me, the Father...You live in terms of what you see and touch."  Three times, Jesus says:  You are missing God in this.  Wonder where I am missing God in places in my heart I haven't even accessed or allowed Him to, I should say.  We all could live in despair if we look at what is seen in us and in our world but we have the immense privilege to watch and wait in Hope for our Good God to show up this day.  We won't miss Him if we live surrendered.   John 8:47 - "Anyone on God's side listens to God's words. This is why you're not listening—because you're not on God's side."  Look to things Unseen. His Unseen Hand is on you.  He's not writing in sand today.  He is writing on hearts (Ezek 31:33).

November 6 ... John 5 - 6 "Don't Return To A Sinning Life"

For 38 years, an invalid waited for the healing waters of the Bethesda Pool to stir.  Jesus comes along one day and asks one of the 100 expectantly waiting:  "Do you want to get well? (John 5:6)"   It's an odd question to me.  What's the cost of getting well?  What's the cost of following Jesus?  Pick up your mat and follow Me.  38 years is a long time to think about going nowhere.  John 5:14 says that later Jesus found the invalid in the Temple and said to him:  "Don't return to a sinning life."   When Jesus touches my life, does He find me in His Temple worshipping Him?

The Pharisees accused Jesus of not playing by the rules because He healed on a Sabbath.  Jesus response in John 5:39-40 are verses that come across my mind consistently.  "ou have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want."

In John 6:35, Jesus crossed to the Sea of Galilee.  In just one week, I'll be right there and remember these words He spoke scores of years ago for me this day:  "I am the Bread of Life.  The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever."  Every person the Father brings in eventually comes running back to God.  God holds on and doesn't let go of us. 
"The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.  A lot of the disciples left after this teaching.  Jesus asked His disciples:  "What about you?  Do you want to leave?  Master, to whom would we go (John 6:66)? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.

November 5 ... John 3 - 4 "No Formula Living"

John 3:17 "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted."  Larry asked me one time, when I was struggling, what I thought Jesus would say to me if Jesus walked into the room at that moment.  I felt He would be so disappointed with me that I didn't have it together and kept struggling with the same old stuff.   Humbly and gently, Larry shared with me that God wanted to reframe my perspective.  He doesn't show up to tell us how bad we are.  He comes to help and put our world right, Plan A.  He comes to love. 

John 4:1  I don't recall ever realizing that the Pharisees kept count of the number of baptisms performed by John and Jesus.  They posted a score and Jesus was winning!  Wonder if our numbers today reflect the same attitude?  Is God more pleased if 500 people are baptized than if 50 sinners were baptized?  Is God more pleased with a mega-church of 10,000 than a broken church of 100?  Are we keeping score in our hearts?

Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman---unheard of in those days.  He inquired about her 5 husbands, going straight to her heart.  Her response:  "Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right (John 4:19)?"  How often do we do this in our conversations?  We become uncomfortable in facing truth so we make shallow talk.  Change the subject.  Jesus response:  "Where you go to worship does not matter.  It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.  So how honest am I in my worship before Him?  Am I saying all the right things?  Do I even know where I really am this moment in life?  Know Yourself.  I wonder what being honest will look like for you today?  Those who are quiet and agreeable may just need to stand up and share their heart.  Those who are forceful and authentic may just need to sit down and quiet themselves.  No formula living.

November 4 ... John 1 - 2 "Grace Upon Grace Upon Grace"

"In the world you now inhabit, communion wth Me is not defined by an experience of Me.  Nor does it depend on blessings from Me. To really live is to release My Son's life through yours, in any circumstance, no matter what you feel, to relate as He related, giving when no one gives back, loving when no one returns love, forgiving when no one deserves forgiveness, suffering in the place of those who should suffer."  66 LL

"Don't look at your inability.  Look at My Son's ability." 66 LL

John presents a Glory that "though dimly visible now" will one day fill the earth.  Everything was created through Him!  "The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness (John 1:5)."   And God sent a man named John to point out a way to the Life-Light. 

"We all live off His Generous Bounty, Gift after Gift after Gift (John 1:16)." 

"Come, see for yourself (John 1:46)."

November 3 ... Luke 23 - 24 "Be Killing Sin or It Will Be Killing You"

The Thief on the Cross said: Shut up: "Have you no fear of God? You're getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this. (Luke 23:40)"  We all deserve death for if we are guilty of one sin, guilty of all. 

Because of the Resurrection, it changed everything.  In Luke 24:45-49, God shares:  Jesus opened their uderstanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way.  He said, "You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations---starting from here, from Jerusalem!"

Praise God that He made provision for our sins.  In John Owen's book Overcoming Sin and Temptation,  Owen writes:  "Be acquainted then, with your own heart:  though it be deep, search it; though it be dark, inquire into it; though it give all its distempers other names that what are their due, believe it not.  Don't justify your own particular sin, but seek to recognize it so that you might fight against it with all your strength.  Christians are called to wage war against this enemy, knowing that there are only two points:  Be killing sin or it will be killing you."  John Owen.  "The only hope John Owen can promise in his book comes not through further self-examination but by embracing the Love and Provision of God."  Open our eyes this day to see your Wild Love and Undeserving Provision.

As we close the pages of Dr. Luke's book, what stirs in your heart?

November 2 ... Luke 21 - 22 "A VENEER COVERS OUR DIVIDED HEART"

A DIVIDED HEART
Luke 21:2 is what Jesus said about the widow who gave her last coin: "The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all!"  Am I all in with God and with my children and ministry?  Have I distanced myself because of my tremendous loss or am I really giving my all?  66 LL says:  "You want a better life now.  You're discouraged by how tired you feel and by the promises you wish God would make but knows He has not....You say you want to be more like Jesus but you seem to want more energy, an upbeat attitue, a fulfilling sense of personal significance, to be someone who seizes all the good opportunities for felt happiness and welcomed impact that life offers."  Crabb goes on to say something very interesting on p 218 that you won't hear from most sermons today.  He says:  "In your heart, at least in the part you've so far accessed, you rarely find a desire stronger than your wish to be satisfied with life's blessings, to feel both confident in My Goodness that they will continue and excited about life's opportunities.  Your desire for spiritual formation lies on top of those self-focused desires like an attractive veneer.  It needs to lie beneath as the controlling foundation of your life."  What he said that so stood out to me was how we haven't accessed parts of our heart.  That is what couseling has done for me---meeting a guy who helped me to deal with parts of my heart that were not alive.  I still have a long way to go and understand little.  But I'm alive in ways I could have never ever imagined.  And I see life so differently this day...there is Hope in my mess.

EVERY DETAIL OF MY SOUL IN HIS CARE
Luke 21:16 "You'll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There's no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved."  Oh my word!  Doesn't matter who turns us in or who gives up on us or who distances themselves from us or who is just simply not interested in us...doesn't matter, does it.  Every detail of my soul is in His Care.  Oh my.  Oh my.  Oh my.  "And then—then!—YOU will see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!" Luke21:27.  Amen and amen.  Don't brush this off.  I am saying this to YOU not for a future generation.  "My words won't wear out (Luke 21:28).  "Be on your guard.  Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and shopping...don't go to sleep at the switch.  Pray constantly that you will have the strength and the wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man."  Amen!!!!!!!!!!

C. S. Lewis wrote that no man knows how bad he really is until he has tried very hard to be good.  It's a silly idea to think that good people don't know temptation.  But, it's the veneer on all of us that disguises how bad we really are.  Even the disciples didn't know which one of them would betray Jesus.  "Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying Me is at this moment on this table?" Luke 22:23 says they "immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this."  Even Judas looked pretty good up to that point.  Christian veneer.

How do we get the veneer off of looking so good and our hearts are not really there? God have mercy on us all!

November 1 ... Luke 19 - 20 "To Wish Forward"

Do I realize Jesus wants to be a guest in my home today?
Luke 19: 5 "Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home." Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him.  Jesus found sinners and restored their lives.  Same thing today.  And it's all because He headed straight to Jerusalem to fulfill God's Plan.  Luke 19:38 - Blessed is He Who comes, the King in God's Name!  All's well in heaven!  Glory in the high places!  "When the city came into view, he wept over it. If you had only recognized this day, and everything that was good for you (Luke 19:41).  Jesus is weeping for Jerusalem not for Himself and what He must suffer.  Today, I was wronged but my thoughts were for myself not for the city, the community, the church.  Expose the pretense.  Am I guilty of Luke 20:46-47 "preen in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function."  Am I advancing His Kingdom or my own?

66 LL says:  "If you miss everything in this letter but one thing, don't miss this:  My Son wished forward.  Seven times God has Luke record that He prayed, using the word proseuchomai, which means to "wish forward."  That is the core of human maturity in Jesus' life.  Jesus had no greater desire than to carry out His part in God's Plan.  That is the center of spiritual formation, not more energy, not feeling more upbeat, but a clear awareness of the deepest truly human desire, a desire that releases resolve, an unflinching determination to follow the lead of My Son in bringing heaven's Kingdom to earth, a longing to love."