Roots by the River

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (2 Cor. 9:12). “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:15). These three verses have something in common. It is prayer . James 5:16 tells us of the quality of prayer or, rather, the quality of the man who prays for healing. The next two verses tell of the quantity of men who thank God. 2 Corinthians 9:12 speaks of God’s people who are grateful, having had their physical needs met by those who had given. This results in “overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” 2 Corinthians 4:15 is speaking of the salvation of more and more people. This causes “thanksg...

The Scripture that has been in my mind a good part of the day is Haggai 2:11-13: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’ The priests answered, ‘No.’ Then Haggai said, ‘If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?’ ‘Yes,’ the priests replied, ‘it becomes defiled.’” Notice this! Defilement, uncleanness, and dirt can be transferred. Cleanliness cannot be transferred. If I pour clean water into dirty water, does that make the dirty water clean? No! If I pour dirty water into clean water, does that make the clean water dirty? Yes! If I have dirty hands and shake your clean hand, do I transfer dirt to you, or do you transfer clean to me? Dirt is transferred! “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character'” (1 Cor...

There are only two things you can do at any given time: obey God or disobey Him. Obeying God and confessing your sin when you disobey is called walking in the light: as soon as you get in the darkness, you confess your sin and get back in the light. My book How to Be Free: More Essays on Christian Living is about how to be free from besetting sins and obey God. It covers different topics like depression, worry, anger, low self-esteem, guilt, gossip, lying, a critical spirit, complaining, etc. It also talks about how to walk in the light. The book is available at ccmbooks.org/bookstore and Amazon. Sins do not travel in singles. If you have unconfessed sin, it sets you up for more sin. If you get into the habit of confessing sin, you will not have to go through the ins and outs of obedience and confession so much. Take care of sin when it occurs. Do not wait. It is possible to walk in the light, which makes it easy to obey God. When you are walking in the light, you can rejoice al...

In recent days,* I have been struck again by the partial repentance of the kings of Israel and the partial repentance of the kings of Judah. Here are two examples from many. Israel: “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit” (2 Kings 10:31). The last sentence was said of every king of Israel. Judah: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there” (2 Kings 14:3-4). This last sentence was said of Amaziah and his son, his grandson, and his great-grandson. Amaziah was one of the good kings of Judah. Hezekiah, his great-great-grandson, turned things around: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He r...

Here are four passages of Scripture which have meant very much to me. There are many others, but these stand out. Each has a promise attached. The promises are in bold. “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth ” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21). “Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice...

There are portions in Paul’s writings that talk about being more like the Lord Jesus. “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14). “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). “I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves a...

The Scripture says there are certain gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. I am a teacher and an evangelist—but I am an evangelist by obedience. I may have the gift also, but it is certainly obedience. The Great Commission says, “ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). Just by being a Christian, I am an evangelist. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me,” and He said, “Make disciples of all nations.” That means all Christians who obey Jesus Christ are evangelists . They are to make disciples of all nations. They are also to teach these disciples to obey everything that Jesus commanded. Just by obeying that, I am an evangelist and a teacher. If you are an obedient Christian, you ar...

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Isaiah 58. The first five verses are God telling the religious people why their prayers are not answered. “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.        Raise your voice like a trumpet.        Declare to my people their rebellion        and to the house of Jacob their sins.   For day after day they seek me out;        they seem eager to know my ways,        as if they were a nation that does what is right        and has not forsaken the commands of its God.        They ask me for just decisions        and seem eager for God to come near them.   'Why have we fasted,’ they say,        'and you have not seen it?        ...

“Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14). We believe that this is a picture of Jesus on the cross. If so, “His face was disfigured beyond that of any man,” meaning that no one has been disfigured that much ever; and “beyond human likeness,” meaning that His crucified body did not look human. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6). This text tells us the why of the disfigurement. Every lie, every murder, every rape, every idolatrous act was nailed to the cross in Jesus. ...

“For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:34b-37). “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6). At several points in my life, I have been conscious of speaking words that were not gracious. Apparently, my heart had not been stored with good things, or the overflow would have been gracious words. I want to store my heart so full of good that the overflow will be always good.   Written November 1988. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please jo...

This post is an excerpt from The Lordship of Jesus Christ by Bill Pape. The Devil defies God to deliver His people. He attacks God through the Christian, which is the only way he can attack God. Deliverance is by referring the whole matter confidently to the Lord. [When the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem and demanded surrender, saying that God could not deliver the city] Hezekiah, in effect, prayed, “Hear what the enemy is saying about You, O Lord.” The king frankly admitted that the enemy had had considerable success, but he saw equally clearly that the glittering victories over nations and their pantheon were not due to the greatness of the kings of Assyria, but to the littleness of the gods of the conquered peoples. “They were no gods, but the work of men’s hands” (Isa. 37:19). The prayer that began with a declaration of the greatness of God and continued with an exposure of the real nature of temptation now admits that human effort cannot devise a method of countering such a...

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-5, 9-14). This is the Christmas story according...

In the book of Isaiah, several chapters stand out in my memory. One of them is chapter five. Here are a few verses from it. It is God’s rebuke to Israel, 700 years before Jesus’ time on earth. “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,     and wickedness as with cart ropes,  to those who say, ‘Let God hurry;     let him hasten his work     so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel—     let it approach, let it come into view,     so we may know it.’  Woe to those who call evil good     and good evil, who put darkness for light     and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet     and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes     and clever in their own sight. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine     and cha...

In the summer or winter Olympics every two years, we watch men and women making “every effort” to win a medal. Regardless of the event, this means the ultimate in mental and physical effort. The Bible tells us several times to make “every effort.” This is not the same kind of “every effort” that occurred in the Olympic games. How do we know? The difference is described in two portions of Scripture: “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24). “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Galatians 3:3). In Luke, we are to make every effort to enter. Those who try are not able to enter. In Galatians, we began by the Spirit, but cannot finish by human effort. It is foolishness! We see that every effort is not human effort. It is not by trying. Every effort is a spiritual event, a grace and faith event. It is different f...

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David…to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (Luke 1:68-69, 74-75). This is part of Zechariah’s prayer when John, Zechariah’s son, was named. This part of the prayer is about the LORD Jesus. The second half of the prayer is about John. Notice the last portion quoted: “to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.” This is loaded and amazing. We are enabled to: ·        Serve Him ·        Without fear ·        In holiness ·        In righteousness ·        All our days This redemption, this salvation, is not just...

Today I want to bring to your attention several related passages that are clearly directed to individuals or households , not to the whole church. “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land” (Deut. 15:11). “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:13-14). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16). We have managed to evade these clear teachings by delegat...

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:2). There are many ways of teaching both truth and falsehood. One of the most effective ways comes under at least three different names: memorization, grammar, and catechizing. Even when this effective way is used with the truth of the gospel, the teaching may not cause faith . When it does not cause faith, it is because some things are missing, generally in the teacher. These things are: 1) the power of the Holy Spirit, 2) love for the student, 3) preaching boldly, 4) preaching in the name of Jesus Christ, and 5) fear. “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report?’ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:16-17). “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctr...

This is a guest post from Brad Scheelke, manager of Oasis Books in Logan, Utah.  Greetings in our kind and merciful Father. “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God —that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). Let’s thank the Father often that because of Him we are in His Son. When you think of wisdom, what do you think about? Is it about how well or poorly you know the Bible? When you think of holiness, what do you think about? Is it about how consistently you obey God or how frequently you sin? This passage states that the person of Jesus Christ is our wisdom, holiness, righteousness, and redemption. It does not say that He has given these to us, but rather that He IS these for us. It does not depend on our performance, but only on whether we are in the Son. If we have Him, we have all these things. Therefore, let us boast (glory...

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land” (Isaiah 1:19). “If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:18). “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17). Isaiah’s views of obedience and the result of righteousness are peace, quietness, and confidence forever.

“ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him” (Col. 2:6). We are to obey the same way we received Christ, that is, by grace through faith. Obedience is always from the heart. If it is from the head only, it might be by the act of will only, and therefore it will be by effort and not by grace. Before I became a Christian, I lived a life of “obedience” in that I did not use profanity or slang, smoke, drink, or have sex. I was impressed with my goodness (or lack of badness). I impressed my non-Christian classmates with my “goodness.” I did not impress the Christians. I had two strong attributes which also happen to be the primary attributes of Satan: ·        Arrogance: I was self-righteous and proud of it. Satan said, “I will be like the Most High.” ·        Lying: I lied very much. Jesus said of Satan that when he lies, he speaks his first language. I was being like the d...