Revealing the Truth

Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Genesis 45:1

Judah's heart-wrenching request breaks the silence of Joseph. It has opened the door of full revelation. How powerful of a statement Joseph makes as his identity is finally acknowledged to his brothers. Reconciliation begins when both sides open their hearts to each other. Joseph's reunion with his brothers begins when he reveals who he really is.

The stage for this awareness has been set with tears, kindness, extravagance, and patience. It has been painful for Joseph to hold off telling his brothers who he really is until he knew their hearts had been properly prepared. What showed him that was the case? Acknowledgement of sin and change of character. They were now ready to hear the truth. They were now ready to know who this powerful person was. Their emotions are raw, their self sufficiency and arrogance have been stripped away, and they are crying out for mercy.

God brings me to that point many times. He knows what keeps me from closeness with Himself. Each time I allow Him to reveal Himself to me I learn something new about His character, His heart, and His ways. He has reminded me this morning that if I stay close to Him and walk with Him, He will guide me and bring about His plans and purposes for my life. I so often think it is activity for Him that He seeks. But He reminds me it is being in His presence that must come first. Moses reflected God's glory on his face after being in His presence. There was always work to do but the life giving essence flowed from time spent with his Father. It is no different for me. ALL things will flow out of my time with God.

Everything would change with Joseph's revelation to his brothers. And everything changes as God continues to reveal Himself to me.

Father, show me Who You are throughout today. I long to know You in ways that blow my mind. Amen!

The Ultimate Master

Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. Genesis 44:33

What change has taken place in the life of Judah! Years earlier it was Judah who offered the suggestion to sell Joseph. Now it is Judah who is willing to be enslaved so that Benjamin can be returned to his father. He has lived with his father's grief over losing Joseph yet now he cannot bear to grieve him further.

True love does not seek to hurt the other person. Is my heart as tender toward my heavenly Father? If so, it will affect the way I treat His children. For when I mistreat them I touch the apple of His eye. All the precious truths I am learning about God ~ He cherishes me, delights in me, loves me unconditionally, sings over me, desires intimacy with me ~ are also true of His other children. My love for God should cause me to be willing to sacrifice for others. What that may mean to each individual varies. It may mean taking the first step at reconciling a strained friendship, letting another off the hook for not meeting my needs, allowing another person into my circle of friends, helping with a financial need, listening to another's hurts without adding my own story, or sometimes adding my own story.

Judah was willing to become a slave. That would mean loss of freedom, loss of family, loss of dignity, loss of dreams, loss of a future. But when I choose to become God's bondservant those losses become my gains. I gain freedom, family, dignity, dreams, and a future. It is when I die to self that I truly begin to live. It is when I stop serving myself that I am most available to serve God and others.

Unlike human masters, God is a Master with a tender heart and invites me into close relationship with Himself. He has things to whisper to me and incredible things to show me. He doesn't want to see fear in my eyes when I obey Him. Picture two hunting dogs. One cowers in fear at the hands of a cruel and angry master. The other bounds around, tail wagging, tongue flapping, and eyes eagerly anticipating his master's desires. May I respond to my heavenly Father's heart of love in such a way that serving Him is a privilege, a joy, a delight, and the deepest desire of my heart.

Oh, Father, may I always respond to You with eagerness. May I see each opportunity as OUR opportunity to be together. Amen

Being Merry In His Presence

So they feasted and drank freely with him. Genesis 43:34

Joseph’s brothers have been through quite an ordeal. Their emotions have been a roller coaster ride of great proportion. They carry the baggage of the past and trust no one with the present. Personal invitations have been viewed with suspicion and fear. Their spirits are jumpy as they wonder what will happen to them next.

A failed attempt to gain assurance from the house servant keeps them afraid. Then they meet Joseph. They bow, they give a present, and they exchange a casual greeting. They expected a storm but have entered a place of rest instead.

Once they see it is a meal and nothing more they relax. The KJV says “they drank and were merry with him.” They had come to the place of abiding in the presence of the one they greatly feared just moments before. In their wildest dreams they never imagined it could be like this. Instead of prison they shared a feast. They exchanged spirits of heaviness for garments of cheerfulness. Their tenseness was replaced with calm. The whole scenario has changed and they are thriving under undeserved tenderness.

That is how God wants my time with Him to be. He wants to rid me of doubts, fears, insecurities, suspicions, condemnation, guilt, and uncertainty and help me learn to relax and be merry in His presence. That happens as I learn the truth of His character and the essence of His heart.

He wants me to really see that His love is unconditional, His delight in me is real, His plans for me are good, His presence is constant, His thoughts toward me are innumerable, and His arms around me are safe. His eyes are tender, His ears are open, His heart is full of compassion, His hands are guiding, His arms are embracing, and His voice is soothing.

Father, may I hold Your hand and look up into Your eyes often as we go through today. Amen.

A Kingdom to be Ruled

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 King James Version)

I wage a war many times throughout every day. If I am not careful I will be defeated and left in a heap. The war is waged within my mind. I have a choice to either allow my thoughts to dominate me or for me to take charge. At no point am I a helpless victim.

Some of you know what I am talking about for you battle your own thoughts and wonder how to rule them instead of allowing them to rule you. Two of the most destructive thought patterns for me in the past and present have been impure thoughts and negative thinking. Both have root causes and the ability to be strongholds. Both can be controlled, reduced, eliminated, and transformed.

There was a time in my life when impure thoughts dominated me. They were thoughts that brought shame and a relief that no one could read my mind. Two things helped greatly. First, I learned the power of bringing the thoughts out into the open to God. I admitted to Him what I was thinking and realized His readiness to forgive. Then I began to go back and recall where the thoughts were allowed to enter. What events and people were instrumental in planting the seeds of impure thoughts in me? Where had they gained access? As I identified the origins, I renounced them all. I came against them with the blood of Christ and today they no longer govern me. There is freedom!

Negative thinking is my present daily battle. How quickly the lies, distorted reality, and misperceptions can reinterpret events and personal relationships for me. If I dwell on them long enough they spiral me down to a pit I would rather not be in. My answer is once again to bring them out in the open to God and compare them to what His Word says. To expose and renounce them. Then replace them with truth and dwell on that.

Casting down imaginations and bringing them into captivity imply destruction and confinement. They are military terms and denote a deliberate act. May I handle each assault with seriousness and determination.

Father, purify my mind and transform my thoughts. May I not follow the trail they want to take me on. I choose Your path of meditation. Amen.

Received or Turned Away?

Your iniquities turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you. Jeremiah 5:25

My sin actually turns away and withholds good things that are meant for me. I picture a road leading to a town in need of food and supplies. But the truckloads are turned away and the items are withheld by two guards named iniquity (wickedness) and sin. They are more aware than anyone what is on it’s way but they aren’t about to let it get through.

When I choose to hold on to my wrong words, actions, thoughts, or attitudes I keep these guards employed. But when I acknowledge my sin to the Lord and seek His forgiveness the guards are moved out of the way. The good things intended for me get through.

So often we live in want of God’s goodness and blessing in our life. We posture, we hide, we squirm, and we beg. It isn’t until we become honest with ourselves and God about the wrong in our live that we can begin to clear the way for God’s things to get through to us.

What am I in need of today? What provisions are being blocked?

Father, You have meant for me to receive so much more from Your hands than I am receiving. Open my eyes to the wickedness and sin that detours Your goodness from reaching me. I choose You, Lord! Amen.

Instantly Changed

And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. Luke 13:13

I am coming back to this verse this morning because as I have reread this passage of Scripture a few words have jumped out at me…..immediately and made straight. While growth in Christ is a gradual thing, there are times when God chooses to produce immediate change in our life. It is instantaneous and noticeable!

I am reminded of a time when I cried out to God in prayer over an issue in my life and He immediately answered in a powerful way. I have shared before that I was not brought up in a Christian home. From a young age I saw and experienced things no child should be subject to. When I received Christ as my Savior at the age of 14, I instantly became a child of God. That decision redirected the path I was on, redefined my life, and completely changed where I would spend eternity. I took on new interests, became a part of a loving church family, and had a desire to read the Bible. I began a relationship with God Whom I never really knew before. Those things were automatic. They were changes God brought about.

But over the years something did not change. Those things I had seen and experienced from early childhood left me with a sense of shame from which I could not seem to escape. Like a nagging toothache it was always there. I told no one. I simply carried the feelings and disgust with me. I did not know my heavenly Father longed to free me from the load. Several years ago, in my early 40’s I read an article by Lisa Bevere that God used to end my torment. It led me to a time of prayer in which I simply asked God to make me feel clean and pure in all the places I harbored shame and disgrace. I was in the shower at the time, and as the water poured over me I sensed an instant cleansing taking place. I sensed a removal of all that had clung to me for so many years. God made straight the tangled mess inside of me. I will tell you this, even though that was a number of years ago the shame has not returned. The freedom was given by God and has never been removed. I, too, glorify God!

Father, some things we will not be relieved of until we stand before you in Heaven. But I thank you that the release of shame is not one of the things that must wait. I revel in the purity with which You clothed me. It was mine for the asking! Amen.

Inseparable Aspects of Discipline

I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him. 2 Samuel 7:14,15

God spoke these words to King David in regards to his son Solomon. David was nearing the end of his life as well as his reign over Israel. He knew Solomon would succeed him to the throne. David of all men knew what the chastening hand of God was like but he also knew what God’s lovingkindness was like. Unless we see both aspects of God we will walk through this life with a distorted view of God’s love as well as His discipline.

Many times, God’s method of discipline is through human sources. I think of a child being disciplined by his parents, a person standing before a judge or sitting behind bars, a person getting a speeding ticket, a person getting fired, a student being given sentences or detentions. The list could go on and on. Often times we forget that the one handing out the discipline is actually an extension of God’s hand. There are people who become angry with the one who presents them with the consequence for their own choices instead of owning up to the fact that they did wrong. This verse could speak volumes to them if they let it. Any time we do wrong and face the consequences through human sources we can rest assured that God is doing what He said He would do. He loves us too much to let us continue in our sinful behavior.

But I must see the second part of this verse as well. I must understand God’s lovingkindness never leaves. He does not remove it when I sin or when I face the consequences for my sin. As a matter of fact, it is during the time of chastening that I must realize God’s lovingkindness is still present. I remember a time a couple years ago when I faced some consequences for handling a situation wrong. I was new in my journey with Him and I can remember telling Him that I would face anything that comes as long as I knew He was with me. It was during that time that I learned of the graciousness of His forgiveness and the truth of His presence.

Father, for far too many years I missed the last part of this verse. Now the truth of it captures my heart in a powerful way. I love You. Amen!