Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 “We love because he first loved us. ” 1 John 4:19 ESV We as humans are not just animals. We're capable of love. We're made in the image and likeness of God who is love personified. Because God is love, he created us, to share in loving fellowship with him. Because we are hateful, we have broken that fellowship. Because God is love, he's made a way for that fellowship to be restored. Because the Father sent the Son to give his life for us, we can respond to his love. We can be capable of that same kind of heavenly, sacrificial love. All we need to do is to trust in Jesus. We mustn't put our faith in ourselves for being loving. As John clearly states here, the reason we do love is because God first loved us. So there's no room for boasting. 'Dear Father in heaven, please help us to love you and others as you have loved us and given your Son for us. In his name we ask this, amen'.

 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV The devil can't be accused of being lazy. He's busy about trying to destroy us. We must destroy his satanic arguments. If we don't destroy devilish arguments, they will destroy us if they persuade us. When people offer us their lofty opinions, we shouldn't take their word for it. We are to destroy arrogant opinions that are raised against the knowledge of God. Most importantly, we need to know God. We're not just to know him intellectually, but relationally. We get to know him in his word the Bible, as applied by his Holy Spirit. We're to involve Christ the Lord in every flitting thought that passes through our minds. Some seed of a thought has the potential to choke the garden of our minds with weeds. We're to allow Christ to weed out anything that's untoward in our thinking. 'Dear Lord our God, ...

 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ” Philippians 4:19 ESV The Philippian church was generous. Maybe they were tempted to worry that they were out of pocket because of their generosity. So Paul assured them with this verse. This is a wonderful promise of God's word. God isn't going to let us go without our needs. We don't just need money to buy food and drink and to provide for shelter though. Ultimately, we need to make it to glory with Christ Jesus our Lord. Thankfully, because of the riches of his grace in giving his life for us, we can attain to the new creation. We just need to trust in him. God isn't stingy and miserly. He's generous with his immeasurable riches. He doesn't necessarily give us what we want all the time, but he does provide for our needs. 'Dear God our Lord, please look after us. Thank you that you always have and you always will. For your honour and praise, amen'. 

 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 ESV Jesus echoed Solomon when he said that 'out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks'. From a good heart comes good speech; from a bad heart comes bad speech. Sadly, we're a bundle of contradictions, with good and bad coming out of our same mouths. If we're to keep our hearts, the implication is that God has performed a spiritual heart transplant. If he has done so, we're to keep our hearts healthy spiritually. We're not to feed ourselves with spiritual junk like false teachings or other inappropriate content online. It's all too easy to get complacent. Solomon commands vigilance. He seems hypocritical- he allowed pagan wives to lead his heart astray- but God brought him back.  Some intellectual a long time ago famously said 'I think, therefore I am'. Solomon seems to suggest there's an element of truth to that. What we think tends to dictate our ...

 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 ESV If we trust in Christ, death isn't our destiny. Just as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, so he can give us life. We just need to believe in him. God is eternally omnipotent/all powerful. It's not like the Holy Spirit gets old and infirm. He's unfailingly faithful to save. Of course, we face physical death, unless Christ Jesus returns first. Yet for the believer, death isn't the end. We have a glorious eternity to look forward to. Our flawed, weak and sinful bodies are redeemable. Just as Christ was raised bodily, so we shall be. We just need to have faith in him. 'Our Father God, please raise us up from the destruction we deserve. Help us to trust in your Spirit's work in our lives, in Christ Jesus' name, amen'.

 “And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”” Mark 4:9 ESV Jesus calls for us to prepare our hearts to receive his word. Ultimately, for our hearts to be fertile ground for God to sow his word, we need him to do his work in us. We need to be receptive to what he would have to say to us.  As the Apostle Paul said, how can people hear the good news if no one tells them it? If we've received the Gospel, we are to pass it on. If we've heard and accepted it, we're to call others to do the same. The Lord calls us to be philosophical if people don't receive God's word well. Some seed falls on the path. Others fall on rocky or weedy ground. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof we have listened to God's word and received it is that we put it into practice in our lives. With God's help we can do this. 'Heavenly Father, please prepare our hearts to receive your word. For Christ's glory we ask this, amen'. 

 “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ” Ephesians 6:11 ESV Traditionally, I've thought of the armour of God as an individualistic thing. Yet of course, the Roman soldier didn't fight in isolation. He was part of a band of brothers. A Roman 'tortoiseshell' of shields could withstand barbarian hordes. We don't win spiritual warfare in isolation, but in community. A solitary Roman soldier could easily be destroyed by an enemy army.  When we trust in Jesus, we become part of his spiritual army. He's gone before us, through death into resurrection and ascension. Nothing can stand in our way. God has equipped us with everything we need for spiritual warfare. We can stand strong in him. We are to trust in him, not in our own devices. 'Lord God Almighty, please help us to take up your armour and to use it. May we fight together, and not isolated. In Christ's name we ask this, amen'.

 “And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” ” Exodus 33:14 ESV Moses knew that if God's presence didn't go with his people, they may as well have packed up and returned to slavery in Egypt. Likewise, if God doesn't presence himself with us, we may as well give up and seeking to reach the promised new creation. Thankfully, God promises to go with us. We can't 'white knuckle' our way to glory. We can't 'pull ourselves up by our bootstraps'. We need the presence and leadership of God's Holy Spirit.  I love how Jesus echoed this verse in the new testament. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden', he urged, 'and I will give you rest'. Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. As the writer to the Hebrews says, Jesus is himself our Sabbath rest. We don't need to stop on Saturdays, or on the Lord's Day of Sunday. We don't have to be legalistic about rest, turning it i...

 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ” 2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV I don't think the Apostle Paul is only talking about money here. Nonetheless, he was calling the Corinthian church to be generous with their money. I'm reminded of James who says it's not enough to 'generously' wish a poor person well. If we see a brother or sister in need, we should do something about it. We can pontificate about giving fish and teaching fishing. Yet if someone is hungry we should do both/and, not just either or. If someone is hungry, we should give them a fish while teaching them to fish as it were. The saying is that if you feed a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, you feed him for life. The Apostle Paul makes the point that if we want God to be generous to us, we should be generous to others. Our generosity doesn't earn God's generosity. Our generosity is a respon...