A Covenant Keeping God

Scripture Reading: Luke 13:10-17

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”

It is interesting that in Luke 13:16 Jesus did not know the name of the woman but He remembered His covenant to Abraham. There are many times we see Jesus moved with compassion. But here Jesus is moved to action by His covenant.

Psalms 105:8-9 says: “He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.”

2 Corinthians 1:20 says: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

All the promises of God, Old Testament and New Testament are YES in Christ and AMEN in Him because all the promises are fulfilled through Him. God loves it when we remind Him or let Him know that you remember and believe His covenant and promises. Moses constantly reminded God of His promises to Abraham, and this is an ongoing theme throughout the Biblical record of Israel’s history.

In Luke 13:15-16 Jesus rebukes the Jewish leaders because their teachings and traditions were actually hindering the fulfillment of God’s covenant or promises. We don’t want to get in God’s way when He is fulfilling his covenant. When Israel refused to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, God had them all die in the wilderness until the next generation was willing to believe God and enter into his covenant promise.

God sometimes cannot move in our lives because our beliefs and traditions hinder God from moving and hinder us from coming into His promises. But if we refuse to enter in, God will find a people and a way to fulfill his covenant.

I want to encourage you today, that God is a covenant-keeping God. Take time to review the covenants in His Word. Pray and allow these to become alive to your situation. Do not let doubt or disobedience hinder you from pressing into those promises. Most covenants have requirements for us to fulfill. Remind God of His promises and be willing to step out in faith and maybe do something that you have never done before. Step out of the box of your routine and ability into the vastness of God’s greatness, and see Him work on your behalf.

May God by His Spirit and Word encourage you today.

Andy Clark

Compassion

Matt 9:36-38
“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." NKJV

In the kingdom of God there is a direct connection between compassion and harvest. The success of Jesus ministry was not built upon programs or finances but on the anointing of the Spirit fueled by compassion for people. He had compassion for wealthy, corrupt, tax collectors, prostitutes, as well as poor fisherman, lepers and the destitute. Compassion motivated him to lay down his life, minister for long hours, and to live with almost nothing. Holy Spirit compassion caused him to heal the sick, cast out devils, and bring grace and hope to both wealthy and poor. Compassion drove him to the cross and caused him to cry out for the forgiveness of those who put him there and ridiculed him.

1 John 4:7-8 says: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” God is love! That is his very character and nature. He cannot help but love. His love is not based on human response, circumstances or environment. His love is unconditional because He is love. If we are to touch our world, we need a baptism of God’s love in order to see the world as God sees it and to respond as God would respond. If we are not careful, we become calloused and cynical because of the constant exposure to our sinful world.

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13:4-8 Love, joy and peace are fruits of the Spirit. They are not dependent upon our circumstances, environment or response of people. They flow out of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. God is love, and when His nature flows through us we can love the unlovely.

Romans 5:5 says: “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Hope is an expectation from God. Our godly expectations never disappoint us if they are fueled by Holy Spirit love because love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things. Love never ever fails! Love does not seek its own way and thinks no evil. Love is the ability to embrace people where they are at and to continue to pursue them no matter what their response because there is the undying expectation that love will overcome.

God does not love a saint any more than he loves a sinner because He is love. May you know today that God loves you unconditionally, and may He help you to love those around you unconditionally.

Andy Clark

Our Ministry

Our Ministry

Beholding and Reflecting

2 Corinthians 3:18-4:1

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

Our first ministry as Christians is to behold the glory of the Lord.

Behold: to hold in view or attention: to fix ones gaze intently.

Behold with unveiled faces. A veil is something you hide behind so people cannot see who you are.

Part of our transformation is not only fixing our eyes on Jesus but being transparent in our relationship with Him. The result of this beholding and unveiling before God is that we are transformed into his image The fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23) become part of our nature.

Our second ministry is reflecting the glory of the Lord.

2 Cor 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory. NIV

What you are focused on is what you will reflect!

The glory of the Lord can only be truly reflected through unveiled faces.

Just as we must be transparent before God, we must be transparent before the world.

No matter what culture we live in and minister in, the world is looking for real people.

My prayer for you today as that you will experience God in a new dimension, that your relationship with Him will be refreshed and the world you are in will see a fresh image of Jesus.

Andy Clark

The Power of Love

As part of a Prayer Focus this past week for World Horizons, we have meditated on the fabulous Epistle to the Ephesians. It is an epistle of profound prayers that reveal God’s heart and plan for His church, a people group redeemed by His blood, called by His Name and empowered by His Spirit to reach the world with His redemptive message of love.

This epistle reminds us that we cannot fulfill God’s mandate on our own. It reveals that all our efforts are futile, and our fruit will not remain if we endeavor to do this in our wisdom and ability. Our cry is for God to grant us “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that we may understand the hope of His calling, the glory of His inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” This revelation of truly knowing Him comes only out of deep relationship with Him. It is this relationship that guides us, sustains us, and empowers us to effectively reach out and love others.

It was Paul’s prayer “that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The Apostle John said, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (I John 4:6) Love is the root of our relationship with God from which our life springs forth.

This love relationship with God is what enables us to do what we do no matter what the cost. I Corinthians 13: 4-8 says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This kind of love is not possible on our own. It is a fruit of the Spirit that flows from our relationship in the heart to the Father who is love. It bears all things and never fails no matter what the circumstances because it flows from the limitlessness of God. I had a missionary friend who read this Scripture every morning to remind himself why he did what he did.

It is the power of this love that enables us to do “exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.” It is this love that enables us “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” It is this love that causes us “to redeem the time, because the days are evil.” It is this love that enables us to “sing and make melody in our heart to the Lord and to give thanks always for all things.” It is love that empowers us to “open our mouth boldly to make known the mystery of Christ.”

As I meditate on these portions from Ephesians, I am awed by the greatness of our God and His love and favor toward us. May you experience the power of His love like you never have before. May you fall in love with Him all over again, and may it rekindle a new love in your heart for the people you encounter every day.

Andy Clark

Wait on The Lord

Psalms 123:2

“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.”

The picture the Psalmist gives here is a powerful picture packed with implications of how we wait on the Lord. “The eyes of the servant look upon the hand of their master” implies that the servant is in close proximity to the master. He is not out running around busy doing his own thing or what he thinks the master wants of him. He is not distracted by other people’s activities or demands, but his focus and full attention is on the master. It is not a passive position, but a posture of expectation that at any moment the master will have some instruction of what he wants done.

The servant’s position is also a position of submission, dependence and trust. His focus is not on his agenda or the agenda of others, but solely on the will of the master. His focus is on the hand of the master for all that he needs. He is completely dependent on the master for life, direction, and purpose. His full identity is in the master and his will.

Instead of waiting on the Lord for our full identity, direction, and purpose in life, we often times find ourselves waiting on the Lord for Him to fulfill what we want and need, and if He does not come throught as we expect, we simply do it on our own. Our identity, fulfillment and purpose in life come from our job, family, some other person, activity or possession. Our eyes are often on others, their expectations of us or our expectations of ourselves. We can become anxious, worried, frustrated or discouraged when things do not go as we expected. We can become critical of ourselves and others.

In the midst of the turmoil of the world that we live in today, where evil seems to be triumphing over good, we need to remind ourselves of the words of David in Psalms 37:3-7, “Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”

Whatever you are going through today, I encourage you to pull away from the turmoil around you and refocus on the greatness of our God, a God who created all things, is over all things, and sustains all things by His Word and power. Meditate on God and His Word. May He become your full delight, and may His will and way become food for your soul. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalms 27:14)

Andy

Numbers

Isaiah 6:1-2

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

In this chapter, Isaiah has a revelation of the awesomeness of God, a God who sits in authority over all things, and whose glory fills the heaven and the earth as the water covers the sea. It is this revelation of God that brings Isaiah to the revelation of himself. "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” It is only out of a revelation of God that we come to understand the magnitude of our need for God in our lives and our ministry.

When Isaiah truly recognizes his need, God comes down and meets him at his point of need and purifies his unclean lips, declaring him clean and positioning him for service. God then identifies what he is called to do and the expected results of his service.

Isaiah 6:8-11 “Then Isaiah said, "Here am I! Send me." And God said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return and be healed." Then Isaiah said, "Lord, how long?" And God answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate.”

God reveals himself to Isaiah, calls him and empowers him to be one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history during one of the worst times of Israel’s history. God tells Isaiah that no one would hear, understand, see or perceive what he was saying because God had made their hearts dull, ears heavy, and shut their eyes so that they wouldn’t understand and be healed. Isaiah asked how long he is to carry one this seemingly fruitless ministry, and God responds that he is to continue to do so until Israel is destroyed and taken into captivity.

Too often today we measure our calling and success in ministry by manmade standards. We laud those who have big “successful” churches and ministries and oftentimes feel as though we are failing because we fail to achieve what the world and church world deems to be successful. If Isaiah’s prophetic ministry were to be today, he would probably be branded as crazy, out of touch with the times, and a failure at reaching his generation.

God does raise up great ministries, but God’s measure of success is based not on man’s capabilities but upon our obedience to what He has called each of us to do no matter what the response. We live in a time of great opportunity but also a time of spiritual decay around the world and opposition to the truth. Despite the darkness, opposition, and at times seeming lack of success, we cannot pull back. What we need today are men and women like Isaiah, who have had a life-changing revelation of God that propels them and sustains them in life and in ministry no matter what the cost, consequences or results.

May God reveal himself afresh to you today and empower you to do what He has called you to do.

Andy

The Fragrance of Christ

2 Corinthians 2:14-17

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?”

No matter who we are, where we are or what we are doing in the world, as believers in Christ we are called by God to be the fragrance of Christ to those with whom we come in contact. One key element to being able to diffuse the fragrance of Christ is our ability to always walk in triumph no matter what is going on around us because Christ has bought for us the victory. The picture Paul gives here is of an army returning victoriously from battle, and as they enter the city, people in celebration would fill the air with the sweet smell released by the burning of spices in the street. To the victorious it was an aroma of life. To the conquered it was an aroma of death.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:13) Our ability by the Spirit to be of good cheer in the midst of the chaos around is a sweet aroma that encourages and brings life. Paul and Silas after being beaten and put in chains in prison sang praises to God. The Bible says all those in the prison heard them. In the midst of a terrible situation, the fragrance of Christ diffused throughout the prison leading them into triumph and bringing many to Christ.

The second element to diffusing the fragrance of Christ is to grow in the knowledge of Him in every place. The word “knowledge” here is not just knowing about Christ, but a knowledge that comes from intimate relationship with Him and is life-changing. It means to saturate ourselves with Christ so that His character and nature just naturally diffuse His fragrance in our lives at all times and in all situations. In John 12, Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy serving Jesus, Lazarus was at the table eating with Jesus, while Mary was at His feet in worship anointing His feet with “a very costly oil, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” It is out of a life of worship that the fragrance of Christ is diffused wherever we go.

In 2 Corinthians 2, there are two kinds of people, “those being saved and those who are perishing.” Both should smell the fragrance of Christ in us. You can tell you are emanating the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ by the response of those around you. To those who are perishing, “we are the aroma of death” because they hate who we are and what we represent. Hiowever those who are being saved, we are “the aroma of life leading to life.” The aroma of Christ in us, while repelling the world, will attract those who are destined for salvation.

Jesus said, “I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:19-20) Let us be careful that we don’t so blend with the culture that we fail to “diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

Andy Clark