In Colossians 3:1-4 the Bible calls us to set our minds on the things of God. That’s a real challenge in the active, aggressive, loud, fast, and distracting age in which we find ourselves. The call reminds me of how intentional we must be if we are going to seriously follow Jesus. It is too easy to drift and to go with the flow and to get lost in the crowd, to hand our spirituality over to chance or circumstances or probability or possibility.

“Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,” Paul says (vs. 1). No meandering here but real seeking, the kind of seeking that draws one to commitment and loyalty and priority. It is the kind of seeking where one ceases to allow anyone or anything to trump the seeking. Paul speaks of it as having “died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (vs. 3).

It makes me think that knowing Christ ought to be the number one priority of a person’s life. Knowing Jesus is the kind of thing that trumps everything else. This is life at its best. In fact, Paul comes out and says boldly that Christ “is our life” (vs. 4). “In Him we live and move and exist” (Acts. 17:28), not simply in some sort of cause and effect way but in a way that defines us as Children of God” (Acts. 17:29).

Jesus has changed our lives and has made such an impact upon us that the deepest joy of our lives is to ‘keep seeking the things above where Christ is” and to focus our minds “on the things above” because in the most real of ways our very lives are “hidden with Christ in God.”

In the words of the popular chorus, “Because He lives we can face tomorrow.” Amen. It doesn’t get any better than this.

He Lives. JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.

Talk about credentials; the apostle Paul had them. He had climbed the ranks of Judaism, and had reached the ranks of respect and honor. In the religious tradition of which he was a part he was one of the top dogs. According to his own testimony he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews…a Pharisee …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church…as to the righteousness which comes in the law, found blameless" (Phil. 3:5-6)

Yet, there came a moment when he realized it all meant nothing. For him, it was empty, shallow, unfulfilling, and meaningless. So, he took his past, laid it on the altar, let God have it all, and he took upon himself the life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else he considered as "rubbish." He knew he hadn't arrived spiritually but he also knew that for him there was no turning back. He threw himself into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. Then, for the rest of his life, he lived the testimony, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Have you thrown yourself into the life of Jesus hook, line and sinker? Are you so passionate about Jesus that you have given Him all your rewards and recognition and honors? Does He compete with anything that seeks to hold first place in your life?

Are these questions too strong? I don't think so. The days in which live demand that we answer the questions. This is no time for ambiguity. This is a time for people who love Jesus to come forth throughout our land and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. This is a time when Christians must throw themselves into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. This is a time when followers of Jesus must take their stand and proclaim, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel" (Romans 1:16).

The life we live ought to reflect the life Of Jesus. Yet, what would that life look like were we to take it seriously? I have been thinking that our lifestyle description is defined for us in the Sermon on the Mount where we are called:

To be "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3)

To be broken before God in a spirit of "mourning" and "Meekness" (Matt. 5:4-5)

To reflect the kingdom we represent by hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God to be revealed in us. (Matt. 5:6)

To be relational by showing mercy to those around us (Matt. 5:7)

To be a fragrance of Christ by living in openness to His purifying presence in us (Matt. 5:8)

To be diplomatic by seeking to live as peacemakers in a world prone to hostility (Matt. 5:9).

To not get offended when we are attacked or misunderstood or hurt because of our
faith (Matt. 5: 10-12)

As God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself, so we are in the world seeking to reconcile it to God.

How does one be a RECONCILER? These Three Keys might help.

In the context of living our lifestyle description

Let the Love of Christ control us (II Cor. 5:14) --- and live in that spirit and from that context.

Be a Matthew 6:10 person always praying, "Thy will be done."

Build bridges of love to people and don't hold people's sins against them (II Cor. 5:19).

Go out and, in the words of the apostle Paul, be a fragrant aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15).

In Philippians 4:1 the apostle Paul told the church, “Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.” However, in I Corinthians 10:12 he wrote, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Sounds like standing firm has a lot to do with humility and authenticity and honesty and teachableness.

Self-honesty is crucial to a vital and thriving walk with God. No time for games here. No time for pretending that things are what they are not. The ancient Israelites were so blessed by God that it is difficult to grasp fully. Still, many of them just could not allow God to be God in them. Paul says of them that they “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking for a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:4).

These people had so much going for them it was incredible. Yet, in verse five we read, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased.” Why? The bible says they craved things that were not of God, they were idolaters, they acted immorally, they grumbled against God (see I Cor. 10:6-10). Talk about biting the hand that fed them, the people did that and more.

Before we scold them too harshly, though, there are a couple of verses we need to hear. Verse six says, “These things happened as examples for us.” Verse 11 says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction.”

The truth of the matter is that we have our own issues. We don’t have the luxury of fixing everybody else. The question is, how are we doing? Are we open to God? Are we in love with God? Are we living For God? Really! If so, then we can stand firm, with confidence.

According to the apostle Paul, there were people in his world whom he considered to be, “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil 3:18). This is a fairly descriptive and poignant accusation. Paul said of these people that their god was their appetite and that their glory was in their shame Vs. 19). They had set their hearts and minds on the things of this world, so the cross was a great distraction and inconvenience to them. It challenged their very being and this led them to treat Jesus and the cross so disrespectfully that Paul said they were “enemies of the cross.”

Followers of Jesus embrace the cross and see it as the most incredible expression of love one can image. It is in the cross we see Jesus and it is in Jesus we see the cross. When God chose to enter into His creation it was not with pomp and circumstance; it was with the humility and brokenness of the cross.

This old rugged cross makes followers of Jesus citizens of another world. The enemies of the cross have fixed their eyes on this world, and are sucking it dry for their own greed and shame. The friends of Jesus have fixed their eyes on their true homeland, heaven. They have their eyes fixed not on shameful appetites but upon “a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).

Jesus is with His disciples everyday in this world, and He is getting them ready for the next world. Somebody once said, “All this and heaven, too?” It’s true. Jesus delivers us from the silliness and destructiveness of shameful appetites, with the understanding that He will at the right moment, “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21).

In the mean time the word is, “Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved” (Phil. 4:1).

The Bible says that Jesus "is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him" (Rom. 10:12). And, who is invited to call upon Him? Everyone! Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It means that we embrace with our lives what it means for Jesus to be Lord and to “believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).

What do you really believe? Do your believe Jesus is Lord? Do your believe God raised Jesus from the dead? If you answer YES to these questions, the Bible says you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).

The Bible calls us to two expressions of faith. It calls us to confess with our mouth and it calls us to believe in our heart. The inner world of the spirit meets the outer world of works. We confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart. And, it all comes down to a matter of faith. The Bible tells us that the word of faith is “near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom. 10:8).

Who I am on the inside becomes visible in the outward expressions of my life. My words reveal my character. My deeds reveal my character. Could this be a reason king David prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight” (Ps. 19:14). When the outer and the inner are in balance it makes for one awesome testimony.

When my heart is set on Jesus and is filled with His Spirit, my mouth, my very life, is in a place to reflect the beauty of inward wholeness, a beauty that is made possible because God abounds in riches for all who call on Him” (Rom. 10:12).

In the Gospel of Luke we have a gentile telling the story of Jesus to other gentiles in an effort to let them know that Jesus is the Savior for everyone. In Luke 13:29 we read, "And they will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God."

So, when we see Jesus in the Gospel we see God working so as to draw people to Himself. It's not so much about what Jesus can do (although, this alone is mind-boggling). It's more about who Jesus is and what God is about in His life. It's about God at work in the world, shaping and forming a people into a people who sincerely, if not desperately, pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Jesus comes into the midst and quietly inundates the situation with the life of God. Has this happened in your life? Somewhere Jesus stepped into your story, and ever since He has been by your side, leading and guiding, shaping and forming, teaching and changing you. In the good and bad times (and you've probably had many of both), on the mountains and in the valleys, in successes and failures, Jesus has been the invisible but very real presence who has held you steady, kept you focused, and filled you with a power that is beyond yourself.

In Him you have found a place of service, of giving, of obedience. Somewhere along the way He took you to a new place, a place where you decided it wasn't about you but that it was about God. Today, you look back on that decision as the single most important decision of your life. You look back amazed that God would dare be so good to you.

I have been praying that God will help us to bring the healing touch of Jesus into our broken world. I find this to be a simple prayer to pray but a mind-boggling undertaking to achieve. If God were to mobilize a people actually to bring the healing touch of Jesus into the world, how might He go about it? God has already given us His grace-filled answer.

Hear the Word of the Lord! "There are varieties of gifts…varieties of ministries…varieties of effects…. God…works all things in all persons…God has placed the members each one of them in the body, just as He desired…I show you a still more excellent way…love" (I Cor. 12:4-6, 18, 31; 13:1).

Do you know the best thing a local Church can do for God is for her people to put into practice whatever talents, gifts, strengths, gifts and abilities they might have, baptize them in the love of God and put into practice what those assets bring to church and community.

Different people will have different gifts that will lead to different ministries that will lead to different effects. As we go out and be who we are, contributing what we are able to contribute, and we go out for no other reason than the love of God fills us to the brim, the power of God's presence sits loose a new level of possibility. In this arrangement the authority of Holy Spirit becomes the one defining factor. In this arrangement the people of God will be in a place to participate in God's work in God's way through God's power and by God's provision.

What can you do for God's church today? Go for it!

All of us need the touch of God on and in our lives. The presence of Jesus in the world tells us that this need has been satisfied. Acts 10:38 tells us Jesus, "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." God was with Him and when Jesus is present with us, God is present with us, too.

Do you see Jesus this way? Wherever He went, He went there doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil!" Isn't this a great word for our age? He was about doing good and He was about drawing near to people in healing ways.

What an awesome gift Jesus is to the world. What a wonderful Savior, one who draws near to people in grace and mercy, and brings the grace of God into the very real stories of very real people.

Do you think that maybe Jesus could live through His Church that way? Wouldn’t it be great to have it said of the Church that wherever it went it did good and it brought the healing touch of God into the lives of people who lived in oppressions of a thousands kinds? I have a deep-seated theological conviction that this is our true job description, which kicks into gear the moment the church scatters from worship into the world of everyday living.

May God help us do the kind of good over which He will say, "Well done." May God help us to bring the healing touch of Jesus into a broken world.

Has anybody ever called you a name? In Isaiah 62 God calls His people a couple of names: “A crown of beauty,” and “a royal diadem.” He must have thought a lot of them to call them by such beautiful names.

The name change was so meaningful to Isaiah that as he spoke about it he said, “I will not keep silent” (Is. 62:1). He knew God was up to something great in His people, and that their story needed to be told. It was a story of grace, a story of God entering into the narrative so profoundly that the future would be different than what the past seem to indicate it would be.

Can God really enter into our stories and so change them that we must be given new names in order to reflect the new storyline? God said that His people use to be called, “Forsaken” and “Desolate.” Not any more. Now they are called “a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,” “a royal diadem,” “My delight is in her.” He said they would be called by the name “oaks of righteousness.”

Grace is a wonderful reality. It sees beyond the immediate, beyond the “forsaken” and “desolate,” and declares that God is doing a new and different thing. God will so change the mind and spirit of His people that it is said of His, “The Lord delights in you,” and “Your God will rejoice over you” (Is. 62:5).

Aren’t these remarkable thoughts to think? God rejoicing over people? God delighting in people.? I can understand people rejoicing and delighting over God, but God rejoicing and delighting over people. Wow.

Could it be that changing names is an ongoing event with God? What is your old name? What might God call you if He were to change your name? “Your name was ____________ but now it is ________________.”

There is a way of living that accompanies one who has come to faith in God through Jesus Christ. Christians pray often the prayer Jesus taught, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Why do we pray that prayer? We pray it because the ways and means of God are fundamentally in opposition to the ways and means of the world. Followers of Christ do life differently than does the world.

In the words of John the Baptist we “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). That is to say, we live in a way that reflects the life of God in us. We are truthful. We live in a spirit of giving and sharing. We are honest, and live with integrity. We don’t push and shove our way through life; instead, we reach out to people and love them in the name of the One who loves us.

Thomas Chisholm says in well in a hymn, “O to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!” When we “bear fruit in keeping with repentance,” we find ourselves hungry to be like the One who has redeemed us and made us whole.

Truth be known the world needs followers of Jesus to step up and live redeemed lives. Someone needs to speak truthfully and live authentically and do works of mercy and love. If not Christians, who? If not today, when? There is no better time than the present to let the life of Jesus fill us and energize us to be like Him in our world. Is it possible that through us Jesus loves and serves and touches and restores? Could we be a voice of hope and forgiveness in His name?

May God help us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance and the life we live in Jesus.

Here is a wonderful word to consider. It appears in Luke 3:2, “The word of God came to John…” Isn’t that just like God? The world was going about its business, caught up in its distracted ways, and, unbeknown to it, God shows up in some-body, catching everybody off guard.

John heard the word and began to preach about how people could turn away from the numbing and deadening ways of life outside of God and find a place of forgiveness, hope and new beginnings. God was afoot and something new was underway, something that would change the storyline in peoples’ lives and give them new hope and new beginnings, a future under the influence of God.

John called people to repentance. Sounds like a very theological thing but really it is a very simple thing. Repentance means to turn around. That’s all. The difficulty comes with a person deciding if they want God in their lives. Some say NO to God, and meander along through life, as if they have forever. Others say YES to God, and turn around into the loving arms of God who loves the world so much that He gave His only Son for it.

John came to prepare the way for Jesus. John wasn’t the message. Jesus was the message. John wasn’t the hope. Jesus was the hope. John breaks into metaphor as he explains what the presence of God in a human life will mean: Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth (Luke 3:5). This is a poetic way of describing how grace changes how we look at life.

When God is present in a person’s life he or she sees differently than before. Not the scenery or the conditions but God sets the tone for life. God’s presence brings healing and hope and a sense of renewal and future.

In Advent we hear the invitation to turn around and come home -- home to God

We come into Advent with a sense of joyful anticipation and also a sense that all is not right in the world. In the church we recognize that God is at work in the world but that the world has not yet opened it's heart to the possibilities of God. The world fights for recognition, money, power, and control but it is a fight that, in the end, will bow before the Creator and confess that He is, indeed, the Creator and Redeemer of all that has been created.

Often times a key question that is asked is, "Who's in charge around here?" Advent gives us the answer. God is in charge around here. He has patiently and graciously worked in history until a moment in time when He actually came into His creation in Jesus Christ, and brought full and free salvation into the world. Today He lives among us as Savior and Lord. At some future date He will come again and take to heaven those who have received His grace. It will be a great day of consummation when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Between now and that future event, there will be a lot of uncertainty and violence where nations will rise up against nations. There will be unrest in every place throughout the world. We already know this, don't we; we experience it everyday. Yet, Jesus calls His people not to be discouraged. Though the times and seasons will bring dismay and perplexity Jesus says, "straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28).

So, in Advent we wait and listen and pray and hope. We worship, knowing that God is in our midst and that history is unfolding under His sovereign authority.

I am thinking that the most joyous people on the earth ought to be Christians, and that thanksgiving should fill our lives. Praise should be our unrehearsed and spontaneous response to life in this world because we know that our lives comes to us as a gift from God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

This is not to call us to naivete and it does not denied the fact that life is hard. Life is hard, sometimes miserably hard and there are many things we do not understand. Thankfully, God knows that we are dust and that our days are numbered on the earth. What we know is that God has spoken to our lives in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ and that "from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him." (Psalm 103:17).

The counsel of Scripture stands: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7)

In this thanksgiving season let's join together in the giving of thanks to God for all that His grace brings into our world and into our lives.

God bless you all, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

There is a wonderful picture in Daniel 7:9-14 where the God of the Universe called, The Ancient of Days, takes his seat among kingdoms and powers and authorities that have arisen in history; kingdoms that sought to undermine the reality of the living God. Once He is seated an interesting thing takes place: all the other authorities begin to lose their power, place, and prominence. Their fifteen minutes were up, and the true and Living God takes center stage.

Shortly someone comes before the Ancient of Days and is received by Him. This someone is referred as being “One like a Son of Man.” As the Son of Man stands before the Ancient of Days He was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, and He was given these things so “that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.” Apparently this Son found favor with the Ancient of Days because not only did He receive dominion, glory and a kingdom, but also these would comprise an “everlasting” dominion. His rule would never pass away and His kingdom is one that cannot be destroyed.

The New Testament makes it clear that this Son of Man is no one less than Jesus Christ. In Him, the writer of the book of Hebrews says, “We receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken.” Before Jesus all kingdoms and authorities bow. They can push and shove, and do, but they cannot take down the “everlasting” kingdom of the Son who takes His authority from the Ancient of Days.

And, this is the kingdom in which we live. We say, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I sometimes wonder where God is. How is He present? Why He often chooses silence? What is His will? And, sometimes I get bewildered and come face to face with my powerlessness. Thank God I'm not alone, though. The psalmist is my companion for he too experienced those questions. Out of the context of his own life situation he wrote,

Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never be favorable again? Has his lovingkindness ceased forever? Has his promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious or has he in anger withdrawn his compassion? (Ps. 77:7-9)

It is true that sometimes the ways of God are "in the mighty waters." (Psalm 77:19). . Sometimes in life the clouds pour down water and the skies resound with the sounds of thunder (Ps. 77:17). Sometimes lightning lights up the world and the earth trembles and shakes (Ps. 77:18). Sometimes the way of God is deep mystery and his footprints are not seen (Ps. 77:19). What then? How do we proceed? What do we do? What do we say to each other? How do we conduct ourselves? John Henry Jowett says that "Mystery is part of our appointed discipline. Uncertainty is to prepare us for a deeper assurance. The spirit of questioning is one of the ordained means of growth” (My Daily Meditation, (El Camino Press: La Verne, CA., pg. 167) I find great peace in that fact. I think it is wonderful to know when one is "too troubled to speak" (Ps. 77:4) that God is present, maybe in mystery, but still present. As Jowett says,

God's way moves here and there across this trackless wild. God is never lost among our mysteries. He knows his way about. When we are bewildered He sees the road, and He sees the end even from the beginning. Even the sea, in every part of it, is the Lord's highway....And so the bewildering sea is our friend, as some day we shall understand... We need the mysterious sea, the overwhelming experience, the floods of sorrows which we cannot explain. If we had no sea we should never become robust. We should remain weaklings to the end of our days....God take us out into the deeps. But His way is in the sea. He knows the haven, He knows the track, and we shall arrive! (My Daily Meditation)

In his own questioning the psalmist came to a beautiful moment of personal decision that models for us the way of faith, when he said, I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; what god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph (Ps. 77:11-15).

Even in my wondering, God is here. Even when I cannot see his footprints, He is here. When the storm is raging, He is here. When the questions outnumber the answers, He is here. When the pain is greater than the peace, He is here. When the bewilderment elevates the mystery, He is here. When life doesn't make sense, He is here. When the blessings are flowing like a river, He is here. When the path takes us through the fire, He is here. When uncertainty is the order of the day despair is not, for we are on the road redeemed by the God who works wonders (PS. 77:14).

I have a suspicion that until I get to heaven I will wonder about things but one thing I will not wonder about is the fact that God is holy and leads his people like a flock. He did it once by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and his deeds of long ago remind me that what he did once He is continuing to do today. I do not wonder about that at all.

The unnamed multitudes of the Gospels intrigue me. In fact, they haunt me a bit because they so beautifully model things in me I wish would go away. They irritate me, too, because I realize that as much as I want to criticize them ultimately I am just pointing my finger at myself.

Take those folks who were a part of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, for instance. There is no doubt about it, they were present the day of the miracle because they had seen Jesus work some pretty wonderful miracles on some very sick people. His actions captured their imaginations and they found themselves following Him. They weren't following Him because they really believed that He was God among them but just because they wanted to be where the action was. After the miracle, they were hooked, sort of. They saw some awesome possibilities of some wonderful things for their own lives and they were very intrigued. However, if the truth be known, they were there because the spectacular always draws a crowd and because of the fact that people want to have their needs and wants and pleasures met.

And, Jesus saw through it all. He saw the phony, the misdirected, the selfish, the ladder-climber, the up-and-coming, the "I have an agenda and I want what I want" crowd -- and He didn't buy it. He rejected it. And as He told them the truth one by one they just whimpered away and faded into the background.

I wonder if their actions startled Jesus or caught Him off guard in some way, because the very next thing He does is to turn to His twelve men and ask them if they wanted to go away also. They said they didn't but I'm not sure He really believed them.

I wonder how Jesus feels when the actions and thoughts and lifestyles and priorities and goals and attitudes of those who say they love Him cause Him in quiet, unguarded, unplanned moments of honesty to feel He must turn to them to see if they are still with Him. That must hurt a little bit, don't you think?

I don't want to be near Jesus because He does spectacular things. I want to be near Him because of who He is. He is Lord and He has called me to Himself, just to be with Him because I love Him. I don't want Him ever to look at me and feel impressed to ask, "You don't want to go away also, do you?"

Solitude is to purposefully withdraw from the noisy world in order to be with God. It is not to be alone. It is to be alone with God. It is to be with Him in such a way that His presence envelopes your very life and exposes you for who you really are. It is the place of honesty, the place of truth, the place where denial is not allowed. It is the place where we confront in ourselves all that is not of God, and come to the act of unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Solitude is the place both of struggle and of release. That is to say, in the solitude, where the struggles of our lives are faced, Jesus comes to us and we discover that in reality we are not fighting ourselves. We are fighting God. Yet, in the discovery we find that God is not fighting us. He is present to reveal to us that if we will let go, He will dismantle destructive forces which fight within and without us, and give us a healed and whole, new self.

Solitude is the place where we learn to say, "for to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). So, the solitude becomes what Henri Nouwen calls the "Furnace of transformation," where we are set free from the entanglements of "The seductive compulsions of the world."

Solitude is the place where we choose to run away no more, but to stand and fight the enemy within. It is the place we go to die to things which are destroying us, and from which we emerge saying "…the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me? (Galatians 2:20).

My invitation is to find a way to get alone with God. He is your Creator. He is your best Friend. He is your Confidant. He is your Savior. He is your Counselor. He loves you with an everlasting love. Come within His wonderful embrace and find healing and laughter and joy and peace. Find in Him, purpose and meaning and value.

Here is a wonderful and marvelous thought to think. It comes from Hebrews 9:24: "For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands." We know He entered a holy place and that He is there as a great high priest on behalf of his people. This text, however, places that reality into its greatest and highest context, and it informs us about how unique and special Jesus is.

This text tells us that the life of Christ in the world is a God-thing; it's not a man thing. This is a God thing. Jesus is God's response to the human situation -- and what a response it is. God is with us is history in the person of Jesus. God is with us in redemptive love. His love is revealed in His sacrificial self-giving on the cross. His love is made real to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God is with us. He is present with us according to the power of Jesus indestructible life (See Heb. 7:16). Isn't that amazing? Whatever it means for you to live, the indestructible life of Jesus is with you. You may, in fact, be destructible; Jesus isn't. The indestructible life of Jesus has taken the blow, and today He is speaking to the Father on your behalf. This is a God-thing.

Under the influence of His indestructible life Jesus has made purification of sins and, He has set down in heaven beside the Father, indicating that His work is complete and that now He is free to be in the presence of the Father on behalf of the world and on behalf of those who have come to trust their lives to Him.

Let the Church know that it is being prayed for by Her Lord Jesus. Let the church know that Jesus' indestructible life sets the atmosphere in the church. Let the Church know that Jesus lives to address the destructive influences that seek to destroy people. Let the church know that it comes into the place of ministry not in its own strength but in the strength of the indestructible life of the risen Lord.

He took what was his, left his roots and went to where life was a constant party. Leaving the stifling lifestyle of farm life he entered into a great new world, and what a wonderful time he had; Lots of wine, lots of women, lots of laughter and lots of friends. Then the money ran out and so did the wine, women, laughter and friends. What started out as the time of his life turned out to be the vacation from hell.

In desperation he took to the streets for survival. He lived from hand to mouth and often times went without. Finally, he landed a job on a pig farm just outside of town. He hated the pigs and he hated the job but it was living. Or was it?

One desperate day of soul searching, as he tried to please the pigs' owners he got to thinking about things and decided that he'd really had about enough. His father was pretty wealthy. He had lots of hired hands around the ranch. Maybe he would hire back his son. He probably wouldn't want him as a son anymore, but he was always looking for good workers. Here was his chance, and off the young partygoer went.

When he got in sight of the place that had once been his home, he noticed that way off in the distance someone was running toward him. It looked like his father. He looked closer. It was his father. As his father drew near he heard him giving orders that sort of stunned him. "Kill the calf and prepare a feast... Go get the family ring....Get a beautiful robe and place it on the shoulders of my boy....I can't believe it! He's come home. He's come home."

Suddenly the young man found himself enveloped in the bear hugs of his father whom through tears kissed him and held him and ran his fingers through his hair. Choked-up and almost unable to speak, the boy's father struggled but suddenly forced out the words, "I love you so much. I'm so glad you're home. I've missed you. You're home. You're home. I love you so much."

Sometimes I wish God were like that but maybe that would be asking a little too much. It would be, wouldn't it?