Virtual Vitamins

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

It is very interesting that this Psalm is attributed to Moses, since it speaks of 80 years as human lifespan, but Moses himself is recorded to have lived to 120. In any case, however long our lives on earth might be, they are no more than a blink compared to eternity. That’s why this verse is important. Someone during the French Revolution said, “Nothing clears your mind like a sentence of death.” Keeping our own mortality in mind is very important in maintaining a right perspective on things and events. I think that’s the “heart of wisdom” this verse talks about. When our time here is so brief, we need to make the best use of it, preparing ourselves for eternity. As the rest of the Psalm makes clear, since eternity is in God’s hands, preparation means getting right with God. Most young people have very little grasp of their own mortality, and children are even more that way. This isn’t at all to say that we are morbidly to be thinking and talking about death all the time, but it is to say that an awareness of the limitations of physical life is essential, even for children. Some parents don’t want to keep pets, because pets die. That’s a very good reason to keep them! Barring family tragedy, the death of a pet is often the first encounter children have with the concept of death. However, without Christ, there is no hope of eternal life, so this awareness is also a powerful motivation for evangelism. If we don’t want to lose our friends and loved ones eternally, we will do all we can to introduce them to Christ.

Because we kept pets, I’ve been aware of mortality from childhood, but my own mortality has come into much sharper focus as I have gotten older. At this point, it’s only about 16 months until I reach the age at which my father died, of very natural causes. It took me a long time to get serious about training a successor, but thankfully that is happening now. That’s not at all to say that I’m to give up living, even for a moment. Rather, it is to say that I’m to live so that whenever the Lord says it’s time, that will be fine. There are many, many more people I want to see enter the family of God, and I eagerly anticipate being allowed to do so, but I must remember that I can’t do it all personally. My focus must be on training and delegation, raising up disciples for Christ indeed.

Father, thank You for all You are doing. Thank You for the two weeks of inter-generational training we’ve just had. Ann and the boys should be safely in Seattle by now. I pray that all of us would bring away from this time what You wanted to teach us, so that we may indeed have hearts of wisdom, walking in obedience to You for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

A divided heart is a major problem, and it probably applies to most of mankind. It is said that the true key to genius is not intellect, but focus. What marks this prayer as that of a disciple is the reason David wants an undivided heart: he wants to be able to focus on God with true reverence. God honors that sort of prayer! David commits himself to walk in God’s way even before he is sure what it is. There too we see a true disciple. David’s failures as a husband and father hover in the background in any discussion of his faith, reminding us that disciples aren’t perfect, but that should also be encouragement that you don’t have to be perfect to be a disciple!

Focus has certainly been an issue in my life. As a child I was noted for being able to focus to the point of shutting out everything else, but that seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way. The ability to focus on tasks, while useful, is minor compared to a life focus on God. My prayer is indeed that of David, that my heart would not be divided, but fully devoted to God. There are a multitude of distractions, so this isn’t something I can take lightly.

Father, You know my weakness even better than I do. Thank You that Your grace is sufficient for me, in this as in every other area. May I not take that grace lightly, but fear You rightly with an undivided heart, just as David prayed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

PS 78:6-7 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

Generational instruction is stressed throughout the OT, and in the NT that is broadened to spiritual generations. Any level of insight or understanding is relatively insignificant if it is not passed on in some way to others. This is essentially what the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is all about. The disciples present at the time, and particularly the 11 apostles, knew Jesus personally and were deeply committed to Him. However, they would certainly never have changed the world if that knowledge and commitment had stopped with them. Luke made it clear in Acts 1:8 that the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost to enable people as disciple makers, though Jesus used the word “witnesses” at that time. Christians who fail to communicate their faith in some way to others have missed the point of their salvation, and it would be hard to call them disciples. That’s not to say that everyone is gifted as an evangelist, but it is to say that everyone is to be a witness. Again, that’s not to say that everyone’s to be a preacher, or even a talker in particular, but it is to say that our lives are to so reflect our faith in Christ that people ask us about it, and we must be prepared to tell them (1 Peter 3:15).

This is something I have been trying to get across to the believers for years, and the current series on discipleship is a continuation of that. Japanese society considers faith a deeply private matter, which makes personal evangelism more difficult, but certainly not impossible. I need to help the believers understand and trust that the Holy Spirit is provided to enable them to do this thing that they consider so difficult. I am at the double remove of being a “professional Christian,” on top of being non-Japanese, so they have trouble seeing my example as applying to them. However, the power of the Holy Spirit applies as much to me as to them, so I must not give up, but keep growing in availability to the Holy Spirit in opening their eyes and giving them understanding.

Father, I didn’t do a perfect job in communicating faith even to my physical children, though they are saved. I have no high ground from which to look down on anyone on this issue. Help me be faithful to speak the truth in love to believers and non-believers alike, letting them know of all You have done for them in Christ and training them to apply it in their daily lives, making disciples for You indeed, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

PS 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

It doesn’t matter how much we do for God if our hearts aren’t right before Him. This is a vital and often overlooked truth. Legalism ignores it completely! David is spoken of as “a man after God’s heart” not because he did everything right, because he certainly didn’t. Rather, it’s because he knew how to repent and humble himself before God. Even to old age he maintained the simple truth he learned as a young shepherd boy, that God is God, utterly trustworthy and praiseworthy, worthy of our total devotion and obedience. This Psalm is rightly famous, because it records his repentance after his horrendous sin of trying to cover up adultery with murder. We would certainly not think someone guilty of that was “a man after God’s heart!” However, the whole point is that we are all guilty before God, because as James points out, (James 2:10) if you’ve broken God’s law in any point, you’re guilty, period. Even minor sins need to be repented of. That’s why the cross of Christ was and is essential, to make total forgiveness available to all who would repent and believe. A heart that insists on its own righteousness is not right before God. We should live like Paul, so that we are free of any reason for self-accusation (1 Corinthians 4:3-4), but we must recognize that only God is perfectly righteous and holy, and walk humbly before Him.

I could certainly never claim sinless perfection, but that hasn’t kept me from self righteousness at times. The temptation to see the sins of others as worse than my own is always there. I need to maintain David’s attitude expressed in Psalm 51 and offer up to God the sacrifice of humble, grateful praise that He desires, because He knows that giving it is what I need. As a pastor, I am even more responsible to “teach and admonish with all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16) than others. Failing to exercise full humility and gratitude for God’s grace as I do so would be foolish indeed! That doesn’t mean overlooking areas in which the believers need instruction and correction, but it does mean applying the instruction and correction in gentleness and love, as well as the power of God.

Father, thank You again for the learning experience of dealing with my young grandsons for these two weeks. Help me apply each lesson You teach me in all humility, gratitude, and faithfulness, so that I may continue to grow as Your disciple, raising up others to be Your disciples as well, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Psalm 34:11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

When you think about it, this is simply another way of talking about making disciples for Christ. David is inviting those spiritually younger than himself to become disciples, which in OT terms would be “those who fear the Lord.” Knowledge of God can be taught, but it must also be caught, because head knowledge alone won’t do it. There are, sadly enough, seminary graduates who aren’t disciples of Christ, though they might even be pastoring churches. Discipleship stems first from an awareness of who God is, and then an awareness of what we are. When those two are firmly in place, discipleship is the only logical conclusion. Unfortunately, human beings aren’t necessarily logical! We might know that God is the omnipotent, omniscient Creator who is love personified, and know that we are weak, foolish beings who are worthy of destruction, but until we make the commitment to act on that knowledge and devote ourselves to obedience, we aren’t disciples. We are incredibly adept at believing lies to satisfy our lusts. The devil does all he can to encourage us in that, but we don’t make him work very hard! Every Christian needs regularly to examine himself to see how his life reflects the reality of God and ourselves. Anyone with a genuine grasp of those realities will not only be seeking to be obedient to God themselves, they will be seeking to get those they care about to do the same. That is making disciples.

My record to this point has been pretty spotty, but I think that my commitment is finally pretty clear. The problem now lies in the phrase I just used: those I care about. The more I understand God’s love and love Him in return, the more I do care about those around me, to the point of complete dilution of my efforts. To be an effective maker of disciples, I’ve got to focus on the few, at the same time training them to likewise go out and make disciples. That’s what I’m seeking to do at this point, with the Scripture list and the sermon series. Actually, I should say that is what God is seeking to do in and through me at this point. However, I’ve got to be a willing, active participant, or I can’t claim to be a disciple myself.

Father, thank You for all You are doing. I’d love to have a turn-key system, where I could plug people in at one end and they would come out disciples at the other, but Your Word and my experience both say it doesn’t work that way. Help me stick in there as a true disciple myself, not trying to carry people along in my own strength but allowing You to do it through me, so that we may become a self-replicating community of disciples indeed, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Psalm 32:8-9 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.

The Japanese indicates by the grammatical construction that this is the Lord speaking. I agree that is how we should understand this, and as such it is both comforting and fairly stern. God’s promise of instruction and guidance is wonderful, but we have to come to Him to receive it. It is a truly exceptional horse that can be ridden without any equipment. Such horses do exist, but they have been very thoroughly trained, and they have an exceptional bond with their trainer. God seeks that kind of bond with us, for our blessing and His glory. Our first response to any and every situation should be to go to God, but often it is not, and God has to use various things to get our attention. Some of those things don’t seem very pleasant! The better we learn to hear and respond to His spoken commands, the less He will need to pull on the reins or use the whip. Horses that are well domesticated do come when called, because they know the source of the oats, apples, and carrots that delight them. As the Bible says clearly, every good and perfect thing we receive comes from God (James 1:17). The better we understand that, the quicker we will be to respond when God speaks to us.

I have certainly had my mule-like moments with God. Some lasted rather too long to be called moments! I have had to endure His chastening, and that hasn’t necessarily been pleasant. As a pastor, not only do I need to keep watch over my own responsiveness to God, I need to foster such responsiveness in the flock. I cannot change anyone directly, but I can encourage and admonish, as well as provide an example of how it’s done. However, I must remember that how they respond is ultimately between them and God, and is not a burden I should carry even if I could. I indeed should pray for them, as Samuel (1 Samuel 12:23) and Paul (Ephesians 1:16 and many more) realized, even with tears at times, but I am not to receive their failures as mine. At the same time, I must be quick to recognize and acknowledge my own failures, continuing to press into God at all times, so that I may be the son and disciple that He desires.

Father, thank You for yesterday. It had many highlights. Thank You particularly for my students who showed up for the service. I pray that this wouldn’t be a one-shot thing, but would snowball for the salvation of the whole school. Thank You for the counseling opportunities You gave me, both scheduled and unscheduled. May I always speak Your truth in love, so that those who hear me may be drawn to You. Thank You for growth in communication in various areas. May we as individuals and as a church be more and more responsive to You, doing Your will on Your schedule, for our blessing and Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Psalm 27:8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

There are evidently some difficulties in translating the Hebrew of the very first part of this verse, given the assorted variations in different translations, but none of that affects the meaning. This whole Psalm is a beautiful expression of the heart of a disciple. No one can be a disciple of Christ without seeking His face. This is the biggest problem with professional Christians, those for whom their faith has become a job. Pastors who don’t pray, or even read the Bible except for sermon preparation, can hardly be called disciples. The moment we think we’ve “got the routine down” we cease being genuine disciples, because the work of a disciple of Christ can only be accomplished by the power of God. True discipleship is a constant pressing in for more of God, laying ourselves open before Him and asking Him to do whatever surgery is necessary in order to transform us into the likeness of His Son, our Lord and Savior. This is not an ivory tower activity; it is in the middle of our interactions with others that we most need Him. However, this is not a desperate, frantic seeking, because a true disciple knows that God always answers, and His answers are always good, even when they are “No.” As the last verse of the Psalm says, a disciple will wait expectantly for God.

This could hardly be more applicable to me, in every detail! I have tasted God and found Him good (Psalm 34:8), and I can’t get enough of Him. At the same time, the pressures of pastoring, particularly when I am bi-vocational of necessity, generate the temptation to kick into automatic mode just to get through another Sunday. I have got to keep my appetite for God fresh, not allowing anything to dull it. It is perversely true that stresses of all sorts can cause us to take our eyes off of God, when they should make us seek Him even more. I’ve got to keep watch over my heart so that I don’t focus on the problems to the exclusion of the One who is the answer to them all.

Father, thank You for the exercise in this very thing that You are giving me right now. Food poisoning can be very distracting! There are many different things pulling at my mind right now, as You well know. Help me rest, relax, and rejoice in You today, trusting You for the answer to each question and staying quiet enough to hear those answers. You know that I need wisdom, and I know that You have the wisdom I need. Help me seek You more than I seek any of the things You provide, as good as they are, so that nothing may hinder or distort the flow of Your Spirit through me, for the blessing of all and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Psalm 25:12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

If you do not fear and respect God, how can you be His disciple? It seems that many people today use God’s name without any real measure of fear and respect for Him. They may say they love Him, but their actions say otherwise. Some people seek God’s guidance in major decisions, but since they have ignored Him for many of the issues of daily life, they are unable to hear what He says to them. Americans in particular seem quick to express verbal respect for God without living as though they believe there are any consequences to ignoring Him. Discipleship is thought of as something for “super Christians,” instead of being the standard to which God calls every human being on the face of this planet. The question is not whether God loves us enough to want us to be His disciples, it’s whether we love and respect Him enough to choose to accept His invitation. The message tomorrow is on the rewards of discipleship, and there are so many that I’ll only be able to scratch the surface, but people are so blinded by their self-centered desires and lusts that they can’t see them.

I’ve had to struggle with my own spiritual blindness, but as a pastor, dealing with spiritual blindness seems to be the whole of my life! As a song says, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” My job is to help people open their eyes so that they may see God, see themselves, and see others. People wander around in dead-end lives, not recognizing that God has chosen eternity for them. As this verse says, they have to fear God enough to respect and love Him in order to hear and receive the message of Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am to pray for them and be lovingly persistent in presenting the truth to them, so that when they choose to open their eyes, the riches of God’s grace will be right there.

Father, I could make quite a list of people who have stubbornly kept their eyes shut, but You know who they are far better than I do. Two with the same family name are equally in danger, but they have totally different excuses for not receiving. I ask Your grace and mercy for each of them. Many, many more come to mind. I ask You to pour Your Spirit out on this city, this nation, to bring repentance and faith. Whatever any person’s excuse might be, it comes down to a choice not to believe and submit to You. Have mercy on them, Lord, so that they may fear You enough to see the way of life that You have chosen for them. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Psalm 6:8-9 Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.

We don’t know why David had assurance that his prayers had been heard, but such assurance is enormously strengthening. When we know that we and God are on the same side, very little else matters. From our perspective, it feels like we’re getting God on our side, but in the eternal scheme of things, it’s far more a matter of our getting on God’s side. Prayer is ultimately a mystery, because it defies reason that the Creator of the universe would be swayed by the words and tears of creatures such as we are. Even so, the whole Bible, as well as our own experience, tells us that it happens. In fact, time and time again the Bible tells us to ask, to seek God in prayer, that He is waiting for our prayers. The key is probably in acknowledging that we are dependent on Him, that we can’t get the job done on our own. The other half of it is simply that He loves us, as a parent loves their children. Prayer helps us focus on issues, to grasp what they really are. When we are in an attitude of genuine prayer (as apposed to formulaic, rote prayer) then the Holy Spirit can and does direct our words, and we hear things from our own mouths that clarify and direct, and we are enabled to get in line with God’s program. When the Holy Spirit gives us the assurance that we have done that, then our faith becomes unshakable.

My prayer life is very much a work in progress. I am growing, which is a comfort, but I feel I have so much more to learn, so much further to go in flowing with the Holy Spirit in prayer. I do pray often through each day, but I don’t spend as much time in focused prayer as I feel I should. I let prayer issues sneak by me without praying, until problems arise and I am forced to pray. I need to be more proactive in my prayer, participating in God’s plan from the start instead of having to make so many course corrections along the way. Those course corrections can get painful! I desire that the believers pray, and that this be a house of prayer indeed, so I need to teach them what I have been taught. Our midweek prayer meetings are in need of revitalization, and I need to seek and receive God’s wisdom for that. That, however, is the tip of the iceberg. I need to be on my face before the Lord asking Him to pour His Spirit out on us all, because when that happens, we will indeed pray and act according to His will for His glory.

Father, thank You for this Word this morning, and for the circumstances that have prepared me for it. Help me be sensitive to Your Spirit to pray as You intend, in terms of issues, content, and frequency. Keep me from letting things ride or build up. Rather, help me pray immediately, so that I may get in line with what You want to do, for the blessing of Your people and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Job 36:22 “God is exalted in his power.  Who is a teacher like him?

Disciples are learners, so it’s a big deal that God is the ultimate Teacher. The Bible is filled with references to God teaching us, but the question is always whether we will learn. As a school teacher myself, I have had students who would absorb anything I gave them, and I have had students for whom it was like pouring water on a duck’s back. God gives us virtually unlimited opportunities to learn, about Him and about what is important in life, and how to be genuinely fulfilled and happy, and all of that, but sometimes we seem to sail right through them with our minds and hearts closed. It’s like students I’ve had who have accused me of putting stuff on the final exam that I didn’t each in class, and I could tell them the day I taught it. Likewise, I’ve had students who studied just for the sake of pass­ing the exam, and I’ve had students who studied so that they would be able to make use of the material in their careers. Regardless of test results, there’s no question who got the greater benefit from my classes. Some people think only of Judgment Day – the “final exam” – but a disciple will be seeking to apply everything God teaches them in their daily life, and will be blessed in consequence.

Coming from a family of teachers, as well as teaching in class settings even from my college days, this is a principle I understand well, but the question is how well I apply it in my own life. It has been said that those who can’t do, teach. I must seek first of all to be a good and faithful disciple myself, as I seek to make disciples of others as well. Everything I have experienced as a classroom teacher I have experienced intensified as a pastor/teacher. I am not to be discouraged, but remember both that God is the Teacher and that His Spirit works within us. As much as I present truth to people, I need to pray that they will be enabled to receive it. I need to seek to help them look for God’s lessons to recognize and appropriate them, just as I need to be doing myself. I must remember as I share truth that my understanding is incomplete, that I am a student teacher, and keep myself fully submitted to God, who is the ultimate Teacher.

Father, thank You for calling and gifting me as a teacher. The way is frustrating at times, but then it is for everyone in this sinful world. Help me keep learning from You so that I may pass it on to others as well as apply it myself. Like Paul, I pray that as I teach others I may not fall short myself. (1 Corinthians 9:27) Help me turn people’s eyes and hearts to You so that we may be Your disciples indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!