Glory Glimpse: LIFE

Our look at the Lord today is a well-known title: Jesus is Life.  It (life) is a passion for God; He is the giver of Life.  God loves Life and longs for every soul to know the abundance of true Life.  Jesus came that we could know the fullness of eternal life.  But Satan loves death and constantly seeks to blind all to true Life.  He directs our attention to illusions of life that are only death in masquerade:  fame, fortune and adventure.  True Life is Jesus.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, Scripture guides us to Life.  All Scripture points us to the fullness of Life—to Jesus.  The writings of the disciple John repeatedly remind that Jesus is Life.   John quotes Christ’s own words that ‘He is the way, the truth and the life.’  Jesus is the only way to God; He is the source of truth; and Jesus is Life itself.  The gospel of John opens by beautifully laying out Christ’s eternality as the Word, the Life and the Light of the world.  John’s gospel ties perfectly with the Psalmist who praised the light given by the Word.  It knits with Paul’s explanation that the presence of Jesus reveals eternal life.  The Word, Jesus, is light and life to all who receive it.  The Greek dictionary defines the light that the life of Christ brings as a light unable to be kindled or quenched by another!  Satan can deceive for a time, but he cannot produce a light that endures.  The Word who is Life and Light will never pass away.

Fixing our eyes on the source of life is the only way to navigate this treacherous world safely—and to help others do likewise.  No path on earth can resist the light produced by Christ’s life.  As we allow His life to fill the darkest parts of our lives, the pathway we should take becomes clear.  The shadows that fill the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ flee in the presence of eternal Life!  The despairs that threaten our souls—loneliness, addictions, fear—dissipate when the truth of His life penetrate.  Lives filled with His life illumine the paths of others as well.

In addition to the Light that accompanies the Life, scripture reminds us of other ways Christ is life to this world.  Jesus is the ‘living bread’ and the ‘living water.’  His Life is sustenance and refreshment in this dry, weary land.   As pilgrims, we are not to rely on any other source for life than Jesus Himself.  When the Life of Christ fills us, that which is ‘dead’ becomes alive.  In fact, Christ calls us to be ‘living stones’ in this world of death.  Our lives are to evidence what Christ told Martha:  “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live…” (John 11:25).  Our lives are to overflow with the Life of Jesus so that He spills onto those who walk nearby us.

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: KEEPER

“… for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  2 Timothy 1:12b

God is a “Keeper!”  He keeps His promises.  He keeps our inheritance secure.  He keeps His people.  He keeps all that we entrust to His care.  This is a view of God that surely helps transform us into Christ-likeness.  Humanity stands in stark contrast.  We often fail to keep our promises.  We tend to squander eternal riches to ‘keep’ fleeting earthly treasures.  We keep records of wrongs to even the score.  God keeps a record book but it is the Book of Life.  Our Keeper specializes in what is good, lovely and of eternal worth.  Becoming more like our ‘Keeper’ produces an abundant life with eternal fruit!

So how does the Father fulfill His role as Keeper?  He seals us with the Holy Spirit and establishes us in Christ!  Scripture tells us God keeps watch over us day and night.  He does not sleep or go on breaks.  His watchful eyes keep us in sight at all times.  We must keep our eyes fixed upon Him as well.  Sin began with a look in the Garden of Eden:  Eve looked at the fruit.  Sin still begins with a look.  Let us be determined to keep our eyes from temptations and fixed upon the Lord.

Our Keeper also steadies our feet on the paths we tread.  He keeps our feet from stumbling on the rock-strewn pathways and keeps us from falling off the treacherous precipices.  There is no path He does not see, no barrier too large for His perfect purposes.  Placing our steps in the pattern of the Savior requires the Keeping power of the Father.  We would grow weary, falter and fall without the Keeper.  The Word guides us in the ways we should go; the Keeper assures our safe arrival.

While the watch-care and protection of the Keeper comforts most, the idea of the Lord keeping match over our mouths is a bit more intimidating.  We can convince ourselves quite easily, though often wrongly, that our eyes are on the Lord and our feet on His paths.  The unruliness of the mouth is another matter!  Even scripture attests to the wild nature of the tongue and the difficulty of taming it.  Yet God also tells us we are accountable for every word that we speak.  If we will entrust the meditations of our hearts–and the words of our mouth–to His keeping, He will set a watch over our lips.  God spoke the world into being; words matter.  We all need Him to be the Keeper of our conversations.

Finally, the Lord keeps our light burning.  He is the Light of the World, and He lives within those who entrust their lives to Him.  His light is eternal and He allows us to shine forth His light to others in our world.  He keeps the light on that He might become the Keeper for others.  As we rejoice in the Lord as our Keeper, our words and actions will align our lives for abundant, eternal fruitfulness.

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: JUDGE

Depending upon your own choice, today’s title of the Lord offers joy or despair.  God appointed Jesus Christ as Judge of all the earth.  As scripture says, one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Personal accountability, judgment, is a theme woven throughout Scripture.  Each of us will give account for our time on earth. 

Praise God, the Judge, who is Truth and Light, is also eternal love.  Before Creation, He prepared with love for the Day of Judgment.  Love does not demand that another bow to it.  Yet love shows interest and appreciation for others; it even accepts responsibility for another.  Jesus, the Judge, did just that.  He cared about the plight of man.  He appreciated the unique treasure of every soul.  Knowing the self-will of man would bring sin and destruction—and require a judgment of death—He offered His own life as payment.  The Judge chose to step down from the bench that He might give rewards instead of condemnation.  Such a Judge is a joy to contemplate; oh, how He deserves our worship! 

While the final judgment is inevitable, free will determines whether we face Him with joy or despair.  Facing the Judge with joy requires us to relinquish our sin and our ‘right’ to determine what is good and best.  Sin—walking in the light of our own minds instead of the light of Christ—is natural to man. Sacrificing our right to self-determination opens the door to living in the righteous life of Christ.  In essence, the Judge offers us the most unfair exchange in eternity: our sin for His righteousness. Giving Him our sin allows us to enter eternal life.  Living in His love allows us to receive the rewards of living for Him.  Having entered into His light while we live prepares us to face the Judge with joy.

Tragically, many prefer to hold onto their sin and walk in the light of their own determination.  Such a choice brings one before the Judge clothed only in the best efforts of self.  The filthy rags of self-righteousness cannot withstand the blazing, glory of the Righteous One.  Absolutely no one can stand upright in the presence of His glory for the inherited nature of man is sin—self-centered, self-directed and self-righteous.  A life lived only in the light of self brings nothing for the Judge to reward.  The Light and Truth of the Judge exposes the eternal, dark doom of sin. If we enter the presence of the Judge before we enter His love, despair is as inevitable as the judgment.

God appointed Jesus as Judge in love.  Jesus prepared for the role of Judge with love; we prepare to face the Judge by living in that love.  Living in the light of the coming judgment, prepares us to face the Judge and points others toward His light.  Let us be determined to live in love, that we might help others accept Him joyfully as their Judge. 

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: INTERCESSOR

As we continue on our ‘Alphabet of Attributes’ journey, we come to the letter “I.”  There are some wonderful, awe-inspiring revelations of Jesus that begin with “I.”  He is the I am, the Image of the invisible God, immortal, immutable, and Immanuel, God with us!  The One who is all of those things is also our Intercessor.  Scriptures tells us He lives that He can make intercession for us!  Now that is an incredible view of our Savior!

Intercessory prayer weaves its way throughout scripture.  In the Old Testament, we see God’s people, His prophets and His priests offering prayers on behalf of others.  Isaiah prophesied that the coming Deliverer would pray for sinners.  

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12

The truth of that prophesy shines forth in the New Testament as we observe Jesus praying for His disciples, His enemies and us!   

Intercession is a costly endeavor that God expects from each of us.  Yet God never asks us to do anything He won’t join us in doing.  Intercession is a joint endeavor…it fulfills the prayer of Jesus in John 17 which asks the Father to bring us to unity.  Intercession unites our hearts with others, with the Spirit, with Christ and with the Father.  The fact that Jesus is our Intercessor reveals the incredible privilege we have to intercede.  

Our human passions and concerns often cloud our minds.   We do not always know what to ask of the Father; we would miss countless blessings without our Intercessor!  The Spirit searches our hearts for the needs we cannot express—and sometimes do not know.  The Spirit’s unity with Christ—and His with the Father—brings the very will of God into the center of our being.  

Our Intercessor’s prayers are pure and perfect, aligned with God’s purposes for our lives.  Jesus asks for exactly what we would ask—if only we understood as He does.    Our minds can only glimpse the fringes of the great mystery of unity with God through Christ.  Our intercessory prayers for others allow us to join in the very work of our Savior.  May we rejoice in His work and our privilege as intercessors!

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: HOPE of GLORY

Today’s descriptive name of the indwelling Christ fulfills a longing each soul feels:  to live a life that has substance and lasting worth.  The risen Savior is our only hope for lives that will have eternal significance; Christ in us is our Hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27).

All else that man can pursue on earth—wealth, power, fame, love—produces only limited returns.  For God, the source of glory, never yields that glory to another.  However, He did allow the fullness of His glory to dwell in Christ, who in turn allows us to be His dwelling place.  It is an incomprehensible truth really—the most unfair exchange of history:  we give up our sins that we may receive His Righteousness:  His Glory!   Creatures made of dust given the magnificent privilege of receiving the Glory of God.  The song of Miriam in Exodus 15:11 helps us glimpse the magnitude of this honor.  

“…Who is like you (O LORD), majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

This majestic, awesome, wonder-working God desires to dwell in you and me that our lives will have weight and glory for all eternity.  It is a truth that fills our hearts and minds with wonder!

Moses asked to see the glory of God…and had to be shielded from its power to protect his very life.  When he spent time with the Lord, his own face so shone with God’s glory, he veiled his face from the Israelites upon his return.  United with Christ, we gaze upon His glory and our lives become reflections of it!  The glory of God has life-transforming goodness—His mercy and compassion are contained within.  Scriptures tells us His glory fills all the earth.  The heavens testify to it and we are to declare it with radiant lives.

Seeking God through Christ in us the Hope of Glory, brings eternal rewards to others and us.  As we look into God’s Word, into the meaning of His names, the light of His glory and grace will reflect off our lives onto the world around us.  The Hope of Glory will draw others to Himself if we allow Him to shine in our lives—and His glory will shine evermore into new lives working new wonders! 

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: GUIDE & GUARD

When we fix our eyes on God as our Guide and Guard, our life journeys fulfill His good purposes.  Throughout God’s Word, we find evidence of His desire to lead us out of the captivity of our sinful humanity to the freedom of living in Christ.  From eternity past to eternity future, God’s goal is close relationship with us. Seeking His guidance puts us on a pathway of fellowship with Him.  Surrounded by His presence, we enjoy Him as our Guide and our Guard.

God is a Guide and Guard who never sleeps.  Scriptures remind us that the eyes of the Lord are continually upon us.  The Psalmist says God guides us with His eye.  To know the direction He desires us to look, we must seek His face.  To remain in His presence and benefit from His guidance, we must give attention to His point of focus. God’s gaze always rests upon those things that hide His glory from others and us.  When we follow His eyes, we see ourselves as He sees us.   Even though the eyes of our Lord always overflow with love, seeing the truths about ourselves that He sees is most uncomfortable.  Only receiving His unconditional love allows us to accept that penetrating gaze from our Guide.  

God never forces us to accept His view; we can choose to focus our eyes as we wish.  His love will remain and His gaze stay fixed on the area of our soul that remains chained.  Rejecting Him as Guide puts us on a path that takes us away from His presence.  We become our own guide and guard.  Mark records the sad account of the rich, young man who sought Jesus, felt His loving gaze and chose to reject it. Christ desired for the young man to see the limits of his earthly treasures and choose to trust Him.  Preferring the comfort of his visible earthly treasures, the rich young man chose to be his own guide.  

The joyful truth we must never forget, though, is that when we choose to seek Him again as our Guide and Guard, He will be waiting to travel with us.  He will guide us into the transforming power of His truth and love!  He will guide us and guard us to the end.  Seeking God’s face and walking in His presence allows us to see more our awesome God more clearly.  When we accept Him as our Guide and Guard, our lives become a window for others to glimpse Him as well.  

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Overcoming Life’s Clutter

Sometimes our vision gets cluttered. The stuff of life overwhelms us. Sometimes it’s problems we can’t fix for ourselves or others. Other times it’s busloads of little things that drain energy and eat up time. Always that is a signal that we need a touch from the healer. There’s a miracle of Jesus recorded in Mark 8 that speaks of this for me.

In the miracle story, an extremely fortunate blind man had friends who took him to Jesus. It was the friends who begged the Lord to heal him. We must be intentional about choosing friends who take us to Jesus! Blind people can’t see the solution.

Jesus reached out and took the blind man’s hand. Doesn’t that thrill your soul? It wasn’t the blind man who took the initiative to go to Jesus—nor was it the blind man who reached out to Him. Earthly friends escorted the blind man to the eternal, all-powerful friend – Jesus!

But here’s where the story takes a challenging turn for many of us. We’re okay with walking along with friends to Jesus. We’re okay with Jesus taking our hand. But then Jesus led the man out of the village. Here is where we begin to resist the cure. We think we are safer in the crowd than in the sole company of Jesus—and that’s a lie that keeps us blind. The first step in healing our vision is walking away from the noise to hear Jesus.

The next step only happens when we genuinely believe in the goodness of our friend. Jesus spit in the eye of the blind man. To spit in the eye conveys ‘shame’ and ‘reproach.’ Our souls bristle at that – we like to be right, to be honored not admonished. With Jesus, the reproach is never condemnation, it is a call to come closer to Him, to see Him more clearly. And His question to the man confirms this: “What do you see?”

His reply is the level of healing many settle for in life. “I see men as trees.”  People easily cloud our vision of Jesus. The problems we see in this world relate to people, and if we look through our human eyes, we’ll be overwhelmed. We need to see through the eyes of love – through God’s eternal perspective. In the healing miracle of Mark 8, Jesus then puts His hands on the blind man’s eyes again—and His sight becomes clear.

The Lord then told him, go home, don’t go back in the crowd. That’s not an instruction to become a hermit, that’s the way we learn to be in the world but not of the world. The crowds confuse us, blind us. We need to have our hearts firmly rooted in the presence of God and that is a private effort. It takes place in quiet, personal times with Jesus. So, if you are feeling crushed by life’s challenges, let Jesus take your hand, show you what needs to change, touch you with love, and call you into His presence.

Glory Glimpse: FAITHFUL & TRUE

Our glimpse of Jesus today is given by the disciple, John in Revelation 19:11:  

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True…”  

This passage continues to expand our view of the awesome glory of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The One who is called Faithful & True is mighty and worthy of great reverence.  Yet, there is a comforting glory in this title as well.  Faithfulness and Truth are foundational to the character of God; that Jesus is Faithful and True provides security and hope to every believer.

In Deuteronomy, we hear Moses beseech the children of Israel to know that God is faithful in keeping the covenant of love to those who love Him.  The same plea must be heard by hearts today, because the deeper we know this God-Truth, the more God’s presence will surround us.  God longs for us, His children, to love—to desire—His presence purely because His presence enfolds us within His loving-kindness.  The faithfulness of God to His covenants reveals His character of merciful love.

God’s character also entwines with the truth of His righteousness to unveil His strength and power to fulfill the covenant.  Truth empowers love to complete God’s good purposes in the lives of those who love Him.  Love alone tends to indulge wrong desires; love and righteousness refuses to allow the beloved to waste even one moment on temporary pleasures.  Truth demands hearts focus on what is good, holy and right.  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is Faithful and True to the character of God.  His reliability is an anchor for our souls!

The One who is Faithful and True assures us that no promise of God will ever fall short.  Our hope—our confident expectation of good from God—rests on Jesus Christ.  Paul reminded Timothy—and us—that Christ’s faithfulness is our security.  Our weaknesses, our waverings, do not compromise His identity.  The One who is Faithful and True provided us with the privilege of drawing near to the Father.  Let us heed the exhortation in Hebrews in reverence for our King of Kings and Lord of Lords:

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Hebrews 10:23-24

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: END OF THE LAW

Our look at Jesus comes from Romans 10:4 today…


For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 

This verse has some amazing depth to it that we will only glimpse in this little jaunt through its meaning. Let’s begin at the beginning; have you read the Books of the Law lately? Most of us have not, but we need to read them on a regular basis.  They paint a picture we desperately need of the righteousness of God. Flippancy and irreverence abound in the world today. But those are not attitudes Scripture encourages. They are in stark contrast to the way God revealed Himself to the nation of Israel. 

While its true we are no longer under the law, God has not changed – nor did He give the law only for one time period of history. The Books of the Law portray the holiness of God in awe-inspiring detail and clearly show a God who is not to be taken lightly.  Great care was needed in approaching God, and the consequences of irreverent worship or disregard for God’s ways were deadly. Understanding that approaching God is serious business, helps us treasure the truth or Romans 10:4 even more. 

You see, when we receive Jesus as the end of the law, we are actually receiving the righteousness of God! The idea that God cancelled the law is a low, cheap interpretation of the Word. God’s righteousness is a treasure He wanted us to have – and He sacrificed greatly to give it to us!

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law – it ‘ends’ because in Jesus, the purpose of the law is completed in Jesus. God’s passion for a people to love compelled Him to create us…but He knew before He spoke a word what it would cost Him to create and redeem humanity. The Law helps us understand His righteousness, His glory – and what is involved in relating to Him.

God couldn’t compromise His righteousness to accomplish His purpose of relationship with us, so He provided the Way to make it happen. That Way was sending His Son to suffer and die for us. In Second Corinthians, Paul tells us that Jesus became sin, so we could become the righteousness of God (by hiding our lives in Jesus). The only thing we can give to God is our sin. As soon as we do that, Jesus gives us His righteousness so we can come to the Father. What a trade that is!

Our very best efforts are nothing but filthy rags, but Jesus covers us with His Righteousness so we can enter the presence of God!  He offers us a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light in exchange for our filth and sin! May our hearts rejoice this week that the law is fulfilled and the way provided for us to enter into fellowship with a holy God. Jesus came that we might have abundant life. Don’t waste a minute of your life living outside of Jesus…of seeking fulfillment anywhere but in Him! Jesus paid it all…run to the Father and enjoy His glory and His love.radiate from your life and compel others to enter in!

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names

Glory Glimpse: DWELLING PLACE

Moses declared God to be the eternal dwelling place.  The Lord – our home – isn’t that a sweet thought to camp upon?  In this busy world, many families do not enjoy the full blessings of ‘home’ – it has become a place to stop by rather than the center of life.  

Homes are to be much more than a base of operation or a place to sleep.  A home is a place of nurturing and growth.  A home is to be a place of:

  • retreat and rest from the harshness of the world 
  • warmth and security
  • welcome and blessing to others 

Our earthly homes are not always all of those things.  The dwelling place of God never fails to deliver all that and more!  Let us enter in that others may as well!

Scripture has much to say about the dwelling place of the Lord.  In the Ark of the Testimony God is said to dwell between the Cherubims. These are the angels who, throughout Scripture, focus on praise and worship for the glory of God. This is a clue and a reminder to us that praise-filled awed for God’s glory is the key to entering His presence! Isaiah tells us that God dwells in the high and holy—and in the contrite and humble.  Two vastly distant extremes find a meeting place in God.  Truly, our minds cannot contain the breadth of His truths.  

In the New Testament, John took care to record much of Jesus’ teachings about dwelling in the Father.  Jesus declared Himself as the Door – the only way into the Father’s presence.  Heartbreakingly, many of Christ’s own disciples stumbled at this truth and turned away from Him at this point.  The humble and contrite heart accepts its limitations and needs—as well as the glorious, high and holy fulfillment of those needs: Jesus Christ. 

Jesus’ prayer for us as believers in John 17 offers another glimpse of the splendor of dwelling in God:

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. John 17:21

Only when we learn to dwell in God can we be an active part of His glorious eternal purpose:  guiding the world to believe in Christ.  The love of God flows forth from those in union with Him – His love irresistibly beckons others to enter into the joy of dwelling in Him.  May your joy of abiding in God radiate from your life and compel others to enter in!

If you are enjoying this journey, there are two formats of these devotions on Amazon. You can find one here: Alphabet of Names