{ Day 140 }

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." —Jeremiah 31:3

Many believers have a distorted view of God. If you press the average believer, he will say, "I know that God has total authority, and I know He means well, but I do not know how He feels. He seems a little distant in His emotions." God is often viewed as a strict coach who is trying to discipline us by calling us to hard things and by letting difficult things happen to us. Others view Him as an exacting judge, always trying to catch us in our sin and never getting emotional until we fail—and then He gets angry. Many look at God as a type of army sergeant who will sacrifice us for the sake of the cause. They see Him saying, "Oh, well, it's OK if I lose a few along the way, so long as the cause goes forward." Beloved, this distortion is very different from the God of the Bible.

{ PRAYER STARTER }

Father, like so many others, I often have had a distorted picture of who You are. Remove my distorted thinking, dear God, and allow me to see You as You are revealed in Your Word.

We think He calls us to be disciples just so His cause
will be promoted, never realizing that His heart
burns with desire for us.

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Three Crosses of Sin

Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. —John 19:18

Historians of Jesus' day tell us crucifixions were common. Hundreds at a time would be crucified when the Romans came into a new region.

But on this day in infamy there were only three-.-.-.-not the usual thirty or a hundred. Only two were sentenced to die with Jesus. The Roman guards would not even have time to finish the task before the Passover celebration began.

There were three crosses. The cross in the middle bore the One who died for sin; another bore the one who died to sin; and the third bore the one who died in sin. Although both criminals originally railed Jesus, one asked for forgiveness and Jesus promised that man a home in Paradise. The other ridiculed His choice and now is spending eternity in hell.

Jesus died for your sins, but have you died to sin for Him? If you want to live, you must die. Surrender at the Cross of Calvary today. Lay down every treasure and every burden at the foot of the Cross. Nail every sin and every expectation to the Cross.

Jesus, at the foot of Your Cross I lay down my burdens,
my expectations, my successes, and my failures.
Wash me clean with Your blood, and fill me with Your Spirit. Amen.

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Experiencing God's Presence

You will fill me with joy in your presence. —Psalm 16:11

The manifestation of God's presence can be unveiled in more than one way.

Jacob felt the presence of God at Bethel, and he was afraid (Gen. 28:17). For some there is a bias in the direction of the fear of God, which, to them, proves that God is present. Some people are even uneasy with joy. Fear is their comfort zone. They have a ready-made theological rationale for not smiling and looking sad instead. When we don't have much joy, we can hide behind the convenient view that God's glory always produces a sense of fear. That feeling of awe was what people experienced as a result of a healing presence in Galilee (Luke 5:17, 26). They felt this immediately after Pentecost (Acts 2:43).

The angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). As a result of Philip's preaching in Samaria, "there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:8).

We must try to remain open to the manner in which God chooses to manifest His glory. We can become so firmly entrenched in our specific comfort zone that we fail to recognize the presence of God. At the end of the day, it is impossible to describe adequately the feeling of God's special presence—however it is manifested.

The special presence of God is greater than anything said about it. But you won't miss it if you haven't experienced it. And you can believe it's still present after it has departed. Yesterday's memory of His presence and today's expectancy that it will be present can make you think God is present when He isn't. It is an easy mistake to make.

This is why we should want to be more and more sensitive to the Spirit. As we are more and more sensitive to Him, we will more quickly recognize God's special presence—and His absence.

Excerpted from The Sensitivity of the Spirit (Charisma House, 2002).

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Living Stones

1 Peter 1:14-2:10 Peter compares believers in Jesus Christ to living stones that are built into a spiritual house. So many people come for a season to our church and then move on to another church. Such people never have the beautiful experience of forming a spiritual house. I have heard some refer to such people as rolling stones instead of living stones. If we are always hopping from one church to another simply because things just do not suit us, we run the risk of never maturing in our walk with the Lord. It takes living stones rubbing other living stones even the wrong way for a season to bring each stone into the position where they fit into the building of a spiritual house. If we leave one fellowship before we have found our place of service there, chances are we will never fit into any other spiritual house or body of believers as the Lord wants us to do. Love is not easily offended, and if we run away every time we are offended without dealing with the situation, love will never be perfected (matured) in our lives. As living stones we have to learn to fit together and work together to build a spiritual house.

Our church supports a ministry in France that had the challenge of rebuilding an eleventh-century village into a retreat area. Most of the structures were in shambles when they began their work. The ancient stones were in piles here and there over the properties, and often they had to search for these ancient stones so they could be used in the rebuilding process. The scripture that inspired this couple to begin this work in France over twenty-five years ago was Isaiah 58:12: "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in" (KJV).

As this couple worked with others to rebuild this village, they had to lay the stones out and determine exactly which ones would fit most tightly into the next space that was available. Sometimes they had to shape the stones to fit by chiseling a little on the edges. Their goal was to have as little mortar as possible between each stone because they knew this would make a stronger building. In other words, they had to close up the gaps and get rid of any spaces or breaches between the stones. God wants to do the same with the living stones in His body.

During the building of this village, those who worked on the restoration learned so many spiritual lessons and understood clearly why the body of Christ is compared to living stones. Every summer different teams of young people would come to work on the restoration. This couple noticed that the teams that accomplished the most in the least bit of time were those teams that had little bickering and strife. The teams that were best were made up of individuals who esteemed and respected one another. There was no competition or jealousy between the members of the team, and they were all working for a common goal, not their own agenda. The results of such teams were nearly miraculous. May this be the case in every church.

READ: Ezekiel 45:13-46:24; 1 Peter 1:14-2:10; Psalm 119:36-52; Proverbs 28:11

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Mercy and Grace

Grace is when we get what we don't deserve.

Mercy is when we don't get what we do deserve.

Mercy manifests when we don't get justice for our sin. Grace, on the other hand, is imparted power we don't deserve that frees us from the tyranny of sin.

Many Christians have lumped the two words together and assigned to both the same meaning. Am I splitting hairs here or is this just semantics? Not at all. Here's a way to think about it: Suppose you play both football and basketball with football rules. Football would go well; however, with basketball you'd lose the uniqueness of the sport in addition to incurring numerous injuries. We've lost the power of the identity of grace because so many have combined it with mercy. We've also incurred numerous injuries by playing grace with mercy's rules.

Grace gives us the power to live, and mercy keeps us free from guilt, condemnation and shame, all of which try to pull us back into sin's grip. Mercy keeps our conscience clear of the judgment we deserve. What amazing mercy God has shown us!

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace,...that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need. (Hebrews 4:16, AMP)

Mercy is given for our failures, our sins we've repented of. However, grace is given to help, to empower us. What a great salvation our Father has given us—complete and lacking nothing!

Marked by boldness and passion, John Bevere delivers uncompromising truth through his award-winning curriculum and best-selling books now available in over sixty languages. His newest book is Extraordinary: The Life You're Meant to Live. More information is available at www.ExtraordinaryOnline.org.

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