PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 31

Isaiah 61:2
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord , and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Jesus showed us the character of God as he walked on this earth. He showed the acceptance of God for the hurting. He showed that when we leave vengeance in the hands of God that he take care of our enemies.

Jesus showed that God will comfort those who are mourning and will not add to their pain.

When we allow the Spirit of Jesus to have his way in our lives we will live out the character of God. We will not add hurt to the hurting, we will not add grief to those who are mourning and we will not punish those who don't agree with us.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 30

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

These words were read by Jesus in the synagogue on Nazareth when he returned as an adult to visit his childhood home. He was not welcomed because the people knew him as the son of Joseph. When did he become the Messiah? Jesus told them that day that those words were being fulfilled in their sight.

For us today living in our sad world, these words need to lived out as we follow Jesus. We have the Spirit of Jesus living in us and we need to take these words to heart and show our communities, workplace, neighborhoods, social media the mission of Jesus. It has never changed.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 29

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord , my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

The most pleasing relationship that we can have is a relationship with GOD. Not a god of our imagination but the real, true, awesome, Most High GOD.

He is the God who knows everything about our lives. Every mistake we have made, every sin we have committed, every shame and guilt we carry, every unkind thought, every selfish motive, everything about us - the good, the bad and the ugly.

He is also the God who clothes us with the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. It doesn't matter what our past was like, he is only concerned about our future. A future that he has prepared for us.

May we have a vibrant, joyful relationship with our awesome GOD.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 28

Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

As believers in God and Citizens the New Kingdom we long for the day when the righteousness of God will spring forth before all nations.

We are living in a time where it is hard to see God's righteousness because we are blinded by our own limited belief of who God really is.

We have our little boxes that we try to fit God in and when we are challenged we allow fear to take over and instead of expanding our boxes we try to lock God in.

One day this will change for God's righteousness will be seen throughout the earth and before all nations. He will break out of our delusional little boxes.

We wait for that day with great anticipation.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 27

John 15:5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus said, 'without me ye can do nothing'. He was very deliberate and absolute. It is all or nothing. Are we in or are we out?

He did not say, 'without me you will be able to do something, it may not be the best but you will still be able to accomplish something'.

He made it very clear that anything we do, anything we accomplish came through him. May we always give God the glory for all that we do.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 26

John 15:4
 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

A very simple natural law of sowing and reaping. As long as the branch is attached to the vine it is able to bear fruit.

When we are abiding in Jesus we are also able to bear fruit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will be seen in our lives.

Believers in Christ are called to bear much fruit. If we are not bearing much fruit we need to be pruned so that we will produce the fruit that we are called to bear.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 25

John 15:1
 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Jesus declares that he is the TRUE VINE. If there is a true vine then we are led to believe that there may be other vines that are not true.

The purpose of the vine is to give nourishment to the branches and to keep the branches attached so that they can bear fruit.

The Father is the gardener and he tends the branches by pruning them to bear even more fruit.

May we always be nourished from the true vine.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 24

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  Meekness, temperance...

The spiritual person who has the Holy Spirit living inside will produce fruit that is consistent with his spiritual nature.

If we observe the characteristic of a person and we see love, mercy, forgiveness, patience, faith as a pattern we can surmise that he Holy Spirit is leading that person's life.

One of the problem we face as humans is that as long as we are alive on this earth we have 2 nature to contend with.
Our human nature produces fruit that are the opposite of our spiritual nature.

When we see our brothers and sisters struggling may we be loving them instead of judging them.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 23

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  Envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings, and such like...

The natural man without the Holy Sourut can only produce fruit consistent with his nature. There is no way he can expect to do anything good or produce good fruit.

Good can only come from God. Sinful, unregenerate man can only manifest the works of the flesh.

May our unregenerate hearts be changed so that our fruit may also change.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 22

Luke 6:44
For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

A tree can only produce fruit it was created to produce. An apple tree will never produce oranges. Oranges grow on orange trees. Apples grow on apple trees. This is a natural law.

When we became citizens of the New Kingdom, the Holy Spirit came to live in our hearts and made us new creations. We became a new tree so we now produce fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul made a distinction between the fruit of the natural man and the spiritual man. The natural man can only produce fruit consistent with his nature. The spiritual man produce fruit consistent with his spiritual nature.

May the fruit we produce reflect a life that is filled with the Holy Spirit.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 21

 Luke 6:43
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

The law of nature shows that a tree that is healthy, watered and well-nourished will bear good, sweet and delicious fruit. There is a direct correlation between a healthy tree and good fruit. When we see good fruit we know that they came from a good tree.
When we see fruit that is not good we know the tree is corrupt.

As an analogy to our lives we can also safely say that when we see good deeds from each other it is because our hearts are motivated by being attached to our loving Lord.
When we see evil deeds we know that we are not in step with our Lord.

May the fruit of our lives be good and not corrupt.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 20

Luke 6:36
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Someone once said, 'revenge is best served cold'. We may think that just at the right moment, when it is least expected and the offending act has long been forgotten, that is the time to strike. And we always hope that it will make us feel better.

The problem with this line of thinking is that vengeance has to be in our hearts for a long time. It has to be planned and well thought out in order to execute the right kind of revenge.

Mercy, on the other hand does not use up our mind's energy. We do not have to spend time in order to plot mercy. When we have the choice to exact revenge or show mercy, may we always choose to be merciful.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 19

Luke 6:27
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

When the lawyer asked Jesus, 'Who is my neighbor?' Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. Our neighbor is anyone who needs us.

In that story the perceived enemy was also shown. The injured victim was a Jew and the helper was a Samaritan, the enemy of the Jew. The irony is that the neighbor and the enemy turned out to be the same person.

May we love our enemies and do good to them so that in the end we will have gained a neighbor.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 18

Mark 2:17
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Sometimes we are tempted to judge others because of their behavior and write them off as worthless. We don't want to be seen or associate with them because of what people may think of us.

Jesus did the complete opposite when he came to this earth. He went to the places where he would find the outcasts of society. He came as the Great Physician to call the physically and spiritually sick so he could bring healing.

May we always remember that to hear the call of Jesus we have to realize that we truly need to be heal.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 17

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The picture that is usually depicted in this verse is Jesus standing in front of a closed door knocking. We were taught that Jesus will never just barge in. He will knock until we let him in. That is an accurate description and it is good to know the choice is ours.

Let's take a minute to think about what happens after we open the door. Jesus will actually enter into our lives and fellowship with us. He will bring his loving kindness, his peace and joy and show all the good things he has in store for us.

This picture of fellowshiping with Jesus appeals to my heart more than him standing outside knocking.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 16

Daniel 7:9
I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

The prophet Daniel, many years before the transfiguration of Jesus saw the Ancient of days in a vision. His words give us a limited picture of his glory. He struggled like the apostles, many years later, to describe the glory of GOD.

WHITE AS SNOW
PURE WOOL
FIERY FLAMES
BURNING FIRE

May we take a moment to meditate on the glory of GOD and what it will mean to one day see this glory for ourselves. One day we will come face to face with our Lord and Savior. One day our knees will bow before him as we worship and adore him. One day our joy will be complete as we leave this temporary world behind.

We echo the words of all who believe and say, 'even so, come Lord Jesus'.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 15

Revelation 1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

John, the apostle, one of the twelve disciples, had witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus with James and Peter before his crucifixion. He saw the shining light of his glory and he felt the fear of being in the presence of deity.

As he was worshiping in the Spirit many years later he was given a vision of his beloved friend and Savior. Jesus stood before him again in his majesty and his glory.

Words are inadequate again:

WHITE LIKE WOOL
WHITE AS SNOW
FLAMES OF FIRE

The glory of God is like nothing our finite minds can ever perceive.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 14

Mark 9:3
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

How can you adequately describe the glory of God? Words seem impossible to capture the pure light of his glory.

SHINING
EXCEEDING WHITE AS SNOW

Mark described the moment as a transfiguration before the disciples' eyes. Their eyes beheld his glory and their hearts were filled with fear.

Many years later the Apostle Peter in 2Peter 1:16 -17 described this moment as 'His Majesty'. And said that Jesus received honor and glory from the excellent glory.

The prayer in our hearts today is that we may one day come face to face with this glory.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 13

Mark 9:24
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

All parents can relate to what this dad was going through. He feared he would lose his son as the evil spirit would throw him into the flames and there was nothing he could do.

He finally made it to the place where Jesus was teaching and took his son to the disciples. For the first time he dared to hope that his boy would be well only to find that Jesus disciples were also helpless against the evil spirit.

Jesus arrived on the scene and said to him, 'all things are possible to him who believes, do you believe?'
He was faced with possibilities but disappointments and doubts lingered as he cried out, 'Lord, I believe, help me with my doubts'.

Like this desperate dad we can break through all doubts by believing in possibilities.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 12

John 10:14
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

As God's children we have been blessed with a good Shepherd. The good Shepherd leads his sheep to good pasture. He ensures that all the needs of the sheep are met. He leads the sheep besides calm, running water to quench their thirst.

The good Shepherd protects his sheep from danger. There is no enemy he will not defend his sheep against? The good Shepherd will be with his sheep no matter how dangerous the path they must take.

The good Shepherd brings goodness and mercy to his sheep. He only gives good gifts to them.

May we always be thankful for our good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 11

John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

These days there are many voices begging for our attention. All promising something that we think we need. We must have our dial set on the right frequency where we will hear the voice of our Shepherd.

When we we were born into the New Kingdom we were given the Holy Spirit who lives within us and He will always guide us to the only voice we need to hear, listen to and follow.

All other voices are only distractions.

May we hear HIS voice today!

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 10

John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

We all know and have people in our lives who can steal our joy with a look, a few words or by their negative attitude towards everything.

We wake up in the morning to the sunshine and joy of a new day and before we even realized it, we read a post on social media, we see a few minutes of news or we get a phone call and 'poof' our joy is gone.

We must guard our hearts and minds against the joy stealers in our lives. Living the abundant life every day is possible if we do not allow anyone to steal, kill or destroy the optimism and joy in our hearts.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 9

Psalms 124:8
Our help is in the name of the Lord , who made heaven and earth.

It seems that every nation of people has some desire to worship something or someone outside of themselves.
We look at the ruins of past civilizations and they all have the concept of worship

In the days of the Israelites, the people around them worshipped objects. They made images to reflect these 'gods' and so the distinction was always made. There is the one CREATOR God who must be worshiped.

We pray to the Creator God; we praise the Creator God; we call on the name of the Creator God; we worship the Creator God.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 8

Psalms 119:105
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

There is tremendous pain when we stub our toes in the dark. As we are holding on to our throbbing feet we are scolding ourselves for not turning on the lamp or having a night light to show us the path we should be taking.

God's word is our lamp as we walk in this world. All we need to do is turn it on in our lives. It doesn't help us at all if it is not turned on. What is the point in carrying a flashlight but keeping turned off?

May we study God's word so it can be turned on in our lives and keep our path lit so we don't stumble into sin and then in regret scold ourselves for not heeding God's word.  

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 7

Romans 14:12
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

It seems to be a reflex action on the part of humans to automatically judge ourselves in comparison to others. We find that we are either a little better or a little worse. However, when we focus our attention on the throne of God and we see ourselves in comparison to him and his righteousness we can see the sobering impact of the Apostle Paul's words.

As individuals we will each give account of ourselves to God. It is not about what anybody else has done. It is not about the thoughts, motivation or behavior of someone else. It is about ME. On that day of reckoning it will be all about me.

The only way to escape God's dreadful verdict is to stand before Him clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 6

Romans 12:21
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

As long as we are living in this sinful, fallen world we will be dealing with evil.
Evil may take different forms as we deal with our sinful nature, our present world systems and demonic forces. If we are not careful we may become overwhelmed by evil.

We are admonished by the Apostle Paul not to give the devil even a foothold. We need to be on our guard and not give in to the negatives or to evil.

There is always a way out if we truly want to escape evil. We should always seek to find the good in every situation because evil can only be diminished with good.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 5

Romans 12:19
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

There are times in our lives when the thought of getting even with someone brings great pleasure. When we are hurting because of the actions of another we may spend hours plotting revenge. We smile at the possibility of seeing their demise knowing that we helped karma along.

The Apostle Paul shows us the better way, the spiritual way, the godly way, 'Vengeance is mine, leave your revenge and anger with me, I will repay.'
Repay does not mean that God will allow our enemies to hurt like they hurt us. Repay means that in the end God will bring them to a place of surrender, either surrendered to his love and mercy or surrendered to his wrath.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 4

Romans 11:29
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

It is a joy and delight to receive God's favor. God's gift are freely given to his children. His blessings flow to us each morning.

We wake up every day with renewed mercy, grace and forgiveness. His patience and love toward us sustain
and fill us with hope allowing us to get through each day.

Abundant life is always within our grasp. We can choose to enjoy each day as we show gratitude and appreciation to God for his gifts.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 3

Romans 7:22
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

One meaning of the word 'delight' is to please greatly; bring great pleasure. The Apostle Paul like the Psalmist speak about delighting in the law of God.

The law of God and living in the will of God should not be burdensome because when we love someone we do what it takes to please them.

If we say we love God we will get to know what please him and then we will show him we love him by delighting in what please him.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 2

Romans 7:12
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The Apostle Paul went on to say that there are 2 laws in us fighting each other continually. The perfect law of GOD and the natural law of the imperfect, sinful man. The truth is that we cannot avoid who we are. We are sinful and imperfect and we live according to the natural law of being human.

However, when we have been regenerated and made alive by the Holy Spirit we have the perfect weapon to defeat the natural law of sin and imperfection. We are now in the position to live according to the perfect spuritual law of God.

We have Jesus bringing Grace and Truth to us because he is the TRUTH and his sacrifice brought us GRACE.
Grace and truth; mercy and justice seem like paradoxes but they work together for our benefit.

The truth is we deserve God's wrath because of his justice but we get grace instead because of his mercy
if we accept his invitation.

The natural law of sin and imperfection demands the wrath of God. The perfect law of God commands grace, forgiveness and mercy continually from God.  

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT - August 1

John 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Everything that comes from God is perfect because he is perfect. There is no darkness in God. There is no death in God. There s no hatred in God. God's essence is love; he dwells in light and he is the only source of life.

God's law shows his perfect character. The law shows us the way to be perfect to please a perfect GOD. Before the fall of man keeping God's perfect law was as natural as breathing.

Sin changed it all. Man is now imperfect and it became impossible for mankind to keep a perfect law. The love that God has for mankind created the solution. Grace and Truth brought to us by Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God.

to be continued...