Author Archives: revjaf

I LOVE TO LAUGH!…Genesis 17: 15-21

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There are many great songs in Walt Disney’s movie,  ‘Mary Poppins’.  One is ‘I Love To Laugh’, which has old-time comedian and character-actor Ed Wynn floating up to the ceiling of his home whenever he laughs too much!

I wonder if Abraham saw that movie?!  He laughs and laughs in Genesis 17.  Most of us think that it’s only Sarah that derisively laughs when she gets word of a coming baby at very advanced ages for both mama and papa ( Genesis 18: 12–‘so Sarah laughed to herself…’)!  No, not just Sarah.  “…I will give you a son by her…Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself,  ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred year old?  Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old,  bear a child?(17:17)'”  As you can see, they both laughed.

Why?   Laugh or cry with that kind of news!  Certainly their laughter was tinged with unbelief,  incredulity and shock.  The promise of a nation of God’s people,  through Abraham and Sarah and not any shortcuts, funny tricks or sleight-of-hand.  God is very clear–the promise of a son would be directly through old Abraham and his not-so-spry wife Sarah.  So, they laugh… and the son’s name will be Isaac, which means in Hebrew ‘he laughs’.

Laughter is built directly into the name of the promised offspring.  I do think that there’s something else going on here.  I believe their laughter contain elements of joy from all that this will mean for them.  Think about what her sister will say?!  Who’s always gloating over the fact that her children, all of them, have children of their own…but poor Abraham and Sarah!  Now… what will she say?

Joy, at the coming fulfillment of the Lord’s promises, is part-and-parcel of this laughter.  Joy that their prayers will finally be answered.   We can laugh because we know the One who will always have the very last laugh of all!  Laugh away…it’s good medicine!

Prayer:  Lord, we do laugh at the joy of your answered prayers.  Thank you.  In Your Son’s name.  Amen.

DON’T VEER OFF COURSE… Luke 9: 57-62

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I’ve veered off course too many times in my life.  I have a very poor sense of direction.  Ask my wife… or better yet, don’t!   I worked for a florist delivering in the Princeton area while studying for my masters at seminary.  Good thing I was paid by the hour, for half the time I was trying to figure out how to get to an address and the rest how to get back to my employer!  One time I delivered some flowers to a home and backing out of the driveway I had no idea if I can come from the right or the left.  No idea at all!   Still, way too many times, I have veered off course not following the Lord as carefully and wholeheartedly as I would now have wanted.

Jesus says that ‘no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:62).  Don’t look back.  Keep your eyes focused forward… not backward.  Poor Lot’s wife paid a terrible price for veering off course.  She became the salt of the earth!

My brother, who is 9 years older, and quite the opposite in personality and interests, built me a number of gas-engine  ‘go-carts’. Wow, they were neat!   One time he built an adult-sized one for himself.  How rude and selfish!   It was powerful… and so tempting to drive.  This one was his.  So, I bugged him to let me drive his.  One day, it was a Sunday when the stores was closed, we were driving our carts in the parking lot of the Lord & Taylor Department Store.   Had the whole lot to ourselves.  It was fun.  Got my way, persistent one that I am.    Yes, he caved… but it came with a warning.  ‘When you get near the big tree in the middle of the parking lot, don’t turn right.  Go around it or you’ll lose control and crash.’  No problem.  I’m a pro, bro!

Well, you guessed it.  Smash-a-roony… right in the middle of that immovable tree. The brakes didn’t work.  My sneakers,  dragging the pavement,  didn’t slow the rig down one bit. His cart was a sorry mess.   We had to carry it home… and, as you could imagine,  I was in big trouble!  I had taken my eyes off where I was to go.  Veered off course.

The lesson?  Listen to directions.  Hear what’s being said for our own good.  Follow whatever the Lord tells us to do and wherever He leads us in life.  Stay near Him,  so you can hear Him.  Stay in the Bible,  and let it be your guiding light.  Good advice?  Oh, yes.  Only wish I had taken it more often…

Prayer: Lord, thank You that we can follow You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

ONE TOUCH IS ALL IT TOOK… Luke 8: 40-48

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This poor woman has suffered a blood disorder for twelve long years.  That’s a long time…and no end in sight.  I’ve known people with terrible conditions who became consumed with their troubles.  Takes most of the pleasure out of life.  I remember one church member, who in the latter stages of cancer lost total interest in anything having to do with church.  It seemed as if the disease sapped every bit of life out of this person even months before physical death.  Pain can do that.  Focuses everything where you least want it to.  No matter what it is, the troubles seem to take over, lock you in,  pin you down and not let you go.

This poor woman has suffered for too many  years.  On top of that, she has spent hours, days and years of her life with doctors who had no idea how to help.  She wound up spending ‘all her living on physicians’ (v.43), which I assume means her money and all she found good in life.  All consumed.   Until…she hears that Jesus is coming!

Jesus has been asked by the synagogue ruler Jairus to help heal his dying daughter.  The sick woman has heard of Jesus and His healing power.  Maybe He’s the Messiah?  Indications are good that He is who He says He is.  She garners as much strength as she can, and moves into the crowd.  She pushes back, slinks to the side, doing whatever it takes to see Him,  to touch the hem of His garment.  There He is!  She touches Him, not His body but the fringe of his garment.

She thinks if that’s as much as she can get of Him and His attention, that will be enough. She believes in Him.  She has faith in Jesus to help her.   She’s heard about His power to heal.

He does.  She’s healed!   The One who would shed His blood for you and me causes her discharge of blood to stop for the first time in twelve long years.  His touch.  One time.  No more useless physicians now that she’s had the touch of the Great Physician.

What about today?   What’s been bothering and consuming you for years?  You’re sick-and-tired of whatever is making you sick-and-tired.   By all means, push in toward Jesus.  Get close to Him.  Touch the hem of His garment.  A word to Him will help.  Pray and sit at His feet or tug on His sleeve or shout as loud as you can over the din of the crowd–He cares for everything you go through.  Everything.  He means it.

Prayer: Lord, you know all about us.  We come to you once again to help us…to heal us.  In His name.  Amen.

TIME TO ENRICH THE SOIL… Luke 8: 4-8, 11-15

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For believers in Jesus Christ it’s always time to enrich the soil!  You know the story.  A farmer sows seed that falls on various soils.  Those that fall along the pathway get trampled on while birds swoop down and eat them.  Others fall on rock.  They take hold yet because the soil is so thin, they wither away and die.  The next land among thorn bushes with competition causing the good seed to choke and die.  Finally, some anchor in good soil and the crop grows and grows yielding one hundredfold.   A good crop would normally yield tenfold, so this is an extraordinary yield!

What does all this mean?  Jesus says that the pathway seed are people who allow Satan to grab the Word of God out of their minds and hearts.  Push the Bible to the fringes of their lives. Say it’s but myth and fiction. The rock-seed people have no depth, and when times get tough, they head out of Dodge!  The choked seed are people who fret and worry without faith in the Lord while loving the things of this world, counting their money every night, checking their investment portfolios before and after breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Ah, but the good soil and the good seed, they go together.  The good seed is God’s Word, filled with wisdom and direction.  Like breathing…it’s the oxygen of our lives.  The bread of life that’s kneaded and needed.   At times I go between one soil and another.  Greedy…worried…immature…

I’d really like to be good soil. Luke 8: 15 tells us how.  Good soil hears the Word of God.  Spends time with the Lord in His Word.  To hear Him.  To hold onto Him.   ‘…hold it fast’, Jesus says.  Grab hold for dear life…and don’t let go no matter what.  Good soil comes from an ‘honest and good heart’, whose own word is trustworthy, beyond reproach.  Good soil bears fruit.  And fruit is something for the good of others.  The crop doesn’t get to enjoy the fruit, but others do.  Enjoy the blessing of doing for others, giving to them.

That’s good soil.  Don’t get all worked up… for it says that this soil is ‘patient’.  It’s willing to let God have His say His way…in His time.

Time to enrich your soil?  There it is.  The mixture is available to you anytime you’re ready and willing.  Put the Good Seed into the Good Soil of the Lord.  Watch it grow and grow…

Prayer:  Lord,  help me to hear and heed your Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, DAVID?… Psalm 5

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I know…it should be Alfie!  But this is a psalm of King David.  Psalm 5:7– ‘…through the abundance of your steadfast love, (I) will enter your house.  I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.’   Now, don’t get all tied up with the word ‘fear’ as if God is some terrible ogre out to scare you, making you jump with fear.  Yes, He is fearful and awesome.  His being is so great that His holiest prophets could only fall on their faces in His presence.

But ‘fear’ is because of His greatness and power.  Not because He can’t wait to get you when you’re down, throwing salt on all your wounds.  Sometimes I’ve had this image of God.  Forgive me, Lord, as that’s nowhere in the Bible.

As a matter of fact, the phrase ‘steadfast love’ is one of the major themes in all the Old Testament.  The genesis of this phrase is in Exodus (a very bad pun on my part!).  Exodus 34: 1-9.  Actually, go back to chapter 33: 12-23 and read of Moses asking the Lord to ‘please show me your glory'(Exodus 33: 18).  And God does.  Not by splitting rocks or gobbling up enemies, but as He says in verses 18ff by displaying His goodness and graciousness, mercy and glory…all in the rear-view mirror,  for no one really sees the face of God in this life.

Don’t get me wrong.  For those who deny and reject God, their choice will be honored, but in a way no one should ever want.  And, when we His children, veer off course, He will certainly discipline us because He loves us(Hebrews 12:6).  Turn to the Lord, and He’ll always be there for us in all His ‘steadfast love’.

So, what’s it all about, Lord?  Who are you, anyway?    Here’s the capstone verse– Exodus 34: (5 and) 6:  ‘The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, the LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands…’  Wow!  Can you possibly read those words and not shout out a loud ‘AMEN’ ?!

What’s it all about?  It’s all about our great God whose steadfast love never runs out of steam, never gets distracted and tempted away from us, never ceases and is new every morning of every day of our lives.  Count on it.  No, count on Him.  That’s what it’s all about!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for who you are.  We depend totally on you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR!… Psalm 4

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Let me offer you the very best wishes for this new year!   What would it look like if the very best year of all?   Would it not involve family and friends?  Your health and happiness?  Financial success?  Job security?  How about a substantial raise?  Could be one of many things.

King David in Psalm 4 offers some hints about what’s best for any new year.  In spite of scoffers, David knows that the Lord hears all his prayers (verse 1).  He knows that the Lord cares enough to help him in times of need and ‘distress’.  That’s pretty good–God hears us and responds.

Verse 3 adds more best wishes for all who trust in Him– that He ‘…has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.’   He hears us.   We are His.  We belong to Him.  He takes care of His own.  Could there be a better new year’s wish for you and me?

David takes it another step higher.  Verses 4 and 5 speak of worship that is simply trusting in the Lord.  David has much he can be angry about in his life.  So do you and I.  But, in worship of our Lord, we move beyond hostility to holy leaning on our God, placing our hands in His, taking His yoke upon us.  ‘Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.’  That’s a best wish for any year.  Anger will not win out.

Verse 6 echoes those scornful laughs of unbelievers who wonder if there really is any good in this world.  David responds with the best wish of all– seeing the Lord’s loving face gazing down upon us.  To know that He will never go away.  Never disappear or abandon us.  That His smile is one of love and affection.

Like our grandchildren, all of them, equally, without comparison.  To look at them and marvel at them!   Know what I mean?  Nothing could be better.

Verse 7:  ‘You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.’  More than a fine meal with a special bottle of vintage wine.  Much more.  After all, these are the best wishes for the new year– God’s hearing us, His taking us to Himself as His own, and then to be with Him forever.  That’s the very best of all!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord,  for all the best wishes you have for us in this new year.  Help us to trust you more and more.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

AN EARLY STRUGGLE WITH LASTING EFFECTS…Psalm 3

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Some early memories I have are not the very best.  Times in the hospital, being treated with hot packs, for polio at the age of two, compounded by the feeling of not being wanted.  I’m sure my mother was kidding when she would tell me that my father was very excited to have another child, but that she wasn’t.  She’d laugh but I heard that story so many times.  Left me wondering.

I know… life was tough for my mother.  She had little parental support when she and my father had barely 2 wooden nickels to rub together.  Business for a house painter was always iffy.  One more mouth may have seemed like more of a burden than a joy.  Guess that was the case.  But I don’t know.  Way down deep those words hurt and led to a deep-seated insecurity I’ve always struggled with.

Unfortunately, I know I’ve heard ‘amen’ from many of you who struggle with something similar.  When I first became a believer in Jesus at age 16, I was excited about everything Christian.  But I wondered if I really was born-again.  I tried my level best.  I prayed and prayed.  Went to church Sunday morning and then that evening.  Even to Wednesday night prayer meeting.  I went forward as often as I could, whenever the invitation was given for salvation.

Some people collect stamps…I went forward!   I was re-baptized by immersion hoping the water would wash my doubts away.  It didn’t.  The doubts hung around like unwelcome guests who never know when to leave.  Psalm 3: 2–‘…many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.’  But for me, the ‘many’ were inside my own head.  I was undermining my own faith in the Lord.

How did King David, the author of this psalm, overcome the doubts thrown at him?  Verse 3 says that he remembered all the ways that the Lord cared for him in the past, all the goodness of God.  For me, a new believer, I didn’t have much ‘past’ in the Lord to rely on.   So, it took awhile.  The Lord was with me…to secure me in Himself through His Word, which let me know how much He loved me, how much He wanted me, and that He would go to any length to make me His child.  Even death on a cross.

It’s not really our salvation, anyway…it’s His.  Look at verse 8 on Psalm 3–‘Salvation belongs to the Lord…’  I’ve learned over-the-years to stop listening to doubtful voices from the past, and to listen ( it’s not always easy)to the Lord in His Word, the Bible.  Salvation belongs to Him…and so do I!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for giving us your salvation.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

TIME FOR A NEW RESOLUTION… Luke 6: 17-23

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Any new year’s resolutions for the coming year?  A lot of people make them.   As for me, I gave up new year’s resolutions many moons ago now!  Either I ran out of steam by not following through, or what’s even more embarrassing,  in a few weeks I forgot about them.  Pretty pathetic, huh?

I was reading Jesus’ sermon, the Beatitudes, found in Luke 6.  Reading His words, I had this question.   Does this sermon give us be-attitudes to resolve for the coming year?  Should these be some of our new year’s resolutions?   I don’t think so.

Doubtful if Jesus is urging us to go out of our way  to be poor or hungry or weepy or hated, excluded, snubbed and reviled.  As if those conditions in-and-of themselves will guarantee blessings galore.  Like trying to be humble while being proud of it!  I remember being in Paris many years ago with a mission group selling Christian literature(the theory was that if they buy it for a nominal cost, they will read it, and I think that was spot-on)  to Muslim men from Morocco working far from home and family, thousands of them lined up a mile long outside bordellos in a very run-down part of that magnificent city( of love?).

What’s vivid in my memory is how other mission members in our group would almost fight for the worst seat in the van as we journeyed through the streets of Paris, or grabbed the most rotten apple on the table at dinnertime to show their humility and servant’s heart.  I thought then what I think now–this is not what Jesus had in mind.  Not at all.

As I read the Beatitudes, I sense Jesus telling us that no matter where we are in life, no matter what our age, our family situation, whether lots of friends or few, finding yourself grieving or happy, having lots of money or precious little;  no matter what our lot in life, we can know that the Lord is right there with us.

The Beatitudes are by-products of trusting in the Lord.  You don’t seek them.  You experience them as you trust in Jesus.  They are what happens inside us as we lean on Him.  Maybe I do have a new year’s resolution.  Trust…trust…trust–no matter what!  Want to join me?  Happy New Year!

Prayer:  Lord, we have no idea what awaits us in this new year.  But whatever, we resolve today to simply trust in You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN BIG BONED!…….Read Isaiah 66: 10-14

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I think it was in Junior High that I started to put on a few ounces here and there.  Mainly here and also some over there!  When I bought clothes it was from the ‘portly’ section, which sounded more like ‘porky’ to me!   Too many pretzels loaded with salt with way too many potato chips…munching away lying down in front of the old black-and-white television set at home.

My mother always said that we were ‘big-boned’ people.  It was our over-sized bones that made us look slightly on the hefty side!  And that was the only reason!  How I wanted to believe her. She must be right.  After all, she’s my mother.   She was the one who convinced me that black cows gave chocolate milk!  And thunder was from angels bowling in heaven!  So, why not big bones?

Have you read from Isaiah 66 yet?  Precious verses indeed.  They talk of God as if He was like the most loving mother any one ever had in the whole world, and then some.  Verse 10 speaks of loving God’s city of Jerusalem, with joy overflowing.  Verse 11 pictures a mother nursing her child,  consoling that bundle of love at her breast with nourishment, closeness and satisfaction.

In verse 12 comes ‘peace’/shalom that moves like a sacred river, filling up with God’s glory, flowing over its borders and banks.  While being nursed, God places us on His hips, bouncing us, up-and-down, with a gentle, reassuring motion.

Then comes comfort after comfort after comfort, a trilogy in verse 13.  In verse 14 our hearts rejoice and ‘OUR BONES shall flourish like the grass'(ESV).  My mother was right after all, we will be big-boned people!  Strong, energetic, healthy, prospering, vigorous,  alive forevermore because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Think about these verses today–they will put a spring in your step for sure!

Prayer:  Lord, your strength is ours in your Son.  Thank you for blessing each of us who believe in You.  Blessings that are new each morning.  Thank you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.