Verses Worth Memorizing

Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)

³ Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

It seems like a lifetime ago when I used to work for a transportation company in Toronto.  We had two-way radios but some of the runs were so far that we’d be out of dispatch range.  Those drivers who drove routes that went out of range were give mobile phones.  It was basically like taking the phone off the wall in your home and carrying it around… we would joke that one day phones would be so small that we’d be in danger of swallowing them in an accidental hiccup.

Maybe that was far-fetched but we were assuming that phones would only ever be used to… you know… make phone calls. 

These days it’s easy to get in touch with people.  Getting in touch with God? That’s still hard… or so it seems.  Read your Bible, watch You-Tube, check out the latest denominational or mission magazine and it seems like getting in touch with God is the easiest thing!

…for everyone else…

That’s why I love this verse.

I don’t know if you’re one of those people who love reading manuals.  (I still have manuals for items I no longer own!).  These days manufacturers often include a “Quick Start” Guide.  A simple, easy to read one or two pager that helps you get the product up and running quickly.

We could call Jeremiah 33:3 a “Quick Start Guide” for prayer.

 It’s the manual compressed into seven words.

Call Me and I will answer you!

… go ahead

            …try it!

…just sayin’

the Power

I’ve heard a great deal about the power of God over the course of my life.  I’ve journeyed through the Pentecostalism… out to the fringes of the Charismatic… through the more traditional… congregational… denominational… etc… etc…

It seems everyone is hungry for the power of God.

Why?

Why do we long for the power?  I wonder if our desire for the spectacular is rooted in spiritual laziness? (Oh, not you of course… I mean those other Christians!). 

Of course, I could be wrong. 

Let’s see… what did Jesus tell us to do?

“Go make disciples… baptize… teach…” (Matthew 28:18-20)  When He mentions power here, it’s to say, “I’ve got all authority and I’ll be with you as you go…”

Later when Jesus talked about power He said, “You’ll get empowered when the Holy Spirit is on, in and through you… and you will take that power and be my witness.”  In other words, the purpose of the power is not to make a splash, not to get people’s attention, not to prove that we were right all along… the purpose of the power is effective witness.

Why?

…because effective witness in Jesus name is hard…  If it wasn’t we wouldn’t need the Spirit!  If we didn’t need the Spirit for it we would do it ourselves …and take the credit.

We want power displays so that the work of obedience will be easier… the purpose of the empowerment is to provide the strength for work that is hard.

I can hear the critics:  Oh, you’re one of those, eh?  One of those who doesn’t believe in the power of the Spirit… in the miraculous…

…that’s not what I said – go ahead, read it again.

What if God is withholding mighty displays of power because mighty displays of His power don’t make it easier for His children, but harder!  So hard, that you need the dunamis (the word used in Acts 1:8) of the Spirit in order to do it.  What if He’s withholding mighty displays of power because we lack the power of the Spirit to endure what follows?

What if it’s an act of grace on His part?

…just sayin’.

Verses Worth Memorizing

Psalm 27:8 (ESV)

⁸ You have said, “Seek My face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

I’m guessing that most of us would immediately stop what we were doing if, one day, we heard an audible voice say, “Seek My face!”  Our verbal responses would probably run the gamut from Isaiah’s, “Woe is me…”  to Saul’s, “Who are You?”  Many of us who have been regular in church would fall on our faces asking, “How?  How do I seek Your face?”   …which when you think about it would be a foolish question. 

If God has spoken and you’ve heard it… respond and listen… that’s how we develop most of our relationships …isn’t it?

…just sayin.