Reading 63

Revelation 11-14

I have to admit, when I signed up to blog about today’s reading, I was more than a little intimidated. I mean, come on, Revelation? The book with overt prophecy about the end times, dragons, beasts, warriors, witnesses, war, edible (but sour tasting) scrolls, and the like. I know in the end God wins, and I know before that happens there will be a lot of crazy things going on. And so, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to tackle a section smack dab in the middle of this book. But I felt God prompting me to, so here I am.

And God proved himself faithful, yet again (why am I surprised?). What I discovered as I read today’s reading was that even in this nearly sci-fi like book, there’s something for me, in my life, today: a warning. In chapter 12, John tells the story about Satan being cast out of heaven – well, hurled, actually – along with his band of angels. And then he tells us about an announcement made:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

“Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’" (Revelation 12: 10-12)

John then goes on to describe how Satan pursues the woman who gave birth (earlier in the chapter) and how he tries to catch her, but she is protected by God. Then in verse 17, John says, “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”

We’re at war. If we are trying to be obedient to God’s commands, we are at war with Satan. And he doesn’t play fair. He isn’t nice. He will kick you when you’re down (verse 15 talks about a river spewing forth from his mouth to try and overtake the woman – nice guy, huh?!). This is serious stuff… and I can’t help but think of Ephesians 6 where we’re told to “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes” (11).

We’ve been warned – and on top of that, we’ve been given the tools to stay standing even when the days are evil. From the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, to the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, to the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, we have armor. And that armor is designed to help us stand. So let’s stand together!

Cristin

Reading #63 (audio)

Reading 62

Rev 7-10

Well, well, well…I’m not even going to try to interpret these visions or address the theology of Revelation 7-10. The best I can do is offer a couple of observations.

While we have a hard time understanding this book, we get some glimpses of the end of this world as we know it. It will be a wild time and all will suffer. In today’s reading we see two responses to that suffering.

In Rev. 7:9 we read about an uncountable number of people worshiping God. (It sounds like this is a different group from the 144,000.) It says they are the ones who are coming out of the tribulation. Whatever the tribulation entails, it won’t be yippy-skippy fun. I find this group’s example comforting. This passage would indicate that there are many believers who make it through the chaos and recognize God for who he is as they say in 7:12, “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and forever.”

How often are we tempted to be angry with God for hard times rather than worship him? We tend to think that a loving God wouldn’t allow suffering.

Which might be why another group who survives some plagues has an opposite response. In 9:20 and 21 we read, “But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to turn from their evil deeds. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that neither see nor hear nor walk! And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their immorality or their thefts.” How much of their behavior is because they are ticked off at God?

One group suffers immensely and gratefully sees the reality that God brought them through it. Another feels offended and lashes out in hatred and rebellion.

We think that life will be peachy if we know and obey God. Have you noticed how untrue that is? I’m learning to accept that life involves hard times. I’m trying to embrace that and let God work on my character as well as basking in the joy of his presence when circumstances around me do not make sense. Then I can join my sisters and brothers in praising God…forever.

Sue

Reading #62 (audio)

Reading 61

Reading 61

Revelation 3-6

Have you ever had a vivid dream and woke up wondering if it meant anything? For the Apostle John it was not a dream but a vision and though he may not have understood everything in the vision, he did know that it was chock full of meaning.

At this point in his life John was an elderly man who had been exiled to a mining colony because of his faith in and witness to Jesus (1:9). It was a time when the early church was experiencing persecution and believers were dying for their faith. According to church tradition the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down while Paul was beheaded in Rome. John had not escaped unscathed and when he wrote that he was “your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (1:9) he wasn’t sympathizing from the rocking chair.

It was in the midst of these circumstances that Jesus Christ gave John this apocalyptic vision (apocalypse means “to reveal”). The primary purpose of the vision was probably to encourage the brothers and sisters to stay faithful to Jesus. To let them know that God knew they were suffering and that at the time of His choosing He would set things right.

There is much in this vision that is difficult to understand, but there are also things that clear. One of them is found in chapter 5:8

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (NIV)

This tells us that the prayers of God’s people are an aroma pleasing to him. They are precious to him, being brought to him in golden bowls and it lets us know that the prayers of God’s people come directly into his presence. There’s no screening process to see which prayers are “up to snuff”.

Whenever we struggle it is not uncommon to wonder if God hears our pleas. The Apostle John would want you to know that, yes indeed, God hears your prayer, they are precious to him, and at the right time in the right way he will answer.

--Nils

Reading 61 Audio

Reading 59

1 John 3- 2 John

Love. It is one of those words that are so simple and so complex. ‘Love’ can be a simple closer to a letter and ‘I Love You’ can be a declaration of strong devotion and care. It is written and said with relative ease, but to actually exercise love is sometimes complicated. Sometimes one wonders what love really looks like because it is described in so many ways throughout the bible. So, in many ways, it is easier to just say ‘I love you’ and worry about what that really means later.

John urges us in 1 John 3:18 to “not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” Once again, God cares very little about our lip service. He cares about how we demonstrate the same love He demonstrates to us. We are shown God’s love so much in our daily lives while sometimes we say we love someone, but do not show it.

Just a simple thought: next time you tell someone that you love them, think of a way to show them in deed and truth. The word ‘love’ becomes so much stronger when it is not just a word but a declaration to act love upon someone.

Jim

Reading #59 (audio)

Reading 54

Hebrews 9 - 12

Because we are very interested in college sports at my house, ESPN is frequently on in the background. Tonight, while collecting my thoughts for this blog, there aired a clip from a press conference by the coach of the Kansas Jayhawks football team on their success this season. He said, “this is what the players that came to Kansas on faith had hoped for.” I thought, “that’s interesting…that’s exactly the topic of my blog!

In Hebrews 11:1, the author of Hebrews writes that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” and then goes on to list a number of famous scriptural figures who exhibited great faith by obeying God while longing for the promises He had given them. We may think that having faith is harder today than it was for people like Abraham and Moses, citing reasons like scientific evidence of something or that God spoke directly to those people. But I’m sure they had moments of skepticism—Noah must have wondered more than once about that flood over the 100 years he was building the ark. The point of the list of faithful is to give us confidence and hope.

The author urges us in 10: 19 and 23 to be confident of our salvation and to hold onto hope, because He who promises is faithful, and our confidence will be rewarded. You see, there’s two sides to chapter 11. There’s the faithful who were obedient, and there is the faithful God, who fulfilled his promises. This is the only way we can have faith. If God did not honor his promises, there is no basis for faith. So we have a list of ways God has been faithful to those who believed and obeyed Him. They are the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in 12: 1 that enable us to throw off hindrances, obstacles, and sin, and instead focus on Jesus so that we will not “grow weary and lose heart.”

Stacey

Reading #54 (audio)

Reading 58

2 Peter 2 – 1 John 2

As some of you know, I’m a word nerd (self-proclaimed). And I have to admit that as I read today’s reading, I was enthralled by a word – I know, go figure. It was a small word. This time, the word that caught my attention was “if.”

Eight times, John uses the word “if” in the span of twelve verses (1 John 1:5-2:6).

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.

“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Those who say, “I know him,” but do not do what he commands are liars, and the truth is not in them. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

When I started looking at the “ifs” themselves, I noticed that a number of them are paired up in contrast each other. The first pairing especially stood out to me: “if we claim to have fellowship with him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t live out the truth. But, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin….”

What I take away from this is that I need to walk in the light to have fellowship with God and by doing that in turn enables me to have fellowship with others around me as well as God. We are told that if we walk with him, we will have fellowship with one another and that Christ’s blood purifies us from sin, which means we can then have fellowship with God because we’ve been justified before him.

All of that leads me to look at the last “if” which says, “if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.” When we’re in fellowship with God, when we’re walking with him, when we’re confessing our sins and keeping his commands, it all comes together and our love for God is made complete.

Cristin

Reading #58 (audio)

Reading 55

Hebrews 13; James 1-3

Self-Imposed Speech Restriction

Imagine what your life might be like with a speech impediment. What if you stuttered? If you got ‘stuck’ on certain consonants or vowels and couldn’t stop repeating them, even while the people around you stared, or laughed. What if you felt like other people really were listening to every word?

The conclusion of Hebrews and first three chapters of James focus on ‘faith in action’. We are encouraged to love one another as brothers and sisters, especially those that are disenfranchised, poor, and suffering. We are asked to show Christ’s love in abundance to anyone he puts in our path – not just to those people we might choose as friends.

Then, James chapter 3 warns us about the dangers of imagining ourselves as teachers, the dangers of speaking. I think it is natural to want to tell others about our faith and our worldview – especially when they come to us in the midst of difficult times. I’ve spent a great deal of effort trying to explain how I really feel, especially when writing to someone who has experienced a death or difficulty in their family.

When I watch a particularly disturbing documentary on genocide or starvation in the world, I feel compelled to talk about it, to find words to explain it, to answer the questions it raises. This reality stuck out to me as I read this section. Why is it that I don’t feel compelled to do something first? Even praying? Seeing chapter 3 in the midst of all this rhetoric about the importance of deeds and actions made me realize how much time I spend talking, and how little of my time is spent doing.

Then, on TV I saw a 20 year old young man talking about his lifelong struggle with stuttering. “I didn’t really talk much from the time I went to school until I was about 14 years old. I stuttered, and didn’t know how to control it, and I would get stuck on words and people made fun of me. I couldn’t stop stuttering, so I just stopped talking. But during that whole time period I listened and watched the kids around me intently and I use everything I learned to help these kids today.”

The young man went on to describe how his mother encouraged him to write, because he could never talk about his feelings easily. He expressed himself through poetry and art and music, and eventually he began to master his stuttering and then all of a sudden, it just stopped bothering him. He still stutters, but he also teaches in an after school program for at-risk children, and uses creative expression like art and dance to teach children how to communicate their feelings. He described how easy he found it to identify children that need someone to speak for them, and the joy he took in filling that role because someone had done the same for him. He became a shepherd for others because a few people led him through a difficult disability by responding to his needs.

Lots of things about this story moved me, but what I saw most was how the boy was met where he was. He had a speech disorder that he couldn’t control, and his mother didn’t just talk to him about it. She showed him that her love was bigger than words. The boy became a man that could say, “My mother showed me there are lots of ways for a family to express love that don’t require words.” A boy that was shy, sad, and below average in every way grew up to stand in front of a room of 30 kids encouraging them day after day to face their fears, and confront their emotions through expression. Wow.

Hebrews and James are both good at reminding me that a humble heart is a good thing. I need to talk less, because in my life I have noticed a direct correlation: The more I talk, the more I only see myself. This young man’s story helped me see the value in listening for God, and watching for opportunities to serve.

I also can see my own ‘stutters’ – the things that come out of my mouth, as if I can’t control them, when I am tired, over-anxious, or exasperated. The people around me don’t make fun of me when I begin to worry or let off steam, but as Christians we are called to lift those things up in faith. I wonder if I would give in to those stutters less if I admitted to God how destructive and unproductive they really are.

Melanie

Reading #55 (audio)