Clean and Open Vessels

I love music. I am in awe of people who can play musical instruments. I have tried but just don’t have the ability or commitment to learn and develop any musical ability. In all my love of music, I have never given a compliment to a musical instrument. I have complimented a musician. It is the musician who makes the instrument sound beautiful and moves us emotionally.

The Bible refers to us, followers of Jesus, as vessels. Vessels are containers. They contain or hold something. As followers of Jesus, we contain the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit dwells within us and contains or should contain or control us.

The things that make a good vessel are twofold.

2 Timothy 2:20-21

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

The first thing that makes a vessel or instrument noble or honorable is whether or not it is clean.

No one would choose to drink out of a dirty glass. No one would choose to eat off a dirty dish. The truth is that we would rather drink out of a glass or eat off a dish that was ugly but clean over a glass or dish that was beautiful but dirty.

A person can look great on the outside. They can have a great appearance and even a great personality and not be clean and thus not usable to God.

A person can be very unimpressive to the world but be clean and be usable to God.

What cleanses us?

According to 1 John 1:9 when we agree with God or confess our sin God not only forgives us, He also cleanses us.

Confessing our sins or agreeing with God over what we did being sin allows God to cleanse us.

Then in 1 John 1:7 we are told that the blood of Jesus is the actual component by which Jesus cleanses us.

When we are cleansed, we are then:

Made Holy

Made Useful to Jesus

Prepared for All the Good Works God Has for Us

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being clean vessels usable to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 

The second thing that makes a vessel or instrument usable to God is that it is open.

To be able to see this power of God, the jar or vessel has to be open so that others can see in.

When a vessel is closed, it can only contain what is its own size, nothing larger.

When a vessel is open, it has no limitations.

When we are open, we can contain the Holy Spirit and the power of God is flowing in our lives.

We as human beings are finite. We cannot contain the infinite if we are closed. We can only contain the infinite if we are open.

If we are to be open vessels for Jesus, we have to turn the authority of our lives over to Jesus and let Him be the sole authority of our lives.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being open vessels under the authority of Jesus.

A vessel is only as good as what fills the vessel.

When I open my life to Jesus and let Him clean me, then I will be a vessel that will bring honor to Him.

I pray that you will be a clean, open vessel filled to the very top with the Holy Spirit, thus bringing great honor to Jesus.

As an Open and Clean Vessel Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                     Joe

Faith Over Fear

I apologize for the devotion being late. We are in the middle of a four-day study on spiritual strongholds and yesterday was a that day literally got by me without having time to write the devotion.

As I have studied strongholds, I have come realize three things. First, we all have some spiritual strongholds. Second, they are not easy to get rid of. Third, Jesus has already defeated them through the cross and the resurrection.

The spiritual stronghold that has been strongest in my life is fear.

I grew up conditioned to fear things. Fear had a grip on my life for a long time.

One of the parts of God’s Word that has helped is Joshua chapter 1.

Four times in the eighteen verses of Joshua 1 God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous. God never commands us to do and be something that He does give us the resources to do or be.  

Each time God commands Joshua to be strong and courageous, He also gives him a reason to do it.

Joshua 1:6

Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.

The first reason is because God will use Joshua to fulfill His promise to the people.

Notice, God does not say that Joshua might or could. He says Joshua will lead the people to the promised land.

God is an all-powerful God who can do things that to humans is impossible. God is telling Joshua I have the power to accomplish this through you so trust Me.

God says that this is the land that He has sworn to give the people. God is a faithful God. He always fulfills His word. He always comes through with what He promises.

You and I don’t have to live fearfully because God is all-power and faithfully fulfills His Word.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about believing God and knowing He will fulfill His Word.

Joshua 1:7-9

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law My servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; mediate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

The second reason is that when we obey God, He will bless us.

Obedience brings the blessing of God. That doesn’t mean you won’t face some difficult times. But in the midst the difficult times we don’t have to fear because God will bless us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is obeying God in every circumstance and receiving His blessings.

The third reason is that God will be with you and I wherever we go.

Joshua was going into a land filled with enemies. The different people that the Israelites would encounter would have one goal, to destroy them.

We live in a fallen world and our enemy, Satan, wants to destroy us. We will face enemies, but just as Joshua did not have to fear because God was with him, so we don’t have to fear because God is with us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing God is with us all the time and living based on that knowledge.

Joshua 1:16-18

Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.

The fourth reason is that God gives us His authority as we obey His call on our lives.

Joshua may have worried a little when the people said they would obey him as fully as they had obeyed Moses. Joshua could remember plenty of times they rebelled against Moses’ leadership and had not obeyed him. But Joshua knew that Moses had operated under the authority of God and that he had been appointed the Israelite leader and that as he operated under God’s authority God would guide and protect him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is operating under the authority of God.

These four reasons that God gives us for be strong and courageous and thus not being fearful have something in common.

They all are centered in God not us.

They are based on God’s Word.

They are based on God’s faithfulness.

They are based on God’s power.

They are based on God’s authority.

Courage is not, not being afraid.

Courage is not letting the fear control you, but letting God control you.

When I came to really believe that God loved me and that He was willing and able to handle everything I would ever face in life, I started living based on faith not fear.

In Faith Not Fear Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                               Joe

   

Focus!

My wife and I walk a path across the street from our house. The path is partly on a deserted road, partly on a dirt road and partly on a dirt walking path. The dirt road and the dirt walking path are both in areas that snakes are known to inhabit. When we are on those parts of the walk I am focused on looking out for snakes. I might be very unfocused while we are on the paved road, but I am very focused on the dirt part of our walk.

In several places in Scriptures we are told to focus on various things that will keep us connected to God.

We are to focus on what is ahead, not what is behind.

Philippians 3:13

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead…

We are to look at the here and now, the present, with a focus on what is ahead of us. We are not to look back at the past.

The past cannot be changed. The past can be learned from. We can learn from both the good and bad of the past for the betterment of the present and future.   

God wants to heal us from past things.

God wants to give us power for the present.

God wants to give us hope for the future.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to impower us for the present and be our hope for the future.

1 Timothy 4:13

Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teach them.

We are to focus on God’s Word, encouraging others and teaching others.

God’s Word is the foundation of our walk with God. The spiritual truths that are to guide our lives are found in the Bible.

We are to live them, use them to encourage others, and teach them.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing, believing, and living the truth of God’s Word.

We are to focus on God’s ways.

Psalm 119:15

I will mediate on Your percepts and fix my eyes of Your ways.

God’s Word reveals God’s person, God’s purposes, and God’s ways.

God reminds us in Isaiah 55:8 that His thoughts and ways are not like ours.

God’s ways will not always look like man’s ways.

God’s ways will not always follow man’s ways.

God’s ways will many times be the opposite of man’s ways.

We as followers of Jesus are to see God’s ways and follow them.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing and following God’s ways, not man’s ways.

We are to focus on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God.

The number one thing we have to do is focus our lives completely on Jesus.

Jesus is the author or pioneer of our faith. It is Jesus who is the object of our faith.

Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. It is Jesus who makes it possible for us to be God’s children and who grows us in that faith.

Jesus is our savior. Jesus is the one who was our sin sacrifice. He gave His life to pay for our sin.

Jesus is our intercessor.

Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father. In 1 John 2:1 John tells us that Jesus is our advocate with the Father. He intercedes with the Father on our behalf.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having great confidence because our Savior Jesus is interceding with the Father for us.

The world gives us many, many things to focus our minds on and thus our lives. Some of those things are good and some are bad. When we focus on anything, whether good or bad, other than Jesus, we are not focused on what can guide us through life and enable us to deal with the difficult times of life.   

Don’t let the enemy establish spiritual strongholds in your life. Focus on Jesus.

Focusing on Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                             Joe

God Is and Does

When God tells Moses who He is, He says, “I Am”. God is I Am. He is the God that exists, the God that is.

The first thing that we must come to believe about God is that He exists.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

The first element of faith is that we believe that God is. The biggest thing that God is, is love.

The second element of faith is that we believe that God does certain things. Everything that God does flows out of His love.

Psalm 86:13

For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

God loves us and delivers us from the depths of the grave.

This is not a promise that we will not die physically. It is a promise that God will deliver us from the depths or the hopelessness of death. Depths represent a hopelessness that sets in when we see no hope in a situation. It is walking through a pitch-dark tunnel with no light at the end.

God promises that through His love we, as His people, will never have to face hopelessness. His love will deliver us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living with hope through Jesus’ love.

Isaiah 38:17

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put my sins behind Your back.

God, in His love for us, doesn’t want to see us face destruction. In John 10:10 Jesus says that He came to give us a full life. In John 17:3 Jesus says that eternal life is knowing Him and the Father.

Satan wants you to be destroyed.

Jesus wants you to live.

Satan wants you to experience death.

Jesus wants you to experience life.

God puts our sins behind His back.

Psalm 103:11-12

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is HIs love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so does He remove our transgressions from us.

This verse describes what it means for God to put our sins behind His back. He removes them from us so that they are eternally not true of us.

God does not want sin in our lives because sin destroys us and brings death. Unconfessed sin equals death, eternal separation from God. God desires life, not death, for us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is bringing our sin and trespasses before God and having Him forgive us and remove our sin from us eternally.

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

God is with us and will do two very distinct things.

He will be a warrior for us.

In Exodus 14:14 we are told that God will fight for us.

When you look at Jesus on the cross, is there even a question that God will not fight for us? Jesus’ battled on the cross for our salvation.

But the second thing that Zephaniah 3:17 tells us about what God does seems very separated from God being a warrior. It says that God’s love will quiet us and rejoice over us with shouts of joy.

That seems far removed from being a warrior.

I have never fought a war or even a battle. I have played football. A football game is a kind of a battle. It is not a battle for life or death, but it is a struggle to reach a goal that requires effort and sacrifice. I know that after a difficult game that was physically demanding and that lead to a victory, our coach would get us quiet and commend us for our effort. He would rejoice over us.

When God, our warrior, fights for us and wins the victory, which He has done, He does a very strange thing. Instead of exalting Himself, He exalts us by giving us His victory.

The victory I experience is not my victory; it is Jesus’ victory.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is showing gratitude for the victory Jesus has won for us.

Jeremiah 31:3

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

God does not draw us to Himself by using fear or laying guilt trips on us. He draws us to Himself through loving-kindness. God uses mercy and grace to draw us to Himself.

Romans 2:4 tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.

Many times, we act as if our condemnation, our judgment will cause people to repent.

My experience is that condemnation and judgment move people to be defensive, not repentant. God’s Word says grace, not judgment, leads people to see the truth and turn to God.

Now to be honest, being condemning and judging is easier because it comes from our old nature. It comes from the old sin-dominated nature. Grace and mercy come from the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.  

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God’s kindness to lead me to repentance and giving out that same Spirit-based kindness to others.

Because God Is and Does, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                 Joe

The God of the Bible

When God says something, we should listen to what He says. When God says it twice, we should really listen. When God says it three times, we need to stop and listen carefully.

Exodus 34:6

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

Psalm 86:15

But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Psalm 103:8

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

God says the same thing in each of these three verses. They declare who God is.

God is compassionate.

Compassion is an awareness of others’ distress and a desire to alleviate it.

God is totally aware of everything going on in your life. He knows the joys and sorrows of your life. He knows when you are going through difficult times.

He is not only aware of it but He also wants to alleviate the distress you are feeling.

Some distress comes because of poor choices you are making.

Some distress comes because we live a fallen world.

God is willing and able to give you relief from distress coming from either or both of these sources. 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living trusting God’s compassion.

God is gracious.

Grace is the fact that God loves you no matter what. It is God’s unmerited favor for you.

In the movie The Shack, God say that he is particularly fond of everybody that is mentioned to Him.

God’s love for you and me is based on His character, not our behavior. He pours out His grace so that we can experience it and be drawn into a relationship with Him. Grace is never earned because it can’t be; it is simply given.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God’s grace and then living in gratitude to God for it.

God is slow to anger.

God’s first response to us is never anger.

God hates sin.

God will pour out His wrath on sin.

God loves us.

God pours out His love on us.

When we sin, God does not get angry with us. It breaks His heart when we sin.

Anger is God’s very, very, very last response when it comes to us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not living in fear of God but in a loving relationship with God.

God is abounding in love.

God is love. He is not a God of love. He is love.

God’s nature is love.

God’s desire is to love.

God’s actions show love.

The world tries to picture God as harsh, mean, apathic, and angry.

God abounds in love. God is overflowing with love.

While our first thought might be fear or anger or hurt, God’s first reaction is love.

When God says that He loves you, it is not a sentimental feeling. It is a willing choice to show you favor and work in your life for your best.   

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living relying on God’s love and then passing it on to others.

God is abounding in faithfulness.

God is faithful.

God will always follow through on what He promises.

He will never say things just to impress us.

He will never say things just to make us feel good.

He will never say things to manipulate us.

God always speaks truth in love.

God always follows through with what He says.

God’s faithfulness is not predicated on our faithfulness. Even when we are not faithful, God is.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending on the truth that God will always fulfill what He says.

God is not like us. We cannot view God through our human eyes. We have to view God through the lens of what the Bible says about Him.

The Bible says that God is:

Compassionate

Gracious

Slow to Anger

Abounding in Love

Abounding in faithfulness

Let us let God produce those characteristics in us.

Joining the God of Scripture Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                    Joe

Death to Life to Fruit

In John 12:24 Jesus tells us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Jesus tells us that first there is death.

Jesus tells us that life follows death.

Jesus tells us that fruit follows life.

When we are physically born into this world, we are born with a tendency toward sin. Our natural tendency is to do what we want, not what God wants. We want our will to be done, not God’s The essence of sin is disobeying God, not doing His will.

Death gives way to life when we die to self and come alive in Jesus.

Romans 6:6-8

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

We are dead because of sin; but when we die to self, we come alive in Jesus and die to the sin that controlled and defined our lives.

Then, according to Galatians 2:20, when we allow ourselves and our sins to die, we really come to life.

If a person has not entered into a relationship with God the Father through Jesus, they are dead.  When they surrender their lives to Jesus and die to self, they become alive.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is dying to self and coming alive in Jesus.

Life does not mean that we just exist or survive. It means that we live. The word used for real life in the New Testament is the word zoe. It is life to the fullest. It is not just surviving, but really living.

Jesus wants us to know life that is full.

Life that is filled with:

a fulfilling relationship with Jesus

a security in Jesus

an assurance of the awareness that Jesus loves us

hope, peace, joy

This life is a gift from Jesus so that we can enjoy the life that we were created to have.

Every person wants this life. We seek for this life. We have an inborn desire for this life.

The only way to have this life is to give up our life to Jesus and receive His life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the life that we were created by God to have.

When we experience this life, then out of this life will come fruit.

In John 15:5 Jesus says that if we remain in Him, the source of life, we will produce fruit.

In John 15:8 Jesus tells us that it is to the Father’s glory that we bear much fruit. Producing fruit also shows that we are Jesus’ disciples.

Fruit is produced in our lives because it is Jesus living His life in and through us.

When we have Jesus as the vine and we are acting as the branches, we will produce fruit and it will be natural. We don’t see apple or peach or pear trees out there struggling and straining to produce fruit.

Apple trees produce apples naturally.

Peach trees produce peaches naturally.

Pear trees produce pears naturally.

The fruit we will produce is twofold.

First, the fruit will be the character of Jesus in our lives.

The fruit of love.

The fruit of joy.

The fruit of peace.

The fruit of patience.

The fruit of kindness.

The fruit of goodness.

The fruit of faithfulness.

The fruit of gentleness.

The fruit of self-control.

Second, the fruit will be new disciples of Jesus.

Disciples will be produced because the life of Jesus in you will draw people to Jesus and then we have the opportunity to teach them all the things that Jesus has taught us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having the life of Jesus producing fruit through our lives.  

Out of death comes life.

Out of life comes fruit.

1 Corinthians 4:8-11

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

We experience the death of Jesus as we die to self.

We experience the life of Jesus as He comes to live in us.

We experience fruit as Jesus reproduces Himself through us.

Death Leading to Life Leading to Fruit,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

This is Not Where I Belong

I hope that this devotion makes sense. This was a very busy week and an even busier weekend. We are doing an outreach event to our community. We are also moving. I plan for this to be the last house I will buy. I am even hopeful that this will be my last earthly move.

I know that may sound sad, but I see it as a great joy.

In 1 Peter 2:11 we are called aliens and strangers in this world.

In Hebrews 11:13 we are called strangers and exiles.

This world is not my home. I am simply a pilgrim.

A pilgrim is someone passing through with a destination they are going toward and a purpose while they are going.

That means that as followers of Jesus we have a purpose as we live this life on earth.

So, what is our purpose?

We as people who have surrendered ourselves to Jesus have a purpose with three aspects.

Aspect #1: We are to glorify God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

Glorifying God means to:

Honor God

Exalt God

Worship God

It means that I make Jesus the #1 priority of my life with no rivals or nothing else competing for my devotion.

Aspect #2: To build the kingdom of God.

In Matthew 4:17 Jesus begins His preaching ministry and His message is clear, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Jesus came to establish God’s kingdom, and as Jesus’ followers we are to focus our lives on the kingdom.

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to seek first, meaning above everything, God’s kingdom and His righteousness.

In Colossians 3:2 Paul tells us to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things.

These passages make it clear that our lives are to focus on God and His kingdom.

Aspect #3: Make disciples.

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus tells His disciples to go and make disciples.

Many times, we focus on making converts. We want people to acknowledge Jesus as their Savior and have their sins forgiven. That desire is good and God desires that also. It simply does not go far enough. Jesus wants disciples. He wants men and women who love Him and, out of that love, let Him live His life through them. Jesus wants people whose daily life is totally focused on Him.

These three aspects all lead to one purpose: a life that is lived in obedience and submission to Jesus to the extent that others see Jesus in us as His followers.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living knowing that our lives belong to Jesus and with full commitment to doing His will.

Pilgrims have a destination.

In Philippians Paul says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Our destination is heaven.

Building 429 has a song called Where I Belong. The chorus to the song says:

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

We are created in the image of God and designed to live with Him for eternity. We will not want to do that on the earth in its present condition.

According to John 14 Jesus has gone and prepared a place for us and one day He will come and take us to be in this place. The greatest thing about that place is that Jesus is there.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that heaven is my ultimate home and living based on that truth.

That is why the thought that this will be the last home in which I live on this earth is not a sad one.

I am not in a hurry to die, but death does not have the last word. Jesus has the last word and His word is that in this life I will face trouble, but He has overcome the world.

Jesus shares that overcoming of this world with us and we have the victory.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing victory in Jesus.

As a Pilgrim Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe