Coffee With The Lord

It’s the Lord’s Day (that’s what Christian’s have traditionally called Sunday, their day of worship devoted to the Lord). I got up early and enjoyed a wonderful time of prayer, worship, Bible reading, and reflection, that I call “coffee with the Lord.”

Part of my Bible reading was a wonderful prayer that Apostle Paul prayed for persecuted Christians in the ancient city of Thessalonica… As I read it today, I determined to make it my prayer for each of you who are reading this post today – fellow Christians that are a part of the “Coffee with the Lord” group…

So here is my prayer for you today (May the Living God fulfill it on your behalf!)…

“To this end I always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 English Standard Version)

Read it from whatever version of the Bible you desire, it’s a wonderful prayer. Pause and ponder every phrase! My prayer? Oh, Lord fulfill it in the lives of my “Coffee with the Lord” friends today!

You may feel pretty ordinary… even a bit like a “factory reject” … OK, how about someone who is showing the results of “wear and tear.” You’ve never been thought of as the “super star” or scintillating, stunning or smart, or… Everyone else was picked first, and you came last (or pretty close to last)!

Good News! My experience over the years (and I have a few under my belt) is that many times, in God’s economy at least, the brightest and the best – the promising and the promoted – are not the ones who succeed and sustain success. It’s the plodders, the patient, the persistent and God’s purpose driven people who succeed!

That’s who God chooses – that who He uses! How does the Bible put it… “Many who are first will be last, and the last first!” (Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31) Or how about this one… “For consider your calling; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God!” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29 ESV)

In my Bible reading this morning I read the case study on God’s choosing – God choice for leadership and success! It’s the story of David, the shepherd boy, that God chose to be king!

Saul, son of Kish, had everything going for him… He was “a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulder upward he was taller than any of the people.” (1 Samuel 9:2) He had been anointed king… but he had a problem – He would get ahead of God, act presumptuously, take things in his own hands, and be disobedient to the Lord. God rejected him and Samuel told him, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king! … The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you! (1 Samuel 15:23-28)

So God sent Samuel to anoint another person king… God said, “Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Jesse paraded each of his sons past Samuel… seven of them! Samuel thought as each came before him, the first to the last, “’Surely the Lord’s anointed is before me!’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart!”

All had passed by, and Samuel said, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And Jesse said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is out keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and get him!’” And when he passed by, the Lord said to Samuel, “Arise, anoint him for he is the one!” (From 1 Samuel 16:1-13)

So don’t be discouraged if you were not identified “as the most likely to succeed” in your high school yearbook – or you were not identified as the brightest and the best, or you weren’t the one who was chosen first as the promising person who got promoted… Remember, “The Lord sees not as man sees! Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart!”

Drowning in guilt… Sinfulness – whether it’s personal or corporate – creates a deep pit of bondage, despondency, and crisis! It happens to individuals that practice sin, churches that tolerate sin, and nations that ignore or approve of sinful behavior.

I read a passage that addressed the sin issue and its consequences, as well as its solution, during my time of “coffee with the Lord” this morning… Here it is…

“From the depths of despair, O LORD, I call for your help! Hear my cry, O Lord! Pay attention to my prayer! LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear [reverence] you! I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him! I have put my hope in his word! … O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love! His redemption overflows! He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.” (From Psalm 130 NLT)

This passage declares that the solution to the terrible pit of despair and guilt that sin creates is to acknowledge sin (i.e. confess it] and beg for forgiveness! Here’s the good news… “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9)

But this passage also reveals something that is often overlooked… Sin is not simply a personal issue – it can often be a collective or corporate problem… Churches can tolerate sin and incur guilt (read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 and Revelation 2:18-23)! Nations can also be held accountable and experience judgment for the sin they practice, tolerate and legalize. (Notice this passage addresses the sin of Israel! Read the Old Testament prophets and see if God does not hold nations responsible for their sinfulness.) Collective sin – corporate sin – also needs confession and repentance!

But praise the Lord! … “With you there is forgiveness… with you is unfailing love and full redemption! You will redeem us from all our sins!”