Coffee With The Lord

Perhaps today you’re “up to your eyeballs” in a terrible situation – or to put it another way, you’re into something that is “way over your head”! If so, let me recommend you passionately pray a prayer I read this morning in the Bible…

“With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes. I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies! I rise even before dawn and cry for help! I hope in your words! My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promises. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love! O LORD, according to your justice give me life.” (Psalm 119:145–149 ESV)

My advice? Don’t just say these words… Passionately pour out your heart to God using them! I believe He’ll hear you and answer! They’re inspired words! Down through the ages they’ve brought divine help to others. I believe they’ll work for you!

You may have heard someone say this about another person: “They have a good reputation – they’re as good as their word.” What a complement!

Several things in my Bible reading this morning reinforced the truth of that statement… especially as it relates to God. He has a great reputation – He is true to His word!

First, this morning I read these words… “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.” (Luke 16:10) The context is Jesus giving His disciples instructions regarding how they should steward material thing or handle “mammon” (money). But it applies to God… He is the One who is the personification of faithfulness – He is faithful in much and little!

The clincher for me today though was reading Psalm 119:140… “Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it!”

Joshua reminded God’s people, Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land, “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord has made to the house of Israel has failed; all have come to pass!” (Joshua 21:45)

Apostle Paul declared, “All the promises of God find their ‘Yes!’ in Him (i.e. Christ). That is why it is through Him that we utter our ‘Amen!’ (‘Yes! Let it be so!’) to God for His glory!” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

God is faithful! He keeps His promises! My grandfather, Bede LeRoy Shirley, told me “God is faithful, LeRoy! He’s as good as His word! He keeps His promises!” My mother, Vera Constance Shirley Bartel, told me the same thing (and my dad, Ewalt Bartel, reaffirmed it with his heavy German brogue … ‘Ya, das true – das goot!”). They found it to be true in every aspect of their lives! I’ve personally found it to be true in my life, as well! God is faithful! He’s as good as His word! He keeps His promises! I’ve affirmed this truth to my children… and I’m depending on them to tell their children, and their children to tell their children…

So this morning this is what I said personally to God…“Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it!” (Psalm 119:140)

Just a post of a personal nature in “Coffee with the Lord” this morning… Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to teach God’s Word, the Bible. I joke about the fact that, at SAGU “I’d do it for nothing (but don’t tell the president!). If anything “cranks my engine” it’s seeing the “light come on in someone’s eyes” with the awareness of a new personal discovery or insight into God’s truth. I just love it! I believe I was created to teach! (Now I enjoy preaching as well, don’t get me wrong, and have taught preaching classes for years… but I LOVE to teach!)

This morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I came across a verse in Psalm 119 that summarizes so much about why I love to teach the Bible. Here it is…

“The unfolding of Your words give light – it imparts understanding to the simple.” (vs. 130)

Why I teach… God’s word “GIVES LIGHT.” It reveals truth – it illuminates or makes truth personal and clear to us. Earlier in this same Psalm is a verse that puts it this way: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (vs. 105) Anyone who knows me, knows that I passionately believe this assertion about the Bible… “The Bible is my all-sufficient guide for faith (i.e. my relationship with God) and daily living!”

What good teaching does… “It IMPARTS UNDERSTANDING to the simple (i.e. the uninformed, the impressionable). Here’s what 2 Timothy 3:15-17 says: From childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man (or woman) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

How I want to teach… I want to “UNFOLD His word” to those I teach – to open it up, to explain it simply and clearly, to structure learning experiences that will bring insight and those “Aha” moments or epiphany experiences that result in life transformation.

Those are just a few reasons why I love to teach the Bible! I plan to give the rest of my life to that noble task!! … And I pray a special blessing and anointing upon all those are involved in teaching ministry (whether it is to children, youth, adults or a special grouping of people anywhere in the world)!