Coffee With The Lord

Some of my Facebook friends are aware of the fact that I AM A STRONG ADVOCATE OF “LIVING BY THE NUDGE” (i.e. living and walking by/in the Spirit… Galatians 5.16; Romans 8.1-14)

I DEFINE “THE NUDGE” AS … “The sweet, sensitive and significant impressions of the Holy Spirit within the Christian’s life that would guide him/her to act, speak, behave and serve in keeping with the redemptive purposes and will of God.”

This morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord” I read a passage of Scripture from the book of Acts in the New Testament that certainly illustrates the importance of  “LIVING BY THE NUDGE”!!!  …Acts 8.26-40 in your Bible (the story of Philip and the Ethopian eunuch…

Philip, a Spirit-filled Christian, is on his way from Jerusalem to Gaza (a road through the desert), directed by the Lord.  An important official from Ethiopia is traveling down the same road in his chariot on his way back “home”…  He apparently is a “God-fearer” – a gentile who worships Jehovah (but is NOT a Christian).  He is reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.  The Bible says, “The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it’ (“THE NUDGE”!).  Philip hears the man reading from Isaiah, asks him if he understands it, and then begins with that very passage and tells him about the good news about Jesus!” The Ethopian official puts his trust in Christ and a little later down the road is baptized as a believer!

Wow!!  I want to live with that degree of Spiritual sensitivity and awareness!!  I WANT TO “LIVE BY THE NUDGE” – DON’T YOU?!! 

I’m encouraged by my Facebook friends who are participating in “DAYS OF THANKSGIVING” this year! I am uplifted by their FB posts expressing thanksgiving and gratitude!

It’s a tragic thing when “Thanksgiving Day” becomes simply one day out of the year… even more tragic when it is secularized to become “Turkey Day”!! It ought to at least be a “season” … no, better yet it needs to become a “life attitude” and practice Thanksgiving EVERY day of the year!!

This morning part of my Bible reading was 1 Chronicles 29.10-13… Part of David’s prayer after personally giving generously for the construction of the temple and also urging the people he led to give generously for the project his son Solomon would carry to completion… I read his words and decided I want to make them my mantra this Thanksgiving season…

“Praise be to you Lord…from everlasting to everlasting! Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor! Everything in heaven and earth is Yours! … You are exalted as Head over all! Wealth and honor come from You; You are ruler of all things! In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name!”

Following this David simply acknowledged “Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand!” He went to pray, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity! All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have see with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to You… Keep these desires and thought in the hearts of Your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to You!” (From 1 Chronicles 29.14-20 NIV)

What a noble attitude! What a wonderful desire! I want it to be mine! I want it to captivate my heart and carry me from Thanksgiving to Christmas, then on up to the New Year and through the rest of my life!! Don’t you!

The past several days my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord” has included the inspired prophetic message of Habakkuk.  Habakkuk is known for several well-known passages… One of the best known is…

“THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH!” (Habakkuk 2.4)  Watchword of the Reformation and favorite theme of Apostle Paul (check out Romans 1.17; Galatians 3.11; and also Hebrews 11.38).  The phrase was used in those passages to describe how a person is “justified” (or how they become “right with God”).  An important, essential, God-inspired truth to be sure!

But what about the original context?  What was the significance to the first audience?

I’d like to suggest that the message delivered to Habakkuk was a very practical one for a righteous person who had a lot of questions… The force of the message to Habakkuk?  “Hang in there!  Trust God when you don’t understand!  Live every day of your live by faith!  God will work everything out in the end!”

Here’s how the train of thought develops in Habakkuk…

Habakkuk, the prophet, cries out… “How long, Lord must I call for help but You do not listen?  I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ but You do not save!  Why do you make me look at injustice?  Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? …

“Lord are You not from everlasting?  My God, my Holy One, You will never die! … Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.  Why then do You tolerate the treacherous?  Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?! …

“Then the Lord replied to Habakkuk:  ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay!  See the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright – BUT THE RIGHTEOUS PERSON WILL LIVE BY HIS FAITH!’” (Habakkuk 1.2-3, 12-13; 2.1-4)

Hey, that’s the message of Hebrews 11 all over again!  Faith sustains!  Faith in God has the power to support you and help you when you don’t understand what is happening… when things don’t seem fair… when the “heavens seem brass” and God hasn’t acted yet!  There are a lot of things today I don’t understand… Things that don’t seem fair… THINK I’M GOING TO CONTINUE TO TRUST GOD!!