Coffee With The Lord

In manufacturing it is easy to completely focus on the product being produced and overlook, marginalize and discard the byproducts of the production!  Wise manufacturers, however, have discovered that there is great value in paying attention to the byproducts of a process… In fact, sometimes the value of byproducts have actually eclipsed that of a product!

There is something to be learned from this fact as it relates to the miraculous activity of God in Scripture… There are some who have so focused on the miraculous activity of God (i.e. “signs and wonders”) that they have overlooked what I will refer to as THE “BYPRODUCT” OF HIS MIRACULOUS ACTIVITY!  And if the truth were acknowledged, the “byproducts” of  God’s miraculous activity can actually be viewed as the purpose of the “signs and wonders!”

John’s gospel actually powerfully illustrates this truth… “signs” – a favorite word in John to describe the miraculous, actually points beyond itself to the person and redemptive purposes of God in Christ!

Today, during my time of “coffee with the Lord,” I observed another example of this truth. 

The passage was Acts 9:32-43…  Two miracles at the beginning of the Church’s ministry after Pentecost…

The healing of a paralyzed man by the name of Aeneas, bedridden for eight years.  Peter, led by the Holy Spirit, speaks to Aeneas and says, “Jesus Christ heals you!  Rise and make your bed!” And Aeneas is immediately and supernaturally healed! … Oh, and the powerfully important “BYPRODUCT” of that healing?  “All the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord!” (vs. 36)

Here’s another… In the city of Joppa there was a wonderful, godly disciple of Jesus by the name of Tabitha (or “Dorcas”).  What a wonderful Christian lady Tabitha was … “Full of good works and acts of charity!”  She fell ill, however, and died.  They prepared her for burial.  But the disciples in Joppa heard Apostle Peter was nearby and urged him to come quickly!  Before any funeral was held, Peter went to the room where she lay, knelt down by her body and prayed… then he spoke to her dead body… “Tabitha, arise!”  And she did – raised from the dead!  What a powerful exhibition of God’s resurrection power!”  Wow!  … But what about the incredibly important “BYPRODUCT” of the miracle?  “And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord!” (vs. 42)

Don’t get me wrong… I believe in God’s power to heal – I believe God acts in miraculous power in Jesus’ name! … But I NEVER WANT TO LOSE SIGHT OF GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PURPOSES IN HIS MIRACULOUS ACTIVITY!  I never want to make “signs and wonders” – miracles, if you please, “an end in themselves!”  God’s purposes are always redemptive!

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!