Coffee With The Lord

I don’t know about you, but I get very frustrated with flawed, fallible human leaders! They promise so much to gain their positions and deliver so little. Their values are distorted and their decisions destructive. They blindly seek their own agenda and never seem to think (or care) about the impact of their decisions or personal agenda on others. Worst thing is… when I think about the human options to their leadership I’m not very encouraged. And I admit I fear who will step into the leadership vacuum…

We need a new kind of leader in our world… in our nation!

I read about one that is coming… A world leader prophetically spoken of in the Bible… a righteous, Messianic type leader… the kind we need! (Here’s just a sample of what the Bible says about Him in Isaiah 11…)

“The LORD’s Spirit will rest on him— a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the LORD. He will take delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. He will treat the poor fairly, and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth… Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips…” And the effect of His leadership? Wow!! Worldwide, universal peace!

“There will be universal submission the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea!” (from Isaiah 11:2–5 NET Bible)

Oh I’m looking forward to that day… the administration of that leader!
Until then, what do we do? I think Apostle Paul in the New Testament gives us some guidance…

“I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people… for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1–4)

That’s what I’m going to do… and I’m going to do my part in the meantime to influence public policy and leaders toward righteous, wholesome ends.

Freedom!  No longer in bondage!

The good news is, we don’t have to live in bondage to self and sin any longer!  We can live a life of moral freedom.

The world’s lie is that doing the things the Bible forbids is freedom… Surprise! Surprise!! Surprise!!!  That leads to bondage, guilt, and regrets.  More than that, it leads to death!

Christ offers freedom… moral and spiritual freedom.  Serving the Lord is freedom!!  One day after another moving out of bondage and into the adventure of freedom in Christ!  I read about it this morning in the Bible… (the quotes a bit long but savor it as you read it…)

“What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?  Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?… We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him… So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.  For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!  Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? … Having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness… Just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification… Now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life!  For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!!” (from Romans 6:1–23 NET Bible)

I’m determined to experience the “payoff!”  I want to explore every aspect and dimension of “freedom in Christ” available to me!  Don’t you?  Living in freedom!!

This morning as I read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I was reminded of the good, godly people I know and how God has blessed them.

Most of these wonderful people would not think of themselves as “good” (although everyone who is around them, and knows them, certainly would!). They exemplify the best in human virtue. They understand and insist that any goodness they have comes from the Lord’s influence within their lives. They are a blessing to their spouse (if they have one), their family, their friends and business associates, their church and their entire community (they’re even a blessing to their enemies)! Some of them are preachers… but the great majority of the ones I know are humble, godly laypeople.

These people, according to Matthew, are “the poor in Spirit (i.e. they understand that apart from God they are nothing – they are in spiritual poverty), they mourn, they’re meek, they hunger and thirst for righteousness, they’re merciful, they are pure in heart, they’re the peacemakers, they’ve been persecuted for righteousness sake, they’ve had people say all kinds of evil things about them falsely” (and they’ve blessed their persecutors in return). Good, godly people by the grace of God! “Blessed” people! A blessing to me and everyone around them and blessed by God!

This morning during my time of devotions I came up with a personal list of about ten that I know (I am sure there are more that will come to mind). I’m going to first of all thank God for them! But secondly, I’m determined that I’m going to find a time, place and way to personally express to them my admiration and appreciation. And finally? I want their example to impact my life! I want to be like them, don’t you?”