Category: Truth

Deep Calls to Deep

Posted on by Dorci

Like our bodies need the sun, food and water, our souls need to worship God.

God declared in Isaiah 43:7:

“…Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Paul echoes this in his letter to the brothers and sisters in Colossae “…all things have been created through Him (the Son, who is the image of the invisible God) and for Him.” (1:15, 16b)

But like so much of what God’s created, satan has taken our God-given need to worship Him and offers us a cheap counterfeit. 

Those who refuse to acknowledge God’s existence (and even some who do) will turn that need to worship toward something else. 

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.” (Rom. 1:25)

Throughout time people have worshipped everything from vegetation to animals (the living and the golden kind), to the sun, moon, and stars. 

But what people mostly worship is one another and themselves. It’s our soul on junk food. There is nothing that will destroy it faster than worshipping people, or seeking to have others worship us, and there is no shortage of ways that people seek to be worshipped, revered, idolized, bowed down to, put on a pedestal, feared. 

I don’t know how many people I’ve heard who believed fame and fortune – self worship – to be the ultimate success, and after seeking all the world says is important, or even being thrust into it, fall into a pit of despair once they’ve reached that pinnacle and confessed they said to themselves, “Is this it?”

They’re left feeling empty, broken, and despondent. Many have believed there was nothing else to live for. 

The first thing Jesus did is resist the temptation of the devil in the wilderness to worship him.

The devil first tempted Him to stop seeking God by trying to end His time of fasting. Then he tried to lead Him to test God. Ultimately, he tried leading Jesus to worship him.  

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’” (Matt. 4:8-9)

The devil is methodical and predictable. If he can lead people away from God, he can get them to turn their God-given need for worship onto anything and anyone else, and he’s won. 

But Christ shows us the way by telling him, “Away from me, satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Deut. 6:13).'” (Matt. 4:10)

When we, too, find ourselves in the desert of life, or the black depths of the oceans, we can be tempted to take any way out, to cut short our suffering, to take satan’s deal, but it’s only a short-cut to despair and regret. 

“Deep calls to deep…”

King David wrote these words in Psalm 42 describing a time of great turmoil in his life. It is in these great sufferings of life we hear God calling to us in the deepest recesses of our souls, and we call back to Him from there. 

Just as God knows what inhabits the loneliest of deserts and the deepest of ocean floors, God knows what’s in our hearts. Never do we need to be afraid to invite Him into whatever is going on in our hearts and lives. 

The only fear we should have is in not calling on Him, on not worshipping Him, and turning instead to something or someone else. 

So what is our remedy to keep from being caught off guard? To being tempted to turn to any other form of worship?

Abide!

Abide in the Vine-in Christ, and in His love. Hang on as dearly to Him as a branch holds fast to its vine for nourishment and life. 

That is true worship. And from our worship of Him in spirit and in truth, He, our Creator, our King, our Lord, our Sustenance, our Light, our All, will nourish our souls with Himself and give us all we need for the abundant life. 

In Him,
Dorci

What is Reformation Day?

Posted on by Dorci

Today marks the 504th anniversary, otherwise known as Reformation Day, that Martin Luther is said to have nailed his famed Ninety-five Theses to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Germany, and sent his theses with a letter to the Archbishop of Mainz, under whose authority the Roman Catholic church sent out preachers to sell “indulgences” – an act such as a prayer or good work which the Roman Catholic church claimed was “a way to the reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins.”

Just before Luther wrote his theses, which he called “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” a Dominican Friar had been sent to Germany to sell indulgences to raise money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. 

Martin Luther, a professor of moral theology and a preacher, meant his theses to open an academic debate on this and other teachings of the church that he believed were in direct conflict with God’s Word.

His theses made statements such as: that the Lord Jesus called for followers to live a life of true inner repentance rather than a system of outward sacramental confession; that the pope could not absolve sin; and that in selling indulgences, those preachers were giving false certainty of forgiveness and leading people to believe that obtaining an indulgence made repentance unnecessary.

The theses was quickly distributed throughout Germany and Europe, and leadership in the Roman Catholic church charged Martin Luther with heresy, some even calling for his punishment by burning.

A few years later he was excommunicated, but by then the church in Europe had begun its reformation.

We are privileged to live in a time and place where we can own God’s Word for ourselves and, in prayer, search it, study it, and know the truth God’s set forth in it. This should be our solemn duty as those who have been given the greatest, most life-altering, eternity-changing gift. 

We can emulate the Berean Jews, who “were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

Though it’s been more than 500 years since Martin Luther sought know and proclaim the truth, there are still a lot of erroneous beliefs, philosophies, and religious doctrines floating around out there, lying to people and leading them away from the truth. 

We cannot let ourselves fall into that trap. If we are to continually abide in Christ who is the truth, we must, through the Holy Spirit, discern the lies from the truth and never waiver from it. 

Time gets shorter every day, for the souls around us and for us, and people need the truth in God’s Word.

“It is finished.”

These are the last words of Christ before He “bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

This statement in the Greek is teleō,-to end, complete, execute, conclude, discharge a debt, accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, finish, go over, pay, perform.

The work of payment for sins is done. Anything added to Christ’s work on the cross for forgiveness of sins and salvation makes a mockery of His life, His death, and His words, and serves only to lead people away from the truth. 

The free gift of the forgiveness for all one’s sins and eternal life is one that only Christ can offer, and He offers it to anyone – ANYONE! – who will believe in Him as Lord, receiving His payment on the cross for their sins.  

***

Heavenly Father, we pray for your mercy, for a revival of hearts around the world, and for boldness to live and speak as witnesses of your truth, in love and humility and in the power of your Holy Spirit, to those you bring to us. As we walk in faith, we pray you would enlarge our territories for your glory, Lord.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

 

Knowing God’s Word and the New 2011 NIV

Posted on by Dorci

Hello Friends,

Because so many of us use the NIV, I wanted to make sure you were aware that a new NIV translation was published in 2011 and is now being used exclusively online and sold in stores and there are some noted changes between it and the previous 1973/1984 NIV translation.  

 

The version I’ve carried for 23 years is the first NIV, the New Testament having been originally published in 1973, and the Old Testament in 1978, although I do like to compare translations in various versions, and frequently look up the original Hebrew and Greek meanings to get a clearer understanding.

Not all the changes are bad, but I want to share just a few of them and how they alter the meaning of scripture. Words are important.

Psalm 51: 6 –

NKJV – “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”

1978 NIV – “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts, you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”

2011 NIV – “Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.”

The Hebrew word for “inmost parts” is ̣ṭûchâh, which means overlaying, the kidneys (as being covered), the inmost thoughts. (The word for womb is beṭen, meaning to be hollow, the belly, the womb.)

The original language tells us that God desires us to have truth, or trustworthiness, in our innermost beings, our hearts. Not just pretending, but being of truly trustworthy character. But the 2011 NIV translates it in a way that would cause us to think God desires us to be faithful in the womb, before we’re born. The meaning is completely different.

Matthew 21:7 –

NKJV – They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.

1973 NIV – “They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.”

2011 NIV –  “They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”

The 2011 NIV is worded to imply Jesus is sitting on the cloaks rather on the donkey and colt.

The significance of emphasizing the fact that Jesus sat on the donkey and colt is that by doing so He is fulfilling prophecy given to them in Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

A humble king of peace rode donkeys; a man of war would have ridden a horse.

Rather than entering as a conqueror coming for war to overthrow the Roman government as they expected Him to, He is showing them He was entering Jerusalem as a humble King of peace, the coming Messiah, the Savior of their souls.

The 2011 NIV also changes gender references to gender neutral which is not always bad, but sometimes that nuance changes the interpretation. 

John 6:44 – 

NKJV – No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

1973 NIV – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

2011 NIV – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

The 2011 change from singular to plural implies the Father will only draw a group of people rather than the fact that He sees, loves, and draws an individual.  

There are many other changes to this new translation as well.  They may seem small and insignificant, but as I’ve written about before, the enemy will use small, seemingly insignificant changes to confuse us, put doubt in our minds, and trip us up. He did that very thing with Eve in the garden, and it’s still a main tactic he uses today. 

This is why we all need to not just read God’s Word, but prayerfully and with discernment, study it to know it like the back of our own hand so the enemy can’t use our ignorance to keep us from understanding the truth and leading us to believe something God’s Word doesn’t mean.

“I have hidden your word in my heart 
that I might not sin
against You.”
Psalm 119:11


Heavenly Father, thank you for your enduring Word. Please give us a love for it as we read and study it daily that we might live according to your way that leads to life and joy. Please lead us by your Holy Spirit as we do to give us understanding and wisdom so we can abide in you and your truth always. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

The Saturday Song – Voice of Truth

Posted on by Dorci

Hello friends. In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of voices out there screaming for our attention. And there are some up close, whispering in our minds things about ourselves that are absolutely not true. They are lies from the pit of hell.

And there is another Voice, whispering even smaller and quieter, that we are we are loved, we are forgiven, we are His, and He has a plan for our lives. 

Every day we make a choice to discern those voices against the backdrop of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, and choose to listen to and believe the Voice of Truth.  

And when we put on the clothes of righteousness Christ purchased for us, and the armor of God the Spirit provides and step out in faith, we will live in victory. 

Rooting for you!!!

 

Who is Shaping Us?

Posted on by Dorci

I took a slow day recently and sat down to watch a movie. So-so movie. Classic good guy chases bad guy. 

The bad guy, well, let me put that more accurately – the crazed, psychopathic, sadistic killer – enjoys the chase. He’s cocky and thinks he can’t lose. 

He decides to make the game even more fun by coming straight to the door of the good guy, and hits him where it hurts most: his family. 

The good guy internalizes that pain, that grief, and lets it boil inside him until the hatred turns to bitterness in his quest to hunt down and destroy his enemy. 

In one last-ditch effort to mentally manipulate and control from his place of weakness, the bad guy spews to the other, “I…made…you.”

His last words are arrogant, demented, and maybe a little bit true. 

In his quest to fight evil, the good guy gives in to the hatred the evil guy wanted him to. He lured the good guy in until he crossed that line before he even fully realized it. Or worse, he realized it but didn’t care anymore. 

As their eyes locked and he used his last breath to try to control him and reel him in the rest of the way, speaking those domineering, pompous, mind-bending words, I thought about how the enemy of God does the same thing.

There are no new tricks up his sleeve. Oh, they may take different forms, different plots, different scenarios, but it’s always the same.

Slip in undetected in the shadows, gain our attention, come to our front doors if need be and attack us personally where he knows it’ll hurt most, and if he can time it just right, in the wake of some other trial, when we’re alone, when we’re tired, when we’re sick, when we’re stressed, maybe we’ll react in the flesh. 

And if we react long enough, he’ll try to say he made us. He made who we’ve become, from being filled with anger, to unforgiveness, to bitterness, to leaving our faith and the love of Christ behind.  

None of us is immune. Christians are his target, because Christ is his target. 

Even if he can no longer take our eternal souls, he will still try to take our joy, our witness, and as much of our reward as he can.  

But I don’t want the enemy to shape who I am.

I want to be shaped by the Christ who loved us enough to die for us and fill us with His Spirit so that He’s always with us.

I want to be shaped by the One who loves us enough to write His Word, His will, on pages for us to have, to read, to study and pray over, to hear Him speak to our hearts through.

I want every fiber of my being, every molecule, every thought, every word to be formed by the Christ who lives in me.

That can only happen when day by day, minute by minute, we hold onto Christ, giving up our lives for a life of faith hidden in Him. 

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

This is the new life we’ve been given in Christ. It is no longer our life, but Christ’s living in and through us. To some that may feel a little restrictive, but in reality it’s just the opposite. 

We are now free of that destruction, that condemnation, that guilt and shame of sin, free from having to believe the deluded lies of the enemy. We no longer have to be lured in by the thief whose desire is to steal, kill, and destroy us.

Instead, Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

That word abundant is perissos, which means “in the sense of beyond; superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication excessive; preeminence: – exceeding abundantly above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehemently.”

In sharp contrast to the life Christ redeemed us from, we’re now free to live a life of forgiveness, hope, love, joy. We’re free to live in and through Christ forever. 

But notice it says that we may have it more abundantly. It is our daily choice how much of that abundant life of Christ’s we want to live. Within those pages, Jesus gave us this to remember:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Daily. 

Daily we must deny ourselves, daily we must take up our cross, and daily we must choose to follow Christ if we want to live the abundant life Jesus died to give us.

We may not have a bad guy to physically chase, but in our hearts and minds we can chase the ones who have hurt us by holding onto unforgiveness and anger and letting it turn into bitterness.

Instead, we can leave the bad guys to God and chase after Christ and His love, joy, peace, hope, and forgiveness. We can choose faith in Jesus, and let Him shape us.


Heavenly Father, we choose to forgive those who have hurt us and leave them in your wise and capable hands. Help us deny ourselves, let go of our “old man” and the world’s ways and abide in you daily so we can be transformed into the image of your beautiful Son and live the abundant life you so desire to give us. It’s in Christ we pray, amen.