The Sharp Sword at Work

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” -Hebrews 4:12 (ESV). [Read Hebrews chapters 3 and 4]

To pinpoint one verse and then ask you to read two chapters to gain the context in which Hebrews 4:12 is set is a bit unusual for a brief devotional. But the author of Hebrews is writing about the rest intended for the children of God, eternal rest, that which comes after this earthly journey is finished. In these two chapters, he reviews why the children of Israel were rebellious, even soon after they were freed from bondage in Egypt. Verse 3:15 warms, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” In these chapters, and in the cited verse (Hebrews 4:12), the people addressed are the children of God; Christians, followers of the Lord Christ. Our rebellion and disobedience are waded into by God’s Word which is working to bring us back to the yoke of the Lord and the way in which we should walk.

In Hebrews 4:12 we might think that “the word of God” is our Bible, and certainly it is. But here many scholars agree that “the word of God” means God’s personal communication to the believer which is living, active, sharp, piercing and discerning. We might consider it as God speaking to our conscience to get our attention. He pictures God’s Word as a sharp two-edged sword. Imagine a sword, especially one sharp on two edges, slashing away in battle. What an inroad that action by a brave soldier with a sword in his hand would make. A graphic picture should immediately come to our mind. The word of God acts as God Himself who gets at one’s innermost thoughts and intentions and exposes what is amiss in the believer’s life. Have you not felt this sharp sword? Have you not succumbed to its penetrating sharpness?

I have strong impressions of what I should do, right actions, changes in behavior, a more deeply discerning Christian life with more study of the Bible, prayer, doing the deeds the Lord lays upon my heart to do. There is a constant prodding of the Spirit, urging me to change my slovenly ways and get back to the serious business of following God. Talk about the Sharp Sword at Work? I’ve experienced it!

God speaks through His written Word, the Bible. It too is like a two-edged sword. Let us see some ideas the Bible itself lists about this guidebook. It is a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105). It is a hammer that shatters hardest rock (Jeremiah 23:29). It is like honey in the comb, sweet and a comfort food (Psalm 19:9-10). It is like gold, a source of wealth, enriching us (Psalm 19:9-10). God’s Word is as the rain and the snow that water and refresh the earth (Isaiah 55:10-11). His Word is seed planted in the heart that bears abundant harvest (Luke 8:11). The Word is like a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected and try to correct what is awry so that the reflected image can be better (James 1:22-25). The Word is milk and meat, ample to nourish and bring health to the soul (Hebrews 5:12-13). It is fire that both warms us and burns us, depending on our perspective and how we heed the word, the fire (Jeremiah 23:29). And certainly, God’s Word is a sharp, penetrating, “a double-edged sword that pierces asunder the soul and the spirit, the joints and marrow of our bodies, and exposes the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). And verse 4:13 states: “And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” To be sure, before we can find that eternal rest, we must deal with the sharp sword of God’s Word. Dr. A. T. Pierson stated: “The Word of Christ proves itself to be the Word of God by its living energy and its penetrating power.” Amen. -Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.29.2017.

God Offers Peace

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trustiest in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” -Isaiah 26:3-4 (KJV)

Perhaps many readers of this devotional, as I, memorized Bible verses using the King James Version. I often use this version still when I want to call other’s attention to verses we should commit to memory. To my mind, that version is stately and majestic. But this is not to say that we should not also use the more modern versions to help us see more clearly in the language of today the depth of meaning of the scriptures. Here are the same two verses in more modern translations:

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” (ESV)

Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible reads: “People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don’t quit. Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.”

The verses fall into a memorable four-point outline:

1. God gives perfect peace. In the Hebrew language, the word for peace is repeated: “shalom, shalom.” The repetition indicates intensity of meaning: cessation of conflict, but also conveys the idea of safety, blessings, wholeness of mind and heart.

2. Minds are stayed on God. From New Testament scriptures, having our mind stayed on God is also emphasized strongly. Colossians 3:2 teaches us the importance of our minds being stayed, or fastened, constantly on God and His will for us: “Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on earth. And Romans 8:6 teaches us that to set the mind on the things of the Spirit is “life and peace.”

3. Trust in the Lord should be ongoing, forever. We are not to be wishy-washy about our trust in God. Our faith helps us to be dependent upon God and to know that “He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

4. God continually strengthens the believer. God’s strength is everlasting. I like the hymn, “Like a River Glorious” with words by Frances Ridley Havergal. Her lines express well how God strengthens the believer: “Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest / finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.” Another line from her beautiful hymn describes God’s continuing, everlasting strength: “Perfect yet it floweth fuller every day / Perfect, yet it growth, deeper all the way.”

Prayer: Lord, with conditions in such turmoil in this age in which we live, help us to cling to the “shalom, shalom” (perfect peace) You give. May our minds be stayed on You so that we can receive Your peace. May our trust in you grow day by day as You give Your peace to us. Lord, we thank You for your peace that passes understanding and strengthens us day by day to face the challenges of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen. - Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.22.2017

God’s Plans for His Children

“For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) [Read Jeremiah 29]

Jeremiah 29 is a letter from the prophet sent to misplaced Jewish exiles in Babylon. Many thought Judah would soon be restored, since they were God’s called people. But Jeremiah saw God’s restoration differently. In Jeremiah 29:10 he told the people that after 70 years, God would restore them to the land of Judah. Here is a study outline of Jeremiah 29, a chapter which is said to be the major theme of the whole book of Jeremiah:

     1. A statement of the condition (Jer. 29:1-3)

     2. Learn to make the best of whatever situation you are in (vv. 4-6)

     3. Pray, pray, pray in whatever situation you find yourself (v. 7)

     4. Don’t listen to the wrong advice (vv. 8-9)

     5. Take the long view of the situation (v. 10)

     6. Hope in God’s plans (v. 11) [Key text, and memory verse from this passage]

     7. Above all, constantly seek the Lord and His ways (vv. 13-14)

A more modern rendition of Jeremiah 29:11 is from Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible: “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” In this verse, God speaks authoritatively about His plans, with the firm assurance that His plans also include what the believers hope for in the future. Who doesn’t want the “best” for themselves and others? God Himself wants what is best for us! We must acknowledge that our “best” plans “oft’ go agley” as Scottish Poet Robert Burns so aptly stated (we would translate: “often go contrary of what we plan.”) But if we are sincere believers who “know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, NKJV), then we can trust God to help us through any situation. Problems will be there; His power is greater than any problems we face! Selah!

Briefly stated (for it is a long story,) I give testimony to Jeremiah 29:11-13, and how it has helped me tremendously since 2002 Then I made the decision to move Grover and me to Milledgeville from the beautiful mountains of North Georgia that had been my home most of my life. There were some years away at college and a few years of “first ministry” for Grover; and then the Lord moved us to Hiawassee, and then to Epworth [in the mountains] where his ministry and my teaching—the bulk of these—occurred in the mountains. Now the story as to why we moved to Middle Georgia. In June, 2002 I decided to purchase the house next door to my daughter Cynthia’s house, and move us here (the move occurred later, February 17, 2003 when the house was ready). Grover was well into having the dread disease of Alzheimer’s. I needed family help, and received it, as well as help and support from many Christian friends I met here, and our church which ministered to both of us in such loving ways. I kept him at home with help for four more years after we moved to Milledgeville. Then in 2007, he became a patient at Georgia War Veterans’ Home here, another God-send along the long route of providing for an Alzheimer’s patient. He died January 26, 2011. I was ministered to and loved by these good people (as well as many others from long-distance, friends in the mountains and elsewhere). “I know the plans I have for you,” the Lord promised. And it has proven so true for me. “Every morning, mercies new.” God has proven in so many ways the truth of Jeremiah 29: in our “exile” here. Will I move back to the mountains? God hasn’t finished with me here yet! -Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.15.2017

The Roman Road – The Plan of Salvation – God’s Provision of Salvation

In these devotional thoughts at the beginning of this new year, I am following suggestions from Robert J. Morgan’s book 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart (Nashville; B & H Publishing Group, 2010). Today’s progression through “The Roman Road: The Plan of Salvation” falls on the third of five verses from Romans which succinctly tell of God’s love for sinners and His provision of a Savior, and what the person should do to be saved from sin. The five verses in “The Roman Road” are Romans 3:23, 6: 23, 5:8, 10:9, and 10:10. I suggest (and so does Rev. Morgan) that we memorize each of these verses and mark them in a favorite Bible and New Testament. In this way, we can easily access them and know them when we talk to someone about becoming a Christian.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This verse, being introduced by “but,” indicates that a statement of great truth also precedes this verse. Let us examine from Romans 5:5 and forward to this verse. Paul the Apostle writes: “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (v. 5) “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (v. 6). “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.” (v. 7). These verses preceding our focal verse for today tell us, as does John 3:16, that God has great love for the highest of his creation, man. He desired and did make a way for broken fellowship to be restored. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, bears witness to the love God has for us by giving His only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. We had no strength to save ourselves. If we tried works or godly living on our own, we failed in both respects. And since, “without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins,” God sent His Son into the world to live a perfect life and then to die for us. And that brings us to our focal verse: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (v. 8)

This is a truth that the person accepts on faith. By repentance of sins and a deliberate acceptance of God’s provision of love through His Son, our relationship with God is miraculously restored. Our finite minds have difficulty understanding a love so comprehensive and complete. But faith steps in and allows the believer to know that this is indeed true. Subsequent verses help to make our decision understandable and affirming: “Much more, then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (v. 9) “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (v. 10). “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (v. 11).

What a progression, and all a gift from God: Faith, confession, forgiveness, restoration, reconciliation, and abundant life—for this earthly life and the eternal life to come! Praise be to God who wrought our salvation through His beloved Son! - Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.08.2016

May God Crown the New Year with Bounty

“Praise is due You, O God in Zion, and to You shall vows be performed, O You who hear prayer to You shall all flesh come…You crown the year with bounty.” -Psalm 65:1-2, 11a (ESV). [Read Psalm 65]

This is the first day of a brand New Year! Welcome, 2017! The end of the year just passing and the beginning of a new year is a somber time for me: a time to reflect upon blessings, to remember, sometimes to consider regrets and to seek forgiveness, but certainly a time to look forward with anticipation to the fresh new year beginning. I highly recommend David’s reflections in Psalm 65 as a basis for our own thoughts of remembrance and reflection as we look both backward and forward and thank God for the time he continues to give us to “live and move and have our being” in this present world. May we awake each day of 2017 with this acclamation on our lips: “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24)

Why am I living in this year of our Lord, 2017? Do you consider that God had a purpose for each of us, even before we were conceived in our mother’s womb? So we are told in Psalm 22:10: “On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”

The beginning of a New Year is a time of reflection—of looking back to count blessings, both spiritual and temporal. And among them are our beginnings, the family into which we were born. I hope each of you reading this, as I, had a loving Christian home, one where parents trained you up in the way you should go, so that when you were older you would not depart from their Christian instruction (as promised in Proverbs 22:6). I owe a great debt to my parents. And they, too, exampled for me, when I became a parent, that I had a godly responsibility to the children entrusted to me. At the closing out of the old year and the beginning of the new, I am flooded with remembrances and thanksgivings of who I am because of the foundations of faith and stability in which I was reared.

As the New Year dawns, it is a time of anticipation. David’s Psalm 65 attests strongly to God’s providence and salvation. In the Psalm the author affirms that the people will make their prayers to God and pay their vows. He anticipates that God will visit the earth, water it, make it produce. He pictures how the people will have what they need: “You crown the year with Your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance” (Psalm 65:11). What then, is my purpose, your purpose, as the new year 2017 dawns? Could our purpose be to praise and honor God, to live close to Him, to recognize His favor, to pray for and love our families and be reconciled to them? To pray earnestly for our country and its leaders, to live as responsible, caring, helping citizens, to love those with a godly love within the parameter of our influence? . Psalm 65:4 gives us an answer: “Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts!” Consider that God has chosen each believer for this time and place in history in the vast span of time and eternity. What a sobering and awesome thought!. A strong example from history happened during the reign of King Ahaseurus of Persia, who ruled from about 486-464 BC. Her Uncle Mordecai said to Esther when she was to approach King Ahaseurus on behalf of the Jews: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b, ESV).

What an awesome message for 2017 is contained in David’s words in Psalm 65:5-8: “By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, for the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the One who by His strength established the mountains, being girded with might: who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at Your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.”

Prayer: O Lord, our Lord, in this year of our Lord, 2017, we are thankful to be alive! Help us reflect on Your bountiful provisions in the past and anticipate with joy Your leadership in this New Year and in the future.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.01.2017