My Daily Bread

[thecountrydoc]

Dear Friends,

It’s one of those pithy statements Jesus made that is so obviously true that you know you can’t doubt it. He is talking about marriage:

“What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19:6).

This is usually quoted in marriage ceremonies. The two have come together in love and have chosen to wed, and each has said “I do.”

Now the big question: has it been God who has joined them together?

It wasn’t the pastor or the rabbi or the Justice of the Peace who actually joined them together; he was only performing a public gesture that in itself recognized that something had drawn the two together in their love. The two who believe what Jesus said also believe that it wasn’t merely testosterone or impulse or lust that brought them together; God brought them together and made them to be one.

Now when the storms of life with its tumult or its poverty perplex them, they are to “commit [their] way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” and choose to “fret not” (Psalm 37:5-7).

Their first “trust” is not to be each in his/her self or even in their spouse, but in the Lord. It has been He who has brought them “together” in marriage. That’s what Jesus is saying.

Yes, they will trust each other; you can’t be happy unless you do. But your marriage has not been a self-motivated thing; the Lord has joined you “together.”

That’s why He has said don’t let anyone “put asunder what He has joined together.”

How does He do it? He has given you the love that has brought you together. It is He who has created us male and female (Gen. 1:27). Sexual love is God-given, God-created. Believe that truth and happiness becomes yours. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives” but the verb for love is the verb for agape; and God says He “IS agape.” There is only one possible conclusion: sexual love is holy in God’s sight. And it should be in ours as well.

Which is why Hebrews 13:4 says that “the marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.” The time has come in world history for us to look upon sex and marriage the way God does.

The reason? The greatest marriage of all eternity must soon happen: when the church makes herself ready for “the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7, 8).

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Your brother in Christ,
Doc

 

[thecountrydoc]

Dear Friends,

If you can’t sleep tonight (or any night), pray The Lord’s Prayer:

(1) “My Father, which art in heaven ...”No angel in heaven is permitted to address the great King of the universe, Master of the Milky Way, as “Father.” Every angel must stand aside and let you pass on your way to the throne of the Father. That is astounding, but solemnly true.

(2) It’s because of the Father’s love for this one “little lost sheep,” this one planet in rebellion; the Father has given His only Son, Jesus, to be the new Head of this human race; in so doing He has adopted as members of His own family every one whose heart cries out, “Father!”

(3) In a legal, judicial sense, the Father has already adopted every one of the human family; but some either have refused to be adopted or have not known they have been adopted; these await the coming of the “news,” which of course is “good news,” which the Bible calls “the gospel.”

(4) “Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father. The Spirit ... beareth witness with our [personal] spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:15-17). When you can’t sleep, think about that.

(5) The Father has the Milky Way and all the universe around His neck (as it were), but He is infinite; that means He can care for you and about you just the same as if you were the only “child” He has in this vast universe.

(6) That is taught by Hebrews 11:6 where we are told that anyone who is sincere in wanting to come to God must believe two things: (a) that God IS—this infinite King of the universe; and (b) that He listens to, and rewards anyone who is sincere in coming to Him (including sinners!).

(7) So, when you can’t sleep, pray to this infinite Father who sees and cares when a little sparrow falls to the forest floor (Matt. 10:29). Pray to Him ... don’t stop, pray ... If you don’t know what to say, pray, “Abba, Father ...” until the realization comes over through the Holy Spirit that you are somebody important whom “the Father of spirits” cares about personally (Heb. 12:9).

(8) This will be the “reconciliation” that the Father is working to do: “God was [is] in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).

(9) When you are reconciled to the Father, then you are also reconciled to His Holy Law. That will include all the works of righteousness including keeping holy the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, “the Lord’s [true] day” (cf. Rev. 1:10).
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Your brother in Christ,
Doc

 

[thecountrydoc]

Dear Friends,

The faith of Jesus is the only one under heaven that promises eternal salvation to anyone who will simply l-o-o-k to Him. It sounds fantastic, but here it is:

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, as ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22)

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When in the desert after being led out of Egypt, the Israelites murmured against God’s care and against His leading, poisonous snakes bit them. The poor people imagined that God had sent those poisonous snakes (Num. 21:5-7). What did He do to save them?

He had Moses make a snake out of the metal they had and put it on a pole and hold it up; then anybody who would simply l-o-o-k could be saved (Num. 21:8ff).

It took a repentant, humble heart for anyone with a murmuring, unbelieving heart to decide to look; Jesus told the story to Nicodemus on his night visit, and applied the lesson to Himself so we can have it:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14, 15).

He equated “believing” in Himself with their looking.

It’s a Bible truth: Hebrews 12:3 urges us, “Consider Him ... ” Same idea; harness your thought processes and fix them on the story of Jesus. “Think of Him” says the NEB. Unlock the door of your soul and admit the thought of Jesus; ponder Him; meditate on Him; stay on your knees quiet—put from your mind that thought of hitting the button on your remote: leave it, and stay there in the darkness alone with the Son of God, your eyes closed. That’s what Jesus means when He invites us, “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matt. 6:6).

If you can’t think what to say, keep quiet, but stay there. If all you can say is, “Father! Father ... !” Just stay there. Stay. You desperately need this moment of looking to Him alone.

You are not worried now about getting to heaven at last; you are beginning to remember that time when you will be alone in the personal presence of Jesus.

You are tasting a bit of what heaven will be like: thank Him.
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Your brother in Christ,
Doc

 

[thecountrydoc]

Dear Friends,

This mini-message is addressed to people who suffer pain.

The kind that the pills don’t seem to help.

That keeps you awake at night:

(a) The Lord Jesus Christ is your Co-sufferer: No one ever suffered sharper, more excruciating physical pain than He did while being crucified (yes, the spiritual was so bad He hardly felt the physical pain; but don’t minimize the reality that He endured in His physical flesh).

(b) The fact that the history is now past tense doesn’t affect the present-tense reality of His identifying Himself with you in your pain: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them, all the days of old” (Isa. 63:9).

(c) Put all that in the present tense; He feels it all today.

(d) God never intended that humans should experience pain; as Jesus said in His parable of the evil man who sowed tares among the wheat, “an Enemy hath done this” (Matt. 13:28).

(e) By identifying yourself with Jesus, you transmute your lonely vigil with pain into a “fellowship [with Christ] in His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). To “believe in Jesus” includes close identification with Him in His sufferings.

(f) The idea is not about earning a reward for yourself; it’s about comfort for you in your pain now. Forget about any reward; you will be happy now and for eternity just for the joy of any personal “fellowship” with Him you have ever had.

(g) For sure, no matter how much you may hurt in your body, remember that somewhere there is someone who is in greater pain than you are, where their sky is darker, where their hope seems less bright: pray for that person.

(h) Then pray that the Lord may educate you, motivate you, inspire you, equip you, to minister a blessing to that person. The Lord will say to you, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:23).
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Your brother in Christ,
Doc