"The Rock And Water"

"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ". Exodus 17:6; 1 Corinthians 10:4

We have been talking about rock and water-- solid and liquid.  We have said that we can't be both a "rock" and "water" at the same time.  But Jesus can be both and He is both.  The Bible says He is the Rock and He is Living Water.  This is good news for us. 

He is the Rock.  It speaks of His character.  It means He is strong.  I can look to Him for strength when I am weak.   He is a firm foundation upon which we can build our lives without fear of destruction.  He is unmovable and unshakeable.  He will be there when I need Him. He is unchanging.  I don't have to worry that He will not be as faithful to me today as He was yesterday.  He is the cleft of the rock that will hide you in His loving protection.  He is the Rock of my salvation.

He is Living Water.  He cleanses me from all unrighteousness.  He cleanses me when I get "soiled" by the world.  He cleanses me from sin.  He sustains my life by refreshing me when I am tired and weary.  He quenches my thirst.  He pours His life giving water upon me and I am renewed. 

He will be that rock when you need Him to be.  He will be water when you need Him to be water.  He is the Rock and He is Water.  He is all-sufficient for everything that you have need of. 

Have a great day.  Jesus is all that you need and need Him to be.   
 

"Water Or A Rock?"

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".  2 Corinthians 5:17

The past two days we have talked about Psalms 114:8 how God turns a rock into standing water and a flint into a fountain of water.  We have compared this to our lives and salvation.  We said that there are three main forms of matter:  solid, liquid and gas.  Today I want to continue with this thought and relate it to what happens at the new birth/salvation.

In order for a solid to become a liquid there has to be a change in its molecular structure.  At the new birth-- when we are born again-- a change takes place in us.  Our "spiritual DNA" is changed.  We go from being a "rock" to "water".

A rock is a hard, rigged, solid, stationary, restricted, dead object.  Water is the total opposite.  It is soft, flowing, conforms to whatever it is put in, yielding, and alive.  A rock does nothing.  It can't move.  It can't refresh.  It can't conform.  It is just what it is.  Water can do much.  It gives life.  It can satisfy a thirst.  It can clean what is dirty.  It can support life. 

When we are born again, God changes us from a "rock" to "water".  He makes us something brand new that we weren't before.  He takes our dead hearts of stone and makes them into live hearts of flesh.  We are no longer a dead hard lump.  We are a live, freely flowing stream.  We are the total opposite of what we once were because of the transformation that has taken place in us at salvation.

Have you been saved?  Did a transformation take place in you?  Or are you still a "rock"?  If you are, then you weren't really born again.  You may have become religious, but religious is just another name for being a rock.  If that is the case, let Jesus Christ come into your life and make you into that new person.  Let Him transform you into a free-flowing fountain of water. 

Have a great day.  Have you been changed from a rock into water?

"A Double Life"

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon".  Luke 6:24

In yesterday's devotion we made the statement concerning matter forms that something can't be both a liquid and a solid at the same time.  The same is true if you say you are a Christian and are living like something other than a Christian.  You can't be two different things that conflict with each other.  You are one or the other, but not both.   

The Bible makes it plain that you can't be hot and cold at the same time.  You can't serve God and mammon.  You can't be a sheep and a goat.  You can't have sweet and bitter water coming out of you.  You can't love God and the world both. 

Yet so many who profess to be Christians are trying to live "double" lives.  They are trying to live for God and self both.  They are trying to serve the Lord and also serve self.  They are trying to fit in with the world and fit in with the church.  You can't be or do both.  Where did we get that idea from? 

Why is it we think we can profess the Lord with our mouth but hold on to the world with our hands.  We have this mentality that thinks we can have God and everything else.  We can't.  He either has ALL of us or He will have NONE of us.  I know that is a pretty strong statement, but I am not the one who said it-- Jesus is.  And He is the one who makes the rules and defines the relationship He desires to have with us. 

If you are trying to ride both sides of the fence, you need to stop and repent.  You need to let go of the world and take hold of the Lord only.  You need to stop having a divided heart and life.  Either He is Lord and Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all!  You can't have it both ways.  He will not share you, your heart or the throne of your heart with everything, or anything, else.

Have a great day.  It is either Jesus or the world... you can't have both.   

"A Change In Matter"

"Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters".  Psalm 114:8

Matter takes on one of three basic forms:  solid, liquid and gas.  A rock is solid matter.  Standing water is a liquid.  Flint is solid.  A fountain of waters is liquid.  They can't be both at the same time, something has to happen in them to make the change.  Something has to take place in a rock before it can become water.  The verse above says that God can do this.  He can change a rock into water.  He can change a flint into water.  He can make this transformation possible between these two forms.   

There are some changes that only God can do.  Salvation is one of them.  Only God can save us.  Only He can change us from being a lost sinner to a saved follower of Christ.  We can't save ourselves.  We can't change ourselves.  No amount of effort and no number of changes that we make in our lives can bring about this transformation.  All the changes in the world that we could make in our lives will not make us that new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Turning over a new leaf, stop smoking, start going to church, start acting kinder, stop cussing, etc.  No number of good deeds and good works can do it.  It only happens when we come to Christ Jesus confessing our sins and putting our faith in Him as Savior.  It is then when we are changed.  It is then when we are forgiven and made righteous.
  
If you are trying to change yourself, if you are trying to be good enough to be a "Christian", if you are trying to do enough good deeds, you can't and won't ever be able to do it.  It would be easier for you to take a rock and turn it into water than it would be for you to do enough good deeds to save yourself.  It is impossible outside of Jesus Christ.  He is the only way it can happen.

Have a great day.  God can turn a rock into water.  And only He can turn a sinner into a saved person. 
 

"Faith In Suffering"

"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised".  Psalm 113:3

Praising the Lord from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night is not always an easy thing because there is a lot that can happen to us in a day.  And not all that happens to us is good. 

Trying times happen.  Tragedy strikes.  Grief comes.  Sickness attacks our bodies.  Pain enters.  It happened to Job.  I don't believe there is any way we can fully comprehend all that this man went through.  (I can't.)  He lost all his children.  He lost his herds and flocks.  He lost his health.  All he had left was a wife who out of her own pain encouraged him to curse God and die.  Yet in the midst of all his pain and suffering, he worshipped God.  "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord". (Job 1:21)

 

He didn't worship God for the suffering, he praised Him in spite of it.  He knew that his relationship with the Lord was the only thing that was going to carry him through the pain, sorrow and grief.  He knew he had to maintain his relationship with the Lord if he was going to survive the agony of what he was going through.  He knew that he had to stay close to the Lord if he was going to have any peace.  He knew his strength to make it through was found in the Lord.  He knew his comfort would not come from man but from God. 

 

Like Job, our worship is an indication of our faith.  Sometimes, when going through difficulty praise doesn't always come automatically or easily.  Often it is a sacrifice.  I am very sure Job didn't feel like worshipping the Lord, but he did anyway as an act of faith-- faith that he still trusted God, he still knew God was faithful no matter what he was going through, he still knew that God would be with him and he still knew that God would turn this around for good. 

 

Are you going through something today that makes it hard for you to worship the Lord?  Do it any way.  Let your faith speak for you-- not your pain.  Job did and as a result he made it through his time of suffering.  

Have a great day.  Praise the Lord even in suffering.