Category: Old Testament

Posted in 2Chronicles, Jeremiah, Matthew, Psalms

Seeking Prayer

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Seek, and you will find.” Matthew 7:7

Jesus describes three types of prayer that we will look at over the next three days. The first is seeking prayer which is a description of prayer that seeks after God for who He is. Jeremiah 29:13 gives the essence of this kind of prayer: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Singing worship songs is considered part of seeking prayer because it is God focused instead of need centered. Jesus gave us an outline for prayer which starts with who God is: “Our Father who lives in heaven; hallowed by Your Name.” Seeking prayer is when we remember it’s not about us or our name (reputation), but about God and His Name.

The best selling book The Purpose Driven Life, starts with the words, “It’s not about you.” In seeking prayer we remember this truth and long to find our satisfaction and identity in God, instead of in ourselves.

“When you said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.’” (Psalm 27:8) God invites us to come after Him and find a deeper faith based more and more on His character and less and less on our momentary feelings about Him.

People often start prayer by asking for God’s hand which is fine, but the real action comes when we prioritize seeking His face. Consider one of the greatest promises in the Bible: “If My people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2Chronicles 7:14) Isn’t it interesting that this verse never mentions anyone asking God to heal the land? If you seek His face, you will see His hand move on your behalf without even having to ask!

I remember when my kids were young. A lot of their interaction with me was because they needed something, but once in a while they would bring a picture that they made “just for me.” It didn’t matter what was on that paper, it was a masterpiece that was going on the refrigerator because of their loving intent. I think that’s how God feels when we seek His face!

Posted in Job, John, Matthew

War Horses

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I am meek and lowly of heart, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me and you will find rest in your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:29-30

The Greek word “praus” is translated “meek” in our text, but it is difficult to find an exact English word to match what it means. Ancient Greeks used this word to describe a stallion that was broken and could be ridden. One commentator writes: “The horse was perfectly trained and ready, it would obey the master, the rider, no matter what was going on around it, so that it could be trusted in the heat of battle not to do something stupid or foolish; once the rider knew that he could trust the animal, and that it would obey him no matter what, he called it a meek horse even though it could have been a powerful, thoroughbred stallion, capable of killing enemies in battle.”

Jesus is saying that He’s like the war horse. He didn’t fear anything, whatever the Father showed Him, He did (John 5:19). If the Father told Him to go right into hell itself to cast out a demon, He would go there. He walked in perfect rest because He only had to pay attention to His Father and had no fear of anyone or anything else.

Why did God describe a meek horse to Job? (Job 39:19-25)  I think it’s because all that God had allowed in Job’s life was for the purpose of making him meek and fearless, like this horse. Job walked uprightly before God but he still had things that he was afraid of. “What I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” (Job 3:25) After all of this trial was over, I am convinced, Job was unafraid of anything. The worst had happened and God had brought him through.

What if we face what we face because God is trying to destroy the power of fear in our lives? I believe God wants to make us war horses the Holy Spirit can lead into any battle, at any time, knowing that we won’t go by our emotions, our past experiences, or our opinions, but only by His prompting. The Father doesn’t want us hiding in fear until Jesus rescues us out of this wicked, scary world – He wants to lead us right into the midst of darkness to bring His kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven!

Posted in Malachi

Setting Your Heart

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“‘…if you do not set your heart to honor My name, ‘ says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor Me.” Malachi 2:2

It needs to be about Him. In Malachi’s day the priests who made sacrifices and represented God to the people were living in a place where God couldn’t bless them. They were sacrificing their lame and blind animals to God, and saving the good ones for themselves. Their lives were very religious, but it was all self centered instead of God honoring.

God loves us and wants to bless us, but our lives won’t work right if they are about us. Jesus taught us to pray first, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed (honored) be Thy Name,” and then to pray “give us this day our daily bread.” When we set our hearts to honor God and re-orient our lives around this theme, a huge weight comes off of us.

It no longer matters how we appear to others but only how He appears through us. We no longer have a mortgage or a car payment, everything belongs to Him, so we trust Him to help us fulfill obligations we have made. If we do our best and fail, it’s fine, because it’s about His success which often looks very different than ours.

We were created to be second, not first. Our sin nature is such that we easily put ourselves first without even thinking about it, which is why we often need to reset our hearts to honor Him. We do it by sincere prayer: “Father, honor Your Name through Me. May Your kingdom advance (not mine), may Your will be done (not mine), for Yours (not mine) is the kingdom, power, and glory forever.”

You may think that you lose all sense of yourself by setting your heart to honor God, but the opposite is true. Jesus said that whoever loses their life for His sake, will end up finding it. We were made to honor God so when we aim to do it, everything feels right.

Posted in 2Corinthians, Genesis, Revelation

Free From Shame

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I advise you to buy from Me… white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed.” Revelation 3:18

Jesus is speaking to the church at Laodicea who has lost any place of deep connection with Him. He actually pictures Himself outside the door of their hearts, knocking to gain entrance. Part of what is keeping them from opening the door is shame.

“The shame of your nakedness” is a reference to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. When God first placed them there, they were “naked and unashamed.” (Genesis 2:24) It was when they disobeyed God that shame came into their spirits and they looked around for things to hide themselves with.

When shame is on our spirit, even as Christians who love God, we live in a fear of being exposed as not good enough. Living in fear reduces our lives, so many don’t ever know or develop who they really are. Jesus is ready and waiting to take away the fear shame brings, so His children can put on the righteous robes He paid for. Paul writes: “He (the Father) made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21)

If you feel dirty, you will live dirty. Jesus wants us to feel clean on the inside so we don’t have to hide or pretend any more. He delights in us even though we are weak and immature – He’s knocking on the door because He wants to free us from the power of shame. Let’s open our hearts wide to His love and break all agreement with the enemy’s accusations over our lives.

Posted in John, Matthew, Psalms

The Benefits of the Good Shepherd

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” Psalm 23:1

In John 10 Jesus revealed that He was the good shepherd Psalm 23 was written about. There are three tremendous benefits in making the Lord our Shepherd:

  1. Security – Sheep are timid creatures and don’t eat or rest well when they’re afraid. When Jesus is truly our Shepherd we have somewhere to take our fears and can learn how to live our daily lives free from anxiety. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Through the forgiveness offered in the cross, Jesus takes away the fear of death by giving us eternal life now. Death becomes a promotion instead of an end and getting older no longer means we’re past our prime; we’re only getting closer to coming into it. In Christ, our best days are before us because we were created for eternity and not just time.
  2. Success – When the shepherd is not close by, sheep immediately form a butting order by which each sheep learns its place. Sheep won’t even lie down without the shepherd nearby because they’re afraid they’ll lose their place. The world’s definition of success is often about power, money, and fame, and it requires a lot of energy to protect one’s place. But Jesus redefines success for His people – “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” We only have to do the right thing in each situation we are in and live to honor His Name.  When we live to please God and make that our priority, “goodness and mercy will follow.” We always get in trouble when we seek God’s blessings instead of letting them follow us. Jesus said it this way: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
  3. Satisfaction – “My cup overflows.” Jesus said, “I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) God’s idea was that witnessing would be a very natural outflow of our satisfaction in Him. Is it a burden to tell someone about a movie or book you loved? The witness is spontaneous because you want those who you love to experience the blessing that you enjoyed in watching or reading. George Mueller said, “I consider the first duty of every day is to get my soul happy in God.”  Let’s do the same!
Posted in 1Samuel, 2Timothy, Acts

Breaking Intimidation

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Then the Philistine (Goliath) said, ‘This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.’ On hearing this, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.” 1Samuel 17:10-11

I believe there was a spirit of intimidation behind Goliath’s threats that still seeks to paralyze the people of God today. If we listen to our fears we will do little to advance the kingdom of God in our lives. The Bible tells us that David, “served the purpose of God in his own generation.” (Acts 13:36) He didn’t live a sinless life, but God was able to accomplish what He wanted through him. If we fulfill our purpose, it will be because we broke intimidation the same way David did. Consider with me three common sources of intimidation:

  1. The opinions of family. “When Eliab, David’s brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, ‘Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.’” (1Samuel 17:28) We love our families but we dare not allow their expectations to determine our destinies. It’s hard for them to see us beyond the role we played in the family growing up.
  2. The way others have done it. “‘I cannot go in these,’ David said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them.’ So he took them off.” (1Samuel 17:39) Saul put his own armor on David because that’s what Saul would have worn if he was fighting. Others have an opinion about us but it’s often based more on who they are then on who we are. We will never fulfill God’s purpose trying to be someone we’re not.
  3. The taunts of the enemy. How did David boldly confront the same enemy who had paralyzed the entire Israelite army for forty days? I believe the key is found in the previous chapter: “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” (1Samuel 16:13) The key to breaking intimidation is being filled with the Holy Spirit. We have nothing to fear, God has given us the Spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. (2Timothy 1:7)  Be yourself, filled with the Holy Spirit, and know with confidence that you and God can accomplish anything together.
Posted in 2Samuel, Acts, Psalms

What’s Your Dream?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” Psalm 27:4

David’s dream was that he would know the intimacy of God’s presence which is why he was called the man after God’s own heart.  His dream was to know God Himself. What’s yours?

David also had an assignment, in fact, it was a big one. He was appointed by God to be king in Israel which meant that he was responsible to lead and shepherd them, which he did with integrity and diligence (Psalm 78:72), but his assignment was never his dream.

This became evident when he sinned against God and was in danger of losing everything. In his prayer recorded in Psalm 51, he pleaded with God about his dream but never even mentioned his assignment: “Do not cast me from Your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me…” (Psalm 51:11) When Absalom was seeking to overthrow the kingdom, David fled, but made Zadok keep the ark in Jerusalem: “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, He will bring me back…”, but if not, “I am ready; let Him do whatever seems good to Him.” (2Samuel 15:26) David’s identity wasn’t in being king but in being God’s child. He didn’t have to fight to be or do something, He just wanted to be where God wanted him.

Acts tells us that David completed his assignment while on earth (Acts 13:36) and you should aim to fulfill yours as well, but I hope you don’t make it your dream. Making your assignment your dream will burn you out and all those who are around you because burn out is always the end result of putting the second commandment (Love your neighbor) before the first (Love God). But if we seek God Himself as our dream, like David did, we will find an abundance of grace to complete His assignment and all the glory will belong to Him.

Posted in Daniel, James, Psalms

The Humility of our Humanity

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16

God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a dream and then gave Daniel the interpretation to warn him about the brevity of his life. In the dream he was pictured as a head of gold, but Daniel explained that the reason why the metal changed at the shoulders was: “after you will arise another kingdom…” (Daniel 2:39) The king didn’t like this reminder of his humanity so he ordered that a ninety foot statue be made of himself out of pure gold, and then ordered those in his kingdom to bow down and worship it. He had those who would address him use this phrase before stating their business; “O king, live forever!” (Daniel 2:9)

God was very patient with this proud king revealing Himself in many ways until he finally came to a place of worship. Daniel records his words: “I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” (Daniel 4:37) I wonder if he had his servants remind him by changing the greeting to something like: “O king, you won’t live forever.”

When we remember how short our time on earth is, it is easier to live for the important things of eternity instead of the temporal things of this world. No wonder David prayed, “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am;” (Psalm 39:4) and Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

When we’re right with God we have no anxiety about the brevity of our lives because the best is yet to come!

Posted in Ephesians, Proverbs

Being Honest

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6

“Charm is deceitful…” Proverbs 31:30

We live in a culture where people are often offended so it is easy to become comfortable with being less than honest. Little white lies may smooth things over in the short run, but they eat away at our integrity. Charm is deceitful because it appears to be kindness; but it’s not. Charm has an agenda!  It’s nice to you because it wants something from you. If you don’t give charm what it desires, watch out. All those kisses had an agenda behind them that had nothing to do with loving you for your sake.

An enemy appears nice to you in person and then gossips behind your back. A friend wounds you in person, if they have to, and will defend you to the death behind your back. You and I can’t make people be loyal or genuine to us – that’s in their hands. What is ours to decide is what kind of person we are going to be. Are we always about our own agenda or are we willing to lay ourselves out for the sake of others? Will we say what needs to be said or only stick with what others want to hear so they’ll like us?

The truth can hurt which is why Paul encourages us to “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15) Just because something is true does not mean I need to say it right now or in front of other people. We need to be careful how we speak the truth, but we do need to speak it!

When I was in high school, Billy Joel was one of my favorite artists. Some lines from a song he wrote called Honesty come back to me: “Honesty is such a lonely word, everyone is so untrue; Honesty is hardly ever heard, it’s mostly what I need from you.”

Let’s purpose to be honest to God and honest to people. If we have an agenda let’s be forthright about it and not play games. I think we’ll stand out in a world that seems comfortable with deceit.

Posted in John, Psalms, Romans

Natural Disasters

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” Romans 8:20-22

As we witness earthquakes, volcanoes, and hurricanes around the world,  the age old question arises: Is this an act of God? Was this somehow God judging people for not responding to the gospel? Or maybe His way of preparing them for the gospel? We know God could have stopped the disaster, but did He intentionally plan it? Or was this an act of Satan? Do demonic forces somehow have the power to bring about disasters according to their mission statement of “kill, steal, and destroy?” (John 10:10)

I believe it’s neither God or the devil, but a result of the curse which came on this earth when Adam and Eve sinned. In nature we see evidence of the beauty of our God, but also evidence of the ravages of the fall. Very similar to what we see in mankind.

Although neither God nor Satan directly causes disasters, in my opinion, both kingdoms are very active in the aftermath. Darkness will use tragedy in human minds as proof that God doesn’t love them, or that God doesn’t exist at all. It will try to bring despair, survivor’s guilt, bitterness, etc., anything to lead precious people who Jesus died for away from the help only He can bring.

What is God doing? “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) Notice it doesn’t say, “Close to the brokenhearted if they’re Christians,” or “if they’re praying.” He is unconditionally close to the brokenhearted whether or not they even believe in Him. He is speaking gently to hearts about His love; He is bringing comfort beyond comprehension; He is raising up individuals and governments to help; and yes, He will use tragedy to show people that they can’t put their trust in anything man builds or guarantees.

One day soon Jesus will not only liberate the children of God from their sin nature, He will remove the curse from creation itself, and then the lion will lay with the lamb.