Posted in Genesis, John

Foreshadows

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22:2

Genesis promises redemption both by what God says to Abraham, “in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed,” (Genesis 12:3) and by events that foreshadow His bigger plan.

First, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham which means, “Father of many nations.” Abraham foreshadows what the Father in heaven will do when He takes His Son, His only Son, and sacrifices Him for our salvation.

Isaac foreshadows Jesus, the only beloved Son of God. He goes up a mountain in the region of Moriah (Calvary is one of the mounts in this region) with wood on his back placed there by his father. (Genesis 22:6) When he asks, “Where is the lamb for sacrifice,” Abraham responds, “God Himself will provide the lamb.” (Genesis 22:7-8) When Abraham lifts the knife to kill his son, an angel stops him, and Abraham then sees a male lamb in a thicket caught by its horns. As that lamb was sacrificed, I can almost see tears in the eyes of the heavenly Father who knows His Son will be the Lamb He provides for the sins of the world.

After this powerful foreshadowing of Calvary, Abraham sends his servant back to his relatives in Haran to get a bride for his son. This unnamed servant represents the Holy Spirit who will be sent back to earth to prepare a bride for the Son of God. The servant brings a small sampling of wealth in his invitation to Rebekah, explaining that his abundantly wealthy master has left everything to his son. (Genesis 25:36) Jesus says, “All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you.” (John 16:15)

Rebekah foreshadows us. The servant asked Abraham, “What if the woman will not come back with me?” Abraham said, “if she refuses, you will be released from my oath.” (Genesis 25:41) The Holy Spirit has authority to invite but not to force. When the servant explains that the invitation is urgent and that he will leave the next morning with or without her, her family asks Rebekah, “Will you go with this man?” (Genesis 25:58) Rebekah then leaves all security she has in her circumstances and goes with this servant on a journey that will end in her being the bride of the father’s only son. Amazingly, nothing less than this happens when we genuinely answer the Spirit’s call today.

Posted in Colossians, Galatians, Hebrews

The Old Self

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:8-10

One day  my wife gave me her strong opinion on my favorite apparel, “I don’t want you to wear those sweaters any more. They make you look old.” She continued with conviction: “In fact, one day they’re just not going to be in your closet anymore.”

I love sweaters and especially my sweaters. They all fit me perfectly and most were birthday or Christmas presents because my family knows I love to wear them. What’s worse is that all of these sweaters were in my winter starting line-up of what to wear to work. They were practically part of me.

Hebrews 12:1 talks about easily besetting sins that need to be put off or they will hinder us in our race. Each of us have different easily besetting or comfortable sins. Think of them as sweaters in your closet – there’s one called lust, another anger, there’s hatred and slander, lying, filthy talk, and addiction; and then, of course, there’s pride. Often there’s one that fits so well it seems like it’s part of us.

The problem with these sweaters is they make us look like the old self. It’s confusing to the world when we claim to be Christians but don’t look like Christians. Why didn’t Alice just remove those sweaters from my closet? She didn’t want to violate relationship. If she removed the sweaters against my will, I might resent it. She gave her opinion but left them there, so that ultimately it would be my choice. God does the same with our old self. Paul is writing to Christians when he says to take off the old self and put on the new. God won’t do it for us.

Alice bought me new clothes to wear. She didn’t just tell me to put off the old; she purchased new clothes that she likes on me. Jesus has done the same. Here are some of the clothes available for the new self to put on: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) Jesus bought these clothes with His own blood so we could be and look, new in Him.

Every day we need to look in our closet, reject the old self and put on the new. It will get easier and easier in this life, and in eternity, those sweaters won’t even be there anymore!

Posted in 1Timothy, Hebrews, Job, John

The Mediator

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Job 9:32-35

The longing of Job was for a mediator. Someone who could stand in the gap between him and God. Someone who could remove God’s judgment and then place one hand on God and one on him to bring them together. This longing, which is also the need of all human beings, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jesus was God, the eternal Son. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1; 14) Jesus was and is fully God. When the Jews asked Him if He had seen Abraham, He replied, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8:58) This is a clear reference to God’s Name in the Old Testament.

But Jesus was also a man. Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus was “made perfect.” How could God be anything less than perfect? He was always perfect as God, but to become the perfect mediator He had to become a human being. “Once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest.” (Hebrews 5:9) As our priest He offered the perfect sacrifice for sins, Himself. He needed to be God because He had to take the place of the whole human race; and He had to be man because it was man who had sinned. This sacrifice removed God’s wrath from all humanity and transformed God’s throne into a place of grace instead of judgment. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man. We don’t have to understand the mystery of who He is to believe and worship. “There is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, the man Christ Jesus.” (1Timothy 2:5)

Posted in John, Mark, Philippians

Embracing the Cross

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it.” Mark 8:34-35

Sometimes people refer to their difficulties as, “their cross to bear”, and assume that they’re bearing it just by going through the trouble. But the cross, to be a cross like our Lord’s, is something you must take up and bear of your own free will. Jesus said about His life, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.” (John 10:18)

You and I don’t choose the trouble that comes to us in various forms, but we do choose how we will deal with it. When we grumble, complain, blame, and get frustrated, angry, or depressed it’s evidence that we are still very much on the throne of our lives.  God’s inviting us to embrace suffering like Jesus did, knowing that this identification will lead to knowing Him more intimately, and result in a deeper faith in us. (See Philippians 3:10)

Francois de Fenelon, one of the great spiritual leaders of the 17th century, gave this wisdom to a struggling disciple:

“I am sorry to hear of your troubles, but I am sure you realize that you must carry the cross with Christ in this life. Soon enough there will come a time when you will no longer suffer. You will reign with God and He will wipe away your tears with His own hand. In His presence, pain and sighing will forever flee away.

So while you have the opportunity to experience difficult trials, do not lose the slightest opportunity to embrace the cross. Learn to suffer in humility and in peace. Your deep self-love makes the cross too heavy to bear. Learn to suffer with simplicity and a heart full of love. If you do you will not only be happy in spite of the cross, but because of it. Love is pleased to suffer for the Well-Beloved. The cross which conforms you into His image is a consoling bond of love between you and Him.” (100 Days in the Secret Place; page 21)

Posted in Colossians, Hebrews, Isaiah

Living from God’s Presence 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own works, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest…” Hebrews 4:9-11

At the beginning of 2015, I felt the Lord highlight this Scripture with a stream of thoughts about its application in my life. I’m a list person, so God seems to speak to me in lists!

  1. I want you to do less and accomplish more.
  2. I want you to speak less and say more.
  3. I want you to rationalize less and risk more.

I am still unpacking exactly how to live these three phrases out, but I’d love to give a few thoughts on each one that may serve to inspire your journey as well.

  1. “Do less and accomplish more.” This was a call to stop striving in my own power usually motivated by the fear of not being good enough. Jesus was good enough and He is our Sabbath rest. In the Old Covenant they rested on a day; in the New Covenant we are called to rest in a Person. (Colossians 2:16-17) Remember: God can accomplish more in a moment than man, apart from God, can accomplish in a lifetime.
  2. “Speak less and say more.” Our life’s posture should be listening before speaking. Many words of our own will dilute the power of a few words inspired by God. Isaiah 50:4 is a goal for me: “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen…” We live in a culture that is worn out by many words. One “word” that is actually from God has the power to sustain the weary.
  3. “Rationalize less and risk more.” We are living as the beloved, not as those trying to earn love. This is a safe place. Yet the kingdom can only advance by acts of faith, so someone has to step out of their comfort zone and take a risk when they feel God might be speaking. We were created to live hosting His Presence. The more we practice living out of this place, the better we will be at it and the more of the beauty and power of heaven will be released on earth through regular people like you and me.
Posted in Luke

Encountering Jesus 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other: ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” Luke 24:31-32

It was resurrection day but these two disciples were sad and discouraged because they didn’t yet believe. It took an encounter, a revelation, for them to truly believe Jesus was alive and the Savior of the world.

A few years ago I was in Belize when I experienced this truth first hand in the life of a young mom. She asked for prayer at the end of the service and told me the problem was her right wrist. A bone had come out of joint and she was very limited in the use of her arm because there was a lot of pain if she twisted it to the left or right. I laid my hands on it and prayed a very short prayer releasing God’s healing presence in Jesus Name. I asked her to test it and when she did, she found she could move it back and forth more easily but said there was still some pain. I prayed another short prayer and tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“The pain is gone,” she said as she demonstrated full movement of her hands and wrist by twisting them to the right and left. We also prayed that the bone which was sticking up would go back down but nothing additional happened.

This woman (who gave me permission to share her story) works in the kitchen for the missionaries we were visiting so a few days later during breakfast I asked her to tell the story of what happened. She told me that after she became pregnant, a year earlier, the father of her baby was abusive and had twisted her arm in a way that the bone was moved out of joint but she never went to the doctor. She had just lived with the pain and restricted mobility.

The first time I prayed for her she said she felt pain go out of her fingertips. The second time we prayed she felt the rest of the pain leave and knew she was healed.

“The reason for the tears was that I always wanted to believe God was real. When my wrist was healed I knew it for sure.” She told me that when she woke up the next morning the bone was back in place as well and then showed me that both wrists now looked the same.

God encountered this precious young woman in a way that she would forever know it was Him. He is risen!

Posted in Galatians

Stand Firm

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, therefore, in your freedom and don’t become enslaved again to a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

When I was 44 I started having back pain I couldn’t get rid of. I complained about it, prayed about it, and had others pray for it, yet it persisted. My wife told me to go to the chiropractor several times, so eventually I humbled myself and went.

The chiropractor made an adjustment to my back that I could never have performed myself. I literally heard something snap in my back and felt something move into place that had been out of alignment. I was thankful and ready to leave, but the doctor wasn’t done. He told me to stop carrying a wallet in my back pocket and gave me a list of exercises to start doing so my back would stay in place.

How intrusive! I just wanted to feel better; I wasn’t looking for a new lifestyle, so I ignored his instructions and went on with my life. The problem was that my back started hurting again in a few weeks, and I had to return. I didn’t want him to know I disobeyed his instructions, so I left my wallet in my coat pocket before going in to see him.

After the appointment, I realized I had a decision to make. I could either spend my life going back for adjustments or change my lifestyle. Today, I use a money clip and have a regimen of exercises I do every morning for my back. I haven’t needed an adjustment in years.

God loves us so much He sent Jesus to die on the cross to free us from our sins. Only Jesus can make the adjustment in our lives that aligns us in a right relationship with God, and if we fall back into sin, He is more than willing to forgive us and put us back into alignment. But God has something more for us. He wants us to learn how to live in alignment and not have to be constantly repenting. He wants us to stand firm in the freedom He has won for us and never live in bondage again.

The world is too proud to come to Jesus for an adjustment. The church is often too apathetic to make lifestyle changes that would allow us to walk every day in the freedom Christ died for. Let’s shake off unbelief and apathy; let’s purpose to get free, and then to live free, for God’s glory and our good.

Posted in 1Corinthians, John, Luke, Mark, Psalms

An Intimate Appearance

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him just as He told you.’” Mark 16:7

Jesus told His disciples at the last supper that He would meet them in Galilee after His resurrection. The angel is repeating what he overheard Jesus Himself say to them at this last meeting, but he has also witnessed the devastation of Peter. His instructions from heaven evidently include this special reference to the fallen leader who has denied Christ three times after promising to die for Him: “…tell the disciples and Peter.”

Jesus, Himself, appeared first to Mary Magdalene, not in Galilee, but in Jerusalem on the day He was resurrected. This appearance was unpromised and unexpected. He also appeared the same day to two men on the road to Emmaus. And then, that same night, as the two of them were retelling their story, He appeared to all of them (except Thomas), and the details of this visit are given to us in Scripture as well. (See Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20)

But there is one appearance that happened where we are given no details. Jesus appeared personally, on resurrection day, to Peter. Two different New Testament authors reference this appearance, but give us no specifics. In Luke 24:34, while the men who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus were telling their story, the disciples respond by saying: “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon (Peter).” In 1Corinthians 15, Paul is referencing all the resurrection appearances to men, and says: “I passed on to you…that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the others…” (1Corinthians 15:4-5)

Why aren’t we told of this interaction with Peter? What did Jesus say to him? What did Peter say? Maybe there are some interactions with the Lord that are so intimate they aren’t for others to hear about.

Here’s what we know for sure: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) He loved Peter so much that He singled him out on the most important day in history. He took time to come close and restore one who was being crushed by his own sin and failure. Isn’t He amazing?

Posted in John, Matthew, Revelation

Twice His

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door I will come in…” Revelation 3:20

A boy and his father carved out a toy sailboat from a block of wood. The boy had great delight in his creation so he put his initials on the bottom, and the toy became almost like a friend to him. He carried it with him during the day and kept it by his side when he slept at night.

One day a tragic thing happened. While the son was playing with his boat in the river behind the house, it got away from him. He ran to the house to tell his father and together, they searched downstream to no avail. But months later they attended an auction at a neighboring town farther down the river, and the son saw that a toy sailboat was being auctioned. Could it be? He ran over to it, turned it over, and was overjoyed when he saw his initials. He put it back on the shelf and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would own that boat again. Whatever this toy was worth to someone else, it was worth more to him. He would gladly give all he had to own his boat again.

After winning the auction, we could say that the boat belonged to the boy a twice over – once on the basis of creation and a second time on the basis of redemption. God feels the same way about you and me. In great love, the Father and the Son created us by the Spirit and the mark of their design is all over us. Your brain, eyes, skin, muscles, and internal organs are all proof that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. But sin has taken us down the river from a holy God removing us from His presence, but not from His thoughts. He planned our redemption and paid for it when He gave His life for our sins.

He has already paid for our redemption but refuses to make us go with Him. He calls (Matthew 22:14), enlightens (John 1:9), draws (John 12:32), and knocks (Revelation 3:20), but He won’t push, grab, force, or manipulate. The part of our salvation He delights in is us saying, “yes,” in response to His grace, with our own free will. It doesn’t matter how far down the river of sin you are. It doesn’t matter how deep your doubts, how evil your thoughts, or how blasphemous your words have been. He still loves you and in His mind you belong to Him twice.

Posted in Revelation

Blood Colored Glasses

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Revelation 12:10-11

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “rose colored glasses.” It’s a derogatory term signifying that someone refuses to live in the real world. To protect themselves, people can simply choose to not acknowledge evil, pain, and tragedy that is happening all around them. This is a survival device and is convenient because if I don’t see problems, I am not responsible to help solve them. If I don’t allow for brokenness in human beings, I don’t have to be part of their healing.

God’s plan for us is not denial, but redemption. The enemy is an accuser and he’s very effective because of the truth in his accusations. Things really are bad; you really did commit that sin; that tragedy really did happen… His case seems airtight which allows us to justify a response of despair and even joining with his accusations of those around us in the name of, “I’m just telling the truth.”

But the accuser never tells the whole truth. The whole truth includes the fact that God loves us and Jesus died for us. My sins have been paid for on the cross and so have yours and so have the sins of everyone you know. Evil is happening but it won’t win. Tragedy happens, but God can also work in and through all things if we allow Him to.

When we put on blood colored glasses, we see the world as God does; through His redemption. There’s no person so lost they couldn’t be saved; there’s no problem so big, it can’t be solved; and there is no death that can’t be the seed of a greater resurrection. Let’s take off the rose colored glasses that cause us to be blind, and let’s take off the dark glasses of accusation that cause us to despair. It’s time to embrace our redemption and bring the good news to all who are hurting around us in this difficult world.