Stay focused on heaven!
This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
Back to the “Glimpse of a Stairway” (after a diversion yesterday for Leap Day!)
Jacob was on the run. He had ticked off his brother (to put it mildly). His parents wanted him to find a wife from their own people in Haran. He didn’t know when he would be back or if he would be back. It seems he left with some simple provisions and what he could carry. At the end of a long day of travel, he laid down to rest.
Certainly the dream that the Lord showed him was a dream to remind him of God’s presence and his promises. But it wasn’t just to be a one night event. God wanted to change his focus.
Jacob had been focused on doing things his way. A bit of deception and trickery to get what he wanted. Sure it was couched under the “godly” category because he was to be the child of the promise. But there was a lack of trust God would work it out. Jacob saw things from an earthly perspective and figured out earthly solutions to work out what he understood God’s plan to be.
Did Jacob continue to struggle with this throughout his life? Yes, he did. But this dream and this place were to serve a purpose to reorient his focus.
Like a child standing at the base of a stairway looking up, wondering what is up there, is Jacob standing at the base of the stairway God showed him to view his Lord at the top. God didn’t want him to forget this perspective.
He doesn’t want us to forget this perspective.
Every child of God is given a new focus when they are made alive through the working of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God shifts our eyes to look up and see what is in heaven and focus on that rather than simply walking through life with our heads down. The Apostle Paul put it this way (Colossians 3:1-3):
3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Set your hearts on things above. Set your mind on things above.
Here’s what I picture. A young toddler has never ventured by himself up the stairs. As they are sitting at the bottom of the stairs, their yearning and desire to get up the stairs grow. Finally the fears are overcome by the desire of their heart and they start climbing. If they look back, they get stuck and don’t keep moving, but if they keep their eyes focused up and their mind set on getting to the top, they keep going.
This is the resolve that Christ gives us as he gives us the privilege of living with the reality of the stairway to heaven given to us. While our hearts and minds are tempted to stay focused on this earth, the Lord at the top encourages us to keep our hearts and minds focused on him.
What happens? We go through life enjoying the presence and promises of God, just like Jacob did. We go through life realizing we have the gateway to heaven secured in Jesus. We go through life anticipating the glorious day when we will be with the Lord all because Jesus has done all that is necessary for us to enjoy not just a dream, but the reality that God has given to us his Son, the Stairway to heaven!
Apply: What might you do as a daily reminder to keep your heart and mind focused on Christ?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for all the wonderful pictures you have used to communicate your love and commitment to us. Thank you for sending Jesus to this earth so that he might be our Stairway to spend an eternity with you in heaven! AMEN.
An “Extra” day of Grace!
This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
Happy February 29!
This unique day occurs every four years as the calendar catches up with the orbit of the earth around the sun. Every year is actually 365.2421 days…so every four years the short month of February gets one extra day…Leap year!
Since this day comes around only once every four years, permit a few devotional musings about the day…
- Leap day reminds us that the Lord determines the days, not man.
On day four of creation, God set the sun, moon and stars in the sky to be the time keepers of the world he was creating. The periods of light and dark would now be governed by the sun and the moon. These would serve as “signs to mark sacred times, days and years.”
Genesis 1:4 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
- Leap day is a reminder that even our calendar is governed by the Lord of Creation, not arbitrary divisions of man or the product of random chance.
We know that leap years come every four years. However, over the centuries the calendar would still be off by 11 minutes a year. So in the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII commissioned what we know as the “Gregorian Calendar” which kept the every four year leap day, but eliminated it in years not divisible by 400. So 2100 will NOT be a leap year (for all you toddlers and teens who may be alive then, please note this anomaly!) What is amazing about the world the Lord created is that the time of orbit doesn’t change. Man has just been playing with the calendar to accurately mark what God has created. God reminded Job that the movement of the heavenly bodies was his doing, not Jobs…nor ours.
Job 38:31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? 32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?
- Leap day is a unique day to pause and give thanks to God for every day he allows us to enjoy…even the “extra” ones.
Sometimes it’s the unique components of our lives that lead us to pause and reflect. An “extra day” every four years is one of those opportunities. We are reminded like the writer of Psalm 118 (verse 24): This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Perhaps we look back and wonder where all the days have gone, but days like this are a reminder that every day is a gift of God and testimony to his faithfulness:
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Enjoy today, an “extra day” to enjoy the blessings of the God who created this day…just for you!
Apply: Take time to pause today to reflect on the unique blessings of this leap day. Be reminded of the God who created the order of time for you to enjoy each day!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for creating a wonderful design and order to creation and giving it to me to enjoy today…and every day! AMEN.
Getting right with God?
This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
A stairway spans a gap between two places. It can be two floors of a building or the distance between the floor and a shelf out of reach. It allows someone to go where they wouldn’t have been able to without the assistance of the ladder or stairway.
The dream that God gave Jacob had the ladder that extended from the throne of God to earth. The stairway is what connected the two places.
So why is that significant?
First the two places are heaven, where God is, and earth, where sinful mankind dwells. The conscience God put inside each one of us has a natural tendency to want to “be right with God.” It leads us to try to construct ways or ladders to get from where we are to the presence of a holy God.
The reality is that what man has come up with is a flimsy ladder at best or a ladder that is insufficient to span the gap. Some try to make ladders out of their own performance thinking that if one does more good than bad, eventually there will be a rung that reaches to the dwelling of God. Some try to compare their ladders with others and conclude that as long as their ladder built on their performance is longer than 50% of others, they are good. The problem with man-made ladders is they all “fall short” of the presence of God. The standard of the ladder that spans earth to heaven is perfection. God said the only ladder that will gain access is one that is unblemished by sin. God said the only ladder that will gain access is one on which perfect people walk.
We meet neither of these criteria.
Romans 3:22,23 There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
So without a pathway to heaven we can build on our own, we are helpless without God sending a stairway on which we can walk.
The amazing thing about the dream given to Jacob is a glimpse of the stairway that God made which extends from heaven to earth.
So what is this a glimpse of? The saving life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He is the one who came from heaven to bring us to heaven.
As Jesus was interacting with his disciples on the night before he went to the cross he told them he was going to heaven and would then take them to heaven. Unsure, Thomas asks the following and Jesus’ response identifies for us who was the stairway pictured in Jacob’s dream.
John 14:1-6 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The only stairway that gives complete confidence to a sinful soul is the perfect stairway Jesus made to bring us from this earth to the throne of God forever!
Apply: What insight into Jesus do you have when you consider him as the stairway from you to God?
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for making it possible for me to come to you through the perfect life, innocent death and glorious resurrection of Jesus. AMEN.
Angels…coming and going!
This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
Genesis 28:12 [Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
On Sunday, I didn’t spend time talking about the angels that were going up and down on the stairway, but it deserves some reflection.
God could have given Jacob a dream of himself in heaven and just spoken the words of promise and affirmed his presence, but he chooses to use the stairway and has angels ascending and descending to and from the throne of God. Why do you think?
As I think of how and where angels show up in the history of the Bible, it seems they show up to do two things: Proclaim and Protect.
The angel Gabriel came to Mary to proclaim to her that she would be the mother of Jesus. The angels came to Abraham and told him he would have a child and that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed. An angel came to Zechariah to tell him he would have a son named John. The book of Revelation has many examples of the angels sent to proclaim words to the seven churches in Asia Minor.
However the key thing is that these are not messages that the angels came up with on their own. They are bringing words from the very voice of God to God’s people. Consider Gabriel’s opening words to Mary: Luke 1:19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
Part of the power of the vision God showed Jacob was the fact that communication was open between him and God. Whether it was direction from God himself or from one of his angels, God’s desire was for Jacob to receive his words. This was the case as Jacob was returning and encountered the angels of God:
Genesis 32:1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.
Angels are also for protection. Consider the words of the psalmist in Psalm 91:11-12:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. There are numerous examples, but perhaps a familiar one is Daniel in the lions den when he was asked how he survived, replied (Daniel 6:22), “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
Perhaps it’s easy to think, “Yeah that was in Bible times, but not today.” Perhaps in some ways the direct revelation and interaction has shifted to the words of the Bible, but we know that the angels of God are still actively ascending and descending from the throne of God to carry out the will of God among God’s people. The writer to the Hebrews posed (1:14), “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
They are. You can live each day with the confidence not only that you have a God who loves you, but a God who sends his angels to serve you…to bring you messages of his Word and protection of his power.
Apply: Perhaps you have not had a direct encounter with an angel, but can you think of a time in life where your life was spared from harm and you thought, “God must have sent an angel.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love that is willing to command your angels to watch over and protect me. AMEN.
Where’s the Stairs?
This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Stairway! (WATCH HERE)
If one were to ask you for all the names and images that come to mind when you think about the person and work of Jesus, I would guess that it would take a while to make the list of Jesus as a stairway. Good Shepherd? Sure. Light of the World? Absolutely. Stairway? Uhh…what do you mean?
A stairway allows us access to an area of the building or house that we could not access without the stairway. We grab a ladder to get to places we can’t reach on our own. A stairway spans a gap that otherwise would not be accessible.
The Lord chose to use the picture of a stairway with Jacob when he was on the run from his home to his Uncle Laban. Jacob’s twin brother, Esau, was ready to kill Jacob because he had tricked him out of his birthright and tricked Isaac into blessing him as if he were Jacob. Esau was restraining himself until Isaac died, but it was not safe for Jacob at home. With a day’s journey behind him and the quiet of the night and the reality of his situation on his heart, he laid down to sleep.
Genesis 28:10–17 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
As the LORD extends the ladder from his throne to Jacob on earth, he communicates, not a distance, but a desire that Jacob know of his presence and promises. With words that once again communicate his promises, the angels bring the messages of God to Jacob.
God could choose many different pictures to reach out to Jacob and assure him of his presence and promises, but he chose a stairway. The stairway connected Jacob to the throne of God. The stairway connected the presence of God to the loneliness of Jacob. The stairway connected the words of God to the heart of Jacob. The stairway created a picture of the work of God spanning the gap between sinful humanity and the holiness of God. The stairway was a glimpse of the person and work of Jesus…more to come this week!
Apply: What picture does a stairway bring to you? What do you think God was communicating to Jacob and us with the use of a stairway?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for spanning the gap between heaven and earth to be with us and guide us with your promises. Let the picture of a stairway for the work of Christ become real for us this week. AMEN.