Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Scripture
And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
“Amen!
Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!” Revelation 7:10-12

Observation
“Do I look like I need saving?” Those are the words of a skeptic after hearing the words, “Jesus saves.” Salvation seems irrelevant until we move closer to God. It is with those who are closest to him, to those who are on the front row of heaven, salvation is the only thing that matters. Salvation is the one thing that fills their songs: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” If salvation is the only thing we sing about after we die, then it must mean more in this life than we know.

What is salvation? The answer is found in the rest of the song.

Salvation is blessing spoken by God over our lives.
Salvation is the heavy glory of God weighing us down.
Salvation is wisdom in confusion.
Salvation is thanksgiving in hard times.
Salvation is honor when we humble ourselves.
Salvation is the right to do something we are afraid to do.
Salvation is strength to do something we are too weak to do.

Application
Reading this list, I need salvation today. Salvation is found in God and is at the center of heaven. Today as I worship I will be calling more on the God who saves.

Prayer
Father, save me. That is your core nature. I choose to take full advantage of it now. Amen.

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Scripture
But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“Let God be exalted!” Psalm 70:4

Observation
Do we enjoy our problems as much as we ought to? Are we living up to our privileges of joy? I think the answer lies in the direction of our prayers.

If we are seeking an answer, then we won’t be smiling on our way to a solution. Instead, with furrowed brow, we will plow ahead looking for the answer. If however we are seeking the Lord, then the problem becomes a delightful excuse to be with him.

Application
What a perspective change that is. The reason I face problems is to give me excuse to spend time pondering with God. The fellowship that happens in concern is rich. Relationships are always stronger when there is something to do. There is more relationship bonding that happens over a problem than in a party. Problems bring people together, so why should they not enhance our relationship with the Lord.

Prayer
Father, fellowship with me over the problems you have given me to enjoy this day. Amen.

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Scripture
So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern… There was no water in the cistern, but there was a lick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it. Jeremiah 38:6

…This is what the Lord has revealed to me: All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying, ‘What fine friends you have They have betrayed and misled you. When your feet sank in the mud, they left you to your fate!’” Jeremiah 38:21-22

Observation
Jeremiah had such open spiritual ears, that the could hear God even at the bottom of a hole. Wading in mud. No solid place to stand. Slimy walls too slick to climb. Centipedes, crawling things and the smell of mould. The mud pit was not an ideal place for spiritual insight or encounter with God. Yet at the bottom, Jeremiah heard God speak clearest to him.

At ground level not a single politician could see what was coming. Babylon was marching. The city would be destroyed. The people would become refugees. Buildings would be burned. But at ground level life went on as usual. To give perspective, God let his man be dumped at the bottom to see what others could not and would not see.

Jeremiah came from the pit with a message for the king. One day the friends around him would abandon him. The king, now so sought after, would himself land in a prison cell. He would sink in the mud. Now was the time for right decisions.

Application
I want to be a man who can hear God speak anywhere. There are times God gives us a mountain top to give us a clear view. But there are other times he lowers us below ground level to isolate us with himself. If we can hear him speak there, we will hear him anywhere.

Prayer
Father, I open my ears to hear you speak today. Amen.

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Scripture
While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the men I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness. ” ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. Jeremiah 33:1-6

Observation
Jeremiah saw the future from a confined place. He was locked up on police headquarters. It was hard to see. It was difficult to think. It was impossible to pray. But in that place, Jeremiah saw into the future. The government now bent on silencing him would fall. The city around him would lie in ruins. But beyond all of that would come God’s sovereign hand of rescue. That was a long ways for an imprisoned prophet to see ahead.

There are tight confines of life that keep us from seeing ahead. The Jeremiah secret is this: call out to the Lord. Raise your voice to heaven. Let your request be heard. Sound out with more courage than you feel. From the darkness beg for light. From the silence ask for a voice. In the fog seek direction. In the howling wind search for peace. Prayer is an act of defiance of circumstances that shouts above the storm to our God who hears us.

When we call, he will answer. As a mother responds to her baby’s cry, so the Lord will hear and rescue us. Rest in the assurance that God will answer. The promise is that the prayers we defiantly pray in difficult times will reveal to us greater things than we would have heard any other time. It is odd, but the best answers to prayer come in the most difficult times. He will show us great things, bigger than we can accomplish. He will reveal to us mighty things, too powerful for us to attain.

Application
Today I will lift up my voice to be heard.

Prayer
Father, hear me calling out to you today Lord. Amen.

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Scripture
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. 1 John 3:18-20 The Message

Observation
Self-criticism. This is a parasite peculiar to Christians. We welcome the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We know how to humble ourselves when he speaks and change our ways. But self-criticism attempts to do the work of the Holy Spirit with self-effort. If we can probe and analyze, then perhaps we can catch sin in our hearts before God does. What looks like something with good intent can be in fact a blockage to God’s working in our hearts. Self-criticism is not the Holy Spirit. Feelings of condemnation in the heart are not the voice of God.

So how can we know if we are pleasing the Lord? Simple. Just measure the love in our heart.

How can we measure the love in our heart without more analysis? Simple. Just look in your planner, your bank statement and your phone record. What have you done with time and money that demonstrates the love of God to others?

Love is not emotion, it is action. Action is measurable. We either loved or we did not.

Application
I just did a quick review of this past week. I met with many people and did many activities, but when I review the list I came up with these things that seemed to be particularly love-filled:

16.5 hours of time with people
$32 of gifts to others (plus my tithes and offerings)
4 phone calls
4 emails
5 FaceBook messages

At least I’m alive, but I can’t say my record is stellar in love for others. I need to be more proactive, particularly in contacting others to encourage them and in gifts toward others.

Prayer
Father, I want my love to be visible. Can you remind me when I forget to make it tangible? Please keep my love alive. Amen.

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Okay this song is old, but it still works. Steve Green in 1987.

Scripture
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me? Psalm 118:6

Observation
“What can man do to me?”

It’s not possible to make that statement until we have first said with conviction, “What can man do for me?”

Most of us are hung up on the second one. We think that someone with more strings to pull than we have can do more for us than God. A friend. A boss. A rich person. An influential person. A hero. A bank manager. We are afraid of people because we have not overcome our emotional need of their support.

When we fully grasp who is with us, it is possible to deal with who is against us. If God is for us, whom else do we need? What possibly could they offer to us? When the Lord becomes my complete resource in finances, in affirmation, in companionship, in wisdom, in protection and more then I can live in the absence of those things from others. Obsession with the competency of God brings an indifference to what others offer or don’t offer us.

Application
What can anyone do for me that God has not done or will do completely?

Prayer
Father, I trust you as my only and best resource.

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Scripture
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always. Psalm 105:3-4

Observation
Look up! That is best medicine heaven can offer for all human ills. No matter how perplexing our circumstances may be, we are called to look up as a hope to find the way forward.

We are to look not just to the sky but to the Lord. The word is spelt in all caps because this is more than just a title; this is the unspeakable name of God. Yahweh. He is the covenant making and covenant keeping God. He remembers promises and fulfills them long after we have forgotten them. We are to look up to the LORD of heaven. He remembers his promises to us. He will bring them to pass.

These two little verses are filled with choice phrases.
…look to his strength. Praise empowers us with strength beyond ourselves.
…glory in his holy name. We can glory in ourselves, our achievements, our accomplishments, or we can brag about the nature and character of God.
…let the hearts…rejoice. I love the word “rejoice”. It means to take joy all over again in things God has done. By remembering his deliverance in the past we have hope for the future.
…seek his face. Push through fears and the opinions of others. What is Jesus thinking? What is Jesus feeling?

Application
Today I will look up to heaven, to the covenant making and covenant keeping God and enjoy him.

Prayer
Father, I choose today to enjoy you. Your only expectation of me is that this is the day you’ve made and I will rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.

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