Daily Bread

Friday, August 10, 2012

Thank God for Love!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When somebody important loves you and tells you so, you are flooded with happiness. As a wise writer once said, such love is a precious gift from Jesus. It begins with mother and father loving you; but we are to "leave ... father and ... mother, and cleave" to that other somebody important. Thank God for love!

But can you imagine how the biblical Daniel felt when a holy angel from heaven addressed him, "O man greatly beloved," individually, especially (9:23; 10:11, 19). At this time, it was Medo-Persian rule. Likely, his three loyal friends of youth, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, were no longer around (we never hear of them again). He was lonely, still in exile, engulfed with perpetual paganism all around him, hated, envied by the leadership of the nation; he probably had no family; he had suffered an intimate personal violence unspeakable for a Hebrew—castrated in his teenage youth, apparently abandoned of heaven as a deserved spoil of divine national retribution.

But now an angel as a personal friend (unusual!?) throws into a conversation parenthetically this tidbit of information—the intelligences of heaven, what Paul calls "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Eph. 3:15), talk about him behind his back in endearing terms. He means something special at the headquarters office of God. They love him as an individual!

Daniel's "works" did not evoke this special affection; it was his faith. He was respected as a kind of hero; when he had prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem he had risked his life for devotion to this "family in heaven" (6:10). When he went into the lions' den it was with a committed resignation, partly in trust that the Lord might deliver him, partly as surrender in case his being devoured by beasts might somehow honor God (as with Christians later in the days of pagan Rome). This reliance on God as "Father in heaven" knit Daniel's soul with that of the Son of God who from eternity had committed Himself to be one with us. He was "greatly loved" by Him, and the angel realized it.

Wait on your knees, "wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14). The same angel has a word for you, too. Your happiness will lead you to total obedience to all God's commandments, to loving service (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 14, 2006.

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Thursday, August 09, 2012

In Thanks, What Will You Do for Him?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

That divine cry of dereliction on Christ's cross, "My God. Why have You forsaken Me?" is the world's moment of truth. In becoming the Son of man, the Son of God became our second Adam, the new corporate Head of the human race. When the first Adam sinned in Eden, "we" sinned in him, because each of us is "adam"--that is our name. Each of us is his fallen descendant; he could do nothing other than pass on to us his fallen, sinful nature in alienation from his Creator, destined to "perish" eternally.

From Christ's birth in Bethlehem, He lived in the sunshine of oneness with God. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government [of the world and of the universe] shall be upon His shoulder" (Isa. 9:6, KJV). But He took on His sinless nature our sinful nature that He might meet the awful problem of sin in our flesh, sin's last lair; God sent Him "unto us" "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, [He] condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). As our second Adam, Christ won the awful battle.

But now as Head of the human race He enters into the darkness of hell on His cross, dying our death, doing what in John 3:16 He says He doesn't want us to do--He tastes what it means to "perish." It's terrible beyond any words. We can't grasp it unless we understand Galatians 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written [quoting Moses], Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (cf. Deut. 21:22, 23, KJV). Thus He was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). For you personally, intimately--not only instead of you but as you--He dies your second death. Now in thanks what will you do for Him?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 17, 2005.

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Let No Idle Word Escape Our Hearts

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Why is there so much opposition when truth is proclaimed, even sometimes in the church?

For example, Bible teaching is clear as sunlight that the New Covenant is the "better promises" of God, and the Old Covenant is the worthless promises of the people (cf. Heb. 8:8-10): yet Old Covenant ideas keep cropping up, and there is tension and suspicion where there should be pleasant fellowship and harmony among the people of God ("Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity"! Psalm 133:1).

Like the prophet Jeremiah who was hounded and cursed in Jerusalem by God's own people until he longed for a place in the wilderness where he could cry and cry ("Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night ... in the wilderness ..." (Jer. 9:1, 2); people who love the truths of the Bible weep today. Jeremiah was not a psychopath; the truth is that his opposing people were at war with God Himself. After Jeremiah's death, the Jews began to recognize how he was the greatest of the prophets whom God had sent to them; yet they made his life a hell on earth for him.

The Son of God came one Sabbath day to a congregation of God's true people in the town of Nazareth, and told them He was the true Messiah their people had looked for, for millennia. Result? The people of God who "kept" the holy Sabbath tried to kill Him (cf. Luke 4:16-29). The common people "heard Him gladly" but the higher you went in the hierarchy of the true church of that day, the more bitter was the hatred that the meek and gentle Jesus provoked (Matt. 12:37; John 1:11).

A delegation from the intellectual capital of the then world came to invite Jesus to come and teach them in Greece. The temptation for Him was enormous--get away from this bitter prejudice where he could go and teach receptive people; but He chose to stay and go to His cross and be crucified by the leaders of God's people (cf. John 12:20-27).

He has told us not to be surprised by the painful opposition coming sometimes from God's true people in the last days. As Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34), so He prays today.

And the prayer will be answered: God does forgive His people for opposing and rejecting the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry; but He will also be very severe. He gives any generation only one chance to accept or reject "the beginning" of that rare and most precious gift of the latter rain. Let no idle word escape our hearts from now on!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 28, 2007.

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Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Jesus Taught Us How . . .

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Again, what does it mean to "live under the new covenant," or the promise of God?

All God's promises were made to the "Seed" (singular), which is Christ (Gal. 3:16), and the only way we come into the picture is "in Christ." But thank God, that's our "way."

Christ was known as "the son of David" not only through physical ancestry, but because in His incarnation He "lived" in David's psalms. As the leadership of God's true church condemned Jesus, so the divinely appointed leadership of His true church in the days of King Saul condemned David. Saul was "the anointed of the Lord," and David's agony was not only the physical exertion of constantly fleeing from Saul but wrestling with the greater temptation to doubt that God had truly anointed him to be king of Israel, when "the anointed of the Lord" condemned him. He had to overcome, to believe that God would take care of him.

Thus we have David's psalms written during his exile (57, 59. for example); repeatedly, the future king begins by wrestling with fear (old covenant-inspired!), and before the end of the psalm he erupts in new covenant joy of believing that the LORD will not forsake but vindicate him.

A millennium later the Son of God, sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3) which He had taken upon Himself, wrestles with the same temptation. Again He is "tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15), triumphing again over our old covenant fears, emerging day by day into new covenant sunlight (cf. Isa. 50:4, 5). This goes on continually in His earthly life until the greatest temptation of all to old covenant unbelief as He hangs on His cross in the darkness crying, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And there on the cross He wrestles His way through the darkness into the sunlight of new covenant faith, crying out joyously as His heart was already bleeding to death, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him! ... He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted [Me!], nor has He hidden His face from Him [Me!], ... He heard"! (Psalm 22:23, 24).

Jesus has taught us how to live under the new covenant.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 6, 2006.

Monday, August 06, 2012

What Is the "Everlasting Covenant"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A thoughtful person wrote asking to understand more clearly about the two covenants: (a) What is the "everlasting covenant" (Gen. 9:16; Heb. 13:20)? (b) What does it mean for us to live under the New Covenant today?

May the Lord save us from controversy and confusion!

Obviously, "the everlasting covenant" of Genesis 9:16 and Hebrews 13:20 has to be the same, for "God is not the author of confusion"(1 Cor. 14:33). And Genesis 9:16 makes clear that it is apromise that God makes to "every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth," symbolized by the rainbow. God's covenants are never bargains He strikes with man; they are unilateral promises He makes.

But we humans are in love with the idea that we can make bargains with God; we want to be able to help save ourselves. It is too humbling to our proud souls to realize that we are dependent 100 percent on God fulfilling His promise to save us. The rainbow is a "promise" from God to every human being, good or bad. Because of that promise, God is able to treat every human with grace, as though he/she had never sinned. The grace in that "everlasting covenant" makes it possible for Him to make "His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and [to] send(s) rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45).

The same "everlasting covenant" is God's promise to every human being on earth to "make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever" (Heb. 13:21). That's why the Father gave His Son that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Christ loves the world, He died for the world, He redeemed the world, He died the world'ssecond death (Heb. 2:9), "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21), the "us" being "every man." He wants "all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3, 4; if we had the courage to tell "every man" that "knowledge of the truth," the full truth, more would believe).

But every man has freedom of choice, and many resist and reject what Christ has already done for them, promised them, and given them because acceptance includes deep humbling of heart before God. They deny and nullify His grace for them and so they condemn themselves.

Thus the "old covenant" is always based on man's promise; the "new covenant" is always God'spromise. Come, get under the "new."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 5, 2006.

Sunday, August 05, 2012

An Invitation From the True Witness

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The apostle John was an old man when he wrote the Fourth Gospel. From his perspective of many years he discerned the outworking of a mysterious principle of enmity against God which had embedded itself in the leadership of the one true church. Up until the rejection and crucifixion of Christ, yes, up until three and one-half years later, the stoning of Stephen, it was the one true church in the world. Jesus had said, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

But in John’s gospel he details the development of that deep and bitter enmity that progressively possessed the hearts of those “men of God” until they screamed “Crucify Him!” in Pilate’s judgment court that fateful Friday morning.

The aged John is also the author of the Book of Revelation in which he speaks of a true church in the last days of earth’s history which is distinguished before the world as the “remnant church” which keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus (12:17; 14:12).

John also reports the Lord Jesus as deeply disturbed about the leadership of that same church because they arrogantly claim to be “rich and increased with goods” when in reality they lead the “seven churches” of history in pitiable ignorance of their true spiritual state: “You ... do not know that you are [the one, Greek] wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:14-21).

The true church leadership two millennia ago led their people to reject the Messiah whom God had sent to them; that Laodicean leadership in the last days can lead the true church again to repeat the sin of the ancient Jews by rejecting the Loud Cry message that God sends them to “lighten the earth with glory.” It’s Revelation 18:1-4 thrown into reverse gear. Instead of “lighten the earth” they can hold the message back for generation after generation while the world degenerates.

There is a blessed solution: “Be zealous, therefore, and repent,” an invitation from the “faithful and true witness” (3:19, 14).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 5, 2007.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Believe Today and Skip All the Depression!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Of all people in the world, the last one you would expect to be living in the darkness and bondage of the Old Covenant is Abraham, "the father of the faithful."

And God had already given him the sunlit promises of the New Covenant! (Gen. 12:2, 3). His taking Hagar for a second wife was entirely Sarah's foolish, unbelieving, Old Covenant idea. God had nothing to do with that foray into darkness. Nonetheless, Abraham plunged into it. Paul says that the Hagar chapter of Abraham's life was pure Depression--"this Hagar is Mount Sinai," which because of unbelief, Israel turned into Depression. These "things are symbolic," says Paul in his clear understanding, in Galatians. The covenant "from Mount Sinai ... gives birth to bondage," which is always the horror of Depression (read Gal. 4:21-31).

Some 430 years after Abraham, God tried to renew those bright New Covenant promises to Israel as they had come out of dark Egyptian slavery on their way to the Promised Land (Ex. 6:4-9). But Israel were Abraham's descendants who had to learn as he did the folly of Old Covenant promises. Likewise, God had nothing to do with Israel embracing their Old Covenant ideas at Sinai. He wanted to renew the same New Covenant with them (see Ex. 19:4-6), the same promises He had made to Abraham.

We lock ourselves into confusion if we try to interpret the covenants at Mt. Sinai in any other way. Israel's slavery in Egypt had been a massive case of national Depression. Would God at Sinai lead them back into that darkness? If we picture the character of our loving heavenly Father as One who deliberately led His people Israel into an Old Covenant spiritual bondage at Sinai, we distort His character. The Old Covenant was not a preliminary step toward national salvation--that's twisting little text snippets with our own pre-set Old Covenant philosophy. Yes, He ratified their choice with animal blood; only in that sense can it be said that He "made" the Old Covenant with them--because that was what they insisted on. He had to let them take their long detour "under the law" until they could come to the place to be "justified by faith" as Abraham was (Gal. 3:19-24).

Now, you can believe today and skip all the Depression!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 21, 2006.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

The Time for Rich Blessings Is Now

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Jacob, the famous "Supplanter," tricked his father Isaac into giving him the birthright instead of to the elder (by-a-few-minutes) Esau. Esau was so angry that when he discovered what had happened, he threatened to kill him, and Jacob fled.

The first night on his exile the disheartened man dreamed of the ladder to heaven, and the Lord Himself appeared and renewed all the new covenant promises He had made to grandfather Abraham (Gen. 12:2, 3). Then the Hebrew says that next morning Jacob "went on his journey" (29:1) light hearted and light footed. That's what believing God's new covenant promises does for anyone!

Most commentators regard Uncle Laban's subsequent trickstering of Jacob as payback for his own trickstering to get the birthright. The idea is that the Lord overrules our lives into judgment for our wrongdoing; Jacob must suffer now.

But the Lord has solemnly promised at Bethel to bless him in everything! No mention of a payback. God has intended from the beginning that "the elder shall serve the younger," just backwards from human planning (Gen. 25:23). "I will not leave you," He has promised, "until I have done that which I have spoken to you of" (28:15). In other words, Jacob is invited to claim the equivalent of the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want," and entitled to pray "the Lord's Prayer," "My Father which art in heaven," with all its attendant blessings. Well might Jacob walk on air from now on throughout his life.

But as he grows old, he has to confess to Pharaoh, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been" (Gen. 47:9). Much sorrow and disappointment shadowed his entire life. And yet God had made those wonderful promises to him at Bethel!

The only possible conclusion: Jacob didn't always believe them with new covenant faith. The inspired prophecy from before his birth said that he should receive the birthright; that was a new covenant promise from the word go! Doubting or disbelieving it created his problems. All during his later anxieties with Laban he could have sailed through those trials with Solomon's [once] "merry heart [that] does good like a medicine" if he had only believed (cf. Prov. 17:22)!

Surely we have come to the denouement of sacred history when we as a people should learn to believe how good is God's good news! One thing is sure--the 144,000 will (cf. Rev. 14:1-5). And the time for rich blessings is now. And it's time for unbelief to go.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 17, 2006.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Dial Daily Bread: The Miracle of Unity Is Certain

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible speaks of unity within the church; how Christ prayed for it (John 17:20, 21), how Paul said that Christ's agape will produce it (Eph. 4:13-16), how the very doctrine of God demands it (vss. 2-6). But we have to face reality: churches often have disagreements and divisions, even within one denomination and even within one church body.

In a church that has for 150 years stood for creation in six days, a literal reading of Genesis 1, 2, etc., there are now powerful voices advocating evolution. There are divisions about women's ordination, about music in church worship services, etc. And for many, "the blessed hope" of the soon second coming of Christ is receding into the background, and a materialistic earthly lifestyle is taking its place.

Why does disunion seem to flourish so? And how can the church enlighten the earth with glory if it is in a divided state? And what can bring the true unity Christ prayed for?

THERE IS A SOLUTION. If God is real and if His Bible is true, it follows that God has a solution for the problem of disunity.

GOD WILL BRING HIS PEOPLE INTO UNITY. That which to doubters today seems impossible, the Holy Spirit will accomplish. He brought the disunited eleven apostles into unity before the Day of Pentecost. They were "with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). That was "the former rain," and the "latter rain" is promised to be even greater. God cannot use force to accomplish it. For Him to burn down the churches or strike them with lightning, wouldn't solve the root problem.

Ephesians tells us the solution: for those "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," is the message of agape (4:14, 15). Such a message is the objective gospel, the message of what Christ accomplished, the pure biblical truth of justification by faith. Christ has promised solemnly that if He is lifted up on His cross, that is, if His agape is clearly proclaimed, He "will draw all men unto [Himself]," and that of course is perfect unity (John 12:32). Let the leadership of a church that is being fragmented receive that most precious message of Christ's righteousness; the miracle of unity is as certain as day follows night.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 24, 1999.

Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Welcome to Job's "Club"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you been praying for a certain blessing, and the answer seems never to have come? You have been persistent in prayer, as Jesus tells us to do (we "ought always to pray, and not to faint," Luke 18:1), and still the answer has not come. You have asked Him to show you what might be wrong, what might he hindering your prayers (Peter says that if a man doesn't treat his wife right his prayers will be "hindered," 1 Peter 3:7), and God has not told you of anything wrong that might be "hindering" the answer. The Holy Spirit does not convict you of failure to do any known duty, even though you kneel before God and beg Him to notice you and to instruct you. Still you ask Him for that special blessing and it doesn't come.

Welcome to Job's "Club," the Society of Unanswered Pray-ers. You are not alone. The Prime Member is Jesus Himself. He prayed "with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared," but still He had to go to the cross and die (cf Heb. 5:7). The next verse reminds us that "Though He were a Son," yet He had to learn the lessons of life as we do "by the things which He suffered."

But for sure He does not want you to duplicate the agony He suffered on the cross, nor even the agony which Job suffered. There is an answer to your perplexity and disappointment. Let's notice several possibilities:

(a) God may be working hard to give you a "yes" answer but He cannot force the will of some person who may be "withstanding" Him; that's what happened about one of Daniel's earnest prayers (cf 10:13). If that's what's happening, you can be sure that the dear Lord is as merciful to you as He was to Daniel, and He will impress your heart with the conviction of truth. He will save you from discouragement.

(b) The answer may be in process, and it just takes more time. This could be true if you are praying for a loved one. Remember that on the cross Christ accomplished something for "every man," which makes it possible for Him to treat "every man" as though that person has never sinned (see Matt. 5:45)--Christ has already died that person's second death, and therefore He treats him/her just as though that person is going to be saved. This is the meaning of that interesting phrase "legal justification." Now, you do the same; treat that person as though you fully expect that your prayers are already answered, and that person is going to be saved just as you are. Draw a "circle" that includes that person inside. Don't say, "Oh, that person is far from being ready!"

The closer you come to Jesus the more of His skill and wisdom you will share, because you will have "the mind of Christ" (Phil. 2:5).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 20, 2001.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Monday, July 30, 2012

The Ultimate Demonstration of Agape

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Does the Bible teach a "balanced" view of righteousness by faith, so salvation is 50 percent by faith and 50 percent by works? If that question is too easy, then is it 99 percent by faith and 1 percent by works?

It appears superficially--on the surface--that the apostle James says it's 50/50 by both: "ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (2:24). He seems--superficially--to contradict Paul, for Paul says boldly that "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).

When he says emphatically it's "not of works" he means not even 1 percent. His impassioned Letter to the Galatians is on one side of the perennial debate: "I do not frustrate the grace of God [even 1 percent 'works' will frustrate that grace!]: for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain" (2:21). There's no "balance" between righteousness by faith and righteousness by works (Laodicean lukewarmness, hot and cold water "balanced"; this confusion is Laodicea's problem).

The apparent conflict (it troubles many) is resolved as clear as sunlight: salvation is TOTALLY of grace through faith, but the "faith" is not dead; it's a living faith "which works." Its fruit: obedience to all the commandments of God (Gal. 5:6). James is not pitting faith against works or vice versa; he pits a living faith against a dead faith. "Faith without works is dead"! Both apostles are totally agreed on that.

In modern language, "law righteousness" can be translated as "egocentric motivation." Paul points us to Christ's cross: in His sacrifice, was He motivated even 1 percent by egocentric concern for Himself? His assurance to the believing thief APPEARS to say yes ("Hang on, fellow victim; you and I will be in Paradise today!"). But that was in the morning when the sun was shining; "at the sixth hour there was darkness over all land," including the heart of the Son of God. He cried, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He "poured out His soul unto death," even the second (Isa. 53:12). Not even 1 percent of an egocentric motivation--totally love for us, none for Himself. That was agape.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 14, 2003.

Friday, July 27, 2012

What We Now Live For

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There's a prayer that Jesus prayed that you and I can pray, and we'll be happier for praying it. It was just before He worked the greatest miracle of His ministry--when He raised the dead Lazarus to life again. He wanted to be sure that the Father would hear Him, for everything depended on this prayer being heard and answered. "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me" (John 11:41, 42). We can know this, too.

No "voice from heaven" came this time to reassure Him; the heavens were as silent as before. He staked His entire ministry on His publicly expressed confidence that the Heavenly Father would honor Him before the people and before the world by granting His request. He poured out His soul in that loud voice when He commanded the dead man inside the tomb: "Lazarus, come forth!" And you know what happened: Lazarus did.

Whether Jesus in His human nature needed the personal encouragement that an answered prayer could bring Him we do not know; but you and I need the assurance that when we pray, the Father hears us. When He commanded the dead man to "come forth," He spoke as our Representative. "Most assuredly, I say to you whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. ... Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (16:23, 24).

He is not making empty promises; obviously He intends that we know what He means when He says to "ask in My name." All egocentric motivation has become outgrown so that we are caught up in His motivation, not ours; we are "in Him." We have "overcome" our childish prayers for a crown and now are concerned that the Lamb receive His reward. We want "the Lamb's wife" to "make herself ready" so that "the marriage of the Lamb" may be no longer delayed century after century (cf. Rev. 19:7, 8). What we now live for is to have a tiny part in crowning Him "King of kings and Lord of lords." Thus our "joy" becomes "full."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 30, 2005.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

What Does It Mean to Praise the Lord?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does it mean to praise the Lord, and why does the Bible talk endlessly about praising Him? For example, Psalm 150: "Praise Him according to His excellent greatness" (cf. vss. 1-6; and numerous other psalms).

What does our praise do for Him? It cannot be that He exists on the endless flattery of unnumbered sycophants; He is not vain! Psalm 22:3 says, "You are holy, enthronedupon the praises of Israel" (Hebrew).

Are we enjoined to praise Him endlessly because of His mighty power as Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Author of life? Islam says, yes; prostrate yourself before Allah five times a day. Be physically reminded externally to do so. But the Bible goes further.

The LORD of the Bible, the God of Israel and also "the Lord of all the earth" (Zech. 6:5), is indeed the Almighty who holds the nations as dust in His hands and they are counted as "less than nothing" (Isa. 40:15-17); but is that the reason why we praise Him so much?

No, there is a far greater reason that Islam does not discern--yet. It fuels the multitudinous calls in the Bible to "praise ye the Lord."

The LORD of the Bible is the One whose love motivated Him, drove Him to "taste" the second death of this lost world. He "tasted death" for every one of its doomed inhabitants (Heb. 2:9). It was eternal death that He tasted, hell itself. That's the measure of His love.

Understand that breadth and length and depth and height of His love (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19), and you too can never stop singing His praise. But that reason is way beyond Islam at the present time to grasp.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 30, 2007.

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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A Two-way Communication Street

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What do you think of a man in the best of health and vitality just lying down and dying? That was Moses at 120. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Peterson renders it, "His eyesight was sharp; he still walked with a spring in his step" (Deut. 34:7).

Even though God said Moses couldn't cross Jordan, He was good to His old servant, gave him a grand video show of His people's land in all its pristine beauty. Then a video of world history down to the second coming of Jesus and the creation of a new earth. Then the tired man simply lay down and went to sleep; God enfolded him in His everlasting arms, and that was it until the Angel awakened him in a special resurrection (vs. 5; Jude 9).

To be so healthy at 120 catches our interest. Moses must have been careful of his diet, counted his calories, made sure he had nutritional balance, etc. Zipporah his wife must have been a super health-cook. And yes, he must have watched his exercise program.

True! We know Moses ate manna for the last 40 years of his life. You couldn't get a better diet even today with all our nutritional expertise. And the Lord was constantly calling Moses to climb up mountains. Great health reform living. It pays. Better than any medical treatment, it stops disease.

But maybe there's another reason why Moses retained his physical and mental vitality so long. He knew how to pray; he actually communed with God as a man talks with a friend "face to face" (Deut. 34:10). "My servant Moses ... has the run of my entire house; I speak to him intimately, in person, in plain talk without riddles" (Num. 12:7, 8, Peterson).

Communion is a two-way communication street; you empty your heart before God as to your closest friend. (That means also, you don't share tidbits of gossip with anyone else!) You spill all your beans of sin before Him in secret prayer. Your soul is naked in His presence. Welcome His agape into your sinful heart; "in Christ" God shares Himself with you. Not to give you a special diploma, but simply to make you be a blessing to someone else who is "weary."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 30, 2002.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mean Business When You Pray

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

That all-night prayer meeting in Acts 12 was very effective, because in answer to the united prayers of those people in Mary's home (the mother of Mark), the apostle Peter was released by an angel from prison and certain death. But now some questions arise:

If those people had not prayed, would the Father of our Lord Jesus have NOT sent an angel to set Peter free? What is God like? Would He have sat on His throne up in heaven and casually permitted Peter to be killed the next day as King Herod Agrippa wanted to do? Did God need those earnest-with-fasting-all-night prayers to arouse Him to do something that otherwise He would not have thought to do, or even want to do? Do our prayers arouse Him to do nice things that otherwise He would not do? Why is prayer important? Is it really necessary? Suppose those people had all gone home nonchalantly and had a good night's sleep (like Peter sleeping in prison--he wasn't praying all night!), would God have done nothing? Millions of people are seeking the answer to these questions.

The Bible has it: (1) The rulership of this world is in the hands of Satan--Adam sold out to him. (2) Therefore this world is Satan's territory, by vote of its inhabitants, who crucified God's Son and thus expelled Him from the planet. (3) God cannot legally intervene any more than the ruler of one nation can intervene in another's internal affairs. (4) But God can legally intervene if His people, praying in the name of Jesus His Son, intercede with Him against Satan. (5) Probably God could have saved James if His people had prayed for him! (6) We must not entertain a false view of God's character; He wants to intervene in our behalf! (7) It's only fair that God have the privilege of seeing that we mean business in our prayers.

That's the reason for Christ's parable in Luke 18:1-7 about the widow who wore out the unjust judge with her constant begging for justice. Christ's idea was not to represent the Father as being like him, but to urge us to make certain we mean business when we pray, and not be like a child who doesn't really know or remember what he is asking for.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 28, 2000.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.