RSS

Monthly Archives: May 2012

How much is enough?

31 May

How much is enough?

Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

In my studies last night I was in Deuteronomy. I loved Dr. Williams quote “This book is especially loved by the Savior and hated by the devil.” When I did a search this morning for ‘with all your soul’, it came up seven times in Deuteronomy. Christ even quoted Deuteronomy three times when He was tempted by Satan in the desert. So what does it mean to love as in the verse above? Your heart, soul, and mind is the whole you, the essence of your being, the way you are wired. In Christ’ rebuking of Satan he quoted Deuteronomy  8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Is there a desire within you to know more of God, to live for every word you can absorb from His Holy Word?

What you desire is a measurement of where your heart lies. This is a broad statement that demands self analysis, and prayer for God to realign us to Him. The world and all the distractions of it will draw our desire, or our hearts, away from God. Satan entices us continually with those things of desire to draw us away from the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. God has told us that there is nothing higher than our love for Him on His priority list. Total dedication from every fiber of our being; putting Him first in all things, seeking Him in His Word and desiring more. I believe these scriptures describe a love and desire that is never satisfied, but a desire to always draw closer to God every step of every day for the rest of our lives here…..and reap the rewards for an eternity.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 31, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

My anchor in His Word

30 May

My anchor in His Word

Hebrews 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil

I have had some interesting conversations over the last week, much on which was faith. Have you ever considered that You Are What You Believe? In that little statement your entire life is woven. It will lead you down paths consciously and unknowingly. It will lead your decisions. It will lead you either closer to; or tug you away from God. God has designed ‘need’ into our DNA to draw us to Him. If pride is so strong in you you have no need, my prayer is those walls crumble down. As a Christian we are to have the ‘need’ or hope of eternal paradise in heaven, which draws us to Him. Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. This righteousness that Paul is speaking of is the freedom from sin and coming into the presence of the Lord. When the Spirit dwells inside us, this yearning comes from the Spirit and grows with our relationship to Him.

Remember “doubting Thomas” who would not believe until he saw with his own eyes that Christ had risen? John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is a great encouragement to those of us who believe yet have not seen. That faith in which we stand is built on the belief and hope of what God has given us in His Word. The more time you spend in God’s Word the stronger your faith will become. Your hope is strengthened when God begins to reveal Himself through the Truths found in His Word. Your faith can grow from experiences of where you have seen God work in your life, but nothing can take the place of experiencing God speak to you in His Word. The measure of the time spent there is easily related to the depth of what you  believe, and how great your faith is.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 30, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Equipped to Share

29 May

Equipped to Share

2Timothy 1:8-11 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Yesterday I was listening to a sermon on the weight and responsibility of teaching God’s Word. A good friend and I were talking about it last night and of how it that weight can scare you away from doing it. I decided to spend some time in the books of Timothy this morning because I knew Paul was encouraging Timothy in how to live and preach the Word of God. Satan will plant all types of fears into you to keep you from ever sharing your faith, or even a scripture at what may seem to be the perfect time. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Those fears can be weakened and your faith strengthened by the amount of time you spend with God in prayer and His Word. The strength that comes with that time will keep you from being ashamed of God’s Word and remaining silent.

We all have those times when we feel like we want to share our faith, or even what feels like a perfect scripture for someone at a time of need. Those promptings are the Holy Spirit inside of you, using you to encourage others. He may be bringing your testimony or the perfect scripture to that person before you at just the right time. John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Your response to that prompting is key, and God is using you at that time. Don’t deny that prompting from fear, but know that God is equipping you for His service. He may be even leading you to explain what that verse means to you. If God is placing that scripture before you for someone, He will equip you to deliver what He has to say. This strength and equipping comes from seeking Him daily. That places His Word in your heart, and your heart that is equipped will be prepared to share when His time comes.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 29, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , ,

The Good News

28 May

The Good News

I have a thought in my head haunting me that I heard on a Christian radio sermon recently. “If you are not preaching a Gospel that will preach in a third world country, you are not preaching the Gospel.” There is a lot packed into that one sentence, and I don’t know that I could begin to unpack it in a “OneMinuteMinistry”. But I get what they were trying to say. The Gospel includes and begins at Creation.

Creation –Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Paul is pointing out the proof of Creation that is evident to everyone, and refuting the ideas of today’s “Big Bang Theories” or Evolution.

The Fall of Man – Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Paradise was lost here in the garden of Eden when Satan deceived Adam and Eve; and as decedents of them we were all born into sin. As a punishment for that sin and the disconnect with a perfect Holy God, there had to be a way to reconnect.

The Savior – John 3:15-18 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the Gospel, which The Gospel means The Good News.

The Good News is that God has provided a way into His Holy presence in eternal paradise with Him through the sacrifice of His Son. He came and paid the price for your sins by dying on a Cross and bearing the weight of your sin for eternity. He “Justified” your sin in an eternal holy court, finding you not guilty by accepting that price he paid as the only way into heaven. John 14:6 I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by through Me. This is a free gift from God. The only requirement is the humbling of yourself by repenting of your sins and asking for forgiveness of them through the blood on that Cross. That is the best “Good News” I can give you today in a world that is far from God.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 28, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Dying to self

27 May

Dying to self

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

Hopefully Memorial weekend you will spend some time reflecting on those who paid the ultimate price for your freedom with their lives. In that same respect we know that God gave us His Son as a sacrifice to pay for our sin with His life. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. In the scripture above, Christ is asking us to lay down our lives for Him. He is not asking us for martyrdom necessarily (but that may come), but asking us to forsake the lusts of the world, and live a life for Him seeking eternal and not temporal pleasure.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. What is a living sacrifice anyway? A sacrifice is thought of as a death to bestow honor correct? Matthew Henry said, “A living sacrifice, that is, inspired with the spiritual life of the soul. It is Christ living in the soul by faith that makes the body a living sacrifice.” The world and the lusts of it are Satan’s tactics to draw you away from Christ. The list would be long of the idolatry he uses today in our world that places so much value on self pleasure and stuff. But we can move in our relationship with Christ to the point that the “stuff” just does not matter anymore, and what matters is what we feel led to do in honor of Him, and share the joy He brings with those that do not see yet.  Paul said in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. You can place honor on the one who died for you for eternity, by dying to the lusts of yourself, and placing yourself at His feet for service.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Warfare

26 May

Warfare

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

This morning my mind seemed to be in reflection of what the Memorial Day weekend represents. Those fallen heros that have fought and died for our freedom. I thought of the ultimate war, the war against sin; and how Christ had paid the ultimate price with His life, and won the war for eternity for us over sin. I thought of writing of the defeated enemy Satan and how I believe he does not even understand he is already defeated. He is the great deceiver and liar, and he has ultimately deceived himself. But I thought of the Spiritual War that is still prevalent around us with this defeated foe. Satan still works his evil every day in every way to draw you away from Christ. You can’t see this war, but you do feel the very real effects from it. But through the strength and power of God you can still fight in it.

2 Kings 6:15-17 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible for it gives us a peek into the unseen Spiritual World that surrounds us at every moment of every day. This gives us a glimpse into the unknown, which affects the known we experience. The two are tied together, but yet since we cannot see the Spiritual one before our eyes, we are tempted to dismiss it. The Spiritual battles are fought on plains that we can only fight through the power of God and His Word. 2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. We must fight the sin of pride in believing we can war in the Spirit, and only commit our Spirit to God to fight that war. Our Spirit steep in faith and armed with His Word will realize the battle we are in and follow the leadership of Christ in that battle. Through the training and understanding that comes with time with God in prayer and His Word, we can rest on the assurance of our supreme commander that He will not lead us where He cannot protect us, and that we ultimately win the war.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

How can I unplug?

25 May

How can I unplug?

Psalm 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

I expect if we were all to reflect, we would realize we were in a state of continual motion. At many times it would be bodily, but our society and the pressures of it have our minds constantly in high gear. Our world today is a place of constant contact, 4G immediate answers at our side that breed anxiety and stress on our inner selves. This “busyness” is one of Satan’s greatest weapons, for it keeps us from ever slowing down to seek or spend time with God. Even when I sit down here most mornings the pressures of the day invade and try to steal away my quiet time, and even prayer time with God. Resting is so important that God spent a day doing it after Creation, setting the example for us to follow. Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

We all live under these pressures and are expected to perform to these tasks before us in the marketplace of total contact. We never unplug; never disconnecting our minds from our responsibilities at work, or home, or family, or even recreation. We were not designed for this lack of rest by God’s creation; but even from the fall of man into sin we were told our punishment was going to be the toil of the land and labor that came. But the means of rest, God’s provision, is always there in Christ. The inner hope and faith that He brings, is unattainable by the world to be swept away into busyness. Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Although every day will try to drag you away, you can always return to Him. Take the time when the pressures seem too great to slow down, breath deep, and go to God in prayer and His Word. These will lighten you load, for unknowingly you are casting your load on Him by your actions in these. He can carry the world, and even your world in His hand……..for He created it.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 25, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , ,

Inquiring minds want to know

24 May

Inquiring minds want to know

John 3:1-3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

I love the story of Nicodemus. He was a leader and sat on the council that investigated John the Baptist. He was held in high regard, but yet he secretly knew that there was something of merit to all he was hearing of this Christ. His faith overcame his pride and he snuck out one night to find Jesus and speak to Him. This was a huge risk, but also a huge step of faith. In his mind, he knew He was Christ, and in his heart he wanted to know more. If the things of God tug at your heart as his, swallow your pride and seek Him also. That is Christ knocking at the door, and only you have the key.

Christ began to explain to him of the acceptance of becoming “born again” by the Spirit to gain access into the kingdom of God. John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This troubled Nicodemus and his mind has some practical questions to the words Christ spoke. His mind was getting in the way of his faith. Our mind seeks the logical, the things we can see or obtain. The heart moves on faith, and the heart or soul is where the His Spirit lives. It is a battle between mind and spirit. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If you feel that stirring in your heart, spend some time in the Gospel of John. You will find Christ there and the keys to eternal paradise as Nicodemus did.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 24, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

The Perfect Word

23 May

The Perfect Word.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 23, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

The Perfect Word

23 May

The Perfect Word

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Yesterday I listened to a “self proclaimed” leader in a large denomination refute the Word of God as infallible. Later in the day I heard one of my favorite pastors defend the Word of God. I have shared how I love to spend time with my boys in His Word; teaching them the Word of God. Why would I jeopardize my sons lives leading them possibly astray with false teaching? Everything you need in your life, all the answers to life, are found in God’s Word. You cannot spend time there and not see God, for they are words written by God. There is no other book throughout eternity that can compare. It was given to us for teaching, conviction, correction, comfort, leadership, peace, hope, faith, joy, and LOVE. Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

The Bible was not written by the mind of men, period. If it had been written by the mind of men it would have been an opinion and not the Word of God. These men were inspired, or directed by the Holy Spirit to put the Words down on paper. We cannot seem to grasp that idea, but God spoke to the authors and they wrote what they were told to write. 2 Peter 1:20-21 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God has written all we will ever need in His Book of Life for all generations. It is called a Living Word for no other book will stir your soul, or even save your soul as this one will. He has nothing to add or nothing to take away for eternity from this Book. In the last sentences in Revelation we are warned against adding or removing from it. Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. I trust and believe every word in this Book, enough to trust my children’s lives with it also; and I urge you to spend some time there and pray that you will trust it as I.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 23, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older posts