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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Withered

31 Aug

Withered

1 Kings 13:4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself.

Solomon had been graced by God and became the wisest man that ever lived. He had been blessed beyond measure; but yet had directly disobeyed God and gathered riches for Himself as a result. At the end of His life his many wives even led him into the great sin of idol worship as he began to worship idols and other Gods. God had warned him that if he did these things and did not have a humble repentant heart, that God would destroy the temple and divide Solomon’s kingdom. It all came to pass, and the twelve tribes of Israel split. There were 10 to the North, and  2 in the South. This turbulent time lasted 345 years.

The North’s rulers as a whole lead their divided Israel without Jehovah as their God. They worshiped many idols and their 19 Kings were consistently murdering each other to gain the throne. King Jeroboam committed great sins and is known as the person in the Bible mentioned the most for his evil ways and sin (22 times). In the scripture above he was reaching out to the prophet sent to warn him, when God withered the hand he used to direct. Withered his hand…..wow. Then in an unbelievable act of Grace, restored it. Read 1 KIngs 13 & 14.

The point of all of this is that we are lost without God. Even when we run, or try to hide, or flatly turn against Him; He is still there. We must understand we will have to answer to Him for the lives we live now. We are warned continuously of the consequence of our actions. Colossians 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. Turn to God, turn away from sin; turn your heart towards Christ. All of your past sins are washed away in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and you will gain eternal paradise; not the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience.

 
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Posted by on August 31, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Mystery revealed

30 Aug

Mystery revealed

Colossians 1:26 -27  the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

A biblical mystery is a sacred secret kept from the people of the Old Testament. The mystery that the apostle Paul is speaking of here is God reaching out to the Gentiles and not reserving His kingdom for only the Jews as they believed. This was the breaking down of the division between Jew & Greek, and the availability alike to everyone who heard the Gospel preached and heard. This continues today in an open call to everyone who will accept God’s grace. Their is no exclusivity nor sin, that a humble repentant heart cannot be forgiven.

There are those around us that seem different. It is a mystery to us why they have the outlook on life they do. They handle themselves and life’s situations differently. They seem to possess something, but yet we do not know what it is. Many times it is Christ; “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That is the life application of the phrase, “You may be the only Bible someone ever reads” comes into practice. They watch and want to know what you possess that they do not have. In that moment God has opened the door for you and them; for you to share your faith and hope in an eternal Savior. He has used you to help solve a mystery.

The hope that we possess, is the mechanics of our inner soul. That hope’s work is the Spirit living in us, striving to make us more like Christ. The inner work when we walk a life of obedience is a life transformed and reflective on the outer shell to others. Romans speaks well of that summary of a life as a disciple of Christ. Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Let it be known to those whom you influence of the mystery of the hope that resides in you. We live in a world full of disappointment, and we all need the eternal hope that never fails.

 
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Posted by on August 30, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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What if tomorrow never comes?

29 Aug

What if tomorrow never comes?

Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

There is a part of my morning prayer that is habitual. I always thank God for the breath of life to serve Him another day in some context. I consistently give thanks for the day, for I am not guaranteed the day. I frequently thank Him for the changed heart and the grace He gave me in changing my life. I was someone as the apostle Paul put it, “chief of sinners”. A prideful, sinful, shameful, man in pursuit of everything for me, and anything but God. God pursued me anyway, and I am thankful for every day He gives me now to share my faith with others.

It seems that tragic deaths have filled the air over recent weeks. We simply cannot make plans for our future, for our future is in God’s hands. I remember even telling my parents many times I would get right with God when I was ready. I wonder how many of us have lived on that imaginary false timetable? James speaks directly to our pride of life, and our pride of selfish plans for an unknown future. James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

You say I will ______________ tomorrow………….but tomorrow never comes. What in the blank is left undone? A task; a conversation; an apology; your eternity? Many times we want to live for this world and grab all the things of this world; then in our minds we plan to “settle down” into a life of Christianity. Settling down into a life concentrating on serving God is a life that is planning for a promised future from One who holds the future in His hands. Life’s timeline here in the temporal will only matter for how you can serve Him. When this timeline ends, infinity begins. Make today the day you realize that Christ paved the way for your forgiveness and eternal paradise with Him. It is never too late; until it is.

 
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Posted by on August 29, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Heal our hearts and our land

28 Aug

Heal our hearts and our land

2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Solomon had built the Temple of God and had an elaborate week long ceremony dedicating the temple. During this week the people of Israel had seen the Glory of the Lord reign down fire from heaven and consume the sacrifices and His Glory fill the temple. God then spoke to Solomon one night and confirmed He had heard their prayers and that He would answer them under certain conditions. The conditions simply were for them to keep their eyes only on God and have repentant hearts before Him. Solomon and Israel failed.

We fail every day, but the grace of God is available to us every day. Dr. Adrian Rogers speaks of never wanting to lie his head down at night without a clean heart before God. How can we know that we will awake the next morn, or could stand before God with unconfessed sin? When we sin and feel that conviction of it, stop, drop and pray. Christ spoke to the church at Sardis in the book of Revelation, which was known as the dead church before Him. Revelation 3:3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Keeping our watch is through a clean heart that desires God and the things of God. A heart with that desire understands the sin that stands in the way of that relationship.

God poured out blessings on Solomon like non other, yet Solomon failed to keep his eyes on the provider of the blessings and ultimately was led to idol worship. But look into the promises of the scripture above. God says the humble heart and prayer He will hear and extend his grace and blessings. We not only personally need this prayer, but as a nation we are in dire need of prayer for this country. We must first right ourselves individually before God, and then corporately together before God as a nation. In these months filled with political rhetoric we must keep our eyes on God. He is where the only true change is found, and where the only true provision derives through Him. Will you commit to praying for our nation?

 
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Posted by on August 28, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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You can do it

27 Aug

You can do it

1 Thessalonians 1:2-4   We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.

I love how God works. The more time I spend with God, the more He reveals Himself to me each day in different ways throughout the day. This is not any special gift for me, but a realization that He gives to anyone who seeks Him daily. I am nothing, nor do anything special, that is not available to any one of you. All it takes is a heart for God and the things of God, that seeks God first in all things. Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. This pursuit will lead to a growth of the relationship that you were created for by Him. The heart is changed in relation to this time, and the soul is fed in this pursuit. They together are where you are changed from the inside out.

God loves you and created you for that relationship. You are unique and special in His eyes, so much so His Son sacrificed His life to reconcile your sin before God. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. God is calling you to live outside of this world; to live for Him focused on the eternal and not the temporary. A heart that pursues God daily is a heart transformed as in Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Make today the day you start your “labor of love” in your pursuit of God and the things of God. You will begin to see He has been with you all along, and now He begins to reveal Himself to you through other believers, His Word, messages, “coincidences”, books, and media. You will not find Him if you surround yourself with unbelievers, or fill your mind with worldly media. He is not of this world and this world seeks to dull your senses to Him. But He has given you the ability to hear as Elijah did that “still small voice”.

 
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Posted by on August 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Bible Thumper?

26 Aug

Bible Thumper?

Colossians 4:5-6 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Do you claim Christianity? Do your actions speak of a follower of Christ, or of a hypocrite? Once you claim Christ, the worldly lens begins to tighten it’s focus on your life. The world waits for you to err, or loves to point out your sins before you claimed Christ. “How can they be saved with all they have done?” The world is waiting for our fall from grace, and the opportunity to say “I told you so” when the fall comes.

The other side is the “Holy Roller”, or someone who esteems themselves above the crowd. Zeal is a common trait in a new Christian, and zeal without restraint can do more damage than good. Paul is speaking to the conduct of the Christian in the scriptures above. We can never “win” someone to Christ over an argument of faith. God pursues you long before you pursue Him. John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. We are to present the Gospel to all those in our sphere of influence, but you can’t “argue” a heart into winning them to Jesus.

Dr. Adrian Rogers spoke of this zeal, and even anger sometimes when he said, “to preach with anguish and not anger.” Your soul should hurt for that lost person and they should see how you long for them to see light of Christ. The way you speak to a lost person should not be condescending or condemning, but of love and concern for them. You may “season it with the salt” of an eternity they will face for their decision. The way you live your life every day may be the only Bible that those around you read. They may see your hypocrisy, or they may see something in you that they desire; a peace in an out of control world.

 
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Posted by on August 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Needing to know

25 Aug

Needing to know

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I sat out in the cool morning air in the peace of a quiet early Saturday morning and talked to God. I was praying about “needing to know” on many things, and one really big thing. I guess I was wanting the stars to align in my own personal billboard message from God. I came in and researched “need to know” in the Bible and came upon the scriptures above. Paul was speaking of contentment wherever Christ had him for the day. There comes a point in your growth that you begin to understand those scriptures and God’s Sovereignty, or control over your life.

But there is also moving to the next steps in obedience, or acts of faith in doing so. Oswald Chambers ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ spoke directly to it this morning. “We never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we abandon in every particular. Self-surrender is the most difficult thing – I will if…I Oh, well, I suppose I must devote my life to God. There is none of the joy of self-sacrifice in that.” Christ speaks of those sacrifices and steps of faith repeatedly in the Gospels. Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Deny yourself simply means putting Christ first. First in all things, period. Our selfish, sinful nature constantly battles with these things.

I am a ‘thinker/planner’ and have repeatedly been accused of ‘thinking things to death’. As part of the management of a company, it is my responsibility to think steps ahead, and to be planning for those steps to come. Christ calls us to release that planning and control to Him in the denying of ourselves as in Matthew 16. Chambers speaks of the joy, or lack thereof in that abandonment. If you too are struggling in areas of your life, and ‘needing to know’, you must seek God and His Word for the answers, or you may be leaning on your own understanding; far inferior to the Creator and Sovereign ruler of the universe and your life.

 
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Posted by on August 25, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Not multi-tasking

24 Aug

Not multi-tasking

Colossians 3:2   Set your mind on the things above, not on things on the earth.

Where is your minds set to? Is it like mine and seems to constantly being re-adjusted to focus on another tasks outside the primary tasks at hand? I am very self motivated and it seems the older I get the less I desire to multi-task. I seem to have the desire to do only one thing at a time as well as I possibly can. But those distractions come every time to draw my attention away.

Colossians is where the apostle Paul was dealing with many problems in the church. False teaching was distracting from Christ’s deity, and Paul was warning them of their error. Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Paul knew the followers of Christ were becoming distracted from the messages of Grace; and they were led astray by false teachers in the early church. Paul spends much of this epistle pointing to whom Christ is, and how our lives should be focused on Him.

The entire 3rd chapter of Colossians is the application of living for Christ. Of a mind that is focused on the things above, and not the lusts of this world. Of a life before Christ and the death of that life. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. There is an ‘BC (before Christ) and an AD(after death) in the timeline of your life. When you heed God’s call on your life, and accept the free gift of Grace He offers through Christ; your life before that moment in time dies. The life after that mark should be a life focused on serving Him with a heart of thanksgiving for what He has done for you. That focus should not be distracted by the things of this world, but focused on eternity and the things above. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. This is the life of a disciple; one that is focused on Christ, and the things above.

 
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Posted by on August 24, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Now that He has your attention…..

23 Aug

Now that He has your attention…..

Jonah 1:1-3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Many people stop at the book of Jonah and just think of the ‘fish story’. The depth of this small prophetic book in only three chapters is much more. Jonah speaks to me in the sphere of running from God as in these scriptures above. It then speaks of obedience, faith, self-denial, and repentance. Christ quoted Jonah in Matthew 12:39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Jonah was an example of Christ in the Old Testament, and led Nineveh to repentance of their sin.

God has a way of getting our attention. We may hear from God, but not like what we hear so we deny we ever heard it at all. We may flee like Jonah and run from what we heard, or turn our attentions to other things that make us feel good about ourselves. Do we really think like Jonah we CAN run from God? He is looking upon our actions and thinking we just don’t get it. God may not put a fish in your path, but he may close doors to redirect it. He may put people and events in your life to change its direction. He may press down on your heart and mind in these tests of faith. Moses and Jeremiah questioned God’s call too, but they did not flee. Jonah did, and God’s Will for His life was still accomplished through the fish and Jonah’s ultimate obedience.

What is God telling you? Are you even listening for Him? It does not come in in billboards, emails, or a Facebook status. It comes only through a heart seeking Him in prayer and His Word. The static of this world will dull your senses to God. The static of busyness and technology have created barriers in your mind that your heart can only tear down. God may use a really big event in your life to get your attention, but what do you do with it? Do you see Him in it? These are the game changers that He uses to tear down those barriers instantly to gain our attention. Then we must approach Him 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! When He has your attention don’t flee as Jonah, but be obedient as Moses and follow God’s Will for your life.

 
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Posted by on August 23, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Arrrrrrggggggg

22 Aug

Arrrrrrggggggg

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.

Some days our minds get the best of us. The weights of our world play out scenarios between our ears that will consume our day. It seems that no matter what we do, the battle continues and many time escalates. When I have days like that I just want to scream STOP! It is an inner battlefield, and our outer actions may only temporarily distract from the war in our heads. I am always quoting “a lot on my mind”, and many times that may be a huge understatement. Yesterday was one of them.

Stress and anxiety, are rooted in fear and fear is straight from Satan. Our world is full of stress, and it is a powerful tool of Satan to keep our eyes off God. On days like yesterday I want to cry out to God to make it stop. I found that encouragement studying this scripture this morning. Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Instead of screaming “Arrrrrggggg” or worse, go to your Father in prayer for strength, guidance, and thanksgiving for whatever the battle may be. Where Satan may be trying to draw your attention away, turn your attention to God. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

I sometimes wish I could open the doors to my inner battlefield to let you in. But my struggles are no worse than yours, and I pray that my willingness to put them on paper will encourage you to seek God for help too. I had never battled anxiety until these recent years. I have labeled it my “thorn in the flesh to torment me” as the Apostle Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians. There is a power and peace that comes through taking this battle to God’s Word. Spending time there is like gathering your heavenly army to fight a defeated foe. When you struggle, and I know you do, lean on God and the promises He gives us in His Word. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 
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Posted by on August 22, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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