RSS

Monthly Archives: March 2015

Do you trust Me?

13 Mar

As I started to read this today, I remembered how much God has spoken to me through it as I have read this devotional for getting close to 10 years. This devotional speaks to all of us who claim Christianity; all of us have been and will be continually called to trust God on levels we are not comfortable with. The level of trust is directly related to our level of faith; as our faith grows so will we be called to trust him with greater things; trust him where it stretches and grows our faith. Each of you have experienced these tests of our faith, and when obedient in them, he has built your testimony to him, for you to encourage others how he provided for you. Your life as a disciple is a loving act of continual obedience.

This also describes the glimpse of understanding of God’s sovereignty. The peace that Jesus described in John 14:27 was the gift of the Holy Spirit that God will give to believers. 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. That gift is God living inside of you; that gift is an understanding that he is guiding you through life and no matter where free-will lets you stray, he is still ultimately in control. Our limited minds cannot comprehend the complexities of free-will intertwined with God’s sovereignty. Let the peace that the world does not understand compel you into a life of obedience continually stretched in order to obtain a deeper relationship with the One who created and sustains your very life and everything in it.
EXPERIENCING GOD DAILY DEVOTIONAL by Henry Blackaby
Christ Must Reorient You
Daily Devotional for Friday, March 13th, 2015
When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. Mark 1:19-20

We have a natural tendency to find our “comfort zone” and then position ourselves firmly in place. If you are in a situation or lifestyle where you are perfectly capable of handling everything, you have stopped growing in your understanding of God. God’s desire is to take you from where you are to where He wants you to be. You will always be one step of obedience away from the next truth God wants you to learn about Him. You may experience a restlessness whereby you sense that there is far more you should be learning and experiencing about the Father. At times, this will mean that you should move to a new location or take a new job. It could indicate that you need a deeper dimension added to your prayer life. Perhaps you need to trust God to a degree you never have before.
The fishermen could not remain in their fishing boats and become apostles of Jesus Christ. Abraham was seventy-five years old when God gave him his major life assignment. These men had to disrupt their comfortable routine in order to reach new heights in their relationship with their Lord. Likewise, in order to experience God to the degree He wants you to, there will be adjustments He will ask of you. Are you prepared for Christ to reveal Himself to you in dimensions that will change your life? Are you willing to abandon that which makes you comfortable?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 13, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , ,

Fleeing My Cave

12 Mar

Fleeing My Cave

Psalms 63:1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

My life has changed so much this year. I stepped down from preaching and found myself headed into my third shoulder surgery at a very tough time financially. I sold my most prized possession in hopes of my company surviving financially. The shoulder rehab has been painfully slow, and the greatest burden has been that sleep has become a valuable commodity that is hard to come by. I have found myself living with erratic sleep patterns that have affected me in so many mental and physical ways. The strain mentally has been the greatest of all. Satan has sent his legions to assault my mind that has not been diligent in daily time in God’s Word due to the physical strains of insomnia from pain. I have felt the distance from God and the pains of sin. Satan knows we are our most vulnerable when we are down; he will never play fair, and just like a lion attack the weakest of the herd. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (​I Peter​ ​5​:​8​ NKJV)

Psalm 63 is an intensely personal look into king David’s heart. He has went from a king’s palaces to hiding in a cave while fleeing for his life. I have felt that strain of life change and felt myself distant from what I once knew. I lean to this Psalm of David and the understanding that God never changes, never forsakes, and his sovereignty is even in David’s cave experience and my current strains. He has given me just enough quality time in with Him in the middle of the night to strengthen me. He has assured me I am forgiven even when I failed due to being human, and sins grip on humanity. My prayer has been such as David, the reassurance of the One I worship and the desire to abide in him. My prayer is one of fleeing my sleepless cave, and awaking early each day to start my day with Him in prayer and his Word.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 12, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags:

FB page link to Experiencing God daily devotional

10 Mar

Trying something new.

See if this link works to my FB page where I share today’s Experiencing God daily devotional.

We try to read it before school each day, and it really spoke to us this morning.

I am almost assured it will you also.

 

https://www.facebook.com/michael.anderson.1840070

 

 

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 10, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , , ,

300 Day Sunrise

06 Mar

300 Day Sunrise

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 really don’t know where to begin on the 65 day storm that we are labeling 2015. It has been a doozy, but God has never forsaken us. There have been just some highs, but this year has been incredibly tough on our family. We have a couple big answered prayers also that I look to, and rest on, in this storm. I rest in the closeness to Him that is a byproduct of these trials of life; you either draw closer to God in them, or you get angry and rebel and hand satan the victory. Yesterday in the midst of all my planning, we got news that rocked our world. Satan said, “Take this blow to your finances and get angry at your supposed God.” I guess he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks. God has blessed me with just a glimpse of his sovereignty, and I know his plans are better than mine. I never question what path he has set before me.

Listen to what the Bible tells us. James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote the first book in the New Testament to a growing new Christianity. His epistle is a book of action, how to live out our faith, how to exemplify Christianity to those outside the faith. 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”; 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (​James​ ​4​:​13-15​ NKJV) Even in our plans, it should be to follow His plans ultimately. Look at how God used the prophet Jeremiah to reassure the Jews who thought God had forsaken them. They were headed into a life of captivity as it seemed. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (​Jeremiah​ ​29​:11-13​NKJV) So many times we quote and claim the promise of the future and the hope of the first verse. Do we miss how through this tough trial of life, God tells us only then, we finally will truly seek him? Does it take the really tough things in life to make us truly seek him with all our heart as in verse thirteen? Sadly when we reflect,the answer is yes. We may thank him for our blessings when we bounce around freely enjoying them, but are we searching for him earnestly with all our heart as when we simply do not know what else to do?

The more time you spend in the Bible, the more you understand your need for God, and how you rest in the glimpse of his sovereignty. The trials of life come, but you know Satan had to ask permission for them. You may even know they are punishment for sin. The closer you are to God, directly related to how much you pursue him, is how you handle the trials of life. You might see the 300 day blessing coming in the sunrise this morning.

 

 

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 6, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

The Law of Discipleship

03 Mar

The Law of Discipleship

Mark​ ​8:34-37​ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

I am slowly trying to get back to physically working, and I have been really pouring myself into working on our business, to be prepared for working in our business. God has really been opening some doors, and I believe he is going to bless our business from what he has laid on my heart. I can’t begin to express the current financial strain, but I know he will provide. I am committed to tithing from our business which I have never done before. I already have in a large asset sale, stepping out on faith when we needed it the most. This is one of the ways we deny ourselves as Jesus said above in the gospel of Mark.

I love how a commentary puts it. “He takes up his cross who is crucified to the world. But he to whom the world is crucified follows his crucified Lord. This cross assumes various forms; such as persecution and martyrdom, affliction and sorrow of whatever kind, appointed by God; temptations of Satan, permitted by God for our trial, to increase our humility and virtue, and to make brighter our crown.” I wish I had written that description of being sold out for Jesus. Jesus calls us to be a disciple of his, but do we claim to be Christians and not disciples? There is a very big difference. Being a disciple is living for Christ every day; Luke 9:23 adds that those people who want to follow Jesus are to take up their cross DAILY.

This is not easy to do. The world comes at us with every temptation of sin, pleasure, success, self, and even misguided security in religion. Satan is the ruler of this world and it takes the heart of a disciple that is seeking Gods Will daily to discern from truth and falsehoods. Discipleship is a humble heart that seeks only honoring God with their little time here; spending our time working for eternal crowns and not earthly treasures; investing in the eternal kingdom and not the temporal pleasure. The law of discipleship is a law of self denial, a pattern given by the One who denied the riches of heaven to step down into hell to rescue your soul. He died for you, he came to earth and died for you to give you eternal life. There is nothing here that can compare to heaven. There is nothing here that you can take to heaven. Solomon called all these worldly pursuits and riches, “vanity of vanities.” The epistle of James tells us, 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (​James​ 4:​4-15) Seek God in prayer and his Word early each day. Pray for him to open your mind through your heart to his will for you for each day. Deny what the world is tempting you with and pursue wholeheartedly what he is showing you for eternal reward. This daily pattern of seeking Him first (Matthew 6:33), is the life of a disciple. Obeying the law comes easy for it comes from the heart.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 3, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: ,

Deeper and Deeper

03 Mar

Deeper and Deeper

Mark​ ​8:31-33​ And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus was plainly giving those closest to him a glimpse into the future, he was telling them of the sovereignty of God and the plans for Jesus’ life. You know they were amazed and terrified at what they were hearing. It is of no surprise that the zealous Peter spoke out against it, but Peter did not realize he was speaking out against God. Peter did not know he was being used as Satan’s mouthpiece at the feet of Jesus. There have been many times Satan will use us in the midst of an argument, and only afterward will we realize what has happened and how terrifying that realization becomes. We too may have argued with God. We may have argued against the sovereignty of God.

I could give you countless examples of those in my circle suffering on many levels right now. These could be physically, mentally, financially, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, how long the list could be. Many times it is a combination package. I could personally attest of roads I have traveled in many of these; of the current difficult path God has me on now. In the midst of these trials, those in the faith have a peace that the world does not understand. Many times we are asked how are we dealing with the situation, and there He opens he door for us to share our faith. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (​II Corinthians​1​:​3-4​ NKJV) The peace that comforts us in the midst of life’s tough situations is the prescience of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Spirit gives us enough of a glimpse of Gods sovereignty that we know he is in control, that he knows the outcome, that he is not going to leave us nor forsake us there. There are scripture references for each of those statements.

God will allow you to go down paths in your life that you would never travel by choice. He will guide you through incredibly tough situations in life to show you your need for him and deepen you understanding of his sovereignty. Without these tough roads you would never know the power of God, you would never know your need for God, you would never experience or desire to worship him at any level. Praise him through the storms of life for you are closer to him in the midst of them. In that closeness he is drawing those on the outside to himself as the see the evidence of your faith. Let him take you deeper and deeper.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 3, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: ,

Are you religious?

01 Mar

Are you religious?

Mark​ ​7​:​6-8​

He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

Someone might ask you today what your plans are. You might think it is Sunday; why do you ask because you know you are supposed to go to church on Sunday. Part of you in religious pride probably looked down on them for even asking. That is what thousands of years of religiosity has bred into Christian culture; Sunday is a religious duty of a devout Christian. Sadly these rituals have survived the test of time; so many believe that we earn our salvation by our participation in them. Salvation has no part in your church attendance record, confessional record, or how many times prayers were recited to anyone. Salvation is only found through a humble repentant plea to Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and understanding that he did the work you cannot do. Simply stated, repent and believe.

Let me ask you to review your church and your heart. Do you know what most songs will be, what prayers will be recited, what creeds will be repeated, what is expected of you each week? Does your heart tug you to church out of obligation and guilt? Do you understand the Holy Spirit will never guilt you into any means of religious duty? If that is not Him tugging at your soul for religious obligation, the only other option is Satan himself wanting you to feel comfortable and obligated to religion.

Christianity is a matter of the heart alone, and sadly many will perish in religion and the rituals of it. If this describes your Sunday, if this describes your religion, you need to get on your knees before Jesus and plea for him to open your eyes to the truth. That is him stirring this question, that is him pursuing you; respond in a humble plea for discernment of your state of religion. He will open your eyes through your heart to becoming a true disciple of his. You will find yourself eager to go to church on Sunday out of the love you have for him. You will be eager to sing new songs of praise and learn more of him from the teachers he has called for you. Sunday will become a day of joy and never be a day of drudgery religious duty again.

 
2 Comments

Posted by on March 1, 2015 in Daily Devotions

 

Tags: , ,

Newer posts →