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Peace in an out of control world

10 Jul

Peace in an out of control world

Romans 11:33-36    Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Yesterday I had a great conversation with another contractor who uses his business as a ministry. We stood out in the parking lot and shared our faith. He asked what one word I would use to encourage someone; His one word was obey, my one word was peace. All throughout the Bible we are shown and must come to understand the Sovereignty of God. Sovereignty is simply defined as a supreme power; God is the definition of THE supreme power. When you read the Bible as a whole, you come to understand the complexity of God’s plan; but at the same time the centrality and simplicity of His plan to offer Salvation to all, and to draw all to Him for eternal paradise. In that understanding comes the peace that my one word describes.

Romans 11 is the apostle Paul’s detailed description of how Israel fits into God’s ultimate plan to save all the world. Paul goes into detail of God continues to offer grace to His beloved people time and time again; His plans even come to use their rebellion to offer Salvation to the rest of the world. Everything that Israel has ever done, and will ever do, all falls under the Sovereignty of God’s design. He either designed it, or allowed it, but it all will work for his purpose. Our simple minds cannot grasp a speck of the mind of God. But when we come to grasp that understanding, their is a release of our burdens to Him; for we know that He is in control of it ALL.

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. This passage is one that we as Christians must lean on in difficult situations in life. This is Sovereignty defined; “all things word together”; we cannot understand how the difficult situations in life can possible be for our, or work out for our good. We only see the present tumults or pain in them; we don’t see past them. But with the heart of understanding comes the peace in them. He has a purpose “for good to those who love God” in every situation in our lives. If you pursue Him with all your heart, He will open your eyes to that Peace I am trying to describe.

 
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Posted by on July 10, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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How will they know?

09 Jul

How will they know?

Romans 10:13-15    For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Paul has been presenting that what was once thought only available to the Jews, is now available to all. The Lord God that all had known the Jews worshipped, had come to give Himself up for those not of Jewish decent too. The saving grace found in Him carried no ruse of exclusivity any longer; all could come to know Him and worship Him for what He freely gave to them. 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. This was no private party with a God all throughout the Old Testament that those opposing the Jews had feared; Paul preached a God of love who had came and paid the ultimate price for all to have forgiveness and access to Him. The doors were opened, and all needed to hear; Paul preached the Gospel with urgency.

I love this set of rhetorical questions that Paul presents here; the “how thens”. You say that you believe in Him, but how then did you come to believe? You at some point must have heard of Him, to come to a point of belief in Him. Someone, somewhere, somehow, presented the Good News of Jesus Christ to you. It may have been received with a hardened heart at the time it was presented; it may have fallen on your seemingly deaf ears; it may have nestled in a corner of your soul until God was ready to humble you to remind you of your need of Him. Paul is stressing the importance of spreading the Good News here, to live your life on mission. And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Have, or more directly, is your life on mission? Do those around you know of Who you place your faith and hope in? How can they share in your joy if they have not heard of Him?

So much over the past couple of weeks of my life has been centered on missions. God has been putting people in my life that have true hearts for missions; for spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth; with hearts like Paul. I have spent some time with a modern day Paul; he is just encouraging to be in his presence; sold out for Christ and spreading the Good News in a country far away from God. I have friends with true mission hearts such as Paul, I saw and experienced the evidences of it and Him greatly as we gathered to prayerfully send off the next team. The presence of the Holy Spirit was great in that home that evening; He was there, and we were blessed because 15b”How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” My heart is full of joy for those that God has put in my circle to influence me; to encourage me to press on, to feel the love they have for Him and the hearts they have for sharing Him with others. How else will they ever come to know Him?

 
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Posted by on July 9, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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10yr old Russell’s prayer letter

08 Jul

Lord,

I would love if we all loved you and each other. Because this world is so full of hate and despise. Because even

in me and the people who I love, you see Satan in. But that’s what you and the angels are fighting all around us. Satan is hell himself and we know that. That is what you are stopping all around everywhere! But we need to be more like Elisha, or Elijah, I can’t remember. But have all these missionaries you are sending off. Do they feel like your healing hands; see them sending off and cleansing demons left and right. You send them off and cleanse them. Make them angels. And join the battle you fight hidden from our hideous human eyes.

In your name I say,

Amen

The past week the tug for my son’s heart into the mission field has been incredibly strong. He has heard testimonies from missionaries in India; his mothers team from Romania, a team that just returned from Alaska, and last night another team headed to Alaska. His grasp of sin and spiritual warfare amaze me. My prayer is for God to continue his great work in the heart of our child.

 
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Posted by on July 8, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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On Mission to spread the Good News

08 Jul

On Mission to spread the Good News

Romans 10:8-10     But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

My heart is on missions this morning; from spending time with friends headed on mission last night, to my son pouring his heart out to God in a prayer letter after we got home, to where I have been in God’s Word in Romans the past couple of days. Presenting the Gospel to those that will hear; to give hope to those that desire it; to present the understanding that one can never perform enough good works to enter into heaven; the Gospel of Grace. Paul has been pouring out his heart for his countrymen; for their err in seeking to obtain righteousness through following the word of the Law. The Law had been satisfied by Christ, their Messiah had come and now they are to follow Him, not the Law that pointed to Him. Their are two types of righteousness; a works based, and a faith based. Works is based in self and pride; faith is based in the heart and Grace. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you feel that you can in any way, earn your way, you are going headlong against Christ and the Gospel of Grace.

I grew up going to church every Sunday. Somewhere in there I began believing that you went to heaven because you went to church. So whatever I did during the week was ok, or forgiven, if I made it to church on Sunday. Sadly the largest denomination today still preaches this works based faith system. Their is no number of “hail Mary’s” that will ever pay your sin debt; only a humble heart that confesses sins to the Savior of them through Grace will be saved. How could a missionary go into the far reaches of the world and preach a Salvation that required works? The only Salvation that saves is the one accessible to all; one that is through faith in Jesus Christ that came, died, and rose from the dead to pay for your sins; past, present, and future. The gospel of Grace is obtainable to all that will hear, all that God is tugging on their heart, opening that door of hope that is available to all.

What do you believe? Do you think that the better you are as a person, the more likely you are to enter into heaven? Do you think that your good works will outweigh your bad on God’s scales for eternity? Do you think that because you know right from wrong, and that you feel you are just good enough, that God will let you in? God doesn’t let just good enough in, he only let’s in those that have accepted the free gift he gave them in the understanding of the sacrifice of his Son. He will ask you upon judgement day what you did with the knowledge of that sacrifice? How will you answer?

 
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Posted by on July 8, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Have you heard?

07 Jul

Have you heard?

Romans 9:15-21    For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (ESV)

I timidly tread on this scripture that is steep in theology; I am not qualified to take on the arguments that can be presented here on Election and Sovereignty. I fully accept and rest in the grace of Sovereignty; if it is by Election I rest in that also. What grabs me here is the question found in it; “Why have you made me like this?”. That question is one that we have all most likely gone before God asking. I still in my struggles with sin seemingly go before God with it; I must understand that the sanctification process is a life-long road I must travel. The more time I spend with God in his Word and prayer, the more sin is revealed to me. Even Paul continued to struggle in that realization of sin, of how he wanted to be a better man, but still failed continually. Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

Let me present a simplified question on the topic of Election found in these scriptures. If you are even realizing, and questioning God on life here and thereafter, is that not evidence that He is already in pursuit of your heart, and you are a chosen child? Those blinded to Him never see or question any evidences of Him. That tug on your heart you feel, should make you feel special; you are a chosen child of God. The evidences of the evil in this world today are proofs of Satan’s power that surrounds us. God’s leash on him is stretching out just before time for Christ’s return to pull him back and put him up forever. These days that lie before us are not days guaranteed, but evidences of the need for you to repent of your sins and draw near to Christ for eternal rewards. The gospel is going out into all the world at an incredible rate with the evolution of the internet; missionaries are presenting the Good News to places that have never heard. All of this must happen before His return, and it is happening NOW! God has made you “like this” for a purpose; that purpose is to draw you to Him, and that his glory can be revealed in you. We are forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, and able to share by the word of our testimonies.

I love how a good friend of mine always closes his letters,

Until all have heard

 
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Posted by on July 7, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Priceless treasure

06 Jul

Priceless treasure

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

I have always been very open about my struggles with memory. Some mornings I use a website to search for a word on my heart. That search many mornings leads to quality time in my favorite Bible. Some mornings I simply park, and read, and study in it. My Bible is full of highlighted passages, notes, and my own words that God has shown me while spending time there. I have had this Bible for over five years, and there is nothing that can compare to the special place it holds in my heart. I left it at church one time, and almost had a panic attack fearing I had lost it forever. Even in my struggles with my memory, it just always seems that I can find what I need when I need it most there. It is truly like there is a direct connection with God in this Book, because there is; He lives between those pages and He knows my love for him and his word. This particular Bible is beyond special to me, it is a part of me.

John is speaking to the Holy Spirit that dwells in us; that Spirit gives us discernment to spiritual things. John was speaking of the anti-christ and the deceivers that are working in the world. There are many that preach a false gospels today in many varieties. Today they seem to be luring people away with the promises of an easy and blessed life, but not preaching the power of the convictions of sin. John is urging you to use the discernment that is given you to see this as a lie; to practice the truths that are found in His Word; to steer away from false teachers; to abide in the Spirit and dwell in His presence in His Word and truth. John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

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. Christ was speaking to the disciples before he was to suffer for all of mankind at the Cross. He told them of the coming blessing of the Holy Spirit that will be given to all believers in Him. That is Christ’s Sprit that comes to live inside you; he comes to bless you beyond description for your time here. He comes to open up His Word to you like never before. He will take your Bible and communicate to your mind through your heart. You will begin to see Him as never before and be drawn back into His Word daily for another word from Him. You will be drawn to share with others what He has shown you. You will begin to look back at your own Bible and all the notes and highlights in it where He has spoken to you. It will become a priceless treasure to you too.

 
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Posted by on July 6, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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I stand amazed

03 Jul

I stand amazed

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (ESV)

In my favorite study Bible, the commentary on this verse says, “John stands in amazement of God’s love. But the greater amazement and appreciation  is for the fact that God’s love is expressed to human beings, that Christians are included in His family. God loves all believers, the weak as well as the strong.” I too stand amazed at God’s love for me; for Him to love me when I ran headstrong against him for so much of my life. When I turned my back on him for the pleasure of sins and selfish pursuits. When I still fail him ever single day still, even with a heart for Him, there is failure continually; in all my failures He still loves me, and you. He has a love we cannot comprehend, for the world only teaches to love back what is loved first. We are not taught to love those that do not love us; Christ loves the saint and the sinner.

When you begin to grasp a small percentage of God’s ability to love you in all your failures, it produces thankfulness and love for Him in your heart. That outpouring of that love begins to change to a life for Him and all that it will produce. You begin to live your life differently than you did before you knew Him. Those around you notice; some are drawn to the change He has produced in you, others display their denial of Christ through their attitudes towards Him in you. John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. You will find that many you once called friends, now are denying Christ before you. The world as a whole is not inherently good; the world is full of sin, and the world will turn it’s back on Christ and you as a result of your devotion to Him.

But the promise that you in your faith hold onto is found in the next passage. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. John has just spent the prior verses speaking of living our lives for Him and the pursuit of righteousness. We will have to stand before Him one day; will we stand uprightly and know that we tried our best to live our lives for Him? 1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. We will be asked to give an account of our lives; did we live for the pleasures of this world, or were we so amazed at the love He bestowed upon us, (while we were still sinners), that we dedicated our lives to the pursuit of obediently following Him?

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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The Inevitable Penalty (borrowed)

02 Jul

The Inevitable Penalty (borrowed)
Matthew 5:26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
As I sat down this morning I saw the opened devotional from yesterday; one that struck a deep chord inside me. Mr. Chambers spoke of the power of the conviction of sin through the Spirit; he spoke of giving our lives up for Christ completely; he spoke of the desire of God to make us more like his Son at all costs. So much that is being preached in the pulpits today is lush Christianity; lost is the work of the Holy Spirit in the convictions of sin and all that come with it through a repentant heart. You cannot claim the promises of heaven and continue to live in sin today. An assurance of Salvation is a heart that desires to flee from that sin that ensnared us for so long. What do you believe? Are you submitting to those convictions, or are you denying that wrenching inside you to continue in that temporal pleasure of sin that has eternal consequence? Mr. Chambers wrote:
“There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.”
God’s goal is to make you more like Christ; period. All that He places on your heart requires that action that Mr. Chambers speaks of; the knowledge of knowing what we should or should not do. That response will determine your walk with God; that obedience either draws you closer to him, or lets you drift away if you deny it. Let the Spirit do His work in you. Respond with pleas for strength to fight the temptations of sin, the heart of forgiveness, the heart of compassion for others who struggle too. Let go and let God do his work in you. Your life will never be the same.

 
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Posted by on July 2, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Do you believe?

01 Jul

Do you believe?

John 12:44-47    Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

I heard a really good sermon yesterday on Christ’s deity; of how manifested as God in the flesh. Of how He is a part of the Holy Trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We simply cannot wrap our minds around this concept, but yet do we believe this concept? Is not faith’s foundation in believing what we cannot see, or even possibly understand? Is the pride of our lives so great, that if we cannot explain it, we will not believe it? That is a deadly pride, the root of all sin, the basis on which there is a separation of heaven and hell. You cannot profess to believe in Christ and not understand that he walked this earth that He created in human form. He humbled himself and came to earth to pay your debt that you could not afford. He died for you to live eternally, with Him, in paradise.

Christ was entering into Jerusalem in this passage; he was coming into town with the knowledge he as going to die the most excruciating death imaginable. He was coming into town to the praise and worship of men; those same men that would soon turn on him and crucify him in very short time. He boldly claims his deity; he understands what this means to those that do not believe. But he also tells them they must believe to be saved; for He will return and judge the world when He comes the second time. John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 12:48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. Are you prepared to kneel before God on that day of judgement? Are you living your life now in preparation for that day? Your sins, past, present, and future can be forgiven by the One who came to save the world; you must believe and grasp that understanding of Him as your Lord and your God.

I guess I don’t get it how someone doesn’t believe. I, even at my worst and greatest sin stages of my life believed in Christ. I chose to run from God and pursue the temporal pleasures of sin, denying the eternal price I would pay for those decisions. I blatantly lived my life against all that I knew to be true. I was captured by the enemy, deep behind enemy lines. How could I say that I believed, and continue to live in sin? I didn’t really believe I guess. For if I had understood what awaited me in hell as a result of my life, I would have stopped and pled for it immediately. Please understand you are not guaranteed tomorrow, but you are guaranteed forgiveness today. It is never to late……until it is.

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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The Teacher

30 Jun

The Teacher

1 Corinthians 2:11-12     For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

I parked on this scripture for a couple of days. So many paths to take here, but all of them speak of the Holy Spirit that is given to believers. Paul had just talked about the mystery of God revealed; the understanding that He gives to us through his Son and his Spirit. The things of God that those that are not children of God do not understand. Paul pours out his heart in prayer to the Ephesians that they may come to understand what is found in and through Christ. Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height– 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Paul is pleading that you come to faith in Jesus Christ, to answer that tug that He is placing on your heart. Paul knows that only through faith, are the mysteries of God revealed.

I never knew until much later in life that an unsaved person cannot understand the Bible. When they read it, to a hardened heart it makes no sense. If it is approached with the desire of a humble heart to find God, He will reveal himself to them. It is in that act of God that he reveals the mystery of Himself. In that act of seeking, His Son is found, and hopefully the lost is eternally saved through God’s work in their hearts and His Word. The best book I have been told for the lost to seek God in is the Gospel of John. You simply cannot read John’s gospel and not see Christ and his deity there. When Christ spoke to Martha, just before He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, He asked and assured her; 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11). John’s gospel pierces the soul with these questions, questions that the soul begs for answers to.

Throughout this passage in 1 Corinthians, Paul is speaking to the division in the church, much of it relative to the supposed wisdom of men and their sects of division. Paul points to Christ and his Spirit to be the only One lifted up. The teachers of men do not need to be elevated; it is the message, not the messenger that we are to praise. Those that God entrusts to us to aid in helping us to understand are held to a higher standard by him. That weight of responsibility is great, and you should be committed to prayer for your pastors and teachers. All that they seek to aid in revealing to you is a lost cause without a humble heart and a heart that has found wisdom through His Spirit. Once you possess Him, all that you read in His Word will seem clear. You will begin to understand and discern more clearly those that teach. It is all found first with a humble heart that realizes you cannot do it on your own.

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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