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Pass it down

11 Aug

Pass it down

Deuteronomy 6:4-9   “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

I was sharing a paper I wrote on the Kingdom of God with Russell last night. He read it through, and handed it back to me. “Well dad, I can read all the words, but I just don’t get it”. You could see the puzzlement in his face. I went back through it aloud with him simplifying it as I went to help him understand. You could see the light go on in his eyes; “Nowwwww I see”. It always amazes me how God works explaining His Word to a child. He reveals it’s simplicity to us as we pass it on to them. In that conversion our eyes are many times opened too.

Pride will creep in and make our hearts hard, far from the soft heart as a child. The disciples even wished to know who was going to be the wisest and greatest man in heaven (prideful). Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Can you see how strongly Christ is speaking to the sin of pride in these scriptures? Many have said that pride is the root of all sin, and pride and humility cannot co-exist. Humility is key in the life of a Christian who sees themselves in the light of sin and the Savior who redeemed them from it eternally.

Spending time with God’s Word and your children can pass them on to eternity. You are able to share with them creation, sin, grace, and hope all in one book. Life lesson after life lesson by the One who created life. Their is nothing you can ever pass on to your children that will exceed their hope in Christ. As you teach them to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, you also will become encouraged through your Fathers teaching you, as you teach them. He is passing it down to your generation, just as you are passing it down to yours.

 
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Posted by on August 11, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Comfort Fruit

08 Aug

Comfort Fruit

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I am struggling, in many ways, on many fronts. I can’t and don’t need to unpack all the details, and my struggles are not above yours I am sure. I have a struggling business that is in the center of my attention, and a school assignment that has brought about a huge case of humility. I am regretting the decisions of my youth, and the lack of education that came as a result. I have never felt so dumb. Where can I turn in these anxiety filled days? Now there is only one thing in my life that brings me comfort and that is seeking God and His Word daily. No substance abuse to numb the pain, but a cure to heal the pain.

Paul in these scriptures was speaking to the Philippians with a heart of thanksgiving and contentment. He found his contentment in Christ, not “stuff” that was held in high regard back then and even today. He was content wherever Christ had him, and he sought to serve Him well there. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 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. He was truly a focused man, one with eyes only for Christ; and as a result of that realization, every day he sought to draw glory to Christ wherever God had placed him.

Much of my study recently has been on the “fruit” of being a disciple of Christ. This morning as I went to Philippians for a word to encourage me, and I read through the scriptures, I came upon this verse. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. God gave me an encouraging word I did not even know was there, that spoke again of what I had studied last night. That is how He works when you seek your comfort from Him and His Word. He will place just the right words before you, and open your heart and your mind with them as only He can in the only Living Word. These things are only gained by a humble heart that opens the book looking for them. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…..”

 
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Posted by on August 8, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Teach me o’ Lord

07 Aug

Teach me o’ Lord

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 been studying on the parable of the True Vine (John 15:1-11). One of the key points of that parable is the term abiding (NKJV) in Christ, or ‘remain in me’ in the NIV version. The term abiding is a consistent state, or state of being. The term abiding is synonymous with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the work He does from within. John 14:16 -17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 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. Matthew Henry spoke of this as a “divine unction”, and of how it does not “supersede ministerial teaching, but surmounts it.”

When you pursue God, and the things of God, as a child of God; His Spirit will open your eyes, heart, and mind to the things of Him. 1 Corinthians 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. The heart that is in consistent pursuit is a heart that is abiding. The revelations that His Spirit shows us in the Word are priceless and only gained through Him. He opens your heart and speaks to your mind, and places teachers in your path for clarity. When you spend time in God’s Word, and He shows you a truth there, be not surprised when a teacher will soon speak of that before you. This is God confirming His revelation through another of His disciples. How will you ever receive those blessings if you don’t have His Spirit abiding in you, and you abiding in His Word?

 
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Posted by on August 7, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Sprint or Endurance?

05 Aug

Sprint or Endurance?

1 Peter 1:13-16   Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

“Gird up the loins of your mind” is not a typical phrase you hear today and could apply just about anything in your life that takes your focus off Christ. We all have the battles of worldly desires that fight for the focus of our mind. I think about __________ the most. What occupies your mind that fills in that blank? I would need to make a list, but I am trying to dwindle that list down through the power of Christ  in my life. It is a constant battle and without a consistent pursuit of Him, the list will never shrink. The daily time in prayer and the Word chip away at my list. Matthew 6:33 “Seek Ye first the kingdom of God…”

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The analogy of our lives is almost put here as and endurance race has much implication. Life is not a sprint, where you go as fast as you can to reach the goal; but an endurance run where you prepare and pace yourself setting your eyes farther out for the longer run. It requires a different strategy, and endurance requires longer focus. As in Hebrews, the “weight of sin” can make the longer race difficult. We must shed that weight to finish the race strong.

The battles of sin will always be there, many only in the mind. The strength to fight these battles is only found in prayer and the Word. You cannot defeat them alone although pride will try to convince you otherwise. Spend time daily with God and seek to lighten your load through His power to allow you to focus on Him and finish the race strong.

 
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Posted by on August 5, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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What is that I hear?

04 Aug

What is that I hear?

James 5:7-8   Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

He came. He died. He arose. He ascended. He is coming back. Do you believe? Do you believe that Christ is going to return to right the wrong of this world; to claim up all of those who believe in Him and take them to eternal paradise with Him? I pray that is where your hope and faith lie, it that security of His return and of His promises. John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

No matter where your faith lies, you surely must realize the depravity of society today. The list is every growing of sins against God. We are worshiping idols, condoning same sex unions, worshiping other Gods, or even worse the belief that all roads lead to God. This is a blasphemy against God and saying the sacrifice of His Son was of no use. All roads do not lead to God, but He provided the way only through his Son. We are lost without that realization, but freed and redeemed through it. 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.

All through history people have believed and prayed for Christ’s imminent return. Ruth Graham (Rev. Billy Graham’s wife) was quoted, “”If God doesn’t judge America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” There is a lot of weight in that statement. When you believe and begin to pursue the things of God you will begin to swim upstream against the world. 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The time is drawing near I do believe. Will you be pursuing a worldly life, or have your heart set on the things of God when you stand before Him? Are you ready to stand before Him? Then right your heart towards Him and spread the Good News of Him.

 
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Posted by on August 4, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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It’s ok….I forgive you

03 Aug

It’s ok….I forgive you

Philemon 1:15-19  For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave–a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay–not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.

Onesimus was a slave that had probably stolen something and ran away from his master. He had run straight into the Apostle Paul, and Paul had led him to Christ. They agreed and understood that Onesimus must return to His master to plea for forgiveness, but under Roman law this could have led to his death. Paul wrote Philemon to plea for his forgiveness and offer to pay for his debt, although he had done nothing to warranty that responsibility. These scriptures are a great analogy of what Christ has done for us. Christ has said of our sins to “put that on my account.”

Forgiveness is always difficult, and the greater the sin against us, the greater the strain of forgiving that sin. We all have been down that painful path most likely. The sin in our lives prompts us to take a prideful stand against a humble heart against forgiveness. Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. A summary of those scriptures is simply we are forgiven to the amount we forgive. Very tough words in a society filled with selfishness and sin against others. I have pled for forgiveness for those I have sinned against, and those that have sinned against me. God sheds light on these things through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

There is a liberation that comes with forgiveness, and a cleansing of the heart. We have all heard of carrying that weight of anger and pain, and how “it is gonna eat you up.”. That weight will drag you down, but the freedom of the release of it will lift you up. Peter had come to Christ asking at what point do we stop forgiving those who sin against us. Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Christ simply states that you do not stop forgiving. We may wish ourselves to live a sin free life, but we cannot, and fail daily. We live in His forgiveness every day and must seek to duplicate that ourselves in regards to others. The freedom of forgiveness is one a Christian possesses, and must seek to share daily.

 
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Posted by on August 3, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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The word of our testimony

20 Jul

The word of our testimony

Psalm 51:13-14 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

David had poured out to God his heart in a plea for God’s grace and forgiveness. He wanted to be a changed man and live for God. He wanted God’s grace to ease the pain, to lift the burden, to find rest in that forgiveness and salvation. I found it in study as this, “David calls sinners to salvation in this verse. He vows that he will use his experience of God’s grace as a renewed motivation to bring others into the knowledge of the love and mercy of God. David desires to be forgiven for several reasons: (1)for his own peace, (2)for the message of hope that he could communicate to others, (3)for the praise he would be able to give in the community of the faithful.” This was Davids story of forgiveness, or David’s testimony of God’s grace on him.

If you proclaim Christ, you have a testimony. You are not the same person as before. You cannot be; for He produces change from the inside out. Your testimony is the evidence of God working in your life through the blood of Christ to forgive sin and change lives. Have you ever thought about that change and tried to summarize it? It may have many avenues of change and most likely is a work in progress, but the evidence of that change God uses to reach others. He uses you as a tool to reach and encourage the lost around you, and many times your testimony is exactly what they need to hear. 1 Corinthians 1:5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

Don’t ever be scared to share you faith and your story of how Christ changed your life. That fear that creeps in is Satan at work to try and stop the work of God through you. 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. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Your struggles and God’s healing all make up a beautiful story of power, love, forgiveness, and change. A powerful new worship song has the lyric, “We will overcome, by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. Savior, worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all honor and glory.” Share your testimony, no, live it.

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Jehovah-Jireh” means “The LORD Will Provide

17 Jul

Jehovah-Jireh” means “The LORD Will Provide

Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of The Lord it shall be provided.”

Over the last 36 hours, the Lord has provided for my family. I cannot express the details, but the first was an answer to prayer for me, the second was an answer to prayer for my wife. Both were unexpected monetary gifts that answered a prayer of need. Both fulfilled God’s promise to us in so many ways. Are you placing your faith in God? Do you leave room to see God work or do you fill in all the gaps by yourself? You are glorified in that and never will see God’s provision in it; only your own.

God provided food for Israel that fell out of the sky for 40 years while wondering in the desert. Numbers 11:9 And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. They had never seen this food, much less how it appeared and disappeared. The logistics of the size of the Exodus of Israel into the desert are staggering, let alone feeding them for 40 years. God humbled them in the desert and showed them many things, yet they still were a prideful, stubborn people rebelling against their Provider. 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.

God knows what you are facing today. He has either designed or allowed it, and He wants you to seek His guidance in it. He is in control of it all. How can you ever see God at work in your life if you don’t give up your life to Him? If you keep praying and spending time with Him in His Word, He will provide. How he provides may not be how you think he should, but He is a Sovereign God, and the Creator of all, and He knows best. Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

The true meaning of Genesis 22:14 is an example of Christ in the Old Testament. Of how God will provide a means to escape the punishment of sin through the blood of Christ on the Cross at Calvary. This example in Genesis speaks of great faith, and great sacrifice, and of God’s provision for eternal paradise with Him.

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Where is your Zeal?

14 Jul

Where is your Zeal?
Proverbs 23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;

Zeal is not a word commonly used today. If it was it would probably be in the context of material possessions, or a personal drive towards a goal. Zeal is defined as:: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something : fervor. I think simply stated your zeal is what drives you. As I head out today to enjoy time on a dirt bike, I realize it is where my zeal was for many years. It was how you defined me. It was my everything, and what my life pursuit consisted of; it was my idol. It is now a huge part of my testimony of God’s work in my life, and the delivery from that idol. What do you pursue with zeal, forsaking many things focused on that pursuit, now realizing it has become an idol?

Romans 10:1-4 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Paul was speaking of Israel and their hearts for God, but yet their understanding was wrong. They believed they could earn their way into heaven. This problem still consists today in our self-righteous world, but that is not the Gospel of Christ who has come to save the world.

Having your focus on God and the pursuit of the things of God is where your zeal must lie. It is summarized in two incredible scriptures in Revelation of how to live a zealous life for Christ and the rewards that follow. Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Christ is not promising an easy road in a life focused on Him, for He is telling us He will correct and punish us for our sin. But He is pursuing you, and offering an eternal life with Him as a result of answering His knock and the repentance and forgiveness of sin. A zeal for God will drive you like nothing else.  For a heart for God sees none other that can promise anything but temporal pleasure in a fleeting world; yet a zealous heart for Him reaps eternal reward.

 
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Posted by on July 14, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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But I can’t _______ But He can

13 Jul

But I can’t _______ But He can.

Exodus 4:10-12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

Buuuttt Goooddd……. You can almost hear Moses whining. Moses was arguing with God at the burning bush.  He was begging God not to call him to this tasks of leading his people and approaching Pharaoh.  He did not feel qualified for the responsibility that God was laying out before him. But God had prepared him all his life for this, all of this, all in His plan to save Israel. He was begging God to send someone else, or even help if it must be. God already knew that and already had prepared Aaron, Moses’s brother. Exodus 4:14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Everything you face, everything you struggle with, everything you are to the core, can be used by God. You are His creation, and you are where you find yourself today all in His hands. Your shortcomings can be used to show His power. What you cannot do yourself, you can do through Him, which draws glory to Him as a result. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Matthew Henry put it well: “God is pleased sometimes to make choice of those as his messengers who have fewest of the advantages of art or nature, that his grace in them may appear the more glorious. Christ’s disciples were no orators, till the Spirit made them such.” A popular Christian term these days is “Doing extraordinary things through ordinary people.”

Have you felt and heard God speaking to you; calling you to some purpose of which you feel you are not qualified? Are you scared and running from that call? That call can be anything, but you know it was a word from God. You know in your heart he wants you to speak out, to stand alone on your faith, to be bold for Him. He will provide for you for He did not place that call upon you to see you fail. He placed that call on you to show His power through you, and to draw others to Him as a result. 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

 
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Posted by on July 13, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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