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One day at a time

27 Jan

One day at a time

2 Corinthians 12:9-10    And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

In prayer earlier this morning I was thanking God for this scripture. In some very personal ways, in some pastoral ways, and then in prayer for a friend who is battling that huge trial of life with cancer eating away at his wife. In all three I prayed for strength; I prayed for strength that only our God can provide. When we are at our weakest, Satan comes into our minds and torments us with doubt and fear. He can come in so many areas that convict, anger, disillusion, weaken; you could put so many negative thoughts and emotions into each of our personal list there. He is evil and only has one goal in mind; The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10a) He puts the thoughts of lashing out, falling into sin, failure in any area that will drag us deeper into a pit of despair.

But, what is the second portion of that passage in John 10:10? I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I do not know how people do life without their faith in God. I do not know how without a bedrock of faith promised to a failing soul through Jesus’ sacrifice, they can face life, or the mirror. Is there not some point of sin, some point of pain, some point of pride that needs to be broken, for them to see the power of Jesus Christ? How is it possible to be so prideful to not ask for help in any, and all areas? Oh, I can recognize it, for I lived it for so much of my life; my testimony is one rooted in pride, and the power of God to rescue me from, and continue to sanctify me, a process that is many times painful.

When we get to that point that we recognize we are destined to fail on our own, their is a humbling release in that heart that surrenders to God’s Sovereignty, power, and guidance. We come to know we don’t understand His ways. We come to know His ways are greater than ours. We come to know that we need Him the most, when we are at our weakest. We begin to see at those seemingly pits in our lives that is where he is the greatest in our lives. Heartfelt pleas for him to guide us, for we know we can’t face the day on our own. Heartfelt pleas for him to help us, for we cannot accomplish it on our own. Humble heartfelt pleas for His power, and Will, to be accomplished, and for us to show his glory in our day.

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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Pray for, flee from, draw near

24 Jan

Pray for, flee from, draw near.

1 Peter 1:13-16    Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior ; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

What are you still hanging onto? What in your life is your vice? What do you still have that is your escape, your go-to, your idol that you place above your Lord Jesus Christ? These are battles that we surely face early in our new found life as a Christian. All these old habits that are still there, but now the convictions of these sins now are painfully evident. The Lord may have miraculously healed you from a demon of sin at your conversion, but there is also the process of Sanctification that is not so instantaneous. This is where God begins to prick on those things you hold dear, those things that you hold above him. This sanctification process will continue for your life as a Christian; the more your hearts desire to become a disciple, the more pricks God shows you. You will never attain perfection, but his goal with you is to conform you into the image of his Son.

Are those secret sins holding you back form drawing closer to your God? Surely they are! What does this passage above command? “Be Holy for I am holy!” God knows your heart. God knows what you are hiding, God even knows if you are truly trying. Set down that sin and pray for the strength only found in Him to never pick it up again; to never think those thoughts again; to never put it before him again as any crutch in your life. Colossians 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. You are not alone in this battle; Satan wants to convince you that you are. Do not let him deceive you.

I can promise you that when you begin to set down your crutches in life, your feel good sedatives, that you will draw closer to God. When you truly desire to flee any sin or idol that God has pointed out to you, he is showing you what it takes to draw closer to him. It is a divide that must be crossed to move forward in your relationship with your Savior. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Pray for, flee from, draw near.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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Bottom of the pool

21 Jan

Bottom of the pool

Romans 6:3-4   Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Let me lay out a scenario for you if you will. A child raised in a Christian home with regular church attendance. Followed routine church practices and requirements including infant baptism (sprinkling); later in life, they truly come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior; do they need to be baptized again? There are much bigger questions that can lie here that are deep in the religiosity of the particular sects of religion they practice. Some believe that in an infant baptism that produces salvation; some believe that any baptism produces salvation; some believe all their religiosity wrapped up in together produces it; but does any of it? NO! Only through a humble repentant heart that desires to be forgiven through the sacrifice that Jesus Christ paid on the Cross will be saved. Only through the understanding that Grace is what saves you; no act or work or deed of your own merit will ever get you into heaven; none except you swallowing your pride and accepting that fact. 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.

Let me probe a little deeper. That later in life is you that came to know Christ, but you don’t feel as though it is necessary to be baptized (submerged), for you were sprinkled as a child. Necessary is a difficult answer, but why would you not do it anyway as a public profession of your new life in Christ? Are you ashamed to publicly profess Christ? Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. What reason other than embarrassment could there possibly be for not being water baptized? Do you think God is going to be mad at you for doing it twice? Would He not be glorified in it both times? What about the day that you stand before Him and he asks you why you did NOT follow that tug on your heart to be baptized? Is there truly any answer that will suffice?

Do you know what the word baptize means? I found this online; “It comes from a Greek word which means “to submerge in water.” Therefore, baptism by sprinkling or by pouring is an oxymoron, something that self-contradictory. So then a baptism by sprinkling would mean “submerging someone in water by sprinkling water on them.” Baptism, by its inherent definition, must be an act of immersion in water.” There is no point in your life, no age in your life, no reason in your life if you know Christ as your Savior to not be baptized by submersion. How glorious it will be to be at his feet and tell him you were proud to identify with his death, burial, and resurrection. You are leaving your old life on bottom of the pool, and arising to a new life in Him.

 
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Posted by on January 21, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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No, stay here

17 Jan

No, stay here

Luke 8:38-39    Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

This week it has seemed as though God has been surrounding me with testimonies. I have shared mine at times, heard some, and seen the evidences of Christ at work in people’s lives. I have seen people I have known for long enough, to see the change in their lives. I have seen God work in ways we cannot work ourselves. He does not do things the way the world does; what kind of God would he be if he did? Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. When you look back at your life, would you have taken the rough road to get where you are right now? You would never have inflicted the pain upon yourself, allowed the heartache in your life, to get where you are with God. Even in the opposite view of that, you may have run headlong into the pleasure of sin; you may have turned your back on God for what seemed gratifying. That was me….. But even through all those years of turning my back on God, I can now show the evidence of a healing, redeemed, forgiven life through Christ of all that sin. I can point to the life before, and just as Christ healed this demon possessed man in the scripture above, and show the evidence of Him in my life now. Christ would not even allow the man who was just healed to depart and be with Him. Christ knew that everyone in town knew him before as a demon, and now everyone would know him as redeemed. This man would be eager to share his story of healing and forgiveness; and he would be asked over, and over, and over again.

An assurance of salvation is the desire to share what you now possess. How can you claim it, and hide it? That is not a biblical salvation at all. Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. There is nothing in your life, no sin that you have committed, for which you cannot be saved through a humble repentant heart, seeking Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, and to become the Lord of your life. Then as the Lord of your life, he calls you into action as his disciple. You are not to return to your sinful ways resting on a false hope of Grace. You are to “stay here” and share of the power of Christ to forgive sins. You are to share the eternal hope that lies within you. You are not hide in your home, but to shout it from the rooftops if necessary! Take your transformed life, and dedicate it to sharing it with others of the Good News of how Christ can change theirs also.

 
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Posted by on January 17, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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Message from God

11 Jan

Message from God

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

My aunts funeral is today; she fought a good fight against cancer, but the Lord called her home this week. She knew Jesus Christ as her Savior, and now she is in his presence and in no pain. She is in a place of paradise that our simple minds cannot imagine. I may be asked to pray at the funeral today, and in my mind I have wondered what to say. Death brings pain and mourning to those of us that are left here after a loved one has departed, but if they are knew Jesus Christ as their Savior, we left here can truly rejoice, for we know that they are in heaven. We understand that as a child of Christ, our souls pass immediately into heaven, into his presence. 2 Corinthians 5:6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Our bodies of flesh will lie in wait until Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Then we will live reunited with our bodies forever with the Lord in an earthly paradise. When we take our last breath here, our eternal journey in Jesus Christ’s presence has begun. This is truly a time that calls for us in mourning to rejoice!

Funerals bring the realities of death to many of us as a reminder from God. A best friend of mine died when we where in our twenties, and God truly got my attention in it. I may have ran from it, but his death changed me to the core, letting me feel my mortality when I thought I was invincible. Death will make you question yours if you are not secure in Christ. John spoke of how when we truly believe in God, we will believe in his son he sent to redeem us in this passage above. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 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 roads do not lead to God; being a good person does not lead to heaven; going to church will not save your soul. The only way you will pass from death into eternal life is through repenting of your sins, asking Jesus Christ to forgive you, and Him to become the Lord of your life. There is no other way to get into heaven. 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. Physical death of those that are close to us are a direct messages from God for your need of the Gospel in your life. Do not miss delete that message.

 
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Posted by on January 11, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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A Gospel Believing Church-Bible Study 301

08 Jan

A Gospel Believing Church-Bible Study 301

Acts 8:26-31    Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

I love how my favorite study Bible puts this; “This question indicates the diligence that is required in the study of Scripture. The Spirit of God does not eliminate the need for human teachers or diligent study. The Spirit is not give to make study needless but to make study effective.” The eunuch had been to Jerusalem and was searching for the truth. He had likely been taught the in the synagogues by the teachers of the day, but yet he still had questions. This is an incredible passage of how Phillip took the passage of suffering, and showed the eunuch that the One that would suffer was not Israel, but Jesus Christ for all humanity. Phillip showed the evidence of Christ in the Old Testament, and presented the Gospel to him. The eunuch came to know Christ as his Savior, and even was baptized, all by the leading of the Spirit, and the obedience of Phillip. 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Sadly today we see so many trying to do Christianity alone. You could fill a book full of their excuses for not going to church, but all of their excuses are the plans of Satan becoming successful in their lives. Satan has always sought to divide the church, for he knows the power of a united church. Christianity is not a solo sport; pride is at the root of all the reasons to be a loner, and failure is at the peak of that pursuit. The Bible is very clear in it’s teaching of this ideology; Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. As the body of believers we gather together to encourage each other and learn from good preachers and teachers of the Word. A teacher explains the scripture, a preacher explains the relevancy of it in our lives. It is critical in your Christian journey that you find and participate in a Gospel believing church that preaches repentance, Christ alone, and spreading that Good News to others.

 
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Posted by on January 8, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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Card denied

03 Jan

Card denied

Colossians 3:1-3   So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. 2 Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. 3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life – even though invisible to spectators – is with Christ in God. He is your life. (The Message)

Why don’t we get it? Why do we let every other thing in this world take precedence? Anything and everything seems to come before living our lives as disciples of Christ. We mumble some prayer of supposed salvation and return to our worldly lives supposedly secure in that 60 seconds of a lifetime. We see everything else in our lives as priorities above asking the Lord what He would have us do for the day. The distractions that Satan puts in our pathways are successful in keeping our priorities askew. We think every work demand, recreation demand, stress and strain demand, is more important than seeking God’s Will for our lives for each day. We are doing life all wrong; we are doing life on our terms, doing life in the reactive tense rather than the proactive tense. We are doing life our way, by our strength, by our pride and priorities. That is not how God designed us to live.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said. “If the convert declares that he knows the Lords Will but doesn’t mean to attend to it, it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved.” Whoa…. Like uttering a prayer and returning to the lifestyle with no evidence of Jesus Christ in our lives? Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say to utter a prayer; He said to “take up your cross and follow me.” He called us to make him the number one priority in our lives; the top of our every day list; by which all else is measured and accounted to. God knows our hearts, and the levels of love and priority of which He holds there. What lies above him on your priority list today? Have you sought Him today in prayer and His Word?

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. Surely you must see how our world is so unstable on so many fronts. Surely you must see how our world is so far from God. Our world is in desperate need of a Savior, and one has come, yet is he being cried out for in the wilderness as John the Baptist did? Is He being proclaimed by his disciples that walk the streets and the internet each day? Is He being presented as the Lord of this life, into eternal life, or is he an afterthought as a get out of jail free card? The get out of jail free cards is only in a fantasy game; we will all stand before a Holy righteous judge one day and give an account of our lives to him. What will you say, when He knows the truth, before you speak it?

 
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Posted by on January 3, 2014 in Daily Devotions

 

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Hope over suffering

28 Dec

Hope over suffering

1Peter 1:3-9    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.

I hope and pray that you see the Good News in this scripture. I pray that you know the faith that lies in the hope of this passage. If you are sitting under a solid teacher of God’s Word, you will understand it. If you are sitting under one that only teaches prosperity, it brings about a question. It should bring about a question if you do not understand it. Smiling preachers that preach only hope that pads their pocketbooks, will never teach about suffering as a Christian; it would hurt their bottom line. Will the same Gospel that is taught in the nation of excess, teach in the street of the slums of India?

Christ told us that as his followers the world will hate us. 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. Christ was telling this to his disciples to encourage them. He knew they would face persecution in their ministries to come; He knew the deaths they would die for their faith. But all that we face today is temporary as Christians. If we all understand that we will stand before Christ on Judgment Day, we all must understand our lives will be on trial. Did you accept the work of Jesus Christ to Atone for your sins; or did you deny him and pursue all the pleasures this temporal time here can bring? Christ taught that if you do, you will receive your reward only for your short time here. What does your eternity hold?

Someone at the bottom of the pile in this life, can truly grasp the Hope that lies in the next. Someone who understands the Bible sees that their life in the afterlife will be glorious when they live this life for God as his disciple no matter what their situation. Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. This life is temporal, a chance to live your life for the One who give you the life eternal afterwards. When you truly grasp that, hope grows more each day, for you realize you are closer to Him in eternity each day. Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 
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Posted by on December 28, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Early Gift

24 Dec

Early Gift

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

What is the one things you are looking forward to over the next couple of days of vacation? OK, honestly, before the Christmas present you hope to be getting? Is it that the alarm clock will be turned off? That you won’t have to get up to go to work for the next couple of days? It does seem no matter what age we are, we come to have a tough relationship with that necessity. It does start really early in life in the form of likely our parents waking us up for school, then continues to the likelihood of first shift work at some point in our lives. Therefore those couple of days a week, and then those holidays throughout the year bring a simple joy of sleeping in. I can promise you there is a God-sized way to change your attitude about every morning: First thing every day spend time with Him in prayer and his Word. No longer will it be anything less than exciting and expectant to hear from your Creator each day. You will arise each day like it was Christmas morn.

Next to Salvation found through Jesus Christ alone, if there is one thing I can share with you, is to spend daily time with God in his Word. My testimony is one of the power of that. I still remember not so long ago starting that daily habit with like maybe five minutes; “Whew, got that tasks done. Now on to the rest of them.” You cannot spend daily time with God and remain the same person. True change begins with Christ, and life changes when spend each day with God. When Jesus was teaching us how to pray, he told us to seek from God what we need for each day. Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread. That daily bread is found through prayer and his Word. Everything you need is found in the daily time consecrated to God.

John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. Christ had performed the miracle of feeding the 5000, and the followers were drawn to him by the miracles. They had followed him to the other side of the sea. Christ had claimed to be their Messiah, and yet they still wanted another sign. This bread of life, Jesus Christ, is revealed to the true heart that searches Him out; a true heart that seeks him every day will find him. Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Arise early during these holidays and spend quality time with God. It could be the be the best present you get this year.

 
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Posted by on December 24, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Keep pursuing when it gets hard

21 Dec

Keep pursuing when it gets hard

2 Corinthians 4:1-6   Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.(ESV)

This has been a week that brought a new challenge; getting sick and trying to prepare a sermon when the pains in my head made it hard to think. I have truly had a rough time with it. I could go down a long road with what I am feeling, but this is not supposed to be about me. But these devo’s are supposed to show you that I am no different from you, struggle the same as you, and try to encourage in all of it to show Christ to you. Sermon’s are many times supposed to show these deep revelations of God, everyone wants the wow in the sermon; “What did God show the pastor in all his time studying this week?” Couldn’t the wow in the sermon be God showing you the same thing that He showed the pastor that week? Shouldn’t Sunday be a reflection of your time spent with Him? When you sit and hear that God laid the same thing on both your hearts, that will truly be an incredible Sunday morning with God you will never forget.

Paul was struggling in this message to Corinth. Paul goes on to list his persecutions in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33; read that list for a humble reality check any time you are feeling sorry for yourself. Paul suffered greatly for Christ, but he also kept his eyes on Christ. He knew he was only to preach the simplicity of the Gospel. He knew in all his education he could sway any crowd down any road, but he wanted no glory, nor any of his words to take away from the message of the Cross. 2 Corinthians 4:8 We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed– 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Spend time this week seeking God in his Word and prayer. Spend time this week leading up to Sunday and see what God shows both of you. If you have had a rough week, maybe the encouragement you need will be greater than you imagined when you have sought God through all of it.

 
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Posted by on December 21, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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