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Strength in humility

27 Apr

Strength in humility

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

It is always good to share; to unload your burdens on a willing ear. As men we are wired prideful and feel as through we can handle all these burdens on our own. We feel as though we must be the “strong one”, and pride is the spine of that emotion. We tend to keep things bottled up and find ways to handle the stresses of life our own ways.  These paths can take us down dark downhill roads of sin.  These lead us away from Christ and pride becomes that enabler for that journey. But before we head down those paths, we can cast our cares upon Him as in Matthew above. We can swallow that pride and as in James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. This step of humility is the beginning of change and healing.

When you realize your sin, and take your sin to Him in the plea of forgiveness, the Salvation that follows is a releasing of those burdens. You truly now have Christ living within you, and the strength and provisions that come with that are the power of the Holy Spirit, the “Enabler”. 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. We can begin to press that manly pride down through the strength that Christ brings to fight the demon of pride. Pride is straight from Hell, and it takes the power of Heaven to fight that enemy that lies within you. You can have that power living in you upon Salvation and accepting Christ as the only way. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Thank you Jesus!

 
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Posted by on April 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Humble 106 – Pride 12 (Pride looses the game)

26 Apr

Humble 106 – Pride 12 (Pride looses the game)

1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

This morning I feel at ease as a result of finishing the updating of my testimony yesterday, and a good nights rest. I ask for your prayers as I deliver it tonight at Celebrate Recovery at my church. I have been forgiven and delivered from so much in my life by the grace of God. I have so much to be thankful for. I found myself in prayer this morning just wrapped up in Thanksgiving to God for where He has let me go, delivered me from, forgiven me for, and brought me to in my life. As I moved to my bible this morning I saw this scripture above highlighted on the coming pages, ahead of where I was going to be today in my study of 1 Peter. What a summary of my life and pride.

God has let me think for years I could do it my way. He has watched me rebel, watched me think I was in control, and that I could do all things and on my timetable. I was always of that independent stubborn mindset that I could do all things, but somewhere along the way my heart realized my sin, and my heart realized His love for me. The byproduct of the realization of God’s love for you and the sacrifice of His Son for your sin will humble you. Satan will try to convince you otherwise, that your good works will save you, but humility will allow you to realize you can never achieve Salvation yourself. James 4:6-8 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Pride is the root of all sin, and pride is directly from Satan. Humble yourself and rest in the assurance that Satan is a defeated foe, and the power that you reside in is from God and not of yourself.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Seeking help

25 Apr

Seeking help

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.

I feel like the seat here is still warm from pulling a very late night working on updating my testimony. There are three main points to it, and one is a battle that only surfaced the last 5 or 6 years – anxiety. Anxiety is a very elevated state of worry and there are many levels of this problem as most. It is a hidden disease that many do not confess from shame, but part of the healing is seeking help, for you cannot do it alone. I have chosen to seek my help from God. In the New King James version, worry and anxiety are found 12 times in the New Testament, and there is much to study surrounding those texts. Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. That scripture alone can bring you great peace when you meditate on it, and understand that you are not guaranteed tomorrow, so why waste today worrying about it?

All of the worries and anxieties fall under the heading of Fear. Once we understand that fear is not from God, but a weapon of Satan, we can gain strength to fight off those anxieties with the weapons God has given us in His Word and prayer. 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. My pastor and I had a great talk once about anxiety and he encouraged me to spend time in the Word when those attacks come, because there is strength there. I even believe the Proverbs verse about can speak to that. Anxiety will come and you must be prepared for that battle by spending time with God in His Word. All of this training is preparation for that war that rages within. When the attacks come, you take deep breaths, slow down, and approach God. Even this is against worldly advice of warfare, but God does not operate as this world does. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

 
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Posted by on April 25, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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If I could only remember ……..

24 Apr

If I could only remember ……..

1 Peter 4:10-11   As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I REALLY struggle with memory. I destroyed much of it on my own with bad choices over 20 years. My family is prone to the Alzheimer’s disease which now all the medical studies prove stress is a large accelerant of that disease and the portion of the brain which affects memory terrifies me. Let me see, what was I going to say? All this can lead to elevated anxiety levels which is my biggest struggle I face. But underneath it all is the glue that holds me together, the Peace that Christ supplies. I know that every single thing I face is an opportunity to share Christ. It may be sharing the struggles that He has allowed me to face to encourage another facing the same struggles without that Peace He provides. 1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I never write these reflections daily for any accolades or to draw attention to myself. I write them out of obedience to where I feel God has called me, and my hope is that they encourage you in some way through how He works in my life. Even as I enter seminary in only a few short weeks, I am struggling still with the idea of school at 44, and all the memory issues that I have described. But I rest in God’s grace and provision of the promise Christ made to His apostles and to us through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. 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. I promise you the more time you spend with God, the more you will remember or speak His Word at the perfect time you or someone before you needs to hear it. You will wonder “where did that come from?” It came from the portion of your mind where Christ dwells and reveals Himself to you and others in God’s perfect timing. You can have it too by accepting Him, and honoring Him, by seeking Him daily.

 
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Posted by on April 24, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Grow w/o Food?

22 Apr

Grow w/o Food?

1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

How does anything grow? Food & water right? Taking that principle into mind, we therefore must be fed to grow closer to God. If we are desiring to live a better life, and to develop more than a surface relationship with God, then we must spend time in His Word. We cannot grow without the nourishment that the Word of God brings into our lives, and as a result of it, we will become the better person we desired to be to start with. Regeneration and Purification are brought by Christ into your life upon Salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 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.  

The more time you spend in God’s Word, the closer you draw to Him. The Spirit will begin to reveal and convict you of sin, and will provide the way to escape. God desires you to be like Christ, and He accomplishes this through the power of the Spirit living inside you, and the conviction and power of His Word. John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Matthew Henry states it so well in his commentary on 2 Peter, “The word of God is the great instrument of a sinner’s purification: Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. The gospel is called truth, in opposition to types and shadows, to error and falsehood. This truth is effectual to purify the soul, if it be obeyed, Jn. 17:17 . Many hear the truth, but are never purified by it, because they will not submit to it nor obey it. The Spirit of God is the great agent in the purification of man’s soul. The Spirit convinces the soul of its impurities, furnishes those virtues and graces that both adorn and purify, such as faith (Acts. 15:9 ), hope (1 Jn. 3:3 ), the fear of God (Ps. 34:9 ), and the love of Jesus Christ. The Spirit excites our endeavours, and makes them successful.”

Your life will never be the same if you pursue God through daily time with Him and His Word. I can promise you that, for that is my testimony. It all started to change, when I started to spend time with Him every day. My “big brother” / best friend told me once, “If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have been getting.” Try if for 30 days, and then see if you can stop feeding on the Word of God.

 
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Posted by on April 22, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Chief of sinners – Forgiven!

21 Apr

Chief of sinners – Forgiven!

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.”

I love how God works. I am giving my testimony this coming week, and the time I have been spending with God over these last couple of days has put me in 1 Peter where he is speaking of all the trials of life. How we were before Christ, and then how we are to conduct ourselves now upon Salvation and Christ dwelling in us. Of how the persecutions and difficulties will come on both mental and physical plains, but these realizations of being children of God will provoke a reverent holy fear of God. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Once you begin to grasp the understanding of who God is, and what He has done for you, that reverent fear comes as a strong emotion deep within your soul.

As I look back as part of reflecting for testimony preparation, I feel as Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. It is so humbling realizing what Christ has done for all of us, even those who still hate Him. Now on this side of Salvation I strive to be a better person, to live a life honoring the One whom gave His life for me and you. I lean on the time in His Word and prayer and the pursuit of the renewing of my mind as in Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is a daily pursuit, every day asking for forgiveness, and asking for guidance to help me along the way. I beg you to reflect on your life and understand there is nothing you have done that you cannot be forgiven for through repentance and acceptance of Christ into your heart. It is never too late, until it is.

 
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Posted by on April 21, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Arise expecting

18 Apr

Arise expecting

Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

What drives you to arise every day? The alarm clock blares, and the toils of the day lie in wait for you. Is it the provision, or the necessity of the work load that drive you every day? Is there nothing better in your book than a day off so you can sleep as late as possible? We all need our rest, and we all get it in different ways and times, but Christ is calling you to arise from your sleep in sin. Our sin filled world has deadened our senses to Christ, and has us asleep in sin. The expectation of our coming Lord can awaken you both bodily and soulfully. That expectation He places within you is a priceless motivation.

Psalm 63:1 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. This is a Psalm of David who was known as having a heart that longed for God. That longing is available to you also, and will drive you as it did him. Prayer and time in God’s Word plays such a large part in the awakening of your soul to the things of Christ. The more time you spend with Him, the greater your expectation is to hear from Him, and the more “awake” you become spiritually with Him. Mark 13:32-37 speaks of the coming of the Lord, and how we are to be awake and prepared for it. This is an exhortation to not remain in sin, but to be awake and prepared for His coming. We simply cannot remain living in sin, and have a heart for God. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. Begin to seek that daily time with God, and from it will come a desire to arise from sleep, for that is the expectation of meeting Him every day.

 
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Posted by on April 18, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Oh no thanks, I can do it..

17 Apr

Oh no thanks, I can do it..

Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

What is the heaviest load you bear? Mine is mental stress, and the anxiety and depression that are fed from it. If I were to divulge my testimony, it would be full of the stresses of life that many of us fall under. Pride could really be the topic heading under which stress falls though, because pride will lead you to believe that you are to bear the weight of that cross. Christ tells us when we feel those loads are too heavy, to give them to Him in Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Christ is offering to carry our cross for us, and even as He says in Luke 9:23, we are to give it to Him DAILY. The weight of our cross, whatever it may be, we cannot shoulder for six days a week and give it to Him on Sunday mornings.

The true meaning in Luke 9:23 is much deeper, and our cross is none to compare to Christ’s carrying the weight of our sin. Christ was speaking to the apostles and what they must endure as followers of Him. 1 Peter 4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  The apostle Paul speaks of denying himself and dying daily for Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:31. We will suffer as Christians for we are not of this world, and the world is against us recognizing that. What I consistently beg you to do, is to humble yourself before God. That denial of pride, leads to forgiveness of sin, and leads to Him shouldering the load we cannot bear. The dying of yourself should come every day through time spent with Him in prayer and His Word. We are not designed to live our life as the world presses us to live in the instant gratification and pressures of today. The only way to release those daily burdens is through daily time with the One whom has already bore the heaviest Cross for you.

 
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Posted by on April 17, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Dad, can I pray?

16 Apr

Dad, can I pray?

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Yesterday on the way home from a great afternoon with my oldest son, he said “Dad can I pray?” It did surprise me a little but I said sure you can. He just gave God a prayer of Thanksgiving for the great afternoon, all the fun, and with the innocence of a child. It warmed my heart to say the least. So many of us don’t pray with the excuse of not feeling as though we know how to pray. This doubt is a direct influence of Satan and the sin in our lives. There is no right or wrong way to pray if you set your heart humbly before the Almighty God. The Lord Jesus Christ gave us an outline in the Lords Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). This is the model prayer and leads into a deeper relationship with our God. Once you set your heart before God, your desire is to spend more time with Him in communication through prayer and His Word.

I grew up with many repetitious prayers in church and in life. I believe the older we get, the more we begin to feel our prayers should sound Holy with all the “Thou Art” and some of the beautiful language that honors God. All of your prayers should honor God, and the closer you draw to Him the more God honoring your prayers become. Don’t pray for others to hear you to impress them with your prayers. Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Prayer is not to impress anyone but to draw our hearts near to our Sovereign God. Just as with that intuition that we feel as parents when our children ask, He knows on a much grander scale what we are going to ask even before we ask it. Matthew 6:8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Humble yourself today in some quiet time with the One who gave you breath today, and give thanks to Him. Your every day is a gift, and the thanks for that gift is an easy place to start. Matthew 18:4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 
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Posted by on April 16, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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I want to change

15 Apr

I want to change

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Most of us want to change ___________. Yep, fill in the blank. We all have something that we want to change about ourselves. But any and all change is only accomplished through Christ first. Nothing can or will change you eternally except Salvation. Without Christ, there is nothing but temporal change that will always leave you unsatisfied. Upon Salvation, and the indwelling of the Spirit within you, there comes a yearning for more, or should I say change. We begin to want to improve our lifestyle, to grow closer to God, to become a better person. These are only accomplished through Christ and through seeking His guidance as in Matthew 6:33. True change is accomplished through seeking and following God’s Will for our lives.

If there is one thing I can speak to you outside Salvation, it is to live this lifestyle of Matthew 6:33. Put God first and into everything of your life. Spend time every day in His Word and prayer to see your life evolve. All these things you plan are futile if they do not fall under His leadership. All these things you plan will fall into place if you truly seek Him, and you may find out your plans were not as well thought as His for your life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. God will reveal Himself to you once He sees the honor you place on Him with your heart truly seeking Him. When we put Him first, and don’t move without seeking His guidance, He is there for us. The more time we spend with Him every day, the more we begin to understand what His Will is for our lives. Once we begin to understand that, the rest falls into place.

I tell you this because it is my testimony of change that started with Salvation, and led to wanting to simply start reading my Bible every day. Change happens through the Word of God and prayer. A few minutes every day has turned into hours, and that has changed my life. What I once valued most, I now value least, and I see things that truly matter. God will open your eyes through your heart once you begin to seek Him first in all things. All you must do to change is to accept Him, then seek Him, and follow His Will for your life.

 
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Posted by on April 15, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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