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Our Nation has become a missionary field

07 Nov

Our Nation has become a missionary field

2 Timothy 4:3-4   For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Our country was at a crossroads, and yesterday the majority has spoken and selected our path. The path we have selected has changed the nations face for eternity. We were once founded on the principles of  “in God we trust”, and now we have turned our backs on God. Both choices left little hope for our nation, but the choice made went against Biblical doctrine in the support of abortion, homosexuality, and the sanctity of marriage. Our nation turned our backs on God and we will have to answer His call for judgement. Our once great nation has become a missionary field itself; a call for pastors and disciples to preach the truth at all costs; to go against society and point those lost to the err of their ways and the forgiveness in Christ.

Paul was warning Timothy of how his followers may go down the paths of whatever felt good. They would steer away from what they knew was right and the pain of it; to go listen to whomever made them feel good. They did not want to hear they were living in sin; they wanted someone to tell them it was ok. Apostasy can become the road you’re headed down when you start with denial of sin; and the eventual turning your back on the sin you have become convicted of. 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Do you turn away from Christ when His Spirit living inside of you begins to prick at what you hold dear? Do you have the idea that God sees that you are a good person outside of that sin? Do you feel that the scales of good and evil weigh in your favor? No such scale exists.

Paul charged Timothy to preach the Truth at all costs. 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. Matthew Henry said, “Convince wicked people of the evil and danger of their wicked courses. Endeavour, by dealing plainly with them, to bring them to repentance. Rebuke them with gravity and authority, in Christ’s name, that they may take thy displeasure against them as an indication of God’s displeasure.” There is a call to all of Christ’s disciples to become missionaries in your own country now. We who profess Christ, must proclaim Christ to those He has placed in our circle of influence. Stand for Christ and be bold to point out the sin; and point out the forgiveness of that sin in Christ. There is only Good News if you know the bad news first.

 
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Posted by on November 7, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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More than a political savior

06 Nov

More than a political savior

Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Today is the day we can exercise our freedoms protected by our soldiers throughout history, and vote for our next leader of our country. It has been pressed into our minds of how this may be the most important election in history. That would be debatable, but the truth is that our country is struggling and needs strong leadership. This election is one of the choices of the lesser of two evils. One is a Mormon and Mormon’s are not Christians. One believes in same sex marriage and abortion. I do not believe either will run this country from their knees seeking my God in prayer. This country desires a political savior; and neither candidate has that ability to save.

What do you want out of life? Bigger question: what do you want after this life? We are all wired with the inquisition of what comes next. The pursuits of the afterlife may be behind many decisions you make unknowingly. All things were created by Christ; all things flow through Christ; and all things point to Christ. Christ will return soon and this election will no longer be so important. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. The day is approaching where we must all answer how we lived our lives; of what the focus of our lives rested on. Was it political; was it career; was it self; was it____________? Where is your focus?

You and I are sinners; we cannot escape that reality. We are born into sin and if we do not see the Light of forgiveness, we will die in that sin and go to Hell. To understand the Good News you must first understand the bad. A payment for that sin debt is owed to God who is a righteous judge. The only way to pay for that sin debt was a perfect sacrifice that He provided in Jesus Christ. When Christ died on the Cross, all the worlds sins were place on Him for eternity. All you must do is humbly accept that sacrifice and remove the pride where you feel you can earn it yourself. The acceptance and realization of all of this should draw you to a life of service to Him as His disciple; sharing what you have with others. He gives us what no president can; Saving Grace. 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. My prayer is that you will place your hope in the only leader of your life that will never disappoint; never break promises; and reward you eternally for your short time of life focused on Him here.

 
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Posted by on November 6, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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It ain’t that bad

04 Nov

It ain’t that bad

Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

This week, last night, this morning, God is opening my eyes through my heart. It has been a tough week of closed doors and realizations. It has been a time in my life I am seeing those around me hurting. Last night in study I came to this scripture above, and the textbook listed Paul’s testimony of these sufferings for Christ. The list humbled me. I have not yet suffered for Christ; I have barely become uncomfortable. This morning in prayer that realization was even more clearly put to me. In all my trials I still have all the necessities and more luxuries than I will ever need. The luxury list has been shrinking, and with it has come a cleansing feeling of the removal of “stuff” that does not truly matter.

Saul had been persecuting Christians even unto death before his Damascus road experience. Christ had come to him in a literal blinding light; Saul could not see but knew he had seen Christ and spoken to Him. Saul had been led to town where he waited for Ananias to come as a messenger of the Lord to restore his sight. That blindness for three days was the beginning of sufferings for the soon to be renamed the great Apostle Paul. The rest of Paul’s life was solely focused on preaching Christ alone. 1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The once great Saul; a great educated, wise man in all the laws of the church; had been humbled by Christ on that road. Saul had realized how small he was, and how great Christ is.

Paul’s life changed at the moment his suffering began. Paul went from being a great leader; resting on his wisdom and the power granted to him; to a person focused on the power of Christ alone. He knew his every day rested in Christ’s hands. It humbled him in this realization and he focused his ministry on Christ’s power alone. 1 Corinthians 2:3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. When we suffer as children of God, there may be an underlying purpose behind it; to point us to God. In all these trials of life, may we move to becoming focused on God; on the reward of eternity with Him. To hear what we should all strive to hear upon meeting Him. Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

 
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Posted by on November 4, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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But this is heavy God

02 Nov

But this is heavy God

Hebrews 10:32-37   But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; 34 for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

I don’t even know how to pen all the pain I see these days. Those around me that are struggling financially seems to be a common thread; the pains of an economy that is so far from where it peaked only a few short years ago. These pains have infiltrated families, churches, careers, and to be honest most of our lives. The leadership of our country is failing to give us hope and simply spending money so grotesquely that it is further devaluing the dollar and increasing debt. Our world as we know it is collapsing around us, and very few of us have escaped the reality of it. Pain has an underlying tone in the smiles of cover. We all want everything to be ok; but it is not.

The author of Hebrews is speaking to how once we were saved, the trials of life came to steer us away. Satan’s sons prosper when all of God’s children struggle. All of these struggles are allowed and designed for strength and endurance. We would never by choice take these tough roads of life that deepen our faith, for we would take the high road of simplicity and ease, and rest shallowly there. God wants more; wants to bring you more to the likeness of His Son; wants to show you the weight that He bared for you from deep within; knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. These tough times build us like weights we carry strengthen us. The heavier the weight or burden, the stronger or faith becomes.

I truly feel there is an urgency in the air for those who do not know Christ; or worse yet those who rest in false religion. The reality of our world is that it is so far from God; and Satan is peaking before his eternal fall. Satan has planted so many false teachings in today’s society, and so many have been led astray by the struggles of life. They have went someplace to ease their pain; some religion that preaches only joy and not conviction of sin. The author of Hebrews was warning the Jews to not fall back into the trap of the false security of Judaism; to hold fast to their faith in God’s grace through Christ; and the rewards of that endurance. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. No matter how heavy the burdens get, through the pain of it you are gaining strength. We may only see and feel the present of the pain, but God sees the strength and the end, eternal result of it.

 
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Posted by on November 2, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Sign me up

27 Oct

Sign me up

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah was called to a very discouraging ministry. He was called to point out the sins and need for repentance to a nation that would not listen. Israel had split into two kingdoms, and both kingdoms had rulers that turned their hearts from God. It was a turbulent time for Israel, and Isaiah was called by God to point out them to repentance. Isaiah calling came in a vision from God; he visited the heavens and saw God’s glory on the Throne, and his own sin became to bear down on him. As his humility wrought him, an angel of God touched his lips with a live coal from the alter and purged his sin. Isaiah was moved to thanksgiving and service with that realization of the cleansing. God spoke in the heavenly court with the question above to draw Isaiah zeal in service to Him as a prophet.

Do you get that idea of humble thanksgiving in the act of your Salvation? An angel of God may have not touched your lips, but Christ gave His life for you by dying on a Cross! The lesser of the two moved Isaiah to dedicate his life to serving the King; how can we dishonor the ultimate sacrifice by simply resting in it? There must come a point in the life of the believer that we realize it is not about us; or what God can do for us. It is about a life dedicated to service for our time here, to be vessels for God to draw others to Himself. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. If your faith lies in the ideal of God as a gift giver; of material blessings that overflow as a result of your faith; you are sadly, eternally mistaken. Your life here in service to Him will pay the way for your eternal rewards in His kingdom. A marker of your faith is not the external worth, but the internal self sacrifice out of love for Him.

Has God laid a vision on your heart? Has He shown you the measure of your sin? In these has He pressed into you the need for you to realize what He has done for you in the pinnacle act of grace? The term “bondservant” is used throughout the Bible as a term of dedication. Romans 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. The Apostle Paul even shows himself here “separated” to a life dedicated to God. Paul is not different from that idea for you and I in a life dedicated to Christ. Our lives are not to be in pursuit of the things that will pass away, but lives working for the eternal. What in your life today will make a difference eternally? Will it be the relationship with God in a life in pursuit of Him? Today could be the day that makes a difference in your life for eternity; and those lives around you that see the change, and they join you there.

 
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Posted by on October 27, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Rock Solid Prayer

26 Oct

Rock Solid Prayer

Luke 22:31-32   And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Christ was in His last days with the disciples. He had shared the Passover meal and instituted the Lord’s Supper with them. He had told them of His coming betrayal. The disciples began to speculate who it was; and their talks turned from who was the worst, to who was the greatest. They still were self centered in this great hour. Christ called out Peter in the name he had before he became a disciple (Simon). The emphasis here even seems to state Christ was trying to get Peters attention. Satan had asked to trouble all the disciples, yet special permission was asked for the zealous Peter. Satan can never move without God’s permission, ever.

These would be terrifying words to even the great Peter of this prediction. But Christ immediately assures Peter that He has prayed for Him. Is that not a rock upon which you can stand? Christ knows what you are about to face, He has told you, and yet He has approached His Father in prayer for you. 32 But I have prayed for you. He knows that God is going to allow Satan to trouble you; to tempt you; to cause you pain; to seek to draw your attention away from God. But His prayer is for your faith to not fail; for your faith to grow; and as a result of your troubles, to encourage those around you; strengthen your brethren. Satan always plans to steal your faith, to draw your attention away from God with trouble. God sovereignty allows Him to know Satan’s plans will backfire and your faith can grow as a result of that trouble.

Did you know that you have Christ’s Spirit living inside you praying for you as Christ did for Peter? A member of the Holy Trinity that goes before the Father on your behalf. Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. I have days when I just struggle to pray, especially when I have a lot on my mind. The anxieties of the world command my thoughts, and Satan loves to point out my weakness in prayer at that time as a failure. But I rest assured that the Spirit is interceding on my behalf in my times of struggle as in Romans above. These may be special prayers, for He knows my heart, my desire, my trouble that God has allowed. This understanding carries me through and allows me to try and strengthen those around me, with the trouble I face while standing upon my rock of faith.

 
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Posted by on October 26, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Eternal Blessings

25 Oct

Eternal Blessings

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Christ had left the large crowds and gathered His disciples to teach them. This teaching became the great Sermon on the Mount as the crowds gathered to hear His Words of Matthew 5-7. The disciples had many questions, and Christ began with the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. He began by showing them how to live, and the eternal blessings that came as a result of their lives as followers of His. The Beatitudes go against the grain of the world and the lusts of it. The pursuit of joy in earthly terms is self gratification and glorification in many ways. Elevation of self is the entrance of pride, and the absence of Christ’s blessings promised here.

This is the beginning of Christ’s ministry and He is setting the tone of going against the false pleasures of the world; the covetousness, the idolatry, the pride, the sin, the works, the list goes on. Matthew Henry states; “This is designed to rectify the ruinous mistakes of a blind and carnal world. Blessedness is the thing which men pretend to pursue; Who will make us to see good? Ps. 4:6 . But most mistake the end, and form a wrong notion of happiness; and then no wonder that they miss the way; they choose their own delusions, and court a shadow.” What is your pursuit in life? What drives you to get up every day and trudge ahead? If it does not fall under the heading of Christ, as a disciple of Christ, it is leading you astray. Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Any thing that is set above your pursuit of God, and the things of God, is a deterrent to the blessings stated in Matthew 5:6 above.

The Beatitudes begin with a verse about humility; Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This sets the tone for them; for one cannot be a true disciple for Christ if pride is at the root of their inner being. I have personally become a living example of Christ showing me my great sin. He has taken out His hammer and chisel to put my pride in it’s place. It is a huge part of my testimony of His work in my life, and putting my eyes on Him, and Him alone. I look at the scripture of Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me in the light of I cannot do ANY THING without Him. This realization has produced a hunger to draw closer to Him in all things. A heart that is focused is a heart that will receive the blessings promised in the Beatitudes. These blessings are not superficial, but internal and eternal, from the closeness of the relationship of my Savior, Jesus Christ. All these are available to you too, beginning with a humble repentant heart that truly seeks Him above all.

 
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Posted by on October 25, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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The Gate Key

21 Oct

The Gate Key

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Christ had been to see John the Baptist at the Jordon River where John was calling the people to repentance and baptizing them with water. Christ was baptized by John, and then led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days and nights. When Christ was physically hungry and weak, Satan approached Him with three great temptations. Christ rebuked Satan all three times with the Word of God, and Satan left Him. Then God sent angels to minister to Christ and strengthen Him. Christ left the wilderness and began His ministry with the same call to repentance as John the Baptist had preached. History was forever changed.

God has begun to press on me the realization of those who are truly lost without a true heart for Him. Not only those who have not heard, but those who sit in the pews every Sunday for an hour; yet live for themselves the entire week. Church attendance will never open heavens gates for you. There is nowhere in the Bible that says it will. The key to heavens gate lies within your heart, and not your head. The key is a humble repentant heart, a plea for forgiveness, and the acceptance of Christ as the only way. If there is no other evidence in your life of Christ than Sunday mornings, you have dead faith. James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. A heart that is truly given over to Christ will produce an outward expression of that faith daily in a world far from God. God places you where He wants you to witness for Him every day.

Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. There are so many distractions in the world, even in the church, that take our eyes off God. These distractions are tools of Satan to turn our focus to the problems of the present; and take our eyes off eternity. Satan loves division, Satan loves contentment, Satan hates focused. A heart that is focused on Christ is a heart not ever content with their ‘religion’; it is a heart that is in consistent pursuit of drawing near and living their lives for His glory. A focused heart is the heart of a disciple; and that heart understands who holds the key to the gates of paradise. That focused heart will fight against the comforts that are not there, the distractions that are, and seek to remain abiding in the only One who matters.

 
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Posted by on October 21, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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I wanna hear Him

20 Oct

I wanna hear Him

Acts 2:38-39   Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

The Day of Pentecost is known as the day when Christ poured out the Holy Spirit into the Apostles. It had only been a few days at the most that they had seen Christ ascend into heaven. They were meeting together most likely to discuss their plans for the ministry Christ had laid before them, yet they had not begun to minister in Jerusalem where He told them to start. Christ had given them a portion of the Spirit that seemed to unite them; ceasing the divisions of their seeking to know which was the greatest and such. John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. They now prayed together and appointed Matthias to take Judas’s place as an apostle.

When the Spirit was fully given, those who witnessed it were amazed. Peter began to preach his first sermon and the call was to repentance. It requires a humble repentant heart to believe. The Gospel can be presented in different lights; as in faith and or repentance. Both work in accordance with each other; and both will produce the other. You cannot believe if you do not repent, and a hollow repentance does not produce faith. What do you believe? Where does your faith lie? Have you the faith in forgiveness of your sins that has led you to repent? You cannot claim faith in Christ if you have not been moved by Him to repent. That pride will be the seat of eternal punishment you receive for thinking that highly of yourself. Pride is the root of ALL sin. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

As incredible as if would have been to have lived in the days of Christ; it is far more indescribable to have His Spirit living with you as a child of His now. You may have seen miracles that He performed, but now you can hear His voice now from within. There is a power and indescribable peace that comes with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Christ described His gift to them in John 20:21 as “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”.  If I were asked to describe my religion, or faith, in one word, it would be PEACE. The peace I have that lies in His Spirit within me is a peace that an out of control world that surrounds me cannot steal. If you do not possess this peace, try examining your heart before God. He will show you where pride is a wall; and the breaking down of that wall will let Him in.

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Is there a Before & After?

19 Oct

Is there a Before & After?

Philippians 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (ESV)

The Apostle Paul was writing to refute the Judiazers, and their teaching that everyone had to become Jewish and adhere to the law to be saved. This went directly against what Christ had fulfilled in the law, and God’s saving grace to all people alike. There is no special sect, but God’s saving grace, (giving us what we do not deserve) is openly available to all who will believe. Paul was writing a strong letter revealing his testimony and conversion through Christ. Paul was a former persecutor of those who followed Christ, and was held in high regard as a Jew with his education and zeal. Christ grabbed ahold of his heart, and that zeal led him to become one of the greatest apostles and writer of the much of the New Testament.

I prepared and gave a long version of my testimony recently. It forced me to reflect of my life before Christ, and that reflection brought about the humbling realization of many and great sins. I fell away from the church in my late teens, and lived for all the temporal pleasures of the world in many areas, far from, and headlong against God. I can’t even look back and call any of it gain; like Paul, I count it as loss. There is a true before and after Christ in my life. Do you have that line in the sand? Can you look back and see change in your life after you came to claim Him? There must be a conversion with change, or it is not true conversion. There must be a Before & After.

There is no sin that you cannot be forgiven for with a humble repentant heart. Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Paul was murdering Christians and through God’s grace he was forgiven. 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.  God’s mercy can be defined as not giving us what we deserve. God’s grace can be defined as giving us what we do not deserve. When we become followers of Christ, the realization of Mercy and Grace should impact our heart. It should move us to a focus on Christ and not the things of this world. It should move us to the After and pursuit of growing our lives as disciples of His. We should feel so pressed to share with those that are in our circle of influence Mercy and Grace. All else should be left in the Before of our lives as loss.

 
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Posted by on October 19, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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