July 31, 2021
Psalm 122:6-7 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces”
Jerusalem, whose name means city of peace or founded peaceful, has been everything except peaceful throughout its history. It has been fought over, destroyed, and rebuilt several times through the ages and even today after five thousand years of inhabited history, is a continual hotbed of conflict. It can be argued that it is because of its location, in the center of the landbridge that connects Africa and Asia, that has caused so many nations and empires to covet it and fight to control it but there’s a higher significance revealed in verses such as Zechariah 3:2,” And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee” and Psalms 132:13-14,” For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it”. From this truth we know since God has chosen Jerusalem, satan knows it, hates it, and has purposed to destroy it and rob it of its peace from the beginning. Many verses declare the Lord loves Jerusalem and has chosen it above all the places in the world and when His plan unfolds in the reign of Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings on this earth, the Bible says Isaiah 2:3,” And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem”. If we compare the meaning of Jerusalem’s name, city of peace, to that of Babylon, meaning mass confusion, the two cities are set in direct contrast to each other throughout history and will represent the war of the kingdom of Almighty God against the kingdom of the wicked one when the end times play out and the kingdom of Babylon is finally obliterated.
Many so-called “Bible scholars” and Christian leaders either ignore the truth about Jerusalem and its significance as the chosen of God or they actively contend against it as one of the most prominent prophetic facts in the Bible. Perhaps the influence of amillennialism and postmillennialism can be partly to blame since anyone interested in selling books or promoting their scholarship might carefully avoid such topics such as the establishment of Jerusalem as the center of the earth one day, but it is deceitful beyond excuse to hold back this truth and as such, answers to Romans 1:18,” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (hold back, suppress) the truth in unrighteousness”. Yet in the middle of all this cowardness, unbelief, and outright stupidity, the Word of God still proclaims its promise that when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, thereby recognizing its importance to the Lord and His love for it, there’s a side benefit of prosperity for us. The word prosperity being more rooted in being happy, secure, and flowing with peace rather than the contemporary meaning of money and materialism. And in the view of the ongoing current strife surrounding Jerusalem while we must have compassion for those who are not descendants of Abraham through Isaac, we must stand in allegiance with the eternal Word of God in Galatians 4:29,” But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman”. Although it is an allegory for believers concerning the natural man and the newborn spiritual nature, it is still a principle of the eternal covenant between God and Israel and its fulfillment will be centered in Jerusalem. Those that pray inspired by Psalm 122:6 are praying with the heart of God towards His chosen City and His chosen people.
July 30, 2021
Psalm 138:7 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.”
Every child of God will go through trouble and sometimes the intensity of the trouble may seem more than we can bear. A dead car battery on a morning when you are already late to work can be very frustrating but having a child in treatment at St Jude’s hospital for cancer is on a different level altogether. Reading through the gospels, there are accounts of many, many people and families with troubles and our Lord came into their situations bringing hope that they were not able to find anywhere else. Like those with incurable leprosy, the wild demonic man living in the tombs, the woman at death’s door with a blood problem, those paralyzed, tormented children, and then there are the verses like Matthew 4:23-24, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them”. Jesus tells us in the Lord’s prayer to pray Matthew 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” where the word temptation means testing or adversity. This request encompasses all possibilities including those times we are apt to set ourselves up for trouble by foolish choices and as part of the prayer, solicits help from our heavenly Father, acknowledging Him in all our ways to avoid trouble whenever possible. We can look back to many of our troubles and know they could have been avoided if only we had chosen a wiser path and that with the Lord’s direction.
Psalms 138:7 says “though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me” where revive means to bring back to life from the dead and speaks to us of times when trouble has brought us so low and taken away our strength that we feel our life has been taken away. It parallels that great passage from Psalm 23, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me” and causes us to think that if the Lord has promised He will be with us and bring us back from the direst troubles, He will surely be with us in the ordinary trouble life throws our way. Most of us need this truth reinforced in us regularly because even when we’ve passed through a situation that seemed hopeless and experienced the rescuing power of God, the next time trouble hits us we are quick to forget what the Lord has done and the sinking feeling of despair and lack of faith set in again. But the Holy Spirit brings the words of truth and “God, that comforteth those that are cast down” (2 Corinthians 7:6) reminds us He is faithful in our troubles just as He is in times of rejoicing.
July 29, 2021
2Samuel 24:17,” And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house”
In his older years, David looked over the prosperous Kingdom of Israel and satan tempted him to number, that is to take a census of, the nation. This was in direct disobedience to God’s law because the Lord commanded in Exodus 30:12, ”When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them” revealing any census must be conducted as unto the Lord and accompanied with ransom money taken from every person counted and this money given to God. The principle is that all the people of Israel were God’s possessions and any numbering apart from his direction, was man attempting to use the number of the people for his own glory. This is the way of man even today when we boast ourselves in vainglory from the number of likes we get on social media, number of views we have for our church or ministry videos, number of members or people in attendance, and so on. But the opposite is also true when we use numbers to gauge our strength or success and the numbers do not appear favorable then the enemy and our flesh tags us as ineffective and we conclude we should stop whatever we are doing because the numbers show failure. How soon we forget the lesson taught us by the account of Gideon in Judges 7, where God made him reduce the number of his fighting men to a point where they were immensely outnumbered so God would get the glory in their victory or the message in Acts 8, where God sent Phillip away from a great revival in Jerusalem to travel into the desert and witness to one man riding in a chariot. But in David’s disobedient numbering of the people, there was a consequence in that God demanded punishment for the sin and the angel of the Lord killed seventy thousand people throughout Israel. When the angel got to Jerusalem and was ready to continue his destruction, God told him to stop and it is here we get the words of King David taking responsibility for his sin.
It is this admission of guilt, of personal sin, that is one of the things that set David apart as a man after God’s own heart because even though he failed in such a stubborn way after being warned against what he was doing by Joab and the other captains of the army when David faced what he had done, he took full responsibility and prayed God would hold him accountable. Many people will not own up to their sin and their errors and will not accept the consequences personally. They either spread the blame or completely deny it to avoid their personal accountability and will swear a lie with their hand on the Bible if they think they can escape the crosshairs of punishment. Maybe that’s why the truth of repentance is not being mentioned by current ministers and churches because the thought of people admitting they are sinners and seeing that God demands they confess it and turn from their sin is too much against the thinking of a generation that is right in its own eyes and sees no sin in itself. Their salvation experience is one of non-repentance and is a momentary head-change and has nothing to do with their hearts so they continue in the same path of sin as before they made their empty professions proving a new birth has not taken place. With repentance comes grace and mercy from God and those who repent can take consolation that once confessed, there is no more remembrance of the occasion in God’s mind. The Lord never intended for us to continue our lives shamefaced and belittled by our falls and our example is in David who, once acknowledging his sins, he came into the presence of the Lord knowing he was wanted and welcomed by his heavenly Father. See in our verse for today where David reveals that though he sits on the throne of Israel, he still has a shepherd’s heart when he intreats God to spare the people, calling them “sheep”.
July 28, 2021
Psalm 42:11,” Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God”
This Psalm is the words of a man who is very discouraged and feels far from God and he begins in the first verse comparing himself to a deer in the midst of a drought crying for water. No matter how strong in faith we are and no matter how many mountaintop experiences we’ve enjoyed, there are times for no apparent reason as the writer here, we find ourselves in a spiritual drought. The physical aspects of hunger and thirst for the natural man find their counterparts in the realm of our souls and help us understand seasons when we are as described in verse 11 with our soul cast down, the word meaning sinking, depressed and disquieted, meaning agitated, the opposite of peaceful. The fact there is no real reason for it is seen in the question the Psalmist is asking himself, “Why are you in this frame of being?”. His troubled soul pushed his emotions to the place he was weeping day and night and his companions asked him, “where is your God?”, almost as if they were jeering at him and certainly from their words were offering no comfort. We get the sense of his loneliness and hear him speaking to himself, challenging himself with the question as to why he’s so discouraged and giving himself advice and consolation to praise the Lord and remember God is the One that makes a believer’s countenance healthy where the word countenance means one’s face. When the glory of God is beaming from our soul, it shows on our face as we remember from the passage concerning Stephen as he was being accused for his faith in Acts 6:15,” And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”.
There are hints in the scriptures as to why these times come such as Job 34:29,” When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only” and Song 5:6,” I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer”. The Lord is not withdrawing His love, mercy, grace, or protection but He is working to help us put away our pride, self-reliance, and the temptation to take the things of God for granted. Job gives an answer as to the reason God sometimes hides His face in Job 34:30,” That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared” and it’s possible for anyone to become ensnared in the very liberty we have in Christ. So God, for no reason at the time we can see, makes Himself harder to find, and our souls that are accustomed to the glory of His intimate presence, begin to hunger and thirst for Him as someone who is separated from the love of their life. These are seasons for our benefit, for our learning, and our development of complete God-reliance and serve to bind us closer to our Lord and more thankful for His presence. The Holy Spirit reveals this to us when David speaks to himself and commands himself saying, “hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him” because like all seasons in our lives, these too will come to pass.
July 27, 2021
Acts 27:20,” And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away”
Using a passage we looked at in a previous devotion, Acts 27 is the account of a great storm and the shipwreck of Paul and all those on board the ship traveling across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. The voyage started with good weather and those that owned and sailed the ship foresaw no problems making the journey but when a cyclone-type storm hit them, lasting many days and they tried everything possible that sailors knew but to no success, they lost all hope that they would survive the ordeal. Those seasoned sailors and their captain had no doubt gone through many storms and dangers while sailing and surely were confident in their abilities and the seaworthiness of their ship but no matter how smart we are, how skilled, how resourceful, and how experienced, life can bring troubles that take away our hope. The Bible says in Proverbs 13:12,” Hope deferred (taken away, delayed) maketh the heart sick” and even when it seems all is lost, as long as there is a bit of hope it makes any matter bearable. Using a tree as a metaphor, the Scripture says in Job 14:7,” For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease” because hope says there is still a possibility, a chance that it will get better and that what at first appears an inevitable end, just might not be so. In the case of Apostle Paul and the other men aboard the ship in Acts 27, after hope was taken from them by their dire situation, hope was restored when an angel of the Lord appeared to Paul telling him God would spare everyone on the boat although the boat itself and its cargo would be lost.
Hope was one of the powerful factors that made America great. Hope fueled the determination of men, women, and families to cross the Atlantic and entrench themselves in the soil of this country. Hope was the foundation of those early settlers who faced impossible odds and overcame indescribable hardship in the wilderness and on the frontiers and hope inspired great inventions and the fighting spirit that these early Americans had which gave rise to a country unmatched in history. But the credit for this hope must go to the Lord of Heaven that blessed and prospered these people because of their faith in Him. See where we are today as hope seems dwindling and dying in the hearts of so many as they watch this country and the world in freefall and there seems to be no foothold for us to push into a future with dreams and aspirations as our forefathers did. When this nation, that once claimed God as its source and hope, now teaches its children that God did not create us and that the universe is just the result of some random explosion, there is no hope left because without God, we are just byproducts of a random occurrence of mindless gasses with no order, no plan, no purpose, and no future. For the “thinkers” that we trust to give us answers, if there is any speck of hope left, it’s to find some way off this planet, out of this solar system, and journey to another one that has a younger sun and maybe in the meantime, discover some scientific fountain of youth to at least delay if not eliminate the problem of death. Without God, it’s no wonder we are a nation of alcoholics in denial, drug addicts, growing state-by-state legal potheads, anxiety-ridden, morally bankrupt, and depressed people. May we declare until He returns, “In Christ alone there is hope” for the scripture says 1Peter 1:21,” Who by him (Jesus) do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God”.
July 26, 2021
Jeremiah 8:22,” Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?”
Biblical Gilead was an area east of the Jordan river famous for a medicinal balm made from the resin of a certain flowering plant. In addition to the balm, Gilead was home to many physicians, and because of the healing properties of the mixture of resin, spices, and herbs, and the physicians that were skilled in using the medicine, sick people traveled there from all over the area in hope of healing. The notoriety of this balm is alluded to in the story where Joseph’s brothers sold him to a traveling caravan recorded in Genesis 37:25,” And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt”. The Lord spoke these words through Jeremiah as a poetic call for the healing of the nation of Israel as He described in this chapter what the Babylonians would do to them because of their rebellion against the Lord. God says that just as sick people would know there is medicine and doctors available in Gilead to help them, there is help for the spiritually sick nation of Israel if only they would turn to their God for their source of healing. Israel was in a state of great rebellion and national sin in that they were worshipping idols and bowing to the false gods of the Canaanites and whenever calamity struck them, instead of repenting and turning back to the Lord, they dove deeper into sin by aligning themselves with the pagan nations around them like Egypt (from which they had been delivered from bondage). Isaiah, also preaching at this time, described their condition in Isa 1:5-6, “Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment”. A sick nation of people needing strong medicine to heal them.
It is in this same sense we look at people today and say if a person is sick and knows there is medicine and doctors that could heal them, why would they refuse treatment? Yet spiritually that is exactly what we are doing. The sickness of sin and its symptoms are evident in every area from the homes to the government yet instead of running to the Lord, the healer, we slosh deeper into the very things that are poisoning us and become sicker still. The medicines we and the leaders of the rebellion against the Holy God of heaven have prescribed for ourselves to make us “feel” better are the elixirs of drugs, alcohol, hedonism, perversions, and scorn for the things of God. People burn with the fever of an insatiable appetite for pleasure, yet the more pleasure they swallow, the more miserable they become. But praise God there IS balm in Gilead, the medicine of grace and there IS a physician that can and will heal even the souls that are at hell’s door, the Savior and great physician Jesus Christ who Himself said in Luke 5:35, “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick”.
July 25, 2021
Hebrews 3:1-2 “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house”
It is a different view of our Lord when He is called “the Apostle”, a term not usually associated with Him. But the word comes from “apostolos” which means ambassador or special messenger and as such, it sets the presentation of Jesus in this chapter as the faithful representative of God who was superior to faithful Moses. It is said the Rabbis held Moses in esteem as the greatest man that ever lived and while Hebrews does not dishonor Moses in any way, it magnifies Christ above and beyond Moses as most excellent in every way. One point, in particular, is the faithfulness of Jesus to His Father, never deviating from His Father’s will, and considering His record of perfect faithfulness, we have the assurance that this same Jesus will never cease being faithful to us. This confidence in Him is the bedrock of our faith knowing whatever situation we are in, we can rely on the Lord as declared in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” where we often concentrate on the promise that He will deliver us and not so much on the truth of His absolute faithfulness, the foundation of the promise. But in considering Jesus’ faithfulness, let’s not forget Moses too was faithful and the verse here looks back to God’s statement about Moses in Numbers 12:7,” My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house”. We can choose to look at the blunders of Moses, when he murdered an Egyptian or failed to obey God’s command to speak to the rock or we can see him as God sees him, faithful in the pattern of his life over the long haul.
And this is the measure of faithfulness for us, not the perfect faithfulness of Christ our Lord, but the Lord is reaching out to the Jewish believers here, who were tempted to turn back to the traditions and laws of the Old Testament, and encouraging them to continue faithfully in Christ as evidenced by the statement in verses 5-6, “And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end”. The mark of believers is not whether they can walk in sinless perfection, an impossible task as long as we’re in this world, but whether we will persevere in the faith by this pattern of faithfulness over the course of our journey and the Lord said to these Jewish saints, Hebrews 6:9,” But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak” and Hebrews 10:38-39,” Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul”. It says in 1Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards (servants), that a man be found faithful” and this answers to our Lord’s words concerning His return in Matt 25:21,” His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord”.
July 24, 2021
Matthew 7:11,” If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
The enemy wants us to doubt God’s goodness and he has worked to plant a picture in people’s minds of a God that is angry, vengeful, uncaring, and hard to approach. One of the arguments people come back with whenever they defame the Lord is that at some time in their life, they asked God for something or to do something and He didn’t answer the way they wanted so they wrote Him off as either nonexistent or mean. But goodness is one of God’s attributes and whether we understand God’s ways and choices or not, He is eternally good and throughout never-ending heaven, His goodness will be displayed in the light of His grace to hell-deserving humans. The verse of Matthew 7:11, first looks at us, flawed, depraved, morally decrepit humans and calls us evil but says we want to give our children good things. We see that in ourselves and even if our children are no longer children but parents themselves, we want only good for them and think of ways to help them, bless them, and encourage them. The previous verse said if our child asked for fish to eat, we wouldn’t dare offer a snake instead but we would delight in feeding our kids what they enjoy eating. To do wickedness to our children is evil beyond comprehension for loving parents. When we see this matter as parents and transfer this thought to our Heavenly Father, it reveals Him for who He is. He is a good, kind Father, and His desire towards us is to only treat us as His precious children. To think He would not want to give us good things when we ask makes Him out to be even eviler than we are and that is blasphemous.
The goodness of God is plainly seen in Jesus. Every aspect of Him shows the loving-kindness and mercy of God towards people. The God of glory became one of us and everywhere He went He touched people, forgave sins, fed people, ate with them, healed their illnesses, delivered them, and blessed them. He was good to children, Roman soldiers, Jews, Gentiles, outcasts, and sinners. God wants us to see Him as He is, full of goodness and ready to answer our prayers. There is no limit to His ability to hear us and provide good things when we ask and because He knows all things, He knows what is good for us and what isn’t. Most of us have thanked God for not answering some of our prayers when we see what would have been the outcome if He had. Even when He gives correction it’s His goodness as our Father that’s bringing that to us because without it, the direction we were headed would have brought misery. May we not hesitate to ask Him for whatever it is that we want and, in His wisdom and love for us, He will sort through our wants and give us what we need and what will bring us joy just like a 5-year-old boy might ask his dad for a sharp knife for his birthday but dad knows that’s not a good thing and gets him something fitting. Note the phrase “how much more” and take it to heart that compared to our best efforts and abilities to give our children good things, our heavenly Father is far above and beyond that when it comes to answering our prayers. So we look to Him with faith and expectation that He will answer our prayers and do it exceedingly abundantly above all we are able to think or ask.
July 23, 2021
Luke 12:34-35,” For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning”
If you listen to someone talk for a while, they will reveal what they treasure because the Bible says in our verse for today, our heart and our treasure are in the same place and in Matthew 12:34, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. Some people treasure up anger and revenge and when they speak, you can hear the venom in their words, and sometimes as they talk, their eyes, gestures, and their whole body conveys their message. Often people who are angry about the government, current trends, and political issues can stream words with the force and tone of some of the preachers that graced the pulpits in the country churches I once attended. Then there are those whose treasures lie in pastimes, hobbies, sports, and the like and they are walking databases of information and stories of their passions. Some people’s treasure is filthy garbage because when they open their mouths to speak, it’s just a bunch of profane, lewd words and subjects that are evidence of the prison where sin has them trapped. If you come across a grandparent whose treasure is their grandchildren, be prepared to look at the pictures and hear a lot of stories about how wonderful those kids are and their enthusiasm might remind you of your own grandparents that doted on you. Nowadays, a lot of people’s treasure must be themselves because that’s what they are always talking about whether you want to hear it or not. But our hearts are bound up with whatever we treasure and we can’t help but talk about it.
Our verses for today are a part of the Lord’s teaching about His return and how we should treasure that reality and live our lives prepared for His appearing. The phrase to keep our loins girded about looks back to Bible times when men and women wore robes to their ankles and if they needed to get ready to run or work unrestrained by the robe, they would hitch it up and tie it in a knot or tuck it in their belt to free up their legs for movement. Likewise, to keep our lamps burning means to stay alert and watchful. Jesus wants us to get it down into our spirit, into our core, that all that seems like treasure in this life are things we can’t hold onto and it all passes away but the things of God are eternal. The Lord is not teaching we should devalue the precious things He has given us here, just that we should follow His words in Luke 12:31, “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you”. When we honor God and the things of God first and foremost above all else, it brings our life into heavenly order. We could say that a life that does not function this way, is upside down and God is at the bottom of all our attentions, choices, plans, aspirations, and things we value. There’s no doubt Peter loved fishing and before the Lord called Him as a disciple, that was his life. So when Jesus asked him in John 21:15, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” He was helping Peter set his life in order. May we look around us at everything in our lives and ask the same sort of question: What is my treasure?
July 22, 2021
(I began the Daily Devotions to offer a seed thought each day as a point of Scripture contemplation but I’ve noticed they have become more of a lengthy Bible study each day. Starting today, maybe I will shorten them back to what they were originally intended to be, making them a shorter read with an inspirational thought)
1 John 4:17-18,” Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”
Before time began, God planned to bring us from the darkness of sin into His eternal light thereby displaying His love, mercy, and grace on fallen, undeserving, helpless, and rebellious sinners. Included in the gifts He freely gave us, was heavenly love of which it is said in Romans 5:5, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”. The passage in 1 John here is speaking about this perfect love and saying it will give us boldness in the day of judgment. Some people think their hope that day will be a result of the sum of all their good deeds and right actions which they think have been accredited to their account and they believe their good will outweigh their bad enough that they will pass heaven’s entrance exam. But boldness, a word meaning assurance, in that day is from what God did for us not what we did for ourselves. What He did was love us so much He sent His Son to the cross in our place then filled us with that same love so we could be just like Him making love the root of all God is, all He has done for us, and all we are. God saw us before we were made, covered in the jewels of His grace as a result of His love. God’s universe is bent towards making us creatures of love for God is love and those who are not of that love are not of God (1 John 4:8).
When we stand before Almighty God, we will do so knowing we are there in hope of eternal life because He loves us with an eternal love given to us before we were even born of His purpose and will. There is nothing about God’s love that we have merited or earned for the Bible says even though we may love God, our love for Him is not a factor because 1John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us”. Once we are convinced of God’s love knowing He gives it because He wants to and chose to do so before the universe began, our boldness will rest upon His gift of love which includes the whole package of forgiveness, mercy, kindness, grace, and all imputed attributes of Christ such as righteousness, holiness, and perfection. This is what takes the fear out of the impending judgment. We will not be there answering to our Creator for our abilities, our goodness, or our successes, we will be there because we were called out of the darkness of sin by His love, and stand before Him clothed in His own love. We rest in this as declared in Ephesians 2:4-7,” But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”.
July 21, 2021
Colossians 2:10,” And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power”
The Colossians were cautioned in verse 8 about being drawn away by listening to philosophies and other ideas that make us think we’re learning something on a higher level but in fact, it’s just the things people think up, just more of human reasonings. Then in verse 9, with only 11 words, comes one of the most powerful verses in the Bible about the absolute deity of Jesus: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” proclaiming Jesus Christ is completely God and carries the completeness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at the words used here to describe the “fullness” of the Godhead in Christ and our “completeness” in Him. Fulness here comes from the Greek word “pleroma” which means completely filled up and its root word is “pleroo”, to completely fill, cram full. It is this word “pleroo” which is translated as “complete” in our target verse 10. So, since Christ is completely crammed full of the Godhead and we are completely crammed full of Christ, there is nothing else on earth or in heaven that needs to be added to either Jesus or us to make Christ or us more of what God intended us to be. Again, the lie of the enemy is that there is something else we need or should learn that will transport us and our thinking upward into a different, better level. This is the false teaching of many variants of Christianity that salvation does not bring the total package but there is more truth that will finally make us “complete” and whether it’s some emotional experience they claim or another book to hold alongside the Bible as a holy writing, it’s all the same putrid garbage of satan attacking the fulness of Christ Jesus and His completeness in us. Then there are those who, while not holding to a variation of fundamental Christianity, become so submerged in the writings, books, thoughts, and other Christian’s points of view they are really disciples of them and not of Christ. The Bible is teaching us the truth echoed in words of an old hymn, “Jesus Christ is made to me, all I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea, He is all I need”. Every person, no matter how gifted and spiritual, no matter how much insight and light they have concerning the Bible and Christian truth, is imperfect and somewhere in their thinking, there are flaws and errors. But in our Lord Jesus, there is absolute, eternal perfection. Listen to what others say and read their writings if you must, but follow only the man with the nail scars in His hands.
Our completeness in Christ is an eternal gift from God and is birthed within us at the moment of salvation but God has a will for our lives that is unique to us and the completeness of Christ in us has equipped us to follow that will but it doesn’t happen all at once. Consider baby Jesus in the manger and see that He had all the fulness of the Godhead in Him even though He couldn’t walk, talk, and do the things He would do when He became an adult. So, we too are born again as babies in Christ but complete children of God even though we are not ready for the purpose the Lord has planned for us. There were many religious voices and writings Jesus could have followed and there were many temptations that could have sidetracked Him but He said in John 6:38, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”. His determination to follow only His Father’s will was evident early in His life for when he was temporarily lost from His parents in Jerusalem, they found Him in the temple and His words to them were Luke 2:49,” And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”. As Jesus followed His Father’s will and desired only to do the things given by His Father, so we follow the will of our Lord and want nothing except to walk in His steps. The words “you are complete in Him” are not a command for us to obey on our part, but an affirmation of who we are in Christ and carry the assurance that God has perfected us according to His purpose.
July 20, 2021
2Peter 3:8,” But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”
When the Apostles were establishing the first churches and spreading the gospel in Christianity’s infancy, Paul describes their plight as pertaining to the world in 1Corinthians 4:13,” Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring (trash) of all things unto this day”. As loving, kind, and gracious as our God is and as hard-working and diligent in winning people to him as the church founders were, most people rejected the truth then as they do now. On the surface, many people may seem to have a favorable view of the Lord with some going as far as saying they embrace the gospel, but in actuality, those who are not outright enemies of the faith fit the description of Titus 1:16,” They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate”. This is a hard thing for believers to grasp because we normally live our lives in a circle of people who are of like faith, convictions, and views and we accept our small world as commonplace but it is really far from that. When we become publicly assertive in our faith towards the world around us, even in the smallest matters, proclaiming God’s divine truth clearly, candidly, and from our hearts, the masks and smiles will fly off and people will push back with their true colors showing. This is what the Apostles were doing when they openly preached Jesus in their pagan surroundings and not within the safety of the walls of a church building as we confine our own faith. When we gather our handful of people, and that’s exactly what it is even if you took all church members of all churches on a given Sunday in a given area compared to the total number of people in that area, and we meet inside our buildings behind closed doors, we can proclaim to the top of our voices but we’re the only people who are listening. Occasionally some strangers may wander in during our church time but if they don’t agree with what they hear, usually they just don’t come back. It’s our territory and we control it. People may say, “well, we stream our services online”. But current data shows a majority of churches streaming their services online have a paltry number of people who are actually listening to or watching the average church service online. And that little number is not people in this world hungry to hear our message, it’s church people who are home and if surveys are correct, they’re not attentively listening, they’re moving from room to room and doing other things while the church streams in the background.
We are not winning the world to Christ and we never have been else when Jesus said Matthew 7:14,” Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” He would be telling a lie. With church attendance dropping and many churches closing their doors, all denominations and other ministries are trying to find new ways to stop the slide and reverse the trend. As a part of the effort, churches seem to be trying to make themselves and their message respectable and in this current time, acceptable, dripping with social correctness, and non-offensive rhetoric. Yet words of Jesus framed the stark picture for us when He said, John 15:19,” If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you”. If you are a Bible believer and a follower of Jesus with convictions and Bible standards, what do you think would happen if the people around you absolutely knew what you believe in every area and what would be the response if you voiced exactly what you believe and why? Most likely, it would be blatantly evident that you and the world around you do not see eye to eye. This has been the norm from the beginning and if you follow the path and chronology of the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem then throughout the Mediterranean area and onward, there was a rise in Christian converts and churches place after place followed by great opposition then, in time, apostasy while still claiming a “Christian” heritage in some countries and places although the gospel message is now a perversion. That’s the reason America was founded in the beginning because after the gospel spread to England and surrounding countries it soon became corrupt and Christian liberty was lost. The point is, we should not be at all disheartened by the present situation because this falling away, prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is proof that all things are fully under God’s control and we stand on the threshold of the appearing of our Savior. The God of Glory is wrapping up His work with as He declared in Rom 9:28, “For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth”. A couple of thousand years that Christianity has had its run on this planet may seem like quite a while from our point of view but it is only 2 days by the Lord’s timing as in our verse for today 2Peter 3:8,” But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. The Jews have been in their graves, so to speak for 2 days since the diaspora in 70 AD but the third day, the day of their resurrection is getting ready to occur fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea 6:1-3,” Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth”. It’s an amazing thing that the resurrection of Jesus on the third day kickstarted the church age and the resurrection of the Jews on the third day will kickstart the millennium!
July 19, 2021
Proverbs 30:5,” Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him”
Many Christians carry some guilt from thinking they are failing because they don’t read the Bible enough. If you grew up in churches like I attended as a youth, a hammering point for a lot of sermon material was that us people were on the verge of backsliding and were at least a sorry lot because we didn’t read the Bible and pray enough. Even country music singers got in on the pummeling with songs like “Dust on the Bible”. Some people, maybe to escape the condemning guilt, would vow to read the Book from cover to cover and would often announce where they currently were in their marathon, and mind you, this was the KJV and not some easy-to-read version in modern English. Well, we all know that after you get past Genesis and Exodus, then comes Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and then when you land in the middle of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zachariah it’s a rough row to hoe. Even today I consider myself a fair reader and have read the Bible for decades but when I get in those books I still ask, “What on earth is God talking about?”. The point is for this devotion is reading and studying God’s Word shouldn’t be a chore or some obedience to “Christian commandments” but it should be something that grows out of a living and loving relationship with the Lord, the Author of the Book. You don’t have to know all the Bible to be victorious for, in fact, only a little bit is enough to live a life that honors God and is an example of Christ. That’s not to say Bible study isn’t important but it’s far better to know the foundational truth of the Scripture and the Christian faith, understand it and walk this journey in its light than to just read and read through pages of which you have no comprehension what you’re reading. For example, the Bible says Hebrews 13:9, “For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein” telling us it’s best to get rooted in the fundamental truth of God’s grace than to try to build our faith on doctrines and interpretations. Looking back at Jesus’ test with the devil, our Lord didn’t quote pages of scripture and argue long, drawn-out Bible principles, He just quoted three short passages, and boom, the victory was won. Most ministers, me included, would have rambled on for an hour or two repeating themselves a hundred times.
Take the new birth as a point of thought. You don’t have to know every verse in the Bible about salvation to trust the Lord to save you and in truth, you don’t even have to quote the salvation verses exactly. Some people get saved by just believing Jesus died for them and have never heard of the “Roman Road”. For hundreds of centuries from the day of Pentecost on, almost everyone couldn’t read and even if they could, there was no Bible in their language and many times no church in their vicinity and no regular ministers. So, they depended on what they were able to hear and often they learned Bible truths and stories by the symbols and pictures people drew that told the Bible message. For centuries people went to churches that had paintings and stained-glass art that people would look at that related certain Bible accounts and this was how they kept their knowledge of the Holy alive in their minds and hearts. God isn’t looking for a people that are front to back knowledgeable of the Bible but for those that believe what they DO know of His Word, If we would but look at what we know already and use what we know in faith, that builds a foundation that will stand the tests of the winds, rains, and floods. Our target verse in Proverbs 30:5 says “Every Word of God is pure” and has His eternal power behind it. Confess what you know is true in any circumstance you are in and stand on it. When the enemy comes with his lies, speak the truth as Jesus did against him. You don’t have to speak the whole Bible, Jesus didn’t, just what pertains to the situation. And if you don’t have some Bible in mind, look up a verse that pertains, use a topical Bible, if need be, write it down or text it to yourself if you need to, and say it over and over because God’s Word never fails. When David faced Goliath, he didn’t have a lot of technology to assist him just his rocks and leather sling. Neither did he have the size, the training, or backup forces to give him an advantage for he was a youth that had spent his days caring for sheep, and the men in Israel’s army were terrified of the giant. What he had was faith that God can and will take a small boy and a small stone and do what an army of thousands can’t. Pick out a stone or two from God’s Word and put ‘em in your pouch like David. You don’t need a truckload just throw what you have and aim straight at the enemy or obstacle and believe the Word has the power of Its own to accomplish what nothing else can.
July 18, 2021
Isaiah 25:4,” For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall”
Our little dog, Skye, is terrified of thunderstorms. Even when the thunder sounds a long way off, she starts shaking all over with a look of terror in her eyes and she begins looking for a place to hide. We’ve tried everything to help calm her, read lots of internet solutions, even bought calming medicine at the pet store but her fear is so strong nothing overcomes it. Last night a storm rolled through and even though it wasn’t too bad, she was trembling all over and I thought if only we could reason with her. If we could explain she has nothing to fear because we’re safe inside the house and then if we could explain what storms really are to help her understand they’re a normal part of life and that they will soon pass over, she would know she is with us, in the house, and safe. But to her, they’re an unknown powerful force carrying a great sense of danger with the sounds of the wind, booming thunder, pelting rain, and strobing light. She can’t understand and her response is to be greatly afraid and try to find a place of protection. The Bible uses storms in the natural to explain rough seasons in our lives when we are in trials, persecutions, disappointments, uncertainty, sicknesses, and all other sorts of uncomfortable, worrisome, or painful situations. Just as natural storms will come and can’t be stopped, these storms of life will come and we have to deal with them. In Mark 4:37, we have the account of Jesus and the disciples in a small boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee when a great storm came down on them. The Lord could have kept them out of that situation by a lot of methods like delaying their trip, changing the weather pattern for a while, rearranging their schedule so they weren’t anywhere near Galilee, or creating a storm-free channel they could sail through sort of like crossing the Red Sea. But God has a reason for the storms that hit us and in the disciple’s case, they saw the power of Jesus on a scale that they said Mark 4:41,” And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” where the word “feared” means to be in awe and reverence.
This verse in Isaiah, speaks of the refuge, the shelter, we have in the Lord in our storms even when the enemy or his henchmen are blasting us like driving rain. We may see the evidence a storm is coming or one may sweep us by surprise but nothing catches our God off-guard and He has promised His divine protection. When we began our life with Christ, we had to learn this truth but after a storm or two, the knowledge of His Word began to generate faith that when the next storm comes, and the next, no matter how severe it is our God is greater and unable to fail us. People without this knowledge of the Lord are much like our little dog because the storms can be so that they realize their powerlessness and the uncertainty and fear kick in. But by God’s grace, we are not victims of any circumstance for as Jesus the storm-stopper was in the boat with the disciples, so He is with us in every detail of every situation. Just as the ark of Noah was unsinkable so we too are unsinkable and can not be destroyed. For a storm to destroy us, God’s Word would have to fail, God would be a liar, and Jesus would sink with us. He said three words that day, “Peace, be still” and that’s all it took but even if He hadn’t stilled the storm, they were completely safe with Him. Quite soaking wet and a little beat-up from the wind, but still safe. We love it when He moves the storms before they ever hit, we love it when He allows them to blast us for a bit then says “Peace, be still” and they disappear, but when He just lets us go through it and we come out on the other side wet and bedraggled but alive and well, what a testimony we have of the God who walks with us through the fire, in and out of the lion’s den, and through the raging storms.
July 17, 2021
Judges 9:14,” Then said all the trees unto the bramble (thorn bush), Come thou, and reign over us”.
The Old Testament parable of the trees, which is about leadership, tells the story that the trees gathered together to anoint themselves a king. All the worthy trees, the olive, fig, and even the grapevine didn’t want to be king because they believed their duty as they were, served a better cause than to be king. So, the trees chose an unworthy thorn bush to be their king. Bramble bushes produced nothing of value and were worthless as timber, and were a constant aggravation to farmers who had to continually fight against them taking over valuable land. This parable came to my mind today while I was thinking about where our nation, and the world for that matter, has drifted in the last few generations. This daily devotion is usually a Bible study but a look at where we are today in our apostate world, just as it was in times of the Biblical account of the parable of the trees, is in part a result of poor leadership. I recently read that Grover Cleveland dropped out of college to support his family, Truman did not have a degree, Van Buren left school to go to work at 14, Zachary Taylor never went to school at all, and Abraham Lincoln only had 18 months of formal education. Since Ronald Regan for the first time since America was founded, we have been led by men who were mostly Ivy League graduates. So much for the thinking that bringing more education into leadership offices will solve the situation, for leader-wise, what we’ve had is not the towering strength of the mighty oaks, like Lincoln or the unyielding character of the walnuts, like Truman, the president with no degree of whom incidentally it is said Historians now rank Truman among the nation’s best Presidents, but we’ve had a succession of thorn bushes. Most of them have never held down a real job at anything in their life, have not actually accomplished anything other than talking hot air, and have not been successful at anything but getting continually elected to office. And we’re looking to this bunch to fix America. It’s not just an American problem but most of the free world has been plagued for decades with bramble bush leaders and the problem isn’t just the top leadership, it’s the characteristic that runs all the way down to the county levels with a few exceptions here and there. Do you believe it stops with the government? Look around and see the thorn bushes that are running our businesses, our schools, our churches, and even our homes. Look at big businesses (and little home-grown ones too for that matter) that have gotten filthy, and by that, I mean filthy, rich selling America out to the Chinese. I saw again our current administration will not make any move to establish diplomatic ties with Cuba but we have continually nuzzled up to our lover, communist China, one of the worst violators of human rights on the planet. We are led by hypocrites and money-bought but “highly” educated, back-room-deal-making, scoundrels who should be tarred and feathered and shipped one way out of this country because the growing trend seems to be that to be fashionable, current, and correct, you have to be anti-American. Or at least a slanderer and hater of America’s heritage and all it once stood for and a supporter of the violent move to re-write the history of the United States, expunge the truth and replace it with lies.
But then there’s the thought that God may be giving us exactly what we deserve and if that’s the case, we are adrift on the sea of confusion and misery, no captain at the helm, and headed for a typhoon of judgement. In one recent devotion, we looked at Israel’s return to integrity and faith under the leadership of King Josiah and the Bible says when he became king, he walked a straight course and didn’t turn to the left or right but even when he was very young, he began to follow the Lord and do what was right. For us, we live in a world that will no longer allow clear choices of what is right and will not punish those who do wrong but punishes those who have the audacity to declare that there ARE rights and wrongs. In the last few elections, we have acted as if we could only elect the correct president, America would begin to shift its course in a better direction but maybe we need to consider our problems are far too deep-seated and maybe we need to look much, much lower down the line to the very first institution God ordered, and that’s the family unit. Families are the foundation for every person who will grow up from childhood to become workers, teachers, managers, owners, policemen, military personnel, politicians, and presidents. In the family is where God wanted people’s identity, thinking, roles, life patterns, moral codes, and personal responsibility to be established and solidified. The Lord laid out clear instructions for the structure of the family in His Word but now even the way we define what a family is, is so far from God’s blueprint that by His standards, it’s unrecognizable. We try to talk about children being raised in dysfunctional families but the absurdity is that by God’s truth, dysfunction is so widespread we can’t even agree on what’s “normal” and anything that is normal by the Bible’s definition, is called “evil” by the society which honors and praises the bizarre. Using the tree parable as a metaphor for our loss of strong leaders, another verse says Zechariah 11:2.” Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down”. May the Lord raise up some oaks, tall and strong, of fathers and mothers, walking in the light of His Word, who will be Godly leaders in their families and thereby in their communities, and restore and build foundations in line with God’s Holy Word. Can you imagine how strong our nation could be if we all worked to build families that honored the Lord and functioned as He planned? Maybe it would produce a generation who will be leaders, and examples of great integrity and faith and change will take place from the bottom up and not the top down.
July 16, 2021
Matthew 22:2-3,” The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come”
The parable of the wedding feast was given after Jesus and His disciples had been to Jerusalem where Jesus entered the city riding a donkey, his official presentation as King of the Jews. Afterward, He cleansed the temple of the merchants and moneychangers and cursed the fig tree, a symbolic act where the fig tree represented the nation of Israel which would not bear the fruit of repentance. In this parable, a king planned a wedding for his son and he invited certain people to the wedding. This invitation in a general sense, is the call to eternal salvation where the king is God, the son is Jesus, and the servants are the work of the Holy Spirit and the call went first to the Jews and we could consider the first invitation the call of God to the Jewish people through the ages and the response of those invited was willful defiance. There is no reason for their refusal to come but we know the depravity of the heart is the root of all insolence to God and it is a fact of our nature even though it doesn’t make any sense why people spurn God’s invitation. In the case of the wedding feast, the food was free, there was entertainment, it was an honor to be invited, and in that time period, it was an event of a lifetime so it’s against all common sense people would refuse the invitation. But the king didn’t give up and sent another call, this time with words of urgency, pleading for the people to come and it’s fitting the words of Jesus were, “come unto me, all that labor (under the law) and are heavy laden (with sin and the demands of their religion) and I will give you rest” but their response was to make light of the call and even to do violence to the messengers, an example being the beheading of John the Baptist. The king’s response to the rejection of the second invite was to destroy the murderers and burn down their city which was the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Then there’s the matter of the fellow who showed up at the wedding not wearing a wedding garment which is the righteousness of Jesus imputed to believers in the new birth. This man represents all who attempt to obtain eternal life apart from faith alone in the sacrifice of Jesus and the Lord said he was seized and cast into outer darkness. In the words of the Lord, when we attempt to enter the kingdom of God by some other method than Christ alone, John 10:1,” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber “.
The parable concludes with the mysterious statement of Jesus in verse 14, “For many are called, but few are chosen” and these words have been a point of contention since the beginning of the church. Who are the ones called and who are the ones chosen and what’s the difference? The call is the invitation for all to come to salvation by faith in the Son of God. All people have been invited to look to the cross of Jesus and trust Him for salvation and the door is open as declared in Romans 10:13,” For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. But even though all are called some will believe and of those that believe and are saved, the Bible says, 1 Peter 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” and in Ephesians 1:4-5,” According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”. Some people embrace these words with thankfulness that salvation has been secured for God’s saints before time began. Others get nervous and continue to believe eternal life is always dangling in front of us in uncertainty and there’s no way of knowing for sure you’re going to heaven because it all rests upon us keeping a clean slate. But the boldness of our faith does not rest in our ability to locate a proper wedding garment, make sure we’re wearing it at all times, and attend regularly to its cleanliness. We were called and by the grace of God, we responded to the invitation. The mystery of what caused us to believe and others around us refused the same call will one day be revealed but as for now, this quote from J. Vernon McGee’s Through the Bible Commentary tells it as best I’ve heard, “A boy in Memphis, Tennessee, wanted to join a conservative, fundamental church, and the deacons were examining him. They asked him, “How did you get saved?” He answered, “I did my part, and God did His part” The deacons thought they had him, so they asked him what was his part and what was God’s part. He said, “My part was the sinning. I ran from God as fast as these rebellious legs would take me and my sinful heart would lead me. I ran from Him. But you know, He done took out after me ’til He done run me down.”
July 15, 2021
Deuteronomy 30:19-20,” I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days”
Last week, I finally had the follow-up CT scan after my cancer surgery to take a look and see if the cancer had returned or if there were any other signs of cancer in the area and yesterday, I saw Dr. Winstead, who performed the surgery, to hear the results of the scan. The scan had been originally scheduled for January but because of Covid backlogs and such, it had been postponed until now, almost 9 months after the surgery. My wife and I had expected a phone call or text every day for months telling me to come in for the scan but the weeks dragged on until finally the imaging center called and it brought the waiting to an end. When you’ve been diagnosed with something like cancer it moves your thinking into another area of reality that, as a believer, it’s hard to describe but even though the Holy Spirit takes the fear of death away, there’s the uncertainty of what is next. Is it another round of tests, surgery treatments, or even death? Should you start making out a list of who gets your guitars, amps, tools, and other stuff you think is important, or should you just push it all into the back seat of your mind and concentrate on one day at a time? My wife and I prayed several times a day, every day claiming the Lord’s promises but also submitting ourselves into His hands like children in submission to a parent and found comfort in knowing whatever lies ahead for us, we belong to the Lord and He will always work all things together for our good because He promised. We found there is peace in the shelter of His arms and there is matchless hope in His unfailing Word. Yesterday, Dr. Winstead came into the room smiling and said there was no cancer showing on the CT scan that everything looks perfectly normal and I had healed wonderfully. My wife and I both said, “praise the Lord” because that was the news we had wanted most of all: no more tests, procedures, and no more waiting to hear the next step. “In fact,” Dr. Winstead said, “you don’t even need to see me again until a follow-up in January to see how you’re getting along. We left his office rejoicing in the Lord that, according to the medical report, except for this stoma in my neck and my missing vocal cords, all is well. We went home, had a large Papa John’s “the works” pizza and I strummed on my guitar, which I’m glad I hadn’t given away.
The words in the scripture above, are among the last things Moses said to the children of Israel before he passed on to glory and they concern a choice so important that it should be front and center of every person’s thinking on this earth. By our own choice, we either follow the way of life and live or follow the way of death and with that choice comes either blessings or curses, and God urges us to choose life and live. His promise here is that if we choose to love God and follow Him, then He will be our life and length of days. Under the New Testament of grace, the choice is Jesus of which the Bible says in Colossians 3:4,” When Christ, who is our life” and reverberates the words of our Lord in John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life”. When we place our trust in Jesus, we are choosing the way of life and with it comes innumerable blessings both here and now and for eternity to come. I’m thankful the medical report said things look good but even if it hadn’t, that’s just the world’s report. But God’s report says my life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3) and if I live it’s because God gives me length of days not because the medical profession determines it and if I die, it’s not because cancer determines my destiny but because the Lord has set the bounds of my days. By God’s grace, I have chosen life and blessings in our Lord Jesus Christ and He has the keys of death and hell. In Him, we are death proof, hell proof, devil proof, and heaven bound covered with blessings.
July 14, 2021
Daniel 3:17-18,” If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were at the crossroad when their story reached this point. It would have been very tempting for them to compromise a bit and fake worshiping the golden image. After all, they could have used the excuse that worship is a matter of the heart and not the posture of the body. The justification for just going along with the crowd by going through the motions, could have been that they knew where their allegiance was and so did the Lord and by fitting in and just bowing the knee, they could stay alive and continue to be a good influence by their good behavior and maybe, in time, win some of the pagan Babylonians to the true God. (Does that reasoning sound familiar in today’s Christian circles?) But they were all three together in their decision which was, that any resemblance of compromise was an outright betrayal of Jehovah and as the scripture says Ecclesiastes 4:12,” a threefold cord is not quickly broken”, they stood straight and firm in the face of their arrest and punishment of being burned alive. Sadly, this account is often laid aside after our childhood when we hear it as a children’s Bible story, and as adults, we don’t meditate on its truths because idolatry did not disappear with the fall of Babylon. These three men were not just some back-country riffraff, they were very wise, mature, and well-educated men who knew full well what the occasion represented and they made their choice based on unwavering faith, convictions, and devotion concerning their God in obedience to His supreme will as declared in His word, Exodus 20:3-6,” Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments”. The result of their decision to refuse to bow was multifold in that the Lord appeared with them in the fire, they were miraculously delivered, King Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was changed, the Jews were granted protection to worship God without harassment, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were promoted to great honor.
Although idolatry is still alive and well in many parts of the world with images and artifacts, for us in Christianity it has a different face such as revealed in Colossians 3:5,” Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” where covetousness is called idolatry. When we see covetousness as one seeking satisfaction, happiness, wealth, or contentment in anything other than the Lord, then our world is just as idolatrous as ancient times. Consider these verses in 1Corinthians 10:13-14, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry” where it is easy to read through the “flee from idolatry” without realizing it is linked to the previous verse by the word “wherefore”. This world, especially in countries where materialism sits as king, offers so much within the grasp of everyone it all becomes a possibility for people to obtain and possess. And not just material possessions, but everything imaginable is available and dangled before the eyes. We seek our pleasure in everything except the Lord and are guilty of idolatry as we bow down to the gods of pleasure not even realizing we are fully under their control. Even in Christianity, we want entertainment pleasure in our music, ministries, preaching, and worship and it’s not us seeking God, to be satisfied in Christ alone, it’s us seeking to elevate the flesh’s sensory attributes to their pleasure points and when we can’t get our religion “fix” in one place we look for other places that provide a more intense, satisfying experience. Just as the Jews made a mockery of their faith and worshiped their system rather than the Almighty, we too are under the spell of covetousness even in what we call faith. Perhaps it’s time to write “Ichabod” over most of it, calling it what it is.
July 13, 2021
1Corinthians 2:1-2,” And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”
Most Christians know the conditions of the church at Corinth at the time this epistle was written. One good way to measure its spiritual temperature is to compare the opening salvo in chapter 1 with the opening of the epistle to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians and see that the Word of God to these at Corinth began with a sound rebuke for their infighting and divisions. Whereas the letter to the Thessalonians begins by pointing out their faith, love, and patience and declared in 1Thessalonians 1:7-8,” So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing”. The church at Corinth was in carnal disarray and filled with strife, drunkenness, immorality, and lack of discipline and on top of that, they apparently were fond of ministers who were well-spoken with a flair for exuding wisdom of words, more like philosophers than witnesses for the simple truth of Christ. How do you wade into a mess like that to help believers that are so far off track Paul writes 1Corinthians 3:1-3,” And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”. Imagine being a pastor called to serve in such a church, looking for wisdom to begin.
Paul’s answer is to preach the truth, not as a learned scholar or a seasoned orator, but declares in 1Corinthians 2:4-5,” And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”. His approach is to bring the message back to the basics, to the foundation upon which true faith begins, and he said “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. Some churches are characterized by their elaborate doctrines, lofty preaching, and deep, profound studies of the writings of many Bible commentators. In the case of the Corinthians, whatever they were doing and however they were approaching their Christian life, was leading them away from the truth rather than establishing them in the truth. In this epistle, the tide is turned in another direction and we have this explanation, 1Corinthians 2:13-14,” Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. The problem of carnality is remedied not by greater, more sophisticated, more structured preaching, but by the work of the Holy Spirit taking believers back to the basics of their faith and building on the foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, clearly pointed out in 1Corinthians 3:10-11,” According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. This age of Laodicea is filled with carnal churches, lukewarm lip service, and all sorts of agendas other than the simple truth of Jesus Christ. Our prayer is that those seeking a foothold to serve our Lord, would follow the advice of Paul, who calls himself a wise master-builder according to the grace of God, and carefully lay the foundation of only Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, resurrected, and coming soon.
July 12, 2021
Matthew 9:27-28,” And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord”
The question Jesus asked the blind men was “do you believe I’m able to heal you” and they answered, “yes, Lord”. Then the next verse said, “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened”. Is this saying His ability to perform that miracle was dependent upon their faith? If we look to the Bible for clarification, we find this passage describing what happened when Jesus went to visit His hometown and the area He grew up in, Mar 6:5-6, “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief”. Here’s quite a picture, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, unable to do great miracles among His former neighbors because of their unbelief yet it shows the Lord will not force His gifts upon people who will not believe. It’s not that our faith powers the miracle in any way but that the very character of God decrees Romans 14:23, “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” and again in Titus 1:15, “but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled”. Look again at Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him” and see the word impossible wasn’t inserted there to take up space. This explains one reason why the Lord does not act in certain circumstances even though we know fully well He is unlimited in His abilities and it’s not just that it may not be in accordance with His supreme will but because of unbelief somewhere in the situation, He will not work. On our part, we may be following the Lord in faith but seeing very little results as we find in this example in Hebrews 4:2,” For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”. In the ministry of preaching the gospel, pastors and ministers may stand and deliver thousands of sermons and each time faithfully hold up God’s plan of salvation but see very few people respond and it is not because God is unable to save the lost but the miracle of the new birth is received by faith or not at all. So, the question to the blind men remains for us all today, do we believe the Lord is able? As it was then so it is now, it depends upon our faith.
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, Luke 1:37,” For with God nothing shall be impossible” and Mary responded, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word”. The God of the impossible being believed on a child-like level. The Bible is filled cover to cover with evidence of God’s power and ability but it is also filled with people who even in the presence of His mighty glory, refused to believe, and what’s more, sometimes the deepest depths of unbelief are found in those who are well churched. Those who rejected the Lord and bellowed for His crucifixion had witnessed his miracles and heard of His fame for over three years but refused to turn away from their unbelief. There are some who do not believe the Lord is able to save them because either they do not believe they need salvation or they think themselves too great a sinner. Then there are those who do not believe, because of the Lord’s goodness, He is able to cast sinners into a lake of fire. And concerning salvation, many people will not believe the Lord is able to keep them secure once they trust Him for salvation. How about people who do not believe Jesus is able to understand their human condition and their unbelief blocks His healing power? Or those like Jonah who do not believe He is able to see them in the bottoms of their ships of disobedience? And for some, there is no faith in His ability to perform any miracle because they believe the age of miracles is past or those in the Bible are merely symbolic stories. Yet if you will believe, nothing shall be impossible (Matthew 17:20) and we have His words, “According to your faith be it unto you”.
July 11, 2021
2Corinthians 4:18,” While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”
Stop right now before you read any farther, and look around you and look at everything you can see from where you’re sitting or standing. I’m sitting on the back porch and I see the house, yard, trees, the grandkid’s trampoline, the storage shed, neighbor’s houses, the street and cars, and the American flag fluttering on the porch post. Everything we can see is temporary and that’s the crux of our lives yet we mostly have it all reversed and we make the temporary view the one we believe inwardly is the most important. Psalm 49:11,” Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names”. In the same way, when you think about every situation you’ve ever been in, and our lives are just a connected series of situations, every single one has been temporary just like the fellow who said his favorite verse in the Bible was “and it came to pass”. All the troubles and trials, all the valleys, all the unpleasant circumstances, along with all the happy times, seasons of rejoicing, and moments of victory, it all came then left and was replaced by the next set of situations. This is the point of this verse because of the preceding statement: 2Corinthians 4:17,” For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” referring to the ordeals of verses 8-9, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed”. Perhaps even Jesus, when the whip was raining its blows, the nails slamming through the flesh of His hands and feet, and He was hanging suffering, naked, and dying, was saying “this is just temporary, victory and joy are coming”. This seems to be the idea for us to use Him as our example in this when He said Hebrews 12:2,” Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising (setting aside, ignoring) the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.
How do we keep this heavenly view when we’re always surrounded by only things which are temporary? After all, we can’t just stay staring into the heavens thinking about gloryland day and night. We have precious families and responsibilities to care for and the Lord has provided many good things for us to enjoy this side of eternity . Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr said, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good” meaning the Lord never intended for us to be so focused on the hereafter we give up on the present. But the scripture gives us wisdom to keep it all in the balance of Godly wisdom and says in Colossians 3:1-2,” If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth”. This is telling us to seek the unseen, that is to intentionally point ourselves in that direction by worshiping, desiring, and making the place where Jesus is at the right hand of God a matter of searching. Then the phrase “set your affection on things above” means to keep thinking about and together someone said, “seek and think”. Then ascribe to everything around us its real value compared to eternity Matthew 6:19,” Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal” for unless we do this, the temporary things will worm their way into our minds and hearts and provide tinder for the surging fires of covetousness. People have sacrificed their families, their futures, and their peace and joy by obsessing the temporary and ignoring the eternal. King David, for a few minutes of temporary pleasure, set himself and his family up to reap years of sorrow and pain. A daily reckoning would help us all and only takes a second to remind ourselves that everything we see, touch, and feel is temporary. Likewise, we need to look heavenward daily and confess as did the saints before us Hebrews 11:13-14,” These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country”.
July 10, 2021
Psalm 139:8-10,” If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me”
The words of Psalm 139 are spoken to the Lord and as such, they constitute a prayer and form one of the most beautiful declarations of God’s loving concern for us in the entire Bible. It is a marvelous thing to open the Bible to this Psalm, hold it open before you, and as you pray, read this chapter to the Lord from your heart beginning with the first words, “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” and concluding with the request “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. Between the opening acknowledgment that the Lord knows us intimately and the concluding, willing request for Him to continue to reveal what lies within us, is the affirmation that everything about us is in the hands of God. The very completeness of God’s knowledge about us, that He even knows our thoughts before they enter our minds, “thou understandest my thought afar off” and the phrase “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” means the Lord knows what we will say before we utter the words, opens our knowledge of how deeply our God is connected with our lives. There is a shocking realization that every detail about us is known to Him for the Bible says He is acquainted with (completely familiar with) all our ways.
Then the verses 8-10 tells how no matter where we are and no matter the circumstances, God is always there, and what’s more, not only is He with us, we have the promise He will still be showing us favor, “Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me”. Maybe you are a seasoned believer that is always aware of God’s goodness and favor on you no matter the situation but most of us need assurance and reassurance that God knows everything and that includes everything about us and that He is always with us and acting in our benefit because He loves us. Look again at Romans 8:38-39,” For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” and see that our God is not some distracted creator holding Himself aloof from His creation. We have no reason to believe God is occupied with some other project and is only partly interested with this heaven, earth, and the people therein that belong to Him but His Word declares He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. On one hand, we can ascend into the heavens and know God is there with us but even if we make our bed in hell, quite the opposite situation, He is still there and we can take this to mean hell as in the grave or some hell we may have created through bad choices either and all will not shut us off from the Lord or cause Him to mark us off His list and abandon us. David, the very man who wrote the words of this Psalm is our example of someone who did remarkable things for the glory of God and likewise, failed miserably in some very dark times in his life yet he wrote in verse 12 “Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee”. The enemy will tell us God has forgotten us, that He is angry with us, that He has written us off, that we have made such a mess the Lord has left us to figure it out as best we can on our own, and that we have messed up too many times and the Lord will no longer come to our aid but it’s all lies from the deceiver. Psalm 139 gives us the awareness the Lord is with us, His hand is leading us, and His right hand (symbolizing His strength) is holding us with the meaning of the word hold being, “ to seize securely, as one would a possession”.
July 9, 2021
Matthew 24:12,” And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”
If all the law and the writings of the prophets rest on the foundation of two commandments, to love God and love one another, it’s no surprise the ploy of the enemy has been to undermine this since the beginning. It seems odd on the surface with all the advances the world claims to have made in science, the social sciences, the medical branches of psychology and psychiatry, and the millions of studies and their results in interpersonal communication, we’re seeing the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of the diminishing power and influence of love. This is not just talking about romantic love between couples, but the overall picture of love which the Lord says is related to the increase in iniquity which means lawlessness or wrongdoing. Remember the “Home Improvement” sitcom when Tim Allen would meet his neighbor Earl Hindmon (Wilson) at the fence for some neighborly discussions? Nowadays the “love thy neighbor” idea has almost been shot to pieces because people literally don’t know who their neighbors are and it’s hard to learn to love people you never see outside their house unless they’re driving their lawnmower at 80 miles an hour with headphones on. I don’t know about your particular situation, but it seems the warmth of neighborly relations has cooled considerably and while we may throw up a hand at a passing neighbor, most of us are busy with our routines and have little time to forge stronger bonds with people around us. When I was a kid, my dad was forever stopping to pick people up who were hitchhiking or having car trouble to give them a ride but now, because of lawlessness and the fear of what might happen, we shudder at the thought of giving any stranger a lift. Our world is one where you might feel safer carrying your concealed handgun and avoiding all contact with people you don’t know or even those you don’t feel you know very well.
If we break it down to where it all begins for us as individuals, God’s plan for us was to learn to love with all its accompanying facets like respect, honor, and kindness, in the home, and there the parents would set the standards for the children who would internalize what they saw, heard, and felt in the interactions of their dads and moms. Then they would know how to love when it came their turn. When the Lord told husbands to love and honor their wives like Christ loves His church and for wives to love and honor their husbands, He did so because first it is the will of God and then it is the example for the children and the neighbors. But studies show people are starving for love and when the world is unable to find love, it usually substitutes lust which increases the lawlessness and love loses in the fray of this battle. For some time now, many children grow up in households where there is much negativity, verbal abuse, and dysfunction. They end up being raised in a single-parent household or blended household often caught in the middle of custody battles, parental mind games, and objects of warfare in a struggle for control by their separated or divorced parents. Where is love in all this carnage? It may be claimed by one or more people but in reality, it can’t be seen or developed in such chaos and the children miss precious opportunities at the critical stages in their lives to enjoy the security and comfort that loving relationships create. The years tick by with children pulled in so many directions they never experience real, lasting, unconditional love with all its attributes. Then, hungry for the love they never experienced, they begin their own cycle as adults. This is a world of insults, hypercriticism, and growing lawlessness and fulfilling the prophecy we have looked at in a previous devotion 2Tim 3:2-4, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”. In all that mess of wrongdoing, there’s no place left for love.
July 8, 2021
2Chronicles 20:12, “ for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee”
King Jehoshaphat and the army of Israel were in a jam when three nations, The Moabites, Amorites, and an unnamed army, came against them and the Bible said Jehoshaphat was afraid. Perhaps he was remembering the words of Jehu the prophet that had previously confronted him with these words, 2Chronicles 19:2,” And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD”. But what happened is one of the great accounts of deliverance in the Bible and it began with the king proclaiming a fast throughout all the land and as he prepared himself to seek the Lord, people came together from all the cities throughout the kingdom to ask God for help. Then in seven verses, 6-12, king Jehoshaphat prayed one of the great prayers recorded in scripture linking that moment to the prayer Solomon prayed in the same temple (2Chronicles 6) and concluded with the plea that Israel on its own could not win this battle and they didn’t know what to do. But they were all looking to the Lord for help. If you study this prayer, beginning with the rhetorical questions of “are You not God of heaven that rules over all the nations of the earth and didn’t You give this land to Your friend Abraham ?” followed by the king pointing out that the enemies that were coming against them were ones the Lord would not allow Israel to conquer when they came into their possession, you can hear the humility and surrender of the king on behalf of the people. As he ended the prayer the Bible gives us this wonderful picture of the people in verse 13, “And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children”. God answered them that day when He, in the Holy Spirit, came upon a Levite in the crowd, Jahaziel, and he prophesied that the Lord would fight the battle and all Israel had to do was watch the Lord’s army in action. The words he spoke, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem” sounds just like the words Moses said to the Israelites when they were trapped by Pharoah’s army at the Red Sea in Exodus 14:13-14, “ And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”.
Deliverance came when the Israelites began to praise the Lord and God set an ambush against the enemy armies and they were destroyed. This was not the normal way God’s people got the victory because a lot of times, they had to fight. When David faced Goliath, he didn’t stand still and see the victory, he charged towards the giant and flung the stone. Samson killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. After Elijah’s contest of fire with the 450 prophets of Baal, he had them captured and killed them. But it does seem at times when God’s people were outnumbered and there was no way out, the Lord of Glory showed up as a warrior Isaiah 42:13,” The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies”. In this time of grace, we are sometimes surrounded and attacked by forces and circumstances that strike fear in us and it looks hopeless. Our families are under attack, our children are being dealt blows of unbelief by an apostate culture, and workplaces are often minefields of antichristian ideologies and standards and it feels like we’re facing the wolves of hell with our hands tied behind our backs. But the same God who said, “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” is eternally on heavens throne and his defending, avenging army is at His command. He gave us His Word and filled it with accounts such as the one above to build our faith in Him that God is for us and who then can be against us? Let’s stop for a minute and look back at times when the Lord did for us what no one else could do. When He made the impossible possible and brought us through situations where it seems we would be destroyed yes He caused us to always triumph and like the Israelites after the Red Sea crossing or the gang of armies against King Jehoshaphat and Israel, our enemies we saw coming against us, after God showed up we saw them no more. The Lord sees us where we are, He knows our needs, and He will never surrender His children into the hands of this world.
July 7, 2021
1Corinthians 15:10,” But by the grace of God I am what I am”
Today is my birthday. When I was young, someone 65 seemed ancient but today that’s my number, and looking back at all the twists and turns in my lifepath, the only thing I can say is every detail from my birth until now is a testimony of the grace of God. But that’s a true statement for all believers and I think often of some of the lines from the church hymn we used to sing, “Victory in Jesus” one of which is “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ‘ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him” and that pretty much sums it all up. The overriding factor of any memory I can conjure, any story or circumstance, all the wobbles, stumbles, and faceplants in my journey and all the successes and achievements is that the love and mercy of the Lord have surrounded and covered me. Rich Mullins said, “There’s people been friendly, but they can never be a friend” and using the definition of friendship from God’s Word, Proverbs 17:17,” A friend loveth at all times” I’ve met a lot of those friendly people but most of them were never true friends. A few of the bumps in this road shook a lot of them off the train and revealed who we all are beneath all the rhetoric. I’ve learned even blood kin can be quick to toss you aside and write you off when you’re not what they want you to be or your circumstances make them uncomfortable. And to be completely honest, I haven’t always been a friend to others because that “loves at all times” can be a tough one but the grace of God has provided me with some absolute true friends with the best of the best being my wife and children. But the Lord, oh my, how could I ever express what a friend He has been to me? How could I find any words to tell how He has loved me, protected me, blessed me, been patient with me, shown me favor, and crowned me with loving-kindness? I have fallen so many times I can’t remember them all but Jesus always picked me up. There has never been a moment when He wasn’t there, never a situation He didn’t foresee and already had a way of escape, never a dumb choice I made that He didn’t help me through the consequences, never a dark night of uncertainty that He didn’t appear as my light and hope, never a point of weakness when I thought I couldn’t go another step but He came to my rescue, and never a long valley of loneliness when I thought I had absolutely no one on my side but He came with comfort, unconditional love, and proved to be a friend that’s closer than a brother.
After my cancer surgery, I came to love Psalm 91, especially verses 15-16, “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation”. God put those Words in the Bible as a nail to hang our faith on. Relatively speaking, He has already given me a long life for I’ve already lived longer than the wonderful evangelist, Oliver B. Greene, the noted Jonathan Edwards, and am about the same age as A.W. Pink when the Lord called him home to name a few although I do not at all put myself in the ranks of men their caliber. But I’m believing God isn’t finished with me and is giving me the opportunity to do in my times of trials what I couldn’t do when pastoring and preaching as He declares in Jeremiah 32:17,” Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee”. On my birthday, this I know: my friends and family will always love me and pray for me, my enemies, who know nothing of the grace of God, will continually wonder why the Lord hasn’t already killed me, and the God of Heaven and Earth, who bought me with the blood of Jesus, will be faithful, kind, and compassionate to me because that’s who He is. When my amazing wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I couldn’t think of anything because we have everything we need and she said this morning, “Honey, if everything we have was taken away, it wouldn’t change a thing because we have Jesus and each other and we have the Lord’s promise He will never leave us and He will provide all our needs”. Sitting here on the back porch swing and typing these few words, eating a Pal’s chiliburger, Frenchie fry, and sippin’ on a sweet tea, I couldn’t agree more.
July 6, 2021
Colossians 1:12-14,” Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins”
One of the deceptions the enemy has in his bag of tricks is convincing believers they are unqualified in some way to receive all the Lord has for them. He points out their past mistakes, their imperfect present, their catalog of failures, their inadequacies, and seems to offer proof they are far short of the standards God demands. Every time their faith rises and they start to believe God for greater things, their enemy beats them down with his list of their shortcomings. The word “meet” in this scripture means qualified, enabled, and is the same word, hikanoo, translated in the phrase “made us able” in 2 Corinthians 3:6 and the root of the word means fit, secure, sufficient, and worthy. Using this expanded meaning, the verse reads “Giving thanks to the Father, which has made us qualified, enabled, fit, secure, sufficient, and worthy” and that’s the polar opposite of the lie which the enemy, as a roaring lion, uses to defeat us. Added to this, is the knowledge that we have already been removed from the power of darkness and translated (transferred, moved from one place to another) into the Lord’s kingdom so we are not waiting to see if we will be qualified or pending some achievements on our part to be granted a worthy status. The amazing truth here is that we received this standing as a gift from God, not by any merits, actions, or abilities on our part and as fitting with the type of the Israelites miracle crossing of the Red Sea, once the miracle of the new birth is accomplished and the water returned to its place, the crossing (translation) is complete and can not be reversed. This is again verified in Colossians 2:10,” And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” where the word “complete” means crammed full, satisfied, finished and reveals our standing with God is not lacking in any area or involved in some state of development.
If we all look back to the beginning of our new birth, there is a truth we should have nailed down early and that is the offering of Jesus as our sacrifice sealed the deal of God’s plan and purpose for us once and for all eternity. For some, perhaps there was clarity in some areas but knowing the completeness of His gift He freely gave to us declared in John 1:16,” And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace”, removes so much confusion and uncertainty. Thank God it is never too late to boldly receive this truth as the Word declares it and walk from that day forward as completely blessed, eternally saved, and fully qualified. The suffering, including the stripes of Jesus, His unthinkable agonizing on the cross, His willing surrender of His life, His precious fountain of blood, His burial, His descent into hell, and His glorious resurrection was all for us and secured our total forgiveness of sin past, present, and future. It also imputed complete righteousness and justification and made us heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Included in the gift is healing for body, soul, and spirit, freedom from the bondage of sin and the flesh, victory over all the power of the enemy, and all the fruit of the Holy Spirit. A part of the fullness is the filling of the Holy Spirit which completes the prophecy of Immanuel, “God with us” which was not only when He walked among us as Jesus of Nazareth, but every second of every day by the gift of our Lord, He is with us by being tabernacled in us. We are redeemed to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4), spotless, sanctified, wrapped in God’s favor (1John 4:17), qualified, and confident (Philippians 1:6). This bold faith in the truth of who we are as children of the Almighty and all the benefits that provides, brings peace and destroys anxiety because it establishes our security in everything concerning us. 1John 3:2,” Beloved, now are we the sons of God”.
July 5, 2021
Matthew 17:18-21,” And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”
A man, whose son was possessed with a demon that was trying to destroy him, came to Jesus for help saying he had brought the boy to Jesus’ disciples but they were powerless to cast out the demon. The story is a window into the unseen realm of warfare between the fallen angels and the power of the Almighty with people caught in the middle. We often think our ministries and our battles are about church organizations, budget balancing, personal achievements, committee planning, logistics and problem-solving in our outreaches, and so on but all around us people are tormented, afflicted, possessed, and overcome by the powers of darkness and need immediate personal attention and like the disciples what we have going for us is everything but faith. While we concentrate on our education and advancement, stack our credentials, analyze our own inward anxieties, attend to the things that give our ministries a more palatable façade, and search for better entertainment and leisure, those around us and in our path walk away still possessed and tormented after we’ve said a little prayer for them and given them a few words of encouragement. We should certainly attend to all the details of the work the Lord has entrusted to us and we should better ourselves in every way the Holy Spirit leads but none of this at the expense of the people who need our Spirit-filled help in deliverance. Maybe the disciples were embarrassed and frustrated when they came to Jesus asking why they couldn’t cast out the demon but the Lord’s response shows the seriousness of the situation and how to get results. The demonic obstacle was a mountain to them they couldn’t move and the three things necessary were faith, prayer, and fasting and not just faith in the fact they were followers of the Lord, but confidence in the Word, power, and will of God just as Jesus exercised. The disciples saw this need for greater, effective faith when they said in Luke 17:5,” Lord, Increase our faith”.
Our faith is established and strengthened as described in Romans 10:17,” So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” and this is not just saving faith but all faith is built on the foundation of God’s Holy Word. When we take the Word of God into us, we are eating His flesh and drinking His blood John 6:56,” He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” and the victory of faith is what “thus saith the Word of God” not us grabbing or slamming people while screaming “In the name of Jesus” expecting that to be the sword of the Spirit. It’s not our words, our commands, our track record, or our accolades that gets results, it’s faith in what God says, and even then, because of our innate unbelief and our prideful, faithless flesh, moving big mountains needs the big dynamite that includes prayer and fasting. The Bible says in Acts 1:8,” But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” where the Greek word for “power” is “dunamis” a root word for dynamite, dynamo, and dynamic. Just as saying “be warmed and filled” to a person needing food and clothes without doing what’s needed is dead faith (James 2:16-17), saying “I’ll be praying for you” to someone who is in torment and terror in their life is just another routine Christian cliché. If we’re going to be guilty of something, let’s be guilty of taking people’s mountains seriously and apply the Lord’s teaching by rooting our faith in God’s Word and practicing the hard-core basics of prayer and fasting. The promise is that the mountains will move and nothing shall be impossible. We have His Word on it.
July 4, 2021
Acts 22:28,” And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born”
In this part of Acts, Paul was arrested and it was being determined by the authorities what to do with him when it was discovered he was a Roman citizen and as such, it was a serious violation for them to have even bound Paul let alone beat him without due process under Roman law. The chief captain remarked he had purchased his Roman citizenship, or freedom, with a great sum of money, a practice common for those not born citizens but able to afford the price of citizenship. Paul’s response he had been born a Roman which was most uncommon for someone to be a Jew, so well educated, was a member of the sect of the prestigious Pharisees, and perhaps a former member of the Sanhedrin to also be a Roman citizen. God had prepared and chosen Saul of Tarsus as a remarkable example of how the Lord set up the beginning of the church ages and the writing of the epistles of grace. It also points us to that time in history where much of the world was filled with people who were slaves, impoverished servants, wandering nomads, and many conquered and abused. In all that, the value of freedom and citizenship was held in high esteem and coveted by those who did not have it and carried a mark of honor and respect. It’s frightening to see how little people in America seem to value their freedom and citizenship and when we watched a few months ago while some burned their cities, looted their neighbors, screamed for the defunding of the police, and openly displayed their hatred and anarchy against the very thing that has provided them security, opportunity, and personal freedom on a scale the world, in millenniums of history, has never known before, many of us were sick to our stomachs for the sheer display of stupidity.
The churches we attended through our lives displayed the American flag and the Christian flag side by side and we all knew because we had been taught, the differences and the similarities between the two. The Christian flag represented the Lord Jesus and His cross and the great personal sacrifice He paid to give us freedom from sin and its wages, death. Each time we looked at it and sometimes in unison said a pledge to what it stood for, we did so proclaiming our citizenship in a land that is fairer than day and by faith, we could see it afar. When we, again in unison, said our pledge to the American flag, we did so remembering the sacrifice and blood that was given by those before us that we could live in this great nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. In our hearts and minds we never confused the two because we knew we enjoyed dual citizenship and dual freedoms: living now in one great, free, and blessed country but headed for another that is so wonderful words fail us to describe it. I Still remember when I was a little boy riding my bicycle to the 4th of July parade in Kingsport and even though I couldn’t explain exactly what was happening when the honor guards and military representatives walked by carrying the flag, something of respect and thankfulness rose up in my heart that even a boy of 10 or 12 could experience. When I see those despising our flag and trashing our country, I wonder what has happened and how can they be so blinded? And the same way, when the God who made us and gave us our freedom by the death of His Son is ridiculed on every level of our nation and His Word is dishonored by even those who are ordained to uphold it, it makes us stop and think, how did we get to where we are now that we continually blaspheme the one, the only one, that has shown us how to love one another by demonstrating it Himself?
July 3, 2021
Luke 10:30,” And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead”
The parable of the good Samaritan was given when a lawyer tested Jesus asking Him how one obtains eternal life. Our word for lawyer means attorney but not so in Christ’s time for it meant one who was highly educated and an expert in the Levitical Law and seems to be synonymous with the term “Scribe”. Jesus answered him with a question saying,” what does it say in the law?”. The lawyer said “love God with all your heart, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself” to which Jesus responded that it was the right answer but the lawyer, wanting to show himself righteous, came back with the question, “who is my neighbor?”. The parable that answered this question tells the story of a man that was attacked by thieves who beat him, took all his belongings including his clothes and left him half dead in the ditch. One by one, three men came by, saw the fellow lying there bleeding and helpless, and each of them had a reason and opportunity to help him. The first two were “servants of God” in that one was a priest and the other a worker in the temple, a step down from the priest but still one who upheld the law and its rituals of worship. Both these men concerned themselves about staying ceremonially clean and avoided the wounded man lest they contaminate themselves should he be dead or perhaps a gentile but by their actions they were a witness to the Jews listening that something was wrong with the way their law was being interpreted. The man who helped the wounded traveler was a Samaritan and to the Jews, combining the terms of “good” and “neighbor” with “Samaritan” was near blasphemy for to Jews, Samaritans were the epitome of sinister and evil so when Jesus deliberately made the hero in the story a Samaritan, he was challenging the complete Jewish mindset that their ways were righteous, purity came by outward actions, and Samaritans and people like them were inferior to Jews. Our Lord was teaching that people who hold to beliefs and doctrines to achieve right standing with God at the expense of showing compassion and mercy are not doing what God wants or intended.
The parable shows that the first to arrive, the priest and Levite came in last while the Samaritan, the last to reach the man, came in first. The Lord is not bashing the law with this story but showing the way the law was being interpreted and carried out in real life was missing the very intent of the law which was to lead people to love God and love each other. For the Jew, their modifications of the law had turned it into a recipe for a life of bondage rather than an instrument to teach the heart of God concerning compassion and love, and while we know the law was given to bear witness of our sin and bring the whole world, beginning with the Jew to a saving knowledge of Jesus when He came, the parable of the good Samaritan showed us God’s overall plan for the human race. In the words of our Lord in Matthew 23:23,” Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”. In the kingdom of God, Samaritans are welcome alongside Jews, and when we see the plan fulfilled in the kingdom age when the prophecy of Isaiah 65:25 comes to pass,” The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD”, the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:14). Even though on a primary level this parable was showing the meaning of what it means to love ones neighbor to the Jews, pointing them back to the very purpose of the law, its practical application for us is that throughout our lives we will see those who are wounded, hurting, and suffering and we have the opportunity to put God’s love into action by living as good Samaritans, not as religious minions. God has not called us to meet every need of every person but to be ready to bandage and assist those His providence places in our paths because His law is fulfilled in us through Jesus our Savior.
July 2, 2021
Matthew 18:23-30, “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt”
This parable is the Lord’s response when Peter asked “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” to which Jesus said, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven”. A man was in debt to the king for 10,000 talents which can be estimated at 12 million dollars and when he was unable to pay and asked for mercy, the king forgave the entire debt. But the same man had a fellow that owed him 100 pence, the equivalent of 200 dollars, and would not forgive the debt but took him by the throat, meaning he throttled him, and put him in prison. The parable goes on to say when the king heard what had happened, he turned the man with the great debt over to the tormentors to be punished until he had repaid the debt and Jesus concluded the story with “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses”.
May we always remember we have been forgiven an impossible indebtedness of sin by the King of heaven and earth and He forgave of His own will, completely, eternally, and will never remember it against us. Not only was the sin debt forgiven, but the Lord also forgives us as we stumble along in our inept humanness and does so in His love and mercy. When others do us wrong and we are tempted to take our revenge or make them pay in some other way, Jesus is calling us to put their debt in perspective with the debt He eliminated on our account and not just say to others “I forgive you” but do it in love with mercy from our heart. These are personal debts between people and God is not telling us to forgive the sins of those who sin against society such as murderers or other heinous crimes and allow them to roam the streets unpunished. Though we may forgive such actions when the crime was committed against us personally, the penalty for those crimes must be established by courts of law and the guilty held accountable for their actions. But all of us have been wronged by other people. It may have been a parent that failed in their job and left us with scars from our childhood, a sibling like Josephs’ brothers that treated us like trash or refused to honor us as their flesh and blood, a boss that made our job miserable, a coworker that used us for their own advantage, someone we trusted that betrayed us, a company or organization of people that held us back and took us for granted, or we may have been punished or reprimanded unjustly by a teacher or someone in authority but no matter when and what it was, God is telling us to let it go, reach into our heart, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, forgive completely. We belong to the Lord and He is the one that will vindicate us for He knows all the circumstances of every situation and when He sets things right, He does it far better than we could dream of doing it ourselves. Romans 12:19, “ Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” with the phrase give place to wrath literally meaning to let God’s wrath take care of it and be assured He will do it justly for He cannot do it any other way.
July 1, 2021
John 11:9-10,” Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him”
When Jesus received news His friend Lazareth was very sick, a situation was being set up where an astounding truth about the Lord would be revealed as declared in John 11:4,” When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” meaning it was not the appointed time for Lazareth to be permanently removed from life’s course but time for the glory of God to be shown by Jesus revealing Himself as the resurrection and then life, raising Lazareth after his body had begun to decay. Even though He could have just spoken the Word of His resurrection power from a distance, He determined to go where Lazareth was, much to the apprehension of His disciples who warned Him of the Jew’s intent to kill Him if he was found in Judea, Lazareth’s area. The Lord’s answer in our verses above is a metaphor saying just as workers, such as farmers, must do their work during daylight hours, there is an allotted timeframe for Him to do the work of His Father. This is similar to His words in John 9:4,” I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”. On one level, this is referring to Jesus who had a few years in His ministry to accomplish all the Father willed and the procrastination or even avoidance the disciples were suggesting would not allow the Lord to finish His work. When Jesus wrapped up His job on the earth and was about to go to the cross, He prayed these wonderful Words to His Father in John 17:4,” I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do”. God’s plan has openings and exits for certain things to be accomplished and those who serve Him are called to work within those boundaries. There are examples of this in the Bible such as when Esther was born with such astounding beauty that she won the King’s heart at a moment in time when the Jews were in jeopardy of being destroyed and she, by the providence of the Almighty became the queen, her uncle spoke these amazing words: Esther 4:14,” For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”.
What it tells us all is just as Jesus had an allotted time to do the Father’s bidding, we too are given opportunities, open doors, certain favor with people, and special circumstances where we can step into the moment in the Name of Jesus, and do God’s bidding. Just as Esther’s uncle told her God will always have alternative ways that will completely accomplish His will, there’s the unspeakable blessing when it’s our turn to obey at the right time, the right place, and with His will flowing through us, when we follow through it brings glory to God and on our part, we are involved in a incident of God’s purpose that sets milestones in our life. No wonder the enemy uses the persuasions of procrastination, fear, feelings of personal unworthiness, and inadequacy to get us to back out of those moments for he knows once the door of opportunity has passed, we may have missed the blessing of a lifetime. Moses at the burning bush offered all those excuses to the Lord and would have missed his destiny completely had not God forced his will but God doesn’t always force us to obey and while the Lord has alternate paths for us, we well may miss God’s best. Isaiah’s answer to the call of God on his life in Isaiah 6:8,” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me”, has prompted many people through the years to answer the call in their heart to serve the Lord in mission fields, evangelism, music ministries, preaching, pastoring, and all areas of Christian service. The cry of our hearts can be that of our Lord’s which is recorded in Hebrews 10:7,” Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God” referring back to Psalms 40:6-8 and without a vision and will to follow the Lord’s call on our life we are left with Proverbs 29:18,” Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Have you ever or how long has it been since you came to the Lord and prayed, “Lord, I am Yours and I surrender myself completely to You. I claim nothing as my own, my soul, mind, body, all my talents, abilities, possessions, my past, present, future, my dreams, desires, and all I am or ever shall be I give completely into Your hands to use however You will. Use me while it is still the daylight of my life and place me where I will bring honor to You alone, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.