May 31, 2022
Psalms 62:6-7 “He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God”
Several times in this Psalm, the Lord is acknowledged as our only help. It’s sad that most people do not see Him that way and if they cry out to God or bow their knees to Him, it’s when they are in their direst situations and they approach Him as a last resort. The history of Israel is an example of our human tendencies because even though they had been taught the Lord was their only deliverer and they had been warned what would happen when they turned away from their faith in Him alone, they were continually looking to other nations around them to help them against their enemies. We are no different from them in that we trust our own abilities, our own reason, and summon the help of people who do not follow the Lord to solve our troubling situations. Today’s verse tells us that God alone is our rock, salvation, defense, glory, and refuge. It reminds us of the words to the old hymn, “All I Need”, “Jesus Christ is made to me, all I need, all I need, He alone, is all my plea, He is all I need”. When we believe the Lord is the maker of all things, the Savior of our eternal souls, the sustainer of life, and the source of all goodness and truth, we can not look elsewhere for answers and help. When we believe He is in control of every detail of the universe, that He knows us intimately, and will always do what is right for us, we learn to trust completely in Him alone and lean upon Him. We hear His words in Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible” and we know He is speaking about anything that might seem impossible and we can apply His truth to our troubles. Can you look at whatever you are facing today and get in agreement with those words, that nothing is impossible with God? Can you hear Him speak 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”? Then may we have the confidence that the Lord alone stands with us and is able and willing to help us. People, family, and friends are limited and powerless at a certain point but our God can not fail. Let’s believe it, proclaim it, and walk in its truth.
May 30, 2022
John 10:28-29 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand”
Today, Memorial Day, we focus on the death of those who sacrificed their lives in war and we fly the American flag as a reminder that because of them, we are free. Like all those who have left this life, if there was no promise of heaven and life after this one, the finality would be, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:19, most miserable. But today’s verses are two of the most wonderful ones in the Bible because they answer the seeming certainty of death with a promise that we can all trust with the greatest comfort: the promise of eternal life through Jesus our Lord. When we read these words without adding or taking away anything, without spinning them with a doctrine, denominational, or personal interpretation, and allow the Word of God to speak simply and plainly, we have the greatest hope that God can offer us. Believers sometimes debate whether some committed sins can destroy this life and bring the death back but when they speak of such things, they always have a hierarchy of sins in their minds with some offenses being so vile they will surely cause these promises to fail. But they will not admit their own shortcomings and sins which in their view are either too insignificant to be considered or which they have justified away by their own depraved, fallible thinking. If we were all examined under a sin microscope that peered into the deepest recesses of our being, it would expose the truth already declared in Psalms 14:2-3, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one”. This eternal life the Lord speaks about is a gift, declared plainly here in the words, “and I give unto them eternal life”. From an outward perspective, which is how one person looks at another, some people seem to live more Holy, more “Christian” than others but be assured such a lifestyle is not winning them eternal life. Read today’s verses again with the hope that what has been given to us, when we receive it, is undeserved, unearned, and will never be repossessed. The double promise Jesus gave us is that those that belong to Him cannot be pulled from His hands and they cannot be pulled from the Heavenly Father’s hands.
May 29, 2022
Isaiah 2:4 “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”
According to statista.com, 1,304,702 Americans have died in major wars since 1775. On this Memorial Day weekend, we remember all the suffering and sacrifice these men and women paid with their lives to keep us free. Besides the deaths, countless others suffered wounds and other trauma they carried all their lives, and may we never forget their service. World history is a study of continual war since Cain killed Abel and even now, there are more than 40 active conflicts in the world. As we noted in yesterday’s devotion, all civilization in the world at the time of Noah was destroyed by the flood because of their perverseness and violence. Fallen humanity is described in Romans 3:15-17, “Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known”. Some may take solstice in that they have never taken another one’s life but the scripture says in 1 John 3:15 that while we may not murder with our hands, we harbor hatred towards others in our hearts and God calls us a murderer. John Lennon wrote the song, “All You Need is Love” and the Beetles recorded it in 1967 but John was murdered outside his apartment building in 1980, reminding us that we can want peace, pray for peace, and live lives devoted to the promotion of peace but thousands of years of human history proves we are not peaceful creatures. Today’s verse tells us there is coming a day when Jesus will reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings and He will bring peace to this world. War and strife will end and there will be harmony in God’s creation with animals and humans living together without harm. Some famous verses that give us this promise are Isaiah 65:25, “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” and today’s verse, prophesied by Isaiah, was also prophesied by Micah in 4:3 telling us that in Christ’s reign, people will put their resources and energy into creating tools of agriculture and farming instead of fashioning weapons: “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks”. May our hearts hear the words of Revelation 22:20, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen” and may we respond with, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”.
May 28, 2022
Genesis 6:11 “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence”
There are no words we can use to explain the shooting at Robb Elementary School and there are no answers as to how a person can do such a thing. But we know it is something that is not going away until the Lord comes and brings peace. Today’s verse looks back to the days of Noah when God destroyed the entire world because people became so corrupt and violent the Lord was grieved that He ever created humans. The Bible says,” the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. We’ve watched the Russian army slaughter children and elderly people, rape women, bomb schools, and torture innocent people with no apparent conscience or remorse and we’ve listened to their leader speak lies about it and act as if it is all justified. In our area almost daily, there are growing numbers of news stories of men who have abused little children some even infants. Domestic violence is increasing, last year angry mobs roamed, burned, and looted cities, and many of us feel compelled to carry a weapon everywhere we go lest we be caught in a situation like what happened today at the Walmart in Ohio where a criminal, out on bail, shot and killed a shopper. One of the many promises linked to the return of Jesus is found in Matthew 24:37, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”. This weekend we recognize Memorial Day when we look back and honor those who died in the service of our country, many, many of them victims of unspeakable violence between nations. We know from Bible prophecy, that some wars are coming that will strike the earth with such violence and devastation that the widespread death of millions of people will be so great it will take seven years to bury all the dead. There will be famines, deadly diseases, and severe shortages of water. Those who think that their political parties and their leaders will bring answers are ignoring the truth that there is only one man and one system that will fix these last days of Noah and that is the God-man Jesus Christ and His reign. Our violent world needs the Prince of peace.
May 27, 2022
Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister”
It’s easy for us to read the accounts of Bible characters like the rich young ruler in Mark 10 who came to Jesus but were not able to completely yield to the Lord’s message and remark how foolish they were or see them as weak with no integrity. But our own life story shows that sometimes it’s hard to do what is right and even harder still to continue to do what is right time after time especially when we have little or no encouragement. This is the reason for the statement in Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”. Today’s verse is similar because it tells us God does not forget that we do right and make good choices and combined with the verse in Galatians, we can be sure that doing what is right will be rewarded in God’s time. Just as evil isn’t always quickly judged according to Ecclesiastes 8:11, we are not always quickly blessed and acknowledged when we do what is right and in fact, sometimes it seems we are punished by the world around us when we faithfully follow God’s ways. The enemy is always pointing to adversity and suffering that we may face and he tells us it’s no use to follow the Lord because people who do not even believe in God are doing better than we are. The Bible says in Psalms 37:35 “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree” and it does seem at times like evil will prevail. But God gives us His promise in verse 34, “Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it”. He is telling us to keep doing what is right, keep moving forward, and He will lift us up because He doesn’t forget our work and labor of love. A classic Bible example of this is Joseph who did what was right and ended up being mistreated, sold as a slave, and thrown in jail for something he didn’t do. But even in jail Joseph kept doing what was right and the Lord brought him out, gave him a place of honor, and he was rewarded with blessings that made up for all his evil treatment. Even in these uncertain, troubling times may the Lord give us the grace and the commitment to faithfulness to keep following Him and doing what is right in His eyes and we can be sure He will not forget.
May 26, 2022
1 Corinthians 16:15 “I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)”
The phrase “addicted themselves” here in the KJV is translated as devoted, dedicated, and given themselves in some other translations. But in view of what is happening in our world nowadays where people are addicted to anything and everything, it’s refreshing to find people who are addicted to the things of the Lord. My dad was such a man and from the moment he was saved until he died, he was always talking about the Lord, studying the Bible, going to church, pastoring churches, witnessing to people, and I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t over-the-top enthused about God. Before my dad became a Christian, he was given to strong drink, and carousing around but the Lord made a difference in his life and he pursued the things of God with the same energy he followed the ways of the world. I know he is with Jesus right now, awaiting His return and I’m so glad I can remember him as a man of addictive faith rather than one addicted to alcohol. I say this not to praise my dad, but to point out there’s a path we can walk where the things of the Lord are more precious, more real to us than anything this world has to offer, and when people choose, as Jesus said of Mary in Luke 10:42, the good part which shall not be taken away from them, isn’t that a better way to live than the mess many people live in today? A glance at the civilization around us reminds us of what God said of the people of Nineveh in Jonah that there were “persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand”. Addicted people fill themselves with whatever it is that compels them and those described in today’s verse addicted themselves to carrying out and fulfilling the gospel mission. It was their obsession and way of life and when we look at our own lives with all the opportunities, possibilities, choices, and ways to live, wouldn’t it be better to give ourselves completely to the Lord and His ways than anything else on this earth? The Bible tells us that this world and its passions pass away but what is done in the name of Jesus for the sake of the truth will never pass away. May we start today, giving ourselves entirely to the Lord, making learning the Bible a priority, praying and worshiping continually, filling our minds with Christian songs and Bible truths, and looking for open doors to minister to others. It may be when we pass from here, our family will say that above all else, we loved and were addicted to the things of God.
May 25, 2022
Psalms 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD”
Most of us don’t like to be put on hold and hear that we’re the eleventh person or so in cue and that our wait time is thirty minutes. Or we’re ready to checkout somewhere but the person in front of us has some kind of issue that requires a manager. Then there’s the Pal’s fast-food joint down the street from us that, on any given day at lunchtime, the drive-through car line is so long it extends down the street, blocking traffic in both directions. At the pace we’re accustomed to moving, it’s hard to wait on anything. The Lord does not operate by our time schedules and He will not ram through His answers and make quick fixes to our situations just to alleviate our impatience. In today’s verse, it’s significant that the Holy Spirit repeated the instructions twice as He knows we’re dull of hearing and most apt to forget and He tells us to “wait on the Lord” and to “wait, I say”, on the Lord. When we trust God for an answer or believe His promises to us or even when we’re needing His help in our circumstances, it’s tempting to tell Him we trust Him, and then when He doesn’t work quickly, we start to devise our own solutions. Abraham and Sarah are the classic Bible examples of this when they attempted to concoct and cobble a fix for their childless situation and the result was a disaster to this day. Much of the stress we Christians have from being heavily in debt, living in dysfunctional messes, and suffering from cycles of adversity can be connected to times we took matters into our own hands, made choices, and devised solutions without waiting on God’s best for us. The Lord knows every detail about us and what we need. He knows how to help us, deliver us, and chart a path forward that will be in our best interest. He knows every detail about us even the number of hairs on our head and because He is from everlasting to everlasting, knowing the end from the beginning, His Word declares that His ways are perfect and His abilities limitless. May the Holy Spirit help us place our driven desire on hold, step back from our circumstances, and practice waiting no matter how painful and frustrating it is to our inpatient flesh.
May 24, 2022
Psalms 3:2 “Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God”
This Psalm gives the account of what is going through David’s mind and heart when his son, Absalom rebelled against him. Absalom gathered himself an army to seize control of Israel and force David off the throne. David and his loyal men fled Jerusalem and hid out in the desert. The situation was very dark and heartbreaking for David because he loved his son and the nation was divided between those who honored David and those who had been led away by Absalom’s insurrection. After all the years of victories and celebrations in David’s reign, it appeared a storm of trouble was going to destroy the kingdom and David would be finished. This is the reason for the thinking of many in today’s verse, not that God was unable to help David but that He might not and the man of God would be dethroned and destroyed. Whenever times like these come to believers, to those called by the Lord’s name and who follow him, it may seem to the onlookers that this is it, that faith is going to end in defeat. But God will never forsake those that are His and even when it seems He has, like the day the Apostle Paul was beheaded by Nero, even their death glorifies the Lord as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:20-21, “in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”. Those who would dare say “there is no help for him in God” are revealing their lack of understanding of the Lord’s promises and His faithfulness for He will never forsake His children. David’s response to those who as much as declared him defeated is recorded in verse 3 of this Psalm, “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head”. God does not always give us the answers we want and He doesn’t always do the things that make us the most comfortable but He always is with us, for us, and working for the good on our behalf. The story of Absalom was tragic and was a bitter and sorrowful time in David’s life yet the Lord was with him and we have the assurance there is always help for us in God.
May 23, 2022
Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe”
If you do a Google search on the things people fear the most, you’ll always find such things as fear of public speaking or other social fears and fear of failure near the top of most lists. The fear of abandonment is also a growing fear along with its opposite counterpart, the fear of people. While the list is immense, today’s scripture points out “the fear of man” and indicates being afraid of what people might think about us, do to us, say to us, or any such thing that causes us to be anxious about people’s opinions or their finger of scorn. This fear is a snare, a trap for us that can silence our testimony, cause us to live or act in a way that is not God’s best for us, or even tempt us to adopt double standards where we appear one way to some people and another way to others. God has promised and provided a place of safety for us when we place our trust completely in Him. He wants us to live according to Hebrews 13:6, “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me”. It’s easy to go along with the crowd and bow to public opinion but swimming against the current and having the spotlight on you because you choose to follow the Lord and walk in His truth can be an uncomfortable and testing trial. But it is the place of safety God promises us in this verse and we hear the words of boldness in Psalms 3:6, “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about”. The fear of people, what they think about us, what they might whisper behind our backs, and how they might react to us about what we say, or how we live is a place of bondage and misery. It keeps our focus and intent on us and our comfort but pushes aside the need and purpose of doing what is right in God’s eyes. May the Lord help us to completely trust in Him, that He will be our vindicator against all who wrongfully oppose us and that the confidence we have when we follow Him will be a resting place of joy and peace.
May 22, 2022
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”
Some people steer clear of the truth of grace because they believe making it the central foundation of our salvation is dangerous. After all, when we look at the aspect of God taking care of all the requirements of our righteousness by covering us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ and telling us that our great sin brought us great forgiveness and eternal life it seems to contradict good, common sense. It appears to “let us off the hook” and take away all personal responsibility to remain on the straight and narrow path some people believe is the way to achieve salvation. And from a natural point of view, it looks like a free pass to do whatever we choose and live sinfully. But today’s verse tells us it is a good thing if our hearts are established with grace. The words “good thing” means beautiful, valuable, and virtuous and the word established means made firm and steadfast. The idea of not being established with meats uses the Levitical teachings of what is clean or unclean in the Old Testament Jewish diet to represent all ordinances, rules, and procedures of the laws God gave the Israelites to live by until the Messiah came to set them free. And, praise God, we have been set free as the Bible declares in Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” and again in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace”. What does that mean that grace sets us free from sin’s dominance over us if grace is a danger to righteousness and holiness? It is spelled out in Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”. For believers, the sin issue was resolved by the blood of Jesus and while it may be in our rearview mirror, God has placed it as far as the east is from the west. Again, it was not an issue of our sins, but of the singular sin, our inherent sin, judged in us by Adam’s transgression before we were even born. Now established in this grace, our focus is not on maintaining a sin-free life which we couldn’t do with our best efforts, but on Jesus Christ who by the Holy Spirit is leading us to walk in the ways of the Lord. His ways are truth, mercy, love, kindness, goodness, and peace.
May 21, 2022
Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”
With Adam’s transgression, the Lord pronounced the entire human race from its beginning to end unrighteous, unholy, depraved, and sentenced every person to death and a lake of fire. Then in the face of this insurmountable sin, which not a single person could remedy on their own, He had a plan of redemption that would display His abundant grace, complete forgiveness, and the gift of eternal life with Him in heaven forever on the very people that were not able to save themselves. The paradox is stated in Romans 5:20, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” and seems to show that it was the abundance of sin that brought an abundance of grace and this raises the question in today’s verse. If great sin brought great grace, should we keep sinning so we can get more grace? But that is an unwarranted view of God’s plan because His purpose was not to reward sin with grace but to at first display His mercy, goodness, kindness, favor, and love and then solve the sin issue by covering it with the sacrificial blood of Jesus as stated in Hebrews 9:26, “but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”. He did this in each of us by the new birth which renders us in our Adamic nature, dead to sin, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we become alive to God. The answer to today’s verse is given in the following verse 2, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” and again in Romans 6:6-7, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin”. The error, and it is a grievous error, that spins the gospel of salvation in such a way to make people central as though salvation is a reward or at least a works-paid ticket to eternal life is a misstep in rightly dividing the word of truth. Almighty God alone orchestrated our pardon and He alone gets the glory for our complete redemption. If we believe we are somehow paying our own sin debt by remaining or at least appearing to remain sinless we have pushed aside the truth of the cross in favor of the mindset that somehow, we have a hand in what the Lord has done. Psalm 3:8, “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD” and again in Jonah 2:9, “Salvation is of the LORD”.
May 20, 2022
Romans 5:17 “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)”
Many people read through today’s verse and never see the first ten words: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one”. There is a view that’s been held from the beginning and to this day influences a lot of thinking which holds that it is our own sin that condemns us and if we can just stop sinning, we can be saved. It teaches it is our ability to remain righteous that ensures eternal life and that we bear the personal responsibility for either life or death. But the above verse clearly shows us we all die because of the offense of one man: Adam. It is not our own sins that condemn us, we were condemned before we were ever born, judged sinners in Adam’s transgression. One man’s offense plunged us all into hell and the shocking truth is that one man’s sin means the wages of his sin passed to one hundred percent of us all as also declared in 1 Cor 15:22 “For as in Adam all die”. The Bible says being righteous is the only way to be saved and that such righteousness is not achieved by us, by our good works, merits, or ability to remain sinless but today’s verse says we have received “the gift of righteousness”. And because we have received an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness where previously the offense of sin and its resulting death reigned, now we reign in life by the merits of one man: Jesus Christ. There is an arrogance against the finished work of Jesus and His horrible death of torturing and shame when people believe they have some part in attaining a level of sinlessness that makes them acceptable to God. We are not sinners because of our sin, we are sinners because God judged the whole human race as sinners in Adam and the sins that we practice are a result, the fruit, of that depravity. Sin is who we are and sins are what we do because of it. But it is God’s plan and purpose that we escape the indwelling nature and corruption of sin born into us by our first birth and become one with Christ. The new birth brings the Holy Spirit within us and by God’s plan of imputation (Romans 4:11-24), the righteousness of Christ covers us in God’s eyes. We now have the power to do good, obey the Lord, turn away from sin, and reign in life because of Jesus Christ.
May 19, 2022
1 Corinthians 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God”
The Apostle Paul, a man God appointed to do His purpose before he was born, was criticized and disliked by some Christians in his time. We might suppose a man so filled with the Spirit, so used of the Lord, that tirelessly and selflessly worked to win souls, establish churches, and write most of the New Testament would be respected, loved, and honored by the believers of his time. But people, all of us, have the propensity to judge, criticize, condemn, and find fault with even the best of others. Not only are we obsessed with picking people apart, but we also fall into the habit of scrutinizing and giving our dogmatic opinions about everything as if we have some superior knowledge of the entire universe and all it contains. But today’s verse reels us back in with the words “therefore judge nothing before the time” reminding us that we are so limited in our scope, so lacking in the ability to see the entire picture of things, and so completely unable to know the intents and motives of people’s hearts and their actions we should not express opinions as if we have the authority to do so. Only the Lord is qualified to pass judgment and Paul went on to say in verse 3 “I judge not mine own self” pointing out that we are not even able to examine and come to conclusions about our own selves because we all know we will either excuse ourselves of the very things for which we condemn others or we will go to the other extreme and degrade ourselves for that which the Lord has forgiven or that which is simply due to our humanness. For most people, it’s hard to stop having critical opinions and speaking them and that is the meaning of the word “judge” here from the Greek Krino meaning “to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong, to pick apart” and even carries the meaning “to dispute and contend as one warrior with another”. We might know it as argumentative and combatant and our opinions often reach this shameful level. When we’re tempted to toss in our two cents, get the last word, or act as if we have the answers, may the Holy Spirit remind us that the Lord has seen the entire circumstance, He knows all the details, and He will pass perfect judgment on the matter. The things He does not settle in the here and now will be settled at His final judgments.
May 18, 2022
Psalms 129:3 “The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows”
Today’s verse is a prophecy about Jesus on the day when they flogged Him before He was crucified. The roman soldiers took the whip with pieces of bone or metal embedded in its multiple tips and beat Jesus unmercifully. Isaiah also prophesied of this moment in Isaiah 50:6, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” and there are no words that can describe the bloody torture our Savior endured. But all that He endured, all the excruciating pain He suffered was for us, and when we fully grasp what happened it changes the way we see Jesus, God the Father, and the complete salvation we have received because of it all. The torment our Lord submitted to and withstood was because of the wrath of God against sin: our sin and the sin of all who call on the name of the Lord. Because Jesus took our place as the wrath of God was poured out on Him, we have been delivered from the wrath. Romans 5:9 spells it out like this, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”. Again, in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come”. Yet more than that took place in the sufferings of our Lord. The imagery of today’s verse pictures Jesus’ back as a farmer’s field being plowed and the cuts and gashes where His flesh was laid open are called long furrows a place where seeds would be sown and new life would occur. There can be no doubt this is referenced by Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”. The new birth is possible because the Lord suffered in our place but also those furrows, the stripes on His back speak to us that God provided healing for us that day. This is repeated in the New Testament in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed”. Shame on all the teachers and ministers who try, in their unbelief, to spin this precious truth by claiming it is only referring to spiritual healing when Jesus suffered unimaginable pain so we might have the hope of healing for our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls that we might be made completely whole. He is still asking us as He did in John 5:6, “Wilt thou be made whole?” and may we answer in faith, “Yes Lord, because of Your stripes I am whole”.
May 17, 2022
Proverbs 4:20-22 “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh”
The book of Proverbs is written as if a father and, in this case, Solomon, is giving instructions to his son. Yet as the Word of God, it is an allegory of our Heavenly Father giving us words of truth. Today’s verse tells us that God’s Word should occupy a prominent place in our thinking and as we concentrate on what He is saying, we are to keep His Word deep within us as a part of our being, an extension of who we are. The promise that follows is that they bring us life and healing for our bodies. It’s no wonder the enemy is always trying to keep us from centering our attention on God’s Word and always fighting to keep us from making reading and studying the Bible a daily practice. When we say there is widespread ignorance of God’s Word, we’re not just talking about unbelievers but among Christians, there is an indifference to the Bible that’s proof we’re not entirely convinced of its power. If there was a supplement offered in stores or online that guaranteed life, healing, health, and peace and it was free for the asking, people would be foolish to turn it down. Yet the Word of God is living, eternal, supernatural, free to all, and will never fail to work yet it is pushed aside, neglected, disavowed, and treated as if it is something near worthless. If we would but make the esteem and honor of God’s Word a priority, if we would carefully study it, memorize it, and learn its promises then the purpose of the Word to transform us, bless us, heal us, deliver and comfort us would be fulfilled in us. Believers are more attuned to the things of this world, things that will pass away like their pleasures, jobs, career ambitions, and such than they are the eternal life-changing words of the Bible. Few will pick it up, listen to its words with their hearts, and plant its seeds deep within them. Most people own a Bible or have a Bible app on their phones but they seldom immerse themselves in it. All things that exist were created by just God speaking words and all things are continuing to exist because He is maintaining them by His words. If we could only believe that the same Word is alive within us and available to us by the will and purpose of God, we would live trusting and speaking God’s Word, making it an inseparable part of every detail of our lives.
May 16, 2022
1 Corinthians 16:9 “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries”
Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians as a letter to the church at Corinth while he was ministering in Ephesus. We might wonder why, since there were so many problems with the Corinthian church, he didn’t just leave where he was, travel to Corinth to address the situation, and later return to Ephesus and continue his work. Today’s verse explains the situation and tells that the door was wide open to him at that time in Ephesus for a powerful work of the Lord. Both places needed help but the greatest opportunity at the moment was right where he was. The mystery of what the Lord is doing and when He does it is part of the multifold plan and purpose of God and while Paul might have been tempted to pack up and head to Corinth to help them fix their issues, he had the wisdom to know the great open door of opportunity was immediately present where he was and he waited until the Holy Spirit’s timing led him elsewhere. A part of the opportunity is facing the adversity of the enemy who knows what the Lord is doing and makes every effort to stop it as Paul points to the fact that “there are many adversaries”. Acts 19 tells of some of the opposition he faced and we might suppose that after a time of constant uproar and attacks on him and the gospel, he would have been tempted to walk away and find another place more accommodating to the ministry of the Word. But it shows where the opportunity is greatest, the enemy wages the biggest war against it and when we’re facing such adversity it’s because there’s great victory ahead if we will just remain faithful. All of us are given opportunities to show Christ and the greater the opportunity the harder the enemy tries to shut us down or push us away from the place God is using us. We might even see another place where it looks like there are just as many possibilities without all the difficulty and if the enemy can’t shut us down completely, he will try to influence us to take the path of least resistance. The greatest blessings and the place of the greatest victories will always be where the Holy Spirit has planted us and may the Lord help us to remain faithful in that spot until He moves us.
May 15, 2022
Hebrews 12:20-21 “(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)”
When the people of Israel arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai about three months after they exited Egypt, the Bible describes in Exodus 19 and twenty their face-to-face meeting with God as a nation. The people stood in front of the mountain, but far back from it so no one would touch the mountain and die. God descended in a thick cloud with fire, billowing smoke, lightning, and thunder. A heavenly trumpet blast sounded increasing in volume, the mountain began to shake, and God began to speak. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:19 “And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore” explaining that the entire appearing of God was so frightening to the people, the scriptures say in Exodus 20:19 “And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” saying they wanted God to talk to Moses and then Moses would tell them what God said. A view of our complete depravity can be seen in that although at the moment they witnessed the glory of God and were filled with reverence and fear, it was only 40 days until they had forgotten all about it and made a golden calf to worship as a god. But when God appeared in Jesus, veiled in human flesh, hands reached out and touched Him and His hands reached back touching sick bodies, comforting desperate people, blessing little children, and sharing food with His friends. People touched His clothes and were healed, crowds thronged Him to touch Him, and He touched the untouchable lepers, unhearing ears, and with compassion, touched the outcast sinners. We can still touch Him today for the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities”. Our God is within our reach and He welcomes us into His presence. There are no more meetings at smoking, burning mountains that are trembling with thunder, lightning, and earthquakes but our meeting place is in the very presence of the Lord at the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
May 14, 2022
Romans 16:19 “but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil”
Our world is so complex, so much more so than societies in the past with all the demands of individual rights, continual redefinitions of the family, and debates about how much power the government should have. There are arguments about interpretations of our constitutions, the radicalization of religions, threats of war and nuclear weapons, determination of gender, and all these are just a few pieces of the house of cards we’ve constructed in the name of social progress. When it’s all distilled, it’s basic arguments about what is right and wrong and the quagmire we’re in is the fallout from the departure from reason and the embracing of relativism that crept into our thinking long ago and now has entrenched itself in everything from the way we live and work to the way we adjudicate our attempts to define morality and law. We keep trying to function, raise children, and keep our sanity and “normal” perspectives while living in big muddled gray areas somewhere between absolute right and absolute wrong. The teaching in today’s verse is that we should be wise to what is good meaning there are definite, unambiguous ways, actions, words, and so on that is right, just, and good. At the same time, the Lord is telling us we should be simple concerning evil and that comes from the Greek word Akeraios which has as its root, the adjective kerannumi giving us the meaning “unmixed with evil”, “uncontaminated, unadulterated”. No matter what arguments, mentality, laws passed, or shifts in morals and standards society makes and takes as their version of the truth, God will never change His decree that good is good, evil is evil and the area of gray mixture people concoct calling it all acceptable and good, is a lie and confusion. This is the mess of a society described in Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness”. We are just like the people in Acts 7 when Stephen was telling them the truth, they covered their ears and killed him as if they were the ones possessing the truth and doing good. Those today who dare to think and say that things are either good or evil are called a threat to society, an impediment to progress, outdated and backward in their stance, and every attempt is made to mock, ostracize, and silence them. Taking our cue from today’s verse, may our prayer be that the Lord will give us the wisdom and courage to know and live by what is good, simply turn from all that is evil, and refuse to even think there is a mixture of the two.
May 13, 2022
Proverbs 17:9 “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends”
Today’s verse is an Old Testament companion to 1 Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins”. The love of Christ causes us to view others through different eyes than those of our Adamic nature. The phrase “seeketh love” means to look for, desire, want to possess and marks the purpose of the Holy Spirit within us to fulfill God’s law by making love for others the primary goal of how we live out the Christian life. By love, we see others as made in the image of God and know that our Heavenly Father loves them as much as He does us and when they mess up, fail, or fall short of perfection we cover their imperfections with love. When we criticize, condemn, blame, or as today’s verse says, make someone’s weaknesses public, we are going against God’s law of love and driving a wedge between people that the enemy will use to his advantage. There is no place in the Lord’s family for gossip, tale-bearing, and judgmental conversations, and when we find ourselves in the middle of such messes, may the Lord help us to walk away, refusing to participate in the negativity. Our purpose is to build people up, strengthen them, encourage them, and help them overcome their weaknesses. The scripture says in Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” with the point being that we meekly restore those struggling knowing that we are just as prone to stumbling as they. We are told in Romans 2:1, “for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things” reminding us that we all are guilty of the same failures, flaws, and sins some on lesser and greater levels and some more visible than others. But the grace to cover, to hide or conceal the offense of another no matter if it is against us or someone else is showing they desire love to win overall. We can have our say and determine to “set the record straight” (in our own eyes) but of all we can do or say, the Bible says “the greatest of these is love”(1 Corinthians 13:13).
May 12, 2022
Psalms 18:35 “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great”
This Psalm of David was written when the Lord had delivered him from all his enemies including Saul. It begins in verse 2 with “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” and sounds like the rallying cry of warriors who followed a fierce commander into battle and conquered their foes. But today’s verse has a different tone and declares greatness to be a result of God’s gentleness. We usually think of God and His greatness in terms like the verse from the song “How Great Thou Art”, “I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed”. David voiced God’s tremendous power in much the same way in verse 13, “The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hailstones and coals of fire”. Yet it is not these displays of power that make us great but it’s God’s compassion, mercy, kindness, and longsuffering that instills in us the power of faith, assurance, and comfort that conquers our fears, spreads the table in the presence of our enemies, and empowers us to fully rely on the Lord’s Fatherly right hand which holds us up. We are great because of the goodness of God and it’s His goodness that draws us to Him. No child seeks the soothing safety of a father’s lap when that father is a thundering, towering, sword-swinging warrior, and believers do not face their world every day with such a mindset. If they do, it is contradictory to how the Lord presents Himself to us, offering the shield of His salvation. This picture of greatness by gentleness is given in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will”. The greatness of Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father forgive them” shows power and greatness far stronger than anything that had been done to Him by His enemies in their hatred.
May 11, 2022
Exodus 13:17 “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt”
With today’s verse, we follow a theme of an earlier devotion, one that points out that God doesn’t always keep His children in a place of comfort. When the Lord delivered the Israelites from Egypt and headed them towards the land He’d promised them, He could have directed them in a straight line and they would have made the trip in just a few weeks. But that route would have taken them directly into territory controlled by the Philistines and they would have had to begin fighting for their survival immediately. They were shepherds and former slaves, not yet trained in warfare and the shock of war would have made them want to return to Egypt. The Lord knows how to lead us and if we will allow Him to be our guide, He knows when we are equipped and ready to encounter this hostile world. There would come a time the Israelites would have to fight and the Lord would help them win as the account in Exodus 17:8 “Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim”. The Amalekites, unprovoked, attacked the Israelites from the rear and God determined to utterly destroy them saying in verse 14, “for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”. Although Israel was not yet a military force, they were following the Lord’s plan and He won the victory. The Bible says in thanksgiving, Exodus 17:15, “And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:” meaning the Lord is our banner referring to God as the leader of their army. We want to take the short path and have the quick-fix solutions to everything and the idea of taking the long way around can be frustrating. After all, God could have just wiped out the Philistines and that would have been smooth sailing straight into Canaan. But His purpose isn’t just to accommodate our journey, He also is at work in the lives of others in and around our path and will not rearrange heaven and earth for us just to remove all our inconveniences. He also doesn’t want battles for us that do not serve His purpose in maturing us into the people He has called us to be. There are times to war hence the directive to put on the whole armor of God and there are times to camp beside the still waters to restore our souls. The Lord is our shepherd and He is our Jehovahnissi.
May 10, 2022
Luke 4:1 “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness”
Today’s verse seems to contain a contradiction. If Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit why would the Spirit lead Him into the wilderness? The word wilderness here refers to a place that is solitary, lonely, desolate, and uninhabited such as a desert. We might expect anyone filled and led by the Spirit to be directed to a place of joy, peace, and great contentment but the Bible says the Lord was led to a place where He was with wild beasts (Mark 1:13), where He went without food for forty days, and faced great tests by the devil while in a hungry, weakened state. But the Heavenly Father wanted Him there as a part of His preparation for His ministry because after being put to the test and coming out victorious, He was ready for the daily trials that would come His way for the next three years. By being tempted to turn stones into bread to satisfy His immediate fleshly desire, tempted to jump off the pinnacle of the temple just to prove He was the Son of God, and tempted to take a quick route to be the master over the kingdoms of the world, our Savior faced the same categories of sin we all face: The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. No one likes going into life’s wildernesses. The places where we’re uncomfortable, alone, and feel overwhelmed cause us to question why the Lord is allowing us to go through such tests and the enemy comes whispering that God is mad at us, has forsaken us, or that it just isn’t worth it to follow the Lord. But when the Lord’s wilderness tests were completed and Satan left Him, the Bible says in Luke 4:14 “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about”. These deserts we go through are places where God is getting us ready for our next step because the same Spirit that leads us to the desert leads us out with power into a place of victory. God has not called us to live in the desert but to go there when He is preparing us for something greater. Before Moses became the leader of Israel, He spent 40 years in the desert. Before David became King, he spent years in the wilderness tending sheep. God knows how to prepare us for His work and He knows how to train us to be the best we can be. His training grounds are usually not the places of pleasure and excitement but the difficult, barren stretches of our journey where we are transformed into the image of Christ.
May 9, 2022
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered”
We are not able to see every detail of our circumstances and are unable to see into our future. No matter how intelligent or intuitive we are there are so many possibilities and angles we do not understand or even know exists. So, as we pray, believing God for answers and solutions, we must depend on the truth of this verse that tells us because of our infirmities, or weaknesses, the Holy Spirit steps in for us and pleads our situation for the Father on our behalf. Take the plight of Moses for example when he had fled from Egypt for fear of his life, while he was wandering in the desert with a flock of sheep, he couldn’t see his future, and didn’t know there were great things appointed to him by the Lord, and had no idea he would become one of the most famous men in history. Maybe at the time, he was just praying for personal protection but God was looking far beyond all that. We are just as important to the Lord as Moses and He loves us just as much. When we pray about something or ask God for an answer, maybe we think we have a solution in mind that would be perfect if only the Lord would agree with our view but God always has a perfect answer, a perfect response that far exceeds our ability, our weakness of understanding and He stands ready to answer in His way. The Holy Spirit pleads with God for us with power and feelings that cannot be put into words. The word intercession in its Greek form is only used in this verse and means “to meet for a consultation, conversation, or supplication” and the word “helpeth” is the same word used about Jesus in Matthew 8:17, “Himself took our infirmities”. We might feel inadequate in our prayers or that we are unable to see how God could possibly help us but the Holy Spirit knows the boundless abilities of our Heavenly Father, His unlimited power, and His faithfulness and willingness to work on our behalf so we learn to trust the Spirits petitioning for us. The truth of today’s verse, “we know not what we should pray for as we ought” is not an insult to us but a statement of our limitations as humans and opens the door to our understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work on our behalf.
May 8, 2022
Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot”
This is the second Mother’s Day without my mom and the eighth for my wife without hers, both of them with the Lord, waiting to accompany Him when He returns (1 Thessalonians 4:14). We both think back on all the times we scrambled to find our mothers something for Mother’s Day they wanted or needed and how we would end up getting a gift just to have a gift to give because they didn’t want anything and had everything they needed. When my mom passed and we were looking over the things she left behind, we found gifts, still in their boxes, her family had gotten her and she never used them because she already had all she needed. That in itself tells of a life well blessed by the hand of the Lord. Today’s verse says the memory of the just is blessed and that’s the way it is with our moms. The piles of food they cooked, clothes they laundered, dirt and dust they cleaned out of the house, and all the needs of their family they attended to is overwhelming to think about but they did it for the love of their families. We saw them in their flaws and their perfections, felt the sting of their switches when we back-talked, and remember the smell of bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy filling the house in the mornings. I came across my mom’s Bible the other day and remembered her reading it for years before macular degeneration made it impossible for her to see the print. Of all the things Laura and I are thankful for about our moms, we are most thankful that they left this life believing in Jesus as their Savior. We miss them but any sadness is always pushed aside by the hope and joy that soon we will see them again because we know where they are. The Bible tells us 1Thessalonians 4:13, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” and that’s when we’re told they are with the Lord right now and will return with Him when He returns for us. So, on this Mother’s Day, we rejoice that we had good, loving moms whose memories are blessed to us and that no words can describe the joyful reunion that’s waiting for us just ahead, sooner than we think.
May 7, 2022
Luke 9:44 “Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men”
Jesus spoke these words to His disciples concerning His arrest, suffering, and crucifixion. The phrase “let these sayings sink down into your ears” means to listen carefully with understanding, pay close attention, and make sure you understand what is being said. The Lord was telling the disciples that something important was going to happen and they needed to get a good understanding. Sadly, the next verse, verse 45 says, “But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying”. We often hear things with selective hearing, we tune out things we are not interested in and sometimes our minds are distracted by other things so that we’re just not paying attention. But the Word of the Lord is perfect and eternally true and when we give our minds and understanding to everything except what God is saying, we are missing the very things that can change our lives for the better and bring us peace and blessing. Another view of this thought is in Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip”. We spend more time and use more brain-power trying to understand our smartphones, all the other technology we’re immersed in, and the babbling nonsense of the news and political eggheads than we do God’s word. This is despite the fact the Lord declared in Mark 13:31, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away”. May we purpose in our hearts to refuse to be distracted whenever we have the opportunity to hear God’s Word and may our prayer be that the Holy Spirit will clear the fog and confusion in our minds so that when we hear the truth, we understand it. The good soil Jesus taught about in the parable of the seed and the sower, is explained in Luke 8:15 “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”. All the other hearts, represented by the wayside, the stony ground, and the thorns, tell of people who are unable to let the seed of God’s Word sink down into their ears. We will close these thoughts with this prayer: “Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand Your Word and ways, and give us the grace and wisdom to follow Your truth faithfully”.
May 6, 2022
Matthew 24:7-8 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows”
The videos and pictures we’ve seen coming out of Ukraine for several months now have shown the despicable horrors of war. This age of internet connectivity has allowed us a view into what former generations were unable to see in the bloodshed and carnage and the terror on people’s faces, people who look just like us. We can’t help but remember the words of today’s verses and especially when the aspect of nuclear war is continually raised, we look to the part that says all these are the beginning of sorrows. Overshadowed by the news from Ukraine is the unrest, violence, and uncertainty in Israel as the country celebrates its 74th year of independence. The joy of their nationhood is undermined by those who want nothing but their destruction. Now Iran, and it appears with our current administration’s blessings, is quickening its pace to manufacture atomic weapons which they repeatedly say they would like nothing better than to use to obliterate Israel. There are dire predictions by economists and the world bank that say because inflation and food shortages may happen around the world as a result of the Russian aggression, some places may become inflamed in civil unrest and a breakdown of their societies. We can’t forget that just a few months ago here in America, mobs were burning our cities and intimidating peaceful neighborhoods and hard-working people with words of hate and threats of destruction while our news media spoke to us as if it was all somehow justified. Every day there are warnings of human trafficking, drug addiction, stolen identities, child abuse, and the corruption of our leaders on every level. We have just emerged from a pandemic to find ourselves facing such high prices for our daily needs that many families are struggling to feed themselves. You might say this is a negative view but I say it’s reality and was prophesied in God’s Word and the worst, for the world, lies directly ahead. Believers are not blindsided by what’s happening because they know the Lord said in Luke 21:31, “So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand”. Praise God for His unfailing promise in Hebrews 10:37 “For yet a little while (soon), and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry”.
May 5, 2022
Luke 2:1 “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed”
When we think about the life of Jesus, the time period God purposed that He would enter the world, God’s choice of His mother, and so on, it’s part of the mystery of everything the Lord is doing. It is good and humbling for us to consider our place in all the grand details of God’s creation as the Psalmist declared in Psalms 8:3-4 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”. It is as if all of it are points, increments on a chart of history, extending backward to a previous eternity where we didn’t exist except in the plans and purpose of God and pointing forwards to an eternity where we will live with our Creator in a world without end (Ephesians 3:21). The phrase in today’s verse, “and it came to pass”, appears in the KJV Bible over 450 times in some form and the fact that it is so prevalent in the scripture reminds us that no matter our circumstances and no matter how prone we are to be anxious about them, it will all come to pass. We are quickly moving forward on our timeline and so is everything around us, all being pushed by the will and purpose of God as His plans for all creation are being carried out just as He ordered before He spoke the first recorded words, “Let there be light”. The event of the taxation in today’s verse that took Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, fulfilling so much of the Lord’s purpose, was a part of the untold millions upon millions of “and it came to pass” episodes that relate to God’s plan, many of them embedded in our own life-story. Praise the Lord for all the times we seemed trapped in a bad place with no way out yet it came to pass. And all the times we waited for answers to prayers that would alter our life’s course and maybe the direction of our children or grandchildren then we saw it come to pass. Some of you perhaps like me, heard those words “it is cancer” and you wondered what it meant for your future but thank God, it came to pass. There were struggles we thought would never end, burdens we thought too heavy to carry, persecution and opposition we thought would be our demise but halleluiah, by the grace and power of God, it came to pass. We held hopes and dreams, believing the Lord for victory and blessings and it came to pass. Now we look for that day when the trumpet will sound, the dead in Christ shall rise, and we shall be changed to be with our Lord forever and we will say a final, “And it came to pass!”.
May 4, 2022
Titus 2:7 “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works”
None of us live without errors and we don’t always follow Jesus in full agreement with His Word. Yet we aim for lives that are consistent with His teaching and the Holy Spirit is always working within us to help us conform to the image of Christ. It is God’s will that we become examples, patterns as today’s verse call it, that others can see the realness of the Lord in us as the Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”. One of the charges the world sometimes lobs against the church is that it is filled with hypocrites, people who claim Christ but live opposite to what He represents. The pattern of good works is not an occasional deed or act of benevolence we do but it is consistently making choices that are in line with God’s truth and following through step by step with those choices. The foundation for those choices is the love we have for the Lord and each other because that determines how we see ourselves accountable before God and forms the basis of how we treat people. Everything from the lifestyle we live to the words we choose to speak is governed by the power of that love for if we love people, we don’t abuse them, dishonor them, or speak evil of them. If we love the Lord, our heart is toward Him and our desire is to honor His name and please Him as our Heavenly Father. Also, we want others to know the Lord and ascribe all goodness and glory to Him as the Lord taught us in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. In spite of our imperfections and our bobbles left and right on the journey, may the Lord help us to live as salt and light, making careful choices to honor Him, and may He open doors of opportunity for us to fulfill His great commission.
May 3, 2022
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins”
The Lord doesn’t just forgive our sins, today’s verse tells us He blots them out from the Hebrew “machah” meaning “to obliterate, exterminate, utterly erase”. Then He gives His promise that He will not remember them. God’s vows to us in these Old Testament verses are repeated in this time of grace in Hebrews 10:17, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”. The entire plan and purpose of the Lord from before He created all things and extending throughout eternity is to display His lovingkindness, mercy, and grace on His undeserving, sinful people who have no ability to save themselves. This is the meaning of the phrase in today’s verse saying that He wipes out our transgressions “for His own sake”. All the glory of salvation belongs to the Lord alone even though we glory with Him in His plan in that we are the recipients of His gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Some Christians live their lives in a sin-conscious mindset, always seeing themselves as unworthy with all their wrongs and errors continually dangling in front of them. They carry guilt and shame over the things God has wiped out and even though He never remembers their sins, they do and so do people around them and the sense of shame holds them back from the freedom Jesus died to give us. The Lord forgets our sins because He chooses to do so and by His will, He takes them out of His sight and never brings them back into His view. Here is where we must stand by faith, taking Him at His Word and believing what He promised us is eternally true: Our sins are completely forgiven and forgotten. Everything Jesus did in His suffering and death and then in His glorious resurrection was for us and He did it so the sin issue would be completely resolved. The Bible declares in Hebrews 9:26, “but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”. Notice it says He “put away sin” and while we can be assured since sin is in the singular here, referring not just to our individual, particular sins but to the sin nature that defines our sinner-status, it is also speaking broadly of the sum of the matter since it is the sin root that produces the fruit of sins. Praise God, the mercy and grace of Calvary have not only completely forgiven us, but completely washed away our sin so that even God, all-seeing and all-knowing never remembers them again.
May 2, 2022
Ecclesiastes 3:4 “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance”
This verse is from a famous passage that for some, paints a rather dreary picture of the cycle of life, the continual, repetitive plodding of living out our days. But from a New Testament view, we see it from a position of grace and our eyes are fastened on the things above, our eternal home. For us, today’s verse shows the need for balance in this earthly life, the wisdom of setting our human experience in order and we know that when there is chaos in the way we live, the way we raise our children, and the way we view ourselves and our purpose then there is anxiety and unhealthiness. People who want to laugh all the time are not able to identify with the brokenness of others or even to sense personal conviction when they have done wrong and need to change. The Bible says Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus and at least three time He wept over the unbelief and impending destruction of Jerusalem. In the reverse of this, people who are perpetually sad and negative miss the joy of God’s blessings, the beauty of His creation, and the opportunities to share in the happiness of others. We must have the wisdom to know the truth of our circumstances and allow the Holy Spirit to direct us in a balanced response. The scriptures tell us in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep”. There are times to laugh and dance and we should take every opportunity to enjoy such times. But there are also times to weep and mourn especially when we identify with others who are suffering and in need. May the Lord give us the grace to follow the teaching of Galatians 6:2, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”.
May 1, 2022
Luke 16:10 “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much”
Today’s verse is about being trustworthy, the meaning of the word “faithful”. We like to look back to when we believe there was a time everyone was honest and a person’s word and a handshake was the assurance of their trustworthiness but deception has always been a part of human nature. The Lord said in Romans 3:4, “let God be true, but every man a liar” not saying that people always lie but that God always is true but people aren’t. The Lord tests us in the small matters before He opens larger opportunities and He says if we show ourselves faithful, trustworthy in the things that are least, we will be trustworthy in the larger things. Interestingly, the subject matter of this passage is money and wealth for the Bible says in verse 11, that if we are not honest and faithful in worldly riches, who would trust us with true wealth? This principle of impeccable honesty, truthfulness, and faithfulness is sadly disappearing from America and from the top leaders of our nation to the homes of common people we’ve come to expect dishonesty, lies, deception, and unfaithfulness. We can talk about how the grace of God covers our sin and that’s good and well but for homes, families, businesses, schools, and government to flourish and prosper we must take God’s demands for truth and integrity seriously and commit ourselves to lives that follow those paths. When we break it down to the details, it begins with the smallest decisions, the words we choose, and how we relate facts and accounts of things to others meaning whether we “spin” the stories or remain honest and true. It matters how we operate in our business dealings, how we represent ourselves to others, and the way we live before our families and friends. Open and honest, trustworthy and faithful should be our trademark, the logo of who we are in every speck of every area of our lives. May the Lord help us commit to those standards and make them our normal operating practice and then see where the Lord will take us from there.