March 31, 2022

Matthew 11:2-3 “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”

       John was Jesus’ cousin on the human side of Christ and his birth was a miracle very similar to the birth of Isaac, Abraham’s son. God set John as the forerunner or messenger of Jesus and John was already preaching and baptizing when Jesus began His ministry. One of the wonderful moments in the scriptures is the story of the day John was baptizing people in the Jordan river and Jesus came, asking John to baptize Him. That day John recognized and declared Jesus to be “the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” and he witnessed the Holy Spirit like a dove coming down on Jesus and heard the voice of God booming out of heaven proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). John the Baptist himself was also filled with the Holy Spirit as recorded in the angel’s prophecy concerning him in Luke 1:15, “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord…and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb”. From our view, it would seem if there was anyone who should be a pinnacle of faith, of such power in believing that nothing could make them doubt it would be John. But in today’s verse, John had been thrown in jail and he started doubting if Jesus was actually the Messiah.

       None of us has faith so strong that we do not sometimes struggle with doubt. When John was preaching, free to go wherever the Lord commanded him, and was leading a group of disciples, his faith drove him, powered him, and he was very bold in his words and deeds. But when he was arrested and locked in prison, separated from the people who supported him and followed him, doubt began to creep in and he started to question if all he’d confessed and believed was true. We see the humanness of John here and it’s a blessing the Holy Spirit recorded this in the Bible, showing us none of us are perfect in our faith. It’s also a blessing to see that Jesus didn’t get upset with John for doubting but He sent word back to him, affirming that He was indeed the Christ. The enemy will harass us when our faith is weak or we are battling doubts, telling us it’s useless to keep believing, that what we had trusted God for isn’t coming to pass, and that we’re a failure in our faith but we can look back to what happened to John, a powerful, anointed, and Holy Spirit-filled prophet and take comfort to know the enemy is doing what he always does: lying.

       The Lord is always ready to help us when we are weak and comes to our rescue when our faith needs strengthening. The Bible gives us a key to building stronger faith in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Faith doesn’t come from our heads, our reasoning, our intellect, or our knowledge of the world around us but it comes from hearing God’s Word. Jesus sent his words back to John through John’s disciples to bolster John’s faith and He sends His words to us by the teaching and preaching of the Bible. Then the Holy Spirit brings the words into our hearts and minds as the Lord told us in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. Doubt is a part of our walk with God and when we come before Him with an honest heart, confessing our weakness and our doubt, He will not sneer at us, push us away, and rebuke our humanness but He will love us, honor us, cover us with favor, and help us return to a place of faith.

March 30, 2022

Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”

       Paul, the human writer of much of the New Testament and the apostle to the gentiles, said in 1Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am”. Believers have all levels of abilities and various types of talents and it’s easy to point to those that look strong, skilled, and in prominent places in the church and give them a lot of honor. And we should honor those who labor in love for the cause of Christ but today’s verse reveals what’s really the motives and power behind us all in the Lord’s kingdom. God is at work in us, giving us the desire or as it says here, the will to do his purpose and the ability to do it. The Lord is producing the appetite for the things of God and the actions to follow through. Without this power of God, through the Holy Spirit working in us, we are described in Philippians 2:21, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”. The Bible calls what we do apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, the works of the flesh and they have the goal of temporarily satisfying us, fueling our emotions, puffing up our pride, and bringing some tarnished honor to us. But when we see ourselves as the product of the grace of God, all glory is His and our prayer is that when others see us, they see Christ in us.

       Most of the pictures drawn of Sampson depict a muscle-bound strongman looking like an ancient version of a modern-day bodybuilder but Sampson might have been just a normal-looking or even a smallish fellow until the power of God came on him. Whenever he would do a supernatural feat, the Bible says as in Judges 14:6, “And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him”. It is said of our Lord 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”. So, only the power of God makes the difference, the Lord propelling and producing His will and work in us to accomplish what today’s verse calls “His good pleasure”. He puts us to work and while our response and efforts are an important part of the scenario, we must say what the Bible says in Galatians 2:20, “yet not I, but Christ”. All who serve the Lord in this fashion are acutely aware of this truth when others try to honor them or heap recognition for their efforts and achievements, they are like Peter in Acts 10:25, “And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man”

       Some people have become filthy rich peddling the Gospel and peddling is a good word here because you can’t even watch them preach on videos and TV without being constantly bombarded with advertisements for their books, sermon packages, and all other sorts of calendars, study guides, and religious products. Even while they are preaching, their “great offers” come scrolling across the screen. Jesus declared in Matthew 8:20, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head”. All that is amassed here as personal gain, some of it hoarded up by religious people, and sometimes displayed like trophies of human abilities will be left behind. Maybe it will be used wisely by those that inherit it and maybe not. But what is done in us and through us by the power of God are acts with eternal substance and we might rest here from our labors but our works will follow us.

March 29, 2022

Psalms 25:15 “Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net”

       The word picture of a net is used many times in the Bible and refers to a trap or snare that was common for hunting animals and as a device to throw on enemies to subdue them. In today’s verse, the Hebrew word for a net is Resheth, which means a device for catching animals, a trap of judgment, leaders leading people to sin, and a trap for humans. Every trap, every device that entangles people, holds them captive, and defeats them is from the enemy. The snares he uses are of many types and configurations and he has thousands of years of practice in disguising and employing them but his end game is always the same: to cause us harm, to derail God’s purpose for us, and to enslave us to the things that take away our freedom and rob us of the Lord’s blessings. These devices are everywhere like landmines on our path and can come against us as temptations, attacks by other people, addictions, the consequences of bad choices, or outright attacks by Satan. He was always trying to set traps for Jesus as the scripture says in Mark 12:13, “And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words”. We can picture the net they were setting for our Lord in Luke 11:54, “Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him”.

       The eyes of God see every net, every trap the enemy is using to tangle us and today’s verse says our eyes are fastened on Him because He is able to help us as it says here “he shall pluck my feet out of the net”.  This Psalm of David was written when he was in trouble because it begins with a pleading prayer for the Lord to protect him from his enemies and in later verses talks about his suffering, distress, and pain. Here, he is saying his feet are already caught in the net of his enemy but he is looking to the Lord, declaring He will pull him out of the mess he is in. The traps can feel like whirlpools or quicksand, pulling us down with nothing to grab hold of and no one to help us, and the more we struggle to free ourselves the worse our predicament seems. We can get so snarled it’s like living in a straightjacket, feeling crushed and panicky. But the Bible says in 1Peter 3:12, “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers”. In Matthew 14, when Peter began to sink beneath the water in the Sea of Galilee, he was in a net of trouble and he looked to Jesus praying the little three-word prayer, “Lord, save me” and the Bible says “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him”. He looked to the Lord and Jesus pulled his feet, as it were, out of the net.

       We have verses like Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” and we are encouraged by songs and sermons to keep our eyes on the Lord. We have the promises of Psalms 34:17 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles” and in verse 19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all”. There is a beautiful metaphor in Psalms 124:6-8, “Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth”. We receive the teaching of God’s Word that our eyes, our attention must be locked onto Jesus because this life is filled with distractions, traps, and troubles. Sometimes people oppose us and we should expect that there are nets, traps, and devices to hurt us, hinder us, and entangle us. But God sees our plight, knows how to help us, and stands ready to deliver us and He will turn the devices of the enemy around to capture those who set them against us Psalms 9:15, “Psalms 9:15, “The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken”

March 28, 2022

Psalms 25:16-18 “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins”

       Without the hope of Jesus, the human condition is a pitiful picture as Job described in Job 14:1. “a few days and full of trouble”. When we’ve been delivered by the power of Jesus, after a while we sometimes forget just how dark the world is and how painful the chains of sin are. But when we stop for a moment and look around us, in every life, every family, every city, and every country in the entire world suffering, sorrow, and the effects of the curse is raging. Even if they won’t admit it and have learned to put on a mask of confidence, people deal with their human condition any way they can to lessen the pain and numb the despair. Those who sometimes seem the happiest, like Robin Williams, hide their true selves under smiles and humor that isn’t an actual representation of their heart. Generations of families have taught their sons that crying is a weakness and hardened them to “be a man” and trained their daughters, as the British would say, to “keep a stiff upper lip”. From the slums of North America and the ghettos of South Sudan to the luxurious estates of the super-wealthy around the world, without Jesus Christ people wallow in the human condition.

       The despair of the human heart combined with the lies of Satan causes many to turn to alcohol, drugs, and a host of other addictions to find something, anything, that will take away the pain. The irony is that the very things people turn to that seem to ease their torment actually make it worse. The moments of relief the alcohol or other drugs seem to give are followed by the systematic utter destruction of every area of their lives including their body’s internal organs and their brains.  The lie of comfort and relief is replaced by long-term suffering that’s off the scale and by then, they’re too addicted to be aware of what’s happening, their pride and insolence arguing back that they’re in control and everything is ok and that they are somehow, “normal”. In my years working in Social Services, I interviewed scores of alcoholics and drug addicts that were breaking their bodies down and enslaving themselves in a tiny, messed-up box of a life that was simply a dead-end yet they would not admit their addictions and argue they were fine. They would lie and conceal their behavior as if no one had a clue as to what they were doing and where they were headed. Then, when they hit the bottom and had destroyed themselves, they would try to lay the finger of blame on everyone, alleged problems of their past or the world at large which they declared was against them.

       The problem at the time of today’s verse is the same as it is now: our sins. As the writer reaches out to the Lord for healing and comfort, for deliverance and mercy, he also says “and forgive all my sins”.  Jesus came to be our Savior but He also came to defeat the power of the curse. When He tells us to cast our burdens and anxieties on Him because He cares for us, He is speaking to us with love and compassion and with an understanding of what it means to be a human. Our Lord knows our sorrows, feels our pain, hears our cries, and is ready and willing to help us. We might see ourselves or someone we know in a trap or circumstance that there is no way out and no way that there can be a resolution but the Lord specializes in the impossible and has declared in His Word that nothing is too hard for Him. Sin, the root of all that is painful, harmful, deadly, and destructive has been defeated and our fallen nature that was bound by sin and its side effects has been destroyed and we have been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. The world and our flesh may hit us with trouble, attack us with afflictions, and confront us with distress but we are not of this world, we are not under the curse, and we have been set free by God’s grace. When we cry to God, He hears us because of Jesus and stands ready to help us as He says in Psalms 81:7, “Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee”. Our light to the suffering, curse-afflicted world is the light of Christ’s glory and we represent what nothing else can offer and though they scorn the truth, cling to the lies, and dismiss us as if we’re a threat to their lifestyles and imagined freedom, we still hold the words of their only hope. The troubles of their hearts are enlarged, that is troubles have grown big and they need deliverance but with the cry for help must come an acknowledging of sin, an ownership and responsibility such as David said in Psalms 51:2-4 “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight”.

March 27, 2022

Daniel 3:27 “And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them”

       The Lord’s prayer has a plea for Him to deliver us from temptation, meaning trials or tests and we hear this in the prayer Jesus prayed to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane when He said “if you’re willing, let this cup pass from me”. Most of us would never welcome tests of adversity that push our faith to the limit and take us through situations like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in today’s scripture. We know what the Scripture tells us about trials, that they are for our benefit, that they serve a divine purpose, and that even in such trials God is working all things for our good but we still hope and pray we don’t have to go through them. And it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of worship and praise and shout “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil” but when we have to actually walk that path it’s a different story. It makes us wonder what was going through the minds of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when the soldiers grabbed them, began tying them up and started dragging them towards the blazing hot furnace.  They had already declared they believed God was able to deliver them but said If He didn’t, they still wouldn’t bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image.

       It’s a possibility they had no clue that if God chose to deliver them, how He would do it. Maybe they were thinking the king would say, “You know what? I’ve changed my mind and decided throwing these guys in the fire is not a good thing”. Or that the Lord would send such a heavy rain it would flood the furnace and put out the fire. God’s plan was more spectacular than anything anyone could imagine. He walked into the fire with them. The eternal, indestructible, fire-proof God of heaven and earth came down to where they were and entered the nightmare they faced and remained with them through the ordeal. When it was over, when they should have been burned to ashes instantly, they walked out because today’s verse tells us the fire had no power over the bodies, their clothes, and not even a single hair on their heads was singed. Then the scripture says they didn’t even smell like smoke. It was as if the fire hadn’t happened. Had the Lord chosen to flood the furnace or change the king’s mind, it could have been explained away but as He did it, it caused the king to say in verses 28-29, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort”.

       The occasions God delivers us are not only for our benefit, to strengthen our faith and confidence in Him, and bind us closer to Him in love but also to witness His power and grace to those around us. But not everyone is delivered from the furnace, like these three men, for sometimes it is God’s will for His people to suffer affliction. Jesus did not escape the fire of crucifixion but endured the pain as part of God’s purpose and thank God He did because it secured our redemption and healing. The comfort is in knowing that whether we walk through the trial or not, the Lord will always be with us and when deliverance comes, it will be because He is by our side. We might take lightly His promise to never leave or forsake us but we should hold fast to His words because when, and it is when not if, we go through our trials, the blessed assurance that He is with us will make all the difference in how we face the moment.

March 26, 2022

Isaiah 44:22 “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee”

       There are people, believers, who struggle with their sinfulness because no matter how hard they try, they can never measure up to what they believe the Lord demands of them. They may pray every day, asking God if they have said or done anything wrong to please forgive them, and even then, they always feel a sense of guilt. Their view has a rather constant theme that the Lord is angry with sin and we are all unworthy. This description of God, weekly impaled on people as Bible truth, might not always affect people the same but for some, especially those who hear the message from infancy, it might take years for them to understand the goodness of God. I know this is true because I was one of those people. Looking back at the churches that influenced me this way, I believe they were good people with good intentions but they did not rightly divide the word of truth as the Bible teaches in 2 Timothy 2:15. They mingled Old Testament law, which they picked and chose at will, with New Testament salvation and usually used the Old Testament to interpret the New. As I have stated in earlier devotions, when I became an adult, I left the church and turned my back on the things of God. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, revealed Himself as the seeking shepherd and came after me, cornered me by the power of the Holy Spirit in my apartment one evening, and I returned to the Lord.

       It was then that I began to see the truth of redemption as stated in today’s verse. Although this passage explains God’s care for Israel, it sets the foundation of His purpose for all His creation, that He wants to forgive and when He does, He blots out our sins where the word blotted means to erase, to rub out, and to destroy. It is comforting and joyous to know the Lord doesn’t keep a list of the believer’s sins like Santa’s naughty list, but He delights to forgive us so completely He never remembers them again. His invitation here, “return unto me” reminds us of the father waiting for the return of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The verse preceding today’s verse reminds us it is the Lord that created us and echoes Psalms 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture”. Then, after reminding us that He has completely erased our sins, He tells us in verse 23, “Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein”.

       We have every reason to sing, shout, and rejoice “for the Lord hath done it”! None else could do for us what God has done, creating us, forgiving us, taking away all our sins, and inviting us to live with Him eternally. It’s time we quit remembering what the Lord has said He will never remember anymore: our sins. It’s time we see ourselves as God sees us, covered in the spotless righteousness of Christ. We are not under the demands of the law, we have been set free to walk in a new life as new creations. When the Lord said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”, He’s talking about our sins, the list of rules and laws we tried to follow to achieve righteousness, and the guilt we carried because we could never measure up. We are not waiting to see if we’re good enough to become the children of God, the Bible says in 1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God” and again in Galatians 3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus”.

March 25, 2022

Matthew 5:43-44 “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”

       The law of God given Israel through Moses taught people to love their neighbor but the teachers of the law added to that commandment by saying people should also hate their enemies. Then went as far as to say that in general, all who were not Jewish, were enemies. When Jesus gave the sermon of which today’s verse is a part, He was setting the traditions of the contaminated religious system of His day on its head. He knew we would all have enemies and that people would cause us pain and suffering yet He told us to abandon the hatred and revenge we might hold against people who are against us. And He tells us to go a step further than just becoming non-confrontational and of non-retaliation but He takes us to a place where we practice love. This is very much against our fallen nature that will always seek a path of anger, hatred, and rage against our enemies and push us towards revenge, payback, and the desire for our enemy’s complete destruction. The formula the Lord gives us for dealing with people who are against us is to love them, bless them, and pray for them.

       About the time we think we have this truth working within us, we can be sure our resolve will be tested. Someone will push all our buttons, get on our last nerve, and step across our border of peace with an evil attitude, and more than likely, it will be a family member or someone we thought was our friend. The Bible says in Psalms 41:9 “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” and describes it again in Ps 55:12-14 “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company”. Imagine that, he said it was someone he went to church with that stabbed him in the back showing there are Judas types everywhere, ready with a kiss and a betrayal while feigning as a friend. Yet the Holy Spirit teaches us the ways of God and that is to love, bless, and pray while we leave all the rest to the Lord. He is our vindicator and He searches every heart, seeing and knowing precisely what is there and why people do and act the way they do.

       We sometimes refer to vengeance as “sweet revenge” and there is something roguishly satisfying when we’re able to deliver a crushing blow to someone who has wronged us or use our words to cut them down. Even if we witness their devastation, we might smugly say, “well, they had it coming to them”. But the Bible says the Lord does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked and we who are now called His friends, were once His self-made enemies. But His love covered our transgressions and while we were sinners, Jesus loved us and died for us. God’s plan for His enemies is revealed in Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” and in Colossians 1:21 “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”. When we respond to our enemies by the law of love, we’re trusting God to either conquer our enemies for us by making them our friends (Proverbs 16:7) or protect us by His power. If any vengeance is in the equation, it belongs to the Lord, the righteous Judge.

March 24, 2022

Luke 11:3 “Give us day by day our daily bread”

       The Lord’s prayer is a unifying blessing of scripture that Christians have prayed together for centuries. There’s something special and powerful when believers join in unison and speak the words of this prayer the Lord gave us when His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. We teach it to our children, we use it as a prayer of thanksgiving over meals, we pray it when we visit the sick, we print it on church bulletins, and almost anytime we pray group, public prayers, these are the words we say. Its words are comforting on any occasion and since it came from the mouth of our Savior, we know what it embodies is a perfect prayer to our Father in heaven. It is not a magic formula we can use nor a prescribed unique form because the Holy Spirit gave us two similar yet different versions, one here in Luke 11 and another in Matthew 6. Yet the basic principles for an approach to our Father is given and helps us frame what we say in a way that gives Him honor and brings our needs before him in a place of submission to His will.

       One particular request made in today’s verse is a masterful sentence that brings our need and also shows a deep, profound place of faith.  It’s hard for us to reach the place where this prayer is truly heartfelt because our world, especially here in America, is so different from the day when Jesus gave this prayer. Workers were paid by the day in Christ’s time and bread was baked daily. If a worker was sick or for some reason unemployed for a few days it was disastrous for him and his family because their view of need was by the day and in the moment. Depending on how we are paid, monthly or bi-weekly or if self-employed, by the job, our view of our needs are more long-range with monthly bills and usually food stocked in the pantry, fridge, and freezer that can supply us for several days if needed. People who stock up at Sam’s Club or Costco, buying in bulk, might see their food supply from a longer perspective. But the point remains that we eat one meal at a time and we live one day at a time no matter how wealthy or poor we are.

       In childhood, we are conditioned in our thinking to either live stuck in the past or accelerating into the future so much that we do not live day by day. The Lord is pointing us to see our need as it is needed and our God as the source and is leading us away from the “stockpiling mentality” where we trust what we have stored up rather than our Lord that supplies us day by day. The miracle of the manna was a daily provision except for the Sabbath when the Israelites enjoyed the double portion of 2 days in one. May the Holy Spirit open our eyes and give us a heart of thankfulness to see what God has provided for us each day is a testimony of His love and kindness to us through Jesus Christ. And may our prayer be that when we have more than enough, we will have the heart to share and give as we carry out God’s will in His kingdom. We can pray, “Lord, help us stop trusting anything and everything except You, the true provider of all our needs. Help us have grateful hearts and strong faith to eat one meal at a time acknowledging that You gave it and when we receive our next one, it will be You alone that provides it. Lord, show us how to receive Your favor humbly and with joy, as we learn of You for You said You are meek and lowly in heart and we will find rest for our souls”.

March 23, 2022

Ephesians 6:15 “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace”

       Ephesians 6 speaks about us putting on the entire armor of God and is a picture of a soldier getting ready for battle. We’ve all seen illustrations of this, usually depicting a warrior from the Greek and Roman era looking like Spartacus all decked out from head helmet to boots in battle-ready gear. A prominent sword and shield give the sense of the hand-to-hand combat that might lie ahead and this is how some people see themselves as a Christian, waging a continual, life-long series of battles. Many of us remember those series of fiction books by Christian authors popular a few years ago that centered around an ongoing conflict between angels, demons, and us, stuck in the middle. Churches went through a phase when Sunday Morning services sounded more like war strategy and preparation or at least pep rallies for the coming week’s conflicts. Pastors would hold up their Bibles and shout, “This is your sword. Swing it in the power of the Spirit!”. The world around us was not so much a place to win people to the Lord as it was a place for us to close our ranks, withstand, hold territory, fight hard, and slay the dragons.

       In all the talk about our armor, there isn’t much said about the shoes. Maybe it’s because, in the context of a raging war against evil, the notion of being ready to bring the news of peace is a bit of a dichotomy. Certainly, we’re not looking for ways to make peace with Satan and his hordes, but our readiness for warfare against him sometimes might generalize into us seeing all the world around us with its billions of lost souls with the suspicion that they are against us and we approach them, ready for a fight. We are told here to strap on our sandals, we become shod, prepared not to fight but to bring the message of peace. The word prepared here is the Greek word “hetoimasia” that carries the meaning of being established, of having a firm foundation, and as such to be completely ready. There are people who are enemies of Christ and the cross but they are not the Devil and Jesus died for their souls. Our job is not to confront them with sword and shield but to extend the gospel of Jesus Christ and recognize that conflict already exists and it is within them, in their minds and hearts when they hear the gospel just as it was within us.

       The greatest strength we can have is when we are fully submitted to the will of God and from an outside view, this posture might appear as one of weakness. The Creator of the universe may have seemed weak as the Bible says in 1Peter 2:23 “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously”. He could have used His sword of power and with one fell swoop destroyed all those who were intent on killing Him. But as He said to Peter in John 18:11, “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”. The armor of God protects us from the onslaught of the enemy but our mission is not to live in a posture of offense but as declared in Romans 10:15 “as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”. This follows the example of our Lord as it is said of Him in Eph 2:17, that He “came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh”. The irony is that even in the middle of a conflict with the enemy, we walk the path of peace, prepared to give the message of peace.

March 22, 2022

Ephesians 1:18-19 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power”

       A lot of Christians live out their days on this earth and never realize who they are in Jesus Christ. Somehow, despite all the scriptures such as today’s verses, they continually see themselves as weak, unworthy, victims of circumstances, and they face every day with uncertainty and trepidation. A lot of them have been taught that when God demands they be humble, that means they are doormats for anyone slinging adversity at them and they are expected to walk head down and forever turn the other cheek. Their life verse might be something like Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” but no one ever explained that meek doesn’t mean weak for the Bible says in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth”. We know Moses was strong, courageous, and not afraid in times of predicaments like he faced when Korah and his followers rebelled against his leadership. How we walk this Christian path reflects what we know and trust about the Lord who saved us and what He has created us to be. And this daily walk often determines the reactions and assessments we get from people around us and affects our ability to serve the Lord effectively in this fallen world.

       Today’s verses tell us we have hope, we have the richness of a glorious inheritance, and we have great and mighty power within us. This is not a call to pride and arrogance but a declaration of who we are in Jesus Christ. Sin makes people weak but the righteousness of Christ and His joy makes us strong. This fallen world has no hope and has been doomed from Adam’s sin until now to destruction but we have a glorious hope that is eternal and is anchored in the immutable promises of God. And what about possessions and worldly riches? Everything people have here, that relates to this world will be taken away and they will exit this life with absolutely nothing. All their wealth, fame, good looks, privileged statuses, human glory, education, possessions, and properties will be stripped away and they will never see it again. And on top of that, without Christ as their Savior, they will lose the most uncalculatable valuable thing of all: their eternal souls.

       But we not only belong to God, He has given us the kingdom as His heirs. We are wealthy beyond comprehension and it is an inheritance that will never be taken away from us. Not only that, we are indwelt with the power of God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit and this great and mighty power is the same that raised Jesus from the dead. We can’t be defeated or conquered, we can’t be moved off our foundation, we can’t be drowned in the floods, ripped apart by the winds, or destroyed by the storms. People can rail against us, Satan and his henchmen can oppose us, circumstances may seem sure to stop us but we are rooted in Jesus, made eternal by His promises, and we will never perish. Today’s verse is part of a Bible prayer on our behalf that our eyes would be opened that we can see, understand, fully grasp who we are in Christ and that we will acknowledge this truth with confidence. We are in Christ and the Bible says in verse 22 that all things are under His feet.

March 21, 2022

Exodus 5:22-23 “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all”

       God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, promised him He would deliver the Israelites from Egypt, gave him Aaron as his spokesperson, gave Moses three signs of power, and Moses returned to Egypt to obey the call the Lord had placed on him. He met with the elders of Israel and told them what the Lord had spoken to him and that God was about to deliver His people from Egyptian domination and lead them to the land He had promised them through Abraham. They went before Pharoah and demanded in verse 1, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness”. To which Pharoah replied in verse 2, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go”. Not only did Pharoah refuse to let them go, he decided they had too much spare time on their hands and ordered that they work harder than ever. The Israelites, who had gotten a message of hope and deliverance from God through Moses and Aaron believed it enough to demand Pharoah let them go a 3-day journey into the wilderness to worship Almighty God. Then their hopes were dashed and they found themselves in a worse place and suffering more than they were before they had dared to believe and obey the Lord.

       The leaders of the Israelites confronted Moses and Aaron in verse 21 saying, “The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh (made us stink), and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us”. This was when Moses went before the Lord in today’s verse to say that since he had obeyed the Lord and went to Pharoah just as God had commissioned him, everything had gotten worse instead of better and there was no deliverance at all. Has this ever happened to you? You trusted the Lord, believed His promises, took a step of faith with the hope that finally things were going to turn around and you put yourself out there only to get smacked down and the situation not only didn’t get better, but it also went sideways. The enemy came sneering and laughing, saying that you were a fool to believe it would happen to you and that you should have never followed the Lord with such bold confidence.

       The intensity of the enemy’s attacks against us increases when he sees us begin to make a move of faith and for a moment it may seem God is not going to keep His promises. It’s sometimes hard to make that first move anyway and when we do and we seem to hit a stone wall, our mind along with the whispers of Satan tries to embarrass us, confuse us, make us regret what we did, and doubt and fear start their work to make us give up and walk away from God’s Word. But we know the setbacks for Israel were just stepping stones until that day the Lord delivered them completely by His power and love and we can believe He will do the same for us. Once we have laid hold, by faith, on God’s promises, we can be sure that He will not fail us, will not forsake us, and will not go back on His Word. When the situation seems to get worse than better, its time for us to begin thanking the Lord and saying. “Jesus thank you for seeing me where I am and thank You that You have already made the way for my deliverance. You are my help and have already provided the victory. To You be all praise, honor, and glory forever”.  There is no question that God would deliver His people from Egypt, He had given His promise and it is impossible for God to lie and there is no question He will do for us that which He has promised.

March 20, 2022

Luke 13:16 “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”

       Jesus said in John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed: and this is the joy of believers. Freedom is a cornerstone of the gospel and when the message of Christ is preached to the world, it brings the hope of freedom on every level to those who hear it. Today’s verse tells about a woman who was so hunched over, bent to the extreme that she could not lift herself up and the Bible says she couldn’t stand straight. For eighteen years she had been in this condition and the Lord attributed her disability as the work of Satan. But that day Jesus spoke words of healing to her and the Bible said in verse 13, “And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God”. Her bondage was physical but the power of Jesus set her free and although the scoffers and fault-finders criticized the Lord for healing her on the Sabbath day, Christ proclaimed her deliverance was what mattered.

       One truth from this story is that Satan is behind what binds and robs us of freedom. Everywhere we look, people are suffering, bound, controlled by things that rob them, destroy them, create misery, and enslave them but God wants to set them free. Addictions, life choices, pitfalls, and traps are the tools of the enemy who the Bible says is the thief that comes to kill, steal, and destroy but the Lord said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. The word “life” here means the absolute fulness of life, more than merely the present physical or natural life, and note that the Lord’s purpose is not just this life, but He wills that we have it “more abundantly” meaning excessively and superior. God does not want His people held captive by the enemy, this world, or their flesh. In Jesus’ first sermon, He spoke these words in Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised”. Freedom is the essence of the gospel.

          A sad part of the human condition is that people are bound and chained but they don’t realize it and don’t believe it. Imagine a man in prison, on death row that gets a full pardon but when they come to his cell to set him free, he begins to argue he is fine where he is, that he doesn’t want what they’re offering him, and demands they go away and leave him alone. Or perhaps a sick and dying man that when the doctor tells him there’s a treatment, one injection, that will take away what’s making him sick and he’ll be completely better but instead of welcoming this news, the sick man refuses the treatment, mocks the doctor, and chooses to face the consequences of his illness, and denies his future. Freedom and deliverance are one and the same in the power of the new birth. The wild man of Gadara was bound in a different way than the woman in today’s verse but he was just as hopeless, sick, and in prison when the Lord set him free. Our Savior brings life, liberty, and complete healing for body, soul, and spirit and His will and purpose is that we are free from sin, death, sickness, and anything that binds, controls, enslaves, robs, or destroys us. While we know Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” is speaking primarily of being free from the demands of the law, it also has in its meaning the truth of the freedom of Jesus in every area of our lives.

March 19, 2022

Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows”

           The scriptures declare God’s creation testifies to His existence and greatness. What we sometimes fail to see is His involvement in all He created and His care for His creatures. The Bible tells us the purpose of creation in Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”. Today’s verse points us to the Lord keeping a watchful eye on the little sparrows in that He knows all of them. The testimony of creation is one of order, interdependence, and a reflection of the Lord’s glory. It is not the Bible teaching us that God exists within His creation as some religions teach but that as the creator, he displays His power by what He has created. An example is in the creation of man where the Word of God tells us the Lord made man in His image and gave him life but it was not until the day of Pentecost that God moved within His creation in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Lord oversees His creation, is aware of all its details, and its purpose is to glorify Him and bring Him pleasure.

       The point is made in today’s verse that people are on a different level than the rest of creation. This was evident in the beginning when God made humans last and set them over the creation, as He stated His purpose in Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”. Human responsibility was to name the animals and keep the garden of God in order and arranged as Adam and Eve desired. We know there is pleasure associated with man’s interaction with creation evidenced by our love and care for plants, flowers, and the animal kingdom. Anyone who has ever had a wonderful dog, an amazing cat, or has loved horses and other animals can relate to the joy we can have alongside God’s creation. On the old farms, the milk cows providing milk and butter to the family, the crowing roosters and hens laying eggs along with the mule or horses that pulled the plows were all almost a part of the family and essential to survival, all interdependent on each other.

       Even though after the flood as a part of the Noahic Covenant the Lord gave the provision for animals to part of the human diet as in Genesis 9:3 “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things”, even the Levitical Law reminded that we are responsible to treat animals with kindness and respect. The sabbath of rest also included the farm animals seen in Exodus 23:12 and people were told to protect the animals of others if they saw them in duress in Exodus 23:4-5. When we see reports of the cruelty and abuse of animals on the news it’s another statement of how far people are from compassion and care for the innocent creatures of the Lord and how far they are from the truth that we are responsible to treat all God’s creation with kindness and respect because it belongs to the Almighty Creator who knows every sparrow and where it is.

March 18, 2022

2 Kings 4:2 “And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil”

       The miracle in this part of the scriptures concerns a widow with two sons. Her husband, a prophet and follower of the Lord had died and left her in debt. Because she could not pay the debt, her creditor was coming to take her sons as servants as payment of the debt. While this seems unfair and even barbaric to us, in those days it was common practice and allowed by the Levitical law. When she explained her situation to Elisha, he asked what he could do to help her and asked what she had of value in the house and she replied nothing except a pot of oil. The words translated as “pot of oil”, are unique words that mean a flask of olive oil used for anointing so she didn’t have a big bottle or quantity of olive oil. Elisha told her to go to her neighbors and borrow a lot of jars, pots, anything that would hold oil and bring them into her house, shut the door, and begin filling them with oil, pouring into them from out of the little oil bottle. The oil kept flowing until all the borrowed vessels were full and then Elisha told her to sell all that oil and pay her debt.

       In a recent devotion, we talked about God being our source and this miracle is a great example of how the Lord can provide for us in ways that are almost too incredible to believe. In the times of Elisha and the prophets, the word of the prophets was the Word of God and when the widow believed what was spoken to her and acted in faith, God, her source, delivered her from her distress. We might suppose all the neighbors wondered what on earth she was borrowing all their empty pots for but God often does the impossible in ways that confuse our human reasoning and understanding that His glory will be revealed, untainted by man’s manipulation. And sometimes we don’t get the miracles because we’re too busy trying to work it all out on our own, scheming and meeting with our teams and committees. Our testimony when it’s over then is not “look what God did” but rather, “wow, we barely got ourselves out of that one”. The widow’s debt was paid because the Lord did it.

       A theme that’s repeated throughout the Bible is for us to never dismiss the small things because God uses the small things to do His will. Sitting perhaps on a shelf in the poor widow’s house was that little bottle of oil that in itself had no great value but when it became purposed as the source of the Lord, like Moses’ shepherd’s staff, its value became immense. When we give our little stuff to the Lord the small things take on a different aspect and the entire reality of the situation shifts. Small offerings, small abilities, small acts, and small steps of faith all can become more than they seem to be and when the Lord moves them from the human realm to the supernatural like the little flask of oil, He displays His greatness. Small people, like Zacchaeus, become giants for the Lord, and conversely, Giant things like Goliath, end up as testimonies of what the Lord can do to them with a small boy and a small rock. We might feel we have nothing of value to the Lord, that we can not reach a higher level in His service because of our inabilities but the Holy Spirit put the miracle of the widow’s oil in the Bible for us to use as a guide, a template to change our understanding and expectations.  

March 17, 2022

Exodus 3:11 “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

       The Lord had just appeared to Moses out a burning bush and called him to go back to Egypt, face Pharoah, and deliver the Israelites out of bondage. For a man who had fled Egypt 40 years before from a murder charge and had spent those past 40 years as a nomadic shepherd with a flock of sheep in the wilderness, that was a tall order. Moses, who had been hiding his face because he was afraid to look, responded with the “Why pick me, I’m a nobody?” argument and the Lord didn’t say back what a strong man he was, how wise, obedient and spiritual he was but He said in verse 12, “Certainly I will be with thee”. Moses’ self-identity had gone through a great transformation before when he was a prince in Egypt, educated and a part of the royal family with all its honor and privileges which he lost when he sided with the Hebrews, and that decision landed him in trouble. Then he became a fugitive shepherd, married a wife, and became a dad. At 80 years old, he was just a wandering speck in the desert, content to live out the rest of his life with his family and a flock of sheep. Moses, aware of his imperfection and weaknesses, did not know that at his death the Bible would say of him in Deuteronomy 34:10 “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face”

       The Lord’s answer to Moses’ “who am I?” question took Moses’ attention off himself and his inabilities and revealed it wasn’t Moses who would accomplish the Israelite’s deliverance from Egypt and establish them in the Promised Land, but God. Jesus reminded us in John 15: 5 “for without me ye can do nothing” and we get the sum of its meaning in Galatians 2:20 “nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. Moses threw his rod on the ground, God turned it into a snake. Moses stretched out his hand over the Red Sea but God parted the waters. And so it was throughout the story of Moses and every other person that has stood in the name of the Lord. Everyone could say “Who am I?” and God responds with “I will be with you”. Humans sign their name and promote themselves as if they are the voice, the power, and the brains behind great deeds but those who know the truth about who they are will give glory and honor to the Lord and say, “yet not I, but Christ”.

       In Acts 3, when Peter and John went to the temple to pray and spoke healing to a lame man that had been begging money, people were astonished at the miracle. But notice what the Bible says in Acts 3:12 “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?”. Peter then proclaimed it was the name of Jesus and faith in that name that had healed the man. People get a lot of honor and glory for stuff that belongs to God. In a way, they try to steal the credit from the Lord as if they did the good deeds, performed the miracle, or caused something glorious to happen. Not only do they siphon off the honor and recognition, but they also get paid for it as if they did it. The oxen are paid for their labor in the Old Testament analogy but the cows do not own their master’s house as payment. And the laborer is worthy of his hire but he is still the laborer and not the owner of the farm. All the glory belongs to Jesus, all the praise and honor is His alone. We may identify as children of God, heirs, and joint-heirs but the truth still remains that in and of ourselves, we can do nothing in the kingdom. May the Lord help us agree with this truth and live by it lest, at the judgment seat of Christ, all that could have been rewards for His glory will be piles of ashes at our feet.

March 16, 2022

Matthew 26:50 “And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him”

       Jesus had just finished the evening agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane while His disciples napped when a group of soldiers, temple guards, and an assorted mix of Pharisees and leaders of the Jews armed with swords and clubs approached Him. Judas was with them and came up to the Lord and kissed Him and greeted Jesus with “hail master” meaning “be of good cheer rabbi”. The compound verb used here for kiss means to embrace and kiss as the customary greeting of that day between close comrades.  At that moment who could have guessed what had just happened since Judas was a member of the Lord’s inner circle of disciples. But Jesus went straight to the point, addressing Judas as “friend” and asked him, “why are you here”. This question was not because the Lord was clueless about what was happening for, He knew before the creation of the universe that that day would come, but He was probing Judas’ heart so that Judas would have to face the reasons for his actions. God calls us to accountability for what we do and though Judas was playing right into the purpose of God, he was still responsible for his choices and the Lord demanded that He acknowledge his role, motives, and purpose in the betrayal, arrest, and then the death of the Son of Man.

       The Bible tells us when Judas fell to the enemy’s deception a few days before Passover in Luke 22:3-5 “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them”. After the betrayal, the scriptures reveal that Judas later indeed acknowledged his sin and tried to return the money to the chief priest and elders as recorded in Matthew 27:4, “Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” and their response was “And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that”. The tragic end of Judas is then recorded in the following verse 5, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself”. But Judas had to answer, in his heart, the question Jesus confronted him with, “why are you here”. The consideration of our motives should always be a preceding factor to our actions and when we can answer our reasons honestly and judge within ourselves if they are sound and in harmony with God’s Word, only then should we continue with our plans.

       The “why am I here?” or “why am I doing this?” is far better asked and answered in advance than the “what in the world was I thinking?” calamity we find ourselves in when our actions and plans go awry. Maybe a good habit of posing the “why am I here” consideration long before the church service starts, before our shift at work begins, or before we barge into a place or situation we know is not God’s best for us, would keep us from missing the mark and wasting opportunities. If the answer is “for the glory of God, the betterment of my family, and because it is God’s will and purpose for me” then even the most dreaded jobs or uneventful occasions can bring the satisfaction and comfort that we are walking the path the Lord has purposed for us. Before we purchase something, especially on credit, or before we donate or give of the money and resources the Lord has entrusted to us, if we would but ask the simple questions and become accountable before we follow through with actions, we could protect ourselves and our family from rash, foolish choices.

March 15, 2022

Romans 11:36 “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen”

       Today’s verse tells us God made everything, everything we receive comes from Him, and everything belongs to Him, all for His eternal glory, and that statement is sealed with an Amen. People, however, do not see it that way. They rant and scream “It’s my body, it’s my rights, it’s my choice, and so on as if they actually own something but the only thing we actually own is our sin but that’s the one thing we will not acknowledge as ours. People fight over property, inheritances, bragging rights of a sports team that’s in another city a thousand miles away, and the scripture says in James 4:1-2 “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain”. It’s only when the Holy Spirit opens our understanding of the truth that we can embrace 1 Timothy 6:7, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out”.

       We think of our jobs and our paychecks as what sustains us but God is our source and this is declared in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”. When King David was dying, he spoke these words in 1Chronicles 29:14, “for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee”. Whenever we give to the Lord, we are giving back to Him that which He has given to us. The miracles of Jesus where thousands were fed with a handful of fish and bread show us the source of the food was not the small amount in the boy’s lunch, but the source was the Savior and we know from the account of His temptation, He could as easily have commanded that the rocks of that place be turned into fish and bread and it would have happened. Looking back to the Old Testament, manna from heaven for 40 years, water from a rock, and the jaw-dropping miracle that their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out for 4 decades all point to God as their source.

       When we see and believe this, it changes our entire understanding of what we have and how we get what we need. Believers can see themselves as belonging to God and everything they have or ever had and all they will ever have in the future comes from the Lord. He can spread a table in the wilderness and He will remain faithful in His promise to bless us and take care of us. May we stop seeing our employer, the government, or ourselves and our ability to work hard and succeed as our source. A good education is a great thing but God is our source. Landing a high-paying job is a blessing but God is our source. On the other hand, not having a great education, thinking we’re not skilled or qualified, or being unemployed is not a problem with God because He’s still our source. 1 Corinthians 4:7, “and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”. All honor and glory for every blessing and every good thing belongs only to the Lord.

March 14, 2022

Exodus 19:5-6 “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation”

       When sin entered God’s creation and the human race fell into unbelief, the Lord began the plan of salvation, singling out the line of Seth to Noah then after the flood, through Shem to Abraham. After Abraham and his son Isaac, the promise was passed to Jacob from whose 12 sons the nation of Israel began. God’s purpose in making a covenant with Abraham and then confirming the covenant for Israel, the nation that He called “my People” was to raise a nation that would honor Him, proclaim His name, and be a light of hope for the rest of the nations. Today’s verse declares both the honor and the responsibility Israel was given above all other people in that God called them His “peculiar treasure”, that is His jewel, and decreed they would be a kingdom of priests. As priests, they would be God’s earthly representatives that point the gentiles to the Lord and His Word. Their obedience to Him would testify of their faith and allegiance to God as a witness to the unbelieving, pagan world.

       Before Moses died, he gather the nation and spoke these words from Deuteronomy 4:5-6 “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me…Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people”. We know that when Israel followed this, as they did when Solomon was King, the temple was completed, and God in His glory rested above the mercy seat, the fame of the nation and their God was known in the other nations. The queen of Sheba said in 1Kings 10:6-7 “And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard”. Sadly, Israel did not remain as the Lord desired and they fell from their place as a witness to other nations of His glory.

       During this period of timeout for Israel, the church is the light of the world as Jesus said in Philippians 2:15 but we are quickly moving towards the restoration of Israel to their place as God’s representatives. Isaiah 42:6 says “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” and Isaiah 11:10 “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious”. God’s chosen, who have been set aside during which time they have been the outcasts of the world and the objects of hatred and scorn, will become honored as the scriptures say in Zechariah 8:23 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”

Numbers 11:5 “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick”

       The Israelites hadn’t been very long on their journey until the excitement of being delivered from Egypt and the exuberance they felt when Pharoah’s army was destroyed in the Red Sea disappeared and they became a grumbling, negative bunch. What lay ahead of them was the land God had prepared and promised: a place of freedom with overflowing blessings. It was filled with the provisions of the Lord and they would have homes, gardens, and prosperity. But somehow, they didn’t take it to heart and lost sight of the goodness of the Lord and could no longer keep what He had promised them as their precious hope. They complained against Moses, God, and the heavenly manna the Lord faithfully provided. It doesn’t take long for the new to wear off and for us to become disgruntled even when we’re the most blessed of all people.

       In today’s verse, the people described their life in Egypt as if it was a wonderful time and all they had to do was sit down at big meals of every kind of food imaginable. There must be a problem with their human brains when they forget that while there was food available, they were slaves to an empire that was killing their children and making them work like animals. They were not free, they had no esteem, they owned no land or houses, and for 400 years they were poor, foreigner outcasts to the Egyptians, just a source of disposable free labor and they had no future except that they and their descendants would always be enslaved. The deception of the world, and also of all sin for that matter, is to convince people that they’re living their best life when actually, they are serving a system that’s laughing at them behind their backs. They are in chains of bondage, addictions, they are not free, their joy is a shallow, giggling, fleeting feeling, and they live in a darkness so severe that do not realize they have no hope.

       When God’s promises become a reality to us, when we start to live for the things that will never pass away, and when our eyes are opened to the truth that we are children of the Most High God, our past with its false hope, enslavement, lack of hope and lasting peace will never be a place we long to return to. If the Israelites had stopped for a moment, shook off the illusion and lie that Egypt was some kind of past paradise, and confessed the truth that they were no longer slaves and living for a hopeless future. That where they were going was a provision of God, flowing with milk and honey, where their future for themselves and their children was prosperous and wonderful, then then they could have said “let’s settle down, trust in the Lord, walk towards our promised land, and enjoy what the Lord has provided for us as we journey. Maybe that’s a lesson for us today because not only is our God supplying our daily needs, He’s leading us where blessings are indescribable, where there’s no sorrow, sickness, or death. We’re going home, to a place that’s eternal and perfect and the Lord has promised us joy on the journey. All the allure of the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of this world is a smokescreen of the flesh and the enemy hiding the reality of the pit of sin and shame the Lord has brought us from. There’s nothing back there for us that’s worth even a glance backward.   

March 12, 2022

Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”

       The Biblical law of sowing and reaping is exactly that: a law. The preceding verse to today’s verse tells us to “be not deceived” and that is, don’t think that for some reason we are exempt from the rule because whatever people sow, that’s what they reap. It’s understandable that people who do not know much about the Bible or what the law really means will keep sowing the same craziness over and over and wondering why they’re in a mess. But believers have heard this law all their Christian life, have read it from God’s Word, heard it preached about, and still, they think they’re somehow an exception. Galatians was written to believers, reminding them that how they live, what they do, what they give, and what they dish out becomes seeds for a harvest. If we follow the analogy to its completion, it reveals the harvest of any seed is much more than the seed planted and so it is in the spiritual realm. The Old Testament is not devoid of these promises for it says in Job 4:8 “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same” and in Proverbs 11:18 “but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward”

       The truth about sowing to our flesh refers to living, for participating in, and investing our time, energy, and resources to the things that gratify ourselves or that bring fleshly pleasure. The index of the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21 summarizes the life-course of the human journey apart from what is produced by the Holy Spirit and, from today’s verse, the end of all the flesh’s production is corruption. The word means ruin, decay, shriveled, wasted, and perishing. We sow our time, energy, and money into that which passes away, gets old and falls apart, and never satisfies us except maybe for a moment. In the worst case, we give ourselves to the very things that destroy us, rob our families, and make us miserable and full of pain. The seed of that which is sown to the flesh can not help but bring crops of ruin: that’s the only thing they will produce and to imagine it will be otherwise is madness and deception.

       Praise God it doesn’t stop with seed sown to the flesh but offers an alternative promise in that whatever is sown to the power of the Holy Spirit will produce something that’s eternal and blessed. If we just consider faith, hope, and love which the scriptures say are things that last, that abide, if these are the seeds we sow daily into the lives of people around us, and if we take the law of sowing and reaping seriously and carry these in our seed bags, then what we reap will be the rewards of life. May the Lord help us choose and use our words as seeds of life, our time as a gift of God, our resources as provisions from heaven, and our actions as being obedient children. May our prayer be that we will sow kindness, patience, and grace as we imitate our Lord, and may we turn away from all that is not pleasing to our Heavenly Father, knowing that our actions testify of our faith in His Word. We can take to heart the promise of Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” because the law of sowing and reaping is as much a part of God’s faithful promises as His promise to save whoever will call on His name.

March 11, 2022

Matthew 26:39 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt”

       It has been said that the hardest prayer to pray is the one prayed by our Lord in today’s verse. He was agonizing before His Father in the garden of Gethsemane just before He was arrested and then tortured and crucified. It is a portion of the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6 and Luke 11 which says “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. The first part of Jesus’ prayer here was “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” and in Luke, it is recorded as “if thou be willing, remove this cup from me” and it embodies our normal way of praying when we want God to answer in a certain way. We may ask Him to do things in a certain way to lessen or remove what’s blocking us or causing trouble or ask him to move us out of a trial to get some relief. Like the disciples who cried out to the sleeping Savior when the storm was beating them in the boat on the sea of Galilee, we may think our circumstances so dire that destruction is inevitable. Jesus called what lay ahead of Him a “cup” and we know the metaphor was that He was faced with having to drink a cup filled with unthinkable pain, sorrow, and death. Then, after praying with such intensity that He bled through His skin, we hear His complete surrender to His Father’s will in verse 42 “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done”.

       We don’t want to go through the fire, into the lion’s den, or face a giant with a slingshot and we can usually see many ways out or around a situation as we pray, trying to explain it all to God as if He is unaware of a solution. Maybe we try to bargain with Him or offer some kind of trade, an agreement if He will act quickly in one of the solutions we’ve pointed out, then we will pay Him back, do anything He asks, or promise to never get ourselves in such a situation again. “Please, let this cup pass from me” is what we cry, knocking on heaven’s door and hoping the Lord will see it all from our point of view. But in times when we’re desperate for answers, desperate for help, prayer is not so much as getting God to pull us out of a mess as it is in praying until we surrender completely to the wisdom, purpose, and will of our Father in all things concerning our lives. It is the place of “nevertheless, thy will be done”.

       This surrender is the ground of faith, the place of a child trusting their father that His ways are perfect and that He will never do anything that is not the best for His children. It is where we abandon what we want and receive what He provides. A night in a lion’s den might inconvenience us in our usual, self-willed course of life, but it’s there that God proves His power and love. The fire we walk through might be unsettling and undesirable but, in that fire, we see who God really is and who we really are. We get heavenly perspective, steadfast faith, experience that builds our hope, and we become equipped as better, more faithful, and more able to minister to the people we are called to serve. May the Holy Spirit help us reach the place where we can give ourselves completely to the will of our Father and rejoice to know that when the course is run, the very best prayer that could have been prayed was the one where we prayed as did our Lord that God’s will be done.   

March 10, 2022

Matthew 14:14 “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick”

       We have great emphasis on Jesus as the Savior of souls and in His own words He declared in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” and in the grand view of God’s purpose, it’s the bottom line. Evangelicals have always presented the gospel to the world from this perspective with the “where will you spend eternity?” question as a leading introduction and we’ve sent armies of missionaries around the world through the years for the sole purpose of winning the lost. A part of the thinking in this is that when people become Christians then the Lord changes their lives, begins to bless them, and they learn to look to Him for their needs and circumstances. But today’s verse gives us a glimpse of the Lord’s heart and ministry that focused on people’s physical suffering apart from their souls. And while Jesus had his own burdens to bear as the scripture describes Him in Isaiah 53:3 “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not”, His compassion for people’s human condition caused Him to put Himself aside and attend to people’s cries for help.

       The Lord cares for us, body and soul for the Bible says He was moved with compassion towards them” meaning He felt pity, sympathy, and tender mercy from deep within himself for them. It makes us think of the scripture in 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” where the term “he careth for you” means “the watchful care of interest and affection”. When we hurt, when we are in pain, when our heart is broken, when we are filled with anxiety, and when we are in any of life’s storms, Jesus feels our pain, He knows our suffering, He is moved with compassion because He cares for us. It’s normal for us to look for someone who will listen to us in our time of suffering and trouble and show themselves to be our dear friend but they are limited in their abilities to hear us and help us. But Jesus knows us from the very atoms of our bodies to the thoughts of our minds and He will never stop listening and caring for us.

       The same Lord who gathered the little children in His arms, who wept at the tomb of His good friend Lazarus, who accepted broken and damaged people into His personal inner circle of friends still loves us today on that same level. This same Jesus who sat on the hillside overlooking Jerusalem and cried for the people there even though He knew they would reject Him and call for His death still sees us in our sorrows and our unbelief and reaches out to us in mercy and grace, inviting us to come to Him and let Him carry our burdens. He is the good Samaritan that finds people wounded and scarred in life’s byways and ditches and goes to where they are, binds up their torn lives, and carries them to a place of safety and rest. May the Lord give us that kind of love for others, that depth of compassion, that determination to persevere on their behalf, and the power and grace to carry out the acts of mercy and kindness that imitate Him.

March 9, 2022

Luke 12:20-22 “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God”

       This story of the rich fool continues the warning Jesus gave when He explained the danger of the sin of covetousness. It is one of the commandments people seldom pay attention to because it seems so inconsequential alongside, thou shall not kill and so on. Yet the apostle Paul said in Romans 7 it was the very commandment that convicted him of his sin. It has been called one of the most deceptive and subtle of sins for it is the root of many of the others. Before theft is committed, covetousness starts the ball rolling. Before adultery occurs, the eyes and heart desire and covet what is forbidden. Idolatry begins when people are dissatisfied with the Almighty and want something else. On its own, covetousness doesn’t seem so terrible as we usually think of it in terms of not wanting the neighbor’s new car and we have learned to appease our conscience by saying things like, “well, I don’t want his, I just want one exactly like it” but covetousness is still at the root of our desire.

       A good expanded definition of covetousness given by H.A. Ironside is “a desire to grasp and have that which God has withheld from us though He may have given it to others”. This sin rejects the sovereignty of God and His purpose for us as individuals including the way He blesses, bestows, withholds, and rewards us. It denies the truth that the Lord is always working everything for us to our good and looks back to the original sin of Adam and Eve who had every kind of tree for food and these were freely given to them as the Lord said in Genesis 2:16, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat”. The only exception God gave was when He told them “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. What they were denied was exactly what they thought they wanted and they coveted it.

       The rich fool had everything and more than enough and one would think he might say to himself: “It’s time to share these blessings with people who are less fortunate”. He could have looked around and found families, widows, the elderly, and children that needed some of his abundances. But instead, he focused entirely on himself and his greed blinded him to the goodness of giving to others. Wanting more, and as the story says, laying up earthly treasure for ourselves without considering our relationship with the Lord, brought the rich fool down. Treasure does not necessarily mean money but can be anything we see as valuable and the Lord describes being “rich towards God” as the most valuable of all. To be rich towards God is to have a life filled with the presence of the Lord, a mind stayed on the things of God, and a heart filled with the love and generosity of God. May the Lord lead us into a life of contentment with what God has provided and may we follow the wise advice of those such as John Wesley who said “earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can”.

March 8, 2022

Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies

       It’s hard to imagine how many people for centuries have been blessed and comforted with Psalm 23. The imagery of the Lord as our good shepherd has brought peace in times of suffering and sorrow and given hope in the middle of life’s storms. Believers have been assured through the promise “I shall not want” in circumstances when it seems they were trapped with no rescue in sight and, in seasons of famine and lack, war and struggle, God has spoken with these words to remind His people that He is their source. Weary hearts have whispered the words “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul” and found rest and strength for the journey. Christian art has often depicted the scene of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, holding a lamb and leading a flock and many stained-glass church windows have been comprised of this theme. The parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 has served to remind us of how the Lord seeks us when we are estranged from Him and when He reaches us in our lost condition, he carries us back to the safety of His sheepfold.

       Today’s verse carries the message of the Lord’s provision and care for us to another level because it says even when we are in the presence of those who are against us and opposed to us, God covers us with goodness, blessings, and grace. The words “Thou preparest a table” come from Hebrew words that show a table filled with an abundance and assortment of food all arranged in a banquet fashion much like a feast laid out for people of great importance. In today’s words, He’s not saying He is giving us a bag lunch, a fast-food combo, or a frozen heat and serve meal but it’s a sit-down, waiter-served, multi-course feast. It’s an unimaginable picture of blessed, grace-supplied children of God enjoying a wonderful meal in the presence of those who hate and despise them. Our natural senses are aware of the enemy and danger and our tendency is to look to the trouble and not the blessings but always, without fail the Lord provides for us. Not the MRE’s issued to fighting soldiers but to a dinner reminiscent of Song of Solomon 2:4 “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love”.

       In this world, we will almost always be in the presence of an enemy but the Lord has given us the firm promise that His blessings and care will always be with us. Perhaps there are believers who see themselves as undeserving or feel the Lord’s purpose for them is to barely get by, to live life at the end of their rope but Psalm 23 sets it all in order for us. We are blessed, we are cared for, we are protected, and we are covered with God’s abundant favor and grace. The study of sheep shows us they are always in need of their shepherd’s guidance, protection, wisdom, care, and love and the Lord chose the metaphor of sheep and shepherd for that exact reason: He loves us and gave Himself for us and we need Him every second and without Him, we would be doomed. But with Him, we are invincible.    

March 7, 2022

Psalm 37:34-36 “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. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found”

       It is heart-wrenching to watch what Putin and the Russian army are doing to Ukraine. People are being slaughtered, cities bombed, families desperately fleeing for their lives, children dying, and all for no reason except an insane, evil dictator has decided to wage a wicked, senseless war against decent, hard-working people. In a speech on March 8, 1983, almost 39 years to the date, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and “the focus of evil in the modern world”.  How soon we forgot the wisdom of this man until we see what’s happening right now. We see that evil pictured in today’s verses when the Psalmist says “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree”.

       It’s hard to keep watching such atrocities without wanting someone to order American bombers, or any for that matter, to stop the Russian army’s advances. But unlike the situation when the same President Reagan sent bombers to Libya in 1986 to bomb the madman dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi who was sponsoring terrorism against America, this current Russian action could mean an escalation into a nuclear weapons sphere. All we can do is pray for the Lord to intervene and hope the nations of the world will continue to do what they can to cut Putin’s power and put a stranglehold on his ambitions. Meanwhile, the Lord is telling His people to “Wait on the LORD, and keep his way” followed by the promise that when the wicked are cut off, we will see it.

       Five times in this Psalm, the Lord reminds us that the wicked will be “cut off” after beginning the chapter with the words of encouragement in Psalms 37:1-2 “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb”. In the bigger picture, in Ezekiel 38 and 39, the Bible tells of a time when Russia, known in the scriptures as Gog and Magog, will be destroyed in a war in the mountains of Israel with imagery such as Ezekiel 39:4 “Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured”.

       The enemy spreads evil whenever and wherever he can and sometimes it seems people are getting away with things and will never be stopped and punished but God’s Word is clear that they will be cut off. Putin’s day is coming and if he thinks in his deluded mind that he’s some kind of superman or invincible power, God will have the final say and after he is gone, history will remember him as a wicked, evil, heartless, and deranged idiot. But for now, may we stand with the people of Ukraine and pray for their peace.

March 6, 2022

Job 7:3 “So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me”

       These words of Job were spoken when he was going through a most difficult time. Of all the seasons we go through, such times might be called the night seasons and Job certainly had a tough one. When we examine his words, he said he’s having to go through months of vanity where vanity means emptiness, nothingness, ruin, devastation, and in a big storm. Then in the next verse, he talked about the wearisome nights when he tossed and turned until daybreak and most of us can identify with such times. It feels like whatever we’re going through that it’s never going to end and there’s no way out. For many, discouragement, depression, despair, and dismay, all the “dis” words set in and it’s hard to pray, hard to believe, and hard to have hope.

       Can you remember the last time you went through such a season? Or perhaps you’re going through one right now and there doesn’t seem to be an answer or a fix for the situation. It took Job a while in his season of trouble until he was able to have hope as we read what he said in Job 17:15 “And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?”. A few times we read a glimmer of hope as in Job 19:25-26 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God”.  We can identify with his pain because we too have been in night seasons.

       But a strong declaration of confidence the Lord will not allow him to stay stuck in his tribulation can be seen in Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold”. When we read Job’s story it’s easy to get caught up in the unspeakable trial, the heart-breaking circumstances he faced and keep our eyes on the suffering he went through. But Job is a book of hope for it tells how Job had a season of trouble but it passed and when it was over, the Lord blessed him, comforted him, and rewarded him. When we get to the closing verses of the book, we breathe a sigh of relief because Job’s season of sorrow ended and the sun of God’s grace shone brightly on him.

       It’s the same for us and may we remember that although it seems like the night will never end and that we will never enjoy the beauty of another bright sunshiny day, we can take great comfort in the lyrics of the old Hymn, “God Leads His Dear Children Along”:  Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright, God leads His dear children along. Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night, God leads His dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood. Some through the fire, but all through the blood. And some through great sorrow, but God gives the song. In the night season and all the day long”.

March 5, 2022

Romans 5:20 “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”

       When we encounter God’s law, its truth makes us conscious of our sin as the first part of this verse states: Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound. The law reveals sin by showing us God’s holiness then allowing us to see our sinfulness by comparison. This then is followed up by offering an animal sacrifice to take our place and appease God’s judgment of death against us. The Old Testament believers had to repeat this over and over throughout their lives and each time they faced the law they saw their flaws, errors, and shortcomings and witnessed the innocent animals being slain in their place. The law provided an impermanent solution but the believer under the law could never be free from sin.

       The second sentence in today’s verse tells us that the grace of God, which He poured out on us through Jesus Christ did something the law could not do. Whereas the law made our offenses great and should have made God’s anger grow more and more against us, grace came like a tidal flood with mercy and forgiveness with the phrase “much more abound” meaning superabundant, not just covering the sin temporarily like an animal offering but washing them eternally away by the power of God’s love and Jesus’ blood. Our sin was great but God’s grace was greater by far.

         We usually think of today’s verse in relation to our personal sin and the salvation we have through Jesus as declared in Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”. But the abundant grace of God is displayed in other measures also as seen in the life of Joseph when his brothers feared for their lives thinking Joseph might seek revenge against them for when they sold him into slavery. Joseph faced them and said in Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive”. The sin of his brothers greatly abounded towards him but God’s grace covered Joseph so completely from the moment he was released from prison to the end of his life and down to his descendants that God’s favor and grace reigned and caused him to reign.

       Likewise, when our Lord was betrayed, arrested, suffered, and was crucified, sin abounded from all sides against Him. But on the third day when He was raised from the dead in glory and power, God’s grace flowed in super-abundance and still flows today. What the powers of darkness did through their evil ways was overturned by Almighty God and what was meant to destroy life and hold Jesus and all of us in eternal death, became a victory of grace and life that gave us eternal life and we will never perish.

       In every area of our lives, the Lord takes what comes against us, that our enemy purposes for our destruction, pain, and defeat, and turns the tide with His abundant grace. Daniel in the lion’s den, the 3 Hebrew men in the fiery furnace, Jeremiah in the dungeon, and the list goes on to testify that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. whenever we are tempted to be overwhelmed by all the world, the devil and the flesh can bring against us may the Lord bring this truth to our hearts, and may we know with confidence that God’s grace will never be in short supply.

March 4, 2022

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”

       The world has been flooded with every imaginable doctrine of Biblical interpretations with factions within factions and entire denominations built around some verses taken from here and there in the scriptures. It’s possible to twist and interpret Bible passages in such a way that any system of beliefs can be created all claiming the Bible as their foundation. Almost every cult including the extreme ones led by people such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones, and Sun Myung Moon, and then those that fall into a sort of “accepted” status but deny the deity of Christ and the sufficiency of grace, claim the Bible as their standard.

       But underlying all beliefs, all organized religions, and all interpretations of scriptures and other so-called sacred writings, is the main question that gets lost in the mishmash: How do we get to heaven? For Christian believers that trust the Bible as the infallible, eternal Word of God and presented to us as a book that reveals Jesus Christ as the door to heaven, the way, the truth, and the life, today’s devotion narrows the focus to mainline, evangelical Christianity and looks at today’s verse to explain the question: Are all people welcome to go to heaven and can anyone go who will choose to do so provided they enter through Jesus, the door?

       As a 65-year-old man looking back on the hundreds of churches I’ve attended, the countless sermons and Bible studies I’ve heard, and my own 45 plus years in the ministry I can say about all I’ve heard gave hope to people that if they will hear the message of Jesus, acknowledge their own sinfulness, turn away from that and embrace the death and resurrection of Jesus by faith, then they can be saved. Period.

       There were revivals, soul-winning campaigns, crusades, missionary training and support, prayer group meetings, personal evangelism, radio and television programs, and all other attempts to bring the message of salvation to as many people as possible, believing if they heard the message they could be saved if they placed their trust in Christ. Altar calls and invitations were just as much a part of the church services as singing and sermons and we believed if we had a church service and people were not given an opportunity to receive Jesus, it was a grievous error.

       But steadily creeping into our doctrines and beliefs, into our Christian colleges and training centers, and overwhelmingly influencing our elite Christian scholars in their books, essays, periodicals, and media presence is the idea that some people are just not destined for heaven but have been consigned to the lake of fire by the very God who made them. Now this teaching is spun linguistically, structured, and presented in such a way that their bottom line is disguised to the extent most people haven’t a clue what they’re teaching but stripped of the lofty words, the semi-smiling presentations, and the clout they carry due to their credentials and supposedly learned status, the truth they assert is that heaven is not available to people by their choosing.

        I’ll take today’s verse just as it is simply stated: that the Lord has His own time frame in which He works and, in His patience, He is offering the opportunity of salvation to all people because He is “not willing” and the Greek phrase there means not willing deliberately, not purposing, not intending that any should perish but that all, meaning each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, and everything should repent. No one can understand the depth of God’s purpose and no one can fully comprehend the revelation of who He is and of His eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing existence but let’s return to and teach clearly a simple foundation that is given in such places as 1Timothy 2:3 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”.

March 3, 2022

Malachi 3:16 “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”

       People generally talk about what they like or they complain about what they don’t like. But if they really like something, you can be sure it will be a part of much of their conversation. The little book of Malachi was a rebuke to the post-exilic Jews written about a hundred years after they had returned to Judah and Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. They had rebuilt the temple and the walls around Jerusalem but they were half-heartedly worshiping God and had abandoned a sincere dedication to carrying out the ways of the Lord. Their words about serving the Lord are recorded in Malachi 1:13, “Behold, what a weariness is it!”. Even their priests had compromised their leadership roles and had stopped fulfilling their duties as the Law required and as a result, the Lord was withholding blessings and favor from His people. God warns the priests in Malachi 2:2 “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart”.

       The Lord will not accept an approach to Him that’s just going through the motions of religion, one that does not come from an honest, sincere heart. He warned against it then and still does in this day of grace when He calls it out in 2Timothy 3:5 that in the last days people will have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” and tells believers “From such turn away”. We used to call this “Sunday morning religion” referring to those who never follow the ways of the Lord or look to Him throughout the week but show up in church on Sunday morning as if serving and worshipping God was their daily norm. Jesus spoke to this outward show of religion that was not a sincere walk of faith in Matthew 15:7-8 “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me”.

       But even in the days of Malachi, there were people who loved the Lord and their lives testified of their faith. The Bible says in today’s verse that they spoke often to each other about the Lord and He listened to them. Also, He kept a “book of remembrance” about them that spoke of Him and that honored His name. As was stated above, people who love the Lord, who trust in Him, and honor His name will talk about Him and His ways will be effortlessly woven into their daily conversations. They will give Him respect and credit for His goodness and speak often of His favor. You won’t be around them for long until His name will be mentioned and honored and they will not be silent concerning Him for the Bible says in Romans 9:33, “whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed”. It’s concerning when people say they know Him yet He is never in their conversations, never mentioned when they’re in trouble, and never credited when they have successes. The Bible says the Lord is hearing us and keeping a book of remembrance. May we live and speak in such a way that He is the theme of our lives, the subject of our best conversations, and the one to whom we give all glory and praise.

March 2, 2022

1 John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”

       This chapter, 1 John 4, tells us there are opposing spirits in the world: Those that are of God and those that are antichrist. We sometimes think of the antichrist as the wicked man who will come on the world scene and impose the mark of the beast and it’s as if this is a future event but the Bible says in verse 1John 4:3 “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world”. Even in the realm that calls itself “Christian” there are many examples of groups that by their doctrines they prove they are not of God but deceiving people by the power of the spirit of antichrist. Some have a history of going door-to-door soliciting their literature but they teach Jesus was formerly Michael the archangel and when he was born on earth, he was a mere human and not the Almighty God. Another door-to-door cult that calls itself “Christian”, teaches Jesus is the spirit-child of the heavenly father and a heavenly mother and later became human. When we think that the spirit of antichrist is confined to a few devil-worshippers, we are grossly mistaken because it might be the operating force of a Bible-carrying group down the street. The rock upon which the church is built is the statement of Peter when Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew 16:13, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”. The disciples responded that people say he’s a prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah or even John the Baptist. But when the Lord asked them directly “Who do you say I am?”, Peter answered in verse 16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Anything else is antichrist.

       When we back away a bit and look at the big picture, it can be a little intimidating because there’s so much evil, so much false doctrine, and so much opposition to the truth of Christ. We might feel like we’re in a constant battle with this spirit of antichrist, the devil, and everyone and everything associated. But today’s verse puts our heart and mind at rest for it declares we HAVE (the personal, perfect indicative form of the verb which means the calm assurance of a complete and final victory), overcome them because the power of the Holy Spirit within us is greater (the Greek word here means larger, bigger, stronger, and older, referring to the eternalness of God as opposed to the created status of the enemy) than he (spirit of the antichrist and all it entails) that is in the world. We don’t need to concern ourselves about winning, we have already won! The enemy is defeated, the Lord has declared victory, and we should not waste our valuable time trying to create or fight a war that’s already declared a done deal by the greater one within us. If we would but change how we view and speak about our situations and confess the truth as God declares it, we wouldn’t go around believing and sounding like the devil has us pinned in a corner, beating the daylights out of us. Notice how this verse begins: Ye are of God”. May we walk in the knowledge of that truth for it speaks of the eternalness of who we are and sets a standard for the children of God that looks to verses such as Ephesians 2:6, telling that the Lord “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. We are not fodder for this world or the enemy to beat us down, bully us, or coerce us to run in a circle like scared rabbits. He that is within us is greater. 

March 1, 2022

Genesis 47:9 “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage”

       During the seven years of widespread famine, Jacob and his family move, with everything they own, to Egypt to be with Joseph. When Jacob arrives, Joseph takes him to meet Pharoah and Pharoah asks him how old he is and today’s verse gives us Jacob’s reply. From a New Testament point of view, we might expect Jacob to say something like, “I am 130 years old and God has blessed me, been faithful to me, and I am filled with His joy”. Instead, it almost sounds like a sad, sorrowful, and exhausted statement from the mouth of a man that has personally heard the voice of the Lord and received miracles from Him. Jacob is looking back on a life marked with his purposeful deception of his father leading to his estrangement from his family and his angry brother for over 20 years. Then came years of working for his father-in-law and ending up with two quarreling wives, 13 years of grieving for Joseph who he thought was dead, and the pain of the defilement of his daughter Diana followed by his sons massacring all the men of a Canaanite tribe. Even though he was blessed by the Lord, the realistic story of his life as he saw and felt it is what he summarized to Pharoah.

       When we try to place ourselves in the shoes of the Old Testament saints, we are missing the point of who we are in Jesus Christ and how the grace of God on us, through Him, has made an unspeakable difference in this dispensation. Considering Jacob, he and his family lived hundreds of years before the Mosaic covenant and their knowledge of God was very limited in that they knew Him through sporadic appearances He made to the select patriarchs to whom He confirmed the covenants He made with Abraham or at times when He dispatched angels to do His bidding as in the rescue of Lot from Sodom. Occasionally they would build or visit an altar and worship and offer an animal sacrifice but little is said of a daily relationship between them and the Almighty God and in the scriptural account in Genesis, hundreds of years would pass with only a few instances recorded when the Lord would appear to them or miraculously direct their lives.

       When the law was given and the tabernacle constructed, followed by the more permanent temple, God moved into the Holy of Holies and His presence was with them over the ark of the covenant. Through the elements of the law and its provisions for worship, His people were drawn to Him and had access to His Word, especially the Psalms yet as for being in the presence of the Lord, only the high priest could appear before the Lord and that only once a year for a brief moment when he offered the blood sacrifice for sin. The Law brought God and His people together but not face to face because sin was still a barrier that stood between them.

       But the birth of Jesus changed everything for in Him, we were brought face to face with God and His name, Emmanuel, embodies the plan and purpose of the Lord from the beginning: to be with us, to walk among us, and finally by the new birth, to live in us. All the fullness of Christ, all the promises He brought, all the hope and joy we have in Him, and the eternal life we possess by His resurrection give us a testimony far different from that one Jacob spoke to Pharoah. Our days are not few and evil, they are eternal and blessed. Our past is under the blood, our hope is secure in Him, we are filled with His Spirit, we have joy and peace, and we can declare God is good to us, faithful to us, provides all our needs, will never leave us, and is coming soon to take us to the city where we will live with Him forever. Christians are not a “woe is me” people, they are the redeemed of the Lord, sons of God, blessed beyond the curse, eternally victorious, and already made righteous, holy, and spotless by the blood of Jesus Christ. They have the blessed assurance and they can sing “This is my story; this is my song. Praising my Savior, all the day long”.