The Most Unlikely Things

Now, as old Dr. Bonner, of Glasgow, said, "The Lord didn't show Joshua how to use the sword, but He told him how he should meditate on the Lord day and night, and then he would have good success." D.L. Moody

I work in a big city, population 270,000.  I know right about now you are asking, what does that have to do with anything?

Well, yesterday I left the office and turned onto the street in front of my office and on the opposite side of the street was a man driving a tractor.  I’m not talking about a small tractor either.  It was one of those big farming tractors.  Maybe I am the only person who noticed him.  I think I know where he came from.  There is still a farm right in the middle of the city.  It is several blocks from where I work.  I often see horses grazing in the farmer’s field. But he wasn’t going to the farm.  He was heading away from it.  Maybe he was going to the Quik Trip for diesel. 

So I keep driving and I get on the toll road and halfway home I look over and there is an empty field.  Well, it wasn’t exactly empty.  The field was probably 5 acres and had recently been plowed and it was full of seagulls.  It was like a seagull convention.  From the freeway it looked like there was not a space for another bird. There were thousands of them.  The whole field was white with seagulls and no water in sight. 

This morning I am driving to work singing to the songs on the radio and a baby rabbit darts across the six lane road.  He was a sprinter not a long distance runner.  He could have set a world record he was moving so fast.  If I hadn’t been paying attention I would have missed him.  He went from a subdivision on one side of the street to an apartment complex on the other. 

Everything I see and do reminds me of God.  When God appears in your life it is often not in the normal everyday stuff.  Most often it is the odd things that happen in my day that will bring Him to mind.  Sometimes we need something to trigger our God meter. For me it was a tractor, seagulls and a rabbit.  Each of those things made me think of God. Sometimes it is the simple things that trigger my God meter because it is so out of the ordinary.  When we are running from one thing to another we need something to bring us back to God’s great creation.  For me it is the incongruous things that help me see God in daily life.  So next time you see a tractor in the city, a seagull where there is no sea, and a rabbit where there are no woods, let those very things that seem out of place bring to mind the Creator of the universe.          

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You try to get my attention every day so that I will meditate on You and Your word.  Thank you for the out of the ordinary things in my daily life that bring You to mind.  Each moment I spend thinking of You is time not wasted.  I praise Your Holy Name.  

Scripture: After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:1-9

 

Great App   

No sin which we are capable of committing has ever taken God by surprise for He knew we were just like that. Alan Redpath

Did you know there is a new App that will send you a message when you start to go over your monthly budgeted electricity usage?  I admit I don’t know anything about Apps or even if I have them on my phone.  From past devotionals, you know I am not a technological wonder.  I am more like a technological blunder looking for a place to happen. 

Anyway, I heard there is this App that will notify you by text when you are about to go over your budgeted electricity usage.  I have a question though.  What are you supposed to do once you receive the text?  Are you going to turn off everything in the house until the end of the billing cycle?  What a plan.  No lights, cooking, everything in the refrigerator spoils, and here is a biggie, no TV.  We might all have to sit around and actually communicate with each other in the dark. 

What if God had his own App?  This one would warn you when you are heading into sin territory.  I have a feeling my phone would be texting me quite often.  In reality we do have several Apps that God uses to get our attention.  There is the Family Members and Friends App that notify us when we are going down the wrong path.  Then there is the Holy Spirit App that places guilt in your heart when sin approaches.  The most important is the God App.  This one is critical but we often miss the message all together.  He is constantly speaking to us but we turn the phone off.  We decide we know what is best for us so we ignore the God App and do what we know is wrong. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You try to get my attention every day but I am often distracted by the noise of the world and the sin in my life.  Maybe I need a day without electricity to quiet my mind long enough to have a conversation with You.  I praise You for your love and for having mercy on me.        

Scripture:   Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.  You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:14-18

Are You Satisfied?   

Definition: Satisfied 1. To fulfill the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of a person, the mind, etc….

After a person has forsaken his natural longings he obtains a genuinely restful life. Formerly he had many desires. To satisfy them he planned, plotted and contrived, exhausting every ounce of his wisdom and power. His heart was in constant turmoil. But that child of God who purely follows the spirit and seeks not his own pleasure is satisfied with what God gives to him: and his restlessness immediately ceases. Watchman Nee

This morning I was thinking about whether I was satisfied with my life or not.  Recently I started thinking about where I live and the car I drive.  Maybe it was our pastor’s sermon several weeks ago about idols that brought this to mind.  We can make anything in our life an idol.  When I become dissatisfied with my car, my house, where I live, how much money I make or anything else in my life, it means I am not satisfied with what God has given me.  This becomes a slippery slope into sin doesn’t it?

It is so easy to fall into the trap of I need more.  My car is 11 years old but still in great working condition.  When my faith gets shaky is when I start thinking about what happens if my car breaks down.  Surely it would be better if I was driving a new one.  What kind of stupid thinking is that?
 
Then there are the new house thoughts.  Our house is average size but when I start thinking I need more room that’s really stupid thinking on my part.  We have three bedrooms a kitchen, 2 car garage, dining room, living room and 2 bathrooms.  That would be a mansion to some people.  There is room for each of my family members, me, my husband and my dog to have a bedroom.  Why would we possibly need more?

I recently started getting rid of stuff.  I have dishes I don’t need, utensils I haven’t used in years.  I have curlers that I haven’t used since I had cancer 7 years ago.  My hair is too short for curlers.  I have stuff in my attic that hasn’t seen the light of day since we moved into our house. 

When we become dissatisfied with what we have and start longing for more things, we move further away from our Heavenly Father. As the quote above says, “our heart is in a state of constant turmoil” trying to figure out how we will get more.   My Heavenly Father has given me an abundant life in Him.  The key words here are “in Him”.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often think about owning nicer things or buying a bigger house.  When my thoughts turn to wanting more, please help me to push Satan aside and turn to You.  You are all I need to satisfy me in this life on earth.  Thank You for reminding me of what is really important.  You.  I can be at rest and know peace with You.        

Scripture:   If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which yourselves once walked when you lived in them. Colossians 3:1-7

“Here is the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”  But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.  I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.  Psalm 52:7-9

"As Is"   

Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?  Philip Yancey

Have you ever bought something “AS IS”?  It works like this.  You know there is something wrong with the item you are buying but you buy it anyway.  You take a chance that the thing you are buying will operate or work properly even though you know there is something wrong with it.  

Sometimes another person bought the item and returned it but the store can’t sell it as new so they sell it “AS IS”.  So there is not really anything wrong with the item, the person just didn’t want it.  Then other times someone bought it, it doesn’t work properly, they returned it and it’s not going to work properly for you either.  Then there is the third scenario where someone bought it, broke it, returned it and when you get it home it’s not going to work.

We are born new but life breaks us.  There might not really be much wrong with us but someone rejects us.  So there is a defect so we are thrown into the return bin.  Then other times we are rolling along through life and things are going well and we have a health issue and now we’re broken.  Then there is the really tragic circumstance where someone breaks us physically, emotionally or verbally and we are rejected again and thrown back in the broken bin. 

This concept fascinates me because God doesn’t work that way.  God takes us “AS IS”.  He loves us no matter what we do.  He takes us back time and again because of that very love.  We mess up, we are defective, we are thrown back in the used, broken, rejected bin and God reaches in and takes us back broken and all, “AS IS”.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we are often rejected on this earth by others because we don’t measure up to their expectations.  I love that you accept me sin and all.  You accept the broken, rejected me when others might not.  Thank you for loving me even when I end up in the “AS IS” bin.        

Scripture:    What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written:  “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:31-39

Great Hair   

Real true faith is man's weakness leaning on God's strength. D.L. Moody

Samson was weak and a ladies man .  When I think about Samson I always think about the movie with Victor Mature as Samson in “Samson & Delilah” by Cecil B. DeMille.  Remember how Samson was this big muscle bound guy with long wavy hair.  If you go back and read the scriptures about him, it doesn’t say anything about him being pleasing to the eye or being a muscle bound hunk.  One of the descriptions we see of him is that “he grew and the Lord blessed him.”  It doesn’t say what he grew into.  All we know for sure is he had great hair and that the Angel of the Lord told his parents that “no razor shall come upon his head.”

We assume that he was strong.  In reality his strength came from the Spirit of the Lord not his great hair or big muscles.  The length of his hair was really his obedience to the instructions the Angel of the Lord gave him to not cut it. So what if we looked at this from God’s perspective.  How can God deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines and at the same time show the Israelites the Lord’s great power?    

Would God be more believable to us if He sent a short, portly man with great hair to conquer the Philistines?  If they saw this guy rip a lion apart with his bare hands or slay a 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, all while having great hair, would you think it was Samson’s abilities or God at Work.  I think it would be easier for me to believe it was God and not some portly man with great hair.

Have you figured out yet that God does the unexpected and uses the least likely to succeed in our estimation, to show the world Who He is? If you read the stories in the Bible of who God used to spread His Word, they weren’t the biggest, strongest or even the most popular.  In reality they were people just like you and me.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You show me through the stories in the Bible of great things done by average men.  Please help me to see the stories in light of who You are and not by the standards of the world.  If I have faith in You then I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. 

Scripture:  Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, "O Lord God, remember me, I pray!  Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!"  And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.  Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!"  And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.  Judges 16:28-30     

Restrictions Apply   

False notions of liberty are strangely common. People talk of it as if it meant the liberty of doing whatever one likes - whereas the only liberty that a man, worthy of the name of man, ought to ask for, is, to have all restrictions, inward and outward, removed that prevent his doing what he ought.  Frederick W. Robertson

I was listening to a commercial on the radio this morning and it talked about all of the outstanding things you could buy.  It went on and on about how you could purchase so many of this and so many of that but then came the punchline.  RESTRICTIONS APPLY. 

I call it the Bait, Hook and Reel ‘em in form of advertising.  You start with a great bait, like a great fishing worm, you hook  them with the great bargain and once you get them into the store there is that little sign or tiny print at the bottom that tells you what you are really getting.  You are left flopping around like a fish in the bottom of the boat trying to figure out what happened.  How did I get caught?

I think the reason we often get caught in this trap is because the ad is intended to draw you in.  Just like a bass doesn’t know the difference in a plastic lure and a real bait fish, we are caught in the flashy exterior of the promotion. Then the advertiser has someone come in at the end and talk so fast about the restrictions that you can’t understand what they say or the print is so small that you need a magnifying glass to read it.

God doesn’t work that way.  He is clear about what we are to do as a Christian.  He tells it like it is.  The great thing about it is no one on earth is restricted from joining His family.  It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, wear nice clothes or rags, talk eloquently or stutter, drive a fancy car or a clunker or live in a mansion or a hut.  We all are welcome and we are all given a choice.  Often we are the ones who restrict ourselves from following Him.  We think we are not good enough or we decide the price is not worth the effort.  God doesn’t hide our salvation in tiny print or fast words.  Lose your life and follow Me.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, sometimes advertising can be so misleading.  We are often drawn in by the promises offered in flashy advertising.  I praise You for making it clear how I can become part of Your family and for providing a way to salvation through Your Son.      

Scripture:   But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.  1 Thessalonians 5:8-10

Foolish & Incompetent or Not

Why God should choose the meanest, basest, most unworthy individuals with absolutely nothing to commend them at all to God, except their miserable, lost condition, and then exalt them to become the sons of God, members of the divine family, and use them for His glory, is beyond all reason and human understanding. Yet that is grace.  M.R. DeHaan

I was studying the apostles and there is something that struck me.  When Jesus prayed for a group to help him spread the Word, he picked a motley crew to do it.  They were not the smartest, richest, wisest or even the easiest to get along with.  They were not the crème de la crème of society.  These guys fought amongst themselves, they lied and they betrayed.

What does this say about this group?  It basically says they were people just like us.  Why would Jesus pray to God the Father for such a group as this?  I think it is because they were so not the types of people we would expect Him to choose.  Otherwise, why would you pick a tax collector or a mere fisherman as part of your Olympic team? 

In our eyes if you really want to win the gold you are going to pick the strongest, most athletic and smartest just so you can get a head start out of the gate.  You certainly wouldn’t pick anyone that everyone dislikes such as a tax collector or a sinner. We also wouldn’t choose a group who argued with each other over who was the greatest.

Let’s look at this from a hypothetical standpoint.  If Jesus walked up to you today and said, “I want you to lose your life so you can gain it and on top of that I want you to drop everything you are doing and follow me.”  What would your response be?  This same scenario applies to us each day.  We must be willing to take up the cross and follow him.  We are no different from this motley crew of misfits.  God can and will use each of us for His glory if we will allow it. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am a misfit just like the apostles.  I pray daily that you will use me for Your glory.  I am not the wisest, smartest or most likely to succeed, but I do have heart.  I pray that You will use me in every way possible in order to bring Glory to You. 
             
Scripture: As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named  Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matthew 9:9-13

The Weak and the Lowly    

No one enjoys feeling weak, whether it is emotionally, spiritually or physically. There is something within the human spirit that wants to resist the thought of weakness. Many times this is nothing more than our human pride at work. Just as weakness carries a great potential for strength, pride carries an equally great potential for defeat.  Charles Stanley

Have you ever read the story of Gideon?  I have read it many times and Gideon was a very unlikely hero. During this time the Midianites dominated Israel.  Israel would plant their crops and then go to the top of the hill to the threshing floor.  They needed wind to thresh the crop and the Midianites would watch to see when the Israelites were threshing then they would go and take the crop.

Well, the hero of this story is down in the winepress threshing his harvest.  He was basically hiding in a hole to keep the Midianites from taking his crop.  This is where God comes in and I love what the angel of the Lord says to him.  “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”  Gideon was certainly aware of his abilities.  He in turn says, “But Lord my clan is the weakest and I am the least.”  Don’t you just love how God works?  He doesn’t pick the strongest. 

So Gideon obeys the Lord and blows his horn and 32,000 men show up.  So Gideon looks over the hills to the Midianite army of 120,000 and can you picture his face.  He looks at his army and then the Midianite army and probably thinks, “Why me?  Why did I pick today of all days to go out and work?  Why didn’t I just call in sick?  Well, it gets worse.

God proceeds to tell Gideon that he has too many men and he tells Gideon to send the scared ones home.  I bet about now Gideon was thinking can I go first.  But instead he sends the scared ones home and is left with 22,000.  It gets worse.  God then tells Gideon that he still has too many men so he tells Gideon to do the “scooping and lapping test”.  Anyone who laps like a dog goes home and anyone who scoops stays to fight. 

God didn’t provide swords or weapons other than Himself.  There isn’t anything in the story that shows that these 300 guys who were left were great warriors or even knew what to do if they had weapons.  God wanted them to understand how strong He was on their behalf.  If wasn’t by their hands that they would win, it was by God’s. 

Have you figured out that God uses us best when we are at our weakest point?  When we having nothing left to give and see ourselves as the very least, that is when he chooses to work through us.  When we are at our weakest, we then must realize that what we accomplish can only be done through God and not our own strength.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for making me weak because that is when I can identify You at work in my life.  It is when I am at my lowest point that I am able to see Your great works.  Your ways are not ours and that a great thing, because I don’t think I would understand as well if You worked through me when I am at my strongest.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I would take all the credit if you worked that way. I praise You and thank You for my weakness. 
  
Scripture: And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped.  He turned to the camp of Israel, and said, "Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."  Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers.  And he said to them, "Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, 'The sword of the Lord of Gideon!"  Judges 7:15-18

I Was Here First   

He came the first time to die; He is coming again to raise the dead. When He came the first time, they questioned whether He was King; the next time the world will know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. The first time He wore a crown of thorns; the next time He will be wearing a crown of glory. The first time He came in poverty; the next time He is coming in power. The first time He had an escort of angels; the next time He will come with ten thousands of His saints. The first time He came in meekness; He is coming again in majesty. Adrian Rogers

I went to pick up a prescription and the majority of the time I am like most people. I want to get in and get out so I take the drive thru instead of going inside.  Well on this day I pull up to the pharmacy window.  There are actually two windows and there is another car parked in the other drive thru.  The other lady in the second drive thru was there before me.  The clerk didn’t realize it so she went to help me first.

Well the lady in the other car took exception to that.  She presses the button on the intercom and proceeds to yell at the lady that she was here first.  It made me stop and think.  Why do we always have the need to be first?  We race to be first.  First place occupies a great deal of our time.  We see it in car racing, school classrooms, lunch lines, fast food restaurants and all types of sporting events.

Why do we have this urgent need to be first? Sometimes I think it is because we don’t want to be last.  We want to be the best at something.  The reality is God created each of us uniquely different.  When you read about Jesus in the Bible it is interesting how you could describe His life on earth.   

Jesus lived a life where He wasn’t first, he was last.  He put everyone ahead of himself.  He served.  He didn’t just serve every so often, He served continuously until His death on the cross.  He didn’t stand in front of a podium and tell us how to live, He led by example.  Jesus didn’t have selfish ambition.  Even though He was the one true King, He didn’t exactly live like one.  He didn’t try to be the first at anything and He didn’t care about His reputation.  Jesus didn’t force others to love God.  Most important of all he was obedient. 

When I look at the very characteristics that Jesus portrayed while on earth, I don’t really reflect much of what he was all about. There are times when I want to be first or in front. I want to be better than that.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, with You in my life I want to be last, humble, serving, as a child, the least of these without selfish ambition and to lead by example but most of all to be obedient to You.  I will need Your help in all these things as I am a work in progress.   

Scripture:   Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” Mark 9:33-37

Incompetence   

Do not strive in your own strength; cast yourself at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and wait upon Him in the sure confidence that He is with you, and works in you. Strive in prayer; let faith fill your heart-so you will be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  Andrew Murray

I started thinking about the people God decided to use in the Bible.  Did he pick the best, the most athletic, the best looking, strongest or the smartest?  Not often. No the majority of the time he chose the incompetent.  We often use incompetence as a derogatory term but really incompetence simply means lacking qualification or ability to do something. 

If you break down the traits of some of the most important people God used in the Bible we find a pretty incompetent group of folks.  Look at Noah.  Did he know anything about rain?  Nope.  What about building boats?  Notta.  First of all, he had never seen rain and if he had never seen rain, he certainly didn’t have a need for a boat.   God literally had to tell Noah how to build the boat.  He couldn’t run down to Home Depot and take a class on boat building. 

One of the things I love so much about God is he often uses the weakest and the least.  Why?  Because those are often the ones who have nothing to lose.  They are those individuals who cling to God instead of what the world has to offer.  The second thing is by choosing the weakest instead of the strongest, it becomes more believable that it is God at work and not us in our human capacity.

Then you have David a shepherd.  Have you ever wondered why David wasn’t presented to Samuel as a potential king?  I kind of think David was considered by Jesse to be the runt of the litter.  You know the weakest link.  Why would Jesse not present him to Samuel with all of the other brothers when it came time to pick a king?  I think it was because he didn’t look like what the world pictured a king to look like.  The difference was David loved God and had a repentant heart.  He messed up frequently, but he always came back to God with a contrite heart.

When we start thinking that we can’t be used by God, think again.  He can and will use the weakest to show the world who is the Strongest.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am incompetent just like the people You used in the Bible.  I don’t have great strength, I mean I was always the last to be picked for any athletic competition.  Please remind me that you can use me too. If I keep my eyes on You, I believe I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.    

Scripture:    For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.  For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall.  As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.  For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.  He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.  He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.  You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip.  Psalm 18:28-36

God Speaks in Everyday Things   

An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.  A. W. Tozer

I was talking to my husband yesterday and we were discussing my devotionals.  He asked me where I got the idea for the STP Motor Oil devotional.  I stopped and thought about it a minute, then I said God gave it to me.  I consciously make it a point to think about God in everything I do.  I don’t always have a subject lined up for the next devotional and sometimes my mind is a blank canvas or as I sometimes say, an empty vessel, notta, nothing up there. 

This morning was one of those times.  I am walking down the hall to the office kitchen to toast my pop-tart and I am talking to God in my head.  It went something like this. “God I don’t have a subject to talk about today.  Please give me something.”   And there it was.  Hanging on the wall throughout our office are posters.  The one right outside the door of the kitchen is called Teamwork.  The one right around the corner from that one said Service.  Another one down the hall said Opportunity.

This is what the Christian life is all about.  We are each part of a team.  God’s team is the body of Christ.  We are placed here on earth for service and we need to take every opportunity to help build God’s team with our service. 

I decided to walk around the office to see what other signs I could find.  There was Believe In Yourself, Whatever it Takes and Make it Happen.  There also was Honesty, Integrity and another that read Excellence.  Another one said “Everything in life takes risk, You can’t steal second base with your foot still on first.” 

The Christian life is not easy and God never promised it would be.  He did promise that he would be there with us.  If we never leave first base we will never know what it feels like to win in this game called life.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me the courage to step out in faith.  You are the source of my strength. Help me to remember to always turn to You with whatever comes my way because I know through You I can do anything through Your strength.  Thank you for opening my eyes to the things around me that show me a glimpse of You.

Scripture:   As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  1 Peter 4:10-12

 

STP The Racer’s Edge   

We must learn to live on the heavenly side and look at things from above. To contemplate all things as God sees them, as Christ beholds them, overcomes sin, defies Satan, dissolves perplexities, lifts us above trials, separates us from the world and conquers fear of death. A.B. Simpson

Many of you have heard of STP motor oil.  It was described as the racer’s edge in motor car racing circles and this logo and saying were used frequently on stickers and signs.  If you used STP it was stated that it would help your engine run smoother and give you the winning edge over the competition.

I was thinking about this the other day and thought what a great acronym this would be as a reminder of what God does in our lives during trials.  Here is my take on STP.

“S” would stand for Stop. When a trial happens in your life stop everything. Stop what you are doing and think about the trial.  Most often when trials come our way we go into survival mode.  We often don’t stop to think about what God might be trying to teach us through this trial.

“T” would stand for Think.  Think about what God is trying to teach you through this trial.  Take the trial and break it down.  Is the trial something that you can use to help others.  Is it teaching you patience or perseverance?  Is it giving you experience that can be used to help others come to know Christ?

“P” would stand for Pray.  Pray about the things you can learn about God through this trial. Pray that God will use this trial for His Glory.  Ask Him to teach you how to use it for his benefit to show others what the love of Christ is all about.

Just like your car engine needs oil to run at optimum performance in a race, so we also need STP to run the Christian race and have the winning edge over everything Satan throws our way.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, too many times I am quick to immediately go into survival mode and try to fix whatever the trial is instead of taking the time to understand the bigger picture of what you are trying to teach me.  Please help me to stop, think and pray before I move forward.  It might help me to see the trial as the blessing it can be in my life.  

Scripture:   My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.  James 1:2-8

A Story of Forgiveness   

The person who is living by grace sees this vast contrast between his own sins against God and the offenses of others against him. He forgives others because he himself has been so graciously forgiven. He realizes that, by receiving God's forgiveness through Christ, he has forfeited the right to be offended when others hurt him.  Jerry Bridges

I was watching TV last night and I saw a story of forgiveness that amazed me.  The story was about a young woman who was attacked in her home by a man.  She was raped, beaten and then her home was set on fire to hide the evidence. 

She jumped out of a second story window to escape the fire.  She had a broken jaw, broken wrist, and when her sister saw her in the hospital she didn’t recognize her because her face was so swollen from the beating she took from a stranger whom she didn’t know.  Upon arriving at the hospital she had a stroke that was brought on by the attack. 

She was placed on life support and placed in a self- induced coma to give her body time to heal.  Five months later she came out of the coma but was unable to speak or walk.  She went through months of speech therapy and rehabilitation to relearn how to talk and walk again and continues to recover day by day from this one incident. 

When her attacker was caught she was able to walk into the courtroom where he was on trial for murder of another young woman.  The court allowed her to stand before her attacker.  Because she was unable to speak at that time her father read what she wanted to say to the person who took so much from her life. 

She told her attacker that she forgave him.  A year later when she was interviewed by a reporter he asked her how she was able to forgive the man who took so much from her?

This is what she said.  “I forgave him because I understood that he was angry and broken and I didn’t want to live my life like that.  I wanted peace and that is what I chose.”

Forgiveness is a choice.  By choosing to forgive, we decide what we want to do with our hurt.  That fact that we choose to forgive automatically puts us in control.  The interesting thing is when you verbalize forgiveness it is basically for yourself. You are basically saying, “I forgive you for what you did.  I release you.  I declare I am free.”  It frees us to be at peace and to remove the hurt, bitterness and resentment that come with unforgiveness.     

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be like the young woman who forgave her attacker even though it was at great personal cost to her.  Forgiveness is a choice on my part and I thank you for the strength You give me to enable me to forgive when it is necessary.  I praise You for allowing me to lean on You.      

Scripture:    “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”  Mark 11:25-26

Sales Call   

We are fit for the work of God only when we have wept over it, prayed about it, and then we are enabled by Him to tackle the job that needs to be done.  Alan Redpath

I received a sales call from the front desk this morning.  After many years of being an Executive Assistant you start to recognize the signs.  Today I get a call about health insurance.  Some of the people that call are masters at evasiveness.  They are quick to come up with a gray area.  

This lady calls sounding very official and abrupt because she is trying to get past me of course to my boss.  So she says, “I have important business to discuss with ________” and she uses my bosses full name.  So I play the game.  I ask her “What is the call regarding.”  She replies, “I need his approval for information related to his healthcare.”  So I say, “Are you trying to sell him health insurance?”  She says “No I am not selling anything.”  I clarified, “Are you selling insurance for someone else?”  This is where it gets interesting.  She starts speaking faster.  So fast that I couldn’t catch it all but it went something like this.  

“I am calling to inform him that he can receive a free comparison of healthcare insurance related to his current insurance and we will send it to him free of charge and I am just calling to notify him of this information and God bless you” then she hung up. The thing is she sounded angry when she said it.  In my estimation this was a sales call.  If they are trying to get someone to compare pricing that kind of tells me they are going to try to sell me something.

It bothers me sometimes the way some companies work.  This woman basically lied to try to get a quota.  Why else would she start speaking so fast so that I couldn’t ask another question?  They have sales people call a list of businesses and they have a written script that the caller is to use when making the call.  I guess they figure that the person on the other end of the phone will not realize that the person is reading a script. I was also kind of offended that she threw God into the mix of the conversation.  I mean I appreciate being blessed but I would like it to be sincere. 

Maybe this company has decided they can’t sell anything with the old script so if they call people and bless them maybe that will work to gain a sale.  I think the approach is all wrong.  Maybe if the company started with prayer at the beginning God might bless it without having to resort to subterfuge or blatant lying.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I would like Your blessing in everything I do but I need to remember that I must to come to You first before I do anything.  Meditating on your Word and making my requests known to you is a good first step.  Thank You for blessing me every day with Your presence.      

Scripture:   Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5-7