Faith Overcomes Fear

Fear is a self-imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be.  You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.  Rick Warren

What do you fear?  Is there something in your life that you fear?  I think we all have fear at one time or another in our life.  In 1 John 4:18 it says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 

I was reading about Elisabeth Elliot.  She is a Christian author and speaker whose first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956.  He was a missionary who wanted to tell the Aucas tribe about Jesus.  This tribe was known for killing outsiders in their area.  They started by flying over the area and dropping food down to the tribe.  They eventually landed a small plane on the beach near where the tribe lived.  They had gradually been communicating with the tribe and meeting with them.

One day they saw two women come out of the jungle.  As they approached, a group of tribal warriors attacked and killed the missionaries.  He was 29 years old.  That is what I call overcoming fear.  He wanted to reach this little known tribe and tell them about Jesus.  Although he had a gun and could have killed the members of the tribe, he didn’t.  Each of the missionaries had promised they would not kill an Auca who did not know Jesus to save himself from being killed.  That is what I call having faith and love that overcomes fear.

Two years later Elisabeth Elliot, her daughter and the sister of one of the other missionaries who was killed returned and moved to the Auca village.  Many of the Aucas became Christians.  If anyone had a reason to fear it was Elisabeth Elliot.  She knew what the tribe was capable of but the mission was more important than her fear of what could happen.

I think my problem is often that I fear too much and don’t love enough.  This kind of love takes everything you have in you.  We will know when we have the right kind of faith when we are willing to get past our fear and love someone else that we don’t know enough to care about saving them for eternity.  That is when we will step out in faith instead of retreating in fear.  I think Psalm 23:4 says it best.  “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

God didn’t promise He would protect us from harm.  If the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  If the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  Psalm 34:4 it says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”   God loves you and me just as much.  He won’t take away the fearful things of this world, but he will deliver and comfort you if you seek Him. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, there are so many times in my life when I allow fear to overtake me.  You promise to comfort me when I am fearful and to give me strength to overcome my fears.  The problem is sometimes my faith is not strong enough to push aside the fear.  I want to depend on You alone for comfort and strength when I become fearful.  Thank you for giving me verses that show me what perfect love is and how to practice faith.  When I read about the fears of others who have faced life and death situations because of their faith; my fears seem small.  Thank you for giving me great examples to follow.      

      

Scripture: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.  God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth.  He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Psalms 46:1-11

Faith & the Wilderness

My attitude was and still is like that of David, who was ashamed that the armies of Israel would tremble before Goliath. Without hesitation he stepped forward with complete confidence in the God who had proven Himself to be faithful (1 Sam 17). For David, the size of the giant was irrelevant.  Dave Hunt

One of the interesting things about faith is that each of us will end up in the wilderness.  If we look back to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, we can see how little faith they had in what God could do.  They were enslaved in Egypt but when God sent Moses to release them from bondage they ended up in the wilderness.  What did they do when they got there?  They moaned and complained.  In fact in Exodus 16:3 they express how faithless they truly were; “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!  For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 

What I find fascinating about this is that God heard their complaints and provided food for them so that the children of Israel would know that He is God.  The problem was they still didn’t listen to Him.  Through Moses God told them to only gather what they would need for one day.  Many didn’t have faith that God would provide the next day, so they gathered more than what they needed for the day and when they woke up the next morning, everything had spoiled.
 
We are guilty of the same thing.  We don’t believe that God will provide for our needs so we are like the rich man who gathered his crops and when they filled his barn, he built bigger barns.  Fear becomes our companion and we live by it instead of having faith that God will provide.  To me faith is like parachuting from an airplane.  You go up in the plane and stand in the doorway of the plane with your feet hanging over the edge trying to get the nerve up to jump.  If you are going to jump from a plane you better know who packed your parachute.
 
Faith in God is not for the faint of heart.  If we are to know the kind of faith we need to survive in this life we need to know and believe the promises of God.  Hebrews 4:1-3 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.  For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest.”

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, my wilderness is not really much different from the wilderness the children of Israel experienced so long ago.  They time was different, but the circumstances are the same.  I complain over things I do not have when You have already provided what I truly need.  Remind me daily that my faith in You will be tested on this earth, and help me to have the kind of faith that will help me enter Your rest.      

      

Scripture: Be Faithful

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’  So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Hebrews 3:7-11

Faith

Faith endures as seeing Him who is invisible; endures the disappointments, the hardships, and the heart-aches of life, by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.  A.W. Pink

One of the hardest things any of us will face in life is faith.  Faith isn’t easy.  When you have faith it means you must learn to live by faith when the tough times come.  It is hard to do that when we are raised in a world where we are taught the exact opposite.  When you are living in a world where you are taught to be in control and to never lose control, it doesn’t make sense to live by faith does it? 

If we look at faith from what the Bible tells us, it doesn’t make sense to our human minds.  In Hebrews 11:1-3 it describes what faith means.  1. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”   2. “This is what the ancients were commended for.”  3. “By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

So if you can’t get faith by seeing it; how do you understand it and obtain it?  The best place to start is the Bible.  In Hebrews 11:6 we are told that without faith it is impossible to please God. We must first believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.  One of the best ways I find to understand faith is to read about those who came before us who practiced faith.

One of my favorite characters in the Bible was Noah.  Can you imagine being Noah in this day and age?  God comes to you and tells you there will be a great flood and everything on earth will be destroyed and to save your family you will need to build an ark that you don’t know how to build because your occupation has never been an “ark builder”.  How many of us today would move out of holy fear and build an ark?  If you look at it from today’s perspective and the average person who owns a home; you would first have to sell your house because there wouldn’t be enough land to build an ark of that size.  You would then need to face the neighbors who would think you were a lunatic.  Oh, and they would laugh every day as you built your ark. 

There are going to be times when God will ask you to step out in faith.  When you read the stories about faith; they all have a common theme.  These individuals had enough faith that they stepped out in holy fear of what God said.  They also believed in faith what God told them.  They were more afraid of not doing what God said, than they were of what other people would say or do to them.

God gives us numerous stories of individuals just like you and me who stepped out in faith and performed miraculous things by having faith in the one who created us.  Take the time to read the stories and then use them to help you step out in faith.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me examples from the Bible than show me how to step out in faith.  You were faithful to each of those who accepted Your Word and followed through in faith.  Give me that kind of faith.  Faith that in confidence I know You are my Redeemer and want what is best for me, and the assurance that even though I cannot see You I know You are always there.

      

Scripture: The Heavenly Hope

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.  Hebrews 11:13-16

Knowing Where You’re Going

As soon as a man has found Christ, he begins to find others.  Charles Spurgeon

I really think they should classify driving as a sport.  This morning I was driving to work and I saw this guy driving a truck and it had a Pittsburg Steelers bumper stick on it.  The sticker caught my eye because it was outlined with shiny silver glitter.  I exited off of the freeway and I normally go down this road that has probably fifteen red lights before I get to my turn.  So I get to the first red light and this guy is sitting in the turn lane to go left.  I am sitting in the lane next to him to go straight.  The light changes and I take off.  In a few minutes I see him pass me on the right.  I think he must have decided not to turn at the last red light.  So I drive up to another red light and there he is again in the left turn lane.  So we stop at the light and I take off when it turns green.  A few minutes later this guy passes in the far right lane. 

I am beginning to think this guy doesn’t know where he is going.  I mean, he must be from Pittsburg because he likes the Steelers enough to put their sticker on the back of his truck.  He went through every red light pulling into the turn lane and then once everyone moved through the green light he would change into the lane going straight and do the same thing at the next light. I started thinking maybe Pittsburg has some weird way of driving that I don’t know about.

Too many times I think we leave the house not knowing where we are going.  Have you ever asked yourself, “Where is my final destination?”  “Where do I want to be when my life is over?” Every person you or I meet today has a final destination.  If you know where you are going, why not show someone else how to get there too.  The best directions any of us ever receive in this life are from the best-selling book called the Bible.  Point someone else in that direction.  Their eternal destination depends on it. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, as I watched the people driving it reminded me of You and I thought of Jesus saying to Simon Peter, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep.”  Our “sole” purpose in life is to be soul-winners.  I must first know where “I” am going before I can point someone else in Your direction.  Give me a heart for winning souls, and the strength and courage to step out in faith to do Your will.          

      

Scripture: The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Dreaming and Doing

Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I'm not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things - things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him.  Oswald Chambers

Do you have a dream?  We all have dreams.  Some are the kind you have at night where you wake up perplexed or just plain scared.  Then there are the ones that are based on following God and doing His will.  There is still another type of dream where you want to do something amazing but feel you lack the skills, knowledge, energy or will to do it.

When we have a dream we need to decide what to do with it.  We have a choice.  We can ignore our dream or pursue it.  The best dreams are the ones that are God based.  If your dream has anything to do with pursuing others for Christ, that dream is worth more than gold. The irony of this kind of dream is that you may not see the value of it in this lifetime. 

  

If your dream is inspired by God, you will need faith.  Hebrews 11:1-3 tells us exactly what faith entails.  (“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”)

If we are going to release God’s power in our dream we will need faith.  Peter walked on water until he lost faith.  Too many times I think we allow fear to interfere with our dream.  We let doubt creep in and sometimes we even allow others to deter us from pursuing a God given dream. 

There are several things we should do when we have a God given dream.  We need to share it with someone else.  Why?  Because it makes us accountable to try and move toward making that dream a reality.  Second, sharing it with others attracts other people to the dream who want to help make it happen.  It will even attract some you never dreamed of who will support it along the way.  Third and most important, it releases God’s power to make the dream happen. 

If you have a God dream and are hesitating to move forward, step out in faith and let His power work in it.  God is waiting for you to do something about it so that He can release His power to make it a reality.  Don’t let someone else stop you from pursuing a God given dream.  His kingdom depends on you and me to pursue it with everything in us. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have a dream.  I want to write about You.  I sometimes feel like Paul in 2 Corinthians when he was faced with the call of God, he asked, “Who is adequate for these things?” In my very inadequacy, if I place my faith in You I will move from dreaming to doing.  Through You I can do all things because You are the One who gives me the strength to carry them out. I praise You Heavenly Father for the strength You give me to pursue a dream.    

Scripture: But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24

Godly Sorrow or Sorrow of the World

True repentance is no light matter. It is a thorough change of heart about sin, a change showing itself in godly sorrow and humiliation - in heartfelt confession before the throne of grace - in a complete breaking off from sinful habits, and an abiding hatred of all sin. Such repentance is the inseparable companion of saving faith in Christ.  J.C. Ryle

Do you have regrets in your life?  How do you begin again when you mess up and regret how you acted or spoke?  Once words leave our mouth they can't be taken back.  If you or I hurt another individual we should have regret and sorrow.

Have you ever thought about the regrets in your life and considered that if you don’t have any regrets, how would you ever grow and learn to have empathy for another person.  Every person has done things in their life that they regret or maybe I should say should regret.  By that I mean; have you ever met someone who goes through life saying hurtful things to others, making fun of others and never seems to regret any of it.  I believe that every one of us should have regrets because of the simple fact that we are sinners.  We are going to mess up.  It is a given. If we don’t have regrets in our life how can we learn to be humble.  The humbling of ourselves to another person is the most powerful experience and often the most painful.  Why?  Because we are forced to admit that we are wrong. 

So being sinners, how do we work on giving ourselves a second chance to show others we regret our behavior?  First, we need to acknowledge that we did something we regret.  Second, we also need to examine why we regret what we did.  Do I regret it because I got caught, or do I regret it because someone got hurt?  If we don’t regret hurting another person we need more self-examination.  If we don’t have godly sorrow for another human being we have hurt, then we aren’t what God calls us to be.  If our sorrow is like Judas in  Matthew 7:3-4, (“Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”), which reflected selfish dread of the consequences of sin rather than a deep regret at the cause of the sin, then we aren’t any different than Judas.

Judas betrayed Jesus, but so did Peter.  Why is there a difference in the two?  Judas had sorrow of the world and Peter eventually had godly sorrow for what he had done.       

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have many regrets about how I treat others.  If I examine myself and am honest; I will have regrets that need redemption.  Give me the strength and courage to step up and admit my failures and request forgiveness. I want to live my life expressing godly sorrow.  Godly sorrow will make me humble, help me to have compassion for others and show me the true meaning of living life as a child of God.  Remind me when I fail, that worldly sorrow produces death; godly sorrow produces life.     

Scripture: Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. 2 Corinthians 7:9-12

Do Overs and Second Chances

Quite honestly, most people are quick to "write someone off." But our God is a God of the second chance. Learn from One who is patient with you, and you'll learn to be patient with others. Woodrow Kroll

Several weeks ago I went to the drive-thru pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  I hate going to the pharmacy.  It seems like every time I go something is messed up with my prescription.  Then there are those times when I get a text message that my prescription is ready and after waiting in line for 30 minutes I get to the window and they tell me that the prescription is not ready and won’t be for another hour.  Oh, and then there are the times you drive up to the window and they say “What prescription, we don’t have any record of you calling in a prescription.” 

Well, I had a new one occur several weeks ago.  Our pharmacy has two drive-up lanes.  On that day I chose lane number 2.  This is the outside lane with no window.  It just has a pole that the box slides down like at the bank. So I pull up and wait for the cashier to acknowledge my presence and then wait for my prescription to come out.  Did I mention that the box on this lane that delivers your prescription is kind of “rickety”?  You know it kind of wobbles as the box makes its way down the pole.  I guess I didn’t mention that the door to the box has a tendency to pop open rather abruptly.  So as I watch the box wobble down the pole and it gets even with my window, the door flies open and my prescription flies out.  As I watched my prescription fly out it hit the side of my car and landed on the ground next to my car.  Would it have been too much to ask for it to throw it through the open window?  I guess that would have been a hole in one, but that is a whole other story. 

So I try to open my door to get the prescription off the ground.  The problem with this is they built this concrete ledge to hold the pole and my door isn’t high enough to clear it.  I tried lying down across the seat head first to see if I could reach it.  No can do.  Did I also mention there were two lanes of cars behind me watching me?  So I finally had to pull up until I got past the ledge, jump out of the car run get my prescription,( I guess I was lucky I didn’t run over the prescription in the process), and then back up so I could pay for it.  At least the car behind me was paying attention and didn’t pull into the spot while I was frantically running around like an idiot. 

It was about this time that I wanted a do over.  I wanted to rewind this whole thing and start over.  At the time I also wanted to step over to the wobbly box and rip it off the pole.  But then that would be material for another devotional about anger management. 

We all have those moments when we want a do over.  You know the ones I am talking about.  Those are the days where we speak harshly to another person and say things we wished we hadn’t.  Or the ones where we do something we regret and don’t get a do over.  God doesn’t give us do overs but he does give us second chances.  He gives us the opportunity to redeem ourselves when we are at our worst.  When we are busy beating ourselves up over something we’ve done, (we are sinners after all), God gives us a way back to Him.  God is the master of second chances and He is waiting to hear from you.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am a sinner.  Thank You for giving me a second chance at everlasting life through Your son Jesus Christ.  I am forever thankful for your mercy on me and for reminding me that I am a sinner in need of a Savior and a second chance.  I praise You.  

      

Scripture: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.  Ephesians 1:7-12

Giving Up

Either we are adrift in chaos or we are individuals, created, loved, upheld and placed purposefully, exactly where we are. Can you believe that? Can you trust God for that? Elisabeth Elliot

In life we are all going to face disappointments.  We will pursue a job and not get it, chase after a dream and lose it or be healthy our whole life and then be brought down by a terminal illness. How we handle the disappointments in life makes a difference in how we end the race of life. What happens in us makes a difference in our character and who we will become as a Christian.   

What do you do when bad things happen to you?  Do you stop paddling and just let the current take you wherever it wills?  Do you get rid of the very things you need to survive the disappointment? Do you give up? 

Too many times I think we do all three.  When something happens in your life whether it be disappointments or tragedies we often just stop doing anything.  Years ago when I was in college we would go canoeing.  We would get into pairs in a canoe with two oars.  There was always a current in the river, so there was a reason the canoe came with oars.  If you just jumped in and let the water take you wherever it wanted, you would end up in the trees along the bank.  The oars were there so you could guide the canoe where you wanted it to go.  Your life is no different.  Coasting through life is not where character is built.  The turbulent waters of life are where we become the strongest. (Acts 27:15 So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her drive.)  Don’t let your ship drive.

The next thing we do is we dump things overboard.  (Acts 27:18-19 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands.)  We get rid of the very things we need most to survive.  When I went through cancer there were many I met who were angry about their cancer.  There were others still who blamed God, their family, or their occupation for their illness.  What these individuals did was they distanced themselves from God and family.  Those are the very people you need the most when you are going through it.    

The third thing we do is we give up.  (Acts 27:20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.) The last thing we need is to give up in the midst of our storm.  Character is not built by giving up.  If you want spiritual strength, don’t give up.  When your life is at its darkest and you don’t give up, you find that you can move one more step forward; and then another and another. 

If we accept the fact that we live in a fallen world where disappointments will occur; it shouldn’t surprise us when they do.  God gives us the comfort, support and strength to persevere through our hardships.  The key is we must keep moving and not give up.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, you are faithful.  When the hardships of life come my way I find that You are always there.  You guide me, love me and support me through the worst storms of life.  I am thankful for You and the blessings you have brought me through suffering.  I am a better person for it.       

      

Scripture: But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:10-13

God’s Plan

The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service.  Billy Graham

Do you ever think about what God’s plan is for you?  There are times when we miss God’s plan for us.  Sometimes it is because of our own pursuit of other things and other times I believe Satan’s hand is involved in our missing an instance where God wants to bless us.   

Every year our church has its members complete a short survey to update their records.  I completed my survey several months ago and never thought anything else about it.  I received an email yesterday from the Children’s Ministry Associate.  He stated that he read my survey and thought I might be interested in opportunities they have in the Children’s Ministry. I will insert here that this email went into my spam folder so I almost missed it.

The email sort of threw me into a panic.  What do I know about kids?  1. I was one once.  2. I have nephews and a niece who are fully grown.  3. I have two grandchildren and a stepdaughter.  That about covers what I know about kids.   Then I asked myself why I felt so intimidated by a bunch of mini-mees. Maybe it is because I have been away from that age group for a long time.  The main reason I think is the fear of the unknown.  But wait, doesn’t it say in 1 John 4:18-19 (“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.”)

I think my problem is I am fearful more than I am faithful.  God has a plan for me and the solution to following His plan is to get rid of the fear and step out in faith.

 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, help me to get rid of the fear of failure, the fear of not measuring up and the fear of what could happen.  My purpose on earth is to serve and this is an opportunity to do that in a way that will glorify You.  I praise You for sending this opportunity and may You be glorified in it with my service. 

Scripture: As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10

Crazy Love

Nothing can separate you from God's love, absolutely nothing. God is enough for time, God is enough for eternity. God is enough! Hannah Whitall Smith

I’ve been thinking about writing this devotional for a while.  There are several definitions to the word “crazy”.  There is the “mentally deranged” definition and the “unusual, bizarre, senseless and impractical” definition.  Then there is the “extremely enthusiastic” and the slang definition; “wonderful; excellent; and perfect”.   

So for today’s devotional I am going with the latter definition. God has a crazy love for human beings.  His love for us goes way beyond what we can really comprehend.  As I was pondering what I would write the following observations came to my mind.

God’s love knows no bounds.  His love for us is boundless.  He wants us to live in eternity with Him forever and in order to make that happen He will pursue us until this world as we know it comes to an end. 1 Timothy 1:14 (And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.)

God’s love isn’t selective.  He doesn’t choose one of us over another.  You are as important to Him as I am.  You are also as important to Him as every other person on earth.  There is no other individual who is more or less important than you are to Him.  2 Timothy (Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.)

God’s love happens whether we deserve it or not.  And we don’t deserve it.  Now that is   crazy love! 1 John 10 (In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved   us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.)

God loves us even when we don’t love Him.  How many times have we disobeyed Him and sinned; yet He still takes us back and offers redemption.  Ephesians 2:4-5 (But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved.)

God’s love sacrifices His only Son for us, so that our sin can be wiped away.  That is  the ultimate expression of crazy love.  1 John 4:9 (In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.)

So, if you are looking for crazy love, you don’t have to look any further.  You’re not going to find a more wonderful; excellent; and perfect love than our Heavenly Father’s.  This world is not going to give you the kind of crazy love God can.  Let go of the pursuit of perfect love in this world, and accept the perfect love of God.  Crazy love like no other!

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, it is often hard for me to comprehend Your crazy love.  In the human sense, it just doesn’t make sense.  I often ask myself, “How can You love a sinner like me?” The answer is crazy love.  Love that doesn’t make sense, is incomprehensible, knows no bounds, given without deserving, sacrificial and loving as if I am the only one.  Thank You for Your crazy love for me.

      

Scripture: God’s Everlasting Love

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 isChrist 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 from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:31-39

Potholes

Every Christian will readily allow that sin is insidious, but it is one thing to recognize this in theory and quite another to be regulated by it in practice.  A.W. Pink

If Christ has died for me - ungodly as I am, without strength as I am - then I can no longer live in sin, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for his sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?  Charles Spurgeon

As I was driving to work this morning I started thinking about potholes.  Why was I doing that?  Maybe because I hit the same pothole every day on my way to work.  You would think I would remember that pothole since I drive that way every day and avoid it.  Maybe I am hoping that the city will see that pothole one day and fix it.  Then there is the other pothole on my way home every evening.  The city has repaired it once already but alas that didn’t fix it.  It is back to being a pothole.   

I decided to do a little research and share my research with you.  Did you know there is a state park that has named their pothole?  It is called Archbald Pothole State Park.  This particular pothole is 38 feet deep and 42 feet wide.  It is in Lackawanna County Pennsylvania.  It was discovered by a coal miner in 1884. The park is named for Archbald Pothole which they say was formed during the Wisconsin Glacial Period.  The first potholes were formed by the force of water falling over a long period of time, and here in Texas potholes are formed by ice, water and millions of cars.  I’m not so sure I would want to be famous for the biggest pothole in the U.S., but there are some counties that are famous for the biggest ball of twine and they even have twine-a-thons and you can stay at the Almost Done Inn, so I guess being famous for a pothole isn’t so bad. 

As I was pondering the significance of potholes, I started thinking about how our Christian life is often filled with potholes.  Satan is extremely good at wearing us down.  We may be on the right path following God’s Word and living the life He calls us to live and “bam”.  We hit a pothole.  The other thing is we will often return to the same pothole over and over again, repeating the same mistakes over and over again.  If you look at it from a sin perspective, potholes are a fact of life.  Just when you think you have conquered some sin that plagues you; Satan wears us down and we’re right back in the same pothole.

If we want to avoid the potholes of life, we are going to need help.  There are times we are going to need to change lanes.  Other times we are going to need to turn to others for help to get out of our pothole. God is our best resource when it comes to surviving the potholes of life. The beauty of it is that it is never too late.

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am not sure why I keep hitting the same pothole every day.  I think often it is because I am not paying attention and the other is I am weak.  How many times in my life have I hit the same pothole, (sin), over and over again?  Too many times to count.  Help me to realize when I am in one and that I need Your help to get out of it. 

      

Scripture: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:1-2

Big Decisions

To wait on God is to live a life of desire toward Him, delight in Him, dependence on Him, and devotedness to Him.  Matthew Henry

If you are like me, there are often times when big decisions come along in your life and you have to make a choice.  The biggest issue I run into is when to move.  Not just forward or backward, but in any direction. 

Several problems present themselves when I am in the midst of making a big decision that will affect my life in numerous ways.  There is always the fear of making the wrong decision.  The thing about this problem is if we believe Isaiah 41:10, (Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’) then this isn’t such a big problem. 

The next problem I often run into is; am I allowing God to help me make the decision or am I taking it out of His hands and trying to control the outcome? There have been times in my life when I didn’t pray about the decisions I needed to make in my life and the majority of the time those decisions didn’t turn out so well in the long run.  I think that is where Proverbs 3:5-6 comes in.  (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.)

Another problem I have is waiting.  Because we live in a fast paced world, we often have lost the ability to wait.  If we run ahead of God; we may lose or miss the life God wants for us because we are too impatient to wait for Him.  In Habakkuk 2:1-3 he gives us a description of waiting.  (“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.  Then the Lord answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.  Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.)

One of the most difficult things I face in making decisions is well, “difficulty”.  Too many times I run into difficulties when I am in the process of making big decisions.  Sometimes those very difficulties are to test us and other times they are to help us determine if this is the right step to take in the decision.  James 1:2-4 best describes how we should handle difficulties in decision making.  (“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.)

The most important part of overcoming the fear, giving Him control, waiting for Him, and persevering through the difficulties is that God will deliver us.  We see this in Psalm 27:13.  (“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”) If I need to move, the most important thing I can do is to wait on God to tell me when.

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You provide the tools we need to make the big decisions in life.  Too many times I circumvent the very blessings You want for me because I fear, try to take control from You, become impatient and admit defeat in difficult circumstances. I want You to be my decision Maker.  If I trust in You in all things, You will make my path straight.  I praise You for your blessings in my life.      

      

Scripture:  For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21