Heaven’s Investment Portfolio

There is no such merchant as the charitable man; he gives trifles which he could not keep, to receive treasure which he cannot lose. Francis Quarles

I invest in a 401K plan where I work and I also have money invested in one with a previous employer.  I am not one of those savvy investors who knows everything about each company I invest in.  I went out recently to change my investment strategy.  Some people spend a lot of time watching their stock to see if it is performing at a beneficial rate and then they change their stock choices if it isn’t.  We know a guy who watches his stocks daily and is constantly changing his investments. 

The reason I decided to change my investments is because I buckled under pressure.  By that I mean; I kept getting this traffic light signal every time I received an email from my plan administrator.  Every time I got the traffic light it was red and it would tell me for my age I was investing too aggressively.  I kind of got offended the first time I got that because of the age comment.  I mean your fund administrator tells you you’re old and AARP sends you an application to confirm you’re old.  My theory is I don’t know when God will decide it is my time to go so why not go for the gusto.  That; however is not a good strategy according to the administrator of my money. 

My investment strategy for 401K is very simple, (and you may even call me a stupid investor), but that’s okay with me. When it comes to investing my 401K, I invest in things that I buy and I don’t invest in international stocks.  The thing about investing money is, it can be gone in an instant.  One day you can have millions in investments and all it takes is one world event and it can all be gone.  Investing is a gamble.  You gamble that your money will increase if you invest in a certain company.  Your investment is dependent on someone you don’t know, making business decisions that could make or break your investment. 

Do you ever think about your Heaven Investment Portfolio?  How much do you invest in the portfolio that is the most important, has the best return on investment and is guaranteed?  In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 it says, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

What would you rather invest in?  Do you want riches in this life or your future life?  How much you give to others in this life will make a huge difference in your eternal life.  In Matthew 6:19-21 it says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Treasure in heaven or treasure on earth.  My investment portfolio on earth can be taken from me and destroyed, but my eternal treasure can’t be touched.  Which one is more important to you?

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often spend more time worrying about the money and investments that I have, instead of spending my time storing up treasure in heaven. Remind me that treasure on earth is fleeting but treasure in heaven is everlasting.  

    

      

Scripture:  The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

Encouragement & Discouragement

What an encouragement to realize that God has reserved you and me for a special task in His great work. In His hands we're not only useful, but priceless.  Joni Eareckson Tada

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'  Billy Graham

If you look at the words encouragement and discouragement they both contain the word courage. 

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is David and Goliath.  If anyone had reason to be discouraged it was David.  He was the smallest of his brothers. Do you remember what one of his brothers said to him when he asked “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Remember how his oldest brother became angry because David was asking the soldiers what they were going to do about this huge Philistine who was defying the armies of God.  His brother actually told him he knew the pride and insolence of David’s heart and asked him why he left his sheep to come down to the battle.

 

I don’t know about you but that would have discouraged me.  But David didn’t stop.  He just turned away from his brother and asked the same question of the next person.  When David continues to question why someone isn’t doing something about this giant someone brings it to the attention of Saul and Saul sends for David to be brought to him.  

  

In 1 Samuel 17:32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”   Here is where David should have been discouraged again because Saul tells him, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 

So look at this from our perspective. His oldest brother has gotten angry with him and basically told him to go back to his sheep.  Saul has told him that he is not mighty enough to fight the Philistine.  Then Goliath adds his two bits and makes fun of David and curses him and his God. 

David had the courage of God in his heart on that day.  He wasn’t going to let anything discourage him from standing up for God.  We need that very courage today in a world that ridicules our God on a daily basis.  God is looking for warriors to fight the battle of a lifetime and the only way we will get the courage we need is to go to God.  If we have Him going before us we can’t lose.

      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, sometimes I lack courage to face daily obstacles.  The thing I often fail to do is to turn to You for the courage I need.  I pray for the courage of David who knew whose he was and he had a heart for You.  Please give me that same heart.  A heart that will not accept words against You.  If I go to You for courage You will give more than I will need.  Thank you for giving us examples to follow like David.

Scripture: They wander about for food and howl if not satisfied.  But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.  Psalm 59:15-17

Patience, Wisdom & Love

God's way of answering the Christian's prayer for more patience, experience, hope and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.  Richard Cecil

Have you ever prayed for patience or how about wisdom or love?  Too many times I think when we pray for these things we expect a different result from God don’t we?  We want him to make us instantly patient with the person we work with who irritates us.  We expect God to make us wise beyond our years without any effort on our part.  Then there is the whole love thing.  God tells us specifically to love our enemies but I think too many times we want Him to make exceptions.  We try to rationalize it with God.  “God, You really don’t want me to associate with that sinner do You?  This person has treated me badly and You still expect me to love them?” 

Sometimes God answers our prayers by throwing us into the very fire we are trying to escape from.  He challenges us to step up to the plate and hit a home run, but too many times we swing and miss the ball altogether because we haven’t figured out that the challenge God has placed before us is His answer. 

If you want to learn to be patient you will need to be in a circumstance that requires extreme patience and sometimes it takes a long time and we are required to exercise it over and over again.  If you want God’s wisdom you aren’t going to get it by going to the store and buying a program and downloading it.  You will need to search for it.  Sometimes the best way to learn something is repeating it over and over again.  Then there is the whole love thing.  Love our neighbor who irritates us; love the person who hurt us.  This kind of love takes sacrifice, so don’t be surprised if God puts you in the exact place where a person is most unloving to you. 

God doesn’t respond the way we think He should because He is God and we are not.  If we learn that one simple rule, our lives will be much easier and we will be able to see His work in everything we do.  When it comes to God, expect the unexpected.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for teaching me Your precepts by placing me into the very circumstance that I want to avoid.  The best lessons I have learned in life and the ones that stick with me are the very ones I prayed for You to remove.  If I understand this concept, I will learn patience, wisdom and love.    

Scripture: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.  Proverbs 9:10-11

An Example

The cross is the greatest example of humility and devotion in the universe. Jesus put your needs ahead of His own. He considered you more valuable than Himself.  Chip Ingram

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.  Francis Bacon

Have you ever asked yourself what kind of example you show the world?  Many of us, including me, often play charades.  We pretend to be something we aren’t.  We become great actors and imitators.  If we think about it from Satan’s standpoint, he can’t wait for us to play charades.  It happens to all of us and he is cheering us on from the sidelines.  How many of us show the world a totally different picture from the one our family sees?  If our life isn’t an open book where anyone could read it and you wouldn’t be ashamed of what is in it, then we aren’t a good example for God.    

How do we become that person who gives good advice and lives it? The following are a few things to consider:

Give up on self.  Get rid of me in the equation because it isn’t all about me.  It’s about Him. It’s about being what God created us to be. 

Humble yourself.  One of the hardest things for me to learn was to be vulnerable and humble myself to others.  When you do this you can be rejected and who wants that?  When I finally learned to let others see the bad sides of me, I was free.  Finally free from the worry of wondering when someone would find out the mistakes I made.  It also taught me how to lean on God.  The first thing we should ever learn is that God is the One constant in our life.  He loves us, gave His Son for us and will not betray us.  It is freeing to know that God is always there; not just sometimes or when He feels like it. 

Speak God’s truth.  This one is tricky because we often have our own version of the truth don’t we.  Our version of the truth often isn’t the truth at all.  It is so easy to slip away from God’s truth and guess who is standing on the sidelines cheering us on.   

Study His Word.  Did you know that the weekend edition of the New York Times has as many words in it as the New Testament and there are a lot of people who will read that every weekend but have never read the New Testament? I am guilty of spending more time reading a magazine than I do my Bible.  It we are to learn God’s truth, we need to read it, study it, meditate on it and fill our very soul with it.

If we want to be a good example for Christ our lives will need to change and that is going to take work.  It is also a given that some people in your life are not going to like this change in you.  In some cases you will lose friends, family members and even jobs to follow Him.  It is going to mean letting go of pride, humbling ourselves to others, speaking God’s truth and living it.  When you are setting a good example you will be rewarded.  What example will you show the world?   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I confess that I am not always a good example in showing others You.  I fail over and over again.  I need Your help to overcome the many obstacles in my life that hinder my relationship with You.  I pray for the strength to put You first, humble myself, study Your Word and speak Your Truth.  I can do all things through You because You alone give me strength.  

Scripture: The Race of Faith

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:12

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:12-16

An Empty Vessel

He who sends the storm steers the vessel.  Thomas Adams

Difficulties and obstacles are God's challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fullness and all-sufficiency of Jesus.  A.B. Simpson

When I looked up the definition of vessel it means “a hollow container”.  We all are a vessel or a hollow container waiting to be filled. God can use all of us as a vessel to spread the Word of Jesus Christ, but we must choose to be that vessel. 

Today we are surrounded by things that can distract us from our true purpose in life.  There are all kinds of things that we can fill our vessel with that won’t ever benefit the Kingdom of Heaven.  When we are baptized into a new life with Him, we become a new vessel. 

In the story of Elisha and the widow’s oil we get a picture of what type of vessel God wants us to be.  The story is about a widow whose husband died.  A creditor is on his way to take her two sons to be his slaves.  So she goes to Elisha to ask what she should do.  Elisha asks her “what do you have in the house? And the responds “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”  So Elisha tells her to go out and get as many empty jars as she can find and fill them with oil then set them aside. 

If you look at this story we see that the widow and her sons represent the world. Oil is traditionally used to symbolize the Holy Spirit.  The empty jars stand for those who refuse to believe in God.  You can see the same thing when Jesus told the disciples to go into the world and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  (Matt. 28:19)

As long as the widow had empty jars the oil expanded to fill them.  As long as people come, there will be enough of the Holy Spirit to fill each of our vessels.  When we receive the Holy Spirit we are set apart just as Elisha told the widow to set aside the full jars.  Our past sins are forgiven and our debts are paid by Jesus death on the cross.

This is an example of salvation by grace, the remission of sin, the redemption of the soul and the gift of everlasting life.  Each one of us is a vessel waiting to be filled.  We can be born again, where our vessel is emptied of sin and refilled with the Holy Spirit.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for giving each of us a way back to You through Jesus Christ.  I want to be a vessel that is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Help me to set aside anything that hinders me from showing others Who You really are.  

   

Scripture: Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. ⁶ Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”  2 Kings 4:1-7

Forgotten    

We may sometimes think we're a forgotten commodity, but God remembers every one of us who serve Him. Shelton Smith

Have you ever felt like God has forgotten you?  Most of the time I think it is our impatience that often makes us think that God is not there for us.  We want an instant response from our Heavenly Father on everything don’t we? 

I think about the times in my life when I didn’t take my pain, grief, anger and frustrations to God over the years.  To many times we either think that God doesn’t want to hear it, or we think it is not acceptable for us to lay our pain at his feet.  So if we don’t lay it at His feet, what do we do with it?

When we don’t allow God in and tell him about our hurts and pain, we are basically saying that we don’t think God can handle it and we assume that He doesn’t want to hear it.  We then take that pain out on others in our life or we ignore the pain and it hinders our health, breaks relationships and causes all kinds of additional grief. 

One example of someone going to the Lord with his grief and sorrow was Jeremiah in the Book of Lamentations.  The word lament means to mourn or a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.  Jeremiah spent a whole book in the Bible telling God about his sorrow and grief for his people.  In Lamentations 3:18 he even says, “My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord.”

What I find interesting is that in the very same chapter a few verses later Lamentations 3:22-27 he says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.  It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.”

When we feel like giving up is the best time for us to turn to God.  He is listening and will be our strength through the tough times in our lives.  If we ever give up our hope in God our strength will fail.  Take your worries, pain, suffering and problems to God.  He will not fail you and He hasn’t forgotten you.  He wants to hear from you.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often forget that You are there for me in painful times as well as joyful times.  Remind me that You are my strength in times of trouble and you are always there.  You may not answer in the time frame I think You should but help me to wait patiently on Your timing.  I praise You for allowing me to lay all my troubles at Your feet and for never forgetting me.

Scripture: For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief,
yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33

How Do You Love?

Loving others in a biblical manner involves your thoughts, words, and actions and is a sign of your being a disciple of Christ. Loving others biblically is dependent on your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and is not dependent on people, circumstances, or your feelings.  John C. Broger

Have you ever thought about how you approach others with love?  It is much easier to love the people who love us isn’t it.  That is easy.  It is not as easy to love those who hate, ridicule or persecute us.  If we are to exhibit God’s criteria for loving others, we will need to practice it daily and it won’t be easy. 

If the Holy Spirit lives in us, then God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 5:5) The kind of love we will need to love others that are unlovable can only come from God and the Holy Spirit.  The thing is we must make a conscious effort to practice this kind of love. 

The world’s love often derails us doesn’t it?  In worldly love you only love others who love you back.  In worldly love we often use love as a means to get something back.  I have been guilty of this in the past.  You give love to someone with the object being that you get something in return.  Have you ever dated someone expecting them to love you back and when they don’t follow through, that love turns to hate and anger.  I’ve been there and done that.  This is not an example of God’s love.  The only way we can get the kind of love that God wants us to give to others is by loving someone when they are getting on our nerves, loving those who make it their mission to be disagreeable and even loving those who are persecuting us. 

Jesus is the only person who lived in human form who loved without boundaries.  He loved the lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners of the world.  Even as he loved those that others, (the Pharisees), thought were unlovable, they persecuted Him for it. If we ever hope to give love as Jesus did, we will need to let go of ourselves.  That means it’s not all about me and what I will get from someone in return or I will only love that person if they walk, talk, act and look like me. 

Many years ago I worked down the street from a Subway.  In the part of town where I worked there were many homeless people and they would often sit outside the Subway.  There were times when I would walk by them like everyone else on the sidewalk and ignore them or not look their way because it made me uncomfortable.  In today’s worldly society, you just don’t talk to the homeless.  When God started changing my heart through the Holy Spirit, I would head to the Subway for lunch and all of a sudden I started seeing them and I started looking them in the eye.  Then I started speaking to them and finally I started buying lunch for them.  I couldn’t change their circumstances but I could love them as God loves us, with all my heart and without reservation.  If you practice God’s love you will be surprised by what you see and what you’ve been missing.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, there was a time in my life where I was oblivious to others suffering and I was selfish and self-centered.  I didn’t look past the outer layer of a person to the living breathing human being inside.  You created that person and I need to love them as You do.  I ask for Your forgiveness for not loving others as I should.  

     

Scripture:  “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Luke 6:27-36

Obeying God

A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our redemption; and who is so affected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for which He lives.  Charles Hodge

When you suffer and lose, that does not mean you are being disobedient to God. In fact, it might mean you're right in the center of His will. The path of obedience is often marked by times of suffering and loss.  Chuck Swindoll

Have you ever felt that God was telling you to do something and ignored it?  I know there have been many times in my life when that happened.  Because God’s ways are not ours, we decide we are going to ignore it because God couldn’t possibly want us to do something that is against everything we understand. 

When you do the God test on something you think God is calling you to do and it passes the God test then you probably should do it even though it doesn’t make worldly sense.  By the God test I mean, you read scripture that tells you it will benefit God’s Kingdom not ours.

 

One of the most important things to remember about God is that He doesn’t think like we do.  He is so far beyond our thought processes that we will never understand it.  That is why He is God and we aren’t.

Here is the silly part. Many years ago when I first started working, every job I ever had was selected by me.  I didn’t put any thought into what God might want me to do.  Sometimes I hindered God from blessing my life because I thought I knew what was best for me.  So I didn’t pray about it or ask God what He wanted me to do.  I just took my resume, applied and hoped for the best.  The irony is I often got the job I applied for but it sometimes wasn’t God’s best for me. 

Obedience to God isn’t about our decisions in our life; it is about God’s.  When we let go of our need to control our life and let God take control, we are blessed and other people are too.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, so many times in my life I didn’t allow You to lead me.  Pride and disobedience were my companions.  Help me to remember that obedience to You means there will be times when I will not understand what You ask of me.  Help me to step out in faith that You know what is best for me and intend it for my good.  I can then live in joy knowing that You are with me even when it doesn’t make sense.  

Scripture: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”  Matthew 16:24-28

My Burden is Light

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, "Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me," and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.  Hannah Whitall Smith

Have you ever had a burden that you carry around with you?  It’s like you have one of those rolling bags that you keep stuffing all the burdens you run into during the day into it until it can’t hold anymore.  I am so guilty of this.  I go to the Father with my concerns and then as soon as I finish praying I take my burden back and try to fix it myself.  I love the words, “Find rest for your soul.”   

  

How do we humans in this fast paced world find rest for our souls?  I think the first step is to slow down.  If you ever drive on a freeway there are any number of people who are out driving that want to be first. How about all the functions that we think we need to attend or the number of sports activities that our children are involved in.  In today’s society if your child is not involved in 2 sports, multiple clubs and various groups, your child is not well rounded.  We have given up our time with God to stuff and activities. 

The second step is to meditate on His Word.  The part of this scripture that captures my attention is “no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  For the Son to reveal the father to us we need to be pursuing Him and the Holy Spirit needs to be alive in us.  If we aren’t taking the time to spend time with God, our burden will never be light.

 

The final step is to live and breathe God’s Word.  Everything we will ever need in life if buried there.  It is like all the treasure in the world at our disposal yet how often do we really dig into it.  For our soul to find the rest it needs, we will need to spend time with our heavenly Father.  His yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Take the time to rest in Him.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I sometimes carry all my burdens around and I wonder why I can’t rest.  When I don’t depend on You for heavenly rest, I defeat the purpose of why Jesus died on the cross for me.  I pray for Your strength to let it all go.  Nothing in this life on earth is worth more than You.  Reveal to me Your wisdom so that I can find rest for my soul.  I love you Father. 

  

Scripture: The Father Revealed in the Son

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:25-30

Confusion Leads to Clarity

Scripture, because of its absolute clarity, brings understanding where there is ignorance, order where there is confusion, and light where there is spiritual and moral darkness.   John MacArthur

I don’t know if you are like me, but there are times when I read scripture in the Bible and I just don’t get it.  Those are the times when I read if over and over again, break down the words, look up definitions and basically dissect the verse to see if I can bring clarity out of my confusion.  I will also ask other Christians their thoughts to see if the light bulb will come on. 

When I am confused about how something works or needs to be put together I always read the instructions.  Here is an example.  I received a Keurig coffee maker for Christmas.  Call me slow, but it took me a while to put the thing together.  It had instructions in four languages but I couldn’t even understand the English version much less the Danish.  There were all these parts including a filter, a water holder, a lid for the water holder, a container to hold the K-cups and another one to hold your own personal blend of coffee. There was also this little gauge that tells you when you need to change the filter and extra filters.  

 

The problem was I started putting this thing together when I really needed coffee.  That is not the time to decide to put together a coffeemaker with multiple parts.  So I got in a hurry and skipped a step.  The big blue light came on (it sort of reminds me of the Blue Light Special at Kmart), and I pressed the button to dispense my coffee and nothing happened. 

My husband walks into the kitchen and asks me how I like my new coffee maker.  I tell him I don’t know because I can’t get it to work.  So I go back to the instructions.  I read them again and again.  Finally I figured out that I had not put enough water in the holding tank.  I also didn’t see anything in the instructions about the flashing blue light that indicates you need to add water. I learned that part all on my own. 

One of the things I have learned about the Bible is that the more I study it the more I get clarity out of my confusion.  I also learned that if you pray and ask God for guidance He will bring clarity out of your confusion.  You may not get it the first time or even the second, but eventually He will bring clarity.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I love to read Your Word.  Each verse contains hidden treasure that is just waiting to be revealed.  I pray for understanding, wisdom and clarity.  You have always given that to me when I turn to You first and ask for it before I start reading.  It may take me several tries but You always reveal what I need to hear.              

Scripture: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.  Psalm 1:1-3

Courage to Stand Up

Courage is the indispensable requisite of any true ministry. Courage is good everywhere, but it is necessary here. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say.  Phillips Brooks

My Dad told me a story about me several weeks ago that I had never heard.   I had made a comment about how I look back on who I was and how shy I was when I was young and am amazed that I am like I am today.  It used to make me uncomfortable to converse with people.  I never knew quite what to say and I always thought that whatever I did say wouldn’t be right so I would stand in a crowd of people racking my brain to come up with something funny or original to talk about, but I would get so nervous that I wouldn’t say anything.  Can I hear a resounding Awwwkward!!! 

 

Many years have passed and I have since learned how to make conversation and it no longer intimidates me or feels awkward.  I have spoken at so many events now that I have become comfortable in my own skin.  What I learned over the years is that when I am passionate about something, I can talk for hours.   

So, back to my story.  Dad said he knew that one day I was going to be a strong person.  When I asked him why he said that; this is the story he told.  Dad said when I was around seven and my brother was four we were outside playing.  My Dad was nearby working in the garden and also watching us from a distance.  One of the neighborhood kids was playing with us and he said all of a sudden this neighbor kid reached over and took the toy my brother was holding.  Dad said he stopped what he was doing to see what would happen.  He said I walked up to the other kid and jerked my brother’s toy out of his hand and told him he couldn’t take my brother’s toy.  Here was this skinny legged little girl taking up for her baby brother.

I started laughing.  I couldn’t help it.  I could not correlate this person in the story with who I used to be.  It was like seeing a glimpse of who I would become.  Have you ever stood up for something you know is right and been knocked down only to get back up and do it again?  That is kind of like what it means to be a Christian.  There are a lot of people in this world who don’t want to hear about who God is or what it means to love Him.  Too many people think there are too many things to do in this world to worry about our future home.

 

I love our Heavenly Father and am not ashamed to admit it.  He is my strength and He gives me courage when I have none.  I thank God for the courage He has given me to stand up for Him on a daily basis.  

 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I pray that you will teach me Your way.  I look to You for the courage to stand up for You and tell everyone You are my Redeemer.  In that long ago story that my Dad told about me, I can see a glimpse of what You knew I could be.  I didn’t stop and think or hesitate.  Too many times as I have gotten older I start to hesitate because of what the world expects.  Help me to step out in faith for You without hesitation.  I love you Father.

Scripture: Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.  Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence.  I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:11-14

Maturity in Christ

The process of biblical change, explained in God's Word, begins when you repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given you everything you need to make the changes in your life that will please Him and will lead to His blessings. As you continue to obey God's Word, biblical change toward maturity will occur in your life until you see Jesus face to face.  John C. Broger

How many times have you listened to a young person talk about how they can’t wait until they are 18 or they can’t wait until they turn 21?  The interesting thing about this is that you never hear anyone say they can’t wait until they turn 50 or man I can’t wait until I turn 60. 

Why does that happen?  Maturity has a tendency to get our attention and not always in a good way.  When we are in our teens and early 20’s we can’t wait to get our on our own and experience life.  Then we get out there and life experiences us.  We are able to make decisions and choose things that aren’t always good for us.  Maturity sets in.

Too many times we want to rush into maturity.  I think it is extremely ironic that when we are in our teens we don’t want to be like our parents and then later in life we become them. Our parents didn’t get to maturity overnight.  It is an extremely slow, agonizing process.  So in our self-absorbed world, we are young and can’t wait to be an adult and in our old age we look back and long for our youth.  The thing is, the more mature you become the more you wish you had done things differently.  

When I was thinking about maturity it made me think about our Christian journey.  Maturity in Christ doesn’t come overnight and there will be hardship involved.  There will be pain and suffering, disappointment and discouragement. 

In Ephesians 4:14-15 Paul talks about this very thing.  When we mature in Christ we are no longer children. (Ephesians that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ).  When we move from childhood to maturity, we should take on the qualities of Christ and imitate what He did during His short time on earth.  If we are not maturing in Christ we are going the wrong direction.  God provides the tools we need to mature but that maturity will take a lifetime.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I still have a long way to go to mature in Christ.  Every day is another step in that direction if I follow You and Your Word.  Keep me moving forward in the right direction and if I get off course, I pray that You will draw me back onto the path that leads to You and maturity in Christ.   

Scripture: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:11-16

Born Different

I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.  George Macdonald

Have you ever wanted to look different from the way you are?  Too many times I think we want to look different and in the process we want to look like someone else.  Why?  We are surrounded by magazines, television, books and any number of sources that place great importance on looking different from the way we do. 

If we depend on the world to define who we are and what we look like, we will pursue that until we die.  When God created each of us, He did so with a purpose in mind. You are not an afterthought or a mistake.  The way you look is not a mistake either.  God doesn’t look at the outer shell of who we are to determine if we are worthy.  He looks at our heart.

We need to learn how to give up what the world thinks we should look like and worry more about what God thinks.  If God created each of us with a purpose in mind, don’t you think He created you with the same care he did when he created Miss America, Miss Georgia or any other beauty queen or super model the world accepts as beautiful. 

When we decide we are not good enough for the world to accept us, we are basically saying that we are not happy with the way God created us.  Accept the person God created you to be.  You are beautiful and you don’t need the world to define who you are in God’s eyes. He created you as a work of art.  You are a priceless treasure in His eyes.  Don’t let anyone take that away from you.  We are each born different and that is what makes us the same. He created you in His image.  There is nothing more beautiful than that.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created me in Your image.  Each person on earth is different.  There is not one of us who is the same.  Your creation of each person is unique.  Help us to see that we are beautiful in Your eyes.  I see so many young people who are concerned about self-image when each of them was created in Your image.  There is nothing more beautiful than that.   

       

Scripture: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27

Is This All There Is?

Hundreds of men are hoarse from continual speaking, and are wearied out with running here and running there. If things slow down, we evolve yet another type of meeting. And when this new and added wheel is spinning merrily with all the other wheels, there may be no spiritual outcome whatsoever, but there is a wind blowing in our faces; and we hot and sticky engineers have a comfortable feeling that something is going on.  A.J. Gossip

Do you ever think about your life on earth?  Are you satisfied with this life?  I asked myself this question.  Is this all there is? 

I get up every weekday and get dressed, feed my dog, watch the news, grab my bag, run out the door, drive to work, run around doing things all day at my job, jump in my car, drive by the store, pick up something for dinner, drive home, do a load of laundry and then go to bed only to get up the next morning and do the same thing all over again five days in a row. 

About now you are saying she leads an extremely boring life. Back to my previous question, “Is this all there is?”  I don’t believe this is all there is to life.  If I think that what I have today is all there is to life, then most likely I don’t know God the way I should.  If what I have on this earth today is all there is, then it’s really not worth the effort I put into it. 

Let me explain.  If I believe that all I will ever have in this life is what I can obtain on this earth, then what do I have to look forward to.  Too many times I think we observe life from an earthly standpoint and that is the reason we pursue this life with everything we have in us.  Have you figured out yet that God wants more for each of us?  Because He loves us, He wants to give us happiness and joy, but He also has prepared a place for us where none of the pain and suffering we go through in this life will ever touch us again. 

If I know there is a place that has been prepared for me that will far exceed what I could ever dream of, then why do I continue to pursue the things I can get here that have no value.  When I die I am not going to take a thing from this world with me. I always find the pyramids interesting.  They buried King Tut in a tomb with all of his belongings.  What for?  There were even cases where servants were sacrificed along with the king so that he would have someone to wait on him in the afterlife.  If all the stuff that was buried with King Tut was in use by him in some other life, why was it on display in museums around the world?

If I look at this life from a heavenly perspective, the main thing I should be focused on is getting as many people as I can to go with me.  Isn’t that what each of us should be striving for in this life? We will have everything we could possibly need in heaven.  We won’t need baggage, our purse, credit cards or money.  Are you ready?  This life isn’t all there is so we can stop striving for what we can get here and look forward to what we will have there.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I know this is not all there is to life and I know too many times I spend way too much energy and time trying to accomplish pointless things here in this life.  My main concern should be showing others You.  If I am too focused on the things here, I will miss the opportunities to show others the life You have prepared for us for eternity.  I need Your help to give up my selfish wants in this life.  Thank You for having patience with me and for loving me.  

       

Scripture: Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

The Lamp of the Body

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

You Cannot Serve God and Riches

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Do Not Worry

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Matthew 6:19-34

Dwelling In Him

Faith in the sheltering wings of God does not remove physical danger or the need for precaution against it. We cannot ignore Beirut tourist advisories, or feed wild animals on our camping trips, or jump a hot motorcycle over a row of parked cars and trust God to keep us safe. We cannot smoke cigarettes like the Marlboro man and then claim the promises of Psalm 91 as our protection against lung cancer. A person who did these things would be a foolish believer and a foolish reader of Psalm 91.  Cornelius Plantinga

Psalm 91 describes exactly how we can depend on God in troubled times.  This Psalm uses quite a few words to describe the very nature of God’s protection.  In the first verses of this Psalm he uses the words “shadow, refuge, fortress, cover, wings, shelter and buckler”.  These words describe what we need when we are in trouble.  They provide cover from the very situations we will encounter in life. Sometimes I think the part we misunderstand about these words is that we must pursue them or run to Him for them to be effective in our life. 

If we choose to dwell in Him we are making a choice.  There is action required from us to receive His protection.  If we choose not to live in Him we won’t receive His protection. The character of God’s protection means that he “delivers” us from the traps of the world, provides “cover” for us when we pursue Him and He is faithful and “protects” us.

In Psalm 91:5-10 it tells us what God protects us from in the world if we dwell in Him.  If we decide to use the world as our protection, these verses describe the consequences.  The words used to describe this are terror, pestilence, arrow, destruction, fall, evil and plague. None of these sound good.

The other instance where we often misunderstand this chapter is that we believe that it protects us from harm, trials, hurt and sorrow.  Some of the toughest and longest lasting lessons I have learned have been some of the worst times of my life.  The irony is they made me turn to Him as my dwelling place.  He comforted me, strengthened me and it made me love Him more.  It wasn’t about dodging the bullet, it was about living through it and coming out better on the other side. 

God can be our dwelling place when things fall apart and believe me, they will.  If we reject sin God protects us from the consequences of sin.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You are my dwelling place.  I trust that You know far better than I do what is best for me.  I praise You for getting me through the tough times in my life and for allowing me to go through them so that I could become more spiritually mature.  I can find safety in Your sheltering arms, so I choose to rest in You.  

        

Scripture: Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”  Psalm 91:1-16