How Ripe Is Your Fruit?

The fruit of the Spirit is not push, drive, climb, grasp and trample. Life is more than a climb to the top of the heap.  Richard J. Foster

God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you're tempted to express the exact opposite quality. Character development always involves a choice, and temptation provides that opportunity. Rick Warren

I think one of the things we have a problem with in developing the fruit of the Spirit is too often we are distracted from fully developing our fruit.  I think that is why Paul compared our life to fruit.  Anyone who ever buys fruit knows not to buy the bruised banana or mushy melon.  If the outside isn’t any good the inside won’t be either.  How many times have you bought fruit because it looked beautiful on the outside but turned out to be rotten on the inside?

If we are going to be fully developing followers of Christ, we are going to need to practice the fruit of the Spirit.  Our fruit will never grow to maturity if we are disconnected from the Vine. Too many times we become discouraged or we sin so we disconnect from the Vine and when we do that we stop bearing good fruit. The life giving source is missing.

I have a quince tree in my yard that bears fruit every year.  If you have never seen the fruit of a quince tree I will describe it for you.  It puts on blooms every year then gradually throughout the summer produces fruit.  The fruit of this tree is beautiful.  It looks like a softball size green apple.  Our neighbor could see our tree over our fence and commented about how beautiful our apples were.  The problem with our so called “apple tree” is the inside of the fruit is hard as a brick even when it is ripe.  You might be able to cut into the fruit with a chainsaw.  My sister tried to make jelly out of the fruit but gave up and threw it away.  The inside was too hard.  We even had animals try to chew on them, (because you can see the teeth marks on them), but they gave up.  I started picking them before they fell to the ground because I was afraid they would hit my dog in the head and knock him out. 

Too many times we are in such a hurry that we don’t take the time to allow the fruit to fully develop.  Then there are times when we are hard hearted and our fruit matures but it is no good on the inside. If I don’t spend time understanding and practicing love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, I will never produce ripe fruit.  Paul tells us that against such there is no law. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to develop and produce good fruit.  How I handle everyday situations can either produce good fruit or bad.  Remind me daily that I need to meditate on Your Word so that the fruit I produce is pleasing to You. 

    

Scripture:  My Walking in the Spirit

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.  Galatians 5:16-26

To Be Honest With You

The sanctified body is one whose hands are clean. The stain of dishonesty is not on them, the withering blight of ill-gotten gain has not blistered them, the mark of violence is not found upon them. They have been separated from every occupation that could displease God or injure a fellow-man.  A.B. Simpson

I looked up the word honesty in the dictionary and one of the definitions it gave me is “freedom from deceit or fraud. 

One of the interesting phrases we often use and I have used it in the past is “I’ll be honest with you.” Do you ever say things and not really think about their meaning?  Has someone ever asked you to do something or asked you a question and you prefaced your response with “I’ll be honest with you.”  As opposed to what?  “I’ll be dishonest with you.” Does this statement mean if you don’t preface your statement with it that you will be dishonest in all your dealings. To use them becomes a habit so we spout them without thinking what our language is telling another person about us or if it even makes sense.

Why do we find it so hard to be honest with others?  Fear.  We are afraid of what the other person will think of us if we are honest with them.  As readers of my blog, I have told each of you more about myself than even my own family knows or I should say knew, since most of them read my blog too.  I have shared my fears with you, my shame, my insecurities and my sorrow.  If I can’t describe to you honestly who I really am then the devotionals I write are meaningless. 

The interesting thing is God already knows my fears, shame, insecurities and sorrows.  He knows all my secrets and yet He loves me anyway.  When we are able to understand that we have an all knowing God who loves us it gives us the freedom to let the rest go and be honest in everything we do. 

Freedom is what we get when we let go of our fear of what others think and focus on what God thinks.  We are free to be the person God wants us to be. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have not always been honest in my dealings with others because I was afraid.  I was afraid they wouldn’t love me anymore.  When I focused my energy on being honest it freed me to understand others failings and to love them anyway.  The power of Your love set me free.  Free to be honest, free to love and free to be me. 

Scripture: “If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any spot adheres to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.  Job 31:5-8

Driving

Many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world. Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on earth, not in heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on earth; that means each day brings you closer to losing your treasures.  Randy Alcorn

I was watching the news this morning and a man in New Zealand is 105 years old.  That in itself is an amazing accomplishment but the really interesting thing is he just renewed his driver’s license.  He said the first car he ever drove didn’t have a steering wheel but a stick and he received his driver’s license in 1925. They said he had only had one minor accident and no traffic tickets in the 92 years he has been driving. I thought this was an amazing feat until they showed him driving.  There were nothing but cows and open fields where he lived.  He could run off the road and get back on and no one would be the wiser. 

I was driving to work and I noticed a car in the right lane that wasn’t going the speed limit.  When I pulled alongside the car it was a gentleman that looked to be about 95 and he wasn’t going the speed limit.  He was white knuckling the steering wheel and he was about 20mph under the speed limit and he was on a major freeway.  I started praying for him immediately. 

When I think about the number of elderly individuals on the highway it sometimes scares me.  I can remember when my grandmother got pulled over by a policeman.  Well, I can’t say pulled over because she ran a stop sign but she wouldn’t stop.  I am not sure if she ever looked in the rearview mirror to see the flashing lights or if she just wouldn’t stop until she got home.  The policeman had to follow her to her house to get her to stop. I admit there are some young drivers that are just as bad, what with texting and talking on the phone while driving.  

   

When God created Adam and Eve there was no vehicle to drive them around the Garden of Eden. Can you imagine having nothing to do but walk around and tend the plants and animals in the Garden and spend time with God?  Then Adam and Eve listened to a snake and here we are. We are born new only to later grow old and forget which pedal is the brake or accelerator. I am so looking forward to heaven.  I read that there will be streets of gold and continuous light but I didn’t see a car dealership in the scenario so I don’t think we will need one. 

        

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I know that I am heading toward old age. I pray that when the time comes for me to quit driving that you will give me the courage to stop when it is time.  We are so dependent on vehicles to get us everywhere. I long for heaven where I won’t need to be rushing to the next appointment or meeting and where I will have all the time in the world to sit and talk to You. 

Scripture: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  Matthew 24:36-44

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.  Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.  But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 21:22-27

Our Responsibility To Others

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

Every day you are witnessing. What are you witnessing to? Your witness is the total package of your attitudes, character, and actions. It does not lie.  Winkie Pratney

Do you ever think about the responsibility you have to others?  I started thinking about the daily things in my life that I do that could nurture another person or break them down.

What a huge responsibility God has placed on us. If you think about what other people might see in you that could give them a picture of who God is, would that picture be a masterpiece worth more than money can buy or would it be a paint by numbers picture of the world.

When I was a kid they had paint by numbers kits you could buy at the TG&Y.  A picture was printed on a canvas in light gray and different numbers were assigned to each section on the print that corresponded to a paint color that came with the kit.  You would select the color that corresponded and paint inside the lines.  In the end you would have a completed picture.  One of the early advertisements proclaimed that you could make “A BEAUTIFUL OIL PAINTING THE FIRST TIME YOU TRY”.  All this really meant was that if you followed the directions you could produce something that looked exactly like every other paint by number kit produced of that picture.

When we start to think that the world has the best life can offer we move away from becoming a “masterpiece” and move toward becoming a “paint by number” picture.  Each one of us has a responsibility to each person we come into contact with, to alter that person’s eternal destination.  When we start to think that what we do and how we act doesn’t have consequences; that is the beginning of our slide down that slippery slope into sin. 

When I think that if someone was watching what I do and something I did caused them to sin; that scares me.  Because when I do that I have sinned against what God specifically tells me to do.  If our actions cause one person to turn away from God we are responsible.  If God tells me that if I cause “one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea”, that gets my attention.  Don’t ever think that what you do isn’t affecting someone around you. If I have children, friends, family members, neighbors or strangers in my life, then I have a responsibility to them to be the masterpiece God calls me to be. 

 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created me in Your likeness.  It is my responsibility to present to the world a picture of You.  I can follow along in the world’s wake and be like every other paint by number picture, or I can devote my life to becoming a masterpiece.  A masterpiece that is a reflection of You. 

                

Scripture: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.  Matthew 18:6-9

Be Different

The Image of Christ that is forming within us--that is life's one charge. Let every project stand aside for that. "Till Christ be formed," no man's work is finished, no religion crowned, no life has fulfilled its end. Is the infinite task begun? When, how, are we to be different? Time cannot change men. Death cannot change men. Christ can. Wherefore PUT ON CHRIST.  Henry Drummond

Is eternity your guide and is God your GPS?  I have GPS on my car and one of the things I noticed last weekend is that when I didn’t listen to her instructions a voice would come on and say “go thirty feet and make a legal u-turn.”  When I ignored that directive, she would tell me “go 1 mile and make a legal u-turn.”  When I ignored her again she told me, “if you are going to just ignore me I am not going to talk to you anymore.” She really didn’t say that but I kind of like the fact that she was warning me to make sure I performed a legal u-turn as opposed to an illegal one. 

Let Go of Regret & Be Different: One of the most important lessons I have learned is that I can choose to be happy and part of that comes from not living in the past.  If I am constantly looking back or turning around and going back to visit all of my regrets and all of the wrong things I have done in my life, I will never be happy like God wants me to be.  I cannot change the things I have already done so it is counterproductive to keep visiting those things I regret.  The thing I can do is to be different than I was in the past.  

I’ve Always Done It That Way:  Have you noticed that life is constantly changing around us every day?  If we know that everything is constantly changing we need to adapt.  Sometimes the very things that are changing around us are for our own good.  If God is doing the changing in us, then we know they are for our own good and we can trust that He knows what is best for us and adapt to those changes.

Forgiveness: Are you holding onto resentment and anger because someone hurt you in the past?  Forgive that person and move on.  Does the other person deserve forgiveness?  No.  But do we deserve what Jesus did for us by dying on a cross for the weight of our sins?  No.  So focus your life on Him, forgive, and move forward and away from the hurt, anger and resentment.  Happiness will be your reward if you forgive and move on. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, when I take my eyes off of You and return to my past regrets I lose.  I don’t deserve what Jesus did for me.  How can I hold something against someone else when I don’t deserve Your forgiveness.  If I keep my focus on an eternal life with You, then the things going on in my life now will become insignificant in comparison to what I have to look forward to.  Help me to be different.   

Scripture: Pressing Toward the Goal

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Philippians 3:12-16

Excess 

Prayer can never be in excess.  Charles Spurgeon

There are many things in life that can be taken to excess.  The following is a list of things that we often go to extreme measures to obtain and many of those excesses can lead to dire consequences.

Food is something that can be eaten to excess.  It can lead us to obesity, heart disease and any number of health issues yet we sometimes continue these excesses even if it ruins our health and shortens our life.

Alcohol can be taken to excess where it hinders our ability to make decisions.  You can take the example of former Cowboys player Josh Brent as a life that has forever been changed.  He drove while intoxicated, wrecked his car and killed his best friend.

Money and the accumulation of and the lack of it can do as much harm as any other excess on earth.  It can lead to greed and selfishness or lead to the opposite extreme of using any means possible to obtain it, whether it is cheating, stealing or even killing for it. 

Drugs are another excess that can lead people to do things they would never think of otherwise.  How many people’s lives were ruined by drugs because they thought they would not become addicted?  You can look at the number of actors in Hollywood who thought that very thing and lost their lives in the process.  

If you think about the things in this list, each one, in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing.  It is the use of them that can be fatal.  If we think we are strong enough to withstand any one of these we are fooling ourselves.  Satan intends for us to fail and he has a lot of ammunition doesn’t he?  We often make it easy for him to bring us down. 

I started thinking about what is there on earth that would be something that it would be good for us to be addicted to.  The only answer I could come up with is prayer.  Prayer is the one thing that we can use to fight all the other addictions.  It is the most powerful antidote around and we don’t use it often enough.  When God tells us to pray without ceasing, he means “all the time”.  Not just before a meal or Sunday at church.  That means every minute of every day we should be praying. When we pray without ceasing it fills our mind and keeps the wrong things from getting in. 

One of the things I have learned to do is any time I reach an obstacle in life, I stop everything I am doing and pray.  It doesn’t have to be an eloquent, lengthy prayer.  One of the ones I use often is “Father help me”.  Here is another one.  “Father I need You.”  God knows all the words in the dictionary so you are not going to impress him with your amazing grasp of the English language.  The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.”  I know God heard Jesus on that day long ago and He will hear our cries as well.

When you feel like you have reached the end of your capacity to handle what life is throwing at you, do some deep knee bends.  God is waiting and listening and He loves us beyond anything we can ever comprehend.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of using things in this life in excess. You created me in your image and sometimes I don’t glorify You when I use things in this life to excess.  Help me to overcome the addictions of this world and turn to you for everything.  You will not fail me and I praise You for Your love for me.    

        

Scripture: Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  1 Thessalonians 5:1-28

Logins & Passwords    

If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off the side of a mountain. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them. The welfare of sheep depends solely upon the care they get from their shepherd. Therefore, the better the shepherd, the healthier the sheep.  Kay Arthur

My husband decided he wanted to become technologically savvy so he asked me to help him get set up with online banking so he could pay our credit card bill online.  You all know from a previous devotional what a techie I am so I proceeded to go online and try to set him up.  You notice I said “try”. 

It went kind of like this.  My husband thought he might have tried to set this up previously so I started by trying to log him in.  Of course he didn’t remember his password or login since he hadn’t logged in since 2003, so I clicked on the button that said “Forgot my login ID”.  So it then asks for an email address.  So I enter that and then it asks several questions to try to identify if we are who we say we are.  You know, the make of your mother’s first car, your paternal grandfather’s cousin’s name, your Dad’s brother’s first job, your first grade teacher’s name, your wife’s mother’s middle name, the address of your first house, which grocery store you shop at and where you went on vacation in 1975.  Here’s the kicker.  When they ask about what car you drove in high school does this mean make or model and don’t you just love it when they only give you one wrong answer before they lock you out of your account?   

So we finally get the login ID but then we have to get the password reset.  It then gave us an error message that said they could not reset it and we would have to call them instead.  I guess they were laughing at our attempts to access our account.  So after we went through the same questions over the phone again we finally had our password and were ready to go, or so we thought. 

We log into the account and we were actually able to see the credit card statement and it had a little button in the corner that said, “Pay Bill Online”.  Since that was our whole reason for doing this in the first place I clicked on the button.  It took me to another screen that told me all about Bill Pay and when I clicked on the button on that screen and it gave me an error message that said Bill Pay is currently not available to you at this time.  We are working on it.  What does that mean?  My husband being the comedian in the family said “by the time I get this paid it will be past due.”

We worked on this for over an hour and finally I told Jerry he would just have to call them and pay over the phone.  When he called the first thing that came up was a survey and it didn’t give him an option to skip the survey so he had to complete that first. I could hear him in the kitchen mumbling about dumb surveys and banks and stupidity.  I only caught snatches of the conversation he had with himself as he completed the survey.

Have you ever wondered what we did before technology?  I am starting to think that being a shepherd has its benefits.   I mean herding sheep is sounding better and better every day.  What better way to spend our time than with God.   If I didn’t have to spend so much time trying to remember logins and passwords and completing surveys I could spend a lot more time with our Heavenly Father.  Money under the mattress is sounding better and better every day.   

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend online and on the phone trying to pay one bill.  I would have preferred to spend it with You. Help me to remember why I am here on earth and that so many of the things we do every day are manmade distractions.  Remind me of what is really important.  You.    

Scripture:  Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.  Psalm 100:1-5 

Aging Gracefully

Within each of us exists the image of God, however disfigured and corrupted by sin it may presently be. God is able to recover this image through grace as we are conformed to Christ.  Alister McGrath

The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.  D.L. Moody

All of us have heard the terminology about aging gracefully.  I think we have a misconception about what it means to age gracefully.  The world sees aging gracefully from the perspective that if our eyes get laugh lines and our neck begins to resemble the forehead of a Shar Pei, we are not aging gracefully.  Why do we place so much importance on outer appearance instead of what is inside?  Society places an inordinate amount of importance on defying gravity and looking younger than we really are, but for what purpose? 

I was looking through a magazine this weekend and I saw a famous newscaster.   The problem was I didn’t recognize her.  I had to read the fine print to figure out who she was and she is not the only one.  How many actors, sports figures and other famous people don’t even resemble the person they were 20 years ago.  You see them all the time.  Their eyes resemble a deer in headlights with a perpetual surprised look on their faces. 

Some of the most beautiful people I have known in my lifetime were not wrinkle free.    Every wrinkle on my face should tell a story.  There are the wrinkles from surviving cancer, the wrinkles of laughing with my niece and nephews and the wrinkles of worrying about loved ones and just plain old stress wrinkles.  Each wrinkle is a badge of courage.  Some wrinkles are of our own making.  Smoking, alcohol and hard living can bring on the wrinkles too. 

When I think of aging, I think about God’s grace. Graceful aging should be the terminology we use.  God gave us unmerited or unearned grace so that we could live.  He didn’t intend for us to try to look the same age as we were when we were twenty.  When we decide to live for God we no longer need to worry about what others think of our wrinkled face.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we often get caught up in the worldly habit of trying to look young.  I have started to see my wrinkles differently.  If I look at them from Your perspective, there will be times of suffering and times of great sorrow.  Age and gravity will pull at my face but if I look at my wrinkles from the standpoint that many of these signs of aging were wrought from trials that made me love You more, how can I not appreciate each tiny crease and fold.  

Scripture:  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.  Romans 5:1-11

Fishers of Men

Our Lord said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." It is evident, then, that a true disciple is a soul-winner. It is possible to sit on the shore discussing the signs of the times when we ought to be driven by the signs of the times to launch out into the deep and let down our nets for a draught.  Vance Havner

Summertime always brings back memories for me of fishing with my grandpa or family outings.  Those are special memories for me because of the time I was able to spend with family and the great outdoors. 

When my grandpa taught me how to fish part of the lesson was how to bait your hook and remove the fish from the line.  If you are a non-fisherman, you may not know that a fish will raise its fins and flop around a lot when it is taken out of the water.  I guess if I was a fish that lived in water and someone dangled a worm in front of me for dinner and I took the bait; it would be kind of startling to be jerked out of the water.  I’m thinking I would flop around a lot too. 

Anyway, there is a technique to taking the fish off the hook.  You hold the fish up and gently slide your hand over its head and then slide your hand over its fins to keep the fin from sticking into your hand.  Sometimes the fish would flop and wiggle so much that it would come off the hook on its own and then you were left trying to catch a flopping fish in the bottom of the boat. 

Sometimes we are very much like the flopping fish in the bottom of the boat.  We often don’t want to change our life or be different for God so we fight it just like the fish.  The same thing happens when we cast out to be a soul winner.  You try to show others why coming to know Christ is important.  You cast your line and pray for a bite.  Fishing is the sport of patience.  If you have ever sat for several hours watching a cork, you know what I am talking about.  It is the same with being a fisher of men.  If we get distracted or impatient we will never draw anyone to the Lord. 

My husband is a different type of fisherman.  He is a catch and release fisherman.  You patiently flip a fake bait into the water and slowly real it in.  In his type of fishing you don’t have a cork to watch to see if a fish is on the line; you feel the line for vibration.

It doesn’t matter what type of fisherman you are, God can use both and make them fishers of men.  Both will require patience, wisdom, knowledge, skill and most of all God’s presence.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I love to fish. There is a certain peacefulness about the process of fishing.  I can have the same peacefulness in the pursuit of others for Christ.  You are the one who gives me the strength and perseverance to patiently wait for the right opportunity and when it comes You will give me the words to say.  Help me to not hesitate when those opportunities come along. 

Scripture: Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:2-6

Decrepitude

The only way the corporate Body of Christ will fulfill the mission Christ has given it is for individual Christians to have a vision for fulfilling that mission personally.  David Meremiah

de·crep·i·tude – decrepit condition; dilapidated state; feebleness, especially from old age.

I must admit I really like this word.  It really sounds great rolling off my tongue.  The problem is I am getting closer and closer to being in this state.  The state of decrepitude.  You know how they used to say you needed an attitude adjustment.  I may soon need a decrepitude adjustment.

The world offers me all kinds of things to fix my “decrepitudeness” (I don’t think this word is in the dictionary so maybe it will be added next year).  I can get Botox, fillers, new teeth in two days or pull out all the old ones if I prefer, then there are collagen injections to give me smooth skin and a permanent surprised look on my face.  I can get gel nails, hair extensions and hair removal. The interesting thing is; that is not going to change the fact that I will eventually fall into decrepitudeness.  

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden decrepitudeness didn’t exist; until a snake in the grass offered them an apple they couldn’t refuse.  When that happened we started the downhill slide into decrepitudeness.  They could have lived in a perfect garden forever walking with God.  

One of the most amazing things to me is that it doesn’t matter how decrepit we get, we can still be used by God to further his kingdom.  God didn’t give up on a fallen world.  He still gives each of us the opportunity to be redeemed.  There will come a day when the sorrows, pain and suffering of this world will come to an end.  I look forward to that day, but until then I think I will let nature take its course and let decrepitudeness in.  It is an inevitable fact of life and all the chemicals of today that are used to make me look younger will eventually move somewhere I don’t want them to, so I will refrain from denying my decrepitudeness and press on.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, as I get older and my body sometimes fails me it reminds me that I am still useful to You.  As long as there is another person on earth that needs a Savior, there will always be a need for me to pursue them for You.  I am Your feet and hands and even though they may get slower with time, I can still be used for Your purpose.

Scripture: The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:12-15

Faith In the Right One

Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.  Elisabeth Elliot

In many of my devotionals I will use quotes by Watchman Nee.  I think what I find so interesting about him was the suffering he endured because of his faith.  He studied the Bible and other writings by Christian authors.  He had no formal theological training during his ministry. During his lifetime of ministry in mainland China, he suffered from illness including a stomach disorder, tuberculosis and a heart condition.  In 1952 he was imprisoned at a labor farm for 20 years until his death in 1972.  When he wrote letters in prison he was not allowed to mention the Lord’s name as all of his writings were censored.  In his final letter on the day of his death he wrote the following words: “In my sickness, I still remain joyful at heart.”  Can you imagine making that statement in the midst of illness or imprisonment?

As I read this statement it brought to mind the apostle Paul.  He suffered, was imprisoned, beaten and some of his best writings in the Bible came out of great suffering.  One of my favorite verses comes from Paul’s writings. 

Philippians 4:11-13 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.

I often think one of my biggest weaknesses is not being content with whatever state I am in.  Sometimes I am not content when God provides abundant blessings in my life. The problem is I often overlook the simplest of blessings.  The number one blessing being that I am still breathing and was able to get up this morning. My faith in our Heavenly Father will make the difference in an abundant life through any and all circumstances.  If I am worried about the outcome or what will happen to me next, my faith is not in the Right One.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your Son Jesus, who suffered and died for a poor sinner like me.  Help me to keep my focus on You so that I can rejoice in any circumstance.  Help me to remember that when my faith is on the Right One, that faith will sustain me through any suffering.

   

Scripture: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9

Cash Back

Most people fail to realize that money is both a test and trust from God. ~ Rick Warren

Have you ever really thought about cash back?  You know the commercials that advertise you can get cash back on tires, gas, groceries etc….   The commercial is intended to make you spend more but they make it sound so enticing.  It is kind of ironic don’t you think that they sell us on buying more so you can get something back.

In reality they are trying to convince us that the more you spend the more you save.  What kind of thinking is that?  I am currently reading a book about business.  In the book it talks about how every transaction that we do in business should be a win-win-win for everyone involved.  What does that mean?  It means that the business owner is not in it just to make money.  If you run your business with a win-win-win theory, it means that the business owner wins, the supplier for the business wins and the customer wins.  What a concept!

What normally happens is companies are greedy so they do whatever it takes to win.  This means they will cheat the customer, charge outrageous prices or take advantage of their suppliers.  In this case with credit cards they will charge extremely high interest rates so that they can offer cash back.  They want you to think you are making money, by using your credit card, so that you can use it to buy more stuff. 

Let’s take furniture for an example.  Most furniture stores mark up an item by at least 80% or more.  So here is where it gets interesting.  They will run a promotion and mark the item back down to give the illusion that the consumer is getting a great deal when in reality they are just reducing the amount of profit they will make on the item.  How about this trick?  Most retailers put the sales items at the back of the store so that there is good chance of you making an impulse buy before you ever get to the sale items.  Retailers in furniture will often use a maze layout to increase the chances that as you wander through the maze you will see something you can’t live without and impulsively buy.  There is even a retailer that sets up their store so you have to walk all the way through the entire store before you reach the check-out line.  What they don’t advertise is that there are various shortcuts throughout the building but you will probably miss those because they are hidden.

I am not trying to pick on the furniture retailers.  You find the same thing in car showrooms, grocery stores, gas stations and all sorts of businesses.  God never intended for us to use greed as a motivator for business.  God intended us to own businesses, but our intent should not be to make the most we can make from the consumer or cheat the supplier.  God’s perfect plan is for us to charge a reasonable price so that our customers and suppliers walk away as winners too.  If everything I own is God’s, then how I sell it and how I handle my relationships with suppliers and customers should reflect Him in everything we do with what He owns.

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often get tired of the hype associated with buying things. We live in a world where making money is the most important criteria for the majority of businesses.  It has become more common for me to think about how a business is cheating me than to trust that they are doing the right thing.  I pray that You will remind us daily of the blessings You give us when we own a business and to treat it as Your’s not ours. 

     

Scripture: Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  1 Timothy 6:9-11

Look Up

This is one of the basic truths in the Bible. If you're a believer, nothing comes into your life that hasn't been filtered by your heavenly Father. Your life is not a random series of freak accidents and occurrences and circumstances. God never does anything by accident. He has an appointed time for everything in your life. Even the bad times? Yes.  Rick Warren

Do you look up or around as you negotiate the treacherous waters called life?  One of the greatest lessons I learned over the past few years is to look up.  When I have a question about faith, sorrow, blessings and happiness in my life I look up. God has the answers and he will reveal them to us if we look up instead of around. 

When we look around instead of looking up, we place our faith in ourselves and those around us instead of the One who created us.  Remember the verse in Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. God has a purpose for each one of us and we can fulfill His purpose or deny it.  He gives us the ability to choose. 

One of the traps of Satan that I frequently fall into is that I often look to those in the world around me to give me answers.  One of the most important lessons I have learned in my life is that every person we encounter is a sinner.  That includes me, pastors, deacons, brothers, sisters, parents and friends.  There is not a single person on this earth who is not a sinner.  Jesus was the only person to ever live on this earth that was sin free.

God is continuously sending us signals.  Too many times we ignore them because we call them coincidence.  God doesn’t work through coincidence.  He works with purpose.  If we want to hear His voice we must look up and pay attention or we will miss an opportunity to glorify Him.   

        

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You know everything that will happen in my life and I know I don’t have all the answers.  It is not by chance or coincidence that things have occurred in my life.  If I pay attention and continuously look up to You for the answers, You will reveal them to me. Sometimes I can’t see what Your plan is for me, but I do wait eagerly for You to reveal it to me.  I praise You Father.      

  

Scripture:  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.  Romans 8:18-30